#rn-zane

[singdreamchild]

@rn-zane:

You don't keep in touch with your parents?

Ah, they're no longer amongst the living, I'm afraid.

[alan-duarte]

TIMING: 14th of June LOCATION: The Grocery Store PARTIES: Alan (@alan-duarte) & Zane @rn-zane SUMMARY: Alan and Zane have to do something mundane such as grocery shopping. Neither of them have a good time. CONTENT WARNINGS: homophobia tw.

It instilled a sense of normalcy, going out for groceries. Granted, there was way less need to buy things now that Zane’s food groups consisted of only one, very specific group but old habits died hard. So the small hand held basket now carried some skittles, coffee and soon, a scented candle for his room. Not exactly grocery shopping but still. As he was checking the scents, finding that most of them didn’t really hold the same appeal as they had before (no chance of finding blood scented candles, obviously), Zane noticed the presence of someone watching his actions from just down the aisle. The guy smelled nice, his cologne mixing nicely with the undertone of sweetness that made his mouth start to water, and he wasn’t bad on the eyes, either. The thick curls made Zane’s fingers tingle and the dark brown eyes were managing a nice glint even in the store’s fluorescent lighting and oh, shit, he’d spent way too long staring. 

The offered smile before he quickly turned his head back was every level of awkward, mind trying to regain focus on the scented candle mission. Zane was vaguely aware of the handsome stranger leaving the aisle, hearing his footsteps recede just around the corner, followed by voices. He had a nice voice and a lovely accent, speaking in fast paced Spanish that only allowed Zane to pick up a few words. ‘Acabo de ser mirado… tipo espeluznante… me sonrió… como un maldito joto?’

The tone following that last word, even if he hadn’t painfully known the meaning, was enough to get him moving. There were other voices speaking up now, at least two, and this was not the quiet trip to the store Zane had planned. Heading the other way from the voices, scented candle abandoned, he made a beeline for the register. ‘Ey, pendejo?’ Zane tensed, knowing what usually followed that jeering tone of voice. These guys were looking for a fight, no reason too small, and a 6 foot guy in decent shape always sounded like a fun challenge. Not that three against one was much of a challenge. 

Alan usually ordered his groceries online. It was convenient and it prevented him from being inevitably confronted to too many noises and smells at once. This once, he had missed the deadline and the idea of waiting until tomorrow  for his order was not pleasant to the impatient mind of Mr Duarte. 

Focused on the handwritten list in his hand, the werewolf tried to ignore his surroundings, although he was, as per usual, failing miserably. He didn’t like the idea of completely shutting himself out with earphones and didn’t feel comfortable walking around with earplugs. It was probably paranoia, especially considering hunters could tell who he was from a lot less than visual inputs. God only knew how that worked, but either way, Alan preferred to endure the noise. 

¿Me queda café en casa? His questioning was interrupted by discourse in his home language. With a raise of one eyebrow, he set down the pack of coffee beans he had in hand into his cart, and left it to take a stroll through the aisles. Hands slipping in his pockets, Alan heaved a sigh as he caught sight of them. Fucking kids with nothing better to do on a Saturday night. Not to contradict the man, the legend himself, but fighting in a supermarket? C’mon. With a rather unsubtle clearing of his throat, he had approached the quartet, eyes darting toward their hands. Sure enough, he didn’t look like much of a fighter, dressed as he was in his usual businessman gear. He hadn’t even bothered taking off the tie, the change of plan for groceries having stirred up his routine just enough to make that crucial comfortable step go away. Funny how the brain worked. One grain of sand and poof all the cogs were damaged. “¿No tienen mejores cosas que hacer? Tres contra uno, deberías estar jodidamente avergonzados.” He clicked his tongue and moved forward. “Come on. Leave.”

—

The excuses were all lined up, ready to go in the hopes of diffusing the situation, as much as a part of Zane wanted to make them take it back. He’d brushed off so much of this shit throughout the years and knew that these guys, with their pants hanging dangerously low on their hips and hats turned back, didn’t have a personal agenda or grudge. Just wanted to show someone, anyone, that they were tough. It would have been interesting, sort of, to see how the three of them faired against vampiric strength that Zane still had no idea how to control. Interesting but something he definitely didn’t want it to come to. 

