Pre-Emptive Destination
<h1 id="title">Elliquiy Role Playing Forums</h1>
		<h2 id="linktree">Play-By-Post: Bondage, D/s, S&amp;M =&gt; Bondage: Human Solos =&gt; Topic started by: Trieste on 11-04-2009, 21:25:59</h2>
		<dl id="posts">
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>11-04-2009, 21:25:59</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Setting is here (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=12751.0).<br><br><hr><br>Marissa crouches in the hallway, waiting for the woman to come out. She can hear the faint humming and smell the scent of brimstone and beer, both of which tell her not only that the woman is in the kitchen, but that she is also what Marissa suspects her of being. Having spent several of her early years in the possession of one of the things – and later in a mental ward because of it – she well knows what to look for. It might be all in her head, but Marissa doesn’t particularly care; so was the critter that taught her all of this. <br><br>She’s told that some people can see them, but all Marissa can do is smell, and pay attention. Having spent so long out of school and at the mercy of some crazy being that called itself Iaoth – demon-bane,&nbsp; the hunter of the Fallen – she knows a little of what to look for, on both sides. This woman is it. You can’t really kill them. She’d learned that. But they prefer to be inconspicuous, and walking around in an animated corpse is rather the opposite of that, so they have to find a new shell to inherit if you kill the current one. Marissa moves. There is a thunk, a truncated scream, then nothing but a pool of blood and cooling flesh. Marissa leaves the house like a ghost, her diminutive form untraceable and untrackable, at least by the mortals who track her. She has gotten very good at avoiding the mortal law, and the immortal law doesn’t really care much about people, now do they? Marissa swipes a dark curl off of her sweat-sheened olive forehead and tugs off the leather gloves she’s taken to wearing as she walks down the street. She has four more on her list for tonight, and then she can go home and sleep.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Professor Loki Caprion</strong> on <strong>11-04-2009, 21:28:35</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Marissa?" came a voice from across the street, his words sounding tinged with some happy surprise, "hey, it is you!"<br><br>Gabe Christos jaywalked swiftly across the road, not that many cars were out at this hour, smiling broadly to the girl. If he had any knowledge of her recent slaughtering, he didn't show it. He looked nearly the same as he did when they'd last met, just before Iaoth's possession. Subtle Greek features from his father's side, muddled a bit with the Euro-mutt of his mother's, he was a handsome man. He'd gained a bit more muscle since college, which was good; he was almost a scrawny guy back then. His black hair looked like it may have been somewhat messy by design, but the way he sprinted across the street may have been the culprit for his careless style. His green eyes sparkled with surprising warmth as he stood near Marissa, in the awkward pose of someone who isn't sure if he should sweep an old acquaintance into a hug or not.<br><br>"I haven't seen you since--" since you dropped out, he wanted to say, but that'd hardly be tactful, "... has to have been a few years, now, right? What are you up to? Maybe we could get a drink to catch up on some things?"<br><br>One of his hands was in the pocket of his slacks, the other held his jacket over his shoulder. It looked like he was still dressed from whatever job he had, and clearly it was some sort of job that required shirt and tie; albeit now the tie was untied and around his neck, the shirt's top two buttons undone. He seemed utterly at ease, perhaps because he wasn't trying to pick up an old flame... or perhaps he was relaxed enough with the idea that he didn't show it.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>11-04-2009, 21:31:07</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				If this were a year or two ago, Marissa would have nearly leapt out of her skin at the unexpected call, but now she simply pauses and pivots. The man coming across the street toward her confuses her for several seconds, before he gets close enough for her to place him. "Oh..." She folds the leather gloves outside-in between her palms, in case any blood splashed on them. There's nothing she can do for the rest of her clothes, so she'll have to hope they're clean enough to withstand close inspection. They should be, but nobody's perfect. "Um. Gabe." She smiles and tucks her hands behind her back in an equally awkward gesture. <br><br>"Wow, you..." She tilts her head at him. 