flowers in the morning light//open

Charak hated motels. Perhaps all the people who went and locked themselves in their individual rooms felt safe and alone, but he was always very aware of the fact that there were people all around him, separated only by drywall. For humans that might be considered a decent barrier but for a demon with some social issues, it was far from comfort. Comfort was miles of space. This was just a cramped messy building full of people and Charak wouldn't have been here if he didn't have to be. But he moved around a lot and never sleeping would get rather suspicious. He didn't think he had any hunters tailing him, but you could never be too careful. He made a point to appear as normal as possible. No reason to leave anything memorable behind anywhere.

He'd cleaned the few belongings he had out of his room - they all fit into his backpack - and was heading down to check out of the hotel. He'd done what needed doing in this town and was planning to get going elsewhere. He never liked to stay any inhabited place longer then he had to, slinking out into the wilderness whenever he got the time. He couldn't do that just yet. There was some stuff he had to do elsewhere first. With his backpack slung over one shoulder he walked down the hallway. There weren't many people here, which was pleasing to the demon who wandered through the empty hallways.

His heart dropped slightly as he rounded a corner to see a woman standing there with a lot of flowers. Weird. The ex-human thought, pausing for a moment before shrugging and continuing down the hall. Just as he was approaching her, hoping to pass by here without any problem, she called out "H-hello?" He was planning to just continue walking, until he realized that those words must have been directed at him. He froze for a split second, wondering what to do. He wanted to just leave, but that might prove difficult. He wasn't sure was was socially acceptable in this situation, but he knew that you weren't supposed to brush past people. Gritting his teeth slightly, he decided he's play it safe and do as would be expected.

"Hello." He said, twisting his voice into something pleasant. His speaking was naturally quiet. Not difficult to hear just soft. He tilted his head slightly to the side, blinking at her as though confused by the stutter in her tone. "Is something wrong miss?" Now to think about it, he realized, it was curious that she had sounded almost scared. Certainly she had no idea of what he was. Or at least he really hoped she didn't.

She sighed, sounding relieved, and Charak wondered if she had been expecting someone else. Someone who she was not very keen on seeing. He couldn't help being a bit amused inside. Whatever she had been expecting, he was pretty certain it was a lot nicer then him. Then again, who knew. Some humans had knowledge of the creatures that wandered their world. Creatures like him. Some weaker, some stronger. But he doubted it. The whole point what that most people did not know about the supernatural. And the idea that he would just happen to stumble upon someone who did know about the world beneath their noses was unlikely. Then again, he supposed, she had a right to be relieved. After all, he had no quarrel with her and planned to leave her to go on with her life after this point.

His eyes went to the cart of flowers. They were pleasant to the eye with their assortment of soft colors. Though he took no personal interest in them, he made a point to appreciate them. "No, no, everything's fine. I'm sorry." The woman said, laughing. Charak wasn't entirely sure if he understood what she was laughing at - perhaps his earlier inquiry had seemed a bit too worried? - but he smiled pleasantly anyway. "I thought I was all alone up here and I heard your footsteps and… I wasn’t quite sure what was going on." Charak thought for a moment. The pause in the middle of the sentence and the words that came after it led him to believe that she was either lying or removing a part of the truth. He pushed that to the back of his mind. It didn't mean anything anyway. He was very certain that this woman wasn't a hunter. Hunters didn't push flower carts around or call out 'hello' in a wavering tone. Everyone knew that was what people did right before they died in horror movies. No, she wasn't a hunter. By that logic, he shouldn't have anything to fear.

"Are you new in town?" She asked and he inwardly grimaced. It had been going rather well. He could've just apologized for startling her and been on his way, but she had to go and ask a question. Well, he was kind of roped into it now. "Well, I'm sorry for startling you. And I would that that I'm pretty new to the town, but I'm just passing through. In fact, I've just packed up to leave." He said, shifting his shoulder slightly to draw attention to the backpack resting there.

"Oh, don't worry yourself about it. It was completely my fault." Charak inwardly grimaced at the mundane politeness of this whole exchange. Well, he was hardly going to getting out of it soon. He might as well stop griping and focus on being normal and nice as though he were just a human. It was a lot harder to do when you knew that you weren't a human and when you remembered the pain of the torture in hell after your death. That changed a lot of the way you saw the world and the thing was he knew that he could just kill this woman and move on quickly and nothing would come of it. Hunters didn't tend to track a demon cross-country. But yet he couldn't bring himself to just do it already. He wondered if it could be pawned off and labeled as some strange quirk. Though he wouldn't lose anything by killing her, he wouldn't gain much either. And so he couldn't bring himself to lift a finger.

He watched as she exchanged the old flowers for the new ones and his eyes lingered on the wilting, limp petals. They were almost prettier in death then in life, where they were so smooth they looked like they'd came out of an assembly line. These flowers were worn. They had personality of sorts. He couldn't help liking them. Plus, unlike people, the neither talked nor expected you to reply. That was a great bonus. "Well, it’s a shame you can’t stay longer. Were you able to see much of the town? We have a lovely little area downtown with so many eclectic shops. I think the antique shop is my favorite." She said, and he shrugged.

"Well I didn't really think to see the town. I got here last night and just went straight to bed." He admitted. It wasn't exactly true. As a demon, sleep wasn't much of a necessity. But he hadn't seen the town at all, so it wasn't a big lie. "Though I guess I'll probably be driving through the downtown on my way out, so I might stop at a few shops." He said, inwardly wincing because he didn't really want to stop at any shops and prolong his contact with the race of humans he'd once belonged to. It was really a shame that he didn't like people. Otherwise, he was a rather nice person.

"Do you like the look of dying flowers?" He couldn't help inwardly wincing. Even though it might have been a pointless and obvious observation, he didn't really like it when people were able to tell anything about him. She was right about the flowers though. So much more intriguing in death then they were in life. A bit like people. He thought, unable to stop the small grin from springing to his face at the morbid half-joke. "I really think there’s a kind of tragic beauty in them. I can never force myself to throw them away until I absolutely have to." Tragic beauty was an interesting and romanticized way to describe it. He had never thought of it as tragic, nor had he ever thought of it as beautiful. There was just something more to those flowers. The didn't make him sad - they peaked his interest, they intrigued him.

"I guess so." He stated agreeably. Though he could have argued about the idea of the dying flowers, he saw no point to doing so. All it would do was drag the conversation onward and prove a point that didn't matter. Still, the urge was there. Such an odd, human urge. It made him uncomfortable and he pushed it down. He was not human. He hadn't been human for a long time.

"Oh, well, if you’re in a hurry, don’t give it another thought." He held back his sigh of relief. That ought to remove any of the strange social conventions that still held him in place. Though he wasn't in a large hurry, he was pretty sure the term could be bent to his situation. "So where are you headed now?" She asked and he took a few quick seconds to consider his options. He could lie - it was extremely unlikely the lie would ever be uncovered - or just go with the truth. Denver was a pretty big city, and it was unlikely that he could be tracked down in it, so the truth wasn't exactly dangerous, but it was always better to be safe then sorry. "Savanna. Georgia." He lied smoothly. He'd actually come from a place near Savanna, but it was still a good enough lie.