psl: immortals vs vampires

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

THIS SPACE FOR CUTE BOYS WITH RED EYES AND BLACK HAIR

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[rebornagain]

Christophe? Christophe from when? I don't...

[his eyes start to unfocus again as he backs up, establishing distance and also curling in on himself]

I don't- Who am I?

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

[ ...sitting down, still calm, carefully paying no attention to the way he can feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up ]

Yael. Your name is Yael— you haven't met me before. It's all right.

[ but haven't they met before? hasn't he known a Christophe? many Christophes? they might have even sounded a lot like this one— ]

[rebornagain]

But you're--

[no

no, he doesn't have to know who he is to know better than this. arguing with someone about whether he knows them... is just stupidity. he crouches, puts his face in his hands and tries to steady his breathing.]

...Yael. Right.

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

I know a little more about you than that. Let me know if it will help; otherwise I'll keep my mouth shut.

[ said like this is all perfectly normal ]

[rebornagain]

[dooon't let on how discombobulated you are, don't show vulnerability, you're Yael, you're Yael, whatever that means. get it together.]

...Can't hurt to fact check.

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

[ ...

starts going through what Rinne had gotten during reconn: family, birthplace, where he'd grown. snippets of a life that he's probably lived different pieces of multiple times before; nothing new or particularly significant.

right up until Christophe mentions getting targeted and kidnapped by a vampire, anyway. ]

[rebornagain]

[Yael sits through most of it quietly, just absorbing and sorting information in still silence, but the moment it clicks is absolutely visible. He shudders, curling up tighter.]

Ah. Right.

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

... He's can't hurt you anymore. He's dead.

[rebornagain]

Is he? Do I have you to thank for that?

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

[ shakes his head ]

That would be my partner. She was in a similar situation when she was younger, so she makes a point of getting involved when she finds other ones.

[ technically true; she'd done most of the work. he'd just been extra firepower— but he's not letting on about that yet. his instinct is to establish himself as harmless first, and not entirely to be comforting; he's not inclined to ignore that impulse. ]

[rebornagain]

[He finally actually looks at Chris, rather than through him, and his gaze is entirely too piercing and analytical for a child of his age, even one so intensely broken.

Then he smiles, disarmingly.]

I think I'll thank you anyway.

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

[ what the Hell has he gotten himself into. still not letting his disquiet show, though, instead chuckling with the exact sort of breathless exhaustion one might expect after a pretty major ordeal ]

I never said you couldn't say thank you, just credit where it's due. It's no problem, though, I'm just sorry we didn't get you out sooner.

[rebornagain]

I'm out now, and that's what matters. He'd mentioned other kids...?

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

Four others. They were all pretty shaken up, but they'll be fine.

[rebornagain]

Thank goodness... Are they here too?

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

[ shaking his head ]

They're getting checked for any surprises that might have been left in their heads, at the moment. You would have gone with them, but you seemed in pretty bad shape; we didn't know when you'd wake up.

[rebornagain]

Really...? How long was I asleep?

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

[ glances to the side slightly at the word "asleep," so... not actually asleep, no. ]

A few hours, at least. You weren't responding to anything, so we were pretty worried.

[rebornagain]

[He doesn't think he was asleep but he's found his footing enough to be properly misleading now.]

Ahh... I feel fine right now.

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

"Right now" is kind of the key word, there. He had you for a while, and the kind of control you were under can be pretty bad for you.

[rebornagain]

...Then what do you think is the best thing to do, Mister Chris?

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

[ that gets a genuine attempt not to laugh ]

Just Chris is all right, I'm not old enough for "Mister" yet...

[ chris you're like 50. at least. ]

...anyway, for the moment at least it's best if you stay the night. Or- morning, I suppose. After that, I'm going to be getting in contact with some people who are more experienced with how to handle those after effects.

You're going to be having some sort of babysitter for a while, though. Sorry, Yael.

[rebornagain]

...Do you know what kind of after effects I might have? Am I dangerous to be around?. Is that why the other kids all went somewhere else?

[bitethehandthatfeeds]

No, no, nothing like that. The organization that's taking care of them just didn't have the resources to handle both them and you on hand.

Honestly, this is mostly to keep you safe than anything else. You're going to have a hard time not listening to orders for a while, mostly, which isn't so great when there'll probably be people coming around to try to scavenge what that guy left.

[ and there is a chance he might be dangerous—he'd been a slave rather than just a food source, who knows what he'd been ordered to do—but keeping him out of other vampire's hands is the more pressing concern for the long term. ]

[rebornagain]

[HE'S LIKE TWELVE WHAT DAMAGE COULD HE POSSIBLY HAVE DONE EVEN UNDER THRALL-- nevermind this is yuca, so much. so. much.]

Will you protect me?