'You grew a hotness rating' doesn't seem like quite the right greeting. "You look terrific." And she means it. "I was just thinking about you the other day, wondering how you were doing." Also not quite true, but there's no harm in making him feel nice. Especially since she's about to turn him down. "I can't really go out just now, but how have you been?" She smiles at him... <br><br>The two of them made an interesting pair. He looked like the Greek geek who belonged in the Chess Club and probably Mensa. Marissa, with her dark, unruly curls, exotic almond eyes and tannish olive skin, looks like she could be from either Bahrain or Brazil... and like she belonged in a bikini either way. She was supposed to be popular and probably stupid, and he was, well, <em>not</em>. Funny how stuff doesn't work out that way. <br><br>She... was never quite sure how to interact with people after Iaoth left, and Gabe was one of the few people who seemed to forgive that. Spending most of one's formative years under the influence of a supposedly angelic possession makes high school ... much harder than it normally is. Not that it really needs to be. But the pressure cooker of adolescence really was too much for Marissa to handle, and she had ended up in Stonewood Park Mental Facility only three months into her sophomore year. Getting your high school diploma along with the girl who paints pictures on the wall with her boogers? Not so fun. Even though Iaoth himself was gone long before freshman year, her life remained scarred and pockmarked with the remnants of childhood possession.<br><br>College really wasn't much better, either.<br><br>"Do you work near here or something?" The question rolls off her tongue despite the distraction of memories. It occurs to her that she really doesn't have many ties to this area, so if he does ... so much the better.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Professor Loki Caprion</strong> on <strong>12-04-2009, 07:13:57</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe's smile didn't even flicker as Marissa seemed to turn him down. As she stayed and seemed to make a bit of small talk, he seemed more at ease than before. He let out a little chuckle as she asked her question of him, looking up absently at one of the buildings nearby. "Yeah, I just started. Got a job at the Kirkland and Ellis, just doing some paralegal stuff for now. What are you doing around here, anyway? Haven't seen you in a long time... it's like you dropped off the face of the earth!"<br><br>He seemed to have come quite a long way from the awkward lad she once knew. He seemed a lot more confident, and definitely more attractive. And had he been working out? Law School seemed to have been kind to him, somehow. However, Marissa didn't have time to think about that for much longer; she could smell another one coming.<br><br>The scent of brimstone and, strangely, an electric ozone scent wafted toward the pair, and Gabe flinched at it. He cocked his head, looking about to locate the source of the foreign odor. Even more oddly, Gabe's fists were clenched, his jaw set, his eyes narrowed. "Do you smell that?" he asked, looking cautiously back to Marissa.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>12-04-2009, 14:44:33</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Marissa doesn't say anything right away. She hadn't really thought most normals were attentive enough to bother wondering what that was. Sure, she's been in places where others have noticed something out of the ordinary before, but... "Yeah, I guess I do." It can get a little hairy when <em>they</em> approach <em>her</em>, and she chews the inside of her lip, feeling slightly guilty. Gabe shouldn't have to deal with this. <br><br>"You know, I changed my mind." She beams a smile at him. "I'm gonna call my girlfriend and tell her I met up with an old friend, and I'll be a little late home. She'll fret some, but she'll understand, and we can go grab a beer." She fishes around in her back pocket for her cell. She slips her arm through Gabe's and starts hitting buttons on her (fairly cheap pay-as-you-go) phone as she makes to guide him down the street. The smell is getting stronger, not weaker, and it's usually so faint... and there's some sort of tangy aftertaste... <em>What <strong>is</strong> that?</em>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Professor Loki Caprion</strong> on <strong>16-04-2009, 17:44:14</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				When Marissa took his arm, he flushed a bit, unable to help but lean a little closer to the woman as she seemed more than intent on taking him out, suddenly. Of course, he wasn't about to complain, even as she seemed to be acting strangely. Of course, Marissa always was a bit strange, though now she was strange, hotter and wanting to get a drink with him. Two out of three ain't bad, just like that Meat Loaf song.<br><br>Of course, Meat Loaf also did "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," and from that train of though, Gabe's mind started to wander to other things so that the strange smell was pushed to the back of his mind, then out completely. He'd been sensing strange things, lately, but he assumed maybe it was something to do with his recent change of allergy medications. As Marissa produces her phone, he diverts his attention to a nearby news stand, wondering just why the attendant inside was staring so intently at them.