Seeing Joe fall to the ground Doc carefully helps him up to his feet. "What happened in there?"
Joe shakes his head, "I was asking Avar why he's doing this to us..."
Doc frowns softly, "What did he say?"
Swallowing hard Joe looks up, "He said he wants to destroy the Vex. They are the reason he's like this. Doc, he's hurting... I don't know how I should feel."
"You talked with him, I think the fact he let you says something about him. He's a horrible person for doing this to us but, I trust you."
Joe's face falls as he unconsciously licks his teeth, "I think he's a lonely, broken man who is lost in his want for justice. He thinks he's unredeemable."
Frowning Doc glances over at the dark screen in the corner of the room. Standing up he hisses quietly in the back of his throat, "And how do you feel?"
"I-I think something might be happening," Joe looks up at Doc, his glasses knocked partly to the side, "My mouth has been feeling a little weird, it's gotten worse as we've been talking."
Walking over Doc silently opens Joe's mouth, "Yeah you've got fangs budding."
Pulling away from the creeper, Joe puts his head down on the table, "Unfortunately, I assume that this will tell us nothing about what's happening."
Doc nods, "Fangs don't work as a good tell, it's too common of a thing..."
Joe cracks a small sad smile, "That's a sentence I never thought I would hear."
Snorting Doc rolls his eyes, "What has our life become, man... seriously though does anything else feel weird?"
"I don't know, I might be in shock but everything is sorta... overwhelming."
"I'll ask again later," Doc smiles.
"Unless you need something could I go to my base?"
"Yeah, that's fine," Doc murmurs, "Are you tired?"
Joe nods, "The transformations drain some energy don't they?"
Doc squints, "Sometimes, normally it's during really extreme transformations."
Pulling his communicator out Joe inspects his newly formed fangs. They've stopped growing by this point and they are sharp. Poking over his lips they glint softly. Carefully he tucks his fangs into his mouth for a moment, before deciding that it's a lot more comfortable to let them poke out just a little.
As they start making their way to the winery Joe squints in the bright sunlight, "So what do you think will happen?" His fangs causing him to lisp heavily.
"I'm not sure," Doc mutters, "Could be anything, all we know is fangs, something with your ears and it looks like you're at least a little bit nocturnal..."
"That's a bit concerning and why do you say nocturnal?"
Doc shrugs, "You look like it's a bit bright even though we're flying with the sun behind us."
Joe frowns, as he pokes at his fangs for a moment, "Ok, that's weird."
Landing in the grass surrounding Joe's base, Doc laughs, "It'll get worse."
Frowning Joe shakes his head, and yawns. He waves to Doc as he enters his base, they agree to meet up in the morning. Stumbling into his bedroom he collapses into his bed.
Rubbing his lip he winces as his finger is cut by the fangs. The irony smell of the blood smells different than normal. Licking the blood off he waits for the small cut to stop bleeding before falling asleep.
A few days pass and nothing else has happened, he still has his fangs. Doc hasn't been able to figure out what's happening and for some reason Joe has been exhausted; sleeping well into the day at times.
Doc has been relentlessly attempting to find what animals teeth match Joe's fangs. He's even gone off world to see if the watchers know anything, they did not.
Slowly Joe learns how to speak with his fangs, at times his voice is still a bit lost with lisps but he's learning. The fangs are still sensitive so sometimes they hurt when he bites down. Eating is a completely different problem that ends in a mess more often than not. The length of the fangs makes chewing food pretty difficult.
Snagging an apple from his countertop Joe bites in and freezes. Instead of protesting the sudden contact his fangs don't hurt, in fact something seems to click. Instead of taking a bite he drinks the juice that drips from the apple. It's almost like his brain has fuzzed out slightly. Nearby a chicken clucks and suddenly everything is in perfect clarity.
Silently Joe stalks outside and grabs the chicken. Darting back inside he shakes his head and looks at the chicken confused. As he sits and stares at the chicken everything goes dark.
Doc slowly walks up the path to Joe's winery, everything is deathly still. Nothing dares to move or make a sound.
Pushing the door open Doc stumbles back. Blood is splattered across the wine vats, and Joe is lying unconscious nearby.
