CATNIP!

[Persephone]

Persephone, completely unphased by the sudden exchange, bent down and picked up a gum wrapper on the ground that caught her attention. She sniffed it, decided it was spearmint, and began playing with it, rubbing it into a ball with her fingers. And now that she had yet another aluminum foil ball, no matter how small, she was content again.

She began the walk back to Midnight, mind focused entirely on the little shimmering ball of trash in her hands.


~~

Annnnnd she's gone. Lol.

[Darren Liten]

He took Mars' lead when she backed up to head for her car, rather shocked by the sudden violence from the girl.  Just further proof that she wasn't altogether there, he supposed.  At least the man HAD tried to hurt her, so she'd at least had the proper provocation.  He wasn't getting involved.  Not his place.

The ride home didn't take long, and the ride alone gave him the chance to think things over.  Unlike Mars, who'd thought Jeshickah's name sounded familiar but couldn't place it, he knew that name.  He'd been warned by his boss to avoid that particular vampire, and a few others.  Hearing Persephone mention that name wasn't a good thing, so far as he could tell.  He just had to wonder if Mars was aware of that.

No doubt, he'd be finding out shortly after he walked into the apartment.

[Mars Lang-Vida]

With a weary sigh, and the familiar jingle of her keys now hung by the doorway, Mars strode in the door of their apartment. It had been a somewhat long day, and as she bustled about trying to obtain her sewing kit. Her torn sleeve wouldn't mend itself, and it was better to get rid of it before Darren had time to ask questions further.

"Mmmh... that name. Sound familiar to you?"

She retrieved her sewing kit and sat atop the kitchen stool, stripping off her button-up top to mend the sleeve, as she couldn't sew with just one hand, for the life of her. Mars looked quite a sight, sitting in the kitchen in a black bra and shorts, looking as if she had not a care in the world.

[Darren Liten]

Darren was in the door just a few moments after her and just in time to see her pull the sewing kit out. He'd no sooner opened his mouth to ask about the sleeve and who she'd run into when she asked her own question, though. That shut his ass right up.

He should have known better than to think she might not ask, though why she would think he knew that name, he didn't understand. Had he given some sort of indication when Persephone had said it? Well, either way, he couldn't lie to Mars about it, even if he knew she was going to be less than pleased to hear it.

"Jeshickah is a vampire. From Midnight," he said, that short little explanation really enough to tell Mars all she really needed to know, but Dave had informed him further when it became known that she might stop by. "She's actually the original founder."

[Mars Lang-Vida]

Nimble fingers paused in mid-stitch as Mars glanced up from her place on the stool, quirking an eyebrow.

"What?" she repeated, knowing that Darren didn't really need to reiterate what he had just said. The severity of the situation suddenly dawned on her, and her stomach twisted in knots. Images of Darren's horribly mangled form - or worse, his feline form entangled with that other feline's...

Furrowing a brow, she remained silent and continued sewing, fuming silently. She wasn't exactly sure what she was irritated about - perhaps the sight of Darren and Jeshickah's pet, or the thought of Darren being chained and controlled, possibly by a feline-loving vamp in it for the trade. In her distracted state, her finger slipped and she pricked herself with the needle in her index finger.

"Ow!" she managed to stick it in her mouth to sooth the pain, tasting the metallic taste of blood on her tongue.

[Darren Liten]

He winced as she pricked her finger, aware that it was because of what he'd just said, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it.  At least she had something to busy herself with.  He'd started kicking his shoes off, dropping his bag by the door so that he would just have something to do while they talked about this.  It would only take so long to get his shoes off, though.  He just didn't want to stand there like an idiot for a conversation like this.  Hell, he didn't even want to think about it all.

He sighed, figuring he might as well just tell her what he knew, and took a seat on the coffee table in front of her with the excuse that he was looking at her sewing job.  He was more interested in the arm that had been covered by the ruined sleeve, personally.  "Apparently, she's been absent from Midnight for years and only just decided to come back.  She's, ah, supposedly the one who figured out how to infect a triste with shapeshifter blood," he managed about as gracefully as he could.  He'd told Mars about Ash's condition before, about how a vampire had somehow managed to infect him with tiger blood, but that had been a less interesting topic when he was hearing it all from Dave.

[Mars Lang-Vida]

She softly removed the finger from her mouth and rubbed it on the sleeve of her crisp oxford, continuing to sew. When Darren came over to 'inspect' her work, she raised another eyebrow and subtlely paused in her sewing, intrigued in his next words.

"A triste - with shapeshifter blood? Ever wonder when she'll need shapeshifter blood next?" she asked rather pointedly, leaning forward. Noting that Darren had been quietly inspecting her arm instead of her sewing, since his eyes didn't remove themselves from her arm when she had stopped her sewing.

