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It's 2:47 pm. The sounds of movement come first with a pained groan. The space they share was at least somewhat nice - but the sound of the stumble and crash that came with it looked significantly less nice.
How, exactly, had the looking-like-sexy-death roommate tangled himself in the standing lamp before pulling it down on him was a mystery. Qadir was in basketball shorts and a cut-sleeve tee, and of course, wearing the fashion statement of a cord wrapped thrice around his leg.
The last few weeks, Qadir has been basically hidden away in his room, rarely venturing out and often wearing lots of covering clothing when he did. After the mugging, he'd just been very, very depressed likely. Agitated. Skipping classes. Not going to things like practice. Now? Now that he was healed up, it was... an odd sight. He looked somehow sick, but also... better than he ever had. A study in opposites.
Lif's been...distracted lately. She's explained it away as a work project, but there's something about how she changes the subject right afterward that's been a little too quick. Still, something like that crashing sound was sufficient to draw her out of her bedroom and into the common area to make sure Qadir's alright.
"Tripping over your own feet?" Her pale blue-green eyes linger on him thoughtfully before she moves in to help with detangling.
"When did we move the light?" grumbles the other as he lays back and accepts death lets Lif detangle him without struggle. "I feel like crap."
"What a coincidence. You look like crap." Lif laughs quietly, setting the lamp upright again. "Look, I know we're just roommates thrown together by chance, but I've been worried about you. This isn't normal."
"Everything's fine. I'm fine," says the least convincing actor ever. He puts an arm up over his face. His pretty, sickly face. "You don't need to worry. I'm just... You've been in your room a lot."
"For you, I'd come out of my room. You just need to say something." They reach out to touch his forehead gently, fingertips cool--her hands always feel cold. "Do I need to take you to a doctor?"
"No! Er, um, no. No, uh, doctors needed," says the one running perfectly fine from the touch - though it was like even the pores had smoothed out over on him.
She watches him for a moment more, then backs up slightly and stands. "Qadir, what do you think is the worst thing that would happen, if you were honest with me about what happened to you?"
There's something of a forced evenness to her tone of voice.
He slowly scrambled up, looking around the room as if there would be inspiration for just the perfect thing to say. "I don't know what you mean..." he finally tries.
"I'm not asking you what happened yet. I'm just trying to figure out why it is you're so scared to talk to me about it." They lean back against a wall, hands going into the pockets of their jeans. Trying to look less threatening, perhaps. Harmless. "You're bullshitting poorly. And I probably do the same, and you haven't pushed, which is nice, and polite, thank you. But. This is something else, huh?"
Qadir moves towards the kitchen to reach in for a glass, pauses, and on second thought gets a plastic cup likely given away for free with pizza at some point. Then going to pour himself some water. "I... just haven't felt good during the day's all. I dunno. I'll feel better tonight."
"Maybe it's like a low key migraine..."
Narrator's Voice: It was not a migraine...
Qadir's not subtle at all. There's definitely something about the day/night cycle going on. And he's been literally hiding himself from Lif, trying to keep it so they didn't see him. All since the mugging. Usually he hasn't left his room, but when he does, it's late at night when he gets home, and always before sunrise. He doesn't seem to trust his own body at the moment for coordination and basic tasks, and the usually outgoing type had heavily withdrawn. And while he looks under the weather, he's actually started looking more... ethereal? Otherworldly? Eyes that they'd seen now hosting a color more easily shifting to others depending on lighting and angle. Thinning out just for that perfect jawline and physique. Hair that even when mussed seems just all-too-perfect like one should just reach out and touch it... But afraid to go to the doctors. Maybe something from the hospital?
They consider him quietly. "You are changing, Qadir. Maybe if I weren't living with you, it wouldn't be so obvious, but I see it. Something has happened--is happening. That much, you can't deny me."
"Everyone changes," says the one literally shaking as he fills his water. "It's... what happens. We're in college. Finishing puberty and figuring out... who we are." He lifts the water to gulp down. "What else would it be, right?"
"Well. If it weren't for the day/night thing, I'd kind of wonder if you were becoming a werewolf or something." And she watches his reaction to that comment like a hawk.
There's perhaps the most awkward sounding laugh ever that comes out of Qadir's throat. "W-werewolf? No... That'd be... like there's werewolves..."
They don't say anything right away, continuing to watch Qadir silently. Awkward silence is awkward?
"Definitely... not a werewolf..." says the one now scooooooching on back towards his room with a look of concentration. "I'd know, right? Whole... moon thing..."
"I suppose you probably would, yeah." She nods. "So, do you not know what you are?"
"This is a weird psyche exam," says Qadir slowly. "What class is all this for? Do you know what you are?"
