Afternoon Greetings

Who: Reiz and Jocelyn.
Where: Babylon.
When: Afternoon.

There were probably better ways to wake up in the morning-- ...afternoon-- than where Reiz currently was, and that was facing down at the ground, with his hands and knees on the floor, with wide eyes having just rolled off his bed in the middle of a nightmare. He took a moment to collect himself, burying his face in his balled up fists, wiping away the sweat and tears from his face and eyes. He realized he probably looked like crap after that night, so he picked himself up, and carried himself over to the bed, sitting down for a moment, clearing his mind.

Red water. Bodies. Anger. Drive...

He held his breath as the images from his dream filled his mind, and worked to push them back and have happier thoughts.

'course the first thing that came to his mind was that he needed some alcohol in his system.

Nothin' like a can to sober you up in the morning.

His tail swished back and forth on the bed, as he rubbed his face with the back of his hands and stood up, wrapping the hoodie that lay on his bed around his waist to cover the tell that so obediently wrapped itself around his waist, and slinging his backpack sitting on the floor over his shoulder.

Reiz had the five dollars that Eris didn't take... he figured there was a place in town where he could buy a cheap six pack, right? He could've taken it straight from the bar here, but then he woulda felt bad.

He opened his bedroom door, making his way out towards the entrance.

Her morning having gone surprisingly well, Jocelyn was in better spirits than usual when she wandered out of her room that afternoon, bent on exploring town some more. She watched the newcomer come out of his room, looking out of place, which was common for the newest members of Eris' fold. Even with all the distractions that Doc brought Jocelyn had briefly noticed the extra door on the hallway and assumed Eris' had made space for someone else.

It was obvious from just a moment of observation of the younger man why Eris' had chosen him. He seemed completely lost and troubled. The type that would do almost anything for a kind word of a helping hand. Another pet, Jocelyn mused, knowing that Eris' last left about the same time as her last bodyguard. She leaned against the wall next to her door to watch him go by. "Hi."

Reiz was doing that whole keep to himself thing. He slinked out of his bedroom, and started going down the hallway with his hands stuffed in his pants pockets, and his shoulders stiff, as if that was enough to protect him.

But alas, if anything, all it did was attract attention towards him.

He looked over at the woman, and nodded, looking down at the ground. "...hi." He paused awkwardly, leaning his back against the opposite wall... before looking back up at her.

'Make eye contact.'

Jocelyn did her best to hid the laughing smile. The poor thing seemed so scared of just about everything. "You're new. I've been living here," she motioned over her shoulder to her door, "for over a year now and I've never seen you. Plus, your door is new." Jocelyn didn't really understand how things worked with Eris' but she'd been around long enough to learn something. One day she might ask Doc about it, if he had any idea how things worked with her.

He nodded, "Yeah... my name's Reiz." He introduced, this time keeping careful eye contact at all times. But... ...His door was new? He glanced over where his room was, pondering what that was suppose to mean.

"Jocelyn," she offered her hand, wondering if he'd take it. "You work here now I take it?" Although she wasn't sure what it was he could do. He definitely wasn't taking clients upstairs and seemed to shifty to be working the bar. Not that it had stopped Eris from finding odd jobs for the strays she took in.

'Huh? Oh...' Reiz nodded another greeting at her, tentatively taking her hand, applying the slightest of pressure to complete the formalities. For a second the thoughts he was trying to push back had kicked opened the door in his mind, sticking its arm of unpleasantries out. Arms ripped surprisingly easily off humans.

His eyes glazed over for a moment as he sharply inhaled a breath of air, and let go of her hand, looking back towards at the ground. He closed his eyes, closed the door in his mind.

"...Uh. ...Nice to meet you." Reiz glanced back up at her. "Yeah... I. ...clean."

She felt it, that power rise up, in his hand. A few word whispered under her breath, barely enough to notice, re-upped the wards already set in place from the tattoos on her back. "Good to meet you too Reiz. I hope you like it here. It's not a bad place. It's safe." Jocelyn felt like that was what he needed, part of the reason why Eris might have taken him in. Especially since they didn't really need a janitor.

"So I've heard..." Reiz offered a weak smile. Yeah, smiling... not one of his best skills. Especially not after the crazy thoughts he tries not to think about. "I've been treated real good here." Granted, it'd only been a day, but that one day was pretty much better than a good chunk of his life.

"Eris is like that. Provided you keep up your end of the bargain, she's a good boss." This made Jocelyn wonder what other sort of requirements were going to be tacked on to her day to day operations with her new contract in place. "If you need anything, this is me." She motioned to the door again. "I'm not sure how much help I can be for you," she offered as she wondered what exactly he was, he was setting off too many of her wards for her to pinpoint exactly which ones were affected. "But I'll do my best."

Oh, Reiz fully intended on keeping up his end of the bargain. He wasn't going to go back on his word at all, that's not how he rolled. "Thank you, I'll remember that. Um. The same for you." Though if anything, there was probably even less help that he could provide for her.

"Thanks," she smiled warmly at him. "Oh, and so you know. This is one of the few places we don't really have to completely hide who we are. It's not completely kosher to let it all hang out, but," she opened one hand letting the small licks of flame conjurer there and stay for a few moments before putting them out. "Sometimes it's nice to just breathe easy."

Reiz focused his attention on the fire for a few moments, before glancing back over at Jocelyn's face. He'd held his breath when the flame lighted, exhaling as it was put out. 'Magic?' It's not that that caught him off guard... (he'd definitely seen his share of pain in the form of supernatural wanting to eat his face in his lifetime) it was more of the whole, 'You've got a secret 'cause we've all got a secret' implication.

He wasn't sure how to respond... He wanted to outright deny it, saying that he was just a normal human, there was nothing special, but... He still wasn't a comfortable liar. A part of him was curious. Did she know what he was? Was it obvious? Did he just have this... air about him?

So, carefully, he asked, "...do you know what I am?"

Jocelyn closed her eyes, listening to her wards and what was working on overload around her. Not spirit, obviously not vampire, but...no she had it now. "Demon?" Her voice was soft, but it wasn't an insult. Just a casual question. She coudn't be entirely sure because certain wards were just general, but with the intensity of her tattoo she had plenty that would be more specific than others. "It's not an exact science, but you wouldn't be the first. You don't have to go around being all out there, but don't worry about us judging. Most won't be able to tell; I've just gotten good at reading people."

Reiz averted his eyes, instead looking down at the floor. She'd be able to tell, that's what he was thinking, that's what he was preparing himself for. Prepare himself for the worst, that's the least he could do. So when she said the magic word, he only nodded. If she knew, then she knew, he wouldn't hide it-- and he could only assume that Eris had somehow figured it out as well yesterday.

"...thanks." He mumbled, pausing a moment before adding: "...I. ...won't hurt anyone," he felt the need to promise. He didn't want anyone to be afraid of him, especially no one that'd been kind to him.

"You won't Reiz, don't worry." It was just a statment, nothing more. Because he couldn't, not with Eris' around or Mathais or any of the other things that took up residence at Babylon. Jocelyn knew enough though to know he didn't need to be told that he couldn't do any harm, just that there was faith he wouldn't. "I'll see you around though?"

Reiz looked up and nodded. "Yeah... I'd like that." He wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that someone still wanted to see him after knowing what he was. On the one hand... the trust was nice... but on the other, would he be able to keep that trust?

He hoped so.

Though he should probably get on buying that pack of mindnumbing juice so trust-keeping's a bit easier to manage...