come_sailaway | sunshine, you're the best time i ever, ever had

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sunshine, you're the best time i ever, ever had

Who: Marc Spector and you
When: Early June
Where: Various locations
Summary: Just trying to get his sea legs, so to speak.
Warnings: Some cursing, some references to substance abuse. Nothing major. Will update later if needed!

I. a little shopping trip

It's the restless urge to be up and doing something that has him browsing through the shop, maybe grabbing a chocolate bar, browsing through the paperbacks. He's not really one to read all that often, but-- there's Steven and maybe he's trying to decide on a book or two to bring back to their cabin and leave inconspicuously on the bed so he can begin hoarding up a new room. It won't be French poetry or books on the Gods, but... honestly. Screw the gods. He'd rather read some trash paperback about some bosomy chick and her dangerous ex-soldier solving some mystery and falling for each other or whatever any day.

When he's not staring down whatever trash novels are in this place, he's plucking up a few extra toiletries on the way out, maybe a few pain meds for any unfortunate hangovers he might acquire along the way.

He might turn a curious eye to anyone who's in there with him and ask, "Does anyone actually see how this stuff's restocked?"

Or who keeps this shit clean and dust free or whatever. Yeah, yeah, ghosts or whatever. But there's got to be more behind it, right?

II. let's hit the sauna

Self-care might come in the form of alcohol and other substances for Marc, maybe the odd brawl here or there, but here he is, trying a little bit of a healthier way at the spa. It's a good thing there aren't any massages -- he'd not be interested in them anyway. But the sauna? Oh, yeah. He can get behind that.

Really get behind it. Marc finds a time when it seems to be empty enough that he can stretch out with his towel spread out over his lap, eyes shut. Fake some of that peace and quiet he's never truly known in his head, maybe.

It's when someone comes in that he seems to go back to alert, sitting up a bit straighter and clearing his throat. "Oh-- uh. Sorry."

He'll even scoot over to give plenty of space to whoever decides to join him.

III. big pills, little pills

Somehow, Marc ends up int he infirmary. Well, not just... by chance. He's curious, just in case he ever needs to perform surprise minor surgery on himself or needs a hit of something stronger when the alcohol isn't enough to knock him out or bury the bad memories.

That doesn't mean he doesn't scowl a bit at some of the-- medieval torture devices, er, medical supplies. "What the fuck is this thing?"

Do they... do they do lobotomies around here still? Bleed people with fucking leeches, what?

But once he finds the pills, he seems to perk up a little bit. "Hey, they got some of the good stuff..."

Guess who's gonna be sleeping a little easier tonight?

IV. tauva

Maybe this isn't his type of joint, generally, but he's finding himself enjoying the atmosphere... and the whiskey doesn't hurt it either. Better than the place that keeps playing Billy Joel too, in his opinion. He might be huffing out a quiet laugh when he picks up a bottle with yet another weird date he's pretty sure is a lie. Whatever. It could have been back from the beginning of time and he's not gonna be choosy.

"Hey," he'll start if he notices someone close enough with an empty glass. "You want a refill?"

Never let it be said he can't be nice on occasion.

V. wildcard

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Yeah-- well, look. He's seen gods before. And if she's not a god--

"Or-- serving a god? Because." he's kind of got experience with that too. Not fun experience. Gods are dicks, end of story. Or at least the one he got roped into serving.

"Or what, some kinda vampire?"

Well, she had a fairly strong faith in God with a capital G, but Diana got the sense that he was talking about something...else.

Her father's voice echoed in the back of her head, urging her to probe that particular line of thought. Intellectual curiosity would have to wait, however. Living openly came with higher stakes than curiosity.

"Um...well, the technical term would be 'Cainite.'" She realized it was a euphemism, really, at this point. But sometimes, she kind of needed the euphemism, for her own sanity. "They say he was the first vampire. The mark of Caine is...yeah...vampirism." Quickly she held her hands up, eyes wide. "But I'm harmless, I swear!"

"Vampirism." Oh, well. Shit. He was right even though he'd just been tossing out random stuff that popped into his head. He does take just maybe a tiny step back as he looks her over.

"... Do you-- does that mean you drink blood or what?"

Do they supply blood here?

"Not yours."

She said it quickly, defensively. And without thinking.

This was definitely the downside to living openly. The constant reassurances. Which were as much for her as they were for anyone she happened to 'come out' to, as it were.

"I...I don't bite passengers."

"Okay... okay. They provide it here or something?" Would that even be as good? He does seem to relax marginally though. If she's not about to jump on him and drink his blood or whatever.

Diana nodded.

All of the confidence she'd exuded earlier, all of her easy demeanor and flightiness was gone. She kind of looked like a naughty puppy now, who had been bopped on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper.

Timid.

Abashed.

Not at all the breezy, sexy Bond girl she usually imagined herself to be.

"They do," she said. It wasn't exactly...good. But it sustained life, or whatever it was that Diana was living. And it kept her from chewing on the other passengers. So thank God for that.

He shifts a little bit, brings up a hand to rub the back of his own neck. "Yeah, well... good, then. That's good."

Now it just feels a little awkward. She looks-- different. Uncomfortable. He can't say he's not been there, for other reasons. Scrutinized. Mistrusted.

