[vincent]

They both knew the truth was that the family could have completely sealed up his room, or turned it into Izzy’s new bone dyeing studio and he would have been none the wiser. The only thing that might have jarred his memory would have been when he ran out of clean clothes, or the off chance that someone came home with him by choice. She assumed that the idea of fucking in the basement surrounded by disease was not on the vast list of kinks that were homed here.

“Sometimes.” She echoes with that air of disbelief that makes it entirely too obvious that she’s amused with the mere attempt at lying. It’s very hard for any of them to pass something over the other, she’s noticed. Lying comes like a second nature to the public, but her siblings very rarely find a reason to lie to one another - not seriously, at least. “That isn’t half as bad was the rest of us suffering your smell.” She points out, obviously just talking shit for shits sake at this point.

“Because you can’t what, find the bat?” She questions, trying to piece together where his sentence had been headed but knowing that not a single soul on the planet could actually read Vince that well. He had a way of…turning in different directions, a certain unpredictability that was a little more endearing than it would have been on anyone else. Squinting a little bit as she looked at him once more, before finally allowing eyes to adjust to the lighting fully. This was only so that they could silently begin to join in the task of searching for the escapee.

“Yes, if wolves can get rabies, then werewolves can get rabies. My question would be, what’s that do to the ability to shift? Are they just stuck in big unruly dog mode?” A slough of questions that didn’t really need to be answered - and would only serve to further complicate the distraction, but she had inherited the hobby of talking out loud, talking through things the way some of the others did.

“You’re full of shit.” She calls up the stairs behind him, content to help look for the animal at large while he finished with the worlds fastest shower.

He kept plenty of clothes in the basement, in the alarmingly badly kept pile that was actually entirely out of character with his normal fixation over things in certain places, but still, he got dressed down there most days so it was just easier. Though he would have been appalled that Dev thought it was that much of a struggle for anyone to willingly come home with him, he had an entire town to explore! Was it that impossible? Apparently everyone else thought so, but he remained mostly unaware that his siblings clearly had a total lack of faith in his social skills. 

"I've changed my mind, if you're going to be this mean to me the rest of the day I'd rather just stay here and watch TV." He groaned with all the misery of a child being picked on, yes, very purposely so, though for a moment he also entertained the thought because he knew there had to be several episodes of the half a dozen or so craft shows he watched with a practically religious fervor on the DVR and it was only a short matter of time before Liam decided to get rid of them. Nothing was sacred in that house, sadly. 

Go outside like a normal person for once. 

With even the voice against him Vince had no choice, he was halfway up the stairs and still talking. "But werewolves have healing abilities and are generally disease immune, like most of the people in this town and it's exhausting, by the way." Really threw a wrench in his plans, didn't it? "But I don't know because my powers have been doing weird things since we've been here and-" The words cut short with a startled sound out of sight, nearly at the top of the stairs, as he tripped over a box. "My notes, I was saying I couldn't find them." But he would later once he stopped trying to find them, there was a pattern to it, nearly every time. 

And it was a very impressively quick shower, yes, while Dev was bat hunting he made an effort at more presentable human being, clothes and all even if the change was actually only from one pair of jeans, t-shirt and hoodie to another it did still on some level count. He also counted the coffee he spied on the counter in the kitchen in passing as a follow-up to that sandwich and reappeared at the basement door with cup in hand. "So where are we going?" Lifting it he paused just short of drinking it, not certain Izzy hadn't been doing something in the kitchen that morning but decided to take the risk, and a sip, which thankfully carried no strange tastes that marked some manner of poison or whatever else she amused herself with.

Her desired reaction was just that - the one that would have him acting as if he’d never heard any of them speak of sex before. The length of time their bonds had been given to cement over the time spent was enough to erase what should have been boundaries. It wasn’t like they were siblings in the sense of the word that people used now, anyway. They didn’t share blood, not even their vessels had, but as far as she was concerned it didn’t make a difference. While Vince was content to play the older brother role - perhaps she’d taken on the older sister.

“If you could hear through the walls, this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard a complaint, first of all. Second of all, you would have sound proofed your room, not that you’re ever in it.” She played into the attempt to jostle her a bit, shaking her head enough to allow now blonde hair to fall into her face. Annoying enough, that braid she currently wore would never quite keep it in place. Soon enough though, surprisingly delicate hand would chase it away, tuck it behind her ear.

