Chapter Text
Louis woke up alone in his and Legundo’s shared room, just like when he’d gone to bed the night prior, when the other had gone for a walk in the fields near Oakhurst along with a few others. Though with the noise that came from the kitchen, he knew his roommate wasn’t far away.
He got up from his resting place—the nightmares about the pyre just leaving him. He didn’t know what to think of them, sometimes, more often than not nowadays, the image of the perpetrators screaming as a shadowy figure lunged at them was the last thing he saw before he woke up.
It was still new and scary, but it was becoming the new normal. Just like his stay in Oakhurst, in a sense.
He stretched his back ever so slightly—sleeping on the ground wasn’t doing wonders for him, but at least he now had a roof over his head. He supposed furniture would be the next goal, though he felt an itch to go out and explore.
He would. He just needed to wait until the house judging competition had passed, and then he’d be able to take a walk out into the woods and explore the crypts and ruined towers he knew were around.
Speaking off—he’d heard that today was the big day. He just needed to get out of bed—most of the town were early birds and such, they were probably all waiting on him, or some other few stragglers.
He walked through the room and opened the door they’d installed just a day ago. Through it’s crack, he was able to see Legundo leaning against the wall near the furnace, cooking up some potatoes. Louis felt his stomach yearn for the food.
“Morning,” he said, first and foremost, as to not be rude and lunge at the potato.
“Good morning, Luanne.” Legundo said and Louis almost scowled—was the name really necessary—though he supposed it wasn’t fair. Legundo was also not being fair by letting out a chuckle, though.
“Someone’s grumpy today.” He observed, and Louis didn’t say anything. He just approached his roommate and took his half baked potato out the furnace and took a chunk out of it, Legundo staying silent at the action—he’d probably understood that he’d make it worse if he did.
He himself let out a sigh and shut off the fire of the furnace, settling for the same poor meal as Louis.
“...sorry.” He apologized.
“No, it’s okay.” Legundo assured though Louis was certain it was only a lie to soothe him. “Have the nightmares been particularly bad?”
“You don’t even know half of it.” He said, honesty in his words.
Legundo hummed. Whether in agreement or acknowledgement, Louis didn’t know.
"Well,” his roommate let out, “House judging’s today, and Avid’s the one to organize it, so you’ll hopefully feel better. He always makes your day, even if he… has the opposite effect on myself.”
“He’s just a kid, Legs.” Louis explained. “A kind-hearted kid.”
“Not the words I’d choose,” Legundo observed, “I’d use impulsive, hot-headed and ignorant. But that’s not an argument we need to have right now.” Of course it wasn’t. Louis didn’t want to get anymore heated, especially with Legundo in the mixt.
As Louis took the last bite out of his potato, he stretched his arms ever so slightly, then started to take in a few deep breaths. He was fine.
He’d have to look for a distraction. He looked to his roommate, and remembered his outing the night prior. Curious, he asked; “What did you get out of the field trip yesterday, then? Picked a few berries?”
“I did, actually; They’re in one of these chests.” He said, gesturing to one of their many storages. They’d… certainly have to sort their things sometime soon. “Otherwise, I have to admit… It was quite unsuccessful.”
At that, Louis raised an eyebrow: The group had stayed out for far too late for them not to have found anything of importance. Louis had had to leave Legundo’s dinner cold on top of the unlit furnace. “What did you do out this late, then?”
“I mean.” He started, then stopped for a moment to think. After that, he let out a sigh, and started explaining furthermore: “We were trying to get to the ocean by the end of the fields, because we thought it might have been the optimal location for a fishing spot. But… We found out that we couldn’t quite access it.”
“Rogue wild life? Fallen trees? We can find a way around it, I’m sure.” Louis tried to find, if only to reassure his roommate. “We’ve been getting pretty craft with our homes already. It won’t be too hard to get past a few obstacles.”
Another sigh from his roommate: “No,” he said, “it isn’t anything like that. It seems we just… can’t seem to get past a certain point. Like there’s a wall between us and the other end.”
That was… certainly an observation, but before Louis could get up in his head about it, let his heart race at the questions it raised, watch his mind go wild with it, he stopped. And asked; “What do you mean there’s a wall?”
