The vampire opted to let Frankie and Layla have the house tonight, deciding to venture out for one of Graham’s more secretive hobbies - reading a book he was fond of by the warm light of a lamp post in the park on a bench. He only accepted light FROM lamp posts and nothing else because… well, he wasn’t sure. There was something about sitting in a park in the evening, hearing nothing but nature and being bathed in the welcoming artificial light. He had read this book several times by now but he always came back to it with a certain fondness. He sat on the bench how he sat on his couch at home, relaxed, somewhat splayed with one leg over the arm as though he were royalty and the bench was his throne. One hand held the book while the other absently flickered between turning the page and his thumb returning to his mouth for him to chew on absently. God, he missed the heat of his breath.

One stray sod seed, two stray sod seed, three… On and on Maple Leaf had gone, until she had covered a whole patch of grass. Already, the seedlings were taking root, outcompeting the normal lawn grass. In a few days, it would be a glorious chaos - well, it would be if the apocalypse didn’t come out of the eye in the sun. She had just about prepared to return to her hole under someone’s house with a secret socket for her phone when she spotted a Big Leg, perched on a bench with a book and under the flight. Her tiny body flashing brighter with excitement as she darted over. It had been a couple weeks since she’d left her nest properly to be where the Big Legs were, and now she wanted to find out alllll about him. “Hi!” She yelled, because Big Legs couldn’t hear well. “What’re you reading??”

“Jeeesus!” Graham was startled out of his position, hastily pulling his leg close to him as if a shark just appeared out of the ground to snap at it. His bright blue eyes darted around for a moment, wondering where that voice came from. “Uh…” He couldn’t find anything immediately. Maybe he was finally losing it; his mom always told him that psychosis would take him but he didn’t know it’d be so soon. “Hi?” He asked, not entirely unsure but also none-TOO-sure. “I’m reading Red Dragon,” He stated to the voice that asked, holding the book aloft as if the source of the voice was standing far enough away that he’d need to hold it up for it to be seen. “Whhhyyy?” He lowered the book again, still looking around for the source of the voice.

“Ooh, is it about red dragons? Does it have any pictures? Can I see?” Maple Leaf replied, darting around this guy to get a good look at him, her wings buzzing like a horsefly around him. He was looking around all over like he thought she was some sort of poltergeist. Maple Leaf giggled, waving her arms and pulsing brightly. “I’m over here! I’m not scary, don’t worry! I just want to talk and learn all your deepest darkest desires and um maybe your favourite colour? What kind of Big Leg are you?”

Graham didn’t find the source until she held still long enough, eyes falling on… He sighed. Was this a fairy? Or a pixie? What was the difference? Was he on drugs again? He had to keep track or that sort of thing. The hell was a ‘big leg’? “Okay hold up, lemme answer your questions in order then maybe stick to, like, two at a time,” Graham inhaled. “It’s not about actual dragons insomuch as a painting of a dragon. That’s the only “picture” in the book and it’s not even IN the book, it’s on the COVER of the book,” He replied, keeping a finger on the page as he closed the book to show her the cover. “See?” He kept it closed while he recalled her other questions and comments. “We only just met, doll, so you aren’t entitled to my deepest, darkest desires yet. My favorite color is blue. And normally I’d say ‘just a regular guy’ but since I’m either trippin’ or talking to a… fffairy? Pixie? I’ll be honest with you and say ‘vampire’.” He said the last word quietly, quirking an eyebrow at the little flying creature. “Okay, your turn. Who and what are you?”

“Why would you read a book about a painting of a dragon? Why not just go see some real dragons, if they exist? Or just skip the painting part and read a book about dragons. OR skip the book part and look at a painting of dragons. I don’t know, kinda seems redundant otherwise.” Maple leaf commented sagely, and looked around before perching herself on his knee, glowing brightly. He’d said two questions, but then he said he was a vampire, and Maple Leaf had never met a vampire before! She wanted to fly over to his lips and pull them up to see his teeth, but resisted, for now. “Well, fun fact, I don’t have very much blood in me at all. So, don’t even think it mister. But my favourite colour is sunset pink or rhododendron red. I’m a pixie, and my name is Maple Leaf. Does this mean that someday you’ll tell me your deepest, darkest secret?”

Very chatty, this one. Graham had never met a pixie and if she was the example, then he wasn’t too entirely sure if he wanted to meet others. “It’s a book. The dragon’s a metaphor,” He replied rather simply to her line of questioning. He was paying full attention to her now as she sat on his knee, not even registering her weight. She was so small, so light and fragile and yet… so vivacious. Unafraid. “Duly noted, little lady,” He scoffed. “Sunset pink’s a fun color though so props for that.” He chuckled this time, resisting the urge to bounce his knee lightly to startle her… if she could be. “Maybe. What if my deepest, darkest secret isn’t as deep or dark as you’re hoping?” He asked.

