In a stark contrast to Mitch, Holden was immensely sociable, almost to a fault. It’s not that he voluntarily put himself into situations where he’d meet new people for the sole purpose of making friends; actually, Holden could be surprisingly standoffish at times, even reserved. The issue was that he always ended up at some low-end bar, or at an outside venue downtown, or a few miles away in some very annoyed club, trying to find new local music to listen to (since he was apparently untiringly dedicated to his craft), and people inevitably gravitated towards him. See, Holden was polarizing - either his abundance of alternative accessories and splaying ink turned people 180 degrees around and away from him, or they had a magnetic energy drawing people to him. He looked like he knew his shit whenever he ended up at a show, but anywhere else, he looked like trouble. Anyway, when he actually caught someone’s interest, it was hard for him to not be friendly and endearingly excitable. His ‘too much’ gene and endless energy might’ve turned people away had it not been for the fact that he was stuck at his thirteen year old self’s height and sort of had a baby face, sleepy eyes and all. And he wasn’t too bad at music. So, plenty of contributing factors to explain away his ever expanding social circle. Since he had no problem putting himself out there when he had the patience for it and wasn’t sick as hell, he’d become something of an expert at reading whether other people were socially oriented or not, a master at deducing ‘extrovert or introvert.’ Mitch seemed to be a little more to themself, upon first impressions. It put him in protective mode, sort of, fearing that maybe this entire setting would be uncomfortable for them, especially when he knew their band was scattered around and about the building by now and Holden was a near stranger. The goal for now seemed to just be keeping them from getting nervous, to make himself as charming and reassuring as ever. Holden was annoyingly talkative at times, taking forever to get to a point and using his bountiful hand gestures to try and help it, always failing; Mitch, however, seemed to have no issue, and was even listening past the fifteen second mark, when others would usually grow impatient. He was immensely appreciative. [i]Punk.[/i] Holden beamed at them, barely niting theur prolonged interest in his ink. Hell yeah, he was the realest punk around. [i]I’m glad. Tattoos are cool, but you’re too pretty to cover any of your face with them.[/i] Saying it himself was one thing. Holden could bullshit compliments for himself all day long. Mitch agreeing so readily though, saying [i]too pretty[/i] of all things, warmed his heart and his already bright smile grew even more enthusiastic - if that was possible. All of this conversation was way too Holden-central, he wanted to flip it around somehow so he could throw this kind of flattery right back at them, but. It seemed like they genuinely enjoyed talking about all his body art, something unique to Mitch in that literally no one else maintained interest beyond a couple of seconds. [i]Show me the rest sometime.[/i] Holden so wished he was the kind of guy to hook up in a bar bathroom. But this one was kind of gross even if he did have a chance. Holden controlled himself by entertaining the thought that they were only interested ‘cause they were an artist and this was more work to admire... who was he kidding. [b]”Hell yeah,”[/b] Holden replied fervently, never eloquent. [i]You’ve cut me a lot of slack, there. Truth is, my aesthetic is sort of predetermined...[/i] Holden tilted his head, curious, as he watched them display those sharp teeth again, and studied them before meeting their gaze again. [i]They’re real. I’m a vampire.[/i] Holden laughed, albeit weakly because he was almost not sure it was a joke. [b]”And what’s the rest of your band supposed to be? Like, werewolves and stuff?”[/b] [i]You’re saying you’ve never done something questionable that would warrant such suspicions? You must be pretty recognisable.[/i] [b]”Of course not. I’m a good boy. And, yeah, if I started to lead a life of crime I’d be, like, [i]so[/i] easy for a sketch artist to capture, so.”[/b] He smirked, glad he apparently wasn’t annoying enough that Mitch was opposed to banter. [i]Tattoos, piercings, all that shit? Hot as fuck.[/i] Holden shrugged, modest. [b]”Yeah, but you don’t have any and you’re, like, perfect, so that’s not fair. Hey, if you like ‘em so much, why don’t you have any? You could probably give [i]yourself[/i] a lip ring.”[/b] He gestured at his mouth, alluding to their wicked canines. Evidently he still had himself fooled that it’d been a joke.