Some kind of writer of fanfic...

He'd been out doing the rounds of the tombs, and had pocketed a few new books to look at later. The sun had just set, the air starting to turn chilly with the coming of night. Coming through the treeline, Abolish was able to see the group gathered around the gate.

Martyn, Legundo and Cleo were just inside the gates, standing tensely, but only Martyn had a weapon drawn. They were facing off with Pyro and Scott, who were a few meters back. Unfortunately for Abolish, they were also directly between him and the gates. He suppressed another sigh, and began to approach carefully.

"—was worth making the offer, at least," Scott said airily, and Abolish was glad he recognised the dismissal in the Elder's tone. He must have missed the worst of the argument, thankfully.

"No one here is interested, Scott," Legundo said firmly.

"Well," Scott said with a wave of his hand, "you all know where we are, should you change your minds. Come along, Pyro."

The fledgling slipped into place at Scott's side easily, though he cast a furtive look back at the townsfolk as he did so. Abolish slowed to a halt as Scott turned away from the town, facing him directly. A smile spread across Scott's lips as they made eye contact.

"Abolish," he said, like he was greeting an old friend. Abolish crossed his arms, and gave him a small nod. They hadn't crossed paths since Scott had pressed him against a tree and covered him in his scent.

Abolish made the mistake of glancing over Scott's shoulder, to meet Cleo's steely glare. They'd been quite vocal in their distrust of Goldsmith's intentions, and while Abolish certainly didn't disagree with their opinion, he was getting a little sick of being on the receiving end of their ire. He snapped his eyes back to Scott, who was approaching slowly, Pyro a half stride behind him.

"What are you doing here, Scott?" Abolish asked.

"Oh, I just thought I'd pop down and see if anyone was interested in discussing the benefits of vampirism," Scott said, coming to standstill just short of the reach of Abolish's sword. Not that it was drawn. "There's so much room up at the Castle, and we all know the simplest way for us all to get out of here is for you lot to embrace the gift and let us turn the Beacons, so I thought we could just have a friendly little conversation. Sadly, your friends were less than welcoming, so we'll be on our way."

They're not my friends, Abolish did not say. That was the least important part of Scott's little speech, and it wasn't worth the argument. Instead, he simply hummed thoughtfully. Whatever Scott's actual motivations, he did seem to be happy enough to walk away from the conversation without causing any issues, so Abolish wasn't going to intervene.

"Unless…" Scott stepped forward, grin turning sharp, "you would be interested?"

"You know that's not going to happen, Goldsmith," Abolish said flatly. Scott chuckled.

"Oh, you can't blame me for trying," he said. Abolish didn't bother responding. Scott was clearly determined to keep digging at him, regardless of whether he pushed back or not, so it was simply easier to give him nothing.

Scott took another step forward, deliberately moving into Abolish's space, and let out a soft purr. Abolish was prepared this time, and locked down his habit of tilting his chin up at the sound before he could so much as twitch. That didn't deter Scott, though, the Elder stepping closer still, purring louder with a determined grin. Abolish clenched his jaw, as he realised he wasn't getting out of this conversation without a formal farewell.

He had known that letting Scott scent him would have consequences. He had just thought that most of them would come up after he left Oakhurst, and would have to put up with Morcant fussing over him like he was a fledgling for a few weeks. But Scott had apparently decided it was not a one time thing. And so Abolish, arms still crossed over his chest so his hand was close to the silver dagger tucked into his sleeve, suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and slowly tilted his chin up to bare his throat for the Elder.

Scott moved with easy grace to close the distance and rub his cheek across the line of Abolish's jaw, the rumbling vibrations of his pleased purrs filling the air between them.

Abolish stood perfectly still. For Morcant, he would dutifully lean into the contact, pressing back against his cheek or one of his fancy silk handkerchiefs as he rubbed them over Abolish's face and neck. But this was Scott. Abolish didn't flinch away, did nothing to potentially risk triggering a hunting instinct, but simply endured it. He had noted the difference in the texture, the way Scott's skin was smooth and soft against his own, in a way Morcant's was not. On a purely sensory level, Scott's nuzzling was certainly not unpleasant, at least.

It was a quick moment of contact, a gentle nuzzling and a single stroke of a hand through Abolish's hair, before they separated again and Scott was walking away, a flick of his wrist in Pyro's direction to get the fledgling to follow him.

Abolish didn't miss the low growl Pyro let out as he stepped past him.

He could feel the eyes of the townsfolk on him. They would have seen the entire exchange. Abolish drew a slow breath in through his nose. He wouldn't be able to pick up on the layered intricacies of the coven scent, not without vampiric senses, but there was definitely a lingering, metallic edge to the air around him, that reminded him of sitting in the armoury, sharpening his blades.

(The Thornvale scent was earthier and reminded Abolish of days spent training in the forests near the manor).

He took a second to prepare himself, and then walked the rest of the distance towards town.

"You want to explain what the hell that was about?" Martyn snapped as Abolish walked through the gates.

"Not particularly," Abolish answered, honestly.

"Abolish," Legundo said firmly, as Abolish tried to walk past them, "we thought he was attacking you, what—?"

Legs' question was cut off by a snort of laughter from Cleo. Abolish clenched his jaw. Legs looked across to them, brow furrowed with concern and confusion. She gave him a dismissive wave.

"Don't mind me," they said. "Though I am looking forward to hearing your explanation, Abolish."

"We don't have time for this," Abolish said, reaching into his bag. "Here, Doc."

He pulled out the book he'd found labelled I/III and passed it over. Legundo's eyes went wide, and he took it reverently. The conversation quickly flipped to discussion of the Cure.

Cleo's eyes never left Abolish's face. He knew he wasn't getting away without giving some kind of explanation, no matter how well planned his distractions were. He held back a sigh. Cleo he was mostly happy to talk to at least. Legs too, probably. That was about as far as his amity extended.

Not trust.

He doesn't do trust.

(And yet he'd trusted Scott to not bury his fangs into his neck and—)

He couldn't do trust.

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