Enemy Email-ings
Who: Corwin and Sammy
When: Early morning on up.
Where: The internets
It was a battle of wills. Or a battle of will. Singular. Sammy was awake in the wee hours of the morning for the...well, he'd lost track of how much sleep he had missed in the past few days. Point was, he was awake still. And debating whether or not he should email the vampire who had saved him and Geo - well, mostly Geo? - the night (morning?) before. The email was written out and the ancient mouse hovered over the send button. Should he send, or should he trash the missive?
He thought.
And he thought.
And he hit send.
Your message has been sent.
To: corwinlovescats@gmail.com
From: muted.raven@gmail.com
Subject: Answers?
So, you said I could ask you questions, right? So I have questions for you -- provided you still want to answer them. If you don't want to, I understand and stuff, but...yeah. It's worth a try, right? If you don't want to just e-mail back 'no' and I'll, like, not even ask. Right? Better than me typing out my questions only to be told you don't wanna answer 'em. I think.
--S. D. Williams.
.
Corwin came out of the shower, wrapped in his favorite fuzzy bathrobe-- god, it was nice to have his things with him again; he'd missed the little amenities like bathrobes and pajamas and things-- and gravitated immediately to his computer. It was just what he did. He was a bona-fide geek, after all, dead or not.
To his complete surprise, he had email. Nobody emailed him anymore-- not that anyone had really emailed him before, but still. He'd had four people email him in the past three weeks: one of them he was likely to never hear from again, another was (possibly) dead and the email was a glitch, the third was his boss, and the last was his sire.
This was none of them. It was pretty obvious who it was from, though, and he sat down immediately to answer it, despite still having a damp towel around his shoulders and dripping hair.
To: muted.raven@gmail.com
From: corwinlovescats@gmail.com
Time: 4:47AM
Subject: Answers?
Mr Williams,
Of course I'll answer your questions. Anything you'd like to know, if I have the answer, I don't mind sharing it. I'm not a very old vampire, though, so there are some things I might not know, but I'll be glad to ask around, too.
-Corwin
--
Well, he sure had to know a lot more about vampires than Sammy did, right? Things that people who weren't vampires didn't know? It would make sense - or at least he thought it would. Wereravens and, well, other weres like foxes and bears knew more stuff about weres than, say, the average human would. Like a human might think they could turn into a wereraven after getting scratched by one when really all they would do was bleed a lot. So Sammy was convinced - and maybe rightfully so - that Corwin could answer his questions reasonably well. He turned his music down in his headphones as the house creaked.
To: corwinlovescats@gmail.com
From: muted.raven@gmail.com
So, like, are there more than one type of vampires? I would think there would be because it just...makes sense? Somehow? 'cause there are different types of bats under the umbrella "bat" family (uh, this isn't about stereotypes, it's just what I thought up first), so why couldn't there be a whole lot of different vampires under the umbrella "Vampire" family? Plus you look a...lot different than another vampire I met, and the ones that attacked the town. ...though if that's, like, an abnormal occurance and...yeah. I'm not trying to insult you.
--Sammy.
He looked at how he'd closed it - the "Sammy" - and decided to leave it. It was alright.
.
Corwin had left the computer long enough to check on Patches, who really wasn't doing so well. Just watching her lay there, purring brokenly at him and not wanting to touch the food he'd brought her-- she managed to take a little when he held it to her mouth and let her lick it off his finger, but only a bite or two. She lapped up the water he'd poured onto a saucer for her, though, once he got her positioned right, soothing her when she mewled protest at each movement. Drinking was a good sign, right?
He brought her back with him to the bed, where he'd left his laptop, and settled her beside him so he could pet her carefully while he considered the first question. Having a first name was nice, actually. It felt a little less formal, and a little more friendly. Especially since he was having this conversation with a teen-ager.
