Eroshay was not the usual client found at Temptations, the new brothel, and grill her father and his business associate/boyfriend had opened. Granted, a few pre-teens or the like at the restaurant section of the business wasn't entirely uncommon, some of the clients brought their children and Klaus often took Shay or her older sister, Addy, here.
Shay was known well enough by the employees that when the thirteen-year-old sat at the bar, no one bothered her. Yeah, coming here had become regular for her, and she was already decently desensitized to the nude art and almost naked waiting staff. She was not immune to the regular dose of childhood infatuation and blatant staring, but she'd have liked to believe she was.
It was one of those times, in fact, that Shay caught sight of a few intriguing prospects for conversation. She could have been a good kid, kept her nose to herself and ate her meal, simply watched the people she found interesting, but then, Shay wouldn't be her father's daughter if she played nice.
The girl drummed her fingers along the bar counter, a constant erratic beat that kept tune with the series of jumbled thoughts in her head. She mentally branded each candidate. Too flirtatious. Too drunk. Too obnoxious. Too obvious. Too --
Shay stopped, interest lost in those she'd previously been targeting. She'd found a new subject, and she was staring none too subtly.
@Dean W (for Vapor ^-^')
To say that Vapor von Rauch was a creature easily bored would be one hundred percent correct. It always seemed like it was hunting down SOMETHING to do whether it was stealing things, hurting things, or even just a bar room brawl once in awhile this thing was always looking for something. This day though it thought that it would practice some social graces and attempt interacting with the general populace. This eventually lead it down to the strip because where else would one go to interact with the meat creatures? You could go to the shops and other various businesses but they always got annoyed when you didn't buy something, and they rarely had anything that Vapor needed or wanted. Plus if they ever did he could simply just come back after business hour and take it!
Now the bars on the other hand? Those were always filled with the interesting creatures! They always seemed to attract the lost and the dammed, the dregs of human existence who clamoured into these dark dank holes to blot out the meaningless of their existence, or in some rare cases even celebrate it! These type of humans were the ones that it found the most interesting and the ones it had centuries ago decided to associate it self with!
Today's destination was a place called Temptations, a place it was told was exactly the den of scum and villainy Vapor would love. There was also the fact that it also seemed to be a converted church which was usually a sacred place to these human things. The irony of it was not lost on Vapor, or at least their rather limited concept of what irony meant. To take something holy and turn it into a place of sin seemed to fit this description. It made its way into the strip until finally their destination was in sight.
Pushing through the doors the sentient smoke cloud was not disappointed with what it saw, the place was perfect! The set up, the choice of art work, and even the uniforms the employees seemed to have donned were exactly what it had expected from the brief descriptions that had been given.
Vapor smiled, a very good smile that some would even call pleasant if not for the fact that it never seemed to touch the eyes, and made its way in. It walked as if it owned the place, or at the very least like it belonged here and always had, its footsteps making no sound. Anyone who keen enough eye sight could see that Vapor von Rauch wasn't just walking, it was floating as their feet were not quiet millimeters off the ground. It was a trick it learned it could do a long time ago, and one that seemed to drive some of the meat beings mad. The fact that something so otherworldly looking could move without making a sound seemed to bring up some sort of primal fear in them for the most part. At least that is how it had been in the past, people these days seemed to be getting to desensitized to the unnatural for its liking.
Casting it's eyes about the place it found the perfect spot to sit, an empty table not too far away that was in full view of the room where it could also see the rest of the patrons it self. While von Rauch understood that it was customary for one to try and slink off into the darker areas and try to hide ones self away that was simply not their style! Vapor must be, almost had to be, the center of attention at all times! It was far superior to any meat creature after all, as there were thousands of them and as far as it could tell there was so far only one such as it.
Pulling a slightly crumpled pack of cigarettes from it's suits' jacket pocket it carefully removed one of them and brought it to their lips. Raising an index finger to the tip of the cigarette a small flame seemed to spark to life and the red glow of the lit smoke could be seen has Vapor inhaled. It knew that smoking laws existed in some places, and that sometimes smoking inside is 'frowned upon' but it simply did not care. It needed smoke to continue it's existence as much as the humans needed their food.
After it had lit the cigarette the flame sprouting from it's index finger died away as it once again looked about the place and the patrons that currently occupied the area. For the most part it was pretty standard until it spotted a small child staring without even bothering to try and hide it.
The human shaped smog cloud blinked it's red burning eyes and then stared right back, tilting its head to the side and inhaling on the cigarette before smiling. This might have been an odd sight, well odder then the black suited black skinned creature in general, seeing as other then when it was smoking Vapor didn't actually seem to breath. Nor did it ever exhale any of the smoke that it took in from the little tobacco filled sticks.
