A bit more Midsummer
Jan. 29th, 2008 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maderrAlmost done with part one. Will have to ponder a bit more carefully how to do this, winging it only goes so far...but, that is for tomorrow. I think for tonight, I am yawning too much to get much further ^^; Unbeta'ed, cause there's little point right now.
Lowell didn't know what to do with himself.
After eating breakfast, Peter had told him to 'explore and have fun' before vanishing through a door beneath the stairs. Lowell wondered what was down there, because it was obviously a lot more than a closet unless Peter was particularly strange.
Explore and have fun?
He got the explore part well enough, but how exactly was he supposed to go about having fun? What was fun? He didn't have a whole lot of 'fun' memories stored for reference. In his experience, fun usually required money and even though he now had two hundred dollars to play with…he had no idea what to buy with it.
Well, new soap and detergent and all kinds of things he should replace for Peter since he was using them.
Exploring the house didn't take long. It was a pretty big house, but half the downstairs was given over to a little clinic thing packed with all kinds of weird stuff that he was pretty sure, though not positive, were normally in a doctor's office.
The rest of the downstairs was a living room, something that looked like a second, smaller living room but with more books and board games and a TV and stuff. Otherwise, it was just the bathroom, kitchen, laundry room.
Upstairs was just three bedrooms and another bathroom, a couple of closets. Lots of windows, most of the coloring blue and green and gray, though 'his' bedroom was red and brown.
He wondered who had used it before. No hint of the former occupant remained, even most of the smell – not enough of it to give him some picture of the owner.
Not that he was really trying anymore, not after realizing he'd gotten some faint whiff of sex. It still felt like his face was on fire, cause that was so none of his business.
Still, probably a lover or something of Peter's? Which definitely meant it was none of his business.
Where was Peter? Well, down in the basement or whatever, but why was he still down there? It was almost lunch time.
Should he go outside, explore the yard?
Aargh, what was he supposed to do? Well, leave, and go be somewhere else, cause he never stayed in one place very long but then again he'd never been anywhere quite like this either.
He was giving himself a headache. Sighing, Lowell wandered back into the kitchen and sat down at the table. It was, for whatever reason, his favorite room to be – assuming less than twenty four hours was enough time to pick a favorite room.
Maybe because one of his few good memories was of his stint as a cook's assistant. That had been fun, at least parts of it. Cutting stuff, frying it, grilling it, roasting, boiling…he so wished he could have hung around longer to learn more.
Wouldn't it be neat if he knew how to cook? Sadly, he just didn't know much. The diner had been an 'old-fashioned cooking' kind of place, and he hadn't been there long enough to learn all of it. Biscuits he remembered, and fried chicken but that had required a lot of work and he hadn't been allowed to do the actual cooking stuff though oh man had he watched and eaten the leftovers.
They'd had cereal and bananas for breakfast, and Sally had borrowed some eggs and he definitely knew how to cook eggs…
But was he allowed? Would he get in trouble?
He snorted at that. Get in trouble. Like that was new, or even mattered. He got in trouble, Peter kicked him out, that was that. Back to life as normal. It wasn't like this weird situation would last.
Shrugging, he slowly wandered the kitchen hunting down everything he thought he'd need, coming up with a skillet, eggs, butter, cheese, several things from a spice rack that made his gawk, a few other things and then he slowly started to get to work.
Scrambled eggs weren't really much, but it was the one thing he knew he could do without burning the house down. Or otherwise screw up. 'Werewolf and Kitchen Tragic Combination.' Frowning, he dumped the whisked eggs into the warmed skillet and watched carefully as they cooked.
He was so busy concentrating, on fretting about what would happen when – if – Peter came upstairs, that the new scent didn't register until a voice broke into his thoughts.
"Smells good."
Lowell jumped, the new scent hitting his nose even as he dropped his spatula and it clattered to the kitchen floor.
