Crazy For You

Texas State Fairgrounds


The dark wings of night have settled gently over the skies of Dallas, the clear expanse above letting the twinkle of little stars shine through, in stark defiance of the pollution of light of a major city. The State Fairgrounds are peaceful, the walkways mostly empty of foot traffic, the darker people of the night yet to really make their presence felt.

Most of the night folk, anyway. William Grant, the vampire King of Texas, makes his way easily along a meandering pathway near the lagoon, measured steps silent as a cat. His hands are actually clasped behind his back, a picture of relaxed complacency.

~

Foot traffic is all good and everything, but Ronnie much prefers to roller skate everywhere. She's even chewing on a piece of big pink Hubba Bubba. Not that it sustains her at all, or that she can blow big bubbles with it, but it's one of those comfort things. As King Wil Wheaton strolls along, she skates ahead, then back. Going back and forth along the pathway, and singing.
"Madman drummers bummers, Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat… In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat!" She skates on one foot for a little while, and continues, "With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin' kinda older, I tripped the merry-go-round…"
Stopping, she looks around. "Dude! Is there like, a merry-go-round around here? That would be so totally bitchin'!"

~

Todd wanders the fairgrounds with the curious look of someone new to the city, seeing all things for the first time. He seems unconcerned about the lack of foot traffic, or even of the hazards of being out so late at night. He glances toward the sky, with a little smile, when his watch beeps to signal the hour. Reflexively, he reaches to the front pocket of his shirt…where he finds just an empty pocket. He frowns, troubled, but then keeps walking. His hand remains on his chest as he goes, as though somehow what he's looking for might just appear at any moment.
Before any magical appearing object can arrive, however, Todd hears Ronnie's singing, and is distracted. He drops his hand, and follows the sound, searching for the source with a renewed, curious smile.

~

"First strike," Will mentions, with a sardonic glance to the side, towards Ronnie. "My absence should not be excuse to fall to old habits, Veronica. There are no 'dudes' here, merely me." It has been some time since he has bothered commenting on the singing.

His tone waxes pleasant, as he continues. "I do not believe that there is such a device present." Pale eyes alight briefly on Todd, preternaturally sharp as only an old vampire's can be. "It is somewhat unseemly for a companion of mine to be playing on such."

~

There is a pout, a very large pout. A very, very large pout. Ronnie drops to the ground, trying to work a legwarmer over the roller skate. With frustration, she winds up tearing the legwarmer off of her leg instead of working it off nicely. "NONONO! I AM NOT VERONICA! THERE IS NO VERONICA HERE!" She winds up rocking back and forth on the ground, legwarmer held to one ear as she tries to make the name go away. "Just another manic Monday! Wish it were Sunday! 'cuz that's my Funday. My I don't have to run day. Just another manic Monday!"
Maybe it's lucky the crazy girl hasn't yet noticed Todd, or the legwarmer would be flying quite readily toward him. She's still angry at him for the gym.

~

As the singing turns into a temper tantrum, Todd stops a few feet away, smile frozen on his face. He watches Ronnie for a time, puzzled, but then glances up to Will with a friendly smile. "Hi! Sorry…but…Is she okay? She seems upset…" He reaches for his pants pocket, automatically, and pulls out a handkerchief. Regardless of whether or not Ronnie actually needs it, he steps forward, cautiously, and holds it out where she can take it. That's what polite people do!

~

"Strike two," Will comments, without heat. "Play by the rules and I shall play by the ones of yours which make a modicum of sense. You already know this." He pauses now, simply waiting for Ronnie to cease the tantrum.

Then his attention shifts again, resting upon Todd. Only his eyes move to lock on to the man, the rest of his body utterly motionless. "She will be fine, thank you," he tells the man, his tone lacking in emotion of any kind. "Simply an excess of puerile emotion. Your concern is appreciated." A matchingly polite response.

~

"YOU!" Ronnie recognizes the man with the hankie, and she swats it away. "You're a big meanie! You made me cry! I don't want you touching me!" Getting up, she throws the legwarmer at the man, then skates over to Will, sniffling. Her tears are quite normal, almost human. A finger wipes at her eyes and she says to Will, "He said I was singing at the gym, and I like, was so totally not. He's not a nice man… and he kept trying to tell me that the bunnies aren't evil, but I way totally set him straight."
Clinging to Will's arm, she pouts. "P-please, don't call me Vuh-ronica? M'name's totally Ronnie. Just Ronnie. The other girl is dead dead dead."