A new arrival, someone who looked like he didn’t belong at all in the mix, barely looked like he belonged in the small supermarket, cleared their throat. He looked important, felt important, and air of authority around him that was only accented by the suit. Zane caught most of the scolding, hopeful eyes moving between the man and the group of guys who now seemed… amused. Great. 

‘Oh, shit guys, abuelito’s here,’ one of them taunted, the others laughing in a way that brought Zane right back to a playground at the boys’ home. With their attention diverted, Zane tucked his shoulders and turned, making a beeline for the exit and leaving the basket of assorted things behind. Skittles and coffee weren’t worth getting berated by those idiots. He felt bad that he wouldn’t get a chance to thank the nicely dressed man for attempting to step in but his head was buzzing uncomfortably and he just wanted to get out. The door had barely been pushed open when hands made contact with his back. Stumbling forward a few steps out to the parking lot, Zane felt the buzzing in his ears grow louder. 

“Seriously?” Zane sighed, jaw clenching as he turned. “Look, can we just-” Another shove, a crooked grin planted on the man’s face, the one from before who no longer looked attractive at all with that goading expression twisting the features. ‘Just what? I’m not interested, joto.’

-- 

Abuelito? Well Alan was not going to let insults coming from 3 in 1 body wash users get to him. He could actually smell it, and the Axe body spray they most likely decided to soak their pubes in. And if the other kid decided now was the time to flee, well Alan was happy to return to his shopping. He wasn’t the sort to be vindictive, not when his opponent still had breast milk on his chin, at least. 

And he’d have continued his shopping if the sound of those voices didn’t reach his ears again. 

Alan paused. Did he really want to be the sort who didn’t help LGBT youths? No. He couldn’t stand that shit, or the looking the other way mentality. “Joder,” muttering to himself, the werewolf turned on his heels to follow after the group. The clerk was pretending not to see a thing, and Alan was making a mental note to shop elsewhere already. “You sure seem very invested in keeping this conversation going, for someone who’s not interested.” Of course the guy turned around, his mouth ajar like a trout’s, taking one too many seconds before responding with an eloquent fuck you old man. “Really, that’s the best you’ve got? Did your mother cradle you next to a wall by any chance?” 

---

Run or let this turn into a fight? Running might mean a chase but Zane was sure he could outrun them, seeing as their sneakers seemed much too big for their feet. It was better than things getting messy - not that he was worried about his own physical safety at the moment, more so of what he might do to the others. He didn’t know his strength, that much was clear, and if any of them started bleeding, with the way Zane’s mind was already racing with anger, hurt and annoyance…

The nicely dressed stranger was back, displeasure coloring his features and Zane felt overwhelmingly relieved. Yeah, Zane was technically an adult but this man was an adult - the three boys didn’t seem very impressed by it but the vampire found immense comfort in his presence. Even though he seemed intent on riling up the boys, rather than deescalating the situation. “Look,” Zane started tentatively, “I’m sorry. I’ll… fuck off, let’s just drop it, okay?” What exactly he was sorry for, he didn’t know. How badly this might turn out if a fight broke out? For checking out the other man? 

---

Alan stared at the trio of fuckwits before him. He wasn’t one bit amused. If he had the confidence not to hide who he was (not entirely at least), it hadn’t always been so. The army wasn’t precisely the best place to be gay, not in the late 90s, and America still wasn’t the best place for it either. There weren’t many places yet where it was unconditionally accepted.

Perhaps this was silly, perhaps was he trying to be the sort of person he would have liked to back him up, back when he was in high school, and getting scared and confused as he realized Samantha Wilson, his first, and last girlfriend, really wasn’t his type or when he caught himself longingly staring at his best mate. If you’d seen him then, you would have too. The guy was dreamy, then he became a tax accountant.  

“You’re not fucking off, they’re going to apologize for this,” his voice raised up, but his tone dropped as he approached the three guys with the stance of someone who wouldn’t hesitate to whoop their asses. “You fucking apologize to him and you fuck off. You don’t know me, but rest fucking sure that I’ll find out where you fucking live,” he spat, pointing at their faces, “and I’ll make your life fucking hell.” 

—-

Zane’s feet glued to the ground as the stranger raised his voice, phantom heartbeat pounding in his ears. Was this what standing up yourself, or other, looked like? Granted, Zane probably would have had an easier time standing up for someone else, especially if they were being harassed for anything other than this, but right now he was just immensely grateful. Mildly terrified at the amount of angry words and tension but still grateful that his apology, one made for simply being himself, had been rejected as completely unwarranted. 