“It’s… it’s one of those I can’t explain, Luanne.” He explained, and Louis felt as though he’d be stupid to linger on a name when there was something so much more important afoot; “There’s a physical point where we cannot pass. Something not quite different from glass, though it isn’t that.”
“You can explain it.” Louis made a point to put emphasis on the sentence. “Just not yet. Science doesn’t explain itself overnight.”
He watched the way Legundo physically had to bite his own lower lip to hold in some word. Then, he let out another sigh: Louis would want to prod at the man’s thoughts and soothe him in the way he thought would be best to, but Legundo hadn’t pressed about his own, and he’d give the same respect back.
“The area seems to be settled around the beacons.” The doctor explained instead, “So we might need to go and explore more, to see where some more are, and where the barriers end on other ends of the territory.”
“Then that can wait,” Louis decided, approaching his roommate, not quite leaning against his side but close enough to make it look as such. “Nobody seems to want to leave this place relatively soon, and we’ve got a house judging competition to attend to. After that, we can start figuring things out.”
“Maybe I can figure you out, while we’re at it.” Legundo joked with a low chuckle under his breath, smiling warmly as he looked at Louis. “We shouldn’t be late, then, I suppose.”
“That, we shouldn’t.” Louis nodded his head in agreement, then, on impulse, grabbed his roommate’s hand. “Come on. Let’s get going.”
And such, they were on their way to the house judging competition… Though they weren’t exactly aware of where the event took place, it was quite event it was centered near the town beacon, where most, if not all, towns members could be found lingering and having conversation.
Almost immediately, Louis managed to watch a glimpse of the young scholar chatting with his roommate Apo. He was a bit pale, but he’d only noticed so because Apo had mentioned it. Otherwise, he looked fine. Louis was happy to hear he was better.
He would have went to check on him personally, but he was still holding his own roommate’s hand, and Avid’s voice rung out loudly before he could think of telling Legundo about his plans.
“Welcome! Welcome, everyone!” He called out, “Welcome… Oakhurst-ers? Err.”
The silent echoing through the wooden walls of the town was deafening.
“We’ll work on that later. Anyway! Welcome to the first rendition of Oakhurst’s house judging contest! It will become a monthly event, just so you’re aware—” Avid’s words were cut off by a long, collective groan from the townsfolk… Louis couldn’t help but understand the sentiment.
They’d spent so long cooped up in the town tending to their shelter, and while it was necessary to get their bearings down, Louis himself didn’t quite feel like sacrificing a week of his month dedicated to it every time.
“Fine, fine! I get it! We’ll discuss regularity at a later date, everybody!” Avid yelled out to bring their attention back onto himself. “Right. Are there any volunteers who are happy to go first?”
And while Louis would be happy to set the example, having the entire town stroll up to his house first reminded him of the mob back at his own village or his dreams a little bit too much for him to be comfortable with it… he’d be fine with going second.
“I actually think Sausage has done a wonderful job with our abode,” Owen’s voice echoed through the crowd, his tone monotone. “I wouldn’t mind starting with the best, this time around.”
“What, did you not work on it at all?” Avid asked, an eyebrow raised.
“I suppose I held some sort of managerial position.” Owen proposed, to which the younger one scoffed at. He then added: “I did supply the wood that built it, though.”
That seemed to be a good enough argument for their judge. “Alright, then. Let’s take a look.”
And while everybody seemed to help themselves by doing a perimeter around the house or even going in uninvited, it did feel overly personal to step in to judge their interior. He would appreciate the view from the outside—the entrance was truly grand, while he and Legundo had taken way too long to get a basic door instead of a simple plank. They would not be winning this competition.
Unless… “Alright, alright! I, uh, I also forgot to mention, today’s judging criteria may not be what you expect, per say.” Avid started, catching their attention once more—he even thought to see someone listening to him through the building’s highest window. “We won’t be judging on beauty, but more on vampire safety!”
Louis cringed as an even louder collective groan echoed through, and he was unsurprised to find that one of the loudest voices was the one of his roommate’s, who’d rejoined his side.
“Still think he’s a good-natured kid?” He asked in a whisper.
Louis made a point to hit his side with his elbow, forming his expression to look unimpressed. With a little ow! his roommate crossed his arms and rolled his eyes fondly. Louis leaned against him.
