no_restraints (no_restraints) wrote in the_dome, @ 2013-08-20 00:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | 04-08-2017, jack, jack and zania, zania |
flowers and favors
Who: Zania and Jack
Where: her house
When: mid day
Jack had flowers to deliver. So, he went and got some--a rather big, brightly colored bouquet--and went to Zania's, figuring she'd be inside, considering her 'condition'. Which, as he walked, he decided was one hell of a suck ass drawback to being a bloodsucker. It was a beautiful day, and his brother was stuck inside, and she would be too. Bounding up the steps, his injuries twinging as he ignored them, he knocked on the door, the flowers behind his back.
Zania was home because, really, where else would she be on a beautiful, sunny day? She was fine so long as she avoided direct sunlight, which meant the windows were open, allowing a breeze to come through, and she was in the kitchen baking. It seemed like a good day for cherry pie. While they weren’t expecting visitors, Zania was always glad to have someone come visit, and she hurried to the door, opening it with a smile and a bit of surprise. “Jack! I thought you’d still be in the hospital!”
He gave her a grin, and produced the flowers. "I probably should be," he said. "But how could I stay in there when I had flowers I promised a certain redhead?" he asked. "I'm a man of my word." When he wanted to be.
“Come in, come in,” she laughed, waving him in as she took the flowers from him. “These are beautiful. Thank you.” She hadn’t really expected him to bring her flowers, definitely not before he’d even healed properly. As he walked in the house, Zania noticed that he smelled a bit different, like her brother even, and the dangerous quality that he’d always had seemed to have increased. “How’re you feeling? Would you like something to drink? I’m making cherry pie.”
"Yeah, I'll have some." he said, heading inside. "How I'm feeling...better, I guess. Not one hundred percent, yet, but still. Apparently I need a little more vampire blood in my system--which, did you know about that?" he asked, figuring she ought to if she didn't.
“What?” Zania said, looking up at him as she set the flowers in the middle of the kitchen table. “No, what do you mean? I thought it didn’t work, which, I mean, is great since you lived, but what do you mean?” There was definitely an aspect there she was missing if he needed more blood.
"If you hadn't given me blood, I would have died. Flat out, I wouldn't have made it to the hospital at all. You saved my life. And, in that utterly cliche movie way, I'm going to tell you that I owe you. So, that's out there. Pick your favor wisely." he said.
Zania stood there in surprise, soaking it all in. Her blood had saved Jack. She didn’t completely understand it, but there must be some healing power in the blood, which was why he would have died without it. He had lost too much blood, but he’d made it anyways. “I don’t have to pick now, do I?” Zania asked with a little smile. “You’re the kind of guy that I might like to have in my back pocket.”
Jack shook his head. "No." he told her. "And I'd prefer it if you didn't word it that way. With my past?" he shook his head. "Being in anyone's pocket makes me a little...let's just not go there." he said. "I just owe you a favor, at some point. Just call whenever." He paused as he got a text, read it, and sent one back, pausing a long moment. "I don't imagine you'd donate a little more to the cause, would you?"
“Oh. Sorry, I... I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, smile fading away. She couldn’t imagine what she’d need a favor for, except for help hanging the lights or something at her club, but she didn’t want him to really feel like she had something over him. He was a nice guy, at least to her, and she wasn’t in the mood to be a bitch about it. “No, I don’t mind. Do you want to... I mean... how would you like it?”
"It's okay." he assured her. "I just don't like the phrase. But seriously, if you need anything, and that includes the types of things that you aren't willing to do but you know I would be...call." he told her, absolutely serious about it. "And thanks. Apparently there's going to be a little get together tonight, and I'm invited, and I want to be as healed up as I can be. I'm pretty good right now but a little more would be better." he admitted. "And...I don't know. Got a coffee mug lying around?" he asked with a smile.
“I might need blood eventually, but right now I’m good. And... I know what you mean.” She could take care of most of her own problems, but that wasn’t to say that something might come along, eventually, that was more than she could handle. And when she looked at her list of people that were good to help with things of that nature, there wasn’t one she could turn to. “Coffee mug works,” she smiled, walking around an incoming sunbeam to get a mug from the cabinet. “So this meeting later, is it for people like you?”
"Like me?" Jack asked, watching her walk around the sun. He wondered how fast she'd learned to do that, to automatically go around the light. Probably about as fast as he was learning to identify scents, and deal with the other senses thrust upon him. It was still overwhelming, but Jack was an adaptable personality.
“My brother got bit,” she said, leaning against the kitchen island as she pulled a knife out of the drawer. “I went to visit him and he could hear the clock ticking in the other room. It bothered him that he couldn’t hear my heartbeat, so I started asking questions.” Holding her palm over the mug, she pressed the blade into her palm, hissing softly with the pain.
He listened, nodding. "So, he's got differences going on." Jack noted. "And you figure I'm in there too." He shrugged. "You'd be right." he said. "I guess he's invited too, then." He watched blood drop down into the mug, and wondered how his life had brought him to this moment. Because seriously now. He was going to drink more blood. And he wasn't a vampire.
“You smell different,” she said, her eyes ticking up to his, then back down to her work. “And I know you’re smart. You’ve got Mannix, so you know what’s out there.” There were others that weren’t going to make the connection. She doubted she would, if she were in their place and didn’t have any reason to jump to wild conclusions. “Have you figured it out yet?” she asked, deciding that was enough blood for today before pulling the knife back and licking the wound as it healed. Then she handed the mug to Jack.
"Mannix said that, too." Jack told her. He took the blood when she offered it. "I have, I did somewhere between a leap of logic considering how you two wound up vampires and silver burning the shit out of my hand." he said, downing the blood in as fast a shot as he could. “Thank you.”
