#skeptic!owen

[the-ruler-of-rabbits]

Owen associates sickness with death. Owen saw and heard of plenty of people die from sickness, and any sickness he caught would nearly kill him, and so no matter how much he really really doesn't want anyone to know, seeing people he wants alive sick scares him.

And, Avid... Avid runs around in the worst weather known to man and probably has a generally bad immune system. So he definitely gets sick at least once a month.

The first time Owen sees him sick, it's probably after a few days of Avid being holed up and Owen is... definitely not worried. Nope. But he still makes use of that invitation from his freak out over the old hospital and goes in through the window and Avid wakes up to Owen shaking him and looking freaked out and Owen says he was just hungry. And then starts talking about how no, sick person blood is disgusting, Avid can keep his stupid blood.

But he doesn't leave. He denies this, says Avid was dreaming it, but he does stay, and forces the medicine that Shelby brings down Avids throat, quite literally. No amount of being around Legundo could give this freak beside manner. He shoves that down and threatens that if Avid throws them up he'll rip out his throat. Avid doesn't like how hot that idea is.

Owen (worst caretaker ever. Negative bedside manner) + shubbledrift (kinda good at caretaking. But they seem like angels when the other guy helping you is actively threatening your life at any given point)

oh my god oh my goddddd this is so real

Avid is in bed with the flu sick as a dog and lurches awake to Owen clinging to the ceiling like a spider with his head fully rotated around to stare at Avid (not vampire ability, Owen was hypermobile in life) (that's not how hypermobility works but Owen and Avid are equally dramatic and would Call it that even if he's just twisting) and shrieks like a banshee. Owen goes "oh, you're not dead yet. Pity. You were so quiet I was starting to hope." and leaves right as Drift bursts in (because Avid screamed)

Avid writes it off as Owen being threatening and being a Supervampire (Avid forgot about Shelby saying "everyone can come to our place tonight! or later, whenever you feel like it!" while Owen was around) and then Owen shows back up when he's debating not taking his meds because they taste really bad and offers to tear his tongue out if taste is such a concern. Avid flails himself out of bed and Owen grabs him by the collar and puts him straight back. (Avid finds this embarrassingly hot and is just sick enough to admit that. Owen immediately erases this from his memory.)

Shelby and Drift are not perfect caretakers, but next to Owen anyone would look good. He's threatening Avid with bodily harm if he gets up and Drift is politely asking him to leave and Shelby is helping Avid calm down from the panic attack Owen's presence (unexpected) (sudden vampire) (2am) (vampire in house at 2am CLINGING TO CEILING) brings.

[the-ruler-of-rabbits]

Another tiny lonevamps thought. One time Avid got drunk and kissed Owen. Owens least favorite part about that is that he wants Avid to kiss him ahain.

perfection...

If Avid remembers it it makes him insufferable. Complete 180 into "maybe Owen's just misunderstood, guys!" (Shelby and Drift encourage this, having the survival instincts of a vanilla custard slice shared between them) (Apo does NOT encourage this. Avid that guy bit you. Do you not understand human bite wounds are unsanitary. If this is a bdsm thing do not tell her anything.)

Owen 1) did not push Avid away and 2) keeps thinking about it and both of those piss him off so bad. He could tolerate Avid having a fear-crush thing because it made tormenting him more fun. He could tolerate the blushing because it made his blood more accessible. What do you mean Owen wants to kiss back. Unacceptable. Only reasonable response is to hunt Avid for sport the next time they see each other.

[the-ruler-of-rabbits]

A bit of dark comedy for the sitcom effect could definitely be Owen finding out about the other people’s kill counts.

He’s just monologuing to everyone (Apo’s not there) and says something like, “I’ve killed 2,799 people! You weaklings have no idea what it’s like to have gallons of blood on your hands.”

