Staying Up Late. [MATURE] - Peridot Hasting's Ap

[Snaggle]

Oh Bugger...
His keys...
Where were they?

Desperately the little man started patting himself down, first one empty suit pocket and then the other. Fruitless in his search for his missing apartment key.
It was close to 2am, and William Hughes now found himself stuck outside of his apartment room, watching a tube light flicker slowly on and off above him, unable to reach the almost comfort of his tiny room.
It was in moments like these that he regretted working late...and missing the last bus home...and subsequently walking back in the wretched rain...spoiling his suit and making him miserable.

This was not what he needed on a Friday night.

[*Kittlez.]

Ohhh lord, Peri was drunk.

That kind of beautiful, blissful drunkenness that allowed you to think you were skipping with glee down the corridor, when in actuality, you were falling against the wall with almost no remaining balance, swaying back and forth like a sapling in a gale.

Pausing for a moment to blink blearily down the corridor, leading from the complex's foyer, down to the stairwell and elevator that led up into the apartments, her own modest home lying on the second floor. Which meant one flight of stairs. Come on woman, you can do this.

One step. Two steps. Face steps.

Dragging herself upright again, Peri winced, face screwing up as sparks of pain erupted from her nose, which had taken the brunt of the fall, rubbing it gingerly as she lolled against the wall, frowning. At least it wasn't bleeding. That wasn't something she could normally say, the night had certainly been different to what she was used to. No fights, no being kicked out. For once, she'd met someone interesting. What were the odds?

Finally managing to triumph over the stairs, she reached her floor, squinting at the doors to try and figure out which one was hers. Crap. Could she even remember? Did she even have her keys? Perhaps the hallway floor would do for a night's sleep...

But, wait, what was this? Someone else, at this time of night?

He didn't appear intoxicated, so he didn't have this excuse... Fumbling in his pockets desperately, a look of increasing despair spreading over his features. It was almost cute.

Her devilish smirk returning, Peri straightened up and took a leisurely amble down the hall towards him, without so much as a wobble, and gave him a pleasant - albeit unnerving with her fangs on show - smile.

"Are you locked out too~?"

[Snaggle]

William jumped, startled out of his misery by the sight and sound of the woman striding towards him, her ambling gait displaying a confidence he only wished he had.
He had to force himself not to stare as she approached, his hands reaching up in slight defense to pat at his pockets one last time before he managed a nervous laugh.

"y-yes I...heh...I can't seem to f-find them anywhere...b-bloody annoyance really..."

He tried another weak chuckle, but that sounded even more forced than the first, maybe even a little manic, considering how tired he felt at this point. he drooped, shoulders slouching.

"I just want to get inside" he whined, faintly aware that he was complaining at a complete stranger.

[*Kittlez.]

The word cute had begun to fade into somewhat of a constant, background hum in Peri's mind as she observed his nervous, jittery demeanour, a wonderful realization dawning upon her, seeing how defensive he seemed, almost backing right into the very door he so wished he could open.

He was scared of her.

Her wolfish, pointed grin grew once more, as if she were leading this poor little one to slaughter, but suddenly, something else grabbed her attention, her grin fading into a look of curious confusion.

"Huh. No way, we're neighbours. What are the odds."

Saying it almost like a rhetorical thought, she turned back to him, a new gleam of sly agenda in her eyes. Patting herself down in a similar fashion, she finally found the cold metal lump where her keys lie in her short's pocket, pulling them out triumphantly, jingling them happily.

"I'd feel simply awful just to leave you out here all night, would you like to stay at mine for the night? Just until the reception opens downstairs, they can give you the spare key~"

Striding forward, after her initial slight wobble - the alcohol was still raging through her system, after all - she walked one door to the right of his, and after a few attempts at stabbing the lock with her key, she managed to open the door, stepping back in an 'after you' gesture.

"Mi casa es su casa. I think that's how it goes, anyway."

Her pondering over the foreign language only lasted a few, apparently painful seconds, before she shook her head, opting to stay with the language she actually had a firm grasp on.

"I'm Peri, by the way. Pleased to meet you~"

[Snaggle]

"I...erm...I-I wouldn't like to intrude..."

William stared, wide eyed, into the darkness of the room beyond the woman's shoulder, his hands finally flopping to his sides in defeat; he knew it wasn't going to be finding his own keys any time soon.
There was something...off...about the rather beautiful woman and her wide engaging smile, something that William couldn't quite put his shaking finger on...

He quickly shook the idea from his mind. This woman was being more than kindness itself; offering him a room for the night, and all he could do was stand and stammer.
What was the alternative anyway? sleeping on the sticky corridor carpet?