The threats were definitely believable, the man looked like someone who could find out where you lived, and anyone with common sense would have backed off at this point. Not surprisingly, the three boys didn’t seem to come with much common sense. It was just a glimpse, a brief flash of movement that the older man couldn’t see but Zane stared right at, a small knife being tugged out of a back pocket. “Hey!”

It was obviously ill thought out but he lunged forward nonetheless, grabbing at the arm holding up the knife with strength that still surprised him. With his almost total lack of any sort of fighting however, Zane didn’t think as far as to suspecting this wasn’t the only knife in play. It was a strange burning sensation, radiating from his shoulder and all the way down his arm, making his fingers tingle for a moment. Shock quickly dulled the pain as his head whipped to look at the assailant, knife in hand and yeah, this wasn’t going to end well. 

—-

Hey! 

You always think things are going to be happening in slow motion then, like they do in the movies. They don’t. They happen fast. He understood why directors chose to slow things down, make it all readable, but it never happened like that. It was quick, and just like that, you could end up with a knife in your shoulder. For fucksake. Well, this wasn’t going to be much different than pugil sticks, was it? He just had to avoid getting stabbed. The thing with knives was that you could just run away from them, usually. Both he and that young man knew that these guys were too stubborn for that. 

This wasn’t precisely the middle of nowhere, and as much as he wanted to snack on homophobes right now, he also wanted to keep his reputation intact a lot more. This was escalating into exactly what he detested. Couldn’t people just get along, not be bigots? For once? 

“That was a really, really terrible idea,” hard to tell who he was speaking to, or if he said it to himself. It was around then he realized that he was only hearing 3 heartbeats. The kid seemed very much still alive. Was he a zombie? A vampire? Something like that? Well, at least he wouldn’t die from a paper cut or two… Alan’s fist in the meantime was connecting with someone’s jaw, his elbow with someone else’s nose. He valued effectiveness. His lupine form went to the throat, his human form for the groin. Funny how a man crying over his bleeding nose would often forget to protect his manhood. Sure, his loafers weren’t as brutal as army boots, but his high school football years left him with the technique for kicking balls.  

—

The very surreal sight of a man dressed in a very expensive suit moving that swiftly to completely immobilize two men was enough to distract Zane from the pain in his shoulder. It was very unlikely that he was some sort of undercover spy and all odds pointed more towards a past spent fighting but still, it did feel very Hollywood. Even though it seemed like a movie Zane had no interest in being in. There were sounds of pain now and a definite smell of blood in the air and for a second, it was almost overwhelming enough to make him forget about the third assailant, still brandishing a knife. 

Deciding that maybe a stab would work better on the suited up gentleman, he made a move to run past Zane, heading straight for the night’s hero. It had only been meant to stop him, maybe even just slow him down. He’d grabbed at the flopping hood as the guy shouldered past him and given what he thought was a little tug. Probably not so little as the force of it stopped the assailant in his tracks and consequently made his feet leave the ground, body hitting the concrete with a heavy thud. It was all Zane could do to not apologize. “Shit,” he breathed, taking a step back to watch two of the bruised and bleeding men curse and scatter, leaving the third to shout after them and finally scramble to his feet and follow suit.

“I, uhm… thank you.”

—

“Fuck I’m old,” in all of this nonsense, he’d received a punch in his ribs and a kick or two in his tibia. The wolf was sore, and he didn’t reply immediately, holding onto his side as he walked to the front steps of the store and took a seat there. The ground was most likely filthy, he thought to himself. “Oh God,” with a contained wince, his brows furrowed in discomfort, Alan glanced up at the undead guy. You couldn’t really say not a scratch but that wasn’t far off. “Please tell me you weren’t luring them out to have a snack,” with a sonorous yawn, Alan rubbed at his jaw. 

“No need to thank me,” he brushed off. Quite frankly, he was annoyed with himself. He should have minded his business. People died in this town every damn day for all sorts of reasons. “So, what are you?” Realizing it was strange of him to just know the other wasn’t human, he pointed toward his ears, as if to suggest he could hear it. 

