Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Rewind 30 years. The year is April 20th, 1993. The first proven monster discovery happened in Norway, where a group of friends were going moose hunting at dark – only to encounter an 8-foot-tall werewolf who had viciously attacked their vehicle during their trip. The werewolf had been quite sickly and elderly, so the hunters took the raging monster down easily without any use of the typical beast-murdering tools humankind would soon later learn that they needed. After recollecting their bearings, the group proceeded to take the cadaver to a wildlife center located in the outer regions of Oslo which is where it was officially declared that the being was a werewolf. A real, living (or, used to be), werewolf .

After that, more and more sightings cropped up as mass panic and fear swept in. Sasquatch in Ohio, Chupacabra in Puerto Rico, Sirens in Greece, Loch Ness monster in Scotland, The Yeti in the Himalayas, until eventually monsters of various kinds were sighted everywhere all over the world. These creatures once deep in hiding for possibly hundreds of centuries were all revealed in short timespans from one another, these terrifying beings having been right underneath our noses this entire time and we hadn't known.

The world plunged into peril, being overwhelmed by the flood of discoveries for the unhuman. People became paranoid and aggressive, some countries passing harsh later-to-be-abolished anti-monster protection laws which ended up ultimately harming human beings more than monsters, while others initiated a nationwide shutdown and sent military forces to directly combat and exterminate the cryptid and supernatural infestations in their regions. But with inadequate tools to defeat these creatures, the war and battles never turned out the right way.

During the height of the monster crisis; a man called James Elliot was living in a small Alaskan town called Copper-9, having freshly moved there from Broken Hill Australia with his wife, Lousia Elliot, just a year before the Oslo Werewolf Discovery. 

James Elliot, upon seeing all the death and destruction these creatures were causing in the news headlines and even in his close vicinity, had put it upon himself to research cryptids and the supernatural to try and create weapons to effectively annihilate them. 

To do this, James Elliot would venture out into the deep woods – armed with objects said to fend off supernatural and cryptids in old stories – to capture a small monster before bringing them back to his residence. Once doing so, he locked them in a small cell he had in his basement to conduct tests on the beast. Finding out what agitated them, what hurt them, what killed them. 

Firstly, he would test objects already said to kill them in ancient stories; if it worked, great. If it didn't, he'd conduct his own tests to find out what did. Eventually though, he would circle back to reinvestigate monsters already with a confirmed way of killing them just to find out more ways to do so. 

As he experimented and experimented, with a healthy flow of positive results coming back, James Elliot soon bumped up his options. Having initially started with only small monsters; he eventually went bigger, and bigger, and bigger . About a year into the monster crisis, the man had found out enough information to begin manufacturing proper weapons against the unhuman, opening up a small business called JCJenson that sold monster-killing guns and ammunition. Taking in-country and out-of-country orders (just with more situational restrictions placed for non-us citizens as the laws differed).

The business started slowly initially, but soon picked up more and more steam as word got out about how utterly effective these guns were against most monsters, with many households reaching out and purchasing these guns to protect themselves. Eventually, it got the attention of the US government itself, who decided to invest in James Elliot's business with the want for his one-of-a-kind store to help supply their troubled anti-monster military with actual effective weapons; tossing a few million dollars in funding his way so he could improve his shop and make it a bigger, better business. Creating a larger store and warehouse – as before James had pretty much sold everything from out of his garage – with many employees working 'round the clock in separate shifts, mass-producing these monsterslaying guns. In addition, James Elliot used the spare money leftover to create a testing facility too, a building that purpose is to experiment further upon monsters' weaknesses in order to continually improve the craft of JCJenson guns. 

Soon, JCJenson grew bigger. Opening more and more stores (and paired with them, testing facilities to keep up the priorly mentioned constant improvement and development of their weaponry, going by the collective name of ‘The Cabin Fever Labs’) around the world, it was not too long before ‘JCJenson, the monster-killing weaponry company’ became a household name all across the globe. And along with the rise of JCJenson, came a new proper occupation;

Monsterslayers, also alternatively referred to as monster hunters. A force situated in most towns tasked to kill any monsters within the radius, whether they’re just encroaching onto human-populated land or already hiding amongst them as imposters. In the initial days, they were armed with ineffective normal hunting rifles and muzzleloaders with keypoint and silver bullets as ammunition – not a terrible choice of weaponry, but for most monsters that aren’t weak to silver (which is actually most, surprisingly or not) and monsters that can survive a keypoint bullet (which is, again, most), this did little to nothing to ward off the infestation. But with JCJenson’s impeccable crafts, Monsterslayers worldwide had gotten a well-needed upgrade and have become a force to be reckoned – that is, if you’re a cryptid or supernatural. 

The history teacher stopped the projector, clasping her hands together as she gazed upon the classroom; “And that’s the general gist of how JCJenson became so important in the world today, becoming a weaponry supplier to practically the entire world,” She explained, “Also, this wasn’t included in the video but I’d figured I’d mention; with the whole thing with Copper-9 being where JCJenson pretty much started, it had given lots of recognition to Copper-9. The small town of barely over nine-hundred inhabitants boomed in traction and popularity, giving the place the funding and popularity to transform into a sizeable town with a notable population. To think that just only 30 years ago, this town — which currently has a steady population of say, 110,000 people? – was so tiny. 110k is still a bit small for a town when you compare it to the numbers of other places, but for a place like Alaska know that is massive .”

Most of the classroom began hushedly speaking amongst each other, but a hazel-eyed beanie-wearing girl with dyed purple side-swept short hair, a dark gray skull-battery jacket, and loose knee-high striped purple socks with black boots sat there in jittery silence. Uzi. She completely tuned the other students out in her own excitement – not that she’d care to eavesdrop anyways. The girl knew what was coming next, it had been announced weeks before this day.

“But that’s not all. We also have a guest who generously decided to stop by the school to add to this history lesson, here comes –” Without allowing the teacher to finish, a woman with shoulder-length braided hair, block heels, and a short casual dress topped with an oversized bow snugly tied into her hair vehemently entered the classroom, a confident grin on her face. “‘Ello, students. Let’s be real, y’all surely know who I am but juuust in case you don’t – I am Tessa James Elliot, but ya’ can just call me Tessa and I am the daughter of James Elliot and Lousia Elliot – the ones you guys just have a nifty presentation or somethin’ ‘bout.” She introduced, doing a small bow just for dramatics. 

Uzi’s eyes lit up upon seeing Tessa, breaking a wide grin. This was probably the best day of her existence, and let her give you some well-needed exposition so you know why. 

Uzi’s never been able to experience what having a mother was like; it was when she was very young – just a day or so after she had been born – a monster had crawled out of the cursed hellhole depths of the forest to break into her family’s home in order to murder her mother in cold blood. The traumatic event broke her tiny household permanently, with her dad – unable to move on from the grief even after all these years – began submerging himself in work and unintentionally (at least, she likes to think so) neglecting her, losing a mother and practically a father too. Ever since she gained the knowledge of what happened to her mom from her father’s retelling, she had held a certain strong hatred for cryptids and supernaturals, the hate in her heart manifesting a strong wish to become a monsterslayer and the best one she could at that. And Tessa James Elliot was a huge inspiration for her – an Idol. Tessa James Elliot was probably one of the world’s best monster hunters, having been in the headlines multiple times for single-handedly saving countless households from rogue monsters terrorizing Alaskan neighborhoods or expertly coordinating her extermination team to swiftly defeat invading unhumans in the quickest and most efficient ways possible – the articles and news stations always detailing her regularly impressive shots. Her shooting accuracy was nothing comparable to any other monster hunter, having gained the title; “Tessa James Elliot, the monsterslayer that never misses” from her uniqueness. 

Uzi admired and wanted to be just like her, having been a fan of hers for the longest time, so to have the living legend standing right in front of her felt like a dream. 

"Now, unfortunately, I can't stay too long. Gotta’ pretty packed schedule today – as per usual of a monster hunter, so this has to be kept a short meeting. But I hope y’all liked the presentation Mrs. Myers put on for you, hopefully it was informative and correct – as I have no clue what you’ve just witnessed,” She chuckled, grinning, “But! If that presentation intrigued you, in three weeks the school will be offerin’ a field trip to the JCJenson company buildin’ in the area – which have you know is the original JCJenson building – where I will be your tour guide and show ya’ ‘round the premises along with teaching you tidbits ‘bout JCJenson history plus cool monster-hunting facts. And if you guys are good, maaaybe y’all get a lil’ somethin’ to take home with ya’. No promises, though. So if any of you wanna go, beg your parents to sign the form that’ll be offered to you after school.” 

Tessa turned to the teacher, leaning in close, “It’s – It’s given after school, right?” She quickly asked, the teacher nodding in confirmation. “Yeah, offered to you after school!” Tessa assured the class. 

Uzi was unsure if she’s ever felt this happy before. She was practically bouncing off the walls – this was her dream! Walking into the JCJenson building and touring the premises, guided by her biggest inspiration, the myth and legend herself telling her cool monster facts. Uzi was going on that trip, even if her dad said no she could easily just fake his handwriting! No one was taking this from her. The only bad thing is that three weeks was so far away! She was so excited, she wished the date was closer. 

“But we’re not done here yet, I’m not gonna just give an announcement then dip on y’all. I’ma offer a quick Q&A session before I go, so spit out any questions you may have and I’ll answer it to the best of my ability. And kids, before you start – I know I’m great and all but please have the questions stick on topic to the JCJenson company, I will not be answering any personal questions related to solely me.” She told, “Save it for the field trip,” She added in a wink. 

Uzi jumped to ask a question, raising her hand,  “Uhm, I have a–” though someone speedily spoke over her; “How was James Elliot able to get the tools to construct his weapons when he first started? I’d think it’d be expensive.” 

“That’s a good question, however let’s keep it civil and not talk over people.” Tessa said before looking directly over at Uzi, “Aye, beanie kid, what were you going to say?”

There was a certain joy in her heart being directly spoken to by Tessa, “I– I,” She stammered, sweating, “I wanted to know if Louisa Elliot ever contributed to the monster experiments in the basement?”

“Nah, my mom stayed out of it mostly. She would help around with the guns and store management when my parents began selling out of their own home, though.” Tessa answered.

“Ah. Okay, thank you, was just wondering.” Uzi said with a neutral tone, trying to keep it cool as her heart was drumming in her chest from her nervous excitement. Tessa JUST spoke to her!!! THIS WAS AMAZING.

Tessa nodded, “Anyways, cutting-off kid, about how my dad got the stuff to make guns…”

—————————————

The rest of the Q&A session continued on, going for around 10 more minutes before the famed monsterslayer had to leave. Letting them continue on to their other classes. 

Uzi was a bubbling heap of joy after that, moving throughout the rest of her day with atypical happiness – Uzi usually wore a frown for most of her school days, namely because of her severe lack of friends and not-so-lack of bullies who personally felt like it was their life goal to make the girl be ecstatic to have her own funeral. If it weren’t for the fact that to become a monster hunter you need a strong academic background, she would probably give up on keeping up her perfect grades and tried to drop out a long time ago.

But today, no. Typical ‘Down-In-The-Dumps-I-Hate-My-Life’ Uzi was on break. With her Idol having visited the school – looked and speaked at her directly – and being able to go on a field trip to possibly one of the best infrastructures there exists. Nothing could get her down!

“Hey, Hoebag!”

Nothing can get her down!

“I know you can hear me, freak!”

Nothing can get her down!

“HEY!”

Nothing can get her dow— 

Uzi felt hands grip her shoulders tightly as she was walking down the school hallway, being spun around. Her eyes locked with the certain student who had done it – Long purple thigh-length hair, a black tanktop with a two-piece red dress over it, brown lace-up boots, completed with over-the-top orange eye contacts that she for some reason believes make people think she’s just so cool . 

This was none other than Doll. And Lizzy, her bestest friend, trailed right behind her with her cat earband nestled atop her short blond hair, as for her clothing she was twinning with Doll.

Doll let go of Uzi in a shove, the girl stumbling backward to catch herself. “What’s got you so happy?” Doll asked, a malicious grin on her face. Lizzy shared the same expression as she caught up, standing with a hand on her hip beside the other girl. 

“It’s none of your business,” She spat hostily, “Leave me alone.” Uzi really didn’t want these two to interrupt her recess period, she was hoping to go grab a snack from her locker as she daydreamed about going on her fieldtrip before the next class.

“Ouch, so mean,” Doll frowned, fake sad, before earning back her grin. She glanced at Lizzy, making a wordless gesture towards Uzi. Lizzy nodded and without delay, the girl charged at Uzi and grabbed her arms – pushing her weight onto the girl and shoving her against the locker. 

Rather than showing fear or worry, Uzi just looked mildly annoyed. Why should she? This was pretty much everyday Doll and Lizzy shenanigans, she just hoped they’d let her off easy today. Last week they dunked her face into a toilet and she really didn’t feel like possibly getting toilet water in her mouth again. “Guys, really, I’m not for this today.” 

“What shall we do with our favorite patron this fine day?” Lizzy asked, and Doll let out a hum. “Hold on,” She replied, slipping out her phone and opening up some app. Uzi knew what this was as they’d use it every single time they’d target her; It was some dumb spinner wheel app. Some upbeat music played when it landed on an option. “Shove her in a locker,” Doll told.

Wh– Shove her in a locker? Whose locker because it’s not like any of them in the hall are just lying open?? What are these ‘geniuses’ going to do, put her in one of their own lockers?

“Ooo, Fun.” Lizzy grinned, dragging Uzi down the school corridor. Uzi attempted to fight and break free, but Doll teamed up on her – assisting Lizzy in keeping her tame as they forced her over to whatever locker they were planning on shoving her in. Students would pass by them in their struggles without any care, maybe ‘cept for a little stare before deciding not to intervene, just like how they always did. The sense of justice in this school was skewed, extremely so. Kids were almost as rabid as monsters, teachers were useless, but it’s something Uzi’s grown accustomed to. 

They stopped right outside of Uzi’s own locker. She was confused, what was their game plan? Because she sure as hell wasn’t going to open her locker for them so she could proceed to get trapped in it for god knows how long.

Her question was soon to be answered when she noticed Doll slip out a mishapened bobby pin out of her pocket and proceed to wiggle it in the keyhole, with the passing of a minute or half there was a telling click that Doll had been successful in their attempt. The girl let out a malice-filled chuckle as she opened the locker door wide for Lizzy. Rightttt , Doll has always had an uncannily good ability to break into things.

 “Toss them,” Doll said, “Quick.”

Lizzy nodded, about to throw her in, “Right on, ca–” but then a voice spoke over them.

“What are you guys doing?” A masculine voice rang out, not sounding angered or concerned but moreover just genuinely confused. Uzi couldn’t see them from her restrained position, but she could hear the footsteps of them approaching. Maybe. She wasn’t sure actually, there were like – multiple people walking down this hall, this was a school hall after all.

“This doesn’t involve you.” Doll said defensively, going over to help Lizzy hold onto Uzi as the girl started trying to escape again.

“Hmm… The girl you’re gripping onto looks really agitated...” The guy commented. Lizzy’s expression contorted into one of annoyance, “Oh, buzz off, loser. Me, Doll, and short and purple here are just having some innocent fun.”

Uzi was unsure what this guy’s deal was, not assuming innocences, but if he was actually concerned for her might as will make her peril clear; “This isn’t fun, these jerks are about to shove me into a locker!” She exclaimed. 

“Hey, uh,” The guy began, “You know, shoving people into lockers isn’t very nice. Stop that.” he spoke politely. Uzi could hear the nervous smile in his tone. 

Doll and Lizzy glanced at each other, than at the stranger, the two girls beginning to lightly laugh. “Stop that,” Lizzy mimicked the guy’s voice in a mock, snickering. Doll snorted, “Look, dude, I have no clue who you think you are but I think it’s time you better get your nose out of our business and carry along.” aggression oozed in her tone. 

“Hey, I don’t want to use any force or anything, so I’m begging that you don’t force my hand. Please just leave that girl alone.” The stranger told calmly. 

Doll and Lizzy weren’t taking this kid seriously whatsoever, “Gosh. Look, I —” 

Suddenly, the bell rang.

“AH–” The stranger let out a startled yelp at the bell. Odd, Uzi thought, though it went ignored by the two bullies; 

“Aw shit, class’ starting. We gotta go.” Lizzy groaned, “Just before we have any fun too! Thanks a lot, yellow-eyes.” she huffed, Uzi assumed she was referring to the stranger. Why ‘yellow eyes’ she didn’t know yet. 

“Come on, who cares if we’re a little late to class.” Doll said. 

“My dad does. He says he’ll stop dropping people’s grades for me, like, forever if I’m late to class again.” Lizzy frowned, letting go of Uzi and beginning to turn and walk off disappointedly, “You can bully the freak without me, though.”

Doll, with an exasperated sigh, let go of Uzi as well. “But it’s not any fun without you!— ugh, fuck you Lizzy’s dad.” She cursed before walking off with Lizzy. 

Uzi rubbed where the girls had gripped her, feeling the minor temporary finger imprints they left behind. Doll and Lizzy had really held her tightly to make sure to basically lock her in place. She turned to look at the stranger now that she finally could. It was a boy, he looked young – maybe around her age –, with near-white short blond shaggy hair that was just long enough to cover his ears, yellow eyes (another colored eye-contacts indulger, she sees), wearing a sleek black chauffeur cap, and a long black coat with fuzzy grayish brown fluff lining the neck-hole paired with loose black pants and matching winter boots. The boy also looked incredibly pale, looking almost sickly pale if she were to be honest. Oh, also! This guy was so tall, possibly looking to be around 6 feet if she had to guess. One who wasn’t Uzi would say he was a kaiju in comparison to her apparently ‘measly’ (it’s NOT that short) 4,11 feet self. 

She has to mention, this guy’s clothing was incredibly odd wear for a school setting. Their school was incredibly lenient on what kids wore, but she’s sure that coat and chauffeur cap was at least breaking one dress code. She wouldn’t care enough to say anything though.  “...Thanks for that,” Uzi slowly said, “You didn’t do very much but you tried, and that’s more than what most people here do… Well, no, I take it back. I’m assuming you holding them out until the bell was the plan?”

