Surround the Prey

"Freud is simple enough to understand," Zane said, closing the front door for he was starting to feel rather awkward stanind thing in the middle of the doorway. However, he did not move from near the door. "The thing about Freud to remember is that all his explanations had to do with pent up sexual urges that the young women he studied did have any way to get rid of. Another way to think of it I suppose is like hidden desires. If you keep something hidden long enough, like my urge to taste this pie, it'll effect you in different ways, like it's making me really want to learn how to bake, even though cooking would be a useless skill for me or my brother."

Zane opened the top carton to get a better smell and look at the pie. It was really looking to be delicious. Of course he couldn't very well eat it without a fork without looking like a savage to this young man. "Or a better example, in Feng Shui you must know yourself in order to decorate appropriately. Say you have a pent up desire for this apple pie, since I don't know you all that well. Your subconscious will insert apples, or shades of apples, into whatever design you are putting together and it will only create a deeper desire for an apple pie. According to Freud, you were exhibiting odd behavior, putting apples into your decoration, because of your subconscious desire for apple pie. Do you have a fork I could borrow for a moment?" he asked, looking up from the apple pie he had been staring at while explain the concept of Fruedian logic. "Never understood how sexual tension led to epileptic seizures or not being able to move one's left arm though."

(Warning: 3x I know VERY little about psychology, only what I'm recalling from my own psych 101 class that was almost two years ago. ^^' ))
 
(It's alright, I don't know much either xD;; I took a small course in my health class when I was in middle school, so anything I say will be from the internet x3)

"I think I understand.. Like if I had a pent up desire to eat chocolate, I would start subconsciously doing things with chocolate in mind, like watching a baking show or flipping through one of my baking books.. Something like that?" Vincent could understand pent up desires, though he mostly heard that Freud lead everything to sex.. Lots and lots of sex and incestual concepts. That was pretty much all he had gotten so far from his professor's explanation.

"Oh, a fork? Sure.. Um.. You can come in a bit more, if you'd like? You can sit down at the table if you'd like.." Vincent moved into the kitchen, pulling a fork from the drawer near the dishwasher. He went back towards Zane, holding it out to him. "Here you go."
 
"Exactly like the chocolate idea," Zane said with a nod of approval as he took a few hesitant steps forward before sitting at the table. He took the fork and slowly pulled over one of the pie cartons and opened it. He used the fork to cut out a small piece of the pie and put it in his mouth. He chewed slowly, tasting it as best as his dead tongue could before swallowing. Then he said something in Chinese and cut out another piece. realizing that the young man probably didn't understand anything he had just said, he swallowed the next bite and put his fork down. Bowing in his seat, he smiled--truly smiled--up at the young man.

"You are an excellent cook, Vincent," he clarified, using his proper name so as not to over step anyone boundaries. "If only the others in my kind tried to learn the skill of eating human foods. to taste such an amazing pie was truly a pleasure for me, thank you Vincent."
 
"Well, I got that down then.. I should probably study up on the other stuff as well though. If Freud is simple, it could only get more difficult," Vincent sighed, running a hand through his hair absently as he thought about all the work he had to do to pass that class, before looking to Zane as he sat down. His eyes widen a bit as Zane picked up the fork and actually began to eat, watching with something akin to fascination. Sure, Zane had said he could eat, but to actually see a vampire eat? Vincent certainly hadn't expected it. He had thought that he was just being polite when taking the pies, that he was going to throw it away or something when he got home.

"Thank you," despite the fact that he did hear it a lot from his friends and family, it seemed different coming from Zane, and he blushed a bit. "Call me Vin though, really. Everyone does. I'm glad you like the pie.. It's a little suprising though that you can eat.. How did you manage to learn how to do that?"
 
Zane took another bite and looked up. How had he learned to eat human food? Years of practice he wanted to say. The truth was that it killed him every time he ate human food--even after two hundred and eight three years. He smiled and put the fork down. "Why don't you take a seat? I promise, I am not at all interest in your blood, if that is what you are worried about. I learned to eat human food by eating it," Zane said with an amused snort. "Most vampires seem to have this mentality that we can't eat foods--that we must sustain ones life with blood alone. When I was changed, I-" Zane blinked and stopped speaking for a moment, as if trying to collect his thoughts. "I figured that it was sort of like with my favorite food--sweet and sour chicken. We only had it maybe once every six months, and thus it wasn't necessary to living. I figured that it must be the same way with food and blood--food being the sweets or the desert after the things you needed. It took a few years for me to learn what to expect when I ate human food. It takes much longer for our bodies to digest food. In fact, I'd have to say that those three bites of pie will probably last quiet a while. It's not a nice situations to go through, but I like human food far to much to simply give it up. Call me a strange case of a vampire. My brother never understood my fascination with it. You wouldn't catch him ever eating anything besides maybe a piece of gum every once in a while."