Normally, it thought to itself, One does not find the child creatures in a place like this. The fact that this one was not only here, but it looked rather comfortable in such a place, was exactly the sort of thing that von Rauch found interesting about humans. One way or another this was starting to promise to be interesting.
Now the bars on the other hand? Those were always filled with the interesting creatures! They always seemed to attract the lost and the dammed, the dregs of human existence who clamoured into these dark dank holes to blot out the meaningless of their existence, or in some rare cases even celebrate it! These type of humans were the ones that it found the most interesting and the ones it had centuries ago decided to associate it self with!
Today's destination was a place called Temptations, a place it was told was exactly the den of scum and villainy Vapor would love. There was also the fact that it also seemed to be a converted church which was usually a sacred place to these human things. The irony of it was not lost on Vapor, or at least their rather limited concept of what irony meant. To take something holy and turn it into a place of sin seemed to fit this description. It made its way into the strip until finally their destination was in sight.
Pushing through the doors the sentient smoke cloud was not disappointed with what it saw, the place was perfect! The set up, the choice of art work, and even the uniforms the employees seemed to have donned were exactly what it had expected from the brief descriptions that had been given.
Vapor smiled, a very good smile that some would even call pleasant if not for the fact that it never seemed to touch the eyes, and made its way in. It walked as if it owned the place, or at the very least like it belonged here and always had, its footsteps making no sound. Anyone who keen enough eye sight could see that Vapor von Rauch wasn't just walking, it was floating as their feet were not quiet millimeters off the ground. It was a trick it learned it could do a long time ago, and one that seemed to drive some of the meat beings mad. The fact that something so otherworldly looking could move without making a sound seemed to bring up some sort of primal fear in them for the most part. At least that is how it had been in the past, people these days seemed to be getting to desensitized to the unnatural for its liking.
Casting it's eyes about the place it found the perfect spot to sit, an empty table not too far away that was in full view of the room where it could also see the rest of the patrons it self. While von Rauch understood that it was customary for one to try and slink off into the darker areas and try to hide ones self away that was simply not their style! Vapor must be, almost had to be, the center of attention at all times! It was far superior to any meat creature after all, as there were thousands of them and as far as it could tell there was so far only one such as it.
Pulling a slightly crumpled pack of cigarettes from it's suits' jacket pocket it carefully removed one of them and brought it to their lips. Raising an index finger to the tip of the cigarette a small flame seemed to spark to life and the red glow of the lit smoke could be seen has Vapor inhaled. It knew that smoking laws existed in some places, and that sometimes smoking inside is 'frowned upon' but it simply did not care. It needed smoke to continue it's existence as much as the humans needed their food.
After it had lit the cigarette the flame sprouting from it's index finger died away as it once again looked about the place and the patrons that currently occupied the area. For the most part it was pretty standard until it spotted a small child staring without even bothering to try and hide it.
The human shaped smog cloud blinked it's red burning eyes and then stared right back, tilting its head to the side and inhaling on the cigarette before smiling. This might have been an odd sight, well odder then the black suited black skinned creature in general, seeing as other then when it was smoking Vapor didn't actually seem to breath. Nor did it ever exhale any of the smoke that it took in from the little tobacco filled sticks.
Normally, it thought to itself, One does not find the child creatures in a place like this. The fact that this one was not only here, but it looked rather comfortable in such a place, was exactly the sort of thing that von Rauch found interesting about humans. One way or another this was starting to promise to be interesting.
It was lucky for Vapor that there was a designated smoking spot for people in Temptations, not that he was in that section of seating. Shay figured that was her opening when he started staring back. She stood and walked over to him as confidently as a child her age could.
She took the seat at his side and turned to face him, staring another moment longer before speaking. Shay noted that he was inhaling the smoke, but not puffing it out. He was a weird, hazy, smoke monster and while that was cool, it wasn't what had drawn her to him.
Sitting as close as she was, Shay felt the draw lessen. Danger. It's what that always meant, danger and something unsavory. That thought was further illustrated by a quick flash of attraction. Her life was going to be Hell when she got older, no doubt.
"You know this isn't the smoking section, don't you? You must be new around here because I've never seen you around before. You're either looking for sex, food, or entertainment." Shay let her eyes trail the entirety of his body briefly. "Seems you have the food thing covered. I don't know about the sex, but you're not eyeing any of the prostitutes. So, entertainment it is. I can provide that, but I only give as good as I get." Here the girl's expression and smile took on a challenging edge. Entertain the child, smoke monster.
