only human

@gaslightingdreams

peyton had never done anything like this before. she had never actually considered herself to be wanting anything alcoholic. though for her birthday she drank until she couldn’t remember anything. so she was quite excited when fallon had asked her to come along for a wine testing in pegasus. she never had experienced this before. people actually wanting you to taste the wine for free? how could anyone ever say no to that? with her black and purple skirt, and her navy blue t-shirt, peyton had set out with fallon to the winery where they in fact made wine.”oh i’m so excited!” she squeals hands clasping together as blue hue looks around them.”you don’t actually drink it though do you? because i’m not very good with alcohol. one sip and i’d probably so drunk you’d have to carry me home.” she giggles. though it wasn’t a lie peyton’s alcohol tolerance was a horrible one.”thank you for asking me out to this, fallon. i don’t know how to ever repay you!”

He laughed shaking his head. “Hey, I can’t help it if they throw themselves at me,” he shrugged looking at Peyton his demeanor softening as he relaxed into the vodka. She had that way, she could make even hard things seem easy to him with just her voice. Maybe he too looked at her as much of a mother figure as Cameron did. Well, without being blood relatives. It was easier to be a vampire surrounded by vampires, but it also could be a gang mentality. He was better alone he’d decided, and that’s what he tried to be. “Maybe that’s what Cam needs, a nice little nurse girl,” he teased softly as he watched her. “I like him,” he nodded, “I also worry about him…but as you so kindly mentioned he’s older than me.” He let out a soft laugh as he watched Peyton, “Thank you…for always being here and listening,” he spoke graciously to the other. His hand reaching out to give hers a squeeze. “Where do you see yourself? What’s next for you?”

a smile played on her lips hearing his words, leaning back into her seat, as she finishes off her glass of vodka, putting it down on top of the table.”don’t lie to me, gabriel. we both know you flash them those pearly whites and it has them touching themselves.” she says with a giggle. she could see it in his eyes, that look. it wasn’t a bad look, but it had her dead heart dropping slightly. she didn’t mind being people’s friends, or that they looked at her as a family member. she could see it in his eyes that, that’s how he saw her. peyton was five hundred and twenty six. she raised a well mannered boy by herself. a boy that was made from non consensual sex. though peyton didn’t let the emotions she was feeling show, she was good like that, she was used to being the friend to everyone, used to not being more. it was how her life was. living alone, going to bed alone. watching everyone else falling in love, and finding their person. perhaps peyton’s person was murdered. perhaps she missed her opportunity. but again, the smile stayed on her face, except when he talked about cameron, a deep breath left her lips.”he might be older, but he still is young.” she says a weak smile upon her face.”what has got you so worried?” she asks him, lookin down at their hands, before blue eyes went back to him.”of course. it’s what friends are here for is it not?” she asks with a giggle, before shrugging her shoulders.”i see myself doing this for the rest of my life being here with friends and family, helping keeping this place afloat. i don’t know what’s next for me. never really think about myself, but rather other people. why do you ask? what’s next for you, gabriel?”

She took a deep breath. Ronnie forgot that Payton was a sector head. So where she was before may not sound like something a crazy person would say. When she showed up at Lackluster main gates, she was dressed in sixteenth century garb; which was unraveling due to the lack of magic in this realm. “Yeah, the Fae have the same view on money. As long as you have honey, bread and maybe like milk. You were golden.” Ronnie walked into the parlor, her mouth started to water from the frozen dairy smell. Even thought the temperature was dropping by the day. She could ear five scoops of pistachio, honey, chocolate, honey, marshmallow flavored ice cream.

blue eyes look to ronnie as she spoke, her smile spreading more as she hears her.”you were living with the fae? what are they like? i’ve always wanted to go and see their world, but well, i always thought i wouldn’t be the right species to be around.” she says, giving a light shrug of her shoulders. though peyton didn’t mind, because peyton enjoyed being around other people, just because she couldn’t be with the fae, didn’t mean she wasn’t unhappy here. she was actually really happy here. peyton had her son, her job, her family and her friends. you couldn’t get better here than anywhere else.”well, what are you going to order?”

“It is definitely much different than my last dwelling.” The blonde confessed with a warm smile. “The ‘no money’ is the only similarity from her to my–um, last home.” Ronnie walked with Payton towards what she assumed (and hoped) was the pistachio and honey ice cream. 

“your last dwelling?” peyton asks, a soft frown appearing on her face. she wasn’t sure what ronnie had meant, and peyton wasn’t the type to sit there and assume anything. she didn’t like assuming, it was a bad word, and a bad habit people got into, one she did her best to not get into.”oh. so you won’t be feeling a little strange about the no currency thing?” she asks, a bright grin returning to her face now as she walked them toward the ice-cream parlor. she held the door open for ronnie, before stepping inside herself, breathing in the delicious smells of the parlor.”i love coming in here.”

