This is a strange town...

Val felt the guilt rise as she watched the stranger fiddle with the roll-up garage door. Out of everyone else in Santa Carla, she just had to pick the one who was a local. Roughly scrubbing at her face again with the back of her hand, she looked at the offered soda bottle in surprise. She’d just bit this person, and he was offering an alternative? What kind of guy was this anyway? The offer of a ‘dinner’, though, sent her hunger roaring back up.

“No. No, the explaining part can wait for later.”

Before she could think twice, she grabbed the bottle from the stranger, effortlessly popping open the bottle cap before taking a deep swip. Already, the bubbles on her tongue were swirling with the remnants of the foul blood, which nearly made her gag. Swishing the concoction in her mouth a few times, she moved to a nearby garbage can before spitting it out. Another heartier drink from the soda bottle helped her nerves to calm somewhat.

“The, uh... the dinner offer doesn’t sound that bad, honestly. Least, that way, I can make it up to you for the whole... ‘biting’ thing.”

She tried her best to offer him an apologetic smile. It was foreign, uncomfortable - apologizing to a meal was certainly a first, and Val was already praying she wouldn’t have to do it again.

#nocturnalpolaroid #lost in shadows (clare)#v: santa carla summer

“Don’t worry about it,” He said, giving her a small, crooked grin. “Trust me, I know how it is. Hell, I know better than to put myself into that kind of a position. Not your fault you came across arguably one of the few people in Santa Carla that it does you no good to bite."

'One of the few,' only because he had reason to suspect that she wasn't the only bloodsucker around.

"C'mon," He lead back out into the street. "Let's go find this bastard before he gets cold feet and runs off."

Not waiting, knowing she would follow, he started walking toward the alley again. Making these kind of deals with shady individuals was second nature at this point. He knew right where it find them and how to reel them in. Sure, he doubted it was exactly what Death had in mind when sending him to the 'Murder Capital,' but could It really blame him if it meant keeping himself fed and his own monster at bay?

He slowed, spotting a familiar figure up ahead.

"Night patrol's already been past," He whispered, voice barely more than a breath, but he knew she'd hear it perfectly. "But pull him deeper into the alley just in case. Leave him when you're done. I'll deal with it."

"Of course." He offered him a careful smile before deciding to lean against a nearby wall. He couldn't help but let out a small huff of laughter at his words, rubbing at the back of his neck. "And yeah, wild feels like it doesn't even encompass what this whole place is like." It had only been a couple of nights since his.. initiation, after all. And that alone had been more than enough to show just how crazy Santa Carla really was. He shook his head, glancing out the window, "Lots of things happening all the time. Wouldn't be surprised if you ended up here because of all the craziness."

He then looked to the other, shaking his head as he moved to shake his hand in return. "It's alright, I get it. Like I said, craziness leads to all sorts of things." Like someone crashing in your house, for example. "I'm Michael." Once introductions were over and done with, he shifted back, watching Leslie carefully. "So, do you remember where you were staying before you got here? Maybe we can try to get you over there?" A pause when he realized he couldn't be outside in the sun at the moment, a grimace on his face that he barely managed to suppress. "Might have to wait until later though, uh.. I need to watch the house while my mom's at work." Nice save.

#dazed and dreaming (leslie)#wanttobelongtosomeone #v: santa carla summer

"That's alright," More than alright by him. It saved him the trouble of having to try to figure out an excuse as to why he couldn't leave while the sun was still up. "I'm sorry to be in your hair for that long though."

He almost had to wonder if maybe the universe was cutting him some slack, throwing him some good luck after so much bad. But then again, he really couldn't ignore the strange vibe he was getting from the house or from Michael. There was definitely something, but at the same time, he couldn't say he was exactly worried about it. He didn't really know what all he could do just yet, but he'd learned quickly enough that he was much stronger than he should have been and had no problem protecting himself if it came to it.

"I stay pretty much everywhere though, been on the road for the last few years. I live out of my van--"

Saying it made his stomach sink with realization.

