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Finley had given Salim zher number, and promised to let him know when and where they could meet up to run more tests. Unfortunately it had been several days--Fin had apologized but claimed there was an emergency with a friend.
But tonight they had sent a message off to Salim, asking him to meet them at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Finley had told him that zhe would meet him outside the hospital at a side entrance.
Salim doesn't immediately notice them. He has the sense that someone is there, but can't really focus on zher face or bring himself to care very much--until the Obfuscate fades and he realizes it is, in fact, Finley. Zhe looks much different tonight, though. The same long coat and frumpy clothes, but the pale face and stringy limp hair is replaced by flawless porcelain skin and bouncy, shiny waves. Zher eyes are brighter, piercing, not quite so sunken. Despite having a mask on that covers their lower face, there's no doubt they are Pretty.
It's clear that Qadir has tried very, very hard to hide and dress down. Hoodie up, coat on, sweating already. Not a bad scent mixing with cologne though. There's something to be said as their eyes finally take into the other, a little start before he grins. "You do it too! Mine seems a most night thing, but maybe yours is by the New Moon?"
Finley blinks at Salim, head tilting a little. "...Your attractiveness fluctuates with night and day?" zhe asks curiously. "No... I choose when it happens. Um. I just... rarely do it." The lisp is far less prominent now as well.
"Come on." Finley reaches out to touch his arm briefly, then turns, using a keycard to unlock the door, then heads inside. Zhe doesn't bother hiding, just walking down the mostly empty hallways with him. Though even when they pass people, no one even looks at them...
Qadir nods as he considers the other. "Is that not... usual?" Still, he hunkers up close to the Pretty to follow them on inside. "Like not full on Jekyll and Hyde transformation, but... yeah, different."
"No... it's not usual. Making oneself more charismatic is a fairly common ability--but it does not physically change one's appearance. That is... a very rare ability, only passed down through the bloodline I belong to."
"Huh. Bloodlines? Like... for infected or like from your actual parents? Because... I don't think my parents are like this? They're awake a lot more..."
"Not my birth parents, now. I'm not--it's not an infection." Zher head shakes. "We call it the Embrace. But I mean the bloodline passed down from the kindred that made me like this."
"How's it work?" asks Qadir. "If it's not something in the blood, what's the difference?"
Finley doesn't immediately reply. They head up the stairs, turn a corner, then use the keycard again to open the way into an otherwise abandoned lab. Lots of equipment and machinery laid out everywhere.
"We die," Finley finally says, glancing back at him. "And the blood and will of another brings us back, turns us into undead monsters. But sometimes, when someone kills someone by drinking from them--or if someone dies who has drank our blood--there's a chance for people to come back as... not quite Kindred, but close. I thought that was what had happened to you, but... this is clearly different."
"Are you sure?" asks Qadir. "They... hurt me pretty bad. I ended up in the hospital in critical condition." He looks fairly familiar with the stuff around before moving to check different equipment.
Finley shrugs off their coat and hangs it up, exchanging it for a white lab coat. "I'm sure. You would be waking with an uncontrollable hunger every sunset--but you'd be turning into a monster and drinking blood, not... whatever it is you're doing."
"People... don't..." Qadir slowly takes off his coat to toss onto some empty counter space. "They get hurt. It might not be blood, but it's definitely... bad."
"Have you ever taken the time to examine them after it happens?" Finley asks curiously, blinking slowly. "Taken their pulse, temperature, anything?"
"No... I mean, made sure... some were breathing." He looks to the side. "When it's gone real bad, I, uh, ran..."
Finley nods slowly, quiet for a moment. "How often do you think you have killed people?" Finley sounds... kind of eerily scientific about it all. Though their stare is still sympathetic. "Do you hurt people more when you're more hungry? Have you been able to control the amount of--whatever you are draining from people--that you take, at all?"
"I think it gets worse when I'm hungry. Or... if they're weak already," says Qadir. "I don't honestly know. I am... I haven't been looking into it after. It didn't seem like a good idea."
"You should feed more often, then--don't just wait until you get hungry." Zhe sighs. "I know it's hard to feed because it hurts people, but hurting more people a little bit is better than killing people because you wait until you can't stand the hunger anymore, right?"