"A metaphor," Maple Leaf replied skeptically, giving him a hard side eye. Why would you have a metaphorical dragon when you could have a real one. Or at least a cockatrice, as a treat. "I'm not little! I'd like you to know that I'm above average height for a pixie! You’re just humongous!” She laughed, like tiny ringing bells. You're just humongous!" She retorted    “Oh, I just like knowing secrets. But if your deepest, darkest secrets aren’t dark enough for you we can make you some new ones!"

It was Graham’s turn to laugh, warm and normally disarming but in this case, it was just a natural reaction; he caught her side eye, knowing she didn’t find his answer satisfactory but that was just the nature of the question. “It’s just a saying; I’ll have YOU know that I’m average for someone MY size.” He found himself enjoying the company of the strange little creature. “Oh yeah? Like what? What counts as a ‘dark’ secret to you?” He did bounce his knee very lightly this time as he talked; he was legitimately curious about what a little light like Maple Leaf would think qualified as dark enough that his might not be by comparison..d

“A dark secret?” Maple Leaf tapped her chin thoughtfully, then squealed indignantly as he bounced his knee, jumping off it and hovering. “Hey! That was mean!” She crossed her arms, looking deep and hard into Graham’s pretty eyes. “Are all Big Legs so rude or is it just you? Anyway, a dark secret I have is that I’ve stolen the pollen from 20 bees. Just this week! I really like how it tastes and its funny watching them trying to do the bee signal wibble wobble for ‘watch out! There’s a pixie here’!”

Graham had set his book down fully by this point, keeping his eyes on the pixie with a mischievous smile on his face. “Really?” He said, his eyes widening with feigned surprise and he likened her behaviour with that of a child. He started to entertain the notion of creating a wild story in turn for her dark secret but he actually found himself contemplating what secrets he DID have that were her version of dark. “That’s a pretty good one, not gonna lie…” He thought aloud, tapping his finger against his chin as he bit the inside of his cheek absently. “Wait, you don’t talk to bees? How do you steal their pollen?” He asked, a hint of legitimate curiosity in his voice. Wait, did he care? ...Well, yeah, he supposed a part of him did.

“Still being rude!” Maple Leaf replied, her nose wrinkling in annoyance. “Why would I be able to talk to bees? I know we’re like similar sizes but our societal structures and expressivity of language is vastly different. Can you talk to every Big Leg in the world?” Despite her annoyance, she didn’t mind talking. “Well, first I illusion them a patch of flowers that smells all kinds of bountiful, but only after they’ve already collected pollen. And then I make me look like a flower, and when they try to take my pollen I do a whole switcheroo and take theirs instead. Kinda like this!” And just like that, the bench beneath them began to twist into a befanged, metal monstrosity, the back curving up and over them like a giant gaping maw.

“Sorry!” Graham said rather quietly as he shushed himself for Maple Leaf to continue her explanation on her pollen-theft. Ah, so she used… magic. He wasn’t surprised, why did his mind voice and narration sound surprised? She was a pixie; of course they used magic… right? It seemed like an obvious thing. What was less obvious, however, was how the bench underneath him suddenly looked and felt decidedly less like a bench and more like a creature that could do some damage. The vampire felt his instinct kick in and though he didn’t make a scene out of it, he deftly, unnaturally maneuvered his body around the contorting mass of metal in a fluid motion and took a very generous step away from it, appearing almost as though he were gliding instead. He beheld the magic, not experiencing fear but rather a twisted curiosity and perhaps even a glimmer of entertainment, as though he were a child observing a magic trick. “Whoa!” He exclaimed. “How the hell’d you do THAT?”

Maple Leaf grabbed onto the collar of Graham's collar, and if he listened especially closely he might have heard the tiny "weeeeeee!" Of joy as he pulled her through the air faster than she'd ever gone. Once he was standing she let go, clapping her hands in glee. "It's an illusion!" She chirped, and the bench looked harmless once more. All that creeping metal crumbled into the wind and nothing more, a small personal delight. Maple Leaf grinned up at Graham. "Did I scare you?" Graham heard the noise but had to look around for a moment to find the source, realizing that she had grabbed onto him when he moved and he gave her a small grin. “Scare me? Naaaaah.” He dismissed lightly with a wave. “You surprised me, though,” He admitted, tilting his head at the bench once more. “An illusion, huh? Pretty damn impressive magic trick if I do say so, myself,” He stroked the stubble on his chin. “No wonder you’re so good at stealing from bees; I can’t imagine how they perceive stuff like that.” He quirked an eyebrow. “I think I’d die if I was a bee and got freaked out by something like that.” He laughed.

