Wesley's Apartment | Los Angeles, CA | Monday Night Fandom Time
Wesley's summer had been long(figuratively and literally: in his universe, summer was only now winding down, and by Fandom time standards that did make it rather long; in addition, though, the amount of work that Wesley had been doing throughout the summer made it feel even longer) and strenuous. Still separated from his former colleagues and feeling rather reluctant to reach out to his Fandom friends, most of his communication had been with convenience store cashiers... and Lilah.
If it weren't for the fact that Lilah tended to talk through sex, Wesley thought there was a chance that he could go whole days at a time without talking at all.
Apart from his time with Lilah, most of Wesley's summer had been spent on a boat on the ocean, in search of the former colleague of his who wanted the least to do with him. The irony was not lost on him. After Angel's mysterious disappearance at the beginning of the summer, just when Lorne had taken off for Las Vegas and Cordelia appeared to have disappeared as well for parts unknown, Wesley had begun to dedicate the odd thought to Angel's whereabouts, a state which had progressed first until he managed to get ahold of a very drunk Justine and interrogate her about what she and Connor had done, and then until he began sleeping through much of the day and spending entire nights pouring over maps on a boat, holding a roughly constructed vampire sensor that Willow had made for Cordelia a long, long time ago. The sensor was based on the technology that Wolfram and Hart utilized in their offices, but in truth, Wesley thought Willow had made it as a preventative measure after Cordelia made some insensitive remarks caused by a misunderstanding regarding Harmony Kendall.
Tonight, he was attempting a new course entirely on the boat when the sensor beeped.
Angel was starving when Wesley hauled up and opened the steel coffin that Connor and Justine had trapped Angel in -- it showed on his pale, cracked face, but it showed even more in how the starving vampire reached at once for Wesley's throat with barely any strength at all. Hardly believing that he had actually managed to pull off this rescue mission, but focusing on Angel's immediate needs for now, Wesley reached blindly for the cooler of bags of animal blood that he had been storing on the boat ever since he'd begun this project. He managed to toss away the lid and plunge his hand into the ice, grabbing hold of the first bag to hand off to Angel. Evidently Angel still had his sense -- some of it, anyway -- as he allowed Wesley to move his hand off of his throat and onto the bag. That was good: the damage to a vampire's brain functions from prolonged starvation could be catastrophic.
Angel tore into the bag with his fangs without a word.
Wes had the next bag ready before Angel was done with the first one, and handed that one off too, and then the next one, and the one after that.
After a while, he heard Angel cough in between gulps of blood. "Slowly," Wesley warned him quietly.
He wasn't surprised when color didn't immediately restore to Angel's face. On top of that, the muttered comments Angel kept making, evidently in response to hallucinations, did not inspire confidence in Wesley that he was recovering. Watcher training hadn't spent much time on the comparative effects on a vampire of animal blood versus human, since so few of them had any reason to try animal blood at all, but Wesley had enough common sense to realize why Angel wasn't recovering his strength quickly enough.
Wes reached for his knife and slashed a deep cut into his own arm, which he offered to Angel without hesitation.
[[nfb/nfi! based on angel 4x01 "deep down," but pretty loosely, because of reasons. reasons of grossness. warning for kind of self-harm-ish behavior. ]]
If it weren't for the fact that Lilah tended to talk through sex, Wesley thought there was a chance that he could go whole days at a time without talking at all.
Apart from his time with Lilah, most of Wesley's summer had been spent on a boat on the ocean, in search of the former colleague of his who wanted the least to do with him. The irony was not lost on him. After Angel's mysterious disappearance at the beginning of the summer, just when Lorne had taken off for Las Vegas and Cordelia appeared to have disappeared as well for parts unknown, Wesley had begun to dedicate the odd thought to Angel's whereabouts, a state which had progressed first until he managed to get ahold of a very drunk Justine and interrogate her about what she and Connor had done, and then until he began sleeping through much of the day and spending entire nights pouring over maps on a boat, holding a roughly constructed vampire sensor that Willow had made for Cordelia a long, long time ago. The sensor was based on the technology that Wolfram and Hart utilized in their offices, but in truth, Wesley thought Willow had made it as a preventative measure after Cordelia made some insensitive remarks caused by a misunderstanding regarding Harmony Kendall.
Tonight, he was attempting a new course entirely on the boat when the sensor beeped.
Angel was starving when Wesley hauled up and opened the steel coffin that Connor and Justine had trapped Angel in -- it showed on his pale, cracked face, but it showed even more in how the starving vampire reached at once for Wesley's throat with barely any strength at all. Hardly believing that he had actually managed to pull off this rescue mission, but focusing on Angel's immediate needs for now, Wesley reached blindly for the cooler of bags of animal blood that he had been storing on the boat ever since he'd begun this project. He managed to toss away the lid and plunge his hand into the ice, grabbing hold of the first bag to hand off to Angel. Evidently Angel still had his sense -- some of it, anyway -- as he allowed Wesley to move his hand off of his throat and onto the bag. That was good: the damage to a vampire's brain functions from prolonged starvation could be catastrophic.
Angel tore into the bag with his fangs without a word.
Wes had the next bag ready before Angel was done with the first one, and handed that one off too, and then the next one, and the one after that.
After a while, he heard Angel cough in between gulps of blood. "Slowly," Wesley warned him quietly.
He wasn't surprised when color didn't immediately restore to Angel's face. On top of that, the muttered comments Angel kept making, evidently in response to hallucinations, did not inspire confidence in Wesley that he was recovering. Watcher training hadn't spent much time on the comparative effects on a vampire of animal blood versus human, since so few of them had any reason to try animal blood at all, but Wesley had enough common sense to realize why Angel wasn't recovering his strength quickly enough.
Wes reached for his knife and slashed a deep cut into his own arm, which he offered to Angel without hesitation.
[[nfb/nfi! based on angel 4x01 "deep down," but pretty loosely, because of reasons. reasons of grossness. warning for kind of self-harm-ish behavior. ]]