InsaneJournal

Who: Mavis + Scud
What: Showing off the Battyness
When: Mid week - night time
Where: Scud’s place
Rating: Low
Status: Complete




Mavis awoke from her dreams feeling very strange indeed. Very strange, and very small. Judging by the shadows on the walls, it seemed she had slept through the entire day and into the next night--and while she wouldn’t have to be to work right away, there were all kinds of new sounds and echoes to chase. After some bumping about the room, and some encouragement from Alex and Lorna, she finally figured out what was going on--enough to figure out how to get out of the hotel without freaking out the housekeepers or being chased by the night janitor.

And then she flew to Scud’s house, to rap at his window. It was entirely possible that she bumped into the glass a little as she landed on the sill. She was still getting the hang of things.

He’d been sleeping; curled up on his couch with a blanket half covering him, but mostly fallen to the floor. The tv was still on, but at some time he must have pushed the mute button, because when he woke it was to the bright colors and flashes of cartoons, but only the sound of the light rapping at the window.

Scud blinked, gave a half of a groan as he pushed himself into a sitting position, his hair rumpled and sticking up everywhere. “Wha--?” A little slow upon waking, apparently, he didn’t even think to get up and investigate the noise until he’d lit a cigarette and stared at the shaded window for a long second first.

A tiny face peered through the glass; big, blue eyes looking longingly at the scruffy man inside, pleading for him to have pity on a poor, lonely creature of the night. Or just waiting to see what he would do.

“Scud,” she said, in a very human voice--yes, it could talk! “It’s me!”

There was a tiny talking animal at his window sill.

A tiny. Talking. Bat. At his window sill.

If Scud were the type to have been more well-read, he might have come up with some weird Poe similarities, here. But he wasn’t, and so he wouldn’t. Instead he stared a little stupidly for another moment -- taking a long, nearly twitchy drag on his cigarette before setting it down in an ashtray, pinching the bridge of his nose in a way that said he probably had a headache coming on, and stood up.

He wasn’t exactly stupid. There was a bat at his window, and it was talking, and it sounded like a squeaky girl, and he had a friend who was a vampire who could walk up walls and shit. He could connect dots. Sort of. He kind of did. He opened the window. “Uh,” was all he could think to say.

Mavis hopped through the window and turned a loop around Scud’s living room--careful not to bump into the TV, no matter how bright and distracting the cartoons might be. The last thing she wanted was a batty concussion.

“Hey there, sleepy-head!” she said, perching on the back of the couch. “Whatcha think?”

This was going to take a minute. Scud stared, blinked, rubbed at his eyes, and then stared again. At this point, someone in the room needed to be taken pity on, although who was unclear yet. “Uhm,” he said, and it was an improvement by a whole letter from the time before. Tiny steps for sleepy mechanics!

But then he sat down on the couch - closely enough to inspect the tiny bat. “M,” he said after another moment. “Either you got all the best party tricks, or I am having a fuckin’ weird dream.” Then again, it would be a nicer vampire dream than the ones he usually had.

Mavis ducked her head sheepishly, her bat-ears perking up at the recognition. Her big eyes were the same bright blue as ever. “I dreamed about flying, and woke up like this. I had to show you!”

This was weird, Scud reflected, leaning over to pick his smoke back up. But also kind of -- adorable? Scruffy mechanics made up of motor oil stains, cigarettes and whiskey should not have been so liberal with the use of the word adorable, but there it was anyway.

“You turn into a bat now,” he said, and it was a pretty lame thing to say, considering it was very much obvious. He had a very strong urge to poke her, and wondered if that might just be rude.

It’s okay, he could say it in his head as many times as he wanted and nobody would ever know! Right? If a bat could smile, Mavis was smiling, and she nodded, hopping a little closer to him along the back of the couch. Oh, she could probably change back any time she wanted, but this was just too much fun.

“I turn into a bat now.”

He took a drag of his smoke before settling it back into the ashtray again, very deliberately exhaling away from the tiny bat. Because he was a polite kind of guy when all the brass tacks were set aside.

“You do,” he said, as if he’d come up with this all on his own, and was quite proud of himself. And then, because he could not help himself, he offered out one of his hands for her to stand on. “Is it -- weird?” Everyone got such sweet powers, and he’d gotten a fucking tattoo. Seriously?

Mavis reached out with one winged arm, tiny bat-hand grasping Scud’s fingers as she stepped tentatively onto his hand with one foot, then the other. She trusted him all right, she just wasn’t sure if she trusted her own balance.

