Innocent Inquiry {TAG Darren}

[Kaylee Miller]

Fairfax had spent the better part of the evening playing Ben Folds Five songs, a band he'd taken a particular liking to due to its piano-heavy repertoire and quirky lyrics. As usual, he didn't sing along --far too self-conscious-- but this was the closest he'd ever come, as the songs were just that catchy. He'd definitely hummed.

But presently he had claimed a spot at the bar after slipping back into the kitchen to see if there were any extra orders lying around, and was now poking greasy mozzarella sticks around on a platter, having polished off a basket of fries. His appetite, usually negligible, had ticked up a bit on this particular day, and while Fax knew that this kind of food wasn't exactly beneficial, at least it was palatable (hell, most American food was, when compared with English "cuisine"). He wasn't at all surprised that he felt so hungry: he had, for all intents and purposes, donated blood the night before.

Last night. He stared blankly at his plate, losing himself briefly in the memory, an indulgent little moment. He felt safer thinking about it here, now, when Gabriel wasn't sitting right across from him and invading his mind. Really, the mind-reading had been the only slightly unpleasant bit of the whole incident...otherwise, he was perfectly content to replay what he could remember of the experience time and again in his mind, whenever he had a minute to spare.

How extraordinary it all was...

He suddenly jerked to attention, almost guiltily, looking around as if he'd been caught doing something wrong. As far as he could see, no one was paying him any heed, but he'd still shaken himself from his little reverie. Zoning out in public-- not a good thing. Anyway, he had a mission tonight, needed to focus. He lifted his head and pushed his messy bangs out of his eyes, scanning the bar for...

"Ah, Darren, could I...?" He waved the leopard over, then leaned forward on the counter, bracing his elbows and propping up his chin. His expression betrayed his unease-- but it appeared to be his usual lack of social sense. Fax was almost always awkward, after all. His tone, meanwhile, was utterly innocuous. "I have a question. I was just wondering..." His eyes slid left and right, making sure no one was too near. "Do you know any vampires? I mean, there's Elke, but other than her."

Doesn't hurt to find out...I mean...if he knows any nice ones...

[Darren Liten]

Fortunately for Darren, it was starting to slow down by the time Fax stopped playing, but he was going to have Ben Folds Five songs stuck in his head for the next week.  Damn cougar.

It did NOT escape his attention that Fairfax was acting a little strange, including the change in his eating habits, but he wasn't going to say anything because it wasn't his business and Fairfax hadn't done anything to make him actually WORRY yet.  Yet.  Mention of vampires could do it, though.

He approached when he was beckoned closer, but he frowned and gave Fax a surprisingly serious look with that question.  Coupled with the kid's nervous glances to the side, it looked suspicious.  He'd still be honest.

"Yeah, I know a few.  Not personally, thank God, but well enough."  He'd also FINALLY snapped and asked Connor what was going on after getting his ass beat in training, and his cousin had told him about the bloodbonding.  He had yet to REALLY talk to Val, but the shock hadn't really worn off yet.  Fax was going to get brutal honesty.  "There's Elke, who is absolutely amazing.  Connor's friends with a vamp who doesn't seem too bad, the guy who hit me with his Ferrari.  It wasn't his fault, but that's going to take some time to get over.  Ash was put through the wringer by a pair of Midnight vamps trying to make a pet out of him, and they messed him up real bad.  Other than Elke, I don't know those vamps too well, but there's one bitch who keeps terrorizing me.  That time when Ash had you watch the bar because he and Dave had to handle a problem, and I was all messed up?"

He stopped, making sure Fax was with him, remembered what he was talking about.  It hadn't exactly been eloquent, his listing of vampires, but it got the point across and Fax had heard SOME things about what was going on with him, even if not the details.  Everyone had known that he'd had a rough time the morning that he was brought to the Hollow and sent to bed in the upstairs room.  "Well, I was sleeping upstairs because that vampire keeps jumping me.  She's got this crazy power that makes you listen to her, whatever she says.  It even works on Connor, and he doesn't take shit from vampires.  She was the one who told me to go play in traffic right before Connor's friend hit me with his car, and that was after she bit me.  She made that one feel good, but the day I was upstairs sleeping, it was because she bit me again and took too much, but that wasn't the worst part."  He stopped again, trying to figure out how to explain what WAS the worst part, and really get it across.  "I have never felt anything that hurt so badly in my life.  Bar fights, training with Connor, even getting hit by that car.  This was like my body was collapsing in upon itself.  Like my veins were filled with liquid metal, burning all through me.  It hurts and she knew it would.  She did it on purpose, because she wanted to hurt me.  Later, she came here and called me to the window, then dragged me out and just let go.  Ash was picking glass out of my skin for over an hour.

