The wind was chilly as Eunoia sat in the middle of the small park. On one side, sat a familiar red car - one that could be mistaken for any other car, it was so generic - but this one, they knew. The mirrors were a different color of red than the body, after the originals had been stolen. They could see the black ice air freshener swinging on the mirror inside the car, and three human silhouettes sat silently for the most part. If they did make sound, it would be pretty easily frowned out.
The other side of the park, was a graffitied van that rocked back and forth and whose inhabitants hooted and hollered along to whatever they were doing inside.
Eunoia calmed their breathing as best they could as another gust of wind hit them in the face. After twenty five minutes of walking to try to hide, it was pretty clear that they wouldn't be leaving this park on foot. Either by force, or by getting help. It was fairly easy to see which direction would be the safer choice.
Today was not going well. At all.
Martin crouched on the console of his van as he watched his Rowdy 3 interact with Amanda. He took a drag from his cigarette and chuckled as Cross crushed a beer can against his head. He howled and the others joined in, even drummer girl. Martin was proud of his little group.
The little moment was ruined, however, when three consecutive knocks hit against the van door.
Cross, Grips, and Vogle looked to him, his own confusion mirrored back on their faces.
"... aren't you going to answer?" Amanda asked quietly.
"Nobody's there." Vogle tried to whisper back to her. None of them really got the handle of talking quietly, so it came out harsh.
"What do you mean? Someone knocked."
"Can't smell them." Grips muttered, staring at the door.
"What, you mean like the emotions?"
"We could track your friend a state away. Everyone has a smell. There is no smell on the other side of the door, besides the people in the houses." Martin muttered, finally. He made his way to the sliding door and hesitated before opening it all at once.
It took all of a second after seeing the person to suddenly be overwhelmed with a strong smell of panic. How they had missed it before was beyond Martin. The others seemed just as shocked. Vogle had gone as far as pressing himself against the other side of the van wall to get further from the shock.
They were odd. A large floppy black felt hat covered much of their head and face, but they moved it up to look at him. The breeze picked up and blew their black skirt around their legs, and their dark purple button up was missing a few buttons. His gaze was drawn to their lips, painted with a purple so dark it was nearly black.
"I'm sorry," they said, not looking at any of them. "But i need to get out of here. There's, well, ugh..." they shook their head, hat flopping with the movement, steeled their nerves, and looked up, over Martin's shoulder.
"I've been being followed by the people in that red car for half an hour now, and I know that should they actually find out where I'm headed, I'll be in deep shit. I don't want my stalkers to know that I don't have anywhere to actually go to sleep. Can I- well, you're all threatening enough, can I just sit in here for a while until they leave?"
They all stared at the person who defied all emotion-vampire logic. Even now, their scent was fading in and out, like they could hide it if they concentrated. That wasn't something just anyone could do.
Martin stepped out of the van, standing to his full height to circle them. They fidgeted under his stare, but they fidgeted more as they glanced over their shoulder at the small, inconspicuous red car that sat across the park. He could at least smell them now, though. They were scared, more so than maybe the normal person. A normal person wouldn't come to them for help, either.
"Get in." He muttered and crawled back in quickly. They hesitated, making sure that he had said what he did, then scrambled after him. They were smaller than all of them, even with the bizarre shoes they wore that flaunted four inch thick wooden soles.
Grips shut the door, and they just sat in the corner after thanking them all quietly. They made themselves small, forgettable, nearly invisible through the cigarette smoke and dimness inside the van. And Martin would have forgotten about them, had it not been for the occasional spike of fear and panic that came off of them.
He sat back in the drivers seat and stared across the park at the red car. The windows were fogged up, much like theirs would be, if they had more besides the ones in the front. There was definitely movement inside of it, though, and now that he was concentrating, there were a few negative vibes coming from the people inside.
He looked back, and the Rowdy 3 were back to talking, be it quieter now. They would occasionally glance at their guest, but not so long that they became uncomfortable.
They still looked incredibly small and distressed, though.
"What's your name?" He asked them quietly. They jumped, and looked up at him slowly.
"Umm... do you want what I go by or my... real name?"
"Whatever you're comfortable with."
"Eunoia, then. I haven't used my birth name in years."
"Eunoia. Hmm." He nodded and put out his cigarette as it became too short. "Come up here for a sec."
They scrambled over the console and sat in the passenger seat, not without taking a long glance out across the park and sighing when the car was still there.
"You said they're stalkers?"
"Yeah... been for years now. Used to stalk some friends of mine too, but they moved away and it's just gotten worse for me."
"They hurt you?"
"Not yet. Constantly worried they will, though. 'Specially now."
He looked over his glasses at them and raised his eyebrows, and they sighed.
"My coven kicked me out after I came out as nonbinary to them. Nowhere to go home to, now." They stopped, frowned, and looked up at him. "I don't know why I'm telling you."
"Can I see your hand?" He asked as softly as he could, and they complied. He turned their hand palm up and held it with one of his own, that was much bigger than theirs. He held his other hand over their palm, and looked them in the eye as he took what panic he could from them. A good portion of it was stubborn, and wouldn't leave their body, but they did visibly relax.
"What...?"
"You want them gone?" He asked, pointing at the car, and they nodded. He nodded right back and jumped out of the van, only to walk around to slide the side door open and pick up his bat, and let out a loud howl to rile up his Rowdy 3.
They perked up immediately and jumped out of the van, picking up their weapons of choice on their way out. Amanda grabbed a wrench, and Martin picked up a smaller hammer, and opened the passenger door to hand it the Eunoia.
"Let's go."
They took the hammer, looked at the rest of the weapons, at the red car, and let a wide smirk spread across their face.
Some bracelets on their wrists jangled when they hopped out of the van, and ran after them. How they could, with the bulk of their shoes, was lost on Martin.
Vogle was already halfway across the park, jumping and hooting at any chance he got, and Amanda was right there with him.
Despite them being at the front of the pack, it was Grips who got the first hit in. He threw his sledgehammer and it became lodged in the windshield, and caused the people in the car to scream. Vogle laughed and jumped on top of the car, and wailed on the roof as the rest of them circled up around the car.
Eunoia hung back as the car took their beating, until Martin called out and they stopped. He pushed them forward, hoping for them to throw a blow, but they had something else in mind.
They opened the drivers side door, dragged the driver out and shoved him to the ground and gave him a hard kick before spitting on him.
"Fuck you, Carlo." They hissed, and the Rowdy 3 cheered. "Shouldn't have ever told him to take it easy on you. World would be a lot nicer without you in it."
The man on the ground was a stringy, black haired guy who smelled like weed and alcohol. The two in the back seat didn't have anything better going for them, either.
"Consider this your warning, fucker."
They turned, started walking, but stopped and threw the hammer they held and it broke one of the mismatched mirrors off of the car.
They started walking back towards the van, but stopped halfway. A new, different kind of panic started to come off of them.
The Rowdy 3 and Amanda raced back to the van, happy as can be, but Martin stopped when Eunoia did.
"You coming?"
"I should get out of your hair." They said, shaking their head.
He looked them up and down, doubtful.
"You let me stay in the van for a while and scared the shit out of them. That's more than I could ask for. And it's getting dark. I need to get to the homeless shelter." They had a bag on their shoulder, and they hefted it a little. It couldn't have held more than two outfits and maybe some food in it.
"Come on. Tonight you're with us."
They stared at him, then broke out in a giddy grin.
"Really? You want me with you?"
He hummed and they followed him back to the van. The others greeted them with hollers, as if Eunoia had been with them for years.