—

There was wincing and sharp inhalations of breath as the older man moved, making guilt wash over Zane as he slowly shuffled over to where the guy was taking a seat. For a moment, his focus was solely on the way the other moved, trying to map out his injuries and make sure he hadn’t also gotten stabbed - a way worse scenario than the wound in his own shoulder. There were no visible stab wounds but worryingly, a smell of blood seeped through the air. It was hard to ignore with the pain in his shoulder and the panic still catapulting through him. Probably the reason the blunt question took a few moments to register. 

“I… what?” Zane blinked a few times, wondering for a moment if that was some sexual slang he was unaware of. It seemed more likely than this stranger asking him if he’d literally been planning to eat the other guys because how would he have known? Swallowing thickly, trying to get his nostrils to stop flaring over the smell, the thought occurred to just make a run for it. No, this man had saved him and was hurt. Zane wasn’t going to hurt him more… right? 

So what are you? Well, that definitely dragged his attention from the scent of blood momentarily. This man could… hear it? Hear what, his lack of heart beat? Or maybe the fact that he’d been trying to hold his breath to actively avoid smelling the blood on the man’s shirt. Nothing human had hearing like that. “I… I could ask the same of you,” was the best thing Zane could come up with, worried eyes flicking from the man’s face to the scarlett drops ruining his fancy suit. “We should call you an ambulance.”

____ 

“What: what?” The pain in his side was dissipating slowly, but Alan could feel his shirt stick to his skin in a way that could only be explained by blood. Fuck. He hadn’t gotten punched, had he? Shit. “You don’t have a beating heart. I wish I noticed earlier,” he could feel his bone beneath the pain. Maybe it had just grazed him, cut through the flesh and hit the bone. Maybe this was why he felt like he’d been hit in the ribs with such violence. Why the fuck did he even care about making sense of it? Heh, at least he wasn’t wearing vintage Armani today. 

“Dashing, great hearing, great sense of style?” He deadpanned. He hadn’t met a lot of werewolves, but he wasn’t really pushing it too far with his description, was he? Maybe wolves only sparred handsome enough contenders? Was he delirious? Did he mention he was lucky he was only wearing Gucci tonight? “I’m alright, I just need to walk and have water and then take a big nap,” he yawned. “Alright, standing back up,” he pushed on the pavement with one hand, sparing his chest most of the work, or at least trying to. 

—

The spot of blood on the man’s shirt seemed to be growing and with it, Zane’s mounting sense of worry. Whether for the fact that this stranger had obviously gotten stabbed or the fact that half of the vampire’s focus was solely on the growing stain. This guy probably wasn’t a vampire hunter or he would have kicked Zane’s ass with the others. But he did know that there was nothing going on in the vampire’s chest vis a vis blood flow. Didn’t seem very put off by it, either. The man’s explanation provided very little information and before Zane could attempt getting a better answer, the stranger was standing up. 

Thankfully, the health care side of his mind wasn’t completely blocked out by the gnawing whisper of hunger so Zane quickly threw off his sweater, balling it up and gesturing for the other man to press it against the wound. Standing close by in case the guy fainted, despite seeming very self assured about getting himself home in one piece. “Water and a big nap generally don’t help with a stab wound,” he tried desperately, trying to assess the man’s breathing in case those idiots had punctured a lung. “At least… let me take a look at it before you go. I’m a nurse and I’m pretty sure you’re going to need stitches.” He paused, worry shining in his eyes. “Come on. You got stabbed helping me out.”

—

“Yeah yeah, it’s not my first rodeo,” he didn’t mean to snap, but he was old enough that he didn’t like some young looking chap telling him what he needed to do. He didn’t accept it from someone his age, he certainly wasn’t willing to listen to someone youthful. And so his voice came out harsh and firm. “I’m fine,” his annoyance seeped through his words still, yet he lifted his hand to let the nurse see and assess the damages done to him. 

“If you call a damn ambulance, I’ll bite your head off,” he warned still, resting his hands by his side while he tried to relax his stance. The danger was gone and he deserved this much. “Fucking assholes,” perhaps he’d find them, feed them to Monty just because he would be doing everyone a huge favor then. The town would be better off without them. 

