It was late, and, as one would expect, dark. Violet, standing outside the main doors to the theatre, felt an eerie little chill run up her spine. Being out, alone, was somewhat unnerving when it was late at night and there was hardly anyone around. Dave had better still be here, she thought grimly, I don't want to have walked all the way here for nothing.

In her right hand, she held a cup of coffee with a plastic snap lid on it. It had struck her earlier that evening that Dave must be working late that night, and he might like company. Oh, yeah - and a coffee, to keep him awake. Without further ado, she'd pulled on her sneakers, and a grey sweatshirt over her t-shirt, and was on her way.

She pushed open the door. It was so deafeningly quiet she felt she could hear her heartbeat. When the door closed, it made her jump.
"Hello?" she called, her voice small in the emptiness of the place. "...Hello, anyone?"

Theatres are always creepy at night. The fact that this one is a remodeled house that's probably at least a century old only intensifies that factor. The fact that there is apparently no one here at all also adds to the creepiness.

Except if there weren't anyone here, then the doors wouldn't be unlocked. So Dave must be here; he's on staff, and there's no one in the box office. Besides, it's too late for anyone else to be hanging around; people like to go home or for coffee right after shows...

And, speaking of Dave.

He's huddled on the floor in the wings, bloody and half-dressed--fortunately the bottom half--with a torn-up t-shirt lying some distance away. There's a rope hanging above his head, and tears glittering on his cheeks. He stirs slightly as he hears a voice, but he's too hoarse and afraid to try to call out in answer.

"Hello?..." she said it again, louder. But as she didn't get any answers, and her voice sounded so weird and tiny, she decided not to continue. She did, however murmur to herself as she looked around for signs of life. Violet went pretty much all over the theater (the places she thought she was allowed in, anyway) before she made her way into the wings. "Always the last place you look," she muttered sarcastically to herself.

Then she spotted Dave. For a few seconds, she wasn't willing to believe that it was a real person lying there - maybe a prop someone had left out? - but she snapped back to reality fairly quickly. Violet was right next to him in seconds. She put the coffee cup down out of the way, and rested a hand lightly on his shoulder.
"Dave?..." she said, fighting to keep her voice level.

Dave jerked away from her with a cry before he quite realized who it was and calmed down, looking up at her and half sitting up, cradling his injured wrist next to his chest.

"... Vi?" His voice was hoarse, from too much screaming and too much crying. He blinked a couple times and dashed the tears from his cheeks.

"Sorry. 'm a mess."

Now that's an understatement to be proud of.

"No kidding," she said, offering a weak smile. "...What happened to you?"
Then, without asking, or warning him at all (bad Violet), she moved closer and put her arms around him. She spoke very quietly now, even for her. "God,... you scared me, ... you were just lying here like you were dead or something..."

He flinched and whimpered, again before quite realizing it. But we mustn't be too harsh on Violet; he's never had any problems with her touching him before. (He's usually the one to initiate things, as I recall.)

"'m not dead," he said, with a weak smile. Though he'd been afraid that he was going to end up dead several times through the ordeal. "Just... shook up."

Another understatement. And he didn't answer her question.

She let go of him and moved back, biting her lip as she realized that that had been rude of her (in her mind, anyway). "Sorry," she said timidly. For the first time, she actually took a good look at him. "Yeah, it looks like it. But what happened to you? You're... well, like you said - you're a mess."

"No, 's okay." Hey, Violet? Haven't you hung around Keye enough to recognize this kind of reaction?

"Just a little trouble." Suddenly his frank, boyish face closed down and shuttered--and his expression looked a lot like his cousin's--and he shivered. "That's all."

Right. A little trouble. I wonder if Asher would be insulted.

Violet certainly has. But Keye is Keye, and Dave is Dave. And if Dave persists in the 'Nothing's wrong' act, he's not going to get any hugs at all. He's more mature, and he would know whether he was alright or not, so she wouldn't press him like she would Keye.

"A little trouble," she repeated disbelievingly. "Well, I'd hate to see what 'a lot of trouble' would look like, then."