“The bell…” The guy repeated under his breath, as if he hadn’t heard the word before. He nodded, “Yeah, it was.” The student smiled, “I was uh — hoping the bell would ring soon, I really didn’t want to fight anyone. I’m not really a fighter.”

“Even if you did initiate a physical fight, you and your – what? Six foot structure? Will probably lead you to victory.” Uzi remarked.

The student laughed, “You’re funny!” He told, “Hey, what’s your name?”

“Uzi.” She told, “You?”

"My name is Hue Mann." The pale high-schooler gestured to one of those 'hello my name is' nametags he had clipped on his coat that Uzi had somehow missed before, 'Hue Mann' also being written up in crayon on the tag. 

Uzi’s face twisted into confusion, “H-Hue Mann?” She repeated, slowly, as if she was hearing and reading this wrong. 

“Hue Mann!” He repeated happily. “First name Hue, last name Mann.”

“Wow... That’s… That’s an unfortunate name,” Uzi replied. She knew that the name ‘Uzi’ wasn’t very great either, you know; not many people were named after submachine guns, but to literally be named ‘Human’... She couldn’t imagine the bullying this kid goes through on a day-to-day basis.

“What do you mean?” Hue Mann replied, seeming genuinely confused.

“Your name is basically Human when combining your first and last name.” She told, “That’s an objectively bad name on your parents’ part. Do you get made fun of a lot for that? – I’d especially assume so if you’re in this school.”

Hue blinked, seeming as if he’s had a realization, “I… Do.” He spoke slowly, grabbing his nametag; crumbling and pocketing it. “A lot. So that’s why I also go by the – uh – nickname… N?”

“N?” Uzi repeated. Well, it was still odd but it wasn’t worse than ‘Hue Mann’.

“Yeah, my name’s N. Uh– My nickname is N. Not my real name, because it’d be preeetty odd if my real name was a single letter when I’m a human being.” N clarified with a wide nervous grin. 

“Uh, right…” Uzi was sure he was trying to make some kind of joke with his name, but she didn’t get it. “Well, I gotta scram. I need to get to class and you should too if you’re on the same schedule as me.” Uzi has never noticed N in school before, so she simply assumed he wasn’t a classmate of hers or anything and that he was assigned to a different class. 

“Uh, yes!” N said, “Well, I’ll see you later, Uzi!”

Uzi was in the middle of turning to leave when she paused, looking back over at N, “See me later?” She blinked.

The guy stared back at Uzi in thought, as if trying to figure out what he said wrong, “Uh… Sorry?” He opted to just apologize. “Just, uh, trying to be friendly. You seemed cool, so like I thought — Ah, nevermind.”

Uzi thought for a moment. N seemed like he might wanted to hang out with her and Uzi didn’t know how to feel about that; she’s never been offered that sort of friendliness by anyone without it being out of malice (which Uzi didn’t think this was) in any recent times. Well, nobody except for Thad, but that relationship was a whole other story. That being said, she was extremely uncertain if she should actually go along with this if that was the case. The last time someone had nicely invited her to hang out they turned out to be secretly in cahoots with one of her bullies, Rebecca, and it ended with her being tossed into a freezing creek, having photos taken of her so the treacherous students could share amongst their peers for quick giggles, then ditched. Leaving her wet, freezing, and alone. Even the nicest-appearing people could be cruelest ones. Yet, that same fearful part of her also starved for affection… It sounded nice, if this wasn’t a ruse.

Hesitantly, very hesitantly, Uzi replied; “... We can chat after school if I see you when I leave.” If she’s hurt again, she can take it. What’s another mental scar for the collection?

“Great!” N gave her a double thumbs up, a wide smile plastered on his face. “I’ll see you later!”

…..

School had concluded, Uzi having been given her long-awaited fieldtrip permission slip she’d need to get her dad to sign (or pose as her dad and sign herself if it comes down to it), along with a stack of math homework. All of which she tucked into her backpack.

Uzi grabbed the door handle, swinging the front double doors to the school open as she ambled out of the premises. The girl had been mainly dwelling in her thoughts for the entire remainder of the school day, still latching onto those thoughts as she exited the building; her mind mainly stuck on the news of the JCJenson field trip, well. That and what happened earlier. Speaking of which…

Uzi surveyed the area as she walked out, looking through the crowds of students exiting the school. The student who approached her during recess was pretty tall with very conspicuous clothing, he shouldn’t be too hard to spot. If he was even here, that is. 

The girl soured the area for them, circling around the entrance twice in her search. Not spotting N whatsoever. She frowned, had she missed him? Or perhaps the boy changed his mind about meeting up with her. She sighed, a part of her kinda expected to be ditched but it still sucked. She was sorta looking forward to speaking to someone…

Readjusting her grip on her backpack, she turned to get on her way home and —

“Hi, Uzi!” N suddenly just being right behind her, towering over her, made her heart leap .  “AHH—” Uzi shrieked, stumbling back. Horribly startled.

“Wah— Holy christ, you scared the shit out of me.” Uzi said breathlessly, grasping her chest, “I—” She stared up at N, squinting, “Why are you wearing sunglasses?”

N was wearing black shaded sunglasses despite it being pretty cloudy out, the entire sun being obstructed by white clouds – forecasted to be mostly that way for the entire week and maybe a bit of next week too. There was no real need for sunglasses right now.

“... Because I like wearing sunglasses.” N simply answered after a pause. 

Sure, she supposes that makes enough sense. “Okay.” She replied, taking a few last breaths before properly recollecting herself again, “Whuff… Geez, how’d you sneak up on me like that? I know for a fact I got good ears, yet I heard nothing.”

“Guess your ears aren’t as good as you think, then” N chuckled. “I wasn’t particularly trying to sneak up on you.”

“Yeah…” Uzi said, then trailed off. She wasn’t sure what to really say now that he was actually here. “Uhm,” she was kinda nervous, she needed to say something quick, though. She didn’t want to go completely silent and make this awkward or anything. What do they say — You had like, five seconds to make a good impression? Or did that not matter anymore since this was the second time she’s seen this guy..? Yeah wait, she didn’t think so… Gosh, she needs to just say something already. “ — Uhm, so want to go grab some ice cream and chat about ourselves?” Yeah, yeah, that’s a good opening. “Like, get to know each other a little?” 

“Sure!” He smiled.

Okay, good, he said yes. “Alright, follow me then,” Uzi said then got a move on. She knew there was a small ice cream parlor down the way to her house, they were cheap and yet still sold pretty good quality ice cream. She’s gotten them with her dad a couple of times in the few times she’s able to actually have an outing with her father. Hopefully he’d like it.

In just a couple of minutes they arrived at the building. It was a small, compact pale blue building (probably around three hundred square feet if you were to measure it) with a large awning over the storefront and some circular outdoor umbrella tables. The shop was highly decorated, with ice cream themed stickers embellishing the exterior windows, beautiful (fake) flowers bedecking the window frames and doorframes, and topped with a cute large blue dog statue wearing a purple bandana with pointed ears and a fluffed tail lying down on the store roof. A sign right next to the dog with the words ‘Perrou Parlor’. 

“What is this place?” N asked, looking in awe at the large statue on the building. “Look to your right. Perrou Parlor,” Uzi replied, gesturing towards the sign, “Really good ice cream place.” 

N looked at Uzi, then at the building, looking as if some type of realization just hit him; “Oooh, wait, ice cream is food...” he murmured very quietly to himself. Uzi raised her brow, “What did you say?” She asked, it was so quiet so she didn’t think she heard that right.

“Oh, I said this was a nice, uh, ice cream place. Sorry, I talk to myself often. Subconscious habit.” N told, nervously scratching the back of his neck. “I like the dog statue, it’s really cute.”

Uzi nodded, “Yeah, it is. It's a fairly recent installment too, they used to have a completely different statue of a barking labrador on the roof a couple of years ago but a pretty rough ice storm hit that damaged the original statue a lot so they had to replace it.” She explained as she entered the small shop, a door chime ringing out as the door opened. Uzi turned and held the glass door open for N. 

Upon entry, the two were blasted with the scent of nice vanilla air freshener paired with moderately cold air. “It’s cold,” N muttered. 

“That’s because it’s an ice cream parlor.” She said, walking up to the front counter with N trailing behind, there weren’t many people at the parlor currently and there wasn’t any line. Uzi looked at her options, able to see all the ice cream containers on display behind a curved glass wall, each flavor labeled with a price. She ordered a small strawberry ice cream then looked over at N, “Which one are you getting?” Uzi asked. 

“Uhh,” N said, staring at the available flavors. Seeming to be getting nervous for some reason. He then blinked and slipped his hand into his pocket, feeling around, “None.” He told, “I seem to have forgotten my wallet so it looks like I’m not getting any ice cream.” 

“Oh, don’t worry. I can cover it for you.” Uzi offered, N stared. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll pay for you,” She said.

“Oh, nonono. You don’t gotta do that, please don’t do that,” N quickly told, “I… I don’t like people paying for things for me, y’know?”

“No, it’s completely fine. I have a lot of allowance money, it’s okay.” Uzi assured. N looked a bit stressed, “Seriously, Uzi, I think I’m fine not getting anything. I’m okay.”

“If you say so,” Uzi decided not to push him on this. She waited for her ice cream to be made, which was pretty quick as she asked for just a basic scoop of strawberry. Uzi thanked the worker, paid, and went to take a seat. “Do you wanna sit inside or outside?” She asked. “Inside,” N quickly replied. 

The two teenagers took a seat by the window, Uzi on the left seat and N on the right with the two facing each other. Uzi thought about what to begin this conversation with, eating some of her ice cream the moment she sat to stall so she could give herself time to think. “So,” She began, “How long you’ve been attending Mauvais High?”

“Um,” He paused, taking off his sunglasses and hanging them onto his shirt collar. “A day ago, actually. I just moved here.”

Uzi perked, “You just moved here? From where?”

“Oh, from where?” N paused for a moment, “My family moved here from an off-the-grind home near… Livengood…” 

“Livengood?” Uzi repeated, looking at him oddly. “I… Is that an actual place? In Alaska?”

“Yeah…” N told slowly. 

She raised a brow, “I’m going to go look that up.” Uzi told before slipping out her phone from her pocket. N stared at the cell phone, “Come on, you don’t believe me?” he asked, seeming to sound a bit nervous but maybe that was just her. 

“I believe you, just wanna see it for myself.” Uzi could swear she could see the boy sweating as well. 

Uzi unlocked her phone and went to search the name up. N sat there in his seat, resting his head on his hand as he stared at Uzi’s cell. Unknownst to the girl, mentally panicking over his admittedly horrible lie. Seriously, Livengood?!  

“Oh.” Uzi blinked, astounded,  “Wow, there actually is a place in Alaska called Livengood.”

N looked pretty dumbfounded as well, but he quickly switched up and wore a more eased face before the girl could notice his reaction; “Course, why would I lie about my hometown?” 

“Not saying you were, just a bit surprised. Though for a place literally named ‘living good’, it looks pretty bleak and empty. I see why you guys moved, you practically were in the middle of nowhere.” Uzi commented, putting away her phone. N nodded, “Yeah, it sucked living out there. Having to go out miles to get to the nearest town just for some quick shopping.” he told.

“But anyways, enough about me. Tell me about yourself.” N said, shifting the topic, “What’s it like living here for you? Is the community nice? I honestly don’t know much about this town, my parents kinda… Up and moved here suddenly without informing me of much.”

“Uhm,” He didn’t know, but that was a loaded emotion-filled question for Uzi. She bit her tongue, she didn’t want to pour her feelings out on a rant in front of a stranger; “It’s an… Okay town, I guess. Due to JCJenson's founding and the original building being here and such it attracts plenty of tourists, especially in the warmer months which I suppose can be interesting to see until you get used to it since you come from a sparsely populated spot. But besides that nothing really ever happens here. It's a calm town event-wise. Now as for the community aspect; Yeah, I'm the wrong one to ask. You see, despite living here my whole entire life, I don’t know a lot of people here besides my dad…”

“Oh?” N tilted his head slightly, “How come?” 

“Uhh,” She thought for a moment, “People… They… They don’t really like me too much? A good demonstration would be just recalling our first meeting.”

“Oh. That stinks,” N commented, “Do you know why they dislike you so much?”

“Because I’m too weird for them apparently. Well, either that or I’m just really punchable. I’m honestly not completely sure,” She shrugged, “It’s okay though, being the zero-friends ‘that one kid’ has pretty much been my life story ever since the day I opened my eyes and so naturally I’ve long come to terms with it. I don't really need anyone.”

N frowned, having a sympathetic look. "That's terrible, you sound so lonely."

The girl licked her ice cream, finishing it up. "I'm not," Uzi said, and she sorta meant it. Sure, sometimes the harrowing, excruciating deficiency of any real company had sent her into tear-filled hours of crying into a pillow in her bedroom after school hours, companied only by the same intense festering loneliness that made her eyes wet in the first place as she longed for just a conversation with anyone. Praying that just maybe her dad would end-shift early and come home before midnight so she could have someone’s presence. But, those were only the bad days ! The days where her harsh looming reality is too present to be blocked out by getting fixated on her anime. When it's not like that, which she'll say is most days, she believes she's perfectly fine. This has been her daily for her 17 years of life, and while she wouldn't mind it – she doesn't need a change.

That being said, this conversation was making her heart flutter. Not in a love-dovey way, bleh, but in the ''the-social-need-i've-been-craving-for-this-whole-week-is-being-fulfilled'' way.

"I hope those students don't treat me the same way." N continued.

“Nah. They won’t,” Uzi said, her eyes drifting over to look out the window. Watching as people moved past by the window, going on about their lives. 

“What makes you so sure?” N asked.

Uzi refocused back on him, “Look at yourself,” She began, “First off; you’re tall and you don’t look visibly out of shape whatsoever, so instantly people will be less likely to mess with you right off the bat. But piling on that; you have that cool short shaggy hair that one fan-favorite guy in every popular live-action teen drama has, healthy-looking flawless skin albeit really pale, and a cool black coat and cap. Bonus points that it’s dress-code-breaking too if I’m not mistaken, people will think you’re even cooler for being a ‘rebel’. Your eye contacts I’m debating about, but since Doll – one of the most popular people in the school – has them as well I’m pretty sure you’ll be just fine. The kids in Mauvais are highly impressionable and see the popular kids as trendsetters. If the popular kids think something is cool, they’ll most likely think it’s cool too.” 

“Eye contacts?” N repeated with a raised brow.

“Yeah? I’m talking about your little colored eye contacts,” She clarified, vaguely gesturing to her eyes. N’s mouth went in an ‘o’ shape, seeming to get what she was referring to. Uzi nodded, “Speaking of which, can I ask you something about them?”

“Um, sure? Ask away.” He told. 

“Do you feel those?” Uzi asked, “I’ve never had to wear eye contacts or anything before so I’m just wondering, I would think it’d be uncomfortable to just have silicone or whatever it’s made of just… in your eyes?” 

“...Uhm. It sounds like it would, but honestly it doesn’t really feel like anything.” N replied.

“I see.” She said, “Where’d you get them from, anyways?”

“I…” N paused, “My dad got them for me on my last birthday. He never told me where from, but I’d assume some nice shop in a more populated area.” 

“Right,” Uzi said, “They look cool, albeit a little creepy.”

“Creepy?” He repeated.

“Yeah,” Uzi said, “Makes you look like a monster or something.”  

N froze, “— Uh , uhm, ” He stammered, “ Y-Yeah , that’s what people tend to say. I like wearing colored eye-contacts but people always saying I look like a monster makes me… self-conscious, is that the word? Makes me wonder if I should even wear them in the first place, y’know?”

Uzi’s going to be honest, she doesn’t like colored eye contacts. She personally believes it makes people look too much like an unhuman, but she wasn’t going to say that to possibly the first kid who has approached her with seemingly friendly intentions in god knows how long; “Don’t care what they say.” She told, “They look pretty. The yellow brings out your, uh…” Uzi wasn’t sure where to take this compliment, “... Your face.”

N chortled, “My face? ”

“Yeah, you’re — ugh,” Uzi leaned back into the seat with a huff, crossing her arms and looking away. “Look, there’s a good compliment in there somewhere. Find it yourself, it’s your homework.” 

N smiled, "You're funny" 

Uzi tilted her head slightly to be able to look at N again, "Compliment reuser. Thanks, though." She shared a smile too. 

"Heh. There’s another thing I wanted to ask," The boy started, Uzi would properly look back at N again. Not sitting up though and just staying slumped against the chair. "– Since I’m new here do you recommend any places to visit in town?" He asked.

“Uhm,” Uzi thought for a second, “Well there’s the Glitch Arcade nearby if you’re a fan of games, there’s the Lexicon Library if you wanna read… Oh also, if you love animals I’d say visit the Copper 9 Dog Cafe —”

“ Dog Cafe ? ” N cut off, “What’s a Dog Cafe?”

“You know a Cat Cafe? Well, it’s like tha–”

“I don’t know what a Cat Cafe is.” The boy told, Uzi stared at him. “You don’t know what a…??– Okay. Well, a Cat Cafe is basically a cafe but whilst you get your coffee and stuff, there are also cats hanging all around you. I think most Cat Cafes usually section off the cats, having a people-only room so you can eat and drink in peace and then a cat room so you can hang out and cuddle with cats once you’re done. A dog cafe is exactly like that, just dogs instead of cats. I’ve been there once before, it’s nice.” 

N looked as if the gates of heaven had manifested right before his feeble orbs with how wide his eyes were and how far his jaw was dropped. “Where is this location!?” He asked quickly, “Is there an entry fee?”

“Down Bunker Street, it’s a black and beige building with a neon sign saying ‘The Copper 9 Dog Cafe’ on top, you can’t miss it. Costs eight dollars per hour to be in the dog room if I remember correctly, they accept cash and card.” She told, “You like dogs, I’m assuming?”

“Oh, I love dogs.” He said, “In fact, I love collecting dog trinkets, books, plushies, anything . If I see anything dog, I will grab it and drag it back to my room. My sister says I have an addiction but I don’t think so.”

“Jeez dude, I’d honestly love to see what the hell your room looks like because right now I’m just imagining your bedroom looking like one of those baby doll collection rooms you’d see in a horror movie.” She snorted, “Also, you got a sister?”