—

Zane pulled back slightly at the sudden harshness in the man’s voice but it didn’t deter him enough to let go of his insistence to have a proper look. Angrier patients had shouted at him before although a part of the vampire actually believed that this man would find a way to bite his head off if given reason to. The way he’d handled those idiots from before definitely showed he wasn’t someone to mess with, especially since he was making threats to someone he seemed sure was a vampire. He was right, obviously, but Zane was still dead set on playing dumb despite the fact that he was paying attention to this particular stab wound and not the one in his shoulder. 

To be fair, it didn’t look like the man would bleed out and there was obviously no way to either get him to a hospital or somewhere to stitch him up. With a heavy sigh, Zane carefully pulled the shirt back down to cover the wound, worry still coloring his features. “Fine, no ambulances. What is with people in this town and not wanting to go to the hospital,” he muttered under his breath, stepping back before the man decided he was pissed enough to take a swing at the person he had just saved. “Just… keep an eye on that, okay? And… thanks. Again. I’m, uh, I’m Zane. By the way.” Not that the guy seemed likely to care but it was mostly an attempt to get the name of someone who had helped him out just because. 

 “I don’t fucking know, what do you think it is?” With contempt, Alan buttoned his shirt. He shouldn’t have been so harsh, but he wasn’t even supposed to be here in the first place, and if they didn’t have such stupid rules on deadlines then they could have prepared his order and he would have just had to pick it up. Instead, he had no groceries, he was bleeding, and… Yeah, that was it. He had no business being so harsh. “Sorry. I’m just… long day, long fucking day.” He didn’t have it in him to smile, so he just fell silent.

“I’ll put a bandaid on it,” with a deadpan look, the werewolf straightened his shirt and fixed his tie, as if that would make his crimson stained clothes look pristine. But, even with his partially fixed appearance, Alan couldn’t keep himself from wincing as he stood back up. “Don’t worry pal, like I said, it’s not my first, won’t be my last,” he held out his hand. “I’m Alan. I run the real estate business on Main Street. You can stop by if they bother you again. Maybe I’ll bite their head off instead,” with a courteous nod, he finally raised his hand and turned on his heels. He’d just pick something out of the freezer, he supposed. Maybe he had soup somewhere in the pantry.

[eldritchaccident]

Timing: Mid/Early May Location: The Docks Feat: @rn-zane & @eldritchaccident Warnings: None! Summary: Zane meets up with Teddy to talk Baku

WANTED: help with identifying this little guy. Found downtown, mostly friendly but starting to seem hungry now and hasn’t accepted anything edible. All assistance greatly appreciated. [Attached is a photo of a yellow baku, chewing on the metal foot of a chair]

The ad had been a long shot but sometimes, even those worked. Or hopefully worked since there was still a chance that this was just some ruse, a dumb prank that would take up most of Zane’s day off. Either way, a chance was a chance and after spending a couple of days with the animal, he wasn’t comfortable with just letting it off into the wild on its own. It didn’t seem capable of… well, anything. It had mostly just lounged around once Zane had brought it home, sniffing at various things and looking for spots to fall asleep in. Not exactly a top-of-the-food-chain predator, it seemed. 

Every kind of human food had been snorted at and after an extensive google search, the closest comparison he’d found to his new friend had been a tapir. This particular animal didn’t want berries or leaves but instead, had started chewing at anything metal around the house. So hopefully this Teddy wasn’t messing with him because Zane was desperate for any advice. 

He was thankful for the dark as the two of them headed for the docks, the proposed meeting place, since Zane wasn’t sure about drawing too much attention to the strange animal on the streets. At least not until he knew for sure what he’d accidentally stumbled upon and how best to take care of it. Just for safety, he’d repurposed an old hoodie of his for some extra cover and the hood of it now covered most of the little guy’s head. He hadn’t been happy about it at first but seemed to have given up on the fight fairly quickly. Besides, he’d needed something to fix a leash to since there hadn’t exactly been dog collars just lying around the house. 

The docks were fairly empty at this time of day, dusk settling nicely over the sea. Boats creaked softly and Zane found himself petting the animal on the bench next to him distractedly. Hoping this whole thing wouldn’t be a huge waste of time. 

—

To say Teddy Jones had a love for animals would be cutting it far too short. Especially when those animals happened to be more in the supernatural variety. The weirder the better. When they saw the ad, there was little that could contain their excitement at the opportunity to meet a little baku in person. They’d read plenty about the things in books but never chanced upon one. Funny considering how often the demon was plagued by nightmares. A baku would have a damn feast with them. 

