InsaneJournal

unwanted visitation
Who: Dusty, Gareth, Ezra & Zu (NPC)
When: June 19th, 2009 - just before sunset
Where: Dusty & Gareth's trailer - where all the fun happens


Gareth was lounging on the couch, frowning deeply. Dusty had been incredibly grumpy all day, tossing things around impatiently, whining about being trapped in the house, about being stuck with Gareth, about this and that and everything under the sun. The only thing that had kept Gareth from simply shaking the hell out of his best friend was the guilt he felt over having spoken to the vampires about the other man. It wasn't right to be keeping such a big secret, but at the same time, the blonde man didn't know what to do or say about it that wouldn't result in him being bloodied and left to die in the rain. Glancing over at his cranky friend, he rolled his eyes. "'s goan be dark out there soon enough yanno. Why don't y'stop y'blattin' and when the sun sets we can go out an' find somethin' to do."

Dusty turned on Gareth the moment the other man opened his stupid mouth, a sour look permanently etched there for the entirety of the day. "You say somethin'?" he snapped, his tone sharp and unforgiving. "When that sun goes down, I'm outta here but that don't mean you get to come with me, Gareth." He was still irritable about the encounter he'd had with Chris the day before, the stupid people that seemed to be all over this stupid town, the sunlight, his hunger, Gareth's lying about the card with the phone number on it... He turned back to the television and turned it up, loud enough to try and drown out the other man's voice.

It might also have been loud enough to drown out the sound of the knocking. Ezra could certainly hear it from outside on the steps in front of the door, and he had to wonder why anyone, vampire or not, would want to watch television quite that loud. Was this new Fallen deaf?

Zu had proved himself useful again, watching the house from a nearby shady tree, so Ezra knew the two men were home. He had approached, in a slightly old-fashioned suit and casual-fedora hat with his usual duster, once he was certain he had his spells ready and his ideas in order, and knocked, only the television was definitely very loud. He rather hoped someone would hear him, because he'd hate to have to resort to literal pounding.

Gareth's eyes narrowed, his temperament reaching its peak. Dusty had been an incredible ass all. fucking. day. Launching himself out of his chair, he moved forward, towards the bald man. "Turn down the god damn television." The bald man however, seemed to be pretending that Gareth didn't exist. He continued to stare at the television, and Gareth's dark blue eyes vibrant with anger. "I said, turn down the fucking television, y'goan make me deaf." Still nothing. "You stupid-ass-pansy-bitch-son of a bitch!" The blonde finally shouted nonsensically and launched himself onto the blue eyed man, knocking him out of the chair and onto the floor, reaching for the remote. "Gimme the remote you fucktard!" He growled, momentarily forgetting that the man he fought was a vampire.

Dusty was laughing right before Gareth's body collided with his. He'd been about to say something sharp, tell him to fuck off or something similar when instead he found himself falling onto the floor with the other man on top of him. "You ain't gettin' the remote, you dumb fuck! Get the hell off of me!" Without really thinking about it, Dusty smacked Gareth in the head with the very object they were fighting over, the batteries exploding out of it and flying across the room. "Look what you did now, you stupid asshole!" Dusty made a fist and prepared to beat the shit out of Gareth for getting between him and his terrible entertainment when he heard something and paused, sitting up suddenly. "You hear something?" He didn't know how he'd missed it before now... but there was somebody outside their trailer.

And just like that, the fight ended, Dusty shooting up to his feet to glare at the door. "Turn off the damn TV and open the door," he ordered, fangs bared angrily.

The sounds of shouts and brawling from inside made Ezra's brows go up, disappearing into his hair and the brim of his hat. He'd gotten the impression from Ava that this human was companion not... despised. Or was the Fallen just that violent...?

~They're probably just on edge and taking it out on each other,~ Zu suggested, which was impossible for Ezra to properly fathom. Why take temper out on someone you ostensibly cared about? He gave his familiar, still perched in his tree, a dubious look, but then focused on the door again. It sounded like perhaps someone was going to open the door, at last.