“Yeah, a younger sister. Though she’s only younger by like, a year.” N said, “Do you have any siblings?”

“No, I’m an only child.” Uzi replied, “It’s only me and my dad, which I don’t mind.”

N nodded, “Hey, uh, this might be an odd topic hop but since we’re getting to know each other I figured I should ask.” He asked, Uzi sensing just the smallest bit of anxiousness leaking through his tone.

“Don’t be shy, hit me,” Uzi said with a raised brow, looking at N with curiosity.

“What do you think of monsters?” He asked, and Uzi’s expression instantly soured. “Hate them,” She replied bitterly.

N frowned, “Well, I personally don’t think they’re that bad.” He said.

The girl narrowed her eyes, “Don’t tell me you’re one of those monster sympathizers.”

N quickly raised his hands, “I’m not! Just… I feel a bit bad for them. How JCJenson is killing them in mass, causing them to be losing their homes and have to be constantly on the move. Plus I don’t know how true this is, but I’ve heard monsters worldwide have been having to migrate to the lesser explored parts of the world to hide from humans – particularly Monsterslayers. Which can either be a weeks or years long migration depending on the monster’s natural habitat and what type of monster they are. Not to mention setbacks either.” 

Yep, monster sympathizer. “Who cares, N. Monsters are savage, bloodthirsty ravaging creatures whose brains are – unlike normal animals and people  – tailored to just want to kill . Like something is just wrong with their brains to make their only will to want to murder. They are unpredictable, dangerous beasts who are a threat to humanity.” Uzi countered, visibly growing irritated. 

“People only think they’re savage, rabid beings simply because they don’t bother to actually learn about them.” N calmly argued, “Monsters only kill because they have to , just like wild animals.”

That really, really rubbed Uzi the wrong way. Her brows furrowing, the girl sat up to face N properly. “Monsters only kill because they have to? Oh, sure! So I guess monsters broke into my home unprompted and killed my mom because they just had to, didn’t they ?” She snapped, leaning over the table towards N who was now skittishly holding onto his seat and leaning away. “I had my mom stripped away from me when I was barely a day old, leaving my family eternally broken. If my mom hadn’t died, my dad probably wouldn’t be mostly absent drowning himself in work and being gone all day every day leaving me to have to take care of myself for most of my teen years. But according to you, I guess it was all out of necessity!” she was tearing up.

N looked stunned, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to form a response. “Sorry.” Was all he could get out, having been made entirely wordless by the girl’s outburst.

Uzi was still leaning over the table towards N, breathing heavily as tears began to trail down her face. She eased back into her seat, wiping her eyes, “ — Sorry. I… That’s a sensitive topic for me, I’m –” 

“Hey,” An employee approached their table, “This is your first warning, please keep your voice down. Perrou Ice Cream has a strict policy on conflict, if you two begin fighting whether verbally or physically you will immediately be removed and banned from the premises.” 

“U–Uhm,” Uzi’s eyes went wide, embarrassment hitting her once she realized all the other customers were staring at her. She’s pretty much made a scene. “I’m– I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to raise my voice. I was… About to leave anyways.” She said, quickly getting up and leaving. N watching in silence as she went, gaining a somewhat guilty expression. 

….

Uzi hurriedly exited the building, speedily walking with brisk strides down the sidewalk. She’s embarrassed herself today, she needs to get out of here right now. She knows for a fact this day will be an embarrassing memory replaying in her mind over and over again and she isn’t looking forward to it.

Uzi could hear the door chime to the store behind her, “Uzi, wait!” N was running after her. It wasn’t too difficult to catch up to the girl since she was just speedwalking. The tall boy ran in front of Uzi and stopped her, “I’m so, so sorry. I-I didn’t mean to offend you or anything!” He stammered, looking genuinely sorry. “I’m so sorry for what happened with your mom, I didn’t mean to imply that and– I’m so sorry, Uzi, I—”

“Calm down, it’s okay.” Uzi interrupted, “I’m irritated, N. But I’m not mad at you, just... You clearly have a big oi’ empathic heart and I think that’s a good trait, but that being said; you shouldn’t humanize and sympathize with monsters. They wouldn’t sympathize with you, if you encountered one they’d bite your head clean off instantly with no slight thought or care for you.”

“... I… Understand...” N said very slowly. 

“Good. Anyways, I’m actually going to go home. You were fun to hang with,” Uzi said, “Uhm, I hope this isn’t weird but.. Could I have your phone number, or friend you on some communication app if that’s too fast for you?” This was probably too fast, but Uzi wanted to shoot her shot. She really wanted a friend. “I just want someone to talk to, honestly. But it’s okay if not.” She quickly added, hoping to make it sound better.

“Oh, I’d love to, but uhm… I don’t really have a phone?” N admitted.

Her eyes widened, “What?” sure she heard that wrong.

“I don’t have a phone,” N repeated.

“How do you not have a phone in this day and age?” She questioned. 

“I… My parents don’t really let me have one. We don’t have a lot of money to spare so only my parents have phones, me and my sister don’t get one.”

“Oh.” Well now Uzi just felt like an asshole a little bit. N seemed to notice the expression shift and quickly replied, “It’s fine, though! I understand the reaction, I get it.” He assured. 

N continued, “Even if I don’t have a phone we can still chat in class during recess and after school fine.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Uzi said.

N nodded, “Anyways, I gotta go get home. My, uh, parents are gonna be wondering what’s taking me so long,” He said, “Talk to you tomorrow?”

Uzi nodded, “Talk to you tomorrow.” 

And with that, N began to move past her and walk off. Uzi watched the boy go, smiling. He seemed nice. She hoped this friendship wouldn’t just break apart within a few days

Chapter Text

—————————

30 years ago.

—————————

The thick, dark gloomy clouds wholly blanketed the sky; bellowing out thunderous roars and deep rumbles, rainfall pouring hard against the earth. Companied by a howling, wintry wind shaking the trees and herbage, and a looming light fog snaking across the undergrowth. 

Two yellow eyes glew from the dark covers of a small cramped cave, watching as the sky-water poured down violently on the outside. Two young vampires in their 70s, approximately 13 in human years, lied closely huddled against each other. Leeching for warmth that neither of them had due to the nature of their species. This little cave was barely a shelter, they could barely both fit in it together, but it wasn't meant to be used for nearly this long.

It was not a good day to be out right now, and their parents haven't come back yet.

"Cyn?" The older vampire – although only by a year – said. 

"Yes, N?" The younger one replied.

"Do you think mom and dad's coming back?" N asked, "They should've came back home from their trip by now. No… No hunting delays should cause a thirty minute venture into the nearby town to become four hours ."

"Looks down sadly," Cyn spoke her action out loud, "I don't think they’re coming back."

N frowned, getting up from his seated position and heading towards the exit of the small cave. Cyn looked up, "Where are you going, big brother?"

"I'm going to go find our parents, they might be in trouble." He said, cautiously stepping out. The rain pelted against him, the freezing water soaking through his clothes and trickling down his sides. It felt as if N was dumped into an icy lake and the cold wind didn’t help with that much either. Even though he – as a vampire –  was consistently cold to the touch and could take lower temperatures, it didn’t necessarily mean he liked this weather. Quite the opposite, actually. Though N wasn’t letting a bit of awful weather scare him, so sucking in a breath he pushed forward through the harsh thunderstorm. Cyn stayed there in her spot, watching him go.

N trudged through the foliage. Straining his vampiric senses to try and track his parents, he could find an old scent of theirs – slowly being washed away by the ongoing rainfall, but currently the scent trail was still intact-enough to be followed. Slowly, he followed the scent to the best of his abilities. 

“Sprinting, sprinting,” N could hear Cyn rushing after him. “Huddle, huddle,” she murmured, clinging close to N with a lopsided hunch. Having decided to go with him after-all. N was glad, he didn’t want to be alone out here. He knew the dangers the shadows held. 

N kept his focus on the tracking. Their parents’ scent growing stronger as they followed, the trail leading them over creeks, through small muddy ravines, and up the wet and rocky slopes which stones threaten to slip lose underneath their every step. Treacherous grounds to traverse on, but with this violent storm simply morphing into a bat or unsheathing their wings to take to the skies would be far too dangerous for juvenile vampires like them. 

They crossed a small rushing river, scurrying up the steep hill right after it. On the hilltop was where they finally could see the nearby human town come into distant sight. That meant their parents would, theoretically, be close. This was where they said they were going, afterall.

As they continued on the trail, suddenly a few other scents started to accompany it. A strong mixing scent of human and gasoline, N mentally tends to call it ‘Monsterslayer’ smell. His eyes widened, picking up speed as he followed the scent further. The scents intermingled and lingered with each other, until the harsh contrasting smell of death broke all apart. Each species on this planet would give off a unique odor when they died, and this smell; It was a dusty, rotten smell. The boy quickly recognized this scent as vampire death, and when that realization hit him he came to sudden stop. Standing still, staring at the ground.

Cyn could smell it too, lowering herself to the forest floor to make double sure death was what she was actually smelling. “Crouching down, frown. Look up at Big Brother,” She spoke,  “I think our parents are dead.”

“They’re not dead, Cyn. This…” N didn’t know how he could spin this, it was obvious what happened here. Their parents went out, monsterslayers got on their trail, and then death . Their parents were dead, N knew that very well, but he tried to continue following the scent. Ignoring the smell of decease and pushing forward. Though after a few feet the vampire scent went away entirely. Death and Monster hunters . That’s all there was left if he tried to leave this space.

Cyn watched as N went around the clearing in frustrated circles, looking miserable as he desperately tried to seek out the surviving scent that didn’t exist. “They’re dead.” Cyn repeated sadly.

“They’re not,” N told.

The vampire kept on going around in circles, just getting more and more upset as the reality of the situation began to crash upon him. He began to slow, his sniffs to catch the fading scents becoming sniffles as he choked out a sob. Falling onto his knees and curling up upon himself. 

Cyn finally stood up, languidly walking over to N before plopping down beside him. She was crying, “C–Crying.” The girl stuttered. 

N shakily sat up in order to pull his sister close and hug her in a tight embrace. Sobbing and hiccuping. Cyn, despite sharing the same intensity of sadness (although not showing it as openly), did her best to try to console her big brother. Lightly patting their back and muttering that they were going to be okay. 

The rain was annoying, though, wasn’t it?

Cyn extended her grayish white wings, the tear of fabric able to be heard under the loud downpour of rainwater as bat wings broke through her shirt – creating a long tear starting at the shoulder blades and down to the hips. Cyn and N would always completely ruin their clothes whenever they revealed their wings like this, a thing young vampires such as themselves had to learn not to do. There was a certain trick to doing close to no damage to your clothing when releasing your wings, their parents said that they would get around to teaching them it. 

Guess they’re going to have to figure it out themselves now. 

Cyn hovered her wings over them, working as an umbrella to the rain. Sparing the two from at the very least the harsh precipitation in their grief.

Though, it wouldn’t spare them from the wildlife. That was their first thought when they heard a stick break close, very close, behind the nearby bushes. N and Cyn jolted up, scrambling to their feet as they both prepared to the defend themselves. The tips of N’s fingers changed hues as his nails extended into silver-colored claws. Cyn did the same, “Claws out.” she murmured, tucking her wings.

They stood close to one another, eyes and ears alert for any possible dangers. 

The bushes rustled, the two’s eyes shooting straight to the foliage. Tense, they both stiffened as they waited with bated breaths for the entity to show themselves.

Two incredibly pale yellow-eyed women who appeared to be around their age emerged from the bushes. One had short near-white blonde hair with messy bangs, while the other had long smooth near-white blonde hair tied up into two neat pigtails. Pale skin, near-white hair, yellow eyes. The two didn’t even need to scent the air to check if there was vampiric scent drifting off them to tell that they were fellow vampires (even though they did anyways). It was obvious from their looks. They both looked disheveled to an extent, as if they’ve just escaped a confrontation, but they wouldn’t cause the two to let their guard down. 

Who were they?

—————————

Present Day

—————————

The sun hours smoothly soared by, with the glistening clouded crescent ascending in its place instead. Nightfall. 

Uzi was submerged in darkness, the only light-source being the bluelight emanating from her laptop screen. Well, that and the slight bits of hallway light seeping in from underneath the bottom gap of her bedroom door. 

Uzi was lying in her bed, snug underneath her thick sheets and fluffy pillows, watching pirated anime on her laptop. Besides playing games on her console this was her favorite pastime, really. Something she’d do for hours at a time, letting the world drift past her as she kept her eyes glued to the screen. Obsessive, one could comment, but it didn’t matter to her. It wasn’t like she was missing out on anything anyways.

Uzi heard a rumble directly beneath her along with slight vibrations. Her dad was home and opening up the garage, Uzi’s room was located right above the garage in their two-story home so she could sense and hear it well. 

She checked the time; reading it to be 11:55 PM. Home late, as always. Uzi doesn’t blame him though, that’s just his job hours as an ironworker. Uzi reached out her hand, pressing the spacebar to pause her anime, then got out of the bed. Going over to flip on the light switch in her room. 

She went over to her desk situated in front of the window – the blinds to it currently dropped – and searched the desk’s draws. Grabbing a carefully stored unsigned permission slip. She smiled, now was the moment of truth. 

…

Khan was putting away his work bags on the wall-mounted rack hangers in the foyer when Uzi came down the stairs and into the living room. “Hey, dad.” Uzi greeted.

“Hi, Uzi.” Khan replied, setting the housekey next to its spare on the rack. “How was school?” 

“It was okay.” Uzi said, “But, uh, dad? Could I ask you something?”

“Yeah?” Her father replied, looking at his daughter with curiosity.

“Could you sign this for me?” Uzi asked, offering the paper to her dad. Khan looked at it with a muddled expression, reading it over, “What is this?”

“It’s a permission slip for a fieldtrip the school’s having in three weeks.” Uzi began with an excited grin, “We’re going to be going to the original JCJenson building constructed in our town, getting to be toured around the premises and get told alllll sorts of cool monster trivia. And our tour guide is going to be the one and only , Tessa James Elliot! In the flesh! She even came to our school today to give a Q&A session and I got to speak to her!” As Uzi spoke, her voice got risingly hyper until she eventually was on the verge of shouting. “It was awesome! Dad, this was the most happiness I’ve felt in forever, and if I go on this trip it’d be amazing! It’d make my entire day – my entire week! – no, month! Please sign it!”

Khan blinked, looking down at the paper then at Uzi. The father couldn’t remember the last time he’s seen his daughter so vibrant and joyful, so there was guiltiness behind his next words; “I’m sorry, Uzi.” before Khan could get out his next words, Uzi instantly soured; slowing as her wide grin dropped to a deep frown. 

Khan continued, “I don’t feel very… comfortable letting you visit the ‘JCJenson’ headquarters. Don’t you know they store monsters in their underground lab they have in there? what if they escape while you’re in there? Plus, it’ll probably fuel your little want to be a monster hunter.” he told, handing Uzi back the permission slip. 

Uzi twitched, her expression shifting to one of pure frustration as she took back the paper. Khan had always been highly unsupportive of her life goal to become a monster hunter since day one of expressing it to him those many years ago; her father taking every little chance and opportunity to steer her clear of the – in his words – dreaded path. 

Khan went on, “Uzi, I honestly don’t get what’s with you when it comes to this whole crazy monster hunting thing. I feel like you’ll be way more happier in your life if you just settled on working a different job in your future, like—” 

“Bite me! And what makes you think you can make my life decisions for me?” Uzi cut off, narrowing her eyes.

“... Uzi, I wish I could support you on this. But being a monsterslayer is far too dangerous, do you know how easily you can die working such a profession? One wrong move and some war unicorn will ram a 40-inch horn straight through your stomach. I just honestly think it’d be more appropriate for you to work a safer job.” Khan told.

“That’s a big lie because in the last conversation about this you recommended me to work as a police officer, SWAT, or fire fighter instead and those are just as dangerous jobs.” Uzi reminded, “Admit it, you don’t want me to be a monster hunter because you don’t believe in me. You just think I can’t do it, that I don’t have the will or strength for it.”

“Uzi, no, it’s not that. It’s just… Being a monster hunter just doesn’t suit you as a person, y’know?” Khan put.

“So basically an around-the-bush way of saying what I just accused you of saying,” Uzi huffed, crossing her arms. 

Khan frowned, “Uzi, don’t be difficult like this.” He sighed, “Why do you even want to be a monsterslayer so bad in the first place? You know, your mother wouldn’t want you to take this path. I don’t think she’d be very proud of this.”

Her jaw hung open, “How do you know what mom would’ve wanted?” She asked, exasperated.

Khan started, “You see, unlike you I knew your mother.” He spoke soft and gently, like the intention wasn’t to offend, but the words containing that sentence stirred intense anger in the girl. “And I–”

“I might know little about my mom, but I know her well enough to know that she wouldn’t like her husband using her name to guilt me out of doing what I wanted my whole life.”  Uzi snapped, “And for your knowledge, as I’ve said countless times before; I want to be a monsterslayer so I can avenge not only my mother, but all the other people who have died to these sickening soul-sucking creatures.” 

“Okay. First off; I’m not guilting you, what I was trying to say by that is just that your mom was… the pacifistic type.” Khan said, “She wouldn’t want you to kill innocent monsters just—”

“ Innocent ?” Uzi raised a brow.

“–Not innocent,” Khan corrected himself, “But… Random monsters who had little to do with your mom’s demise. You shouldn’t put your energy into this monster killing thing and instead contribute your time into something more productive and worthwhile. Plus, maybe getting your focus off this monsterslayer track’ll clear your mind and make you less like this , y’know?”

Uzi paused, “Less like this ?” She questioned, visibly insulted, “What is this ?”

“I…” Khan paused, thinking about how to word this, “Y’know. Just… Less sulking, less obsessive binge-watching in the dark, less anger, less saying ‘bite me’ every other sentence…”

“Bite me! That was the first time I’ve said it today.” Uzi said, “... Second time. But me wanting to be a monsterslayer has nothing to do with any of that!” at this point, it was what kept her still kicking.