Qadir nods slowly, eyes anywhere but at the Kindred. "Got it."
Finley hesitates, shoulders sinking a bit. Then zhe steps closer, reaching out to lightly pat his arm. "I'm sorry. It... sucks. I get it. But you must accept what you are and learn. Have you tried feeding from animals? It is a good option for my kind, when we're young and learning."
Qadir shakes his head. "I've not... tried. Maybe I can get some rats. We've got a lot of them for testing."
"What's it like, when you feed? Do the animals survive?"
Finley glances away briefly, then shakes zher head. "No. Animal blood isn't as... potent. We usually have to drink it all in in order to... get anything."
"As for what it's like... um... Well, we bite--with fangs, um, obviously. And drink blood. But most people don't really realize it? It... feels good, and their brains sort of... turn off and they just feel pleasure. They don't remember being bitten, and if we lick the wound after, it will heal so there's no evidence left behind if you're careful."
"Huh." There was a pause as he considers Finley. "When I fed was it... good like that?"
He takes another look around at the medical equipment, then goes to take off his shirt, the sweatshirt catching the normal shirt and showing off some glorious abs before he manages to get the cut-sleeve thing back down.
Finley considers for a moment. "It was... similar. But when you fed from me, I felt numb all over. Our Kiss numbs the pain of being bitten, but it doesn't effect the whole body like yours did. The numbness lasted for quite a while after you fed from me, too."
"Huh. Divergent evolution?" asks Qadir as he folds up his sweatshirt. "Like when an invasive species is put into a new area and adapts to survive - often with some strange maybe-not-as-intended evolutionary traits?"
"Possibly," Finley murmurs thoughtfully. "Do you mind if I take blood samples from you to study?"
"Though I should probably take your vitals before that..."
Qadir pats the crook of each arm. "I'm good for it. But yeah, let's establish a baseline vital set. See if something's... I don't know, reactive."
Finley bobs zher head, then goes about giving a fairly thorough examination of him, taking blood pressure, temperature, heartrate, the whole shebang... And afterwards snaps on some latex gloves to take a few little vials of blood samples.
Zhe seems to know what they're doing, at least.
Qadir seems at least relatively familiar and comfortable with everything - part of the physical therapy stuff likely. After the blood samples are taken, he inspects zhem for a moment. "Does your blood show anything different?"
"Kindred blood is very different from normal blood," zhe says with a nod. "It's not something I can completely explain in medical terms, though. We are... supernatural creatures, in the end."
"Can you test for... supernatural things then? Can you teach me how?" asks Qadir as he eyes the other.
"I can taste your blood and tell if you're human or not. You tasted... mostly human," Finley replies, head tilting. "I don't think it's something that can be taught. Kindred have... heightened senses, when it comes to blood."
"Do you think I would if I tasted blood?" asks Qadir. "I can see in the dark. Like... perfectly in pitch blackness. And I can hear and smell better too. Well, at night..."
Finley hesitates. "I... suppose it's possible. We could experiment with that. But you cannot drink the blood of a kindred." Zher brows crease tightly. "It's... highly addictive and... will enslave you to the will of the person you drink from."
"Kindred meaning vampire or a specific kind of vampire? Like the ones that are always hungry - is their blood also addictive? You tasting mine, was that a risk for you?" poses Qadir.
"Kindred is what we call ourselves--all vampires." Their head shakes. "I could smell that it wasn't full vampire blood before tasting it, but it takes more than a drop to bond someone to you anyway." Zhe pauses for a moment. "I'm not sure if draugr's blood is the same as a normal Kindred's. I would assume it's less... potent, in general, but still might be addicting. Draugr being what we call the phenomenon that I explained to you. The... not-quite Kindred."
"Have you been able to ask them or is it more like the sort of brainless vampire types in the 28 days sort of thing?" asks Qadir. "Well, no, couldn't be because you were talking to me and thought I was one."
"They only are controlled by their hunger when they first wake up at sunset," Finley replies. "After they feed, they're fine. But this is all just... information I've read about. I've never met one before. They're pretty rare."
After a few moments of silence, "So what all are we testing for today?" asks Qadir.
