I think HJ is trying to be human again.
The SSRIs have led to blood flowing through him in ways that it hasn't in a century. His cheeks are rosy.
Ally named that he has existed in the past century being manipulative and essentially following the Camarilla's rulebook for domination and control. This is how he got Rediron Towers. This is how he got those mortals that were so devoted to him. Koschei said he used to be a serious vampire.
But when HJ gets to Purpee, he experiences the outcome of that manipulation, exploitation, and control as someone who is not highly benefitting from how sucked Purpee has been from those colonial and capitalistic mechanisms. The first conversation he has that night that he and LaVonte goes out on their scooters, is with Willie Coop, a man struggling to park his car because of Metr, owned by someone HJ has literally shook hands with. HJ gets in community with people who have had needs taken from them for the benefit of folks like him. He really wanted to go to the co-op to learn why and how that place has not been made as dead as others.
LaVonte hasn't forgotten what it means to be human but HJ is remembering what that means.
What it means to struggle, what it means to be vulnerable, what it means for cash-in-hand to not get you what you want. He is putting himself in situations to remember that, consciously or not. He forgot Bat Child's birthday and went to the police station to get her something and settled for a gun when he couldn't get into the evidence room. He could have used Dominate, he could have played the business owner, but he went there as a white man on a scooter to get something, failed, ended up at the bottom of the creek, got a large rock, placed a mirror on it, wrote a poem, and gave it to Bat Child as her present. And she genuinely likes it.
His behaviors aren't making sense to those around him but damn, what happens when you forget what it means to be human for 100 years and then begin to feel human again, feel the blood rushing through you, and remember?
