[text; handwritten]

[amberhearted]

Hey Nessa--

Wondering if you're OK.

Sorry for the public shout-out.

Alex


[ later, he wonders how lyall is and if he'll be all right with the full moon, so he goes to google when the full moon is.

... IT WAS TWO DAYS AGO.

his visceral surprise at this new-found knowledge is enough to jolt him out of his thirst-induced lethargy. his thumb flies through his contact list at the speed of light. good job, alex, you are a great friend. gold star. ]

[ private to lyall; voice; iphone ]

[ as soon as the call is answered: ]

Hey, Randy... You all right?



[ private to brooke; text; iphone ]
[ after getting the information of where ravi had gotten that bag of blood from (and coming to terms with the source-- kind of-- (he was drinking someone's loved one! a friend, family member? maybe it was a repulsive employer. oh god, if this had been a few weeks ago, he could have unwittingly drunk catherine's blood. that's disgusting. what about blood-borne pathogens? could he get aids??)), alex decides to get in contact with brooke herself. ]

Hey this is Alex. My number is [ insert # here ]. I'm the one the blood was for. Just wanted to say thanks

[ yeah. 'thank you for giving me people blood on such short notice!'

cry what would his parents think ]

And sorry for any discomfort it caused

Comments

Audio [Private]

[doomedtheworld]

[It takes her a while to answer, partly because busy and partly because "Nessa"? Who is that? The second time she glances at the message, however, it seems to click and she finally answers.]

Nessa?

[amberhearted]

[ it takes him a moment to realize why she's even asking that. ahh, starvation, it does a body no good. ]

Don't know your number and I didn't wanna use your whole name, you know... Code name.

[ no, that is not a code name, alex, that is a nick name. ]

[doomedtheworld]

Oh. Right. I guess that's fine.

[She doesn't really shut him down but it's a little weird. She hasn't had a nickname since she was a kid, and most of those were the typical jabs kids came up with because they were jerks. That went on at least until she figured out that throwing rocks shut the loudmouth kids up pretty good.

She's quiet for a little while before she remembers he actually asked a question back there.]

I'm okay. I just... got a little freaked out from that last thing.

Um, how was the rest of the class?

[amberhearted]

It was okay. You wanna talk about it?

[doomedtheworld]

No.

[The answer came quickly but it's followed by a sigh soon after. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad to talk a little, get some of these thoughts out of her head.]

I remembered somebody.

[amberhearted]

Ah--

[ he had been more than willing to drop the conversation. given who his roommate is, alex is used to such offers being declined more often than accepted. personally, he usually -- usually -- finds it easier to tackle his problems by talking about them, but everyone is different.

but she seems to have changed her mind. ]

Somebody important?

[doomedtheworld]

I think so.

[She normally didn't. It came with the territory of being on your own. Go long enough without actually having anyone to talk to and keeping your problems to yourself becomes normal.

But this is pretty far from normal for anybody. Which is why she's found herself sitting at the generously named kitchen table in her cheap apartment talking to an open notebook.]

I didn't get his name or anything but it felt like the first time that-- [not "I"]-- that she met him. It just... it felt like something important. The kind of thing you don't want to forget.

[amberhearted]

[ the pronoun usage for herself (or not herself, as the case may be) throws him off-- not dramatically, but just enough to give him pause. ]

Did you feel anything else?

[doomedtheworld]

[Hey, it's not her. Whatever she's getting back isn't her life, it's just memories that belonged to someone else.]

Annoyed? A little curious. He just showed up at this... I guess ball would be the right word, and dropped this big stack of books on her table and started reading.

I just have enough to deal with without missing somebody I've never even met.

[professorwolf]

[Lyall is, by now, much recovered. Nothing twinges or stings, nothing makes horrible grating noises when he moves, nothing really hurts, aside from a little leftover ache. He's sitting at home, with a stack of summer school grading, and picks up his phone absently when it rings.]

Hello? ... oh, Alex, hi. I'm fine.

[He smiles a bit, and it's obvious in his voice.]

Just realized the date, I see.

[amberhearted]

[ that's a sigh of relief on the other end. ]

Yeah, man, I'm sorry. There was some stuff... [ vague hand motion, because talking on the phone doesn't stop alex from talking with his hands, too. ]

Anyway, the windows hold up okay?

[professorwolf]

[Lyall can imagine it. He knows Alex well enough by now to know about the hands thing.]

It's all right. I had a couple people here to make sure I didn't get out. Besides, both the window and the door held just fine. I'm really not any stronger as a wolf than I am as a human, and I spent most of the night with half my bones broken anyway.

[amberhearted]

[ 'OH YEAH, SPENT MOST OF THE NIGHT WITH BROKEN BONES, NBD' ]

That sounds... fun...

You know, this girl talked about a murder attempt by alien birds like it was no biggie, too. I wonder if you just get desensitized to this kinda stuff...

[professorwolf]

Or you can just control your emotions enough to not actually show when you're bothered by something.

[Which is generally Lyall's take on things, if it's been a day or two.]

[amberhearted]

[ ... ok. ok, this is a tactic alex occasionally employs himself, but it's another story when someone else does it! (no, it isn't. he's being hypocritical.) ]

I dunno... [ halting pause. ] If that's something you should be bottling up? I mean, I guess however you handle stress, but it's better to let it out, you know? Especially since we've already got so many things to hide from others.

[ the people who don't have a number. the blissfully ignorant. 'others'. ]

[professorwolf]

And just how would that look to my students, their teacher falling apart?

[He huffs a sigh.]

I'm all right, Alex. Really. If it makes you feel better, if I feel the burning need to shout and scream and hit people, I can come find you?

[He means that as a joke. Mostly.]

[amberhearted]

Wh- Oh, no, no, that was a general 'you', not you-you.

[ minor pause. ]

Ah, but maybe it was for you-you, too. Well! I'm not your student, so you're free to fall apart around me.

text;

[somesayinfire]

No problem! It was a little weird, but it's all part of the job. I'm just glad it got to you in time. :) If you ever need anything else, let me know. I'm a helper like that.

[amberhearted]

Never again I hope. Drinking someone else's blood is pretty fucking disgusting

[ in retrospect. he'd been too thirsty to care when he actually drank it.

and then ravi had finally relented to telling him where it came from. that hadn't been pretty. ]

I gather you didn't get in trouble for this

[somesayinfire]

If I have, it hasn't filtered down to me yet. I'll take the blessings where I can get them. I'll take the lumps, too, if I need to.

[amberhearted]

[ what do you even say to that.

it's not like alex isn't positive, but. dead people blood! smuggling! without consent! like a drug deal for the undead. rrrghhh.

he gets the jitters just thinking about it. ]

No lump taking without saying something please. I'm not going to let you take the flack for something you did to help me

[ because seriously, if he had gotten hungry enough to drain one of the cats, he's pretty sure he'd be dead-dead. ]

[somesayinfire]

Nope! Doesn't work that way.

[she pauses here, without sending anything just yet, to think about whether it should work that way. whether the potential consequences of getting caught would really be worth saving the life of at least one person. she doesn't have to think very hard.]

I'll fall on my sword for the greater good if I have to. First do no harm and all that.

[amberhearted]

[ DAMNIT BROOKE

but wait ]

Did you get an actual sword or are you speaking metaphorically

[somesayinfire]

It could be both. (It's not both, it's a metaphor.)

[amberhearted]

I'd like to avoid career seppuku on my conscience