I've gone identity mad

[bloodhigh]

Muses: Storm (bloodhigh) and Cade Lu (vibrantdecay)
Date / Time: 11/03, after sundown
Rating: PG-13 for Storm's foul mouth
Type: Thread
Status: Closed
Summary: Storm has lived in Hong Kong for almost a year and knows nothing outside of his personal circle. Cade believes in sightseeing.

It was probably the first time Storm had ever been to a museum. At least, that he could remember. As fascinating as history could be, he preferred reading about it to seeing it for himself. Still, he supposed, it wasn't like he was there for the museum. He was collecting a vampire for an excursion to Repulse Bay.

He supposed that at some point he probably should have asked: why Repulse Bay? After all, as it stood, he knew very little of the city, despite his residence of... at least seven months, anyway. It was hard to remember much before the first high. Or perhaps, he wondered idly, long fingers carding through his messy blonde hair, it was just that he didn't want the memories. After all, the years of his life between his family's death and the first rich taste of vampire blood on his tongue - they'd been nothing short of pathetic.

The thought brought a dark smirk to his lips, a bitter sort of amusement that he didn't often entertain. Storm was much more of a now person, living for the moment, past be damned, future too. He wasn't Oh Sehun anymore. He was Storm, and he was going sightseeing with a vampire.

Oh, how the Sehun of a year ago would have cringed.

Grandpa. Im outside he texted, lazy, uncaring for punctuation, only calling Cade 'Grandpa' again to get back at him for the 'Monsieur' he'd received earlier. A beat, and then: Stop your paperwork and lets go have fun. Another beat, and Storm leaned back against the wall with a heavy sigh. "It must be because he's a geriatric," he mumbled to himself, and then chuckled. That one was good. He filed it away in his brain to tell Jiyong later.

Still, slow or not, Cade was an interesting sort. Storm was used to vampires sweeping in, taking what they wanted, and disappearing again. Sometimes it was blood, sometimes it was sex. None of them had ever psychoanalyzed him the way this one had. Certainly none of them had made him quite so flustered as Cade - though that was an admission he would never, ever make. What exactly made him tick so differently? Despite himself, Storm was intrigued.

But Cade was still slow. It had been three whole minutes since his initial message.

For fucks sake cade I can literally feel myself getting older

Comments

[vibrantdecay]

As a general rule applicable only to one finicky Cade Lu, those on Kwon Jiyong's payroll who made their trades selling their bodies one way or another were on his 'avoid contact with' list. It didn't physically exist, this list, but to anyone who had been observant enough of his infrequent visits to Divino and the secret blood den underneath, it was quite noticeable. After all, who stepped into a strip club and did not partake? What vampire stepped into a blood den and did not partake? It wasn't as though the underground club did nothing to tempt him - the scent of blood both exposed and curling through the nubile human bodies was heady and inviting. Had Cade been a few decades younger, he supposed he would have no qualms in licking blood from willing necks.

But that monster was long buried under the rubble of his current persona. Cade Lu the boring curator. He hadn't intended to embrace the adjective, but in his greed to be great at his job, he had inadvertantly created an image that was an indomitable force in his workplace. And to be great, he had to immerse himself so deeply into his role, allowing himself little to no mistakes, that his work ethics mutated into a descriptor in itself. Cade was great at his job, and had proven it time and again, but there was no escaping the bore factor that came with it.

The messages came as Cade was wrapping up an email, in near-rapidfire succession, and he couldn't help but laugh. In all honesty, he wasn't as bothered with the ridiculous nickname Storm had decided to bestow upon him. For someone whose work was quite the very opposite of boring, Cade could barely fault the young human for it.

Two minutes in, Cade turned off his computer, picking up his phone to let the mononymous boy know he was coming out, only to be interrupted in the middle of texting with yet another one from the other. "This kid," he muttered under his breath, amused at the impatience shared with his employer. 'Then I should keep you waiting a little longer. We might be the same age by then.' he typed back instead, smirking as he gathered his belongings and left his office. It was quite a bit of a walk to the entrance, a distance easily covered vampiric speed, but Cade kept his normal pace. How frustrated would Storm get, he wondered.

As a general rule applicable only to one absurd vampire, associating with those the likes of Storm was out of the question. Yet Storm himself seemed to be quite the exception, if based solely off their previously exchanged texts. There were secrets, and Cade's curiosity was moth to its flame. And like a moth, he settled quietly at Storm's side, just half a glance out of sight, still suited impeccably in tailored Armani.

"How old are you now?" He asked by way of greeting, offering an easy, friendly grin when Storm met his gaze. "Come, Monsieur. My car is just around the back. I hope you haven't had dinner yet, by the way."

[vibrantdecay]

Storm's little request after the toast brought a laugh to Cade's lips, and he nodded with a slight shrug. "As you wish." It didn't matter to him either way, after all.

With Cade, when it came to exchanging personal information, it wasn't always tit for tat. Everything came with caveats, and for someone who kept the details of his own history very, very private, it wasn't a surprise when most people find it frustrating when he refused to share. Cade was masterful at subject changes, sidetracking conversations to his advantage, but even he could not lessen the disappointment in others being unable to know as much about him as he did about them.

Cade had never disputed that he was selfish and greedy to a fault.

So when Storm reflected the question back at him in a similarly casual fashion, Cade simply smiled, mind already running through the many different ways he could either divert the attention, or respond with a generic answer. He fingered the rim of his champagne glass, and chose a mixture of both.

"No, I haven't always been. But I will say it doesn't carry quite as fascinating a story as yours does. An Australian cyclone, huh?" He paused, looking at Storm in a slightly different perspective. "Was that where you were before coming to live here?"