pǝɥsıuɐq ǝɥʇ ǝıppǝ (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} eddiemunson) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} dunwichgame,@ 2024-01-07 13:56:00 |
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| Entry tags: | !log/thread/narrative, ∙ plot: 012 monsters in the mist, ◌ inactive: eddie munson (au), ◌ inactive: spock (2) |
A VAMPIRE & A VULCAN
A DAY OR SO AGO | SFWwith some lobstrocities. Poor Evaline pays
the price. Eddie is heartbroken. 💔
Spock broke into a sprint out of the forest and down to the lake. Close on his heels was a pod of angry—and presumably hungry—lobstrosities. Most of them were on the smaller size, but they were edged on the side by two larger lobstrosities with razor-sharp claws.
Dad-a-chum? Dud-a-chum? Ded-a-chek!
Spock’s boot hit a slick patch of dirt and sand that had iced over with the drop in temperature. He slid and twisted. There was no crack. Nothing broken. But he could feel the tendon around his ankle stretch more unnaturally than normal.
He swerved to the left away from the water, regained his footing, and continued running.
Did-a-chick? Dud-a-chum?
Spock removed the phaser from his belt and aimed it towards the ground in front of the lead lobstrosity. He pulled the trigger. The bright laser that released from the weapon scorched the ground in front of the lobstrosities. The front pair jumped backward. A few of them stopped and began clawing at each other. But the large pair on the ends continued forward, not missing a beat in their scramble towards prey.
Dad-a-chum!
Spock set off another shot. This time he didn’t avoid the lobstrosities. Instead he aimed directly for the largest one’s main claw. It was a straight shot. The lobstrosity jolted to the side, swayed for less than a second, before it restarted the chase.
Clearly the stun setting wouldn’t be enough. But they were too close for Spock to safely shoot again. He spun around on his heel and made a bolt down the bank of the lake. Hopefully he could gain enough of a lead to try again.
But—and perhaps it was his own disorientation from the displacement from the Enterprise to Dunwich—it seemed to him as though the lobstrosities were gaining speed. And he couldn’t keep this up forever.
Eddie loved Evaline, his new-to-him van. Though she was over 50 years old, given that it was a ‘72 model, on an emotional level Evaline did not feel too old to Eddie. The lack of power steering, the lack of power or computer controlled anything, was familiar and preferable. Evaline was a vampire approved hue of a beast, and he had half a mind to put a mattress in the open space in the back to take it camping into the park on the nights he hunted.
Maybe he could convince Enid to go with him.
But for the time being, daytime hunts were easier. There were more animals awake and about, easier to spot but it also meant Eddie was more easily spotted. It felt less vampiry to hunt while the sun was still up but he was also less likely to run into the local pack and get into an unintentional situation.
But when did Eddie’s intentions ever keep him out of trouble.
He felt an uncontrolled shiver up his spine at the familiar sound of Dad-a-chum. Dud-a-chum. But this didn’t sound like just one. This was a chorus. Initially Eddie planned to stay away. RIP, Fido. Lost pets had a way of staying lost in Dunwich. The last thing Eddie wanted to do was get between monsters and their meal.
That was, until he spotted the person running from the lobstrocities.
“Oh shit.”
He paused exactly two seconds. Had the stranger been a local? That hesitation might have been even longer before Eddie ran back into his van and started her up. The engine roared to life with only a small sputter of pushback and Eddie grinned wild as Evaline growled.
“Come on, Baby.” He patted the dash before putting his lead foot to good use. Bat out of Hell would have been too generous to describe Eddie’s driving. The suspension made for a bumpy ride. The van technically wasn’t made for off-roading, but as long as the tires held…
When Eddie’s van slid into the buffet line of lobstrocities it damn near rolled. The ground was just frozen enough that it looked like an extreme bit of stunt driving. Eddie himself regretted his lack of seatbelt through the high pitched scream of the creatures until the car settled on all fours.
Eddie reached the passenger side and popped open the door.
“IN!”
There wasn’t much time for more words than that.
Spock’s ankle was on the verge of giving out. By the time the lights of the van came into view, he was half limping and the lobstrosities were gaining on him. He turned every few seconds to shoot his phaser, but it seemed to have little effect on them. That hard external shell seemed to be almost impervious to the phaser’s stun setting.
