( open log ) who's that creepin in the shadows

[worstpire]

WHO: Conrad Achenleck and YOU!
WHAT: Scoping out the town, now that it's dark outside.
WHEN: Day 46, nighttime.
WHERE: ERRYWHERE
WARNINGS: Conrad's mouth, will be updated if necessary.

It's been a really, really long day-slash-night-slash-day. Between Hanna's crazy "let's just walk straight into danger" plan, getting attacked by Robocop the Vampire Slayer, waking up in somebody's attic and getting cornered into telling strangers about his condition, Conrad feels like he's going to drop. Not that he can physically feel tired, but mentally, it's a lot to take in at such a nonstop pace. On top of all that, waiting in that unfurnished, dusty attic for the sun to go down without anything to do to occupy himself has been torture.

The sun does go down eventually, though, and as soon as it does, Conrad's headache seems to lessen. He creeps downstairs - not investigating the house too fully, lest he run into his broom-zealous buddy again - and quickly checks out the kitchen and living room - ugh, so not a fan of the basic decor - before heading outside and getting hit with the smell of sea air. Yyyyikes.

He'll be spending the evening like this: hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched up even though he's not cold, wandering the streets and investigating public buildings, maybe talking to himself a little. It distracts from his hunger, anyway; as usual, his sense of smell has amped up - as if he needs help finding food, ugh - but he's saving that last bit of blood until he's found a replacement. Logical action, Conrad.

He's also looking for any sign of a way out, but, well. That's a given.

Comments

[enchangement]

"What's creepy about following?" River furrows her brow and drags her eyebrows up towards her hairline. Incredulous look is incredulous. "Did they forget the 'how to be a monster' part of the curriculum?"

[worstpire]

He's about to tell her exactly what's creepy about following, but her second question squishes it. Conrad's shoulders drop, and he frowns irritably. Okay, so she's noticed. That, on top of the reminder that he's somehow Doing It Wrong, doesn't really help his mood.

"Wow, like I've never heard that one before. I'm not a monster! How the hell would you know, anyway?"

[enchangement]

"They sent her to monster school. I've heard creepy before too." The world's least bothered shrug on that topic. "She knows because she knows because you think darting in the dark instead of learning how shadows work.

Do you want to learn or do you want to just not be?" River can't actually tell, surprisingly, what it is that Conrad wants. Maybe he doesn't know either.

[worstpire]

Creepy or not - which she definitely is - , Conrad finds himself a little transfixed by what she's saying -- or maybe what she's not saying. She smells, well, alive, which is a thought he doesn't want to acknowledge, but there's definitely something weird about her. Weird in a Hanna kind of way. Before, that would have been cause to get the hell out, but now, he's hesitantly seeing it as a familiarity.

Very carefully, he's letting his guard down, but he's still anxious of what exactly she knows.

"I -- I, um." He frowns, glances at the ground. Sighs. "I'm just trying to live my life normally, okay? None of this monster bullshit." It's a thing that happened, but he's been trying his hardest to work around it and keep moving. Normal is safe.

[enchangement]

"Do you want it kept secret? She could say, hyperphotosensitivity, she could say any number of things. It's your life, your secret. She's good at secrets." River smiles and starts walking again since why should they stand in one spot only? He wanted to look around and things in her head are suddenly a little less heavy.

"Or she could teach you to fight. Or she could fight and you won't have to. I hold no claim to normal, even before and ever after." She twirls. "It's nice to meet you, Conrad, said River. I do hope we can be friends."

Enjoy that, snaggletooth.

[worstpire]

Wow, what? That's a lot at once, but Conrad sticks on the last part -- not just the friends part, but the part where she knows his name. He can't remember introducing himself. The rest, he'll get back to. But for now, his hands come up again --

"Wait, waitwait - n-nice to meet you, I guess, but -- how do you know my name?"

[enchangement]

"Thought you were caught up. She knows what you don't want to be, she knows how you think, she knows your name. Add the numbers, come up with pi!"

River laughs a little and dances away. "Come on!"

[worstpire]

Conrad follows, shoving his hands into his pockets, not liking the conclusion all those things lead to. He's dealt with vampires and ghosts and a cute werewolf and a fucking zombie, but this is a level of weird he's not entirely cool with.

"It sounds like you're telling me you're reading my mind. If that's really what's happening? It's gotta stop. Just saying." He grimaces, trying to keep up with her. At least he can't run out of breath anymore. "My head is private." Pretty much the only privacy he has left, now.

[enchangement]

"Can you pull the tooth in? Can you become alive again? No. Neither can she stop what she hears, the static and the chatter, it's always on. Who would choose to hear everything? There are ones with better control and better manners than she can afford or have ever been afforded to her."

Glancing over her shoulder at him. "Can you accept the things you cannot change and have the courage to change the rest, the wisdom to understand that she can't very well turn it off any more than you can go swimming in the noonday sun?"

[worstpire]

So she can get in his head, and she can't stop it. Great. For a moment of panic, he really, really wants to get away from her, but -- that's rude. But it's his head! But she can't help it, any more than he can't help the fact that the smell of blood is making him hungrier. Ugh, this supernatural stuff is bullshit.

"I guess not. Just -- don't say anything to anyone." Even without the vampire thing, he's just... private as hell. Oh god, what if she knows about the bat thing? No one can know about the bat thing.

