It's good to be normal.

[Rhindeer]

So far, so good.

Kujin had been in the city for a grand total of two days and so far he hadn't been a.) chased by a loony vampire slayer with a big-ass sword, b.) killed anyone or c.) been hit on by any men or women who, for some strange and twisted reason, found vampirism incredibly hot and wanted him to suck on their necks because, for some other strange reason, they forgot he looked like a pasty sixteen-year-old whenever the fangs came out. Oh, Ketra. It was a godsend so far. Arca had been nothing but trouble for the short while he'd stayed there, days filled with being hunted or hit on. Maybe it was just the place he'd been in, but he'd still high tailed it as soon as he'd found an opening.

This was nice.

There was also the added benefit of the fact that he hadn't yet had to feed, so for now Kujin could just be...normal. Just a normal, skinny black-haired sixteen year old village kid strolling down the street, peeking through the windows of little shops now and then and sticking to the shadows of the buildings. No one had to know his real age, and he didn't mind feigning immaturity.

Luckily it was evening and the shadows were lengthening and the light growing dimmer so he didn't have to worry about getting a nasty sunburn too much, but he'd still covered up as much skin as possible, as per habit. Even though the evening was pleasantly warm, he wore a long sleeved shirt with baggy sleeves that reached down to his fingers and a pair of comfy, worn in breeches.

It might make another humanoid sweat just looking at him, but with his body temperature issues it felt good.

One little shop he started to pass by was selling puppies and he almost didn't notice until he heard a little yip. That made him freeze in his tracks and turn toward the shop window, and he was greeted by the sight of a chubby little Dalmation puppy with its front paws pressed to the window and its little tail wagging excitedly. He could see other puppies behind it, but they were curled up among the hay sound asleep.

Adorable.

"Hey there," Kujin said, stooping down into a crouch so he could be eye level with the pup, grinning in a learned way that kept his fangs hidden behind his lips. He tapped lightly on the glass and the puppy pawed at where his finger had been, barking again. The noise finally woke up some of the others, which wobbled to their feet and stretched. So damned cute. If he was still human he'd so have a puppy, but...he just couldn't trust himself.

He got hungry, and things with pulses just started looking like walking buffets. Didn't stop him from cooing at the cuteness, though--just from behind the safety of glass.

"Aww...you'll find a home, don't worry! I can't take you home, though," he said with a smile, moving his hand back and forth so the puppies could stumble over each other following it.

He could stay right there forever.

[Anonymous]

She was wearing rather less clothes than she would prefer.

Of course, to Nina Dey, this usually meant anything short of a parka, and yes she did own a parka, but still. It was too hot, but at least there was a nice stiff breeze, which permitted her a shawl over her thin shirt, and a long skirt, at least. Her short dark blond hair tickled her neck, bear that day because it was too hot for the turtlenecks she preferred. She needed to figure a way to keep it out of her way. A headband? Maybe. She didn't know where she would find the money for that. She needed a job. A lot.

One might ask, "But Nina, why do does a young thing like you need money?" One might also ask, "But Nina, why does a neato human like you need to breathe?" Although, they weren't charging her for air(yet--you never knew what would happen), people did tend to charge for food, in her experience. You know, that whole economy thing you're always hearing about? Yeah, that's still going on, apparently. Weird.

Nina, having nothing currently with her but the clothes on her(a lovely dark-brown skirt, moss shirt,  rusty shawl, and some sort of shoes that she really didn't care about), walked down the street, which was not that busy at all but still made her nervous be it was getting late and she was a little lost. A tad. A smidgen. A wee, tiny eensy--

Okay, where the fuck was her motel?

Her hate for cities was being cemented at the moment, because how could she find a job when she couldn't even find her motel? Honestly, truly and deeply did she want a map. or a friendly local who did look her up and down in the sleazy way that meant that the person giving said look was either checking you out or sizing you up as competition. This, to Nina, was ridiculous, because not only did she really not want to get involved with anyone at the moment(ever? maybe), but also she wasn't anything to look at, so the both genders were wasting their time. But then, she saw something that made up for it! Yay! Puppies!

There was a man standing there, look at them,but she paid him no mind, coming up on his left quicker than she had been walking before, wanting to see the dogs. She was more of a cat person, but like most girls loved all baby animals. She couldn't get one, but she'd be able to look at them and if she was feeling brave maybe even go inside and play with them. If the shop was still open. But Nina knew that she wasn't brave.

[Rhindeer]

Kujin gave a little jump when a girl suddenly came up beside him, and he glanced at her briefly before he went back to looking at the puppies. He hadn't heard her coming and he had exceptional hearing, but he blamed distraction. Wouldn't be the first time, and it was just some human girl, anyway. Heh, it was a sure sign of the sorts of stuff he'd had to deal with in other places that just a girl standing beside him could make him edgy, but you could never be too cautious, after all.