If only he had a—
He heard the vehicle before he saw it. The sound of an old rumbling engine, squealing tires, and then suddenly a massive van came brawling out of the mist like one of those early high-speed Starfleet moon-buggies.
Except this one didn’t look like it was going to stop.
Spock dove out of the way of the van just before it pummeled through a line of lobstrosities.
Ded-a-CRUNCH!
Spock rolled in the dirt. One of the lobstrosities had the same idea as him and avoided the van’s front wheel. Once it regained its footing, it clambered towards Spock. Spock shot it in the claw. Once. Twice.
DAD-A-CHUMMMMMM?! the lobstrosity screeched.
Spock took that momentary distraction to hobble to the vehicle and climb in the passenger side door. He slammed it shut just as the lobstrosity threw itself against the panel, its claws digging a sharp hole into the metal door.
Spock turned to the driver. “It is time to go.”
“GODDAMNIT.”
Evaline. Eddie had her for less than a month and already Dunwich had (not so) gravely injured her. The tires peeled and there was a short delay between Eddie slamming on the gas and the car lurching forward at full speed to get away from the rest of the monsters. Eddie drove the van like an experienced horseman, putting the weight into his feet rather the seat itself so he could keep the van moving at full speed as it bumped and hopped on the ground. Anyone not holding on for dear life was in for a wild ride.
The van was definitely not made for this, but Evaline was brave.
It was a small miracle they made it to the road.
Eddie did not slow down once they made it to the road, instead, deciding to let out a string of choice curses the entire way. About half the curses were the word fuck. When the road from the park turned to the town and became paved, Eddie slowed by about 10 miles per hour. He was still many miles over the speed limit.
His decision to stop in the parking lot of Queen Burger was a last minute one, judging by the harshness of the turn and the abruptness of the stop. Eddie’s concerned cursing had at least decreased in volume as he stopped the engine, got out of the car, and went to inspect the damage of his dearest Evaline.
“Baby, what did they do to you,” Eddie whined as he ran his hands along the various dents and scratches in the metal side of his van. He kissed his hand and placed his fingers on the hole in the passenger side where one had attempted to get to Spock.
Oh, right.
The guy.
That Eddie saved.
“You okay, man?”
The vampire realized he was supposed to check on him, too.
“I assume you’re new here?” Eddie’s eyes narrowed. “...Judging by the way you look like Legolas and Flash Gordon had a baby?” That wasn’t meant to be an insult. Eddie’s emotional regulation skills were limited. Occasionally he just said the thing that came to mind while his brain attempted to process why Spock looked so familiar.
Space elf… Space elf… Eddie was forgetting something.
Hold on to dear life was exactly what Spock did. One hand gripped the armrest on the door while the other held firmly on the dash. It took all of his focus not to fall out of his seat and into the center console. And with every turn Eddie made, Spock was certain he was going to go through the front window.
At one point he even yelled, “I DON’T BELIEVE THIS VEHICLE WAS DESIGNED FOR HIGH SPEEDS!”
Or bumps. Or sharp turns. Or running over monstrous lobster creatures.
As far as Spock could tell, Evaline was barely designed for driving. Much less anything else Eddie was subjecting them to while he was behind the wheel.
But Eddie was on a mission and didn’t seem to hear him.
Spock was grateful when they finally parked. His heart rate rarely rose, but it was definitely beating at a higher rate than normal. Even his ears were flushed.
He slumped into the passenger seat and manually rolled down the window when Eddie got out. He raised a brow at the ‘baby’ reference. It took Spock a moment to realize Eddie was talking about the van, not him. Then he leaned his head out the window to observe the damage.
“That can be repaired,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Yes, I am new. And those are not the names of my parents. My parents are Amanda Grayson and Ambassador Sarek.”
He cleared his throat. “But I am not new-new. There was another me here before. Or so I’ve been told. I’m Spock.”
Eddie let his forehead thump dramatically against the side of the van. Clearly the prospect of repair felt insurmountable at that moment. He knew saving Spock was technically the right thing, but why did his baby girl have to pay the price?