Gareth was blinded by pain -- the sound of the batteries skittering across the floor distant and completely unnoticed by the blonde man. He felt back to the floor, groaning and writhing -- blood spilled down his forehead and into his eye and he screamed as it burned. Then Dusty was shouting at him to turn off the television and answer the door. Gareth sat up, gaze dazed, mouth hanging open a little. His head throbbed, particularly where the vampire had hit him with the remote. There was a moment where he thought he would faint, the searing ache behind his eyes increasing tenfold. It was uncertainly that the blonde man got to his feet. The room spun around him and he reached for the button on the television. He missed by a long shot, crashing into the set and nearly knocking it over. Too disoriented to move back, he instead leaned over the television and yanked the plug out of the wall. He leaned heavily over the black plastic box, dizzy, and then pushed off it, swinging around and tripping a little as he made his way to the door. His movements were drunken, wild, and he barely made it to the door, clinging to the knob for dear life for a moment. Taking a deep breath, trying to see straight, the small man yanked opened the door and knuckled more blood out of his eye. "We don't want any fuckin' girl scout cookies, thanks." He answered before his vision started to settle and he saw the well dressed man at their door. "Oh. Who the fuck are you?"

"Who is it?" Dusty asked, peeking out through the door over Gareth's shoulder. He didn't even really acknowledge all the stumbling and pain the other man had whined about, instead focusing on the stranger standing on the steps to their home. Gareth would be fine; this new person - for the moment - was more interesting. He felt something work it's way through his body and he tensed, not quite trusting the appearance of someone like that on their step. There were all sorts of crazies in this town, and after what he'd seen already, he was prepared for anything.

"Ah. Good afternoon." Even with all the screaming, Ezra was, quite honestly, a little alarmed at the sight of the bloodied young man who came to the door. "My name is Ezra Ramas... is everything all right?" Because it definitely didn't look all right. What had the bloody fellow been hit with? A golf club? Not that Ezra really felt sympathy-- he wasn't quite capable of it-- but he was definitely surprised, and uncertain of how rational a conversation he could have with someone bleeding profusely from the head and someone who had apparently caused the bleeding.

Flight risk, indeed. They seemed utterly insane, to Ezra, at that moment.

Gareth tensed a little, palming his blood off the side of his face and wiping it on his jeans as though it were the most natural thing in the world to do. "We're fine, fucking fantastic actually." He returned, and elbowed Dusty back, away from him him. "Stop hovering." He hissed through clenched teeth and turned his attention back to the man in question. "We had a uh, disagreement over parcheesi. What the hell do you want hoss?" He asked bluntly. His stomach felt as though it were in an icy grip, tight and uncomfortable. He hadn't told that little vampire bitch their names, let alone where they lived. If he was here because of her... He pushed the thoughts away. "You got about thirty seconds to tell us whether or not yer sellin' vacuums before I kick yer ass off the doorstep."

Dusty's nostrils flared as his temper raised, Gareth's works doing nothing but pissing him off. He held out on chewing the other man's head off for the moment, eyes turning on the stranger they still hadn't gotten a clear answer from. "Thirty seconds is bein' generous, too," he tacked on, as though it were needed. He was feeling foul, and turned away to go find the batteries that had tumbled in separate directions. He didn't have any problem hearing what was going on at the door, his senses heightened, probably more sharp than even Gareth really realized. It was too bad for him he couldn't read minds...

It was a good thing Ezra had a small plethora of defensive spells ready. He didn't like the idea of being attacked, but he was used to it. He also found he didn't like these two much. They were even more rude and crass than Alejandro, and that, in Ezra's opinion, took a lot. "My name is Ezra Ramas and I am here to offer my services, on behalf of your House."

~Oh, that is going to go over well,~ he heard Zu mutter-- but he was confident neither vampire nor man were going to lay a hand on him. Not for long, anyhow, especially not with blood flowing.

Gareth's eyes widened minutely before his jaw set and his hand moved to close the door. "You must have the wrong place buddy. Don't know a thing about no House or whatever. Why don't you try the place next door. Those are pretty shady people." The fat 60 year old and her grandson next door were, in fact, far less shady than he and Dusty, but that didn't really matter at the moment. Gareth wanted this man off his doorstep and out of his life. He'd no intention of telling Dusty about meeting a vampire, and wasn't going to let someone else decide for him. "Why don't you go check them out. Those are probably the ones yer lookin' for." He intoned, and prepared to swing the door shut.

Dusty stood up straight when the word house came out of this Ezra person. He stared wide-eyed through the door at him, his confusion and alarm multiplying tenfold. When Gareth began talking and shifting to close the door he came back to life, blinking twice before reaching out. "Hey!" he snapped, a firm hand snagging the edge of the door before it could be shut. "What the fuck is this all about?" Cold eyes turned on Gareth, burning a hole into the side of his thick head. "What the fuck did you do, you stupid bastard?" Dusty looked outside at Ezra, pissed already but wanting to hear him out just to see what was going on exactly. "What house?" he demanded, voice a lot louder than it needed to be.