Except...he abruptly realized that the puppies weren't so interesting anymore, and he caught himself stealing quick, sidelong glances at her. Something about her was putting him on edge but this time it wasn't wariness or suspicion--he knew both quite well. This was different but he couldn't quite place it, a strange sensation he felt in his gut; it wouldn't be a stretch to say that if he still had a working heart it would have skipped a beat. That was the closest equivalent he could think of. Kujin licked his lips and looked back to the puppies, sort of staring at them without seeing them, and he took a deep breath not because he needed to breathe but because it was a habit from his living days and it still kind of helped calm him. Well, that and he still faked breathing so as not to weird people out.

Ugh. He needed to get out of here. He recognized the feeling; hunger. But he'd fed two days ago. Less than he should feed, less than was healthy, but he tried to draw it out for as long as was safe (for other people). He was used to it. He shoudn't be getting such a strong craving now.

...Right. Moving. That would be the first step. He found he didn't want to move, though, that he just wanted to stay put and bask in the scent of hot blood pulsing beneath sweet human skin right before he--

Gerk. He was such a damned cannibal! And besides, he couldn't do anything here smack dab in the middle of everything!

Biting back a groan of frustration, he straightened back up, ran a hand through his spikey black hair, and looked over at the girl. "Cute, aren't they?" he asked with a pleasant smile even while on the inside he felt like he was going fairly crazy. He knew he should walk away but he couldn't. "You a dog person, too?"

Deep inside, he knew he'd already made his decision and chosen his mark.

[Anonymous]

He kept looking at her. But it was a different sort of look than everyone else had been giving her. It made her hair stand up and yet it wasn't as creepy, because he wasn't checking her out. Maybe he was just curious. Maybe he was considering jumping her. She really hoped that he wasn't. Nina didn't have much money or anything else of value. Not even earrings. Definitely not bracelets. And she had left her necklaces at that damned motel that she couldn't find. Not that he would have wanted the necklaces, anyway. Nina only wore cheap jewelry—not faux gems or anything, but jewelry made from river stones and leather and cheap wire. She hated how gold looked on her, anyway.

Okay, so, given the fact that jumping her wouldn't do him any good, unless he was one of those people who thought that it was funny to scare the shit out of random people. But he didn't look like one of those people(not that Nina was a particularly good judge of these things), so why was he looking at her like that?

Did she have something on her face? Did she look weird? Had she insulted him in someway? Oh, what if she had? What had she done? Walking up to him? Not introduced herself? Why the hell did there have to be so many social pitfalls? Maybe he was waiting for her to do something! Shake his hand? Bow? Grovel? She wasn't going to grovel. It wasn't that Nina was too proud, but groveling usually required kneeling and bowing and scraping against the ground and she really didn't want to get her clothing dirty, thank you. Then she'd have to clean it and that would either cause her pain and grief or money, neither of which was optimal. At all. Thank you.

Just about to launch into another mental triathlon about why he could possibly be looking at her, he spoke! She jumped a little, and for several moments struggled with words-dog person? Was she a dog person? They were really cute, but she didn't really like dogs that much they got too big and scared her because they barked and yapped and jumped and growled at her. Which she really didn't need.

Nina eventually got out something resembling a sentence, stuttering the whole way through the quiet statement, "W-well, uhm I li—I like th-them w-when they s-small, b-but n-not really wh-when they get—when they get too b-big." Yeah, Nina stuttered a lot. All the time. it was like a sickness. Disease. Virus. But not contagious. Unless people were mocking her for it. Which had happened. Often. She should really work on stopping stuttering.

[Rhindeer]

This was too bizarre.

Kujin listened to the girl babble without really hearing what she was saying. Her mouth was moving and she was saying stuff, but all he could really focus on was her breathing, her heartbeat, the flush of her skin and the blueish veins in her throat and wrists. It was a little dizzying and his own reaction confused him. He wasn't really hungry and he'd been around tons of people today without wanting to take a chunk out of them! Sure, it was normal for him to get cravings even before he decided he was actually hungry enough that feeding would be a good idea, but not intense ones like this. He never felt like this! Not unless he was on the verge of starving and his body had begun to deteriorate.

He licked his lips and swallowed, then gave a slight start when he realized she'd stopped talking. Blinking down at her, he smiled softly and nodded, hoping she didn't notice his distraction. "Oh yeah? Me too." Gods he hoped him saying that made sense with what she'd been saying because he hadn't caught a word she'd said! But agreeing seemed like a neutral enough response. Kind of...

He realized he was staring at her again.

Ergh.

"I wish I could get one, but the store's...oh, it's closed." It was more of a realization than an observation as he turned his face back to the store, seeking a distraction, and finally noticed the sign he hadn't seen before because the puppies had stolen his attention. Closed. So no one would be in there. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen anyone else on this street for a while, the sun was setting, most people had probably called it a day and gone home to their families. And if he recalled correctly, there was an alley on the other side of this building...

No! Bad Kujin! He winced when he realized how quickly he was falling into the familiar role of calculating predator and mentally slapped himself, but apparently it wasn't hard enough. Sure he had a conscience, but in times like this his shoulder devil kicked his shoulder angel's ass, took names, and locked him away in the deep recesses of his mind, and that's what was happening now.

