Felicity Jones (hopeandtrust) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2009-07-22 21:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-06-09 |
Vampires, Motorcycles and a Tail
Who: Connie and Felicity
Where: The organic coffee shop, then wandering!
When: 9:30ish PM and onwards
Connie showed up a few minutes late at the coffee shop. It was probably lucky he'd shown up, at all, but he considered telling people about his house to be fairly fun, and, well, he didn't really have anything else come up in the meantime, so here he was! He even had a thermos with pre-warmed blood from the blood bank so he could share "drinks". Sort of.
He parked the motorcycle in a skinny parking spot obviously meant for one and climbed off, pulling the thermos from the "saddle-bag" type pockets on the back of the bike and uncurling his tail from around his waist. It occured to him a bit belatedly that he actually had no idea what Felicity Jones looked like. Maybe she'd know enough about House of Luna vampires to recognize the tail as a giveaway....
Felicity actually knew very little about vampires. More and more information was becoming available, but it wasn't enough to even begin to understand what this guy might be going through. Which was why she needed Connie's help so badly. Colin had finally called her and made an appointment to see her, but he sounded like having his fangs removed with rusty pliers would be preferable to meeting with her or Connie. She'd given him the vampire's name and phone number, but once again, he didn't sound too happy about it.
She almost wondered if he was hiding something. Possibly, although it could be something so simple as an accidental murder or two. He sounded like he had very little control and to survive a year with no support, he had to get blood somewhere. Human blood, she knew that. She let out a sigh and looked over her notes, then took a drink of her ice chai.
It was dark already, but still pretty warm. She was wearing a pretty blue floral sundress with cap sleeves, a light blue sweater hanging off the back of her chair. She'd accented it with a few plastic bangles and blue plastic hoop earrings. Almost all her jewelry was plastic costume pieces or made of other neutral, hypoallergenic materials. Wood was another material she seemed to be able to get away with around her supernatural clients. Her blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She was the only person sitting outside, and unfortunately, was so absorbed in her notes she didn't really notice Connie.
Oops.
After poking around the various tables outside the coffee shop, and getting a lot of funny looks and apologizing a time or two for his tail, Connie finally zeroed in on... the blonde, well-padded lady with the notes all over her table. That was probably gonna be her. He wandered over, thermos in one hand and tail draped over the other arm.
"Felicity Jones?" he asked hopefully. If not, well, it wouldn't be the first time he'd addressed the wrong person. Sometimes that made for great introductions, after all, and he was always willing to be distracted.
She looked up as she was addressed, smiling automatically. "The same," she agreed, looking over the guy addressing her. Oh he had a tail. How interesting! He was slender and quirky looking, and she immediately decided she liked him. "Connie Nim?" she guessed, holding out her hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Oh, good, I found you!" He flopped down into the chair next to her, flicking his tail out of the way, and then he took her hand in a cool grip and shook warmly. "It occurred to me as I was pulling up that I should've asked what you looked like, or something. How are ya? Hope you weren't waiting too long?"
Okay, the tail (and Connie) were adorable. And he was so friendly and upbeat! The few vampires she'd met were either withdrawn and antisocial or kind of snotty. It was nice to meet one with such a warm personality, even if his hands weren't.
"Well, if I'd described myself as a big, blond and beautiful, you might think I had ego issues," she teased easily. "And no, not at all. I was a little early because I wanted to sort my notes. He called me today. Colin did."
Big, blonde, and beautiful fit so well, though! Connie did have the sense not to say so, though-- he knew women didn't exactly like being called "big", even if he personally thought "big" was quite pretty, as long as it wasn't unhealthy like some people took it to. "Oh did he!" He set down the thermos and crossed his arms on the tabletop with a pleased smile. "And how did that go? Hopefully he wasn't too grouchy?"
She wouldn't have been offended. She's come to accept she was never going to be thin and the only time it truly bothered her was when she was bombarded by popular culture references that demanded she be thin to be healthy and attractive. It was a small wonder people had such body image issues with the onslaught of diet advertising and bone skinny models paraded in front of them all the time. Even though she knew better, even Felicity had her 'I hate being fat' days.
Today was not one of them though.