"Ah man," He groaned, a hand running through his wild curls. "My van! God, I hope it's still where I remembering parking it last."

thoushallnotfear

Michael chuckles a little. “Well, as long as your confident,” he says, clearly a little confused as to where all that confidence was coming from, but he wasn’t about to push back against someone he didn’t know all that well. For all he knew, the other man had ways to keep safe he didn’t know about.

Or a gun. Maybe the other man was carrying a gun.

Michael runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t wanna bore you with petty family drama. My brother just… doesn’t really get my new friends, I guess. He said some stuff I don’t completely think he knows the implications behind, and I just… got pissed. That’s mostly it.” He looks down at the ground. “I don’t know. Can’t expect him to fully understand, I guess.”

#lost in shadows (clare)#thoushallnotfear #v: santa carla summer

"Ah, I get that. Siblings are hard. You both wanna look out for each other, but that makes it harder when you don't agree on what's best. And there's no one else who quite knows how to get under your skin and hit you where it hurts like they do."

Memories of moments with his own sister came to mind, her trying to protect him, not realizing what was he was doing was in an effort to help her.

He wondered how her life ended up going, if she ever really knew all he had done for her. Part of him really hoped that she didn't, it would only cause her pain.

"What's so bad about these friends of yours that's got him up in arms?" Maybe it was nosy of him, but he couldn't help but be curious. "They can't be that bad if you made friends with them, right?"

Wiping away the mess from her mouth and chin, she just stared at the stranger in disbelief. There the faintest traces of something vaguely vampiric, yes, but he also smelled dead. A very different kind of dead than her. The stench clung to him like a second skin, invading her senses and oh god, his blood was almost like bile on her tongue!

“...sorry, what?”

Val only continued to watch, almost unblinking as the man worked to staunch the wound. He seemed so casual, so nonchalant in the action that it practically unnerved her! Whatever he was, it was clear that she’d never had any experience in the creature that he was. He looked human but wasn’t, seemed human but wasn’t! Standing upright, she wiped away the last vestiges of blood from her skin as she moved to follow the stranger as he slowly made his way down the alley.

Even more confusing was him offering her a new target to feed on! Had he done something like this before?! Santa Carla had to be some kind of supernatural magnet at this point - it was the only thing that could even scarcely make sense in Val’s mind.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute, what the hell are you, anyways?! You’re alive, but everything about you just smells like… like you’re not! You should be freaking out over what happened, but you’re-! Seriously, this is just… just… what the fuck, man?!”

#lost in shadows (clare)#nocturnalpolaroid #v: santa carla summer

He continued to walk even as she spoke, swaying slightly with every step.

“What I am—” he knelt down close to the ground, fiddling a moment with a lock before pulling open a roll-up garage door. The space inside was dark, whatever it had once housed closing down long ago, making it the perfect spot for him. “—is complicated. If we take the time for you to have the full story now, your dinner will be gone before you can get to him.”

Should he encourage that? Make more work for himself? Probably not. But if someone was going to die by her hand, better it was someone that the world would be better off without.

He stepped inside the space, enhanced senses allowing him to see despite the dark. Besides the natural decay of a space left abandoned, it was relatively orderly, a small cot set with folded blanets, a well worn travel cooler, some large containers of water and non-perishabele foods in cans stacked on a counter.

He popped open the cooler, pulling out a bottle of soda and offering it to her.

"Come back here when you're done if you want answers. Or don't, if you'd rather stay in the dark. Vampires are only the tip of the iceberg of the supernatural shit show, so I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to know."

Val froze for only a moment at the stranger's words. How the hell had she even be caught? She'd been quiet in her approach, nearly silent! But the itch in her teeth grew stronger, and her hesitation was pushed aside. Just a little show of strength, and he’d be silent in an instant.

Before the man could say anything forward, she lunged forward as she allowed herself to shift into that more vampiric side of hers gripping his shoulder with one hand and his chin with the other. Wrenching his head back and exposing the line of his throat, bloody-golden eyes blazed with hunger as she opened her mouth and immediately plunged her fangs into her skin, the four sharpened teeth cutting through skin effortlessly.

At the first pull of his blood, however, her body violently reacted with a jolt of disgust.

Dead blood.

