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Action Emitter: Oliver
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Master Plant Monster, lesser Plant Monsters
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Oliver casts a spell to grow a vine...on Friday the 13th. He creates plant monsters instead. Various heroes gather up to save him.
5/13/2016 9:00 PM
Beacon Hills Preserve
Wildlife Preserve[]
Most of this area is covered with the trees of the Beacon Hills Basin Wildlife Preserve. They are thin, young trees in some areas, widely spaced to allow plenty of space for the forest's carpet of past years' leaves. As one moves south and west, though, the trees grow larger, closer together, with thicker undergrowth between them. Near the road, a large sign proclaims the name of the preserve, as well as a warning that one might do well to heed: "No Entry After Dark."
The heart of this area is a grove of much larger trees, ancient oaks and mountain ash interspersed with redwoods and pines. Between the trees, the ground grows thick with underbrush, ranging from blackberry briars and ferns to nettles and poison oak. Game and hiking trails make it possible to safely traverse the area, but there's something here--perhaps in the air, perhaps rising from the earth itself. Whatever it is, the land seems to nearly hum with some quiet, ancient power.
The evening stars are muted by cloud cover.
In spring, daytime temperatures approach an average of 65?F. The plants are budding and blooming with new life with the spring thaw and warming temperatures. It's fair and mild, with a few clouds in the sky.
The first quarter moon is visible in the sky.
It's late at night on a certain Friday the 13th of May. The Wildlife Preserve is astir with the usual sounds of nocturnal creatures. The sky is clear, the light of celestial bodies illumianting one of the many pockets where the trees are less thick. There, in the center of the clearing, a figure is kneeling on the ground. Dressed in a black t-shirt and a pair of black jeans, the boy is almost impossible to spot. His mouth is moving, forming words that mean something only to him. Both his hands are on the ground, fingers gripping the earth. His left hand twitches as he chants, pulling up a clump of grass and tossing it aside before returning to the comforting earth. His voice suddenly changes in pitch and tempo, the chanting escalating. When it seems the boy's voice cannot possibly get any louder or higher, there is a sudden cracking sound.
The earth in front of him shatters and splits, the chanting stopping immediately. Several trees fall into the crack which is now emitting a sickly, green light. The crack widens, slipping underneath the boy who immediately falls into it. And suddenly, with a torrential roar, something emerges from the crack. A large, thorned creature slithers up from the crack, propping itself up on viney legs. Gripped firmly in its core is the form of the boy, Oliver, who is wrestling against the vines attempting to strangle him. See boys and girls, this is why you don't play with magic on Friday the 13th.
Mikhail was out trying not to kill a bunch of the staff of Eicen House, something that had been on his mind since he turned again but he is broken out of his thoughts when his vampire hearing picks up the sound of the earth cracking, knowing that a sound like that is rarely a good thing, so naturally Mik decides to vamp speed in the direction of the sound, yeah he should be running away from the bad noise but where's the fun in that.
Though she may be a werewolf, Cassie doesn't spend a lot of time out in nature. Tonight, however, dealing with the stress of school, and her clueless foster family, and some other issues, she just had to get out and run. She's running, dodging around trees, when she hears the sound. Her eyes flashing blue, she looks in that direction, and changes course towards it.
Angel had gotten a text from Cordelia concerning a vision. A vision of the earth opening up up here and a boy trapped by a monster. The car had to be left far behind, and now, Angel would have to run the rest of the way towards the scene of the disturbance. "You hear that? That sounds like our cue." Angel rushed in even faster. Due to the size of the monster Cordy texted him about, he'd actually bothered to bring a sword. He got the feeling he might need one. Luckily, a trenchcoat was sufficient to keep it from being TOO obvious...till they got in the woods, and it no longer mattered.
And, of course, Faith is right behind him. "I hear that." Rushing in even faster. Swords are useful, too, although her dress isn't really up to concealing one. She has her knives and Slayer strength; it will have to be enough. "Spells on Friday the 13th?" she inquires, wryly, even as she charges in to flank the monster.
It takes mere moments for the Plant from Hell to incapacitate Oliver, the vines wrapping themselves around his limbs and throat. The boy's body suddenly goes limp, no longer struggling against the vines. No sooner has this taken place than the creature's vine-legs grip the edges of the chasm and pull the thing out. Slender stalks reach out to grip more trees and uproot them into the chasm.
