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Erwin Pries was a lot of things. Well, Erwin was a lot in general. Erratic, paranoid, the most dedicated conspiracy theorist around Strangerville (probably all of Simnation, honestly) and a complete and utter geek.
But he was still Mirabel's best friend - almost like her little brother, really - which meant she had to find some way to break this to him.
She ended up at his Curio shop at exactly 8:03 PM, travelling over exactly when the sun set so she wouldn't burn alive. The sun in Strangerville was the worst out of all the worlds she had been to, even Oasis Springs, which she had learned after an unfortunate experience led her to losing track of time while talking to Erwin and staying until dawn. She was eternally grateful for his odd shop hours, or else she'd never be able to visit. With her spending her weekdays at the Netherworld Department of Death and not being able to go outside during daylight hours, she found it hard to maintain relationships with most other sims.
And even if Erwin wasn't a vampire like her or a werewolf or some other occult, he definitely wasn't like most other sims.
When she got to his shop he had been tinkering with some device. He hadn't noticed her and she took the opportunity to creep up to the shop stand, her steps as silent as possible, before slamming her hands down on the counter, "BOO!"
Erwin let out a high-pitched screech, dropping the device onto the ground and stumbling backwards until he fell. Mirabel laughed, "For a sim as paranoid as you, you are incredibly easy to sneak up on." she teased before leaning over the counter and reaching a hand out to him.
Erwin huffed, adjusted his strainer helmet and took her hand, but not before letting out an annoyed groan, "You need to stop doing that."
Mirabel shrugged, completely undeterred, "I'll stop when you stop letting your guard down."
Erwin knocked his fist against his helmet, "My guard is never down. You can never be too careful around here..." he said, notably peeking over her shoulder to check for any infected sims that might be wandering around. Mirabel gave a glance backwards as well, Erwin did have a point. No vampire sims had been reported to be infected - Erwin was unsure if it was even possible - but she wasn't about to be the sim to find out.
Mirabel leaned over the counter and glanced down at the device Erwin had dropped, "What's that?"
Erwin sighed and picked up the device, "The military personnel's wanting to put trackers on people, so they know exactly where they are at all times. They say it's just for the infected but I don't believe them. I'm making something that completely overrides their system."
Mirabel raised an eyebrow, "What made them finally come up with that idea?"
Erwin looked up at her, "Malcolm Landgraab got infected. They're starting to get desperate - Geoffrey and Nancy are breathing down their necks to find a cure."
"Malcolm's infected?" Mirabel asked, "Are you sure? He doesn't even live here."
Erwin nodded, "Positive.I saw him at the Information Centre a few nights ago." Erwin picked up a screwdriver to continue working on the tracking device, "First infected not from Strangerville. They've been keeping it underwraps for the most part but outsiders are finally finding out and starting to talk."
"Damn," Mirabel said, completely unempathetic, "that sucks."
Erwin laughed at that, "You don't seem too unhappy."
Mirabel rolled her eyes, "That kid is a prick. Maybe once he's cured he'll lighten up a bit."
Erwin sighed, "One can only dream." whether he was talking about finding a cure or Malcolm becoming less of a douche or both, Mirabel wasn't sure.
Mirabel drummed her fingers against the counter while she watched Erwin work, "...Do you think Johnny knows?"
Erwin looked up. He winced, "I don't know. If he has, he hasn't mentioned anything to me." he hurriedly added, "I didn't want to be the one to tell him. I didn't know if it was my place, y'know?"
"Fair enough." she paused, "Geoffrey will probably tell him." she said, trying to reassure both him and herself.
Erwin nodded but not before a noticeable pause, "Yeah. I hope so."
They had both met Johnny Zest after attending one of his stand-up performances in Oasis Springs. They had gotten to talking after sitting next to him at the bar afterwards. It had been a while before he had been ready to open up about being the same Landgraab's son who had mysteriously disappeared 'off to a foreign college to study business' as Nancy liked to tell people in order to keep up her public image, instead of owning up to the fact that she had disowned him. Geoffrey was the only one who kept in contact, unbeknownst to his wife of course, but he was still distant. Only contacting him to send him a birthday message or the occasional check-in.
Mirabel, being around for as long as she had been and becoming familiar with the townies, had her suspicions. His self-deprecating jokes about his parents - though he always changed their names or didn't name them at all and made sure not to include any too details that were too revealing to his audience - had always made her raise an eyebrow. She never directly questioned him on it, instead waiting for him to tell her himself. She had never been one to pry into other's family problems; she had enough of those on her own. Meanwhile, poor, sweet and completely out-of-the-loop-of-anything-outside-of-Strangerville Erwin had been completely baffled.
Things got quiet after that. Not uncomfortable exactly, just quiet with a touch of melancholy. Mirabel certainly didn't mind melancholy, but she knew this would be hard on Johnny when he found out. Johnny and his brother had never been close exactly - he had been disowned when Malcolm was still a kid - but he still thought of his brother often and often lamented about how he wished he could've been there for him, how things might've turned out differently if he was.
Mirabel glanced at the clock on the wall of the shop and stretched her arms over her head, "If that clock's accurate, I gotta get going soon."
Erwin glanced back at the clock, "Should be. Why? You're not usually this quick to leave."
Mirabel hummed, "I know." she paused for dramatic effect, "I have a date."
Erwin looked back at her, "Oh?" he asked, clearly surprised. She hadn't exactly been the dating type for as long as she had known Erwin. Being an immortal vampire limited your options severely - she had a strict policy about dating anyone who she would inevitably outlive, which happened to be most sims.
She didn't like to think of outliving people too long when she was face-to-face with Erwin.
Mirabel grinned smugly at him, "Yep, you heard me."
