2340/Vampire Checkup

Vampire Checkup
Date of Scene:	13 January 2017
Location:	Plot Room #1
Synopsis:	Norie checks in on Alexis in her manor after having turned him into a vampire. Things aren't too horrible. Yet.
Cast of Characters:	Norie Okana, Alexis Raskoph

---

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima stands in the study of the manor. The manor is clean and well kept- as usual. If Alexis was here earlier in the week- he'd feel the oppressive anxiety pushing against the manor's wards that Jiaying placed there. It isn't there anymore, at least.

It generally means that Lacrima has calmed down to some form of 'rational' again than 'super worried and paranoid and scared'.

There are two large whiteboards on easels setup here. A basic sketched map of the pond-- connected to a question mark- connected to a bunch of trees.

There are a bunch of questions along the side. 'Kunzite's Questions' -> 'Are you sure it was me?' 'We're we attacked?' 'Did you examine the location where you woke up?'. Thusly. She has written: 'Yes. I can sense it.' 'I don't know.' and 'No. And I can't find it. -,-;;'. Yes. The anime 'bleh' face is drawn out there.

ON the other whiteboard is another unrelated study. 'Dark Power' -> Someone had it before. Did someone have it before him?. How did they summon it? I Don't Know How That Goes. Ritual?. I Didn't Summon It. But The Last /Wanted/ It.

She is staring between the two boards, holding the black marker. It's one of those awful big fat smelly ones. She doesn't seem to mind the smell.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
Generally speaking, though Alex can be incredibly loud and hotblooded a lot of the time, he'd still made an effort in being sneaky occasionally when the situation would call for it.

Apparently, turning to a vampire only emphasizes this now. And improves it, for that matter.

There's not much of a sound anywhere to point out that he's coming in. But that doesn't stop Lacrima from sensing him, surely. Be it the wards he goes through, or the dark energy lingering within him, or some bizarre connection that the two now have-- she'll know he's coming, at least. She'll definitely know when he's in the room, even if the first sound he makes to announce himself is a quiet murmur of "You are at least being thorough," from a few meters behind her.

And so there's Alex, then. Missing the trademark leather jacket, replaced with a dark hoodie. Staring at the two whiteboards now, too.

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima can sense Alexis. This is her manor. She knows it's flow. She knows where everyone is in it at any given time. She doesn't react with surprise when he speaks, regardless of anything.

"Alexis-kun." she says as she gently caps the marker. "I am trying to write down my thoughts." a pause. "It is not helping." she says deadpan.

She sighs a bit and rubs a hand across her face.

"How are you faring?" she asks.

"No... voices. Or burning. Right?" she asks. Those are the two more important symptoms she's worried about Alexis experiencing.

A pause. "Jiaying is looking for you. She has. Charm tags. They won't. Hurt you, persay but they'll cause you problems. She isn't happy with me either." she says quietly.

"I promised her I wouldn't... use that power." she says quietly.

"But somehow I did anyways. I guess." she says as she turns around to face Alexis.

"...No jacket?" she asks.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"Maybe it doesn't help now," Alex says bluntly, now taking the few requisite steps forward so that he's come standing besides her, though eyes still study the boards. "But maybe it will. Later. It's good to have them down. You can. Reference them."

The first tow questions she directs to him urge a faint frown over him, nose and brow both scrunching slightly. "I... Trying to survive, mostly," he says, after a few seconds of considering his own state. "It feels. Weird. Still. Bad, I guess. I feel like I should be feeling... certain things. But I'm not."

"Feeding scares me, too," he confesses then, with a peer sent down at one of his hands. "When I do it. It. I can tell it hurts them. A lot. Usually they scream. ... In a way, maybe.. that is good, that it does. Since it always makes me stop almost right after I start. I haven't. Heard anything. In my head? Is that what you mean with that?" He gives her a curious look.

And then the mention of Jiaying. He frowns faintly-- from confusion.

"What is she planning to do?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima frowns. She never explained to Alexis why those two things are important, she didn't want to. Scare him. She worries. And she'd... 'done enough' already. But things Jiaying said hit home with her as she bites her lip a little and then talks.

"When I ... wore the necklace. For the first week I wore it. I heard. Voices." she says. "Whispering. Mumuring. Not. Really Clear. Sometimes. I just dismissed it. Because. Well- I was just a normal girl. I was obviously hearing. Just white noise. Audio Pareidolia." she says.