She was small. Nervous. Alone. And looked hella good.

Wouldn't take much. No one was around to see.

Strike fast before anyone did decide to come down this street.

It felt like forever in Kujin's mind as he weighed his options and wrestled with his morals, but truth be told only a few seconds had passed since he'd last spoken, and it took only a second before he was on her. A young vampire, he wasn't exceptionally fast or strong or anything, but it didn't take much to reach out, grab a girl that was right next to you, and pull her tightly to your chest with one arm banded around her middle to pin her arms and the other hand clapped over her mouth to keep her from screaming.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," he whispered, leaning in close to her left ear to speak, and it took all the self control in the world not to go those extra few inches and sink his teeth in. He could wait a few seconds, he had control enough for that, and that's exactly what he told himself as he hauled her over and into the alley, far enough inside that it would be dark. With the buildings in the way and the sun sunk down low as it was, no light could really reach it.

Finally.

Kujin paused, still keeping a tight hold on her, and took a deep, unnecessary breath. Self control. He always had to remind himself to be careful before he fed, to keep his head, but he couldn't wait. Leaning over her shoulder again, he used the hand still covering her mouth to tilt her head backwards a little, baring her throat and makng the veins stand out more. "Don't struggle," he told her quietly, voice tense. "It'll only hurt if you do."

And then he bit her, fangs piercing deep. After the initial bite he eased his fangs out and just kept his mouth fastened to the wound, letting her pulse push the blood out of the artery and into his mouth.

Normally he wasn't so...sloppy and desperate. Normally he tried to be more gentle to make up for the whole, y'know, being a parasite thing and biting someone's neck and stealing a good bit of blood. But that took time and he felt impatient and he knew that if he waited any longer he might have wound up seriously hurting her. He'd learned from experience what he was capable of--he'd ripped out someone's throat before--and he never wanted to experience that again.

[Anonymous]

Oh, good reply. It Nina hadn't spent so much time being ignored and brushed off, she would have almost believed him. As it was, though, Nina knew quite well how one sounded when they hadn't heard a word that you had uttered at them, but didn't want to show it. Oddly enough, this didn't worry Nina at all, nor did it insult her. It did make her blush in shame, but it was so normal that it actually calmed her down, into thinking that perhaps it would be alright, and that it wasn't that weird, and that maybe he just though she was dressed funny.

This feeling did not last long.

It was Nina's turn to not hear whatever the hell he was saying. This was because—because—because suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck weren't just standing on end, they were trying to jump off of her and run away. As you might imagine, this alerted her that something was wrong, But she didn't even see him move because she had turned away with a blush, ashamed that she was that easy to ignore. And then he grabbed her. The fuck?

Not that that was what came out of Nina's mouth. She got out a startled squeak and then beyond that part, Kujin's words were really, really wasted. Because honestly, though Nina's mind was moving a mile a minute, she was much to scared to fight, or scream, or anything. Just him being so close made her freeze, and him telling her that hee wasn't going to hurt her was, she knew, complete BS because if he wasn't going to hurt her he wouldn't bother assuring her that she wouldn't be hurt. And she was right; he did hurt her.

First, though, she was slightly disoriented as he dragged her into a nearby alley and for a brief, terrifying moment, she thought that he was going rape her.

Nina could think of a lot of things that she would prefer, rather than being raped. Anything but being raped. Even death. Not because she was afraid of the consequences, but because of something her mother had said, once, a few years ago. One of her many pearls of wisdom about men that had stuck with Nina, despite her desperation to not heed anything her mother said because, let's be honesty, she was a bitter old woman.

She had said, "Nina, the only thing you'll have to give to the man you love is your first time."

And it was true.

Because what else did Nina have? Book learning? A large dowry? No. She wasn't even that attractive. And she didn't kid herself; she probably wouldn't ever marry. She was mousy and timid and she had glasses, which though she liked because she could hide behind them she had often been told made her look ugly. But that didn't matter now, because she was going to die and no one but this—well, this vampire would know who she was.

"But Nina," one might question, "How do you know he's a vampire? I though you thought he was going to rape you?"

"Because," she might have said if she weren't otherwise busy, "He just fucking bit me." Well, this is paraphrasing, you understand. But yes, indeed, Kujin had commenced biting Nina's neck and sucking her blood. Brilliant, brilliant way to finish the evening, Nina would have to do it again sometime. In substitution for gouging her eyes out with a stick.

It hurt. She soon found her knees weakening, but she struggled to stay away and upright, because he might have said not to move of it would hurt. If this was his version of it not hurting, she didn't want to know what he though would be painful to her. Probably something akin to the afore mentioned eye gouging. Fun. Safe. Good for the whole family.

[Rhindeer]

Good, she didn't struggle. It was always bad when they struggled because that was when they got injured. If a person thrashed while his teeth were in them, they just ended up making the small puncture wounds into huge, messy tears and that was never good--for them, or for him. Large wounds hurt them and could be dangerous, and they were also more difficult to neatly drink from. This was messy enough as it is as he swallowed as many quick mouthfuls of the hot liquid as he could, blood trickling out of the corners of his mouth when he wasn't fast enough.