The good thing was that hunters usually weren’t out after things like baku. They were pretty nice and generally a helpful thing to have around, unless you were a mare. The bad thing was if there were more people like Joy Cavendish around Wicked’s Rest, more people who liked to keep pleasant supernatural creatures locked up and confined where only they could watch over them… these ads everywhere were like calling sharks to a kill. Teddy took down as many as they could find, and made sure to text the number a few times after their initial call. Didn’t want this Zane guy to think they’d ghost him or whatever. 

So at the appointed time, and with as many resources as one backpack could carry, Teddy made their way to the docks. Not a very long journey, all things considered. Before long those honey brown eyes found their target. A man, one that Teds could have sworn they saw around town at some point, or maybe just online. And a little lumpy shape right next to him. Still pretty small compared to the pictures in the books, so maybe the baku had some growing to do. No wonder it was hungry. 

“Hey!” Teddy called out, not too loud. They didn’t want to startle either the creature or the guy. “Zane, right?” 

 —

It was a relief when someone finally appeared and called out, even more so when Zane saw that it was just one guy who looked fairly non-threatening. Friendly, even. “Hi! Yeah, that’s me,” he greeted, standing up quickly while holding onto the makeshift leash, offering a hand to shake. “Appreciate you doing this, google was no help and I wasn’t sure if it was safe to just let him wander off on his own but maybe it was stupid to take him home in the first place…” Zane trailed off, clearing his throat before he accidentally spent five minutes recounting the whole day he’d found the animal in excruciating detail to a complete stranger. 

“Anyway,” he started again, fumbling with the string tied to the back of the hoodie in order to get the clothing off, revealing the sleepy looking animal. It gazed up at Teddy with mild disinterest, not unusual considering it hadn’t looked interested in anything since it had tried to chase down Ariadne. “This is him. Whatever he is,” Zane chuckled awkwardly, lifting the animal into his arms. It settled there, still watching Teddy as it was held up for closer inspection. 

—

With an over-eagerness that wasn’t even attempted to be concealed, Teddy bobbled from foot to foot as the little guy was hoisted and held like the perfect cherubic angel that he was. The demon’s fingers steepled under their chin as they gasped. Delighted. Overjoyed. It was everything they’d hoped for. And far cuter than any of the depictions in those old scribe books. 

“Ohhhh look at you!!” Despite themself and their excitement, Ted managed to stay (at least audibly) calm for the creature. Who was content enough in this man’s arms that Teddy didn’t feel a need to hatch some sort of rescue plan. This wasn't a ‘guy in an alley selling puppies to make a few bucks’ kinda thing. This was the Universal Pet Deliverance System™  working in action. The strange animal in the hoodie had chosen to stick around just as much as the man holding it had chosen to care for it. 

“If I’m not mistaken, which I’m not by the way. I very much know my shit, he’s a baku.” Hopefully, if this was Zane’s introduction to the world of the supernatural and all it had to offer, it was going to be a… gentler one. The whole ‘there are things that go bump in the night’ bullshit spiel only has its charm once or twice when you are one of the ‘bumpy’ things. “And, more than that, he likes you. A lot.” That felt as important to say as anything else. At least to Teddy. Teddy liked to know where they stood with people. More of them, they thought, should just say outright how they felt. If they could just do that, it would make life so much easier. 

—-

The excitement pouring off Teddy was infectious and Zane immediately knew he’d made the right call in coming here. He could definitely appreciate animals, the cuteness of them and in the case of this guy, the vulnerability but it had always been more of an afterthought. Seeing how the other man was staring at the animal, however, with fondness and care just screamed ‘animal lover’. And knowledgeable too, it seemed. Zane had never, ever heard of ‘bakus’ and the internet hadn’t either. Made him wonder just where all that knowledge came from. Teddy didn’t give off the vibes of someone who used animals for their own gain so maybe it was a hobby. Didn’t seem like a human hobby since Zane had at the very least deduced that this animal was most likely one of Wicked Rest’s oddities. “Right, baku. That was, uh… definitely on my list of ideas,” he joked, smiling at how much the baku was enjoying the petting. 