To: muted.raven@gmail.com
From: corwinlovescats@gmail.com
Time: 5:26AM
Sammy,
I'm not offended. I know I'm nothing pretty :) But you're right, I'm not the same "type" of vampire as the beasts running around the town the past few nights. I'm what's called a Strigoi. We're the ugliest of vampires, though I admit I'm one of the worst-looking. We never get lost, we have a connection to a particular kind of animal, and we are probably the most close-knit of the vampire families. We "adopt" people who don't fit in and give them a family. The kind we've been fighting are called Acherus. They're the most vicious kind, they flourish on violence, and they run in packs. I think they might have moved on last night, but I can't be sure.
There are seven different kinds of vampire, total. Strigoi, Acherus, Faryngael, Lamatu, Renfield, Vetala, and Lotharatum. Faryngael are your stereotypical, beautiful vampires who can call you in your sleep and bespell you, but only if they know your name and have something of yours. Lamatu are the old-fashioned ones who actually *do* sleep in a coffin, and they don't like humanity much. Renfields are always insane in some way, and Vetala are the shapeshifters and ranger-types. You've heard of D&D, right? Vetala are the rangers of the vampire race. Lotharatum are more like druids. There aren't very many of them, though I'd love to meet one someday.
-Corwin
--
To: corwinlovescats@gmail.com
From: muted.raven@gmail.com
Time: 5:34AM
So, would your animal affinity be cats by any chance? Just your email addy is making me curious 'n all, you know? As for how you look, you're actually easier to look at than the "too pretty" some vampires seem to exhibit in their appearance. So...the "ugly" doesn't bother me so much. Do any of your type ever use that to your advantage? Get into people's good graces because they aren't feeling threatened by over-attractiveness?
...there are seven different types? Wow. Some of them I don't want to meet, like, ever, but I'm right with you on the "Wanting to see Lotharatum" front. I would like to meet a druid type, well, anything really. They seem like they would have, I dunno, answers for stuff. Yeah. And Renfield makes me think of Dracula - I think there was a character in Dracula with that name...he was, uh, crazy. Are Renfields crazy?
--Sammy
It was getting easier to hit send each time, and really kind of cool that Corwin wasn't getting annoyed with the questions. Yet.
.
Truthfully, Corwin had to find the fact that Sammy preferred a face like his to a Faryngael amusing, and a little endearing. He had to agree: too-pretty people made him uncomfortable, and though he did his best not to include other vampires in that, both Val and Regan had so far proved that sometimes vampires could be just as cruel as humans. If Sammy preferred him, he wasn't going to complain.
To: muted.raven@gmail.com
From: corwinlovescats@gmail.com
Time: 5:58AM
Got it in one :) Cats are my animal, though I get along well with most animals. I actually have eight cats, just as pets. Instead of crazy old cat ladies, you get crazy geeky cat vampires, I guess. I can technically also summon wild cats, like a bobcat or a lynx, but I almost always get domestic cats. My sire's animal is songbirds, though, and he can get anything from a sparrow to a robin to a mockingbird.
Actually, when it comes to our appearance, Strigoi most often get people afraid of us. We are very obviously "something else" whereas with most other vampires, you really can't tell they aren't human unless they show fang or you touch then, and even then most people write it off somehow. You can't write off someone who looks like me. If someone is already aware that the supernatural exists, maybe we could use the way we look to out advantage, but most people think we're monsters.
Is it sad that I never actually read or saw Dracula? I saw that really cheesy Hellsing movie with Hugh Jackman, but I doubt that's quite the same. At any rate, yes, the Renfield clan is always, always insane. It happens at turning, like how Strigoi automatically change to look something like me at turning, and can be anything from extreme OCD to drastic mood swings to your typical raving madness. We had one in Marquette for a while, I think. He chopped my finger off for telling someone his name :P I think he left a week or two ago, though. The hostel he ran is closed. Good riddance, I say.
-Corwin
Answering these questions was actually kind of interesting, and a little exciting. It was educating someone to not think he and his family were horrible and frightening, and to be careful with the other kinds. It was like he was helping.
--
The mention of the Lynx was cool - even though they were cats and therefore somewhat scary, the Lynx was his totem, and so, therefore, cool. Sammy let a small grin grace his lips as he set about replying to Corwin. Maybe he'd tell him that, yeah.
