i don't do people

“Living,” she answered with a gentle smile, taking her place in line to grab a number to be seated and allowed her eyes to wander to the boy. Fallon had seen him around before, mostly in the areas around Peyton had known him to be related to her in some fashion. The hybrid wasn’t overly nosy about other people’s business, unlike most would expect from someone that spent over ten years in the southern areas of the United States of America. “So food is absolutely a weakness,” a small wink and head nod made it’s way his direction, smile still prominent on her lips, “Same with you?”

“then you’re very lucky to be able to eat this stuff.” he says, seeing the gentle smile on the woman’s face, cameron tries to give her one of his own. he does smile, on occasion. though usually it looked like he was either having a really bad day, or very awkward. but this one felt alright, and he found himself relaxing a little. he knew who fallon was, given that he made note of all sector heads and assists, just in case he might need someone one day. though typically he tended to run to marley or corey when he needed something. he felt more comfortable running to family than anyone else. people were just strangers to him, he didn’t connect well with them, found it hard to talk to them from time to time. as she winks at him, cameron knew he would of been blushing if he could, perks of being dead he supposed. no one could really see how uncomfortable things made him.”got any favorite kind of food?” he asks, taking another step with fallon before shaking his head softly.”can’t eat the food unless i want to be sick. my mama, can’t keep herself away from it. tortures herself with throwing up but runs right back to what she was eating like she forgot just mere moments ago she puked it all up.” he says with a quiet chuckle.”i prefer not to be sick.” he kept a flask on him at all times. usually going to marley to see if she had any blood in store, not wanting to take from his mother who kept forgetting she had to drink blood in order to keep herself alive. he loved his aunt, always there when he needed her. always willing to help. sometimes he found himself distancing from her though; because cameron found himself feeling like he was taking her time away from other things like her family, or interrupting her. it was the same with corey, he kept his distance from people, not wanting to intrude on their lives.”you probably didn’t need to know all of that.”

After hearing about the breakfast buffet from one of the girls at the bar, Fallon decided that she really needed to check it out. Pegasus had always been known for the best food in all of the sectors and she was really surprised that she hadn’t heard about it sooner. As she walked inside, the fresh aroma of cinnamon french toast and scrambled eggs filled her nose. “I’ve died and gone to breakfast heaven,” Fallon cooed, saliva forming in her mouth as she tried to find a free table and noticed that they also had holiday pies on sale, “Dear Lord.”

cameron wasn’t sure why he was here. wasn’t like he could eat the food. it’s the one thing he missed in his life. was all the delicious food that he was surrounded by. of course; as time went on the food just seemed to get better and better. unlike his mother, cameron didn’t touch the food. simply because he didn’t want to puke. it was a weird feeling when you were dead, horrible even when you were human. he didn’t like it; and so he didn’t want to do it.”i hope you didn’t die, because ghosts can’t eat food.” he says, giving fallon a gentle smile.um...”i guess food is your weakness?”

She smiled a little. Cameron, though a bit to himself and quiet, was always a fresh breath of air for the girl. She was rough around the edges, a bit bold and crass, but her heart was big. Caring, determined, and desperately lonely at times. She saw a bit of that in Cameron as well. “Just headed to do some thinking,” she pointed to the graveyard not too far from them. “Saw you here so I figured I would stop for a bit, if you don’t mind?” She half asked yet she’d clearly already decided to sit beside him. Phoebe thought best to not mention the coin, but, she did however, ask about his work. Nodding to the bound book, “Anything good?” She asked with a slight smile knowing his writing was always good. “Tell me one of the new ones, yeah?” She asked hoping he would oblige. “Just as long as they’re not a ghost story, those freak me out,” she teased lightly bringing her legs under her as she watched Cameron with a slight smile. 