Kujin could feel the girl weakening and his arms tightened around her to support her weight and hold her upright. After a while, when he was sure she wouldn't have the strength to scream, he even removed his hand from her mouth and instead pet her throat in what might have been meant as a soothing gesture while he drained her.

Not too much, not too much...you need to stop soon... he told himself, eyes closed in enjoyment and a low moan catching in the back of his throat. Just a little more...

The girl was growing heavy and he had to set his legs further apart to brace himself, and that was the point where he realized he'd taken enough. He didn't want to stop, though. In life the sight of blood had made him queasy, the very smell of it making him want to vomit, but ever since he'd been turned it had lost that metallic, coppery flavor. Now it just tasted like...like...he didn't know what. It was just good. Better than sex, the vampire that had turned him had said, and he'd just have to agree since he'd been a virgin when he'd been turned. He was still a virgin, but even could tell it was far more intimate; when you tasted someone's blood, you were tasting their everything.

You have to stop...stop...STOP! Snapping his eyes open and tightening his grip on the girl, he pulled away with an effort and quickly licked up the side of her neck to close the two puncture wounds, as his saliva healed. Then he just held her, panting out of habit, blood staining his lips red and trickling from the corners of his mouth and down his neck. Whoever said that a vampire's feeding was neat, mess-free, and sexy to watch must have been nuts because Kujin sure hadn't mastered the art of not spilling a drop. He licked his lips, cleaning as much off as he could as he slowly came back down from his high, and for a few moments he forgot he was even holding the girl.

Then his head cleared, the euphoria wound down, and he gave a small jolt, gray eyes widening as he took the girl in.

Oh shit.

The last thing he really remembered was looking at puppies with her. Then it had become kind of hard to focus and...

He hadn't meant to do that.

"Urk..." Wincing and looking around as though to make sure no one was around, he carefully lowered her to the alley floor and crouched down in front of her. Then, remembering the now drying blood still on his face and neck, he quickly wiped it as much off onto his sleeve, glad he'd worn dark colors today. It didn't do much, though; it mostly just smeared the blood around. "Uhm...hey..." Shit, shit, shit! Hopefully she was okay! Normally he didn't lose control like that, and he still didn't know what was up with that! Augh! He was such an idiot! He brushed some of the hair back off her face and neck and then pressed a finger against her pulse point. "Are you okay? Oh...jeez...fuck, that's a stupid question. Oh man...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...I don't know why I...oh damn..."

[Anonymous]

She was dying!

No, no that wasn't right. That was phrased wrong.

She was dying.

There.

Because Nina wasn't angry. She wasn't outraged or desperate. She was dying. It was a fact, she was resigned, she couldn't pry him from her, she wasn't nearly strong enough. And being angry, Nina had learned, never did her any good because she couldn't ever do anything about it. Anger in this case was a useless emotion. She was dying. Acceptance.

Many would condemn her for this. "Fight!" they would demand of her, "Die on your feet! Die with dignity! Die like you're worth something, where's your back bone?"

Nina didn't have a back bone, though. She had a spine. Nice and bendy. Alex, her brother, had a backbone made of steel. He would die on his feet; he would fight tooth and nail. But Alex, honestly, was worth something. He had the sort of skill that Nina lacked, he had confidence. Not that she was jealous of him, she loved him dearly. It was simply true. Nina was weak. Nina was dying. The grass was green. Irrefutable, solid facts. A monster had just bitten into her neck and was drinking her blood. He was supporting her now, and that was nice of him, but she barely registered that.

It hurt too much, everything did. Because Nina's life wasn't flashing before her eyes. Through the pain and the fear, far away from the part of her mind that registered and was thankful for the tender way that he stroked her neck even as he was killing her, she was seeing her family. This monster would drop her hear and she would rot. her mother would never know what happened to her. Her siblings. Her mother and Alex would grieve, and Mik wouldn't understand. Allee would be angry; she would think that Nina had left her.

Always, it had been Allee she was closest to. A mother to her where Alex was a father to Mik, because their mother was too busy trying to keep them afloat. Nina loved Allee. She didn't want that cute little girl mad at her. She wished that she could say that she was sorry. She wished that she could explain. "Allee," Nina wanted to coo to the disappointed hurt little sister that she loved, that she imagined was in front of her,  "Sweetie, it's not my fault; the monster got me. Don't be angry, don't I tried my best, you know I'm not like you and Alex and Mik, though. I'm sorry."

And then, with the absurdity that only comes on the brink of incoherentness, Nina thought: What kind of monster liked puppies?

A few moments later when he pulled away, she had her answer. When he stopped sucking her blood and that panicked tone reached his voice and he set her down and she could hardly concentrate on it because she was dying, she was, and she so wanted to sleep. But he was so panicked, so regretful, that she knew.

He wasn't a monster.

But what would she tell Allee?

