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Jebediah has been surprisingly busy for someone who's main point of existence before now was just being annoying. He's been sneaking out to some classes at the rec center and digging through the trash for art supplies that he can't afford, so it takes him a long while since their first meeting to find his way back to the restaurant that is way outside of his price range to see if he can't find the vampire he'd left a note for. When he does get around to it, though, he's equipped with a list of questions he kept in his head that he's been compiling these past weeks and a wooden plank that he's burned the image of a moon into, quite beautifully too. It was one of his better works. He'd clearly taken a lot of time on it, but it was currently out of view, wrapped in last week's newspaper and tied with a red ribbon. He walks into the courtyard, very clearly looking for someone specific and he's come with a gift.
Morbius is not entertaining anyone this evening. The courtyard behind Saganaki is quiet and dim, and though there is still a hole in the wall surrounding it and one less bee hive, the wreckage has been cleaned up and made neat once again. There is no way that anyone this far in-city has a snowball's chance in hell to see stars, but Morbius is enjoying the night sky anyway. The cool air. The moon. The quiet. Sitting back with a bottle of wine on one elbow and a warming pot of tea at the other, he's double fisting it pretty hardcore at the moment. Vamp Lyfe. Vamp UnLyfe?
None the less, he sits back at one of the tables with a book, quietly reading to himself when someone else comes into the space. Hat off and resting on the table in front of him, an ankle resting poised on the opposite knee, the monster strikes a very scholarly vision as those eyes lift up to Jeb. Quiet.
Last time he approached the vampire, he was accused of being very rude by both the vampire and the man who is apparently dating his brother and another man, god only knows, Jay led a confusing life. Regardless, he was more careful this time, not wanting to offend the vampire this time, especially since he is clearly going through some shit… elegantly with wine and tea? He approaches slowly, doesn't run at the table as he had last time. "Hello, Mister Morbius, sir." He says as eloquently as his southern tongue will allow. "Could Ah maybe join ya?" And then quickly as if he'd forgotten the word entirely. "Please?"
Watching the young man advance on the table, more in control of himself the second time around, those bouncing black pupils track Jeb, dancing over to the wrapped board he carries with him. "Jebediah, was it?" Without waiting for confirmation, his eyes squint slowly, speculative for a moment, then relaxing. "You were the young man who left me the note. Yes. Of course, please sit."
"Yes! Ah am Jebediah! Ah did. Ah probably spelled your name wrong, Ah'm sorry about that if Ah did." He tries to contain his excitement and not vibrate in place at Morbius recognizing his name. "You were having a tough time. Ah wanted you to know that someone cared about it." He says and takes the seat across from Morbius, wide smile spreading across his face when he's welcomed. "Ah… uh… Ah brought you somethin' too." He sets the newspaper wrapped gift before Morbius on the table, somewhere where it won't be in the way of his tea and wine. "Ah thought it might make you feel better? Ah dunno. Ah dunno much about anythin' but Ah wanted to help."
"You spelled it correctly," Morbius responds patiently, as if it hardly mattered along the way. Curious, he watches Jeb settle in and set the newspaper wrapped board in front of him. Gifts? The young man left him a letter, bought him food to let him know that someone cared about how he was feeling, and now brought him a gift. Before he even seems to think about moving toward the wrapped gift, Morbius slowly closes his book and curls a hand around his chin. Index finger slowly rubbing back and forth across his lower lip. Trying to decide how to delicately go about this, he starts slowly. "This is all very nice, Jebediah. I appreciate it very much. You understand that I am currently seeing someone, however."
Jebediah laughs at that response and waves his hand. "No, no, no, that's not what this is about, Ah promise you. Ah'm not interested in all of that. Relationships sound hard, and cause too much strife. My brother is always stressed out, losin' his damn feathers. And you, sir, are far, far, far beyond anyone Ah could hope to woo into a relationship with me. Ah just care.. because Ah do? Ah don't know why." He admits with a nervous smile. "You seemed to believe that your feelings didn't matter. Ah'm just here to tell you do and Ah want to make you feel better. Ah would do a lot more if Ah wanted all of that. Take you /for/ dinner, not just pay for it, and dancing, and better gifts, ones that money bought, Ah just made this." He gestures to the gift between them. "Ah just want to cheer you up."