Instead of being afraid, the majority of people just…stare at him incredulously. We’ve got;

Cleo: was forced to kill 29,000+ people

Legundo: killed thousands using poison

Pearl: hunts and has canonically killed several werewolves. She probably has a higher kill count in this au since her job is more general.

Abolish: basically same thing as Pearl

The Cryptid Crew DOES react in the way Owen wants, except the fear is very short lived because Pearl immediately throws holy water at Owen and he screeches like a cat and runs away (or maybe this is when the rooftop incident happens)

Owen is furiously confused why the majority of people don’t care about his massacre. An angstier thing to happen could be him monologuing to Cherri about watching a loved one die in fire, and Cherri just stares at him with a [sickeningly] sweet smile and tells him she’s usually the one lighting fires.

In this au I don't think Cleo's kill count is nearly as high as canon just because like. I don't think we can properly visualise that number. 29,000 divided by 80 (because v!Cleo is in her eighties) is 362.5. That divided by 52 (weeks in a year) is 6.97. v!Cleo was killing a person a day for eighty years. That is so much fucking murder holy shit. Like at that point you can't keep it under wraps. You don't have time for anything else. The Organisation in skeptic au would catch you so fucking fast due to the trail of bodies you leave behind like a huge gory snail. Soldiers in the trenches of world war one killed less often than that! Twenty-nine thousand people? That's almost a quarter of my town! Skeptic!Cleo has killed, and she's killed often, but she hasn't been forced into being a serial spree murderer for eighty years. 2,799 people is a lot of fucking people to murder. That's almost as much as 9/11. I can give Owen this one because v!Cleo killed so many people it looped back around into being anime numbers.

He does have a smaller kill count than the doctor, though. Legs poisoned water and food. That's a war crime, vsmp just happens before the Geneva Convention. Legs, unlike basically everyone else, actually grapples with the implications of what he's done - hence the alcoholism and to a certain extent Owen - and tries to process the sheer number of lives he snuffed out because he thought he had to follow orders. Owen killing two thousand eight hundred people is bad, yes, but he can still learn to be better. (Owen doesn't know how to react to the doctor accepting it, and thinks it has to be because the doctor can't imagine it. The doctor knows more about death than he does.)

Pearl and Abolish have definitely killed several people! Legally they would be serial killers; I think Pearl might even have a dozen. Looking at how Abolish tends to act, I don't think his kill count is that high. In vsmp he spent months investigating, and left having killed one person. He's not going to shoot first and ask questions later, he's going to really take his time and only kill someone who's made it totally clear death is the only way to stop them from hurting others. Exorcisms of ghosts, sure. He's killed lots of mindless creatures, but he goes for talking over violence in almost every situation. However he also doesn't care when Owen gives his speech.

Avid and Drift believe him instantly and Shelby goes "okay but he has to be exaggerating right?" and they have to pull up casualty reports later and find that, no, he actually has the exact number. So much of the dramatic impact is stolen by Pearl throwing holy water in his face like spritzing a naughty cat. They're always going to remember the yelp and flail backwards.

[the-ruler-of-rabbits]

Owen accidentally works up a not strong but still noticeable resistance to garlic because he keeps drinking from Avid.

counterargument. Owen claims he has a resistance to garlic now from drinking Avid's blood so often. Dr Legundo, well aware of how allergies work, does not believe him. What Owen is actually doing is building a mental resistance to the world spinning around him and getting better at bluffing he's fine.

Avid thinks he's getting immune though and does have a panic attack about vampires being capable of getting immune to garlic because what if he's responsible for making a Supervampire with No Vampire Weaknesses. Owen enjoys this immensely and Legs decides to let this one play out because frankly it doesn't seem to be increasing Avid's baseline level of stress that much he was already Like That

[the-ruler-of-rabbits]

Lonevamps lonevamps lonevamps...

Ok so. Disclaimer. I don't know how diabetes works fully. But also there's all sorts of supernatural things so. That isn't my biggest worry here.