After a heart stopping moment Doc realizes that it's not Joe's blood and a chicken is laying dead on the floor nearby. Carefully with his metallic arm Doc brings the chicken outside and buries it. Kneeling next to Joe, Doc gags slightly at the amount of blood smeared across his face.
Pulling out his communicator Doc calls Xisuma, "Hey, uh I think I know what's happened to Joe... he's a vampire."
Xisuma gasps softly, "Is he ok?"
"I think so, he's drained a chicken and made a mess."
"Bring him over to Bdubs village, I'll clean his house, you get him cleaned up."
"Gotcha," Doc hangs up and picks Joe up carefully. As he walks out towards Bdubs, Doc realizes what's been off the entire time, it's been overcast and gray this entire time that Joe's been affected. Once out of Joe's 'territory' the weather returns to normal. Shaking the sense of foreboding off Doc does his best to get the poet cleaned off.
Once all the blood is washed of his skin, Doc brings him over to one of the homes. Xisuma walks over a few minutes later.
"It's so obvious," Doc groans.
"Well, now it it's, before we just knew that his senses were all messed up and he had fangs."
"So, uh what now?"
Xisuma shrugs, "We should probably get some more animals over here for him then see if he needs, uh player blood."
Doc frowns as he sets the poet on a bed. He hasn't stirred this entire time. Walking over to the castle where Bdubs is working he explains what happened. As he walks back to the house where Joe is, he pauses, this all seems vaguely familiar.
"Howdy Xisuma," Joe grins as he sits up, "Oh, uh what happened?"
Xisuma's spines bristle as he sits next to Joe, "Good news and bad news. We know what you are and it's a vampire."
Gasping he tucks his fangs inside his mouth and blinks down at his hands, "What happened?"
"Well, you killed a chicken and drank its blood, I'm not entirely sure what else."
The doors swing open, "You splattered blood everywhere and your base is your territory."
Deciding to focus on one thing at a time Joe asks, "Territory?"
"Well, you have that vampire game and from what you've told me your transformation matches a lot with that vampire. The territory from what I can remember is all dark and foreboding, if you look there's mist surrounding your winery."
"Are there ravens?"
"There are ravens, but I don't think that's much of a tell since they like your berry fields."
Joe grins and flashes his fangs before letting them poke out again, "So if we're following the game's rules... something bad is going to happen. I can tell."
Xisuma stands up, "What's happening?"
"Undead, vampires are undead," Doc gasps.
Joe nods, "I don't know if I'll have to..." He pauses and takes a deep breath, "I don't know."
Doc hisses softly, "I know what I'm looking for now so we should be able to find stuff."
Nodding Joe starts to wiggle out of the blankets, "Can I get back to my winery? I need to think."
"Of course," Xisuma smiles softly under his helmet.
Joe flies back to his base and calls Cleo telling her to come over.
By the time she arrives he's been pacing back-and-forth for a few minutes, she's about to greet him in her normal way when she spots the distressed look in his eyes, "Ok, what happened."
"Ahh yes, Cleo of the zombies. I uh, I might be a vampire and I am very confused."
"I see, I can hear your heart beating, so that's a problem."
Nodding Joe slumps down in a chair, "I don't think Xisuma or Doc would take it well if I told them I would need to die. There's a few things that I need to do first..."
"This involves a coffin, doesn't it?" Cleo asks, rolling her eyes.
"Yep," Joe says, pulling out a large purple book, "I told you I was talking to the meteor, I forgot about this until now but there was something that relates to the transformations. There was a plush guardian, a gear, feathers, and there was this book."
"So, the 'I'm so scary Mr. Meteor' has the same reading taster that you do..." Joe flips the book over showing Cleo the name, "It's a vampire book," Cleo slaps her forehead.
"Since the meteor was putting this book back on the shelf when I got there, I think this can tell us what we should expect."
"Wow, ok. That's actually really smart," Cleo grins, "I feel like this won't end well."
"Oh, it definitely won't," Joe frowns as he opens the book the the coffin pages, "So uh, I won't sleep in that-"
Cleo cackles for a moment before composing herself, "Continue."