“It’s not a bad scent,” she said. “Just different. Like there’s this note that you all have that you didn’t have before, and it’s the same for all of you.” It joined them together, made them one. She suspected vampires had the same thing going on for them, if their sense of smell was as good or better. “Yeah, I kinda burnt Justin’s hand as well.” It was weird to watch him drink the blood out of the cup, like he was shooting back a shot of vodka in a coffee mug. “How fast does it work?”
Slowly, Jack could feel the vampire blood working. Healing his wounds up more. He'd be good for the 'meeting'. Still not one hundred percent, but that was Jack's life. He was never one hundred percent. He was pretty much always injured in some fashion, it was how his life worked. So, in his head, he was good. "I don't know. Not instantaneously, but not too slow, either?" he said. "Fast enough."
“You think the person calling the meeting’s gonna announce to the group what’s going on?” Zania asked, watching Jack carefully, trying to see if she could see the effects of her blood on him. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but he appeared to look better, though she didn’t see any wounds visibly heal up. “Who called it, by the way?”
"Looks like." Jack said. "And a doctor at the hospital. I'm guessing he worked it out for himself too, and had all the charts pulled from the attacks." It would stand to reason, anyhow. He also didn't actually see a need to hide it from Zan who was going to be there. If her brother was one, then he would assume he would tell her everything too.
That gave Zania pause. It made her wonder if it was the doctor dating her cousin. Because, if that was the case, it was possible Nic had clued him in. But also, as a doctor, he would have noticed the differences himself. She didn’t want to call him out, just in case she was wrong. “I wonder how that’ll go, putting you all in a room together to discuss something of this nature.”
Jack snorted, smirking. "'Worlds of not well' comes to mind." he commented. "Hell, just thinking about this shit? It's already got my hackles up, so to speak. And this asshole texting everyone like he's in charge just because he's got access to medical records? Fuck that noise. If I'm feeling like this, I'm betting other people will too."
“Well, if you end up fighting it out, try not to kill my brother,” Zania snickered. “I wonder how much of it has to do with what you are. I mean, if werewolves are anything like wolves, there’s a pack leader, right?” It made her want to run down to the library and figure out what they were dealing with.
"Yep. I'm wondering too, though honestly I don't feel like I'm not behaving like me. I don't feel like any of this is out of character. So, maybe we'll have to duke it out for pack leader. Maybe other people won't give a shit." Jack shrugged.
“I’d guess it’s a fit for some people and not for others. You don’t strike me as a follower,” she said. Neither did her brother, but he wasn’t a good leader, either. Jack might be, for all she knew. “I guess this is good for letting others know what they’re dealing with, if they’ve been in the dark about things like vampires. Because when the full moon comes, it could be chaos outside.”
"Yeah. I'm not sure what to expect there. Or at all. So far, things just seem to be overwhelming. Senses going haywire, all this new information pouring in at a huge rate. But beyond that..." he shrugged. "Then again, I was unconscious for most of my time between the attack and now, so maybe other people have more info on that."
“I think a lot of it’s going to be waiting it out, seeing what abilities come with the full moon, and maybe locking yourself up the first time, just in case?” She didn’t like the idea of it, but had suggested it to her brother, not wanting to see him go on a rampage and get himself killed. “Even if werewolves aren’t killer monsters on the full moon, there are hunters out there now, looking to hunt wolves.”
Jack nodded. "Being careful is a good plan. It's what I figured I'd do. I don't especially want to eat a shotgun shell. And right now, I know there were a lot of wolves that wound up dead. So, yeah. Better safe on that score." he wholeheartedly agreed.
“It bothers me that I killed some wolves that might’ve been humans,” she said, leaning back on the counter. “But then I think of the fact that they were attacking people, killing them, and it doesn’t seem as wrong. And just when I think I’m okay with the idea of killing a wolf, I jump back to the fact that it could be you, or my brother, or someone else I know.”
"I don't know that they were. Like I don't know that the bats that got you two were vampires." Jack said. "I don't think we'll ever really know, though, so best not to dwell. You were killing creatures that were slaughtering people. That's a good thing." he assured her.
“True. And if they were, does that mean that I’ll eventually be able to turn into a bat?” It was weird to think about, being a form other than human. She didn’t know if that was possible for vampires, but it was definitely going to happen for werewolves. “I guess you’re right. I can’t worry about something that I don’t even have proof that I did, and it’s already done. No use crying over spilled milk and all that.” It was a good way for her to think of it, rather than possible murder.
"Exactly." Jack said with a little wink. "Think positive. And about whether or not you're going to like it as a bat, and if you're going to adopt a cute nickname because of it." he teased.
“If I was a bat, I could fly,” she grinned. Now that would be a perk. “I think I’d have to try it to find out if I liked it. And I’d probably be cool with nicknames, so long as it’s not batgirl. I don’t see myself running around with a mask, fighting crime, and that’s what that makes me think of.”
Jack laughed. "I'll keep that in mind." he promised. "Anyway, I wanted to bring by the flowers, and maybe some night we can go get a drink or something. But I should probably get going--I apparently have a meeting to attend later."
“I’d like that,” Zania smiled, leading him back towards the front door. “I don’t have near enough people to drink with.” And she had the feeling that Jack would be fun. Definitely better than someone she was pining over.
"Perfect." Jack said, happy with this. He could get to know her better either way, he owed her, and since he was sticking around in town, he could use other people to hang out with from time to time as well. So, that worked. "Talk to you soon," he promised, heading out the door, feeling pretty good, really.
“Have fun at your pack meeting,” she teased, waving as he headed out. She still couldn’t believe he’d brought her flowers, but appreciated the gesture. It wasn’t every day she saved someone’s life, but she’d saved two on that night. It was something she was making a habit of and that she could enjoy. No one would feel the need to hunt down a vampire that saved people.