He took a breath, “Okay, Uzi, it’s really late and I don’t really want to extend this conversation more than what’s needed.” Khan told, “You’re not going on that fieldtrip and that’s final, now go to bed. It’s a school night.”

Uzi casted a glare at her father, looking down at the permission slip paper in her hand before letting out an aggravated huff. Turning around and heading upstairs.

She stormed into her bedroom, slamming the door closed behind her and heading straight over to her desk – not bothering to turn on her light. Her desk had no computer in its center, her laptop was meant to go there but right now it was still on the bed. Uzi laid the paper down on the desk and went to go grab her phone off the charger by her bedside. Unlocking the phone as she walked back over to sit down at the desk.

So she could actually properly see, she opted to just open up the window blinds and let the natural moonlight flood in rather than turning on her bedroom light. Though thanks to the clouded sky not as much illumination as Uzi wanted came in so she was forced to turn on her dim desk lamp for a little bit of extra light. 

Uzi set her phone on a small adjustable phone stand she had right next to her permission slip, tapping her phone and pulling up saved reference photos of Khan’s handwritings to study and copy. Having forged his handwriting so many times she had photos of his writing readily available on her mobile. She was going on the fieldtrip whether her dad liked it or not.

When she was about to get to work, her eyes had drifted over to the window for no particular reason. Catching the sight of some brown blur zooming past her window; she didn't really react to it though, chalking it up to be some bird.

——————

The wind combed through N's fur, his bat wings beating through the air as his yellow eyes glowed in the moonlight. Surveying the ground for any prey.

N was a vampire, if it wasn't painfully obvious before. Shortly after N separated from Uzi a few hours ago when the sun was still up, he had proceeded to wander the town aimlessly for a hunt. He didn't actually have a home to return to, he… lost it a few days ago. He was just hungry and figured he should cut the conversation and go since Uzi was already wanting to leave. 

He was unsuccessful during the day with his senses being notably weaker during the daytime and his awfully light sensitive eyes that – even with the aid of the sunglasses he stole from the dollar store – incredibly negatively impacted his ability to see clearly. He could barely find a target, nevertheless smoothly suck the blood and kill somebody without getting caught. 

Even so, N had managed to hold himself over a little bit by drinking the blood of an alley cat he found. Might've been a lost pet now that he thinks about it since it had a collar and didn't look too beat up. Regardless though, it was in no way tasty and when it came to filling him it was like the equivalent of eating a singular chip. But at least it was something in his systems as he staked himself out in a shaded corner of an alleyway, cautiously morphing into his hoary bat form to perch himself and sleep while waiting for the moon to come up.

And N had just woken up, so here he was. Soaring across the clouded night sky, his sharp eyes scoured the ground below. He slowed his flaps, gliding down to the earth when the vampiric bat had caught the sight of a sole teenaged girl wandering down an empty street.

He landed in a small dead-end backstreet and, with a small puff of magical black smoke, popped back into his humanoid form. N slightly adjusted his hat as it came a bit tilted returning back into his main form. He hoped it looked right as the vampire, having no reflection, couldn’t check. He didn’t want his ears to show accidentally.

His ears? Oh, yeah. Quick lesson; Although the ‘humanoid’ form is considered a vampire’s main or ‘true’ form, vampires are more “Bats that can turn into humans” than “humans that can turn into bats”, meaning they retain some animalistic features in their human form. Namely, bat ears, wings, and claws. The wings and claws, vampires can luckily retract and hide seamlessly into their flesh. But the ears? Nah. Evolution got lazy there. They can be lied flat and hidden amidst hair, but never truly retracted.  

So N opted to hide his ears via his chauffeur cap, one of the easier ways to do so. 

N moved slowly, peaking his head out the alley to check if the girl was still there. She was, and nobody was around still. This was perfect.

The vampire followed the girl distantly, lurking in the shadows casted by the buildings and shade. His yellow eyes glued to her like an animal hunting prey. He was antsy, the urge to just lunge in and hurry it up was strong, but N kept himself slow and careful. He didn’t want to rush this and do this messily, he could leave behind too much evidence otherwise and might get monster hunters stuck on his trail. 

The teen suddenly stopped walking. N stilled, hugging the wall and hiding in the overcasting shadows as he watched to see what she was doing. His eyes widened when he noticed her slip a phone out of her pocket, turning on the screen and doing something with it.

Panicking, N quickly got up and went for it. Fearing that the girl knew N was stalking her and was about to call some authority.

The phone was dropped onto the side of the pavement, along with the lithe body of the girl. The vampire having pounced atop her, keeping her down with his body weight. N’s nails extended into claws that dug into the girl’s back. The woman tried to scream, but N quickly muffled her by moving a hand over and holding her mouth shut. Hooking his claws into her face flesh to keep his hand in place.

Now, for the moment he’s been desperately waiting for these past hours. N opened his mouth wide, and his teeth began falling out. Or, his human teeth, as what came out of his gums in replacement were jagged, sharp rows of teeth. His hunting teeth, as he’d call it. (N has overheard people refer to vampires’ hunting teeth as looking just like nosferatu teeth , although the boy didn’t know what that was)

With no hesitation, N lunged forward and bit hard into the teen’s nape. Deeply digging his teeth far into her neck. He could feel the girl struggle and squirm underneath his grasp, letting out suppressed cries and breathing hard in panic against his muffling hand. Though as N sucked blood from the teenager, their frantic movements got lesser and lesser. Until it eventually all stopped, even the girl’s breath.

N leaned back, licking the blood off his lips as he gazed down at the girl’s pale corpse. Entirely drained of blood. 

“Hello?”

N’s head shot towards the dropped phone. Tentatively, he stood in a crouch and moved over to check the phone. Reading the screen, it was apparently this person’s mother and the phone call had gone on for just nine seconds – meaning it got picked up as the vampire was drinking. The phone didn’t make a sound so he hadn’t realized the girl successfully dialed someone before he struck. 

“Lila?”

N cautiously hit the end call button. A certain anxious feeling in his stomach now. He sincerely hoped this phone call didn’t somehow lead to any hunters coming after him – It wouldn’t, a part of him knew that very well, but it was a large constant nagging fear he, and he’d assume most monsters too, had. 

Though just to calm his own nerves…

N carefully picked up the phone in the same way you’d pick up a dirty towel and carried it over to a roadside storm drain where he dropped it in. There! Successful disposal! Now…

He turned towards the corpse still lying in the middle of the sidewalk. If he cares enough to get rid of the phone he logically should dispose of the body too, if any Monsterslayers were to find it they could easily recognize the vampire bite and claw marks. N trotted over to the cadaver and picked it up, looking around for somewhere to dispose of it. Eventually, his eyes fell upon an alleyway dumpster.

Perfect. No one could ever possibly find it in there.

———————

Clouds padded the sky, with the rays of sunlight muffled by the light gray. Uzi stared out the school cafeteria window, slowly chewing her turkey sandwich. She sat alone at her table, but she didn’t mind the lack of company. It was usually like this every day.

“Did you hear?” Uzi tuned into a conversation at a table behind her, how couldn’t she? They were being so loud. “They said the police found the dead body of some girl in a dumpster at midnight yesterday.”

Dead body? “Wait, what?”

“Yeah, in the news article I read it said that the girl was calling her mother on her way home from a house party at their – like – friend’s home. And while she was calling a vampire attacked her – they knew it was a vampire because the body had those vampire claw and bite marks. The mom said that when she picked up the call there was no one speaking, and she thought she could hear someone slowly moving towards the cellphone before the call ended. They think it was the vampire who hung up the call. The mom ended up dialing the police after that which is where the cops began searching and found her like that.” Uzi frowned at hearing all this. Fuck vampires, she hoped the monsterslayers could hunt them to extinction. 

“That’s– That's horrifying ,”

“I know! Also, I heard some rumors about—”

Then, a familiar voice caught her attention instead; "Hey, Uzi!" Uzi was startled, not expecting to hear her name said. She looked around the cafeteria, spotting N approaching her table. The boy walked over with a wide toothy grin, taking an uninvited seat at her table. It didn't take long for Uzi to notice that he had no food he brought over. No food tray, no lunchbox, not even a small snack, nothing. N didn't have a backpack nor even a messenger schoolbag either. If Uzi didn't know better, she'd think he was just some random guy off the streets who snuck into the school.

“Oh,” Uzi blinked, she wasn't prepared to be approached, “Hi, N?”

“How are you doing?” He asked, “Not having trouble with any bullies I hope?”

“No, so far I’m okay – no run-ins with anyone trying to harass me but I’m not confident it’ll stay that way,” Uzi told with a frown.

“Ah, stay optimistic.” N replied, “And if they do come after you, I can fight them off for you again.” he playfully flexed his muscles.

“You don’t have to be my bodyguard,” Uzi said, “Plus, you didn’t fight them off yesterday. You just distracted them and made them waste their time.”

“Well, it’s a new type of fighting. A sub-category of verbal fighting; uh, passive fighting.” He declared.

Uzi let out a small laugh, “Passive fighting,” She repeated with amusement, “ Okay then, ”

“ Whaaat? You’re laughing at me now but just wait twenty years. It’ll catch on.” The boy grinned.

“Sureee, I’ll be waiting. Also,” Uzi began, still laughing a bit, “Question?”

“Hit me,” N said.

“Why don’t you have any food with you? Or any backpack or bag for that matter.” Uzi questioned and N stiffened a little bit, “Uhm,” he paused, “I… Don’t have one? I lost it during my move and I haven’t been able to get enough spare change to afford a new one. As for food, I’m just not hungry right now. I ate a snack I had in my, uh, locker.”

Uzi frowned, “How do you carry all of your books and such if you don’t have a bag?” She questioned, to which N just shrugged. “Who needs a book when you can just memorize it all?” He said, tapping his forehead, “Anything I have to bring in, my hands can handle.”

Uzi looked concerned, “You know, the Target near here sells cheap backpacks. Like, around twenty dollars cheap. It might not be amazing quality but I can buy one there for you.” She offered.

“No, no, no. It’s okay,” N was quick to decline, “I’m doing just fine bagless, you don’t need to waste your money.”

“No, I insist. It’ll make school much easier for you, trust me.” She told, “You won’t owe me anything if I do this for you.”

"I… hmm…" N trailed off, tapping his fingers on the lunch table thinking about it. "– Okay, fine. Just only this one time, okay?" He settled reluctantly. 

"Alright," Uzi smiled, then after a moment of silence she continued; "By the way, I've just heard that there was apparently a vampire attack last night?"

N stiffened, "There was? " He looked pretty anxious all of a sudden. Rightfully so though, vampires were terrifying. 

"Yeah, they found a corpse littered with claw marks and a telltale bite in a dumpster." She explained, "It fucking sucks that this type of stuff happens so often, I wish vampires and other monsters would just go away. " It was commonplace for these types of incidents to take place, and every time Uzi saw a headline, read an article, or even overheard mention of a monster-centric incident filled her with indescribable rage. How these rabid, degenerate creatures tore apart countless families, slaughtered innocent children, mutilated numerous people, murdered her mom… 

"How did they find her?! She was in a dumpster!" N's sudden exclamation snapped her out of her frustrations. Uzi blinked, confused, "Because she was in a dumpster? "

"Yeah, but, she was in a dumpster . How'd they find her in there?" N questioned, "It's the perfect hiding spot.'

"I…" Uzi initially thought N was inappropriately joking about the murder, but with how earnest he looked she realized that he was dead serious . "Okay, you do realize that people actively go over to and open dumpsters. Y'know, for when they need to dump their trash in. I think someone going to toss a trash bag into the dumpster will notice a dead body in there. No – not even that, anyone passing by will strongly smell the dead body in there."

"Oh." N grimaced, putting a hand on his forehead. "...I feel stupid." This was probably one of the reasons he was kicked out of his clan N was thinking. Uzi wouldn’t know that, though.

"It's okay, we all have our brainfarts." Uzi said, “I hope the family gets their vengeance, that vampire should die painfully for what they’ve done.”

“Haha, yeah… ” N looked uncomfortable, very uncomfortable, “Look, I don’t like talking about, uh, death and stuff so can we switch topics?” He requested with a nervous grin. 

“Oh, sorry. Yeah, we can,” Uzi said, pausing to think on what to talk about instead, “So, do you wanna hang out again today after school? Like, after I go buy you the backpack”

The boy instantly lit up, “Do I?” He said, “I’d love to, where do you want to take me today?”

“Uhm,” Uzi thought for a moment, “Hey, remember when I suggested you visit that dog cafe? Why don’t we go there?”

“YES.” N blurted out a little too loud, causing students to cast startled and weirded glances at the boy. He quickly realized and awkwardly cleared his throat; “Oh biscuits, sorry.” he spoke barely above a whisper, a little embarrassed. 

A small laugh slipped from Uzi, “Gee, you really wanna go.” She commented, “I’m not going to blame you though, the little puppers there are so cute. Knowing how much you adore dogs you’ll definitely enjoy it.”

“I know I will,” N said, it wasn’t close to being time yet but N was already visibly beaming with excitement. "Can we actually go there first? We can get me a bag afterward."

"I see dogs are your top priority," She chuckled lightly, "Sure" 

And then, for the rest of the lunch period, Uzi and N chatted with each other. Uzi started talking about other places in Copper 9, only to be somehow derailed by N into talking about various dog breeds and their interesting facts. Uzi doesn’t know when the knowledge that Basenjis can yodel, that Newfoundlands have webbed feet, or that dachshunds were initially bred to fight badgers will ever come in handy but it sure was fun trivia to learn.

But when the lunch period concluded, N and Uzi had to go their separate ways. Uzi going to her next class, and N saying he was doing the same — only in reality he was hurriedly escaping the building because he caught the glimpse of a teacher and didn’t want to be banned from the premises if he was noticed by them. He wasn’t actually a student in this school.

N would simply aimlessly wander around Copper 9 not doing anything interesting in particular until it was time for school to end – which N only vaguely knew the time of. Once the boy thought it’s been long enough he would wait outside the building for Uzi. Sitting down underneath a tree, his back leaning against the trunk. N was a bit too early by around thirty minutes, pretty much being stuck doing nothing but staring at the school doors for the half hour. Some passerbyers gave him some weird looks, but he paid no mind. 

———————

School hours had concluded and Uzi was moving with the crowd of students walking down the corridor leading up to the front doors, she searched the cluster of people for N. Expecting to see him somewhere within the assemblage of exiting people, but she couldn’t spot him. She chalked it up to there simply being far too many people here, Uzi’ll find him when she gets out the doors easily enough.

The girl allowed a few groups of kids to pass by her before she squeezed her way out the front entrance. Once she did, she instantly started scoping out the premises for N. He should be here unless she's gotten out first…

Uzi found the boy rather quickly, spotting him off to the side sitting underneath a tree by the school's entrance. He was staring off into the distance away from her absorbed in thought, until his gaze suddenly snapped towards her ‐ sorta startling her with how quick and sudden it was. Though N wore a friendly smile, waved welcomingly toward her. "Over here!" He shouted.

Uzi walked over to him, lightly adjusting her backpack as she went to sit down next to him beneath the tree. 

“The scenery around your school is nice.” He commented. Mauvais High was located in the center of town, sparsely surrounded by healthy trees and rows of pretty well-kept shrubbery. Not a mindblowing, outstanding sight but still pleasing to look at regardless.

“Yeah, the school’s gardening club takes care of it. They do a good job,” Uzi said, looking over at the boy.

N slowly nodded, “Are you in any clubs?” He asked. 

“Oh, me? Nah, I’m not in any clubs. I have been in the past though, used to be a part of the culinary arts club but I ended up quitting.” She told, “There’s going to be a new robotics club opening up soon though if you haven’t already heard, so I’m debating on joining that.”

“Right… And what’s the robotics club?” He questioned. 

“You get to design, write code for, and create a robot,” Uzi explained, her eyes drifting back over to stare at the plants. “Sounds fun and might look good on my high school resume for when I apply for being a monsterslayer in the future.”  

Switching to vampire’s mind; N felt his heart skip a beat as he stiffened up, hoping he didn’t hear that right. He took a breath before responding; he needed to appear calm or else he was going to give himself away at this rate. “ Monsterslayer? ” N strained his voice to sound unbothered. “Wh– Why that profession? – Not that there’s anything wrong with that! Just… Wondering if there’s a specific reason?”

Uzi tilted her head back, looking over at N. “Because monsters are shit,” She told, “They kill thousands of people every single day, stealing the lives of people who didn’t deserve it. I want to be a part of the fight to stop that.”

A discontent feeling nestled its way into the vampire, “I see!” N energetically grinned, doing his best to conceal his unhappiness as he gave her a double thumbs up. “I think you’ll be pretty good as one.”

“I hope so too,” Uzi said, she then opened her mouth to say something else but N anxiously spoke again before she could; “Also, sorry but– Dogs?” usually he wouldn’t speak over someone else intentionally but the vampire really wanted to get off this topic fast before he possibly exposed himself thanks to his own nerves.

Uzi blinked in realization, “Oh right, the Dog Cafe.” She said, getting up, “Come on, we can be having this same conversation whilst being smothered by puppies.” Oh, N hoped they didn’t come back to this conversation.

N stood up too, following Uzi as he tried to put all his focus on the fact he was about to be tossed into a room filled with dogs. Friendly, loveable dogs he could interact with till hours end – something he’s never been able to experience before. He shouldn’t dwell too much on the monsterslayer thing, if he wanted to enter human society he was going to have to get used to people in his social circle wanting him dead.

——————

Uzi had pulled out her phone to check Google Maps, wanting to be sure she was heading in the right direction. It's been a long time since she’s actually visited the Copper 9 Dog Cafe so her mind was a little foggy when it came to the precise location, though they eventually made it over to the building fine. 

As Uzi had said before, the cafe was a black and beige building with a beige hanging sign reading ‘The Copper 9 Dog Cafe’ in neon words with a minimalist line vector greyhound design accompanying the text. Through the large windows, one could notice a multitude of dogs inside, a couple of canines coming over to the window to check out the two teens.

N hadn’t even entered the building yet and he was already enamored, the boy staring with wide eyes and an agape mouth as he looked at the golden retriever, dalmatian, and french bulldog that had provided interest in them. He put his palms on the glass as he stared, muttering out a quiet “Hello.”