She sighed and nodded. "He wasn't grouchy so much as incredibly reluctant, evasive and clearly depressed," she admitted. "He didn't tell me much, which is to be expected on the phone, but I have the feeling it's going to be pulling teeth with him. I'm betting his self image is nil and he's possibly suicidal. Actually, knowingly taking on five armed thugs even knowing he was nigh invulnerable is pretty much screaming that." She handed over Colin's rather thin police file.
Taking it with some surprise, Connie leafed through it. "Either that or he's got some kind of messiah complex, gotta save everybody himself. Or both." Nigh-invulnerable or not, Connie might have run screaming the other way from five armed thugs. He wasn't going to say that, either, since he kind of didn't want to look like a wuss. So sue him, he was only-- technically-- twenty-two years old.
"Did he mention his family line at all?" he asked, closing the file again. That would be a huge help, knowing what house he was from, what he could do, what their customs were-- if they had any. He'd probably treat him using his own house's customs, since he found them the gentlest and yet least invasive, but knowing what the guy was used to, if anything, would help.
"Messiah or martyr complex," she suggested. "Could be the latter, especially with his strong dislike of vampires in general. He might be trying to redeem himself some way. The jury's still out officially on how the various Christian sects are considering the supernatural, but historically, a vampire would be a damned thing. Feeds on the living, is technically dead but still running around. He wouldn't be the first one who thinks just existing is going to get him sent to hell."
She took another drink of her chai and shook her head. "I asked, but he mumbled that he didn't know. I hate to say it, but he's a lousy liar, even over the phone." She looked at Connie. "Why would he be hiding his bloodline?"
"If it's a bloodline with a stigma, I could see it," Connie shrugged. "Like if it were Gabriel House, or Habringers of Bedlam, the Four Horsemen, or even Kilcrowen-- I sure as hell wouldn't want a social worker to know. Those families could be considered dangerous, and all that. Whenever he gets around to calling me, I can ask him. Maybe he'd be more willing to tell someone who isn't professionally bound to tell on him if he's a Death Horseman, or lock him up if he's Bedlam, or something." He grinned a big, fangs unabashedly revealed, and added, "Or I could just spout names and see which one he jumps at. Whatever works."
Felicity held up one hand. "Okay, reverse gears," she told him. "I don't know any of those bloodlines. Although I can guess a bit about ones called Harbringers of Bedlam and the Four Horsemen. So there are mentally ill vampires which I am guessing is a hereditary because of the whole bloodline thing. And the Horsemen would be a death and/or destruction cult type thing? Gabriel is the angel of fire, which seems a bit odd since isn't fire hugely dangerous for you guys?"
She shook her head at herself. "And I don't have to tell on him. Counselor/client privilege. Everything he tells me is confidential. And everything we discuss has the same profession confidentiality. The only time I would break privilege is if somebody's life is definitely in danger, and I mean specifically a particular person and a definite threat of violence or death. Being crazy isn't illegal."
"Ack, sorry, I get carried away and forget to explain things," Connie said with a wry smile, rubbing a hand over his messy hair. "I didn't know that about the profession thing-- I just thought if there was danger, you had to report it. Good to know that's not true. One of us oughta tell him, just in case."
He huffed out an unnecessary breath, and started off. "Okay, explanation time. Four Horsemen are a cult sort of bloodline, yeah, and there's four types-- the four horsemen. They see it as their duty to bring destruction to mankind, vampirekind, whoever. Gabriel House thinks they're corrupting the angel-blooded out there, turning only angel-blooded. They talk like their fallen angels." He rolled his eyes a little. "Generally pretty violent and bloody. Harbringers of Bedlam are insane, but they get that way through time and touching. They've got a kind of touch-see gift, and a kind of premonition gift, and it kind of builds up and makes them get crazier as time goes on. Kilcrowen are similar, only with less of the powers. God, I talk a lot. But yeah, any of those houses he'd probably not wanna tell, either out of shame or anger or fear that you'd tattle on him."
She nodded. "Yup, even if he confesses murder, I can't reveal it under privilege. If he threatens me or someone else, yeah, but it has to be a sincere, direct threat. I can lose my license if I break it. So he's safe there."
And that was a lot of information. "No offense, but that becoming common knowledge would be very bad for vampirekind's already bad reputation. Even though there are angel cults, Apocalypse cults, and crazy humans. People will just overreact since it involves vampires. Especially since they can't be that overwhelming in numbers or somebody would have noticed before you all came out, as it were."
