And we don't know where we're going and we don't know where we've been (Amnesia plot post)

[dredefulchilde]

23 February, Early Morning

He wakes up in the middle of a field - actually, a football pitch in Hounslow, but it seems vast and strange to him. He feels a nagging sense that he's lost something important, but he can't remember what it is. On further thought, he realizes that it's not the only thing he can't remember. He has no idea who he is, where he is, or why he's standing in the cold rain. The only thing he can remember is the feeling of an old ring hanging on a chain against his chest, under his sodden clothes. It's familiar and safe, and he knows that if he removes it something very bad will happen.

So the boy crouches in the mud and puzzles through his odd predicament.

A woman at a bus stop opposite the park is the first to see the small figure in the rain. She approaches the pale child and asks him what he's doing out so early, offering her umbrella, but he doesn't seem to understand her questions, growing increasingly agitated and confused the more she tries to help him. He's obviously lost, and the thinness of his arms and legs concerns her. She calls the police.

That night, the evening news broadcasts a picture of a boy, believed to be between nine and eleven years of age, who has been taken into care by Child Protective Services. They are looking for anyone who may recognize him since he does not seem to recognize himself. It generates a bit of buzz online, but it's hardly a leading news story with everything else going on in the world.

There's a follow-up the next morning, but this time it leads the program: a nurse in the mystery boy's hospital room was found dead late last night, drained of blood, her throat ripped out. The child is nowhere to be found.

[Specific prompts in the comments!]

Comments

[dredefulchilde]

He sits and talks with Nancy, or--well, listens to her talk, mostly. He's starting to feel powerfully tired, eyes like leaden weights after the nonstop confusion and trauma of the last twenty-four hours. Being an amnesiac child with "talents" is very hard work.

They move to the couch at some point, and it feels very soft and inviting. He soon drifts off to sleep, still holding onto Nancy for dear life.

[emotioneater]

Cooper's been off at a meeting for the Night Council the whole day when he gets the text from Nancy. Only she would consider taking a child vampire back to their apartment a good idea. He's alarmed by the very prospect. Either it's a new vampire who will have no impulse control or there's now a very old predator sharing space with the woman he loves. Both scenarios are enough for him to make his excuses to the other members and head for home.

He barges through the door looking for both of them. "Okay, Nance, you wanna tell me what the heck--" Then he spots the little vampire, looking rather different without his usual expression of bored arrogance on his face. "Joss? What're you doin' here?"

[stauncherhearted]

Somewhere along the line, the boy started to fall asleep, and Nancy did nothing to stop him. Instead, she got herself comfortable, and soon abandoned talking for humming, letting him sleep on her as she strokes his hair and back in a soothing manner. She'd even managed to float a rather fluffy blanket over for him to sleep under. Other than that, she's too afraid to move, not wanting to wake him up. Poor thing.

When the door opens, she's jerked out of her reverie, and looks up. "Cooper, shush!" she scolds him, gesturing with one hand to the boy using her as a pillow. "He's sleeping. Poor thing's had an awful day."

[dredefulchilde]

There are voices interrupting his nap and the boy scrunches up his face, beginning to stir. But he doesn't wake fully. For the moment he continues to sleep, looking quite angelic as he does so. A perfectly picturesque little waif.

[emotioneater]

Cooper crosses his arms, a flat look on his face. He's not fooled by that innocent face. "Poor thing my foot. He probably had it comin' whatever happened to him." Why does it seem like half the members of the Nest eventually end up in his apartment? He should just install a revolving door.

He comes closer, wanting to be close in case Joscelin is startled when he wakes up with Cooper's girlfriend right there next to him. "I know he looks all cute 'n little. But Nancy, do you realize Joss is one of the oldest vampires in the Nest? Like, old as JC." Cooper was also strongly reminded of Joss' M.O. of bewitching adults to take him in. Is that what he'd done here? It didn't make much sense. He had to know this was Cooper's apartment.

[stauncherhearted]

That would probably be because he was the most approachable of the Very Important Vampires. JC was imposing, especially because he was still mostly found at Guilty Pleasures. Evie was intimidating. Cesare was Cesare. And Cooper, unfortunately, still looked seventeen. So everyone wound up here.

She shakes her head. "He's lost and scared, Cooper! He's been nothing but an angel. Now be quiet, he's starting to wake." She strokes his hair back from his face, hushing him as he begins to stir.

[dredefulchilde]

"Mmm?" The boy looks blearily up at Nancy. "What's going on?"

He sees Cooper but shows no sign of recognition. "Who's that?"

[emotioneater]

Cooper is standing over the pair of them now, looking far from pleased with how this whole thing is going thus far. He really just wants to drag Nancy into her room and then toss the older vampire out on his ear, despite the protests of either one of them. That idea changes when Joss looks at him without recognizing him. Oh, this isn't good.

"I'll be the one askin' the questions 'round here. An' the first one I have is what you're doing in my apartment, Joss?" He asks. There's always the possibility that this is just some twisted scheme thought up by the eternal child. Cooper is very much on edge.

