[SpringsSong]

People who think you're... what? Leriun wanted to ask, but he caught himself when he noticed the other's reaction.  Something told him that asking such a question would only add to the other's anxiety--or, at least, that was the impression that Leriun got from Lucréce's sudden shift in attitude, which was further confirmed when she said that she needed to go outside.

"If you're all right with that," Leriun said, standing up and pushing his chair back in.  The club was getting a little loud for his tastes, which made it harder to appreciate the dances as works of art, rather than how the other men were enjoying them.  He would follow Lucréce's lead outside into the crisp air of the night, offering his jacket to Lucréce if it was needed.

[zapdragon555]

Lucréce walked out briskly with Leriun behind, the back of his head throbbing with each heartbeat. He let out a heavy breath as they walked into the cool night air, and he ran a hand through his black hair, trying to get some semblance of calm back. He nodded at the greeter on the way out and moved to the side, just out of the radius of a streetlamp's light. He sighed out into the air, breath clouding as steam in front of him, and on impulse he reached into a hidden pocket in the dress. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes, tapping one out, then paused, glancing at Leriun with an expression much like a deer caught in headlights. "Ah... do you... mind if I smoke?" he asked softly, lowering the box of cigarettes slightly, expression growing cautious.

[SpringsSong]

"Not at all," Leriun said, nodding his head slightly.  He wasn't a smoker himself, but others smoking didn't bother him overmuch.  "I don't really mind it.  My mom and a couple of my friends in school were on-and-off smokers."

Well, what few friends he had in school.  When he'd gotten his name and everything changed through the school, it hadn't escaped notice from his schoolmates, and it seemed like a lot of his friends suddenly slipped away, as if the change in his identity made him an entirely different person?

[zapdragon555]

Lurcéce seemed to deflate slightly with relief--a thing he'd been doing a lot, and it really was taking a toll on his lungs, all of that straining. He slid a cigarette out and pocketed the rest, pulling out an old metal lighter in its place. He took the cig between his lips and lit the end of it, staring at the little flame as it cast a shine on his blue eyes and nose, and took a soft drag on it, flicking the lighter closed. He let out the smoke in a soft sigh, watching it trail into the air, a small look of disgust wrinkling his nose. He really did hate these things.

Even so, almost immediately he seemed to mellow out, focusing on the feeling of smoke entering and leaving the top of his lungs, until finally he took the cigarette away from his mouth and held it, the cinders burning softly on the end. "I don't do it normally," he murmured, rocking back and forth slightly to keep moving in the chilly air. "New habit I picked up from a client. He smelled horrible," he added with a sheepish smirk, taking one more puff on the cigarette before lowering it with a soft, almost prim little cough, covering his mouth with a fist as his shoulders jumped with the force of it. "But it soothes the nerves, you know, once in awhile."

[SpringsSong]

"Yeah, my buddies seemed to do it a lot more often when tests or college applications came due.  They said it helped 'em relax," Leriun said, shrugging.  "Honestly, I almost took up the habit when I came out because of the stress of the changes that happened with it," he said.

Well, that was out there now.  How Lucréce took that would be up to her, and Leriun didn't seem to mind that that information was out in the open--well, out in the open to one other person, maybe two, depending on how closely the greeter was listening--now.

[zapdragon555]

Lucréce paused for a moment, staring at the trail of smoke that wound up from his cigarette. Ah. Well that explained one of two things, neither of which Lucréce had had any intention of prying into or even knowing about. But here he was. "Was it hard?" he murmured, bringing the cigarette back to his lips and simply holding it there, not breathing in, as if the action itself was a learned calming effect. "The way things changed. People can be awful, but... I see you made it, so that's something to be pretty proud of," he added, glancing at Leriun and offering a small smile. Lucréce wasn't so good at this sort of inner conversation; he was used to false flirting and cold, canned responses to backhanded dirty compliments. Not this sort of heart to heart with a stranger. Then again, Lucréce supposed one's sexual orientation wasn't necessarily the most private thing in the world. Maybe his nerves were still acting up.

[SpringsSong]

"Well, suddenly half of my guy friends disappeared, and a few of my girl friends asked me, 'So, does this mean that you like girls now?' and I had to laugh at them," Leriun said, pulling his shirt tight for a moment, revealing a subtle bump on his chest.  "Suppose I should explain after saying something like that, yeah?  I was born a girl, but it never felt right.  Always felt like I was a guy," he said.

"It... was hard, but my mom... made things bearable," Leriun said.  "She was the one constant when all the people I thought were my friends up and left, so there's something to be said for that, even if she did raise me all by herself... ah, but I'm rambling," Leriun said, shaking his head.  "Feel free to tell me to shut up if I'm talking too much, Lucréce.  I tend to... run off at the mouth sometimes, or so I've been told..."

[zapdragon555]

Lucréce eyes had flickered in mild confusion for a moment at Leriun's initial words, and he glanced over at him, catching his revelation. He blinked slowly, then nodded. He'd suspected the man was transgender, but it wasn't as though he would've asked about it. His eyes showed some surprise that Leriun's mother was apparently so supportive.