He patted the vehicle again with his hand, as if an apology to an inanimate object was going to make him feel better. It did. A little.
“Hi Spock.” Eddie still sounded dejected, with his forehead still planted against Evaline. He really needed to check the network more regularly. But then someone told him he needed to learn to text which was what he thought he had been doing.
“You good? I think those things are venomous.” Count on Eddie Munson, sadistic dungeon master extraordinaire, to know the difference between poisonous and venomous. He may not have graduated high school, but anything within his specialized areas of interest he had encyclopedic knowledge of.
Finally he lifted his head and looked at Spock as if he just now thought to visually check.
Spock didn’t understand the concern for the vehicle. It wasn’t particularly noteworthy. As far as he could tell it was an older model. Nothing about it was aerodynamic. There was some rust around the wheel bases, probably from the New England weather. And it had a horrible turning radius. The only major pro that Spock could tell was that it had a lot of space in the back and could be used to transport multiple people at once in the event of an emergency.
Like when someone was foolish enough to go poking around the lobstrosities on their own.
But Spock couldn’t help his curiosity after Diana told him that the other Spock had made the lobstrosities one of his initial priorities. He had to see what was so fascinating about them.
“Hello,” Spock replied much more calmly than earlier. His blood pressure was nearly at a normal Vulcan level now.
Spock glanced down at himself. His ankle still hurt— bruised, not broken or sprained—but thankfully the lobstrosities hadn’t managed to scrape his skin.
“I am unscathed. Thank you for the assistance on the beach.” Spock’s tone was neither enthusiastic nor particularly grateful, but he had the sense that Eddie was more focused on the vehicle than him anyway. “I can repair the damage to your transport. If you would like.”
“Yeah? With what money?” Eddie sighed. He had a retail job that paid enough for Eddie to cover expenses like insurance, gas. But he had also blown a lot of his savings on Christmas. Body shops were expensive. It seemed more overwhelming than it really was at the moment. Maybe it was better not to think about it at all.
“Fucking lobstrocities, man.”
That was the thought Eddie finally ended on. The two of them could not have been more different. Spock, with everything about him neat and orderly. Even after running for his life, not a hair seemed out of place. Eddie, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have anything in place. His long curly hair had half a mind of its own, there were holes in his clothing, and the state of his van would not have passed Starfleet inspection.
“I’m Eddie,” he said. “I don’t think you get to count a different you being here before. You’re new. It’s like the lobstrocities can sense it: fresh meat.”
Eddie vaguely remembered the other Spock, but he’d been so focused on his own problems back then, there were probably more people than he’d like to admit that he didn’t notice. Not the way they deserved. Especially given what Vecna did to everyone later.
Eddie squinted. At least Spock hadn’t been around for that. Either version. Eddie didn’t have to apologize for breaking an arm or worse.
“You want a bite to eat? Burgers are okay here. Or I can drop you off somewhere else.”
Spock reached his arm out of the window and gently knocked on the side of the door. He was listening to the sound the metal made. Then he opened up his tricorder, the device buzzing as it analyzed the components of the door. After a minute he closed up the tricorder and returned his attention to Eddie.
“If you know where I can find some unused sheet metal I can fix it myself.” He paused. “No use of currency would be necessary. I could use the heat from my phaser as a welding tool. I cannot account for the paint, but I can assure you the panel will be smooth.”
As an afterthought he added, “Perhaps we could reinforce it as well. In case of another attack. But that would require more time and supplies.”
Spock wondered if there was something in the MIST research laboratories that could be implemented to improve the vehicle. But none of that was his to take. And he hadn’t been in Dunwich long enough to ask.
Maybe next week.
“I was told that the other Spock observed the lobstrosities. I thought if I learned what he learned then I might—” But Spock let that thought trail off. He wasn’t certain he knew where he was going with that.
He glanced over at the Queen Burger. Then raised a brow. “I’m a vegetarian. But if you require sustenance I can wait.”
“I don’t think anyone has unused sheet metal laying around,” Eddie said. Once the words left his mouth, however, he paused. Maybe Wednesday had some things in her dungeon. It was hard to say. Reinforcing the van wasn’t a bad idea. Given how Dunwich worked, Eddie could probably expect damage to the van on a near monthly basis.