Zane picked up the fork and took another bite. "I really hope you don't mind I'm eating this in front of you. I didn't interrupt your dinner or anything, Vincent?" he asked, smiling over at him. He was grateful that his teeth looked like a regular humans--no sharp edges. Human food also did that for him--helped him keep from getting the cravings for blood. He was going to be stubborn about the name though. Vin seemed too personal--like he was letting himself get attached to the human, when he knew that through some hatred of the universe or another, he would be forced to leave this place eventually.
 
Vincent nodded a bit and took a seat near him. He trusted, for now, that Zane wouldn't eat him yet.

"That's really.. Well, it's fascinating. I've never heard of a vampire who did that. It make sense though, that it would be more difficult for you to digest than..um..blood. I'd imagine that your system has to undergo some sort of rather drastic change to make blood digestable.. Because I don't think humans can really digest blood or live off of it.." He picked at a thread on the tablecloth and looked to Zane as he spoke again, shaking his head in response.

"No, it's fine. I ate after school, a few hours ago.. I had just finished baking those and was about to go deliver them when you all showed up."
 
Zane perked up and smiled, "Actually--" He started to say before sitting back and looking at the pie. "Erm, well, never mind. I'm sorry. It's relatively knew for me to be speaking so openly with a human. This is more Nicoli's realm of expertise while mine lies with figuring out who to trust and who not to and staying behind the scenes. You'd be surprise how much it takes to keep one vampire from pissing off the wrong people and not doing anything nuts. Especially when that one has the mentality of a five year old. What I mean is, I hope that if I say anything that offends or you'd rather not hear, that you'll simply tell me to stop."

Zane put the fork down and checked his overly large sleeves for stains. Sighing as he saw a small amount of apple on one sleeve, he closed the carton and grimaced. "Do you know a place that does dry cleaning that is open at sun down that does this kind of material?" he asked, holding out his arm so that the sleeve trailed its way across the table to where the young man had seated himself. Zane had been surprised when the boy hadn't sat at the chair farthest from him. He would not do anything to jeopardize the friendship he was trying to create. After all, he didn't want to pick up after his brother all the time and this kid knew something about cooking and Feng Shui. If anything Zane might find a friend in the apartment below his. The sleeve was a mix between silk, cotton and satin--a special blend that very few people knew how to clean properly any more. In fact the only reason he had been wearing this shirt today was that it was supposed to bring him good luck. His mother had made it and he'd been able to keep it from deteriorating by keeping it in storage until he absolutely needed it for luck.
 
(OOC: YES YES YES to your status.. If Zane stopped by my house.. Mm.. xD)

"No, it's fine," Vincent reassured. "I understand younger siblings at least. My brother's thirteen and he's certainly a handful.. He just loves to go make trouble whenever he can, especially when he's visiting me, because he knows I won't be nearly as mean as Mom usually is with punishing him. Although.. I suppose taking away your brother's iPod might not really work to calm him down, would it?" He smiled a bit. "Don't worry about it.. I'll definitely tell you if you ever divulge too much or say something I find offensive." It was really...well, just nice, of Zane to even be concerned about offending him. After all, what was he as a human in comparison to a vampire who could say whatever he wanted because people would be too scared to correct him? But it seemed as if Zane wasn't of the vampires that thought humans were below them or anything, and he was so polite...

Vincent looked over the fabric, frowning when he too noticed the stain. He reached out a hand to touch it, but paused.

"Do you mind?" he asked, not wanting to touch it without permission. It looked very expensive, valuable. It would hard to find someone who had the capability to clean it if it was too rare of a fabric.
 
Zane smiled and nodded, "Go ahead, I wouldn't have held it out if I did not want you to touch it," he told the human before examining the stain on his left arm as his right hung out for him to inspect. "It's a special blend of silk, cotton and satin. It took my mother three years to finish it since we were a working class family. I've only met one person in my entire life time that was able to clean it without damaging it. I'd completely forgotten I'd worn it today actually." He was tempted to simply lick the stain away, but that would be even worse for the design on the sleeves.