“Out.” She repeated in a way that made it clear she wasn’t quite giving him an option in the matter. He needed to remember to leave this place - even if the reminder came with a swift kick in the ass, quite literally. “Great, then if the bat is taken care of, perhaps you should shower before we set you loose on the town.” It was her turn to wrinkle her nose.

“You smell like the thirty year old stuck in moms basement living off of pizza and WoW raids.”

"I use my room, sometimes." They both knew how much of a lie that protest was, that space went unoccupied much of the time because what need did he have for sleep and he was easily the least likely of them to be entertaining guests. The basement served him better, too well at times like that day when Dev had to come drag him back into the light of day. "Maybe I'm just too polite to point out how traumatizing it is, I could be suffering deep psychological damage." He was, yes, but that really had nothing to do with his sisters or brother's personal lives.. 

Isn't the definition of madness repeating the same task over and over and expecting different results?

Well, there was a point, yes. The voice and Dev both had excellent ones to make; he did need to get out of the basement a few hours because he'd been stuck in his current cycle of fixation for too long to keep track of. "I showered this morning, thanks." 

Not untrue, but also not useful. 

"Then I had to move some boxes. Do you think werewolves can get rabies? That was why I had the bat, of course, because I don't have a wolf at the moment but I wonder if focusing on the canine element is enough to override their natural healing if it's a strong enough strain. So, boxes, and my notes. I think I moved some of them though because I can't -" Vince trailed off since Dev was still just standing there with that expression of tired indulgence that he received far too often when rambling over whatever notion had caught his attention. "Right, shower." 

Vince abandoned his perch with all the sheepish smile of a child being chastised and headed for the stairs, the short few minutes it would take him to scrub off the dust and other traces of grime, fluids and whatever else were bound to be even more hurried than usual. "Well that's unfair, I haven't even played that in years."  It had been a phase, he'd insisted at the time.

“His own age.” She repeated the ridiculous dig because she liked it. There was a laugh, lighter than usual, that followed in turn. While Liam did suffer more for his baby face, Vince wasn’t exactly too far beyond him in that particular category. It suited them both though, the reflection of the vessels they’d picked. Devya couldn’t remember how long she’d been wearing hers, but it had been long enough all the other faces had pretty much bled from her memory.

“I never said I had any intention of being anything other than nice, for that matter.” She corrected, making a face at him as if it were absolutely preposterous to suggest she, of all people, would have taken the opportunity to be the definition of heinous bitch. “Crying, dear brother, produces tears, as you know. Tears, I’m told, can be quite the compelling lubricant.” She recalled a conversation with a certain stone someone who had dropped that bit of information in passing. It was a shame she’d never gotten the chance to test the theory, not yet, at least.

“No one important.” She nodded her head as if it were going to be reassuring at all. They all knew that Devya would go above and beyond just to make sure her dear twin didn’t suffer any, including lie for her when needed. It wasn’t like she had sins she’d need to pay for, after all. “Another jockey.” Her nose crinkled, a sneer obviously following. “He drugged the horses and beat them when they lost, he’s lucky his worthless little ribcage gets the chance to mean so much more than he did.” That didn’t mean that she hadn’t tortured him, but that wasn’t the point.

“Vince, finish the sandwich. Let’s find the bat, and then we’re going out. If you don’t know what the town has to offer you, you’re going to get a crash course. And no, you can’t say no. So don’t bother.”

It was true, he only had a small amount of room in that regard, but he was quite purposed in his appearance. Liam he had no idea, whatever whim had inspired that was what it was and Vince didn't judge his siblings' motives for the bodies they took, but he certainly did not want to return to old habits so that intimidating form served him well enough in going both unnoticed among people and putting them more at ease. He didn't mind so much being overlooked, it was a good reminder of the lesser hand he wanted to play. Power was no longer the intoxication he had known in the beginning of things, to bitter a taste in his mouth from what it brought. 

"And that's the sort of information about your personal life that I can live without." His expression quickly shifted to a cringe and he lifted hands to cover his ears, the gesture one of humor that was exaggerated for the sake of teasing. "This is far too much overshare." But he had little doubt it was the truth, Dev had a wicked streak a mile long and too much time made the usual interests feel mundane and boring, they all had a bit of that impulse to them, yes, in different ways. Personally, his preferences ran more towards the masochistic than the dominating but to each their own. "It's bad enough I can hear that half the time through the walls upstairs." Which wasn't entirely true but the conversation wasn't half as entertaining if it wasn't, as most things were, excessive. 

