[open] My heart’s aflame, my body’s strained, but God I like it

[im_apimp]

Alec hunted at night, just because it was easier. He didn’t have to worry about the civilians back at the barracks seeing him in all his X5 glory and thinking he was part of the forest mojo, and the deer didn’t exactly see him either. Technically, he probably didn’t even have to hunt. He could eat the food that was delivered at the storehouse

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[talldarkandderp]

Dark is nocturnal; or rather, he knows he's supposed to be. As it is, life in the pits and now with North have screwed up his circadian rhythm beyond all repair. These days he just sleeps whenever he feels like it. The night still feels right, however, and it's always harder to sleep when the moon is properly up.

He's patrolling around the perimeter of the barracks, snacking on any mice he can find when he smells blood. Not just blood but hunt. He doesn't have a word for it, and he has never smelled it in recent memory, but it's instinctive. Blood, sweat, rancid animal fear, aggression, the kill. It touches something deep in him, something ancient and beyond real memory. It's a good smell

[im_apimp]

Maybe it would make the meat less juicy, but Alec is going for dried. He'll be able to preserve it longer. And he's never been one for rare anyway. He's a well done kind of guy.

The other thing that Dark probably didn't pick up on is that Alec isn't exactly human. And he's a little paranoid. He's had that someone's been watching me feeling ever since he got back to the barracks, but since whoever it was was downwind, he couldn't catch a scent. As he's leaning over the stream, however, the wind picks up and changes course, and there it is. It's subtle, and not something he's smelt before, but it's there, and he turns towards it, trying to catch sight of whoever it belongs to in the early light.

"Anybody out there?" He gives a bit of a smirk as he peers around the edges. "Promise I don't bite."

[talldarkandderp]

Rare is always the way to go. Master rarely even bothered to cook Dark's food. He really doesn't understand the concept. North has been slowly introducing him to better cooked food, and he isn't too impressed so far.

Dark is quite happily watching all these weird intricacies to the hunt-thing. He really isn't sure what's going on with any of this, but still, it's all quite informative. Maybe eventually he'll actually ask the guy what's going on.

He smells when the wind changes, but takes no real notice. He hasn't really been paying attention to how the guy smells; the blood and hunt and meat smell is kind of overwhelming his senses. It's not until the man speaks that he notices anything's wrong. As soon as he does, Dark jerks back deeper into the shadows to hide himself better. He says nothing. Maybe the stranger will forget he's here.

[im_apimp]

Alec sees a small hint of movement, and his head tips. He pushes himself up from his spot on the bank, before starting to move closer. He keeps his stance open and non-threatening, just trying to see who it was.

"It's okay," he says softly. "Are you hungry? The meat's going to be ready soon." He pauses for a moment, before trying something else. "My name's Alec."

[virginvampire]

Jessica had been out wandering the woods at night when she had smelt the animal blood and fire in the air. Even though she could go out in the sun here, she still found herself keeping noctural habits more often than not, mostly out of habit. Who knew when she might get zapped back home, where the sun could kill her? It was best not to get too used to things

[im_apimp]

Alec had heard her footsteps approaching, and he turned when he heard her voice behind him, smile on his face. "Hey," he nodded, before pushing himself up to dry his hands off on his jeans. "Long time, no see."

There were so very few people whose friendship wasn't dependent on him playing nice with Dean, that seeing someone he was actually friends with was probably one of the best things that had happened to him all day. Alec didn't like conditional friendship -- that was just asking for pain and suffering -- but here, he was doing what he had to do. In fact, there were so few people he could just be open with about what he was. Either way, Jessica was a person he was looking forward to seeing.

[virginvampire]

"It has been a while, hasn't it?" She asked, smiling a little in response. She hadn't seen him since she first arrived, which was a couple of weeks ago, now. She had thought of visiting him a few times, but she didn't want him to think he was just a foodbank to her or something.