Owen doesn't put together what's up for a while but I feel like Avid lets Owen feed sometimes because he's the type of freak that is into being bitten. And Owen keeps coming back bc you cannot convince me that he doesn't have a sweet tooth and Avids blood is sweet (because you know damn well he would never manage that shit properly whenever Apo isn't actively forcing him to) and one time he bites and is like. Hm. It's too sweet. That's weird. And so he goes to the one person he knows that might know why.

Legs hears the words "sickly sweet" and "blood" in the same sentence and is like Owen. Go find your blood bag and bring them here. (He does not trust Owen to correctly inject insulin.)

I also think once a vampire knew how, they could smell high & low blood sugar. Owen knows the scents from being around Avid but doesn't know what they mean.

Anyways Owen goes because he wants Legs to like him and is listening to him to achieve that is really nice and takes great care of his blood bag. Totally.

He finds Avid actively ghost hunting and when he taps Avid on the shoulder he jumps so badly that he slams into a wall.

Owen has to try really hard not to laugh.

He doesn't ask for Avid to come with him, he just drags him along and shows up at Legs door. (Normally, he'd go through the window. Unfortunately, Avid cannot turn into a bat.)

Legs sighs when he sees them and invites them in on habit even though he gave Owen a permanent invite.

He gives Avid insulin and a few minutes later he's like wow I feel so much less dizzy and Legs has to take a deep breath because yeah man. Yeah. Owen says Avid smells normal again and Legs very quickly realizes that he needs to explain many things to Owen. And also perhaps let him hang around while he works with patients more often.

Drift and Shelby explain that Owen dragged Avid away to Apo and when Avid comes back he explains it and Apo is just. Ok so you listen to the weird guy that fights me over the doctors that literally already told you that you were diabetic. And Avid. Does not have a defense.

Bonus points of him actually vaguely taking care of himself a little bit because Owen complains about his blood tasting bad otherwise. And Avid. Is not good at resisting a pretty boy.

I also find the idea of "the two guys that might be the actual worst with treating their chronic illnesses actually make each other do BETTER at that" really funny. Legundo thinks they'll make each other worse. They somehow don't... Mostly. Avid dares Owen to eat garlic one time and he does though. Legs looks so disappointed when Avid shows up with a clearly miserable bat in his hands looking like he got caught with his hand in a cookie jar.

Okay! Avid's only JUST getting used to being officially Diabetic instead of prediabetic (which means he had high blood sugar but was under the official threshold) and so he. forgets his insulin pen. he'll check food for the carb content and Shelby goes "I don't know if you need to watch your calories" and he goes "oh I don't!" and then eats more than he injected for because he got hungry enough for seconds and forgot he needed to count that too.

Avid doesn't "let" Owen feed so much as go "h-hey! stop that!" and squirm and wriggle and completely fail to get away when Owen leans in open-mouthed. I feel like the first time was a mistake (Owen was THREATENING to, but Avid's flinch is what actually broke the skin) but Owen is categorically incapable of admitting when he fucks up and EXTRA incapable of apologizing so now he does it on purpose. No neither of them are getting off on this that would be awful they hate each other. This is a power struggle. Ignore that both of them know who's going to win and that Avid keeps coming back.

Owen's experience of human blood is limited to 1) the doctor (alcohol and sadness) and now 2) Avid (jellybeans and bad decisions) and this has somewhat skewed his idea of an appropriate flavour profile for human blood.

The doctor finds out when Owen drinks from him and complains about how bitter his blood is in comparison and the doctor goes "so the other person you've been drinking from tastes Sweet? quick question do they also get tired often? struggle putting on or losing weight? get frequent infections?" and Owen goes "oh of course you care about the bloodbag. his stupid neck wound reeks of infection it's because he's unhygienic and can't change bandages."

Doc: Owen. I need you to bring that person to see me, please. This is not me prioritizing them over you, this is me respecting you and your ability to take care of yourself, which this person clearly lacks.

