Lemons

Umbra Rose Condos

_{Early Morning
Building 1 Reception > Building 1 Hallways
Interacting with: @DragonydasTheria, @KuroSuzy (kinda)}

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"No," Velvet groaned as she let herself sag backwards slumping into a wall, "It is not." She opened her mouth to continue, but before she could actually speak, the resident dragon (well, one of them) stepped into the foyer along with them. Velvet hadn't interacted with Qaymu much, on the whole; really, she'd been a touch reclusive in general. Such was life when you were nocturnal; you met people at dawn and dusk, and occasionally you'd find people staying up super late, but you ended up somewhat alone a majority of the time. The only other person that was typically awake at the same time as Velvet was...

At that moment, a crackling chill shot through the room. Even Velvet, who was more or less dead and so could pretty much ignore temperature 90% of the time, felt it.

Well. Speak of the ghost.

She hadn't spoken to Suzy much either. For...an entirely different reason. Apparently some of the residents could see and hear her, but Velvet, regrettably enough, was not one of them. But occasionally the two of them spoke through proxy—a text document on her third monitor, usually—when they were the only ones up in the wee hours of the morning. It made her regret her inability to see her Suzy even more. Nights could get long when you were always alone, and while video games went a long way in palliating it, they couldn't fix it. She nodded at the general direction of the rest of the building, where the ghost had probably come from. Sup?

When no new guests were forthcoming, she heaved a long sigh and focused on the Gorgon behind the desk again. "My boss asked me to stay for overtime and I wasn't paying attention. By the time I got out the sun had already risen and I had to walk all the way back under it. Now my skin's all messed up, my hair's going to take nights of washing to get back to normal, and I'm way too hungry!"

A long, deep breath, and she pushed herself away from the wall. "Now since all of you are so selfish and want to keep all that tasty blood to yourself," she gave a tired smile, "I'm going to go empty out my fridge." With that, she headed up towards her room. A few hundred feet and some turns down the hall, a bit before the staircase (somehow she just didn't trust elevators; she blamed the time she'd been in one as it fell and it had hurt like hell), she found the cafeteria beside her, and she peered in curiously as she walked. She hadn't gone here much, to be honest, and some of the food looked pretty good. Maybe after she drank her fill she could—

That thought was as far as she got before she was slapped upside the head by a wave of nausea, like she'd walked by someone carrying five or ten crucifixes. Above her? A hallway over? In the cafeteria? She was so out of sorts and it was so sudden that it was hard to tell. Head spinning, already running a bit faint from hunger, she tripped over herself and fell to her hands and knees with a shocked gasp, trying to fight back the urge to vomit. And failing, as a splatter of blood painted the floor. Her body felt like lead. It took her a not-insignificant effort to rise again, and when she did, her knees were weak and rubbery as she attempted to hobble onward. What—who—what the actual fuck?

Umbra Rose Condos

Lord, Yumeiko and Miyuki are just...really obnoxiously cute and I love them so much.

Umbra Rose Condos

Question, actually, especially for @Dragonydas but also in terms of expectation from everyone else: we have a lot of people, are we expected to wait until everyone's had a round before we post again?

Umbra Rose Condos

I know it doesn't make sense and I won't have this actually be reality, but a part of me thinks it'd be really funny if with all the crazy residents, Velvet didn't believe in ghosts.

Umbra Rose Condos

She's definitely going to go to Shoggoth Therapy, though. I hope Khalid is prepared for the angst of a 700 year old gremlin idiot.

Umbra Rose Condos

@Lugubrious
I've suddenly realized that Velvet is likely 100% aware that Khalid isn't a shoggoth. She can smell the stink on him very clearly, but human blood also has a very particular scent that she's intimately familiar with.

Umbra Rose Condos

_{Early Morning
Outside Streets > Building 1 Reception
Interacting with: @DragonydasTheria, @Crimson FlameKai}

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Kill. Me.

With a thin groan, Velvet plodded down the sidewalk. The early morning sun beat down on her like the most oppressive summer, and both her lethargy and her hunger were rapidly building. Her boss had asked her to stay for overtime at the bar (it was a twenty-four-hour special night) and she'd lost track of time in a blur of ice cubes, liquor bottles, and cocktail shakers. By the time she was off, it was already 6:30 AM, and rays of searing light were already peeking over the horizon. Teach her to not pay attention to the clock.

Consequently, it had been a hell of an unpleasant half an hour walk to get back, enough that she'd actually had to take a moment about ten minutes ago under an overhang to rest before she continued her sojourn. At least she had an excuse; anybody on the graveyard shift looked dead on their feet afterwards, so she fit right in.

When she finally passed the security and the doors of Building 1 and into the vestibule—out of the gentle for any other creature early morning sun—her relief was almost palpable. Flipping out a compact mirror, she took a look at good long herself; she looked awful. She had fiendish bags under her eyes, her skin was even paler than usual. And, most concerningly, her hair had grown a few shades lighter; that was a pretty good sign all on its down she would've been in danger if she'd stayed out in the sun much longer, and the paler it got the closer to ash she came. Her lipstick was just about gone too. She took a deep breath, and a moment to get herself in order; then she pushed open the inner doors, heaving a tremendous yawn, to be greeted with Theria and Kai. Still a little early for Max, so at least she wasn't salivating at the smell of warm human blood. Even if gorgon and merman blood were still wildly appetizing about then.

A heavy blink, a nod to acknowledge their presence. Slipping a case out of her pocket, she plucked the blue out of her eyes, leaving them their natural luminous red before snapping the contacts shut in their saline and pocketing it again. Another yawn, then she finally spoke; her voice dripped with exhaustion and a barely concealed predatory instinct, and she had to fight to stop from drooling.

"Mornin,' kiddos. Any volunteers for dinner? I'll pay and everything."

Yeah, sure, she had plenty stocked in her fridge, enough to last her a few weeks at least, and could get more at just about any time (she didn't question how they sourced it). But walking around in sunlight burnt blood like nobody's business, and it always tasted way better straight from the source.

Like those stupid fancy water bottles from Iceland. Or ice cream. Or rum.

Umbra Rose Condos

@Dragonydas
About what time of morning is it? Are talking like, seven? Nine? Eleven? What Velvet is doing strongly depends.

Umbra Rose Condos

@Kuro
How does Suzy feel about silver?

Umbra Rose Condos

She quite likes garlic, actually. It's the flowers she can't stand.