Deep within the gap in the ground, the trees slide down towards a disgusting pool of dark green. Each tree slowly slips underneath the surface, the liquid bubbling as it consumes the fresh vegetation. Moments later more of the Plants emerge, converted from the forest's own. The new Plants, about half the size of the original, make their way up and out onto the clearing just around the chasm. They begin tentatively exploring with their vines, poking and prodding at the living world around them.
Suddenly one of those vines shoots up and wraps around something at the very top of a tree. The vine retracts, revealing an owl in its clutches. As the owl is brought close to the Plant-creature's core, the core opens to reveal three rows of thorny teeth surrounding a small hole. And just like that the owl is consumed, the core closing once more. The creature lets out a sudden hiss of apparent satisfaction at its meal.
And still, Oliver's captor is tipping more trees into the pool... it seems oblivious to the sudden activity around it as it tries to spawn more of its kin.
Mikhail reaches the scene and just sort of stops, he's been round a long time but yeah... this is new. He looks at the monster and the person inside, he knows that scent... "Oh dammit Oliver!". He takes a few steps forward before picking up some other scents, another of which he knows, "Angel!, Don't hurt the dumbass at the core!", yes Ollie, you are a dumbass.
Cassie practically skids to a stop, staring at the plant monsters. "First an ice bat and now this? Doesn't anything normal come to this forest?" Her eyes glow again, however, and her face changes, becoming more bestial. She runs right in, slashing her claws at the smaller one that just ate an owl.
Angel heard Mikhail yell about the dumbass in the monster. Considering te kid's age, he probably miscast a spell or something. "Didn't ANYONE tell that kid not to cast spells today?" Too late now. Angel draws that sword and rushes the big monster. Or at least, he appears to rush the big monster. He figures it's going to lash out at him, and he's prepared for that, prepared to slice incoming tentacles when they run in.
"Apparently not." Faith approaches from a different angle, dagger in each hand, but coming in first with a high kick in true Slayer style, fast, controlled and, for now, apparently calm. As much as she ever is, anyway. This is something she can probably let loose on, though...IF they can get it to drop the kid.
As the clearing begins to fill up with 'food', the Plants begin spreading out from the opening. At the moment there are two and they scatter, each one moving towards a different 'meal'. The first makes its way towards Cassie, planning on turning her into a snack just like the owl. The second wraps vines around nearby trees and pulls itself up and over Mikhail, far more agile than any Plant should be, and landing behind him.
The Master Plant does not seem to be aware of much beyond its meal and its attempt to create more 'offspring' as it were. As such, Faith's kick lands completely unobstructed on the side of the thing, causing it to shift and shudder. Immediately in response, tentacle-vines whip out in every direction. Several head towards Angel who slices them with ease. The rest seek to tangle themselves around Faith. Oliver is still not moving, now held by only two vines as the others are busy defending the creature.
Mikhail is forced to look away from the main beast as one of it's 'babies' decides to pick a fight, slipping into vamp face he tries to focus, he's not got a weapon on hand so plan B, "Phasmatos Maltos", his veins darken to near black for a moment as he tries to draw on more power, aiming to use the spell to throw the 'baby' back at 'mommy'.
Cassie spins as she approaches, slicing with her claws in case the creature reaches for her like it did the owl. She lets her momentum carry her right in, making quick slashing attacks with her claws.
Angel dashes in, having sliced most of the tentacles coming his way. But he was focused on the kid, and had to slice those last two tentacles holding him steady. "That's about enough munchies for you." Once the kid's free, he can see about more drastic measures of offense...his sword movements were tight, precise strikes, in case more tentacles were coming at him,
Faith...abruptly finds herself dealing with a swarm of "babies" that come from the thing and rush past her towards town. "I'll be right back!" Because...they can't be allowed to get into the town. Angel's got the kid free, so Faith is going to start rounding up plantlings. She hopes.
The tentacle-vines miss Faith completely, but the creature has more tricks up its stem -- a cluster of plantlings emerge from the gap and rush past her, attempting to flee the scene and survive the encounter. As Faith gives chase to prevent the creatures from making it out of the forest, Angel is cutting Oliver down. The boy falls from the grasp of the Plant Monster, collapsing to the ground in his unconscious state.