Uzi softly snorted, “N, we’re not even in the building yet.”

“Well, what are we waiting for!? Come on!” N exclaimed, hurrying past Uzi and going inside. “Hey, wait for me!” Uzi told, going after him. 

The inside of the building had calm, smooth jazz lowly playing on the speaker. The cafe was divided into two sectors; one side of the cafe contained the dogs within a glass wall border, the canines jumping about and interacting with the people already inside. And on the other end, there were – well – no dogs. Just a regular cafe seating for the patrons who wanted to consume their orders without a canine boring their eyes into their souls begging for just a nibble of their succulent food. There were a few people who separated themselves from the dogs, but most people in here were (rightfully) in the dog room. 

The two walked over to the front counter, tending the coffee bar was a young man with black hair and green-tinted shades clipped on his shirt. Going by a paw-shaped name tag on his cafe outfit, the worker’s name was ‘Darren’.

She recognized the name, “Darren?” Uzi narrowed her eyes, “What the– Since when have you worked here?”

Darren was one of her classmates, also known to be the boyfriend of one of her bullies, Rebecca, by pretty much everyone in the class. They were the type of couple to be over-the-top and make sure everyone in their vicinity just knew they were a couple. It was sorta annoying to Uzi. In spite of that though, Uzi didn't actually have any opinion on Darren. She’s barely interacted with the guy, really– it’s mainly Rebecca who she has an issue with. 

“Ever since I got fired from Starbucks…” Darren trailed off, squinting his eyes, “... Susie?”

“My name’s not Susie." Uzi corrected, "It's Uzi. "

"Close enough," Darren shrugged, then gestured upwards towards the menu above, "What do you guys want to order?"

Uzi stared up at the menu, “Blueberry muffin and a frappuccino.” She ordered then looked at N, “What do you want?”

“I don’t want you to buy me anything,” N said, taking off his sunglasses, “I’m here to roll around with dogs for every second of the paid time. I’m not wasting that on eating.”

Uzi chuckled, “Alright, just that then.”

Darren stared at N, as if he wanted to make a comment on something, but seemed to refrain against it being at work. “Alright, and since you seem to want dog room time; how long? The maximum is four hours.”

“Just an hour,” Uzi said, pulling her wallet out of her pocket.

“Four hours.” N requested enthusiastically.

Uzi stared at N, “No. I love dogs but I’m not sitting in this cafe for four hours, plus we have to go to the store after this.” She told.

“Sorry, sorry,” N apologized with a sheepish grin, “Just an hour is fine.”

“Alrighty,” Darren said, “That’ll be eight dollars then.”

Uzi paid for her food and the dog room time, getting a little keycard with a one-hour expiration date for the dog room and her food in exchange. “Remember not to feed the dogs. Our dogs are trained not to jump up for food, but they’ll probably still look at you with those big sad eyes. Just ignore them.” Darren had instructed once handing her the card. They promised not to and then went on their way to the room. Right beside her N was a jittery mess of excitement, acting as if he was about to meet his celebrity idols. Honestly, dogs probably were celebrity idols in N’s eyes.

While Uzi went to quickly find a seat to eat before interacting with the canines, N practically dove head-first into the fury of fluff swarming to greet him without hesitation. The boy having, quite literally, been dogpiled atop of once he did. 

“ Awhaahaha! ” N cooed, a happy shine in his eyes as dogs licked and gathered atop him.

Uzi watched with a soft smile as N sat up and petted the crowding dogs. Some canines would get bored and trot over to other patrons, but a couple stuck by N. He looked as if he was in his own little world giggling to himself and rubbing the dogs. 

Uzi wanted to join that world, it honestly looked great, so she rushed a little bit eating her muffin and finishing her frappuccino before going in to invade N’s dog pile. Seeing someone new approach, the canines began to leave the boy’s side and crowd by Uzi — the girl unintentionally stealing N’s army. He pouted, “Guys!”

“Haha, sorry, N. Trends come and go, looks like I’m the famous one no–” Uzi was cut off by a dalmatian – same one from the window – suddenly standing up on their hind legs to try and lick at the girl’s face. “Oh Jesus. Yeah, this is too much popularity, go back to N.” 

She tried to move away from the dogs but they just kept following her, “Shoo, shoo, go to other people.” they wouldn’t stop until Uzi escaped by taking a seat at one of the tables, in which the dogs dispersed and went somewhere else, “Geez...” 

“Hey, Uzi~” N spoke with a giggly tone. Uzi turned to look, “Wha–” only to be met with a dachshund in her face. Decently startled too, as she hadn’t heard N sneaking up on her. Again.

“Badger hunters,” N told with a smile, bringing the dachshund even close to her face. Uzi leaned back, “Stop,” she chortled, patting the dog’s head.

The two would hang out in the dog room until their time was up. N had looked heartbroken when the time to leave eventually came and Uzi was almost tempted by his visible sadness to pay for an extra thirty minutes, but they had somewhere to go.

“Oh man, this is probably going to be my new favorite hangout spot,” N said, slipping his sunglasses back on as Uzi held the door open for the boy, exiting the cafe. “ — Not that I really had one to begin with, but, y’know.” 

“Yeah,” Uzi closed the door behind him, now leading him over to the Target. “Say, why are you wearing sunglasses? It’s cloudy out.”

“As I said before, I wear them because I like to.” N reminded, trailing closely by her side. 

“Yeah, but you took them off while we were in the dog cafe,” Uzi pointed out.

“Well, that’s because I don’t want to get judged for wearing sunglasses indoors,” N told.

Uzi was quiet for a few short seconds before speaking again; “... So you’re self-conscious over wearing sunglasses indoors, but not self-conscious about wearing sunglasses on an extremely cloudy day?” she questioned with a small breathy laugh.

N let out a puff of air, “Don’t question how my brain works.” he grinned. 

—

N looked around the department store with wide, expressive eyes.

This had been the first time he had been inside a gigantic store like this. To be honest, when Uzi mentioned this ‘Target’ thing N had little idea what the girl was going on about. Just guessing it was some kind of shop name, ‘course he had been correct but this wasn’t what the vampire was imagining. 

Giant square plates of light going down the white ceiling in a mirroring pattern, the bright lights reflecting off the glistening VCT flooring. The hordes of gondola shelving offering an abundance of objects N had never seen before, the lyrical music emanating from somewhere above at consistent volume regardless of how far he walked, the tall red signs standing overhead displaying a singular word; ‘girls’ one read, ‘beauty’ another read. N didn’t understand it, this all felt a little nonsensical to a degree. And speaking of tall red signs, why was there so much red everywhere?! The walls, the streaks running across the floor, the shopping baskets, the signs…

N stared down at Uzi. He wished he could ask some questions, but if he didn’t want to appear unhuman he should act like he understands what this place is. Humans seem to be unquestioning to this store so why should he be?

“Okay, so… Backpacks, backpacks, backpacks…” Uzi half-spoke to herself, “I think they’re over here.”

Uzi guided N down one of the aisles, a plethora of backpacks of all colors greeting him. “Alright, pick out a bag. Don’t worry about the price.” She said, “... Unless it’s like, sixty dollars or something.”

N looked over the available bags indecisively, a little overwhelmed by all the options. Though eventually, the boy was drawn towards a backpack with cartoon dogs plastered on it. “What about this?” He asked, looking over at Uzi.

The girl looked at him oddly, “You… You want a Paw Patrol backpack?”

Oh no, that expression. Was he acting unhuman? “Joking,” He quickly said, then his eyes speedily scanned the area for a different bag to latch onto. Feeling sweat bead down him as he nervously picked out a black backpack and then looked towards Uzi once more. He watched her expression closely to decipher whether he was correct or not in his choice. 

Uzi came over to check the price tag, “Twenty-five dollars, I can get it.” She said. 

N stared closely at Uzi. She didn’t look suspicious of him or anything, he think he’s picked correctly. Good. Good… 

Switching to the girl’s view, Uzi suspected nothing. Just thought the boy initially picking out a Paw Patrol backpack was just him being silly, which although she didn’t laugh out loud she found funny. 

Now that they got the backpack they could leave, but Uzi might as well get a few other things while they’re here. 

“Come on, I have to go pick up some extra things. You hold onto the backpack.” Uzi told, leading N through the store and over to the beauty aisle they passed by earlier. “You can look around in the nearby aisles too if you'd like, I can get another thing for you if it's inexpensive.”

And so N lingered behind, looking around at the abundance of products attentively in the background while Uzi strolled ahead into the aisle. She went down the section and picked up a tube of toothpaste, deodorant, and some hairspray since she was getting low at her home.

“Look who it is.”

The feminine voice, that intonation, holy shit not again.  

“To think we'd run into the freak again,” Lizzy remarked. God damn, she's here too?! And why in a Target around an hour after school? Don't they have somewhere else to be one-dimensional bullies?!

“I'm busy, guys.” Uzi huffed, “Can't you save this for like, in school.”

Doll laughed maliciously, “Nah,” she grinned. 

“We are in a Target, though.” Lizzy reminded, “I'd hate to get banned from the store. Dad’ll be pissed and I'm already pushing it with him right now.”

She looked down at Lizzy, “We don't need to cause a scene,” Doll said, her eyes slowly trailing back over to Uzi, “Not a big one at least.”

Uzi sighed, she really really wasn't feeling this right now. It—

“Hey!” N was approaching with a stern look.

“Oh God, it's him. ” Lizzy said with a scornful giggle, causing Doll to look too. “Oh, the stupid guy.” She frowned.

N stepped in front of Uzi protectively, crossing his arms as he stood tall. His eyes narrowed, a glint of hostility in them.

“What are you guys doing terrorizing this girl in this Target? It's one thing to do it in school, which is already horrible, but to make it seep into the girl's personal life?” N began, but it looked like Doll and Lizzy were already losing interest, “– This place should be a bully-free zone!” He spread his hands, gesturing towards his environment.

“The Target?” Doll raised a brow.

The Target???? Uzi thought confusedly.

“The Target!” N repeated with confidence.

“Specifically Target?” Lizzy questioned.

“Well–” He lowered his hands, “It'd be better if this extended to everywhere but this labyrinth could be a good start. Give Uzi a zone where she can be free.”

Labyrinth? What is N going on about??

Doll and Lizzy looked at each other as if silently asking each other who the fuck is this guy???? before looking back at N. 

“Lots of talk for someone who's copying my style,” Doll gestured towards her eye contacts, “Yellow suits you, though. It symbolizes your stupidity.”

“I'll tell you that I had these contacts waaay before I moved here.” N frowned.

“Mhm,” Doll said, “Well, We'll humor you though. The Target can be Uzi's little hideyhole.” She spoke with a snicker. “We weren't here for purple anyhow.” She grabbed a makeup kit off one of the shelves.

The two began to leave, “Enjoy your sanctuary, loser.” Lizzy waved as she went.

“Hear that, Uzi? The Target’s your safe zone now!” N grinned.

Uzi, however, wasn't happy whatsoever. “N, they were making fun of us. They complied only because they thought it was amusing, and I doubt they'll even stick by their words, but even if they do keep to their word this is the worst place for a so-called safe zone.”

“But you like Target!” N said.

“N, I rarely go to Target. This was the first time in a few months.”

“Oh.” N blinked.

“But even if I did go to Target often, having a retail store as a safe zone is crap and they know that. Like, what am I going to do in a Target for an extended period of time? What’s the chance of me even running into them again in here?” Uzi huffed, visibly annoyed. Not at N, but just in general. Doll and Lizzy rarely failed to get under her skin and agitate her, even if it was only just a little bit.

However that didn’t stop N from feeling as if she was, “I’m sorry Uzi,” N said sincerely, “I didn’t… I just wanted to help you.”

“It’s fine,” Uzi sighed, “Let’s just go check out.”

And so they did. N stayed quiet behind Uzi as she went over to the self-checkout, the boy watching as she scanned the products and bagged them in one of the branded plastic bags (excluding N’s backpack, which she gave directly to him) before exiting the building with the boy. 

“Sorry,” N apologized once more once they were out of the store. 

“Again, it’s okay.” Uzi assured, “I’m just a little peeved by Doll and Lizzy. Nothing to do with you.”

“...That’s good,” N said, staring down at his backpack. The boy decided to try it on, slipping the straps over his shoulders. Uzi stood and watched as he did so, thinking to herself; this was where they should part, but she sorta didn’t want to go home. She liked hanging out with N, his energetic attitude and positive energy he seemed to radiate was welcoming in her otherwise reclusive lifestyle. A nice break from the solitude. Uzi wasn’t quite ready to go back to her empty, silent home yet.

“I know we said to only just hang out in the dog cafe and have a quick shop at the store, but do you want to hang out for a little bit by those benches and chat before parting?” Uzi asked, gesturing toward the pair of benches on the side of the department store building, set near a filled cart corral and covered by a wooden awning. 

“Sure,” N said with a grin, the two then going over to the benches and taking a seat. Uzi put her plastic bag between them so she wouldn’t have to worry about holding it.

The boy relaxed on the metal seat, mindlessly gazing off into the parking lot ahead of them. Watching as cars pulled in and out. “So, what you wanted to chat about?”

“...Well, how about we get to know each other better?” Uzi said, “I wanted to retry since the last time ended in yelling and awkwardness. I promise I won’t yell at you this time, just – If the topic’s too much for me, I’ll ask you to drop it. You can do the same for me if you need to.”

He nodded, “Alright.”

“So,” Uzi took the liberty to start off, “Tell me about your homelife – Uh, I mean nothing personal! Just… Tell me about your family, how your sister is like, I don’t know?” She already felt like she started it off horribly. Seriously, Uzi? Tell me about your homelife? She’s only known this guy for barely two days! 

N didn’t seem to mind, “Sure, well. First off, my sister’s named Cynnnn nnnnnn –” He held the letter. In N’s head, he was panicking. Should he say Cyn? Was that a valid human name?! Or was that too far leaning into vampiric naming system territory? Ah, uhm!!! “ — DY. ” He breathed out,  “Her name is Cin dy . Sorry, I– Brainfart, haha. I somehow forgot how to pronounce my own sister's name for a sec’ ” N laughed nervously.

Uzi looked at him strangely but then just shrugged, “Hah, no worries. It happens.”

“But, uh, yeah. Cindy’s my little sister, younger than me by a year. She’s really sweet, other people tend to think she’s odd or creepy but I don’t see what they’re trying to get at. She may not be exactly like everyone else, but it’s not a crime to be a little unique.” 

“People will be unnecessarily mean like that,” Uzi replied, “Say, does your sister attend our school?”

There was a noticeable latency in N’s reply, “No.”

“How come?” Uzi asked. If they didn’t attend Mauvais, she wondered which other school she did. There weren’t a lot of high schools in their town, just three. Mauvais High, Eastwood High, and Grove High. 

“She just doesn’t,” N said, “It’s a little complicated, and I… I kinda don’t wanna dig into it right now.”

Oh. “That’s fine,” Uzi said, easing off. 

“How’s life like at your home?” N asked, “I mean, I know you’re home alone most of the day but what do you do during that time?”

“Well, mainly just watching anime and drawing.” The girl shrugged. The boy perked, “Drawing?” He repeated, intrigued.

“Yeah.” Uzi nodded, “I just… like to doodle and draw characters from shows I like. Also, uhm, craft theory boards for animes I like too when I have enough spare time on my hands. Like, the crazy string theory boards you’ll see on TV, just on mini bulletin boards since my dad won’t get me those big ones — nor do I have the place for it in my bedroom, haha...” She spoke a little timidly, hoping he wouldn’t think oddly of her. Some kids in her class would like to pick on her for her deep interests in her media so she’s become reasonably cautious. 

“Crafting theoryboards? Oooo! That sounds fun!” N said. Immediately, Uzi studied his expression. Looking for any hints of him just saying it just to be nice (which she wouldn’t fault him for if so, not everyone’s thing) though he looked completely genuine. 

He went on, “What kind of things do you try to theorize about?”

“Well, usually I just try and theorize what’s gonna happen in the next episode or season, sometimes what arc a character might have, and I tend to really get into it. Like, I can pour hours into these boards. Then I typically store them away when I’m done with them. Rarely will I clear one of my boards, but sometimes I have to when my dad refuses to buy me a new one and I can’t get one myself. Which, fair, I have like… A concerning amount of mini bulletin boards, I have a drawer in my room dedicated to storing them.” She told with a giggle, “Most of the time my theories are wrong, but it doesn’t discourage me from making them since it’s super fun. Plus, it makes it all the better in the rare times my theories are actually correct . Once I was watching the premiere for one of my animes and I ended up getting something spot on , I was so excited that I ended up screaming yes! and woke my dad up. He rushed into my room thinking I like, dying or something.”

“I’d be concerned too if I heard that in the room across in the middle of the night,” N laughed, “Are you making any theory boards right now?”

“Uh, well no. But I wanna make one for an anime I’m into right now,” She told, “Can I tell you about it? It’s called Jujutsu Kaisen.” 

 “Sure!” N said, and with that permission being granted, Uzi would proceed to passionately ramble on about her show. She talked about the plots, the characters, the animation quality, and pretty much everything spinning around in her brain about the series. N would listen without interruption, nodding his head and giving comments or questions whenever the opening struck.

N… He honestly had no clue what anime was… but he was happy that he was hanging out and chatting with Uzi. Plus, this was an easy conversation to engage in. No need to worry about being questioned on his personal life.

By the time Uzi ran out of things to talk about a whole hour and a half had passed. “Anyways, uh, I’ve pretty much run out of things to talk about. But y’know, maybe you should watch the show sometime? It’s really good.” She concluded.

“I could,” N said, “You spoiled everything, though.”

Uzi laughed, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” The boy laughed back. After a moment of cheery silence, Uzi slipped out her phone to check the time. “It’s almost six, I should get home.” She said, “Sorry to practically hold you hostage here.”

“Oh, no! Don’t worry, it was fun hearing you ramble on about your interests.” He said, “Wanna hang out again tomorrow?”

“Sure! And maybe you can pick out the location this time.” Uzi offered. N got an unsure expression, “I don’t know anywhere, though?”

“You could look things up,” Uzi told. The boy might not have a phone but she doubted he didn’t have at least a shared computer or laptop at home. Especially since their school had assignments that were required to be done online.