"Who is it?" Erwin questioned, "I mean, I probably won't know them. You know me..." he chuckled awkwardly, "but I wanna know."
Mirabel winced. This was the hard part.
Erwin caught on immediately, "Why are you looking at me like that? Do I know them?"
Oh, he definitely knew of him.
"Vladislaus Straud."
Erwin dropped his device and screwdriver, completely slack-jawed. He just stared at her for a few moments too long, blinking rapidly.
Mirabel sighed, "Look, I know what you're thinking-"
"Were YOU thinking?" Erwin managed to cut her off, "VLADISLAUS STRAUD? YOUR DATE IS WITH VLADISLAUS?"
"Erwin-"
"VLADISLAUS?" Erwin was starting to sound like a broken record, "THE ANCIENT VAMPIRE? THE ANCIENT GRAND MASTER VAMPIRE? THE ONE WHO I HAVE REASON TO BELIEVE-" to prove his point, he picked up one of his journals, "-HAS LIVED IN FORGOTTEN HOLLOW POSING AS HIS OWN ANCESTORS FOR GENERATIONS?"
"That's the one." Mirabel said completely nonchalantly, acting like she hadn't just dropped a bombshell on him.
"HE'S A GRAND MASTER VAMPIRE, MIRABEL!" Erwin practically screeched, "WHAT IF HE JUST AGREED TO THIS TO DRAIN YOUR ENERGY? WHAT IF HE SEES YOU AS A THREAT? WHAT IF-"
"ERWIN." Mirabel slammed her hands down on the table and bared her fangs at him. That shut him up real fast, even if a part of her did feel bad about it.
She took a deep breath, "Erwin," she said, her voice considerably calmer, "I can handle myself."
"Look, no offense Mir, you're a great vampire but you're no grand master."
Mirabel was mildly offended by this, he knew how hard she was training, but chose not to show it. Erwin was high-strung as it was and she didn't want to cause a bigger argument, "He's been mentoring me. Why would he choose to mentor me if he saw me as a threat?" she pointed out, "Besides, Vladislaus doesn't need to drain other vampires' energy. He's powerful enough as it is. If he did feel the need to do that, he certainly wouldn't be picking on a minor vampire."
Erwin sighed, "Okay, maybe he isn't wanting to drain your energy. Sure. But this guy is still bad news. I don't want you to get reaped, which would be awfully ironic considering-"
"Considering that I'm a reaper-in-training," Mirabel finished his sentence smoothly, "yes, yes, I know. But I seriously doubt Vlad is-"
Erwin scoffed, "Oh, so you're calling him Vlad now?"
"Let me finish." Mirabel paused, "I seriously doubt Vlad would go through the trouble of going on a date with me just to kill me. If he wanted to kill me, he would've just done it already. I practically live just down the street from him."
Erwin winced at that thought, "I guess so..." he muttered.
"See?" Mirabel smiled, "Anyway, we'll be at his manor, it's the one near the mountain, you've seen it." she had given Erwin a residence key a while ago, the first she trusted with one apart from Mortimer and Bella. Despite his paranoia about being bit by the other vampires in the area it wasn't uncommon for her to come home and find him on her computer or watching a sci-fi movie in her living room, "I really have to get going. Vlad appreciates being timely, unlike some sims." she gave him a pointed look, unable to stop the teasing smile that spread across her face.
Erwin pouted, "Are you going to hold that over me for the rest of our lives?"
No, just your life. Mirabel thought but decided it was best not to say that out loud. Instead, she just rolled her eyes, "You showed up at the park a whole three hours late."
"I lost track of time, okay?" Erwin said, clearly getting distressed.
Mirabel patted his helmet, which made him mutter something she couldn't quite make out, "I know, I know. I'm just teasing you, Winnie."
"Don't call me that." Erwin retorted. He paused, "Do you really have to go to his manor? Can't you at least go to a bar, or somewhere with other sims around?"
"I don't think Vlad would appreciate a change in venue this suddenly," she said, "plus, I've been there before."
"You've what?" Erwin looked like he was about to fall over and die.
Mirabel laughed, "Yeah, he mentored me on some of my powers. I'm trying to learn how to turn into a bat next. Maybe that's how I'll sneak up on you next time." she hummed, "He plays the pipe organ beautifully, by the way."
Erwin tilted his head, "That's like - the world's creepiest instrument to play."
Mirabel sighed dreamily, "I know. Isn't it great?" she pulled out her phone to call the cab to come get her.
"Wait." Mirabel looked up from her travel app back at Erwin, "Turn on your location. On Social Bunny. Just for me."
Mirabel raised an eyebrow, but with the way Erwin was looking at her she sighed in defeat, opened Social Bunny and turned her location to be visible to Erwin. She showed the phone to Erwin, "There. That calm your nerves a little?"
"A lot, actually."
Mirabel laughed and leaned over the counter. She pulled Erwin in to hug her and kissed his cheek, "I'll be fine. You know me, there isn't a man in any world who can tell me what to do." she joked as Erwin lifted his arms up to hug her back. His helmet made things a little awkward but she managed, "Now, play some Blicblock and calm yourself down before Grim comes to get you for worrying too much."
Erwin huffed, "You can't die from fear."
"Not to our knowledge." she pulled back and flashed him a grin, "If things go well, I'll have to introduce you to Vlad." Erwin paled a little at that and Mirabel chuckled, "If he tries to so much as nibble at you I'll beat him with a stick of garlic bread."
Erwin actually let himself smile at that. Mirabel hummed, "I'll text you when I'm home, you'll probably be asleep, but..."
"I'll appreciate the message." Erwin finished her sentence.
Mirabel grinned. She leaned her back against the counter and reached an arm back to ruffle Erwin's hair as she called the cab.
