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[beautifulboy]

city CRAU welcome (though he wasn't there, lol)
will default to human daniel unless vampy daniel is preferred
if you can't think of a starter, feel free to just blank comment or send me a picture prompt and i'll write something up!

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[keepgodwaiting]

[ Johanna notices him noticing her, because, you know, she's a red-blooded woman and he's a nice-looking guy. And-- ]

'Sall right. Sorry, have we met?

[ There's something familiar about the lines of his face that she can't quite place. It conjures a remembered feeling, like when you smell a particular throat-closing dryness and find yourself thinking of your gran's dusty attic. Something fond, and something not un-sexual.

Could just be he's cute, of course. ]

[beautifulboy]

[ Daniel figures that being asked if they're familiar is a good enough excuse to give her a proper look up and down, a bit more pointed, a bit more lingering, even though he knows damn well that he hasn't ever seen her before in his life. She's pretty, and that coat makes her look eye-catching and professional, though there's something about her stance that makes him think she could just as easily get into a scrap if the occasion called for it. Not a woman that will giggle at his mediocre flirting, at any rate. But she's looking back at him, so who can really blame him for lowering his bag and settling his posture a little more casual in return? ]

I dunno — you ever been interviewed around San Francisco? I don't usually forget a face, and I feel like I wouldn't forget one like yours, but... well, I didn't often end those nights sober.

[ He chuckles, shrugs. ]

What's your name? Maybe that'll ring a bell. I'd remember writing it on the casette.

[keepgodwaiting]

[ She won't giggle at him, no, but she does snort, genuinely amused. ]

Johanna. Nah, closest I've been is Los Angeles, and I was only there two nights. You ever been to London?

[ She offers a handshake: the black polish on her nails is starting to chip, and her grip is firm, even a little challenging. ]

The bloody City could be adding deja vu to its bag of tricks, too. Wouldn't put it past it.

[beautifulboy]

[ He accepts the handshake but his eyes never leave her face, his expression landing somewhere between curious and analysing, like he's trying to guess the twist in the novel before he reads that far. She'd definitely be the kind of woman he'd hang off of all night if he bumped into her in a bar, just to get a few minutes of her life on tape. It's been so long since he's wanted to record anyone, but he can feel those old muscles working themselves back to life now. ]

Ah, no, not yet. I've mostly stuck to the US for now, but I'd like to someday. Maybe when I do you could show me around — I'm guessing you're from there, right?

[ What excellent observation skills, Mr Molloy. And then he adds as an afterthought, gesturing to himself: ]

Daniel. If it's deja vu, it's a one sided phenomena, I'm afraid. But that's good for me. It means we have plenty we can talk about.

[keepgodwaiting]

Daniel.

[ It's almost there. She chuckles absently, looking up at him, eyes a little unfocused as she tries to place him. No, still not quite. ]

I suppose if we're stuck waiting out the rain we might as well. It's talk to each other or run for the nearest station, and that's-- [ She cranes her neck to try and figure out which intersection they're on. ] Farther than I want to run.

[beautifulboy]

Ah, yeah, the trains.

[ He turns his head, shifting his bag better across his chest, ignoring the clattering from all the tapes inside. He looks like he's about to start walking toward them, despite their conversation; whether that be because of the strange way the comfort of the trains seems to call to him, or simply just to escape the way she's clearly trying to puzzle out if she's seen his face before or not, remains to be seen. Ah, the horrifying ordeal of being known. ]

I couldn't have arrived here wearing a coat or something, huh. You're lucky, at least you've got somethin' waterproof.

[ He looks down at her, smiles, and then sighs and leans back against the wall to his back. ]

Alright, Johanna. How'd you wanna start? Two truths and a lie? Or something more classic — start at the beginning and all that? I think I've got my job resume in this bag if you wanna see it.

[keepgodwaiting]

[ Johanna snorts, and mirrors him a couple feet away, leaning one shoulder against the wall. Close enough to be friendly, far enough to be nothing more than that. ]

What is your job? You said you do interviews? Are you a journalist?

[beautifulboy]

Kinda. I used to record stories from people I met in bars, then I'd transcribe it and sell 'em to interest columns. Sometimes I'd write a reflection or two of my own, sometimes I'd get quotes at events and sell those to the papers... This and that, y'know?

[ What is his profession right now? He hasn't needed money for years, at this point. He shrugs. ]

Then I wrote a book, and haven't done much since. What about you? [ He grins. ] Or, can I guess? I'm pretty good at reading people.

[keepgodwaiting]

Ha! Sure. I'll even give you three shots. You'll never get it.

[beautifulboy]

Three? You really don't think I'll get it, huh...? Alright.

[ Daniel runs his hand back through his hair, then rests his fingers on the cigarette tucked behind his ear like it's a habit, like it helps him think. He leans back on the wall and studies her, smile lingering. ]

If you doubt me that much, you either think I'm dumb — which would be pretty rude since we've just met — or, your job is a weird one.