his eyes go to the graveyard, before looking back at phoebe, a hand running through his hair.”did you want to sit in the graveyard?” he wasn’t afraid of the graveyard, he just felt bad for the poor souls that were resting there. he hoped they were comfortable.”not at all, though you’ve made yourself comfortable.” well as comfortable as a ghost could be he supposed. he looks to his book, and he knew he’d be blushing right now if he could, instead fingers scratch at the back of his hand before shrugging his shoulders.”depends on what you consider good.” he tells her, before he’s looking up at the sky, blue eyes looking back at phoebe, a chuckle leaving his lips.”no ghost stories, i promise. not really original if i go to ghosts stories, right?” he asks, looking at the journal, a hand running over the smooth leather.”so there is this house. and people come and go from this house, right? like any other house. except this place is different. it has feelings. it can talk, it can think. but it can’t talk to those that are living inside of it. and every time a family up and moves, the house starts to look older, and older. but the longer the family stays, it starts looking newer and newer. though no one understands this magic, they take no notice, because, a house is just a house right?” he asks her, before he’s shaking his head.”it’s stupid.”

. The whole scene was a bit bizarre for Thea if she were being honest. As soon as the word ‘hey’ had left her mouth the nurse had done a doubletake and left the room to find a doctor. She hadn’t thought her head injury had been that bad but from the look the nurse had she supposed she’d almost died. She thought she probably should have been more worried about that, but since she was awake now she assumed the worst was over and moved past it. The newer thing preoccupying her thoughts was holding a cup to her lips.

She took a drink of course. Her throat is the condition it was she wasn’t going to say no even if he was a complete stranger holding what could literally be giving me anything to drink right now. Perhaps the hit on her head had damaged her sense of self-preservation, or perhaps she didn’t have such a strong one to begin with. It was just water as far as she could tell but since her throat felt better she would give it the benefit of the doubt. She arched her brow and looked at the boy.

“Slept like the dead,” She said with a grin, though again the fleeting thought occurred to her that maybe she’d been a bit closer to that than she should be joking about. She looked at the book the boy had been reading when she woke up. She hadn’t really realized that’s what it had been before, she’d assumed someone had left a radio running, but there he was a perfect stranger reading to her while she was asleep. She recognized the title of the book, but she’d never read it personally. Most of her childhood she’d spent running around and causing trouble and by the time she had reached the age she was interested in reading she spent most of her time with her nose buried in her family’s spell books. 

“Are you some kind of Candystriper?” she wondered aloud. “Surely there's some other more severe cases to deal with after the quake last night than a bump on the head.” She continued.

usually a coma patient didn’t wake up, especially when cameron was in the room. perhaps his readings just made them want to sleep longer. it didn’t really matter, because thea happened to wake up, while the awkward boy was still in the room. obviously it wasn’t thea’s fault, she didn’t know he was here reading to her, keeping her company while she slept. not many people still had family here, usually some were still up above or they’d died down here. but cameron didn’t think anyone should be alone while in the hospital, so it was why he read to them, books that he enjoyed that he wanted to share with others. sure he had a collection of books from way back when, but they were old and tattered, and cameron didn’t want to wreck them by opening them up. he hadn’t read them in forever. his blue hue watches the nurse leave the room, before he’s grabbing thea a drink of water, a hand gently going to the back of her head to support it while she took a sip, a soft smile playing on his lips seeing her drinking, before he removes his hand from behind her head, the cup being placed back on the table in front of her. she looked pretty alright for someone who just came out of a coma. though her eyes looked a little tired, and he gathered a coma was not like when you just fall asleep. 

not wanting to over crowd her, he sits back down in the seat he was sitting in, before a soft frown appeared on his face at her words. snow was falling outside, blue eyes flickering to that, but he shakes his head, earbuds still in his ears, just so he didn’t hear everything else going on around him. he could concentrate on thea, he didn’t need to hear the nurses gossiping.”i don’t think i’ve ever stripped for candy. i mean..um...do people do that?” he asks, before he’s hearing her next words, and cameron scoots his chair closer to her.. last night? oh boy.”um..what do you remember, exactly?” he asks gently, not wanting to give anything away, shouldn’t that be left up to the doctor?

