Spirit, Straight Up. [Vinnie/Ed]

[vincentdriscoll]

Oh dear. The look on Vivian’s face was suddenly a lot less encouraging than Vinnie had hoped it would be. Too forwards? He was used to girls who could deal with a little groping here and there, but apparently these Russian types were a lot more uptight than some of the others in the neighbourhood. Maybe he should have gone to scores after all, at least there he might have been able to actually get a drink.

Then again, maybe the surprised face wasn’t too bad a sign - she could still come round to the idea, right? She had nearly impaled his foot with a dart, though, but he would be prepared to forgive that if she promised to make it up to him.

“Get your hands off her now”

Okay, maybe not.

Vinnie staggered back wards a little from the shove - crap, whoever this chump was, he’d been idiotic enough to yell before he did the shoving, Vinnie should have been prepared for that. Clearly he was out of practice. Still, he was in no mood to get into a fight - he was much more keen on getting into someone’s knickers - so he took the second shove without reflexively smacking the other guy in the face. Just.

It was probably a good thing he hadn’t been drinking, or the faint twinge of sense that was wriggling round his brain would probably have long since disappeared. He was trying to keep his head down, settle in. He wanted to be able to get back at the ministry, didn’t he? And if he wanted to do that, he needed to play his part as a teacher, not a vampire hunter. It was a bit like being undercover, wasn’t it? Oh well, even if he couldn’t quite convince himself of that fact, he was playing the long game now, he’d have to stick it out, live to fight another day. Maybe he needed to be ever so slightly more literal about that phrase right now.

Plus, this guy was smokin’, he was gunna try and have some fun.

“Take it easy, pal” He said, although the same words could quite easily have been applied to himself “There’s enough of me to go around.” How was that for testing the water? More often than not comments like that got him socked in the jaw, but he was ready for it these days. Fortunately, it usually left an opponent stunned momentarily, or, even better, the opponent decided that, actually, not punching him and sleeping with him instead would be mutually beneficial. Something told him that that wouldn’t be the case tonight, but hey, he could hope. And where had Viv gone? He sure as hell wanted to factor her into the equation.

[Edward Johns]

When the punches Ed was expecting to come didn’t, the man started to get confused. Since when did a man obviously that horny take kindly to a cockblocker? It was official; the world was not what it had used to be. He gave the stranger a puzzled glare which soon turned to complete and utter disgust. Had the stranger just? Had he done what Ed thought he’d done? Had he just turned his ‘attention’ on him? For a moment Ed was unsure of what to do, the last thing he wanted to do was encourage the man in front of him.

“What?!” he shouted dubiously, he was caught on the back foot now. Never had Ed been involved in a fight where the other man had won by flirting. Now Ed wasn’t a homophobe by all means, gay people he was fine with just as long as they didn’t turn their attentions on him. “Look pal I don’t know what you’re playing at but I think it’s time you left,” again he gave Vinnie shove, this one more heated from the outrage he’d felt before coming back as he heard Viv behind him.

Edward did his best to put himself between Vinnie and Vivian, finding he was on the verge of laying into the smug stranger. How dare he touch Viv without her permission, pervert. “Didn’t you hear me? I’d get out if I were you before this got ugly,” Ed growled, trying his best not to show how unsure he was. If a fight did break out there was a good chance he’d end up getting his arse handed to him rather spectacularly. The stranger was built as solidly as a brick shithouse and twice as tall. Inwardly he gulped; sweat starting to bead on his forehead. He hoped if he did get beaten to a pulp that the guy wouldn’t go after Vivian anyway while he was a bleeding mess on the floor.

Though, Viv was a vampire so she could probably hold her own if it came to that. Well it was time to find out.

[vincentdriscoll]

The look on the chump’s face was priceless, and Vinnie has no desire to suppress the slightly malicious grin he was now breaking into. Guess that meant he wasn’t keen on the idea, but Vinnie didn’t mind too much - plenty more quick fucks in the sea. Not that Vinnie had ever done it with a mermaid, or a merman, for that matter, although he had once been arrested in Newfoundland after being caught in a compromising position with a grindylow. It did transpire that he hadn’t actually been trying to have sex with it, which was fortunate for Vinnie, because he couldn’t remember a thing.

However, this situation was almost entirely different. This guy was likely to do him a lot more damage than the grindylow, or try to, at least, even if those little creatures did have the sharpest damn teeth he’d ever come across. Plus, it wasn’t exactly teeth he needed to be worried about here, he thought, taking another, slightly more violent shove to the chest.