Staring at Jebediah as if he were a very interesting subject, worthy of studying, Morbius watches the young man anxiously try to explain himself. Slowly, his eyes move to the newspaper-wrapped gift, considering it. "You made this?" Poised. Quiet. Thoughtful. The vampire seems solid tonight. Entirely living within his own skin peacefully. "You made something for me, to try to cheer me up." Collecting all the details.
Well. That's a twist.
Slowly uncoiling himself, Morbius reaches forward carefully, retrieving the board and placing it across his lap. "My mother used to tell me," he begins, quietly. A curved talon extends from his fingertip, much like a feline's claw. Neatly, it runs beneath the ribbon, cutting it loose. "That home made gifts were the best sorts."
Jebediah nods swallowing a little loudly when Morbius repeats his own words back to him, not afraid. Nervous. "Ah didn't have a lot to go off of, besides really cool vampire with a cool accent who is goin' through some stuff. So Ah hope it's okay." He smiles when Morbius talks about his mother. "Really? Sometimes that's all we could give each other for Christmas, Ah don't come from a rich family. So my mama got a lot of macaroni necklaces."
Macaroni necklaces make Morbius take pause, his bulging lips curving higher as he pulls apart the paper delicately. "She sounds like a very rich woman in the only form of wealth which truly matters." Morbius murmurs thoughtfully, disclosing no more of his own background for the moment. "My accent is Greek. Like this restaurant." Informing Jeb rather gently as he peels back the paper and takes a look at the decoration burned into the board. "You're an artist?"
That also makes Jeb smile, soft and warm, makes his chest constrict for a moment as he thinks of home, as he misses his mother. "That makes it no less cool, just gives it a name. Greek. You're a long way from home." He says casually, making small talk as he pushes himself to the edge of his seat while Morbius unwraps the board. He nods. "A little, Ah'm new at it, but Ah worked really hard on this one. Ah set a couple on fire before Ah got this result. Ah wanted it to look perfect. Went to the library and looked at a lot of pictures of the moon too, tried to get all the craters right."
He's right, it does just give it a name, but information is important to Morbius. And it also informs the link between himself and the restaurant without going into messy details. Gracefully agreeing with Jeb's point, there's a short nod while he lifts the board off his lap and up to the table to admire the burnings. "You are as well, judging by your own accent." Morbius points out , brushing his fingers over the charred pieces of the board, tracing the shape. "Did you know that the moon, as it rotates, moves with our planet, so we only ever see one side of it? That is why these craters never change." Pressing a single finger upward into the air, gesturing to the moon overhead.
"Not quite as far as you. Ah am though." Jeb sits up straighter when Morbius picks up the board to admire it, warmth filling his chest a little. His eyes are directed up to the moon when Morbius points to it. "What?!" Jeb says, a little louder than he intends to and blushes when he realizes how loud he's being. "Sorry. That's just crazy to me. Ah had no idea. That the universe is timed just right that we never see the other side of the moon. How did you learn that? Ah just know that the moon is what makes the tides change, so if you could put a lasso around it and pull it closer, it might make tsunamis and stuff, so all those dumb romantics who say stuff like that to gals are really sayin' they'd destroy the world for her and that ain't romantic at all."
"A bit further, yes," Morbius agrees on the matter of geography, and then watches as the young man is blown over by the matter of a bit further geography. Pale, spindled digits splayed over the carefully burned in image of the moon. "I read it. In a book." Jeb's opinion on wild romanticism draws another smile up on his lips, dropping his eyes to the board. "You're not wrong. Logically, that does seem very unromantic, however, I am unfortunately a man of both science and of Greek sensibilities. That is to say, passionate as well as logical. So, I can see the appeal." Turning his attention back up toward the young man across the table from him. "You're young enough, though. One day, you may understand what all those poems and songs you hear on the radio are talking about."