Connie grinned, though this time there was less good humor in it, and more sad understanding. "Which would be why I figure he didn't want to tell you, if he were one of those bloodlines. Most of those aren't really public, far's I know, not like my house or Sapphira Dynasty, or something-- they're the pretty people and movie stars and such. But I'll give it a try, if I ever get to talk to him-- do I get his number, or does he get mine, and he calls when he feels like it?"
"Putting your collective best foot forward to prove you all aren't what people think you are," she agreed with a nod. "That makes perfect sense. But then, it has to be harder for the ones like him."
Felicity nodded again, flipping over her notebook. "I gave him your information," she told him. "But here's his just in case. You can keep that copy of the case file as well, I made it for you. There's not much there. Few parking tickets, one citation for drunk and disorderly a few years back, and of course, his missing person's report and the attack on the thugs."
She shrugged. "Well, there's really no precedence for this sort of situation," she admitted. "So we're sort of making it up as we go along."
"Oh, fancy, I get to keep it?" Connie peeked inside again, absently borrowing her own pen so he could add the number to the inside of the folder. If Colin hadn't called in a day or two, he'd give it a try. "Thanks! I'll give it a closer look later." He set it down, picked up his thermos for a quick sip, and asked, "So do you have any questions? For me, or just in general about vampires? I'll be able to offer to better help with Colin once I know where he came from, but I could answer any questions you have, probably. And, you know, dispelling myth and making us more accessible and all that awesome crap, I'm all for that."
Felicity nodded. "You need to know as much about him as I do really," she admitted. "Although once the sessions start, I'll be keeping some from you. Nothing personal, it's just he probably doesn't want his personal life discussed by two strangers behind his back. It's just...yeah, he's a person too. Which he mind need reminding of as well. A lot of people, when going through a drastic life change, forget themselves, especially if that drastic life change makes them feel as if they've lost something. It's a huge blow to their self worth and makes them forget they themselves have value as people regardless. It's very sad to see, but extremely common."
She smiled at him. "A million of them," she admitted. "And very few of them have anything to do with what we're doing." She sighed. "I'm mostly curious if there's anything to this loss of humanity myth. I'd say you completely blow the whole 'all vampires become sociopaths' theory right out of the water, but I know better. Sociopaths can appear perfectly normal, that's how they blend in. But yeah, did you ever feel yourself disconnecting from humanity in general?"
Waving off the apology for keeping things from him, Connie said, "Like you said. Client privacy and whatever it was you said. I understand." He certainly didn't need to know Colin's deepest and darkest fears, or childhood history, or whatever a social worker spoke to a vampire about-- all he really cared about was getting the poor guy socialized and comfortable, or as best as he could manage.
He took another sip from the thermos and considered her actual question. "Well, I hope I'm not a sociopath. If I am, I'm totally not aware of it. I don't think I feel disconnected from people. I love people, always have and probably always will. And not for dinner, thanks! Though there's that, too. I mean... when you're bite doesn't hurt people, but makes them feel pretty okay, it's hard to get all predatory or superior about it. Even harder to get predatory and superior when you have a tail." Said tail curled up over his shoulder to "wave" the tip at her.
"I could well be unusual, though," Connie mused. "I know our house is pretty... well, different. Other family lines get more snooty or more violent than we do-- but we don't like to turn people who could be like that. People like that don't enjoy life enough to deserve more of it."
"Your bite make people feel good?" she asked. "I know some of the myths say it's an orgasmic experience, but practicality states that having someone sink their fangs into tender flesh would feel not so great unless you were incredibly masochistic. I wonder if they emit some sort of numbing agent or even a euphoric one?"
She chuckled when he mentioned the tail. "But it's a gorgeous tail," she assured him. "I bet the ladies love it. It looks very soft and pettable." It really did. She wasn't exactly flirting with him, it was just very easy to talk to Connie. He was very nice.
"See, that also makes sense," she said. "Eternity is a long time if you're already having trouble with the life you have now."
"It's a pain in the ass tail, is what it is," Connie laughed, grabbing the end and tugging it down to curl it around his arm. "And ladies only love it when it's not feeling them up. I swear, it does shit I don't expect it to. So if it bothers you, feel free to smack it, it probably deserves it."
