Charisma's Your Dump Stat, Isn't It? [Vanyel, Sora]

Well, the guy wasn't here for Lunar New Year, and he was a wanderer. Didn't have a place to stay, either. It was...eerily reminiscent of his own life, so much so that Vanyel's smile dropped, and he turned to face the bar. Literally, he tilted his head down to look at it, only to look back up as the bartender came with their drinks. He was about to take a sip, right as Sora took a drink from his own.

Some days, baijiu wasn't right. There was a whole tradition around it too, so, maybe it tasted better when it was done through that. Either way, he just gave a quiet snicker, before sliding his drink over to Sora, ordering a new one on a dime.

"Nah, it's fine. Besides, I'm the one that speaks Mandarin here, remember."

But, then Sora brought up the elephant in the room, and Vanyel grimaced. He was grateful that the guy kept his voice down, god knows he didn't need the entire town hearin' of it. He sighed and lowered his voice, keeping it an even mumble.

"Before that, need to ask before I forget: you want a job? Generally, me and some pals under my employer are pretty freelance, and I could put in a good word for ya. Probably would get to travel and see all sorts o' places. You don't gotta decide now, but, somethin' to chew on. With that outta the way...ya want the long version or the short version?"

Sora tried not to pout as Vanyel insisted, and put away his wallet. He really needed to learn the languages of the places he went. He knew how to say hello and ask for a hotel and the bathroom, but he was sure he still got that last one wrong at times. He took a drink of the new one and was surprised. It wasn't often he wanted to down a green drink, but it had a nice taste and kick to it. He'd drink it again.

Sora realized his question may have been pushing too far. He did meet the guy ten minutes ago. Ah, shit. Oh, well. He wouldn't push if he was told to fuck off. However, to his surprise, he was offered a job? Sora blinked. Vanyel didn't even have to say everything else. He was completely for it. Travel? Money? Hell yeah! Sora nodded along until Vanyel stopped talking. "Yeah! Definitely. I need a job like that."

"I usually end up doing shit like cleaning out some old lady's garbage or delivering some packages, but if it's steady work, I am in." Sora said with enthusiasm.

He figured that a guy who was pretty clearly a wandering, world-traveling type, would want in on something like that. Frankly, he was questioning why the hell he even made mention of him not needing to make a decision right then and there. So, taking a drink of the new jade cocktail that had arrived in its place, Vanyel gave the guy a pat on the back.

"Awesome. This'll definitely be more lucrative than that. It's good t' do the right thing 'n all, but...it doesn't pay the bills. I'll let my employer know that you're interested and see if we can set up an interview for ya."

Taking out his phone, he took some time to write a message to Rita, letting them know that they had another potential new set of hands to help and work. Sending it and tucking his phone back into his pocket, he stretched for a moment, before taking another drink of the cocktail.

"So, with that outta the way, I'll ask you again about the whole...D to H thing, short version or long version? I don't mind talkin' about it, just, I ain't gonna announce it to the whole world."

Sora felt relief at possibly having a world wide job. The places he could go, the money he could make... THE FOOD HE COULD AFFORD. Hell yeah! Maybe he'd get out of these old t-shirt and worn down jeans too. He had to tame his excitement since he could get real unlucky and not even be hired, so he took another drink and then a deep breath. He was about to say... something. Oops, he forgot. Vaynel instead brought back the other conversation, which was a bit surprising.

"Ah, how long you wanna sit here? I don't have plans anywhere else," Sora said. "Go for the long, might as well, if you're really not carin' about me knowing."

Well, that was certainly something. He wasn't expecting his question to be answered, at least partially, with a question. But, hell, he didn't really have anywhere to be at the moment. He could kill some time, and it was a story he wasn't shy about telling. So, taking another drink of the cocktail, he turned to face him, resting his arm on the table.

"Long version it is, then."

He sighed softly, stretching and putting a hand to his forehead. He'd try to not make it too long, and keep the extra bullshit out.

"Believe it or not, but before I was a demon, I was a human before that, too. I...met a girl, a Danava. Dunno if you know what those are, they're basically creatures with their whole entire thing being concepts. This girl was the Danava of Dreams, Calypso Asthavon. The surname's probably obvious who she's related to, so, I won't really go into that. She and I knew each other for a few years, and we both were involved with Mana, the Demon Queen. She...was my girlfriend, fiancee, it was complicated."

He took another drink, grimacing. It felt like it was so long ago since he had first met Calypso and started this whole spiral.

"I ended up getting a lot more involved with demons in the last few years, and that included a woman named...Algos, a demon princess. At this point, I hadn't realized how...I really felt about Calypso, and, I didn't really get why what she did pissed me off so much. She..."

He trailed off, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the glass like a vice, his arm trembling and a gaze so cold and hate-filled he could probably kill someone. He didn't even start speaking again after trailing off, zoning out in his own thoughts.