Avid seemed to ignore the whispers and continuous opposition in a way that almost made Louis feel proud. He said; “Well, I think this is a pretty good home! Has a complete roof, barred off windows, only one entrance… That a five out of five! Congratulations, Owen!”
The man didn’t seem flattered by it at all, letting out a groan and rolling his eyes. Louis felt some sort of childish pride in the purple-eyed man.
“No need to have this attitude!” He reprimanded Owen and turned onto the crowd: “And if you’re going to keep complaining like this, then it’ll take forever to go around! Come on, guys!”
And so, Avid led the way, onto the next house they went: This one was slightly less aesthetically pleasing than the writer’s one, but since they weren’t judging on beauty, Louis supposed it didn’t really matter.
It was made out of a dark spruce wood, with a simple door that still somehow looked better than theirs. A little sign was hanging onto the side of the wall near, reading Merp Manor. And while Louis had never quite seen a manor before, he definitely knew Sausage’s abode wasn’t one, and so, there was no way this… shack was. He’d let the kids have fun, though. Their build—stable, two story building—was already impressive for a two-person job.
He knew it was the kids’ due to Drift’s loud compliments as they approached the building—wow, look at this beauty!—along with Avid’s quick humbling.
“This one is an easy pass, five out of five, no notes. As I said for M’s house, this one has one door, barred off windows and a complete roof—” though his monologue was soon interrupted with a screech on his part, and a loud reaction from the crowd.
Louis didn’t even see the bats with the way he’d been pushed around the crowd of people swinging their swords aimlessly at the sky. He quickly dipped under someone’s weapon—Martyn’s, presumably—to get to the side and catch a sight of it.
Bats. There were bats everywhere.
He felt himself instinctively reach for his axe strapped onto his belt—he’d yet to make a sword, deeming it unnecessary, mobs weren’t that hard to deal with—and swung it at the first bat he came across.
He ran through excuses in his mind: bats carried rabies, bats were unsanitary, they didn’t need to deal with a bat infestation this early onto their stay—but he knew the real reason by heart.
Bats mean vampires. And suddenly, Louis was a child once more. The adults say I need to run if I say a bat, and tell them. The adults say I need to swing a sharp rock at them.
He’d uttered those same instructions to the kids at the orphanage, after all.
But now… as he slashed one’s wing and watch it fall to the ground, blood staining the path, their little high-pitched squeaks calling out for help as they bled out… Louis couldn’t help but feel an enormous amount of guilt overwhelming him.
What had he gained, then? A slightly lesser chance for rabies, a curable disease—at least in it’s early stages? Or did he gain a twisted feeling of safety due to values he’d been taught to follow in the village that chased him out?
The voices were the only thing that brought him back to reality, noticeably one that felt ever so slightly more familiar than others. Then, touch on his arm—he jerked it back, and felt himself take a tumble backwards, before looking up to meet his roommate’s eyes.
Or, rather, the doctor’s eyes which seemed to fill with worry as he scanned his body with his vision.
“S—sorry.” He managed to choke out. “I just—I don’t—”
“You don’t need to explain yourself.” Legundo explained and Louis could see the way his legs felt awkward and tense, almost as if hesitating to take a step forward and comfort Louis with touch. Louis felt terrible.
“Take a second to breathe,” He ordered, “I just wanted to see if you’d been bit by one of them to proceed adequately. That can wait, though.”
Louis wanted to immediately assure his roommate that he was fine, that none of these bats had gotten a hang on their neck, but as soon as the thought came through, he immediately understood the need to breathe.
He took a second. Saw the way the group moved on, their eyes lingering on him with worry, yet not interfering with the clearly—somewhat—intimate interaction.
Avid’s worried gaze was the one that impacted him the most. Owen’s was the one that brought him back to reality.
“I’m—fine.” He managed to squeeze out. “Gnn, gah. Sorry. No, I wasn’t bit. Just…”
“I’m glad to hear you’re healthy.” The doctor let out, eyes soft as he looked at him, finally take a step forwards and offered a hand, which Louis took with no hesitation. “I worried about the rabies bats may have been carrying. I’m not sure if silver apples would work as well as golden ones, and I didn’t necessarily want to find out with you.”
“Ge-ez,” Louis tried to joke with a little chuckle. “Way to tell a guy when he’s not wanted.”