Cassie is squaring off against one of the miniature creatures, slashing it to pieces with her claws before it can wrap its vines around her. Mikhail's spell hurls another small plant-creature back towards the Master Plant, the collision causing the larger creature to slip backwards a bit. The smaller Plantling falls down into the ooze from which it spawned. The Plant from Hell sends vines everywhere after that, whipping them around in an attempt to defend against the various attacks it senses.
Mikhail grins when his spell works but then it's quickly back to action, vamp speed time, doing his best to avoid any whipping vines coming his way Mikhail is aiming to grab Oliver and move him away from whatever that thing he summoned is.
There's something satisfying about tearing a monster apart. Cassie spends a few more seconds then she has to slashing the small creature apart. She turns, then, to run the large creature finally, letting out a roar before she charges that it, trying to distract it from Mikhail and Oliver especially. She twists to the side to dodge should any vines come at her, slashing with her claws at them.
"Get him out of here" Angel fairly orders. Because now that there's not a hostage in the way, the vampire starts wielding that sword with greater power, aiming to do some serious damage to the plant. Initially. Once the incoming tentacles start lashing about every which way, he has to bring the sword back in tight to cut incoming tentacles as they come at him.
Mikhail succeeds in hauling Oliver away from the creature, but it quickly becomes apparent that the Plant Monster's focus now is survival. All attempts to feed or spawn anymore creatures have been abandoned in a last-ditch effort to survive the attack of the enemies that came in defense of the 'meal' it almost had. Cassie's claws quickly slice through the vines that come too close to her, the creature recoiling somewhat as it finds itself running out of 'arms' to protect itself with.
Angel's sword cuts a gash into the side of the Plant, green ichor seeping out from the wound. As he pulls his weapon back, the vines focus on him but are quickly cut back and away. The now 'bleeding' creature takes several tentative movements back down into the green pool, the few vines left being those supporting it aloft against the cracked ground.
Mikhail makes sure Oliver is safely far enough away from the vine monsters before checking him over, worried by the brusing round his throat and how he's breathing Mik decides to try and do something now, using his fangs he bites into his wrist and then attempts to give Oliver his bllod to heal him.
A grin comes to Cassie's face, as the creature starts to retreat. She darts in, slashing a couple of times and then pulling back to be out of the way of Angel's sword.
Now that the enemy's on the retreat, Angel's not keen on letting it get away. Using twohanded powerswings, he's now trying to cleave massive gashes in the creature, trying to put it down for good before it can get away.
Cassie's slashes cause additional cuts in the creature's side and it begins retreating in full force now. Unfortunately for Plant from Hell, Angel is right there with a giant sword. It doesn't make it more than a few feet before the Vampire starts hacking it to pieces. Hissing in complaint, it doesn't take long for the creature to fall to pieces. The chunks sink down into the ooze. This time, nothing comes back out.
Oliver doesn't seem to be doing too well. His breathing is shallow and faint. As Mikhail hovers over him, then proceeds to spill his own blood into Oliver's slightly open mouth, the witch stops breathing altogether for a moment. It's only a brief instant, however, and then his breathing seems to pick up. He's not fully conscious yet, but the sudden presence of a liquid on his mouth causes him to swallow. From a foggy haze of not-quite-awake, a part of Oliver notes that there's a faint metallic bitterness to the liquid that's not altogether pleasant. However, something about it causes him to feel better. The drip, drip, drip of Mikhail's blood seems to be working as Oliver switches from breathing faintly through his mouth to breathing a little more strongly through his nose.
The chasm is still open, the green pool several feet beneath it.
Mikhail panics for a moment when the breathing stops, because either the poor guy has just died or he's just accedently made another vampire, but the he starts breathing again and Mik can breathe again too, as the breathing gets stronger he waits a couple more moments before attempting to move his arm away.
Cassie stops, looking down into the pit. Her features change back into a normal human girl. She looks up to Angel, and asks, "Any idea how to close this?" She looks back to Oliver, and frowns, "What...?"
Angel's sword drips greenish substances, but..."Magic opened it. Magic probably has to close it. But nobody should even begin to try till after midnight." Because then it wouldn't be friday the 13th anymore. It'd be Saturday the 14th.
