Biting His Lips For A Moment, He Nodded, “I Think So. You Know You're Supposed To Replace Those Every

My eyes burned, tears clawing their way to the red brims. I didn't have time to pity myself. If I did, if I gave in to the pain and betrayal and fucking sadness, I didn't think I could pull myself back out. What is an angel without wings? What is a monster without teeth?

Blood So Brutal - Emily Blackwood

A Day To Remember - Better Off This Way

When you fall I’ll be the only one who looks away  When you call I’ll be the first to tell you I can’t stay 

As he finally caught sight of who it was that was at his door, he blinked away what remained of his sleep. His neighbor, Alice, he didn't imagine to be much to fret over. Until recently, glancing to one side, a few errant thoughts sprang to mind as to why she would be knocking at his door. Momentarily, his overthinking going to the worst, his heartbeat speeding up, he tapped a finger to his door knob, trying to put all his concern in that one part of him, appearing relaxed from Alice's point of view, “Oh. Right.” Azazel answered before looking back into his house, trying to remember if he had anything like that in his house. But of course he did, sugar seemed to be a standard in households, “No. You're not. I was-” He pauses, what was he doing? Napping in the middle of the day? It sounded like he was some kind of bum if he gave that answer, “Just getting ready for work, actually.”

He paused again to yawn again and pulled back from the door, waving her in, “Come in, or just stand there, I'll see what I got.” He then answered as he made his way to the kitchen, “Mind the mess, I'm waiting for the cleaning service to get here.” Azazel warned of the dark stains at the entrance to the house, before he disappeared into the kitchen, the sound of a couple of cabinets opening for a moment. Then he came back out, holding a pack of sugar, “Not even opened.” Though he couldn't say how long it had been in his cabinets, either. Whatever got her away from his house quickest, before anyone could see her, seemed to him to be the best way to go about this. Given the circumstances about the other.

Alice felt quite silly but in the midst of baking the cupcakes that she'd promised to make for Rhea's daycare (why had she agreed to do that again?), she realized that she didn't have any sugar. And now here she was, at her neighbor's door, literally asking to borrow sugar. She thought that was just an old saying but sure enough, here she was. Alice didn't really know Azazel too well but she figured that he seemed nice enough. Perhaps it was just the journalist in her but when he opened the door, it was pretty obvious that he had just woken up--and his question only further confirmed that. Do you realize what time it is? "Uh... Yeah, it's 2PM... Sorry to bother you, Azazel, but I was wondering if you had any sugar I could borrow? Or rather, have, I guess, since I can't really give it back? But if I'm interrupting something, I'll just go ask someone else," she said, wanting to get out of his hair. He clearly wasn't in the mood for visitors, which was fair enough.

@ghxstadventvres

Lighting up a cigarette, Azazel takes a few puffs from it as he lets the end burn for a moment in the flame before cutting the flame off and tucking the lighter back into a pocket. He was currently standing outside the gas station, not a fan of driving, he usually walked around wherever he went. Which he wasn't much of a fan of that either, here lately.

Taking a long drag off his cigarette before he casually moved his hand away to adjust his sunglasses, hiding as much as he could, the dark circles that currently made him look like he hadn't slept in a century or more. Exhaling as he toyed with his glasses, smoke loomed over his head. Securing them more onto his face as he scanned the area. He had no real destination, he didn't even like being out like this, in the open. But it was the middle of the day, so he figured that the worst that could happen at this time was-- Okay, well, a lot of things, yes.

But he imagined that most of those things he'd manage to survive long enough to get home before night hit. But even then, he didn't think he was safe. His breathing picked up for a moment, and he had to calm down. Closing his eyes, he told himself it was all just in his head, and he was overreacting to his own imagination. Yes. That was all it was. Or all he wanted to believe.

Checking his watch, he started to walk away from the gas station, only to get a cold chill up his spine. Turning, he looked around, not seeing anyone even looking at him. Though, a few people were walking to or from their cars. Maybe he should start driving again, it was too nerve-racking to be out in the open like this. Even still, he couldn't help but to feel like someone was watching him. But he felt like that a lot lately.

Of course, he wasn't privy to knowledge he missed during his long disappearance, which he was annoyingly being hounded about here and there since his mysterious return. So he wasn't so much pointing out to her that it was there. Though he was preemptively warning her, due to others having great observation and seeing the stains whilst they came to hound him about what happened to him. Why the stains were there, and where he had gone. All of which, he really didn't answer. Or lied about. As he was coming back to her, he noticed Alice stepping back out from his doorway.

Holding the package of sugar out to the other then he offered a smile to his neighbor, trying not to let his internal turmoil fog his overall masking. There was a lot he had to hide, and he couldn't let even the next-door neighbor see too much, “Dogs. Am I right? They find one stick in the yard and just have to maul it. But I can hope she won't run full force into the door again.” He sighs and decides this is a better lie than anything. If she didn't know what was going on, she didn't need to know. So he nodded at what Alice had to say and shook his head, “No. Keep it. I don't think I'll be using it any time soon. Better to be used than continue to sit on my shelf.” Shrugging at this, he thought, just for a moment, it was odd she even offered to bring it back? She was trying to poison him, he guessed. Well, he wasn't going to let her get the chance. He winces a bit, turning his head away at the invasive thought, and scrunched his nose, “Well, bye.” He closes the door on her and as he goes back into his house.