"Even better?  She told me to attack anyone here who came after me, so that Ash had to force me back into my human form to keep me from tearing Dave up, because Dave didn't want to hurt me.  Man, I know some vampires, and I wish I didn't.  Elke is the only one I've met that didn't want to screw my life up or someone else's," he concluded.  Really, he might not have been the best person to talk to about it, though.  "If you want to talk to someone about vampires who knows others who aren't bad, Connor said he'd be by tonight.  He's friends with that one guy, and there are some vampires working in the guilds.  Like I said, they're not all bad, but I don't have a lot of great experiences.  I don't mean to scare you, but you have to be careful.  Some of them are bad news."

[Kaylee Miller]

Fax was fine at first. What he was hearing made sense: some good, some bad, all right, that's what Mr. Leone AND Gabriel had said. But then Darren began recounting his horrer stories in detail...speaking of terrorizing, crazy, frightening powers, painful bites, broken glass...

This vampire that was targeting Liten: she'd made one bite feel good, and then another feel excruciating? Just...to toy with him?

The cougar was looking pretty pale by the time Darren was wrapping up his speech. Pale and aghast, and doing a very poor job of hiding it.

In his mind, he was agonizing: GOOD GOD, what if Gabriel was just "toying" with ME?! It felt good THAT time but what if it wouldn't the NEXT time?! Is he planning on terrorizing ME?! No, no, I trust him, I'm certian he's one of the good ones...but now Liten is making it sound as if the good ones are the rare ones, oh God! But he was so NICE! Was that an act, was that some sort of crazy power?! Why did that have to feel so bloody good??

Outloud, he spoke rather breathlessly, terribly tense and clearly stricken: "H...how...how can you tell? Can you really tell who's good and...who's..." He trailed off, lost in his jumbled thoughts.

[Darren Liten]

Really, Darren hadn't meant to scare the hell out of him, but he actually hadn't even THOUGHT about it.  He was still pretty much freaking out over it all himself, and Fax just happened to catch him when he finally just said it all.  He'd been pretty closed-up about the ordeal with most everyone else. 

Oops.

"Wait.  Whoa, are you involved with a vamp?" he asked suddenly, like he'd only JUST gotten it. 

Again, oops.

"Oh, man, I seriously don't mean to scare you.  Really, they're not ALL bad.  Look, here comes Connor.  Talk to him, he can tell you more than I can," he said quickly, waving Connor over.  Naturally, given recent events, Connor crossed the room fast, but he wasn't quite sure what was going on.  Fax looked PALE.

"Connor, Fax asked me about vampires, and I think I scared him.  He wants to know if they're all bad, and how you can tell," he explained quickly, feeling kind of dumb for screwing it up.  Connor nodded, and he was willing to take over.

"Fax?  Why don't you grab your drink, I'll have a coke, Darren, and we'll go talk over at that booth.  It'll give us some privacy, and you can tell me what's up," he offered, letting his cousin grab him the drink while he watched Fax for a moment.  The kid definitely looked scared, way too pale, so something had to have happened to make Darren's explanation freak him out. 

He'd figure it out, and see what he could help with, even if it included killing some leech for him.

Once he'd gotten his drink, he led the guy to the booth he'd mentioned, and took a seat.  "So, Fax.  I'm Connor.  I don't think we've really met before, but I'm Darren's older cousin, and I run the Crimson Hunter's Guild.  If there's something you want to know about vampires, I'll do what I can to help, okay?  You don't HAVE to tell me anything you don't want to, but the more I know, the more I can help."

