Scorpions and Magic [Dimitri and Alexiathefox]

[Alexiathefox]

After the five hour 'learning' session at NeoSOL,Varrick stumbled out trying to keep his balance when all his legs wanted to do was give out. It was a typical outcome for him. All of his nerves were extra sensitive. Even the air on his skin felt uncomfortable. His clothes felt rough against him, but it wasn't real. All his magic was heightened from his ordeal, though he had little left. Putting his hands in his pockets, he walked down the street trying to dodge people as he went along. His headache made everything seem brighter, and louder. He was having a hard time coping with it all. Varrick just had to keep in mind that he would be home soon.

He pulled out his phone and called his sister to see if she had already left. It was harder to try and dodge people, so they bumped against him on the crowded streets. His teeth grit against the pain of it. When someone picked up, his expression brightened. "Lexa?" He spoke softly into the phone.

"Varrick? Where are you? I thought they let you go an hour ago?" Her light sweet alto seemed louder than it was.

"Naw. I just got out. At least this time, they dumped water on me to wash the blood off." He grumbled and rubbed his nose, only a small amount of blood left. "I'm on Newport street heading home right now. I was going to grab some food for us on the way. Sandwiches fine with you?" He paused to listen to her response.
"Yeah. Sandwiches are fine. Just come home quickly so we can...take care of things." She sounded worried about him, and didn't want to say what they did at home over the phone. They could never be too careful with NeoSOL watching them like they were.

He nodded and crossed the street to the lesser crowded street where various shops had set up. "Alright. I'll see you at home, Lexa." He looked down briefly to put his phone in his pocket thinking more about food then where he was going.

[Dimitri]

It was too bad he didn't look where he was going, because Darcez was the type of person that wouldn't step out of the way no matter what. So even though the brunet saw the approaching figure, even though he could tell if one of them didn't move they'd collide, he still didn't budge from his path. And when he felt the impact against his shoulder and chest, he stopped in his tracks, ready to rain down hell upon this male. But something caught his eye, something distracted him, and for a moment he just stared down at the man with a scowl, silent. He wasn't wrong, was he? That was magic emanating from his skin.

That made things no better, however. Darcez took no allies in his kind and so he readily turned his dark hazel eyes from mildly surprised to annoyed. "Watch where you're going," he threatened in a low growl, but didn't move from his spot, expectantly awaiting an apology. Because it was other people's job to apologise to him, and never the other way around.

[Alexiathefox]

Varrick looked up just in time to run into someone. He stumbled backwards and fell on his hind end. He looked up bewildered at what his just happened. His dark brown waves fell into his face blocking his view temporarily. Brushing them out of the way, he looked up at the other man and frowned.

"Sorry." There was a slight leak of light blue magic from his mouth that no one else would be able to see. His hand went to his shoulder where the magic had painfully jumped to him. He was so deficient he was taking from others? That didn't make sense unless the other had it himself. Varrick got back up carefully with a flash of pain, but schooled it off his features. He looked at the other with a smile. "Sorry about that. I was trying to put my phone away."

He was trying to turn off his 'recording software' as he called it, but he didn't have that capability yet. The drug still prevented him from doing so for twenty-four hours. A familiar pain was growing in his head.

"You are uninjured?" He asked hoping to get somewhere to try and take care of the nosebleed he knew he was going to have soon. Varrick turned his dark blue eyes up at the man. Magic rimmed his irises showing to those that could see, that he was indeed using magic currently. He looked him over, but it seemed he was the only one that had fallen or gotten any adverse affects from the collision.

[Dimitri]

The apology combined with a smile was a slight surprise. Darcez fully expected the man to react in at least a vaguely aggressive manner, as most people did when he barked at them like that. He gave a nod in response, elongated black hair bouncing along. "I'm fine," he responded with a shrug of his rather broad shoulders. "Don't tell me I caused that?" he added, glancing at the red marks under the other's nose - though they looked like dried blood as opposed to fresh, which caused the brunet to frown in confusion. Not like this was any of his business or anything, but most people didn't walk around in broad daylight with blood on their noses.

Darcez could see a glisten in the male's eyes, and his scowl deepened. Surely this guy wasn't doing anything suspicious? Nowadays he really couldn't tell who was on which side, especially with the Zodiacs going all crazy. "You.. what are you?" he asked before he could stop himself, biting back a groan. That was far from the correct question to ask to a stranger. He'd have to get his act on if he wanted to dig in a little bit.

[Alexiathefox]

He relaxed more when the man calmed down. His slightly shaking hand went to his nose. "Huh? Oh. No." He shook his head and wished he didn't. The pain intensified for a moment, but he tried to keep his features the same. Varrick beamed at him cheerfully as his hand fell away. He swallowed and took a deep breath to control his nausea.

The second question took him by surprise. He looked back in shock and blinked rapidly. "Excuse me?" He smiled though he was very confused now. "What? I am Homo Sapien. Male last I checked." He teased lightly and laughed softly. His hands slipped into his jeans as he talked with the man. "But in what respect were you asking?" He pushed his eyebrows up in question."I'm Varrick by the way." He extended his hand to shake the other's.

The pain was pushing against his eyes making it harder to see. To compensate, he started blinking more. His face was losing more color, though it already had been pale. It was the last straw though. His nose started bleeding again. Varrick furrowed his eyebrows in embarrassment as he got out a handkerchief he carried out for exactly this reason. "Ah." He gave the man an apologetic smile. "Sorry." Varrick was trying to get it under control. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath changing at least the recording from his eyes to his taste, so it wasn't so bad. He glanced at the man, expecting him to either be backing off from him like he had the plague or ,well...no, that was about it. The man seemed like the type to be unfazed by it all.