"Wh...aaat did you say about fighting...?"

[enchangement]

"You have her word, she'll keep her promises and your secret." River sincerely doubts anyone will suddenly as for a roll-call on creatures that are sustained by blood and can't manage in the daylight, but six impossible things before breakfast and all that. If there is just Conrad right now then there is a chance another will show up.

That might not actually go so well, which is why it's good that he brings up fighting again. River stretches her arms over her head as she walks.

"That there are options: teach or be protected. Not a debt to be returned or owed, but a gesture. Which do you pick?"

[worstpire]

"Whoa," Conrad begins, looking over -- she's already more than she seems, but he's not keen on River being responsible for protecting him. Or anyone. Even if Casimiro would have kicked the snot out of him if Toni hadn't intervened.

"I'm not having you be my bodyguard. Who says I need protection, anyway?" He'll accept the offer to be taught. In a moment.

[enchangement]

"Self-accusation says. History says. You say." River smiles anyway.

"She'd be good at it," she points out in a sing-song voice. "The deceiving nature of appearances means she's easily underestimated. You should know for knowing's sake, even if there are no threats. But there are threats, so what do you want to do?"

[worstpire]

Oh god, she probably saw or -- heard, or whatever, that Casimiro thing after he thought it. Stop thinking about him kicking you in the jaw, Conrad. Stop! Stop --

He makes a little noise and shakes his head, as if to clear the thoughts out.

"I... augh. I should know. How to defend myself, I mean, particularly if it's as bad as everyone says it is." Here he is, accepting help from a total stranger. Again. He really is changing lately.

[enchangement]

"Everyone should know; not everyone wants to know. Some are better at knitting the wounded back into their respective pieces than tearing them asunder. She'll teach. Defensive, not offensive."

Glancing at Conrad. "And until you learn, she'll protect. A bargain, a friendship." A hand extended to shake.

[worstpire]

It seems awfully early to call it a friendship, but Conrad has never been a very good judge of these things. He sort of stares at her hand for a second before hesitantly reaching to take it, and shake it weakly.

"Okay. I guess we -- we have a deal."

[enchangement]

It might be awfully early, but then again River learns people a lot faster than most, so she has a completely different meter on the subject than others tend to. Not to mention that her own moral compass is set to it's very own true North, so...making friends with a vampire? Not so strange, to her, if there are vampires about to make friends with.

Her handshake is a great deal more firm than his, but other than a slight lift to her lips she doesn't comment on it. "Do you sleep during the day or are you awake whenever the mind wakes you?"

[worstpire]

When she lets go, he pulls his hand away, and they tuck into his pockets. He rocks a bit on his feet, eyes darting around the area once.

"Er, I try to sleep, but the attic needs some serious redecorating. Or more like furnishing. Normally I'd try to work, but I don't think there's any use for graphic design in the ass-end of nowhere."

[enchangement]

"Stealing beds from extra rooms just means more beds when you're done." Since they keep reappearing and such. "There's no currency." Well. Tilting her head. "Food, eventually, might be it. But not for now."

She leans a bit west and smiles in a way that somehow seems completely unrelated to the conversation, blinking and shaking her head to come back to the present.

"What does your room need? She'll take a look around."

[worstpire]

Well, at least he won't have to worry about food. Blood, though, is a different story. He'll just... have to contact that doctor as soon as possible, nerves allowing. Thinking about it makes his shoulders hunch a little, though, so he shakes that thought out.

"Really? I think there's a spare room in Laura's place I can swipe from for now. I'm keeping an eye out for -- you know, paper. Pencils." Things to keep him from going insane, locked in an attic all day.

[enchangement]

"Oh, Laura." River hums her appreciation of Conrad's housemate. "She's good. A survivor too. Make her eat a sandwich." Or all the sandwiches.

At least River has the grace not to ask about the blood issue; she can't help him with that herself can she? "There are books." Pointing out the library.

[worstpire]

Laura had looked kind of skinny. His only response to that is a slightly bemused look -- and then she mentions books. That's like, the second best thing in the world, next to art. Or maybe they're tied. Either way, Conrad seems to brighten a tiny bit, and he looks around for a bookstore or a library or something that might be in viewing distance.

"Somebody's stocking up for morning, in that case," he says, rubbing a little at his arm. "Um, shall we head that way, then?"

[enchangement]

The library is essentially a small-town school house repurposed, but he may be able to spot it's tiny spire near the center of town in the direction she pointed. Either way it's good, in River's opinion, to see Conrad's face manage smiling. He should do that more often.

"What kinds? True stories or truer ones?" A smile. Onward to investigate the library.

[worstpire]

Conrad starts walking alongside her, and though it might look like he's biting at a fingernail, he's actually sort of biting at his finger a bit. It curbs the hunger a little.

"Ah, I've always been a fan of fantasy, I guess." Truer ones. Stories that were always a way to escape from the noise of real life. "Pratchett is my favourite. Wh-what -- um, what about you?"

[enchangement]

"Fantasy. Old and new from Erath that was and everywhere since. The new frontiers are amongst the stars and her heart resides there but her imagination swells with the stories of powers unseen, flight without thrust, invisibility without forgetting."

River glances at him. "She's from space." In case he didn't catch that bit.