"Well, why would you wanna destroy the world for her.. or even him? What if you pulled the moon closer and the tsunami that resulted landed where you are? It would drown you both and that's some romeo and juliet ending, that story was /awful/." Jebediah leans his chin against his hand which he leans on the table. "Tell them you want to build them a boat, first, then pull the moon down, so then it would just be you and them forever. Ah think… Ah think, when Ah find someone, Ah would tell them that Ah'd stick a pole in the sun to keep it from moving any closer or movin' away so that we could spend eternity together, never worryin' that it would destroy us one day." Jebediah smiles and sits back in his chair. "Do you like it? Ah can make you something different if you don't."
Morbius simply smiled while Jeb asked all the sane, logical, penetrating, sensible questions about the moon and the tides. Science. Things of that nature. Amused, and possibly waiting for a moment to explain it to Jeb when the kid turns around and finishes up the thought with an actual romantic fix. A solution to the very problem that he posed. "So, your problem with this saying, it is not so much that it would destroy the world and cause mayhem, destruction and extinction," Morbius concludes with a neat flick of his fingers in an uncoiling gesture. Fingernails glinting. "But is that they are not doing it /properly/. And you have a solution to it as well. Interesting." Not romancing right!
"No, no, it is very nice, Jebediah. Thank you. I will be able to have my own moon now, even when it is dark." Or when he's down in his subterranean lair which does NOT have a window.
"Well, /Ah/ wouldn't want to destroy everyone in the whole world, because maybe that person will get tired of me and then Ah've taken away all their other options and that ain't fair. Plus my mother and all my brothers, they exist in the world too, but Ah'm just sayin' if you were wantin' to be romantic, that's what you /should/ say." He teases, a little sparkle in his eyes. "And you, yer in the world, Ah wouldn't wanna destroy you either. Yer the most amazing person Ah've ever met."
Jeb smiles when he says that the moon is very nice. "Yer very welcome, Mister Morbius. Ah thought you could also have it when the sun is bein' rude, taking up all the moon time to show it's blinding face. That's what Ah was thinkin'.. that it would cheer you up that way." He says, smile not fading. "Next time Ah make you one, Ah'll cut it in a circle, so you can hang it."
The conversation is amusing at least. Morbius can't say anything about that otherwise. Those inhuman eyes do not warm. They do not glisten or sparkle or any other human relation to humor. "For a remarkably practical romantic, that is a very bold comment, Jebediah. You don't even know me." He hums gently, lifting his cup of wine up to take a sip.
"Rude? Mm," Morbius looks amused. "What makes you think that I do not always see the moon, and never the sun? Traditionally, after all…" Morbius drifts off and makes an elegant, understated gesture toward himself. Oh, right. Vampire.
"Ah know that you're a vampire, that you've got really cool eyes, a really neat accent. You come from Greece. You know a bunch of things about seizures and the moon. You're way more interesting than anyone Ah've ever met. 'Cept for maybe this one guy Ah know that can make multiples of himself. He's really neat but you're a /vampire/, man. The fact that Ah don't know you is precisely why Ah wouldn't want to wipe you out. Ah haven't gotten to know you yet and that would just be a.. tr.. travesty." He hesitates, as if unsure that he's used that word correctly. "Ah only have about a thousand seven questions to ask you. If Ah pull down the moon, who knows how long we'll have for me to get them all out?"
Jeb laughs a little when Morbius gestures at himself. "See, that's just it!" He says shaking a finger at him. "If we pull down the moon for you to spend forever with your partner, then Ah will never know whether or not you can go out in the sun. Ah'll die with all this ignorance. Yer a real smart guy, Mister Morbius. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"
"For what it is all worth, there are enough aquatic humanoids that I doubt a few tsunamis would leave you the only person on the planet," Morbius points out with a small smile, lifting the board up from the table, he sets it very carefully propped up beside him. "And they would be very interesting as well." His use of the word 'travesty' is surprising and somewhat gratifying. "A thousand and seven. Mm. Well, then we best get started, I suppose, because depending on how complicated the answer gets, we may very well run out of time anyway. " Answering the question in a very round about fashion.