Not that Nina was really hopeful she'd see her sister again anyway. But still. Nina puzzled over this as she drifted in and out of awareness, so light heading that if she had been standing, she would think she should lay down. As it was, she could barely focus on the words he was speaking, and her normal inability to speak was increased by tenfold via blood loss and exhaustion and fear. All that she could get out was, "N-nggghh...?" When what she had meant to say was something along the lines of, "I'm cold, and dizzy, and please, please don't kill me; I don't know how I'd explain it to my sister." It was a new low for her; usually she could at least form semi-coherent words, if not semi-coherent sentences. And yet, she couldn't shake her stutter.

[Rhindeer]

"Oh fuck..."

Those probably weren't the words you wanted to hear when you were sitting on the ground, delirious from blood loss after getting your neck chomped on and sucked on, but Kujin was no doctor so he hadn't perfected the art of keeping a cool head in dire situations. Crap, crap, crap. He'd seriously taken way too much this time. Usually he didn't have that problem, and usually he was more careful and selective in choosing his 'victims'. As a rule, he never fed on ordinary citizens because they could identify him later and good gods, the last thing he needed was another slayer hunting him.

Generally, he targeted (as horrible as it sounded) homeless folks, people living out in  the slums. They had fewer connections, they were considered undesireable by the other classes, and a lot of them had their minds half gone, anyway. Most of them weren't very strong, either, from malnourishment so that could be a problem and he had to be extra careful, but they were still his food of choice. Not a lot of people cared about them. So he could sip from them and then flee back to the better parts of town and resume life as a normal, civilized human being.

He'd just broken his own rule and lost control. He'd broken that rule because he'd lost control. He could have killed her.

Kujin's hands were shaking a little as he drew his hand away from her neck. Her pulse wasn't at its strongest, and that worried him. How much had he taken? Enough to feel great, that was for sure, and he looked it too--he was no longer as pale or sickly looking as he had been earlier, his skin now taking on the healthy glow of the living. But gods...

What was he supposed to do with her now? Judging by her unfocused eyes and the noises she was making, she sure wasn't going to be able to walk or anything. Leave her here in the alley for someone to find? Great idea, Kujin. He wasn't the only predator around here; there were human predators, too, and they would have far less mercy than he on a weak, unprotected woman alone in an alley. Take her to somewhere safe and drop her off at their doorstep? Ahaha, right. Hmm...well there was that Sanctuary place...he wasn't too familiar with Ketra as he wasn't a native, but everyone knew about that. Folks traveled far and wide to get there to be cured of various maladies.

Only problem was he doubted he'd be able to enter.

Gnawing on his bottom lip with his sharp fangs, though not to the point of breaking the skin, he quickly weighed his options and came to one conclusion: the safest thing to do, for her sake, was to...

Yeah, bring her to his place.

"I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to...yeah. Um, just...hold on a sec. I promise I'm really not gonna hurt you this time." Oh man that sounded so lame, but oh well! He was doing this and it wasn't like she had a choice in the matter or like she could protest, and damned if he didn't feel bad about this. It was stupid of him and he knew it; a wiser vampire would have learned to stop caring, but he was still young and he wanted to hold onto his humanity for as long as he could.

He slid his hands under the girl's body, one supporting her legs and the other supporting her back, and lifted her up into his arms bridal-style. Standing, he was thankful at least for his inhuman strength. He was tall, sure, but in life he'd been pretty damned weak, always malnourished and sickly. This at least was a perk--kinda--though he'd also been doomed to spend eternity trapped in the body of a sixteen-year-old while his mind went on maturing.

"I'm just gonna take you somewhere where you can recover," he told her quietly but firmly as he walked, carrying her out of the alley and into the street. The light was dimmer now as the sun was almost set, dark enough that it didn't hurt. "I won't do what I did again. I promise. I didn't mean to in the first place."

-----

It was a short walk from there to the inn Kujin was staying at, and Kujin was quick to carry her inside and duck his head so the innkeeper wouldn't see the blood smeared all over his face. The innkeeper must have mistooken it for shyness because he chuckled and Kujin caught him flashing a knowing grin their way as he hurried past the front desk and carried Nina up the stairs and to his room.

Pervy old man...

He had to set Nina down on her own two feet, one arm still supporting her so she didn't topple over, so that he could pull out the key and unlock the door. But once he'd gotten it open he scooped her back up, nudged the door open with his hip, and carried her inside. He let the heavy door swing shut behind him as he carried her to the single small bed in the room and laid her out on it.

"Just get some rest," he told her, smoothing the hair back from her face in a somewhat soothing gesture. "I'll get you some juice here in a sec."

He turned and headed for the washbasin so he could clean off the blood, which had to be done before he could go back down and order anything face-to-face. Eugh, it was such a pain to get off, he thought as he splashed his face with the water and scrubbed vigorously at it with a wash cloth.

[Anonymous]

She drifted in and out of awareness.

Was he a monster? Should she fight him off? What a farce, she was too weak to fight him off at the moment, couldn't even really keep her eyes open. She was so tired, but was she safe? He said he wasn't hurt her this time, but that could be a lie—if he was, indeed, a monster, then it was, indeed, a lie. But was he a monster? What made a monster?