It was cold, foul on her tongue as it slid its way down her throat. That strange instinct surged up into her mind once again, practically screaming the warning of what she briefly tasted into every synapse. At once, she shoved the stranger away, coughing and dry-heaving as she tried to get that horrid taste out of her mouth, out of her body! Doubling over, Val braced a hand against the wall as she continued to cough, her mouth and chin absolutely smeared with crimson as she tried to fight the nausea that threatened to consume her.

“Wh-?!” She coughed again from what little still clung to the back of her throat, nearly gagging from the taste. “What the fuck is wrong with your blood?!”

#lost in shadows (clare)#v: santa carla summer #nocturnalpolaroid

He hissed in pain as he staggered away from her, his hand going to his throat.

"I told you not to..."

Of course. The one night he decides to allow himself to relax, to let his guards slip just a little, he gets attacked by a rogue vampire.

"Blood tends to turn stale and cold when it ain't got a beating heart to keep it moving," He did almost feel bad for her. He knew what it was like, the agonizing pull of the hunger, the maddening way your teeth ached as you slowly lost more and more control. He'd say he didn't miss it, but what he dealt with now was somehow much worse. "Can't imagine it's the most appetizing thing."

He shifted, reaching a hand into his coat to take out a handkerchief, putting it to his wound. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been bitten, he'd forgotten how badly it could hurt.

It also didn't help that the world was still spinning. He really shouldn't have had so much to drink.

"There's a guy I've been tailing set to make a drug deal not too far here, close to where I've been crashing. Real piece of work," He'd watched the guy trying to sell on the boardwalk, targeting teens who were too young to know the kind of trouble he was offering. "...you follow me back and I'll give you a soda to wash the taste out of your mouth out first."

thoushallnotfear

Michael hesitates for a moment before taking a cig from the man. “Thanks,” he says, lighting it with a bit of fumbling that suggests he has not done this very often, and bringing it up to his lips. He takes a long drag, coughing a bit afterwards, before turning his attention back to the man.

“You’re probably not wrong about this spot not being the safest,” Michael replies. “Especially with Santa Carla’s whole ‘Murder Capitol of the World’ thing. But I just… needed to get out for the night. Things… got a little messy between me and my family earlier. I just… needed to clear my head.”

He thinks for a moment. “What brings you down here? You’re not worried about the potential threats the night brings?” He says it with a bit of a joking tone, but only a little bit. His emotional exhaustion makes it hard for any levity to sound truly light at the moment.

#thoushallnotfear #v: santa carla summer #lost in shadows (clare)

"Me?" His brows raise in mock surprise before giving the other boy a small, crooked smile. "Nah, I'm not worried at all. Can't say I've come to know this place too well yet, but something tells me there's nothin' here to be found that could bring me trouble."

Words that, on the surface and to a stranger, would have appeared as arrogant and overconfident. Even with the leather jacket and mean look he often wore, with his smaller build, Clare didn't appear like much of a threat. He preferred it that way, made it easy to keep under the radar and to catch others who might try to cause him problems off guard.

"Working through things with family can always be challenging," He couldn't speak too much from experience, his own family being broken from a young age. "Takes a heavier emotional toll..."

It came with deeper regrets too, if something were to go wrong before amends could be made. That one, he knew all too well.

"So what happened?" He leaned back against a support, breathing out smoke. "I'm a willing ear with no biases if you're wanting to get those thoughts out of your head."

He nodded, offering him a careful smile as he went to the fridge. His eyes squinted at the dim light, reaching in to grab a bottle and toss it between his hands. He walked back to him, holding the bottle out. "Here you go!" He paused, realizing he probably should've asked if he liked it cold. "Or, uh- I have some room-temperature bottles in the other room too, if that's more your speed?" Had to keep the options open, after all.

He then paused at his question, shaking his head. "Not stupid at all, I'd ask the same thing if I was you." He racked his brain, trying to think of how to describe where they were. "I mean, it's my family's house, um.. We're not too far from the boardwalk, if that helps." Most crazy things happened at the boardwalk, he wouldn't be surprised if the other was coming from there before he blacked out.