Still, it was nice to have a friend. She didn't have a lot of those here, or at home, for that matter. Unlike some of the others, there was no one from her home here, which just made her feel more alone. It made her glad that there was at least one person who seemed to like her company.

[im_apimp]

"Yeah, it has. Everything been turning out okay for you?" He was aware that there were some intolerant douchebags in their midst. He had run into them. They kind of sucked, and he wanted to know if Jessica was getting any trouble so he should know who to hit if necessary.

[breakmychest]

Spike also tended to be up at night, though he can now go outside during the day. It leaves him with a very strange sleeping schedule that pretty much has him sleeping whenever he feels tired.

He was awake that night, and doing something that was a cross between patrolling and hunting, when he smelled blood. Animal, and a lot of it. He followed his nose on instinct and came across a boy and a deer. He's nearly silent in his approach, though it's more because he's a vampire than because he's actively trying to be sneaky.

He steps out and walks over, looking at him curiously. "Do a lot of camping back home?"

[im_apimp]

"Something like that," he replied, before turning to face him and catching a bit of scent on the wind. Huh. Another non-putrid dead guy. He'd have to ask if he was a friend of Faith and Angel's. "I sort of grew up in the woods."

He pushed himself up from the stream and started to head back towards the fire to turn the meat. "Hungry?"

[breakmychest]

"Yeah." Spike walked a bit closer. He breathed in, catching the scent of the other man. He didn't smell human. Or... he did, but he smelled like other things too.

He glanced towards the bucket of blood. "Are you going to drink that?"

[im_apimp]

Alec raised an eyebrow at the fact that he went directly to the blood, before shaking his head no. "Not part of my dietary requirements. Knock yourself out."

At this point, Alec was watching him like a hawk. He wasn't unaware of vampires -- he had one feed on him a few weeks ago -- but he still knew absolutely jack squat about them, and if he was going to be stuck here, apparently he needed to start stockpiling on the details. Like the fact that they smelled like dead people.

[whateverthemess]

Murphy is one of the ones that finds him after the gutting and cleaning is all said and done, drawn by the smell of cooking meat and the fear that something out there might have gotten one of the barracks' residents.

Grisly and unpleasant thought, maybe, but not the most unlikely scenario she's ever found herself in.

It's almost a relief to find the kid she recognizes from the comms, the apocalypse-boy with the shared face. "...Alec. Right? Looks like the rest of us could stand to learn a thing or two. Any particular reason you're saving the blood?"

[im_apimp]

"Yeah, Alec," he nods, before turning to face her. His hands hang loosely over his knees as he shakes the water off, before pushing himself to his feet. His eyes wander over to the bucket of blood and he shrugs. "Some of the people here have more interesting dietary needs. I'm just trying to be accommodating."

Though when you hear how accommodating he's being, Murphy, you might get a little worried.

[whateverthemess]

"You mean they're vampires." There's a teeny, tiny, brutal edge to it. Yes, Thomas is a vampire too, but that's different.

That's Thomas.

And she can't get the images of Chichen Itza out of her head now. Fabulous. Not like she wasn't having nightmares enough already. "I'd heard there were some around." She eyes the animal blood, like there's either something wrong with it or that it's not really animal blood at all. Of course, given what Alec's cooking, that line of thinking is paranoid at best and downright idiotic at worst.

Murphy drags in a deep breath and shakes her head, snapping out of that particular, unpleasant reverie. "Nice of you. Careful they don't bite the hand that feeds them."

She doesn't have to add the 'literally' part. It's heavily implied by her tone.

[im_apimp]

Alec is a little taken aback by her tone. He had heard from Jessica that people weren't fans of vampires, but it surprises him to actually hear it. It's probably a side effect of what he is, but he doesn't discriminate based on food. It's not their fault that they are what they are.

Or at least, that's his opinion on the subject.

"Vampires gotta eat too, Murphy," he points out. "It's not their fault that they need to drink blood."