"Sorry!" the new guy, pushing up the glasses on his nose, smiling sheepishly. "I figured you'd know I was here, though you were looking pretty hard at those eggs."
Nodding, Lowell bent to retrieve the dropped spatula, then moved to the sink to wash it. "You smell like the vampire," he said slowly. "Uh. Are you allowed in here?"
"Yeah," the man replied. "Name's Jordan. I stopped by to meet the new werewolf my wife keeps going on and on about. I think I'd be jealous, except I know better." He winked, and briefly touched his neck, where Lowell could see what were obviously bite marks. He jerked his gaze away, realizing he was staring.
Jordan laughed softly, but it was a kind rather than a mean sound, or so Lowell thought but who knew? "Have you never seen vamp bites before?"
Lowell shook his head, feeling his cheeks grow hot, and turned back to save his eggs from burning. "I'm a loner."
"So was I, actually," Jordan replied. Then he grinned. "Vampire hunters by and large tend to be loners. There are exceptions, but most of us work alone." He moved closer to the stove. "Can I steal some?"
"You…want some of the eggs?" Lowell asked, surprised.
"They smell really good," Jordan said. "Don't tell her I said so, cause I'll die a slow and painful death, but Sally is much better at baking than cooking." He winked. "Of course, she's a vampire and rather an old one at that. Don't tell her I said that either."
Lowell stared at him.
Jordan smiled. "So can I have some eggs? Cause my cooking is worse than Sally's, though neither of us is nearly as bad as Peter. You'd think a man who dealt with formulae and stuff would be better at measuring out flour, but let me tell you the one day he tried to make a cake it—"
"Continue with that sentence, Jordan, and I'll tell your wife everything you just said," Peter said from the hallway, glaring at him.
"Whoops. Busted. Can I still have eggs?"
Peter moved into the kitchen, still glaring, but Lowell almost thought he looked amused too. "No, you may not, for attempting to tell humiliating stories about me."
"At least I didn't bring up the incident—"
"Finish that sentence and the next time I throw my handy little 'solar flares' down the chimney, your vision will suffer a lot longer than twenty four hours."
Jordan laughed. "She was pissed with you, man. Sometimes I think I miss the good ol' days of courtship. I got away with more when she thought I was being a cute little human trying to flirt."
Peter rolled his eyes.
"Um," Lowell broke in hesitantly. "Do you want to eat?"
"Yes," Peter and Jordan chorused, breaking off their congenial bickering to fetch plates and forks, and before Lowell could blink his scrambled eggs were gone from the pan, on three plates – and mostly gone by the time he sat down to enjoy his own.
He listened as they continued to talk and bicker, eating his eggs quickly, trying not to smile because there was no good reason to smile, though he was glad his eggs didn't taste awful and that he wasn't in trouble.
The words 'vampire hunter' broke into his idle thoughts, and he looked up, speaking before he thought better of it. "What's a vampire hunter?"
As the talking ceased and they both looked at him in brief surprise, Lowell wished he'd remembered in time to keep his mouth shut.
Then Peter shook his head, and Jordan smiled ruefully. "You're not kidding," Jordan said with an easy smile. "He really did manage to avoid learning anything. How, though?"
Peter shrugged. "It wouldn't be hard, all things considered."
"True enough, I suppose," Jordan muttered.
Lowell wished he understood what they were talking about.
Jordan shook his head. "Sorry. Um, there are different kinds of vampires. What we in the business typically call Broken, Average, and Tops."
"Sally…Peter called a Top."
"Yeah, that's right," Jordan said. "A vampires is considered a top when he's a hundred and eight years old, or roughly three times the average span of a human life. That's about the point when they're well and truly adjusted to being vampire rather than human, and can more or less be trusted not to go on massive killing/making sprees. Uh, making as in 'making more vampires' cause they're only allowed to make so many per decade."
Lowell nodded, not sure he got it but it was still more than he'd ever known.
