Paladin Problems < Esperanza>

[Rhett Keyes]

Rhett listened while he worked and wondered what it would be like if he was in her position. About ten years younger. He didn't mind being a vampire-it sure was better than being dead, but a vampire that was forever barely legal to do anything, forever? Still, there was always silver lining in Rhett's eyes. "In a couple years your ID will say 20, 21 and so forth. Wouldn't try and pass off anything older than that though. You wouldn't look it." He shrugged. "I mean, just because we're dead, doesn't mean our ID's stop adding years to them." If that was what she was worried about, then he saw the solution as being easy. "And I'm sure you two aren't the only young vampires out there. There has to be more. It's a percentage really. Probably one or two percent and from what I've seen in the streets, there are a lot of us, so there has to be more young ones like you."

Rhett finished applying the gauze and gave it a gentle push to make sure it would stay put if she moved a little. Nothing crazy-just enough to change, like she wanted to. "Yeah. Should be fine." Rhett nodded as he looked at Esperanza and actually looked at her like she wasn't some person needing help now that things were fixed. Even temporarily. She didn't look just eighteen, he might have guessed she was going on twenty, but then again Rhett wasn't a good judge of character for that sort of thing. He barely even noticed women, let alone their age. "Oh. Right. Change. I'll let you to that then." He stood, closed the kit (what was left in it) and left the room so she could change like she wanted to, while he put the kit back in the bathroom.

[Esperanza (DELETED 5865)]

Esperanza watched him go, then once he was out of the room completely she went to find her stash of spare clothes. Grabbing a random outfit, she quickly stripped out of her bloody muddy clothes and replaced them with the fresh ones. It was a plain light blue t-shirt, jeans, and matching Converse All Stars. She thought about what Rhett had said. Her and Kae probably weren't the only young vampires around here, but they hadn't met any outside the family. She dug around in the bag and pulled a royal blue ponytail holder out, using it to tie her hair back. Her eyes strayed toward the bathroom door. Rhett was such a nice person; he'd helped her out. If they'd both been human still, she would have made him a thank you cupcake or something. However, he couldn't eat. There had to be something she could do to show her appreciation.

With a sigh she threw her ruined clothes into a plastic bag and tied it up, lips pursed. Maybe she could paint him a small picture, or sketch one. She didn't know. Gods above he'd been so gentle with her, completely professional. The brunette shook her head wildly, fighting down a blush. Now was definitely not the time. One hand came up and felt the gauze beneath her shirt. Some blood and a little food would do her a world of good. At least she knew how to cook. Nothing fancy, of course, but enough to get by.

Esperanza carried the bag to the trash can and dropped it in, putting her hands on her hips afterwards. Money wasn't an issue, for the time being. She would get to know Rhett a little better, find out the things he liked. And then, once she figured out whatever it was, she'd go and buy it for him. Or she could ask Jesse. Either way she was determined to make it up to this kind man.

[Rhett Keyes]

Before Rhett put the kit back, he washed the outside of the kit, and then his hands thoroughly. He did this for two reasons; the first out of habit to have things clean, the second because it would give Esperanza more time to get dressed and sort herself out. Nothing like walking in one someone while they're changing, or even standing outside the door knocking and hassling them.

Once the kit was put away, Rhett closed the medicine cabinet and headed back to the bedroom he had left her in. He took his time, looking around casually because she had said he could, but not too thoroughly because again, he wasn't the type to snoop, even if he was sure Jesse wouldn't mind. He saw a couple of the rooms she talked about, but didn't go in them, just confirmed that they were there.

Rhett returned, appearing in the doorway, a shoulder on the frame as he looked for her. He didn't see her, so he turned around and that was when he saw her. "Hey. All good?" He asked, letting his other shoulder claim the frame that his left had just claimed a couple seconds ago.

[Esperanza (DELETED 5865)]

Rhett was tall. Esperanza had to tilt her head back just to look him in the eye. She gave him a warm smile. "I'm more than good, thanks to you," she answered. A lock of dark hair had escaped the ponytail. Absently she bit her lip. Then she spoke. "Um... do you maybe wanna get a drink together some time? I'd like to get to know you, i-if that's okay?"

Oh dear God, what was she doing!? There was no way in hell he'd be interested in a permanently teenaged girl. Internally she frowned. Why had that psycho ******** broken the masquerade? If that hadn't happened, she probably would have had a couple more years to wait until getting turned. Shaking her head to clear it, Esperanza smiled up at Rhett again. "That is, if you can still... drink...?" She blushed. It sucked when she blushed. Those brillant blue eyes lowered shyly to her feet. Her right hand came up to fiddle with the opal necklace she always wore. If they wanted to go out and drink--which was probably highly unlikely--they would have to wait until the weather cleared up.

Or maybe they could drink here. It just so happened Jesse had a bar that doubled as a kitchen. The small brunette peered up at him again. "It's, um, it's completely up to you, of course. We could drink or do something different. Like watch a movie. Or... play one of the games Jesse has in the living room." Her heart thumped slightly in response to the nerves coursing through her body.

[Rhett Keyes]

He grinned when she said she was fine. More than fine. The compliment wasn't paid any attention to, Rhett just figured he was doing his job. Or at the very least, helping a friend and family member of Jesse's. "Good." Rhett said with a nod of his head as he looked her over really quickly again. Just to make sure she was as good as the woman professed to be.

Rhett rubbed at the back of his neck when Esperanza mentioned getting drinks. "I can't drink. Or eat." He said with a wry smile. "But we can definitely hang out and get to know each other. I mean, we're sort of like family, or whatever. Right?" Rhett wasn't sure how he felt quite yet about the family reference, only because both his parents were still alive and he couldn't look at Jesse like some of the others did. As a 'dad,' figure. First, Jesse was younger than him and second, because they were such good friends. Or had been at one point.