“I know,” he looked at the other rubbing his hands on his thighs. “Is there anything I can do to help?” He asked thoughtfully. Though he wasn’t part of their family persay Gabriel tended to think of him as close enough to it. Now, with this admission of possible guilt of something Gabe shrugged, “I don’t think so…did you? And if you did, good on you man you could use some excitement.” The Russian stated with a slight grin. “That’s what we should do we should go out, let loose a little.”

a soft frown appeared on his face at the question. did he need help? cameron wasn’t one for needing anything. he stuck to himself, kept out of people’s way, didn’t want to become a hassle. did he look like he needed help?”um..i don’t think there is anything to uh really help with gabe.” he tells him truthfully.”get loose how?” he asks, the frown not leaving his face.”i’m not really one for going out. prefer staying in, with a nice book.”

She awoke in an unfamiliar room, her head cloudy, vision blurry and her throat felt as if she had swallowed a ball of sandpaper. These circumstances on their own weren’t entirely unfamiliar, before coming to Lackluster she could remember several after party mornings feeling almost exactly this way. But what was unusual was the fact that she couldn't even remember starting to drink or take anything the night before.

She sat up but felt a tug on her arm. Looking down she saw an IV in her arm and blinked, confused. The last thing she remembered was making her way towards Eridanus after she was hit on the head in the quake. She couldn't remember if she had made it there but seeing as she was now in a hospital bed she had made it there somehow. The noise of the door to her room opening drew her attention away from her arm. 

“Hey.” She chocked her voice coming out a hoarse whisper. 

cameron liked working in eridanus, though he wouldn’t call it work, he would call it more of just something to pass his time. orion was where he worked, where he preferred to work anyway. but he didn’t mind sitting next to coma patients, though there weren’t many, but those that were sleeping he liked to sit there and read to them, his thoughts wondering if they could hear him even when they were in their coma. he also liked working with the dead, just his mind wandered to things, if the soul was still somehow connected to that body. or if they lingered by it anyway, not sure of what to do next. some think cameron was weird, a little morbid, but he was just him. right now he was sitting beside thea’s bed, reading her the tale of percy jackson. he liked fantasy, he collected these books over the years and still did his best to go and find more books of them, if the writer was still publishing in a time like this that is..

he was so engrossed in the book, he hadn’t noticed the heart monitor had changed, hadn’t noticed the nurse walking in to check on her. he did notice the voice beside him though, and blue eyes look to see thea awake, eyes going to the nurse when she mentioned getting the doctor, before cameron was moving to get her a glass of water, gently placing it near her lips, to help her drink it.”good sleep?” he teases lightly, not sure if that was appropriate or not. he didn’t do well with alive people he did better when they were dead. or in her case, in a coma.

Bryn hated being cold, it was most likely the human side of him that hated it, though the vampire side could tolerate it. At least, that’s what he was told. Wrapping his arms around his frame, Bryn shivered slightly as a breeze blew through the air, gaze flicking around watching as other Lackluster natives enjoyed the fresh fallen powder. Stopping at a corner, he watched as a small scene unfolded before him. He had to admit, it was rather pleasant to watch. When he met the eyes of the other, he cleared his throat. “I uh, yes I suppose you are right. Kids and snow…they are a thing.” Rubbing his hands together in front of him, he then went about running them across the back of his neck. 

the cold never affected cameron. even when he was human it didn’t affect him. perhaps it was just because of his russian blood. he was used to the cold, used to playing in the snow when he was younger with his mother. though now it was different, because he was dead, and the cold just didn’t effect dead bodies like it would live ones. though he smiles awkwardly at the young child who had thrown the snowball at him, and he throws one back, before blue eyes met another pair of blue. he nods his head at his words, eyes looking back at the children.’were you ever like this when you were younger?” he asks the male, his hue looking back up at him now though, as he wraps his arms around himself. was that too personal of a question? should cameron try talking more about the weather? he didn’t get social norms he never did. unlike his mother, cameron preferred being up in his room, making little men out of stone, making his own chessboard and playing that with his mom, or just crafting little action men to put around his room. that’s what he liked doing. it was just something that came naturally to him.