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy strokes Joss' hair back from his face. "That's Cooper, my boyfriend," she explains as softly as she can to the boy.

Then she turns back to Cooper. "He doesn't even know his own name! I brought him here, if you're going to be upset don't be upset with him." She sets her jaw, trying to shield Joss from Cooper. Who apparently knew who he was.

"does that name ring any bells, love?" Back to the boy, now that he apparently had a name.

[dredefulchilde]

The boy--Joss, maybe--shrinks back against the couch cushions, eyes wide as an angry teenager demands answers from him. He can only shake his head at all the questions, both from Cooper and from Nancy. "I don't know," he whispers, "I don't know I don't know I DON'T KNOW!"

He's shouting by the end of it, visibly shaken and terrified.

[emotioneater]

Cooper's power comes in handy at moments like this. Even if Joss, who was a good actor at the best of times, was faking it, he would have been able to feel the lie and deceit behind the words. His terror is real. Which means he's twice as dangerous, a child vampire who doesn't know enough to keep from hurting people.

He's alarmed, but not for himself. Joss could toss him out the window and he'd be fine. But there was his very breakable witch girlfriend to think about, the one currently within distance of Joss' arm-length. His voice was low and urgent as he spoke to her. "Nancy, come over here right now."

[stauncherhearted]

The boy's yelling, and Nancy reacts immediately, moving toward him. She wraps an arm around his shoulders, bringing him back in toward her. "Shhh," she says, "It's okay. You don't need to know."

But her eyes are on Cooper. The change in his voice was indicative of trouble brewing, she knew that well enough. But she couldn't leave this poor boy, shaking on her couch. She shakes her head. Nancy presses her lips together, and braces herself, even as she focuses on the child. She knows what will come next, after she speaks. What she fears and believes will come next.

She'll risk it.

"He doesn't remember anything," she urges Cooper, stroking Joss' hair again.

[dredefulchilde]

He shrinks away from both of them, eyes wide. When Nancy starts stroking his hair he jerks her hand away hard enough to bruise. "Don't touch me!"

The panic threatens to crush him. He needs to escape.

Cooper is blocking the doors to the flat, but what if he locks himself in the bedroom? Maybe there's a window in there. He just needs to be fast...

And he is. He's off the couch faster than anyone has any right to be, running for the open bedroom door.

[emotioneater]

"Goddamnit, Joscelin!" He's fast, too fast for even Cooper to catch up with him as he flies to the safety of the bedroom. He has a choice, either to follow the child vampire or make sure Nancy is okay. Despite knowing it's in the best interest of everyone to get this problem taken care of as soon as possible, he still rushes over to Nancy.

"Are you alright?" She hasn't been fed on, but Joss still could have hurt her with brute strength alone.

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy gasps, immediately holding on to the hand Joss had just shoved away. As it happens, she's looking as the boy runs into their bedroom. Without thinking about it, she reaches for him, but he's out of the room.

"Joss!" She calls, hoping to god that's his name.

But before she can get off the couch, Cooper is next to her, on the blanket the boy had been sleeping under. She looks at him, confusion etched across her face.

"I'm fine," she says shortly, trying to keep him from seeing the bright red bruise appearing on her hand. "I have to go after him." She uses the moment to stand. "he's scared!"

[dredefulchilde]

A window. Good.

He leans against the door, trying to keep it closed, while he tries to figure out how to get out. The window isn't very big, but neither is he. This was how he got out of the hospital, even though then he was so high up he thought there was no way he'd be able to jump without hurting himself. But he didn't, somehow, and he's not nearly as high as he was then.

He tries to open the window but it's locked and he can't figure out how it's supposed to open.

"No, no no no no no." He needs to get out of here. Cooper scares him. He's not nice at all and he seems to know that he--whoever he is (Joss?)--is capable of doing bad things even if Nancy doesn't quite believe it. He rattles the window and puts his full strength into it.

There's a sound of shattering glass.

[emotioneater]

The door has been locked, but it's just a standard one. He hears the sound of shattering glass and his alarm increases. He's getting away! Cooper punches right through the door, feeling around for the knob and pulling it open. By the time he steps into the bedroom, all that's left is shattered glass all over the floor.

Joss is gone and Cooper knows he's royally screwed up. "Oh shit," is all he can mutter to himself. He's just let a six-hundred year old amnesiac child vampire escape into the city when he was terrified out of his mind. This will not end well.

[stauncherhearted]

She's close behind Cooper, barging in right after him. she doesn't bother to assess the scene, instead running across the shattered glass, shards digging into her bare feet.

"Joss!" she calls after him, knowing that as fast as he'd run, he was far gone now. Still she was at the window sill. She puts her hands on the broken sides of the window, using it to brace herself as she looks out, trying to spot the small boy in her sweats.

"Shit," she swears. "He's gone- bloody fucking hell!" she pushes back from the window, ignoring the sting in her palms. "You scared him off! who knows what he'll find out there now! You best hope the likes of Fagin don't find him now!"