the ground could open, he could still say please

[slavophile]

Comments

[pumping]

( He expects it to be about sex, maybe something darker, but leaning forward he sees a clear indentation. His eyes trail upward. )

They were vampires?

[mojitos]

[He nods.]

Very old, very fancy ones. They liked to serve dressed up street kids at their fancy vampire gatherings and paid them quite handsomely for it.

[He shrugs.]

They were nice enough, in a way that some farmers treat their cows well before they slaughter them.

[pumping]

That's disturbing.

( He can picture it, street kids begging for scraps in oversize clothes being -- served to the guests. )

You survived.

[mojitos]

Survival is ... relative.

[Because technically he did survive them, but he is also still dead.]

Technically they aren't the ones who killed me, but they're the reason I'm not still dead.

[Time to call it what it is.]

[pumping]

( (13) As thick-headed as he's been, missing the signs, he doesn't miss it this time. )

What, did they pay you in their blood? Donate yours and we'll make sure if anything happens, you'll be able to do it again?

( Yeah, he hates them. )

So you're -

( They're alone at the bar, most people concerned with dancing or sitting a few seats away. The music pumps through the speakers as he still speaks with his eyes.

He looks down at his own hand, flexing, his lapis lazuli a glint in the green laser show around them. )

What are the chances?

[mojitos]

Smaller than you think.

[Because it's true, there are a lot more vampires out there than most people realize. A lot of them are just way better at flying under the radar than vampires like the Salvatores and the Mikaelsons.]

And no, they paid us in cash. But they didn't want bodies tracked back to them, so sometimes they would give us some blood to make sure we didn't die. I just happened to leave one night and run into people who weren't as considerate.

[pumping]

I think we can go farther than 'considerate'.

( It's a nice way of saying they didn't murder him in cold blood. )

It wasn't my choice either. This. But, what's the saying? Life comes at you fast? Actually, I think that's a slogan.

[mojitos]

[He laughs.]

Doesn't make it any less true. Life comes at you fast, and it doesn't always make sense. But there are pockets of joy that make it worthwhile, I think.

[At least he tries to look on the bright side. He's seen what happens to vampires if they start drowning in despair.]

[pumping]

Joy pockets. Were you always this wise or is this a part of every vampire's journey.

( Can he look forward to doling out his own sage advice? )

[mojitos]

Oh, no. I've had a few decades to slide into my hippie phase. Though I'm sure my parents wish I would outgrow it already, but they're very ... Southern. I clash with the aesthetic.

[He says it very fondly, almost as though he maybe does this on purpose.]

[pumping]

You like that you clash. You live for the clash.

( There's something about Wes, something that's almost magnetic and Mickey actually likes him. He likes this conversation, likes hearing about these Southern parents. )

[mojitos]

I do. And I think they do too. Not that they'll ever admit it, but they do need someone to drag them into the twenty-first century every once in a while.

[As much as he appreciates Scarlett's southern charm, there are moments she can be a bit too ... Antebellum.]

[pumping]

Literally?

( Are his parents vampires? )

Just how Southern are they?

[mojitos]

[Wes makes a face because he's pretty sure Rhett fought for the South, even though he's never asked.]

I'm pretty sure Scarlett's father definitely owned a plantation before they became called out for what they were, if you catch my drift.

[Because yes, his parents are vampires.]

[pumping]

So, like Gone With the Wind.

( Exactly like it. Same name, too. )

How'd your parents become your parents?

[mojitos]

Scarlett was hanging out with the vamps who were paying me. She was mostly doing it to keep up appearances and be social about it, but she was different, you know. She never actually fed on me. She would just request my time, and we would talk.

[Not that Scarlett's hands are clean. You don't survive the world before blood bags without winding up with a few corpses or compelled victims. But she treated him better than a lot of the other vampires he met would, and she drove home that vampires are people, in the end.

However they are is what they choose to be.]

I got to know her husband too, but he didn't play so nice with the blue bloods. With good reason. Anyway, when I woke up in transition, I went to them. They felt like the only ones I could really trust to give me my options and help me figure this out.

[pumping]

I was turned by this dick vampire who kidnapped me.

( Which is also a complicated story. )

Not that I was on the right side of history at the time. A whole house of people decided what was best for me. Then Damon took my choice away.

[mojitos]

[There's a pause, and a squint, because well.

That resembles a Damon he knows.]

Damon wouldn't happen to be Damon Salvatore, would it?

[pumping]

Yeah. He and his brother and all their friends. And Klaus. Real operatic son of a bitch.

( He scoffs. )

Anyway, Damon shoved his blood in me and killed me. Now I'm this.

[mojitos]

Yeah, that sounds like Damon.

[He's slightly disappointed in Stefan, but he also knows that once Damon gets an idea in his head, it can be incredibly difficult to stop him.]

I'm sorry that happened to you. He can be a real son of a bitch.

[pumping]

Tell me about it.

( Weird coincidence. )

Is vampire world always this small?

[mojitos]

I'd say no, but ... honestly, the older you get, the more people get weeded out and you need to find those who understand what it was like when you were alive. Or people who knew you then.

[It keeps you grounded, or something. Wes is wondering who he's going to have if/when his parents and their circle of friends disappears and his sister is dead.]

The Salvatores were turned around the same time my parents were.

[pumping]

Have they always been dicks?

( Stefan was also a dick, Wes. Big time. )

[mojitos]

Stefan comes in waves.

[It's generally heightened when someone does something like attacking him for no good reason when he's just trying to pump his own gas.]

But no, "dick" is generally Damon's starting point.

[pumping]

Think we've been talking long enough for me to call you 'friend?'

( It's nice having a vampire friend. Hell, it's nice not being awkward with his bff. )