YAYYYYY Finally Nodin's first story. XD Sorry it took so long! I'll try to have his official profile up soon, but if you want something to go by just refer to this for now~ [Clickie]
And if anyone writes about Nodin(idk when I'll have the next story ready) Just know that he's deathly sick all the time, he sleeps a lot, he never NEVER talks, and he stares off into space a lot. XD
Anyways, Enjoy!<3
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I have never felt an ounce of pity for my mother. Her anguish stopped when she gave life to me. The only thing that pains me is Dad’s troubled expression whenever he sees me throwing up, shivering, drenched in my own sweat. I hate reminding him of Mom. The clear liquid I was retching filled the jar; I pressed my face against its rim to seal the opening. It’s not the ideal way to vomit, but it was the easiest way for me to control my breath. Clenching my stomach, I took a deep breath of the contaminated air I have been inhaling for the past twenty-five years, and then quickly screwed on the lid of the jar and put on several flu masks. I exhaled.
“You good?” Dad asked. I nodded.
“Make sure you clean up,” he said, taking the jar from my hands, “I’ll get rid of this for you.” He walked out.
Staggering to the sink, I washed my hands, already red and raw from my continuous scrubbing. I reached for a paper towel, dried my hands, and used it to turn off the water. Then I put on some latex gloves and grabbed my spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a rag, and proceeded to disinfect the room. Two minutes on the sink handles—spray, wait, scrub. Eight minutes on the sink bowl—spray, wait, scrub. Fifteen minutes on the counter—spray, wait, scrub. Twenty minutes on the toilet; thirty-two minutes on the tub; forty-three minutes on the floor. Two hours in all. I could spend no more and no less time on each item. These were the necessary precautions I must take every morning. The washroom was one of the most personal and most disgusting places in one’s home.
I threw away my gloves and looked into the mirror to get ready for the day. The paleness sickly skin almost matched the white of my shirt, and contrasted with my thin, messy black hair. My eyes, sunken in and bloodshot, were graced with yellow, crusty bacteria along the sides, polluting the baby blue irises my mother left behind. I washed my face and then my hands once more to complete my routine, watching as the warm, clear water pushed aside the soapy bubbles that covered my long, boney fingers. I turned off the water and walked out into the main room of my apartment.
Dad analyzed me with a look of concern as I grabbed my dark khaki windbreaker jacket and headed for the door. He visits every other week, but he has never gotten use to my condition.
“Are you sure you’re well enough to go out?” I nodded. My headache, though still there and still going strong, was not as bad as it was when I woke up. “If you need to buy something, I’ll get it for you.” I shook my head. I am just going to grab a bite for us to eat from that café down in Robson Square. I know how much you don’t like going outside with so many people around. Dad sighed, “C’mon, Nodin, at least try to let me be a father.” I shook my head. This is my home, and you are my guest. I can’t let you run errands for me. Besides I know how to take care of myself. You raised me well. “Can you at least tell me where you’re going?” I paused. I forgot he couldn’t hear my thoughts. I pulled up the venue on my phone and showed it to him. Dad sat down and leaned back into the couch in front of the television. “Be careful while you’re outside.” I nodded and I walked out the door, fully aware that he was talking about the population of Vancouver than my own personal safety. It didn’t bother me. Because I had no control over this “power”, a single breath of fresh air could result in the death of half of the residents in North America.
The café was busy this morning; only three tables were open. My legs were weak from the walk, and my whole body is still shaking from sickness; eating my breakfast here shouldn’t hurt. I took a seat and wrote my order down on the napkin so I wouldn’t have to talk to the waitress. I dislike being interrupted when I’m thinking.
I looked upon the sea of people, a spark of excitement tingling through my body. Everyone is different. Everyone perceives things differently and reacts accordingly, but most of the time they hide their true thoughts within the safest place in their world—their consciousness. However, humans can be read like an open book; just their appearance and the way they move can reveal the contents of their mind. One must only take the time to look. Each individual person is a unique set of data that one can analyze to form a conclusion. It’s a process that should be known to all—the scientific method.
I looked out, studying the assortment of interesting characters around the café, trying to guess his or her age, occupation, relationship to the people around them, etc. The more I got lost in my thoughts, the less my mind and body ached. I like imagining the different possibilities and combinations of traits and experiences that make up a person, not caring whether I’m actually right or wrong; rarely does one think about a stranger. What’s their story? What kind of person are they? Are they happy? Despite my desire to get direct answers to my questions, actually interacting with people, sadly, is not a possibility. With my...condition, human interaction is way too risky. I lifted my flu masks and carefully took a sip of the coffee I ordered when suddenly I heard a quiet chime from my pocket.
Pulling out my phone, I looked at the notification on my screen, finding the urge to smile at the unexpected turn of events. An interesting subject is about to walk in. I tapped on the dot, and a detailed file of the approaching person opened up, listing his name, date of birth, height, weight, and every other personal detail about him. However, that was all extraneous; after scrolling through his personal records, I located the single piece of data that interested me: Vampire.
