High Stakes

[Saccharin]

"It's not your fault," he said miserably. It was Orias' fault. And his, for being so blind - willingly blind.

"I shouldn't even be surprised. Shit was going on from the start that shoulda... I don't know, rang some warning bells or something." But he hadn't wanted to hear any, because he hadn't wanted to be alone.

He'd gone from living in his parents farmhouse to living in a trailer on their acreage. Bright fucking idea he'd had, coming to a major city like he had with no real idea what it would require of him. He'd latched onto Orias when he'd encountered him, accepting his hospitality and not questioning what he had to give in return until it grew unbearable.

Only out of necessity had he finally broken away.

He leaned over to rest his elbows on the table and then buried his face in his hands. "I'm fucking pathetic," he mumbled into his palms.

[Existentially Odd]

This turn of events was even more alarming than Sam had been expecting - he quickly decided he'd have preferred anger.

"What?  No!" he cried, reaching around his beer bottle and grabbing Gene's hands, pulling them from his face and squeezing them in his own.  "You're not pathetic," he insisted, looking intently into the mortal's lovely face.  "You should stay mad!  You were kept in the dark and so much was hidden from you that you didn't have any idea how duped you were.  It doesn't make you pathetic, just uninformed.  And I feel bad that I made you feel this way," he finished worriedly, frowning as he let go of Gene's hand and reached up to cup his face briefly.  After a moment, he let go and sat back.

"Look, this all feels really heavy, suddenly," he said, drawing a short circle in the air between them with his downward-angled first two fingers.  "You want to go for a walk or something?  Clear our heads?"  He wasn't sure what it would achieve, but he felt like moving at that moment, hoping it might make processing things easier.  Despite no-one really paying attention to them, he felt like he was dropping some really heavy stuff on Gene and fresh air would both allow them to talk more freely and hopefully make the topic of conversation feel a little lighter.  If that was at all possible.

[Saccharin]

It wasn't like him to stay mad long, and the brief flash of anger that Sam had witnessed was the first time he'd let his frustration get the best of him in a long while. Resignation was more his style.

He looked down at his hands when Sam grasped them, and then up into the vampire's dark blue eyes when his face was touched. The shiver that followed caught him off guard and had little to do with Sam's cool fingers.

"Yeah, okay. Just need to settle my tab," he said, thinking a walk would do him good in more ways than one. He finished off his beer and headed to the bar to pay for his drinks. The bartender seemed a little surprised that he was ending the night so early, but he thankfully didn't say much about it. Gene, aware that vampires had a superior sense of hearing, really didn't want Sam to pick up on the fact that he'd been spending most his free time drinking. For safe measure, he tried not to think about it either.

"You want to walk around the neighborhood or somewhere a little more ah... pretty?" he asked after he joined Sam outside.

[Existentially Odd]

Sam gave a soft laugh and shrugged, his fists pushed into his jeans pocket and his feet walking alongside Gene, automatically meandering along the footpath.  "I don't care.  The neighbourhood's fine when I've got pretty beside me," he said offhandedly then cringed internally, thinking that sounded like a really corny line.  The worst part was that it had come naturally to him.  He chose to continue speaking in a vain attempt to override that particularly mushy moment - he blamed Vomas for it, frankly.

"So where are you at right now, headspace-wise?  Got any more questions, should I do a better job at explaining things now that I realise you've pretty much got no basis of understanding?  I really am sorry about all this," he added sincerely, his mouth twisted with regret.  "Your boyfriend was an ass for not telling you anything."  He pressed his lips together, thinking he'd likely overstepped the line with that one, but as with the 'pretty' remark, it came naturally and he couldn't hold it in.

[Saccharin]

Normally, Gene would've found a way to hide his face until his blush faded, but after a few drinks, embarrassment didn't come easily to him. He flashed a smile at Sam before turning his head again to watch where he walked. If he'd had another shot or two in him, he might've even managed to say something flirty in return. Alas, his tolerance to alcohol ran high these days, and what he had in his system was only enough to make accepting compliments possible.

"No questions, really," he said, feeling for his coat's zipper. "I mean, other than wanting to know if you can maybe make it so that record of yours doesn't say I'm his pet?" After closing up his jacket, he stuffed his hands in his pockets, guarding his fingers from the wind's chill.

When the topic of Orias came up again (how he yearned for a day when that didn't happen), he shrugged. "Wasn't like I asked him about anything," he said quietly, feeling like he was just as - if not more so - responsible as Orias was for his lack of knowledge.

[Existentially Odd]

Sam wasn't accepting that and he shook his head to refute it.  "Yeah, that might count for something if you knew enough to even know you needed to ask questions, but you didn't.  It's all his responsibility.  You were new to the city and new to vampires, right?  Well, he should've informed you insead of trying to protect you with ignorance," Sam stated unequivocally, looking mostly at Gene and glancing every now and then at the way they were walking.  Generally in the direction of the Chambers...

"Do you want me to take you to sort all this out?  Right now?  We can find out if anything's known about the spell and also detach your name from Orias' as his pet," he offered, his expression open and encouraging.  Of course, there were still quite a few blocks between them and the Chambers and during that time, he intended to tell Gene about him and Vomas... before he took the mortal to him.  There was the possibility he could take him to Jake but it was actually Vomas' night to work, so it made sense to warn the mortal he was seeing somebody before they got to the Chambers and found Vomas was their only option.  Honesty would be better, anyway.  Almost certainly.

Though... he didn't have to say it was Vomas he was seeing, exactly.  Just... a vampire.  That would work.

[Saccharin]

Although he desperately wanted to, he couldn't argue against Sam's logic. He had been taken advantage of, kept in the dark and turned into a victim. Unknowingly. The fingers of his right hand twitched in his pocket until they encountered the Swiss Army knife he kept there. He ran his thumb over its familiar round ends as they continued walking, thinking about how at least now he had access to information that would make it a little harder for someone to do that to him again.

His fingers stilled when Sam posed his question, and he considered it before answering one way or the other. He didn't really want to visit the Oligarchy at all, but the longer he delayed going in there and putting things right, the longer he'd be walking around as Orias' pet with some spell in his head. He wanted to be Gene again. Just Gene.

"Okay," he said, sighing resignedly. "Let's get it over with."

(Continued in Personal Stakes)