"But. Then. My limbs started burning. Then my whole body. And I got rushed to the hospital. And they had to... make me sleep. Because it was just horrible. And they said my heart stopped at least once." she says.

"That feeling. Was the power. Consuming my body and then replacing it this thing." she says.

"I do not. Think. That will happen to you. I did'nt /have/ any power until it was done doing that." she says.

"I think. What I am. And what you are. Are similar, but not the same." she says quietly.

She frowns. "It's. The dark energy." she says. "It blots out 'positive emotions' and makes 'negative emotions' easier. You will deal with situations you are familiar with easier than new ones. You 'remember' and 'know' how you 'should' act with those. With new things. You don't. So it can be confusing because you don't know what you 'should' be feeling." she says.

A pause as she looks away. "I don't like feeding either." she says. "Having to attack people, to keep coherent and rational. Because if I don't feed- I become something that isn't any better than the youma you've seen people fight. The base monsters that just. Roar. and rampage." she says.

"You don't have that ability. You're still partly a thing of the 'World of Light'. At my base core, I am just a mass of dark energy that remembers it was human. Which is the only leg up I have on those other said Youma." she says quietly.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"... If that was to happen to me." This Alex says a good moment after Lacrima's done talking. There's not much of a change in his expression, beyond the more pronounced scrunch of his brow. "Would that mean I'm losing. My human body?"

Negative emotions are plenty easier, yes. This thought clearly worries him. The frown deepens, and his lips twist into the scowl, too.

"What do you think will happen to me. Then? If I don't feed."

After a brief pause, he bites briefly at his lower lip and points out, sharply, "You didn't answer me. About Jia."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima head tilts. "Ah." she says. "Jiaying isn't a pressing matter. You'll be extremly annoyed for a bit." she says. "A charm tag. She'll slap it onto your forehead. Or body. And you'll be paralyzed. She thinks you're already agressive enough as it is." she says.

She head tilts. "I don't know. My best guess is you'll be aggressive about feeding. Angrier about it. It's.. better. To feed and be in control. Than feed when you're irrational. You may not be able to stop when you're in that state. You'll just.. take until...."

"I don't think. Anyone's died." she says. "but you can. Put people into comas." she says quietly. "That way."

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"..."

Despite Alex's current state, the look he gives Lacrima still manages to be utterly and completely *exasperated*.

"I would think," he says, with that same exasperation carrying to his voice somehow. "That paralyzation is. More than just annoying."

"If she comes up to me and. Doesn't listen to reason. It will be a pretty pressing matter, too."

With her explaining the dangers of feeding too much - and too little for that matter - Alex's eyes drift over to the whiteboard, for a moment-- though he's not really actually reading the things there at that moment.

"Even if it didn't put people to a coma," he mutters. "I would not. Want to risk the small chance. That they could die."

The frown somehow manages to deepen, still, and his gaze turns downwards.

"I don't. Want to kill."

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima shakes her head. "Then feed. Keep coherent. Keep your wits." she says. "And you'll always be able to think on your own terms." she says quietly.

"You might want to find... an anchor." she says quietly. "Something or someone you can get lost in." she says.

"For me that's... eating." she says.

"Of the things that have changed... taste hasn't changed for me, nor my ability to eat-- even if 'eating' in the mundane sense doesn't do anything for me anymore except make me feel comfortable. It's why you... see me order five boxes of donuts at a time. I can eat that much- it makes me feel like I'm still human, somehow-- and because I technically don't have a stomach I can just keep going and going."

A pause, and then a deadpan joke. "I should perhaps become a competitive eater." she insists.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
A joke.

Alex feels like he should be smiling at that.

But he doesn't smile. This is greatly upsetting to him.

But even in spite of that, he at least attempts to return it in kind by saying, "Wouldn't that be. Really unfair. To the other competitors?"

He considers her first words for a moment, however, before he decides to tell about something to her; "I met someone. Who would like me to. Patrol with her. Do you think that. Is a good idea?"

Another pause, and he asks then, "What should I do. About Jia. If she finds me?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Lacrima responds. "Well they're fault for having actual stomachs and also limits." she insists. More deadpan humor.

She thinks. "It could be a good idea. But. You should be upfront about what you are. Nothing good has ever come from hiding what I am to others. Be frank, but honest. You don't feed because you 'want' to, you feed because you 'have' to." she says. "And that's the truth."

