ARC SURVEY OO6: HOLIDAY TRAVELS

 — You leavin’? — Blog raised their head up, sitting on the couch.
  V stood at the doorway with a backpack on their shoulders, packed with a laptop and a few spare clothes. He wasn’t really a heavy packer, plus, he was coming over for just a week. He knows he can stay over for longer (honestly, Steve has been sort of begging him to) but.. vamp kind of hates being away from its little cozy bedroom, preferring to just stay at home. Or at work, the salon feeling like a second home.
  It just.. never really does good in new environments, especially when said environments have bittersweet memories left. But for Stevie it’s a pleasant sacrifice
  — Yep. Like catchin’ the train early and stuff.
  They nod, — Good Twilight, get me souvenirs! I never been to Earle. 
  — Alright. Don’t burn the apartment down while I’m away! — it said, opening the door. 
  — It’s my apartment, what do you mean- 
  — Byeeee~! — he shuts the door. 
  — ..Asshole, — Blog chuckles. She is gonna miss having him around for a bit. Oh well.

  He puts the headphones a bit awkwardly on, they press his ears practically flat against his head. It will definitely give him a headache after three hours, but it’s worth it for that sweet bass boosted music.. 
  And vamp hasn’t even gotten to the station when he gets a notification on its phone:

  “are you there yet????”
  “no, dude, im not even at the station yet. yk my train arrives at 10”
  “i knooowww im just so excited :(“

  V chuckles.

  “ik dw <3
  we can go swimming as soon as im there”
  “promise??? :D”
  “promise :-)”

  Despite disliking going away from the apartment, Vamp does like the routine of going to the station every few months or so. The breeze against his face as the train arrives, the bright colors, always pre-ordering to get a seat closest to the window.. 

  It’s like meditating sort of, letting your mind turn off for a bit as you just listen to whatever music is blasting from your playlist and enjoying the scenery outside. It thinks its favorite part of this is the way the colors shift: from the Harbor to Torini. The dark town of neon colors where you can find any sort of creative person and where practically no one sleeps, it sometimes feeling like an eternal night, but in a good way. In a fun way where you know there will always be someone to keep you company; anywhere you’ll go you’ll find a fun conversation.
  And it is such a radical shift to Torini where everything almost feels muted, from how your eyes got used to the Harbor’s neon contrast. But after a few days there, you notice just how bright and colorful the sea is, that beautiful aquamarine. It’s so fun to swim down to look at the sea life, feeling like you are in a completely different world. And in the day, instead of being a bustling place, it’s much more quiet. And perhaps it’s just his personal bias speaking, but it’s a different kind of ‘friendly’ than the Harbor. It couldn’t explain why that well, it just.. felt different. It liked the street Steve lived on, it was quieter than the rest of the city, growing loud at night with the sounds of party music practically everywhere. Where Steve lived it wasn’t that loud, much more peaceful..

  He liked the peaceful quietness of the night, where the only sounds are of waves hitting the shore. 

  — V!! — Stevie’s yell being heard by the entire station- something expected practically- as he ran towards the other with extended arms.
  — Hey! — Vamp however did not extend arms, instead having them by vamps side as it got ready for that big squeeze hug from the other. It giggled, — I’m happy to see you too, man. 
  — Hii!! — Stevie had a big grin on his face as he kept squeezing the other, — Hi, I’ve missed you so much!! Hi!!
  Vamp giggles, — I missed you too!! Let go of me now?
  — Okay!! — he said, still with the biggest grin on his face.

  Vamp takes the moment to take in a deep breath. In… Out…

  — Man.. I love the seaside smell, — it takes one of Stevie’s hands, — So, what’s that cafe you wanted to show me?  
  — Oh!! Yes!! — his tail wagged, — It serves such good sweets, you have got to try my favorite!! 
  Vamp nodded, — Course, dude.

  ...

  “Anyways, thanks in advance for your time. I can’t wait to see what you guys have been up to!

  Dr. Naes”

  Vamp stares at the post on its phone as he’s laying on Stevie’s couch that night. He doesn’t usually participate in these as he finds the surveys and research a bit… creepy, if vamp were honest. So he’s not sure what compels him to, but he clicks on the link leading to fill it out. Just because why not.

  How does he celebrate?

  “While Harbor is known for being the most fun place to celebrate the holidays, I actually leave town for a week around the holidays to visit my friend at Torini. I enjoy the quiet part of town he lives in and taking a break from how loud the Harbor can really be sometimes. It’s not that I like it, but the small change on holidays is nice. 
  And it makes it an even more special holiday for me every time I see my friend’s smile while we’re together. He is always really excited to see me and I feel like I’m not as good as showing how happy I am to spend the time with him.
  We went swimming and collecting seashells. He knows so many factoids about the different kinds it’s super fun to hear him talk about it, even if I’ve heard this shit already when we were kids. It’s still fun to hear him talk about it after all these years.

  We’re going to be lantern carving tomorrow. Maybe go foraging. We used to go foraging as kids with our parents a lot.”

  He stares at the last sentence with a bit of a bittersweet feeling in his chest. 

  Maybe he could ask Blog and their little weird boyfriend if they’d like to come to Torini next Carnival. It could be fun to go foraging with them. He doesn’t think he’s celebrated the Carnival properly with Blog, now that he thinks about it, even if they’ve been roommates for a couple of years now.

  That could be a good idea.. 

  Vamp yawns and puts their phone away, feeling its mind drifting off to sleep further and further..

  What shape should it carve onto the lantern tomorrow? Maybe they could do matching ones, like of each other’s faces. It chuckles to itself at the thought that Stevie’s lantern would look really goofy.