please don't take my sunshine away

Imogene shrugged. “I really couldn’t tell you. I just… can. The power just manifested one day and that was that. I’ve been studying it, obviously, and I don’t think that it has the same properties on vampires as actual sunlight does, but I’ve been cautious about it ever since.” They could still remember the mix of both thrill and terror when their powers had first manifested, and how they’d sworn off of human blood from that moment on.

She didn’t think it hurt vampires like sunlight? That meant it hadn’t actually been tested. The burning curiosity that had driven Ciara as a scientist welled up. This could mean something for how vampires worked, if one could create the very thing that destroyed them. “But don’t you want to know?” Her mind ran through what she knew about vampire blood and sunlight, a highly studied though still poorly understood subject. Clearly many vampires wanted to be able to go into the sun and still drink human blood. Ciara was relieved they still couldn’t. “I mean, I am studying vampire physiology. We could test your light on a sample.”

Unsurprising, considering that he was a history grad student, Phineas spent a lot of his time haunting the stacks of the library. There was a point when he had been tempted to apply for a job, he’d been spending so much time there, and was helping so many students. But then he wouldn’t actually have time to read the books he was always looking for. He saw another student struggling to grab a book from the shelf and he was about to offer her assistance, but then she jumped and got it herself.

“Ouch.” He said, rubbing where the rouge books had hit him. “I was just about to compliment your technique, too.”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Ciara exclaimed. “Are you okay?” She started to reach out to him and stopped, her hand hovering for a moment by his head before she pulled it back. “Is there anything I can do...?” she trailed off. “Maybe an ice pack?” Ciara shook her head at his almost compliment. “No, no, that was a stupid idea.” Technique takes skill, and she had laughable control over her abilities. She didn’t know how strong she really was, and she would be the first to admit that she was scared to find out. Clearly even the most mundane use of her powers could hurt people.

“A flower is never just a flower.” Nicky told her. “Flowers are symbols of hope, and joy, and love. They’re signs that winter is coming to a close, that spring is coming. The world is thawing, new life is blooming. And that’s just in nature. That’s not to mention when someone brings you flowers because of an accomplishment, or because they love you, or because they were thinking about you. And tending to flowers is their own joy. It’s the joy of taking care of something, seeing your efforts made tangible and getting a reward for them. Flowers are so important.”

“The first that I’ve seen, at least.” Nicky said, looking up at the vampire. “I guess I’ll have to think of some other way to protect it, then. I don’t think it would survive being moved. I can’t sit here all day, either.” Not only would it be murder on his back, but he would miss out classes, and his projects, and some meetings that he had scheduled, as well. But he couldn’t just leave it to chance that this little flower, this beacon of hope, would get stepped on.

Ciara smiled. “That was really nice and poetic.” She still didn’t get it, but if it was so important to him, who was she to argue. She also appreciated his way with words. “Do you help with the landscaping? I thought people moved flowers all the time. Don’t you buy them in little pots at the store?” She honestly knew nothing about gardening but had at least been through a garden section at the store. If she could grow her food instead of hunting it though, she absolutely would. Veganism was biologically not an option for vampires. “Maybe put up a sign?” she suggested. “Just a cup or something would probably blow away anyways.” Ciara was a firm believer in signs. She hated when things weren’t labeled or explained.

          Ben was not used to this kind of thing. Talking to people voluntarily was a lot sometimes. It was different when he was doing his student teaching. Somehow being around children and young adults was a lot easier than adults and people his own age. “My father. That’s what he did. Before he went to prison.” It was ten years ago but it was still really difficult smetimes. “I like teaching. I’m very patient.” 

Ciara whipped her head up at his statement. “Prison?” she wondered aloud before stopping herself. “Sorry, it’s totally not my business,” she quickly backtracked. The curiosity was very strong, but she had no right to know about a stranger’s father. And she was the last person to ever judge someone for the sins of the parent. Ciara’s mother absolutely belonged in prison, but the world under Cyrus Vega was never going to punish her. Maybe there was a possibility for justice now, but she was still too firmly avoiding things regarding her mother to know or act. “I’m patient, just not with people.”

“Well we can either agree that we are both at fault, or neither.” Imogene said. They really did feel bad that they had freaked the other out, even as accidentally as it had been. And there was really nothing for the other to be ashamed about. “I mean, just because we were talking about it doesn’t mean you can’t have adverse reactions to balls of light suddenly appearing in a strange students hands. As cool as it might be. Really, I understand. It won’t be the first time some other vampire has run away from me and my tricks,”

Ciara hmmed noncommittally. She definitely felt more in the wrong here, but maybe that was still the shame talking. She hadn’t drunk human blood in over a decade, but she still felt bad for what she had done and the deserved curse that came with it. “How can you do that?” she asked. “I mean, I know about magic powers of course, and it is quite cool, but how can you make light as a vampire?”  It never ceased to surprise her what was possible in the paranormal world. No wonder Imogene was interested in light, as it was their power.

time: early morning, April 1st

event: April Fool’s

status: closed for @varajcaldwell

The basement of the library contained many ancient texts that must be kept in a sealed room and away from sunlight. Ciara had arrived before sunrise to continue her research on the origin of vampires before class. Maybe if she could find the source of vampirism, she would be one step closer to finding a cure. The alarm she had set went off, so she carefully returned the manuscripts to where they belonged and headed upstairs.