Owen: and what do I get out of it? why should I care about a human who clearly can't take care of itself?

Doc: please. I will take it as a personal favour. I will owe you, if you bring that person to me. If they have what I think they do, I am genuinely worried for their safety.

Owen: you think I'd just drain them dry? bold of you to assume I have your self-control, doctor

Doc: that is not what I said. okay. crash course time. Diabetes is...

Owen doesn't believe the doc in the moment but he Does sneak up on Avid and "kidnap" him the next time he sees him. Drift hears Avid yelp and then Owen go "I'll return him in one piece, as long as he minds his manners"

Avid was thinking "oh my god oh my god oh my god are we going to have sex" and babbling whatever else came into his head in the desperate hopes he could stop thinking about sex with Owen because Owen TERRIFIES him and annoying the shit out of Owen in the process, and gets physically shoved across the threshold of the clinic by a Very Sulky Owen. Legundo was in the middle of sorting a prescription medication (illegally) and sighs. He doesn't know Avid's name because Owen has exclusively referred to him as "the bloodbag" or "the pest" or sometimes "the pathetic wannabe vampire-hunter."

Avid proceeds to also annoy the shit out of the doctor mostly on purpose but oh, hey, it turns out when he takes insulin he feels way better? What's up with that?

Owen gives him the most disgusted look (this was Avid's actual goal; he is unaware that's his goal) and grabs his wrist to check how his blood tastes now. Avid shrieks and flinches and demands to know what Owen's doing in a shaky voice and blushes when Owen goes "I'm drinking your blood. Idiot."

The doctor watches this happen and goes "ah. I See." and neither Avid nor Owen understand what he means.

After being double-dog-dared to eat garlic Owen is so sick he can't fly in a straight line but he refuses to un-bat because that would be even less dignified. Avid carries him like a baby and Owen bites him four times to express displeasure and drinks blood none of those times because he feels so sick.

[the-ruler-of-rabbits]

can i get more bloodletting and hellfire for this au please 🙏 what if cherri goes to legs sometimes for a cough/some other cold-related sickness (they would go to a normal doctor but it’s the middle of summer and they don’t want to risk questions like “how did you get hypothermia in summer?”) and apo takes her one time when owen just so happens to be visiting legs

cue long stare and apo going “why are you homophobic, you have a boyfriend” and owen fucking. he crashes out

asdghkasldjakgdhkasldasghdjalsdhasghkdjl oh my GOD

why are you homophobic you have a boyfriend...

I think the funniest part of this is both Cherri and Legs assuming it was Their feral partner who started it (it was both of them triggering each other by accident) and moving to hold them back. Owen doesn't actually want to fight Apo (much) (there's too much of a chance he would lose) (he doesn't want to show the doctor what he is at his lowest. he doesn't want to need help.) and Apo will just stare at him the whole time. Waiting for him to make a move. She's not gonna start something, but Owen's an opportunist and she is not an easy mark. lmao.

The doctor is trying so hard to deescalate and Cherri isn't helping because she thinks this is funny. It's romantic how quickly Apo will fight people for her! It's like having a medieval knight pledged to her service, or maybe a really reactive dog!

Owen gives a whole spiel about how he's not homophobic it was the fact that she was dating anyone and Apo goes "okay. I don't give a shit, you insulted my girlfriend and I'm glad I punched you" (Cherri is also mad after Owen said that, the doctor is trying to protect this trashfire man and only mostly succeeding)

[the-ruler-of-rabbits]

ok so while skeptic apo has largely turned into demon apo. other points for the world.

ngl im really hoping owen actually manages to get therapy given they arent. stuck in oakhurst. he probably wouldnt for a while but we know he gets tired after a few weeks in vsmp canon, and abolish. is capable of helping him out. without the cure books he might actually have to try and get better (i am. he was my main pov for a reason lasdkjf. blorbo). similar vein, do you think apo like. enjoys fighting? owen and apo do fight a couple times but i wonder if her demon heritage has anything impact on it. lmfao, supernatural stuff is generally concerned that she's gonna throw hands (and they will lose)

more serious/angsty note. how is elle? i. i really hope avid still staked her in this au. secret backstory shit for him lets goooo- wait wait does apo's skepticism like. ""treat"" his demon scratch, if thats still a thing?