[Kaylee Miller]

Fairfax just fixed Darren with a sort of bleak, unblinking stare. He had no idea what to say, and really, he wasn’t sure he trusted himself to say anything when his mind was racing so much; it would probably come out an unintelligible mess. The leopard had certainly frightened him, however unintentionally: the prospect that Gabriel might not have been what he seemed was a concept that Fax was struggling mightily with, but a concept that scared him witless all the same. It hadn’t even been a consideration before this moment.

And then Connor was suddenly there. The cougar turned his wide eyes to him, instead, inwardly freaking out about Gabe and partly recollecting what Liten had just said about this Connor fellow. Friends with a vamp (the one who’d hit Darren with a car? but apparently an OK guy). Other various mentions throughout his tale. But friends-- that was the important part. Good to hear. It was enough that he jerked to attention when Connor addressed him, and obediently --albeit dazedly-- turned to the bar to pick up his own coke while Liten threw together a drink for his cousin. Fax decided to leave the remaining mozzarella sticks. Somehow he’d lost his appetite.

Before long, they were sitting at the booth and Fax was still staring at Connor, though at least listening carefully to what was being said, while he nervously mangled his straw with his fingertips. Crimson Hunter’s Guild. He’d been told about Bruja, of course. Still a very alien concept (as was all of this supernatural, Nyeusi business), and he still had no idea how to differentiate between the different factions. Well. Guild leader, at any rate. From what Fax understood, that made him an individual of modest importance, which naturally made the diffident pianist even more nervous than usual, and, on top of his jangled nerves left over from Darren's speech, this found him in quite a state. He was awfully ashen as he cleared his throat and deliberated what to say to Connor.

"I...w-well, no, I suppose we haven't met...Fairfax...work here," he started out vaguely, twisting the poor, maimed straw around his finger and swirling it around in his drink. "Er. Vampires. So." Now it was uncomfortable staring at Connor, so he switched his gaze to his coke. What ought he say? Ask? Address?...

"Hypothetically..." Fax hesitated, and one could almost hear the gears grinding away in his head. Why hypothetically? He'd said that without thinking, surprising himself. Considering it now, he supposed it made sense: there was something undeniably "forbidden" about the notion of a vampire bite, after all. Dangerous and beautiful. Enticing, really. He'd already understood that some bites were good and some bad, and had intended to work around that (hence his seeking out "good vampires")-- but he hadn't anticipated that either could be delivered at will by the same vampire. Suddenly seeking out an opportunity to relive that sensation was FAR more dangerous and frightening...not to mention insane. He hoped he wasn't utterly mad. Fax needed a fuller understanding of the whole business before he could openly admit to his fascination with potentially pleasurable bites, to himself or to anyone else who could judge him. Hell, he wasn't sure if it was the sort of thing to tell anyone at all. It sure had that "air" about it. For now, at least, it would all be "in theory".

After a relaxing breath, he went on: "Hypothetically, say there is a vampire who...er, who appears friendly and trustworthy and open. Entirely so. No suspicion. And when he bites someone he makes it feel absolutely wonderful..." Fax caught himself and tried to rein in his fervour; he really wasn't very good at this. All he ended up doing was redirecting his intensity into another emotion, and his next words were laced with conspicuous, desperate hope, and he lifted his eyes again to lock on Connor's face: "That'd be one of the nice vampires, right? Is that enough to tell? Is there a way to be sure?"

[Connor Batten]

Connor wasn't an idiot, and it was obvious that something big was up if Fairfax was so nervous.  Instead of mentioning it and making the kid even MORE worried, Connor simply smiled and focused his pale blue eyes on his coke instead of on the fidgeting shifter in front of him.  He was trying to be polite and keep from making Fax uncomfortable, after all.

Naturally, the earlier declaration about him not being an idiot extended so far as to mean he wasn't at all fooled by Fax's 'hypothetical' problem, though he didn't say so.  It let on more than Fax might have admitted outright, and he could go with it if it meant the guy would be more comfortable.

"Hypothetically?  Well, hypothetically speaking, that could very well be one of the nice ones, depending on a few factors.  The only way to be absolutely sure would be to spend more time around him, but that could be risky, or it might not be.  It's hard to tell, but if this vampire is so nice, why did he bite that 'someone'?  Did he ask, or did he just attack the person?"  He was trying to lead the conversation into more information without being too direct, but it wasn't like this wasn't already a really thinly veiled conversation, anyway.