“Omigod, is it weird!” she exclaimed, trying not to poke him with her tiny claws. Much. “But it’s so amazing! I wish...” And then she paused, remembering something from her dream. “Well, I probably could carry you, vampire strength and all, but a tiny bat dragging a grown man by the scruff would be even weirder.”

Scud was forced to bite his lower lip as she transferred herself from couch to his hand. It was just -- it was just really fucking cute, okay? Also weird. But mostly cute. He moved his hand slowly, so that he could put it level with his gaze. “Christ,” he muttered, because she was ridiculously light. And because her eyes were still so giant and blue and -- well. Mavis.

“Yeah - let’s, uh, avoid that.” Because he had no interest in being carried around by a tiny bat. “This didn’t freak you out?” Shit, Scud was a little freaked out, and all he was doing was talking to her. Mavis, the little vampire bat.

“Yeah,” she said, shivering a little. “I didn’t know what happened at first, or how to change back. I think I freaked out Alex and Lorna a little, trying to get out of my room.” She stretched out her wings, balancing on his hands, and flexing her tiny fingers. “Sucks for opening doors.”

Scud took a long second to imagine Alex and Lorna arranging to have a little bat door made for Mavis when they got a place that wasn’t a hotel room. It kind of made him giggle. Possibly, he watched too many cartoons.

“Yeah, don’t look like the most opposable of thumbs,” he agreed, and marveled over how strange life had gotten lately that he could be having a normal conversation with a tiny bat in the palms of his hands and not think it the most disconcerting of all things. Really, they might need to reevaluate their outlooks on life.

Even that thought didn’t stop him giving her an awkward pet on the top of her head with his pointer finger.

It was entirely possible that Mavis had imagined the same thing!

Mavis folded her wings, and hr ears swiveled happily as he petted her fur, eyes falling partway closed. Mmm! No wonder Scud liked having his hair played with. “Door knobs are just awkward, especially the round kind.” She could snag a narrow handle and drag it downward, but her palms were just too small to get a good grip on the regular ones.

Even so, the petting and the being able to fly made up for it. “So how are you? Did you sleep okay?”

Asked the girl who had woken him. Ironic. Scud only gave a lopsided smile at that along with a tiny lift of his shoulder. Lazy shrugs. Then again, he didn’t really want to jostle her with any sudden movements. Not that Scud made a ton of those, anyway.

“M’okay,” he said after a beat. He could probably think of some things to complain about, but there wasn’t much of a point to it. “No dreams lately.” It was a nice reprieve, anyway. But then he frowned, and gave her a little expression that spoke volumes of confusion. “If you turn back, are you gonna have clothes?” Awkward.

No dreams. “Good!” That had been the question she was really asking, anyway. She tipped her head, studying that confused look, and just waited for Scud to spit out whatever it was he was wondering about. Then she giggled.

“I had clothes when I changed, so I guess so.” Don’t ask her where they went when she turned winged and furry, but they hadn’t fallen off, so it must be magic. “It’s not like I’ve got anything you haven’t seen before.”

Scud absolutely refused to give a furry bat any sort of expression that could be identified as flirty. Just because he didn’t have many standards didn’t mean he flirted with tiny animals, even if they were just people in disguise. Instead, he kept his expression as neutral as he possibly knew how. “Cool,” he said, because actually it kind of was. Secret magic wardrobe for tiny vampires.

Mavis nodded. “There was also a really loud Hawaiian shirt and a floppy straw hat in my room when I woke up,” she said, “Apparently, Dear ol’ Dracula met my Mum in ‘paradise,’ and I was obsessed with going to visit Ha Wi-fi. But I could never remember what it was actually called, in my dreams.” For a raven-haired creature of the night, Dream Mavis could be such a blonde!

“Ha Wi--Hawaii?” The brunet looked utterly amused by that. For her being a vampire, her dreams seemed almost nice. Just kind of cute. Scud was a little happy for her in that regard - no one deserved nights of complete depression or darkness - not even little creature of the night vampire-bats.

He gave her another little pat/pet on the head, and then offered to let her down. “Y’re weird,” he told her, but it came out oddly affectionately.

Mavis hopped onto the couch, transforming back into a girl in mid-hop, in a shimmering aura of blue-violet vampire magic. She smiled as if nothing had changed, and made crazy circles around one side of her head to show what she thought of her vampire self. “I’m Dracula’s little princess, locked up in a dark tower, and I’ve gone completely bats,” she said, “Literally.”

