Mark is a young Venusian vampire who is currently living wherever he can in Titan Garden. He originally came to Titan Garden as a university student, studying subspace theory at the Reginald Erlenmeyer Memorial Research Facility, but since becoming a vampire on Saturn's largest moon his life and his career have been thrown into complete chaos. Mark isn't a terribly brave soul, he's somewhat skittish and conflict-averse; he's been targeted by bullies in his teenage years, and he always preferred to just ball up like a pillbug and deprive them the fun of getting a reaction out of him until they got bored and went away. Mark's had a hard enough time standing up for himself, let alone imposing on another person with the guilt of his needs, so suffice it to say becoming a vampire has been a bit of an ordeal for him. Fortunately, he has a friend on Titan- two friends, actually. Nico tries to look out for Mark where she can, and while she does ask him to share rather delicate details of his experience with vampirism, Mark knows that Nico understands, and that she's working towards a future where he can have his life back.
Mark was a good student. Moving to Titan was his first time away from home, and he always made his graduate work at the REM the focal point of his day, but Titan is a bustling space colony, a true crossroads of the Sol system; Mark knew it was important to indulge in the little joys a city like this had to offer. He liked to go to shows, to be a part of a crowd and feel the energy of a live band pulse through a cramped little venue- back home on Venus he was a huge fan of The Revengers, Quicksilver, Rain of Cinder and The Ferronauts, but his folks kept him on a strict curfew so he never got to see them play live. Living on his own, in a school-subsidized housing unit, Mark finally had a chance to make his own schedule and budget time to catch a late-night show that might reach into the wee hours. He'd always make sure to balance his time to pursue his studies, but now he could indulge in the kinds of experiences he could only ever see through a window. Now Mark was on the inside, he could feel the subwoofers rattle his bones, he can feel his heart beat, his pulse becoming one with the crowds. He can feel the oneness that the music he loved for so long was truly meant to embody. Mark was a part of something bigger than himself, he was among people who shared his love and it made him feel a lot less skittish; it made him feel at ease. Life on Titan was good. And then, he met Colton.
Colton appeared out from the candy-colored lights sweeping across a writhing crowd of revelers, as if the music itself had dreamed him up. He was tall and lean, his hair slicked back in an azure wave, crested by a streak of white. His cheekbones were cut like volcanic rock, framing a piercing gaze that sliced through the din and the dark alike, fixing on Mark and Mark alone. It was the curled smile that invited the young Venusian off of the dancefloor, out past the artillery range of the speaker system, to a quiet little spot along the wall nestled by a short set of steps leading up to the venue's bar. The two spent the rest of the show in that spot, their own quiet bubble of space. Mark wasn't used to the sort of from-the-chest loud talking you need to do to hold a conversation in these places, but Colton was patient. The Ferronauts's set pulsed in the background as the two young men got to know each other better. Time seems to slip away, and soon the pair found themselves shuffled out into the night-time fold of the Garden.
Life as a vampire is not easy, and it's not glamorous. Since becoming afflicted Mark felt like his life had been locked away from him, visible only from the outside, seen through a pane of glass. He didn't know why but he understood that he needed to hide from Sol, at no point must its rays of light be cast upon him. He'd been strong-armed into a nocturnal life, but his graduate study coursework required him to be at the REM during daylight hours. He pleaded with his advisors for extensions, for accommodations, inventing excuses about part-time work hours keeping him from his studies. As fate would have it Mark did not draw the sort of advisor who would bend the rules for him, and after a string of absences from his graduate work he was dropped from his degree program. Without his schoolwork he'd lose access to his student housing, and without his housing he soon found himself living on the streets, seeking out dark little spots above the neon lights, beneath the awnings or tucked away on the rooftops of Titan's A-District. Mark was far from home, he thought a lot about what he might say to his parents, how he might explain his circumstances, but he knew he couldn't board a ship for the long journey back to Venus, back towards Sol. Vampiric infection had completely upturned Mark's life, it nearly ruined him entirely, but as fate would have it, someone else at the REM caught wind of Mark's situation- someone on the night shift. When it felt like his whole world had left him stranded in the dark, a hand reached through the gloom to find him.
Nico looks out for Mark as best she can, with whatever resources she can spare. Mark was glad to know he wasn't the only one like him, that even an unbeating heart can still hold compassion. In the dead of night, when the third shift get their lunchbreak, Mark tends to show up at the REM, meeting with Nico in secret little spots where they know there's no cameras. Mark is a freshly-afflicted vampire, he hasn't aged much into his unlife and so he's an excellent control subject for Nico's research into the potency of bloodtype powers and how they evolve over time- she'll often abscond with some clean bloodbags to help offer the skittish young vampire a meal that he doesn't need to hunt for. Mark hates the hunt, it stresses him out when he has to do it; Nico empathizes with him. She's been upfront with him that she's compiling her research notes as a biologist in hopes that a cure can be developed to someday reverse their affliction, that any experience Mark is comfortable sharing with her would help build her research, but she won't ever compel him to share something he isn't totally cool with talking about, his comfort is more important than her data. Mark had come to the REM to study subspace theory, but it felt like he'd been pulled through subspace into another parallel dimension where everything was familiar but alien to him. Here he still had an opportunity to contribute to some under-explored scientific field, and that gave him some small comfort, some hold on normalcy and familiarity to anchor him from the hard life he's living in Titan Garden. He hated the hunt, but as a vampire with nothing- with no home, no savings, no shelter- he thought that describing his experience might be helpful to Nico. He knows she's had to experience that demon first-hand as well, but he wanted to get it off his chest, to help come to terms with it himself. Nico assured him he could stop whenever he felt like he needed to stop. Mark took a big sip from his blood bag, and recalled the night of the concert.