[Kaylee Miller]

Damn. Connor wasn't buying his "hypothetical situation". Fax drooped a little, but attempted to answer without giving up his ruse entirely. His stomach had squirmed a bit, though, when Connor presented him with those two particular options: ask or attack. It had...been a bit more complicated than that. This was doing nothing good for Fax's nerves.

"Er..." He tugged at his straw and was about to put it to his lips when he saw how mangled it was. Never mind. He looked up at the other man apprehensively instead. "Let's...say...he doesn't ask. But he apologizes afterward. Because it's...an emergency. And he's really nice to...um...the person he attacks."

Right, right, he tried to assure himself, keeping as calm as possible. To say this outloud...it makes sense, right? Perfect sense. He was a nice guy. IS a nice guy.

[Connor Batten]

Hmm, this was getting more interesting.  Story time!  Connor would settle in for a good story, and then decide if the 'hypothetical' leech deserved to die.  Fun times.

"An emergency?  What kind of emergency does a vampire have?  Oh, and how old is our fictional vampire?" he asked, trying to get a feel for whether or not the guy was playing Fax.  Being friendly with Val gave Connor a much better idea of vampire abilities, including what they could and couldn't take.

"Are we talking, life or death emergency?"

Er.  Unlife or undeath?  Heh, whatever.  It meant the same as far as he was concerned, though he might have argued it not that long ago.  Val was affecting his opinions on vamps, which had to have been why Darren suggested he talk to Fax.  He'd have still been fair before, but he'd have warned Fax away from his vampire friend.  Now?  He might still, depending on things, but he'd listen first.

[Kaylee Miller]

Bugger it. No point in hiding anymore, not when Connor was being so facetious about this. "Fictional vampire", hah.

Fax gave him a pained look and exhaled --rather explosively-- before condescending to elaborate. "He was mugged. Shot in the neck, lost a lot of blood. I...I suppose he was lucky I came along. He's at least 100 years old...I don't remember exactly when Treasure Island was published..." He trailed perplexedly, unaware of how random that last bit must have sounded to Connor, who didn't know the details of the situation.

Oh, Treasure Island. That was right. He'd definitely see Gabriel again. Still didn't know if that was good or bad.

[Connor Batten]

Oooooh, so they were being honest and open about this now?  Goody.

No, Connor had NO clue what Treasure Island had to do with anything, but he could take Fax's word for it that the vampire was at least 100, and what had happened.  Mugged and shot in the neck?  Yowch.  He could sympathize, having been shot before, but in the neck?  Depending on proximity to the shooter and the size of the gun, that could be severely damaging.  Of course, a lot of bullets would just slice right through a human, or vampire, throat like a hot knife through butter.  The flesh there was just so soft that it didn't resist.  It depended on the weapon.  Given Fax's description and the mention of so much blood loss, he was willing to bet that it hadn't been the sort of situation where the bullet went clean through.

If anything, vampires knew how to conserve blood.  Any vampire would know where the put the pressure to keep the blood loss down until it could heal, unless the wound was just too much to keep closed.  That may have been exactly it.

"Well, if he's as nice as you think he is, then you probably saved him from having to do something he didn't want to by being there," he said honestly.  "Vampires are survivors, and he would have found someone.  The question is whether or not he'd have been able to stop himself from killing the person by that point."

No sense in sugar-coating it.  "So he chewed on you, you liked it, and now you're wondering if vampires are really all that bad?"  He wanted to be entirely clear on it before he said anything about it in that vein of thought, but he was pretty sure. 

[Kaylee Miller]

That sounded about right; Fax even remembered Gabe saying something almost exactly like that. Becoming desperate enough to kill? Yes, something along those lines. Disconcerting, of course...but Connor was surely right about "something he didn't want to do". Gabe was a nice guy. He wouldn't have wanted to kill any--

"So he chewed on you, you liked it, and now you're wondering if vampires are really all that bad?"

Fecking hell, blunt much?? Even in his own mind Fairfax wouldn't have put it quite like that. Cue the flushing: at least he didn't look sickly pale any longer. It was the "chewed" part that had Fax embarrassed, rather than liking the bite. Put like that...it just felt like connotations had shifted. "I...he...yes," he stammered, somehow managing to sound defensive about it, and then he proceeded to kick himself mentally. That SHOULDN'T have sounded so defensive.

