Moonlight Nocturne

Elena bounces to her feet, smiling brightly, and drags Nick downstairs by the hand. Out of the awkward situation, and down into the shop!

And... well. She wants to show off, a little. She spends a ton of hours down here, and she hardly ever gets to talk to people about it. Even if she talked to people at school, they wouldn't care about restaining tables.

The shop is a little dusty, a little less organized than usual. Mom's been... really busy, with Peter gone.

"... do werewolves really exist? Will this work on them?" she asks, shoving a fork into Nick's hand.

 

Nick’s eyes go wide with curiosity at the sight of the curios all around, and he lights up. “…oh, oh man. This is absolutely wicked! How old is some of this stuff? It’s so cool-“


He turns towards Elena, manages to catch the fork in the meat of his palm and lets out a startled little grunt, biting his lip, hard, and closing his hand, quickly grabbing at the handle of the fork and jerking it away with a visible wince. There’s a little droplet of blood on one prong, and he groans. “Augh… okay. Uhm. Careful with the pointy things, Conan. That… ooh. That stings.” He clenches his injured hand at his side, jaw tight. “Uhm. An… and yeah. Silver hurts werewolves. Some of them’ll just… burn at the first contact… fwoosh. Other ones you have to whack 'em with force."

 

"Some of it's more than two hundred years old!" Elena says, bouncing, and warming to her subject. "Mom doesn't let me help restore the really old stuff, but we're working on this table that's going to look awesome, it has carved lions for the legs--"

She freezes, eyes wide. "... ... are you okay?"

"Sorry... I'll ... I'll get the first aid kit." She bolts for the back room. Then peeks back out. "You have a tetanus shot, right?"

 

He holds his hand, clenched tight. "Yeah, it's cool. I've had way worse, promise ." He smiles tightly.

"All I really need is some gauze. It's no biggie... huh? Oh. Yeah. Don't worry, I won't get an infection," he laughs quietly. "..ssso. Tell me more about that cool table?"

 

She'll grab the gauze and hurry back, then. With some antiseptic for good measure. "... Sorry."

"Um. It's... it's got these lion heads for legs, and Mom thinks it's oak but they stained it to look like walnut and the old owner's grandkids drew in crayon all over it so we have to sand it down like really carefully and then restain it so it'll look like it's supposed to but Mom thinks she can find someone to pay a lot of money so it'll be worth it and she says it's good practice for me at restoring antique wood carvings because mostly she's just let me do flat surfaces so far but she's letting me do most of the work on this one."

She's babbling, sitting on a table and kicking her feet anxiously, her hands white-knuckled on the edge of the table. "Are you sure you're okay?"

 

"It's okay, really." He smiles back, a little more honestly, now, taking the antiseptic with his good hand and uncurling his fingers, pouring some of it onto the injury. "Crayon? Oh, man, the place Joanna and the Boys got had that problem. We sanded and restained the whole set of stairs, it was crazy."

Elena, you gained one success on your perception check... so you notice that... the injury is worse than you thought, even though Nick is clearly trying to downplay it.

He laughs quietly to himself. "Uh, yeah, I'm okay. I've had way worse, promise."

 

"Really? Were they oak, or did they make them the new kind with bamboo? Mom says that kind is okay until you get it dinged up on the end and then it splinters."

Elena's clearly warming to her subject. This is something she can do that helps, that's not just kid stuff. It's the same kind of thing Peter does, and she's even better at some things than him. It doesn't help that he only works in the store grudgingly, and he'd rather be playing with his engineering projects, but... Still!

She swallows, still watching Nick's hand. "... Can I see? ... What happened that was worse? Did a..." She glances around, to make sure no one else is here to hear anything, before she continues with breathless horror. "Did a monster rip out your guts?"

 

"I think they were oak? It's kind of an older house, near the... uhm. Near the state park? Joanna works as a ranger." He trails off, frowning slightly. "...we try to make sure the stuff we have is sturdy, you know? Long-lasting."

He pauses, then smiles slightly, holding his hand close, then carefully grabs the gauze. "Uh. Kind of? I mean... I don't scar up that easily, so you can't really tell, but... yeah. I've... had some really nasty run-ins with some monsters... uhm. See which?"

 

"... Uhhuh. Mom thinks planned obsolescence is stupid because plastic has no character." She does, after all, work in an antiques shop. "... are there monsters in the park?"

"Your hand!" Is he playing dumb? She's not stupid! She reaches for his wrist in a flash of temper, trying to pull it out to see.

 

"Planned obsolicsence? Lessence?" Nick gives Elena a perplexed look. "What's that? Uh. I mean. They do move around, just like people, it's not like we're playing pokemon and we're going to just walk into the tall grass and find monsters?"

Nick's arm goes stiff, and there's a brief moment where he starts to jerk back in surprise, but he forces himself to calm down and keep his hand in place, then reluctantly uncurls his finger, lips pursed. "Oh."