"As far as I know, neither of you did anything," Ezra said, brows upwards and tone neutral, though he did know the human one had done something. Run into another of his vampiric family-- quite luckily, Ezra thought. There were plenty of vampires in this town who wouldn't know what the boy was talking about, and might have killed him for asking. "Your House. Family. Did your sire teach you nothing?" he frowned, in obvious-- though false-- disapproval of said sire. "Perhaps if we are going to discuss this, I should come inside. I doubt you wish the whole neighborhood to listen in."

Gareth swung his elbow back, hoping the hit would reach Dusty's stomach. "I didn't do shit!" But his voice wavered a little. Dusty always knew when he was lying. Then the man at the door was backing him up, claiming that neither of them had said or done anything... it didn't matter, Dusty would know. Dusty always knew. "Look, he don't have no sire, just some asshole who ran off when the deed was done. We don't..." but the man had a point, it was bad enough that Dusty was a vampire, but for the whole neighborhood to know... he stepped back, eyes narrowed. "Look, lets get this over with quick. We don't want nothin' to do with no god damned vampires."

Dusty snarled at Gareth when the elbow hit his stomach. If he hadn't been on edge before that, he was teetering there now, and not very steadily. He shoved his good-for-nothing friend out of the way and told Ezra, "Like he said, we don't want nothin' to do with vampires. Say what you gotta and make it quick." He released the edge of the door to pace the fairly trashed living room, Gareth's pizza boxes and beer cans on the floor. There happened to be a rusted shopping cart behind the couch, as well as a pile of random odds and ends near the television, neither of which helped improve the look of the place any. Dusty was agitated and it showed, acting very much like a caged animal as he waited for this to be over with. There was nothing about this situation that screamed relax to him, and he wasn't intending on doing that for a long while. His mind was going over where the nearest gun was, in case he needed it, and his eyes shot to the side where one was sitting out in the open on top of the television set. He gravitated toward it, his thoughts almost written in plain English all over his face.

"I am afraid you won't have much of a choice," Ezra said as he stepped inside, his voice a shade apologetic and his eyes following the vampire, noting his destination. "You had the misfortune of being turned by a very methodical and organized House, my friend. They will merely find you again. I would also advise against shooting me," he added conversationally, as if it was really no concern of his. "I am a fairly valuable asset to your new family, and I do not imagine they will take it very well if you damage me when my only purpose here is to introduce myself and offer my services. I mean no harm to either of you, here."

"Well then, what the fuck do you want fella?" Gareth asked, hands on his hips. He felt an overwhelming sense of dread, knowing that Dusty was going to beat the hell out of him for this. "We want as little involvement as possible, okay? He ain't goan go around and feed off'a no one, he ain't doing shit, just tryin' to live, alright?" His breath was short, heart hammering in his throat -- part of him, the part that was absolutely terrified of Dusty's angry side -- was convinced his friend might just decide to use that gun on him.

"Don't have a choice?" Dusty spat, falling silent as Ezra went on to explain about this House thing... his House. He rubbed a hand over his mouth and jaw, stressing himself out over the idea of having been found so fast. He didn't want anything to do with this. This wasn't fucking fair, it wasn't what he wanted. None of this was ever what he wanted. It didn't fucking make sense. These thoughts went through his mind again and again and he paced the area, stomping his feet, eyes not quite meeting either of the other people in the room. "God damn it Gareth!" he shouted, turning on the other man suddenly. "You fucked up! You... fucked everything up! Do you understand what you did?!"

"Excuse me," Ezra interjected mildly. "You do realize there is no real harm to having your family know where you are, do you not? No one is going to punish you for something that cannot be changed. Whether your friend is the reason they know, or not, I haven't the faintest idea-- but they would have found you eventually. And you do have certain benefits now. Education, the services of a hunter-- such as myself-- for protection and collection of specialty meals, others who will not judge you." He shrugged lightly. "You are hardly at a disadvantage here, son."

Gareth began to hyperventilate a little, guilt and fear overwhelming him. Dusty sounded terrified and plaintive and it made all of Gareth's emotions increase ten-fold, his heart hammering, tears stinging his eyes, though they remained unshed. "I ain't done nothin' Dusty!" He whined, looking as panicked as he sounded. "I mean-- I didn't mean to do nothin'..." His eyes widened as the man began to speak. "He ain't goan need no fuckin' special meals!" Gareth interjected before the man had completely finished. "So what? We know you guys are here, thanks, great to meet you. You know where to find us, bye. Right? You know we exist, we know you exist, game over. You can report back to where fuckin' ever and leave us alone."