"Right. Darkness doesn't fight Darkness very well." she says. "Light and Dark trump each other but when it's darkness versus darkness it's a matter of who throws first or who's more dangerous and things like that."

"Some beings or people may actually become empowered by your dark energy attacks. I made that mistake once."

"It's why I tried to teach you how to use your power lateraly. A blade made of dark energy is still a blade in the end." she nods.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
    "I do not know. Creatures or magic. In anywhere near the same capacity as a lot of you people do," Alex murmurs. "I. Ran into Kyouko, Kunzite and Naru. I could. Keep up with them. It seems like I might be able to keep up with anything but... If I don't know. Weaknesses. And immunites. Things like that. I don't know how to properly respond to them."

His nose wrinkles slightly again, and he peeks down over to Lacrima. "She knows, at least," he offers. "I had to. Explain myself to her. When she caught me. Feeding."

Another pause, and his line of thought turns another way again. "I should just try to avoid Jia, shouldn't I?"

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
But then there's someone else in the woods, too.

It's mostly a measure of chance, really. It's not as if though the person moving around is able to "sense" the cards, or anything of that sort.

But there it is. A figure in a dark hoodie, with his face mostly hidden underneath the hood of the garment itself, moving about along higher tree branches, keeping to the shadows. But moving towards all that commotion. Out of sheer curiousity.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
The trees nearby rustle and jostle. Sakura can hear it at this point, too, with the nearing momentum.

And then--

"What's the matter?"

The voice is vaguely familiar. And still different. There's not much of a tone behind the words there-- like they're said more by rote than anything else.

And up above her, the hooded figure, just... kinda casually standing upon one thicker branch up there, with his hands stuck into the pockets of the hoodie.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"You need to work on the cover lies," the figure's voice rumbles from above there. His hand is drawn out from within a pocket, and raised up. For just a second, it might seem worrying--

But then he's just drawing back the hood instead.

And the face of Alex is revealed.

"Not that you really need to use them with me. Or did you already forget me?"

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
There's no reaction to the hug. None whatsoever. Not beyond him looking down to her curiously when she wraps her arms around him. His expression doesn't change. He doesn't reach his own arms around her or anything. he doesn't even pat her shoulder.

Something is different alright.

Over the question, he pointedly looks away from her, too, and wrinkles his nose. "Stuff. Happened." That probably doesn't sound even vaguely reassuring.

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
It's not that he doesn't let her take his hand. It's that he doesn't move at all from there. When she tugs at the hand, she'll find him just-- stopping still when the rest of him doesn't move along. He stands perfectly there, and just peers down blankly at her.

"Don't bother," he says, bluntly. "There isn't anything to be done now. They know already."

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"...No." It's perhaps hard to tell which part he is answering, precisely, with the litany of questions that were presented. He draws his hand away from hers at that point, either way, and turns his gaze far off away from her, to the side.

"I guess you would find out just by asking the others," he mutters. "No use hiding it."

"I'm a vampire now, more or less."

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
The very instant her weight tipped over from the precarious balance of the branch, his own hand shot out.

And grasped onto her arm.

Just like that, she's thus hold within the all-too-casual hold of one of his hands, with him hanging her up there by the single arm he's caught.

With her question, he peers at her in bemused curiousity that just barely manages to make it's wya through his expression.

"I am not hungry," he answers her, first, in complete deadpan, and slowly lifts her up further, until her feet are dangling over the branch again. "Besides. I am not that kind of vampire."

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
He looks at her with some measure of surprise -- something that shows up on him even in hsi current state, apparently.

"The kind that drains energy," he tells her after a few seconds of potentially-unsettling silence, turning his head slowly sidewards while he studies her, now. "It's not. Like the movies. I can. More or less keep myself from doing anything. As long as I am fed properly."

Alexis Raskoph has posed:
"... What."

Exasperation. That's what Alex's expression speaks of, for that particular moment he spends in simply *staring* at Sakura.

"... Why would I. Sparkle?"

This confuses him greatly.

"I don't. Bite. Or anything. I just. Decide to drain. And that's that. It's... life energy. And emotional energy. More than anything else. I..." He holds a hand up, and pats it against his head. "I don't. Feel a great deal of those now. Of the better ones, anyway."