Problem Child

[likeits1999]

...So, uh. Got some things I should probably tell you guys.

[ Kevin seems a little nervous, he has trouble doing "eye contact" with the mirror. ]

I guess like... first of all, I'm Kevin? I'm from New York? I skate? I've met some of you but not everybody so...

[ He shrugs. ]

You ever known somebody who... uh, has a personal problem? But it turns out that if you know 'em and are around 'em all the time it kinda winds up to be their crap ends up being everybody's shit to deal with?

It's kinda like that.

[ Everything about trying to explain this is awful. Everything. ]

The thing with me is... well..

I'm... kind of a vampire?

[ There. He said it. Getting that part out helps him square up and face it a little better, his gaze steadies straight on the mirror. ]

Actually, not "kind of" at all. I'm definitely a vampire. I drink people's blood. I have to. Been doing this shit a good while, too. The Green's got my back with the whole sunlight deal, but I still ain't exactly keeping down regular grindage if you know what I'm saying.

[ Kevin winces a little. He tried. ]

So... here's the deal: I need to drink blood sometimes. Otherwise I get hungry, and when I get hungry I stop... being able to be a person so good? It's bad. Trust me.

[ Please, please trust the self-described vampire. ]

It's not a lot all the time, I can go a bit if I'm full up, and I can stretch it on animals and junk like that, but it's... yeah, dog.

[ He makes his lungs pull in air and breathe it back out in a long hwoo. ]

The other thing is it's probably... if I'm gonna be real with allay'all, I don't want to put my teeth in you? I mean, I got 'em.

[ He takes a second to drop fangs and show the mirror before pulling them back in, which probably does a whole lot of good for his image with the team. ]

It does stuff to people, though? And I don't want to be like that if we're gonna be doing this Lord of the Rings shit together, alright? If we're gonna be real, I'm gonna be real.

[ Kevin's shoulders sink a little as this sudden surge of confidence falters. ]

I don't know what I'm supposed to do about this, but I'm not lying about it and I'm not gonna sneak around. And I mean.... if y'all wanna run me off into the woods, cool, but I'm gonna end up stuck comin' back like any of the rest of us.

If I could just go find someplace else to be, I mean...

[ He smiles weakly. ]

You wouldn't be hearing this.

Comments

[konman]

[The teenage boy on the screen isn't looking so good. Kon's still recovering from having sucked some life energy from the dementors while trying to protect Superman. It wasn't exactly a fun time; it's not quite like it was poison, but it was still something like trying to breathe car exhaust straight from a muffler.]

[Aside from making him feel like crap, it messed with the dark magic thing like crazy and made it so he hasn't changed back to his usual self yet. He's still a mess, his eyes an inky black, black veins spidering all over his face. His lips are a pale grey. He looks shaky and clammy like someone that's recovering from food poisoning or some other queasy, miserable ailment.]

[Kon's in the Brugh and Brainy can be seen right nearby, though, fussing over him a little bit, making it clear he's being taken care of. He's got a blanket around his shoulders at least, so it could be worse.]

Hey man, I'm Kon.

Fyi, you're not the only one who's dealing with some dark side supernatural crap. Since I got here, I got some black magic nonsense dumped on me by whatever brought us here. [He flicks a hand at his face, presenting it theatrically.] Hence my movie star good looks.

And even before that...

[A pause.]

[It's not easy for Kon to talk about this. Easier than it was, but not easy. But this dude looks equal parts scared and almost...beaten down. Look at that shoulder slump, it's terrible. Kon's not really keen on getting all Dr. Phil here, but he can at least give him something solid, something that isn't (hopefully) temporary like the dark magic thing.]

See, I'm a clone. And half my DNA comes from one of the best people I've ever met, but the other half is... it's from the worst human being alive. No joke. Think Charles Manson levels of psycho, but with a much higher body count and even more lives ruined. And he did all this stuff to make me hurt people once. People I cared about. With mind control junk.