 

Elena rolls her eyes. "It's when, um... it's when they make something that's only supposed to last a couple years, and then break. So they can get more money." She frowns. "... Where do they go?"

She looks at it with obvious worry. "... it looks like it's burned. Are you allergic to silver? Do you need an epi-pen?"

Allergic to... silver... She frowns at him. Nah, couldn't be.

 

"Uh. Wherever they call home, Elena?" Nick looks perplexed. "Same as everyone, you know? I mean... monsters still... have day jobs. Arguably. Some of them, anyway."

He grimaces. "...uh. yeah. Really bad silver allergy... uh, no. No, just need to wrap it up, I'll be fine. It's.... dermatological?"

 

"... ... they do?" Elena looks perturbed by that. "... but they eat people."

One tried to eat her. It's hard to imagine going back to normal life, after eating people all night.

She hesitates, looking at it a minute longer. "... Um. Okay. You're sure you're okay?"

She feels... really guilty. She lets his hand go, looking down at the floor as she kicks her feet. "... I can show you the table if you want. Or we can... You could teach me how to run on buildings like you? Or how to fight?"

 

"...there are human people who do bad things, too." Nick says quietly. "...just because something has big teeth or claws or can walk through walls doesn't mean it doesn't have the ability to blend in, and, like... be an accountant during the day."

He pulls the gauze loose from its coiled form, wrapping it around his hand with careful attention. "...yeah, I'm sure. One Hundred Percent, I'll be fine, A-OK." He grins crookedly at Elena, amber-hazel eyes bright and cheery. "...yeah, the table is a good start. Running and kicking butt is... not for a tiny space like this.... though learning how to keep your balance, or pull yourself up? That's a good idea." He casually walks over to the nearby doorway and hops up, catching his fingers on the frame and doing a pull-up. "If you work on your upper body strength, you can pull yourself up things."

 

She looks down, equally quiet. "... that's not what makes them monsters. What makes them monsters is that they hurt people, and they don't care." She swallows. "... does that mean there are good werewolves? And vampires?"

"... ... okay," she says, hopping off the table to hug him. "Just don't... don't get murdered or anything, okay?"

She's still in a quiet, uncertain mood, but she'll follow his lead when he hops down from the doorway, looking up dubiously at it. "Um... I don't think I can reach that." Even if she jumps, it's three feet above her head. "... I'm pretty fast. Is that good?"

 

He looks up, smiling. "...that's right. The people who hurt others, and don't care, those are the monsters." He drops down to his feet. "...but yeah. There can be."

He hugs her back, smiling. "Yeah, fast is good. You can work on getting stronger, you have plenty of time. You're still growing, you know." He smiles.

"...and yeah, there are. Heck, there's a vampire who will occasionally sneak over and give us leads on some nasty characters in the area, and she basically just eats chickens, from what I understand."

 

She sighs, giving him a long-suffering look, and drags over a chair to act as her stepstool. Everyone says she's still growing. That doesn't make her taller now.

She hangs from the doorway for a few seconds, muscles quivering with tension as she tries to pull herself up, and... fails miserably. "... I'll practice," she says, dropping down onto the chair. "Peter didn't have plenty of time, before they took him. And if I were stronger then maybe the vampire thing wouldn't have..."

She hesitates, looking up at him. "You're not a monster, right? You... like people. You could've let the vampire eat me if you didn't."

 

"Hey, I didn't get these muscles without trying to work out," Nick smiles. "Practice makes perfect, and over time, it makes you stronger. It's hard, but if you keep going, it will get better."

His smile falters, slightly, and he gives her a look that's just a bit wounded. "...no, I'm not a monster. I'm one of the good guys. I want to make sure people are safe, and get rid of the people who want to kill others, who think that people like you and I are made to be victims."

He smiles a little bigger, running his gauze-wrapped hand through his hair. "....and, you know... even things that people think are monsters. They can make that decision, too. They can choose to be good, or to be evil. It's... the important thing is what you do, and what's important to you... and what you make of yourself... and why, you know?"

 

She looks down, dry-washing her hands at the memory of blood. "... do you think I'm a monster? For... doing that. ... I know it's bad to hurt people, Peter always says not to hurt people, but..."

But it feels good, to get in fights. Like freeing a tiger, like running. Nothing matters except the burn of her muscles and the dark joy of victory.

She shifts uncomfortably, not looking up. "... You're an awesome guy."

 

"...Elena. look at me." Nick reaches over to squeeze her shoulder. "He tried to kill you. He tried to kill me . He was about as far from a nice guy as you can get. You saved me from getting my throat ripped out. Point blank."

He cocks his head to the side. "That's a good act. That's saving someone. You're already a badass, and you're younger than I was when I found out about everything!"