The main entrance of the library was full of of beautiful windows and high arches, and as the vampire neared the exit, a ray of morning light filtered in and hit her arm. With a guttural scream, Ciara dropped the folder she was holding and stumbled backwards as her arm caught ablaze in a pain she had not felt in a dozen years. The scientist was a very calm and rational person, but a primal instinct drove her to escape as quickly as possible. She phased through a nearby wall, appearing on the other side like a ghost. Safe from the sun, she sunk to the floor cradling her burnt arm and shaking all over. Her mind raced to try and think of how she could have ingested human blood, but the scary and disturbing thing was that she couldn’t remember. Oh god, who did she attack?

          Honestly, he needed to get better about not partying and staying out too late so he didn’t have to write last minute. But the problem was that wasn’t as fun. He lived to be a bit chaotic and on the edge. It was more fun that way. And none of his professors seemed to notice, so what was the point of changing if it was just going to be unnoticed anyways? He typed away on the paper, waiting for the coffee that would give him a second wind. There wasn’t much for him to finish. “Thank you so much!” he said, taking a huge gulp of the coffee. At least he was being nice about it. 

“You’re welcome.” Ciara took the end of the transaction as the end of the interaction. “Have a good one,” she said as she started walking away. It would be awkward to sit back down and keep working near the rich boy, so the grad student would have to continue reading the journal article elsewhere. She just marked this off as another weird interaction in college and didn’t expect to ever run into him again.

“I don’t suppose that you’d have a cone or something of that nature on your person?” Nicky asked, looking up hopefully at the vampire. He really couldn’t afford to sit guarding this plant all day, but he couldn’t just leave it to be trampled, either. And of course his lovely husband wasn’t responding to any of the messages that he’d sent to him, which left him in this position. “There’s a flower, first one I’ve seen this spring. It would be a shame if someone stepped on it. Hence, this.”

“No, sorry,” Ciara replied, slightly confused. No one just carried around cones, or any sort of empty cylinder either, except maybe reusable water bottles. Oh, so he was protecting the weeds. “It’s just a flower,” she couldn’t help but point out. While she well understood the importance and balance of nature as a biologist, she wouldn’t ever go out of her way to protect something that wasn’t sentient.  “Is it really only the first? The winter is too long up here.” Thankfully the vampire wasn’t much bothered by the cold, but she hated the low sunlight in Alaskan winters and didn’t care much for snow either.

          Ben had been around supernaturals his entire life. He was used to them and used to the whole vampire thing too since it was the species he’d been around most of his life. In fact, it really was only recently that he met species outside of those that were able to attend the academy. He’d been around supernatural creatures more than he’d been around mortals, so that was something different than a large portion of other supernaturals. “I hope so too.” Because he missed the routine. “Pleasure to meet you Ciara.” He looked around the classroom. He had taken biology, but never been in this lab personally. “I’m studying education.” 

Ciara smiled at his comment even as the first lab made her want to sigh. It was reaching the point of the semester where people should be starting to figure out the basics, but apparently they weren’t sinking in for people yet. The TA was relieved though that it wasn’t her job to adjust the lesson plans. “That’s cool,” she said with real admiration, “it takes a lot to deal with people and teach.” She sure knew it wasn’t her path. 

          “But they look like normal humans in their non dragon forms. I don’t think I could tell a wix from a dragon to save my life. Hope I never have to.” Although one could say the same for her, since she looked basically the same unless she shifted into her own form. She was trying to learn all the things that it seemed most students already knew. Alastríona understood what it was like to not know the social norms of this world. She was glad she wasn’t the only one. But her reason was likely much different than a lot of other students. Gargoyles seemed to be few and far between so far. She’d only met a few other students like her. “Pleasure to meet you, Ciara,” she said, but her tone wasn’t at all that warm. It’s just how she was in general. “Alastríona and I am a gargoyle.” The only thing she knew about vampires is that the supposed gargoyle queen was mated to one. It felt weird to not be a freshman and still be new here. “I transferred to the school this year from a med school in Ireland.” 

“So dragons are supposed to wear gems and wix crystals,” Ciara recited, “but honestly they are both crystalline minerals of various compositions, so I’m still figuring that one out.” To Ciara, it seemed like most people here were decked out in some display of wealth or magic anyways. The easiest to tell were shifters and other vampires, from smell and general vibe. She was a little taken aback at the other’s cold tone, but pushed past it because she was happy to have found someone in a similar situation. Though it seemed few people fled from the supernatural world completely like she had. A gargoyle, wow. This was a species Ciara had paid attention to the rumors about, because apparently the gargoyle queen had been crucial in bringing down Cyrus Vega. Which put them in a good light in her book. “I think you are the first gargoyle I’ve met, to be honest. Wow, med school, that’s impressive.” So she had been way off in her freshman assessment, but who could tell ages of humans let alone supernaturals?