"So what's your name?" She held out her hand, but not for a shake, nuh-uh, in the position, one holds out their hand for it to be kissed, because why the hell not? "I'm Eroshay Rosales." And as she always did, Eroshay watched for any recognition her last name might have given him. Most people on the island knew about the Rosales gang; Shay had even teasingly called them the Manta Carlos Mafia when she'd first encountered Klaus. It was fitting.
"Just go ahead and call me Shay, though. The full name sounds too pretentious, I think." Oh yes, she was pulling out those ten dollar words. Shay was full on playing adult mode because what better way than to practice these skills on people she didn't know in the safety of her father and his business partner's territory?
If Alice or Addy had been here with her, Shay's entire day would have been different. With Alice, they would talk, and people watch, learning skills together and sticking side-by-side. With Addy, it was all more playful and casual. Lots of troublemaking, pushing the limits and ogling the pretty staff.
"If you are looking for sex, I could give you a few recommendations." Shay's smile sweetened, too innocent and child-like for what she was offering. It was a test on her part, to see how he might react to a child her age saying such a thing in a brothel. Shay knew how most people would act, and it was not favorable.
"It's quite a bit of money, but everyone here is worth it. Daddy only finds the best of the best. If you like cute guys, Neon is your dude. You'll know him when you see him, bright Neon hair and a few piercings. Also, the nametag would give it away. On the other hand, Leo is a lust Demon, and those babies can go on forever. Vinnie is a real sweetie if you're into the dominant role of things. Bigender, too, so they can be either you want. Aylin is great, but she's only for special clients."
This one was bold, Vapor had to give the child that, and that meant things were going to either get really entertaining or really dull. One could never tell in these situations and it had never really been good at guessing this sort of thing. While it had learned to mimic humanity, to pretend if you will, it never actually learned how to feel anything or react to the emotions of others. Oh it had sensations that would be something akin to pain, pleasure, and even amusement but that seemed to be the limit of it's rather shallow emotional spectrum.
“Ah yes, predefined social smoking areas. Though is it really that bad if one is not blowing the smoke out?” It tilted it's head to the side to regard this child as it inhaled once more and then spoke. “That does seem to be where most humans, or even other creatures, tend to take offence to.”
The smoke cloud in human form took a moment to regard this child, her movements, and everything else about her. It's eyes though held nothing, no attracting, no lust, just a calculating look about it. This was broken, even if just a little bit, by the smile that it put on afterwards as smiling was one thing it had gotten very good at. The right smile could disarm almost any situation after all!
“But yes! Where are my manners?” It took the offered hand and bent down, gently pressing its' lips to the back of it. This was something it had observed often throughout its many lifetimes, some sort of expected response. The feel of those lips against the back of her hand was warm, but more like holding a flame close by then the normal warmth of human lips. It was also a background heat and the lips themselves had little to no texture to them. It book the brief kiss as it went on. “I am one Vapor von Rauch! Thief, though never petty, miscreant, and general rabble rouser, and sometimes a bit more then that when it is called for. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Lady Shay.”
Letting go of her hand it thought for a moment, that this last name, this Rosales, was known to it. They were the type that lived in the vary circle of creatures that had once brought Vapor's attention down on humanity. They were part of this islands criminal underbelly, the only phrase it could think of at this point was from an old story it had once read. Curiouser and curiouser!
“You are correct though that I do not indeed need food, as this one simply does not eat though I do like a bit of scotch now and then as it is one of the few human made drinks I can, well, stomach.” It paused and winked at her before going on, not really bothered by the topics at hand. “As far as sex that is a more or less a little complicated.”
It thought about the best way to explain this then settled on the age old addage that showing was better then telling. It shifted from the neck up, basically turning it's head and neck into a gaseous form, reminding anyone looking at it about those old legends of a horse rider with no head. If asked about it Vapor always claimed that it was indeed the inspiration behind these old myths.
“It is hard to have sex when one does not technically have one.” Said the now disembodied voice before briefly shifting to the default masculine appearance, and then quickly to a more feminine one. “I only appear like this when I wish to go out about and socialize.”
As it spoke in this feminine form even the voice was different, more sultry then anything else, as it had been practice this for a very long time. When you appear one way, and then later on another it created a type of confusion that it could sometimes find useful. Also changing your appearance and voice also tended to help with trying to hide in the dark. One does not stop to look at a female form for very long when it had been chasing what was very definitely a man. It shifted back to the default human appearance and voice once more before it continued on.
“Though I can not say I am not curious about this act that is not something for tonight.” It smiled that smile of it's again and then spoke. “Tonight is a night for social practice and entertainment, both which you humans never cease to provide. Take our currently situation for example!”