This man had seen some shiiit. It was pretty impressive. Sora listened intently. The names this guy was dropping were... Well, Sora wasn't going to ask about any of that shit, nope. Instead, he just let Vanyel continue until he white-knuckled his cocktail and dazed out with sudden murderous intent. Sora waited a second or two, seeing if he'd snap out of that on his own, but when he saw a crack appear along the frame of the man's glass, Sora tapped firmly on Vanyel's upper arm.

"Hey, you're good, man." Sora said calmly, squeezing Vanyel's shoulder. "You're good, let go of the glass, Van. That's my fault; had no business asking."

Sora reached over and grabbed the cracked glass. He signaled the bartender and asked for another drink for Vanyel and himself, the same green cocktail that had originally been ordered. The bartender came over, saw the cracked glass, and glared at the both of them, but let it go. They probably just liked that it wasn't because of some stupid barfight. Sora looked back to Vanyel as their drinks were being made, speaking quieter than he had before, "You all right?"

At first, the gestures went unnoticed. His arm trembled as he stared at the glass, his expression shifting from anger, to sadness, to just...bitter numbness. He relinquished his grip on the glass, taking in and letting out a shaky breath, before turning back to Sora, rubbing the back of his neck.

"...Sorry about that. I'm fine, just...bad stuff happened to her. I don't like remembering it. Let's...let's leave it at that and skip over that bit."

As the new drink arrived, he offered a smile to the bartender, only to get a glare in return. He made a mental note to tip extra for that. He sighed, taking a sip of the new drink, before resting his head against his palm. Made he shouldn't have talked so easily -- but, either way, he said he was gonna give the guy a story, so, a story he'd get.

"Glossin' over...that, we ended up figurin' out that we liked each other, started datin', and...she ended up turnin' me into a demon. I kinda thought that, if I did, I could do better in protectin' her, that maybe, I wouldn't be so much of an outcast with them. But...I was wrong."

He took another drink, looking at what little of the emerald-colored cocktail remained in the glass.

"They didn't care about me. It didn't change a damn thing. So, me and Caly just, left the Demon World. Shacked up in the Americas with her...other mom. Demons, it's...weird. You, uh...you followin'? Got any questions? If i'm gettin' annoyin' or anythin', you can tell me to shut up, I won't be offended."

Sora was glad he came back to reality. Whatever Vanyel was imagining was pissing him off. The implication in his words helped Sora understand that it must have been real bad too. Sora wasn't going to dig deep, not after that. Whatever Vanyel was cool with saying was it, so he gave a curt nod when Vanyel wanted to move over a certain part of the story. So, he fell in love with a demon, so he got turned into one? How the hell did he come back from something like that?

"Nah, I'm just curious about the rest of it," Sora said, half lying, but he was assuming that the rest of the story would answer the one question he did have, so he would rather wait. "And no worries, man. You're not getting annoying or anything like that. It's a real interesting story, so keep on tellin' it if you're okay with that."

Well, at least the story was interesting. He had left out a few things, but, those weren't...entirely relevant right now. So, giving a half-smile, turning to rest against the bar again, ordering another cocktail as he finished the current one off.

"Mm...well, for a while, I was just kinda...wanderin' around, tryin' to figure out how, or even if I could turn back. Another Danava I met said that there wasn't a guarantee, but, I still wanted to try. Ended up meetin' someone who's now one of my coworkers in a martial arts tournament he threw together. He guided me to someone who could help me, now my employer."

The half-smiled turned full as he looked to the bar, turning his head as he saw the bartender come back with another jade cocktail. Taking a quick drink of it, he cleared his throat, turning to face Sora again.

"They used this ability, Asset Aura, I think it was called...I don't really know how it works in detail, but, it worked its magic, bringin' back somethin' that, in all technicality, didn't exist anymore. Wasn't a fun process, though -- it hurt like hell, but...I'd do it a thousand times over to feel like me again. When I was a demon, I...I didn't feel like I was myself. I felt like I was in someone else's body, and I hated it."

He released the glass, slowly bringing an hand to his other arm, gripping it tightly. Even though he had looked the same when he was a demon, he never felt like he was himself -- he just felt like he was some...creature, attached to Calypso by proxy of conversion. He shook his head, sighing softly, before giving a somewhat forced grin as he looked at Sora again.

"But, I'm me again. Good ol' human and everythin'. So...yeah, that's the story."

There are things Sora is good with and things he is bad with. This was the type of conversation he was bad at reacting too. It was deep, personal. So, when Vanyel finished and pushed up a smile, he felt a little relieved. Replying to that was hard. Sora pushed up a smile in reply and pat the guy on the back again.

"You went through some hard stuff, Van... Oh, can I call you that?" Sora asked and waited for confirmation. As he went to speak again, his phone rang. He picked it up and slid off the stool. "So, it was cool meeting you, but until I have that job, I have some others that I still gotta take care of. A man's gotta eat."

Sora held out his phone to Vanyel. "Give yours a call so we have each other's number," Sora said. "I'm holdin' you to that job offer. Really could use something good." Once he got his phone back, Sora slid it back into his pocket and snuck a bit of money onto the bar next to their drinks. "Have a nice night."