dumbshow | highly new, slightly improved open post

highly new, slightly improved open post

assorted morons

optional prompts/ideas

☆ caught in the rain meme
☆ little steps meme
☆ affectionate physical contact meme
☆ picture prompt also acceptable but link them so it's tidy
☆ AU ideas: soulmates AU, reincarnation AU, Bad End AU, canon divergent/roleswap AU, dorky college AU, crossover AU, super indulgent high fantasy AU
☆ melodrama is ultimate tier
★ SHIPPING AND FUCC:
☆ non-fluffy relationship types I'm down for: codependent, master/servant power imbalance type ships, "we're bad for each other but worse for anyone else," other things I am failing to think of tbh
☆ things I am not into: noncon (includes "dubcon"), incest, tsundere shit if your tsundere is just verbally abusive, gratuitous torture porn, you'll probably have to ask me about harder kinks and they will vary by character
☆ I don't have a kink list so pitch me an idea if u thirsty
☆ if you would prefer a locked post I can also make that happen

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Don't get him wrong— panicked gunshots were his second instinct. But it's crisis averted for now, even though he's still on the ground, dirty, and his heart is beating double time after all the excitement. When he pushes himself up to sitting he first stops to fix his hair, then reaches up to take the offered hand.

He frowns. Hmm.

"I'm not doing anything particularly well, I suppose. I'm- I usually have a whole team with me! It usually goes better than this!"

He's defensive in a pathetic kind of way, knowing how bad an idea this was now that he's nearly died at least six times in ten minutes. Then he realizes he's trying to defend his ability to fight and kill vampires to a vampire and his expression twists briefly into embarrassment, then sheepishness. He looks down and busies himself brushing off his jacket.

"Well— well, I've already given up, so..."

So he's not going to go for the surprise stake. There is that much.

The fact that the young man - alone, vulnerable in the vampire-infested night, facing a possible unknown threat - stopped to fix his hair before getting to his feet oddly threw Jonathan slightly off-balance. It struck him as almost too relaxed or trusting for the situation, and he blinked in clear confusion as he helped the other man to his feet.

"I imagine it does, since you're still breathing," he says, still slightly dumbfounded. "Much worse and that wouldn't be the case for either of us. And I imagine that having a team and the sun on your side makes matters much easier."

There feels as though there is far too much of not knowing what to say right now and so Jonathan clears his throat and attempts, as best as he can, to try and focus on something else. Like getting this poor young man back to wherever he came from so that he didn't end up as a meal.

"My name is Dr Jonathan Reid, by the way," he offers. "Now... How far away is your camp? I should at least be able to get you close if you know the way."

"Doctor...?" He repeats it with some uncertainty, some surprise— no one told him that vampires still needed doctors, but then again, no one told him that vampires were ever supposed to survive an encounter with something stronger or smarter than them. It's a strange point to get stuck on for a moment but he does, glancing at the carnage littering the street around them; those vampires were... well, monsters!

Is there a whole society of well-dressed, polite vampires he doesn't know about, that have doctors and normal things? He had genuinely no idea.

"It's kind of a hike? I'm really not supposed to be out here." Hah... look, he's learned that lesson. He coughs lightly and looks away to reorient himself toward the direction he came from. Give him a moment, he'll get it.

"—I'm Emil. ...I think it's this way."

"Ah, I suppose it would be that I was previously a doctor," Jonathan clarifies. "Before I... became what I am now. Some of us retain memory of who we were before we turned, although it makes most no less dangerous than the beasts that attacked you."

If anything it could often be the other way around. Yes, some of the larger creatures could cause more damage and be more difficult to stop, but those like himself, that called themselves Ekons, they were harder to identify and could more easily slip past defenses of those that didn't know what to look for. Their strengths were in the skill at blending in and biding their time.

All the more reason as well that Jonathan feels it best if he accompanies Emil to somewhere he'll be safer. Smelling as he does, he'll bring predators coming for miles and he doesn't doubt there'll be more fighting before the night's end.