cameron was out walking about in the snow, watching everyone doing their thing, children playing in the snow, starting up snowball fights; adults putting up christmas decorations. around this time of year, he did his best to steer clear of his mother. he loved her so much, but the squealing and the excitement, just made him...want to be anywhere but near her. he was happy that she got excited around this time of year, every year as far as he could remember, she was always so excited for december to come along. cameron however, did his best to avoid these things, opening presents around people all eyes on him? yeah not something the young harrison enjoyed. instead, he preferred staying in a corner, watching everyone else opening up presents. his head was bowed now, as he started walking again, looking down at his shoes, that got buried under the snow, before he felt something cold hit him. his blue eyes look up to the see the kids giggling, and he smiles at them, picking up snow, and perfecting it into a perfectly round snowball, before throwing it gently back at the children. he felt eyes on him, and knew if he could blush, he would.”um...kids and snow, am i right?” he asks, a light smile playing on his face, looking up at bryn.

she would be short on the topic of why she was here, she wasn’t about to talk about it to anyone who wasn’t looking for a fight with her, and she knew better than to think cameron was looking for one. it was likely why he stayed away from it and let her focus on what she was doing without having to pause and fight again. cam only fed the ideas that were stirring in her mind and she had to pause to give him some credit for that, but then…”effort.” she wasn’t willing to waste it on shane and she had places to be. she just felt like hindering him. “unless you want to carry a silver door down here, plus…he’s a mutt, it would only keep out half of him.” not that she wouldn’t love to see which half of him couldn’t get in. pretty sure she knew that wasn’t how it worked but the thought entertained her enough for the time being. corey nodded about the lock, the blue-eyed mother would love it and…”christmas is her crack, she’ll probably make annoying noises about that too.” corey mutters, smiling a bit and then shaking her head. “i don’t know, sort of, but she’s never annoyed me or gotten on my bad side which…can be all sides i think. she’s never gotten there or anything.” iris hadn’t, and if she ever had well, corey wasn’t aware of it so it clearly didn’t bother corey in the slightest. cameron handing over a packet of something had her setting the screwdriver down to actually sit down on the porch and pick through the tiny pieces inside the tin box, popping one in her mouth and tasting the mint that spread over her tongue. she was picking each up and examining them then, putting more in her mouth and refusing to crunch on them. they got tucked in her cheeks. she never liked the sound and feeling of biting into her lime suckers because then they were just gone really fast, and so she didn’t bite these either. “not pine, i like pine and mutts pee on them. doesn’t deserve pine. maybe just make it smell like old lady perfume and cheap soap.” she scrunched her nose a bit, still eating the mints cameron had given her. gold eyes looked up to her cousin from where she sat and she glanced to the door with a shrug. “i was just gonna do the front and back door, i already glued the toilet seats, but all doors works too.”

he wasn’t here to talk to corey about what happened. it was none of his business really. and he had no business knowing about it, or talking about it. he said he was here to help, and that is what he was going to do. cameron didn’t stick his nose in where it didn’t belong. and it wasn’t because he didn’t like being around people, it was simply that, he just didn’t feel like it belonged in anyone’s business. a lot of the time cameron didn’t even know half the stuff that was going on, because he didn’t listen to people talking around him. always with earbuds in his ears, listening to his music to drown out the people talking around him. he wasn’t one for gossip. and he wasn’t one to spread gossip either. he kept his shit clean, kept to himself most days, usually he spent all day and night working, not really needing sleep, so he worked a lot, getting things done that needed to be done. a small smile played on his lips, hearing his cousins one word, blue eyes going up to her old place, before looking back down at her.”i mean if you want me to i can.” he says, a light shrug of his shoulders given, a nervous hand running through his hair. he was always nervous around people, wasn’t just his cousin, though he was more relaxed around her, what with being family and all. but still, there was that nervous feeling he got, like he’d say something wrong, or overstep some sort of boundary.”let’s hope it’s the important part that keeps out.” he says, though he wasn’t sure what he was talking about, because he knew it would keep all of shane out. but again, he runs a hand through his hair, because he probably wasn’t helping in the slightest here. a soft smile played on his lips, as he shifts his weight from foot to foot, not something he needed to do, but it was a comfort of sorts as he listens to corey talk about her mother.”so she sounds like my mom when she’s around christmas? all squealing, clapping, high pitched talking?” he asks her, before he’s nodding his head at her next words on iris.”can’t imagine she would try, or you know...do that...you two seem pretty good around each other.” he says, and he knew he’d be blushing now if he could, but thankfully, that couldn’t happen anymore. he sometimes found corey adorable. sometimes. she did terrify him at times, just like her best friend did, just like everyone did. but now, he watched her with the mints, and he felt like a kid himself. granted he looked eighteen, and sometimes even acted that age.”can i?” he asks, pointing to the empty spot on the steps, asking if he could sit, as she stuffs all the mints into her mouth, which had him smiling, but he learned not to stare, and he looks back to the house once more, hearing her words, he nods his head, looking back at her.”i could uh get some of that for you. should find us a skunk.” he murmurs, stuffing his hands in his pockets, as he cants his head toward the door, before he’s dropping his eyes down at corey, nodding his head.”whatever you want. consider me your apprentice. glueing the toilet seats is classic though. he uh probably won’t even realize you’ve done that. should raid his fridge, leave a window open for small critters to get into, so they can you know, do their business and stuff inside.”

