[open]

[marmoron]

Who: Keith and YOU
When: February
Where: Around Aefenglom
What: Getting settled, finding stray cats, finding "clothes" and some full moon vamp shenanigans
Warnings: Will add as necessary

A. The Forge

[Since arriving at Aefenglom and hearing about everything that happened at the hands of the Rathmore’s, Keith’s decided he’s going to need to prioritize getting his hands on a decent weapon. With his bayard out of commission for whatever reason, the Forge is probably the best place to find a replacement.

There’s a lot going on there though, with dragons and all sorts of projects being worked on and he can’t help looking around a little wide-eyed with amazement.]

Woah.

[He does his best not to stare too long at anything, but eventually his curiosity gets the better of him.]

Where’d you get the material to make that?

B. A Mew Friend

1. Encounter:
[..... But sometimes you start heading home and you’re interrupted by an insistent noise coming from the garbage can at the end of an alleyway. Keith pauses briefly, peering around for the source of the noise. Aefenglom is, of course, home to quite a lot of magical creatures and he isn’t sure what to expect from whatever is evidently stuck inside the garbage. Keith gives whoever is near by a glance.]

Gonna take a look.

[But seeing as you just never know, Keith pulls out a knife and makes his way over to the distressed noise. Much to his relief, when he looks inside the garbage….]

Oh.

[He reaches in to pick up the stray kitten and holds it out]

Is this yours?


2. Open to people at or visiting the Voltron haus
[After sneaking the kitten inside the house, Keith has been spending an awful lot of time holed up in the attic, apparently by himself. How suspicious…. Or not suspicious at all But should anyone come to poke around the attic or check on him, they’ll find the attic door is locked and jiggling the door handle only gets a slightly panicked:]

H-hey! What do you want?

C. Clothes Shopping

[Between the decision to get himself a sword and also acquire food for The Cat, getting himself new clothes had not been very high on Keith’s bucket list of priorities. His paladin armor was serving him just fine -- it’s durable, warm and it covers up everything that needs covering up.

But there comes a point where the Altean magical whatever that had kept the armor in pristine condition becoming nonresponsive in Aefenglom poses a bit of a problem. And that problem is boy stank. He may wash every day, but clothes -- especially heavy armor -- need to be given time to air out, you know?]

So while you’re out looking through clothes…. Well, Keith will be eyeing this jacket and sighing deeply.]

I just want my old jacket back.

D. Full Moon

[For all the warnings that he’s received about full moons and monster transformations, Keith should have been on edge all day, but instead he’s slept through almost all of it. As weird as that is for him, Keith genuinely thinks this could have been worse. It isn’t a thought that lasts long however, as night begins to fall. The restlessness is what kicks in first, slowly but steadily until he’s practically wearing the floorboards of his room down with his ceaseless pacing. He’s unbonded and he’s been told repeatedly that he might be a danger to people if he goes outside, but he’s not entirely certain in what way just yet.

That is until the hunger sets in. A hunger that refuses to abate even after angrily eating the bread that’s been left out on the counter. Hunger that only seems to intensify when he spots his roommates walking around the house. The word “vampire” sounds ridiculous in his own head, but he knows it isn’t -- not at Aefenglom anyway, and for the life of him he can’t bring himself to endanger his friends just by existing near them. He doesn’t know exactly where he’s going, but he needs to go outside -- somewhere safe, somewhere he can wait out the worst of his hunger.

But of course, not everything always goes according to plan. Somewhere along his attempt to run from the residential district to the outer walls separating Aefenglglom from the Wilde, he runs into someone. Unthinking, he snarls.]

Watch where you’re going!

E. Wildcard

[As always, I’m down for any other ideas that you may have for threads. Feel free to PM or hit me up on plurk partyraven if you’d like to hash something specifc out!]

Comments

[marmoron]

[Blood. The response sits like lead in his thoughts, refusing to actually come out and be made more tangible by being verbalized. Keith bites his lower lip, ducking eye contact entirely. Everything about this is irrational -- vampires are part of the norm at Aefenglom and moreover it's not as though he chose to become one.

But it's still not normal for him, and he doesn't quite know how to reconcile this hunger he's now feeling with the taboo of drinking blood of any kind except to internalize it as shame.]

I... I don't know. [It's a boldfaced lie if his body language says anything. He's never been good at hiding things or lying when it comes down to it. He swallows.] ...I just can't be around other people. I'm probably turning into a vampire.

[quickwhip]

[ Oh. Well... that might explain a few things there. Yeah. ]

A vampire.