He waved a hand towards Shay to show partly was he was talking about.
“A young child, in a den of sin and gluttony walking up to a creature of smoke and fire as bold as you please. No fear at all, or perhaps the fear is what drives her? Who can say! Still the fact remains here she is chatting with what could be an inhuman monster for all she knows!” His smile slowly faded and the calculating look returned as it sort of stared off a bit as it remembered something. “It is traits like these that brought my attention to humanity so long ago, always something new with you meat creatures if you pardon me saying so. I could live a few hundred more years and always be surprised by what you humans and your like can come up with.”
The smile returned though as it tilted its head to the side. Whatever you can say about Vapor one thing was for sure, it really liked to talk.
"And what about you my dear, what brings you to this fine establishment?"
“Ah yes, predefined social smoking areas. Though is it really that bad if one is not blowing the smoke out?” It tilted it's head to the side to regard this child as it inhaled once more and then spoke. “That does seem to be where most humans, or even other creatures, tend to take offence to.”
The smoke cloud in human form took a moment to regard this child, her movements, and everything else about her. It's eyes though held nothing, no attracting, no lust, just a calculating look about it. This was broken, even if just a little bit, by the smile that it put on afterwards as smiling was one thing it had gotten very good at. The right smile could disarm almost any situation after all!
“But yes! Where are my manners?” It took the offered hand and bent down, gently pressing its' lips to the back of it. This was something it had observed often throughout its many lifetimes, some sort of expected response. The feel of those lips against the back of her hand was warm, but more like holding a flame close by then the normal warmth of human lips. It was also a background heat and the lips themselves had little to no texture to them. It book the brief kiss as it went on. “I am one Vapor von Rauch! Thief, though never petty, miscreant, and general rabble rouser, and sometimes a bit more then that when it is called for. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Lady Shay.”
Letting go of her hand it thought for a moment, that this last name, this Rosales, was known to it. They were the type that lived in the vary circle of creatures that had once brought Vapor's attention down on humanity. They were part of this islands criminal underbelly, the only phrase it could think of at this point was from an old story it had once read. Curiouser and curiouser!
“You are correct though that I do not indeed need food, as this one simply does not eat though I do like a bit of scotch now and then as it is one of the few human made drinks I can, well, stomach.” It paused and winked at her before going on, not really bothered by the topics at hand. “As far as sex that is a more or less a little complicated.”
It thought about the best way to explain this then settled on the age old addage that showing was better then telling. It shifted from the neck up, basically turning it's head and neck into a gaseous form, reminding anyone looking at it about those old legends of a horse rider with no head. If asked about it Vapor always claimed that it was indeed the inspiration behind these old myths.
“It is hard to have sex when one does not technically have one.” Said the now disembodied voice before briefly shifting to the default masculine appearance, and then quickly to a more feminine one. “I only appear like this when I wish to go out about and socialize.”
As it spoke in this feminine form even the voice was different, more sultry then anything else, as it had been practice this for a very long time. When you appear one way, and then later on another it created a type of confusion that it could sometimes find useful. Also changing your appearance and voice also tended to help with trying to hide in the dark. One does not stop to look at a female form for very long when it had been chasing what was very definitely a man. It shifted back to the default human appearance and voice once more before it continued on.
“Though I can not say I am not curious about this act that is not something for tonight.” It smiled that smile of it's again and then spoke. “Tonight is a night for social practice and entertainment, both which you humans never cease to provide. Take our currently situation for example!”
He waved a hand towards Shay to show partly was he was talking about.
“A young child, in a den of sin and gluttony walking up to a creature of smoke and fire as bold as you please. No fear at all, or perhaps the fear is what drives her? Who can say! Still the fact remains here she is chatting with what could be an inhuman monster for all she knows!” His smile slowly faded and the calculating look returned as it sort of stared off a bit as it remembered something. “It is traits like these that brought my attention to humanity so long ago, always something new with you meat creatures if you pardon me saying so. I could live a few hundred more years and always be surprised by what you humans and your like can come up with.”
The smile returned though as it tilted its head to the side. Whatever you can say about Vapor one thing was for sure, it really liked to talk.
"And what about you my dear, what brings you to this fine establishment?"
"It looks kind of cool," Shay commented, gaze firmly on his chest to see if she could see any of the smoke as it entered his system. Once that was found out, she met his eyes, trying not to let him see how unnerved she was by his stare.
Shay was getting better with these tense situations; she'd been in so many in such a small frame of time she'd have been dead by now if she let every big, scary man who stared her down see how shaken she got at it. The girl just kept right on smiling, the expression taking on a sharpness about it the longer Vapor went without speaking.
