"THE REALLY GROSS HORSE GUY" (purebredkrist) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2009-11-28 08:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-06-24 |
Naivety Makes For Good Friendships
Who: Krist and Gideon
When: June 24th, 12:30-1:30pm
Where: Scarlet Oak Public Park
He shouldn't be out in the direct sun. Especially not on an empty stomach, no sleep, still miserably battered from the night before, and suffering under the cruel auspices of the new moon. Gideon was feeling a little shaky, but he tried to ignore it. He'd eat at work. It wasn't like he'd outright collapse, and if he kept moving and working and being active, he wouldn't slip back into that black depression and uselessness. He'd found a very pretty park he wanted to explore. It wasn't a good place for busking. Too little traffic on a weekday. But if he just cut through on the way to finding a corner, he could appreciate the bright, sweet summer flowers, the smell of grass, the sharpness of green and the softness of the breeze... Gideon hopped up on a rickety little white railing that blocked off a planting of red flowers. He couldn't identify them. They were very pretty, but he didn't know a damn thing about plants. His leather-bottomed moccasins provided grip as he walked along the top rail. The fence was skinny, but Gideon had his other form's balance, as well as what he'd built in decades of martial arts, and he walked along the two inches of shaky wood as though he were still on the ground.
He hadn't gone out in full sunlight without any thought, nor without covering up the wounds from the night before. They were on their way to healing, but his wrists in particular still looked awful. He'd put on a long-sleeved shirt and baggy red jeans, tied a bandanna around his head, and shoved his battered sunglasses firmly into place, pushing them back every time they slipped down his skinny nose. Over it all he'd tossed on his favorite poncho, knitted as a treat from soft, hand-dyed wool the color of a silver winter sunrise, the edges marked with a Hopi rattlesnake design. He'd forgotten about the heat everyone else felt, how odd the heavy wool would look on a heavy day like this. The weight and the softness kept him comforted. He'd added thin gray hand-warmers in case his sleeves hiked up, intent that no one would see his gruesome injuries. His harmonica was tucked in his back pocket, but otherwise he'd brought nothing with him. Between the work and the difficulty of dealing with Dusty and Gareth at home and the comforting but hectic pace at work, he was just stealing himself a little time.
Krist tried hard to spend his time learning when Tayne was out of the house. It wasn't always easy, but staying cooped up inside wasn't what he wanted to do either. Therefor the werehorse tended to get out when he could, travel the city and learn from the people he met. It seemed to make sense to him, and until he was proven wrong it would continue to be the norm. Krist made his way to the park he had been frequenting more and more lately, his backpack slung over one shoulder, dressed in a loose outfit of jeans and a button-up shirt he'd picked out at the store. The park was always a good place to go, especially when he was in the mood to people-watch. Today he was hoping perhaps to strike up a conversation, and as he sat in the grass beneath an oak tree he pulled out the big cat book Tayne had showed him a few days ago. He set it on the ground in front of him and sighed, flipping through the pages casually. Mostly he was scanning the images, wondering about tigers and large cats in general. Occasionally Krist would stop to look over the words, trying to make any sense of them. It was in vain though, and his expression was clearly frustrated. He felt useless, wished learning were a quicker process, that he'd even began to brush the surface of picking up the written language everyone around him seemed to be able to read and write.
Gideon jumped down from the fence only when it ended. He'd rather liked the elevation it gave him. He'd always been short, and mostly he wasn't too bothered by his height, but seeing the world from a few feet further up than was the norm was sort of interesting. He tripped a bit when he landed, winding up on one knee. His infallibly sure footing made that rather a bad sign. Maybe he did need to get some rest or a drink, or both. Maybe he should have taken Gareth up on... No, he wouldn't risk his friend's health. Not to keep himself a little more solid for his walk in the park. Gideon stood up and wiped the grit off his jeans, glad they hadn't torn and that the cloth was thick. He was nothing but a little bruised, muttering in Chinese. Then he looked up and realized he'd practically toppled into some poor man's lap. He really wasn't being observant today. Maybe... No, he wasn't going home to lie down. "Oh, hey, sorry. Glad I missed yah, but that was a close thing, weren't it?" He pulled off his glasses to wipe at a nonexistent smudge, as always wanting his hands to be busy when his mind was. Gideon looked and sounded tired despite his best efforts, and his accent was really coming out after spending so much time with Gareth and Dusty. He wasn't at his most intelligible, but his smile was as warm as the sun he couldn't feel.
If it had been any normal situation, Krist would have accepted the given apology and moved on with his life. As it was he stared wide-eyed at the younger man that had fallen down almost into his lap. Every muscle in his body tensed as he appeared - for all intents and purposes - as much like the form he had been born into, scared shitless and looking for an escape. When the words finally managed to catch up with his emotions, Krist calmed himself somehow, exhaling a sharp breath and offering a few brief nods of recognition. "Yeah... it was close," he agreed, his heart pounding loud in his ears. Krist swallowed and looked down to the book between them and up again, just to make sure it was alright. He would hate to ruin something that belonged to the man that had been good enough to take him into his home. "What... what were you doing?" he asked, looking up, confused. "Where did you come from?"
