All In

[pinkroses]

Ichabod stayed silent as Win listed off a load of qualities, some of which hit home, some of which didn't sound quite right - but maybe they were easier for other people to see than for someone to see in themselves.

"Oh," he said quietly. It didn't feel like anyone really paid him much attention, he was always just... the sidekick, back-up in someone else's movie. So having someone pick up on so much in such a short amount of time, it was kind of overwhelming.

"Sorry, I guess I was a bit presumptuous there," Ichabod said, resisting the urge to pull away and shut down (tempting as it was). He had no idea what else to say though. How were you supposed to react when someone listed off a load of your traits like that? At least he'd stayed away from the worse ones.

[Trillian]

Win grinned at him but wasn't blind to the discomfort he'd caused. He felt bad but also didn't want Cub to push him away with a flippant 'you don't know me'. Win wanted to know more, see more, do more. He knew that he could be overly intense at times, though. He'd learnt not to push too fast too soon (mostly).

"Or I was," Win said, his eyes sparkling with amusement. He'd unloaded a bit on the young vampire. "After two hundred years and experiencing so many cultures, I figured out people aren't so different. Anyone can paint anyone in broad strokes, like I just did to you right now, but I can't see the details." Win leant back, his hands removed from Cub as he rested on his elbows and turned his face up to the night sky. "I like to see the details," he said, then bit on his lower lip before releasing it and looking over at Cub again to see how he was reacting.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod bit gently on his lower lip, now unsure of whether Win really had picked out things about him or whether his general comments could have related to anyone. Had he just been fooled into that?

He wasn't sure either whether he wanted Win to know all the details. He was someone he'd just run into, they'd shared a pretty intimate moment, but Ichabod hadn't thought it would go beyond that. Now Win wanted to know details?

Would he feel this uncomfortable about that kind of sentiment if it had been Sam saying it, in a 'date' setting, instead of this? Probably not.

"Would you... are you planning on staying here long?" Ichabod asked hesitantly. Maybe that would make a difference, if he could see this friendship lasting longer than one night. Maybe then he'd be happier about spilling more.

[Trillian]

"Yeah, I am," Win said, nodding in agreement with his own words. "I like to pick a place to settle down for a decade or two. It helps me get the feel of the place. I don't really have a home anymore, I've been away too long. My home town is an unrecognisable city I'm sure," he admitted. He hadn't gone back to find out. It would make him sad.

Win took in Cub's face; how he was listening intently.

"There was also a freaky moment not long ago when I thought my sire was going to reconnect with me," he said softly. "Like... he was coming straight for me. I got nervous and excited and holed up in this motel for the day to wait for him, but when I woke up he'd already gone past, like he was moving through the day or something. I don't know how he did it, maybe he'd stowed away in the back of a truck. It was disappointing. It really showed me how lonely I was, that the thought of having him back in my life had me paralysed with hope. So yeah, I want to make a home for myself, make friends, hang around for a while." He realised how long he'd been talking and lifted a hand, splashing as he did so, to rub the back of his neck. "Overshare."

[pinkroses]

Ichabod pursed his lips slightly as Win spoke of his home town. A couple of hundred years since being home - it could definitely be a completely different place. So much would have changed. This city had always been Ichabod's home, he couldn't really imagine being anywhere else and watching and listening to Win speak of not having one made him a bit sad to think of losing all that. It made him sad on Win's behalf.

When Win changed the subject to his sire (although home to sire wasn't that big of a leap) Ichabodlifted a hand to lightly stroke Win's cheek. He could remember losing Kerr, then the excitement of feeling that blood bond come back to life. He could hardly imagine if that had come and then been whisked away again. It would majorly suck.

"Don't worry about it," Ichabod said, responding to the 'overshare' comment. He was always interested to hear other people's stories, and Win's sounded interesting. "When did you last see him?" he asked quietly. He was curious about the vampire moving through the day, but Win's guess was probably right. The idea of missing his sire so much and not following him though... Ichabod knew he would be able to find Kerr if he needed to; knowing he was in the city was enough, or at least it was as much as Ichabod had got used to having.