Quite suddenly, Mars was struck with an irrational, unreasonable fit of fear, and though she hadn't felt like this in quite a while and it seemed a bit foreign, it was unmistakable. Nothing could shake the feeling that Jeshickah would undoubtedly pursue Darren as soon as her little pet informed her of the adventure. It was times like these that Mars wished her line of work and her human side didn't coincide.

Quietly, she leaned in and used her spare hand to lift Darren's gaze to hers, a certain intensity in her own gaze as it met his emerald one. Without a word, their lips met with a force that Mars couldn't really explain. Perhaps it was the emotional drain of the day or the prospect of losing him that drove her hungry lips to press against his, and soon the sewing had been gently moved aside to rest on the kitchen island.

[Darren Liten]

He'd sighed when she made her point regarding shapeshifter blood, but he couldn't argue with her about it.  She was right, even if he thought she was overreacting.  To him, the idea that some vampire would go to such lengths to get him was just ridiculous.  Especially when said vampire already had a black jaguar.  What did she need a black leopard for?

That kiss took him by surprise, though.  Mars was fine with taking the initiative normally, but there was usually some actual build-up of some sort.  This had seemingly come from nowhere, and though he wasn't complaining, he was curious when his lips belonged to him again.  He didn't really want to be talking, but he couldn't quite keep from asking her.  "What was that for?"

[Mars Lang-Vida]

With a sigh, she tore herself away and refused to look him in the eye, as much as it pained her.

"Jeshickah won't give you up if she ever made you a target. Or another trainer. I just can't bear the thought of losing you, is all," she replied very simply, swallowing the lump that had arisen in her throat. Strange, it wasn't usually like her to get so emotional about things.

"I know you're careful but, sometimes... you don't know how close you are to death or capture all the time. I worry, that's all," she reiterated, her golden gaze meeting his emerald one, expression full of nothing but worry and tenderness.

[Darren Liten]

Actually, he wasn't nearly as careful as she seemed to think, but he wasn't getting into that with her right then.  It would only make her worry, just as informing her of what Dave had made him promise would.  He personally thought that her worry about him dying was much more reasonable, especially given what he hadn't told her.  He'd promised to stay behind and hold off any potential attackers while Dave got their boss out of the Hollow in the event that one of the especially bad vampires came calling on Ash.  Darren didn't think that he'd be in danger of being 'stolen', considering his freeblood status, but his chances of ending up dead in that kind of a situation were rather high.  He was still just hoping that it never happened.

"Relax, I doubt a vampire's going to try and steal me," he tried to reassure her, smiling and reaching out to rub his fingers over her cheek.  "I'm far more trouble than I'm worth, you know that by now."

All teasing aside, his bets were on him dying before ending up as a pet.  He just...wasn't very good pet material.  He knew how to wear on a person's patience.

[Mars Lang-Vida]

Despite herself, Darren's warmth and reassurance melted away her concerns for the moment, and she hiccuped twice and - looking sheepish with her sudden outburst of emotion - tried to brush off the incident and resumed patching her sleeve back up.

"Mmh, well. You'd still be in danger of dying every day, and that's not something I'm willing to deal with. Even more so now that Jeshickah and possibly other Midnight trainers know of your existence. If ever they decided that they want a new feline pet... don't expect me to bail your careless ass out."

She resumed her sewing, eyes averted. She had blatantly lied, and she knew that he also knew she'd fight to the death for him, but she wasn't about to egg on his carelessness.

[Darren Liten]

It really made him feel guilty that he could alleviate her concerns like that, even if he wasn't really lying.  He just wasn't addressing the issue of him potentially getting killed, because he really couldn't make any promises for her there.  He wanted to, since he definitely didn't want to die, but the shit was going to eventually hit the fan.  If he happened to be around when it did, all bets were off.

"Well, then if you wouldn't come rescue me, I guess I'd just have to content myself with lapping milk from a saucer for some vampire," he said matter-of-factly, as though it were nothing.  He knew better than to believe she'd leave him to it, but he also knew not to count on happy endings if that were the case.  His standing plan for if a vamp or anyone else came after him with the intentions of kidnapping him was to run like hell.  "Dante would love it, he could take his place as the rightful king of the apartment."

[Mars Lang-Vida]

"Hah," was her only response to his snarky remark, and she slipped on her button up once it was completed. Once done, she kissed him softly once more, letting the lips linger a bit longer, slipping her slender fingers in a swirling pattern down her boyfriend's firm chest, stopping (as usual) with a tease as she pulled away.

"Darren, just promise me you'll be careful, please?" she asked gently, getting to her feet and considering the topic dropped.

"You must be hungry," she remarked, getting pots and pans and bustling around the kitchen for a bite to eat.

[Ready for close?]

[Darren Liten]

He sighed at her words, unable to really refuse her.  Damn promises, they were going to make him crazy.  "Yeah, I promise, Mars," he told her seriously, meaning it.  He'd just have to try to avoid trouble where he could.  On the job, though...

"Sure, food sounds good," he agreed, glad for the change of subject, and he followed her to help out.

((Done!))