"Kinda playin' around. I'm good at makin' myself look pretty stupid." He smiled good-naturedly. "I was just... balancin' on the little fence by the flowers?" That did sound dumb when he said it aloud. That was the kind of fun that you really only got to have when you were shorter than waist height. "Jus' puttin' myself through my paces, I guess?" That'd be an excuse if he wasn't good at keeping his balance, or if he'd done it properly, but tipping off the fence when he'd been dancing along the thin edge of the white board without any trouble and then tipping off like a nitwit... He just looked like a doofus. Gideon pocketed his glasses and clasped his hands behind his back, rocking back and forth a little on his heels and trying not to feel so very silly. The result was exactly the opposite of what he'd have wished. "An' I came from back that way. An' afore that home. Whatcha readin'?"
Playing around? Krist looked up to where the stranger had come from, squinting slightly as he tried to make sense of that. Why would somebody do something like that? It seemed so strange to him, to somebody who wanted nothing more than to keep his feet grounded. "I... uhh..." He blinked, glancing from where the other man had pointed to and back again, eyes eventually dropping down to the book. "It's a book," he said, shifting a little anxiously in the grass. "There are pictures of cats in it. Big ones. Tigers." Krist pointed down to show him, flipping a few pages back to offer the image Tayne had showed him days ago. "I'm... I'm learning it." ...or trying to.
"Ooh. Tigers, neat." One of his brothers had turned into one. It had suited him about as badly as any House of Luna's alternate form suited them. Kivi was the sweetest-tempered creature in the world, shy, gentle, unable to so much as step on a bug without getting upset. He'd been sort of embarrassed about becoming a massive, powerful cat, but Gideon had loved it. Whenever he had cause to change, he could usually be talked into staying that way for a while so the youngest in the family could curl up against his fuzzy tummy. In this new world, he supposed he could just say that one of his blood-brothers had turned into one, but it was still hard to convince himself of that. "They're so pretty. My favorite cat." He dropped down to a crouch beside Krist, balancing on the balls of his feet with his arms clutched around his knees. "That's a real pretty book. I love flippin' through the ones like that at the library, with the big pictures of India an' China. ...Specially with tigers."
Krist smiled a little at the other man's obvious appreciation for the book, loosening up a bit at his interest. He nodded and looked down as well, thinking that tigers were especially great... and if that's what Tayne was, Krist wanted to know more about them. He thought they were beautiful. Krist sighed and turned the page, a photo of lions looking up at him. "Do you know what these are?" he asked, turning to meet this new person's eyes curiously. He wasn't afraid to ask questions as they came to him, something he'd picked up relatively quickly in a short period of time. Asking questions seemed to be the only way he was going to learn anything. He didn't mind that this person was a stranger. It just didn't seem to matter to him.
"Lions. Not as big. Or as pretty, if y'ask me." Gideon settled in cross-legged beside him, completely ready to spend the next while talking about pictures of big cats with a strange man he met in the park. He was startled to suddenly realize how big his companion was. He was used to being towered over, but not outright dwarfed. Gideon's nose twitched slightly. Though he had a sharp sense of smell from his other self, it wasn't really specialized to tell big, non-threatening creatures one from another. He thought he smelled something odd, but he let it go. Nothing scary about it, and he wasn't wired to his bat form the way a bat would be, so he could let it go. "An' that's the boy lion, an' that's the girl," he said helpfully, gesturing to each picture. The manes, he imagined, might be confusing. "Cain you not read? I could help y'through it." He wouldn't have thought that a person could grow up not reading anymore, with so many rules about school, but Gareth was proof that it could happen. It seemed like such a pity to him. Life without comic books.
Krist watched the pictures as the other man explained what they were, and which was which. There was a slight smile on his face, tugging at one corner of his mouth. "Boy lion, girl lion," he repeated, pleased to be picking up on something already. It was always nice to meet helpful people, ones that were willing to spend time with him like this. The question about whether or not he could read brought up a bit of a sore spot for Krist, but he finally shook his head slowly. "No, I... I wasn't taught how..." He bit his bottom lip, tilting his head a little as he considered the offer. "Help me read this?" he clarified. "Right now?" It was a promising notion, the idea that this stranger would help him learn about this book in the most straight-forward fashion he could think of.
"Yeah, sure, no problem." Sounded like fun. It'd be a good book. "S'tough. I don' remember so much when I learned readin' fer English, 'cus I was a kid'n all. An' there's somethin' about how yer brain's better at that when yer a kid? I dunno. But it took years an' years t'learn t'read Chinese, even after I could speak it. Stuff is hard." He figured someone might feel a little dumb for not knowing, but he wouldn't go without being able to read without a good reason. Gideon smiled softly, trying to make it clear that he wasn't judging. He turned his attention to the book. It wasn't written with too many hard words to trip his tongue up, not a kid's book but certainly not meant for a scientist. Seeing that he and the immense man shared a taste for tigers, he flipped back to that page. He read slowly, not very good at reading aloud. "The tiger is the largest of the big cats. These sol... solitary hunters are found naturally throughout Asia an' on some Pacific Islands. Although pro-pro...foundly endangered by human hunting, those tiger sub...species that per-persist are now protected, with the main threats comin' from illegal poachin' in tiger habitat..." He got more sure of himself as he went, reading through the entry determinedly.