[Trillian]

Win was charmed by the hand on his face. It made him feel, well, loved, even though he knew Cub didn't love him. It was the kind of touch one expects to receive from a lover, but he and Cub hadn't even gone that far. His opinion of the other elevated even more; he was compassionate and emotive. Two things Win valued. He wanted to be more than just a fling at the lake; he was deeply intrigued.

"Not since he left me," Win said. It was a long time to carry a torch, but Lazarus had become a romantic notion. Win wasn't fooling himself too much with his memories, he recalled the cruel things his sire would do for a laugh, but he'd been happy with him and their blood bond only compounded the loss when it came. "I've thought about going to him a few times but I chicken out before even getting started. I can feel whenever he makes another fledge and he's made one recently. I don't really want to impose between him and his new lover." Win screwed up his nose and smiled.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod raised an eyebrow at Win's non-answer. Since he left him? Hell, there was two-hundred years history there, it could have happened at any time. But if Win didn't want to give a specific answer then Ichabod wasn't going to push. Win had mentioned before he'd done most of his travelling alone, so it was probably quite some time.

"That must suck," Ichabod said sympathetically. He and Ben were connected, but Ben had been there during his siring, he'd known it was going to happen. To have that shoved upon you with no suspicion it would happen would be horrible (although Ichabod didn't know exactly how it would feel, Ben had always been a part of it, he wasn't a new feeling).

"Can you feel where they are too? Was the new one with him when he went past?" Ichabod asked, hoping he wasn't prying too much. There were dozens of other questions which came up... how many fledglings were there? Did it feel the same each time? Could he sense anything about them? The way Win spoke about it, it sounded like his sire making fledglings was a pretty regular thing. It must be like having kids, some people wanted to constantly have more, others wanted none. But if Win was scared of going to his sire, Ichabod didn't want to press with too many questions.

Not all at once anyway.

"They might not be lovers. I'm not with mine," Ichabod added, trying to reassure Win.

[Trillian]

Win nodded about how it sucked, but he was used to Lazarus making fledges on a fairly regular basis. Win had felt at least a half dozen being made after him in the hundred and ninety years they weren't together. The one that was made five years after Lazarus had left him had been the one that really hurt. The rest didn't mean anything, really. It just meant he wasn't satisfied with whoever he'd made.

Win shook his head next in answer to the next two questions, but there were more specifics. "I can't really feel them unless they're fairly close. I know when another is being made because there's a... new connection I haven't felt before but then it fades, probably as they make themselves their own vampire rather than filled with his blood. If they're with him, I can't feel them as much as him. He'll be almost two thousand years a vampire now, so he's quite overwhelming," Win said, a hint of pride in his voice and a smile on his face, but then his smile lost some of its power. "He told me once he only sires his best lovers. I think it was supposed to make me feel good." Win rolled his eyes before grinning at Cub.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod tensed up slightly as Win mentioned how old his sire was now, his mind racing so he barely heard Win's comments about being told only the best lovers were picked. There weren't many vampires that old in the city and Ichabod was pretty sure any which were anywhere near that old would be known about. The ones he knew of didn't exactly keep very low profiles. And there was one who had recently sired someone and then disappeared pretty quickly.

"Who is your sire?" Ichabod asked quietly, trying to sit up a bit, but finding it difficult with Win still on top of him and not wanting to urge him off too brashly. There was a wariness in his eyes which hadn't been there before.

[Trillian]

The tension in Cub's muscles as he tried to sit up wasn't lost on Win. He was ever aware of body language, knowing that the non-verbals always revealed much more than what was being said. He shifted off Cub but did so with a caressing touch upon his chest, showing that his shift in position was not a withdrawal. It freed Cub up to move as well and Win's stare travelled Cub's face, seeing the minor changes in his expression and figuring by the question and the tone in which it was asked that Cub had come across Lazarus at some point... and it didn't seem like it had been very good. Of course, there could be other two-thousand-year-old vampires in the city because Lazarus hadn't cornered the market on that.

Win licked his lips, not wanting to give away his sire's name in case it ruined things between him and Cub just by association, but it wasn't in him to be dishonest or secretive.

"He calls himself Lazarus," Win said, watching Cub intently for whether the reaction was positive, negative or neutral.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod felt a wave of nausea come over him and he shut his eyes for a second.
The fledgling isn't the same as the sire, they're different people.