It only takes a few minutes for Oliver to open his eyes. Blinking quickly, the first thing he notices is Mikhail nearby. The second thing he notices is that Mikhail is bleeding. And there's a funny taste in his mouth. Bringing a hand up to wipe it, he finds blood on his fingertips. Blood on Mikhail's wrist. Blood on his mouth. He can't quite piece it together. Sitting bolt upright, he immediately regrets it as his body is still bruised up. "What?" he croaks out. Slowly, his eyes look around. He spots the familiar form of Cassie not far off. Next to her is a man he doesn't recognize. Beyond them is a disturbance in the ground, but he can't see what's inside of it. "What's going on?" he asks in wild-eyed alarm.
Mikhail moves his arm behind his back before Oliver can see it heal, "Well, some dumbass thought it would be an idea to play with magic they don't understand on Friday the thirteenth", he gives Ollie a look to show he's kidding... mostly. He looks over to Angel and Cassie, "Any thoughts on how to shut that thing?!", he's not sure either him or Ollie should try magic on it right now.
Cassie seems to relax a little as Oliver recovers and seems to be himself. She shakes her head to Mikhail, "I don't know a thing about magic." She looks to Oliver, and asks, "Are you okay?"
Angel says, "Unfortunately, the pair of you are stuck waiting for midnight before you try to close it. In the meantime, we'll just have to burn a few hours and make sure nothing else crawls out of that hole."
Oliver blushes deeply at Mikhail's words. "Sorry," he mumbles under his breath. He's still trying to figure out what happened at the moment and why his body feels so beat-up. And why he's slowly feeling less beat-up. Wait, how did that make any sense? He looks down at his body, noticing some of the bruising on his arms. And as the bruising slowly fades, he sighs and rubs his head.
"I don't understand. I was trying to grow a vine. A gorgeous vine, with pretty flowers on it. Teal flowers. I thought I had it figured out, too." Looking over at the chasm, he softly admits "Guess I did something wrong." At Cassie's question, Oliver just nods. "Yeah, I think I'm okay. What happened again? And who are you?" That last one is directed at Angel.
Mikhail grins, "Well you're still kicking so I've done dumber, don't sweat it", he heals Oliver sit up, "Well you conjured, or summoned some vine monsters or some sort of plant demon hijacked your spell, just gotta work out how to shut where they came from".
Cassie nods to Angel's words, and says, "And make sure nobody stumbles in. I'll do that, I'll go look around for campers or anything." She runs off into the darkness.
Angel says, "I'm Angel. My best friend Faith is chasing down the smaller plant monsters that tried to make a run for it. And...you couldn't have waited for tommorrow to grow a vine? Friday the 13th has magical significance...in the worst way."
As Cassie scampers off to ward off anyone who may be close enough to wander over, Oliver gets to his feet with Mik's help. He notices the remnants of the plant creatures on the ground and the green goop. "Ew. I... I did that?" A look of guilt comes over his face. "M'sorry," he says quietly. "I didn't mean to. I was just... I didn't think the day mattered. I mean, I thought that was just superstition."
Sighing, he takes a few steps and seems to be okay to walk. "Um. I'm pretty sure I can close it again, if I try. But..." He looks to Angel. "I guess maybe now isn't the time." As Angel introduces himself, Oliver shakes his head faintly. "Sorry, everything is a little fuzzy still..." He looks genuinely upset at the turn of events. "Did anyone else get hurt?"
Mikhail shakes his head, "Seems to be mostly you that was hurt", he follows Oliver over, "When it comes to shutting this thing I can try to help if you explain how you did it, or you could just channel me as an extra source of power".
Angel looked back at Oliver, "The person in the most danger was you. You're lucky Cordelia got a vision about it, or we might not have gotten here from San Francisco anything like 'on time' to help."
Oliver looks over at Mikhail, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't have the first idea how I did it. And I know even less how I would use you for power... like a battery? No, just no." He shakes his head firmly. "I can close it with magic. I just need to um... well..." He scratches his head a moment. "I'll figure something out," he says quietly. And so he sits cross-legged on the edge of the break in the ground, rests his chin on his hand and stares at the chasm. Angel gets a rather intense look from the witch. "Vision? Someone had a vision about me? Well that's nice. Remind me to thank her for keeping me from becoming fertilizer..." He looks down at his clothing. His shirt is ripped, his jeans are ripped and he looks absolutely dejected right now. "All I wanted was a pretty vine," he practically pouts. "Stupid calendar."
Where'd Angel disappear to? Well, Faith was last seen chasing down plant monsters, and the point Mikhail mentioned most of all was that he wanted to take care of kids. So the elder vampire, he figured Mik was at least telling the truth about that. Since he'd made the point nobody should try to close that portal till after midnight, he decided he'd needed to help Faith on cleaning up the lesser plant monsters.