Krist settled in to listen to the words as they were read to him, trying to follow what was being said as best he could. There were words he didn't know though, and his confusion was apparent, particularly as the other man read further into the passage. He folded his legs inward toward himself, getting comfortable to be there a while, considering they didn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. "What is that?" he asked suddenly, stopping the stranger mid-sentence before he could forget what he'd been confused by. "The illegal... poaching...? What does that mean? Is that bad? Illegal is bad, right?" He wasn't entirely sure, but he'd thought that he at least had a handle on the concept of what the word 'illegal' implied. He'd heard it at least a few times in his life, and it was never brought up with positive connotations.
One of Gideon's great weaknesses even now was any story about cute animals in peril. So while a crime that largely concerned Medieval fiefdoms and worldwide conservation efforts wasn't generally his sort of thing, the fact that poaching imperiled fuzzy things and therefore made it into Disney movies, cheap children's novels, and special issues of Gideon's favorite comics made him more than passingly familiar with the problem. "Yeah, it's bad. Huntin' creatures an' in places where y'ain't s'posed to." His eyes grew a little wider. "T'sell the parts of the critter for fur an' medicine that don't work..." That poaching might have other origins hadn't occurred to him, but he knew from his Chinatown days where a lot of poor tigers ended up. He'd actually cried about that when he'd found out, his first hint that running away to a new culture didn't fix everything he saw wrong with the world. "That's why there ain't many tigers left out in the wild. They've all got made into stupid powders an... hats, maybe." He didn't actually know what you'd do with a tiger skin. He found the idea gruesome without giving a moment's thought to his leather shoes.
"Oh..." Krist stared at the other man for a long time, mouth hanging open in his shock. He couldn't believe people would do such things... but then, he had experienced violence at the hands of humans as well. "Does this happen a lot?" he ventured, clearly deeply unsettled by the idea that this was fact. He had never killed anyone on purpose, and he couldn't imagine having to do that... ever. He had only just recently had meat for the first time, so this news didn't quite sit well with him. "Is there anything we can do to stop this... poaching? It sounds like something terrible. Do the police know? If not, we should tell them. I'll go tell them if you don't want to." It simply didn't occur to Krist that because this information was in a book meant that it was common knowledge. Tayne had to know about it, though. Maybe that's why he had seemed so worried about his tiger form.
Gideon realized rather suddenly that he was talking to a were. He should have noticed before. He really was sleepy. The information didn't matter all that much to him either way, except that he was annoyed he'd been so inattentive. "I... think it happens a lot. S'why animals are endangered and stuff. But it's only in India an' Africa an' places like that, where there's all that majestic wildlife." Gideon really liked the word majestic. He should use it more often. "So the police couldn't do anything. Like, they ain't in the right place. But there're people who do. In the countries where it happens. An' there're charities an' people who rescue animals. At least there're laws now. Used to be people'd just do it fer fun an' no one stopped it. I saw an awful picture of six dead tigers once. Made me cry." A bit of a problem, that, as he'd been a vampire by then and weeping blood at a public library was a little hard to hide.
Krist was horrified by the other man's explanation of poaching and what he'd seen. Six dead tigers... It made a chill crawl down his spine and he looked to the book in the grass, the photo of the tiger staring back at him just the same as before. He found himself worried for Tayne, despite the laws that were apparently set in place to protect him. "Where are those places?" he asked, turning to look up again. "India and... Africa? I've never been outside of this area before. Is it near here?" He licked his lips, wondering if these were places he could get to easily enough. If so, he wanted to try and help if he could. This poaching thing sounded serious. He didn't want more tigers killed if he could stop it from happening.
"Nuh-uh, kinda far away. Other side of the ocean. Oceans, actually..." Gideon wasn't very good at geography, but he was vaguely aware that there were at least three of them. "Where there are jungles an' stuff. Never been. Rest of my family has, though. They got all sortsa stories. An' one'a my brothers turns into a tiger, too." He hadn't actually meant to say that, but he'd already decided it was okay. A were would be okay with that info. His family were friends and protectors for bitten weres, after all, and tended to get along just as well with the born ones. Gideon twisted a lock of hair around his finger, a nervous habit he didn't even think about. Despite his reasoning, he was still shy of talking about anything supernatural, even to a supernatural. It didn't quite seem safe yet.
"Oceans..." Krist was vaguely familiar with what that meant, though he wasn't entirely sure quite yet. He nodded though, chewing at his bottom lip as he soaked up the information. "That's really cool, that your family has been to the jungle. I watched a movie with a jungle in it yesterday. There are a lot of strange animals there." Krist didn't even bat an eye at the information given out, though the fact that this person's brother was also a tiger made him that much more very easily. He tucked back some of his dark hair and offered a small smile, his hands collecting the book off of the grass to set in his lap. "Someday... I want to go there, too. I think it would be good. It would be good learning, maybe. What do you think?"