“I’d prefer if you just picked something out,” N said, “I like the surprise, anyhow.”

Huh… Well, Uzi wouldn’t bother fighting it, “Glitch Arcade?” she asked. 

“Glitch Arcade, it is,” N said before getting up. “Farewell, Uzi! Until 24 hours more or less later!” He saluted. 

Uzi laughed, standing up too and saluting. “Godspeed, my comrade.” She put on a serious face, but it quickly broke after she finished the sentence.

“ Godspeed ,” N repeated with a chuckle, “ — Okay, see you later.”

And then, with a goodbye wave, the boy began to go on his way. He readjusted his backpack slightly as he began to walk off from the benches and get on his way home – or Uzi at least assumed – leaving her alone.

Alone.

Time to get home too… 

She looked over at her bag, picked it up, and made her way home. Going the opposite way of N. It would take a little while, but not too ridiculously long before the girl would end up in her neighborhood. 

The girl lived in a nice, smaller neighborhood; the row of houses set along a curving asphalt road, the gaps between homes filled in with luscious trees and healthy foliage. Each house looked lived in, as most of the people who shared her neighborhood tended to decorate their yards. Some would plant flowers, some would set crafts – store-bought or not – out on their front porch, and more intricate ones would even hang up non-invasive outdoor LED lights for their homes. Or were those the people who were too lazy to remove their Christmas decorations? Regardless, their neighborhood was lively was all Uzi was trying to say. Even she and her dad partook in some outdoor decorating, having a little trio of wood birch deer near the porch steps of her house. Nothing big, but it was nice.

Uzi thought as she walked; Maybe she should ask her dad if they should get more decorations for outside. They’ve had those tiny little outdoor deers for a while now, and they’re starting to sorta give in to the outdoor elements… 

“Heya, Uzi.” The girl was jolted out of her thoughts by a voice as she was just about to get to her home. She turned, seeing a red-haired pony-tailed woman on an outdoor rocking chair sitting on her porch at the house next to hers, the woman looking directly at her. “How’s you n’ Khan doin’? Haven’t been able to catch ya’ lately.” 

It was their next-door neighbor, Alice. Her dad was sorta friends with her, they wouldn’t hang out a lot but they would check in on each other if given the opportunity, have short conversations if they were both outside and saw one another, and on much rarer occasions actually hang out and spend time with one another for a few hours. Uzi vaguely knew her, simply only seeing her as ‘that one person my dad’s friends with’. 

“We’re doing good,” Uzi said with a shrug, “Dad’s been pretty busy as always. Tangled up in his work and stuff.”

“Ah,” Alice said, “ ‘Course. I’m surprised he’s still workin’ that job, I’d go crazy if I had all those crazy hours.”

“Yeah, well, he gets paid a lot .” Uzi told.

“I’d hope so…” Alice said, trailing off. She took that as a signal that Alice was done and went ahead to go to her house. Stepping up her porch and using the spare key she had to unlock the front door, opening it up with a creak and shutting the door behind.

 She set the key onto the key rack and stared into her living room from the foyer. Home. She was in her house, silent and utterly empty aside for her little presence. Just her, as always. Until her dad returned many hours from now, but it still honestly felt empty even with his presence in the later hours.

…

Why did she leave N?

Well, she knows why. They were out for a while, they did everything they planned to do, and stayed out for a little longer than planned so they could chat. Yes, it was her who ended it but it’s been a long day and she shouldn’t keep him out for longer than necessary.

Ugh, whatever, what’s done is done. She should… She should go make some food for herself, a quick snack. Like… She doesn’t know, scrambled eggs. Yeah, she could have some eggs right now.

And so, Uzi got her mind off things by cooking up some scrambled eggs. The girl was an arguably experienced cook, as she’s been cooking for herself since she was late thirteen years old. Back when Dad first got his job as an ironworker, her Dad would prepare food for her to eat throughout the day before he left, but when Uzi complained about the food not being fresh enough Khan decided to just teach her how to cook. And from there on out, she’s become her own chief. 

After about fifteen minutes or so, Uzi finished her food. Grabbing a juice box from the fridge, she went over to the dining room where she set her plate of food down on the dinner table and prepared to eat. Grabbing her fork and —

Knock knock knock at the door. Seriously? She was about to eat. Just – ugh. 

Uzi quickly put a paper towel over her food, conserving the heat, before rushing over to the front door. Not immediately opening the door though, as first she checked the window to see who it was. Decently surprising and confusing Uzi, it was a monster hunter – their truck parked on the road outside her house. She could tell from the telltale uniform they were wearing – those in that occupation would be given a specific outfit to showcase who they were. Like police officers and firefighters. The monster hunter outside her home seemed to be holding some kind of… ringed white thing..?

Uzi opened the door, “Uhm. Hello?”

“Hey,” The monster hunter started with a kind smile, “we’re going door-to-door offering the people in this area free garlic wreaths to hang on their doors to protect against the wild vampire in town until we can either track it down and kill it or confirm the vampire had long left and gotten far enough to the point where it’d be fruitless hunting them down.”

“Oh!” Uzi blinked, “U-Uh. Sure, I’ll take one. Thank you so much.” It was so nice of the monster hunters in the area to do this. Keeping those monstrous vampires away. 

The monster hunter handed the teen the wreath, “Do you need a wreath hanger?”

Uzi nodded, “Yeah.”

The hunter would fetch a wreath hanger from their truck, handing it to Uzi. They would assist Uzi in hanging up the wreath since she wasn’t sure how to attach it to the door. As she, with the monster hunter’s aid, put up the garlic wreath on her exterior door, Uzi started to feel a tingling sensation around her nose and mouth. It wasn’t bad, it was more like a little thing in the background, but Uzi couldn’t fully ignore it.

Uzi was a bit allergic to garlic, with just the smell of the vegetable irritating her body. It was an allergy she’s always had ever since she was little, but as she grew up she noticed her allergy to the plant slowly getting worse and worse. Uzi knew for a fact that just the smell alone used to not be enough to set her off. But whatever about that tangent, it wasn’t bad to deter her from keeping herself safe against vampires. 

“There you go.” The monsterslayer said, “Your wreath’s up.”

Uzi thanked the monster hunter, the person giving a hearty wave before going on their way to the next home. Uzi took one last glance at the garlic wreath before closing the door, finally going back over to the dining room where her plate of food laid.

She took the paper towel off her food, glad to see it was still warm. Uzi picked up her fork again and – without interruption this time – dug in.

Chapter Text

Uzi was preparing to go to school and Khan was assisting her with that – packing her lunch while Uzi began cramming her school supplies and anything else necessary into her backpack.

Before Uzi went to school would be the only times she’d be guaranteed to see her father during the weekdays as their personal schedules scarcely intersected. Uzi left for school at 7 am, staying there until 3 pm. Khan left for work at around 2 – sometimes right on three – pm and wouldn’t come back home until 9-10 pm. Which if Uzi was obeying her 9-pm bedtime that night, should be asleep by then. It sucked, Uzi hated it and wished Khan would get another job already. He said he would eventually, but he’s been saying that for years. 

“Here,” Khan said, handing Uzi her lunchbox as she got ready to go out the front door. She murmured a thanks, zipping open a side-compartment in her backpack. As she did, her dad spoke; “Hey, Uzi? Last night I came home and I noticed some… Garlic wreaths on not only our door, but the neighbors’ doors too? What happened.” He questioned.

“Vampire attack happened in our town recently so a monsterslayer came door-to-door to offer everyone free garlic wreaths so we could be protected from any possible vampires,” Uzi explained.

“Oh… I see.” Khan said after a moment of silence. “Well, I ended up throwing it out since I didn’t know where it came from.”

Uzi paused, “ Seriously? ”

“Hey, if someone puts something on my house that I didn’t ask for, I’m taking it down. I don’t know where it’s been or if it’s been tampered with. Can’t trust things in this world.” Khan said before peeking out the window, “Your bus is here. Look, I’ll go fish the wreath out of the garbage bin while you’re at class, okay?”

The girl adjusted the backpack straps around her shoulder as she went to open the front door, “The wreath’ll be all dirty and nasty now, though.”

“No it won’t, it’s not like we have slop in our garbage.” He assured. “I’ll have the wreath back on the door before you come back home, promise.”

“I’ll make sure you’ll stick to that,” Uzi stated before leaving the house, shutting the door and heading over to the yellow school bus stopped outside their driveway.

—————

It was considerably odd getting used to sleeping at night and waking at day. Though If N truly wanted to get into the role of being human, he would have to change his sleep schedule to fit it. He had to sleep like a human , not a vampire . Even if it was unpleasant and unnatural for the boy.

N was currently in bat form, freshly woken up and hanging from a snow-covered tree branch in a shaded area that bordered the wilderness and the town. The closest he’d ever been to the forest since the fateful day he was exiled from his clan, though he wasn’t particularly worried about bumping into any ‘old’ (truthfully he was overselling it, it’s really only been eight days so far) faces. N's former squad wouldn’t come this close to the human town during the day even if it was cloudy currently, they were probably still all asleep matter of fact. Vampires don't usually wake at this time. 

He squinted his eyes as he surveyed his surroundings, mentally wishing that he could have some bat-sized sunglasses as right now he was just wholly at mercy to the blinding rays of the sun — even if muffled by the thick clouds blanketing the sky. 

He was preparing to take off when he noticed a shifting figure growing close in the distance, the vampire curiously watching as a large deer buck with snowfall littered across their fluffy taupe-colored pelt and large antlers that had a thorny root-like plant curled and tangled amid their rack emerged steadily from the snowy vegetation. The mammal letting out low snorts as it delicately moved towards the direction of town, visibly alert and cautious as deers typically were.

As it moved past, N honed in on the plant tangled in their antlers. He could assume that the animal probably moved through some thick foliage and got it stuck on its horns – that was obvious enough he felt – but what N specifically focused on was the plant’s unique appearance. The plant vaguely resembled a thistle, it had a sharp green spiky body with rich purple velvety stellate petals blooming at the top point. The entire thing was also glittering, tiny specs of sparkles dancing in the sunlight as the deer moved.

N had never seen this plant before, it was wholly unfamiliar. And it gave off a powerful aroma that was… Strangely alluring? He was half-tempted to snatch it from the deer although it wasn’t like he had any use for it. Or anywhere to put it for a matter of fact. 

It’s not like he had a home to stay in, not anymore. 

…

N shook his head, letting out a chirp before extending his wings and taking off. 

Then he immediately regretted it as he couldn’t see for biscuits. 

—————————

Uzi was at her 10 am lunch period eating the veggie fried rice meal she packed along with a wild cherry capri-sun as a drink. 

She was eating outside on a bench within school premises by the building’s front doors; the girl was originally planning on eating in the cafeteria but upon witnessing Doll, Lizzy, and Rebecca having some sort of drama and starting something with other students in there, Uzi had decidedly snuck away to enjoy her food outside in her lonesome. Setting a thirty-minute timer on her phone so she’d know when she had to go back in.

Eating away from everyone else and peacefully relishing in the outdoor sights, spared from the backdrop of loud obnoxious kids and instead the calm ambiance of chirping birds… This was sorta nice, honestly. Maybe she should sneak away from everyone more often.

Uzi was about to eat another spoonful of rice when there was a sudden blur of brown followed by a soft Thump on her left. She paused and turned to look, seeing a fluffy brown hoary bat lying on the concrete ground in front of the school’s glass doors. Posing as if they were a dead bird – was it dead?  

The bat began wildly squeaking – nope, definitely not dead. The little bat flapped its wings angrily as it rotated its body upwards again, stumbling around before entirely freezing once it spotted Uzi looking directly at them. Its eyes locking onto her. 

Uzi just stayed where she was, staring at this bat in return. When the little bat began waddling towards her while letting out chirps was when she stood up and began to back away. Nope, she was not interacting with some wild animal. This thing could have rabies for all she knows.

The animal came to a stop noticing the girl was backing away in response. They both stilled and the lack of movement from both parties got them caught in a stand-still – Uzi and this strange bat intently and unmovingly locking eyes with each other, only to be broken when the bat abruptly flew up. Uzi let out a startled yelp as she initially thought the animal was planning on flying directly at her , but no. It just sharply turned and went away from her.

Having successfully ‘survived’ the bat confrontation, Uzi let out a sigh of relief and safely went back to her bench. Going to enjoy her lunch with hopefully not another interference. 

Though, not even five whole minutes passed before yet another interruption occurred. However, this one was much better than the previous.

“Hi, Uzi–” Uzi nearly choked on her food, her head twisting around to see a familiar tall boy standing directly behind her. How does he keep doing that?? She knows sh– Ah, forget it.

“Sorry, did I scare you?” N sheepishly apologized. 

“Yeah but it’s fine,” Uzi said, “Went to escape the Cafeteria drama too?”

“Uh– Yeah.” N said, taking a seat next to Uzi. 

“So… Where’s your food?” She questioned. 

“Oh, uhm.” He blinked, “I-I tried to brave the Cafeteria room initially and just eat there, y’know, which went smoothly at first but then the unfortunate happened– I was able to down most of my food before I got swept up into the drama. What  – uh – happened was that basically Doll was there and went to pick a fight with me, probably because of our previous encounters, but I didn’t want anything to do with whatever was about to transpire if I engaged with her so I just… hurriedly left without my food.” He stammered somewhat nervously. 

Uzi frowned upon hearing that. Ugh. The popular kids in her school act as if they can do anything and are somehow above everyone else. The most angering fact though is that the surrounding kids are being sheeple and just gladly fueling this behavior, if more students had actual backbones and any slight individuality to them perhaps it’d be better. “Are you still hungry? I can share my food.” She offered.

“No, no, it’s okay.” N declined, “I ate enough.”

“If you say so,” Uzi said, continuing to eat her food. As she did so, she noticed N intently staring at her – or, more specifically at her food. His expression almost mesmerized, looking as if he's never seen rice before.

She paused, “You know, you don't have to pretend you don't want it. I can share, really.” Uzi told.

“Oh! Nonono, I don't want it.” N swiftly denied, “It's just that I'm trying to figure out what you're eating.”

“It's rice. Fried rice with vegetables.” She said.

 “Fried rice... Never had it.” N told.

“Missing out then, you should try it. It's good,” She suggested.

“No, I don't like vegetables.” N declined.

“You don't have to eat it with vegetables. I've had it with chicken, egg, shrimp…” She named. 

“Still no,” N rejected. Uzi frowned, picky she thought.

“Okay then,” Uzi said, “Y'know, since we're on this topic; what foods do you like?”

“Uh…” N paused, looking a bit caught off-guard by the sudden question, “...Meats.” He said slowly.

“Yes, but what kinds of meats?” She inquired.

“Uhh…” He looked really nervous for some reason.

“C'mon, I won't judge.” Uzi reassured, “If you have weird tastes I won't make fun of you. I wouldn’t have the grounds to, I’ve eaten my fair share of strange unpopular meal combinations.”

“Well. I like… deer. Deer meat…” He spoke hesitantly.

“You mean venison meat?” She asked, which she got a slow hesitant nod to from N. “Yeah, I've had some grilled venison chops before a couple of times. Wouldn't go crazy over it but the taste’s nice. Certainly nothing to be embarrassed over in my opinion. Anything else?”

“Um. Well, I like…” He suddenly perked. “Oh! I like shrimp. L-Like how you mentioned eating before. And uhm… Boar meat? S-Salmon's good too.”

“All good tastes, although I've never had wild pork – boar meat – before.” Uzi said with a soft smile, “Don't be so nervous, okay dude? With how anxious you’re looking I was expecting some crazy and controversial food choices but these are all pretty normal. Is there a specific reason you’re so tense?”

“It’s… It’s nothing, it’s just… Uh… ” N trailed off, nervously grinning as he fell into silence for a few drawn-out seconds, “ — I’m just overly self-conscious about the foods I eat, that's all. It's a problem, I know.”

Yeah, something seemed off. Uzi would question further, but she was getting the vibe that this might strangely be a touchy subject for him – had to be seeing how nervous and somewhat panicked he looked. Out of respect, she’d leave it, “That’s okay.” She told.

Silence naturally fell over the two when the topic came to a close. With the gap in conversation, Uzi began to continue eating her food while N gazed off to the side. Thinking.

“So,” N began, “Do you like bats?”

Uzi swallowed her food, “What?”

“ Haha , random, I know. But I was just curious.” He told nervously, tapping his index fingers together, “because – uh – besides dogs, bats are my second favorite animal!” 

“Hm. I mean, I guess they're okay.” She shrugged, then blinked, “ Oh yeah, reminds me. Before you came over to me a bat attacked me.”

“...Attacked you?” N looked a little confused.

“Yeah, or it didn't attack attack me but I think it tried to square up with me. The little bat flew into the school's glass doors like a bird then started flapping and making noises on the ground before trying to go for me. But luckily it flew off without harming me,” Uzi summarized, “I think I've read somewhere that grounded bats out during daytime is a sign of rabies, and if that’s true that’s kinda concerning??”

The boy frowned, strangely looking vaguely offended, “Well... I don't think it was rabid.” N said slowly. 

“And how do you know? You weren’t there to see it.” Uzi asked with a raised brow.

“Uhm- I know. It’s just… The likelihood of encountering a bat with rabies here is pretty low.” N told. 

“But not zero,” Uzi added. 

N gave it up with a sigh, “I suppose.” 

“Also–” Uzi was cut off by her phone alarm going off, “Gah, bite me! Lunch is over and I haven’t even finished my food yet!” She groaned irritatedly, closing her lunchbox. “I guess I can save this for later.”

“Oh biscuits! Super sorry that I distracted you from eating,” N apologized, to which Uzi shook her head to; “No, it’s okay. It’s not a big deal,” She said, slipping her lunchbox back into her backpack before standing up,  “By the way, are we still going to meet up after school for the arcade today?”

“Yeah, of course!” N said vibrantly, “Speaking of which, this is gonna be my first time going to an arcade.”

“Wait really? Oh I’ve been there plenty of times, you’re gonna love it.” Uzi said with an excited grin, “Can’t wait to show you all the little tricks I’ve been honing over the years.”

“Counting on it!” N told, getting up as well. “See you after school!”