This was all getting a bit much for Vinnie just to stand there and take it. It was his own fault, really, he’d done the provoking, both unintentionally by grabbing Viv’s arse, and intentionally by hitting on the guy, but that wasn’t the issue any more. The issue was, this guy was probably going to take a swing at him soon, if he didn’t take one first, and he had no intention of letting himself get beaten up by some whiney English bitch. Or Scottish. Or wherever that damn accent came from.

“Didn’t you hear me? I’d get out if I were you before this got ugly”

Oh great, a wise guy. So that’s what he got for trying to show some restraint, huh? Maybe in future he shouldn’t bother. Vinnie’s hands shot out seconds after the statement had left the other mans mouth, grabbing him by his shirt and lifting him off the floor. He had been tempted just to smack him in the mouth and get it over with, but there was still an ounce of self control lurking somewhere in Vinnie’s system - intimidation was going to work much better if he had to actually stay in the area for an extended period of time.

“No, sorry, you’re right, I didn’t quite catch that” The grin was still lingering on Vinnie’s lips, but it was pure malice now “Could you tell me again?” It wasn’t Vinnie’s usual style, it had to be said - what happened if the shirt ripped, or the guy spat in your eye and ran away, and it was much more fun to break someone’s nose anyway - you didn’t have to talk then - but Vinnie’s usual style was often greatly influenced by alcohol, and he hardly ever had a valid reason to not hit someone. Apparently this new life was going to be more difficult than he thought.

[OOC - sorry, it's made of fail D=]

[Edward Johns]

Was this man slow? Was he one of those impassive freaks who, no matter how much they were beaten around, were impossible to infuriate? If that was the case then he’d leave and everyone could put this mess behind them, but never would the stranger be allowed in Ed’s pub again, he wasn’t about to let riff raff in. The other man’s smiling was succeeding in making Edward angrier and angrier. What the Hell did he have to smile about, hitting on and then grabbing the arse of an underage girl wasn’t exactly something Edward found funny.

“Listen here-“ Ed was cut off as the guy finally grew a pair. By picking him up the stranger showed what he had suspected, those muscles weren’t just for show. Being picked up was always a strange sensation as the realisation hit that he very much preferred it on the ground. At first Ed squirmed in the older man’s grip, testing how strong he was. As it turned out the pervert was an incredibly strong one. No chance of wriggling his way out to get a good first swing in. He was at the mercy of the stranger now.

Edward readied himself for whatever he was about to be dealt. “Get the hell out of my pub, asshole,” he repeated, looking defiantly at Vinnie. Vivian started shrieking in the background, making him jump in the man’s grasp. “Viv, get back behind something,” he ordered sharply. If this was to escalate into violence, the last thing Ed wanted was for her to get in the middle of it.

[Vivian Nazarova]

Well, it had all been pretty straightforward until Vinnie decided to point out in no unsubtle manoeuvre exactly who was in charge of the little altercation. Until then she’d been quite happy to just lurk in background, basically using Ed as a human shield between herself and the pervert. Hopefully he’d get the hint and sod off and she could proceed to sick to Ed like glue for the next few hours, but that hope was dashed the moment he swept Ed off his feet in a fashion that was the very antithesis of romantic.

Omigosh!

Viv’s reaction was pretty stock standard. Shriek, leap back. Her hand leapt instinctively into her pocket to grab her wand and throw a nasty hex in Vincent’s direction, but the pocket was empty and Vivian’s stomach dropped the second the memory came crashing back that she didn’t have a wand any more. Gah! How did she ever used to cope before without magic?

Ed was yelling at her to take cover, but she hesitated for a moment before doing so. What else was she supposed to do? Sock the guy in the jaw? Yeah, because that would go down beautifully. She'd probably take off his head! Wide eyed and clearly shaken, Vivian opted to trust Ed to take care of himself and she promptly moved so that a table was now between her and the two men.

The drunken clientele of the Hogs Head had done scarcely more than sit up a little taller in their seats and watch things in the same fashion one watches a train wreck. Stupid drunk idiots.

[vincentdriscoll]

Vinnie was steadily deciding that restraint was, in fact, a bad thing. He’d been reaching all the wrong conclusions - yeah, these were people he was going to have to see on a regular basis from now on, and yeah, he was going to need to give them the right first impression if he was going to make things work up in this horrible godforsaken part of the country, but he really didn’t want that first impression to be that he was a pussy. Fuck the ministry, he wasn’t their play thing any more. Plus, having this possibly-English idiot wriggling about in his grasp reminded him how much fun it was pounding peoples heads in, even if they weren’t undead scum.

“Get the hell out of my pub, asshole.”

Yeah, Vinnie really didn’t like wise guys.

