wake up

[akillersmile]

(1)

Kyle was new to the area. Hell, he was new to the country. As easy as it was to pick up the basics - public transit, prices, slang - he was having a harder time learning the small and intertwining streets in his neighborhood. He felt almost constantly lost, which made him almost constantly anxious about knowing his exits and whether he would ever find his damn AWOL C.O. he'd come to find in the first place.

It's one such night, disoriented on the way back to his shared flat from a quiet drink at a pub, that he stumbles into something he thought he left behind. Kyle knows what he's looking at the moment he sees it. The vampire feeding on the teenage boy who seems near unconsciousness.

"Hey!" He yells without thinking, waving his arms as if trying to chase a coyote off from a stray stash of food. The vampire, in a stroke of luck for Kyle or perhaps to keep his face hidden, decides to take off rather than engage in a conflict, dropping the now passed out boy into the street. Kyle runs over, ripping off his shirt to apply pressure to the wound on the kid's neck, then looking around for someone - anyone - nearby. "Hey, I could use some help here."

(2)

Post traumatic stress is never an easy thing. Although Kyle never receives full on hallucinations like a couple of his brothers had struggled with, the traumas continue to sneak up on him occasionally, clouding his judgment and ratcheting his anxiety into high gear. This time, it's in the middle of his run. He's not even sure if it was a scent or a sound that set him off. Maybe the combination. Whatever it is, it forces him to stop and focus, to breathe through it.

He takes a seat on the nearby bench, legs shoulder-width apart, forearms on his knees, eyes closed, head down to hide his face. His mandated counselor told him it was the most efficient breathing position. Now he uses it to relax, to try to force the body working against him to calm down and get back to the present with him. And he probably looks troubled, if not a little crazy, to the passersby, but that's rarely been a concern for him.

(3)

Vampires are real. Kyle learned about that some time ago, when Cooper came to his hospital room and gave him a reason to live and fight through the Fever. He'd been trained in that specialty, hunting, and it had been most of his tour in South Africa. What unnerved him was learning that they were everywhere. The problem wasn't contained to an area, as he'd been lead to believe, but the creatures sprawled in various corners of the world, thriving on the suffering and death of humans. So, yeah, he took it upon himself to do something about it.

Kyle has a split lip, a couple seriously bruised ribs, a swollen and bruised cheek, and some bloody scratches on both an arm and his neck from the fight. But you should see the other guy. The vampire lays dead on the ground, a broken pool cue shoved through his heart. All things considered, Kyle feels like he got off pretty well.

To the casual observer, it looks like a bar room brawl gone bad. Which is why, when he hears someone behind him, Kyle tenses and silently curses in his mind. The soldier lifts his hands to either side of him in a gesture of surrender, showing he's unarmed. "It's not what it looks like."

(4)

Hoping to settle in faster than the average, Kyle's out running errands throughout the day. He's picking up some new clothes, having arrived with only his backpack's worth of stuff, and groceries for the apartment. At the same time, he pops in to occasional shops to apply for jobs. Sweeper, clerk. Anything with decent pay at a local joint who will accept an American with a military background in a questionable economy.

[Feel free to bump into him shopping, or be in a shop when he asks for work, or anywhere in between. Fairly open.]

Comments

2

[facethewolves]

Alex is coming back from grocery shopping. She's still bad at it - any adult going through her bag would probably bite her head off for the massive pack of marshmallows she got instead of remembering to buy bread - but at least this time she made a list. It's sitting uselessly on the kitchen counter in her apartment, but it's a step in the right direction. It's a nice day and she's got nowhere to be, so she ends up sitting on a bench eating a sandwich. It's still weird, having nowhere to be and enough money to afford a sandwich, but despite the novelty of it, she's kind of bored. She wishes she did have somewhere to be.

When some guy practically throws himself at the bench, paying no attention to the fact that she's already taking up more than half of it, her immediate response is to snarl, "Hey!"

He's still ignoring her, and it only takes her a moment to realize he's having a panic attack. She glances around, making sure he's alone before saying, "Hey," again, quieter this time. She drops the half-finished sandwich into her bag, then, very tentatively, bracing for him to lash out at her, puts a hand on his shoulder.

1

[wolfmarked]

Skip's getting off her shift when she hears the call. As soon as the boy falls and the vampire flees, she turns on her heel to shout after the running figure. "You come back here 'gain, you're out on your ass! Fucker!"

Which leaves the boy bleeding and the man near him.

Disgustedly, Skip rips off her apron and tosses it at him. "There. Use that t' help. I'll call a fuckin' doctor."

Which she's whipped out her phone to start dialing. And not 999.

"Fuckin' moron," she mutters under her breath. "Got a fuckin' back room for this bullshit, but he's gotta go an' make a scene. Gonna fuckin' have him booted out so fast... Fucker."

3

[protagonized]

The stench of blood is overpowering. Simon knows it all too well these days. It haunts him everywhere he goes, especially in his sleep. The only way to quiet it is to get uproariously drunk every night before he dares close his eyes.

And now here it is again.

He walks, somewhat unsteadily, over to the American, holding his sleeve over his nose because if he smells any more of it he's going to vomit, and it's far too early into the evening for him to even think about sobering up. Especially now that this is happening. At least this time it isn't human blood. Not entirely.

"It looks like the police are going to have a lot of questions for you when they get here. Which is probably going to be soon. You should clear out before they do."