"See a movie?" Rhett asked, slightly curious. He hadn't ever been to a movie theater, not that he was willing to share that piece of information. Esperanza might look at him like he must have came from Mars or something. Video games. Something else Rhett didn't really take part in. "I don't think I would be any good at video games." He admitted, still rubbing at the back of his neck. "But I'm not against learning." Rhett followed up with that thought, the wry smile vanishing from his features. "Now?" He asked her, not sure when she meant by some time. "We could hang out now, but we'd have to stay inside for the obvious reasons of the rain and your wounds." There was the real Rhett, the one that wasn't awkward with hanging out with people or doing things with them. The guy who always looked out for everyone's well being first and foremost before anything else.

[Esperanza (DELETED 5865)]

What to do... what to do... Esperanza led the way to the living room, absently stroking her chin in thought. "We could definitely watch a movie. There's no telling when the rain'll stop," she said after a minute. The rain fell harder and thunder rolled once again, making her flinch some. She hadn't noticed it before, what with her bleeding everywhere on the grass. Any signs of her injuries were probably washed away by now. One hand came up to feel the bandages underneath her shirt. If it hadn't been for Rhett, she probably would have slowly bled out.

Turning to Rhett with a smile, she went over to Jesse's movie shelf and leaned closer for a better look. "What movies have you seen already?" she asked, picking up a random movie. The cover was interesting enough, and she flipped it over to read the short summary. Some of the actors looked a little familiar as well. Definitely an action movie. Those blue eyes flicked back to Rhett. She had no idea what types of movies he liked. Couldn't hurt to ask. "What's your favorite type of movie? There's a lot of choices over here."

Esperanza highly doubted he was into Disney movies. Maybe he would like Mulan, or Pocahontas. Maybe even Treasure Planet--she grinned. "Have you ever seen or heard of Treasure Planet? Or Atlantis: The Lost Empire?" She started bouncing lightly on her toes.

[Rhett Keyes]

Crap. Esperanza was still focused on the movies. Rhett rubbed at the back of his neck and then shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." He confessed, before shaking his head. "I haven't seen any of those movies." He didn't even know what type or genre of movie it was, so wouldn't he be in for a big surprise when he found out some, if not all those choices were animated.

"I haven't seen a movie in a long time. I liked to work." Well, that wasn't completely true. Rhett didn't mind his job, but no one actually would prefer to work over do a hobby. Though, work had been his only hobby or focus, so maybe for Rhett, it was true! "I guess we can watch whatever you want." He added in before offering Esperanza a small grin.

After he said that, Rhett took it upon himself to look around the room they were in. She said he could snoop a little, so Rhett decided he would. Somehow, even though Rhett knew Jesse would be fine once Rhett got him on the right mind track, this wasn't what he imagined. Though, he hadn't talked or seen Jesse in years, so Rhett and Jesse were as much of strangers as they were friends at one point. Hopefully, in time that could be fixed. Jesse had been one of his best mates after Rhett got his **** together. He even did most of Rhett's early tattoo work. Yeah, it'd be nice to be back at that place again with Jesse.

[Esperanza (DELETED 5865)]

Esperanza watched Rhett wander around the room, setting the movie back on the shelf. Some of the movies probably were ones Kae left over here. Jesse wasn't much of a movie person. She knew that much. Walking over to the couch the small brunette sat, crossing her arms and legs. "How is it you know Jesse?" she asked, tilting her head a little to the left.

Her gaze switched from him to all of two games in the living room. There was a foosball table that looked untouched, and then there was the "Commies From Space" game. No idea what that was about. If Rhett wasn't a movie person either, maybe he'd enjoyed games more. When he wasn't working, of course. Paramedics probably didn't have a lot of time for games. She didn't know much about them--only that they had to get a severely injured person to the hospital ASAP. "I'm sorry if I asked that before," she murmured, placing a hand to her forehead. "My memory is a little... fuzzy, at the moment." That hand came down to rest on the bandages underneath her shirt. "How bad was I hurt?" she asked, looking back at him.

[Rhett Keyes]

Rhett skips past the first question and focuses on the main concern at hand. "Well, if you had been a human, it would have been one of those grave situations." He admitted honestly. "Multiple wounds does a lot of shock and damage to the body. But I've seen people pull out of some pretty grave things and been just fine. It all depends on a person's will to live, I guess. Or the almighty whoever, or whatever you believe in." He looked back at Esperanza then and gave her a grin. "Good thing we didn't have to find out, hmm?" He finished looking at all the movie covers before he moved away and wondered what Jesse had told them-if anything.

"We haven't seen each other in a few years. A while." Few had been an understatement, but that's sort of what happens when someone dedicates their time to work and helping others in situations like he had been out. It was good to see Jesse got out of his situation, and found something new. A different focus. Even at the price of it being vampirism. "We knew each other when we were teens. And he did some of my early art work." Rhett said with a shrug. He had no secrets and didn't mind telling people that he had been one of those kids-a statistic, until he got his **** together, but maybe Jesse hadn't told everyone that about himself. Nothing Rhett wanted to share just in case. "We went our separate ways almost a decade ago. Maybe a little less. Good terms. People sometimes just fall out." Rhett said as he found a seat in a chair next to Esperanza. "You two know each other long?" He looked at her, wondering what her story was-other than her sire was apparently over protective of her for whatever reason. Maybe a romantic thing. Or maybe that's just how vampires were.