[Matthew Cox]

Matt scented Cora’s turn of emotions, so he squeezed her arm comfortingly. His situation was hell, but he’d come to terms with it, he told himself. It didn’t fall him anymore to know that he belonged to her. She was his, he was hers. Granted, the power dynamics of their relationship rested solely on her...

He bounced away from thinking about the curse with a practiced ease. It was simpler to not think about that. Besides, she was managing the Dark Lady extremely well, all things considered. They were able to go out on a date, even. It was a nice night and he needed to focus on that’s instead of anything else. Besides, he had another bullfrog to bullshit with.

Rebel, of all people...Matt listened with interest and nodded. When Rebel rubbed his hip, Matt commented on the gesture. That spot, along with several others, felt funny under his radar. More dense, different texture...something wrong with it.

”Shrapnel? Hell of a wound...I’ve caught a bullet with my name on it, but never anything ‘addressed to occupant’ like that...”

He grimaced in disgust. Every era had their nasty, disgusting weapon technology that made war not worth fighting. The Persians has scythe chariots, the first Great War had barbed wire and chemical attacks, and their current era had fragmentary bombs. Nasty, nasty shit.

[Everett Cooper]

Matt’s comment on his hip caught the vampire off guard, blinking and cocking his head in confusion at the Marine. “My, what?” he frowned for a moment. “Oh, my hip! Shit, I didn’t even realize I gave it away. Yeah, got a cluster of three floatin’ around my hip bone on the right side, another three little ‘uns up about here,” he pointed out a spot at the bottom of the right side of his ribcage, “and another, uh…. Lemme count a second…” His face screwed up in concentration for a few beats while he thought about the lasting effects of his injury. “Nine. Another nine small fragments scattered around my right leg.”

Ev frowned a bit when he noted the almost unctuous note of sympathy in Matt’s scent. Sympathy? Why, though? It was ten years ago and he was fully recovered. Couldn’t have an MRI scan ever again because fuck electromagnets, but really what were the odds he would ever need one of those now? Gently he nudged Matt again. “Hey now, bruv. None of that feelin’ bad for me bullshit. Had plenty of that when it happened ten years ago; no use for it now,” he declared with a grin.

“And yeah, I remember y’all tellin’ me about the bullet you caught. One of your first missions, wasn’t it?” Ev commented, following Cora as she led them down a bit of a sketchy-looking alley. Hopefully the woman knew where she was going...

[Coraline Larson]

Cora listened to the soldiers catch up, focusing on navigating them back to the warehouse without having to take Everett directly through Diagon Alley or Knockturn. Their path ended up being on the convoluted side, through some odd cut-throughs and side-streets, but if they were wrong and the American was in fact just a muggle it would be more hassle than it was worth to deal with obliviating him and sending him on his way. Plus, Matt would probably be more than a bit upset if it came down to that, Cora reasoned. The two men seemed to know each other quite well and it would certainly be a task and a half to convince Matt that memory modification was necessary. Thinking about the possible consquences of being wrong, Cora found herself almost hoping the American -was- a vampire…

She smiled to herself when Matt mentioned being an instructor. It would have been hard for her to picture the surly, combative Matt she had first been exposed to as a teacher, even a military one, but the more gentle and compassionate man she had come to care for? Now that was a man she could see teaching. She laced her fingers with his quietly when he squeezed her arm, steering them down an alley to the right. They were only a block or so away from the warehouse now, and Cora turned her attention back to Everett with interest as he explained his assignment and injury.

“Shrapnel?” she echoed Matt’s question in surprise. “That’s no small injury, Mr Cooper. You’re quite lucky it seems,” Cora commented, impressed. She- no, the Dark Lady- had dealt with explosives throughout her career and she had seen firsthand the devastating effects a fragmentation bomb or claymore mine could administer. The American was lucky indeed, vampire or not.

As they turned the last corner and the warehouse came into view, Cora subtly shifted to hide herself from Ev’s view so she could silently cast the counter-charm for her home’s defensive wards. She felt the magic switch to allow them through and Cora opened the door with a friendly gesture to allow Everett inside first. “After you, Mr Cooper.”

[Matthew Cox]

Once they were all inside the her warehouse, Matt made his next coment with the intent of giving away how much had changed for him.

”That cluster on your rib cage coulda been the death of you, Rebel. And sorry for repeating old stories. At least I haven’t told you the machete story, yet. Or how I went blind...but I think the story I’m most interested in hearing is how you were turned...”

