InsaneJournal

Who: Mitchell and Damon Salvatore
When: Backdated: Sunday, July 14th. Evening
Where: A Bar
What: Two almost vampires walk into a bar
Rating: Pretty Much Family Friendly
Status: Complete

After his last couple of dreams, Mitchell could really use a drink. Not only had be almost died in the dreams, but he’d watched George tear Herrick to pieces. With Herrick gone, in his dreams, he could only hope that things started to look up for him, George and Annie, but for now, in the real world, Mitchell was going to go get a drink and try to forget about the dreams all together. Honestly, he wouldn’t mind if he stopped dreaming now, because that would mean that he wouldn’t change anymore than he already had and wouldn’t become a vampire. He really wasn’t looking forward to that happening and would prefer if it didn’t.

After talking to Damon on Valarnet, they had decided to meet up at a bar in Irvine that Mitchell had found not too long after getting out of rehab. The way he figured it, alcohol had never been his problem, so he could still drink. It had been the heroin that he’d gone to rehab for and was thankful everyday that his family had stepped in when they did. Reaching the bar, Mitchell checked his watch then pulled out a cigarette and lit it as he waited.

Damon knew his way to the bar, several of them in fact. After the whole fiasco with Katherine and Stefan, the bottle had become his best friend. He would never confess it, but several of them could guess. When he was upset or angry, he drank. He also drank when bored, frustrated, even happy. Now he had dreams to contend with, which had left him wondering what he was supposed to become.

He was really interested in meeting another dream vampire. They had a lot of common ground, even coming from different places. He could also use a friend or two. He waved when he saw the man from the net. “Hey, glad you could make it. First round is on me.” He had a feeling they would get along just fine.

While Mitchell had met Mavis, who was already a vampire, thanks to her dreams, he hadn’t met another dream vampire in person and he was also looking forward to it. Damon might not have been turning yet, but he was having dreams about being a vampire and Mitchell was curious to find out how the vampires in their respective dreams were similar and different. Spotting Damon as he came in, Mitchell extended a hand to him, “It’s good to meet you in person,” He would certainly take him up on the offer of first round.

“Good to meet you, too,” Damon grinned, shaking the man’s hand. He did want to know about other vampires in the area. He hadn’t really given into the dreams yet. Sure, they all seemed to have them, but he didn’t understand how anyone could change, and although he heard about it, he didn’t truly believe. This man had a bit more experience in the matter, and from the looks of him, the two could be easy friends.

He led them to a table and sat, waving over a waitress. “What are you having?” he asked, ready to give her the orders.

Mitchell placed his drink order, which was unsurprisingly, beer, then waited for Damon to place his own and for the waitress to leave before he spoke, “So, having dreams about being a vampire too, huh?” Yup, he was cutting right to the chase. This was why they had decided to meet up wasn’t it? To talk about their respective vampire related dreams. “What’re yours like?”

“Whiskey straight up,” he told the waitress, flashing a charming smile and waving her off. He waited until she was out of range before looking back to John. “I never pictured myself sitting with anyone talking about dreams, or actually thinking that I might wake up one morning with fangs.”

He sat back in his chair with a laugh. “Apparently I was alive in 1864. It was a period of civil war, but unlike Star Wars, there were vampires in my hometown and I was with one, and so was my brother. Long story short, she changed us both, and I made my first kill courtesy of my brother.” He looked around deciding it was better to keep this between them. “I have strength and speed, and apparently healing. Twisting someone’s neck is a good way to stop another vampire for a little while, and I’m a daywalker thanks to some ring. How about you?”

Mitchell listened to Damon, noting the differences and similarities between them, "World War I in Ireland. My troop got lost, at least that's what I thought. Stumbled upon them after they'd been killed by a small group of vampires. For one reason or another, they decided to turn me," Seeing Herrick with those eyes and those fangs was still somewhat unnerving, "Hung around with their lot for awhile until I started to reject my vampire nature in the sixties and managed to quit. The sun doesn't bother us except for our eyes."

“Sun burns, I think,” Damon said, trying to think about it from what he knew of the dreams. He really wasn’t sure about it, save that he had been given a daylight ring. It was a logical assumption. He looked at the waitress arriving with his drink, giving her a quick wink.

“We can compel others to get them to do what we want. My brother was compelled by our darling Katherine to drink from her. I did it on my own. That was during my bout of stupidity.” He rolled his eyes and took a drink. Thoughts of Katherine, in dreams and otherwise made him want to drink. “Do you know the people from your dreams here? It’s like I expect the Tin Man and Cowardly Lion next. They will be friends of mine from home. Katherine is here, along with her twin sister, who dated my brother in the present day dreams. Here, he’s with someone else, and she’s almost with me. Those twists were stranger still.”

“Do you think you were or are that dream version of yourself?” That was the real question anyway, and Damon couldn’t quite wrap his thoughts around that possibility.