And although Shay knew his disarmingly beautiful smile was fake, she couldn't help that heat rose to her cheeks, or that her stomach gave little flips when he took her hand and kissed it. She'd have paid close attention to the sensation had she been able to feel it, but alas, Shay nearly always wore gloves. She imagined she could have touched the smoke man without seeing his death (could he die? If he could, could she see it?) but she didn't have the desire to chance it. For now.
Lady Shay? My, didn't she just feel like she'd stepped right into some old timey book? Interesting. She could play along well enough. Once he had released her hand, Shay set it daintily against her chest.
"Impress titles, Lord Vapor, I must say." And if she put on a somewhat exaggerated Victorian voice, well, who could blame her? This situation was steadily boarding the crazy train, and Shay knew it wouldn't stop anytime soon, she might as well have fun with it. "I dare say you're trying to impress me." She fanned herself with her free hand.
As he went on speaking, Shay further played the part of a high-class lady. She sat straighter like she'd seen her mentor do before, and leaned forward, keeping her head up with her palm.
His casualty about the topics they discussed made Shay wonder if he didn't see children as children, like Gabriel Baltimore. That was an entirely different type of monster, wasn't it? The wolf in sheep's clothing who played among the flock and tore them up one by one. Curiouser and curiouser, indeed.
Shay watched in muted awe at how smoothly his body could change from one thing to the other. He looked like... some myth. She couldn't recall right then what that myth was. The headless horseman? The Grim Reaper? Some spooky Halloween thing. There was no fear at this; Shay had seen weirder.
"Is that to suggest you've never tried? How long have you been in existence?" Had a being like this ever even been a child. That was hard to say. Shay had seen shadow men before but never smoke men. Which was saying something, when one lived on an island like this. "I must admit that surprises me." Yes, she was keeping up the Victorian act, if only just.
"She could say," Shay answered, her grin teasing at a secret she wasn't willing to share. "She could, but she won't. And you are very likely an inhuman monster, Mr. von Rauch, but monsters aren't so scary. No more or less scary than the average man on the street." And there was that sly look again. It unnerved her much less than it would have had Shay been in some other establishment not owned by her father and allies.
"My dad, Klaus Rosales, co-owns this establishment with one Gabriel Baltimore. Maybe you've heard of him? He's pretty popular.... well, everywhere. They both are, but it's mostly in the Underground."
It couldn't help but laugh a hearty but somewhat hollow sounding laugh at the overly done Victorian impression, had this one guessed its' time of creation so readily? Though when she asked it how long it has lived for this was dismissed as nothing more then coincidence. True sight was not part whatever thing this child could do that had it banished to this island as far as Vapor could tell. Everyone here had their little thing, finding out what that was happened to be part of the fun.
“No, I have never felt the need nor the want to try anything of the intimate nature. One day I perhaps might, but at this point I have plenty of other interesting things to occupy my time and the list continues to grow since I came here!” It paused for a second on the issue of how or when it came to be and decided to give a general recounting over of the subject. “It has been at least a couple hundred years since I gained sentience, I think it was about 1816 if memory serves? If I was alive before that I could not say, but that is when I first began to understand! I have had plenty of time to cause a whole mess of trouble! Some of humanities many tales of things that go bump in the night from that era on may have been because of me.”
Of course a general recounting over for von Rauch still meant it talked a lot of course, it might also have helped that his current company was someone it didn't mind speaking to as well. One always found those types, the people you could easily ignore or banish from thought, but this child creature turned to be neither of those. If she was afraid of it or not Vapor guessed was one thing that would be be readily shown, at least not in such a polite setting as this. It could think of many where it would, but that was not the sort of conversation you had at a time like this! Her coy answer to his not so subtle interrogation caused it to once again smile that smile it had.
“Of course, one must always hold some secrets to ones' self!” It winked at her and held an index finger to it's lips in a pantomime of keeping something quiet. “And I may say I do not seem that scary because you have caught me on a good day, but bad days ALWAYS tend to happen... Though by the looks of it you hardly seem like one that would catch me on a bad one.”
If there was a threat there it was unintended and the last line had been tacked on when it realized this. This child interested him, and it seemed she knew other interesting people as well. Doing or saying something foolish would simply cut out possible future entertainment and it was very foolish to waste resources like that!
“Ah yes, those are two names I have heard whispered in the night when no one thinks anyone is listening. Either in fear or reverence, sometimes both!” While the calculated look was back, this time it was followed with a rather wolfish grin. “They are high on my list of 'to meet' people on this island. Exactly the type I like to associate with!”