Very mature, all of that. 

Not much room to disagree there, he gave the voice that much and dropped his hands when the conversation shifted to the matter of murder. It should have been troublesome how common a topic it was around the house but, no, it wasn't really. "Hmn? Sounds like a charming one." Maybe it was justified, in some cases, but Vince didn't bother to debate the matter. 

Way to take the moral high road there. 

Holding his hands up both to show that he had finished off the last of that meal in a few bites and as a show of mild defeat, he uttered an exaggerated sigh. "Out? But I still have work to do." A weak protest at best, he was always itching to roam the town but too often got fixated on some task downstairs and just stayed there. "Bat, right, it's fine. If it is still around here Sal will just eat it, probably dead already." It wasn't like the rat was picky, either of them, but that one was the worst of the two. Besides, how many places could a bat escape to in the first place? The basement was secure for a reason, a lot of reasons actually, nasty little reasons that caused epidemics.

“What, never seen a pixie before?” Nyx shrugged easy, his posture relaxing some after the other man showed his palms, a placating gesture he didn’t need to be from around here to read the right way. He brought the thread to his lips, chewing through it after he decided the last stitch was thrown in there. It wouldn’t heal pretty but it would heal which is what mattered in the end. “They are not as gentle as they seem.”

“You ask a lot of questions for a man who has yet to introduce himself.” The pixie’s inched forward, a smirk etched into the corners of his mouth, eyes intent on the other man. “Should I be worried?”

"Yeah, but it's been a while, few decades maybe? Not sure, too easy to lose track." For a long moment he was trying to recount the last time but since most of his work involved humanity it was only in passing that he encountered the supernatural. They were, so far, still mostly immune to his talents so he didn't interact as much with them. Still, he was weighing it over, trying to piece together the lost moments and that went on for far too long.

Focus, you're just standing there looking like you're lost. 

Hn. Shaking it off, Vince tried to tune back into the conversation and went back through the mental list of what had been said, taking note that the other man at least didn't look as irritated as he first had. Sometimes that was the best one could ask for when far too many people were more prone to growling than at least giving a false pretense of being friendly. His own was hardly false, people were very interesting, so it was disappointing how badly they took it at times when curiosity got the best of him. 

"Oh? Well, most races are like that, that misconception that pixies are tiny little fluttery things," the words were coupled with hand motions to demonstrate the hilarity of size, "I always thought it was funny how humanity had such bizarre ideas. You look borderline terrifying, if that makes you feel better." His tone dripped with that usual cheer, the words earnest for the sake of agreeing that the stranger did look like he could break someone's face. 

Should he be worried?

For once the voice sounded mockingly amused and Vince couldn't help but grin, finding it funny himself; really it was up for debate given those shiny wings. "Vince." The name was offered alone because time had taught him that very few people wanted to touch him with the title he held, even so far as a handshake, so he kept both hands tucked out of the way. "Some people worry, I guess, but you'll be fine. I think pixies are like most inhuman creatures so I'm fairly harmless to you."

“Most of the more interesting plagues my brain was a little more preoccupied with other things than glitter, I was more high strung in those days, very guts and gore about it. Not the fondest of my earlier work these days, heh.” 

Fixing the bat is quite comical considering she can’t really recall the last time her memory of his experiments ended in survival. That was the problem with some of those nastier diseases, the ones she assumed were far more fun than the rest of them. Those were also the ones she took more interest in personally, the ones you could use to start, and even end wars. There is a bit of a laugh at the thought though, of the tiny animal making a recovery, before she shakes her head. Her brother casually eating a sandwich in his mad laboratory is another reason smile is cracking.

“I’m not judging him and his sudden interest in men who look like prepubescent boys.” She holds up both hands like it’s a white flag, throwing in the towel of harassing her favorite little sibling, but they both know better. She’s hardly done, she never is. To be fair though, Liam gives her just as much shit as she gives to him. It’s a mutual rule of their particular bond. “I, personally, just don’t see the appeal.” She finishes, before the conversation moved onto Izzy and the growing collection of bones.