"Mm. A mess, is what I am." She waves the question away like wafting away a plume of smoke. "It's okay. You don't feel safe talking to me, I get that."
"I'm a mess too. Guess we should always trust the wonders of the random selection process," says Qadir with another of those fake laughs as he eyes Lif.
They allow themself to be eyed, making as direct eye contact as Qadir will allow, expression passive. Patient. They're a puddle, they can wait.
They should be used to people staring into them for answers. That's what it's like, isn't it? To be contemplated for answers by someone staring entirely too long with their pretty eyes and... "I'm going to, um, go back in my room. Not to, uh, watch werewolf movies. Or, um, yes, to watch werewolf movies now."
Lif moves to the kitchen sink, to wash her hands.
Simultaneously, on its own, Qadir's bedroom door creaks open before he even touches it. Just, you know. Coincidence, surely.
Maybe a spray of water just happened to hit it just right.
He stops and stares at his door for a long, long, long moment. "Huh." But then goes in like nothing weird at all..................
And Lif doesn't push it any further. Instead, they change the subject. "By the way, I might be gone early next week. I've got a trip out of town Sunday, and I'm not sure exactly when I'll be back. Depends on how bad it goes, maybe."
"Why would it go bad?" asks Qadir as he turns around to lean in the doorway.
"It's a project that involves a parasitic plant problem, and some jurisdictional issues, and it's really more about making sure we make a good impression than dealing with the problem, but rogue botany may end up being a thing at some point, maybe?" They shrug--their turn to attempt to gloss over everything.
"Rogue botany - what sort of..." Qadir looks into the room. "Do you wanna watch some movies and talk? Maybe after... I take a shower and get dressed for the day?"
She nods a little bit. "I can cook something or order in pizza, while you're in the shower. Even if you're not feeling up to things, you really should eat--get something in you. Yeah?"
"Yeah, let's get some pizza. Usual stuff for my part," he offers before looking back into his room. "Lemme just... might be a minute."
They nod, heading into their room to grubhub the pizza--their usual ALL THE VEGGIES fare, with a fried vegetables (mushrooms, onion rings, zucchini) for an appetizer.
It is... more than a minute nearly an hour later, well after food has arrived, he comes back out in his Temple Cheerleading sweatsuit with hood thrown up over his head. Seems someone was going full comfort set as he made his way back out to pick at food to pile onto a plate.
"Veggies might be a little soggy now, but you do you." Lif's still in her Sleeves Are Bullshit tank top and jeans and hasn't waited to claim a couple pieces of pizza. Sorry , Qadir.
"You're soggy," says Qadir on reflex. Then again, it's probably true for the puddle. Still, it all comes in so that he can go flop over a bit of chair and set the food on his stomach. "So why are you Poison Ivy'ing?"
She flicks her fingertips at Qadir, as if flicking off water in his direction. And if he happens to feel it? Clearly that's just his imagination, right?
"Because of haustoria getting into the root systems of local plants and killing off the hosts? So, like. What do you know about mistletoe?"
"It can be deadly if you eat it." But a kiss can be even deadlier if you mean it finishes the quote. "Not a ton?"
"Only to children, if you're talking the American variety, actually. Recent studies have found that though it can cause gastrointestinal upset, it's not actually a very strong toxin in itself." Clearly, she's been doing her research. "The European variety, though, that's more poisonous."
"... Is this leading to you poisoning a wealthy industrialist?" asks Qadir as he chews on his soggy veggies...
"Is that what today's going to be?"
"...fuck, I wish it was." They laugh warmly. "I would be so glad to, though."
"So we've got really poisonous mistletoe, yeah? Maybe it's... somewhere wrong?"
She shakes her head. "The mistletoe was a metaphor. We have another parasitic plant with toxic properties, I think. Probably. And that's why I'm going out of town Sunday."
"You think maybe we should bring it up to like a town hall?" asks the clueless one. "Do I... should we start an internet campaign?"
"No, it's not something you can fight that way. And it's not really...no. That won't help." They look down at their pizza as they speak, rather than at him. "Do you really think of me as being like Poison Ivy?"
"I mean, she's an environmentalist too, right?" says Qadir. "Who doesn't want to be Poison Ivy?"
"I'll never dress like she does in the comics, for one..."
"I kind of like the one in New 52. It's just like a black catsuit with ivy growing around it."
"Even a catsuit, I don't know if I'd be comfortable in." She looks down at her own body, almost seeming to assess it for a moment. "That's a different problem, though."
"I guess that's fair." He eyes a window for just a moment. "I wonder what it would feel like to feel energized and full just from sunlight though."
"Right now, you seem to have the exact opposite going on. I'm almost tempted to see if the degree to which you perk up at night changes with the moon phase. Remember, as long as you write it down, it's science. Adam Savage said so."