"I'm going to run a CBC, comprehensive metabolic panel, prothrombin time and international normalized ratio, and BNP, to start..." Finley picks up a clipboard to write down his vitals on it. "Have you fed yet tonight?"
"No. I didn't know if that would be part of the tests," admits Qadir. "Anything you need help with? It's not my first time in a med lab."
Finley considers him a moment. "How hungry are you, right now?"
"Uhhhh... I could probably go another night or two?" he says as he considers.
"Are you comfortable letting me watch you feed on a normal person?" Zher head tilts.
"I mean... I guess? Are you going to do that hidden thing?"
Finley bobs zher head. "There is a man in a coma in this hospital. He won't wake up, but he's healthy enough that I, occasionally, feed from him myself. He's being monitored so if something goes wrong, there's people here to help him. But I understand if you'd prefer not to take the chance. You may feed on me beforehand to make sure you are not hungry at all, if you wish. This is a test, not a true meal."
"Feeding... more would likely produce more intense results, right?" asks Qadir. "More measurable ways that we might be able to narrow things down?"
Zher head tilts. "Likely, yes."
"Then maybe we should go like this," decides Qadir before he goes to put on his sweatshirt again.
"Alright." Finley nods, moving to set the vials of blood in a temperature controlled case, then heads out of the lab and towards an elevator, heading to one of the top floors of the hospital, onto a floor where patients are kept for long term care.
On they way up, Qadir looks pretty shifty. It's clear he's not so versed on keeping up with the subtleties there, but hey, he's going up. Hands thrust into pockets, hood up.
"No one will see us. It's okay," Finley assures with a light pat-pat to his arm, then leads the way into the room. Indeed, there is a man laid out there in a hospital bed, connected to all sorts of life machines. Looks like he's been there a while.
Finley takes the time to look at the man's charts and get current vitals, but then seems to decide things are still a go. Zhe looks to Salim encouragingly.
"Alright, ummm... sorry," he whispers to the man as he leans down and puts his lips to the other's head as if to kiss him goodnight...
Finley is watching very intently, while keeping a close eye on the man's vitals showing on the machines.
And with that, there's likely a sudden spike of vitals as he suffers a sudden 3 lethal as his lifeforce drains out of him and into Qadir.
Finley blink-blinks, scribbling down the changes onto a chart. Then steps over to lean in and peer at the stop that Salim had kissed, brows knitting when there's not any mark left behind. Finley makes a thoughtful sound and stands straight again. And--no surprise at this point--Finley pulls out a syringe to take a blood sample.
"Nurses will be coming in, in a few seconds," Finley says. "But they won't see us. We'll slip out when they come in."
"... Are you sure? I can't go ghost like you can. I don't think anyway," says the nervous little psyvamp.
"I've made you invisible." Finley nods. "Trust me."
And, no surprise, nurses are hurrying in a moment later, no doubt signaled by the machines going nuts. But they don't even look in Salim or Finley's direction. Finley tugs Salim's sleeve, pulling him out of the room while the door is open.
And out they go, Qadir clinging onto Finley's arm as if being closer would make him extra invisible. He looks back to the set wide eyed and then grins to Fin. "That's badass," he whispers once they're a bit further from the room.
Zher eyes crease a little, head dipping. "Mm... thanks..." Off they go, back to the lab. Immediately Finley goes to work examining the blood sample they just took.
"Hmm... CBC is fairly normal. Nothing that suggests he lost blood, at least. There wasn't any physical trauma..." Zhe looks over. "When you have killed people before, did they show any physical trauma? Muscle spasms, bleeding from anywhere, anything?"
"Not... really? They got pale. Clammy. Not great signs." He reaches up to rub the back of his neck. "I don't know that I did kill them. Didn't want to knwo."
"Okay." Zhe exhales a breath, brows creasing. "When I tested my own blood, that I took after you fed from me, I didn't find any abnormalities either. But I felt drained and kind of dizzy."
Zhe turns to blink at him. "I have a theory..."
"That it's a demon - a dancing demon, no something isn't right there," singsongs Qadir before blushing just a touch and looking to the side. "Uh, sorry."
Finley blinks, then bursts into giggles. "No, not a demon!" Zhe smiles--or, it seems like they are, the mask makes it a bit hard to tell.