Usually, Vinnie’s response to being wound up was a fist to the face or a stake to the chest, whichever would be most effective, but he was trying to create the right impression here, and he wasn’t above a little theatrics to make sure people got the message. He’d once broken his own leg to try and win the heart of a nurse in Michigan because he wanted to see what it’d be like with a healer, and they all seemed impervious to his usual tricks. Course, this wasn’t exactly the same as that - this time it wasn’t his bones he intended to break, and unfortunately, it didn’t look like he was going to get laid at the end of it.

Right on cue, Vivian let out a shriek. Yeah, really didn’t look like he was going to get laid. Oh well, he could sort this fuckwit out, then go find his entertainment elsewhere.

Vinnie smiled again, partly out of the grim pleasure he was getting from the situation, partly to wind said fuckwit up. “Oh, really, is that what you said? Damn, I must have misheard,” He hoisted the man a little higher. His arms were beginning to ache from the effort, and he could hear the seams of the shirt splitting. Oh well, must be time to let go “I thought I heard you begging me not to ruin that pretty face of yours.” And with that he hurled the man away from him with all the might he had.

[Edward Johns]

As far as Ed was concerned, this guy was starting to get boring and he was ruining one of his favourite shirts. Why didn’t he just hit him already? What was he waiting for? The younger man was tempted to start whistling or yawning to show his boredom but instead he settled for staring down the solid stranger with a defiant look on his face. But it didn’t take long for the stranger’s mood to change and for him to finally look like he was going to do more than threatening.

Edward didn’t know whether to be happy or worried at that. It was good that something was finally going to happen, it was better than waiting for it but there was a chance he could get seriously hurt here. Before he could ready himself Ed found himself being thrown across the room. He fell painfully onto a table and a couple of chairs. Swearing profusely Ed picked himself up from the tangle of furniture and dusted himself off. He was angry now. Angry that he’d been thrown across the room and angry that his shirt had ripped. It had been his favourite shirt, even if there were about a hundred shirts just like it in his wardrobe upstairs.

“You’re going to be the one begging,” the man spat. A metallic taste filled Ed’s mouth; he was bleeding from somewhere probably his lip. Furiously he wiped the blood away with the back of his hands and practically sprinted at Vinnie. When he was close enough he launched himself at the older man, his bruised body colliding painfully with Vinnie’s. Blindly he laid into what he thought was the face or whatever part he thought would hurt the most when hit.

[vincentdriscoll]

Vinnie cracked his knuckles. The top joints of one of his ring fingers was a bit painful, he’d probably done it a bit of damage by hoisting the guy up. He had a horrible tendency to do that - get in a fight, sort out the major stuff - the internal bleeding and skull fractures - and fail to notice some minor break or dislocation to a hardly-noticeable bone or joint. At least, until the anesthetising potion wore off. Right, so he needed to remember that - ring finger, fucked.

Still, he was doing better than the chump, who was in the process of picking himself up off the floor. Vinnie got the distinct impression he wasn’t going to give up any time soon. That was a shame. Vin didn’t exactly enjoy fighting - it could prove diverting, if there was nothing else to do, and there was a certain satisfaction to be had when you knocked someone out, but it wasn’t the same satisfaction you got from, say, shooting your load. And seeing as this idiot had prevented him from doing so, and was continuing to prevent him from doing so by not staying down like he should, Vinnie wasn’t really all that keen to fight him.

But there was that first impression to consider, and like fuck was he having these English maggots think he was a pussy.

It was exactly that mentality - along with nearly a decades experience hunting vampires - that sustained Vinnie’s will, even when the cockblock barrelled into him. The force of being knocked over backwards, even with someone on top of him wasn’t really the problem - it had happened many times in the past, though often in happier circumstances - the problem was what he landed on. A chair.

Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be a problem, but ordinarily Vinnie wouldn’t have collided with it at an awkward angle because some half brained landlord had just tackled him to the ground. And ordinarily, the chair wouldn’t have snapped and impaled his thigh. “FUCK!” He swore loudly, trying to shield his face from the blows that were being rained down on it and assess the damage to his leg at the same time. He recognised that sharp, throbbing pain. It was more than just a graze, then, but nothing overly serious. More pressing was the matter of this idiot who was still trying to punch him in the face. Vinnie made a grab for the idiot’s arms, then with a grunt and a stabbing pain in his thigh, he rolled them over, clear of the wreckage of the broken chair, sitting astride the idiot’s waist and pinning his arms to the floor above his head. And putting pressure on that leg would staunch the bleeding, with any luck. Or not, he never had been any good at first aid.