A second passed. Then another. “You know that’s not what I meant.” The doctor hit back, allowing his other hand to crawl up to Louis’ cheek and wipe out some of the tears he wasn’t even aware of.
He, however, was very aware of the way his heart had somewhat started to beat right out of his chest. How could he be so careless? How could he let these words spill out of his mouth? His roommate may have not noticed—or had he? Did he not mind? He knew about apo, but–but—but what if others noticed? Ones that weren’t as fine with it?
He could almost feel the way Owen’s eyes never left him ever since he’d walked away, in front of a house of which Louis didn’t know the owner. He should be far enough away from ear shot, but it always felt as though the man had this air of knowledge about him.
It didn’t matter. The stupid joke had been said, and the doctor hadn’t immediately ran him out of town. The bats were simple bats, and not vampires, despite the high likeliness of his existence. It was probably just a bad joke to scare Avid.
He was fine. He was fine.
“...right. We can go back with the others.” He declared.
“I think they skipped our turn,” Legundo mentioned, gesturing where the group had missed their abode, likely out of respect, once more. “We’ll circle back, though. Best for last, yeah?”
And though Louis doubted it… he still found himself nodding and getting back to the group.
It was always a delight, to see the way the young hunter’s eyes lit up every time he walked into the same place as him. He beamed, threw out some rating for the house, and approached Louis. “Luanne! I’m so glad you’re okay.” He exclaimed.
Nervously, Louis forced a chuckle out of his throat as he instinctively scratched the back of his neck. His embarrassment seemingly gone unnoticed, Avid continued: “We should go check out your house! Let’s go!”
And so, the hoard walked towards Louis’ abode, and the only reason why it didn’t feel as though he was witnessing his chase in third person’s view was the soft hand of Avid leading him towards it with a bright smile.
He would protect that kid with his life.
“Look at this!” Avid exclaimed, eyes lit up with pride as he looked over the house. “Such a nice house! Luanne, you did a great job with the roof.”
He didn’t have the heart to tell him that it had been all Legundo’s doing. His roommate didn’t feel the need to correct him either, watching them both with a fond look on his face. Louis only let out yet another nervous chuckle.
“But that’s not all! You perfectly follow the criteria for a vampire safe house. Barred off windows, completed infrastructure, and… well..” His eyes lingered on the door.
“...I mean, I guess it is technically a door, but…”
That was unnecessary. He knew his roommate felt the same as he let out a frustrated ‘oh, come on!’ at the comment, which Louis reciprocated with an embarrassed groan.
“It can be fixed pretty easily! Come on, I’ll even do it myself later! It’s still a five out of five. We’ve still got a good amount of houses to go through, though!” And so, their home—and mostly, door—was forgotten as they moved on to different abodes.
When they got to Martyn’s house, it getting a six out of five and Avid getting a lot of slack for his poor math, Louis wasn’t in any capability to protect the young boy from the harsh words—he himself hadn’t studied anything science related. He’d just be content with the way he replied back, harsh and confident, that fractions could go over the denominator, words that didn’t make sense to Louis.
When they got to Cleo and Pearl’s house, and the former started threatening and pushing people out of their home, it felt fair on her part. But when they kept threatening the kid to give them a higher score, Louis made sure to interrupt.
“This is the event he organized,” he made sure to emphasis, putting himself between the two; “If you’re not happy with the judging system, make another event. If you’re not happy with your score, make it more vampire safe.”
Cleo scoffed, but at least Louis felt as though he’d stuck to his word, for once. Not to mention, purple eyes looking up at him in awe was worth more than anything else.
He’d gotten closer to the man and ruffled his hair in a messy fashion. He let out a single squawk.
And… well, when Avid announced the winner—Martyn, with an impressive six out of five—and that the prize he’d get to bring home was a total of fifteen garlic seeds, creating an enormous groan coming out of the crowd…
If Louis had laughed, then, instead of protecting him, it didn’t matter.
He still had a beaming grin and bright eyes.
“Right,” A voice echoed through the laughs, “Seeing as we’ve spent the week cooped up into this godforsaken town, I will be leaving now, if only to get some space from this man, and do some actual progress on our surroundings…”
Well. He supposed everything had an ending eventually.
But if they were going to go out into the forest at night, then they’d at least have to go in pairs: it.. Just turned out that they happened to be an uneven number.