Dusty sent Gareth a look as he stirred suddenly, bolting into motion to hurry across the room. He came to a dead stop in front of Ezra, hard blue eyes staring into his face. "You tell me about this House. You -- fuckin' tell me everything. No... no, wait... no, I don't want the shitty details. No -- no, I wanna know about the god damn wings. You fuckin' tell me about the wings... and you tell me what the fuck you want, then you gotta get out of here. Who else knows about us? Who did that moron tell?" Dusty pointed accusingly at Gareth, his eyes not leaving Ezra.

~This guy is mental,~ came Zu's comment from outside. Ezra could only silently agree, and it had taken all his willpower to stand still-- only one hand raised in a spell-casting gesture, just in case-- as the vampire surged up in front of him. He badly wanted to simply throw the imbecile across the room with a flick of magic, but he refrained. Just barely.

"Please step back and give me some room to breathe," he said calmly. "I am not going to be quite as friendly as I have been if I am continued to be threatened. I will gladly tell you anything you wish to know, if it is within my power to tell, but I will not be threatened while I do it."

Gareth hunched his shoulders, his eyes dark, his mouth dry. He felt a little bit like a puppy that had been caught pissing on the rug, ashamed and guilty, afraid of the consequences. "Just-- just give us a run down, alright? We... we really just want to be left alone." He ran one hand through his hair, moving to the kitchen, getting himself a glass of water. Fuck. He'd really fucked up. Beyond fucked up... shaking his head a little, his features exhausted, drained. This had been the most stupid month of his life.

Immediately, Dusty backed off, going to sit down on the nearby couch. He didn't have anything to offer verbally, and instead sat with his face in his hands, just waiting to hear all the things he'd been trying so hard to avoid since the change. This whole situation was fucking miserable. His mind blipped back to the encounter he'd had with Chris earlier, the stresses he'd been going through over the last five weeks. God damn it.

Breathing out a slow and almost imperceptible sigh of relief, Ezra said, "Your family has me hired on as a retainer. I look after and help support vampires in a given area. All I know is that I was sent to greet you and offer my services, not why or how long they've known. For all I know, they've been following you since you were turned, and now that you've settled down a bit, they finally sent someone to greet you." He stayed where he'd been standing, near the door, but he did relax his hand's stance a bit, so it wasn't so obviously warding.

"You were interested in the wings, correct?" Ezra shrugged a bit. "The tale is that the original Gabriel House vampire was a fallen angel, and they only turn the angel-blooded. I cannot attest to how true that is, but all Gabriel House vampires have wings that they can summon, use, and put away again. I take it you've experienced this." Since he was asking. And obviously didn't have them now.

"I already know about the wings. It hurts like hell when they come out and apparently he's gotta focus like hell to make 'em go away, an' it hurts less than when they come out, right?" He exhaled a heavy sigh and finished off his water, tossing the plastic cup back into the sink. "So what else then, huh? Give us the vitals about his tribe or house or whatever." So he can beat the hell outta me and we can get this night over with.

Dusty looked up through his fingers at Gareth, his shoulders tensing slightly. "Whatever," he grumbled. "Anything else you gotta say?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing right now. Gareth was actually admitting his guilt. He looked up at Ezra when a thought crossed his mind and - with a hesitant but curious tone - he asked, "Does that mean I can fly like those other fuckers?"

"Once you're taught how," Ezra agreed with a very faint smile. "I hear it's the best thing about being what you are, now. Even the most reluctant always seem to enjoy flying." He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out Ava's business card. "I can only tell you so much, because I'm no vampire. Just that the House has rules, and newly turned must learn them. There is an older vampire in the area who has a habit of taking newly turned under her wing, so to speak. You certainly wouldn't be the first she's taken on, not even the first in the area."

He approached Dusty, a little cautiously, to offer the card to him. "If I might, I would suggest you speak with her, or else they might send someone less patient than I am to make you get the tutelage you need."

Gareth looked away from Dusty, his eyes ashamed, his mouth drawn. When the other man began to speak, the blonde moved to root through the fridge, finding a half-eaten box of Chinese food, and began to devour it cold as the seeming messenger for the vampires spoke. He wanted to have a full stomach -- even though he wasn't hungry -- that way, if the bald man punched him in the stomach, Gareth would at least be able to puke all over him in result. He wondered, vaguely, if this Ezra guy was talking about Ava. Dusty was going to be pissed when he saw that the "older vampire" was a four or five year old kid.