She wished she could make Scud’s dreams better, but at least she could give him something to laugh about when he was awake. “Oh, look, my clothes changed back with me. Damn.”

Bad jokes are bad, Mavis. Even Scud thinks so. Not that he’d ever say one way or the other. He grinned a little crookedly and shook his head. “Damn,” he repeated. He might have been more disappointed had he not just watched some weird shit go down. Really. Bat to woman transformation with just a little puff of purple.

And he’d gotten a tattoo.

Goddamnit.

Oh well. “Want something to drink?” Because now that he had company, he was no longer tired, and saw absolutely no reason to not make the best of it. He’d been feeling a bit lonely lately, anyway. Not that he’d ever say that, either. It did not occur to him that he was offering a vampire liquids.

“Yes, please.” Mavis said without hesitation. “And, yes, I still drink coffee and beer,” she added, just to clarify. “And milk, now, too.” She tried not to drink blood if she could help it, because it was still weird for her, and kind of made her feel a little tipsy. She was ditzy enough on her own.

Making his way into the kitchen -- it was an open room, so really it was like he was just walking twenty feet away -- he peered into his fridge. That milk didn’t look so great. A glance at the coffee pot was also a bit telling, particularly if he didn’t want to do dishes. Beer it was.

He grabbed one for the each of them and then passed one to Mavis the Girl (as opposed to the Bat). New nicknames were already forming in his mind. It probably wasn’t good. “Cool,” he said, although didn’t know why.

“Thanks,” Mavis said, and raised her bottle before taking a sip. “Cheers.” She wasn’t quite sure what else to say, now that the big, ‘hey, I’m a bat!’ thing was out of the way. She was still trying to process her goofy vampire dreams. “So, I guess I’m a hundred and eighteen years old now, in my dreams.”

Scud plopped back down on the couch, sinking into it until his shoulder was nearly pressed against hers. “Guess that means you’re older than me now,” he said, just this shy of cheeky. “You get t’vote more than once if you’re that old?”

Mavis snorted, and poked out her tongue; cheeky and then some. She leaned in, though, and bumped his shoulder a little. “I don’t know about here, but I wasn’t even allowed to leave the house, in my dreams. Ever.”

It was the middle of the night, and as such, Scud decided it was probably just okay if he leaned on her while they spoke. He sipped his beer, and then remembered to try and fix his hair a little so that it wasn’t sticking up too oddly. “Sounds boring,” he admitted with a face of disapproval. Sometimes it was hard to imagine one year in the same place - one hundred eighteen seemed like torture.

“You have no idea!” Mavis groaned, resting against him as they drank and talked. “The poor girl didn’t even know anyone her own age, even though Dracula owned a hotel for monsters, and threw her a giant birthday party every year. Frankenstein and his Frankenwife obviously can’t have kids, and the wolfman’s pups were all way younger. It’s like Mavy was a teenage rebellion just waiting to happen.”

It was a little funny how Mavis talked about her dream self in the third person -- funny how clearly she could keep the two separated despite everything. Even Scud had a hard time doing that, and he’d thought on it quite a lot.

“Seems rough,” he said, and it was a bit redundant, but to be fair he’d never said he was the best conversationalist. “Then again, teenage rebellion is the best kind, right?” He’d had some of that. Not in his dreams, though. Not that he knew of.

Sure, she’d dreamed about a hundred and some boring years as if she’d actually lived them herself, and there were a few highlights, but she wasn’t sure how much she could relate to dream!Mavis yet or not. Once upon a time, she might have--like, even as soon as before she started dreaming--but the dreams had made her realize just how much freedom her own father had actually given her, in spite of his overprotectiveness.

“It must be,” she said, “If I hadn’t rebelled, and come to school in California, instead of attending my father’s alma mater, I might never have started dreaming, and I never would have met you!”

“You might also not be a vampire.” Scud felt the need to point that out, even though he was a little touched that he ranked high enough in importance to be noted as an upside for moving here. It wasn’t really normal of him to have the type of friends to say so. He wasn’t even really sure how he ought to react to it, if he had to be honest. “But maybe wall walkin’ and batty-ness makes up for that?” A pause. “And lactose, huh.”

“Maybe,” she said, nuzzling his shoulder. “I do like ice cream, even if it isn’t vegan.” She made a pretend shocked face, as if she had just realized that fact. “As long as it doesn’t chase you away.”