"Anyways, uh, we probably just need to make a bed with a lid..."
"Well, its says here that, it needs to let mist in and out."
"Ok, it'll have a slot," Joe explains as he doodles a crude mock up. He stands up and heads deeper into his base.
As Joe looks for wood in his storage room Cleo plucks the book up and reads some of the text on the page, "The coffin is where vampires rest and reform when they're defeated. They are usually hidden away in areas that are difficult to access by non-vampires and are heavily protected. The coffin has an opening to allow mist to enter and exit."
Shrugging at the book Cleo agrees and the pair get to work, "So Joe, how does blood taste?"
"Well, I wasn't really conscious for most of that, but it's weird. It has a different level to the flavor."
"You know when I died I thought that same thing. Blood just tastes weird. Of course I just use cloned flesh."
Joe nods softly before quietly asking, "This might be an awkward question, but with demise what did feel like when you died?"
Instantly Cleo becomes more serious, "Oh no, Joe," She lets out a soft sigh, "It'll be really off putting at first. Since magic will power all the systems in your body it's completely silent. No heartbeat, no breathing. Well to talk you still have to breathe... anyway you'll be ok."
Smiling in thanks Joe flops down on his bed, Cleo calmly shuts the lid. A few moments later Joe pushes it open and grins, "This is really weird."
"Let me guess that felt right?"
Joe nods, "Ok, I think it's time."
Cleo grins and pulls out her sword, "We should probably do this outside."
Swallowing hard Joe follows Cleo outside, "Ok, do it."
JoeHillsSays was slain by ZombieCleo
DocM77: What?
ZombieCleo: he's a vampire, he's supposed to be undead. Being alive is going to cause problems.
Xisuma: you should have warned us
ZombieCleo: sorry
ZombieCleo: well, uh I think that worked.
ZombieCleo: his corpse turned into mist and has settled in his coffin.
Grian: you made a coffin?
ZombieCleo: yes
The entire server holds their breath, while respawn isn't horrible it's still unpleasant. If it's unexpected it can take about half an hour to wake up. On the occasions that it's expected it's already been prepared so it'll only take a few moments to regain balance and your bearings.
It's been a little over an hour and Joe has yet to emerge.
"We should check on him," Doc murmurs.
"Don't open it," Cleo explains, "That could perma kill him."
Doc quickly draws back and looks scared, "X, you might want to lock his bed from getting broken."
The admin nods, "Already doing it."
"Joe said he doesn't want an actual coffin, but he might change his mind. He looked very happy just with this," Cleo grins as Exy walks in the room.
Xisuma rolls his eyes, "If you do get a coffin please make sure you get it from one of the, 'do you want to attend your own funeral?' places and not a serious place."
Nodding Cleo gasps, "I would never disrespect the dead."
Raising an eyebrow Xisuma points at Joe's bed box.
"It's Joe, it's my job to mess with him."
Cleo and Exy head off world and come back an hour and a half later with a coffin.
Xisuma fondly rolls his eyes, "Ok, so he should wake up in about thirty minutes."
Doc nods as he grudgingly helps Cleo and Exy set the very over dramatic vampiric coffin down in a corner.
The air is completely still as everyone waits in silence for Joe to awake. It's never taken this long for someone to respawn. The fog around his base seems to get heavier, it still has a forbording aura but nothing seems to change. Until a harsh cough draws their attention.
"Joe? Are you ok?"
"I-I can't..." Joe stamers as he attempts to stand up.
Cleo stands up, "He can't feel his heart."
Eyes wide Joe nods as he puts his hand against his wrists, "It's ok, I think I'll be ok."
At Xisuma's panicked glance, Cleo looks over and explains, "Having a heart beat is always in the background, you don't know what you have until it's gone."
"Joe I don't want to make you panic but you should look at your hands," Doc says slowly.
Gasping Joe looks at his fingers. The nails have hardened and formed into sharp claws. Wincing as he looks at his reflection he swallows hard. His ears have elongated into sharp points and his eyes have flecks of red in the iris. Taking a short breath in he frowns, "That's interesting."