"Sounds like a great plan t'me! I might like t'go someday, too. I guess I could." He hadn't given it much thought, but not much was stopping him. Gareth would probably check up on Tara for him if he went on a trip. He had other family back in China, and then he could go on some real adventures, too. "Though there's a lot to see just in this ol' country, too. It's a bright, pretty place, lots t'take in. But wow, a jungle. S'an idea. An' sure, you'd learn a bunch." He paused. "Oh, yeah, I'm Gideon, by the way. You?" He held out his hand with a smile. Partly to be polite, partly to see how tiny his hand would look in this immense man's. What did he turn into, an elephant? It felt like it'd be rude to ask. Was there an etiquette for that?
Krist couldn't help himself as he grinned, a wide and honest expression that took over his entire face. "I've barely seen this place, so I guess maybe I should start here... But I would love to go to a... jungle... some day." He assumed this was just another way to explain the places tigers lived in, and left it at that. He would have to remember to ask Tayne about India and Africa later, though. Maybe the could go together. Krist broke out of his thoughts when Gideon introduced himself, blinking down at the hand with a vague sort of recognition. It changed when he realized what was wanted of him and he reached out to shake with him. "My name is Krist," he offered, his large hand closing over the smaller one too easy, dwarfing it and almost completely covering it. "I don't have any more names than that. Everyone else has two, and sometimes three names."
Gideon smiled. He didnt think he'd ever met anyone quite that big. Sure, he might have forgotten something. But he didn't think so. "Oh, well, I got a second one. An' I have a middle name, too, but it's borin' an' I don' really like it. Jus' John. 'Cus that was my granddad's name. So It's Gideon John Unterkoffer. But I don' really need t'use all that. Gid's fine." He thought for a moment. "I knew a Krist once. But heck, I know a lotta people. She was a werepossum from Georgia." He'd written to her just last night. He decided to ask what Krist was, because his nose wasn't quite helping. Not a predator, certainly. Gideon wasn't exactly unnerved by weres who turned into big carnivores, but they did make the hair stand up on the back of his neck. Just a caution thing. But beyond that he couldn't really tell. "What d'you turn into?" Maybe it was rude, but he was curious.
Krist blinked at the information and sat up straight, curious about this news. "You know someone else named Krist? ...Now you know two people named Krist." He smiled and released Gideon's hand and settled his back into his lap. "I like... Unterkoffer..." Krist said it again under his breath, as though he were playing with the sound of it on his tongue. He liked it. It was certainly more interesting than his own name. He wondered in the back of his mind if he would have two names some day... It was such a human thing. "What do I... you mean... my other form?" he asked in turn. "I'm a horse." It was said without hesitation or caution. Krist didn't have the sense to know he needed to be careful with this information, and didn't mind who knew it. "I've been a horse as long as I can remember."
"Oh, ok. That makes sense." A big horse, probably. Gideon had always loved horses, but he'd never even known someone who had one of their own. He'd gotten to ride a donkey once, but it didn't really count. His interest was definitely piqued. "I could tell y'were somethin' big an', well, gentle. Carnivores make me a little nervy." He turned a bit to speak to Krist directly, propping his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. Feeling so small next to the big man continued to amuse him. "Not complainin', mind yah. Some'a my best friends turn into meat eaters." He couldn't scent out alternate form in other vampires, and only got a general sense in weres. His bat nose was much better at pinning down individual scents, so he'd know Gareth or Dusty at fifty paces now. And food. It was excellent at food. "You born or bit?" The bitten were his to defend, but Gideon got along very well with most weres.
"I am very big," Krist answered honestly, his eyes open and wide. No need to start hiding things now, after all. "Bigger than most, I think. Tayne said so, and he used to ride horses. We went riding actually, a few days ago. It was great." He smiled and turned more to face Gideon as well, having a good time. The book was still safely in his lap, forgotten though for the moment. "I've been bitten before I think, just--" Krist cut himself off, blinking as he realized what the question had meant. "Oh, about being a horse...? I was born like this. I've been a horse most of my life, now. I mean... I've only just started living... like a human does. I'm still learning. I think that... I think I have a lot to learn, still. I can't even pay rent." It was said as though it were pitiful, one of the worst things he could think of. He hated that the money he'd given Tayne hadn't seemed to have any impact.
"Oh, really?" He'd known weres who preferred to live as their animal selves. It was just more comfortable for a certain sort of mind. He hadn't met anyone who'd never at least gone through the motions of being human. That family of werelions were close, but their patriarch hadn't really let anyone learn a thing. Nothing to do with being human or a lion. That did explain why, well, he seemed to understand the world about as well as Gideon did. He smiled a little at that thought. "Huh, that'd be tricky. Bein' human can be overrated. When I feel up to it sometimes I spend a whole day jus' bein' a bat. S'easier." Poor guy. Gideon didn't do very well learning how society worked, and things didn't change that fast. Imagine starting without any of the rules. "That must be tough. If you're havin' trouble with readin', y'oughta try kids' comic books. The words are easy an' the pictures help y'figure stuff out. An' for rent... Well, there're lots'a ways t'make money."
