Oregon: Hot Spring Harbor

"Hmm. I had death row prisoners in mind first. I figured, if they're condemned to death and only a pardon could get 'em out, they wouldn't be missed, right? Saves money on the use of... whatever it is they use to kill prisoners, and it would keep me fed. A supposed win-win scenario. I'd only target people confirmed mass-murders or mass-rapists. Surely no one would miss them if they died."

Signal felt nothing as she entered the freezer (the fact that she wasn't cold didn't even cross her mind) and looked at all of the stored bags of blood, probably of each and every blood type. Clean, too. As soon as she caught her mouth watering a little, she wiped off the saliva. No, you may be an animal, Signal, but you are NOT that ravenous.

She swept Zealot's mind again and saw the images of Titan under all of those thick clouds. Indeed, it was magnificent. And in full clarity, no less. It made her consider actually going with Zealot to Titan. If she died, ah well, that's all, folks. If not... what would there be to do, though?

"I wonder if I could..." Signal began to say.

Zealot looks down at her for a moment, eyes having lost most of the malice they contained. Now, really, it was just a slight bit of confusion. "Hm? Could what? Drink the blood?" Zealot, quite apparently, doesn't seem to know she can read minds. Useful information.

Moving over to a bloodpack and removing it from its storage container, he shrugs. "Of course, why else would we have come here?" Moving the plastic pack down and pressing it against her mouth, his hand lays itself down on her chin while holding it there.

"Here. Drink."

"No, I mean... maybe I could stick a straw in this, and... ah well." She shrugged (wincing in pain again after not realizing) and bit down, draining the bag of its content. This was MUCH easier than finding the source of blood in a human. And this was... what did the blood bag say? O+? It tasted pretty sweet, at least compared to the first time she drank. It was kind of awkward trying to hold it with one hand but she could manage.

And soon enough the bag was completely dry. "That was refreshing. Um..." Signal looked up to Zealot and told him, "...thank you. For many things, actually."

"Vampires don't typically use straws." Bringing the emptied blood pack off of her face, the back of his hand brushes against her cheek for a moment; he holds it there, face quizzical. "Tell me, do you feel cold, right now?"

After asking his query, he moves his hand off of her cheek and releases his grip, dropping the bag on the floor. Grabbing another from the storage and moving it back towards her mouth, he shrugs. "And you don't have to thank me. You belong to me, now." His voice takes an...odd tone as he says this. Scanning his mind would find nothing but an obliviousness that not even a 5 year old could top, regarding those words.

"It's hardly my position to allow you to starve to death. Well, at least...starve to dust."

"I... no I don't actually. I guess that's a perk to being a vampire..." As she's given a second bag of blood, Signal finds that, yeah, she has room for a little more blood. She again pierces the bag and begins to drink the blood inside. (This was one A- and it had a citrus-like taste, though that may be less of the blood itself.) As she finishes, wiping off a bit of blood with her– ...oh, right, that particular arm is gone and the wristband with it.

She would have winced in pain were it not for that shoulder feeling... something. It was hard to describe, but as she looked at it, she could see that the regeneration of her arm was picking up, bones and all. "Huh. That's nice."

In his own world for a moment after she confirms that she can't feel cold, Zealot seems to snap out of it at her next words, glancing down at her arm. "Hm? Oh. Yeah, it's growing back, isn't it?"

Allowing her to move out of his hands and get her feet onto the ground, he glances at the wall and sighs. Doesn't need oxygen, can't feel cold...there shouldn't be anything keeping her from surviving on Titan, really. At least, other than her lack of a wish to do so. The thought flicks stentorianly across his mind for a second, before he moves to the wall and leans against it, waiting for her arm to grow back.

Signal again picked up thoughts about Titan from Zealot... he really did want to take her there. Was it a sign of affection? Protection? She was confused about all this, but kept it somewhere in a corner to think about later, instead intently watching her arm grow back. The sensations felt went from complete numbness (alongside that blasted phantom limb) to extreme "tingling," akin to a limb falling asleep, to full sensation as more of the arm kept regenerating. It took... maybe a few minutes for the arm to completely grow back and seconds after for Signal to have control over it. She closed her fingers into a fist and opened them to test. Yeah, it was back, as if it had never been torn off. (Her shoulder was a little sore, though.)

"Nice to see I haven't lost this arm forever," Signal mumbles, satisfied at the result.

Moving over to her, Zealot looks the arm over, bringing a hand up to touch her forearm. "No, you wouldn't have." Grabbing the arm fully, now, and looking at the shoulder intently, he seems to zone out for a moment.

