Fire and Ash (Ash Shevon/Vi)

[Ash Shevon]

The night was beautiful, but then was there ever a night when it wasn't? When the moon didn't spill white across the windows and sidewalks and starlight didn't twinkle out of every reflective surface until the entire street twinkled invitingly. He figured not many really noticed what he did, but then ever since that fateful night when he'd encountered Pi...he'd seen things differently. He took in a deep breath, fair tasted the air, the city not quite as polluted as it could have been. After everyone went home, after twilight faded into true darkness, the air cleared, turned pure again, new again.

He was excited.

He did not really get excited all that easily, but tonight, he was excited. He had learned something that he'd never known before and the only thing preventing him from acting it out...was a willing volunteer. He felt like a six year old boy, skipping over to a best friend's house after school, glorified cape flapping out behind him and plastic wand in one hand. He'd never felt this way about anything in his life, not a girl, not coming home or any of his toys, certainly not homework. Even his late night escapades hadn't excited him as much as they'd given him something to get lost in.

He saw someone, moonlight catching at her hair as she straightened her posture a little, she was standing at the corner, looked almost like she was going to cross the street. The moon painted her hair almost white, the blond color of it was so pure and he found his heart skipping a beat, not because he was all that moved by seeing a woman...but because she was the first person he'd seen since his wild idea had come to him.

"Hey!"

The sound of his voice cut through the night air, as foreign as it was sheepish. He generally never called out, never called attention to himself or initiated conversation, he was beyond antisocial...but tonight, tonight he was desperate.

"Miss!"

Should he really even call her that? That sounded older than he was by far. A slight frown caught at his face, self doubt eating at his confidence and turning the almost run her direction into an embarrassed sort of walk. But he couldn't just...abandon his idea...it would drive him insane? He'd worked too hard, studied too much...he couldn't stand not knowing. Now he was close, close enough to watch her turn in response to his voice and his approaching footsteps. His expression turned wholly earnest.

"Will you help me with something?! Please?"

[Vi]

Vi was actually debating just how much trouble she'd get in if she jumped in front of a moving car and freaked the driver out. She smiled at a little at the mental image, pushing her blonde hair out of her eyes. It should have bothered her, having no recollection of her turning, and as much as she tried, no matter how much she fought with her memories, her past life eluded her. She couldn't, for the life of her, recall anything about her human life. Which was fine, she supposed. She could become a new person, it was like a delightful new game of acting.

Before she could step off the curb, she heard someone call out to someone. Her head was still pounding from her attempting to recall memories, so she glanced back, looking just to make sure someone wasn't running at her, because they recognized her or something. Her purple eyes blinked closed for a moment before opening again, focusing on the man running towards her.

She chuckled a little at the forward question. If she were a sane girl, she would have told him to get lost, told him to go find some other girl to bother, that she wasn't interested in whatever crap prank he was going to pull on her. But her sanity had managed to dump itself out a ten story window and splatter on the ground below, so her judgement was skewed.

She turned to face him, ignoring the street crossing, that was saying she could walk across, ignoring the honking of the cars. "Sure? What can I help you with?"

Her awareness seemed to have a mind of its own so far, which she had no real understanding of it, so it reached out, brushing over the stranger's mind, delving lightly into it to find the question he wanted to ask her. Finding it was simple, but the bizarre thing was, as much as people's minds shouted at her without her really wanting to know their thoughts, his didn't force thoughts and images and ideas into her brain. She would have said it was empty, but it wasn't, it was...calm. Collected.

Which surprised her, intrigued her, had her eyes focusing again after she zoned out, and blinked again, looking up at him. "Um, yeah, I can help you with that?" She said softly, lavender eyes wide. She looked around, then reached out for his hand. "Too many people here, witnesses, come with me?"

She knew she shouldn't use the man for her own purposes, but she couldn't help it, the hazy pleasure of hiding away in his mind was proving far too pleasant, too calming, compared to the onslaught of thoughts that bombarded her, confused her as to what were her own thoughts, and what were others' thoughts.