"Yeah... really." Krist appeared slightly uncomfortable by the question though, not offering up more information on the matter right off the bat. "I spend my days as a horse when I'm lonely or bored," he told Gideon. "While Tayne is at work. He takes care of me right now. I mean... well, he feeds me and lets me sleep on his couch. And Justin took me to get clothes." As though Gideon would just know these people based on their names alone. "That's where I got these. I can't even buy clothes for myself. What's... what are comic books?" Krist was a little confused by that word. He understood what 'book' meant, at least, but the other part of it...? "And how can I make money?" he added on immediately. These were important things; this was information he needed to learn somehow.
"Um..." Damn, he didn't have any with him. Which was rare, but he'd just wanted to go spend some time on his own this afternoon, and he had nothing on him but his harmonica. "They're stories told with pictures. So it's like a regular book, with pages an' everythin', only instead'a just words, it's a bunch'a pictures one after another, an' the only words written are what the people say and stuff. Don't have any with me jus' now or I'd show yah." He considered. "Well, there're regular jobs. Like at a store or a restaurant. An' there's buskin'... Uh, that's playin' an instrument out where people can listen an' they'll sometimes give yah money. Though s'not very reliable. Or there's makin' stuff, like art or warm clothes, an' then y'cain sell stuff. I do all'a those. I work at the Golden Dragon, an' I play my guitar or my harmonica, an' I make stuff like this." He held up the poncho a bit for emphasis. "Or I jus' do that fer friends. People shouldn't feel like they owe stuff. Gifts should be given jus'... cus y'like folk, an' y'want 'em t'know."
"Oh." Krist blinked, wide-eyed at the explanation. These comic books sounded intriguing. He'd have to ask Tayne all about everything he'd learned today so far. He wanted to see these comic books. Maybe they would help him pick up reading faster... not that he'd even started learning, really. Krist had a long ways to go before becoming literate. He looked down at the poncho curiously, wondering if the things he'd given to Tayne had been seen as a gift. "Can I do those things?" he asked anxiously. "I mean... can I work in a store or a restaurant? What would I do there? I can cut vegetables. Would that help?" He wanted so badly to do something worth his time, to help out if he could. Tayne had told him not to worry, but... Krist couldn't stop himself from feeling guilty regardless.
"No reason why not, I guess. At any job y'gotta learn how t'do things, so y'wouldn't be that far behind anyone else. Readin' would help a lot, though. Instructions an' prices and stuff like that is written down. It might be easier if you got a job, like, at a lumber yard. Yer strong enough, I bet, an' that's pretty easy. Y'jus... Follow instructions. An' I bet you'd like workin' outside." Krist struck him as outdoorsy. He searched for more ideas. "Y'might be able t'make things, too. It ain't so hard if y'got time t'put in. But I bet somethin' outside with a lotta liftin' an' hard work might be best fer you. 'Cus I bet it'd be easier fer someone yer size, an' they'd wanna hire you." He smiled, liking the idea. "Are y'hard up? I got cash t'spare. I mean, I usually make a lot more'n I need." He just didn't have a lot of expenditures.
Krist wondered about not being far behind other people when learning a new job. It seemed he was far behind everyone, in every way imaginable. He couldn't read, he didn't understand most human concepts, he couldn't cook for himself... It seemed daunting, the idea of having to keep up with humans in a normal work environment. "Outdoors would be good," he agreed, wondering to himself what a lumberyard consisted of. He really had no frame of reference to base it on. "What's hard up mean?" he asked, head cocked to the side. "I don't know. I don't have anything." And it was true. Krist had watched others pull out wallets, use cards and paper money, but he had no such things himself.
"Well, I imagine if y'got a friend lookin' out for yah, you can't be that bad. But if y'needed money for somethin', well, I got extra." Gideon shifted. "Hard up means... y'know, y'don't have money an' y'need it. An' I don' need much, since all I gotta pay is rent on my little patch'a land an' for gas sometimes." Vampires didn't need heat, plumbing, food, frequent new clothes, or any special expenditures at all. And though he was only part time at the restaurant, not needing health insurance or anything but the most basic for the van, between his job and the busking and knitted things, he was more than solvent. "S'good that y'got someone lookin' out for yah. That way someone's got yer back, an' as long as that's true y'won't be hard up at all. But hey, doin' somethin' nice for 'em's no harm. Money's nice, but it ain't mucha'a a gift from the heart."
Krist nodded agreeably. It was true that Tayne was looking after him, taking care of all of his needs as best he could. "Why don't you have to pay for very much?" he asked, curious about this new friend of his. His hands messed with the book in his lap absently, opening and closing it a few times. "I want to do nice things for Tayne. He's a weretiger, which... is why..." Krist looked down to the book briefly, glancing from it back up to Gideon. "Are there things I could find for him that he might like? I want to make him happy, because... well... he's helped me so much already. He almost ran me over when we met, but it wasn't on purpose."
"Why? Well, one'a the nice things about bein' a vampire. No worries about food or keepin' warm an' stuff." He'd forgotten he hadn't actually mentioned his undead nature yet. They'd been chatting so companionably. Maybe his other recent friends had just put him at ease. "S'kinda a neat way t'meet someone. That'll be a story for a good, long time. It depends what he likes, really. Cookin' is usually a good way t'show someone how nice y'think they are. Since y'don' have any money y'couldn't really buy him anythin', but maybe y'could make somethin? Or jus' make sure all the chores are good an' done, or y'cain give backrubs, or some people jus' need someone t'sit with 'em an' listen. People are different. S'what makes 'em so neat! Whatta y'think he'd like?"