#dazed and dreaming (leslie)#v: santa carla summer #wanttobelongtosomeone

"This is great, thanks," He took the bottle and gave the other man a smile.

Something about this other guy felt... off. Strange and different in a way he couldn't quite explain. But he tried to push it away. The guy was being way more generous than he had to be considering he'd more or less broken into the house and Leslie wasn't about to take that for granted.

"And yeah, actually! That helps a lot," Sort of, it at least put some pieces together. Had he been on the boardwalk the night before? "The boardwalk's a pretty wild place. This whole town is wild. I've been up and down and a bit of everywhere, but I've never known a place like this before."

He known plenty of places that kept pretty wild secrets, but nothing quite like Santa Carla.

"I'm sorry again for crashing here like this, it really must have been a wild night," He offered a hand out to the other young man. "I'm Leslie."

Open Starter

Val had pushed herself too long. Her teeth had begun that telltale itch while the world itself seemed to sharpen and brighten in definition. Even four years later, she hated what it would all meant.

She had to feed.

She was always different when it came to that urge. Val would always be quiet, carefully scanning the crowds of Santa Carla for someone who wouldn't be missed... or someone who needed to be taught a lesson. Until her eyes settled on someone. He was drunk, stumbling around as he caused a nuisance. He was perfect for what came next.

She quietly followed along as he made more of a scene, watching with a light smirk as he was hauled by his collar off the boardwalk, keeping a fair distance away until finally, finally, he was wavering through the older part of Santa Carla - probably to some cheap motel nearby.

All she had to do was hope they didn't turn around.

#nocturnalpolaroid #v: santa carla summer #lost in shadows (clare)#//I hope this is okay!#//Val has full permission to attack him

It had been a long few days.

Despite his desire to get out from under Death's thumb, Clare still had to keep up appearances and his work. In the case of Santa Carla, that meant dealing with it when someone in the 'Murder Capital of the World' when 'missing.'

He'd felt he'd more than earned the night off, a chance to relax and actually enjoy all there was to see. It was a far cry from the tiny town in Appalachia that he'd called home for so long, and he was more than happy to take the opportunity to indulge a bit.

...But it had been a long time since he'd indulged like this, and even longer since he'd done it on his own. After being kicked off the boardwalk, he made his way slowly toward the abandoned spot that he'd claimed as his own for the time being. The world around him spun, his awareness and senses impaired, but not enough to not pick up on what shouldn't have been there. He wasn't alone.

He stopped, swaying slightly on his feet, and didn't bother to turn around.

"...Really wouldn't if I were you."

talesfromthecrypts

The Lost Boys (2026)

#//Watching this was i n s a n e #//I created Simon FIVE YEARS ago #//and obviously there are huge differences between him and Pete #//but to go into this musical and to see a nerdy glasses wearing-red haired boy and KNOWING what was bound to happen to him?#//And for it then to happen LIKE THIS??#//insane #the lost boys musical #shifting frames (simon)#tw blood

thoushallnotfear

Michael had taken shelter under the pier as a way to hide from passersby’s while trying to clear his head. An argument with his mother and some hard-hitting words from his brother about his recent outings with his… “new friends”… had left his brain feeling fuzzy and his emotions all over the place. He hadn’t really been able to face anyone, so he hid himself away. Or at least, he had tried to.

He startles slightly when he sees another figure duck under the pier, and then relaxes again when he realizes it’s not someone he has met before. At least if he was going to be found by someone, it was a stranger. He takes a moment to register the figure’s words.

“Oh. Yeah, uh, here,” Michael gets to his feet and hands Clare his lighter. “I didn’t think anyone else would be down here,” he says, trying to sound unbothered despite his emotions from the night still lingering.

#thoushallnotfear #lost in shadows (clare)#v: santa carla summer

"Easy place to hide away for a bit and catch your thoughts," He nodded in thanks as he took the lighter. He lit his cigarette and offered the box to the young man as he passed the lighter back. "Sorry for disrupting yours."

While good for mulling over thoughts, he couldn't imagine that the spot was one often visited by those with innocent intentions. It was dark, and easy escape into the shadows. And as the other young man had mentioned, it was secluded, a place where the chances of someone else finding you were less likely, where you go for things not suited to for the light. He was no stranger to spots like this, dark alleys and hidden places, but the other man seemed oddly out of place.