Matt kept his face down and his expression in a friendly neutral composure as he removed his glasses. It likely wouldn’t be taken well at first, having a secret exposed like that...it would be better then, to offer a mollifying clarifying statement.

”We’re safe. Cora’s magic and I’m...heh...how do I explain? My mommy says I’m special...”

He laughed a little again, but there was a bitter undercurrent to the sound.

”You first, Reb, then I’ll go.”

[Everett Cooper]

”Oh, for fucks sake, Matthew…”

Cora’s dismayed groan at Matt’s blunt approach to calling out his secret had Everett blinking in sheer confusion. He looked over at the dark-haired wom- WITCH, apparently- and stared dumbstruck for several slow heartbeats until his brain was able to jump-start itself once more. “You… how…?” he stammered at first. The vampire shook his head as if to clear the confusion by literally shaking it out of his brain then tried to be more articulate.

“What the fuck?” he asked in disbelief, staring between Matt and Cora.

Well, so much for articulate, the still-rational part waaaay down deep in his brain snarked at him. How the hell had they figured it out? He hadn’t done anything to give himself away, or at least he thought he hadn’t… Ev frowned and scratched the back of his head in frustration as he replayed his own behavior and things he had said over the course of the evening, but even still he was coming up empty on what had given him away. He’d been real careful about what he said and hadn’t shown his fangs… had he? Aw, shit. If he had, he could only hope that Matt and Cora were the only ones who had seen-

Seen them? “Now, just wait a goddamn minute here, Cox,” the American demanded. “How the fuck did you see anythin’ I did if you’re blind?” Okay, so maybe it was his turn to be blunt and tactless, but dammit this was important. If he had broken the limiting by letting himself be identified as a vampire he would be in a heap of trouble from both his foster clan and his home clan. The vampire glared in confusion at Cora and Matt in turn, debating on what shitstorm he had gotten himself into now.

And goddamn it; he was still hungry.

[Coraline Larson]

”...but I think the story I’m most interested in hearing is how you were turned…”

“Oh, for fucks sake, Matthew,” Cora groaned in dismay, immediately turning to face the vampire standing just inside her front door. He just HAD to go and antagonize the vampire, she sighed, dropping her wand into her hand from its holster under her right sleeve. She didn’t take her eyes off the vampire. Just because he seemed like he was floundering around in surprise, certainly didn’t mean he actually was floundering, and could very well attack if he thought he was in danger. Everett hadn’t acknowledged Matt’s assurance of safety either; it seemed likely the American would do something rash, as far as Cora was concerned. Maybe she could get ahead of this, she reasoned.

“Everett, please try to relax,” she said calmly, still watching the predator in her home closely. “You let just the very tip of your fang show once when you laughed at dinner. I think I only caught it because you’re taller than me even sitting down, and I’m certain nobody else saw it,” she assured him. It seemed Matt had given away his own secret as well, however, as Everett promptly called the mutant out on being blind, probably assuming Matt had noticed his fangs. ‘Well, he was in for a surprise, wasn’t he?’ she couldn’t help but thinking.

“Matt didn’t see anything, per se,” she commented. It was probably better to let Matt explain his own senses and the mutation, she decided. “But I’m certain he noticed far more than I did nonetheless. Why don’t we all just calm down and have a seat in the living room. We’ll sit down and explain like rational people,” she said pointedly at Matt, glaring at the back of the mutant’s head.

[Matthew Cox]

A delighted grin spread on Matt's face at Cora's reprimand. He saw himself as an agent of Justice, but he was just as often, socially, an agent of Chaos. Still, he had upset Everett and that hadn't really been his intention. Matt stole a kiss on Cora's cheek before she headed away, still trying to control the smirk on his expression.

"Sorry...I'll try to answer your questions in order...how, was your scent, the specific avoiding of garlic, and then just the barest hint of fang. If I hadn't been watching, I'd have missed it. So, onto the watching and the blind bit...My eyes don't work, but I'm not blind."

Matt couldn't control the grin this time, or his eyebrows as they flicked up in amusement. The follow-up conversation would be complex. So, where did he begin with that? Perhaps he'd pick up after he retired...that was a logical place to start. It would tie things in neatly and provide a narrative thread. The minimizing of questions would be best, Matt thought. He took his jacket off and detoured to the kitchen briefly to put it and his glasses on the counter top before swerving back to the living room.