A bell chimed as the door opened. The natural aura of his presence, chilling and ominous, was brushed away by the casual conversations of the prey, unaware of the predator amongst them. I observed as his unusual bright green eyes rummaged through the herd of people, constantly checking his phone. He's looking for someone, and I have a bothersome feeling that it's me. Glancing down at my phone, I scrolled back up to the top of his file where his name was listed: Sebastian Lefevre. I've noticed his name many times before; every time I see it, he's in a different country. Looking up again, I pondered whether my hypotheses about Sebastian were correct, for I've made quite a few about him. I've even avoided studying his files to feed my wild imagination. From what I've observed, in every country he visits, he makes contact with another creature, sends them to America, and jumps on a plane to another country. Based on that information, there's a possibility that he could be raising some kind of army. A premature hypothesis of mine was he was driving his efforts in gathering volunteers for a vampire army, but that was quickly shot down when I realized that there were no vampires at all in the early formations of his group. It was highly unusual for a vampire to hang around completely different species; the one that took me by surprise the most was the werewolf Akira. Vampires and werewolves are notoriously territorial creatures. Another peculiar subject is that usagi girl Karin; a piece of data that doesn't match up with the whole "army" idea. I mean, really? You chose a rabbit to fight? What was the relationship between those two? Whenever he was with the rest of his group, his dot was always around hers. Based on their photos, there were no physical traits they shared, and their names were of different origin. Clearly they were not family members. So are they friends? More than friends? Fiancé? Husband and wife? Wait, I don't think they're old enough to marry...but even so, what if they were? What'd their children look like? Bunnicula? Wait, vampires shouldn't be able to mate; they're technically undead. Does that mean the usagi girl has necrophilia?
My throat, dry and scratchy, forced painful coughs, interrupting my train of thought. I've gone too long without any liquids. As my tired vision refocused, I saw Sebastian staring straight at me, brows furrowed, a look of deep concern and confusion plastered on his face. I quickly realized that while I was daydreaming, I must've forgotten to look away, a mistake I commonly make. As a result, I've been staring blankly at poor Sebastian for nearly twenty minutes.
Embarrassed, I lifted my flu masks and took a cautious gulp of tea, carefully, trying to look busy, but through my peripheral vision I noticed he was moving towards me. I slight tinge of panic poked my nerves. Is he coming to talk to me? Not good. I've wondered what it'd be like to be friends with him, actually with anybody, but I never thought about what I would do or say at the initial meeting. What am I suppose to say? Can I even trust him? My nervousness caused me to cough and wheeze, a burning sensation filled my lungs. How in the world do you talk with people you don't know?
Sebastian arrived at my table, his eyes glanced from his phone, now focused on me. It was like I could sense all the curious questions in his eyes, trying to access the secrets in my consciousness. An adrenaline rush caused my body to shake more than usual.
Hesitantly, he asked, "Uhm, excuse me, but I need to ask you question. You're not human, are you?"
I shook my head.
I take full pride in my mother's human blood, despite it limiting my "powers". I'm sure you're more interested in the traits my dad passed down to me. Longer lifespan, increased strength and endurance, cool stuff like that.
He stared blankly.
I forgot again.
"Okay...Does that mean you're not human, or not not human?" His speech was shaky. I'm guessing he was uncomfortable. Should I tell him what I am?
Suddenly, a quiet jingle of a bell resonated as the door of the cafe opened; there, I saw my dad, scouting around until he saw me. I waved, Sebastian turned around, and my dad quickly made his way towards us.
"Hey, Eric," my Dad said, referring to me by an alias, "You were taking a while so I came over to make sure you were okay." He put his hand on Sebastian's shoulder, gripping firmly. "Who's your new friend?"
I tapped twice on the table, signaling to my Dad; he glared down at the phone in Sebastian's hand.
"My name's Sebastian," he said, his body tensing. We better be careful. If we anger him too much, he'll put up one hell of a fight.
"You better come with us, boy," Dad said sternly, "We need to talk." He shoved Sebastian in front of him and guided him to door, keeping a firm grip on his shoulder. "Eric, take the bus and meet us at the apartment." I placed money for my tea on the table, grabbed my drink and the food, and followed them out the door.
After setting down the food on the table, I collapsed onto the couch from exhaustion, surprised I survived as long as I did. I coughed, trying to clear the mucus that clogged my throat. Closing my eyes, I fell asleep to the shaking of my body.
I awoke to the voices of my dad and Sebastian, but my drowsiness caused me to only catch bits and pieces of their conversation.
"Now, why don't you tell me how you got that program?”
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sebastian growled.
"Stop playing stupid." my Dad's voice shook with anger, "Just give me some straight forward answers, and this will go by a whole lot smoother, Fangs."
"H-how did you--?"
"I know a lot of things. Now tell me why you're here."
Silence.
"A club."
Aw man, I was way off.
"A club? What is this high school?"
"No, no. It's this thing that our leader, Akira, came up with."
"Akira? Wait, Akira Corners? The werewolf?"
"...Y-yeah."
Another silence. Hearing Dad say her name was odd...like I've heard him say it before. Corners... Corners...why does that sound so familiar?
"Akira found the hard drive for this Xenogenesis lab tracking device. She downloaded it on my phone and sent me out to go track people down. We want to figure out who exactly is behind all this and why we're being tracked."
"Do you realize how dangerous that is?! By grouping together in one spot, you become a giant target!"
"We're aware of that. We got attacked on a plane on our way back to base, but we managed to fight them off and escape. There's strength in numbers."
"I see...Well why N--Eric? Why'd you decide to come over here? He's not in any condition to take on any Xenogenesis men."
"Yeah...He doesn't look like any kind of creature to me, plus there wasn't any information on him at all, just a dot showing where he was. We thought it was really weird, so I came here to check it out. He's gotta be something if he's on the program.... Now then, I've told you what I know. You should do the same."
A scoff. "Too bad. We never agreed to that, Fangs."
I pondered the new information I collected. A club? How peculiar. I wonder how many different people are there. Not many mythological creatures are in my area. Having a whole collection of specimen would be.... fun. I'd like that. Slowly, I drifted back to sleep, dreaming of this club, and what adventures could unfold there.
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Nodin does end up flying to base, but his dad comes with him to help him move in and check everything out to make sure it's safe. :)
I'm glad to finally be able to take part of this amazing club and to work with awesome people<3