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"It would still dramatically decrease the number of choices they do have, you know, and that's still not very fair of me. If you're a romantic, Mr. Morbius, you might believe in soulmates and all that jazz, well if Ah drowned their soulmate? That's not fair. And life already ain't real fair. So Ah shouldn't pull down the moon to give it my girl or my boy." He says matter-of-factly with a small shrug. His eyes light up in that child-in-a-candy-shop way when Morbius consents to being asked every question that Jebediah can think of and he knits his brows together to think of which one he wants to ask first. Some of them could be offensive. Like how did you become a vampire? Do you kill people to survive? Are you allergic to suntans and garlic? Those have to be ones that Morbius is painfully /used to/ by now. So he tries something new first. "Do you have a doctor.. doctorate? Is that how you say it? You seem so smart and that's what all card carryin' geniuses got right? What's it in? Because you gotta pick a focus or somethin' right?"
Bemused while Jeb rationalizes why mass murder is wrong, he holds back from chuckling over all those assumptions and the shift in the boy's language. "Then I imagine it's for the best that you leave the moon where it is." Reaching for his cup again, wine for the mind.
Morbius watches silently, amused when Jeb holds silent. he can practically watch him debate what would be off limits. What should he ask? What does he not want to know the answers to? "Most of that is correct, yes. I am a doctor, yes. I have something called an MD-PhD. Medical doctor-doctor of philosophy. It is a dual degree for a physician and scientist, which I am." He pauses a long moment, looking into his cup for a long moment before continuing with just how far to go into this. "My background is complex, but in short, I was a bio-chemist further specialized in blood diseases."
"Whoa!" Jeb's mouth drops open a little with awe. Morbius is definitely the smartest person that Jebediah's ever met. He's even smarter than Doug. Crazy! "Ah've never met a doctor before when Ah wasn't in the hospital. Blood diseases, bio-chemist." Jebediah is making the connection there, but he doesn't ask. It feels forbidden, to ask if Morbius maybe accidentally made himself into a vampire. He doesn't want Morbius to get mad at him for asking the wrong questions and send him away. So he doesn't ask, mulling over in his head what to ask next. What's still safe. "Can you speak a lot of languages?" Because Morbius was a /genius/ he must know like.. all the languages, of course. "Are /you/ an artist too? Do you have a favorite color? Why do you wanna live here?" He rattles those questions off in rapid fire before he bites his tongue and sits back in his chair to give Morbius a sheepish look for getting over excited.
"Well, my MD is a medical degree, I do operate as a medical doctor sometimes, normally it is a research and scientific degree. Advancements in the field and so on," Morbius explains patiently to the shocked young man. Morbius is modest and secure in his accomplishments because, well, when you fuck yourself, what do your accomplishments matter? "So, when someone cures disease or creates a new vaccine, they likely are an MD-PhD." Like himself.
"I am European," as if it were a give in. "I speak the languages of the people who took over my country or aided them during the war. As well as English, as you see."
"I am not an artist, no. My favorite color is a deep, rich indigo. I came here, to this country and this city following my research opportunities." A partial truth, Morbius answers swiftly and sets his wine down, peering across the table to Jeb.
"So did you cure something? Or did you create a new vaccine?" Curiosity piqued as he leans forward again, Jebediah is /hanging/ on every fascinating word that leaves Morbius' lips. "Indigo," Is something he repeats, making a mental note of it so that the next thing he makes Morbius is in that color, because Morbius has not been entirely cheered up just yet. He requires more art work and more free food. "Ah'm surprised research would bring you here. It's not a very smart country, Ah don't think. We got a lot of the mutants though, huh? Good ol' New York." Jeb bites his lower lip. Don't ask a vampire question, Jebediah Guthrie. Don't you do it. "Where's your favorite place in the whole world?"
The question on if he were able to make advancements of any significance, Michael smiles peacefully and glances down to the table, topping off his wine. "I made many advancements, yes." keeping the answer simple while Jeb squirms across the table from him. The contrast interesting. "The social climate is a hotbed here at the moment, but there are yet resources here," Morbius counters with peaceful certainty. "Mostly, my research has branched toward the mystical and alchemical, away from traditional science. There is a man here who I came to speak with. New York is a mystical pulsepoint." His favorite place comes without pause. "Nafplio, Greece." Absolutely certain of that fact, those inhuman eyes lift back up to Jebediah. "Did you really ask me here to ask me my favorite color and place, however?"