He gave a nervous sounding chuckle and rubbed his wrist, looking away from her and shivering. It wasn't because he was cold, either.

"... so would I."

He's pretty sure that Asher will do worse to him if he angers the vampire again, and he doesn't want to find out what worse is.

"You still haven't told me what happened,..." she said, frowning in concern. He was being evasive, and it was troubling her. " I just want to know if you're going to be alright."

Violet gave a sigh, then slid her hand back to retrieve the paper cup. She picked it up and held it out to him. "Here,... brought you a coffee, if you want it."

"Thanks." He took it and sipped silently for a moment.

"... you know anything about vampires, Vi? Or people who change into animals?"

He's not sure he wants to tell her about what happened, especially not how he was such easy prey for the vampire and how he... how he... The thought makes him feel sick, and he puts the coffee down hurriedly.

She made a face. Vampires? Werecreatures?
"That depends,... it depends on if you're talking about real ones, or the ones in movies," Violet replied slowly. Then she raised an eyebrow, looking at him quizzically. "Why do you ask?"

Very softly. "Real ones."

He held out his bloody wrist and reached up to point to the marks from his first encounter with Asher and Justin.

He almost wishes that he were crazy and that he'd been hallucinating everything; Keye's demon, Rose, Wick... and especially Asher and Gabriel and Justin. Especially Justin.

A quiet. "Oh..." escaped her as she gazed at the bite marks.

"Well,... then you're out of luck,... I don't know much about real ones other than what Wick's told me," she said. "And he doesn't know too much about them anyway."
Violet hesitated a moment before adding, "...Is there somewhere you can get that cleaned up?" she nodded to the newer bite.

He shrugged. "Don't want to move." Because, one, it hurts, which he discovered when he replaced his pants, and two, he doesn't really have the energy to move, despite the caffeine he's just added to his system.

But he doesn't particularly want to explain the first one. Because that involves explaining a lot of other things too.

"Shouldn't really leave it uncovered like that," she murmured, deciding not to immediately offer any further help on the subject of the bites. Instead, she frowned at him - a concerned frown, not an angry one.

"Will you please tell me what happened, Dave? I mean, - vampires? ... Why...?"

He hunched down and stared at the black floor of the stage.

"... I... Vi, I just..." He swallowed and ran a hand back through his hair. "Don't want to." You'll think I'm a wimp. You'll be disgusted with me. You won't want to go out with me anymore.

Too bad Vi isn't telepathic.

It is really too bad she's not telepathic. If she was, she wouldn't have to ask so many questions.

"Why not?" she asked patiently, with a soft little smile on her face. "And it had better be a good reason."

He doesn't have a good reason, despite spending a few minutes in silence, trying very hard to think of one. He sighed heavily and hugged himself.

You know, there are certain mannerisms that are common to all victims of certain things. Everyone has their own version, but the common bits are there, like the tendency to try to protect oneself against imaginary or remembered threats.

He still didn't say anything.

This really reminded her of that time she'd found Keye wandering in the street with nothing but his coat on, as well as what happened after she found him.
No wonder.

She leaned forwards on her hands, after a long while of waiting for him to answer.
"May I hug you?" she asked, calmly and politely and very quietly.

There's a very good reason for that.

He looked up slightly at that.

"Yes. Please."

He'd been off guard before, you see. But comfort sounded very good. Just as long as she didn't suddenly sprout fangs and claws too.

Violet scooted over and put her arms around him, taking her time so she wouldn't startle him.
"There,..." she murmured, accompanying the word with a gentle squeeze. Violet had wanted to hug him almost as much as he'd wanted her to.

He huddled into her embrace and trembled.

And then he babbled. Whether he wanted to tell her or not, he was going to, because he didn't have a good reason not to, and in his half-lucid state, that meant he had to tell her. Probably, when he was through babbling out the story, she was sorry that she'd asked.

He certainly was.

If she hadn't wanted to know, she wouldn't have asked. That didn't mean she was happy to hear what had happened to him, but at least now, she knew. That made it so much easier to try and make him feel better.