“Perhaps she can make a rainbow ribcage instead.” She muses, clearly envisioning the idea and finding that she likes it. This is obvious by the way features light up, proud of both of them for something they hadn’t even accomplished yet. “I have been at the bar mostly, I did meet a very interesting pixie the other day. I can’t recall the last time I had actually seen one..it’s been so long since we’ve been out.”

"Maybe he's just interested in someone his own age for once." Vince pointed out with a barely contained amused sound, his sisters might not have appreciated his humor on the matter but he absolutely enjoyed tormenting Liam about his youthful appearance because it always hit that nerve with his younger brother. True, none of them really were different in age and were about as old as time itself but there was a certain hierarchy to the situation, himself being the 'oldest' by simple order of purpose. "Which means you have to be nice, if he is." 

He hated to point out the obvious, sometimes, but Dev's dismissal of the idea hardly came as a surprise. "Of course you don't see the appeal, you'd just make somebody like that cry." It wasn't an insult, only an observation of his sister's dominating personality. They all had their quirks, he didn't fault that, had his own as well even if his were about as fragmented and swift to change as the direction of his thoughts.

Wait. 

"Where did she get a ribcage?" The question hit him as an afterthought once he had finished that sandwich and his focus was busy realigning itself back into the moment. "She didn't kill anybody important, did she?" Important by the standard of likely to get her into trouble, of course, Vince had plenty of empathy for mortals actually but he knew there was no arguing with her when Izzy was entertaining herself. 

Occupying himself with other thoughts, his head tipped just barely in contemplation; he found other races fascinating and Dev knew that, so of course the conversation caught his attention, at least for a moment. "You get out more than I do, I didn't even know there was anything like that in town. Aww, did you make a new friend?" He actually sounded a little hopeful, that was no small task for any of them given how uneasy people could get over what they were.

Needle and thread in hand, his wing in his lap, Nyx was trying and failing, rather spectacularly at stitching a tear on the surface of it. Mouth pinched at the side the pixie swore. All his efforts had achieved was an ugly irregular pattern of white thread through the blue tint of his wing.

“That’s bullshit,” He sighed, looking up to meet a pair of eyes, expression shifting to a glare in matter of seconds. “What are you looking at?”

"You." Vince was nothing if not rather forward with conversation, social graces extended to his usual cheerful personality but he was otherwise vastly questionable in ability to handle interaction with the delicacy many people had. "Or, your wing, I guess, if you want to be specific."

You want to maybe not sound like a weird creeper? Yeah? 

It wasn't the first time his running mental commentary had proven to be right in assumptions, his conscience was quite the talkative one, usually insightful as well. So he reconsidered and tried a different approach, hands lifted in a show of harmlessness over the whole matter while he tipped his head at the other man. "I just didn't know you could do that, sew them back together. They're very pretty though, shiny, that's what distracted me."

This isn't better.

"Anyway, that also looks painful, what did you do?" Try three, as it was, but maybe that one was the charm, as the saying went.

The mention of the bat made her cross those arms over her chest, but not in a defensive gesture. She didn’t mind any of her siblings strange little hobbies. They all served her own purpose, after all. Perhaps that was a selfish way to think about it, but it didn’t make it any less true. Viral weaponry, or the threat of it - had done wonders for the business of war. Famine, or food in general had always been a staple when it came to the source of a good old fashioned dispute. It was only her who served someone else, her sister. They all played into one another, the perfect fit to the most dangerous puzzle. 

There was a laugh before she nodded behind her at the door. “You better find that thing before Izzy does, or it will be a cup holder.”  There was a moment taken, to tap finger to her chin, trying to figure out how exactly Death would pull that one off. It would be tucked away to mull over later, instead. Attention rounded back to her brother, depositing the sandwich on a nearby table. For all she cared, he could experiment on it later. 

“Yes, I heard he showered with some teenager or something at the gym, and Isadora has made some very lovely wind-chimes from someone’s rib cage. There on the porch…someone asked where we bought them, as if they are early Halloween decorations.”  A pause for a chuckle at the look on their faces if they knew the truth. 

"She can have it when I'm done, if I can't fix it, I just probably shouldn't let it get outside." All manner of interesting things could happen when one of his projects escaped and very few of them were anywhere near as entertaining to other people than they were to him. Other people couldn't appreciate a good experiment though, sadly. Actually, if he found the bat before Izzy maybe it would recover, there was always that chance and an equally intriguing though. 