thing was, if anyone knew a fraction of shane and corey, they knew they didn’t really were misplacing their opinions and worry. they’d always been able to handle themselves; corey sure as hell didn’t need anyone else trying to handle her. looking back at the lock cameron had made, she thought it might be better in the hands of someone who wasn’t likely to snap it instantly. “not wolfy-proof glue.” her and cameron knew that what corey was doing was only an annoyance at best and wouldn’t actually keep shane held up long or out of the place in the slightest. it was just another little ‘piss off’. “she’ll like it, and she won’t break it.” corey tells her cousin, reaching to snap the old knob off the front door before she was fitting a new one in place and working the screw-driver to secure it tightly in place. her eyes moved back to him with the question that made her stomach twist and her cheeks threaten to warm on her, not that she allowed them too. “not technicallyby myself, but yeah, m’supposed to be.” because they weren’t really assigning her to live with anyone, it was just that corey was wanting iris there anyways. “think it’s just him that smells bad right now, but that’s still the taste in my mouth.” generally speaking, corey liked wolves better than she liked people, shane was just shane. cameron had more natural reasons for not liking the smell. “yup. every last one.” she tossed cameron a screw-driver with a smile.

he knew corey and shane were close. not in a i’m going to hug you kind of way, but you could see the protectiveness they had for each other. not that either of them needed it, but it was there. one bad day like that, didn’t make them dislike each other to the point it disappeared. it just grew. they were the only two who fought like that, and could come out of it laughing. it just sucked since shane was her assist, that things got noticed by others. though his mother didn’t say much, and she didn’t have to. everyone knew who the assists and heads were, and seeing corey here, putting locks on his uncle’s door, it wasn’t hard to piece things together. but cameron wasn’t here to talk about what had happened between them. he was here to help his cousin out. she was scary, and cameron wasn’t the type to get on the wrong side of anyone.”so. maybe we should get a steel door. not a wooden one?” he asks, blue hue looking into golden, a soft shrug of his shoulders given.”be a lot harder for him to get through, you know? lace it with silver.” he adds a soft smile playing on his lips, before he’s looking down at the lock he made, listening to corey and nodding his head. his aunt definitely would love it, and now he couldn’t wait to show her.”i’ll help you then head over there to show her. plus i found this um old vinyl that she might like. it’s um, got these old very old christmas songs on it.” she’d like that too wouldn’t she? would that be a christmas present? he wasn’t sure. he wasn’t sure she would like it that much.”you getting a roommate then?” he asks, smiling softly at her.”they better um not get on your bad side then. might have this done to their bathroom.” he says, a nervous chuckle leaving his lips, blue eyes looking at the door, before he’s taking out a packet of mints to hand over to corey.”for that bad taste in your mouth. we should spray his place with christmas pine, really annoy his nose.” he says, before he’s looking at the screwdriver, and then back to his cousin, before taking it hesitantly.”so..start upstairs and make our way down?”