"Yeah, even the atoms are bonded back together. Bit bruised, but all fine." Still holding her arm but hardly seeming...malicious about it, his thoughts confirm that he has no intent of tearing it off. Looking up at her face, he shrugs. "Yeah, I can hear a pin drop in China and see at the atomic level, now. Just stuff that happens; I'm sure you have a few new senses, yourself."

Signal's first reaction to Zealot grabbing that arm again was a flurried no no no no no no no no in her head, but confirming that there was nothing malicious about the grab, she relaxed.

"You can? I figure that's kinda cool to do, but... you don't actually like it all that much, do you? Being able to see and hear that far? I mean, it's useful, yeah, but..."

Signal thought a bit on his statement then replied, "I do. All five of my senses are enhanced, and... well, I have more natural stamina and more energy to use from blood-drinking. I can definitely last longer in a battle now." To test, Signal lights a tiny fire on her index finger and just as quickly puts it out, shaking it in pain. "...guess I won't be using fire for a while now."

"It toggles at times. I don't have to see things at the atomic level all the time, and filtering out sounds is simple enough.. Vampiric genetic code is odd, by the way, if you were wondering."

Continuing to hold onto her arm, trailing his hand down it before pulling it away, he shrugs. "What, could you not be set on fire, before?"

"Is it now? I guess there's a reason that Synapse wanted to study our ashes. Now that we're both alive, there's even more incentive to capture us alive... and I could, especially if I brewed up that drink I used when I fought Valencruz the first time so I wouldn't feel a thing, but vampires are especially weak to fire and I'd probably burn up a little faster along with it being doubly painful."

Then, Signal got a thought. Raising her hand again as if she was holding something, Signal generated a tiny spark of electricity on her pinky. It bounced from tip to tip and back, dissipating at the starting point. "...huh. Didn't feel a thing. That is new."

"Yeah, dead flesh doesn't conduct electricity particularly well, and vampires can't feel most types of pain in the traditional sense. Electricity works by locking up the muscles of the body and disrupting the brains pulses; you don't have those, anymore, so you'll be fine when you use it."

Looking up at the ceiling and shrugging, Vance brings a hand above his head and presses it to the wall behind him. "As for being captured, I wouldn't particularly worry about that. So, uh. Hm." Huh. How could he ask her if she'd like to go to Titan? The though flicked across his head, easily read by her.

Signal spots the thoughts on Zealot's mind and answers, "I'd like to, actually. Would be nice to go to uncharted territory."

Still, leaving everyone behind here on Earth was an issue, particularly with Valencruz still on the run. Wherever he went, nothing good would come of it.

...but she also wanted to leave this place. Get away from the people wanting her dead, from the worries of finding food and the next nearby gas stop, and...

"Even if I can't finish any business here, I'd love to go."

Snapped out of his thoughts by her declaration of already knowing his thoughts, Zealot shakes his head.

"Wait, what? Go where? Can you read minds, too, or something?"

Shifting himself off the wall and moving past her to the other side of the room, he shrugs.

"What business do you have to finish here, anyway? And you might be a bit uncomfortable with how you'd actually get there, though it is...distinctly fast."

"I... can read thoughts. Like, whatever you're immediately thinking about, I can hear it and such. It used to be that I could just sense negative thoughts so I refined it to what it now is; it helps if I need to find certain people. But I can't dig any deeper than the surface so if you're a really good liar you can still hide stuff from me. As for my business..."

Signal crosses her arms.

"I want to kill the man who turned me. If he dies and his ashes are scattered into the ocean, I can leave this planet in peace. I still remember what he did to all those people in Eagleopolis. He... he had one of his henchmen drive an exploding gas truck into City Hall, with me and the robot still inside. I pulled him out in time, but the ones brainwashed by him more or less choked to death. Then I actually fought him... more than willing to use me as a shield. And then..." It came back to her in brilliant images: setting herself on fire, the sensation of flesh burning, Valencruz turning her as they both burned with...

Signal shivered.

A slight frown comes over Zealot's face as the revelation that Signal can read thoughts pours over his mind. Not exactly ideal. Unable to read thoughts but for those distinctly displayed upon the face, Zealot picks up on the obvious thought of her discomfort. Moving forward and placing his hand on her shoulder, he sighs.

"It's alright. In any event, it's not as though going there means staying there. Really, it would mean no more than you not being where he is at this exact second-only you wouldn't have to worry about the sunrise, or people trying to kill you."