"I just hope there is one that can clean it around here. I'd hate to have to pull out all the chemicals to clean it correctly without damaging it. They cost a fortune. My ma only made this for one occasion--the day I was to get married, but that day never came and so I just kept it. I like the feel of the material and she swore up and down that no matter when I wore it it would bring me good luck in whatever I attempted at. One does not take for granted the words of a Chinese woman on luck, I shall give you that bit of a warning. They are normally very skilled at seeing that kind of thing. The worse thing you could do is insult them about their fortune telling on lucks, especially when they give you something they made themselves," Zane said with a small chuckle, remembering the first time his brother had ever insulted their mother like that. He'd been out in the front yard for three days with no blankets.

(OOC: Mmm, I wouldn't mind having a little piece of the Zane pie either. ;3 ))
 
(Mm... Zane pie.. x3)

Vincent carefully touched the sleeve as he listened to Zane. The fabric felt amazing beneath his finger tips, and so unique. He had never felt anything like it before. It felt infinitely better than his heavy cotten sweatshirt, that's for sure.

"It feels wonderful.. I'm not quite sure anyone here could clean it that I know of or have used, but there is a small Chinese laundry shop that also does dry cleaning downtown. It's near that Italian place, the Pizzaria or something. I think that they're open until ten or so to cater to the customers that have to work late. They get a lot of business from the corporate people and such." He let his hand drop from the heavenly fabric and back into his lap, nodding a bit at what he next said.

"We had a Chinese family that lived about three doors down from us when I was growing up. I met the mom just a few times, since I mostly just played with the kids, but one time that I did, she told me that I would have good fortune if I moved to a street with a particular name. I thought she was rather crazy and since I was a bit of an obnoxious kid, I told her so. I couldn't see her kids for a week and even then, I had to apologize profusely." He chuckled a bit at the memory. "It's funny though.. I did end up living on a street with that name, though I haven't had very good luck lately. To be honest, you three moving in has been the best thing happening all week."

His mind wandered unbidden to what his ex-boyfriend had said and he grimaced, pushing the thought aside. "But anyway.. You never married? How long have you been alive, if you don't mind me asking?"
 
"Three vampires moving in at once and you count that among your best things of the week? I must say, you must really be having a bad week. Though I'm honored that you would consider me a good thing. I'd have to say that this pie and meeting a young man with a good sense of what feng shui really is has been my own high lights. Other than that it's dealing the idiot brother," Zane said with a small smile, pulling his arm back and resting it on his lap. "Thank you for the hint about the Chinese place. I'll head over there tomorrow evening."

He stretched a little in the chair--a subtle movement of his arms that pushed his shoulder blades back resulting an audible pop and a grateful smile on the vampires face. And then he shook his head. "No. I never fell for any particular person that would accept me as I was, nor that my parents would accept. Being on the other team, if you catch my drift, kind of cancels wedding options most of the time. Either way, I'm almost three hundred years old. I was about twenty or so when I was changed and that was two hundred and eighty three years ago to the day." He was itching to move around, but knew that moving around another person's apartment without their say so was undoubtedly against the rules in any society.
 
(OOC: Got my compute somewhat fixed! I may occasionally have to switch to my phone though)

"Well, your brother doesn't seem so bad, really.. Maybe just a little loud," Vincent smiled, laughing softly. "But really, compared to the week I've had, a few new neighbors are a good thing, vampire or not." He shifted a bit, straightening his sweatshirt out so that it's pulled down past his jeans and more snugly wrapped around him. It was slightly chilly in the house since the door had been opened for a bit and Vincent hadn't turned on the heater yet. He focused again on what Zane was saying and blinked in suprise. He was...gay? That was certainly suprising.. More suprising than him being three hundred years old, that's for sure.

"You're..um..gay..?" he asked to clarify, looking at him with a bit of suprise in his expression. "That must have been..difficult to deal with so many years ago.."
 
Zane looked at the human with a guarded expression. Looking at the pie carton he nodded slowly, "Yes, I prefer the company and love of men rather than women." He couldn't believe he was saying this to a practical stranger, though he didn't think he would have much problems of gay bashers from this lad. Since vampires had come out, those that hated homosexuals had turned their hate to vampires since they embodied everything that was 'wrong'--or so said some pamphlet that Zane had read at one point over the years. "Not as difficult as keeping the secret of your youth from your parents for forty years and not bringing attention to yourself and your brother from local hunters."