At the earnest statement that followed, Zane’s smile grew even bigger, almost bashful. It was good to have confirmation that he hadn’t been accidentally torturing the poor animal with his presence these past few days. Aside from the feeding issue, he’d apparently done a decent enough job. “Ah, that’s good. Really good.” Giving the baku a few pets as well, he put it down on the bench, letting it trot a few steps there, head reaching towards Teddy. “Guess we would have been fine if I’d had any idea how to feed him. But since he’s clearly not a run of the mill animal, I’m not surprised regular food didn’t work.” Man, he hoped that whatever bakus were exactly, they didn’t feed on like… the blood of the innocent or bones or anything as awful. Zane was willing to try and help the little guy out but not to the point of like… gravedigging. 

—

Teddy eased into a light chuckle alongside Zane’s joke. Eyes still fixated on the tufts of yellow fur poking out from beneath the cotton hood. Their shoulders seemed to bobble with the expression more than any actual sound came out. At least until they flicked up their gaze, let loose a hundred watt smile, and tossed out their own retort. “Ahh, clever, handsome, and an animal lover. No wonder this lil guy found you, you’re like a dream come true!” Cheesy? Sure. But the demon was in an exceptionally good mood. And hey, it wasn’t every day you responded to what was essentially an extra cryptic not-quite-craigslist ad and met up with a CW level hottie. Should they have felt bad for shooting a shot? Eh. You never know until you try. 

“Which actually brings me to the thing you’re looking for. Now it’s gonna sound…” A long pause turned into a clicking of their tongue. Which didn’t seem to help much in their search for phrasing. “Not so realistic?” A pause. “Fake as hell?” Another. “It’s gonna sound stupid, just go with me here. Baku are very rare creatures. At least compared to most stuff you’d find at petsmart. Their food is too. Though, it’s a bit more… esoteric than just gettin’ the right kibble.” Teddy offered a sympathetic smile, knowing this stuff could be hard to digest. “They eat nightmares.” 

— 

The ease that Teddy’s infectious good mood had provided had lulled Zane into a sense of security. In general, talking to strangers outside the hospital was always a battle but this guy was easy to talk to and the conversation topic had been pretty much decided beforehand. It would have been a bold faced lie to claim that the bright smile that accompanied the compliments didn’t make the vampire’s stomach flutter and not purely with panic. “Ah…” was the eloquent response his brain came up with, his voice unsteady as if the humble smile hadn’t outed him enough. “Don’t think I measure up to you, though. When it comes to animal love, I mean. Not that the other things don’t… apply…” Yeah, he should have stuck to one syllable responses. 

Getting back to the previous conversation felt like much safer territory, even though all of Teddy’s pausing and thinking made the whole thing a bit ominous. Zane found himself once again wishing that he wasn’t about to be turned into a grave robber for this slow but adorable creature. “I’ve lived here for a few years,” he provided as encouragement for Teddy to go on. Granted, it had only been during these last few months that Zane had really started to accept that ‘weird Wicked’s Rest shit’ wasn’t just something that could be explained as a random oddity. That the stories of humanoid animal attacks were most likely real. Bracing himself for the information he’d come here for, Zane relaxed considerably as Teddy got to the point. 

“Nightmares,” he parroted back, confusion tinting his words but they lacked all disbelief. As much as Zane didn’t quite understand how something that seemed abstract could be a source of nutrition, he really had no reason to doubt that it was possible. “Guess that explains it, then.” No wonder the poor thing was hungry - no one in the house it currently resided in even slept, much less dreamed. The realization that Teddy would, obviously, assume that Zane had the occasional nightmare like every living person brought a new problem. After a moment’s thought, he decided to go for vague. “So… what if there are currently no… dreams for him to feed on?” Glancing down at the baku, Zane lips furrowed with worry, one hand distractedly stroking the soft fur. 

—-

“Oh hah, few do. I had a lot of time to learn about them and stuff as a kid. Found it all a bit too fascinating.” Teddy beamed, a bit proud of their acquired knowledge. Of the litany of books they had poured through, of the corrections they had made inside them. With the way the senior Jones collected tomes, cursed items, scrolls of ancient times, and all that stuff, there was always something for Teddy to mess with growing up. Always some new bit of knowledge they could seek out and put to one chaotic use or another. “Also hey, don’t cut yourself short.” When people deserved compliments, Teddy liked to supply them. Didn’t have to mean much of anything, they just enjoyed it. 