"I think... this might be more of a supernatural thing, than a medical thing. You're not drinking people's blood--and there wasn't any trauma to the skin or anything I saw. But there definitely was something done so--I think you might be... draining people's... energy? I think the trauma they are experiencing is more... stress, or psychological. Not to say it's not real, because we're clearly seeing effects. But it's like... draining away people's... life, that tricks their bodies into shutting down. Does that... maybe sound right?"
"I don't... know?" asks Qadir as he studies zhem. "You felt tired after, right? I guess it would track..."
Finley bobs zher head. "I would like to feel it again, sometime, to see if it feels the same."
"...Have you ever fed from any other supernaturals, as far as you know?"
"Besides for you? No, I don't... think so? I didn't even know vampires were real," admits Qadir.
"There's a lot of other things out there, too. Um... mages, and fairy-folk as well. And people capable of cool psychic powers."
"Do you think I'm one of those? Like a mage or a fairy or a psychic? Wouldn't I... know?" asks Qadir. "Do any of them get more powers at night?"
"I don't think you're any of them, but I can introduce you to some people to be certain." Finley's head shakes. "I think you're something unique." Zhe pauses, then holds out their hand. "Feed from me?"
Qadir takes their hand and then gently presses his lips onto their prettied skin, giving that same flush feeling that left one delightfully numb and euphoric.
Before Salim took their hand, zher skin had flushed with life, their fingers not so cold this time when he takes them--but the kiss and rush of euphoria leaves what is showing of zher cheeks flushed pink. Zhe gasps, blinking rapidly before pulling back zher hand. Zher fingers flex, staring at it for a moment before exhaling.
"O-okay. Um. So... I feel... fine? Just... tired. Which I think... might help the theory of you draining people's... life force from them, in some form. Cause um. I'm... not alive..."
"Do you... feel as satisfied from feeding from me, as you would a living person?"
Salim had to consider that. "I... hmmm... yes?" he asks with a raised brow. "It's... basically the same for me. Does that mean I should start hunting vampires instead?"
"Err, Kindred?"
"Hmm... Then it might be that you're draining something that isn't necessarily harmful its self, but on a living person it has the side effect of causing trauma on their bodies..." Finley blinks slowly at Salim, looking drowsy but still fascinated.
"It might not be a bad idea, to feed from Kindred. Though, um--maybe get permission first, so you don't piss off the wrong people..."
"I could feed from you?" suggests Qadir. "You, um, seem to like it, right?" This is awkward, but he wipes his palms on his jeans.
The blush rises back up to Finley's cheeks. "Um... I mean... You probably shouldn't just feed on me, b-but... I don't... mind. Especially if you're hungry and afraid of hurting someone."
"So I probably don't have like... powers like you guys, right?" asks Qadir. "No... glamouring or super speed or whatever is actually real?"
"You... might? What all have you tried?"
"Look deep into my eyes," says an overly dramatic Qadir as he reaches to take zhir hand. "You vant," yes vant like a bad Dracula, "to do what I command!" And a full on dracula laugh...
At first, Finley bursts into giggles at the accent and dramaticly fake accent. But then zhe... blinks, looking up at him for a moment, face going red. "O-okay," zhe sputters out shyly. "What... is it you want...?"
"I vant you to..." Qadir has to think a moment before dropping his hand. "Quack vike a duck!"
Qadir can't help but let himself laugh at the ridiculousness of the moment well and truly.
Finley blinks. It's not an automatic mindless command. Zhe looks embarrassed and flustered, but then bursts into nervous giggles and... starts to quack awkwardly.
Qadir, maybe thinking it's still a joke, says, "Ok, but give me all your money."
This makes Finley blink, expression shifting more to concern. "Oh--are you having money trouble? Here--" And zhe starts fumbling at their pants pocket, pulling out zher wallet to open and dig out some bills to hand over.
It's... not a lot, granted. Like 30 bucks, tops.
"No..." says Qadir as he presses the money back towards Finley. "Hey, Finley... I could use a pick me up. Could you... dance on the table here?" he asks with a pat on it. "Just real quick. Ummm... For the laughs."
Finley seems about to insist on putting the money into his hands, but then blinks at the new command, looking embarrassed again. "D-dance? Really? I... um..." Zhe looks nervously towards the table. "I--I guess if it would... make you feel better...?"