"At the very least we have to get you somewhere safe," he says. "I've a hideout of sorts not far from here that would work if you think it too far to return home now. You can lay low until the sun rises and then return more easily then. Or we could try heading back now, but I must insist that I come with you."

Oh, that explains... soooo much. Sort of. Emil's expression betrays how lost he is for a few seconds— is there or is there not a secret vampire society that's just normal people, but they drink blood and have superpowers? He shouldn't wonder— the people in charge of combat training are pretty emphatic about never wondering about things like vampires having thoughts and feelings, but he's wondering!

So— say he assumes there is, in fact, a secret vampire society out there just waiting to eat him. Emil comes to much the same conclusion Jonathan does in the moment: anyone on the street could be waiting to kill him at a moment's notice. Nothing about this makes going with Jonathan anywhere any safer, all things considered... but the man did save his life.

That's probably enough. Emil is not gifted in discernment, as it were. He frowns in the direction he ought to go, mentally judging the distance and how it's the middle of the night... alright.

"Alright, alright, I'll go to your 'hideout.' There better not be anything in there that tries to kill me!"

Jonathan tracks the line of Emil's gaze, mentally noting the direction should he need to take the young man that way later, and nods at the eventual decision. He would have accompanied him regardless, but he's noticeably relieved not to be walking an undetermined distance with only so many hours until sun rise.

"If I'd wanted to kill you, I could have done it before taking you anywhere," he points out with a soft laugh. "But no, I have no intention of luring you back to my lair and doing unspeakable things to you. All I offer is safety and a place for you to rest until morning." He glances sidelong at Emil. "And the hope that you won't stake me while I sleep."

Then he offers his hand to the younger man. "The path isn't entirely on foot, do you trust me to carry you?"

Hmm, phrasing? Emil has to stop and wonder, with Jonathan talking so casually about killing him if he wanted to, if this is the worst or only second-worst decision he's made tonight. It might just rank, depending on whether or not he lives until sunrise. He did, however, recently shove a monster full of explosives, so perhaps that memory will inspire all other vampires not to mess with him! Yeah!

He can dream. He blinks, making another face. Then, "I want you to know, absolutely none of that made me feel better."

Which doesn't make this conversation a good lead-in to Jonathan carrying him around, but somehow it feels very ridiculous to draw the line at carrying but not vampire hideout, so Emil feigns looking very put-upon and takes that offered hand.

"I already told you, I'm not going to stake anybody." Well, he said 'I've given up,' but details. "Let's go."

"I'll remember that for next time," Jonathan remarks, taking Emil's hand and then tugging him in close to scoop him up with ease that's entirely born from his inhuman nature. His gaze flicks up to a nearby rooftop and, before Emil has much of a chance to protest, the world lurches in the blink of an eye as Jonathan disappears and reappears on the roof, only to immediately start racing in great leaping bounds and bursts of inhuman speed across a path of crumbling buildings and empty streets.

The pace slows somewhat and then Jonathan puts in one last burst of speed for a leap that's a good deal further than the others he's made, long enough that even his stomach lurches in anticipation of falling before his foot catches a ledge just barely and he pushes up and into a room overlooking a sheer drop, the rest of the building collapsed away.

Then he carefully sets Emil down and gives him a moment to catch his breath if he needs it.

"Apologies, I know it's not easy to get used to the first time."

When Jonathan had said "carry you," Emil hadn't expected, well, any of this. It's only the surprise and the suddenness of it that keep him from shouting— first the disappearing act (augh), then the jumping, then the near death experience— the things he'd be shouting about change too quickly for him to keep up, and he's quite mortified by the time they actually do stop and he's put back on his feet. He wobbles, and reaches for Jonathan's sleeve to keep his balance for a moment.

"What—" Damn, no, give him another minute. He didn't do any physical exertion at all but he still feels like he's run a marathon for how fast his heart is beating. Just hold on, his eloquent commentary is coming. "What the hell."

...Or just that. He needs somewhere to sit before he just collapses on the floor and gives up until morning.