"It's okay," Violet told him gently, once he'd finished spilling out the story. "They're gone now,... "
She hugged him extra-tight. "And you're safe, alright?"

He shook his head miserably.

"I'm not. Maybe for tonight. Maybe 'til next show. But he'll come back. And he'll come back. And what if..." He broke off and trembled in her arms, near tears all over again. "I can't do it. I can't work here anymore if he shows up again. I can't. I'd quit right now, except there's whole other weekend for this show, and I can't quit; there's nobody else."

"Hey- shhh. Shhh, ... take it easy," Violet soothed, rubbing his back in an attempt to calm him. She wasn't going to try and dissuade him from quitting, if staying was going to put him in harm's way. "...You can make it through the next weekend. I don't know how much help I'll be, but I can come and stay with you while you're here...?"

"No," he answered emphatically. "Don't want him to know you exist. Don't want you anywhere near Justin. I... I'll just deal with it. Have to, anyway. Can't hide and run the sound at the same time."

"I didn't mean for that to sound like I was asking permission," Violet said apologetically, after a moment's pause. She didn't mean to sound/be obstinate - it just came out that way. "I'm coming whether you want me to or not - to hell with Justin. I've dealt with worse."

'Worse' being 'Logan'. And note she didn't say 'to hell with Asher'. A vampire's lackey, fine. A vampire,... well, that was iffy.

"Vi, no. There's no fucking way I'll let you get anywhere near those two" Funny how Gabriel's almost a nonentity. Maybe that's because he was trying so hard to blend in with the wall. "And if I have to lock you out of the theatre, I will." He's not actually sure how he'll manage that. There are a lot of entrances, and he can't lock all of them on show nights.

"I'm afraid you'll have to lock me out, then," she said. It was impossible to tell whether she was teasing or not. She didn't even know, herself. "Come on - ...look at it this way. If it was me, you wouldn't let me go it alone, would you?"

"I wouldn't let you come back at all." Okay, maybe a bit of misplaced chivalry there.

Funny how his voice has gotten a little bit stronger. Maybe the argument is doing him some good; or maybe he's just feeling safer, now, because he's not alone anymore.

"Okay, then."
She smirked. "Now, d'you see my point? You wouldn't let me come back. So the least I can do, here, is hang out with you after the performances. Don't be so silly."

Do you know, I don't think Dave knows Asher's name? I know he knows Justin's, because Asher's used it both times, but I don't think anyone ever said Asher's name. How interesting.

"Vi... what if he doesn't think I've been punished enough? What if he decides the best way to punish me would be to go after you? I couldn't handle that." Not that he's handling being punished directly all that well, either.

"He doesn't have to know that you know me at all. If he even notices me-" Violet's very good at going unnoticed "-I'll just be some random person who came in to help out with - well, whatever you do after a show. It isn't like you told him about me. I'm no target."

"But he gets in my head. And he makes me do stuff, and makes me see stuff, and what if he can read minds too?" He doesn't know if anything he found about vampires will help, but he does recall that at least some of the stuff--bloody fiction; there should be an actual guide to dealing with the monsters--that he read said they were telepathic. Or something of the sort.

She shook her head.
"I don't know - if he could, wouldn't he have done it already?" Violet said musingly. "Anyway, I'd be willing to risk it."

As far as she's been able to tell, the vampire operates in action/reaction (or action/overreaction) mode, so if they just watch their steps, they ought to be fine...

Action/overreaction sounds about right...

"I don't want you in danger, Vi. I'm not willing to risk it."

Which is actually pretty sweet, when you think about it, and don't consider how much of a mess he was when she found him.

Violet made a face. It was really nice of him to want to keep her out of this, but she wouldn't let him get away with it. She didn't want to come in some night and find him here on the floor again, perhaps worse off than before.

"No," she said, sounding like a toddler who'd just learned that word and how to use it. "It's not your choice."

The thing is that he really doesn't want to go it alone, but he's trying to put her safety before his own. That's really very sweet of him, though probably not very beneficial to him in the long run.

"Vi..."

He's finding it harder to argue the point.