"Well, those kinds of questions do help me better my project of cheering you up, you know? Ah could go to the library and Ah could look up Nafplio, then Ah could cut you somethin' in the shape of it. Then you'd always have it. And if Ah know your favorite color, then next time Ah make you somethin' it will be in that color. So really, those are important questions for my quest." Jebediah admits, not entirely untruthfully. "Ah do wanna ask you stuff about bein' a vampire but that seems kinda rude and you called me 'young man' last time that Ah was rude." He does a very bad impression of Morbius' accent there, but not because he's mocking it, just because his southern tongue can't lay itself flat enough to do it any grace. "Ah don't want you to be angry with me if Ah'm curious about the vampire stuff. And maybe yer tired of talkin' about all of that. Probably everyone asks you if you got an allergy to the sun or if you hiss at garlic or turn into a whole bunch of bats. That's not fun for you to answer anymore. Someone should wanna know who your favorite singer is, what you like to do, if you like to dance, that kind of stuff." Jeb puts his hands on the table, gesturing with them while he talks. "A conversation is a two way street, what Ah wanna know about you doesn't always match up with what you wanna talk about. Ah want this conversation to be just as interesting an' worthwhile to you as it is to me, you know?"
"Ah yes, your ongoing goal to cheer me up," Morbius hums, amused by the boy's goals. "You saw me on a trying night dealing with an impertinent, difficult young man. What makes you believe I am in need of cheering?" Finally asking his own questions rather than shooting back answers outright. Though, he is curious while Jeb explains himself and so on. Dark, peaked eyebrows lift slightly, trying to understand the southerner's angle.
"I generally do not share much information on my background and condition purely for the fact that it would increase the risk of someone trying to destroy me." Honesty for honesty. After all, he was sitting with a vampire, if Jeb had forgotten. "But…I appreciate the consideration very much, however. You would get along very well with the man who owns this place with your curious nature."
"Well you did tell me, you know? That you weren't okay. Ah asked, you said you weren't. So you told me yourself that you needed to be cheered up. People who aren't okay, require cheering up." Jeb says easily, lip quirking up in a mischievous half smile when he tries to convince Morbius that this was self inflicted. "Ah listen when people talk Mister Morbius. People don't think Ah do, my brothers, my older sisters and my mama definitely don't think Ah do, but Ah do."
"Well, that sure makes sense too, Ah reckon. Ah don't wanna know any of it to hurt you. And Ah ain't got no friends that would wanna hurt you either. Well, really, Ah only got about two friends here anyway and one of 'ems my brother." He gives a big sigh at himself, sounding stupid. "Would Ah? Ah never met him. Ah just like to know things about people. Everythin' there is to know. People aren't used to people listenin' Ah don't think. Everyone wants to talk about themselves. But Ah know about me. Ah wanna know about you and that's what you'll answer. So Ah ain't gotta know about the vampire stuff, Ah just wanna know about the Mister Morbius stuff. You're not just a set of fangs with legs, you're a person."
Morbius sits back in his chair, that ankle poised on the opposite knee, reclined and thoughtful, a thin crease appearing between his eyebrows as they twitch together. Listening and speculative while Jeb explains himself.
"You're an unusual one, Jebediah." Trying to put something together in his mind about the mutant sat across from him. Undecided, he comes back to the present before his silence settles in too deeply. "Have you considered that you met me on a trying day, but it has since passed? I'm not quite used to people who ask…if I am well. It is usually my job to ask that of others. That is my responsibility, you understand. This is all very unusual."
"That's somethin' Ah hear a lot." He says with a small smile, trying not to let the silence that comes after panic him too much. Morbius is just really smart and he's thinking, that's all that's happening there. When Morbius says it's his responsibility to ask others if they're okay, it makes Jebediah frown hard. "Then it's gotta be someone else's responsibility to ask you if you're okay. Someone has to check on you too and if no one is doing that, then Ah will." He says very seriously. "Well, has it passed? Are you okay? You said 'not in the slightest' last time. Ah know that guy annoyed you and Ah probably did too but what bothered you then, is it still botherin' you now. Tell me the truth, don't lie about it because you want me to shut up. My brother does that a lot or changes the subject. Are you okay, Mister Morbius?"