Krist perked at the mention of being a vampire. Somehow it explained so much. "I met another vampire," he told Gideon. "His name was Connie, and he had a motorcycle. It was really, really loud." He smiled, remembering what an experience that had been. It seemed like so long ago now, though it'd only been a week and a half or so. "I could give a backrub, maybe. That sounds easy. And I want to learn about chores. I want to help out. Tayne said he would let me do chores, but I haven't figured that out yet. You could help me, maybe." He was far too naive to realize that perhaps he was being presumptuous or rude. "I know that Tayne likes to be able to relax. He likes movies. And... he's always worried about biting me. I think his first change is coming soon... Is there something I can do to help him?"
"Oh, he's bit!" Gideon nodded. "Aw, that's pretty bad, the first one. Well, full moons is always pretty bad. But don't hardly compare to the first time." Gideon shivered. "I guess he's already got arrangements t'make sure he won' hurt anyone? I cain help him figure that out if he needs it. See, my kinda vampire is supposed t'help out bit weres with those nights. Y'cain't do too much under the full moon, but y'cain help him before an' after. Usually y'come back real banged up an' unhappy after a night like that, an' he'll need a friend there. Plus someone t'help with the bumps an' scrapes. An' it jus'... it feels nasty, losin' control like that. Be good t'have someone waitin'." Gideon nodded sagely. He'd experienced both sides of those nights. "Chores is pretty easy. I could give y'a hand, but I bet y'won't have too much trouble once y'git told the idea."
Krist listened with apt interest, clearly taken away by the details of what sort of vampire family Gideon belonged to. "That's very good of you, to help them out. I was told to be careful of vampires, but... I haven't met any that have been bad yet." He shrugged easily at that. He wasn't worried about what they might do to him. Eventually, Krist would need to learn to be wary of strangers. It just hadn't quite come up just yet. "I'll be sure to be there for him when he comes home, then. I would hate to have to leave him alone like that. And if you wanted to help me... learn what chores are, I mean... that would be really nice of you. I don't even really know what... you know, what that means." Krist tucked back some of his dark hair and shrugged, clearly a little embarrassed.
"Some vampires, maybe. Some of them have weird rules. But not us. House of Luna is there to look after weres." Gideon nodded happily. "Chores? Oh! Well, that's easy. All the li'l things that go into runnin' a house? That's chores. Cleanin', mostly. Gotta do that most often. Sweepin' up the dust, wipin' off tables, washin' dishes, that stuff. Maybe if somethin' broke, fixin' it would be a chore. I'm really good at chores, actually." He smiled a little proudly. Cleaning the temple from top to bottom was a daily activity for the newest student back with Chongde, and he could spot and scrub away the littlest speck of grime. "I cain fix things, a bit, too. I'm real good with my hands." Gideon found housework familiar and soothing, maybe even a chance to show off.
"So are there many different types of vampires, then? And does that mean you look after weres like me too?" Krist scooted a little bit closer to Gideon, as though to soak him the knowledge by proximity. It wasn't really a thought-out idea, but rather just a subconscious action. "I need to learn these things, then, how to clean up the house for Tayne. I think I know how to wash dishes. I've watched Tayne doing that before. So maybe while he's gone I can do things like that?" He needed to learn what else that involved, what other things he could do to make it any easier on his housemate. He felt bad for Tayne having to take care of him like this and having nothing to really contribute.
"Yeah. Thing about dishes is they're easy to break, an' water'n soap make 'em slippery, so be careful not t'drop 'em." Gideon had shattered a lot of plates in his day. "I guess I could give yah, like, a basic tutorial. But it's all simple. T'sweep, y'just take a broom an' move all the dust on the floor t'the same place, an' then toss it all out. Cleanin' stuff with a wet cloth can be tricky, depending on what it is. Like, you use different stuff on glass or wood or a tile floor." Gideon was having trouble keeping track of all this switching back and forth from chores to vampires, but it made sense to him. He was just a little behind. "Um... Well, I have, like, special magic stuff t'help me deal with bitten weres on the full moon, but I really git along with all weres. An' I like helpin' out. So even though it's not what all House'a Luna does, it's what I do. Lookin' after weres like you, too, I mean."
Krist nodded, glad he'd been warned about breaking the plates. That was the very last thing on his agenda. Making Tayne's life harder just didn't seem like the right thing to do. "That's very nice of you, then, to watch out for weres. And you're helping me now, right? You're helping me to be happy." It seemed like a big deal to Krist. Gideon had already told him plenty to help him get started, and he intended to begin cleaning around the house as soon as he got home. "I'll have to see if he has... um, a broom?" He figured Tayne must, though, because his home was clean for the most part. It just made sense to him that all humans likely had the same things.