It looked from one side and then to another then leaned in close, as if it was about to share some great secret to her.
“It is exactly that sort of people that brought my attention to humanity, otherwise I might have passed you lot by!” It leaned back up in the chair it was sitting in, head tilted to the side as it remembered. “I remember first becoming aware of things during the day. It was all so cut and dry, boring and annoying though these are words used looking back. Then just as I was about to move on from humanity I lingered too long in the dark of night and witness so many wondrous, marvellous, and such violent things! Things that greatly contradicted the puppet show that went on in the daylight hours. I believe I saw in that time the true face of humanity and I dove right in, never looking back.”
It gave a simple shrug to this, raising its' hands in mock defeat.
“What else could I do?”
“No, I have never felt the need nor the want to try anything of the intimate nature. One day I perhaps might, but at this point I have plenty of other interesting things to occupy my time and the list continues to grow since I came here!” It paused for a second on the issue of how or when it came to be and decided to give a general recounting over of the subject. “It has been at least a couple hundred years since I gained sentience, I think it was about 1816 if memory serves? If I was alive before that I could not say, but that is when I first began to understand! I have had plenty of time to cause a whole mess of trouble! Some of humanities many tales of things that go bump in the night from that era on may have been because of me.”
Of course a general recounting over for von Rauch still meant it talked a lot of course, it might also have helped that his current company was someone it didn't mind speaking to as well. One always found those types, the people you could easily ignore or banish from thought, but this child creature turned to be neither of those. If she was afraid of it or not Vapor guessed was one thing that would be be readily shown, at least not in such a polite setting as this. It could think of many where it would, but that was not the sort of conversation you had at a time like this! Her coy answer to his not so subtle interrogation caused it to once again smile that smile it had.
“Of course, one must always hold some secrets to ones' self!” It winked at her and held an index finger to it's lips in a pantomime of keeping something quiet. “And I may say I do not seem that scary because you have caught me on a good day, but bad days ALWAYS tend to happen... Though by the looks of it you hardly seem like one that would catch me on a bad one.”
If there was a threat there it was unintended and the last line had been tacked on when it realized this. This child interested him, and it seemed she knew other interesting people as well. Doing or saying something foolish would simply cut out possible future entertainment and it was very foolish to waste resources like that!
“Ah yes, those are two names I have heard whispered in the night when no one thinks anyone is listening. Either in fear or reverence, sometimes both!” While the calculated look was back, this time it was followed with a rather wolfish grin. “They are high on my list of 'to meet' people on this island. Exactly the type I like to associate with!”
It looked from one side and then to another then leaned in close, as if it was about to share some great secret to her.
“It is exactly that sort of people that brought my attention to humanity, otherwise I might have passed you lot by!” It leaned back up in the chair it was sitting in, head tilted to the side as it remembered. “I remember first becoming aware of things during the day. It was all so cut and dry, boring and annoying though these are words used looking back. Then just as I was about to move on from humanity I lingered too long in the dark of night and witness so many wondrous, marvellous, and such violent things! Things that greatly contradicted the puppet show that went on in the daylight hours. I believe I saw in that time the true face of humanity and I dove right in, never looking back.”
It gave a simple shrug to this, raising its' hands in mock defeat.
“What else could I do?”
Shay listened intently as Vapor was talking, inspecting his every action, every expression, and every slight change in his tone of voice. The girl was thirsty for knowledge, to understand this strange being. Once again, Shay felt that kinship she only had with monstrous creatures. Too human to be monster, too monster to be human, she was bound to the in between. Maybe that was for the best.
While Shay hadn't taken his comment that bad days happen, she did take the tacked on statement as a kind of compliment. It was enough to have Shay genuinely laughing. "How kind of you to say, but I'm sure I could push you to a bad day. I'm a fucking brat."
"And if my dad is high on your list of people to meet, well, it's not hard to arrange. He loves people of all sorts and so long as you don't steal or hurt his things," she took a moment to motion to herself as an example, "he's a real friendly guy."
Shay wondered if she should have hidden the admiration in her voice when she spoke about her new parents, but even if she'd wanted to cover it, the warmth would have remained in her eyes. "Maybe you've heard of Klaus' second, Vito? In the Underground, most people call him 'V' or 'Oilslick.' He's pretty scary and a lot less lenient." She smiled sweetly, "not that I think you'd have a problem, of course!"
"Talking to you is like being at one of those stuffy parties where everyone is pretending to be nice, even when no one is." She continued smiling, but the gesture wasn't in her eyes. There was nothing overtly cold about her expression, most of what Shay was feeling was curiosity.