It almost moved her to tears, but she dragged up her guard, hiding away her emotions in a look of disinterest at their surroundings, even if her hand stayed curled around his, almost clinging like a child would to a trusted adult. And it scared her, the way her trust managed to throw itself at him, wrap around him and deem him fine, a trustworthy person, despite the fact she was new to this world she couldn't begin to try to understand.

"My name's Vi, by the way." She said offhandedly, as though she was trying to excuse her silence with a sudden introduction. Not like she'd ever see the man again.

[Ash Shevon]

Her eyes caught his attention even before he heard the slight laughter that escaped her, but then he was still getting used to his heightened senses? They were...purple. It was an odd color for one's iris to be, that was for sure, he didn't need a mirror to tell that. He found himself staring, his awkwardness vanishing in the wake of his sudden admiration and wonderment. The hue of her eyes though was not as dark as his own, while his was a deep sort of purple that almost bordered on dark blue...hers was light. Almost pink and yet wholly purple in an unquestionable sort of way.

He didn't even hear her question.

His mind had gone silent, completely and utterly so, not that it wasn't usually, but the excitement eased as the reality of actually interacting with another person permeated his euphoria. That didn't really explain why she felt the calm oasis that she did when her thoughts touched off on it though, no, that deeper quiet, that soul deep quiet...it was equal parts his soul...and the connection he had with everything around them, the magic that moved through his mind and heart, through his very blood. It bound him to the night, while empowering him in ways he had never imagined, allowing him to express himself, to lose himself in it in ways he never would have expected or even known enough to think on when he'd been human.

Her hand reaching for his, her fingers touching against his own and gripping his hand tight woke him up, had her words registering.

"You can...will...what? Really? But I didn't...did I ask? It's dangerous...I mean...I think I know what I'm doing? I'm sorry...I know this is random...unexpected. I don't normally do this? Or...talk to strangers?"

He was tripping over his own words, a guileless sort of bashfulness hitting into his responses even if he fell into stride with her easily. An easy sort of rueful smile caught at his lips, hit into his eyes as he squeezed her fingers back and followed her. "Somewhere private would be good...I don't want to break the...uhm...law. Wait...you're...not human are you? Of course you're not...you read my mind didn't you?" A sudden relief and understanding hit against his demeanor and he huffed out a laugh. "Masquerade..."

His thoughts kept completing themselves in a delayed sort of, distracted way. "Ash...my name is Ash...Ash Shevon?" was his reply, "Nice to meet you Vi? I am so glad you're telepathic..."

[Vi]

She almost felt the slightest unease when he noticed her eyes. What if he was just a normal human and she had just assumed he was a vampire in her own confusion. She almost grimaced as he stared at her, but still found comfort in the silence of his mind. There was no reason she should have been able to use his mind as a refuge.

How was she even supposed to go about thanking him?

Hey, thanks for letting me kinda lounge in your brain while I took a break from hearing everyone's thoughts? Your mind's remarkably empty?

Thank god he couldn't read her mind.

Or could he?

Well, sh-

The thought was cut off when he finally spoke after she had grabbed his hand and started to yank him down the sidewalk, ignoring the looks they were getting from people.

"No, no, it's fine, it's fine. Much better than what I was planning on doing today. Glad I could help out a...friend." She mumbled, shrugging a shoulder, glancing around in a paranoid fashion in case anyone was too curious and followed after them to see where they were going, before finally dragging him into an alley, looking relieved to finally stop moving. She let go of his hand and sucked in a breath, letting it out and closing her eyes, leaning against the brick wall behind her, looking up at Ash after a few moments, who was standing across from her.

"Yeah, I'm a vamp too." She said softly, clarifying what she had said before. "We'll move in a bit, I just..." She mumbled something about a headache, having had pain pierce through her temples from focusing on being in Ash's brain too long, which backfired and shot her back out, since she wasn't used to her powers yet, to the void she could drag herself into. She swore softly under her breath, rubbing at her temples lightly. "Nice to meet you...Ash..." She mumbled, back, smiling a little even if the small quirk of her lips was humorless, since she was still in pain.