"When I retired, I took a gig as a security analyst with Mi:5 Homeland Security. The work was easy and straight forward, but there was an invitation-only research program and I'm, as well established, an idiot. Turns out the Kingdom was trying to create super soldiers to combat the not-so-well-known or understood threat of the magical side of things. So...rather than them creating their own wizards with their genetic fuckery, they got me. Blind as a bat with a similar radar sense, stronger, faster, better hearing, and scent capability me. Also known as the Devil of London." he finished with another broad smirk, knowing that Cora was likely going to reprimand him again for his assholishness. Really though, weren't spec-op operators born to screw with one another? He'd been honest, straight forward, answered more question than he'd avoided...given his mood, the level of shenanigans were low.

[Everett Cooper]

Calm down? When had telling someone to calm down ever worked in the history of anything ever? Okay, so maybe she hadn’t exactly said the words ‘calm down’, but ‘try to relax’ was the same damn thing and nothing you could say would convince him otherwise. He supposed he could forgive the trite request considering he was well-aware he was more than a little upset not to mention confused and on edge at the moment, but still. ’Calm down, my shapely ass….’ he thought with an indignant snort, listening to Cora’s explanation with a stoic face.

Alright, so he hadn’t fucked up THAT badly then, from the sounds of it at least. In fact, Cora’s explanation was far more like a mission report for observation of an asset than just a simple conversation. Too many details noted that an untrained person would just write off as insignificant, not to mention how quickly she had armed herself with the wand that he would guess was concealed up her sleeve the whole goddamn time too… The way she was standing, not quite behind Matt but ready for a fight and easily able to duck behind the bigger man if she needed to… this girl was definitely more than she appeared. Even for a witch. Not that he had a lot of experience with witches and what training they might have, but to his trained eye, it was obvious Cora had some sort of possibly-military-esque training. Hell, she could be a spy for all Ev knew. After all, hadn’t Matt just said he had been working for Mi:5? Maybe the wizarding world and muggle world had more crossover here in the UK than they did in the States? Hmm…

As Matt continued to explain his own story (guess that explained his weird scent too…) Everett meekly followed his hosts as they led him deeper into the converted warehouse. He barely noticed the decor or the layout, really only scanning the sensory input and filing it away for later out of long habit from his years of being a SEAL. The vampire sat on the modern-style black leather armchair next to the couch that Cora had seated herself on, still silently absorbing what Matt was telling him. Once the Marine had finished his outlandish story, Ev sat in silence for a few beats until he had fully made sense of what he had been told.

“Okay. So, thanks for the honesty, bruv, but I have some gentle rebuttals,” he drawled slowly as if still digesting the thoughts. “Number one… WHAT THE FUCK LED YOU TO BELIEVE AN INVITATION-ONLY, SECRET PROGRAM WAS A GOOD GODDAMN IDEA?! Jesus fucking christ on a cracker, Cox! That shoulda been your first clue that sumthin’ wasn’t right!” Okay, so maybe his rebuttals weren’t so gentle, but come the fuck on; this was extreme. “And ‘super soldiers’? If we were talkin’ about anything but government stupidity I’d think you just quoted a Captain America comic to me! As it stands however, I know you’re not shittin’ me but that doesn’t make it any less far-fetched sounding either. Jesus christ….” The emotionally-exasperated vampire ran his hand through his hair roughly, leaving the previously-tamed locks charmingly mussed, and sighed. “As for the ‘Devil of London’ bit… I don’t really know what you’re talkin’ about, but I’m sure it’s a fuckin’ doozy knowing your flair for the dramatic, Choir Boy…” He flopped back in his chair with a soft chuckle, running his hand through his hair again absently.

[Coraline Larson]

Well at least Matt was cooperating instead of instigating more confusion and chaos, Cora thought as she rolled her eyes at the back of the mutant’s head. All things considered, that was a pleasant surprise. Cora sighed softly and relaxed a bit albeit slowly as the vampire calmed down. She followed the men into the living room and perched gingerly on the end of the couch furthest away from Everett, just in case, and watched the American carefully as he seemed to digest everything that had just been dumped on him.