"There's a monster under my bed!" Nina used to tell Alex when she was a child, and her brother would shake his head. With the logic of an older sibling, he would tell her, "No, Nina, a monster wouldn't fit under your bed. They're giant, huge. Don't worry. It's just a gremlin." This was, as you might imagine, Did make Nina feel any better, so their mother would come in, and Nina would explain what happened, and this is what her mother had to say about monsters:

"Monsters," she said, "Are not always ugly. They are not always big. Monsters are people who don't feel bad when they do bad things." And then she would tuck Nina and Alex into bed and then she, too, would collapse—her mother was always tired, when she was younger.

By neither Alex nor her mother's definitions was Kujiin a monster. Even if she was exhausted and dizzy from blood loss, and even if that was his fault, no one with ears and eyes could miss his regret. She could barely think straight—she could barely stay awake—but she knew, she knew, even if she couldn't trust him, he wasn't a monster. He was—he was picking her up, and he was carrying her, now, where were they going? But Nina found that she couldn't quite care.

Because he was holding her and it was nice to be held, and even if she didn't trust him. It was getting dark. It was getting dark and Nina was scared. This was, admittedly, partially Kujin's fault but Nina didn't like the dark. It was left over from childhood, mostly, but also Nina was so... weak, in body, that it wasn't safe for her at night. Ever. This was a prime example. Nina was over powered by a guy looking at puppies. Okay, he was a freaking vampire, but still.

Maybe someone was fucking with her karma. Nina was a good person—okay, she wasn't a girl scout(they didn't even have girl scouts, which might have been one reason), but she was nice to people and animals and plants and maybe she wasn't as religious as she should be but—but—she certainly didn't deserve this. Either way, though, it was nice to be held.

She must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she was aware of was being set down on the ground so that he could—do something, open the door? But she had to lean against them, everything was spinning and she didn't want to fall. She noticed with the vague sense of someone still half-asleep that he smelled good. Nina couldn't put her finger on what it was, but this was probably because just the idea of moving was disagreeable. But it was a nice smell, even if there was a little bit of blood to it.

Soon she was picked up again, thankfully, and carried to the bed. A bed. Where was she? She was too dizzy to think. Nina closed her eyes to drift off a little as Kujin said something about juice. She could sleep, right? Maybe he would be mad, but it was his fault. She really wanted to pass out.

As Kujin headed to the washbasin, Nina passed out, happily.

[Rhindeer]

When he dried his face with a towel and turned back around, he found the girl asleep.

At least, he hoped she was asleep. A small jolt of fear lanced through him for a second before he saw that her chest was still rising and falling, and he exhaled slowly through his nose. Ah, good. Right. Nothing to worry about. If she was still alive now, she'd survive. He was no doctor, but he assumed that much.

Allowing himself to relax again, he turned to look himself over in the mirror one last time to make sure he hadn't missed any blood splashes--and to ensure that he hadn't gotten any on his clothes--before he left, shut the door behind him, and made a quick trip downstairs.

It didn't take long to acquire what he needed, and he returned some minutes later carrying a tray laden with bread, cheese, a little meat, and two cups of orange juice. He wouldn't--couldn't--drink the juice or eat the food, of course, but he'd accepted the extra serving anyway to avoid suspicion and because he figured the girl could use it; she'd need to get her strength back. Kujin set the tray down on a small table in a far corner of the room, then pulled out a chair and sat down to wait, arms crossed over his chest.

Night was falling, but Kujin was wide awake, his sensitivity toward sunlight having turned him nocturnal over the long years. There wasn't much he could do until she woke up, and leaving her alone and weak simply wasn't an option his conscience would entertain. Neither was waking her up, since she understandably needed the rest.

Leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes. He had a feeling it was going to be a long, dull night--but that was his fault, not hers.

[Anonymous]

She was home again, in her dream.

A small house surrounded by farm land, and she didn't think it at all strange that she was there, not when a male figure that she knew was Alexander, her older brother and the eldest of the children(Nina being the second eldest) was standing in the doorway to the house, as if waiting for her.

Nina couldn't see the house, or the farm land, not really. It was a swirl of movement and color and noise, but she Knew that she was standing on the path to her house that led from the stream through the woods away and around the garden and by the chicken nest. She Knew it was around midday, and that there was a book in her hand, held like and old, dear friend even though she also Knew that she held no such book.

But she could see Alex, or someone that looked almost nothing like him but that she Knew was him. And he was standing in the doorway, as he often had, waiting for her to come how from reading by the creak or in the garden or in the woods. And she was so close but she was so tired. What had she been doing, she wondered, to make her so tired? It was not a tiredness of the mind, for her mind felt like it could go on and on for miles and years, like it could burst from her and fly away with the wind. But her body, bone-tired, nearly dead weight. Like just when you're falling asleep and you want another blanket but you can't bring yourself to get up and get one.

So, then, it was her mind, and not her body, that set her forward, towards Alex. Towards home.