A moment later, he peeked out at her from the blinds to make sure she was leaving his property. Hopefully, before anyone thought too much about her presence on it. Once he was sure he was in the clear, he pulled back and tugged the curtain back into place to cut off the world again. Bringing his right hand up to his lip, he nibbled at his index fingernail, pacing as he muttered under his breath about what she was really there for. But took in a deep breath upon recognizing that she hadn't taken him up on his offer to come inside, so she couldn't have had any ill intentions, right? “Of course not. She's just some random neighbor who needed sugar, that's all.” He whispered to himself. Again, he checked through the blinds to see if she was gone.

I was just getting ready for work, actually. She nodded, thinking to herself that she didn't really believe him but that it also really didn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things. Sure, there were certainly times where Alice was terrible at not minding her own business but this wasn't one of them. Whatever Azazel was up to, it really didn't concern her. Honestly, she wasn't even sure she knew where he worked but why would she? They were simply friendly neighbors, saying hello to each other in passing. Really, she was the one that looked silly--who doesn't check if they have enough sugar before they fucking bake?

When he half-heartedly invited her in, she hesitated for a moment. She was sure he was harmless but she couldn't be fully certain. She did step through the threshold, but only a foot inside the house, her eyes glancing to the dark stains that he'd drawn attention to. She felt her stomach lurch a bit and while he was in the kitchen, she stepped back over the threshold, preferring to wait outside. She didn't think she wanted to know. When he came back, she put a sweet smile on her face. "Thank you so much, you're a life-saver! I'll bring the rest back once I'm done," she said, reaching out for the bag of sugar. Though, privately, she wasn't sure if she'd even do that.

He couldn't guess when exactly he even fell asleep, to be honest. Maybe that was just part of what was going on with him these days, he had been having a lot of those moments. Azazel lay with his head pressed against the wheel of the car he had rented for the drive-in. Just some minutes before, he was watching the wide screen, a little annoyed at where his car was concerning it, but he supposed he was just going to have to live with it. Though the longer he sat that, the more he realized, he actually, fucking hated going to drive-ins. Too tired to do anything about it at that moment, he felt himself starting to lull into sleep as things started picking up on the screen.

The next thing he knew, he was dreaming of something far better than what was going on on the screen. Or maybe it was worse, either way, as he drifted farther off to sleep, his breathing picked up, minutes later, a layer of sweat started to form. Twitching here and there, he was having quite an episode, whatever he was dreaming. That was until something suddenly interrupted, perhaps, in his mind, a new horror, at that. Jerking up suddenly, he gasped, his hands pushed against the horn, sounding it off in the drive-in. Panting, he turned to look at Bandit as she was talking. Narrowing his eyes on the her he frowned, “Dammit, Bandit… “ Catching is breath, Azazel rolled down the window a bit, “Pink…dream boat…” Looking confused for a moment, he turned his head, glancing around them before gesturing to the passenger seat.

“Are you planning to crawl over my lap?! Why are you on this side of the car?” He asked in a whispered tone. Then looked toward the screen, yawning at the next question. He rolled his shoulders and shook his head, “I think it's a commercial at the moment, the first murder happened already.” Looking at Bandit as she seemed to bribe him with popcorn, he raised his eyebrows at that, then laughed a bit before mumbling, “Well, unless you're planning to crawl over my lap, you need to go around to the otherside- also, they didn't have candy?”

@withoutmonsterswebecomethem at the weekend of horrors, april 21st after 8PM

Bang, bang, bang, it was a thunderous incantation of her knuckles and a closed fist smacking against the driver's side door of the first familiar face that she had found, waiting for the snoozing driver to stir like a bear from hibernation, and when their eyes caught sight of movement inside, they bent themselves at a damn near ninety-degree angle to get their face as close to the window as they could without squishing their whole-ass cheek up against it and smiled widely, giving another knock for good measure. "Hey! Sleepin' beauty. Ya got room for one more in there? I ran out'a pocket change to spend on one'a these nice rentals and my pink dreamboat's in the shop." No, she wasn't talking about a man, or a woman, or anyone, for that matter — who was going to have the audacity to tie down Bandit Vaddhana, queen of sequins and glitter? — merely her beloved car who owned the two halves of her heart. It was with great disappointment that she found herself a bit crushed by the warbling of the screen and the distorted voices, a picture-in-picture she hadn't paid for appearing, and she pouted her lips. "Did I miss the flick already? Or is this some kind'a commercial break?" she ventured, her eyes wandering in the direction of the silver screen, and making a face. A little rude to interrupt a showgirl's only chance at horror comedy, but if they went back after the fact, she forgave them. "Anyway! I got popcorn with half ya name on it if you'll share the ride."

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