[Ariyah – Uwajimaya Village Apartments – Ariyah’s Haven – BoL – Fame 2 – A]
[Wake Roll: Fail | BoL Roll: Success | Hunger: 1 —> 2]
Ariyah wondered where Jacob was.
She had asked the young man to pick up her painting from the studio while she got ready for the Newcomer’s event. But that was over an hour ago, and he was still a no show.
Ariyah was in the middle of calling her herd member when her buzzer sounded. Looking at the intercom’s tiny display, Ariyah saw the de-saturated image of a young man struggling to carry a square package while pressing the intercom’s button.
“Come up,” Ariyah called into the wall panel’s microphone and pressed the button to let Jacob into the apartment building.
Ariyah realised what took Jacob so long the moment she opened her front door.
“Jacob, you’re soaked!”
Ariyah watched as Jacob put down the wrapped package and push his dripping bangs from his eyes. “Yeah, it’s raining cats and dogs out there. Traffic was hell. But don’t worry, I made sure to keep your painting dry.”
Ariyah looked at the package on the ground. Jacob had wrapped the painting in waxed canvas; for the trip from the parked car to her apartment, it would be fine.
“Thank you.” Ariyah said, stepping back from the front foyer, “Come in, I’ll grab you a towel.”
The Toreador grabbed a dry towel from the linen closet and returned to the living room. Jacob had shed his soaked shirt and coat and was standing in front of the heater trying to warm up. Ariyah glanced at the open bathroom door, no doubt he’d hung his dripping clothes above the bathtub; he’s been at her apartment enough times to know his way around.
“Here.” She reached up with the towel and began dry Jacob’s hair. The young man didn’t resist. Instead, he perched on the coffee table so she could more easily towel down his hair.
From this position, Ariyah could sense the heat emanating off Jacob’s bare skin.
[Bloodhound: Resolve + Awareness: 4 successes vs 4 diff | Success | Sanguine | 1 WP]
“If the weather’s as bad as you say,” Ariyah began, “You probably shouldn’t be driving home right now; I know how flooded some of the roads near where you live can get.”
Jacob didn’t look away from Ariyah’s face, he just nodded.
“You can crash here for tonight,” she continued. She moved on to drying Jacob’s shoulder and back, “As I told you earlier, I have a party to go to tonight, but I’ll be back later.”
Jacob nodded again, this time, he reached forward, bringing Ariyah’s face down to his.
Moments later, when Ariyah nuzzled his neck, he nodded to that too.
[Herd Feeding | Fleeting Sanguine | Hunger: 2 —> 1]
Later, Jacob helped her into her coat; as usual, they didn’t talk about what happened. Ariyah could only guess what he thinks she’s doing to him; some kind of weird booty call maybe? She would never ask; why ruin a good thing?
She’s fond of him, and she believes he feels the same way.
She would never harm him, not permanently anyway.
Ariyah picks up her painting, kiss Jacob goodnight and leaves for her car in the building’s carpark. If luck would have it, either the art gallery would have underground parking or the rain would let up enough for her to not get drenched.
[Ariyah leaves for #art-gallery]