She was inside suddenly, or maybe she had just walked very quickly. But her mother and Allee were there, and Alex in the background. Mik was missing—but Nina's didn't think anything of it. She was focusing on Allee, because she had had something to tell her. But she couldn't remember and she was so tired. The book that she had Known she was holding but had also not been there was gone completely, and her mouth flapped uselessly. And then she finally remembered—she was supposed to tell Allee, "Don't be mad, little sister, I did my best." But it was too late.

Everything fell away, the swirl of colors and pictures and sounds had near exploded into what they really were, instead of the molded form that Nina had Known was her home in the country side of Adela. Before she could speak everything was gone and she could finally lay down and rest. Except that she didn't want to—she wanted to make sure that he little sister wasn't mad at her for leaving. But now that she was lying down, she was so comfortable, and she just could bring herself to get up. If something needed her, it could come and get her, she decided with the sort of backbone and certainty she'd never really have awake.

Nina slept deeply through the night, after that dream. She had others, but none she could remember or put into words, and when the moon was sinking again to the horizon, and the morning birds had begun again to chip like the little buggers that they were, Nina finally woke, ironically having slept better then than the previous night.

Things, Nina noted with satisfaction, had indeed stopped spinning and tilting weirdly while she slept, and although she was still tired she felt much better, until she tilted her head to look around the room and caught sight of Kujin. At the sight of the vampire, Nina whimpered in fear, with a tone that clearly stated, "Oh, fuck."

Because he had hurt her—she was still hurt, she could feel the throb of the bite. It had stopped bleeding, but it still hurt. And she couldn't clearly recall how she had gotten here. Her shawl was missing, she must have dropped it at some point, and she was sure that her skirt and shirt were dirty. At least she was still wearing them, it could be worse, but even if he had said that she wasn't going to hurt her, Nina was so naïve as to trust him. She was naïve enough to believe that he wasn't a monster, that he didn't want to hurt her. But, Nina was sure, he would. And he was sitting very close, and...

And Nina was scared.

[Rhindeer]

It was a long night for Kujin.

When, after a few hours, it became obvious that Nina wasn't going to wake, he finally caved to boredom. After checking up on the girl to make sure she was all right, that her breathing was normal and her pulse was strong, he left the room and ventured downstairs to the common room to socialize with the drunkards there. It was amusing and it passed the time, and it was a good way to get a feel for the city. From his interactions he learned that the people were a proud one--and very superstitious. Good to know; it meant he'd have to be extra careful here, even more careful than he'd been in Arca, and it was shortly after learning that that he excused himself and escaped back upstairs.

Superstitious folk made him nervous. They'd be the first to drive a stake into a vampire's heart.

So the rest of the night had passed tortuously slow, and he spent the remainder of it pacing the floor in an attempt to wear himself out enough to sleep, and when that failed miserably he sank back into the chair to meditate.

Complete and utter failure. Kujin found he couldn't focus; his mind didn't want to sleep, it wanted to worry about what the hell he was going to do about the girl when she woke up, because he was gradually starting to realize he hadn't thought this whole thing through as much as he should have. He hadn't planned very far ahead, and it had all seemed so easy at the time. Just save the girl, patch her up, and send her on her way home! Yay!

He frowned and shot a glance her way. Right. And what would happen when she woke? He'd attacked her. Would she scream when she opened her eyes and saw him? That'd be bad...draw attention and all that, and then it'd be just excellent when she told the patrons, the suspicious folk, that he was a vampire. Of course, he could prevent her from screaming if he waited for her to wake up and stopped her before she could, but once he let her go? There was nothing to stop her from babbling to everyone about him, and then it'd be yet another witch hunt.

Sighing, Kujin rubbed his temples. Yet again, that was his fault, not hers. He'd just have to get ready to run, he guessed.

Kujin didn't remember when he'd drifted off, but it must have been around sunrise, since that was when he usually got drowsy. When a soft whimper jolted him awake, rosy sunlight was just beginning to filter in through the curtains and he saw that the girl was also awake.

And terrified.

He'd seen the expression she wore more times than he'd care to count, and for a moment he just stared drowsily back at her, arms crossed over his chest, eyes half-lidded, body leaning back against the chair. Then he remembered himself and his predicament and snapped fully awake, jerking himself upright and then freezing when he realized that any sudden movements he made might just spook her. He straightened up the rest of the way slowly, then shifted awkwardly in his seat.

"Oh, hey..."

What else was he supposed to say? He'd never had to deal with one of his previous meals before, so this was more than a little weird. Kujin licked his lips to wet them, and as an afterthought he hoped she didn't interpret that as hunger. Better start explaining before she panicked. "Ah...er...don't scream or anything, alright?" he began lamely, running a hand through his spiky hair and wincing. Oh yeah, that was really reassuring, Kujin. "I mean--just hear me out for a sec. Don't be afraid. I mean...shit, that's lame, you have every right to be afraid..."