<br><br>"Weird night..." he commented, offhandedly.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>17-04-2009, 05:16:53</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Yes. Yes, it is." Marissa smiles at him as she takes the excuse to pick up her pace and all but drag him down the street. "It's kind of creepy, but I didn't <em>think</em> it was a full moon tonight..." She grins at him, then turns her attention to the phone as whoever is on the other end (apparently) picks up.<br><br>"Crissy, gonna be late tonight, baby." He hears nothing from the phone, so all there is is her side of the conversation. She grins at him and shrugs a little, as if to say 'this is what I have to do to keep from getting bitched out when I get home'. "I'll be in probably around midnight. Yeah. 'Kay." She takes the phone from her ear and thumbs the 'off' key. "I know this decent bar over on Mill and Seventh... it's only like 3 blocks away if you want to walk over there." She says this as she tucks her phone back into her back pocket and looks at him. They're almost to the intersection ahead, which gives her more options than a straight street...
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Professor Loki Caprion</strong> on <strong>22-04-2009, 01:40:13</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The change in Marissa's demeanor was almost unsettling. She went from "I have something else to do" to pretty much yanking him along toward some unknown destination. When she produced her phone and spoke into it, he realized that Marissa's "girlfriend" wasn't just some girl who was a friend. He never would have thought she swung that way, and his heart dropped a bit. Then again, his macho side insisted, this may just end in a threesome if cards are played right.<br><br>He overheard her saying she'd be home at midnight. That was a bit of time. Gabe started to wonder if maybe she planned to even cheat on her girlfriend with him. An arousing thought, but disturbing if she turned out to be a big stereotype ready to rip his lungs out for touching Mari. Sadly, his libido won out, and in the end, Gabe smiled to Marissa's suggestion.<br><br>"That sounds good," he chuckled, leaning in a bit closer now that the phone was out of sight, "lead the way... not that you seem to have any problems doing that. Are you feeling alright?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>17-05-2009, 04:09:40</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				She can see the moment when his hopes deflate. It's a little kind of twitch in the face, and it gives her a grim sort of satisfaction. That was her reason for faking a call to a girlfriend in the first place. She glances over her shoulder quickly, then turns and walks a little faster. She doesn't see anyone following them, but the smell still clings to the air like a desperate lover. It's unsettling, unnerving, and totally creepy. <br><br>"Yeah, I'm feeling great!" She grins at him. "It's so great to see you again. I can't wait to get caught up." She pauses only momentarily at the intersection, then ducks off right. It looks like it leads to more civilization, which means protection. "So what made you decide to do the paralegal thing?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Professor Loki Caprion</strong> on <strong>21-05-2009, 04:34:30</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				He couldn't tell just what Marissa was playing at, anymore. She seemed to be a little crazier than he remembered, and that was saying quite a bit. That mattered little; she was sexy, and wanting to go somewhere with him.&nbsp; Despite him growing into a far more handsome man than he had been a teenager, Gabe wasn't exactly swimming in propositions.<br><br>When she changed directly, he took advantage of that to stumble and slip his arm around her to catch himself. He wasn't copping a feel by any means, but he <em>was</em> a little closer now. <br><br>"Whoa, what's with the rush?" he chuckled, still following her harried lead, "anyway, paralegal... I wanted to do something with law, but I couldn't hold up in a courtroom. I know I'd just seize up and be completely worthless as a trial lawyer, you know?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>22-05-2009, 04:35:20</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"This part of town makes me a little nervous, you know? I don't like the crooks that hang out here, even if they call themselves lawyers most of the time." She winks at him, then glances behind them again. The smell seems to have dissipated, and nobody seems to be following them. Could she have imagined it? She looks further down the street. They're staring to get toward civilization again, and she can hear the strains of a familiar song drifting out of a nearby industrial club. <br><br><div align="center"><em>Space in your face, I'm gonna drink the fuckin' ocean, 'cause I ain't from the coast; I'm just coastin'.