The more she watched him, however, the more she grew suspicious of how much scrutiny he seemed to be giving her. Cora didn’t know much at all about the muggle military, letalone the American muggle military, but if Everett was comparable to Matt’s old career in the SBS… he had to be highly trained, right? The way he stared at her while he thought was off-putting to say the least, although she wasn’t entirely certain she was disturbed by it or if it was simply another symptom of the Dark Lady stirring again in the back of her mind. Even with the draught of peace Cora had dosed herself with it seemed the temptation of having another such highly trained and clearly useful target in close proximity was just too enticing to her darker half. Now that the vampire had calmed down and was even teasing Matt again, it was definitely time for her to retire for the night, she decided.

“Okay, boys… since it seems you have a bit of catching up to do and nobody’s in imminent danger of getting their clock cleaned anymore, I’m going to go up to bed,” she said with a tight smile. “Mr Cooper, it was a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to getting to know you better next time.” Cora leaned over to kiss Matt’s cheek and smiled again at Everett as she stood up and made her way back out to grab a dose of sleeping draught for herself. The last thing any of them needed was for her to wake up as her darker half and subjugate both men… It was simply safer this way.

[Matthew Cox]

He couldn't help the laughter at Everett's blasphemous outburst. The shock and frustration was just too great for Matt to not react. Given the dichotomy between calm build up and exasperated outburst, it was just too much to hold back the delighted reaction. Matt leaned back into the couch, still coming down from the laughing. Once he trailed off into a smile, he tried to answer Everett's question.

"So you've not been reading the news about the vigilante who took an exception to the scum and dregs of London? Well, I don't know if you Americans ever did this, but one of the things we used to do sitting around in the mess hall was bullshit about all the ways we'd fix society if we could, or the gripes about what the point was of going and cleaning up third world countries when gangs and low-lifes were screwing up our homes..."

He shrugged and let an enigmatic smile start to grow on his face. The expression was a mix of predatorial pleasure and conspiratorial conniving; it was the look of a man who got the opportunity to walk the talk he'd been craving to prove.

"Well, it's not a what-if or an I-wish anymore for me. These changes, these abilities...I can put paid to everything I'd run my mouth on about, and it feels just as amazing as I'd thought it would."

When Cora announced her departure, Matt turned to her and leaned into the kiss, returning the gesture to her cheek as well with a small nuzzle. Damn, she smelled good, even with her state of fighting the Dark Lady, she was like catnip for his senses. He was proud of her fight, her grit, and her determination to reverse the course she'd been forced down. His fighter...the thought made him smile at her, sweet and sunshine and encouragement in a flash of affection.

"Rest well, love. I promise not to trash the place," he jested.

[Everett Cooper]

Cora’s soft voice as she excused herself barely registered in his brain in time for Ev to stand up when she did, sitting down once the woman had left the room. Matt would probably tease him for the old fashioned mannerism, but hey; old habits and all that jazz. He was raised a good Southern boy with proper manners and dammit he was gonna act like it, bloodsucking monster or not.

Manners out of the way, Ev turned to glare at Matt mostly-affectionately, not caring that the blind man missed out on his expression. Fuck it; he earned the glare, he was getting it whether he could see it or not. Not that the American could really blame him for it but that was beside the point. At least Matt seemed to be answering his questions and not just making fun of him, Ev contented himself.

A vigilante? Oh for fucks sake. Hadn’t he just remarked on Matt’s flair for the dramatic? “Jesus goddamn Christ, Choir Boy…” he sighed, shaking his head in disbelief again. “Yeah, of course we talked like that too. Let’s face it, we’ve all had those talks. But come on, man… a vigilante? You gotta be shittin’ me…” Although, knowing Matt… no, he really wasn’t. Ev shook his head again but didn’t dispute Matt’s claims again. He was telling the truth, even if it was far-fetched, and honestly, if he had the chops and the chance… why the hell not? It wasn’t like society was doing a great job policing itself, so why not help the status quo along a little bit?

“Looks like I’m gonna need to start gettin’ the paper again,” he chuckled. “Hadn’t really needed to pay attention to things outside the clans since I got here, but apparently I gotta keep up on what bullshit you’re up to now, Choir Boy,” Ev laughed outright, giving Matt a good-natured punch in the arm.

[Matthew Cox]

Everett had to show him up by standing, didn't he? Matt had broken that habit in himself because Cora didn't like him behaving in any way reminiscent of a slave showing deference. That wasn't Everett's intentions and Matt was well aware of it. Sweet gentleman with a military mouth...heh. Tonight was gonna be interesting. He smirked at the glare, shifting on the couch to get more comfortable

"Not shitting you at all. If you want to see the armor, I can show you if you want."