Scud took another drink of his beer, before feigning a confused sort of innocence. “You likin’ ice cream? Why’s that scary?” Sometimes it was fun just to be purposefully contrary, and so it was a thing he did.

“Well,” she said, looking up at him, “There was this thing I liked to eat in my dreams called Scream Cheese...it was like cream cheese, but it would actually, like, stand up on your bagel and scream.”

“Of course there is.” Because that made total sense and wasn’t weird at all. Scud could really only shake his head - vaguely amused. “At least your dreams seem kinda funny.” He patted her head, and it was definitely not the same as when he’d done it when she was a bat. A different kind of fuzzy, anyway.

Mavis switched her beer to her outside hand and put her near arm around Scud’s neck, ruffling his hair in return. That at least she knew he liked, even if her dreams did weird him out. “I like making you laugh.”

Leaning into the hair ruffle, Scud let out a tiny noise of happy. Gosh, he really did like those. It was probably a little ridiculous, but he just couldn’t seem to be bothered to care. “Mmhm,” he said, although he wasn’t sure in response to what.

It didn’t matter, as long as he was happy. She kept going, scratching lightly with her fingertips, and leaned over to kiss his temple. She’d keep it PG, of course, but she could still dote on her friend.

“If you could shapeshift into any animal,” she asked, hypothetically--or at least she started to ask, and then remembered how bad Scud was with multiple choice questions. She gave a little humph and finished the question anyway. “What would it be?”

Scud mmm-ed and purred and leaned over into the petting until his head was practically in her lap. Which seemed okay. Cuddling was totally okay, right? Definitely. Whatever, he liked it. “Mm,” he said, sounding lazy and content. “Any...?” He paused, considering for a long moment. “I dunno. Dog?”

It wasn’t like he was sniffing her panties, or anything! She draped her arm around him and went right on stroking his hair. She didn’t mind if he fell asleep right there. Maybe he’d have pleasant dreams for a chance. “Golden retriever, maybe,” she mused, “Oh...ooh. Chocolate lab?” Because...chocolate. And he wasn’t quite stuck-up enough to be a cat.

He stretched over enough to set his beer down on the coffee table before cuddling closer again her and closing his eyes to further enjoy the head pettings. “Either one, I guess. Just sayin’ it’s --uh.” But he kinda forgot what he was saying, and so had to think for a moment to pull his thoughts back together. “Be a good -- defense thing? Nobody hates a dog, right?” Plus pettings.

“It fits,” she said, absently tracing the shell of his ear as she tucked his hair back. “Sweet, smart, and loyal.” If a bit goofy. “And fun-loving.” Very much like Scud. Interesting that he picked cute playfulness as his defense mechanism. And apparently it was working, because the little vampire feel very protective of him.

Hey, he was a lover, not a fighter. Scud could scrap around and fight if he needed to, but he did much better if he just got everyone to like or tolerate his existence rather than hate him. He wasn’t fully aware of his own capabilities here, but he was aware if he was nice enough, Mavis brought him pie. And he really did just like pie.

“Mm-hmm,” he agreed, wiggling his head in a tiny nod. “An’ I guess I don’t mind playin’ fetch. What about you? Bat perfect? Or somethin’ else?”

If Mavis were to describe her feelings concerning Scud, they would have been far from hate, and closer to strong like than mere tolerance. She might even fancy him a little. But she knew he'd be embarrassed if she said that stuff out loud, even if he wasn't otherwise occupied on the dating front. So pie and cuddling it was. And it was good.

"I don't know," she said, "I never really thought about it until now. I can't even see what l look like as a bat. No reflection."

He wiggled around on the couch until he could look up at her with his head still in her lap, eyebrows raising slightly. “Takin’ pictures don’t work?” It wasn’t as if Scud knew all the vampire lore out there -- he only knew what his own dreams had to offer (and no one really seemed to care about their reflection, they all seemed more concerned with finding the coolest possible trenchcoats). Mavis vampires and Scud vampires were very different things indeed.

“We could try,” she said, “I know Dracula had some family portraits in the castle. They might have been paintings, though. Especially the giant one on the wall.” She shrugged. “It could be worth a shot, though.”

Loathe as Scud was to remove himself from the hair petting zone, he figured it might be nice to do something helpful for her. So, rolling off the couch to a standing position, he searched around his coffee table for his phone. "S'try it, then."