"I know his new fledgling," Ichabod said, lifting a hand to run through his hair, trying to forget that Win was linked to Lazarus, whilst still wanting to discuss it. Fuck, that was confusing.

I was almost his fledgling, if things had gone differently. That was a terrifying thought. Win's touch was comforting though and reminded Ichabod of his previous thought, that Win was not Lazarus. Everything about their first meeting had been different.

Apart from getting pretty sexual within the first ten minutes. That was the same.

"He wasn't his lover. They'd not met before I think. Lazarus turned him to get back at... at other people."

[Trillian]

Cub's face shifted into repulsion. Win's hopes fell but he didn't want to retreat quite yet. Removing his touch from Cub now would send a signal that who'd sired him mattered to their current situation - and it didn't - but when Cub closed his eyes it didn't feel right to keep pawing at him.

Win dropped his hand into the water between them, listening as Cub dropped news Win hadn't expected. He knew Lazarus' new fledgeling? He was intrigued by that. Perhaps the negative emotion came from that guy instead of Lazarus? Win dared to feel a tendril of hope again. Cub's words shattered it.

Lazarus turned him to get back at... at other people

A vindictive siring? How did that work? Had Lazarus sired someone else's lover? But why?

Win sighed and rolled onto his back, looking down his body at the lake beyond and into the darkness. Whatever had happened between Cub and Lazarus and the other fledge hadn't been good and was quite recent. It was obvious Cub didn't like Lazarus and Win had been saying how much he wanted to be back with him. Certainly a mood killer.

"Am I in danger?" he asked quietly. "Will people hate me because I belong to him?"

Will you? he wanted to ask.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod watched Win roll onto his back, mulling over his questions. He hadn't been able to sense Win was Lazarus' sire, like Win had said, there had been enough different blood running through those veins that it couldn't be felt.

"Some people might make assumptions," Ichabod said slowly, trying to swallow down his own. Win hadn't seen Lazarus for however long, Lazarus clearly had no interest in being near him given that he'd left him and recently just driven straight past. So Lazarus wouldn't come looking for him.

"You don't have to tell anyone. We could just... not mention it." How many people would ask who an absent sire was? There were enough vampires out there that it would be unlikely they knew them (in most cases). But if he told people... Ichabod couldn't imagine Ben leaping to conclusions about someone's character because of their sire, or putting someone in danger for it. But Jake? The maniac with the sword. Ichabod could well imagine Jake not bothering to ask questions before wanting to take revenge.

[Trillian]

Don't tell anyone? Don't mention it? Win's lips parted in his shock and he blinked a few times before regaining his composure. He looked over at Cub, who he'd wanted to get to know better, to make a proper friend out of, maybe even something more. He'd wanted to explore that from the tiny bud that had been growing tonight. Had Lazarus already stomped on that seedling between them or could they still nurture it?

"I'm not a secretive kind of guy, Cub. I'm rubbish at being deceptive. It's very likely I'll slip and say his name if someone asks, or if someone confronts me." Now for the hardest part. "Should I not stay in this city? Do you think it's best that I move along? Do you want that?"

He couldn't help himself from tagging that last bit on the end. He didn't suspect Cub of lying to him but he also wondered if it was convenient for him. Or maybe it was inconvenient.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod gave a sigh and a shrug. He had been starting to look forward to having Win stay around; even if things didn't go much further than they had done tonight (like he'd originally expected), maybe they could have become friends. And Win seemed like he would have had a lot of stories, a lot of inspiration for things to go and do.

"No, I don't want you to move on. But it's not up to me. There's people here who Lazarus has done stuff to who might not be willing to listen, or to see you as different to him. People who will act before thinking about consequences or people."

He reached out to lightly touch the closest part of Win, which now happened to be a leg since Win had changed position.

"His fledgling, Murphy, he's... he's close to the person I would be most concerned about. Maybe you should meet him first." Murphy had fucked up some stuff, he was the reason they had lost Kerr for so long, for no fucking point, but Ichabod had to admit he was pretty level headed, he spoke sense. If anyone could stop Jake from trying to lop Win's head off with a sword, it would be Murphy.