"I wasn't annoyed with you, Jebediah," Morbius brushes the possibility away neatly. "An inquisitive mind is not something to become annoyed with. I'd rather someone overly interested in me to be set on asking questions rather than swinging a weapon any day." A bland smile touching his expression, the good doctor considers him another moment.
"I'm fair to middling," answering his main question as requested. "Much of it is a personal matter, if you recall some of that last conversation we had here with Mister Rosencrantz."
"Ah do remember the conversation. About epilepsy, right? Ah don't know why it made you upset though, but you could tell me if you wanted. Ah told you, Ah got no one else to tell 'cept for my brother and Ah won't tell him. 'Fair' still isn't good. You're not dancing in your seat. You're not happy. Fair isn't happy. So that means that, Mister Morbius," Jebediah leans on his arm against the table some more and raises an eyebrow, mischief glimmering behind his eyes again. "You still need cheering up."
"Our lover is not epileptic," Morbius corrects gently. "He had a seizure for unrelated reasons." Neatly plucky pieces of invisible lint off the cuff of his slacks.
"Very well, then, Mister Jebediah. If that is your professional opinion, then I look forward to seeing what you plan on." Reaching over, his lengthy fingers tap on the end of the board leaning against the edge of their table. "The gift was very nice. Thank you."
"/Our/ lover." Jebediah repeats. That could explain why Morbius very much didn't like Elmo and didn't appreciate Jebediah comforting him either. He doesn't seem disgusted by the idea that Morbius shares a partner with another man. Apparently everyone is doing it. It's all the rage. Jay's boyfriend that he hasn't told Jeb about is dating another person who already has their own boyfriend? That makes his head hurt. "You weren't asked about Elmo, were you? There wasn't communication. You didn't have a say." That's the only thing that makes any sense. Why else would Morbius be so mean to someone he shared a partner with? Elmo and Morbius definitely weren't sleeping with each other.
"Yes," Morbius confirms with a light twitch of his brows. "I said the same of it the other night. Shouldn't be a surprise. It seems the man I fell in love with is rather insatiable and sees fit to take a number of lovers." Explaining lightly, there's a vague lift of his fingers. "This era is obsessed with this freedom of affection movement, though there are yet issues in it. As most things, where there is a break down in communication, there are…issues." He nods lightly to Jebediah, confirming.
"Maybe… Maybe you shouldn't be with that person. If he doesn't talk to you about the other men he decides to take home with him, then he doesn't respect you much. Have you talked to him about being upset? Ah know that you care for him, you must a lot to stick through that, but it's not fair to you. Not fair to your heart." Jeb insists. "Ah know that Ah don't know much of anythin' when it comes to relationships. Ah'm just a kid, but your happiness, that matters too, Mister Morbius."
The young man's thoughts on the sprawling relationship web that has become, Morbius smiles very faintly, his thumb tapping on the edge of the board. When he does speak, he is calm. "You are going to make someone very happy one day, Jebediah."
Jebediah smiles, almost shyly at that compliment. Doug told him that too and then followed it by 'you need a girlfriend'. "Maybe. Ah'm a little too dumb right now. Ah wanna be a better person first. Stop gettin' into fights and bein' afraid of everythin' about myself. Plus, Ah got this mission Ah'm on to make a certain vampire happy first. So that someone is gonna have to wait until you're all the way cheered up first." Jebediah says, ducking his head to try and catch Morbius' eyes. "Your feelin's, they matter, Mister Morbius. Even when they aren't the really good ones, the other ones matter too. If you're angry, if you're hurt. All 'a that. It matters. If your lover just makes decisions without you, if he doesn't ask how you are ever… that's not a relationship.. it's.. Ah dunno what it is. A hostage situation maybe. You can't be told not to feel."
Morbius gives Jeb a bemused look when he reminds him of that mission to cheer Morbius up. Draining the rest of his wine back, he chuckles softly behind closed lips. No debate, no argument, Michael knows when to pick and choose his battles.
"You may be over-simplifying the situation you see only from a certain distance, Jebediah. However, I appreciate the concern." Morbius hums gently. "You did, afterall, comfort the man who contributed to this situation. Who, when confronted, chose to fight me rather than recognize that I have been here. You have some good wisdom in your words, but the situation is more complex." He squints slightly. "He said he was seeing your brother as well in fact, didn't he? He probably did not afford either one of them that courtesy, either."