Yeahhh Owen has... more options to get better! He doesn't want to, though. He doesn't want to leave the hole he dug for himself that resembles the grave but isn't. However, he also doesn't have a reason to puff himself up about preparing to slaughter people - he's a lurking predator in back alleys that leaves people dizzy and drained but alive, because there are so many more people that he needs to be careful. He can't avenge Louis from inside a jail cell, after all, and it would just be embarrassing to need to bat out of there.

I think if anything can help him, it's the hot dilf doctor who runs the homeless clinic, and consistently offers him food and shelter and didn't flinch when he showed his fangs.

I think Apo does enjoy fighting, to a point! She enjoys winning. She doesn't draw out spars or restrain her skill level, she's incapable of not giving all she's got and there's no rush quite like a defeated enemy, but those are all normal human emotions. have you ever played an fps.

it's less that Apo is radiating how much she wants to fight, and more that she's got a neon sign over her head flashing "if you try to punch me I won't realize a curbstomp is escalating things and I won't stop until you stop moving" because she doesn't tend to start things, but she very definitely finishes them.

I think that happened in another ask! Avid is very into traditional medicines (you know I'm right. you know it.) and Apo took 400 psychic damage when he asked why he should change bandages before they soak through or start smelling. she physically dragged him to the hospital. and then corrected him every time he tried to downplay his symptoms to leave faster.

Avid walked out of there with a full course of antibiotics (infected wounds take longer to heal!) iron supplements (anemia affects blood clotting) and an official warning he's prediabetic (type 2 diabetes means your body doesn't process insulin properly, which ALSO fucks with injury recovery)

Him staking Elle is very juicy but I'm not 110% sure where to put it. the overall tone (except for Owen, and even then) is more lighthearted than that so far, I feel? I'm down for it! I just don't have any ideas myself.

[the-ruler-of-rabbits]

while this is skeptic apo au it is also. owenposting. which i need to actually do on my blog alskjdf but ANYWAY

i dont. think he actually feeds on humans very much? like he doesnt have a huge issue with it, but this is also. the guy who said "its this or people" when he got caught killing cows in the village

which means! yeah he's probably eating pidgeons. and stray dogs. and alleycats. and racoons. i dont think he actually cares enough to not drain them dry

the amateurs are absolutely certain theres a chupacabra around. they dont find anything but more animal husks when they try and track it though

apo, abolish, and maybe drift feel like theyre being watched on those trips though. avid gets gets a feeling that he just like. assumes is excitement (its the demon. the demon is not happy)

owen is. owen is switching between ominous looming, invisibility, and bat form to watch them. he does that a lot. he is mainly Observing Apo cause she is not acting the way he expects

occasionally he'll show up in 'human' form. i dont know what apo thinks he's doing but he definitely doesnt expect to see them. any of those times lmao

after the Scott Smiting, scott is also aware of a vampire being around

he's probably let enough slip arguing (and. and brawling) with apo that, combined with abolish realizing that apo can intimidate vampires of Scott's.... potency? that owen is not a fledgling, and may be putting the pieces together that he's tied to the town massacre that also made Louis disappear

i imagine that abolish can. very easily get information on louis through the Organization libraries as one of their success stories, and probably puts together that apo is semi-regularly getting into it with a 200 year old vampire that massacred a town in. probably less than a night

only reason he isnt pulling out the stakes is that he has been! aware! of owen! owen hasn't been doing anything like that before and only. really shows aggression to apo, and he has an axe on him- consistent with preliminary investigations as to cause of deaths in the massacre, the priest was killed with an axe- but hasnt drawn it? at all?