“Rats! How can I scare you?” Maple Leaf asked earnestly, as if she was asking what kind of cake he might prefer. She let go of the button of his sleeve, buzzing brightly as she darted back up to his face. Not that he’d be able to tell easily, but she blushed under his compliments, flying in an excited figure of eight to show her enthusiasm. “Bees don’t scare too easy, they’re made of tough stuff. Which is why it’s fun to steal their pollen.” She tapped her nose knowingly. “Wait! I forgot to ask! Can I have your name?” “You can’t; I’m an unscareable master,” Graham replied, crossing his arms matter-of-factly as he couldn’t help but smile at her obvious display of excitement. Then the thought occurred to him that they’d been effectively hanging out for what felt like at least twelve minutes now and they didn’t know each others’ names. “Oh, sorry! The name’s Graham,” He announced before motioning with his hand. “And what do I call you?” He asked, finding the way she asked just slightly strange and almost as though there was something… he should’ve known but EH maybe he was just being weird.

“Nope, those are Redcaps, but you are definitely not a Redcap in the slightest!” Maple Leaf said with a hmph, looking him up and down. “Vampires are definitely in the scareable list. But don’t you worry, I’ll figure it out soon enough!” More importantly, he walked right into her trap. She guffawed, clutching her belly and laughing at him. “Well you can call me Graham too because that’s my name now!” She squealed in delight. 

The hell was a Redcap. The vampire didn’t have time to contemplate that for long when she suddenly started laughing at him and he cocked his head to the side sharply, the look of puzzlement evident on his face. “Wait, what?” He asked. He paused for a moment, uncrossing his arms and feeling his brow furrow. Wait… wh-- ohhh. “Wait, your name’s Graham?” He asked. “Huh! Small world. I mean, really small world, like pixie-sized that I happened to run into the one pixie with the same name as… Wait.” The smile slid off the vampire’s face. “Wait, that’s… Okay, that’s YOUR name but--” The look of confusion was front and center. “Then… what’s MY name?” He asked.

“HAhahahaHA!” Maple Leaf squealed, looping loops in the night air. Definitely not-Graham looked completely bamboozled, utterly incensed. She laughed until her sides ached, until she could hardly breathe and her face was turning blue. “I took it! I took it! And now you’ll never know your name unless I give it back! Wow, it is so much easier to take names here than it is on the other side of town!”

The vampire was decidedly having a lot less fun now, feeling his expression go from confused to slowly more irritated. Well, THAT wasn't fair. “Wait, you did the what-now?” He asked, opting to cross his arms almost like a child who didn’t get what he wanted. “You stole my name?” He asked, bristling. “How do you even do that?” He had to admit that he wasn’t familiar at all with fae practises… hell, he was still learning about vampires.

“I did! Do you want it back?” Maple Leaf giggled, darting over to perch on his angrily crossed arms. “I stole it because I asked to have your name, and then you gave it to me! That’s how it works. But I can give it back if you like! Oh, you look a little angry, but it’s just a game!” It took a second for the vampire to realize what the pixie was talking about but shortly after he thought about it, he gave a single nod of his head. “Ohhh. So when you said “can I have your name”, you were actually asking if I would GIVE it to you. Like it’s a literal bargaining chip,” He explained, more to himself. “Well that’s pretty sneaky, I gotta admit. I sorta walked into that one.” He uncrossed his arms carefully as she perched on them and one hand rubbed the back of his neck. “I’d… kinda like my name back, yeah. Do all fae do that?” He asked, keeping this exchange in mind for any future encounters he might run into. First rule, read between the lines. Damn fae.

“Yup yup! You vampires sure are gullible!” Maple Leaf crowed, tumbling head over heels along his arms. Although, it was kinda starting to be a let down. If you stole a fae name, then automatically you went into a duel of words and smarts and thinking, all to get the name back. Maybe other cultures just didn’t do that kind of thing. She’d have to test it with other vampires to find out. “Fine, fine, I return your name to you, Graham! I’m Maple Leaf, and it was cool to meet you!” And you pixies are kinda jerks, newly-reappointed Graham thought as he metaphorically snatched his name back from her when she offered it, placing it on his mental desk once more. “I suppose you aren’t the worst, uh… pixie I’ve ever met,” He relinquished with a dismissive shrug, still feeling slightly silly that he walked into such an obvious trap. “BUT yeah, it was kinda cool to meet you, too.” He pointed a finger at her in mock threat. “Next time you steal my name I’mma… I dunno, do SOMETHING mean back to you.” He said, finding that he couldn’t stay exactly angry at the prank or her for that matter. At least she gave his name back.