</em></div><br>The sound is closer now, and she can make out the lyrics. <br><br><div align="center"><em>Said I was an after thought you'd bring along... Well, who you after now, bitch? Run, motherfucker, run.</em></div><br>Grinning at Gabe, she nods toward the bar. "They have a quiet room where we can still watch the dance floor, and they have good music. Let's go grab a seat." She takes him by the hand and leads him in amid the blaring guitar of the Kidney Thieves, guiding him toward a booth. Crowded places are good; it means nobody is likely to attack them.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Professor Loki Caprion</strong> on <strong>31-05-2009, 21:26:29</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Everything seemed to be moving in fast-forward as Marissa took him into that bar. He had no idea what kind of music it was that was playing, but it hardly mattered. His hand squeezed hers and he gladly let her take him into a booth, sitting right down beside her as they moved in to the rather isolated seating. It was always strange to Gabe how booths in these kinds of places, while still close to the crowd, seemed to provide such privacy. In this particular instance, he was quite happy for it.<br><br>It was making him more than a bit nervous, himself. She'd gone from nearly blowing him off to practically dragging him along, and he had to wonder if he wasn't be used for one thing or another. Did she need money, maybe? Trying to make her girlfriend jealous for some reason? Or maybe she just genuinely wanted to catch up, and liked this sort of establishment. In the end, it hardly mattered; she was right next to him, and Gabe felt that little glimmer of hope once more.<br><br>"So... what's good to drink, here?" he asked finally.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>31-05-2009, 23:29:35</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Sex on the beach," she answers with a grin, seeming definitely more relaxed in the comforting cloak of humanity. It's good to have meat-shields around her, even if some of them could be housing more horrors that she spends her time hunting.<br><br>"That and they have some interesting beer. I came here originally because I like to watch the people. Clubs are the <em>best</em> places to watch people." And it's true, to a point. She watches them, all right, and studying other <em>people</em> is a good way to help pick out the... the non-people.<br><br>"What do you want? I'll grab it for you."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Professor Loki Caprion</strong> on <strong>02-07-2009, 02:37:20</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The way she grinned while ordering her drink seemed far from accidental. He looked around, a bit nervously, as if trying to look for some catalyst for her strange demeanor. Sure, this was Marissa he was talking to, but he still tried to rationalize her peculiarities in his mind. Finding no apparent source for her eccentricities, Gabe just gave a small smile.<br><br>"I'll have, um... just a Captain and Coke is good for me," he finally managed to work out.<br><br>Gabe wasn't the heaviest drinker, so he had to order just the first thing that came to his mind as something he could handle. The last thing he needed was to make a fool of himself in front of this girl. He wasn't entirely sure what her angle was, but he was almost positive there <em>was</em> an angle. He'd nothing better to do than attempt to figure her out, at any rate. <br><br>It was a welcome break from his typical dull evenings.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>24-08-2009, 01:08:58</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				With a nod, she disappears off through the club. The pounding of music, the inundation of bodies, the pure <em>life</em> of this place just makes it seem so far away from the regular grind that is her life. Pretty much, her days are spent sniffing around - pretty much literally - and doing her best to just make sure nothing gets to her before she gets it first. Forces of heaven or forces of hell, she really doesn't care. They're all disgusting, nothing more than parasites leeching off the minds of unsuspecting passersby in their war against each other.<br><br>Huh. When you put it like that, she really does sound crazy.<br><br>There's still the matter of the four others she has found, the ones she had planned to exterminate for tonight, but with Gabe making eyes at her, it's hard to really slip away and do anything. She sets some money on the counter after the bartender hands her her drinks, then turns back around. What's she going to tell him? Why did she agree to this? Well, sure, there's the fact that she'd wanted to make sure he didn't walk head-on into one of the crazy bodysnatchers, but ... really, can she even keep him from becoming a meatmobile? Not really.