He clears his throat, rolls his shoulders. "So I guess vampires aren't allergic to the sun? Being on a cruise and all."

"I have a cabin without a porthole," she said miserably.

That was probably the worst part of all of it. She was missing out on half of everything that happened on board. And it wasn't FOMO--okay, maybe it was a little bit FOMO--but it made her feel a bit like a liability. Obviously, if there was some kind of escape available to the rest of the passengers during the day, she wouldn't hesitate to tell them to get their asses free.

But she wouldn't be able to help. And that sucked.

Shit.

The emotional stuff isn't really his-- strong point. Not when he's used to keeping his own bottled up until he either explodes or manages to drink it all away. That said, watching other people deal with theirs and not being able to do much in the way of helping never quite settles with him.

Even if this is the first vampire he's met.

"Hey, c'mon... we all got stuff we have to work around." He's-- uh, certifiably insane, for instance. Probably. He definitely needs help at least. He's not sure touching is welcomed but he does carefully butt a shoulder into hers, tries his best for something like a reassuring smile.

"Must be tough though."

The smile that lit up Diana's face was a one-hundred-percent-genuine-pinball-machine-smile, her eyes glittering like little lights on a consol. The fact that he wasn't running away screaming was more than she could demand. But the fact that he was willingly touching her after a revelation like that...the fact that he was treating it like an actual allergy or something...

That...

Well, Diana always had a lot more faith in human beings than in her own kind. This was just a great reminder why.

"It's not the most groovy fun you can have, no," she said. "But I appreciate the fact that...well, everyone I've talked to has been kind of cool about it."

"There. You know, uh-- the smile suites you more, I think. You've got a nice one." Even if he's still a little weirded out by the vampire thing, it's not even the weirdest shit he's heard of. They're on some cruise ship to Hell... he can handle vampires. Why not.

"How long did you say you'd been here?"

As it happened, Diana's smile was her third best feature. But she wasn't about to get quite that far ahead of herself.

Marc was cool. That was a total blessing.

"A couple of months," she said. "Pretty rough months, T-B-H. I'm still trying to get a handle on this whole...multiverse thing."

"It's a lot, right? I'm still half-expecting... to wake up and all of this is some kinda dream." Wouldn't that be nice? To wake up, back in the flat in London, back to some semblance of whatever he calls a normal life.

But that's not gonna happen.

At least most the people here don't seem too bad, right? Even if that's been a trip by itself.

"Yeah," she said with a bit of a huff. "I know what you mean. Or, like, I used to have these intense black-outs. After a really bad one, I remember waking up in New Orleans. I would give anything to just...I don't know, wake up in Vegas or something right now."

It was probably oversharing.

But after she revealed she was a vampire to a near stranger, somehow, talking about her black-outs didn't seem so bad.

She shook her head. "But it's real. This place? Totally real."

"Black-outs, huh?" Marc might know a thing or two about intense blackouts, but his usually-- none of them were very pleasant. Waking up suddenly somewhere else with no memory of how or why.

"Yeah, yeah. It definitely feels like it." He gives a bit of a wry smile, looking her over.

"I mean. My mind can come up with some pretty fantastic stuff, but not sure it'd ever make up a vampire." He doesn't sound like he's complaining though.

"So, not a Twilight fan, huh?" She shook her head, trying to look disappointed, but her smile was tugging too much. "Just as well. The only thing about me that sparkles is my personality."

There was nothing glamorous or sexy about being a vampire.

Especially a vampire in direct sunlight. It was actually pretty damn gruesome.

"Think I might be a little old to be a Twilight fan, right? Probably more of a Dracula type of guy." And he doesn't really do sparkly romance. There's a soft, amused huff that passes his lips though, lips curling up in a brief smile.

"Well, that definitely caught my attention at least."

Diana curtsied, lifting the hem of an invisible skirt. He didn't like mommy porn and he was complimenting her. This was going way better than she could have hoped.

Which probably meant that another shoe was going to drop somewhere. But Diana was a little bit too much of an optimist to go there, at the moment.

Humans were just so great!

"Glad you noticed."

If he knew she was thinking he was anything great, he might laugh. But then again, he's never had much self-worth to start with. As it is, he just huffs out a laugh as she curtsies.

"Hey, uh-- thanks for filling me in, by the way. I appreciate it. Little overwhelming, just showing up here and... being thrown in the thick of it."

"I get it," she said, shrugging. "It's a lot to take in. And that's even before you allow for things like the fact that vampires are real. I just figure...making friends helps with any kind of rough situation. We're all in this together. We might as well try to help each other."

Which was Diana in basically any situation. It just felt more important than ever, at the moment.

Marc's never-- been good at friends. He's never been great at people. But he nods his head after a moment. "Yeah... sounds like it'll be a good idea to stick together from what I've heard. Not sure how much it'll help, but it's got to be worth something."

She sensed a certain gravity behind what he was saying. Diana was enough of a people person to understand that not everyone was. What was common sense to her could be more of a challenge.

As both of her sisters managed to prove time and again.

So she didn't take what he was saying lightly, giving him a smile and a deep nod of agreement. "Well, you can count me as someone to stick with."

"Yeah... You can count on me too, if you ever need me." He's got a feeling they're going to be on this ship for a very long time after all. There will probably come a time.

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sunshine, you're the best time i ever, ever had

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