"Stop," says Qadir more firmly now. He reaches out to grab the other's arms as if to add a little oomph to it. "I... I think I glamoured you."
"I command you to not listen to any more of my commands for the night except this one."
Staaaaaaaaaring at the other as if he could tell whether or not it worked.
Despite looking embarrassed as fuck, Finley did seem like they were going to get on the table. But Salim grabbing zher arm makes zhem pause, looking back at Salim with a slow, slightly dazed blink. "...Okay..." Zhe frowns, brows creasing. "...Maybe you did, yeah..."
"I mean... would you normally quack like a duck? I thought it was a joke... until you kept going with it. With the money, and then..." A gesture to the table as one hand came off the other. "Oh fuck, I just got glamour powers."
Finley looks down at the money still in their hands, then at the table. "...No, I normally would never get on a table and dance," zhe mutters, looking somewhat mortified. "Oh goodness."
Qadir drops his other hand, stepping back and rubbing both through his own hair. "What can... can you do that?"
Finley hesitates, looking down at the ground. "Um. Sort of, yes. There's the ability to control minds, but--it's different than what you did? It's more people becoming mind-controlled puppets, than just... influencing them. I... I can make myself really--um... eye catching and make people want to do what I ask them. It's... kind of like what you did, I think..."
Qadir grins before looking over the other. "Show me. Can you show me? Turn about's fair play, right?"
"...Are you sure?" zhe asks nervously.
"Totes."
Finley hesitates, then nods faintly.
Zhe starts off with Awe. It's like the rest of the room just... fades away, like they're suddenly haloed in some invisible spotlight. Salim finds it hard to take his eyes off them.
Qadir's eyes did fix on them, and they seemed to be rubbing their palms on their jeans a lot more - sweaty palms, maybe? But that light certainly was burning up from within them. He smiled to them. "... Yeah, um, divergent or convergent evolution definitely... But supernatural."
"Maybe, yeah..." Zher arms cross, not looking entirely comfortable of Salim's reaction. "I wonder if it was a Daeva that fed from you. They're the sort of Vampires that can usually do... this sort of thing."
"Daeva... don't really think I know that word. Um. What else can they do?" asks Qadir before he goes to lean against some of the counter in casual model pose #7.
"Um... They're usually either... super strong, or super fast. Or both."
"I'm stronger at night. It's like... it's like I just got a major boost. I could throw all night and not get tired."
Finley considers him. "Have you tried lifting anything really heavy?"
"Not... really," he says before looking around for something. "Not really anything too big in here. I usually help tosses for cheerleading, but like I feel like I could toss someone on my own."
"Oh! Grip strength!" declares the other before going to grab one of the electronic grip tools to grab and start 'showing off' well within the range of humanity...
Finley watches this for a moment, then makes a thoughtful hummm. "Mm... Not really the same as Vigor, doesn't seem like... Have you tried running really fast?"
"Ummmm..." Qadir looks at the door after setting things down and... runs, but it's definitely in normal range...
"I'm not feeling the zoom zoom."
Salim watches, then lifts zher hands to wave. "That's okay! I'm sure you can do other cool stuff, and if not you're still learning so probably can learn new things!"
Qadir did reach the lights to cut them off, plunging them entirely into darkness. "Hold up fingers! I can show you at least this."
"Or take off the mask and mouth things? I can tell you what you're saying."
Finley hesitates, but then decides to lift zher hands and flash 8 fingers up.
"Eight - and you use thumb instead of three center fingers? That's weird." He laughs lightly.
Finley blinks, hands lowering. "You... can see in the dark? How does your vision change?"
"Nothing changes," says Qadir. "Like it's the exact same as if you were right under the sun."
"It's like... like at night I see things like they truly are. Light and dark don't matter."
"...Interesting. Do you suffer sensitivity under bright lights?"
"Not at all. I thought that might be something - a light sensitivity. It's weird right?"
"And it's not like thermal vision or the shape of the pupil changes?"
"That is very interesting," Finley admits, blinking wide-eyed. "Are you sure?" Finley steps over, leaning in to peer at his pupils.
And after some more testing, the pair parted ways...
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