He sighed.
“I’m … not a vegetarian. But I don’t really need burgers either.” Eddie could eat. Sort of. It didn’t quite sit right in his stomach but in social situations, that wasn’t something he really wanted to admit. His hunt was cut short. As if on cue his stomach rumbled.
“Where to next, Spock?”
Eddie had almost said, I can get something at the morgue, but realizing how it sounded decided not to share his dietary habits with the newcomer just yet.
Spock was by no means an excellent job of human character, but he had spent a great deal of his life paying attention to human characteristics so he could avoid implementing that behavior into his own stark existence. But Eddie struck Spock as being considerably more dejected and melancholy than the average human. Spock wasn’t used to that. He didn’t know how to appropriately respond.
Eddie must have really had a strong emotional attachment to that van.
Spock hoped he hadn’t inadvertently insulted him by offering to repair it. But he would remember this moment. And he would begin a search for the materials necessary to fix the damages caused by the lobstrosities. It was Spock’s fault that they happened, after all. He never should have been so careless. Especially after all of the warnings from the people on the network.
“I would appreciate it if you could take me to MIST headquarters. I promised Miss Wicker I would continue assisting her in her research.”
Spock paused. A little voice in his head—his own guilty human side of his conscience—told him he should say something nice.
“But if you would like to dine together in the future that would be acceptable.”
Eddie climbed back into the driver’s side of the van and slumped into the chair. His head rolled to one side so he could look at Spock, taking in the stilted words. At least Astarion would finally have another elf around. He’d have to message Mother Dearest later.
He opens his mouth and stops. The others at the house would probably like him. “Yeah, come on over. We’ll have you for dinner.”
Another pause.
Not like that.
Probably.
Eddie started up the van. He knew where MIST was. And despite the fact that there were no longer any monsters chasing them and the danger was over— it was almost impossible to tell the difference in Eddie’s driving as he peeled out of the parking lot.
He hadn’t gotten a speeding ticket yet. (It was probably only a matter of time.)
He took turns fast, raced to beat stop lights like they’d insulted him personally, and catching a glimpse of Spock’s white knuckle response to his driving, grinned pleased with himself.
At least Spock wouldn’t be late to his meetup with the research lady at MIST.
The stop in front of MIST was just as abrupt.
“I’ll text you the address,” Eddie said as he waved Spock off to his next stop.
Welcome to Dunwich.
Dad-a-chum? Dud-a-chum? Ded-a-chek!
Spock’s boot hit a slick patch of dirt and sand that had iced over with the drop in temperature. He slid and twisted. There was no crack. Nothing broken. But he could feel the tendon around his ankle stretch more unnaturally than normal.
He swerved to the left away from the water, regained his footing, and continued running.
Did-a-chick? Dud-a-chum?
Spock removed the phaser from his belt and aimed it towards the ground in front of the lead lobstrosity. He pulled the trigger. The bright laser that released from the weapon scorched the ground in front of the lobstrosities. The front pair jumped backward. A few of them stopped and began clawing at each other. But the large pair on the ends continued forward, not missing a beat in their scramble towards prey.
Dad-a-chum!
Spock set off another shot. This time he didn’t avoid the lobstrosities. Instead he aimed directly for the largest one’s main claw. It was a straight shot. The lobstrosity jolted to the side, swayed for less than a second, before it restarted the chase.
Clearly the stun setting wouldn’t be enough. But they were too close for Spock to safely shoot again. He spun around on his heel and made a bolt down the bank of the lake. Hopefully he could gain enough of a lead to try again.
But—and perhaps it was his own disorientation from the displacement from the Enterprise to Dunwich—it seemed to him as though the lobstrosities were gaining speed. And he couldn’t keep this up forever.
Eddie loved Evaline, his new-to-him van. Though she was over 50 years old, given that it was a ‘72 model, on an emotional level Evaline did not feel too old to Eddie. The lack of power steering, the lack of power or computer controlled anything, was familiar and preferable. Evaline was a vampire approved hue of a beast, and he had half a mind to put a mattress in the open space in the back to take it camping into the park on the nights he hunted.