"oh, erm...William, William Hughes"

He tried to smile again as he hurried over to join Peri at her door.

"T-thank you so much..."

[*Kittlez.]

"It's nothing, really~"

Peri seemed genuinely beside herself with joy, hurrying him into the apartment and following him inside, pausing for a moment to softly close the door behind her. Throwing her keys onto a side table by the door, she stretched lazily, removing her shawl - an antique looking black lace shawl, quite a fine specimen to snipe from a charity shop - and hanging it over the back of the sofa, revealing her slightly more inappropriate party wear.

A pair of dark denim short shorts, with dark patterned tights underneath, battered red sneakers, and a crimson silk corset that rather accentuated her plentiful curves. In a club, it was perfectly acceptable, but she imagined to a man like William, it might seem a little... risqué. Ah well. The reaction could only be positive, or so her ego told her.

"Make yourself at home, can I get you a drink?"

She practically purred, heading into the small kitchenette, wondering if she could interest him in a stronger drink than what she imagined he'd ask for. Maybe she'd spike his coffee. She was feeling pretty devious, after all.

The apartment was a small, modest one, and not particularly spick and span, but it wasn't filthy either, at least. The door led into a large living room, with a kitchenette in the far corner, with a two seater sofa and armchair in the other, with a television set against the wall. The walls were still the magnolia that they were when she bought the place, and the carpet was covered with numerous rugs and other things, mostly to hide blood stains and spilt alcohol.

The hallway beside the kitchenette led down to a small bathroom on the left, and at the end of the hallway, Peri's bedroom, a small, cramped room, with drawn silk curtains and an unmade queen sized bed, with clothes covering the floor and deep scratches in the furniture. Perhaps it would be best not to dwell on what caused them.

Perusing the practically non-existent contents of her fridge, Peri removed a large, label-less clear bottle, pouring herself a small glass, and moved to lean over the counter, returning her attention to her guest. Poor thing would probably think it was water.

[Snaggle]

"oh...a-a tea would be f-fine"

William plonked himself down and tried to make himself comfortable in the little battered armchair, watching Peri take a small sip from the glass of clear liquid.

He was trying his hardest not to stare at his kind host, he really was, but try as he might he couldn't quite remove his eyes from those...clothes...she had been hiding.
He suddenly become aware that his mouth was hanging slightly open, promptly shutting it and remembering his manners.

"T-thank you"

His ears flushed red, and suddenly William wasn't too sure if this had been a spectacular idea. He shifted nervously in his seat, straightening his tie as he did so.

[*Kittlez.]

A tea. She knew it.

But no matter, she had a little plan up her sleeve. Time to get some Irish up in this British beverage. Taking a mug, a particularly large one, no less, from a cupboard, she put the kettle on to boil, placing a tea bag in the mug, before bending down to try and find where she'd hidden her 'secret ingredient', perhaps drawing a little too much attention to her swaying rear end pointed in his general direction.

Pulling out a heavy, black bottle, she grinned, discreetly pouring a large measure of the Irish cream whiskey into a shot glass, and adding it into his tea towards the end of making it, before turning back, mug in hand, with a deceptively sweet smile.

"Milk and sugar?"

Ohhh, this was going to be interesting. Let's see what happens to her sweet, little gentleman once he's got some alcohol in his system. And he seemed like the low tolerance type.

[Snaggle]

William smiled back, utterly clueless as to what awaited him in the large steaming mug of tea that Peri held clasped in her hands.

"I-if you don't mind"

She really was very sweet, he decided, and really very kind to let him stay in her apartment like this, especially after only meeting him not even half an hour ago.
William was certain that not many people in this apartment complex would reach out to a stranger as Peri had done.

He let his smile grow slightly and felt himself starting to relax finally at the thought of having someone so nice living only two doors away from him.

[*Kittlez.]

Adding a splash of milk - the Irish cream would do most of the work in that department, anyway - and a spoonful of sugar, Peri stirred her special Irish tea for a moment, hoping that he wouldn't detect it and instead trust her slightly odd tasting tea. So far things seemed like they were going very smoothly, and she'd hate that to be... spoiled.
Topping up her vodka 'water', she took her glass in one hand and his mug in the other, carefully passing it to him before settling on the sofa, kicking off her shoes and pulling her legs up underneath her, taking a long sip of her drink.

"So what had you stuck outside at such a late hour?"