"Prolly. I mean, basic thing. Might wanna stick to basic stuff like dishes an' sweepin' the floor until y'cain read a little. Those cleanin' supplies is kinda confusin'. An' if yah use the wrong one, you cain ruin stuff." He'd taken the finish off a wooden surface a time or two. "Glad t'be a help. Most'a the bit weres I know, well, they have a whole lotta trouble right around the first time. Turnin' into somethin' totally new is tough, trust me." Dying was probably easier than turning into a completely different creature, too. "So it'd prolly be a big help t'him if he din't hafta worry about li'l things like gittin' the dishes done. Y'might try'n take him out t'ride or jus' out. T'git his mind off it. Least there's a few weeks 'til the full moon." Gideon saw nothing odd about a werehorse giving rides. He'd do it if he turned into a horse. That weremoose, Zelda, he'd met in Alaska had let him ride her. It had been very uncomfortable, but a lot of fun.
"Okay then," Krist said, eager to get home and start cleaning. It wasn't that it sounded like fun, but that he could possibly make Tayne's life so much easier on him. The idea in and of itself was immensely stimulating. "I... I did take him out. This weekend. I let him ride me. We had a really good time. I think he really liked it, even if he was a little hesitant about it at first. I could tell, even though he wouldn't have said it." Krist seemed okay with all of this though. "Maybe I should try to take him out again. Do you like horses?" The question was a little out of the blue, but Krist couldn't help it as the question came out. He wanted to know how Gideon felt about it. Maybe the vampire was good at riding horses as well?
"I love horses," he said, a little dreamily. Gideon's natural fondness for horses (as an abstract idea, mostly) had been fed by having five older sisters with full collections of Marguerite Henry books and an imagination too vivid for his own good. No one had horses in a poor, mountain mining town. And he'd never really had the chance while he was traveling. Once he was dead, of course, no horse would let him near. He supposed he might have thought of werehorses before, but how would one search for a werehorse, after all? Now he'd sort of fallen into one's lap. He'd watched them from a distance in the van a time or two. If he didn't get close enough to smell, he'd found, his House of Luna curse wouldn't frighten them. "I mean, never got a chance t'know any, but... Yeah, yeah, I do." He'd have gushed more, but it felt strange to, say, bounce up and down and squeak a little to a person, even if he did turn into a beautiful horse.
Krist felt a swell of pride pass through him at the way Gideon answered him. He was grateful to hear it when he did, that the people he met had an appreciation for his animal form. It was something he felt was useful, and humans tended to be suckers for large, gentle animals like him. "You can get to know me if you want to," he offered, offering his friendship without any thought on the matter. "We can go riding if you want, even. I actually really like it... it's just... it's how I was raised up... it's really all I knew until very recently." It was true to some extent, though the last several years before he'd been rescued had been unbearably lonely, starving and abandoned as though he had meant next to nothing. And then the brief stay he'd had with his foster family... Krist sighed, swallowing back against the memories that came up.
"Oh, I'd prolly fall right off. I got no idea how to sit a horse. I never learned." Horseback riding seemed to him like a sort of secret gnosis. He'd seen all the elaborate equipment that went into riding, the fascinating, complicated leather and metal bits. The books he spent months reading, when learning to ride a horse was touched on, treated it like a complex and dramatic rite of passage. But then... "But if I hurt myself I'd be better pretty quick. An' I have pretty good balance, even if I don' really know how it's s'posed t'work." Maybe? Maybe he could ride a horse? "Um... Um, maybe, like, we should know each other a while, first. Least a li'l. I could go by the library an' read about ridin' a li'l bit. Or... or somethin'..." He trailed off, smiling broadly, eyes sparkling, and on the edge of bouncing. He might get to ride a horse!
Krist nodded, bringing up a hand in an anxious gesture as Gideon expressed his concerns. "No, it's... it'd be alright. I would be really easy with you, and we could take our time. I promise I wouldn't go too fast or throw you or anything. But yeah... we can get to know each other more. We can... we can talk and you can help me read and then you can read books or whatever you need to do." He beamed excitedly, the vampire's bouncy attitude rubbing off on him a little. He was making friends and it filled him with too many feelings to try and comprehend. Mostly he couldn't wait until they were closer, and he had somebody he could talk to about his concerns over Tayne. The other man meant a lot to him.
"Oh, I could do that, yeah." He got to ride a horse! "Um, um, for the readin'... I thought'a somethin. else." He made himself calm down. He didn't get to ride a horse this minute, after all. "On top'a kids' comics. There're books they make for when y'first learn t'read. Y'oughtta git some'a those! They's mostly meant fer li'l kids, but that means they're real easy. An' they have ones that's all about animals, so y'could even learn cool stuff that way, too." An animal alphabet book... Yes, that'd do. "I could git it, since y'don' have any money on yer own yet. Books're my favorite thing t'shop for." With Gideon's laughable grammar and heavy accent, people tended to assume he was ignorant as well as stupid. He was, undoubtedly, pretty dumb, but he'd packed a lot of raw information into sixty years, filled his head with facts and stories even if he didn't really connect them into a very big picture. And he was rather good with language and writing, even if he couldn't spell to save his life.