~

Todd brightens a little at Will's statement, "Strike three, you're out! I know that one…" He loses the thread of the conversation a bit, at that point, when his handkerchief is swatted away, and he looks down at Ronnie with some confusion. "I…I did?" He flinches away from the legwarmer, but generally looks baffled by the whole thing.
After Ronnie runs away, he watches nervously, and after a bit of silence, tentatively offers, "I'm sorry, but…um. I don't know what you're talking about." He slowly tucks the handkerchief in his pants pocket. "But I am nice. I know that one. Also, bunnies /aren't/ evil. I know that one too." He reaches again for his shirt pocket, but once again encounters just a shirt pocket, and frowns slightly.

~

A flash of movement sets Will's hand raised, ready to deliver a crashing backhand to Ronnie's jaw, then he pauses, tone taking on a more dangerous bent. "You will apologise to this man for throwing that at him. In what way is he not nice?"

The old vampire listens to Todd, allowing a polite nod. "Ronnie has a certain belief in the nature of rabbits, and their apparent overwhelming desire to obliterate mankind. Something which I was under the impression she was no longer discussing with people she does not know. Have the pair of you met before?" He delivers a look to Ronnie, distinctly unconvinced - after all, he /knows/ Ronnie is crazy.

~

"I will not apologize to that meanie!" Ronnie glares at will defiantly. "He insulted me, and he's a breather!" Frowning, she sticks her tongue out at Todd. "I could totally show you! He had this notebook, and he had stuff written in it and he lives in the hopeful house!" Skating forward, she makes a grab for Todd's wrist so she can show Will the bracelet. "See? I'm not crazy! I'm not! He was totally mean!"
She pouts a little more, then prods Todd with a gentle poke to the ribs. "Where'sit? Where's your totally cool notebook with all the information, and the address to the hopeful house? I know I totally wrote in there that bunnies were evil, evil creatures. I know I did!"
Well if worse comes to worst, she can always skate off and try to find Corey Hart! He'd believe her. 'cuz she bought him some wickedly rockin' shades!

~

When Will raises his hand, Todd's brows lift along with it, clearly shocked by the threat. "Whoawhoawhoa," he says, waving his hands to distract from the impending violence. "Look, um. Maybe I /was/ rude. I don't know. I don't really…know if we've met. Don't get her in trouble on /my/ account…" He looks between them, and offers a timid, slightly embarrassed smile, "I'm not really sure what's going on, exactly, but… Miss…Ronnie? I'm really sorry if I…did something bad. Whatever it was, I'm sure I didn't mean it…"
When Ronnie reaches for his hand, he lets her take it, but reaches for his shirt pocket to try and find the notebook. When he finds nothing, he looks a little more distressed than the first two times. "My notebook…I…I don't know…? I'm sorry, Miss, but I really…" he trails off, unable to be any more helpful.
The bracelet reads: "Todd Landers. Amnesia. ICE: Hope House," followed by a phone number.

~

"You shall apologise," Will tells Ronnie, flat and level now - dangerously so. "You do not assault passers-by for disagreeing with your idiosyncrasies. Why is our time together appears to be a series of simple etiquette lessons? I am beginning to grow weary of it." Slowly, his hand lowers, and he studies Todd with eyes old enough to pierce the most stubborn of lies.

Eyes flick to the bracelet. "Amnesiac. Ronnie, what did you write in this gentleman's notebook?" Suddenly, Will smiles, an open and friendly expression touching his face. "This is growing into a series of complex misunderstandings, Mr Landers. I am William Grant." He proffers forwards a hand for shaking, unusually for him.

~

"I'm sorry you're a big meanie head," Ronnie says to Todd, quite sincerely. It's likely the best she can do, because she's not one to easily forgive a misstep like discussing her singing career. "See? Hopeful house. It's a house full'a hope!" Grinning, now that she knows she's not crazy, she skates around the man. "But your notebook had lots'a stuff in it. You like, totally need to have that notebook. I could've like, drawn you a picture or something!"
Glancing at Wil Wheaton, she says, "Just that bunnies were demon spawn, and that they were evil. 'cuz it's the total truth, right? I didn't write anything about Corey Hart, or Mr. Corey's brother, or the bunny eatings…"

~

Todd fidgets with his bracelet, now that Ronnie has released him, and watches her go skating around with a puzzled look. "Bunnies?" He gives a polite smile, and glances back to Will, who is the easier to deal with. Hand is offered, and Todd reaches out to take it, as much reflex as conscious decision. "It's nice to meet you, Willian Grant. I'm Todd."