Jordan continued. "Average vampires are the middle ones, the young ones, those turned that seem to be doing well but haven't reached that definitive point yet. Most of them won't, cause forgetting how to be human is hard.
"Broken vampires are those that are well-made, or simply don't take, as well as some averages who over time can't take it. Vampires hunters come in two main grades – those who hunt broken vamps and those averages who break the rules, and then those who watch over the tops."
"Uh, okay," Lowell said. He wanted to ask more questions, cause he totally didn't get half of it, but a more pressing question burned to be asked. "Is there, um, stuff like that for werewolves?"
The two men exchanged a look. Lowell hated when people did that. It never spelled good news for him.
Finally Peter spoke. "Werewolves…are something else entirely. There's a popular theory that vampires and werewolves are closely related. Both are transmitted through bites, both have a fatal allergy to silver, both are in some way tied to the night…and no one knows where or how they originate. The oldest of both races are long dead, and not even the oldest vampires, it's said, remembered much of anything about his origins. It's believed to be a combination of science and magic, some experiment that had two end results. We'll never know for certain."
"What we do know," Jordan said, "is that vampires became jealous of werewolves. They saw to it that almost all werewolves were wiped out, and I'm sure they'd all be gone except there were enough who helped at least some werewolves survive. Sally, for instance, never hated them."
Lowell stared. "Jealous?" he asked.
"Yes," Peter said, fidgeting with his glasses. "Most only change with a full moon, so once a month…otherwise they are mostly human, able to blend with humans better…and can move about in daylight. More important still, they can mate with humans, and do not require human blood to live. Vampires are more powerful, and immortal…but they lose much of the freedom which werewolves retained."
Jordan pushed his own glasses up his nose, and Lowell thought it was kind of funny they both did that. "For a time, it was said some of the best vampire hunters in the world were werewolves. Even today, there's a pretty famous family in the business that people swear have werewolf blood in their veins."
Lowell frowned. "How can they have wolf blood and not be werewolves? That doesn't make sense."
"It's like anything passed on through blood," Peter said. "Over time, if not kept strong, it fades and thins out. I doubt there's much of it left, especially if no werewolves have popped up in the bloodline after so many years."
Jordan snorted. "One never knows with that loud and proud lot."
Lowell shook his head, utterly confused. "I don't get it. What do you mean passed on through blood?"
Dismay flickered across Peter's face. "Ah—I keep forgetting, even as we discuss this, that you just don't know these things. Not all werewolves are the result of biting. Some are simply born. It's passed through genetics as easily as through a bite. Though, it's rare. Often it just sits dormant. Like in the case of the hunter family we were just discussing. Depends."
"Oh," Lowell said quietly. "Um…could that, uh, be why I don't remember getting bitten?"
"Probably," Peter said gently. "Very likely, you had a parent who was a werewolf. I could not say for certain, of course, but if you do not have a bite scar…"
I don't," Lowell said quietly, staring at his empty plate. It didn't really matter, of course, how he'd become a werewolf…except…if his mother or father had known what he might be born as…why would they abandon him to it? Why had no one told him? Why had no one cared?
Stupid questions, for which he would never find answers, so it was pointless wondering. So he was a born werewolf rather than a made. He felt stupid for not knowing such a thing was possible, but ultimately it didn't make a difference so he should just stop wondering.
Peter and Jordan were looking at him uneasily, and exchanging looks again, but Lowell didn't want to know this time. He'd had more than enough information for one day.
Standing, he gathered up the plates and skillet and moved to the sink to wash the dishes.
Lowell didn't know what to do with himself.
After eating breakfast, Peter had told him to 'explore and have fun' before vanishing through a door beneath the stairs. Lowell wondered what was down there, because it was obviously a lot more than a closet unless Peter was particularly strange.
Explore and have fun?
He got the explore part well enough, but how exactly was he supposed to go about having fun? What was fun? He didn't have a whole lot of 'fun' memories stored for reference. In his experience, fun usually required money and even though he now had two hundred dollars to play with…he had no idea what to buy with it.