The two walked into the school building together – N intentionally distancing himself behind a little bit – and once Uzi made a turn down a certain forked hallway the boy entirely stopped and lingered behind. Waiting a good minute or so before sharply turning around and speeding out of the school. Returning back to the same bench they were at moments prior and sitting down. 

Despite not being a student at the school N still had to act like he was. He figured if he just stayed outside while Uzi returned to the school it would’ve raised some questions and he’d hate to get caught that way. 

But speaking of getting caught. What was that food conversation? He was so sure he was going to say the wrong thing and suddenly be outed as an unhuman. N had been internally panicking the whole time; Ask him about what blood type he thought was the best and he would gladly go on a little tangent on how AB- was so overrated and how A+ and O+ were the tastiest types of blood. But ask him about non-blood? That was when you’d get him in trouble. He admittedly knows very little about what humans thought were acceptable and normal foods to consume and enjoy. I mean, of course N knows the basics– Humans eat various fruits, vegetables, and some meats. And he’s been thinking he was in the clear just knowing the basics up until now! N had never known they gave special names to meats! To him; deer meat is deer meat. What is Venison ? What is Wild Pork ? And what in the eight vampiric moons does grilled mean? 

N needed to do some intensive research on human diets. He, somehow, hadn’t realized how much of an oversight it was when crafting his fake human persona that he hadn’t assigned meals his identity liked to consume. But what would his persona’s opinions be on those foods flavor-wise? – He couldn’t actually taste them himself... Perhaps he could ask the locals on what foods taste like? Or would they be too weirded out by a stranger approaching them out of the blue? Maybe if it was in the right context, possibly like he was just a person curious to try something in a food place? Man, this was tricky…

… He sincerely hoped there were no foods in an arcade… What was an arcade, anyways? He hoped it wasn’t a food place… It can’t be, Uzi mentioned ‘little tricks she’s been honing’ so it sounds like some kind of activity. 

As he pondered, his eyes trailed over to the glass doors of the school.

And to put it out there; he’s never going to fly in his bat form during daytime ever again. Hitting those doors really hurt.

———————————————

N and Uzi had met up an hour or so ago after school-hours beneath the same tree they had met underneath the previous day. The girl had briefly informed him that she needed to drop off her backpack at home first as the arcade wouldn’t allow anyone with a backpack to enter for safety concerns and that he should too – plus it’d just be generally easier on the shoulders.

N had happily complied, going to sneakily fly and dump his backpack on the roof of some nearby apartment building out of reach from anyone before dashing back to their previous spot in wait for Uzi. 

It took a little while, but she of course did show;

“I’m back, N!” Uzi waved, walking up to N who was leaning against the tree. He was looking pretty bored but then immediately brightened up upon seeing her

“Hey, Uzi!” N greeted enthusiastically, “Since I didn’t ask before I’ll ask now; how was class for you? Uh, my school day was good. Although boring, heh.”

“Yeah, nothing out of the ordinary happened with me either. Actually wait, I did get into a scuffle with Rebecca today after our talk on the bench.” Uzi remembered, “Which was odd, since usually it’s Doll and Lizzy who gets physical with me.” 

“You have another bully?!” N exclaimed, bringing his hands to his mouth. 

“Oh, I have plenty . The whole school’s my bully I feel like. Most kids either want nothing to do with me or actively make it their career to pick on me. But Doll, Lizzy, and Rebecca are the main antagonizers. I feel like the reason everyone targets me is solely because of those three, or two – Rebecca’s honestly not that powerful, she has influence and ‘popularness’ if that’s even a word but not to the degree of the other two. Whatever, main thing is; it’s like everyone wants to follow in the popular kids’ footsteps, be cool and get other people’s approval, so they mimic their behaviors whether good or bad in an attempt to achieve that.” Uzi said, “In fact, you’re… You’re kinda the first person whose approached me with good intentions in a while. The last person who interacted with me like this was some girl who ended up being in cahoots with Rebecca and gained my trust in order to do some stupid bullying stunt. She tossed me into a freezing creek before taking pictures of me, then that person never ended up talking to me ever again after that.  Now that I think back on it, I guess there were a lot of red flags. But I was just lonely and… Ugh.” She sighed, “Sorry, point is– You’re the first actually kind person in a while, and I’m glad I’ve met you… Hah, I hope you’re not secretly in cahoots with someone because that’d suck.” 

This pained N to hear, getting a sense of anger as well that the girl has been treated so poorly throughout her time at this school. “I’m not Uzi, I swear on my life.” He told sincerely, “Infact, the next time I see Rebecca I’m going to give her a stern talking to on her treatment towards you.” too bad he had no clue what Rebecca looked like. 

“If it’s gonna be anything like the Target incident, maybe spare her?” Uzi lightly laughed, “But don’t worry, I know you’re not like her. You seem genuine and well-meaning, and looking back on that previous relationship now I can kinda tell she was… a little fake – like, she was giving faux interest in me, y’know? As if she was just acting interested in me just to earn my friendship and wasn’t actually genuinely liking me. But you? Well, somebody needs to have genuine like for a person to willingly sit through my one and a half hour ramble about anime.” Uzi said with a small smile, “I’m pretty confident you’re not lying about who you are.” 

When Uzi said that, he subconsciously moved his tongue across his sharp vampire teeth. Oh, he definitely was. Just not in that way.  “That’s a lot of trust for a person you’ve met just three or so days ago.”

“Yeah, I know.” Uzi admitted. She wasn’t quite sure why she was feeling so strongly attached to N so quickly herself; was it due to the severe lack of affection throughout her years that made her desperately latch onto and get highly invested in whatever scarcely offered friendship she was given? – Uh, she doesn’t know. She’s used to the lack of company in her life, she doesn’t need change even if it’s nice. Stop interrogating her. Shut up. 

“ Anyways , enough about that heavy stuff. I want to go play some video games, it’s arcade time!” Uzi swiftly moved on, hurriedly going off ahead, “Vamonos!” 

“Huh? Ah – Wait for me!” N exclaimed, quickly trailing behind her. 

———————————————

“And if we turn the corner… Arcade~” Uzi outstretched her hand, gesturing towards the mid-sized colorful building. Shades of dark blues coloring the exterior of the building, meshing well with the bright neon GLITCH ARCADE lettering set above the glass-pan doors. Bright machines blinking from the purple-blue interior visible through the darkly tinted windows.

N didn’t know what an arcade was, but he hadn’t been expecting this. This was definitely an activity place though and it looked interesting. 

Uzi walked N over to the doors, “Also, don’t worry about the entry cost. I’ll cover for us.” She told as she held the door open for the boy. Letting N walk in first and then closing the door behind as they both entered. 

Nothing could prepare N for what being inside this arcade would be like. 

There were a lot of sights for his eyes to behold; rows of tall machines with colorful pictures either blinking or smoothly sliding on their glowing screens. The sunlight from the outside world was muffled thanks to the tinted windows, creating a certain dimness that the bright neon lights decorating narrowly every surface could warmly contrast with – those lights especially present on the big strange machines. Some lights were flashing, some lights had the smooth illusion of movement, and some lights were entirely still in casting their overwhelming radiance to the world.

The bat ears underneath N’s chauffeur hat twitched as his senses honed in on the various circling sounds. The constant beeping and clicking – horrendously loud crowds cheering muffled by the even more deafening overlapping noises of the machinery; beeping, dinging, music, chiming, buzzing, bings, ringing. All intermixed with the highly pitched cries of young children like a horrible chorus. Noises, noises, noises, why was there so much noise in here!? Why was there so much noise?! He could barely think . 

He grabbed his cap tightly, pressing his ears underneath his hat in an attempt to cover them. Shielding himself from the encircling sounds.

Okay, N. Calm down, breathe. 

Just take a deep breath and compose yourself. 

He shut his eyes and took deep breaths in an attempt to ease himself, inhaling the strong scents of sweat, old carpet, and other miscellaneous scents too unfamiliar to name dancing around in the air. N gagged on the blast of smells, an animalistic growl escaping his throat although it wouldn’t be heard over the loud booms of sound reverberating off the walls and hastily slithering through the building directly towards him. Each sound this place emitted that found its way towards him was like gunshots to his ears, clawing down his eardrums and ripping into his auditory nerves.

The graze of a finger across his shoulder made him tense up, his yellow eyes shooting open to look down at Uzi. She looked concerned.

“N?” God, N could barely hear her over the clamor and grating noises. He could barely string together a reply, “-Y-Yes..?” the boy choked out.

“Are you okay?” She asked, “You’re all sweaty, shaky, and — and why are you holding your head?”

N stared deeply at Uzi, inspecting her expression as he pressed into his ears harder. She looked fine, entirely unaffected. This place was overload on his vampiric senses but humans were completely fine in here, of course they were– this area was designed for humans, not vampires with noise sensitive ears. 

He had to be fine in here, he needed to just push through this. If he wanted to be human he needed to just do this and act fine . 

The boy gave a shaky grin, “ –I-I’m fine, I– just, it’s… It’s fine —” the moment he let go of his ears, the intense blare of reheightened sounds painfully ricocheted through him like a stake to his chest. His ears ringing as he felt his heart start to drum, disorientation kicking in as a pained cry rose from him. His eyes wildly darted across the bright, flashing environment. His senses honing in on the infinity of attacking bellowing sounds and aggressive neon incandescent. He panted; he couldn’t stay here, nonono, this was too much. Too many sounds, too many lights, too many smells, too many everything . He couldn’t be here. He had to escape, he felt almost endangered here somehow – he didn’t know why, he just did. His brain was telling him to get out of here or else , and who was N to disobey his primal instincts. 

The vampire spun around, leaving the girl where she stood as the boy charged out the front doors. Immediately relief flushed over him as he escaped the chamber of noises, but he kept on running. Bunkering down in a nearby small shaded alley, finding the darkest closed-in spot – which happened to be a little nook to the end of the alleyway by an empty dumpster – and curled in on himself. Slipping his fingers underneath his hat to massage his hurt ears as he just calmed himself down. 

As he sat there, slowly letting the feeling of discomfort and pain leave him, a sense of worry entered in replacement. He must’ve looked so weird to Uzi, how would he explain what just happened to the girl? Surely there wasn’t any human explanation for what just occurred? 

A deep frown made its way onto his face as he re-straightened his hat and crossed his arms. Did he just ruin his friendship? What if she knows something is up now? What if she knows he isn’t human? What would she do? – Would she kill him? Did she know how to do that? She didn’t seem to own a JCJenson gun, or at least carry one on her. Nor did she appear to have any alternate weapons to slay him traditionally. If not, then Uzi’ll surely just call the monster hunters. He knows that. And in either of those cases, he’d have to kill her. He’d have to. But N really didn’t want to do that, he liked Uzi. She was really fun to be around. 

He let out a groan, covering his face with his hands. This was a horrid day. If only he had known what an arcade was.

“N?” His heart skipped a beat, that was Uzi. Oh no, oh no no no . 

He could hear the girl turning down into the alley he was in, “Was that you?” she asked. 

N stayed silent. A part of him debating whether he should switch into his bat form and crawl away, she wouldn’t notice something so small sneaking off. And if she did, surely she wouldn’t think anything of it. 

Although by the time N settled on doing it, the boy had already used up all his seconds to take action. Uzi having finally laid eyes on the boy huddled by the side of a dumpster, hiding away from the world. “...N?” 

“I’m sorry.” The boy quickly spat out, unsure what else to say. 

Uzi crouched down, highly concerned, “What happened back there?” 

N bit his lips, reluctant to tell. Uzi picked up on it and after a moment of silence she spoke; “I’m not going to make fun of you or anything if that’s what you’re worried about?” She told, “Whatever happened back there, I’m not going to see you as weird or stupid or whatever your brain is telling you I’m gonna think. I promise, okay?” 

Although he was still dreading a confession, there was still the slightest sense of comfort gained in her words. “I…” He began, “The arcade, it… It was so overwhelming. When I walked into that place, it – it was like bombs went off in my ears, there were so many loud noises, smells, and things going on all at once that – That I just got so disoriented and oddly scared that I just… I just ran, I panicked and ran. It hurt my ears and my senses and… And I just couldn’t take it. I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s okay.” Uzi swiftly reassured, “I’m sorry, this is all my fault. I should’ve warned you on how noisy it was going to be. I just – I just didn’t think about the possibility of you being sensitive to the sounds before bringing you there.” 

“No, it’s nobody’s fault.” N told with a sigh, “... Are you, like, not creeped out by me?”

“No? Why would I?” Uzi was baffled, “You got overwhelmed and freaked out a little, but there’s no wrong in that.”

N examined her expression. No malice, no visible suspicion. It was okay, he was fine. With that, the boy properly relaxed. “Okay…” He said, “Sorry for, uh, ruining your arcade plans. You looked really excited to go there.”

Uzi briefly frowned, “I was,” She said, “But that’s okay. We could still go somewhere else if you’re still up for hanging out.”

N slowly nodded, “Yeah, I am. What other places do you have in mind?”

“I dunno, let me see what’s in the area.” She said, pulling out her phone and googling. “Are large crowds an issue for you? Because if not we could go visit a nearby mall and maybe shop for a few cool-looking things together.”

N thought for a moment, “Is it noisy?”

“Nah. I mean, people can be a little chatty and when you walk into the stores there's music playing overhead and sometimes it can be a little too loud, but it's nothing like the arcade.” Uzi replied, “I'd personally rate it a little above the volume of the Target we went to, especially since we’d be going on a weekday and school ended barely an hour and half ago – can’t imagine the Mall being too busy right now.”

“Okay,” N began, sitting up and dusting off his coat, “I think I'm fine going there then.”

Once N got up, Uzi stood as well; “Great, it’s a bit of a walk from where we are right now but I might know a short-cut.” She informed as she walked the boy out of the shaded alleyway, N keeping close as Uzi started to guide him down the sidewalk and off towards a different section of town. A section of town that N rather quickly came to realize was an area he was yet to wander until now – his surrounding environment gradually becoming less and less familiar as he was brought towards this ‘Mall’ place.

They hit their destination when they found themselves in a gigantic parking lot – or more accurately on a sidewalk beside it – with a large amount of vehicles parked within it, and attached to this car park was possibly the largest building N has ever seen. 

A massive beige-colored establishment with an extravagant glass front, with yellow bold lettering overhead reading The Diamond Plaza . 

The girl glanced over at N as they walked, “First time you’ve been to the shopping mall?” Uzi asked, picking up on the amazement radiating off of the boy. “It's pretty cool, I visit the place occasionally. Mainly for the Hot Topic in there– yes, shocking, I know.” She said with playful sarcasm.

N didn't know what a ‘Hot Topic’ was but he made sure to nod his head and lightly laugh in reply as if he did. “Can I go see it?”

“Hot Topic?” She asked, which N clarified with a yes. Uzi looked decently surprised, “You didn't strike me as a Hot Topic enjoyer. Not complaining though, love to see another connoisseur.”

N shook his head, “I'm not, I don't think I've ever been in a Hot Topic before. But uh, it wouldn't hurt to check it out.” he said with a polite smile.

“Ah, that makes sense,” Uzi went over to the Mall's doors and held it open for N, “I don't think it's gonna be your thing, though.”

“You don’t know that,” N replied, taking off his sunglasses as he entered the building. He opened his mouth to add on to that statement but he promptly shut it upon noticing the interior of the place. 

It felt as if N was standing in the entrance of a grand palace, a large spacious lobby with white walls and glistening matching tiled floors; multiple sets of overtowering levels accessible by what appeared to be mechanical stairs with moving steps. The area gave entrance to a plethora of other compact mini colorful shops that contrasted with and gave a pop of color to the whiteness. He’s never seen a place this large before, not even the vampire castles he’s been in before could compare.   

Focusing on the sounds around him, it wasn’t particularly loud (nothing like that arcade, thank god) but it sounded busy; sizable crowds chattering, collective of  footsteps diving in and out of stores. Music from various different shops poured out into the main hall a bit, but it was quiet enough to not be very overwhelming either. 

“Yeah, that's why I said I think ,” Uzi replied, then watched as N’s expression changed to one that topped his previous amazement. “Yeah, I know, this place is gigantic.” Uzi commented, “There’s a lot of different types of stores you can go to here, although a large majority of them are clothing stores. Especially the big name ones.”

She spoke as she walked N down the entrance of the Mall, “The place is incredibly large – as you can probably already tell – so they got a little map up front of the premises.” Uzi told, taking him over to where a big map on the wall was set. “Where do you wanna go first, N? We could stop by some stores or go straight into the Hot Topic.” She asked. 

N looked over at the map. There were three different floors laid out upon the map, highlighting all the store locations on each floor. The vampire was impressed by all the places you could go in here, there looked to be over a hundred of different stores. “Um,” he paused, there were just so many options! “We can just start off with Hot Topic?”

“Alright,” Uzi said, but before they left the map she slipped out her phone and took a quick photo of the map. N looked at Uzi with curiosity, which she noticed; “Just in case we need to look at the map again.” She explained, “Could want to know the location of a different store or something.”

“Can I see the photo?” N asked as the two began to leave the mall’s entrance and properly begin to go through the concourse, “Sure,” Uzi said, handing him her phone. The boy delicately took it, staring at the photo on the phone. The picture was somewhat shaky but it was still readable. N knew that human technology was like magic without magic, and it was incredible if not horribly baffling. How could they craft little gadgets like these without even the slightest hint of enchantment? He wished he could just ask Uzi how it was possible for this tiny box to see something and then store a little hyperrealistic drawing of it (I mean – he thinks it’s some kind of digital drawing, what else could it be?) within its system because this was really impressive to him, although N knew he couldn’t without actively risking his secret identity.

“Thanks, here.” N said, handing the phone back to Uzi. She took it and the two began to head towards the Hot Topic; N the entire time staring into the passing stores with wide curious eyes. Most of what they passed by were clothing boutiques, but some were jewelry shops, department stores, electronic sho– 

A specific store caught his interest, it was different from the other surrounding ones around it. With colorful yellow and blues, a grand welcoming archway that gave N a strange sense of coziness, and peering through the pristine windows he could see a plethora of cutesy faux animals (he believes they’re called stuffed animals?) on display.

N doesn’t know what a ‘Build-A-Bear’ is, but he wants to go inside of it. 

