Vitae: 1/10
Willpower: 2/5
Julius had only partaken in a little bit of underage drinking in his time; just the few times Cody had badgered his older brother into buying some drinks for their friend group, but he still knew what intoxication felt like.
After drinking from the two drunk men, and leaving them passed out in the alley next to the bar, Julius discovered that apparently drinking contaminated blood would pass that contamination on to Julius. Not entirely; Julius knew what he was feeling wasn't the same as what he felt before when he got drunk, this was more like an echo of intoxication.
The warmth was muted, he noticed most of all, but it wasn't just that. Rather than feeling just being tipsy, he was feeling all the effects of actual drunkenness but muted down to the level of mere tipsiness. It was, so far, the weirdest part of his condition.
The second weirdest part, he discovered, was how he fed. He hadn't noticed with the ME because he hadn't really been in control, but now that he was drinking from these men, he realized that the people he fed on apparently enjoyed the experience. A lot.
While it soothed his worries some, to know that at least it wasn't painful, he suddenly had new hangups. Mainly, that he was just a bit uncomfortable with the sounds that guy made when his head was right next to Julius'.
Starting with that second man, he resolved to drink only from the wrist when he had to drink from men, which he found much less awkward.
Even weirder, Julius could apparently lick his bite wounds away. Some foreign instinct caused him to flick his tongue over the neck of the first man he drank, and the wound vanished. Even before that it had already been shrinking.
Julius couldn't remember if the bite he'd left on the medical examiner had vanished or not.
Regardless, he was feeling much less hungry, and it was wonderful.
+4 Vitae
He didn't think he did a good enough job of vanishing earlier, so he decided on a more circuitous route, cutting through Robinson Park to cross the finger river, and then once passed there using alleys and some of the rougher patches of the Upper East Side that he knew were less likely to have working cameras.
Julius wasn't a mastermind of evading pursuit, but he was pretty sure this was better than riding home pretty much straight along the main roads and over one of the bridges, which would have been faster.
The park's landbridge wasn't stealthy for vehicles, as they had to pass through a checkpoint, but bikers could go around that pretty easily.
Unfortunately, biking through the park in the dark while tipsy wasn't the greatest combination. He decided to try and go straight through rather than sticking to paths, which meant biking through small forest sections… he fell over several times, and had to heal by the end of his journey through the park.
Healing: -1 Vitae.
By the time he finished biking through the park, Julius was starting to run into a new problem; apparently his condition didn't come with infinite stamina, and biking halfway across Gotham (back to the upper east side from the diamond district) wasn't the easiest thing. That was also about when Vigor wore off, making things even slower.
He managed to slog the rest of the way home, but by the time he did, the boy was exhausted, and it was maybe half an hour before sunrise. He used the spare key to their building/apartment that they kept taped under a nearby trashcan to get in, and then frantically tried to figure out how best to preserve himself.
First, he grabbed the duct tape and an old cardboard box, broke it apart, and taped it over his window. It wasn't quite big enough, so he filled the margins with more duct tape, and then taped a spare blanket over all of that. It was the best he could do on zero notice.
As he was finishing up, he began to experience a level of tiredness that went so far beyond even his exhaustion from biking halfway across the city. He almost passed out where he stood, but managed to hold on just a little bit longer.
-1 Willpower
Long enough to scribble out a short note for his mother, leave it on the living room table, and shove his desk in front of his locked bedroom door.
His mom was still in the stage of her recovery wherein she needed a walker to move; she didn't have the strength to force his door open.
Then he passed out, without even making it to his bed.
last night was crazy
i'm fine
tell you tonight
please let me rest
A New Night: +2 Willpower, -1 Vitae
Vitae: 3/10
Willpower: 3/5
Julius woke up at around six thirty in the evening, according to his clock, and at first did nothing except sit up from the floor (mercifully with none of the usual pains associated with sleeping on wood), and slip into bed.
He needed to think, and bed was as good a place as any for that.
Yesterday was Friday, so he didn't have school today or tomorrow, but that would have to be addressed soon. Him and Cody being conspicuously absent right after last night would probably blow the tatters of his cover apart.
And that brought him up short. Cody. Cody got shot too, and would have been sent to the same morgue. Should he have grabbed his friend? Maybe he was changed too, and it just took him longer to wake up. Maybe he wasn't gone.
Julius didn't stop himself from crying, just pulled a pillow over his head and held in the noise as best he could.
Maybe Julius should go back, just to check? And if not, stealing his body might help them not track the two back to their identities? And who knows, maybe someday he'd find a way to bring his friend back, undeath was the whole theme of his power so why couldn't he unkill his best friend if he put his mind to it?
But if he wasn't changed, then didn't he deserve to be cremated (as Julius knew was his family's preference) with dignity and a funeral? Would Cody want to be changed, or pulled back from whatever came next, even if Julius figured out how?
As he grappled with those thoughts, he eventually came to a decision.
[ ] Steal Cody's body back, maybe you can unkill him later.
[ ] Let them cremate him, let him go.
An hour or so later, spent mostly with his head under the pillow, Julius heard his phone buzz. Blearily he reached over and checked for the first time since before last night.
Four missed calls from mom, all from this morning.
Two dozen or so messages in his friends' group chat, which Julius couldn't bear to look at right now.
And one simple text from mom, just now. Are you awake yet?
He sighed, and laid his head back down on his pillow, distantly grateful that he turned read alerts off in his settings, and more directly grateful to have something else to focus on for the moment.
What was he going to tell her? He lived with her, their apartment was small, and his mom was a fitness trainer by trade. No way he could hide his condition from her, not passed a few nights. Especially since he needed her to withdraw him from school, which he couldn't attend anymore.
The sheer amount of effort it took him to go a few minutes past dawn made that abundantly clear.
So he had to tell her something, and he had two real options, neither of which he particularly liked.
First, he could tell her the truth. He died last night, and was a vampire now. He could prove it easily, and by its very nature as the truth, it would explain everything.
…unfortunately that involved telling his mother that he had died last night, which he knew would hurt and scare her. A lot. It also involved telling her exactly how he'd been picking up the slack, which would force her to acknowledge something the two had been trying very hard not to talk about. She'd definitely be clingy and emotional for a while, and he'd probably have to spend time comforting her because she would definitely blame herself, even though the driveby that almost killed her wasn't her fault.
Second, he could tell her enough and then try to hide the rest. He… and Cody… got shot at, but Julius was fine, and Cody was definitely fine last Julius saw him. He didn't want to be a criminal any more, so he should drop out of school and get a job; and whatever job he gets is always on the opening shift so he's definitely gone before mom wakes up and gets back before her, at which point he sleeps until evening. Then he just had to find a way to occasionally fake being normal, to keep suspicion off, and explain the paleness as not getting much sun anymore (not that Gothamites ever got much to begin with).
…unfortunately, he was still pretty sure she'd eventually see through his lies. Not to mention she would be pretty against him actually dropping out, even if he promised to get his GED as soon as possible.
[ ] Come Clean. It's going to be awkward and uncomfortable (for both of them), and he really doesn't want to, but it might be worse if she discovers the lie later. Also, she might be able to help him train. (-1 Willpower)
[ ] Cover Story. It doesn't have to hold forever, just until Julius has enough power to keep her safe. Until then it's best if she stays uninvolved, and unworried, so she can focus on her recovery. Plus, he's pretty sure he can swing the GED argument.
[ ] Write In. (Requires QM approval)
This vote will be open until tuesday night (about 40 hours from now).