          It was so odd the way the supernatural species cared about this holiday, but he understood why since things had been different for him almost a year ago. Rafael didn’t want really know what to do or say about anything that was going on in his own mind except to his therapist. Obviously that was different though. No, this was the worst day of the year and it was too soon for him to be around all of this stuff. He really hoped it would clear out soon so he could get his mail. “I hope your paperwork goes well.” He sighed and walked off towards the exit of the building. Most days he was nice, but he just… he was struggling today.

Ciara frowned as she walked him walk away. He was being a little rude after she thought they had bonded over their disdain of the holiday. They hadn’t even traded names. With a sigh, she turned back to face the crowds of lovers. She was going to get through this room as quickly as possible. She still had to get her funding in order.

          He had always liked his coffee black and a lot of people looked at him funny for it. Baz figured it was probably because he was from a city known for places with shitty coffee. It’s what he was used to. It helped wake him up at least. “Thank you,” he said, leaning back in his chair a bit. Like most dragons, he tended to hoard money. Honestly, he sort of needed to not be so obvious. Wyvernhoard was coming up soon though and he’d probably get some cash from that. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be awful and he could just avoid his family the entire time. “Yeah, well, that’s fine.”

“I’ll be right back with your order, sir,” Ciara called out as she walked away, still using her customer service voice. Damn, she had really hated working food service, but she had had to pay for college. It didn’t help that she couldn’t even eat the food. Thank god her teaching assistantship now, just one of the many things better about grad school. She made her way to the coffee shop attached to the library and ordered a black coffee with little hassle, returning to the customer not even five minutes later. “Here you go: a large plain black coffee.”

          Ben had been used to this for a while now. The school being too loud for him. Technically, it was better than some of the places he’d been before this, but he didn’t appreciate the loudness of any place. “Thank you,” he replied with a sigh of relief. There had to be a way to soundproof a room for supernaturals with sensitive hearing like himself. Maybe he would take that up with one of the staff members. “Most of the time my favorite professor lets me sit in her office, but he’s away dealing with a family matter right now.” Ben walked into the lab and found a seat, opening the textbook. He was supposed to start student teaching soon and he was nervous for that since he’d never written real lesson plans before. “I’m Benjamin by the way.” 

Ciara sent a supportive smile. She was also overwhelmed by Katmere, but it was more the supernatural aspect than the amount of people. She has lived in cities and went to LSU, a decently large college, for her undergrad. She went to the teaching desk at the front of the classroom and sat down, pulling out last week’s labs to grade. “I hope that goes well,” she said, never knowing how to respond to people’s problems. “Nice to meet you, Benjamin. I’m Ciara, and welcome to the lab for Biology 101. What are you studying?”

“I figured that I might as well try most mediums once. It’s not like I’m going to be short on time.” They said, with a bit of a laugh. Look, being a vampire and making jokes about immortality were always funny. ‘But will there be enough time?’ I don’t know, how’s eternity sound? Classic.

Imogene quickly extinguished the ball of light, when they saw the other student’s reaction. “No, no, I’m sorry. I should have given you more warning!” They apologized. “I just figured that you were good with light. I shouldn’t have assumed. I’m really sorry. There’s no reason for you to be ashamed!”

Short on time? Oh God, immortality. That was something Ciara had yet to process, having been able to blend with humans this far. Living forever felt much more daunting than dying somewhere in her 80s. Could she live forever or just a couple hundred years? The young immortal didn’t know, and she shut that train of thought down before she spiraled.

The vampire felt like she had every reason to be ashamed. She was a rational person and had just let some terrifying base instinct take over. The student had just been showing off a very cool power. “No, no, you’re fine; I shouldn’t have freaked out.” She didn’t remove her hands from her mouth until she felt her fangs retract. She then started slowly, at human speeds, re-approaching the light-bringer.  “We were literally just talking about how great light is, so how could you have known I’m a vampire?”

          He didn’t like that this is how upset he was getting over something so stupid, but he wasn’t sure what else was supposed to do. Sure people were supposed to have more than one soulmate and Rafael believed that, but he had loved Alara and couldn’t imagine loving anyone else like that. “Just a cheap way for clubs to get a couple of dollars when they could have had a fair any other day.” It was irritating that he had to deal with this. “Probably. I hate that it’s ruining my day though.” Rafael needed to get out of this building. “Since I don’t want to be here and you don’t either, do you want to leave?” 

Ciara absolutely didn’t blame the clubs for capitalizing on this holiday. They weren’t greedy businesses, just groups of students trying to support their activities. Still, she kept her mouth shut rather than arguing that. “This is definitely not the best day of the year,” she agreed. She did very much blame large corporations for making this holiday such an annoying and gross fanfare. She looked towards the office she had been heading to. “Sorry, but I gotta get some paperwork filled out before tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll see you around on a better day.”