Going for a walk

[onceaviking]

 He arrives shortly after sundown, looking much like the night before. He's added a coat to his ensemble though. Not that he needs it. 
He has several possible plans in mind, but for now he is waiting to see how Miss Potts will react. 

She seemed like an odd mix of confident and hesitant and that is certainly something he can work with. 

Comments

[othereight]

"Maybe tea - with a splash of something stronger," she adds, chuckling.

"It feels like a night for warm drinks." And then she realizes she probably shouldn't be talking about warmth and drinks in front of someone who's just professed himself to be a vampire.

"I'm sorry, do you - you don't drink, do you?"

[onceaviking]

" Not tea, no," he says, looking away briefly. "I can order from the Bar but I do not need anything right now, so I will just watch you enjoy yours."

[othereight]

"I can't say I've ever had anyone watch me enjoy a drink before," Pepper replies, as they start walking back.

Then again, tonight is definitely being host to a lot of firsts.

[onceaviking]

"There are many things I only get to enjoy by proxy," he says.

Many, not all.

[othereight]

"I guess I'll try to enjoy it thoroughly, then," she replies, tipping her chin up slightly.

By the time they make it back inside and over to the Bar it is a hot toddy she orders for herself, her cheeks flushing pink - first with the cold and then from the heat of the drink when it appears and she sips it gingerly.

[onceaviking]

He does watch her drink, taking care not to stare. Especially at her neck and those delicious rosy cheeks.

" It is good? "

[othereight]

"Mmm. Still a little hot," she admits, blowing over the surface of the drink to try and cool it down.

She sets it down on the Bar, keeping both hands wrapped around it.

[onceaviking]

" I remember drinking warm ale, " he says, smiling a little. "This smells better though."

[othereight]

"Is it that you can't taste it or is it that it doesn't taste good?" Pepper asks, curious.

She smiles at the sight of his smile, her own made warm by the drink when she takes another sip.

[onceaviking]

"Both. It was a strange thing to get used to at first," he answers. " Now, I rarely think about it."

[othereight]

"After so many years without, it probably wouldn't make sense to dwell," she murmurs, setting her cup down again as she swivels on the barstool to incline towards him.

[onceaviking]

"No," he says. "It wouldn't."
He too leans a little closer, but not too much. He quickly ends up towering over people.

"And it is not all losses. Many things are beautiful to me now, simply because I see them with sharpened senses. The stars in the sky are so much brighter, the scent of a field dotted with flowers so much more intense. "

[othereight]

Something in his eyes - it sounds cliched but it's there, magnetic, drawing her in slightly. She gazes back at him, resting her chin in her hand as she props her elbow on the Bar.

"Lose some things, gain others," she says, mouth quirking in thought.

[onceaviking]

"Yes," he says. "Exactly so. And so I live with the complications my excistence brings, even in a place like this."

[othereight]

She doesn't resist the temptation to chuckle, looking at him as if she almost can't believe this conversation is taking place.

"You have a remarkably optimistic attitude about it all," she murmurs, taking another sip of her drink and briefly savoring the way it warms her insides.

[onceaviking]

He smiles. "I try to be. And this was a choice I made. That makes it easier as well, I think."

She is relaxed despite the topic it seems. This is good.

[othereight]

"So how does it work?" she asks, curiosity sparking in her gaze. "Becoming one."

She's read conflicting stories about it - and every legend always differs on the specifics.

[onceaviking]

" I lay dying, " he says slowly. "I had been graciously wounded in battle, and a vampire offered to save me. The act itself is - intimate. A sharing of blood."

His voice is low and confidential.

[othereight]

"So you would've died it he hadn't - wow."

Out of lack of anything else to do, she lifts her to drink to her lips, cradling the assuring warmth in temperature as well as the brandy mixed in.

[onceaviking]

"I would," he says, his eyes lingering on her lips as she drinks.

"I was a warrior. It was a known risk. But I lovedlife . I still do. "

[othereight]

"You just value it in a different way now?" Pepper deduces.

It's been a while, but that doesn't mean she's pretending not to know when she's being noticed, or studied differently.

[onceaviking]

"I do," he agrees. " And I want to taste it. All of it."

Her.

He looks down at his hands. "I still haven't tired of it. I don't think I ever will."

[othereight]

It's difficult to ignore now, and it almost sounds like heat in his voice when he speaks, even though she knows how cold she is. Has felt it for herself.

"Well," she replies, clearing her throat, "at least that's better than the alternative."

[onceaviking]

He looks back at her. And there is definitely heat in his eyes, no matter how cold his body might be.

"Yes, " he agrees. " Much better. So much better. "

[othereight]

She isn't entirely sure what compels her - no one will ever claim that Pepper Potts doesn't do anything she doesn't want to do - but that being said, it feels as though she's moving in a trance as she reaches out to touch his jaw, fingers sliding along cool skin.

"Good," she whispers, smiling faintly.