He jerked a thumb towards the armory but didn't move to get up just yet. He had a load of questions for his old friend and he was going to unleash them all at once if he wasn’t stopped.

"We could also just sit and catch up. I'm still keenly interested in how you became a vampire...When was that, if you don't mind me asking? I mean…before joining Mi5 I didn’t know a damned thing about there being a magical world where myth and bullshit’s real…did you know about it before?”

There were many, many more questions he had waiting to be let loose. If Ev was a vampire now, how had he been able to eat dinner with them? Was that all just a part of legend or was there some ability he had to blend in? He was well balanced and normal seeming, so why had Cora gotten a case of the nerves when she found out that their dinner partner was vampiric in nature? Besides the obvious no garlic, no sun, what other mythology about vampires was true? What was false? Perhaps, more importantly, he should ask if Everett was safe. The government here in England didn’t seem friendly to its own people, never mind the weirder edges of creatures. Did he face any prejudices or problems with wizarding kind?

There were so many things to talk about, and yet Matt just wanted to catch up and relax. Maybe some of the questions he had tucked away were for another night…maybe another night wouldn’t even be able to come. But…what if? What if he could have this friendship while he and Cora were settling things out and figuring out how to overcome their curses? Could he be selfish enough to want that? After all, Everett could be a friend who understood the pathos of the change. It wasn’t the same for him, obviously, but there was still the sense of loss and otherness that they could commiserate with together. Hell, Cora might even be able to tell him what she’d done to Matt and enlist him as an ally in their mutual fight to becoming better!

But maybe he was just being stupid with his hope, letting imagination run off with him. What if was a question that could cut both ways, after all. What if the Dark Lady enslaved his friend? What if she hurt him in an effort to hurt Matt? What if Everett found out what happened and was so disgusted he attacked Cora as a retribution for hurting his friend? Worse…what if he didn’t care? That didn’t seem to be in the SEAL’s nature, but Matt had known him when he was human. The changes wrought to the mutant had made him more secretive…so who was to say that a vampire wouldn’t be more predatory?

Hell, maybe it was better to let this night be a one-time treat. After all, the odds of putting someone in danger only increased with the more someones who were involved. Damage control meant doing your best to control the damage instead of bringing in others to get hurt. Maybe someday he could exploit their friendship for the stability and companionship e was craving. Until otherwise proven, right now wasn’t the right time to build on their old foundation. Well...maybe not build extensively. Just a little bit of building maybe? A little selfish indulgence? Would that be so bad? He could argue that he deserved it, after all…

[Everett Cooper]

See his armor? Christ on a cracker, Cox was really serious wasn’t he? The SEAL’s eyes briefly flicked in the direction Matt gestured before returning to grin at his friend. Ev didn’t see any armor or anything like that, but then again it was probably not sitting out in the living room for everyone to oogle at, now was it? ‘The Devil of London’. Yeah, sounded like Choir Boy’s brand of dramatic flair, Ev chuckled to himself as Matt asked him more personal questions. He sighed softly, not surprised that the tide of conversation had turned back around to himself now that Matt’s big secret was out.

Ev stretched and sat back comfortably in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head easily. “When? Uh…” He blew out his lips as he thought about the timeframe on his change. “Was sumwhere around the end of December twenty-ten or beginning of January twenty-eleven, best I can figure,” he answered at last, shrugging a bit and bringing his arms down to rest on the chair. “Wasn’t a real good situation,” he added, more seriously. “And no, I had no idea anything magical was real beforehand…”

The vampire sighed again, trying to decide how to start the tale of how he was turned and how he came to be a vampire. “You mighta heard about a terrorist cell or a piracy cartel runnin’ along the southern Caribbean back about the beginning of 2010? Venezuela and a few other countries along the northern coast of South America were gettin’ hit pretty hard by raiders and a lotta innocent people were gettin’ killed or kidnapped. The SEALs were called in to track down and eliminate the threat; I think y’all SBS bullfrogs were on the shortlist for gettin’ shit did too, but we were closer and had worked in the area before.” Ev sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

