Care for a Bite and a Drink?

[baronbalaz]

Who: The Baron and Kimberly
What: Meeting for drinks
When: Backdated to Dec. 30th
Where: @ 11
Rating:  M for first meetings
Status: Open and Incomplete

Comments

[onlynewlife]

It was the second night in a week or so that Kimberly had made plans to meet a strange man in a bar. Something told her she should really stop doing that, lest she gain herself an unwanted reputation she didn't deserve, but for the time being, she wanted to make friends and the men were the ones she kept coming across. It wasn't her fault, she decided, so fuck it. She was going

[baronbalaz]

Rather than shake the offered hand, Byron brought it to his lips--this was what came from working with manners and customs that were literally millions of years in the future. What was the saying he'd read? 'So far ahead you're behind?' With a graceful smile that almost revealed a set of pointed canines, Byron released Kimberly's hand. Thankfully unearthly good looks had meant Byron could get away with a lot regarding the opposite gender.

"You found something to wear, I see? It suits you." She was rather pretty, in the way Taki had been, hearty looking but still gentle, maybe a little unsure. "You'll forgive me if I seem a little out of practice, it's been too long since I've been out like this." Honestly, he'd never been out like this--it had been such a Human activity, below him as a Vampire Noble--but...when in Rome?

[onlynewlife]

Byron took Kimberly's hand and kissed it, leaving Kimberly blinking as she stared back at him, taken aback. No one had ever done that. Well, not seriously. Dano used to do it when he was drunk, but he'd done it to Shaina and Frankie, too, and just about anyone he could find. This guy was, like, literally doing it as a greeting. She wasn't quite sure how to take that, if she was honest. But she was, at the very least, flattered.

A soft huff of laughter came in response and Kimberly wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, sorry, I meant to leave you a note so you could find me easier," she apologized. "Thank you," she added to his compliment.

Lifting her drink, Kimberly took another long pull on the bottle. "Out of practice for what?" she asked, trying very hard not to sound uneasy. They weren't...doing anything... Kimberly was appropriately confused.

[baronbalaz]

"Back home I was not exactly what you might call a...social butterly." Byron said, asking the bar tender for a wine list--if it was one thing he could definitely get used to it was the wine in this era. He smiled as a thought occurred to him. "As a matter of fact my father would find meeting like this absolutely appalling--which is exactly why I plan to revel in it, if you'll allow me to." He ordered a glass of port wine, ignoring the odd look from the bartended. Where he was practically extinct. Or at least, what passed for a grape was nothing like what it was now.

"But I'm sure your reasons for coming to this quaint little hamlet are much better than to annoy a parental figure." The bartender set Byron's glass down and he held it up. "Is there anything in particular you wish to toast to?"

[onlynewlife]

It was a bit of a relief, even though Kimberly didn't realize just how much at the time, that Byron was willing to slide into the carriage first. That simple gesture meant that Kimberly had control. Not full control, but just enough to feel confident that he wasn't going to hurt her once they were tucked away from the public eye and just enough that even if he tried, she could take him. It sucked thinking about him that way; Byron seemed like a really nice guy. She hadn't thought of Felix that way when he'd walked her home the other night. Then again...Felix wasn't wearing fangs. A part of Kimberly hated herself for even thinking that way. Goth guys could be nice and not every last one of them wanted to hurt someone.

She could hear Shaina's voice in her head the day of the pile up, when Kimberly had been being too overly cautious. Kimberly. The car's fine. Your dad's gonna be fine. ...we're gonna be fine. She reminded herself that technically Shaina hadn't been wrong; even though they'd died in a wreck, it hadn't had

[baronbalaz]

Late was a strange concept to apply to someone who operated completely by night. Byron had only been up for a few hours, and while he didn't relish ending the evening quite so soon, there was that little catch of most humans not being strictly nocturnal.

"Late, of course." With a hiss of steam and movement of hidden gears, the carriage was wheeled off in the direction of the park. For all the records of carriages being bumpy, uncomfortable methods of travel The Baron's barely jolted as the horses brought it down a slightly uneven patch of main street. "It's good to ride with someone again," Byron said, smiling more comfortably, as the warm shadows of the carriage would hide his fangs. "I'm afraid I got rather used to company while traveling."

[onlynewlife]

Kimberly studied first her surroundings, once again, setting all the possible escape routes to memory and appreciating the aesthetics of the inside of the carriage while she was at it, then Byron's face as he spoke. A small smile slid over her lips. "It's hard to get used to being alone when you've had company as long as you can remember," she empathized. Once everything had calmed down and the visions stopped, it had really and truly set in that Kimberly was alone. There was her dad and there was Thomas, but it wasn't the same as Shaina, Dano, and Frankie

[baronbalaz]

For some reason, he hadn't expected her to touch him. He had a feeling, just from being able to sense her emotions that she was nervous and wasn't completely sure if she could trust him, but she was trying so hard. Humans were curious creatures, and ever since he was young, Byron had empathized with them in ways even he couldn't understand. Suddenly his conversation with D floated back, the one where they had first discussed humanity and Byron had been dismissive of the strength humans possessed.

Needless to say, he wasn't dismissive anymore. With the first truly warm smile on his lips, Byron squeezed Kimberly's hand reassuringly. "No, not it isn't." He said, eyes seeming to sparkle a little in the uncertain light of the carriage. "I have found more kindness here than someone like me has a right to know." And that was part of it too. Byron still wondered how much of this new start he really deserved. He was Nobility after all, and not ignorant to the sins of his own kind. It was hard to be with Vlad Balaz as his father