"Are you cold?" Zane asked quietly as he had noticed the young man pull at his sweatshirt. Cold, heat, those things didn't effect him as badly as it did humans and so sometimes he had to remind himself that others were there and might need warmth or coolness more than he did.
 
"Oh.. Um.." Vincent felt that he should probably reciprocate and tell him his own sexuality. The vampire looked a bit like he thought that Vincent was going to have a bad reaction to it. "Sorry if the question was too personal.. Um.. I'm gay as well, if that makes you feel any better? I used to claim bisexuality, but..I prefer men. Women kind of freak me out with the mood swings and the whole obsession with chocolate.." He trailed off, realizing he was probably sharing a bit too much.

"You kept it from your parents? How did you manage?" He couldn't imagine keeping anything from his parents for that long. When he figured out he was gay, it had seemed instinctual to call his parents up and tell them. Then again, he was never very good at hiding things about himself anyway. His mom had said she had known all along and his dad had just told him to use condoms.

Vincent startled a bit as Zane asked if he was cold, smiling at him reassuringly. "It's not too bad. I just forgot to turn the heat on and the door was open for a bit. The sweater's pretty warm though, so I'm alright."
 
Zane couldn't keep it in. He chuckled at the young mans explanation and then laughed outright. "I do not think I have ever heard a better explanation of ones sexuality in all my years Vincent, I really don't," the vampire managed between laughs. It took him a few moments, but he finally put a sleeve covered hand over his mouth to stop himself from carrying on. Coughing, he would have blushed had he been human. Instead he just looked ashamed. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have laughed. That was horribly rude of me. But truly, no one has been so direct in their explanations to me in a very long time, especially concern such a serious topic as their sexuality. Forgive me."

He made a small bow in his chair, his head almost touching the table. "I kept both my sexuality and my vampire nature from my parents. I think my mother knew after I turned down several female prospects, but my father would have killed me himself had he ever found out about either secrets. it wouldn't have helped matters if they had found out that in a moment of weakness I had also changed my brother into a vampire and that he was also leaning towards men rather than women. I think it might have killed my father to have known that. We are talking about a time around 1700 when such things were strictly forbidden, of course." Zane explained gently, focusing on the table and pies again. It had felt surprisingly good to laugh.
 
Vincent blinked as Zane began to laugh. The sound was infectious, especially since he had been sure that the vampire couldn't laugh or didn't laugh, and he soon found himself chuckling as well. It was a rather silly description, though completely true. He really didn't like the mood swings and guys--most of them, anyway--were just so much more relaxed than girls about things.

"No, no, it's fine. I know it was a rather ridiculous explanation, though it's true," he smiled at the vampire lightly. "I've always been rather relaxed about my sexuality, so there's no worries. You don't have to apologize."

Vincent couldn't imagine having unaccepting parents either. Sure, both his parents hadn't been too pleased about not having grandchildren from him, but they were happy the they had taught him sell enough to be comfortable with sharing himself with him. That was really what had been important to them. His grandparents, however, had been a different story. His parternal ones had accepted it with much reluctance and had required quite a bit of talking to about the fact that no, it wasn't unnatural. His maternal grandparents, though, had been awful. They had completely cut off contact with him, took him out of their will and didn't even really talk to their daughter anymore either. It was the one thing that Vincent regretted about coming out.

"Your brother is gay as well..? I guess it would have been even harder for your parents then.. On top of the vampirism.. But.. Society is more accepting now of homosexuality at least.."
 
"Yes, Nicoli is gay as well. while society may be more accepting of that aspect, we are still outsiders because of our vampirism. I can only hope that someday soon that will vanish as well, though I doubt it will ever be that way until some new species comes out to play and then we'll seem normal and they'll seem hideous," Zane said mournfully as he absentmindedly picked at invisible lint on his pants. "I'm sorry, that was rather morbid of me to say. I should probably go and make sure Nico isn't destroying the neighborhood, or isn't running back to Rexington to kidnap a poor high school jock from his bed." Zane rose from his seat and picked up the three boxes and balanced them on his hand again before smiling at the young man.