“Well, to make a long story a little bit shorter, myself and three of my men were the team sent to infiltrate and take out the cartel. Only our intel was only half-right. Intel said it was a new drug cartel that had teamed up with local pirates to take over the coastlines. It was mostly true. They weren’t a drug cartel, they were a cult, I guess you’d call ‘em, of wizards obsessed with eternal life.” He paused, remembering the landing on the Venezuelan beach that September night, getting shot in the ambush and watching helplessly as his team was gunned down while he bled out in the sand… Ev shook himself slightly and continued on. “We were ambushed as soon as we made the beach. I took the first bullet to the chest and my boys were taken down not long after… I wasn’t quite dead yet, so they captured me and took me back to their base. That was September 2010. Took me til mid-November to decide I wasn’t gonna die, and I got to know the guy in the cage next to me. He’d been there for about five months before I showed up and he told me he was a Nosferatu, a born vampire. We got friendly and once I was recovered a bit more, we made an escape plan. See, Max had been starved but not enough to kill him, just enough to keep him too weak to do anything, so he needed a little bit of blood to be strong enough to even walk out of there, so I agreed to feed him. Max couldn’t stop; he was too far gone in his hunger. He killed me, and then turned me as the only apology he could make…” Ev finally fell silent, staring into space a bit as he recalled the carnage he had wrecked on their captors when he had come to as a newly-turned vampire…

[Matthew Cox]

"Fuck..."

It was apparently his turn to be eloquent, tonight. Matt had breathed the expletive in a tone that spoke volumes about the understanding of horror. Ev had lived every operator's worst nightmare: the death of your friends and the guilt of staying alive afterwards when you shouldn't have. On top of that, the surreal notion of being held captive by a magical cult (Matt failed to see the parallel or the irony of his sympathy for that facet of the tale) and finding out that vampires were real all at once must have been earth shattering. His already high esteem for the SEAL ratcheted up a few degrees upon hearing this story. Matt stood and headed to Ev, burying him in a brother's hug. He tried again to say something.

"Fuck, man...that's terrible. I'm sorry. I'm glad you made it, bruv."

He backed off and took a seat closer to Everett, concern and sympathy still on his face.

"I know its been a bit since then, but are you safe? Do you need anything? Cora and I have resources if you need a place to stay or anything like that. Anything we can do to help, and I mean it, we can do our best to give. Don't hesitate to ask. I've lost brothers in service myself, and I know its a never-healing hole, but it's not going to be something you have to bear alone, okay? Add on top of that the changes, well...I get it. Different story, but the parallels are there. We aren't alone, and whatever I can do to help, I want to, okay?"

He kept fumbling through the reassurances and the pledge of connection, intent on making sure Everett knew he was both a friend and a resource that could be relied upon. Curse bedamned. If his friend needed him, he'd find a way to help him.

[Everett Cooper]

Matt’s breathless curse snapped Everett out of the unwanted reverie and made the vampire jump a little as the marine stood up suddenly. Ev took a few deep breaths to steady his nerves and quickly recited a few grounding mantras he had been taught during his therapy for PTSD over the years. ’I’m safe, I’m with a friend, and he won’t hurt me. Matt is my friend and I am safe with him. I’m okay. I am in London, with my friend, and I am safe,’ he recited calmly in his head, the sudden tension in his body relaxing before Matt embraced him. Ev returned the hug with a gentle clap on the back then sat back in his seat when Matt released him. His brother’s concern was touching and the SEAL couldn’t keep the small smile off his face at Matt’s offer.

“Thanks, man,” he said quietly. “I’m okay. Honest. It’s been about eighteen months or so and I’m good. There’s bad days, ya know how it goes… but I’m good.” True, he had been thinking about talking with his uncle to help him find a therapist to start going to again, but that certainly didn’t mean he wasn’t ‘good’. Therapy and having a reliable support network was a big part of successful PTSD treatment and long-term management, and with becoming a vampire and having to basically relearn how to be a person again, that therapy had become kind of nonexistent. Ev knew that he needed to start building that network and that support for himself again now that he was stable and preferably before he had a reason or a need to lean on it, so maybe he would call Aventus and see if the Nos could help him get situated over here in the next week or so…

“And the same goes for you, bruv,” he told Matt, gently patting his arm. “I’ve been a PTSD counselor since 2000 and if you ever need to talk or anything, I’m here, a’right? But don’t you worry about me being safe and all,” he chuckled a bit. “Max, my sire, he’s a great dad. He and my uncle Aventus have been amazing and I’m actually over here for the next decade to apprentice with another Clan to learn to be a weaponsmith. I’m all set,” he grinned, hoping to lighten the mood a bit again.