Another sip of blood, and he considered the more serious conversation. "As for the bite...." He shrugged. "It's not orgasmic or anything-- it's peaceful. Relaxing, you know? I don't know whether it's a magic we emit unconsciously or some kind of venom or what. It might be related to our calming effect on bitten weres, or it could just be that we're laid-back hippy-types who love life and were turned to get better experiences out of it, so not even our bites are supposed to cause strife."
"Has a mind of it's own, huh?" she teased. "Don't worry, I won't be offended, I promise. It can't be near as bad as the soaked, catnip high werecat I ended up babysitting on the full moon. He' was sweet and harmless but terribly affectionate."
Peaceful. "That sounds nice," she admitted. "And now I'm wondering of the clinical uses for it. I'm terrible, I'm sorry. Vampires are already being exploited for the healing properties of their blood and still treated like third class citizens unless they're pretty and rich. Really, there's no information, no organizations or anything for vampires. It's terrible. Like they assume riches and everything comes with the whole deal. Which just can't be true."
He kind of wanted to meet an affectionate, catnip-high werecat. That sounded kind of adorable, unless she meant he spent the whole night humping her leg, or something. That would kind of suck.
"It's not true," Connie agreed with a grin. "While I can technically stay in the house of anyone of my family line-- it's in the rules, and everything, so nobody winds up homeless unless they want to be-- I'm pretty much dead broke right now. But that's okay, because as long as I can afford gas for my baby over there--" The tail unwound to jab, like a pointing finger, at his parked Harley. "--I figure I'm good. And hey, if I can help out by biting one of your clients, just count me in. I like making people feel better, and if it's free food, I'm not gonna turn that down, either. It's less exploitation and more of a mutual benefit kind of thing, in our case. My house is lucky like that-- not everybody is. Most vampire bites hurt like you'd expect it would hurt, so finding repeat donors is a bitch for most. Unless some lucky schmuck finds a masochist, or something."
No, but he did try until he'd fallen asleep. She couldn't help but be amused by the whole situation. And Seth was very adorable. "Yeah, he apparently is friends with my cat and is one of the feline chorus on my back fence at times. He was a riot."
She nodded. "Of course it isn't true," she agreed. "It couldn't be. From what you tell me, vampires are very much like the rest of us. Which makes sense, since you are people. With fangs and apparently, sometimes tails." She couldn't help the joke. "It might be an alternate treatment I'll offer," she said with a grin. "Although now I want to see proof. It's the scientist in me. Okay, and my 'ooh new experiences' hippie upbringing. Goddess bless them, my parents were very much involved in the civil rights movements, environmental issues and well, just about any cause they could get behind. Needless to say, I am probably too open minded and curious for my own good."
Waggling his eyebrows teasingly at her, his tail curling around on top of his head like a furry hat to make the expression all the more ridiculous, and wearing a grin, Connie's immediate response was: "Just say when and where, lovely. I'm always good for a bite if someone wants one. Believe me, I totally understand you on the 'new experiences' thing." Oh, yes, he did. He was all about the new experiences thing, especially now that he couldn't die without seriously trying to off himself-- or someone else seriously trying to off him, with the proper knowledge.
Felicity laughed merrily. He was just too cute. The whole world possibly needed to meet him, to dispel any preconceived notions they had about vampires. He'd pretty much dispelled all of her and definitely shed a very positive light on them. "Now I am very tempted," she said. "You have any plans for later this evening? Goddess knows I could use some relaxing. Don't be offended if I fall asleep though. Usually when I stop and relax, I totally zonk out."
"You're my only plans, Felicity. I had expected to be bombarded with questions, so I hadn't planned anything else." Not that Connie planned much of anything, really. "And if you fall asleep, you fall asleep." Given how she said she was planned from morning to night, he could imagine the poor gal needed some sleep. "I can let myself out, or curl up next to you like a cat, myself, whichever you'd like better. I promise not to hump your leg, though. Or to get high on catnip and sing at your pet."
She laughed again, and smiled. "Well, I can bombard you with questions on the way," she assured him. "For now, we should probably wrap up business first." Felicity sighed and checked her notes. "Oh yeah, he needs a job. I don't supposed you know of any vampire friendly employers?"