"If it's not Adam, it's Daniel," quips Qadir before he rips into pizza. "I dunno if it'll... whatever. So not something we can activist at. Ok. Do you wanna watch some dumb werewolf movie?
"...you don't know if it'll...?" A light prompt. Sorry, that subject change won't be ignored.
"Do you want to watch like Ginger Snaps or like An American Werewolf in London or something more like Blood & Chocolate?" Qadir is nothing if not stubborn.
"Blood and Chocolate. I read the book when I was a teenager. The same author also wrote one about aliens, and one about a vampire. The one with aliens had a main character named Robin Goodfellow. Who, of course, went by Puck for short." There's an eyeroll.
"Part of film tradition is callbacks. It works better when they do that because we know the archetype," argues Qadir as he navigates menus to get things going.
"Sure. But like. Mixing references to Midsummer with aliens, and not really paying them off? It was sorta sloppy." She shrugs. "I liked the vampire one, though, that I remember. 'The Silver Kiss'."
"Aren't aliens just modern fairies?" asks Qadir. "I don't think I watched that one though. Err... read it."
Lif opens their mouth to respond to the accusation and then kinda just...stops. Shakes their head. "Mm. Maybe."
"They're unknowable, have weird weaknesses, are fascinated by humanity for some reason, and abduct people they find pleasing. Totally modern fairies."
There's no response to that aloud. Lif heads over to the sink to grab some water.
Qadir... lets that one go as if assuming he was boring them, letting time roll on.
With the magic of a movie montage and some chattering during that, the sun starts to set, and with it, Qadir starts to perk up more. And slowly, oh so slowly, what was a nice look began to get even nicer. Filling with life and almost light - the way some might say you're glowing to someone who just really owned the moment. Even if this moment is sitting slumped on the couch in sweats, it somehow starts to take the effect of a Renaissance painting - handsome ethereal being in recline.
Lif glances between him and the window. "Migraine's gone now, isn't it?"
"Must've been the food," says Qadir, but even his words are coming nicer, and his movements more graceful. Look at that hand, somehow perfectly stretched out, reaching for the waterglass... "Yeah, it is."
They purse their lips, but this time let it go. "Yeah, must be the food. So clearly we need to feed you better."
"I should be better about that," they agree as they take the drink and sit up more. It's uncanny how much of a painting come to life they look - and Lif may even know some actual paintings come to life.
It's weird. It's wrong. It's uncanny. She's made a little uncomfortable by just how gorgeous he is now, the light in her eyes dimming as she thinks.
"I'm sorry. About earlier. I was being nosy. I was trying to help."
"No, it's fine. I, uh, haven't really figured out what's going on with all of that," admits Qadir. "I thought maybe a sudden onset sun allergy but... doesn't seem... medically backed," he admits.
"What if it's not a medical condition?" The words are soft. Uncertain. In the presence of 'pretty Qadir', she becomes more muted, as a habit.
"Like what? I'm a vampire?" jokes Qadir with a grin - have his teeth gotten straighter? Maybe it's just the Invisalign doing overtime...
They raise an eyebrow, turning their pale gaze upon him. Because that's not the weirdest thing possible, is it?
The laugh that comes this time doesn't sound like a broken suggestion of a laugh - warm and inviting, even if just a bit too much so. He rolls his eyes and turns his attention back on the screen. "Maybe I'll get on some sites later. I'm sure there's a meet local vampires option on Tindr."
"Whatever you do, just be careful. I worry. You're the closest I have to family." There are even some on campus who assume the two young people, both with darker skin and pale cool eyes, are related. Lif...doesn't make a habit of disillusioning them when the idea comes up.
That does seem to sober him up a bit. "I think we'll be ok, but I'll be careful if you be careful... ecobombing your industrialist or whatever."
"I'll try. This is just, you know. A first social overture. Shouldn't be too bad, really, I don't think."
There's some nods before, "I think I'm going to go out tonight. Just, uh, try to shake off the blah a little maybe."
"...you'd tell me if you were an actual vampire going out looking for prey or something, right?" This sounds like a joke, mostly.
"Do you think I'm an actual vampire?" It's definitely a tease, right? And not like... a legitimate question like it sounds...
She looks him in the eyes for a good long moment before answering. And this does not have the tone of a joke. "I think that...the cause for your condition is more likely to be mystical than medical, given the symptoms."
"... You're starting to sound like my mom. I'm fine. Things are... fine," says Qadir as he very likely convinces himself more than convinces Lif.
She flinches slightly at that comparison to his mother, and goes quiet again, watching the TV instead of looking at him.
And with that bit of awkward note, they step out to get dressed, heading out just a bit later.
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