~

"I am afraid that you altered the device this gentleman may use to assist him with his memory," Will tells Ronnie, severely. "There will be consequences, the least of which is that you will be seeing Todd here home to his abode, safe and secure. Assuming you would like to ever see MTV again."

Then hands touch, and Will's power starts to thread its way into Todd's mind. Pale eyes flash up into his head, showing white only for a briefest moment, and when they return, the eyes are harder, showing some disapproval, though at what is unclear. He releases the handshakes with grace, returning the hand to his side. "What brings you out here this evening?" he wonders, of Todd.

~

"But I don't even know where the hopeful house is!" Ronnie starts trying to rip off the other legwarmer, and then just gives up. "I didn't steal his notebook! I just borrowed it and gave it back! I totally didn't take it! This is a like, a major suck-o-rama." Arms cross over her chest and she skates forward. Going toward wherever the hopeful house might be.
It takes her a good ten feet before she realizes that Todd isn't following behind her and she stops. "You're like, totally gonna have to come with me if you wanna get home, 'cuz you're the only one that knows what it looks like."

~

Todd does not look exactly comfortable as Will explains that Ronnie will be taking him hope. He glances aside at Ronnie, with an apologetic but slightly tense smile. "It's okay…um. You don't ha…have to… I mean, I'm sure that I can find it. I mean, eventually…" He looks back at Will, and repeats, "She doesn't have to help. I'm fine…"
The final question from Will prompts Todd to go for his pocket again, but finding it empty, he looks at his hands, instead. He reads over some of the notes scrawled there, but then shakes his head. "I don't know," he admits, finally, more uncomfortable than ever. "I don't remember…"
He glances to Ronnie, and smiles, once again apologetic, "I'm not sure what it looks like…I'm sorry…" But he does take a few steps to follow her this time, at her prompting.

~

"I did mean via the medium of a taxicab," Will tells Ronnie, "for which I will provide the funds. For which I will not preclude you from any priviledges despite your conduct this evening. You altered the book of your own admission." Were he needing to breathe, this would likely be time for a deep sigh.

Attention flicks back towards Todd. "Do not fret, Todd. Ronnie will see you home, where hope holds that you will locate your notebook. There is nothing to apologise for." Leastwise because some fanged fool somewhere is responsible for the man's state in the first place.

~

"A taxicab?"
Ronnie skates back over to Wil Wheaton, nearly knocking Todd over in the process. "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot!" It's not an 80's song, but she seems to be able to do a wicked punk cover of it on the fly.
"If you know the address, Wil Wheaton, I'll totally see that Mr. Meanie-head gets back to the hopeful house, and I'll even try to help him find the notebook."

~

Todd stumbles aside a little as Ronnie skates by, but smiles politely as he looks back at Will. "Okay…that's good." He looks to Ronnie, and a slow little smile brightens his face. "You sing? That's lovely! You're very good…" For the moment, he's distracted from Will's helpfulness by the rediscovery that Ronnie can, in fact, sing.

~

Will allows a brief smile for Ronnie. "I will ensure directions are with you via telephone shortly," he tells her. Then his eyes close briefly, as he awaits the inevitable tantrum. "I would suggest," he says, as an aside, "that mentioning or noticing the singing is perhaps the simplest way to elicit a tantrum from Ronnie. You should perhaps note that on a hand for the moment."

~

Ronnie, so happy moments ago, turns dark. That is, her eyes do. Her body tenses. In the flash of an eye, she's got the skates off, the legwarmer in hand, and she's going after Todd. The movement is so swift that Will may not even be able to catch her before she starts to pummel poor Todd on the head with the piece of material. "NONONONOWRONG! I don't sing! Don't you ever say that I sing!" Tears stream down her cheeks, again not in the least bit bloody. "Take it back! TAKE IT BACK," she says in an extremely high-pitched shrill of a voice.

~

Todd would have thanked Will for that helpful bit of advice, but before he is able to even reach for his pen, Ronnie is flying at him and hitting him with the legwarmer. He stumbles back a few steps, putting his hands up to defend himself, "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry…" After a moment of this, he just turns to run for cover. Trees, building, whatever happens to be nearby.