Well, new soap and detergent and all kinds of things he should replace for Peter since he was using them.
Exploring the house didn't take long. It was a pretty big house, but half the downstairs was given over to a little clinic thing packed with all kinds of weird stuff that he was pretty sure, though not positive, were normally in a doctor's office.
The rest of the downstairs was a living room, something that looked like a second, smaller living room but with more books and board games and a TV and stuff. Otherwise, it was just the bathroom, kitchen, laundry room.
Upstairs was just three bedrooms and another bathroom, a couple of closets. Lots of windows, most of the coloring blue and green and gray, though 'his' bedroom was red and brown.
He wondered who had used it before. No hint of the former occupant remained, even most of the smell – not enough of it to give him some picture of the owner.
Not that he was really trying anymore, not after realizing he'd gotten some faint whiff of sex. It still felt like his face was on fire, cause that was so none of his business.
Still, probably a lover or something of Peter's? Which definitely meant it was none of his business.
Where was Peter? Well, down in the basement or whatever, but why was he still down there? It was almost lunch time.
Should he go outside, explore the yard?
Aargh, what was he supposed to do? Well, leave, and go be somewhere else, cause he never stayed in one place very long but then again he'd never been anywhere quite like this either.
He was giving himself a headache. Sighing, Lowell wandered back into the kitchen and sat down at the table. It was, for whatever reason, his favorite room to be – assuming less than twenty four hours was enough time to pick a favorite room.
Maybe because one of his few good memories was of his stint as a cook's assistant. That had been fun, at least parts of it. Cutting stuff, frying it, grilling it, roasting, boiling…he so wished he could have hung around longer to learn more.
Wouldn't it be neat if he knew how to cook? Sadly, he just didn't know much. The diner had been an 'old-fashioned cooking' kind of place, and he hadn't been there long enough to learn all of it. Biscuits he remembered, and fried chicken but that had required a lot of work and he hadn't been allowed to do the actual cooking stuff though oh man had he watched and eaten the leftovers.
They'd had cereal and bananas for breakfast, and Sally had borrowed some eggs and he definitely knew how to cook eggs…
But was he allowed? Would he get in trouble?
He snorted at that. Get in trouble. Like that was new, or even mattered. He got in trouble, Peter kicked him out, that was that. Back to life as normal. It wasn't like this weird situation would last.
Shrugging, he slowly wandered the kitchen hunting down everything he thought he'd need, coming up with a skillet, eggs, butter, cheese, several things from a spice rack that made his gawk, a few other things and then he slowly started to get to work.
Scrambled eggs weren't really much, but it was the one thing he knew he could do without burning the house down. Or otherwise screw up. 'Werewolf and Kitchen Tragic Combination.' Frowning, he dumped the whisked eggs into the warmed skillet and watched carefully as they cooked.
He was so busy concentrating, on fretting about what would happen when – if – Peter came upstairs, that the new scent didn't register until a voice broke into his thoughts.
"Smells good."
Lowell jumped, the new scent hitting his nose even as he dropped his spatula and it clattered to the kitchen floor.
"Sorry!" the new guy, pushing up the glasses on his nose, smiling sheepishly. "I figured you'd know I was here, though you were looking pretty hard at those eggs."
Nodding, Lowell bent to retrieve the dropped spatula, then moved to the sink to wash it. "You smell like the vampire," he said slowly. "Uh. Are you allowed in here?"
"Yeah," the man replied. "Name's Jordan. I stopped by to meet the new werewolf my wife keeps going on and on about. I think I'd be jealous, except I know better." He winked, and briefly touched his neck, where Lowell could see what were obviously bite marks. He jerked his gaze away, realizing he was staring.
Jordan laughed softly, but it was a kind rather than a mean sound, or so Lowell thought but who knew? "Have you never seen vamp bites before?"
Lowell shook his head, feeling his cheeks grow hot, and turned back to save his eggs from burning. "I'm a loner."