"Are you actually feeling anything right now? What can you feel? Pain? Anger? Loneliness? Love? Hatred? Being on Manta Carlos, I've met a lot of people, most of them were unpleasant, and all of those monsters liked to believe they couldn't feel anything. Love was beyond their reach, and they could break anything. All of them were wrong. So, where do you stand on all of that?"
Vapor nodded as she went to speak about her father and this Vito character, another name to add to the list of creatures to meet. Did she also say introductions could be made? That would solve a lot of its problems, it would be better to meet them this way then by stepping on toes and being forced an introduction in less pleasant circumstances.
“I think I will have to take you up on that offer!” it said, still with that smile on its' face. Then it remembered the child creatures talk of not breaking harming things and nodded, as it too had similar rules when it came to its' own possessions. “And noted.”
Then came the big Question, the one with a capital Q as some people often say. What does it feel, if anything at all? The smile faded from its' face as it took on a more natural and totally neutral expression, with nothing hiding that cold and calculating look from anyone at this point.
“As far as I know I simply do not feel.” It shrugged at this before going on. “I mean there are sensations that may be similar to pain, annoyance, and even pleasure and amusement of some sort but for the most part there is nothing else.”
It tapped a finger against its' chin as it thought about this more, another learned gesture from humanity.
“Everything I do as well as how I act has been crafted over generations of experiences dealing with humanity. It makes sure that my dealings are not cut short and go smoothly when need be. No one wants to talk to, what are they called again? Right! A robot, no one wants to talk to a robot after all.” It thought more about all of this, as no one had actually wanted to talk about this before. Most seemed to take what it presented on the surface and just run with that. This may be the first meat creature to actually take this much interest in it and its' workings.
“Pretending to feel puts people to ease apparently just as much as the genuine articles for the most part so of what importance is it if I have emotions or not? I do not hate, though nor do I love, feel joy, pity, loneliness, jealousy, or hunger,” it paused for a second, “well hunger is debatable. I do need to take in sustenance of a sort and if I don't there is this annoying little buzzing feeling rather similar to the one when I take damage. Do I like people? I tend to find people interesting, and those are the people I want to stick around. How close this is to 'liking' I can not say as I have very a rather limited frame of reference.”
Then there came the second part of the question, could he eventually feel anything? This answer was not so cut and dry.
“Can I though? I am not sure to be honest.” It places its' fingers together in a contemplative pose, placing one foot on the opposite knee. Most of this felt untrue to it, either a flat out lie or jumping to unfounded conclusions. “It is possible I guess? Truthfully just because something hasn't happened does not mean it can't. Maybe then can grow inside of me after centuries of shared experiences and learning etcetera, or maybe I had them all along and just have chosen to ignore them for so long that I simply do not think they exist. A lot can happen in a couple hundred years. I mean most of what people consider emotions where things humanity learned over time themselves so who can say!”
While the look it gave while saying all this was still cold and contemplative, it also seemed to have an edge of curiosity to it. While Vapor always seemed to be a curious one, maybe this was the first time it was actually showing it? No one could really say for sure, but it was certainly new to this current setting.
“Still, I am sure I have plenty of time to figure that out! What is a few more centuries here and there?!” The smiled returned to its' face, fake or not it was honestly REALLY good at that, and it kept talking. “My existence is about the journey after all and this would just be one more new and exciting thing for me to have happen!”
“I think I will have to take you up on that offer!” it said, still with that smile on its' face. Then it remembered the child creatures talk of not breaking harming things and nodded, as it too had similar rules when it came to its' own possessions. “And noted.”
Then came the big Question, the one with a capital Q as some people often say. What does it feel, if anything at all? The smile faded from its' face as it took on a more natural and totally neutral expression, with nothing hiding that cold and calculating look from anyone at this point.
“As far as I know I simply do not feel.” It shrugged at this before going on. “I mean there are sensations that may be similar to pain, annoyance, and even pleasure and amusement of some sort but for the most part there is nothing else.”
It tapped a finger against its' chin as it thought about this more, another learned gesture from humanity.
“Everything I do as well as how I act has been crafted over generations of experiences dealing with humanity. It makes sure that my dealings are not cut short and go smoothly when need be. No one wants to talk to, what are they called again? Right! A robot, no one wants to talk to a robot after all.” It thought more about all of this, as no one had actually wanted to talk about this before. Most seemed to take what it presented on the surface and just run with that. This may be the first meat creature to actually take this much interest in it and its' workings.