Trouble with this position, however, was that Vinnie was now unable to deal any blows of his own. After what had happened to his leg, he was pretty keen to punch the idiot in the face, but that would mean letting go of his arms, and leaving himself open to attack, which was never the smartest of moves. Then again, thinking about it, he was now straddling a man who’d proven himself to be a homophobe - or adverse to Vinnie’s advances, at least, although the same could be said of a fair women he’d met. “Now, and there was me thinking you weren’t interested” He grinned again, an inkling of an idea beginning to form in his head. He leaned in closer, til their noses were practically touching. He was risking a counter attack, but this was far too much fun, and hopefully the other guy would be to petrified to respond “In future, Freckles, you mind your own fucking business.” That mocking smile still on his face, he drew his head back and slammed his forehead into the soft cartilage of the other guys nose with a rewarding crunch.

[Edward Johns]

Oh wow, the whole tackle thing had actually worked. As he and the other man toppled down onto a chair and then the floor Ed held on for dear life. As soon as the falling had stopped he again started to hit out at the facial area of the stranger. He heard the man’s swearing and it only encouraged him, little did he know the guy had impaled himself on a shattered chair leg. How dare this man come in to his pub looking to get in Viv’s pants. If it had been anyone else other than Viv Ed would have let it go, except if it was Cassie. If he’d done it to Cassie then Ed was pretty sure he’d have reacted the same way. No one touched Viv or Cassie.

Whoa, hang on.

Just when Ed thought he had the upper hand he was suddenly rolling with the man and then being pinned down. This was not the way things were supposed to go. Hopelessly he struggled against the man’s wrought iron grip. Just as things couldn’t get any worse the man lowered his face to Ed’s so they were only centimetres apart. “Don’t flatter yourself, you’re not my type, and who are you calling Freckles?” he spat maliciously, still struggling. He did not like being stuck so helplessly but at least the other man’s hands were too preoccupied with holding his still so he couldn’t start laying into him, unless...

Oh no. Furiously Edward struggled more than he had been before. He didn’t want what was coming, not at all, he liked his nose how it was. Too late. The man brought his head down on to his face with a sickening crunch. Instantly blood gushed from the broken nose flooding Ed’s mouth and drowning out his cries of pain. His eyes watered and pain seared his entire face, he’d have two black eyes and a swollen face for a month now. In a last ditch effort to get the man off him, Ed spat a mix of blood and spit at where he thought Vinnie’s face was. He couldn’t exactly see much from the tears of pain in his eyes. Strangely enough as he writhed in pain Ed found himself wanting nothing more but Cassie's soft embrace.

The things you think of when you've had your nose broken.

[vincentdriscoll]

Even if it wasn’t exactly the kind of satisfaction Vinnie had been after right then, the sound of the idiots nose breaking and the rush of blood that followed it was incredibly enjoyable. He’d completely ignored whatever it was the idiot had said just before he’d slammed his head down, and it had been oh so worth it. He might have been able to slip in a witty remark, but who needed wit when you had a forehead of steal?

Unfortunately, the moment was soured a little when the idiot decided to retaliate by spitting a mixture of blood and saliva at his face. But as always, Vinnie had something insightful to say about that. “If you wanted to share bodily fluids, I could have thought of much better ways to do it” Vinnie almost laughed as he pushed himself upright. He wasn’t seriously trying to flirt with the guy any more - he didn’t tend to sleep with people whose noses he’d just broken, although it wasn’t unheard of - but Vinnie didn’t really know how to open his mouth without being provocative, one way or another. Nothing he said could really be taken seriously.

In fact, the only things Vinnie really did take seriously were killing vampires and getting laid, and even then, Vinnie’s approach to flirting never was particularly serious. It didn’t matter to him if one girl wasn’t interested, there‘d always be plenty more; the way he saw it, if he threw enough shit, some of it was bound to stick. It was a marginally better way of looking at things than the one his friend Grant from back home had - “If at first you don’t succeed, use rohypnol”

But there wasn’t going to be any shit flinging, literal or metaphoric that night. After the heady rush of the scuffle he‘d just had, the pain in his thigh was intensifying, and he had the horrible feeling it wasn’t the kind of wound he could just patch up on his own. Plus, whilst he and the moron on the floor had been fighting, Viv seemed to have disappeared, and the rest of the patrons of the Hogs Head didn’t exactly look up for it.

Vinnie steadied himself against a table and winced slightly as he put his weight onto his injured leg without really thinking about it. He was going to have to head back to the castle now, still without having shot his load. Maybe if he was lucky, after the nurse patched him up, she could put her talented hands to other uses. He’d heard she was a bit of a looker. With that thought in mind, Vinnie made his way towards the exit. Looked like he was going to have to find somewhere else to drink in future.

[OOC - freakishy symmetrical paragraphs!]