A hearty, mechanical rumble announces the sudden appearance of Rey Devoss, riding in on his vintage (if modified) Indian Chief. The bike pulls up to a stop, and Rey leaps off. Walking briskly up to Oliver's side, he reaches down to take the mage by one shoulder and barks in a gruff voice, "On your feet, Ollie! Apologies for my lateness, but sometimes the grapevine is a trifle slow." He moves to aid Oliver in standing, meanwhile reaching into his duster pocket to produce a large orb, glowing purple and enclosed in a shell of finely woven silver. Pressing a thumb against it, he raises the orb. "We'll want to stand back before I toss this in." There's something else, a scent on Oliver--blood, and not human--but he'll deal with that once the rift is sealed.
Oliver looks up at the sound of yet another familiar voice. He spots Rey immediately and a faint smile crosses his lips. But he can only appreciate the man's presence for a moment before he's getting to his feet with Rey's help. He begins trying to explain in a rush of words. "I screwed up. I tried a spell and, well..." Indicating the giant hole in the ground and the green pool in it, he continues "This happened. I didn't mean for it to. I wasn't thinking about the day-- okay well I knew what it was, but I thought that was just make believe. You know, Friday the 13th being bad luck and all." Sighing, he rests his face in his hands as he mumbles "Guess I was wrong." Although he sounds like he's about to cry (he's that upset), he manages not to. He takes a few steps away from the chasm, not at all sure what Rey is about to do. But at the same time he's quite grateful for the man's presence since it will solve at least one lingering problem which was nagging at him.
Mikhail backs up quickly, he doesn't know nearly enough about magic to question whatever the new arrival is about to do, hopefully this thing can be closed and they can all go home with a nice case of the not-deads.
Twisting a knob on the top of the orb, Rey tosses it lightly into the chasm. Once his thumb releases its pressure, the orb begins to pulse with bright light. Rey turns and runs away from the orb, which begins to pulse faster and faster as it falls, until quite abruptly the whole thing just implodes in on itself, leaving nothing but a patch of bare soil in its place. There's a mild shockwave, which Rey makes certain to place himself in front of so Oliver isn't struck, but otherwise it ends without much fanfare, all things considered. Once the moment passes, the glow fades, and Rey places a hand on Oliver's back. "All right, then?" he asks, flashing a smile, but then it fades, and his eyes flash with opalescence. "Now. Tell me why I smell vampire's blood on your breath. If one's harmed you or tried to compel you, I'll be only too happy to divest his body of the burden of his head."
Oliver looks around Rey as the gap in the ground is sealed up. "Wow, that was pretty awesome," he says with a smile as he is much happier to have that problem resolved once and for all. But then Rey is accusing him of having blood on his breath. "What are you talking about?" he asks with confusion. "Vampire blood? I have no idea what you mean." And then suddenly the pieces that didn't come together before, come together now. Staring at Mikhail, Oliver's eyes fly open. "What did you do? I had blood on my mouth. When I woke up... and the taste..." It's too alarming to vocalize. It can't be. Can it?
Mikhail started backing slowly away as vampire blood is mentioned and then suddenly all eyes are on him, "I know what you're probably thinking but no", he then does his best to look human in the hopes the question will go away, it won't but optimism?
Oliver suddenly turns pale, clutching his stomach and looking very ill. "You... you did, didn't you? You fed me your blood? That's what you are -- a vampire?" He shakes his head and suddenly the tears he was holding back slip out from the corner of his eyes. "That's disgusting." His voice cracks as he speaks. "What's going to happen to me now? I drank vampire blood. Oh my God." He brings a hand up to his mouth in alarm. "Am I... am I going to turn into something?" His eyes try to make contact with Rey's. "Please tell me I won't. Tell me you can fix it." His gaze, accusing now, turns to Mikhail. He can't keep his voice under control anymore. "How could you!? I know we're not best friends or anything, but... that's just messed up. I don't deserve that."
Rey gives Oliver a once-over, eyes narrowed, and then he gives a single, sharp nod. Raising a hand to Oliver's forehead, he murmurs a few words, repeating them like a mantra, until a soft, silvery glow pulses briefly over Oliver's form, then fades. "A ward against compulsion," he explains. "You won't transform, and once I get you home, I'll make more thoroughly certain. But I don't sense that level of exposure." And then he turns to face Mikhail, eyes blazing with that unearthly fairy light. "Explain yourself immediately, lest I quench my ire by planting my blade in the fertile ground of your heart."