“Oh yeah? I’m going on like… two ish?? Now?” Though it might be verging closer to three now that the summer was here. Ted’s memory was foggy at best, their more creative ventures often filling in the gaps their memory left. Which was only sometimes a good thing. But they were pretty sure the Joneses arrived when it was warm. And it was rarely actually warm in Maine. So. Summer. Had to be, right? 

“Yuuup. It’s a weird one. Bit on the esoteric side, but hey, very worth it.” Teds was about to launch into a question on whether or not the stranger had been sleeping better, but a much more interesting idea floated in on their second statement. “Hmm. If you aren’t much of a dreamer–” They decidedly did not poke into the why category. Not their story to steal. “I’d say try and find someone around who could use some sleep therapy. If you’ve been here a few years you gotta know by now that nightmares are in no short supply. Maybe take him for walks at night and see which houses he gravitates towards. Or hey, as long as he’s cool with boats and otters I could watch him every once in a while. I’m a graveyard for nightmares, I’d be a regular buffet.” 

—

Zane decided that he definitely liked the young man. There was an air of cheeriness around him and despite the oddness of sunglasses after dark, the rose colored pair were a statement. It was usually hard not to crumble under other people’s confidence but Teddy seemed so relaxed and it definitely rubbed off. Before he could get too distracted by what was definitely yet another crush in the making, Zane focused back in on the conversation. “Oh, so not a local? Could have fooled me with how chill you are about…” A wave of his hand in the general direction of the baku, “all of this.”

Tension built as Teddy seemed to ponder on the vague statement about dreams, excuses and lies flipping over one another as Zane tried to land on one that wouldn’t sound like bullshit. And then they dropped it. Heaving a breath that probably wasn’t as discreet as he’d wanted, Zane nodded along at the helpful tips. The baku had completely clocked out of the conversation by this point, napping peacefully on the bench, lulled to sleep by the soft petting. It peered up with one eye, annoyed, when the strokes stopped. “Wait, really? You’d do that?” 

If the baku ate nightmares, that had to mean that the bad dreams would go away. This sounded almost too good to be true. His new pet would have plenty to eat, Teddy would get a good night’s sleep and Zane didn’t hate the idea of having a reason to meet up with this kind and friendly stranger again. “Can’t say I’ve tested him out on a boat but I’m sure he’ll do fine.” Smiling wide at this turn of events, Zane dug into his pocket for his phone. “You could take him for tonight if you want? I can pick him up in the morning before my shift. Just, uh… put in your number in case there’s any trouble?”

A pause. “Guess I should also get thinking on a name since it seems like I’m keeping him…”

—-

“Try to be chill about most things.” Teddy shrugged. “Makes life easier for everyone, y’know?” There was already so much pent up aggression and bitterness in the world. Against all odds, the demon wanted to be a little source of light. Levity. The idea amused them as much as they also just wanted to help people. A helpful demon. Bit of an oxymoronic statement, given the history of the words. But hey, the Joneses were all about subverting expectations, weren’t they? 

Teddy leaned in close to the baku one last time, giving the sleeping creature a little scritch before straightening up to look Zane in the eye. “Yeah, number, socials might be easier, if you got ‘em. If I’m around I’d love to lend a hand. It really is great to see one of these lil guys thriving.” Their chest was so warm and filled with excitement that little else mattered, but that didn’t mean Teddy couldn’t stop to actually enjoy the company of the man they’d just met. 

Kind enough to take care of a strange creature, perhaps naive enough to post about it on a public forum. In all the ways they could tell, this guy seemed like a pretty good one. Definitely a good match for the baku. They didn’t pick people lightly. The demon scribbled a few things on a loose piece of paper and handed it over before turning with a smile and a wave. “The name will come in time, don’t gotta settle on the first thing you think of. Can’t have that little guy being called Bananaman or something like that.”   

[magmahearts]

@rn-zane from here:

[pm] [...] Right, sure. Guess you were just being polite. Well, still appreciate the backup that time. And y'know, still feel like I owe you one which can totally be in a [...] non-hanging out way. Or whatever.

​[pm] You definitely owe me. But I doubt there's anything you could give me that I'd want. You don't seem like you have much to offer.

[deathsplaything]

@rn-zane replied to your post “is there anything you wouldn't take from someone...”:

You were providing medical help as a side-business?

​[User pointedly ignores this question]