Dusty reached up for the card when it was offered to him, his grabbing motion clearly displeased when he snatched it away. He was being told he didn't have a choice but to associate with this House, despite what Ezra had led him to believe previously. The card was difficult to read and he huffed, angry about it, about every damned letter and number on it. He tossed it onto the coffee table in front of him and nodded, refusing to say anything in response. He didn't want to agree to call anybody, nor was he going to deny he'd do it either. Maybe they could just move again... there was nothing either of them needed here, and the US was a huge place. It couldn't be that difficult to disappear. Finally Dusty simply nodded, not sure what else to do with himself. He knew without having it told to him that they couldn't hide... not now that they'd been found out and confronted. He hadn't dealt with vampires all his life to not have learned anything.

"Alright," he grumbled, sounding very finished.

"Excellent." Ezra smiled a bit, because he wasn't finished, then offered one more card. "This one, however, is mine. While I have it on good authority you don't need my services as a blood hunter--" He cast Gareth a sidelong glance. "--I am available for all manner of things, including protection, knowledge, and even advice should you find yourself in need of any."

And his card was bespelled. As soon as Dusty touched it, the tracking spell would activate, and they'd have their flight risk taken care of. That, Ezra thought, was probably more important than getting a certain "yes" or "no" out of him about visiting Ava.

Gareth watched the exchange of the cards, feeling dour and unhappy with the situation at hand. "Good. Great. We got all y'numbers. So there's that. Awesome." He muttered, and tossed the Chinese box into the over-flowing garbage can. "You done? We'll call or whatever if we want. Thanks for the help and everything." He was miserable, frustrated and just wanted this stranger out of his house.

"I'll be fine," Dusty said in response, somehow offended by the mention of needing safety from this creep. He gestured to the coffee table, not intending on playing nice any longer or taking the card from Ezra. It'd been longer than five minutes, he was sure, and he was ready to have the trailer back to normal... well, sort of normal. As much as it could be. He didn't need any more damned cards. They didn't even have a fucking phone. What were they supposed to do -- stand in a phone booth to talk about vampire shit?

Well, that was annoying. Ezra's brows went up. The card did have his address on it-- it was warded against intruders, so he wasn't worried about them; besides, Dusty himself would need an actual invitation to get inside-- but if Dusty never called on him, it would probably be too soon. He just wanted one of them to touch the damn thing. "Whether you will be or not, it is still my job to offer assistance," he pointed out. "I take a salary, in fact." So take the damn card and let my get on with my duties.

"I'll check the damn card out when I'm good and ready," Dusty answered, his brow dropping low over his eyes as his tone changed, darkening. "I don't care if you got gold fuckin' coins in your damn pockets, I ain't that impressed by you." He got up and moved away from Ezra, not really caring for the way the other man was hovering right over him on the couch. "Put it on the damn table with the other one. Fuck." Mostly Dusty was being obnoxious for the sake of it, his patience starting to wear thin. He would look them over after he'd cooled down. It wasn't like he had a choice, anyway.

There was a moment where Ezra was tempted to simply smack the foolish young vampire with the card, but he had more self-control than that. What has come over me lately? he wondered at himself, and set down the card. One of them would touch it eventually, and the spell would work then. "You don't need to be impressed with me," he shrugged, straightening. "I do suggest you take a bit more respectful attitude with your elders in the future, however. I am an employee, but elder vampires would gladly punish you for impertinence, much less rudeness. I'll see myself out."

Dusty waited for Ezra to turn to leave before flipping him the bird, aggravated and wanting to take it out on someone. Anyone would be fine at this point, he supposed. "I'll be sure to heed your advice in the future," he spat. There were chains on him, invisible but heavy all the same, and they weighed him down before he'd even tried to contact this elder vampire he was supposed to talk to. It made everything that much more miserable somehow. Quietly, he said to Ezra, "Have a good night." And he meant it. He hated that he did, but he did all the same. The man was just here doing his damn job, even if Dusty hated every bit of it.

Ezra gave the vampire a mildly puzzled frown for the sentiment. That wasn't something he'd expected, and he didn't know quite how to respond-- or, really, whether he was being mocked. Not that it mattered if he was, he supposed, but it would be good to know for certain. After a pause, he merely tipped his hat politely to the guy and stepped outside again, letting the door fall shut behind him.