[ He says it back to him, not as a means to discredit what he says but more... just confirming that... and he just SIGHS a bit then. Christ, he never wishes that sort of "monster choice" on anyone. It's honestly the shittiest since you're guaranteed to die before you fully transform. Talk about getting the short end of the stick, right? ]

Well, guess that makes two of us then. [ Another sigh, he drags a hand down over his mouth, keeping it there as he looks to him before he lets it drop. ] Has anyone talked to you about being one? Or do you... I don't know... know what they are?

[ Let's just start there. ]

[marmoron]

[Keith looks up sharply, expression betraying more curiosity than he realizes.]

You're a vampire?

[He was bound to run into another vampire at some point of course, but he hasn't made any attempts to reach out on the network to find others. Probably because it was easier to think whatever was happening to him this full moon would pass if he just kept it together and stayed away from everyone else.]

I don't know a lot about them. They're not real where I'm from. Just supposed to be these fictional monsters that can turn into bats. [He looks briefly down at the ground.] And drink blood. Dunno how much of that is still the same at Aefenglom.

[quickwhip]

Right. So... you know about them at least.

[ That's...good?? He guesses. Vampires are a VERY REAL THING where he comes from so seeing and hearing that they exist here wasn't the difficult pill to swallow. It was the whole becoming one thing but... this isn't about him, so, story time put off for another day. Maybe. ]

Let's go down that list there. [ to which he starts counting off his fingers ] They're real. Fictional in some worlds but not this one. Turning into a bat is a thing, I've done it but it was more a giant... man-bat sort of thing. [ batty boy trevor was... a time. ] Blood drinking is... a yes. There's really no way around that, unfortunately.

[ And trust that he hates that as well. ]

I don't know how far along you are but my first month here I grew fangs and got really annoyed with everyone. More than usual I guess. [ Just gonna say it ] I'm not going to blame you or judge you for not wanting to drink blood, I tried to hold out for as long as I could but believe me when I say it's going to hurt you more the longer you do... and you might end up hurting someone else, too.

[marmoron]

[There's a notable silence after he runs through that checklist. It adheres ... decently well to vampire lore from his world, for whatever that's worth, but familiarity doesn't provide a whole lot of comfort here. This is his life now, is it? Slowly turning into a giant blood sucking bat? He clenches his teeth, hands balling into fists again.]

"How far along I am." [He repeats the phrase, tone as hollow as the bitter laugh that follows.] Is there some sort of step-by-step process here? I don't know. I haven't really noticed anything different. [A beat.] No. That's not true. I've been tired. [Unnaturally tired for someone as active as he is.] Hunger started up with the full moon. Haven't noticed anything else. No fangs, nothing. Just...

[Keith lapses into silence for a moment, brow creasing.]

How is not drinking blood going to make this worse? I thought that was just if you didn't have a bond.

[quickwhip]

[ Honestly, he never thought he'd be giving the "hi, welcome to vampire life" welcoming speech to someone and yet, here he is. But, he figures it's better he just know rather than deal with some rude surprises along the way. Or less of them at least. ]

You'll get more tired in the sun over time. Until you become a full vampire. Then it's absolutely no sun or you'll burn.

[ He's not quite there yet himself but he knows it's coming soon. He's been here near six months now, time is almost up. ]

Having a bond helps keep you from losing your shit, especially around the full moons. [ So he recommends those. Yeah. ] But not drinking blood at all... ever had hunger pains before? Because that's what happens. Vampires need blood to survive. The longer you try and go without it? The more pain you're going to be in to the point where it drives you mad.

[ It happened to him, he lasted two months before he couldn't take it anymore. ]

You're also... going to die.

[ Just... going to put that out there. ]

[marmoron]

[There's.... a lot to unpack here, but that last bit completely eclipses over everything else.]

Wait. What?

[The question is practically yelped -- no veneer of stoicism, no facade of bitter acceptance, just a dude being totally blindsided.]

[quickwhip]

[ Yeah, that one's... a bit of a doozy. But, better he know than figure it out whenever the hell it happens to him. ]

Not right away, so don't get weepy.

[ A sigh, he lets his arms fold in front of his chest. ]

It's how you become a full vampire. The end of the transformation or whatever the hell you want to call it. Vampires are the undead after all. You know. Die as a human, rise as a vampire.

[ Again, he sighs a bit. ]

I know it's a lot and it's a shit thing to hear. We sort of got screwed in the whole monster roulette. But... it's better you know. That's why I'm telling you.