“Bright sides.” She smiled back at Payton. “Is there an ice cream parlor around here? Or a place where I can get a honey milkshake? Stars above, I can suck ones of those down.”

“there is always a bright side to everything, ronnie.” peyton says giving the woman a soft smile.”it’s better to look at the positives than the negatives at times. negatives just seem to bring everyone down.” she says, before she’s nodding her head, looping her arm with the woman’s, as she began to walk her toward the ice-cream parlor.”we have a lot of things down here. plenty of food, ice-cream. you name it, we have it.” she says a soft giggle leaving her lips.”we just don’t have money. the world is a much better place without money.” she tells her, keeping her arm looped with hers.”you liking it here so far?”

The earthquake, Gabe nodded in understanding as he watched her sip. He liked her better after a drink or two not that he didn’t enjoy her company already, he poured himself more vodka. For a moment he thought of the two mother and father, a child. But, that wasn’t how it worked then again he wasn’t sure he truly wanted a family. It was more of the idea of loss that lingered every time he strived to move forward. “Don’t,” his gaze went from the glass to her as he shook his head before finishing his second and easily refilling the crystal. “She’s long in the past, there’s no room for her in the present,” he wouldn’t even speak Lidiya’s name. “Besides, it’s not like I’ve had any time to be with a woman, with this job and all…” After all those years it was all so fresh how could he even think of being a father again? He’d let one down so immeasurably. The third glass was easier than the first two. He refilled her glass. “If I looked eighteen no one would trust me as head of surgery,” he laughed shaking his head as he thought of Peyton’s son. “I always feel like he dislikes me…maybe it’s the maturity thing.”

hearing that one word, had told peyton she had crossed a line, a line she hadn’t meant to cross. her hue softens on him though but she doesn’t say much on the topic, because she was told not to, and peyton respected these boundaries. in some cases she was quite lucky that she had found the coven, who turned her, and let cameron grow up, making sure she didn’t lose him to any kind of illnesses back then. but then they tried to use her son against her, when she refused to kill more people for the coven. when the only human friend she’d made was murdered by the coven leader’s orders. she wasn’t strong enough to take on vlad, and with cameron by her side, peyton wouldn’t risk his life to get revenge. so she fled. to protect cameron.”how many nurses have you slept with now?” she teases lightly, before a soft frown appeared on her face.”i don’t think cameron hates you. he isn’t like me. he doesn’t like being around people. a lot of his time is spent working, or at home. he didn’t even want to move out and away from me, because that meant he’d have to share a place with someone else. don’t take it personally gabriel.” she tells him softly.”you have a soft spot for him don’t you?” she asks. not that she minded this, because she knew cameron would always turn to her if he needed it, and peyton would always be there. but she was glad he was at least trying to talk to people. it worried her at times with how content he was with just himself.

Gabe licked his lips slightly, he wouldn’t say it but he longed to hear her speak Russian to him, and with him. His heart and soul were there. He was a Romanov, it was in him he’d been there for greatness and sadness, and she was the closest he had to his history. In that way the two were different. She ran from who she was, persecution, denial, horror all things he understood but could never feel about his country. He, on the other hand had been a part of something. He hadn’t had a coven, or a proper ‘vampire’ teacher, but he had tasted chaos power and destruction. And had never once needed to hide his heritage. Eventhough their pasts differed, their present was similar. Somehow repenting for sins. Learning to live with their…inhuman imbalances. She offered him the forgiveness he could not offer himself. Which was why he adored their friendship. As soon as she mentioned her son he laughed. Nodding, “Right, right..you always like to bring that up,” he swirled his drink before taking a sip. “I’m almost his age in looks no need to rub it in,” he teased. “In fact, I think I have a few gray hairs I noticed,” he teased. “Come on, one tonight and I won’t pressure you for more when you lose next time,” he smiled looking at her. Even with the whole bottle imbibed Gabe could choke down some blood at work and be rid of the alcohol dilution in his veins and be ready to operate within an hours time. He’d given up drinking live but every so often there were the moments when a patient had been declared dead but they’d needed to keep them alive to harvest the organs that Gabe got a taste of what he’d given up. It was an unspoken bond between him and the hospital. A, don’t ask…don’t tell policy. And because of giving up living, pumping blood, he wasn’t ready to give up his alcohol. At least not yet. “I think about it, sometimes,” he stopped for a moment to look at Peyton. “Having a child again, I mean, down here…they wouldn’t go through what we did,” he looked at her. Then shrugged at the mention of his work. “Trauma is a constant, I’m head surgeon in the emergency and trauma rooms..and an assist when I’m not operating I’m doing paperwork and training the new crop.” He sipped down his vodka with ease as if it were water. They hardly spoke about work when they were together. It seemed trivial, “How about you? How’s your sector getting along?”