Maybe he could convince Enid to go with him.
But for the time being, daytime hunts were easier. There were more animals awake and about, easier to spot but it also meant Eddie was more easily spotted. It felt less vampiry to hunt while the sun was still up but he was also less likely to run into the local pack and get into an unintentional situation.
But when did Eddie’s intentions ever keep him out of trouble.
He felt an uncontrolled shiver up his spine at the familiar sound of Dad-a-chum. Dud-a-chum. But this didn’t sound like just one. This was a chorus. Initially Eddie planned to stay away. RIP, Fido. Lost pets had a way of staying lost in Dunwich. The last thing Eddie wanted to do was get between monsters and their meal.
That was, until he spotted the person running from the lobstrocities.
“Oh shit.”
He paused exactly two seconds. Had the stranger been a local? That hesitation might have been even longer before Eddie ran back into his van and started her up. The engine roared to life with only a small sputter of pushback and Eddie grinned wild as Evaline growled.
“Come on, Baby.” He patted the dash before putting his lead foot to good use. Bat out of Hell would have been too generous to describe Eddie’s driving. The suspension made for a bumpy ride. The van technically wasn’t made for off-roading, but as long as the tires held…
When Eddie’s van slid into the buffet line of lobstrocities it damn near rolled. The ground was just frozen enough that it looked like an extreme bit of stunt driving. Eddie himself regretted his lack of seatbelt through the high pitched scream of the creatures until the car settled on all fours.
Eddie reached the passenger side and popped open the door.
“IN!”
There wasn’t much time for more words than that.
Spock’s ankle was on the verge of giving out. By the time the lights of the van came into view, he was half limping and the lobstrosities were gaining on him. He turned every few seconds to shoot his phaser, but it seemed to have little effect on them. That hard external shell seemed to be almost impervious to the phaser’s stun setting.
If only he had a—
He heard the vehicle before he saw it. The sound of an old rumbling engine, squealing tires, and then suddenly a massive van came brawling out of the mist like one of those early high-speed Starfleet moon-buggies.
Except this one didn’t look like it was going to stop.
Spock dove out of the way of the van just before it pummeled through a line of lobstrosities.
Ded-a-CRUNCH!
Spock rolled in the dirt. One of the lobstrosities had the same idea as him and avoided the van’s front wheel. Once it regained its footing, it clambered towards Spock. Spock shot it in the claw. Once. Twice.
DAD-A-CHUMMMMMM?! the lobstrosity screeched.
Spock took that momentary distraction to hobble to the vehicle and climb in the passenger side door. He slammed it shut just as the lobstrosity threw itself against the panel, its claws digging a sharp hole into the metal door.
Spock turned to the driver. “It is time to go.”
“GODDAMNIT.”
Evaline. Eddie had her for less than a month and already Dunwich had (not so) gravely injured her. The tires peeled and there was a short delay between Eddie slamming on the gas and the car lurching forward at full speed to get away from the rest of the monsters. Eddie drove the van like an experienced horseman, putting the weight into his feet rather the seat itself so he could keep the van moving at full speed as it bumped and hopped on the ground. Anyone not holding on for dear life was in for a wild ride.
The van was definitely not made for this, but Evaline was brave.
It was a small miracle they made it to the road.
Eddie did not slow down once they made it to the road, instead, deciding to let out a string of choice curses the entire way. About half the curses were the word fuck. When the road from the park turned to the town and became paved, Eddie slowed by about 10 miles per hour. He was still many miles over the speed limit.
His decision to stop in the parking lot of Queen Burger was a last minute one, judging by the harshness of the turn and the abruptness of the stop. Eddie’s concerned cursing had at least decreased in volume as he stopped the engine, got out of the car, and went to inspect the damage of his dearest Evaline.
“Baby, what did they do to you,” Eddie whined as he ran his hands along the various dents and scratches in the metal side of his van. He kissed his hand and placed his fingers on the hole in the passenger side where one had attempted to get to Spock.
Oh, right.
The guy.
That Eddie saved.
“You okay, man?”
The vampire realized he was supposed to check on him, too.