~

Will allows the legwarmer-based assault for a moment, hopefully allowing his previous point to sink in with Todd. Then he /moves/ at his fullest and most terrifying speed, a dark flash of shadow that aims a vicious backhand at Ronnie's face, carefully judged in strength to send her flying without too permanent an injury. "See him home safely or suffer the consequence," he says, voice throbbing with eight hundreds years of force. His countenance has changed, now patently a predator, fangs sharp and gleaming in the low light, a dull gleam to his eyes that speaks of terrible pain.

"Todd," he calls, loud enough to carry to the man. "I will be watching and following, and being certain of your safety. She will see you home, simply add the note to your hand. Do not notice the singing."

~

There is no chasing after Todd, once he gets out of arm's reach he's fairly safe. It gives Ronnie time to totally calm down. Just as she's about to accept the apology, she goes flying across the expanse of the fairground and crashes into one of the fences with a slight clang. Her metal studded belts get tangled up in the wire fence briefly, but she rescues herself easily enough.
Her cheek is torn a little from the force of the blow, but even so it seems to be healing up fast enough until just a line of blood remains and she wipes it off.
Ronnie doesn't say a word. She slowly walks back to the pair of men, and waits for a taxicab to arrive to take her and the in-need-of-hope man to the hopeful house.

~

Todd stands next to a tree, half hidden by the trunk and quite shaky from the combined shock of being attacked by Ronnie and then seeing Will react so violently. He stares, wide-eyed for a moment, then fumbles for his pockets, first his shirt pocket, then both pants pockets. Eventually, he produces a pen, and gets to writing on his hand, scribbling nervously. "No singing. Singing is bad. Don't talk about singing…"
When he has finished, he surveys his work, then puts a few underlines for punctuation before returning the pen safely to his pocket. "I…I'd like to go home very much," he says, nervously, looking between the two of them, with a slightly tremulous but still polite smile. "Will Ruby b…be there? I'd like to see Ruby, please," he requests, tentatively.

~

Slowly, fangs retract and Will's stance shifts, once again relaxed and pleasant. One hand is fingering at his phone already in a pocket, seeking directions. "You will be contacted on your radio," he tells her. His head turns, looking towards Todd. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Todd. Rest assured, we will meet again, I hope in more pleasant circumstances." Then he is gone, a dark blur that is hard to follow with the naked human eye. Only the keenest of sense could tell that somewhere out there, a dark shape still watches, ensuring instructions are followed.

~

"Sure thing, Wil Wheaton." Ronnie salutes, then whips the radio out of her skirt. It's better not to ask how it got there, or what was holding it in place. Ronnie is a girl of pure mystery sometimes.
It takes a bit for the taxi to appear, and when it does, she flags it down and slides into the front seat. Mostly so she can glamour the driver if she has to. "We need to go to Hope House," she says, very normally. Then she waits for Todd to get into the back seat before telling the driver the instructions that come through on the walkie-talkie.
There is only one stop made along the way. A store where she can purchase a notebook, and a chain. Afterward, she slides into the backseat, and loops the chain through the holes in the notebook and then goes to loop the chain around a belt loop in Todd's pants. "'case you like, totally don't find your old one."
Then with that, they're driven to the Hopeful House so Todd can find some hope. As for Ruby? Well she doesn't respond, because she doesn't know.

~

Todd subsides when no one answers about Ruby, though the general anxiety remains for a time. "It was good to meet you," he responds to Will, quietly, with a quiet and tense smile. He follows Ronnie, sitting in the back seat and buckling his seat belt. During the car ride, he watches the scenery flow by, and slowly his earlier calm mood returns as the memory of the event causing his anxiety fades. By the time she gets the notebook with the chain, he no longer even seems afraid of her, and gives a bright smile. "Why thank you! That's very kind of you…" He pulls out his pen, and for the rest of the ride he writes in the notebook, though he occasionally stops to fiddle with the chain.
Hope House turns out to be a halfway house for psychological patients who are sane and nonviolent enough to be housed outside of a hospital (or perhaps for those who are just too poor to afford the hospital care they need). The place is a bit run down and badly in need of paint. In fact, it doesn't look particularly hopeful, but on the bright side, there is at least one caretaker who, though clearly irritated, had noticed Todd's absence and worried about where he had gone.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License