it wasn’t that peyton was ashamed of her russian accent, she loved it. she loved russia, she hated that she had to leave, but it was for the safety of her son, to protect him from the coven, that had turned him to keep peyton there. but that just fueled her to leave. though she didn’t talk about that, because what was in the past, was in the past, there was nothing to talk about. sure peyton would talk if someone asked, but she wasn’t going to openly talk about it. what happened to her son was horrible, and honestly; she didn’t want to live through that again. but she was there for gabe, and what he had gone through, she didn’t judge anyone, peyton was a judge free corner. she really needed to get herself a gavel. a big grin played on her features, as she sips the whiskey, not wanting to get drunk.”yes i do. it amuses me.” she says with a giggle, before she’s laughing more now.”you don’t look eighteen, my friend. i’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but. you definitely can tell you’re not eighteen.” she says, still giggling. oh god, was she drunk? no. she only had the tiniest of sips. better to just take smaller ones. perhaps she was just enjoying herself, yeah, that’s what it was.”fine. just one.” she says, before downing the whiskey, her body shivering at the taste and the burn on her throat.”forgotten what that tasted like.” she says, blue eyes looking into his, as he began to speak.”what’s stopping you? we both know you’d be a great father, and what happened, wasn’t your fault” she whispers softly, before she’ s shaking her head.”at least we don’t need sleep, huh? more time in the night and day for that stuff.” she says, knowing work was hardly mentioned between the two of them.”it’s going good, guards know what they’re doing, other sectors, help out with mine. just making sure things are getting their surveillances replaced from the earthquake.”

There was something about home when it came to Peyton. He knew her town, he knew her culture, and he knew about being a vampire just as she did. Yet he was far younger than her. Playing absently with a ring on his finger he let out a slight laugh as he shook his head. “Prosti,” Gabe spoke with a grin. “You lose again and I take far too much pleasure in beating you to give you any hints.” He let out a laugh tilting his head to her, “Maybe if you were as young as I am you’d be a bit quicker,” he shrugged with a smile. Turning to go back to Peyton he set down a bottle of old Russian whiskey and a couple glasses. “We’ll cheers to your loss hm?” He asked, “Before I leave,” taking a seat he watched the other. “You’re a sector head, and I’m an assist when are we not working?”

he was cocky at times, not that peyton minded it, she really didn’t mind much when it came to how people were, or how they perceived themselves. she was pretty adaptable around people, and nothing could bring her down.  she smiles when he apologizes, shaking her head lightly, as a hand run through her curls. peyton wasn’t much for talking in her own language. perhaps it was because she had been in hiding all those years ago, didn’t want to draw attention to herself, didn’t want the people she had run from finding her, but it was nice to see gabe so relaxed with it. she loved her language, loved hearing it, and even found herself talking to herself in it. it was easier than english that was for sure, but she also liked the american accent she picked up along the way.”you just like trying to get me drunk.” she teases softly. in truth no one could try to get peyton drunk, when she drinked she was gone quicker than anything. but she also didn’t drink much anyway, never a big fan of the alcohol and the taste it brings. “i might be older than you in vampire years, mister. but i’m younger than you in every other way.” which was true. she was really only twenty one. she was still young at heart, despite how old she was in vampire years.”isn’t it weird that my eighteen year old son, is older than you?” she asks, a giggle leaving her lips, before she let’s out an unneeded breath, smelling that russian brew that seemed to not be everywhere as she thought it might be.”see. trying to get me drunk.” she mutters, knowing full well, she couldn’t handle her country's alcohol. she was such a lightweight.”so what has work got you doing this time?” she asks him, before looking down at the glass in her hand.”couldn’t we toast to your winnings, not my losing?” she asks him, before she’s giggling once more.”i’m off the clock now. decided so. probably won’t last long. think i live at my office more than i do at home.”

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. 

Hello and welcome to Lackluster News. Thank you for agreeing to the interview, are you nervous at all?

peyton took her seat, a big smile upon her face before she’s shaking her head at the question.”not at all! i’m quite excited to do this!”

Spencer got comfortable in the couch, bringing his legs up so he was sitting cross legged. He had a large cup of coffee in front of him and his latest book on his lap. Opening the book, he removed the bookmark and put it in the back, starting to read. So far, it wasn’t bad, but he was waiting for something more exciting to happen. Reaching for his cup of coffee, he went to take a sip, but was stopped by someone approaching him. He flashed them a big smile and looked up at them. “Ooh, please tell me you’ve got a fun story for me! If not, I’ll take a depressing story. I just like stories.”

“oh i love stories! did you hear about the chick that went to band camp and had sex with her musical instrument. i think she had sex with it.” this was from a movie, but clearly peyton thought it was based on real life events.”i have plenty of stories though. just give me a genre.”