She glanced up at him in surprise, her hands still clutching at her head. "...You...you're what?" She asked softly, eyes wide. As much as she wanted to drag herself through his mind again to figure out what he had just said, she found herself wanting to hear it out loud, strangely. So she waited, hoping he'd repeat what he said.

[Ash Shevon]

He didn't really notice her unease at the way he stared at her eyes, as he was too busy getting lost in said staring, in his surprise. But then he had no way to touch on her mind, to see how she took him, if anyone should have been unnerved about their approach it was him. Given what he intended to do with her, the thing of it was though he had a way of muddling someone's memories if he made a mistake, it was something he relied on a lot. It was almost like mesmerizing someone, he could walk into a crowd of people, walk right up to the person he desired and simply touch their shoulder and no one would notice their attention diverting to him.

No one would see them.

It would become like they were invisible, even in the midst of everyone standing there, he could do whatever he wanted, say whatever he wanted as long as he kept it up and then walk away, no one the wiser. It led to a sense of confidence, or a lack of concern rather, when it came to saying the wrong thing, or giving off the wrong impression. He'd never been much of a flirt, or capable of catching a girl's eye back when he'd been alive, but now? Now it was so easy it was almost sad. The word 'friend' jumped out at him, fair slapped him across the face and his expression jumped into one of shock as she dragged him down the sidewalk and away from prying eyes. He didn't even have the heart to try to explain, to share with her why he did not share her paranoia, how he could take any place they stopped in and make it...wholly private on a whim.

"A...do we know each...no, I'm sure I haven't seen you before...you...a friend really? Thank you!"

A smile pulled at his lips, settled against his face, was communicated in the way he sort of stumbled after her, almost walked right into her as she stopped and he glanced around, realized they were in an alleyway. "This is...quieter..." he said, trying for conversation, trying to compliment her on what she'd done or attempted to do at least. A look of concern touched against his face when she let go of his hand to lean back against the brick wall behind her and look at him.

"What were you planning on doing today Vi?"

The question was quiet, it was spoken smoothly, an eloquence to his voice that belied the way he'd been tripping over his words. "Are you alright?"

For the first time he regretted not being able to heal, all he could do was cause damage, pain, not that he'd ever tried, no, that part of him lay dormant, far below the surface. He'd never had a reason to dredge it up in self defense. At hearing that she was a vampire he nodded, even if no real relief touched down on his face, it became evident, with the calm way he watched her that regardless of what she'd said he would have handled the situation. Unlike her, he wasn't stressing out about it, wasn't concerned by it in the least and if she had been human he wouldn't have seemed upset.

"I'm in no hurry? Take your time..."

His eyes searched her face, watched her rub at her temples in slight concern but at her saying it was nice to meet him he smiled again. "It is nice to meet you too Vi?" The gratitude for how she'd read the question he'd wanted to ask straight out of his mind slipped out before he could prevent it, partly because he felt far less awkward now than he had before and partly because he found almost guilty about having caused her pain somehow. Even if he didn't understand how he could have.

"I said...I am so glad you are a telepath...I've never been the best at initiating conversation, or responding correctly. I really appreciate you being able to see what I mean before I mangle it up..." A slight rueful look touched against his face.

[Vi]

She stayed where she was for a few long moments, clutching her head and trying to work the sharp stabbing pains to manageable dull throbs of pain.

"It's no problem..." She mumbled when he showed gratitude for her offering to help him. His attempt at conversation was ignored by her for the moment, until she could manage to stand up straight and ignore the pain.

"I was going to steal from people and make money?" She answered simply, then grabbed his hand again, dragging them deeper into the alley, behind a dumpster so if anyone walked by, they wouldn't notice anything unusual.

"So, you need help practicing a new power, right?"

She watched him, eyes wide when Ash repeated what he had said about him being glad she was being a telepath. She smiled a little at him and shrugged. "...You weren't going to mangle it up. You would have been fine." She let go of his hand again when she realized she had been holding it and looked up at him.

"If you're going to send me somewhere else, try to land me on the ground?" She teased him, eyes searching his before she let herself mind brush against his, indulging in the silence his thoughts provided before pulling away again. Thankfully, no one was really nearby, so few thoughts infiltrated her mind and interrupted her own thoughts.