[Connor Batten]

True, that had been REALLY blunt, but he had a habit of doing that sometimes.  If he'd still been worried about scaring the kid, he wouldn't have done it, but he laughed at Fax's defensive stammering.  You really couldn't look dignified when blushing and stammering.

"Relax.  Don't get all worked up over it, I'm having the same problem with a vampire I know," he admitted, and that was saying something.  He wasn't the sort to throw that sort of information around.  "Just between you and me, though.  Sometimes, I hate Val's guts, but we get along better now than we used to, and I can't even pretend that it doesn't feel good when he pulls a stunt and bites me.  I know that he's not going to do anything to hurt me, though."

Well, intentionally, or seriously, anyway...

He and Val had the habit of doing things just to get at each other, and it wasn't always friendly things.  Like Val smacking Connor into a tree, or onto a counter, and biting him.  Yeah.  That'd been awkward.  Poor Heather.

"Anyway, what I'm saying is that you have to be careful.  I don't really suggest getting into the habit of letting vampires feed from you, but if you find that you're going to, stick to just one and make sure you trust him.  With this guy, make sure he really is as nice as you think before you're somewhere away from help with him.  Just to be on the safe side.  Hell, you could probably get him to meet you here.  Leone's not going to let anything happen in his place, especially not to you or any of his employees.  Dave's a stand-up guy, and Darren's not going to let you get carved up if he's around.  You're safe here."

He felt almost like he was giving a teenager the 'dating' talk, but it was similar in a lot of ways.  Fax wouldn't want to hear that, he was pretty sure (especially since it was a male vampire they'd been talking about), but that was the way it was.  Of course, everything with vampires was either killing, or that.  He couldn't help it.

[Kaylee Miller]

Fax did his best to heed Connor's advice, and relaxed about two hairs. Huzzah. The only reason he was able to relax that much was because he was distracted from his sheer embarrassment when Connor started getting confidential. "Just between you and me"? Oh, yes. Insider info. Fax was pleasantly taken aback and frankly intrigued. He tilted his head and was a moment away from asking for elucidation --turning the subject over to Connor didn't sound like a bad idea at this time-- but then the older man launched into his friendly little lecture.

Embarrassment all over again, great. But relief, as well. It was a good suggestion, meeting at the Hollow...even if involving all these people HADN'T exactly been on Fax's agenda. He'd only meant to ask Liten about "nice vampires", initially, and now it was turning into this gigantic ordeal. Still...better safe than sorry, eh?

And damnit, was he really that transparent? "I never said anything about 'letting' anyone do anything," he protested, jamming his straw around in his glass fretfully. "I...I just wanted to make sure. That this guy was OK...and not trying to mess with me. Er. So...thanks."

[Connor Batten]

Man, was this kid always this nervous?  Connor was torn between finding it funny and feeling bad for Fax as the guy continued to stammer and mutilate his words.  Anyone who was that unsure of themselves and their thoughts really didn't need a vampire or something complicating their lives.  Maybe he'd get the vampire's name and see if he was really so nice.  He could use a nice opportunity to hunt something down.

"You're welcome.  So, what's this guy's name?  If I've heard of him, it could save you some trouble," he offered, which was true and not just him wanting the vampire's identity.  Well, it wasn't ENTIRELY him wanting the vampire's identity.  He wouldn't deny that he didn't mind hunting vamps down just for the fun of it. 

It wasn't like there were any laws against it.

[Kaylee Miller]

Fax was really too naive for his own good. So completely focused was he on making sure that Gabriel was "OK" and taking Connor up on his offer to help, that he entirely overlooked the fact that Connor was the GUILD LEADER of one of the BRUJA factions. Hunter, what? Fax was deplorably oblivious.

"Gabriel Sullivan," he answered, finally removing the useless straw from his drink and depositing it on the table before taking a sip directly from the glass. "Er, he says he does forensics with the police department. I figured he meant criminology...fingerprints, blood analysis...stuff in that vein, I suppose? Rather funny, isn't that? A vampire working with blood." He paused. "Well, makes sense, rather."