"Thank you Vincent. You have been a very amazing host. Maybe I can return the favor sometime? I don't know if I can cook a pie as good as you have, but I do know how to cook my families sweet and sour foods, should you ever wish to try them," he offered before putting the pies down and digging out the fork that he'd almost forgotten about that was still stuck in one of the pies. "And your fork. that would be horrible of me--stealing a fork from you on accident."
 
Vincent couldn't help how his heart went out to the vampire in front of him as he spoke of acceptance of vampirism. People were still awful about it and most likely always would be if the world continued to accept the discrimination as normal. Sure, vampires were frightening. Vincent himself was still slightly scared of Zane, even after their talk, but he also knew now that at least one vampire wasn't about to rip the head off of every human they came across. In fact, in the last few years, if anyone had bothered to check, it was humans beating or even killing vampires that was a rising crime, not the other way around. "Don't be sorry.. I'm sorry you have to deal with that. It's unfortunately true.. Maybe eventually, though, people will come to accept vampires without having to be introduced to something "scarier".. You can hope, right?" He stood as well to walk Zane to the door, smiling back.

"Sure, I'd love to.. And it's fine," he chuckled, taking the fork from him. "Good luck with your brother."
 
Zane picked the boxes up again and nodded, "Thank you Vincent, I will probably need it," he said as he started towards the door. "You know, knowing what I know now about you, you might consider moving that table just an inch or two to the south. But then again, you know yourself better than I do. Just an observation." He smiled at the human and opened the front door. "Until we meet again Vincent, I hope your week goes better." And then he stepped out of the apartment and was up the stairs before the human could stop him. Fishing his keys out of his pants he opened his apartment and put the pies away before rushing out of the building. Spending those minutes with the young man had reminded him just how hungry he had been.

He didn't catch up to his brother for his brother hadn't gone directly to the place where feeders or 'blood bags' as the vampire community called them were. Instead he had decided to follow the other vampire's scent. Eventually he found himself outside a house where a group of idiotic humans were yelling things such as 'kill the vamp' or 'we don't want no vamps teaching our kids'. The first guy that had yelled that in Nicoli's ear got a long lecture from the vampire on how 'We don't want no vamps teaching our kids' actually meant that he did and if he didn't want vampires to teach, then he should learn how to speak proper English and the difference between saying 'no' and using a double negative to say yes. Nicoli fought his way up to the front to see what was going on and why the vampire from earlier--what was his name? Grigor? Romanov? Somethin' along those lines-- was there.

At the front of the line of humans he found a group of vampires discussing something a few feet in front of a house. Tilting his head he looked around. The idiotic humans had backed away from him, giving him disgusted looks. He looked down at his clothes and raised an eyebrow. What? Did he have blood on him or did he smell bad? He found himself smiling and his fangs very obviously showing. Coughing and lowering his lips, Nicoli shifted where he stood but didn't run away or leave the area. Why should he? This was a free state no? His light eyes scanned the area in front of him, wondering if the vampire was among those standing that the house.
 
Vincent waved a bit as he left, smiling at him. "I'll make sure to look at that," he said before closing the door with a final goodbye, moving to turn on the heat. That had certainly been an interesting meeting, he mused before regarding his table. Maybe it could use a nudge to the south.

"Kill the vamp!" Some backwards, human idiot was screaming, while another yelled about the disgrace on the public school system. Grigor had to hold himself back from biting each and every one of them, just to see if being the one thing they most hated would drive them to suicide. Unfortunately, he was supposed to be a representative of "The Coalition for Vampire and Human Cooperation" and killing humans was not on their agenda. In his opinion, it most definitely should have been. His secretary was hurriedly speaking, asking him questions upon questions as to what they should do, if they should call the police--he scoffed at that. The police didn't do a damn thing to help them. They didn't lift a finger when humans dragged young vampires out of their houses and forced them to burn beneath the sun, or when the churches barred the doors with huge crosses, despite the fact that some vampires were indeed religious.

"Don't bother with calling the police, Rose. The best that we can do at the moment is to make the humans go away via other methods. We'll try talking first. If that doesn't work..." He trailed off, knowing they would get the hint. It was a perk, sometimes, to be able to scare humans easily.. Most especially when they were unwanted. A few of the other vampires nodded, but some looked rather worried about it, which was a natural reaction. It was also a gamble trying to scare humans because some reacted to fear by running and some... Some tried to fight. Unfortunately, as they had no hoses or bean-bag guns or pepper-spray, as Grigor felt they should be equipped with, it was their only option aside from talking it out or killing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back