Colton seemed to know Titan Garden in intimiate detail. When they'd been shuffled out of the concert venue they needed someplace else to hang out, to continue talking, and Colton said he knew a little hole-in-the-wall kitchen that was still open at these hours; a place that "does a really authentic Ganymedean crisproll." Mark found his new friend to be fascinating- he seemed to have an anecdote about every topic that came up, he always had something to say or something to contribute that he'd experienced somewhere in his life. He seemed worldly on a galactic scale, and for someone like that to take an interest in a guy like Mark, and that feeling, from someone who has seen and done so much, it made Mark feel like a jewel shimmering in Sol's light. It would be the last time that light would ever shine upon him.
- Vampires need warm, living blood to sustain themselves. They don't need to feed every night, but the longer they go without it, the more voracious they are when they feed.
- A vampire can draw blood from any vessel or container, but where applicable the major vessels in the neck of most species produces the highest volume of easily-accessible blood. Arterial blood can be more nourishing, but the higher pressure makes it more difficult to drink from without experience and control.
- The biologist believes that vampiric saliva is both a powerful narcotic evolved to aid in the feeding process, and also the primary means of spreading affliction to a new host. When a vampire feeds, some amount of their virus enters the victim's bloodstream.
In hindsight, Colton's disarming charm and unwavering interest in a nobody grad student like Mark was a way to make his own hunt for blood easier. Also in hindsight, it must have been a long time since Colton had last fed. He must have been desperate for a meal, and if he wasn't, Mark might still be attending his graduate program today.
- Vampiric infection on its own is not particularly potent. Victims of a vampire bite experience an unpleasant fever in the day to follow, but their immune system can contain and fend off the virus without issue.
- If a vampire should exsanguinate a victim to the point of death, then no immune response will be present to fend off the virus, and it is free to take root and spread throughout its new host. It does so within an hour or so.
- The reason for or intent behind exsanguination is not relevant to the outcome of infection. A vampire can infect a living person intentionally, but they also risk unintentional infection should their hunger become so desperate that they feed frantically at their first opportunity after a drought. What matters is the cessation of life functions in the immediate presence of infected saliva.
Mark woke up to a deep, piercing cold in his core unlike any he'd ever known. His favorite sweatshirt was stained with dried blood, painting a large red patch down his chest and over his shoulder. The narcotic effect of a vampire's bite made it hard to remember exactly what happened in his final hours, but since the night he'd lost his housing and began living on the streets he'd come to understand how it worked from the vampire's perspective. When a vampire latches on and bites, the victims often tense up, they recognize a danger and try to fight back, but after a moment that tension breaks and they seem to relax. Getting close enough to bite is the real challenge, it's dangerous and it feels bad to do to someone; Mark hates it. He hates conflict and he hates creating the conflict, but he also needs to feed. Nico believes that this adaptation fits with her theory of the virus's evolution- where a vampire's enhanced speed and strength allow them to secure opportunities to feed, the relaxing effect of their bite ensures that they can complete their feeding safely and without interruption. This was not a feature of the old Mercurian virus, not to her knowledge. This was something new.
When he meets with Nico for their check-in sessions, Nico likes to ask if Mark has a preference for blood types she can procure from the REM's phlebotomy lab. She's gotten him bags of Martian blood to help him retain his pulse and breath when he had a job interview lined up, but those hadn't been successful yet so Mark stopped requesting them. He likes Venusian blood and Zephyleer Neptunian blood, the latter allowing him to sleep more safely when he doesn't have easy access to shelter; Nico makes a special cocktail with a Terran medium for him as part of her regular care package.
Lately Mark has been talking about things being a little bit easier for him. He tells Nico about a girl he met in a B-District subway tunnel, says her name was Min-Jeong. She recognized him from the Ferronauts show, saw him talking to some rich creep. She also said he looked "like wet garbage" and offered to let him use a shower she knew about. She seemed to know a lot about the little side tunnels and utility rooms in Titan's transit system, she knew which ones technicians tend to visit a lot and which never get used. Mark was glad to have made her acquaintance; he tells Nico that she's weird but Min-Jeong seems to genuinely want to help him. He hasn't confessed his condition to her, he isn't sure how to approach the subject. She informed Mark that she'd already "told her friends about the creep and what he looked like, and they said they'd beat his ass if they ever saw him." This filled Mark with a sense of panic he did not know how to explain, so he didn't, he just balled it up inside and nodded quietly. For Nico's part, she was glad to hear that Mark wasn't entirely on his own outside of their meetings, and she made sure to tell him that if it would be helpful in building his new friendship, he can ask Min-Jeong if there's anything she needs that Nico can help Mark provide for her, assuming that this other girl might also be in a similar situation to the one Mark finds himself in. She wants to do anything she can to make a hard life a little bit easier.
Mark would come back a week later, a scrap of paper tucked under his hat. Nico had some fruit snacks and juice boxes prepared in advance, but when she read the list Mark handed her, she scratched the back of her head. Medical staples, a spool of solder, a "cauterizing laser bonesaw;" she asked Mark if this was the right list? From the girl in the subway tunnels? Mark nodded quietly. Nico shrugged... a promise is a promise, right? The staples would be easy, but nicking a bonesaw from the REM's autoclave would take a little bit of planning...