[Dimitri]

Darcez briefly considered his options - with the amount of smiling and politeness he was getting, it seemed the best option was to go for the gentleman mode. He offered the other a small nod. "Sorry, my bad. I meant your name," he corrected himself, putting on a lightly awkward smile. "Darcez," he added at the other's introduction, shaking the offered hand. He observed as the blood started to drip from Varrick's nose and his face lost colour, and frowned slightly. The brunet had no idea what was wrong with the man in front of him, but he wasn't about to walk off when the possibility of spying was there.

"No need to apologize," Darcez assured the other, glancing around the street. "You look like you need to sit down. Come," he announced, placing a hand at the other's elbow and giving him a small tug to indicate he wanted him to follow, though his grip was soon released. There was a cafe just down the road, with tables and seats outside, and it looked like the perfect spot to have a conversation with Varrick and prod a little into any information he'd manage to dig out of him.

[Alexiathefox]

He nodded and followed him. Blinking hard, he cleared his vision. He knew he needed to get home, but he wouldn't get there as he was. Varrick went with him to the cafe and sat down at one of the table. He had soaked the handkerchief already. Grabbing napkins, he placed them over the cloth. It felt better to sit down. "Thank you." He nodded at Darcez. "I did need to."

Taking a deep breath, he smiled up at the waitress that came over to see if he was alright. She had an accent that Varrick picked up immediately. He smiled at her and started talking to her in Italian. It shocked her but she readily responded in her native tongue. Grinning like mad, he asked her if he could get some wet rags or something, sounding like the language was his native language. She hurried off to get what he asked for.

Varrick looked back at the other. "I am really grateful for your help. Though, I have to say. I'm rather surprised that you did." His head inclined once towards him. When the woman came back, he accepted the cloth and started cleaning himself up a bit better. The nosebleed had stopped finally,so now he was just cleaning himself up so he didn't look like a macabre painting. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything." He said glancing up once in a while as washed blood off of himself.

[Dimitri]

Varrick speaking in another language was a surprise. At first, Darcez thought it was Spanish, but quickly picked up on the few differences he could make out between it and Italian. One more thing to add to his spybook, he supposed. The male seemed incredibly pleased at the fact he could speak to the waitress in what appeared to be his native tongue, and Darcez found himself mildly amused at his enthusiasm. He chose to make no comments however, letting the guy clean himself up before barricading in with even more questions. He nodded at the thanks, offering little more than a smile when Varrick admitted he was surprised. No wonder, the first impression Darcy gave him wasn't exactly pleasant. But alas, he had his reasons. Not that Varrick needed to know.

"You didn't," Darcez reassured him, waving a hand dismissively. "I was going to get lunch, actually," he explained, eyeing the other male, though his expression was still fairly relaxed. "And I hope I didn't interrupt anything, either." Setting his elbows onto the table, Darcez let his hand cup his chin as he chose his next words carefully. "Are you sick? Don't faint on me now," he joked lightly, only a trace of a smile on his face. What was wrong with the man? He was curious, but flat-out asking what was on his mind never went well.

[Alexiathefox]

Once the blood was off his face, he set the bloodied cloth and napkins aside. He leaned back lacing his hands together. "I was actually about to do the same. I was just getting off the phone after asking her what she wanted. This works. I'll get some food for her and for myself here. As good as any." His shoulders shrugged. "Hm? Oh, I'm susceptible to nosebleeds. It's fairly normal occurrence for me. Don't worry about it. I won't faint or anything." Not now, anyway. To most, it sounded like he answered the question, but it was deceptively vague. Varrick had done it on purpose. It wasn't like he could just say right out that he 'worked' for NeoSOL. Even if it was under duress.

He lifted a hand as he called for his waitress. "Thank you for your help earlier. I was wondering if I could get a couple sandwiches? A veggie delight and a turkey one, please, with all the fixings." He asked her in English now. The woman nodded then turned to take the other man's order.

Varrick leaned back again watching the other. His eyes were looking over his face for micro-expressions that might hint at any hostile intent, or tell him anything he needed to know. Lexa told him it made people nervous when he got all analytical, but he forgot too often to stop doing that. "If you don't mind me saying, you look like an interesting man. You have traits of several different industries, but I can't pin point the exact occupation. What is it that you do?" He just asked straight forward. If Varrick wanted to know something, he just asked bluntly, even if it made some people uncomfortable. He didn't really seem to care about that though. Emotions were exactly his strong suit. That was Lexa's.

[Dimitri]

Darcez was perfectly aware of the man scanning his face, and he smirked lightly. There was a flirt on the tip of his tongue, but he managed to stop himself from commenting, just in case the polite male would be scared off. Couldn't have that happening. The answer to his previous question was evasive and unsatisfying, though that also wasn't something he'd choose to point out. It'd be too odd for a normal person to be able to pick it out, and he couldn't go off admitting who he was like there was no tomorrow.

Hearing Varrick's question, Darcez paused. "Hm, let's say I'm a freelance," he explained briefly, another coy smile forming on his face. Damn, he really needed to stop that. Sucking his lips in to get rid of the smile, he studied the other's eyes, searching for a reaction. "And yourself?" A question for a question was an agreeable philosophy, no? Darcy sure thought so. Varrick didn't exactly look like the type who'd settle for a boring job, and the fact he could use magic only made the brunet question that possibility more.