"...that's also true. I would definitely like that, actually. As for the whole mind-reading thing..." Signal scratches the back of her head. "I probably should have told you a while ago. I don't usually do it because then people either try to get me to play games with them involving mind-reading or they chase me away because it's such a terrifying prospect. Then, once the whole town knows, it's suddenly harder to buy food without them spitting in your stuff or intentionally getting the order wrong (not like I care, really, about that last one) and it's even harder when they actually up the price of gas when you're in town."

"My mind is...a distinctly poor place to enter. I wouldn't really class it as horrifying, but most mind readers have had some...difficulty maneuvering through it. They don't tend to tell me why."

A gentle pat on the shoulder, surprisingly hard-wouldn't do anything to a vampire and obviously not meant to hurt anyone, but fuck, Zealot.

"As for whether or not I care about your mind-reading abilities...well, it's a bit invasive, but it's not as though I'd hide much from you. Oh, and you may not like how getting there actually works, though...it won't take long."

"I'm sure I can handle it. And if I somehow... re-die, all you'd have to do is burn my body until there's nothing but ashes—and there will be—and sprinkle a few drops of blood over said ashes. Then, voila. Good as new!"

Signal was a bit surprised as how... hard the pat on her shoulder was. It made her imagine if Zealot could truly, entirely control his strength. She didn't give it a second thought; too gruesome.

"I wouldn't call it poor... or horrifying, even. Just... a little unsettling. Can't really keep reading for long. But if you don't want me reading your mind, I can tune you out."

Signal finally wondered that, yeah, Zealot has a few screws loose... but he really isn't that bad of a guy. Likeable, affable. Maybe even...

He just shrugs, looking over towards the door. "Doesn't matter if you read it or not. Like I said, nothing to hide from you. Anyway, it's still night, for now. Come on, let's get to the roof."

Moving away and towards the entrance to the freezer, Zealot moves himself through the crushed thing, walking towards the stairs up. For that matter, no, Zealot could only barely control his own strength. Picking up something delicate for him may as well be trying to keep from crushing a wisp of smoke.

"Yeah. Any particular place we're heading towards?" Signal follows Zealot out of the freezer and back towards the hole in the ceiling. "Or is it one of those need-to-know things?" Signal crossed her hands behind her back, still flexing the fingers of her right hand. It really felt good to have this arm back.

She thought of living with Zealot on Titan. He probably wouldn't build a shelter... not like he'd need to. She wouldn't really need it, either. And while she wouldn't be able to feel the cold of the moon, nor would he, any blood he'd bring back over would be frozen to the point of in in-edibility. I mean, it'd still be blood and she could just chew bits and pieces of it, but it's... it's not the same.

Looking back at her as they come to the hole in the ceiling, he shrugs and looks through it into the night sky.

"Place? Well, up, I guess. Into space. Unless you felt like going somewhere else, first. Typically, I just...fly to Titan. That's why I said it'd probably be uncomfortable for you-I can go a few times the speed of light, and that probably isn't gonna feel amazing, and...there's a lot of solar energy in space, so you'd have to stick pretty close until we get there."

Floating up to the breach in the ceiling before looking back down at her, he shakes his head.

"Somewhere you'd like to visit, beforehand? You can come back any time you'd like."

She thought of going back to her parents first, saying goodbye and all that. But then they'd ask why her skin is so pale. Or, more pale than it usually is. And if they found out... (And if she found out...)

"...Nah. Nowhere important, really. I'm pretty much ready to go." Signal floats up to Zealot's level. 'A few times the speed of light? That... that would tear me to shreds, wouldn't it?'

"...so...do I...do I just, hold on to you? Is that how this works?"

Looking away and towards the night sky for a second, he frowns. "...Well, yes. But you have to hold on as closely as you possibly can; my body is going to have to be what shields you from both burning up upon moving out of the atmosphere and from the sunlight while in space. So...uncomfortable. At least, if you're squeamish about that sort of thing; I can't just hold you at arm's length, you have to be...right on top of me."

Frowning and crossing his arms as he continues looking away, a scan of his thoughts would show that he's clearly legitimately unhappy about this, not just putting on a show to make her feel better.

"...that's true. Very well." Signal nods and... begins to hug Zealot. Very closely. So much so that it was now very hard to ignore Zealot's heartbeat and the smell of his blood (...goodness, what is that smell!?).

"Um... ready when you are." Signal got the feeling that this was about to get very painful very quickly.