Paige let out a high pitched screech

Leonard winced and covered the ear closest to her mouth, holding the knife in his other hand. "Its okay, its okay... I got the knife out, see?" He held the knife out at eye-level. Well, her eye-level. His eye-level was very rarely anyone else's eye-level...

"it still hurts!" she screeched

He dropped the knife on the bartop and covered both of his ears. "Its gonna hurt," he yelled over the screeching. "A knife just nearly severed a part of your spine!"

paiges screech soon turned into a wimper, running to leonard she burried her face into his chest, "im sorry dont hate me for acting like that!"

"Hate you, why would I hate you," he asked. Once again, she reminded him of his brother. He had to remind himself that this was not Hans, and pulled back a little to escape being hugged. His ears were still ringing from her screeching. He put a hand to his forehead and rubbed the bridge of his long, wide nose. "We all do stupid things when we're in pain," he said.

In pain, in love. Same difference, really. Not that you like her or anything. Lord knows you can't.

Paige looked up at him, then the knife then her tail, which hurt to move. "i hate having a tail"

"I'm sure there's a very good reason the gods gave you a tail. Most animals have them for balance purposes. I'm sure that if we cut it off, you wouldn't be able to walk, let alone hunt." He looked down at her tail, watching it shake from the pain and bloodloss. "You should keep it steady: moving it will only make the injury worse."

"i cant, its worse than a squirrels tail." paige looked at it sadly

"Well, unless I suddenly develop healing powers in the next five minutes, you're going to have to try your best. I can bandage it to keep it from banging into things, but that's about as much as I know." He began looking for a first-aid kit or something similar. The bartender kept it behind the bar, and gladly handed it to him as most people would. Not only did it feel good to do good, but there was certainly nothing positive about possible lawsuits. He opened it up and took out some gauze and bandage tape, taking a few moments to remember how to do this. Hans was really the one who knew first aid, not him. Hans knew how to wrap a bandage, sanitize, use a compress. He could have gone to medical school if he'd cared to, though his personal interests would have gotten in the way.

Leonard padded the wound with gauze and wrapped it in the bandage tape the best that he could. He was unsure if it was too tight or too loose.

Paige swayed on her feet, she closed her eyes, hoping it would end soon.

"Paige, you can look now. I'm done," he said, presenting a bandaged tail. "For a feline vampire, you seem to have a low pain tolerance."

"i dont like pain" she looked at her tail, "is it too late to cut it off?" she sighed half jokingly

He almost said "no one likes pain," but then was reminded of his strange assortment of friends.

"If you want me to cut it off, I still have the knife," he said, smiling. The knife had found its way back into his hand and he was tracing the blade of it with his finger.

Paiges eyes widened and she darted under a table clutching her tail

"See? You don't hate it so much, do you," he said. He smiled and put the knife down. He stuck his head underneath the table and peered down at her. Something had been bothering him.

"Paige, how old are you?"

Because that's a good way to not sound like a creeper, his imagination sneered at him.

"i was turned into a vampire two days before my 18th birthday. but ive stayed that way for almost 100 years!" she declaired.

He supposed that he should not be surprised. Hans was twenty-two and didn't act much older than twelve at times. Still, it was an answer he was not expecting. He was, in fact, expecting much younger, even without the vampire immortality. Granted, he did not know much about vampires...

"Interesting. You've lived about as long as a friend of mine. She's one-hundred thirty-four."

Paiges green eyes grew wide, "is she a vampire too?!"

"Eh... no," he said. "Similar, but she's not a vampire. She's like me: a Fallen Star, but she is a different kind of star. While I talk to the plants and soil, she simply doesn't die. She's tried once or twice, but she becomes... ravenous and uncontrollable when she's not eaten."

"like a vampire when we havent hunted" she looked at him, her green eyes suddenly had red around the pupil.

"I... I suppose so," he said. "Though, she doesn't just drink the blood. She eats the whole thing. I guess she's more like a zombie or a ghoul than a vampire, but with a fully-functional brain."

Most of the time...

"yes well i suppose vampires are the only creatures that live on blood" she scowled and then got up from under the table

Leonard took a step back. "Are you... feeling alright," he asked.

"what? oh yeah im fine" she looked at him. her green eyes still had red in them.