"Oh," Krist said, so intrigued by this offer. "You would get me a book?" he asked, leaning forward slightly. "Would you... next time we meet up... I mean, can I have it then?" Krist thought about when they might see each other next, and decided he should make sure to mention it before taking off. "I... do you think that we could meet again, maybe tomorrow? I mean... if you can. You don't have to. But we could, if you wanted. And we could go to the diner Tayne works at, because I know how to get there and you might know it too." He tried to remember what it was called, and pulled out his cell phone, considering actually calling the other man to ask. "It's... sun-something... I don't... I can't remember it."
"Um, nah, I ain't seen it yet. I don' keep the best track'a restaurants I don' work at. Since I don' eat an' all." That was a problem. He didn't have a phone, either. Maybe he should get one? Phones had been confusing him deeply the last few decades. You couldn't even see them half the time now. They stuck to people's ears like in alien movies. "I could definitely git it by tomorrow. I'll grab it on my way t'work. I guess I could ask about where... a restaurant that starts with Sun is..." That didn't sound promising. He had no one to ask but Gareth or Dusty, and had a feeling he'd just get blank stares from both of them. "Um, could we meet here agin? I could find this park. It's a pretty one. Could you? An' we could go to a diner, if you want." It would be sort of awkward to sit there and not eat, but Krist probably had to eat a lot to keep a body that size going. He'd probably make up for both of them. He could pay. It'd be nice to spend some of his backed-up money on a friend. He usually donated it to a shelter when he had a lot extra, but this'd be nice and immediate.
"Oh, uh, yeah, you're right..." Krist felt his face turn red and he shifted, feeling foolish. Vampires didn't eat, not like normal humans -- or even really like weres. He and Tayne ate a lot, and he'd just assumed rather than thinking it through. "We can meet here tomorrow. This place is really pretty. Do you... do you want to meet at the same time again?" He was looking forward to it already, and looking forward to getting home to clean Tayne's house. It wasn't particularly filthy, but Krist was excited all the same. "We can go to a diner, or we can sit here. Either way works. The diner has lots of yummy foo-... oh yeah, sorry." He turned away, rocking a bit and feeling ridiculous. He was just excited and couldn't really help himself.
"Well, if y'want, I'll bring somethin' t'eat for yah." A horse and a weretiger... No wonder Krist expected a big meal. "Or we'll jus' go. I'm sure if I smile with fangs they won't wonder why I'm not eatin'." And perhaps spark a bit of a scene, but Gideon didn't think of that. "I'm a real good cook. The same time is good. I usually go for walks right around now, since I work in the late afternoon through to late." Sure, he hadn't really done it yet, but he'd been having his new moon problem lately. He'd start going for walks right around now. It was nice to breathe a bit of air between leaving his beloved but slightly airless van and heading into the sensory overload of color and dim light and overpowering smell and music and voices that was the restaurant. Sometimes his little bat senses just got too rattled for words at work, and maybe a walk would help him relax more.
"Oh, you can cook? That's great. I'd love that. That way we can just sit here and we don't have to worry about being around a lot of other people." Krist nodded along with speaking, definitely eager at the promise of learning to read, or at least being given something that would help him out. It was a confidence boost, for sure. He needed something like this, a helpful push in the right direction, something to keep his mind busy. As it was, he'd been searching for things to do and people to interact with -- which for someone as naive as he was, had the potential for being dangerous.
Horses spooked easily. He wasn't surprised that Krist might want to avoid a crowd. That left him to consider what a horse might like to eat. Something with a lot of greens, he imagined. He could probably pick up something from work right before he came. He knew what was good there. Especially the things he helped cook. Kai-lan, maybe? Over rice noodles? He didn't know why he thought of rice noodles beyond the fact that he liked them. He'd have to buy that anyway, since he'd be bringing his one free meal home for Gareth, but he didn't mind. "Yup! It's a nice spot. I 'specially like all the flowers around. Though I guess they don' last too long. Transient beauty an' all that."
"Right," Krist said, though he had no idea what he was agreeing with. He did like the flowers though, and took a moment to look them over. "So tomorrow then, we'll meet and read and... well, and I'll eat." He smiled pleasantly. "Around this time." The werehorse looked down at his book and took it firmly in one hand, moving to stand so that he could go home. "I... I don't like fish," he said suddenly, just to be sure he didn't have to pretend to like it when tomorrow came. "They're not very good. I think they probably belong where they came from, in the water. A mermaid gave me one, and I didn't like it very much."
"Wow, you met a mermaid? Well, uh, I wasn't gonna git fish. I figured you'd like somethin' leafy, maybe." Gideon rocked forward onto the balls of his feet and hopped up, chuckling a little to find himself looking straight into Krist's chest. "I kinda miss fish. My brothers'n me would catch catfish down in the gorge. But yah don't hafta eat it. No worries." Gideon fitted his glasses back on. They kind of got in the way of conversation, but he had a lot of walking left to do, and maybe some busking, so he'd want them. As usual they immediately began slipping down his skinny nose. "I'll see you tomorrow, Krist! Bye!" He waved and grinned and then jumped back up on the fence, feeling as though his balance was improved. He felt stronger when he was happier. He even tugged his harmonica from his pocket and began to play a few random bars as he teetered away.