“How do you compel someone?” Mitchell asked as the waitress brought their drinks over. As far as he knew, vampires in his dreams couldn’t make people do things like that. He nodded in response to Damon’s question, taking a sip of his beer before answering, “My flatmate, Annie, in the dreams actually lives with me here. I didn’t know her before the dreams though. Then there’s Nina, who was dating my other flatmate in the dreams. That flatmate though isn’t out here or at least hasn’t made himself known yet.”
As the next question was asked, Mitchell contemplated it for a moment or two, “I’m not a monster, if that’s what you’re asking. There’re some things that are similar, but I’m not evil.”

“Let’s hear it for the bad guys. According to the dreams, I’m quite the asshole.” Damon laughed, taking another drink. “I’ve heard that I turned someone for fun, and that I am murderous.” He wasn’t really sure what to do with that information. He could see traits of himself in the dreams. He didn’t know if he would really go in that direction.

“The compulsion is interesting. It’s like mind control. We just have to have eye contact and it’s almost impossible to break. I really haven’t seen it broken.” He didn’t have much information to go on, but what he did have was so - tempting. Power like that could be used in so many ways. He would be a fool not to see the potential. “What kind of powers do you get?”

He signaled the waitress again. “Have another round ready,” he told her. He didn’t like to wait for drinks. Once he finished on, he wanted the next on the table.

“I was somewhat of a legend among the vampire community in my early days apparently.” Mitchell said as he took a sip of his drink, “Didn’t care who I hurt or who I killed.” Talking about it brought on the memories of waking up with the taste of blood in his mouth and he took a longer drink to try and erase the coppery taste from his tongue. “Yeah, we can’t compel people.” He waited until the waitress left again then looked up at Damon, “But as long as we’re talking about eyes...” Mitchell closed his eyes and when he opened them again, they were completely black. It only lasted for a moment before they cleared and the whites returned. He was able to control it now, but it was still the only vampire related bleedover aside from the sun hurting his eyes.

“I killed,” he nodded. He had a feeling it was more for spite than anything else. “My brother and I had a sort of feud going on. We would get along at times, and others -.” He shrugged and took a drink. From his impression of the dreams, he wanted people to believe that he didn’t care, but he did. He was complicated. “I told my brother that I would cause him eternal misery. I compelled people to think he was doing a few things that I did in town. There were a few supernatural pranks gone wrong. It’s pretty useful though.”

At the sight of Mitchell’s eyes, Damon’s narrowed. They changed in front of his eyes. He hadn’t really noticed the shift in his own in the dreams. “You can do that without being hungry or anything?” he asked. He would have to pay more attention to that. “The only visual change aside from the fangs, has been the pale skin. I look like I need some sun, or it’s that healthy vampire glow.”

“Right now I can. In the dreams, they turn black when I feed or when I’m high on bloodlust. Technically, I’m not a vampire here, yet. That’s the only trait I have from the dreams so far,” Mitchell took another sip of his drink as he listened to Damon, “But none of that has bled over yet, right? You’re still completely human here.”

“Still completely human.” He took a drink, feeling a little worried. Damon didn’t usually worry about anything, but he was quickly realizing that denial wasn’t smart, and if this was any indication, he was going to become a vampire, bloodlust and all. “How many dreams did it take for the black eyes to show up?” He wondered how long he had. It could be sooner rather than later. He would end up with fangs or worse. He could also end up dead. “What about your friends? How have they done?”

“Let’s have another round. I think we are going to need that.”

“Started dreaming in January.” Mitchell said, recalling his first dreams about meeting George and Annie before they’d backtracked to when he’d been turned, “My eyes changed in May. I had a dream where I turned this girl I worked with then she killed this other girl I worked with, expecting me to change her to save her.” Mitchell didn’t like thinking about Lauren and Becca, but he felt that he needed to explain the dream that had caused the change. “So, it’s been two months now since my eyes changed. There’s been nothing since then.” He thought for a moment about his friends and how many of them had changed, “One is a wizard. My housemate is a ghost in the dreams, but so far nothing physical has happened to her.” He didn’t know yet that Nina would wind up to be a werewolf and Darcy was human in hers.

“I guess we can toast to not really being undead.” He nodded when the man explained about his friends, a little worried about Stefan and Rebekah, and Elena particularly. Damon pretended he didn’t care most of the time, but he did. He wanted them to be safe, and there was a chance that they wouldn’t. Even with the bad blood between he and his younger brother, they were trying to repair that. He was still protective of him. He wasn’t looking forward to changing either, not to the man in his dreams - a vampire, who wasn’t the nicest guy around, especially when he had more going on now.

He waved a hand at the waitress, signaling for her to bring that next round. There would be more to come. “I wonder if there is any way to stop or reverse it?” he asked out loud. Would there be a day when any of them would just wake up normally, like the other 99% of the population? “From the sound of it, we are in for one long ride.”