[He takes a deep breath and his expression is very kind.]

Nobody ran me off afterward. I hid for a while all on my own but everyone I knew treated me like it wasn't my fault and made it clear I could come out when I was ready.

Some of us get it, being something you don't exactly want to be and having a part of you you wish maybe wasn't there. And some of us even get having stuff going on where we're worried about people getting hurt - or y'know, hurting them again.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is nobody's going to run you off, okay? Even if we could. That's not how we roll. We'll figure something out so you're taken care of.

[likeits1999]

...I-

[ Kevin falters. He didn't expect the outpouring of helpfulness he seems to be getting, sure, but he especially didn't expect this kind of feeling to come from anybody. It's almost too much too fast, he's too surprised to know what to do with it all. ]

...I guess.

[ Well, that was lame. ]

It's complicated. And pretty fucked up I guess, and there's a lot of it.

[ He... maybe this is a guy he can talk to about this? Sometime? It's a little bit scary, it's already something that he wouldn't be able to do if there were a single other Kindred here to stop him. Coming forward as a vampire is already a breach of the masquerade. Talking details is a final death sentence, and even unsupervised it makes him nervous. ]

You okay, dog?

[konman]

Mostly. The old stuff is traumatized water under the evil bridge, but the magic thing is knocking me on my butt a little.

[It feels right to admit to a little weakness here. It makes it clear the whole thing is...it's a process, right? Dealing with stuff like this. And talking about it isn't the end of the world. That's one of the most important things he learned from keeping his mouth shut on the whole Lex thing until it exploded.]

I've at least got friends here. And the other guy I'm cloned from -- the good one -- is here, so I've got family. He's been supportive about the whole thing. It's just, uh...

[He squirms in place a little, trying to get comfortable where he's sitting propped against some pillows. It feels impossible.]

Uncomfortable. Like having a splinter in your soul or having something eating away at your insides. I'm half worried one of these days someone's going to knock a hole in me and I'm gonna spew out pressurized acid like in Aliens or something.

[likeits1999]

I know that feeling.

[ Kevin's expression darkens just a little, growing somber. ]

I like...

It's a curse, right? You got this thing in you that wants to be alive. And it knows how to be hungry, and it knows how to hunt, and it knows how to sleep. And that's mostly what it wants to do, not be hungry and sleep.

But when it's hungry....

[ Kevin's eyes slide away, uncomfortable. ]

Or scared. Or pissed. You gotta watch getting pissed. Shit happens.

[konman]

[Kon's eyebrows slowly raise as he listens to Kevin talk and then he almost looks relieved. Just to know that somebody else gets it - that somebody else not only gets it but maybe has a little experience with it.]

Yeah.

Yeah, I, uh...already had a close call with that one. With getting pissed.

[He adds quickly:]

He's okay. Thank God.

[But only because whatever that power is, the one that lets him grab souls, it's not powerful enough to just rip someone's free yet.]

That was right when I first got here and the magic came out the first time. It's a little better now that I know what I've got. I'm trying to keep my temper under control.

The up side is I was already used to having to worry about that. I don't have the dark magic back home, but I've got superstrength and a bunch of other powers. Self-control and anger management isn't really optional when you can lift a semi over your head.

[likeits1999]

I'm strong, but that's a vampire thing. Not that strong but... y'know, I'm not bad?

[ He raises and lowers a shoulder. ]

I... about took a guy's face off not too long ago. I didn't, but I about did.

[ He's not proud. ]

I been like this for a long time now, I guess. Like... not a long time to a vampire? But a long time to most people. I got practice. I don't know if what I know would like... help?

[konman]

How about we just hang and maybe we can help each other out sometimes, if we can.

[Kon doesn't want this guy thinking he just wants to take help, he needs know it's offered, too.]

[likeits1999]

Cool. I'll, uh, come find you I guess?

[ And he's off. ]