"So was I, actually," Jordan replied. Then he grinned. "Vampire hunters by and large tend to be loners. There are exceptions, but most of us work alone." He moved closer to the stove. "Can I steal some?"
"You…want some of the eggs?" Lowell asked, surprised.
"They smell really good," Jordan said. "Don't tell her I said so, cause I'll die a slow and painful death, but Sally is much better at baking than cooking." He winked. "Of course, she's a vampire and rather an old one at that. Don't tell her I said that either."
Lowell stared at him.
Jordan smiled. "So can I have some eggs? Cause my cooking is worse than Sally's, though neither of us is nearly as bad as Peter. You'd think a man who dealt with formulae and stuff would be better at measuring out flour, but let me tell you the one day he tried to make a cake it—"
"Continue with that sentence, Jordan, and I'll tell your wife everything you just said," Peter said from the hallway, glaring at him.
"Whoops. Busted. Can I still have eggs?"
Peter moved into the kitchen, still glaring, but Lowell almost thought he looked amused too. "No, you may not, for attempting to tell humiliating stories about me."
"At least I didn't bring up the incident—"
"Finish that sentence and the next time I throw my handy little 'solar flares' down the chimney, your vision will suffer a lot longer than twenty four hours."
Jordan laughed. "She was pissed with you, man. Sometimes I think I miss the good ol' days of courtship. I got away with more when she thought I was being a cute little human trying to flirt."
Peter rolled his eyes.
"Um," Lowell broke in hesitantly. "Do you want to eat?"
"Yes," Peter and Jordan chorused, breaking off their congenial bickering to fetch plates and forks, and before Lowell could blink his scrambled eggs were gone from the pan, on three plates – and mostly gone by the time he sat down to enjoy his own.
He listened as they continued to talk and bicker, eating his eggs quickly, trying not to smile because there was no good reason to smile, though he was glad his eggs didn't taste awful and that he wasn't in trouble.
The words 'vampire hunter' broke into his idle thoughts, and he looked up, speaking before he thought better of it. "What's a vampire hunter?"
As the talking ceased and they both looked at him in brief surprise, Lowell wished he'd remembered in time to keep his mouth shut.
Then Peter shook his head, and Jordan smiled ruefully. "You're not kidding," Jordan said with an easy smile. "He really did manage to avoid learning anything. How, though?"
Peter shrugged. "It wouldn't be hard, all things considered."
"True enough, I suppose," Jordan muttered.
Lowell wished he understood what they were talking about.
Jordan shook his head. "Sorry. Um, there are different kinds of vampires. What we in the business typically call Broken, Average, and Tops."
"Sally…Peter called a Top."
"Yeah, that's right," Jordan said. "A vampires is considered a top when he's a hundred and eight years old, or roughly three times the average span of a human life. That's about the point when they're well and truly adjusted to being vampire rather than human, and can more or less be trusted not to go on massive killing/making sprees. Uh, making as in 'making more vampires' cause they're only allowed to make so many per decade."
Lowell nodded, not sure he got it but it was still more than he'd ever known.
Jordan continued. "Average vampires are the middle ones, the young ones, those turned that seem to be doing well but haven't reached that definitive point yet. Most of them won't, cause forgetting how to be human is hard.
"Broken vampires are those that are well-made, or simply don't take, as well as some averages who over time can't take it. Vampires hunters come in two main grades – those who hunt broken vamps and those averages who break the rules, and then those who watch over the tops."
"Uh, okay," Lowell said. He wanted to ask more questions, cause he totally didn't get half of it, but a more pressing question burned to be asked. "Is there, um, stuff like that for werewolves?"
The two men exchanged a look. Lowell hated when people did that. It never spelled good news for him.
