even at the best of times i'm out of my mind // intro

[teef]

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the young man made something of a startled noise, eyes darting up to the man crouched over him, noticing how close he came and held his breath. [color=#151B54]'where the hell did he come from?' he found himself thinking as he looked at rialto, eyes traveling back to alex as he huffed lowly, feeling more than a little agitated and anxious surrounded by people and faces he didn't know.

now, he wasn't about to deny that both individuals were attractive, but he couldn't afford to let their looks sway him. "uh ... hello. hmmnngh ..." his words were cut off by a coughing fit, his ribs aching in his chest. "gnnnhh. alright alright. I need help. and I need you to tell me who both of you are, and why this place is so quiet." he responded softly, licking his lips.

he could sense the night-life beginning to awaken and it stirred some animal instinct deep inside his blood and bones. cautiously he took the cloth from rialto and used it to wipe away the larger amounts of blood on his face, panting softly just from the exertion. he was injured somewhere inside, and he didn't like showing that he was injured, especially in front of strangers.

from what his ex had said, these folks in this city were supposed to be helpful, albeit a little strange and into ... different not normally accepted things by the society that he had lived in. no matter, he had seen his husband do many things that were not approved of, such as manslaughter and well, eating people alive. it didn't bother him that much, but something about these two men set off alarm bells in his head, maybe it was the metallic stink of blood clinging to both and hanging around them.

his head began to pound as he looked back and forth between them, weighing his possibilities, weighing even the chance of surviving this encounter as he ran through different species that had an affinity for blood. 'oh crap, oh holy crap. they can be either nagas in human skin, chupacabras or god help me, vampires.' he worried silently, bright golden eyes quickly losing the fog of unconsciousness, growing to be more alert as his heart pounded in his breast.

why was he afraid of vampires? was it something in his past? had he been attacked by a vampire? no, because his husband had been all for drinking blood from him when he didn't find prey for him. he couldn't be scared of vampires for having his blood drank. that wasn't it. what was it? he could sense that he was becoming distressed and didn't have a way to calm himself down, reaching out desperately for his snake. his breathing began to slow as the ball python he called xiaoxiao slid out to coil loosely around his neck in comfort, her head resting on his collarbone with her tongue flickering at the vampires curiously.

(I apologize I am so brain dead and tired right now)