Mavis grinned, and bounced, and poof! She was Batgirl. It got easier to switch back and forth every time she tried it. “So,” she asked, posing like the Audrey Hepburn of bats. “How do I look?” If he could see her through the camera, then she’d probably show up in the photo. If not...she’d just have to pester Nate to show her telepathically.

Scud snorted, turning the camera on his phone on. It seemed to work, anyway. She showed up on the little screen. "Prettiest bat I know," he murmured with a lopsided smile before snapping a picture and then turning his phone round to show her.

“Aww!” Mavis cooed, clasping her little hands beneath her fuzzy chin. “That is adorable! I am the night!” She burst out laughing. “The fangs look so natural in that face. Do they look that cute when I’m me?”

Giving a snort of a laugh over Mavis' enthusiasm, Scud saved the photo and nodded. "Yeah, they're kinda cute honestly." Which was a pretty big compliment coming from a guy who'd been eaten by teeth like that. "Change back. We'll do another."

Mavis preened, and swept a wing across her body in the classic Dracula cape-twirl; smoothing her clothes as she switched back. Yep, everything was still in place. “After this, we should do one together! We can say Scream Cheese!”

"Nerd." Despite an eye roll, Scud don't exactly say no to the silly suggestion. He didn’t, after all, make it a habit of saying no. It was still a little weird watching her go from human to bat and then back again, but instead of commenting he just snapped another photo and then handed her his phone. Mavis was going to be stuck in a land of self photos just to see if her hair was right, soon.

“The Geeks shall inherit the Earth!” Mavis proclaimed, grinning happily as she inspected the photo, and nodded her approval. Maybe she didn’t need to worry about whether or not her hair was right. Bedhead looked cute on her. Maybe perfect hair was a vampire power!

She grinned some more and patted the couch cushion for Scud to join her. She figured he would say no if he really, truly objected.

Why he'd object to a photo op was beyond him. He flopped back down to his original spot, leaning close for one of those perfect, albeit kind of lame group photos. They could both have bed head for this one. "Scream cheese?" He said it more bemusedly than smiley. Which suited.

Mavis leaned in, cheek to cheek, flashing her stabbity whites and echoing, “Scream cheese!” as she snapped the picture. Then she handed the phone back to Scud so they could both see the results. “I so need a copy of that to take home with me.”

"Of course," Scud said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, fiddling with the touch screen on the phone until all the pics they'd just taken were sent to her phone. Technology was pretty awesome these days. "Ta-da!" And then he tossed his phone back onto the coffee table and flopped down into her lap again. It'd been comfortable, and was also totally payback for how he'd been woken up.

Mavis giggled, satisfied that the pictures were safely stored on her phone, and content to return to petting Scud’s hair. The couch was comfy. Scud was warm. She was not going to complain about being held hostage one little bit.

It was hardly being held hostage when she’d invited herself over in the first place, anyway. Scud was just being an improper host. But no one could have expected anything different from him anyway. He’d gotten drinks, his job was done here. The cartoons were still flashing brightly on the tv, and he was content to watch them without sound and just lounge with Mavis. “What else has been goin’ on?” Because silence was weird sometimes, and he really only managed it with a few people.

“Well, I got another job, interning in the research department of Frost Industries, where my friend, Nate, works,” she said, watching Scud more than she was really watching the cartoons--at least what she could see of him. “That’ll count toward my college credits. And I was supposed to be going on a trip with Alex and Lorna, but weird stuff keeps happening, so they haven’t set a date for it yet. Not much else, really.”

"Another one?" He turned his head up enough to peek through his bangs at her. "Keeping the other one too?" A beat. "What kinda weird stuff? They ain't gettin you into trouble are they?"

“Yeah. I love the bakery, and I like being able to bring you stuff.” She smiled, and combed back his bangs. “Just dream stuff. Orange County stuff. It’ll work itself out.”

"Mm," he said, half closing his eyes. It was hard to think of a way to argue with any of that logic, and so he didn't bother trying. "Long as y're happy." Because Scud was a big believer in doing things that made him happy, and he thought others should be too.

“Right here, right now?” She hugged his shoulder gently, and leaned back against the cushions. “I’m happy. Just like this.”

Scud couldn’t disagree. It was -- comfortable in a way he would find hard putting into words. Instead he gave a miniscule nod of his head, smiled a smile that was barely an upward curl of his lips and closed his eyes completely. “Yeah.”