He’d ask after they left the Hot Topic Uzi wanted to show him… and speaking of, the vampire could spot a dark storefront with the bold words HOT TOPIC in white neon lettering up ahead. The shop was far different from the other ones that surrounded it, lacking any of the prevalent vivid colorful colors and appearing almost like a black void within this otherwise bright space.

“Why does that store look so… shadowy?” He questioned.

“Because it’s a Hot Topic ,” Uzi replied with a playful eye-roll as she moved towards the store’s cased opening, “Come on.”

N stepped into the Hot Topic. The store was small and compact; the walls, shelving, and flooring were all black or colors just a few shades shy from it. The ceiling was lined with tiny yet bright flat ceiling lamps spaced in neat rows, giving a well-lighted view of all the different kinds of clothing, merchandise, and cool-looking trinkets the store offered; with all the products placed very close to each other in a sort of messy yet strangely organized fashion. Upon walking into the store could the vampire hear music radiating from the top of the ceiling (this seemed to be a bit of a normal thing for shops, he wondered where this music was even coming from though), although unlike the previous stores he’s been in – all of which had calm and soft music – this store’s music had heavy, violent beats and strong guitar and drum melodies. 

N didn’t know how to feel about the music, but the dark colors this little store possessed were quite pleasant for N to look at. Far easier on his senses than the other human areas he’s gone to. He assumed it was most likely due to the fact that, being nocturnal, he was more accustomed to murky colors and low lighting.

“They sell a bunch of different things; belts, clothes, backpacks, collectibles…” She listed off, “Look around and see if there's anything you'd like, I can cover it for you.”

“You've been covering for me a lot. I think I should just buy something for once,” N told.

“Are you sure? I don't mind paying.” Uzi replied.

“I can buy something myself, it's fine,” N said.

The vampire walked through the store, browsing it of all its contents (which didn't take long, as mentioned previously the store was small); Gloomy-looking and vaguely jokey-menacing clothing, darkly-cutesy backpacks or alternatively more happier-appearing bags with intricate designs, colorful striped belts along with pins, and gothic plushies plus figurines. This store had a certain vibe to it, and he can see why Uzi likes it. Most of these products looked like something she’d own.

N went over to a display shelf near the front of the store that had plushies and figurines on it, spotting a cute small blackish-gray Shiba Inu plushie with tiny bat wings amongst the bunch. The boy gingerly lifted the stuffed animal off the shelf and inspected it; reading its tag the plush was named ‘Bat Dog’ and was only a couple of dollars.

“Is that what you’re buying?” Uzi asked as she approached, holding some folded T-shirts in her hands. 

“Yeah, is that okay…?” N asked, to which Uzi just shrugged in response; “You can buy whatever you want, dude.” She said, “You don’t need my approval.”

“Right…” N stared down at the dog plush, “This is all I’ll be getting.”

“Alright then, let’s go check out.” Uzi said, the girl guiding N over to where the checkout was. She paid for her items and then moved over for N to pay.

Okay, he’s familiar with the process. He hasn’t done this before personally but he’s observed humans doing this. 

N slipped his hand into his pocket and brought out some cash he had. This was money he had taken from the victims of his hunts. Not to say the vampire was loaded because that would be simply untrue; N didn’t have a lot of money. He had only just recently started collecting money off the corpses he hunted, as before his attempts to assimilate into human life the vampire had no real reason to cling onto human currency. So far N’s only taken the cash off two bodies in his eight days of living in human society (to note; vampires didn’t need to eat daily and could go typically two and a half days before getting hungry), as unfortunately collecting money had slipped his mind of yesterday’s hunt. 

The boy would quickly glance over the dollars he just took out, paranoidly checking for any hint of dried blood on it, before handing the money over to the cashier.

The cashier took the money, gave them their respective change, and offered the two bags which they accepted. Then they turned to leave; to which N felt vaguely disappointed for. The vampire honestly didn’t want to be leaving the store so soon, he really liked the color scheme in there. He could only hope more stores would look similar to the Hot Topic.  

“ — Did you like the Hot Topic?” Uzi asked as the two walked out of the shop. N nodded, “Yeah! I mean, truthfully I didn’t like the music in there much but everything else was pretty cool.” 

Uzi frowned, “Not a fan of metal and rock I see.” Was that what it was called? “– Eh, that’s fine. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.” the girl shrugged, 

“Anyhow,” She continued, looking around at the nearby stores, “Let’s see, where should we go to next…?” 

“I know somewhere,” N began, “Could we go visit the Build-A-Bear we passed by earlier?”

“Ah, gee, I haven’t been into that place since I was like – Nine? Eleven? Somewhere around those numbers,” Uzi recalled, a fond expression on her face, “Yeah. We can go there, feeling nostalgic or something?”

Oh, was he too old to want to go into the Build-A-Bear thingy? Well, at least it seemed to be working out anyhow, he just needed to think up a response; “Uh– Yes! I used to be obsessed with Build-A-Bear when I was younger. We didn’t go to the mall a lot but in the rare times my family did I would beg on my knees and cry to go into the little Build-A-Bear, I loved it so much.”

Uzi lightly laughed, “Oh I was the same exact way! I’d be so pissed for the rest of the day – no, week if my dad didn’t let me get a toy. I’d be so committed to cartoonishly moping around the house as if that’ll convince my dad to drive me all the way back to the mall to get me a Build-A-Bear plush… Which it did!” She said with a mischievous grin, “Half of the time! But it still worked!”

The two began to walk and talk on their way to the toy store, “Oh, I wasn’t to that degree. In the event we left the store without a toy in hand – which was most of the time, my parents were hard to budge – I just hung my head down in defeat and be sad for about twenty minutes before going back to normal.” N told. 

“Weak,” She joked, “What kinds of Build-A-Bear toys did you like to get?”

N blinked. That was a hard one to answer, mainly since he’s never actually been in a Build-A-Bear before. Though he could infer… “The bears.” The vampire said. It’s Build-A- Bear , surely they must sell stuffed bears?

“Oh, wait really? I was expecting you to say dogs with how much you obsess over them.” She said, a bit surprised at his choice of animal. 

“Uh, my parents wouldn’t let me get the dogs because I already had too many dog plushies and toys back at home. So I settled on the bears reluctantly.” N elaborated, which Uzi nodded to; 

“Ah, that checks out. So it was an intervention.” She said, “Well, lucky for you, there’s no one to intervene with your addiction this time around.” Uzi gestured to the Build-A-Bear Workshop they were now standing in front of.

The two of them went inside and the interior of the workshop was a complete 180 from the Hot Topic (unfortunate, but honestly to be expected); bright square lights overhead, giving off a yellowish tint to the beige walls and light brown wooden flooring. Rows of colorful spaced red and blue shelving holding various stuffed animals and toy clothing, although something N found particularly strange was how by where the stuffed animals were being displayed right underneath was a long divided rectangular box holding deflated copies of them.

“Wow, this place has not even changed slightly from how I remember it.” Uzi commented as she followed N through the store, the boy looking over the options. There were cows, frogs, axolotls, cats… Any animal you could think of was here, including dogs. A golden retriever stuffed animal caught the vampire’s eye, he was instantly drawn the plush – reaching up and taking it off the display ledge it was on. “I’m getting this one, what about you?” He asked.

“Oh, I’m not getting anything…” Uzi paused, trailing off, “ — Are you trying to take the display toy?” 

“...Yes?” N said, “Can I not?”

“You’re supposed to get the unstuffed dog,” Uzi told, then kept going upon seeing N’s perplexed expression, “So you can bring it to the stuffing machine? And get a sound and stuff?”

Oh? Was that how it worked? “Ah, yeah, sorry – sorry. I forgot how this all worked,” N quickly replied, putting the golden retriever back and instead getting its casing out of the box. 

“How could you forget how it worked?” Uzi was astonished, “That’s like, the whole big thing about Build-A-Bear.” 

“Paint me a fake fan, then.” N said, “Now where’s the, uh, Stuffing Machine?”

“Right over here,” Uzi led N through the store, bringing him over to a large extravagant-looking rectangular yellow and blue machine with a little heart-shaped box attached to it. The machine had a glass panel at its front allowing you to see into its inner workings, a big metal whisk-like hand smoothly mixing up the horde of white stuffing within the metal box. It was mesmerizing to watch.

There was a man manning the machine, he noticed the two approach and wore a welcoming smile. “Hello, you want that stuffed?”

“Uh, yes please,” N said, handing the stuffed animal to the worker.

“Would you want a heart in there?” He asked, to which N nodded to. The worker proceeded to dig his hand into the heart-shaped box attached to the large machine, pulling out a little fabric heart and slipping it inside the unstuffed animal. “And would you like to add a Scentiment as well?”

“A… What?” N was confused.

“A scent. Would you like to add a scent to your dog or no?” The man clarified. 

A scent? “Uhm, sure. What kinds do you guys have?” N asked.

“Well, we got rose, lavender, fresh cut flowers, peppermint, strawberry, birthday cake, cotton candy, and bubblegum.” The man listed off. “They all cost an extra 4.50 dollars.” 

“Uh…” N thought, those were a lot of choices. Some of which he weren’t even familiar with; What was a birthday cake, cotton candy, and bubblegum? They sounded weird. “I’ll take… Fresh cut flowers?” 

“Alright, and finally would you want to add a sound?” The man asked, “You’ll be able to press their paw and hear a little sound effect be played back to you.” 

“Sure.” N said, “What sounds do you have?”

“Well we have dog barking, of course, but if you wanna subvert expectations we could put in a different animal’s sound. We also offer some branded sound effects such as Toothless, Star Wars, Lion King, and more.” 

He had no clue what any of the latter was. “Uh, just dog barking please.” N settled.

“Alrighty,” The worker said and began getting to work. The man put in the sound box and scent before stuffing the toy, connecting the flat dog to the large machine and began filling the stuffed animal up. The vampire watching with awe as the toy slowly gained shape.

The worker stitched the dog up and handed it to the boy, “There you go. That’ll be thirty-two dollars.” 

That reminded N that he neglected to read the price tag of the golden retriever he was picking out. Oh well, it’d be worth it anyhow. 

N grabbed some more cash out of his pocket and handed it to the worker with a polite smile, “Here!” 

The man looked at the money and then at N. “That’s not enough.” He said flatly. 

The vampire blinked, “What.” 

“This is twenty dollars,” The worker informed, “and that is not thirty-two dollars, Sir.”

“Oh, oh I’m so sorry.” N quickly spat out an apology, digging into his pocket for more cash, “Just give me a moment...”

…

The vampire had no success, N shot a nervous glance at the worker before he then checked his other pocket.

…

Yeah… Yeah, that twenty dollars was all that was left in his pocket.

“Um.” N stared up at the man, “Is there a chance you can remove the scent?”

“No.” The man said.

N cringed, “Oh…” Yeah, he was in a pickle. Uhm…

“Here,” Uzi suddenly butt in, holding up twelve dollars. “This should cover the rest.”

“Uzi, no, I can pay for it.” N tried to assure, despite the obvious fact he really couldn’t.

“N, you’re out of money. It’s okay, I can help pay for it.” Uzi said, handing the man the money which he took to count. Seeing that the toy’s been covered for the worker set the stuffed dog in a branded house-themed cardboard box and handed it to N. The vampire was happy he got the toy but he wasn’t very happy with the fact that Uzi paid to cover him again. He was hoping he could buy some things himself, N truly thought he had more cash than just that on him. 

N apologized to the man for the trouble before following Uzi out of the store; “Sorry that you had to cover for me again. You’ve been spending so much money on me.” He told as they exited the store.

“It’s fine, N. Seriously,” Uzi reassured, “I don’t mind paying for all this stuff, it’s worth it as long as we’re having a good time.”

“If you say so…” N said.

Uzi looked as if she was going to say something else when her phone buzzed. She unlocked her cell phone, something catching her interest on the little device. “Hold on,” She told, tapping some things on the phone.

In Uzi’s point of view, she’s just gotten a text message from her dad. She pulled it up, seeing what he said;

(Dad)

“Just so you know when you come home I threw out the wreath. It was too nasty from being in the trash, i was going to just leave it there but i realized it could attract raccoons so i went to toss it somewhere in the nearby woods.” 

What. What?!?!

(Uzi)

“Seriously??? You said you were going to rinse it off” 

(Uzi)

“Also what raccoons dad? They dont live in alaska” 

There was a couple minute gap before Uzi got a reply.

(Dad)

“I mean wereraccoons” 

(Uzi)

“Okay”  

That checked out. Lycanthropes and similars were everywhere like an invasive species. But…

(Uzi)

“But why didnt you just rinse it off and put it back on the door like you said you were gonna do.”

(Dad)

“I didnt want to bother”

Her jaw dropped. 

(Uzi)

“with our safety????”

(Dad)

“Were going to be fine uzi, no vampire is going to attack us”

(Uzi)

“How do you know that???”

(Dad)

“I just do”

Uzi was exasperated, how could her dad be so carefree about this?! Her dad just casually tossed away their only barrier of protection from vampires, and she–!

“Are you okay?” N asked worriedly. Having been watching her angrily text this whole time.

She took a breath, “... Yeah, sorry. Just… My dad texted me something stupid.” Uzi huffed, “Let’s continue shopping. There should be a Macy’s in here, wanna check it out?” She’s supposed to be out here having fun with her new friend. She doesn’t need to focus on her dad’s stupid decisions right now, Uzi could save that for when she gets home. 

“Sure!” N smiled wide. 

For the span of two more hours, the duo began having a little bit of a shopping spree. Visiting as many different stores as they possibly could, picking out any (reasonably priced) items they found interesting to take home. 

Eventually, their shopping day came to a close. N came out with bags of new clothes (many of which were animal-themed) and two extra dog plushies he found – one a tiny german shepherd and the other an apparently ‘chibi’ pomeranian according to Uzi’s words. Uzi herself came out with bags of anime-themed clothing and merchandise, somewhat balanced out with just darkly colored clothing of random brands (most of which were purple – you know, N’s sorta getting the feeling Uzi really likes purple. Just a hint, though). 

“That was fun!” N grinned, slipping his sunglasses back on,  “We should do that again sometime.”

“Yes, we should!” Uzi agreed, “And maybe with enough money prepared to afford Build-A-Bear this time.” she joked. 

“Yeah, sorry about that. I really thought I had more on me.” N was going to have to get way more money soon and that couldn’t be just through mass killing. N was already being hunted for by the monsterslayers and didn’t want to raise his threat level in their eyes nor did N want to go around killing that many honestly undeserving people. 

“It’s okay, I’m just lightly teasing you. Again, don’t worry about it too much” Uzi said, checking her phone, “Okay, I gotta get home quick. It’s getting sorta late. See you tomorrow?” 

“Definitely!” N grinned wide.

And the two waved goodbye, going their separate ways. 

N walked off, immediately going to leave the public eye and dive into a nearby empty alleyway in a less populated street away from the mall. Once he did the vampire immediately dropped his shopping bags temporarily to take off his winter coat, revealing his white shirt underneath that was pretty torn at the shoulder blades. For a reason, though.

Bat wings smoothly sprouted from N’s shoulder blades – he had grayish-brown fluff surrounding his wing’s forearm that reached halfway down his wing membrane, resembling your typical hoary bat wing. N’s wings were massive and if he furled his wings straight against his body they’d be longer than his entire body by a good couple of feet. This was actually the typical wingspan size for a pure vampire, and while it might seem excessive this wing size was mainly for the purpose of combating harsh weather conditions during flight as well as shielding the body from harsh attacks.

N wrapped his coat around his waist and then went over to pick the shopping bags back up. The vampire took a cautious glance around at his surroundings to ensure that nobody was nearby before spreading his wings wide and blasting off high into the air. Wind gushed past N as he soared up into the air, going up to fly within the clouds. He wouldn’t dare break through to the other side – if he did that the sun would have no issue getting to him – but just enough for his form to be obscured to anyone below who happened to look up. He wished he could go into his bat form, that'd be much simpler for him, but alas; there was no way he could carry all these bags as a little hoary bat. 

When a familiar building came into view he immediately dive-bombed, making a speedy landing on the roof of the apartment he had left his backpack on. He dropped his bags and unzipped his backpack, moving all the contents of the shopping bags into his backpack instead. Once he finished N grabbed his backpack by the straps and flew up back into the air with it – not actually wearing it as it would interfere with his ability to flap. And the backpack was far too heavy to magically disappear on his person if he switched into his bat form whilst wearing it. There was a weight limit to it, unfortunately. 

He had his stuff, now he was just sorta aimlessly flying. This would be the point where he'd go home but the thing was, he didn't have a home. N was getting away with turning into a bat and sleeping wherever for these past days but now that he had stuff it’d be much more preferable to have at least a temporary staying location. 

N, like a hawk in the sky, scanned the ground below him for somewhere he could stay. He began flying towards the outskirts of town, hoping he’d find something uninhabited or abandoned – although none of the buildings seemed to be the case. Eventually, around the time the sun began to properly set, N began circling a certain building he found that was a little bit detached from the town. It wasn’t major, it was just a little gap, but N was still interested regardless. 

N dove in closer to be able to see the place better. The building looked to be a small restaurant (he vaguely knew what that was, it’s a building humans flocked to for food, right?), and by the sign out front reading PROPERTY FOR SALE CALL 1-888-422-9869 the place wasn’t owned. At least not currently.

N glided over to the back of the building, hovering in close to the tiled roof of the restaurant and softly landing. He set the backpack down to the side on the roof of the establishment and just stood there for a moment – thinking if what he was about to do even was a good idea – before revealing his claws and ripping off the tiles. Once he removed enough of the tiles N clawed through the now exposed plywood and broke through to the roof framing, successfully making a hole and entering the roof interior underneath. It was dark, stuffy, and akin to an attic (which, he miraculously knew what was. N’s lived in houses before – specifically those strange wooden ones within the wilderness, almost always inhabited by humans). But not the worst place, and for one he liked this darkness. 

He knows digging into the roof of a restaurant possibly soon to be occupied by humans like an invading rat might not be the best idea, but this was a temporary residence for him. Somewhere he’ll just stay while he works on finding somewhere better to be. 

But for just right now, it works fine.