"You had just been choaked to near death by a vine monster, so I did what I had to to keep you alive, anyway it doesn't work like that, to turn you'd have to die with it in your system, it'll go once it's metabolised", Mikhail tries to do something nice for a change and still he gets treated like the bad guy?, "He can't be compelled by me anyway, born witches are immune".
Rey's spell and reassurance does little to calm Oliver. It does a lot to make him feel safe, but doesn't settle his emotions any. The imminent threat past, Oliver turns to face Mikhail as well. He listens with as much control as he can muster to Mikhail's explanation. Could it be true? He didn't remember anything in between casting the spell and waking up underneath Mikhail's body. "You're saying you did it to help me?" Oliver's brain seems to be trying to process it. He doesn't know enough about the magical world to know if it's true, but he wants to believe it. He desperately wants to believe Mikhail wouldn't intentionally try to do something bad to him. So he looks to Rey for guidance, once more. "Is he telling the truth? Is it possible? I did wake up banged up and it went away quickly." Reaching up, he brushes his lips with the back of his hand. The idea still twists his stomach.
Rey draws a deep, slow breath, and visibly calms himself. After a moment's glance up and down Mikhail, he concedes, "Oddly enough, this vampire has a heartbeat. He breathes. Thus, I can discern that he seems to be telling the truth." Raising his chin slightly, he continues, "Vampire, I will accept this as fact, but only if you give your Oath. Swear to me that you have done no intentional harm to Oliver, and I will consider this matter closed... so long as you make no such attempt again." Without looking back, he says, "Oliver, at my home I have sufficient means to ensure no harm comes to you. Get on the bike, and let's be away from here." Looking back to Mikhail, he repeats, "Your Oath, vampire. I would sooner not see us part as enemies, but I must be certain."
"I never break my word so I'll gladly say I was trying to save Oliver not harm him but again take into account that I keep my word, you want me to swear that if I ever find him near death again that I'll make no attempt to save him even when it's completely in my power to do so?", Mikhail will if he must but it seems counter-productive to him.
Oliver lets out a deep sigh, shaking faintly. "Fine. You're off the hook," he mumbles to Mikhail. "Um. Thanks, I guess. It's just... creepy. It was nice of you to, uh, care. Even if the idea makes me kind of sick to my stomach." And now his body has to metabolize blood. Vampire blood, no less. How long would that even take? Sighing, he reaches up to rub his eyes. "Tonight has been like a bad dream. Such a nightmare. I don't know how I could be so stupid. Practicing magic when I can barely control it on a night like tonight. I'm a freakin' idiot." Now comes the guilt and self-reproach.
He doesn't argue with Rey at the command, staying quiet as he heads over to the bike. Sitting astride it, he slides all the way forward so Rey can get on behind him. He's too tired to possibly hold onto Rey from behind. With one last look at Mikhail, he mutters "I'll see you around, I guess. No hard feelings, I hope. Thanks for the help." There's sincerity in his voice, even if its laced with a degree of exhaustion. Mikhail's question catches him off guard, though -- be saved by the same means or die next time. He can't answer that, instead opting to let Rey decide.
Rey lifts a hand to forestall Mikhail's objections, shaking his head. "No. I ask you only to promise not to do anything that would threaten to harm him. Vampire blood, as you must surely know, can have dangerous effects on the living." Crossing over to his bike, he mounts up behind Oliver and murmurs to him, "Hold tight. The bike can practically drive itself, if needs be, but I don't want you falling." Looking back to Mikhail, he explains, "Oliver's life is under my protection. Any action you take to preserve and protect him, I shall take as both a kindness and a personal favor... yet, neither he nor I wishes to see him transformed into one of your kindred." Tilting his head a bit, he says, "In any case, you have my gratitude. Is there anything you need before we take our leave?" One arm goes around Oliver's waist, holding him carefully in place.
Oliver settles against Rey as he and Mikhail finish talking. That could have gone better, but he had nothing more to say on the subject. Once Mikhail has fled, with Mikhail apparently being cleared to save Oliver's life as long as it doesn't lead to him going vampire, Oliver nods once in silent agreement. "Let's go home," he says to the Fae softly. "Please."