“I assume you’re new here?” Eddie’s eyes narrowed. “...Judging by the way you look like Legolas and Flash Gordon had a baby?” That wasn’t meant to be an insult. Eddie’s emotional regulation skills were limited. Occasionally he just said the thing that came to mind while his brain attempted to process why Spock looked so familiar.
Space elf… Space elf… Eddie was forgetting something.
Hold on to dear life was exactly what Spock did. One hand gripped the armrest on the door while the other held firmly on the dash. It took all of his focus not to fall out of his seat and into the center console. And with every turn Eddie made, Spock was certain he was going to go through the front window.
At one point he even yelled, “I DON’T BELIEVE THIS VEHICLE WAS DESIGNED FOR HIGH SPEEDS!”
Or bumps. Or sharp turns. Or running over monstrous lobster creatures.
As far as Spock could tell, Evaline was barely designed for driving. Much less anything else Eddie was subjecting them to while he was behind the wheel.
But Eddie was on a mission and didn’t seem to hear him.
Spock was grateful when they finally parked. His heart rate rarely rose, but it was definitely beating at a higher rate than normal. Even his ears were flushed.
He slumped into the passenger seat and manually rolled down the window when Eddie got out. He raised a brow at the ‘baby’ reference. It took Spock a moment to realize Eddie was talking about the van, not him. Then he leaned his head out the window to observe the damage.
“That can be repaired,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Yes, I am new. And those are not the names of my parents. My parents are Amanda Grayson and Ambassador Sarek.”
He cleared his throat. “But I am not new-new. There was another me here before. Or so I’ve been told. I’m Spock.”
Eddie let his forehead thump dramatically against the side of the van. Clearly the prospect of repair felt insurmountable at that moment. He knew saving Spock was technically the right thing, but why did his baby girl have to pay the price?
He patted the vehicle again with his hand, as if an apology to an inanimate object was going to make him feel better. It did. A little.
“Hi Spock.” Eddie still sounded dejected, with his forehead still planted against Evaline. He really needed to check the network more regularly. But then someone told him he needed to learn to text which was what he thought he had been doing.
“You good? I think those things are venomous.” Count on Eddie Munson, sadistic dungeon master extraordinaire, to know the difference between poisonous and venomous. He may not have graduated high school, but anything within his specialized areas of interest he had encyclopedic knowledge of.
Finally he lifted his head and looked at Spock as if he just now thought to visually check.
Spock didn’t understand the concern for the vehicle. It wasn’t particularly noteworthy. As far as he could tell it was an older model. Nothing about it was aerodynamic. There was some rust around the wheel bases, probably from the New England weather. And it had a horrible turning radius. The only major pro that Spock could tell was that it had a lot of space in the back and could be used to transport multiple people at once in the event of an emergency.
Like when someone was foolish enough to go poking around the lobstrosities on their own.
But Spock couldn’t help his curiosity after Diana told him that the other Spock had made the lobstrosities one of his initial priorities. He had to see what was so fascinating about them.
“Hello,” Spock replied much more calmly than earlier. His blood pressure was nearly at a normal Vulcan level now.
Spock glanced down at himself. His ankle still hurt— bruised, not broken or sprained—but thankfully the lobstrosities hadn’t managed to scrape his skin.
“I am unscathed. Thank you for the assistance on the beach.” Spock’s tone was neither enthusiastic nor particularly grateful, but he had the sense that Eddie was more focused on the vehicle than him anyway. “I can repair the damage to your transport. If you would like.”
“Yeah? With what money?” Eddie sighed. He had a retail job that paid enough for Eddie to cover expenses like insurance, gas. But he had also blown a lot of his savings on Christmas. Body shops were expensive. It seemed more overwhelming than it really was at the moment. Maybe it was better not to think about it at all.
“Fucking lobstrocities, man.”
That was the thought Eddie finally ended on. The two of them could not have been more different. Spock, with everything about him neat and orderly. Even after running for his life, not a hair seemed out of place. Eddie, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have anything in place. His long curly hair had half a mind of its own, there were holes in his clothing, and the state of his van would not have passed Starfleet inspection.
“I’m Eddie,” he said. “I don’t think you get to count a different you being here before. You’re new. It’s like the lobstrocities can sense it: fresh meat.”