He bit his lip and huffed in frustration, holding up his hands in a time out sign. "Ugh, alright. Lemme try that again, starting over. Here we go. I'm...very sorry. I didn't mean to do what I did, and it won't happen again. I can promise you that. I don't wanna hurt you. I'm not going to hurt you, so you don't have to be afraid...okay?" Kujin offered up a little uncertain smile that was meant to be reassuring but very likely failed in that area.

Especially since he accidentally flashed his fangs.

[Anonymous]

When he jerked awake, Nina's first thoughts were a little too... frantic to translate, but they mostly centered on the fact that she was screwed, because she had woken him up and what if he was mad? Besides the fact that Nina really, really hated it when people were mad at her(Really—it made her cry sometimes), this particular... person(he was a vampire... did he count as a person?) was much, much for likely to literally rip her throat out than most other people who had ever been mad at her. Except her father, who had not been what one would call a good person.

And he licked his lips and Nina would have squeaked if she weren't petrified. And he spoke and oddly enough, Nina sympathized with him. He sounded like she did, when she met new people. You know, so awkward she should get an award. Or be hospitalized for it. Nina was horrible at talking to people, especially when they didn't want to talk to her, and as he bumbled forward, Nina actually felt a little better that he was so awkward. She could relate to him better.

As for screaming, Nina hadn't screamed for years. Not since her father left, at least. She hated being loud, it made people pay attention to her. And usually not good attention. Besides, she was much to scared to make that sort of noise; Nina was more like a deer than anything else, the sort that freezes like the stupid animal that it is in the headlights of a car. And during his random babble, more of the night before came back to Nina—That he liked puppies but couldn't have one(Because, Nina now guessed, he'd eat it), and that edge of panic in his voice when he'd finally let her go, the same sort of edge that was creeping into his voice now as he stumbled through trying to calm her down.

Oddly enough, it was kind've working.

Nina was still in danger and she was still scared but by the end of his babbling reassurances, she'd found her voice—though she didn't know what to say—and she was still in danger, she knew, but she wasn't terrified anymore. She was cautious. Wary. Really, really hungry, too. But first things first: she had to think of something to say to the vampire in front of her. But what does one say to a vampire that sounded honestly like he was freaking out more than she was? Undoubtedly, Nina should be the one tripping over her words and panicking and so on, but one of them had to at least appear calm. Otherwise they'd probably just egg each other on.

So, because Nina has her own particular idiom in which she begins conversations, which usually consist of saying exactly the wrong thing or at the very least something very, very awkward, she was understandable nervous about speaking. For several moments she opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again as amazingly awkward things rushed to mind(One of them that he needed to wash he teeth, and another that she was sorry if she'd gotten any blood on his shirt the night before). Eventually, however, she settled on something much, much worse.

"...Y-you s-sound like m-me," she said with the slow awkwardness that was extra-special to her, and then gave the impression of ducking her head, even though she was lying down and that would have looking odd. It was, in fact, with that sentence that the full weight of her social ineptness was revealed and released, crushing the surrounding area, killing twelve people and one lawyer and injuring seventeen. Thirteen thousand gold coins worth of damage, not to mention the severe mental trauma of those afflicted. Help from people in other countries and cities flooded in, to help cover the damages. Nina was so embarrassed that the Earth for once took pity on someone and really did open up and swallow her whole.

News reports on the incident called it the worst case of social ineptness in recorded history and noted that, it's unclear if Ketra's people will ever really recover. Mages from around the world were stunned, and came to Ketra to research "The Incident", as it was called. Unfortunately, Nina was never found, and no one had learned her name. Her family was heartbroken, but under the circumstances decided that searching for her was probably unwise. Nina became a cautionary tale to those who were unsocial or hated parties—"You had best get used to talking to people or The Incident could happen again!". Nina became both the deity and the boggeyman of awkward people worldwide. She was, in fact, known only as The Awkward One or Her Akwardness.

[Rhindeer]

"I...sound like you?"

Kujin blinked, stared. That wasn't the reaction he had been anticipating. He had anticipated fear, screaming, flailing, but instead he got that he sounded like her?

It was certainly better than the alternatives, though, and Kujin let out a low, long breath through his nose and slumped back in his chair. "I was hoping my voice wasn't quite so high..." He flashed her a tired smile. Maybe she was just out of it, or maybe she really believed his clumsy attempts at reassurance. He hoped it was the latter, though the former would suit him just fine for the time being.

"Oh! Hey, how're you feeling?" he asked, sitting bolt upright again when he remembered the food and drink he'd gathered up for her, laid out on a tray on the table next to him. He looked over at it and then poked at one of the cheese slices and then at the bread. Erm...it was a little less fresh now than it had been, but it was still good, right? He couldn't really remember how it worked; it had been ages since he'd last eaten this stuff, and even back then he'd been fine with stale bread. "You hungry or thirsty? 'Cause I got you some food. And you should probably drink the juice, too. It'll be good for your, ah..."

He picked up the glass of juice, weighing it in his fingers, and cleared his throat. "Blood. It'll help make you feel better."

It felt a little less awkward to go on babbling about food and drink, for some reason. Probably because it avoided the subject of what had happened, and that was awkward. Kujin still felt like such an idiot.