There was something... off about him.

"What brings you down here?" He couldn't help his curiosity. "From what I hear, this place ain't the safest place to be at night."

Even if it was foolish considering.. everything about the other, Michael couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for him. While he was definitely a stranger to party scenes before moving here, he knew that they were never too kind to their participants, especially ones who seemingly had no one else worried about them. Rubbing the back of his neck, he offered a shrug.

"It's alright, it.. happens, unfortunately." Clearing his throat, he rocked back and forth on his feet. Kicking him out right as he was gathering himself felt like an asshole thing to do, the least he could do was offer.. something, even if he didn't know what. "Do you.. want something to drink? Or eat?"

#wanttobelongtosomeone #dazed and dreaming (leslie)#v: santa carla summer

"Yeah, uh," Could he eat and drink? Was it safe to? He'd messed around with it some, but he didn't know limits yet. There was so much he didn't understand and the last thing he wanted to do was to scare this poor guy when he was just trying to help. "I'd take some water, if that's alright."

He desperately tried to wrack his brain for anything that could tell him what had happened, but there was nothing, a blank space where the memory of the night before should have been.

Best to start with the basics then, right?

"...This... this is probably a really stupid question, but... where exactly am I?"

Michael supposed he should be used to the oddities of Santa Carla by now. There was always someone new, always something strange occurring.. But not much could really prepare him for a stranger crashing on the couch, now could it? Even without his half-heightened senses, he would be able to sense there was something equally, if not more, off about the other being. Taking a glance at the clock, he nodded towards it, his hands resting carefully in his pockets.

"Uhh, it's about noon.." His eyes narrowed in confusion, head tilting to the side. ".. But, how did you even get here?" He surely wasn't so oblivious that he wouldn't notice someone crashing at his house.. Right?

#wanttobelongtosomeone #dazed and dreaming (leslie)

"Noon?!"

Oooh this was bad. This was really bad. How the hell was he supposed to get out of here?! If he so much as looked outside, he'd be burnt to a crisp!

"Uh--" He tried to think back, but it was a complete blank. What had he gotten into? He tried to think fast. "Sorry, man. I didn't mean to--"

Trespass? Break in? Hurt someone? What was he even supposed to say at this point? He wasn't even sure what all he'd done. He was still hungry, and he was thankful for that at least.

"I think someone slipped me something," Pin the blame elsewhere, it should take some heat off of him, right? "I must have stumbled in here while I was still pretty out of it."

Open starter || Simon

He breathed out slow, exhaled smoke curling up into the air. He’d been smoking more than usual, a way to keep himself awake and aware, but it was starting to wear on him.

It was a poor substitute for what he actually needed.

Large doe eyes that had only just started to tint with red scanned over the faces of the missing posters. He supposed this place hadn’t earned the title of ‘murder capital of the world’ for nothing.

Simon lingered a moment more at the board, looking into a face so similar to his own. The call outs of red hair and brown eyes, the photo showing glasses and a tidy appearance. ‘Pete’…. They could have been a perfect match.

As he turned away, he noticed someone staring at him, expression shocked and haunted.

“Are you okay?” A small smile came to his lips. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

#shifting frames (simon)#v: santa carla summer #tlb rp #the lost boys rp

eternal-family-man

"Go?" Max echoed in confusion, tilting his head to the side. "Why on earth would you go back out there?" He drew another step closer, his movements slow as not to startle the boy further, removing his own hands from his pockets to show he was unarmed.

Max offered a smile. Warm, friendly, encouraging rather than any kind of subtle threat. "Let's start again. My name is Max, I run this store."

This young vampire was like a baby deer. Skittish, wide-eyed, keeping himself low and apologetic. He knew that type, the type that still jumped at their own shadow, still feared what they were and clung to humanity so hard it hurt them. Too unwilling to learn to balance the monster with the human.

Perhaps he could teach the boy. Keep an eye on him. Provided, however, that the younger vampire wanted to listen.

[OOC: Sorry this one was short, friend :( ]