To: corwinlovescats@gmail.com
From: muted.raven@gmail.com
Time: 6:07AM
Only you're not as crazy as cat-ladies, right? 'cause you didn't seem like it when I met you, though maybe the sitch wasn't really condu...conducive? to acting like a crazy cat-lady? << And ooh. Lynx. You could seriously call one of them? They're cool.
As for people thinking Strigoi are monsters, isn't that stereotyping? Or something? Well, not that some of you aren't monsters, but thinking that alla you are going to be monsters? I would think that would be stereotyping. I think it's best to be wary of everyone, even humans, until you know you can trust them. OR something.
...he chopped off your finger? So do you have, like, uber-fast healing abilities, then? 'cause...I think you had all your fingers when I saw you. I could be wrong though. But anyhow - I don't think I want to meet a Renfield. The character in Dracula always creeped me out and I would probably be thinking about him all the time (he thought by eating other living things like...moths and stuff...that he'd gain their life force.) ...could one of them go crazy in that way?
--Sammy
.
Corwin gave his fingers on that hand a little flex, reading the last line. The pinky was a bit stiff, and it had scarred-- his own damn fault, for stitching it on badly-- but at least it worked. He tapped out a response after giving the various animals around him-- Patches hadn't moved, of course, but Davey had come to join him, and Georgia, and Kirk-- a round of petting each. Then he had to rescue the screen from Kirk's enthusiastic attempts at washing it. He loved that dog, but really.
To: muted.raven@gmail.com
From: corwinlovescats@gmail.com
Time: 6:26AM
Well, I like to *think* I'm not crazy :) I can't promise, though, as I can't imagine a crazy person would really realize it, would they? The only real crazy things I do are collect cats and wander around at night chasing off Acherus. Which, come to think of it, sounds pretty crazy.
Calling that lynx was kind of an accident, but oh god, was it cool. I almost didn't know what to do with her once I got her, since I wasn't expecting something that grand. I think she was a bit amused by me, if anything, though she did help out as I needed.
I'm afraid, Sammy, that stereotyping exists no matter what species you are. Even when I was alive, I was relegated to "slightly-crazy, antisocial nerd" pretty early on, and I never did get myself out of it. Now, at least, I can kind of understand when people aren't comfortable around me, though I'm finding more and more people who *are*, which is a pleasantly surprising experience.
Yes, he chopped off my finger. My pinky finger, on my left hand. I sewed it back on, and it healed back together. Hurt like hell, though, and took a while to heal (for me), because I did a really poor job of the stitching. Vampires do heal more quickly than those who are still alive, much more quickly. The wounds I got from the Acherus last night closed entirely within ten minutes. I agree, though, I don't particularly want to meet any more Renfields, either, as you're right, they *could* in fact be insane in that way. I can just imagine them going around trying to eat flesh instead of just blood. Ick.
-Corwin
--
To: corwinlovescats@gmail.com
From: muted.raven@gmail.com
Time: 7:00AM
Chasing Archerus? Yeah, pretty crazy indeed. But that would make me kind of crazy, too, right? Since I went out...sort of chasing them? Well, I ran towards them anyhow, when I could have run the other way. And don't I wish I had run the other way. Stupid-stupid Archerus. Meh.
And stereotyping is stupid, too. But...what can you do about it, really? Not much other than ignore it (if it's directed at you), and try and stop it (if it's directed at someone else).
As interesting as this is, I think I'm going to sleep now. I'm not really thinking coherently. I'll...talk to you later, right? Or email. Or whatever.
--Sammy
P.S. Will you let me or Geo know if there are any Renfield's around town ever, so we know to stay inside? I think a warning on that would be good.
,
To: muted.raven@gmail.com
From: corwinlovescats@gmail.com
Time: 7:14AM
I thought you were very brave, protecting your brother. I wouldn't call that crazy at all.
If there are any vampires in town, I will certainly let you know as soon as I find out. Right now all you have to worry about is a lady Faryngael, who I don't *believe* is violent. If I run across any more, I will let you know.
Sleep well, Sammy. It was good to talk to you. I appreciate your open-mindedness and desire to learn :)
-Corwin