He was a little jealous, he supposed. "No, I... I like hearing you talk," he said rather dumbly, then blinked, inwardly flushing at himself. That wasn't what he meant, though it wasn't false, per say. "I mean... you're interesting. You're kind. You, ah..." he dithered, unable to explain himself properly, and finally decided an admission of his own might cover up the strange words. "I... my mother, ah. Um." Think. Breathe. "I... was... raised as a girl," he murmured quietly, staring at the smoke trail coming from his cigarette, rising in tatters in the air as his hand shook a bit. "And it was fucking awful," he said, not without a shake of a laugh in his hushed voice. He should also explain; he should explain why he was wearing a dress, why he was a prostitute in a nightclub, why he was shaking and why he hated mothers. But he couldn't say much else past that, at that moment; his mouth was too busy puffing on the cigarette in his fingers, as if to draw some kind of stability and courage from the smoke.

[SpringsSong]

Leriun waited until Lucréce stopped, and he moved closer to the other, placing a gentle hand very lightly on Lucréce's shoulder--but only leaving it lightly there, so that he could move it easily, or so that Lucréce could move away if she--or rather, he, Leriun supposed now--wanted to.

"That bites," he said, withdrawing his hand to fold his arms slightly.  "Then, uh... you're...?" he began to ask, trying to think of the best way to word it.  After a few moments, he shrugged and said, "Ah, hell--I'm no good at asking this kind of stuff.  Is there any particular...?  I... sorry if that's--fuck, I'm terrible at this," he said, finally shaking his head.  His thoughts were a jumbled mess at the moment, and he couldn't even sort them properly to form a coherent sentence.

[zapdragon555]

Lucréce had jumped slightly as Leriun touched his shoulder, body jerking and shaking in response to the contact. The relinquishment of said contact was both a relief and a source of renewed discomfort, and Lucréce shifted his arms to hug himself, sighing out a thin breath that wound residual smoke into the air. He listened to Leriun dither and false-start his words, then finally shook his head, throat thick. "You're fine," he murmured, finally, getting his voice under control. He paused for a few moments more of mental preparation, then took a breath and began to speak very rapidly. "I'm not exactly wholly male or female in terms of physicality but I've always been a boy and my mother never saw that. So she... ahm. She dressed me up like this and I don't know why I still do it." He finally finished, licking his dry lips, and took one more puff on the cigarette before dropping it on the ground and grinding it into the concrete with his heeled shoe.

[SpringsSong]

"I see," Leriun said, inclining his head slightly.  "I'm... sorry that your mom never saw that," he added, shifting his weight slightly.  There was little else that he could say to the other--at least, not without knowing more about his life.  Leriun was not one to push one's personal boundaries, and he wasn't going to push Lucréce to that point.

"So..." he said softly, waiting for Lucréce to speak--if he did at all.

[zapdragon555]

Lucréce was silent for a moment, staring at the concrete with his arms folded protectively over himself, before he drew in a shuddering breath, like a doll suddenly ratcheting back to life. "So... tell me how on earth you just drew my life story out of me, when I barely even know you?" he murmured, glancing at Leriun with something like a smile and something like a grimace. Both were cold, cautious. "No one is supposed to know my secrets. That's my job, knowing about others..." he murmured, turning on his heel to face Leriun head-on, his face a little gaunt, the black eye more noticeable under the streetlamp. "You're really something, aren't you." The tone in Lucréce's voice was impossible to discern, but it sounded a little short. Nervous. Like a cornered animal that still had the power to reason, but was growing impatient with it.

[Weep don't mind Lucréce he's just being odd and defensive. xD]

[SpringsSong]

"Dunno," Leriun said with a shrug.  "But, if it bothers you, I can pretend I don't know anything about it?"

The tone that Lucréce was using definitely threw Leriun for a loop.  He supposed that was because Lucréce wasn't used to sharing these kinds of things with others.  He shifted slightly, biting his lip a little bit.

[zapdragon555]

Lucréce stared at Leriun for a moment, eyes narrowing until his mouth too became a thin line, and finally he breathed out shaky and shook his head. "Can't help that, now," he murmured, reaching up to tuck a few errant strands of hair behind his ear, averting his eyes to the ground. He took in a steadying breath and looked back up at Leriun, expression softening at the look on Leriun's face. "Maybe it's fine if you know. I always can't stand it when people call me anything but a boy, so... maybe this is good. Maybe..." he murmured, as if trying to rationalize it in his own mind, hands pale as he wrung them together at his front. "And you told me your thing, so fair and... square, mhm..." he murmured to himself under his breath, looking down at the concrete again, clearly a little out of sorts.

[SpringsSong]

"Well, if you're sure," Leriun said, dragging his foot against the ground slightly.  "Sometimes it can help, when someone else knows.  But... but you don't have to tell me everything you've ever kept a secret.  That... we barely even know each other, so that would be a little weird if we did the whole, 'I'm gonna be a completely open book with you'-thing..."

Leriun shifted again, clearly flustered.  Finally, he spoke again, changing the subject.

"So... have you, ah... worked here long?  That... sounds wrong, but..."