What was it with all of these good looking supernatural men not hitting on her and coming home with her? First Seth, now Connie. Okay, Seth had been hitting on her, but he was higher than a kite. That didn't count. It was enough to give a girl a complex. "And I'd watch that tail around Brutus. It just screams 'attack me' in cat, I'm sure."
"Seeing as I heal up pretty damn fast, I think we'd be okay." And Connie could and would hit on her, if he wasn't afraid of sounding stupid-- he was a dork, pretty much, after all, and both much younger and much older than she was-- and-or pissing her off when he was gonna get a free meal and a possible friend... well, really. Him and girls rarely lasted long when it moved into hitting on. He was just too flighty. And long-lived.
Maybe that was a kind of disconnect, too, but not one Connie would ever consider as one.
"I haven't been in town long enough to know any vampire-friendly employers here," he admitted, scratching his head. "Well, except Heme. And the filming company, I guess, but since he's not a famous actor or an established film crew guy, I doubt they'd want him." He wrinkled his nose, trying to think, and came up blank. "I'll look around," he promised.
He was 122, really, she was pretty sure if anyone was robbing the cradle here, it would be him. As for being offended, why would she be? She liked being flirted with! "Brutus will deal," she told him. "Besides, I have a big bed."
"I don't know how well he'd take to the idea of Heme," she said. "He told Officer De Roux he doesn't like vampires. That is probably not a good place for him."
It sounded like bedcuddling was definitely in the cards. Aw yeah. Maybe he'd revise the not-hitting-on, depending on how things went. Maybe.
"Yeah, probably not Heme," Connie agreed wryly. "At least I can say I'm definitely not the normal vampire, so I've got that going for me at not being hated outright. I'll poke around in the next couple days before I figure he'll call, or I'll call him and ask what the hell is taking so long-- nicely, of course. See what I can find. I could stand a part-time job, too, filming won't last forever and there's only so many studios in this part of the country."
Yeah, there was. If anything, the tail settled it. She couldn't help it. She was a closet supernatural-file. And that tail was actually pretty damned sexy. And hell, it'd been awhile. A girl had needs, you know?
Felicity sighed and nodded. "Thanks," she told Connie. "We have an appointment tomorrow evening, if he doesn't contact you in the next two days, I'll lean on him as well."
"I hope the appointment isn't a total waste of time," Connie said, earnestly rather than rudely, since with someone so reluctant to talk, he could easily imagine it being that way. "Hell, I hope my talking with him isn't, either. Guess we'll have to see." He shook his head, flirted his tail sideways, and grinned. "Any more questions?"
Felicity shrugged. "I've cracked harder nuts than this one," she assured him, then balked at that particular turn of phrase. "Okay, that was tacky. Sorry. I usually try to avoid judgmental labeling terms like crazy, nuts, psycho, etc, because they're bad. I didn't mean it like crazy nuts."
"Yeah," she said. "You gonna take me for a ride on that thing if I ask nice?"
Connie busted up laughing. "It's okay! It's okay. I didn't-- heehee-- I didn't even think about it like that. I doubt the guy's really crazy anyway, so-- no offense meant, I'm sure." How little he knew!
Standing up and plucking up his thermos-- he'd stick it in her fridge when they got there, maybe; fresh was always better, and he could save this for later-- from the table, he dropped into a comical, theatrical bow, his tail curling up against his back like the lemur's tail it resembled. "You do not even have to ask." Straightening, he grinned again, and added, "I was gonna invite you on a ride, actually."
He was such a dork. Felicity liked that about him. He wasn't like all the other guys, that was for certain.
"Well hot damn," she said as she gathered up her papers and put them in her bag. "Let's go." Really, she could think of few things that would be more fun than riding around with Connie on his motorcycle right now. Then they could head back to her place and test his relaxing bite thing. This was turning out to be a really interesting meeting.
Offering her his arm all gallant-like, Connie led the way over to the Harley, which was old-fashioned and big compared to some of the more modern bikes, even more modern Harleys. "I don't have a helmet, but I promise I'll go slow." And if there was a hint of an accident coming his way, well, he had better reflexes than any human out there. At the very least, he could catch her before she hurt herself.
Not that he expected an accident, but she might worry.
Also, on the way over, the tail curled furrily around one of her ankles and moved with her steps. Connie didn't seem to notice.