Victoria smiled brightly as she hid behind one of the light poles on the street. An almost perfectly formed snowball in her hands, a sneaky grin on her lips as she spotted her next target. Jumping out of her hiding spot, she let the ball loose, watching it land squarely between their shoulder blades. “Tag! You’re it!” She cried with a happy grin. 

cameron was walking back toward his place, the coin twirling in his fingers. he’d made some steampunk little snowmen for the holidays, and thought it would be really cute to stash them around lackluster, so children could find them, and find small candies inside. he was not expecting the feeling of something hitting his back though, and he turns to see who threw it. hearing the brunette’s words, cameron looked down at the snow, before looking back at the woman. he knew what a snowball fight was, he wasn’t stupid. a little hesitant to play maybe. though he picks up a snowball, and throws it back at her, a soft smile playing on his face, watching it as it hit her lightly in the leg, because he didn’t want to hurt her.”looks like you’re it now.” he calls back to her, before he’s running to hide, not wanting to be hit again, but that was the point to all of this now, wasn’t it?”i guess you really love this game?”

“bitter.” corey paused, looking at the locks she had and then the door in thought. “or salty, whichever.” she mutters. “both.” she found cameron’s eyes and saw the lock he’d brought, and seemed to have made. yep, see he said he made it. “you should save that one, put it on something nice, because there’s a chance shane will just snap all of these off.” and the bird lock was nice, shane wasn’t getting nice, he was getting fort knox of a door. “marley would probably make noises over that one.” marley made noises when she loved something. corey shook her head. “no, shane just pissed me off and they’re moving down the street.”

he nods his head in understanding on her mood. you couldn’t fault someone on the way they were feeling, they were entitled to that feeling, whether people didn’t like it; it was still their mood, something they could change themselves or not change, it didn’t matter. he looked up at the door they were standing in front of, blue hue going to golden as he hears her speak.”that’s a possibility, actually. to bad there isn’t enough glue to stop that from happening.” he loved his uncle he did but how he acted? that was uncalled for. his mom didn’t talk about work, but when you hear ‘bitten’ and saw the damage in pegasus, and now seeing corey out here, it wasn’t hard to piece these things together. and cameron enjoyed piecing things together.”i’ll show it to her.” he says, before he’s putting it back in his bag, his eyes going to her once more.”you getting moved in with another person, or somewhere....by yourself? at least you know...you’d be away from..the stench...” he says, hoping that wasn’t overstepping at all.”are you planning on putting all those locks on the door?”

he was tinkering with his coin that he always had on him, shaping it easily, making sure all edges were pointed. he was making it into a square, because it felt like a square day for him. he was sitting under a tree, journal in his hand. he didn’t write about himself, he didn’t write down what was going on in his life, because he didn’t want anyone to stumble across it and read it. he wrote horror stories, sci-fi, anything that came to his mind, he wrote down. right now, he wasn’t really writing more concentrating on the coin in his hand, before he felt a cold breeze, and he looks up to see the ghost in front of him.”i’d say you should announce yourself, but what ghost does that?” he asks, a shy smile upon his face, before he’s closing the freshly bound book, and pocketing the coin.”um...doing anything exciting?”

The Doctor always enjoyed Cameron’s company. Turning to face him he shook his head, “Really after this long this is all I get with you?” He asked relaxing against the wall. “Come on…we’re friends you can tell me how you feel forget about the mommy shit for a second hm?” He half asked then sighed, “You think I’m going to tell her things, and you things about her?” Gabe nodded, “Also, thank you, my hair always looks nice. “

“you know me. i don’t do well with people. not just with you.” he says, shrugging his shoulders, stuffing his hands in his pocket.”feelings on what exactly?” he asks, not sure what the younger male was talking about.”i don’t think you would no, and i’m pretty open with my mom anyway.” which was true, he promised her long ago, that he wouldn’t to hide things from her, and he didn’t want her hiding things from him.”have...i done something?” crap, what the hell did he do?

Playing with his hair slightly Gabe looked over his shoulder, tugging on the sweater. “We do this every time,” he sighed. “You know I have work…what were you expecting?” He asked knitting his brows as he turned around. 

“um...i don’t know? you know, mom she’s so excited when she gets a chance to lose against you.” he says, stammering over his words a bit. because cameron didn’t do people, he was uncomfortable around them, he just...was socially awkward.”i wasn’t expecting um anything. really. your uh, hair looks fine, by the way.”