"Well, at the time, Ah had no idea what was goin' on. He just started gettin' real emotional. Ah didn't know." Jeb defends quietly. "Ah don't really know what my brother does with his dating life. He doesn't tell me. He doesn't have to Ah guess, neither but Ah know that it hurts him all the time. Ah know that he's been through a lot and Ah know that some of it's my fault too. If he ain't ask my brother if it was alright for him to see somebody else, then Ah'm just gonna have to kick his ass."
"Yer completely correct, Mister Morbius. Ah don't know all of it and Ah'm sure it is more complicated than that. But someone should ask you about how you feel. Someone should take time out of their day to check on you and make sure you're happy. Ah don't nothing about anything. Ah ain't never even kissed nobody, but Ah know that you gotta talk and that a relationship has to be an even balance of give and take for both people.. or all the people.. y'know Ah don't know if Ah could do that. With more'n one person. Sounds like you're doin' a lot of givin' and they're just takin'."
Jeb's good at listening, but he also does a lot of talking, which is fine for Morbius. A discussion like this needs both sides of it, and the older man listens well, watching Jeb's body language flit and shift. "It wasn't that bad at first. I was the first one outside his permanent relationship. We spoke often, and I believed we had a solid enough foundation. The owner here came next, who he did ask me about. I appreciated the gesture. The thoughtfulness and consideration." Apparently the theme did not continue. "There are complicating matters among others. I am the…overly protective one. Demanding and whatnot, I suppose. It hardly matters, there are many nuances in this situation, all of which complicate it. You have some very good, sensible ideas on the matter however, Jebediah. For someone who claims to know nothing about relationships."
Jeb's quiet as Morbius explains a little of the complicated story of their relationship. That he wasn't the first makes Jebediah's eyebrow go up but he says nothing on the matter. "Does.. Does he tell you that you still matter as much as you used to? Does he still make you feel like the ground is solid? Those are important too. Ah don't think it's demanding of you to want more time with him, or whatever you might be demandin' of him though to me that sounds like yer reachin' for a reason to blame yerself. If that's all you can come up with. Bein' protective ain't bad neither." He sighs and sits back in his chair. "Ah watched my sisters get hurt by dumb Kentucky boys who ain't know how to treat a girl right instead raised to treat 'em like objects that weren't allowed no feelins. Ah watch my one brother get hurt all the time by someone who ain't patient enough and Ah think there was more probably before Ah got here. Ah know that my mama and my daddy stayed together as long as they did and had too many dadblame kids because their love was real. Ah know they communicated. Ah know that my mama didn't just take and my daddy didn't just give. And Ah know that when she did move on after my dad died, that man was the same way. My mother, she's a strong woman. She'd crack the head of any man who didn't treat her right but that never happened with my dad or Ray because they did this relationship business right."
A tender expression touches Morbius' face when Jeb mentions his parents. His mother. His family in general. "Your mother sounds like an astounding individual. She's made for an exceptional role model for a wise young man. I hope that your siblings grow to learn to appreciate it."The vampire hums and slowly stands up, inching his chair backward. "I am not sure of the nature of Mister Rosencrantz's relationship with your brother. I'm not privy to that information. But do not allow him to fall into the same issues that I have in this situation, Jebediah." Hefting his board up, hat gripped lightly as well. "Your advice is spot on, I believe. And it only becomes harder as time passes to discuss these things."
"I should leave you the rest of your night, however. I have work I need to get back to in order to make certain my beloved is safe. For all of my faults…loyalty is perhaps my greatest one." Morbius tosses a dry smile to Jeb. "I have a feeling I will be seeing you again soon, Mister Jebediah."
"Well, of course you will. Ah have a mission." Jebediah agrees with a small smile. "Just.. remember that you matter." Jebediah, though he hadn't ordered anything, reaches in his wallet to leave a tip on the table before he rises from his chair. He has to go talk to Jay. About Elmo, about what he knows. And hopes that Jay listens.. hopes he can say everything in a way that won't hurt Jay too much. "Have a good night, Mister Morbius.
Placing his hat atop his head and combing black hair over his shoulders, Morbius hums and nods gently. "You as well."