He puts a hand out to steady Emil, expecting the trip to have been particularly rough for him, and gently nudges him towards an armchair that's seen far better days. Much like the rest of the room they're in. Exposure to the elements has left the paint peeling from the walls and ceiling and the wooden floorboards have rotted and broken in places, leaving behind gaps that peer down into the rest of the building.

There's still some time until the sun rises so he gives Emil a chance to get his bearings, leaning against the ruined wall to keep an eye on his, for lack of a better word, guest and the city below.

"I'm sorry for the disorientation. It's best to stay somewhere hard for anyone without my abilities to reach, but experiencing them isn't a particularly easy experience. Take your time, we're safe here."

Oh, alright, a chair. It definitely looks old and gross at best, but Emil sinks bonelessly into it with a grateful sigh. In a moment, the room will stop spinning, and he'll be ready to have a conversation.

He stares at a crack in the floor for a little bit, squinting into the darkness below. The more time he takes to calm down, the more surreal this all seems— sitting here, in some vampire's secret lair, with said vampire just watching him like this is all normal-!

"Oh— okay," he says, glancing up. Truthfully, he only caught about half of that, but he got the gist. It's another few moments before the prolonged silence starts to feel awkward, at least for Emil— a pervasive 'so now what?' flooding the dilapidated room.

"Soooo," perfect, keep this up, that's great, "Do you usually pick people up and take them, uh, here? ...Home?" Is home the right word? He can't be sure.

The question earns a smile, a flash of surprisingly human teeth in the dim light cast by the moon. "No. I don't see many humans out of a night here and suffice to say that most of my kind and I do not see eye-to-eye."

It occurs to Jonathan, far too late it seems, that a human is going to need a few necessities that he does not. Food is hopefully not required for a short period, but water is slightly more important, although he doesn't know where in the ruined city anyone would find some. Needless to say, none of the current residents care for it.

"Do you have any supplies with you?" he asks, curious and hoping that while the decision to try and survey the area might be rash, Emil wasn't so unprepared as to leave without something to sustain himself.

"There's bedding in the other room, but I haven't any water or food I'm afraid. Some of the plumbing may still work in the buildings..." He frowns, slightly concerned now about Emil's comfort and survival.

"Perhaps I should try to get you back to your home instead. You'd be safer there."

Emil blinks at him for a moment, like it didn't occur to him at all to bring supplies going out on his own— which is always a great sign in a tiny vampire slayer. Then he holds up a finger- wait, wait- and pats at all of his pockets, eventually producing what appears to be a smallish, but adequate canteen. He shakes it, and water sloshes around inside.

"I've got this." But food? He din't expect to be out more than a few hours, so no food. Hopefully he isn't here long enough to need food either... It's a distracting train of thought that gets away from him slightly, such that he almost doesn't catch Jonathan speaking to him again, so soon after the last time.

But no, he hears him this time— there's something a little odd about a vampire, like... fussing over him like this. No, it's definitely odd, but it's a little odd that he's not dead yet in the first place, so Emil won't complain. He does, however, make a face at the suggestion that he get taken back home, holding up his hands to refuse that immediately.

"I'm not doing that- that jump thing of yours again. I'll be sick everywhere! I'm sorry, but you'll have to deal with me until morning."

Jonathan isn't particularly fond of the idea of Emil being ill either, so he imagines that they'll both need to simply try and survive as best they can for the moment. Which has been his life since the epidemic swept the world as they knew it decades ago, but it doesn't seem as fitting for someone who not only has somewhat more complex needs but is also likely to draw attention for miles around.

"Very well," he agrees dubiously. "But you'll have to return home come morning, and stay here until close to then. I'd rather not try fighting another one of those giants."

Most of his injuries are healing well enough, although with his limited diet, it takes slightly longer for him than it might otherwise. But the occasional tug of pain from a still closing wound or bite mark does make Jonathan suddenly consider if his guest managed to survive the fighting - particular what he hadn't seen before arriving - unharmed or not.

Moving past Emil, Jonathan ducks into the small room off from the open space they'd landed in and digs around for the limited supplies he's managed to scrounge up in the city.

"I do have bandages if you need them and a bed if you're tired," his voice floats out from the darkened space. "There's still a few hours until morning."

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