She couldn't help but ask, he didn't exactly seem the partying type, so his reason to be wandering at 2am was absolutely beyond her. Even on her night runs as a wolf she hadn't seen a soul stir from the complex, so it couldn't be that... well, surely not, he didn't exactly seem like the type to prowl the darkness, fangs bared... The very image was quite a distracting train of thought, but quickly snapped back to reality, shaking her head. Such conclusions were foolhardy.

"You'll have to excuse my attire, I've just gotten back from Dans Lupe, in Bucharest... I needed a night out, haha."

[Snaggle]

The tea mug felt comforting and warm in his hands as William took a small sip of the beverage, noting the strange taste but thinking nothing more than that.
Perhaps it was a herbal variety?
Did people drink herbal tea here?

He glanced up at Peri, now sat opposite him on the sofa, and realized she had asked him a question.

"O-oh, erm...w-well..My own fault really. Missed the bus...m-manged to get lost walking back a-and..."

he felt himself trail off and shifted uncomfortably...and the woods had looked so inviting at this time of night was what he didn't say...And it had all been rather distracting.
but William liked to restrict himself to only twice, maybe three times monthly in that area.
Any more night time prowling and thoughts of capture and hunting made him nervous.

he coughed to hide his nerves and tried to join in with her laughter.

"i-it's fine...i-it certainly looks v-very....becoming, on you"

[*Kittlez.]

Lost? That seemed like an awfully strange excuse. Peri couldn't help but think that perhaps Will was being a little creative with the truth, but then again, she was no saint herself. After all, she was the one luring the poor man into her apartment, with the intention to... get to know him a little better. And what better way to help than her good friend Baileys.

"Aha, don't worry about it, everyone gets lost at some time or another."

This much was true. Hell, she'd had a whale of a time getting back from Dans Lupe, considering she needed to take the midnight ferry across from Bucharest to the National Park to get back, which is a terrible journey when drunk beyond all belief. But, somehow, she'd made it home, and that was all the mattered.

Upon hearing his next statement, Peri couldn't help but burst into a fit of giggles, even perhaps a slight blush creeping across her features. Now, wasn't that adorable. Perhaps the most gentlemanly compliment she'd received in a very long time.

"Well that's very sweet of you, Will... is it okay if I call you Will?"

She batted her eyelashes in a demure fashion, sipping delicately at her drink, hoping to spur him into take a glug of his own beverage. The more the better.

[Snaggle]

Will...nobody had called him Will in...well...years.
It was quite nice, really.
William took another drink from the cup and had to suppress a slight giggle at the thought.

"well...i-it's certainly better t-than Willie"

he paused...where had that come from?
he coughed, his face turning a bright red as he managed an apologetic mumble.

s-sorry...Mother's...p-pet name

He started to loosen his tie to avoid looking at Peri in his embarrassment, finding it just a little hard to concentrate on the tight knot of fabric.

[*Kittlez.]

That was it. She couldn't contain herself anymore.

Peri found that so funny that she couldn't help but let out a howl of laughter, managing to quickly suppress it into a throaty chuckle, lips clenched even after she'd fallen silent in a large grin, as if to keep herself from giggling more. That was just... adorable.

"Haha, don't worry, I know how that is. My mom used to call me Periwinkle... in public, too."

Peri stopped short, her grin fading to a small smirk of sad nostalgia. She didn't like to think about her family at the best of times, her human family... the family she could never see again. Not now that she'd become the beast. Staring down into the reflective ripples of her drink, she shook her head, trying to regain her composure. This was exactly the reason she loved to drink.

Draining her glass in a matter of seconds, she rose to her feet, tempted to just bring the whole bottle back with her this time. Deliberating with the pouring to give herself time to relax, she glanced back in his direction, suddenly smirking fondly as she watched him shyly struggle with the knot in his tie. There we go, back on form, Peri.

"...Let me help you with that."

Crossing the space between them within a matter of seconds, she leaned in close, not enough to be an awkward invasion of space, but surely enough to get his heart racing, she deftly dealt with the tie knot, sliding it from around his neck and into her hands, hanging it over the back of his armchair, before returning to her seat, smirking slyly the whole way.

[Snaggle]

William did indeed feel his heart start to race faster as Peri leaned in close. He started to mumble some weak form of protest, but was too late as she deftly unhooked his tie and lay it just in reach.
He felt his blush deepen as he sought to undo the top button of his shirt, maybe that would cool down the heat in his face.

"T-thank you, I-I...heh...I-I'm not certain w-why I couldn't"

He took a swig from his cup, noting that the taste, while odd, was far from displeasing.
in fact, it was rather nice.

desperately he sought for some topic of conversation.

"h-have you been living i-in Eden town for long? I-I can't say I've seen you often..."