Your sister is talking again, idiot. 

Right, there was that. Vince only then noticed the sandwich as well and abandoned his search for the winged creature in favor of retrieving that instead, picking it up off the table and sitting there with his usual gangly tangle of limbs that never seemed to fit together just exactly right. The conversation snagged his attention, for the moment, even as he took a bite. Really, had he remembered to eat earlier that morning? He couldn't remember and Liam had been absent to remind him with his ever-present snacking. 

"Oh, leave poor Liam alone, let him have some fun, one of us should." Vince couldn't help but laugh, ever the advocate for the idea that his siblings could do no wrong in anything they did. But there would be teasing later about it, oh yes. "Oh, I need to show Izzy something later, I was watching videos earlier about dyeing bones, it was really interesting and, honestly, they're so bland just white." Vince hummed with a vague hand motion before returning to his sandwich for a few bites, then speaking again. "And what have you been doing?"

The four of them spent a surprising amount of time apart for how insanely close they were. Currently, she couldn’t remember the last time she’s actually seen Vince. Granted, she knew he was there, hiding out in the basement, but there was a certain solace that came with sight. That explained why she had managed make him something - food yet again, but a simple peanut butter and jelly would have to suffice.

A pause at the door, listening for some kind of noise from inside - as if she expected him to be in there tearing something apart, but eventually hand reached for the knob.

“You know, you’ve probably missed about five things you could have made fun of Liam for.”

Hiding was a subjective term, he enjoyed social interaction an unhealthy amount but, alas, work was demanding and the world’s constant state was a fixation. Plus he had gotten distracted a few times online; very important research about dyeing bones because Izzy’s collection was just abysmal all monotone. No end to the amount of things he had to do and the basement was, after all, his self-proclaimed base of operations. Otherwise known as the only spot in the house he wasn't tripping over someone else, and really for whatever odd reason his dear siblings weren't fond of when he happened to forget and leave some project lying around. They called him the dramatic one but, honestly, he always overlooked bloody clothes dumped in the laundry and tried to the kitchen being a mess that he had to clean before fixation set in; how was he the dramatic one? 

His words trailed the motions around the room, brow furrowed as he clearly was searching amid papers and boxes, vials and stacks of notes scrawled in messy handwriting. "Hmn? Oh, well that's just neglectful of me, isn't it?" Voice trailing along, a smile in passing as he nodded to her, then paused. "Have you seen a bat upstairs?"

Focus. 

"Anyway, I'll find it." Unconcerned, his attention went back to Dev. "Uh...what?." Mostly sure it was the ‘do you know how long you’ve been in the basement’ look of concern but he was so damn bad at reading expressions sometimes, but that one was common enough to be familiar. 

Well that's not fair. 

True, true, he had to give that little voice in his head that much credit; it really wasn't fair to judge the effort his dear sisters and brother put into their role in things. They worked very hard too, he was certain, it was just that more of their work took place in the company of other people so it seemed easier. 

And what were you doing?

Right, yes. The goal of that afternoon was to be social, out and about in the pleasant air and meet some of the fascinating oddities who resided in town. Being one himself was bound to make for some kinship and Vince was sorely missing that; his siblings were of course his best friends but honestly he was curious about other people. How strange was it that most everyone in town was practically immune to his abilities?  

Immune right now. 

Humming a bit over the thought, it was one he planned to test with time, yes, later, The unfortunate soul who caught his interest was just minding their own business when he spotted them at a table outside what he assumed to be some manner of shop or cafe, and he honed in on them like a shark. A vaguely clumsy, weird shark but whatever, the point was he didn't think twice about strolling over to have a look at what they were doing and sitting down at the table with them with a cheerful greeting. 

"Hello! You were sitting here alone." Because that was the entire explanation as to why he would decide a complete stranger was someone to talk to; they weren't already talking to someone else.

Vincent Cavalier shares our delusions. They are an unknown age, a Horsemen (Pestilence) who looks just like Grant Gustin. They are a sponsor. While they might be enthusiastic, sometimes they get obsessive. They are a switch in bed, and pansexual. They are into voyeurism and temperature play, and want a dom/sub/switch partner