☎ voicemail

[as_damaged]

❝You've reached Allison Cameron, please leave a message.❞

☎ voicemail ☎ text message ☞ action

[ooc: you know the drill, if you need her and there's no recent post &c &c. whatever. ♥♥♥]

Comments

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

That's good to hear.



I was wondering-- are you free for lunch this weekend?

[as_damaged]

[There's a long pause, just because it's unexpected.]

As far as I know. As long as there isn't a curse, of course.

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

There's always the chance. How about tomorrow night, then?

[as_damaged]

That should be fine.

log next?

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

There's this small hole in the wall near the square. I'll send you the address.

sounds good to meeee

[as_damaged]

Got it. I'll see you there.

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

[as_damaged]

[Cameron is punctual of course; dressed as for work, to make it clear she's not making any assumptions. It's not necessarily a place she would have picked-- by habit Cameron actually tends to frequent more crowded restaurants-- but certainly it seems nice. She smiles a little as she meets his eyes, takes the opposite seat.]

Did I keep you waiting?

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

I just got here, actually.



How was your day?

[as_damaged]

As days in the City go, not badly. [She nods, a little idly, pulls her glass towards her. Small talk isn't Cameron's strength, really.] Yours?

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

An unusual day. I mean, no curses.



I asked you out because I wanted to ask you something. I thought you might be able to help- with your expertise.

[as_damaged]

[It's not the strangest admission she's gotten. In the City that sort of thing's inevitable; she hates it, every single time-- hates having to admit the impossible exists-- but by now Cameron's good at squaring her shoulders and dealing with it. Quietly.

Of course, right now she doesn't suspect any of that, so she only arches an eyebrow.]

As an immunologist?

[It's rare that she gets to do much more than patch up injuries or stabilize curse victims. Kind of exciting, really.]

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

Yes, as an immunologist.



But first, I have to tell you something—

[as_damaged]

[She can take a cliffhanger, and without much worse than a look of mild curiosity to betray the meat of their conversation to the waitress. Cameron elects to stick with water, and she waits a beat as the woman walks away.]

I'm listening.

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

Before I came here, I found a cure for a disease. A pandemic. But it's not your bubonic plague or yellow fever. By some accounts, it was evolution.



I was infected.

[as_damaged]

I'm not sure I follow.

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

Vampirism.

I'm sure you've heard of it.

[as_damaged]

[She manages to catch herself without saying you're kidding, because of course he isn't, though that's her gut reaction. Years in the City and she still rejects it out of hand.] I had no idea. I thought-- [she catches that and corrects it,] I tend to presume people come from places a little more... [Normal.] like my own world, until proven otherwise.

I'm sorry. [What she's sorry for, she's not quite sure. Maybe just for being shocked.]

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

I'm sure my world was like yours until the outbreak. The so-called supernatural? For all I know, it never existed before.

[as_damaged]

It just takes getting used to.

[She looks down with the faintest hint of a self-effacing smile. After all, one of her first friends in the City was Cinderella. There's only so much avoiding one can do. But she's not merely reminiscing; after a moment she meets his eyes again.]

You found a cure for vampirism?

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

It's a virus. Not magic.

[as_damaged]

[Well, there was that time when House was bitten...]

Do you think it would transfer cross-universally?

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, and I'd prefer to not find out. An infected person or bat would have to bite a human. That's the only way of transfer.



But the cure isn't easy.

[as_damaged]

There are vampires in the City already, though; could your cure affect them?

[Talking shop puts her at ease, in a way small talk never does.]

What are you hoping to do?

[nosferotofu.livejournal.com]

Probably not. Vampires are different species, and sometimes it all comes down to magic.



Right now, the cure is transferred through blood. Most won't take it willingly, still, there is a way.



But I won't have it.