<br><br>With a sigh and a sinking feeling in her stomach, she heads back over toward Gabe, pushing his rum toward him. "So how's tricks? I can't believe I haven't seen you since school."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Professor Loki Caprion</strong> on <strong>12-09-2009, 18:30:39</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Marissa vanished into the throng of people, and Gabe took that moment to visibly relax. Some part of him sunk; he wasn't going to see her again. She'd moved off into the crowd to lose him, she was going to slip out, and he was going to go back home to the same lonely apartment he had been for God-knows-how-long. At least he could take some solace in the fact that she made up an excuse to cushion his feelings, instead of laughing at him and giving the cold shoulder. <br><br>He never even saw her come back. The first alert of her presence was her seated beside him, pushing his drink over. Did she ask something? He was really too shocked to tell. Maybe she needed money and was about to ask him for a loan? Something had to be up.<br><br>"Since... yah, school, it's been a while," he said loudly over the noise (or did they call it "music?") of the club.<br><br>He raised his glass to his lips, then froze, crinkling his nose. "Do you <em>smell</em> that?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>13-09-2009, 05:44:45</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Marissa is in the middle of a sip of her own drink when he asks his question. She nearly chokes on the sweet drink, raising her eyebrows. What? They can't have caught up with her and Gabe so fast. She swallows her drink and sniffs the air while the music drifts around them. A cover of some old Dylan song, hardly recognizable with the strange trance-like beats behind it.<br><br><em>The empty-handed painter from your streets is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets...</em><br><br>There's no smell, not one that she can pick up, and she glances at him. "What?" She mouths the word more than says it, looking puzzled. Is he picking up something that she isn't? Probably not. After all, they're in a club. There are a lot of crazy smells. <br><br><em>... this sky, too, is folding under you...</em><br><br>"You never answered my question," she adds, settling back into her seat. "How're things going? You're not married." She grins at him. "So knowing you there aren't any kids running around or anything. Did you just go to school or what?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Professor Loki Caprion</strong> on <strong>15-09-2009, 02:44:02</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe grinned at the question, though some scent was clearly still bothering him. "Kids? None that I <em>know</em> of!"<br><br>Laughing a bit at his own joke, he took a sip from his glass, then rolled it about in his hand. "I've really been doing not a lot other than working, you know? Getting settled in, I suppose, and not focusing much on trying to have a social life or anything."<br><br>It didn't take much for Gabe to realize that he was painting a none-too-flattering picture of himself for his old friend, and he quickly changed gears. "What are you doing to keep yourself afloat, these days? Any exciting work coming your way?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>28-09-2009, 06:57:14</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Um..." <br><br>Marissa really doesn't know how to answer him. It seems a little over the top to just sort of blurt out what she does for a living. <em>Yes, well, I spend my days chasing down people that have been posessed like I was, and then I kill them, because it means that neither angels nor demons can do any more harm to our world. Oh, and by the way, they're both on the wrong team, because neither angels nor demons give a flying fuck about people - they only care about souls.</em><br><br>Yeah. Right. <br><br>"Um, well, you know. Battling the forces of Hell like the rest of us." She gives him a wry smile. "My boss is sort of demanding."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Professor Loki Caprion</strong> on <strong>28-09-2009, 20:15:50</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe nearly choked on his drink as Marissa said that. Something about her phrasing sort of bothered him, though like hell could he reveal that sort of information to her. That would not only be a surefire way to <strong>not</strong> get laid, but it wasn't the sort of thing <strong>his</strong> boss would appreciate. It was a sort of "holier than thou" attitude that Gabe had to work under.<br><br>Wiping his eye a bit with his napkin, he smirked a little, shaking his head. "Yeah, it's hell out there. And believe me, I know a lot about demanding bosses. Say, am I supposed to ask you to dance?"<br><br>He grinned as suavely as he could, hoping very much to change the subject from the topic of divinity.