“Pretending to feel puts people to ease apparently just as much as the genuine articles for the most part so of what importance is it if I have emotions or not? I do not hate, though nor do I love, feel joy, pity, loneliness, jealousy, or hunger,” it paused for a second, “well hunger is debatable. I do need to take in sustenance of a sort and if I don't there is this annoying little buzzing feeling rather similar to the one when I take damage. Do I like people? I tend to find people interesting, and those are the people I want to stick around. How close this is to 'liking' I can not say as I have very a rather limited frame of reference.”
Then there came the second part of the question, could he eventually feel anything? This answer was not so cut and dry.
“Can I though? I am not sure to be honest.” It places its' fingers together in a contemplative pose, placing one foot on the opposite knee. Most of this felt untrue to it, either a flat out lie or jumping to unfounded conclusions. “It is possible I guess? Truthfully just because something hasn't happened does not mean it can't. Maybe then can grow inside of me after centuries of shared experiences and learning etcetera, or maybe I had them all along and just have chosen to ignore them for so long that I simply do not think they exist. A lot can happen in a couple hundred years. I mean most of what people consider emotions where things humanity learned over time themselves so who can say!”
While the look it gave while saying all this was still cold and contemplative, it also seemed to have an edge of curiosity to it. While Vapor always seemed to be a curious one, maybe this was the first time it was actually showing it? No one could really say for sure, but it was certainly new to this current setting.
“Still, I am sure I have plenty of time to figure that out! What is a few more centuries here and there?!” The smiled returned to its' face, fake or not it was honestly REALLY good at that, and it kept talking. “My existence is about the journey after all and this would just be one more new and exciting thing for me to have happen!”
"Good," Shay grinned and peered around. "Papa usually isn't far from me. You might see him around, he's usually not far while I'm here, but he's also a really busy man." Shay shrugged, figuring she'd have Vapor meet her father some other time. She grinned, "you'll just have to put up with me for now."
When Vapor's smile fell, so did Shay's. She analyzed his face, trying to make sense of it all, listening. Careful, thoughtful, planning. Of course, Shay was interested in Vapor's inner workings. It was how the girl operated, being interested in everyone else. Maybe then she wouldn't have to think about her own powers or boring human bullshit. Maybe then she wouldn't have to be confused about growing up.
With that line of thought, it reminded Shay that Vapor had mentioned coming into existence, which implied he'd never been young. He'd always been this. Had he always acted like this, too? Or had he been more wide-eyed at one point? More innocent.
"No time like the present to test it," Shay said, almost more to herself than the man across from her. "I'm going to try something. Don't be alarmed and do something stupid."
That said, Shay closed her eyes and when she opened them, her irises had gone bright amber while the whites of her eyes were consumed by pitch blackness. She started at him, looking over all the information her powers gave her.
Vapor just raised an eyebrow and watched curiously at what she was about to do. It noted that the child had closed her eyes and when they opened they were of an entirely new colour. This was indeed something new! While he had seen some things that could do similar most of them were not entirely human, so this brought up many new questions to mind.
“Fascinating, and what does this exactly,” it stopped speaking and sat there as the child seemed to be starting at it rather intently, as if trying to see something. With a shrug the smoke creature just sat there and let her take a look at whatever it was she was peering at him for. Possibly trying to study its' face to never forget it or something.
If it could see what the child would see von Rauch would honestly just have shrugged and made an off hand comment about it making sense and being a waste of time, whether it did or did not actually understand. It didn't like people looking down into its' very being and trying to pry out his secrets, at least not without written consent, and probably would have objected before hand.
What or how she saw made very little difference, but if they had to be put into some sort of words it would as such;
As far as its mood went he was basically filled with fascination, nothing more and nothing less. There was little else to this thing at the moment, and for the most part there probably never will be. If it had any other sort of emotions to show right now they were hidden very very deep.
As far as morals went it either had none, or all of them. It had committed about every crime possible incl
“Fascinating, and what does this exactly,” it stopped speaking and sat there as the child seemed to be starting at it rather intently, as if trying to see something. With a shrug the smoke creature just sat there and let her take a look at whatever it was she was peering at him for. Possibly trying to study its' face to never forget it or something.
If it could see what the child would see von Rauch would honestly just have shrugged and made an off hand comment about it making sense and being a waste of time, whether it did or did not actually understand. It didn't like people looking down into its' very being and trying to pry out his secrets, at least not without written consent, and probably would have objected before hand.
What or how she saw made very little difference, but if they had to be put into some sort of words it would as such;
As far as its mood went he was basically filled with fascination, nothing more and nothing less. There was little else to this thing at the moment, and for the most part there probably never will be. If it had any other sort of emotions to show right now they were hidden very very deep.
As far as morals went it either had none, or all of them. It had committed about every crime possible incl