(I dont think. owen is nearly as upset with apo as he was in vsmp canon. i dont think she's done the whole "havent you ever loved? i have a life to live out there!" -3 charisma moment)

also i think cherri became a fire spirit/elemental after it was decided that owen tried to kidnap her and. hey what if she burned him. fire applied directly to vampire. must torture the boy alksjdf

a handful of more. general stuff lsajdf

in some vampire stories/media, vampires can turn someone after theyve died of other causes? which. could make for fun drama if someone got hurt when apo didn't go on one of their hunts

hey what if demons dont get the fear effect from being around apo? like the powers are suppressed out of like. when it isnt weakness, its respect. they dont feel fear with her as much as awe/admiration/devotion. demon queen apo

I do love the owenposting. He got caught killing cows and snapped "it's this or people!" and then said "try me!" when someone asked if that meant he didn't want to hurt people. Puffing himself up...

He's definitely draining the fuck out of basically all the animals around except for when Legs is like "hey. please stop killing the pigeons you can come to me when you're hungry" and following the cryptid hunters around invisibly is like. His only hobby. He's enjoying spooking them bc it makes him feel powerful.

Apo calls him out for lurking on top of a building watching them and he gives one of his lil theatre speeches and then his voice cracks in offense when she rolls her eyes. Avid was getting really into it (if other people see this they definitely assume the whole group are larpers and Apo is the friend they all begged to join in) (this assumption is not thwarted by Owen threatening to fight them and Apo taking two steps in front of everyone else and going "alright then")

(Owen's assumption is shaken when Avid and Drift both grab Apo and go "no don't fight him!" and instead of yelling at them to mind their place, she shrugs and goes. Doesn't stop watching him, but visibly takes their lead. That's not something the priest would've done.)

and... yeah. Abolish slowly piecing together who Owen is and raising the estimated power level of both Owen and Apo as he goes (he didn't think Scott was affected by Apo's aura, I think he fell for the façade. He knows better post-smiting but pre-smiting he figured it wasn't impacting him). He figures out Owen has a body count of either 2,799 or 1 depending on which definition you're using and makes a quiet note of that. Maybe fledgelings who don't have a sire do tend to go crazy at first - the sire/fledgeling bond seems important for stability, vamps who get turned and then abandoned seem to have more issues than others who got taken in - and it's... not as much of a red flag as Owen killing almost three thousand people now would be. And he's not killing people now! Abolish isn't here to be judge and jury, only executioner if needed, and it doesn't seem needed right now.

Abolish: oh. oh and now they're fighting. okay. I don't seem needed right now, neither of them is using a weapon, so they aren't taking it too seriously

Avid: did Owen just try to gouge her eyes out

Abolish: yeah looks like it. fair response to being kicked in the balls honestly.

They don't even break anything. That's a friendly fight, Abolish is pretty sure. It's... good? For the local demon to have a nemesis. At least he knows she won't go looking for one?

TO BE FAIR TO APO. That -3 cha moment came AFTER Owen brought her to the crypt to feed her to Scott and Pyro and said "and if you don't agree then we'll find your loved one and we won't turn them, we'll just kill them. and then we'll kill you too." and was AUDIBLY DISAPPOINTED when she made the deal. She has GOOD REASON to assume he's never actually felt love, he got excited about murdering her girlfriend and making her watch! He never actually opened up about his tragic backstory to her! They've just been triggering each other with every second sentence from the first moment they met!

god yeah. Cherri sets him on fire and hits him with a chair and then he gets run over by a car. really really does not have a good day. luckily turning into fog requires holding still.

ooooooo yes! That could be really fun. If a vampire has been feeding from you, you will rise as a vampire yourself at night...

I do love that actually. They respect the grind. Demons are watching Apo and cheering her on. Most of them are fucking off because she already has dibs on these humans, not because they're afraid of her.