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>13-10-2009, 19:46:38</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The reaction out of Gabe is priceless, and Marissa does her best not to choke on her own drink. She shakes her head and adds, "I ... I mean, I guess you could ask, but I don't really dance, so you would end up being embarrassed." She tucks her hair behind her ears, smiling at him. "Better not to ask." She sips her drink a little, then touches his hand. "I'm sorry you don't like your boss, though." She laughs.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Professor Loki Caprion</strong> on <strong>16-10-2009, 02:31:21</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				He was honestly a little relieved at her lighthearted answer to his half-hearted attempt at asking to dance; he'd have only embarrassed himself had she agreed, anyway. When she touched his hand, however, he nearly missed what she said next. It tingled. He liked that tingle. Her laugh even made him tingle a bit, and he wasn't sure just why he was tingling.<br><br>Gabe casually turned his hand over so that their palms met, his eyes almost shyly meeting Marissa's as he went about talking as if he weren't flirting (which he very clearly was). "It sounds like you don't like your boss, either, huh? I guess that's life... spend all day being a pawn of someone up high with absolutely no interest in the plights of their lessers."<br><br>There was a bit of an edge of resentment in his voice, there, but he smothered it with a sip from his drink.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>07-03-2010, 03:20:10</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Yeah..." She chews the inside of her lip for a few moments, then leans in and whispers, "I know I haven't seen you in forever, but I don't really want to talk about work. It's seriously the last thing I usually want to talk about, especially when it feels like I never get a day off." She winks at him, chewing on the straw in her drink. The Dylan song has moved on to something she doesn't recognize, and the sound of incessant chatter from a hundred voices presses in on her. "Gabe, you know, you really seem like you've blossomed. I'm so glad for you." She saw the way he looked at her when their hands touched, and she hopes that the line, withering in its friendly encouragement, will send his thoughts off down the paths of friendship once more. Besides, she meant it. Gabe had gotten pretty hot.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Professor Loki Caprion</strong> on <strong>03-07-2010, 22:46:12</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The way she chewed on the inside of her lip, the whisper, the way she winked, the way she chewed on her straw; all of it was making Gabe think entirely the wrong things about his old acquaintance. <br><br>And just what did she mean when she said he'd “blossomed?” Was she checking him out? It certainly felt like it, and Gabe instinctively shifted a bit in his seat, smiling despite himself. “You think so?” he chuckled, leaning in a little closer, “because it looks like you've blossomed pretty well, yourself.”<br><br>Sure, she was still a bit odd, but that somehow added to her mystique. It was no problem forgetting about his boss and his job when Marissa dismissed it; she was a far more engaging subject, after all. He felt himself wanting to invite her somewhere else, but wasn't quite that sure of himself. Not yet, at least. Instead, he just squeezed her hand and smiled at her, trying to give his best, most attractive expression based on what the girls in movies always seemed to fall for.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Pre-Emptive Destination</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trieste</strong> on <strong>26-08-2010, 02:19:57</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The goofy grin he gave her made her have to stifle a giggle, but she managed. "Thanks, Gabe." She didn't see anyone around that might attack him; none of the possessed seemed to be in the club. She couldn't sense anything, anyway, and so he didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. She wasn't about to be rude, but she decided it was time to finish her drink and go, to leave Gabe to his night. She didn't really have a girlfriend to go home to, didn't have much by way of friends, but better to be lonely than to expose him to the sorts of things she saw every day.<br><br>"Um. I'm not really sure what to say to that," she said with a nervous little smile.
			</dd>
		</dl>
		<div id="footer" class="smalltext">
			
			<span class="smalltext" style="display: inline; visibility: visible; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?action=credits" title="Simple Machines Forum" target="_blank" class="new_win">SMF 2.0.19</a> |
 <a href="https://www.simplemachines.org/about/smf/license.php" title="License" target="_blank" class="new_win">SMF © 2021</a>, <a href="https://www.simplemachines.org" title="Simple Machines" target="_blank" class="new_win">Simple Machines</a>
			</span>
		</div>