Finally Peter spoke. "Werewolves…are something else entirely. There's a popular theory that vampires and werewolves are closely related. Both are transmitted through bites, both have a fatal allergy to silver, both are in some way tied to the night…and no one knows where or how they originate. The oldest of both races are long dead, and not even the oldest vampires, it's said, remembered much of anything about his origins. It's believed to be a combination of science and magic, some experiment that had two end results. We'll never know for certain."
"What we do know," Jordan said, "is that vampires became jealous of werewolves. They saw to it that almost all werewolves were wiped out, and I'm sure they'd all be gone except there were enough who helped at least some werewolves survive. Sally, for instance, never hated them."
Lowell stared. "Jealous?" he asked.
"Yes," Peter said, fidgeting with his glasses. "Most only change with a full moon, so once a month…otherwise they are mostly human, able to blend with humans better…and can move about in daylight. More important still, they can mate with humans, and do not require human blood to live. Vampires are more powerful, and immortal…but they lose much of the freedom which werewolves retained."
Jordan pushed his own glasses up his nose, and Lowell thought it was kind of funny they both did that. "For a time, it was said some of the best vampire hunters in the world were werewolves. Even today, there's a pretty famous family in the business that people swear have werewolf blood in their veins."
Lowell frowned. "How can they have wolf blood and not be werewolves? That doesn't make sense."
"It's like anything passed on through blood," Peter said. "Over time, if not kept strong, it fades and thins out. I doubt there's much of it left, especially if no werewolves have popped up in the bloodline after so many years."
Jordan snorted. "One never knows with that loud and proud lot."
Lowell shook his head, utterly confused. "I don't get it. What do you mean passed on through blood?"
Dismay flickered across Peter's face. "Ah—I keep forgetting, even as we discuss this, that you just don't know these things. Not all werewolves are the result of biting. Some are simply born. It's passed through genetics as easily as through a bite. Though, it's rare. Often it just sits dormant. Like in the case of the hunter family we were just discussing. Depends."
"Oh," Lowell said quietly. "Um…could that, uh, be why I don't remember getting bitten?"
"Probably," Peter said gently. "Very likely, you had a parent who was a werewolf. I could not say for certain, of course, but if you do not have a bite scar…"
I don't," Lowell said quietly, staring at his empty plate. It didn't really matter, of course, how he'd become a werewolf…except…if his mother or father had known what he might be born as…why would they abandon him to it? Why had no one told him? Why had no one cared?
Stupid questions, for which he would never find answers, so it was pointless wondering. So he was a born werewolf rather than a made. He felt stupid for not knowing such a thing was possible, but ultimately it didn't make a difference so he should just stop wondering.
Peter and Jordan were looking at him uneasily, and exchanging looks again, but Lowell didn't want to know this time. He'd had more than enough information for one day.
Standing, he gathered up the plates and skillet and moved to the sink to wash the dishes.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 02:38 am (UTC)*hugs Lowell*
--Do you think Chocolate is bad for werewolves??
altogether now: awww
Date: 2008-01-30 02:43 am (UTC)thankee! get some sleep, so we don't feel bad demanding more out of your poor pwned brain!
no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 02:48 am (UTC)Damn, you have the most prolific muses!
no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 03:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 03:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 03:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 04:32 am (UTC)Oh, and this was excellent. I love how you're going back and giving your fluff some solid background and hardcore history! Well, as hardcore vampire and werewolf p0rn can get. XD
no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 04:40 am (UTC)Lowell is very cute as usual and I liked the werewolf history lesson. Can't wait for more!
no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 05:42 am (UTC)You just do the bestest stories. *sighs happily*
no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 07:10 am (UTC)NUS. I SHALL PROTECT YOU. D= -huggles- ;=;
Jordan's so nice. xD He's like the big bro everybody wants.
And Lowell's toooooo cuuuuute. DAAAAAAAAA. XD I'm amused by how he managed to avoid learning anything about the abnormals and stuff. :3
Keep up the good work! :DDDD
no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 07:16 am (UTC)*huuuuuuuuuugs* So do you, for that matter.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 01:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 04:59 am (UTC)