[ He tips his head back, his face a caricature of thought, and when he looks back at her, he's grinning expectantly. ]

Are you a snake milker?

[keepgodwaiting]

[ Johanna throws her head back in a peal of genuine, delighted laughter. ]

Ha! I like that. No. I do handle dangerous things sometimes, but not poisonous snakes. One down.

[beautifulboy]

Oh, I'm getting clues even when I get it wrong? You must like me or something.

[ He gives a short little waggle of his eyebrows that makes his glasses jerk. ]

Okay, dangerous things, dangerous things... If it was a different kind of animal, you might have said wrong species or wrong family, so I've got a feeling it's not animals at all. You're not a lion or shark tamer or anything like that... Something to do with chemicals, maybe, or electricity... Or is this one of those 'human beings are the greatest danger of all' kind of things? Are you a cop?

[keepgodwaiting]

Ugh, bite your tongue.

[ She's obviously enjoying this, watching him flick through possibilities like files in a cabinet. Even the reflexive disgust at being called a cop is tinged with humor. ]

Bit warmer, though, with the most dangerous game, I'll give you that.

[beautifulboy]

[ Daniel's grin is a cheeky one, his teeth flashing like he knows he's said something out of line but isn't too worried that she'll take it personally… It's no less a relief, though, that she denies his claims and that she's still smiling. Look, he's been a homeless guy in the 70's, he knows what a pain cops can be. He wouldn't want to be accused of being one either. ]

So you're not a cop, but you do deal with dangerous game, dangerous people...

[ A thought strikes him. One of his hands lays absently over the flap of his bag. His expression turns a little more serious. ]

Or things adjacent to people... Are you- Are you a vampire hunter?

[keepgodwaiting]

[ Johanna is starting to consider what she might claim as a prize when he makes his third guess and still doesn't get it -- when he makes a guess so specific that it makes her eyes widen in genuine surprise. ]

No.

'M inclined to give it to you, though, that's pretty bloody close. What made you guess that?

[beautifulboy]

[ Daniel raises his eyebrows as thought he's surprised - but that wouldn't make sense, would it? Because he's the one who asked, so really he should have been ready for the possibility that she might tell him he's right. Perhaps it's just a harrowing thing to imagine something like that being real - someone armed with knowledge, like he is, targeting these creatures he never knew were real until a few years ago. He tightens his hand, taps his fingers nervously, and exhales slowly. ]

I keep getting contacted by guys who know who I am, and who I've been talking to. The book I wrote is about a vampire, you see. An interview with one. And in this interview, the vampire tells the boy a whole history of multiple vampire lives. Apparently there's an organization out there who'd find the stuff that didn't make it into the book pretty interesting, though there's not much.

[ He looks side-on at her, the way someone might look at another person if they were, say, suspicious. ]

Do you work for the Talamasca too? Is this place something they've got in their back pocket? Like a concrete cupboard where you can interrogate me and then leave me there if I don't talk?

[keepgodwaiting]

I don't work for anyone.

[ She says it more or less without thinking, an automatic negation. She has no idea who "the Talamasca" are -- the name has the same ring as some of the covens and societies she's encountered, but doesn't match any. ]

Multiple vampire -- fuck, wait, do you know--

[ It's not that things snap into focus. The way she first saw him was too hypnopompic and impressionistic for that. Not to mention that he was largely naked in those images, and viewed through the warmth of a lover's eyes, instead of huddling in the cold and wet with rain echoing down off the concrete around them.

But that has to be it, right? The sense of familiarity, the fact he knows vampires. Synchronicity. ]

Do you know Armand?

[beautifulboy]

[ Rogue agent, then? Daniel's mind ferrets over the information, wondering how he could have got caught up in something like this, why anyone hasn't stepped in? He's known, after all, isn't he? And why hasn't Armand put a stop to it, if it was going to happen this way? Surely he knows, surely he knows the Talamasca are contacting Daniel - Armand has so many connections with Daniel's name on them that sometimes Daniel has the obtuse impression that Armand is more Daniel Molloy than he is....

And then he hears Armand's name, and Daniel swallows a bit too loudly. At some point his hand has come up to press over the gold locket under his shirt, and he only realises he's doing it now, because the moulding on the sides of it is cutting into his fingers through his shirt and making his skin ache. ]

You realise telling me you don't work for the secret organisation and then asking me if I know one of the people they specifically want to talk to me about doesn't make your claim to not be the vampire secret police super believable, right?

[keepgodwaiting]

How am I supposed to know who not to ask you about to sound less suspicious?

[ Lot of negatives in there. She shakes her head. He's right, of course; she'd probably have the same reaction if their roles were reversed. ]

I'm not even from the same version of Earth, mate. Don't suppose I can prove that to you in any way that'd stick, but you can ask Armand or Lestsat what they think of Johanna Constantine. [ She pulls a hand from her pocket and taps her temple with a sigh. ] They've had a look.