Eddie vaguely remembered the other Spock, but he’d been so focused on his own problems back then, there were probably more people than he’d like to admit that he didn’t notice. Not the way they deserved. Especially given what Vecna did to everyone later.
Eddie squinted. At least Spock hadn’t been around for that. Either version. Eddie didn’t have to apologize for breaking an arm or worse.
“You want a bite to eat? Burgers are okay here. Or I can drop you off somewhere else.”
Spock reached his arm out of the window and gently knocked on the side of the door. He was listening to the sound the metal made. Then he opened up his tricorder, the device buzzing as it analyzed the components of the door. After a minute he closed up the tricorder and returned his attention to Eddie.
“If you know where I can find some unused sheet metal I can fix it myself.” He paused. “No use of currency would be necessary. I could use the heat from my phaser as a welding tool. I cannot account for the paint, but I can assure you the panel will be smooth.”
As an afterthought he added, “Perhaps we could reinforce it as well. In case of another attack. But that would require more time and supplies.”
Spock wondered if there was something in the MIST research laboratories that could be implemented to improve the vehicle. But none of that was his to take. And he hadn’t been in Dunwich long enough to ask.
Maybe next week.
“I was told that the other Spock observed the lobstrosities. I thought if I learned what he learned then I might—” But Spock let that thought trail off. He wasn’t certain he knew where he was going with that.
He glanced over at the Queen Burger. Then raised a brow. “I’m a vegetarian. But if you require sustenance I can wait.”
“I don’t think anyone has unused sheet metal laying around,” Eddie said. Once the words left his mouth, however, he paused. Maybe Wednesday had some things in her dungeon. It was hard to say. Reinforcing the van wasn’t a bad idea. Given how Dunwich worked, Eddie could probably expect damage to the van on a near monthly basis.
He sighed.
“I’m … not a vegetarian. But I don’t really need burgers either.” Eddie could eat. Sort of. It didn’t quite sit right in his stomach but in social situations, that wasn’t something he really wanted to admit. His hunt was cut short. As if on cue his stomach rumbled.
“Where to next, Spock?”
Eddie had almost said, I can get something at the morgue, but realizing how it sounded decided not to share his dietary habits with the newcomer just yet.
Spock was by no means an excellent job of human character, but he had spent a great deal of his life paying attention to human characteristics so he could avoid implementing that behavior into his own stark existence. But Eddie struck Spock as being considerably more dejected and melancholy than the average human. Spock wasn’t used to that. He didn’t know how to appropriately respond.
Eddie must have really had a strong emotional attachment to that van.
Spock hoped he hadn’t inadvertently insulted him by offering to repair it. But he would remember this moment. And he would begin a search for the materials necessary to fix the damages caused by the lobstrosities. It was Spock’s fault that they happened, after all. He never should have been so careless. Especially after all of the warnings from the people on the network.
“I would appreciate it if you could take me to MIST headquarters. I promised Miss Wicker I would continue assisting her in her research.”
Spock paused. A little voice in his head—his own guilty human side of his conscience—told him he should say something nice.
“But if you would like to dine together in the future that would be acceptable.”
Eddie climbed back into the driver’s side of the van and slumped into the chair. His head rolled to one side so he could look at Spock, taking in the stilted words. At least Astarion would finally have another elf around. He’d have to message Mother Dearest later.
He opens his mouth and stops. The others at the house would probably like him. “Yeah, come on over. We’ll have you for dinner.”
Another pause.
Not like that.
Probably.
Eddie started up the van. He knew where MIST was. And despite the fact that there were no longer any monsters chasing them and the danger was over— it was almost impossible to tell the difference in Eddie’s driving as he peeled out of the parking lot.
He hadn’t gotten a speeding ticket yet. (It was probably only a matter of time.)
He took turns fast, raced to beat stop lights like they’d insulted him personally, and catching a glimpse of Spock’s white knuckle response to his driving, grinned pleased with himself.
At least Spock wouldn’t be late to his meetup with the research lady at MIST.
The stop in front of MIST was just as abrupt.
“I’ll text you the address,” Eddie said as he waved Spock off to his next stop.
Welcome to Dunwich.