35. Happy Yellow Care Bear

" W ell, to be fair, Charity, they did attack my Jeep, and I found a few dents," Harlow drawled as he walked out of the cabin behind Foxx. The vampire skipped down the steps ahead of him, towards his Jeep Grand Cherokee. The man was back in his sunshine yellow bear sunsuit, happy as can be, not seeming to care in the least that Harlow was getting yelled at.

"So you had them all arrested?!? How is THAT calming the situation, Harlow?!" Charity cried.

"I said I would handle the situation. Not that I would calm it." He smirked as he stood there, eyeing the bouncing bear while he got into the passenger's side.

Shaking his head, he quickly crossed the path and got in as well, right as Charity started to bellow. Harlow winced, pulling the phone away from his ear, her words coming in too loud and too clear.

"WELL, I JUST HOPE YOU CAN HANDLE THE MOUNTAIN OF PAPERWORK YOUR PETTY ASS ACTIONS HAVE LED TO!"

"AWW, Charity, be nice," Foxx whined loudly, before proceeding to lie his ass off. "Harlow was just defending me! They were really mean to me! Chanting ‘death to vampires' as they threatened with their torches! I almost had a flashback. I would have if they had pitchforks… Instead, it was guns, which I suppose is worse! But they called me a monster!"

Well, all of that shit did happen. As the humans were chanting ‘death to vampires', and they did have guns, and they did call vampires, in general, monsters… But the only threatening thing they had done towards Foxx himself was attack the Jeep he was in, and at one point, step towards him in an intimidating manner. And as for defending him…Harlow had more been getting payback for them touching his Jeep over them threatening Foxx.

Charity was quiet for a moment, before slowly asking, "They called you a monster?"

"Yes," Foxx said with a fake sniffle.

She sighed heavily, grumbling, "Whatever…you dealt with it…I guess… You better get the paperwork in tonight…" Charity sighed again. "Because I'll have even more for you tomorrow…" The human hung up then without saying goodbye.

"Okay, with that issue pushed off until later, let's go, let's go, let's go!" Foxx giggled, wiggling in his seat.

Harlow chuckled and started the car. Foxx was energetic the whole drive, and remained just as bouncy as they parked and headed for the entrance of the festival…which happened to be in the exact same place that the winter craft fair had been.

Luckily, this time, there was no disappointment when they caught sight of the sign. It was very on theme with, he supposed, a wood carving festival. At least, he assumed it was. The cloth sign looked like wood, and the swirling letters of West Gally Wood Carving Festival had a carved-out appearance. Along the edges of the sign, there were various animal carvings.

"I see pretty things, Harlow!" Foxx practically growled out. "Prepare to carry shit!"

He snorted. "I guess as your boyfriend that is in my job description now, huh?"

"Yes!"

The vampire skipped ahead, and he followed, shaking his head.

The happy yellow Care Bear rushed over to a booth that had a variety of well carved lamps. Harlow figured, considering how many wooden sculptures and wood and resin furniture the vampire had, this festival was right up his alley taste-wise. He didn't feel any particular way about either, besides not minding them.

Which was good, considering he had already reached out to the developer and owner of most of the Inner Village about any available land that's open for development for the house he wanted to build and move Foxx into. Disliking the vampire's décor taste would have made moving a bitch.

"They are so pretty!" the man said as he oohed and awed over the stuff. Foxx picked up a lamp made of smooth swirling vines and flowers. Peaking through, underneath the woodcarving on the base, was a deep gray blue color. The vines themselves continued up, forming the outline and the design on the lampshade, while the majority of the shade was glass.

Harlow couldn't help but note that the stall owner was eyeing the vampire with concern at how seemingly loose the man was holding the lamp. He was going to guess that it was a heavy lamp by human standards.

"If I was sure I'd have space for it in the apartment…I'd get it." Foxx pursed his lips as he slowly set it back down.

"Why not just get it and see if you can find a space for it? Though, I'm surprised you don't own any other properties."

Foxx's eyes remained on the lamp as he replied, "If I did that with everything I liked, but wasn't sure I had space for, I'd have a hoarding problem. As for properties… I mean, I did at one point, but… I have mentioned before that I'm not big on traveling, right? Well, there is also just something so nice about having all my things in one place, and not having to worry about going without something just because I forgot it at a different home. I mean, I enjoy going to the cabin for a weekend or so. But that's different. Most of the homes I had were vast distances apart, so it wasn't exactly convenient to go back and grab something I'd forgotten. That being said, while the apartment is currently the only property I own…I do have several…storage units."

Foxx eyed the lamp and the booth for a second more before moving on.

Harlow started to follow, as that was pretty much his plan for this whole outing, but paused when he saw that Foxx stopped by a booth a little bit away, the vampire fully drawn in by the new table of carved goods.

His gaze flicked to the lamp, then to the vampire and back, as he reversed and approached the stall owner. "How much for the lamp? And will you ship it somewhere for me?"

"It's five fifty."

Harlow was going to guess he was saying it was five hundred and fifty, not five dollars and fifty cents. Damn, Foxx had expensive tastes… Harlow couldn't say he had ever considered spending so much on a lamp… Whatever, it wasn't like he couldn't afford it. And it would make his currently yellow Care Bear happy. "Will you pack it up and ship it somewhere for me?"

The human frowned. "You want me to…?"

"I'll pay you an extra three hundred to safely box it up and ship it to me."

Harlow had no clue how much shipping would cost, but he figured another three hundred would cover it, and make this exchange go fucking quicker.

"I can do that," the man gasped.

He quickly handed over the money, and wrote down Alastair's address, with a note to the vampire about why he was sending it to him. The reason being that…Foxx was a nosey brat when it came to mail. Taking the man's business card, just in case the fucker tried to screw him over, Harlow hurried to Foxx's side, finding the vampire right where he last spotted him. The man was apparently very engrossed by the…carved spoons…

He frowned, eyeing the utensils. Well, they were pretty intricate, and did have animals and other things on them that Foxx would likely consider cute, he supposed. "So, what is in your storage units?"

Foxx blinked, looking over at him. "Well…I mean, one does collect things after living for so long. The apartment, while a decent size for two or more people…it just doesn't have the same amount of space as three to four houses do."

"Three to four?" He laughed.

"Well, I had that many at one point…and sometimes, when I moved, I got new things to fit the style of the house… And well…things just added up. One of the units, I will admit, is full of clothes. Some of them…very outdated. I really should auction them off, or have a…" Foxx frowned as he leaned in to look closer at the…spoons. "What's it called…? Ah, a garage sale!"

"Foxx, you don't have a garage."

"Right…" The vampire pursed his lips. "Maybe I can rent one for a sale?"

"Probably be better to just do an auction. I'm sure you'd, one, attract collectors, if the clothes are as old as I'm guessing they are, and two, you'd likely make more."

"Maybe," Foxx hummed and finally moved past the spoons.

Harlow looked around as he followed. It was pretty busy and loud. Not comfortable, for sure, but the noise and the people hadn't brought on a headache like it had the last time he was out in public, so Harlow was definitely improving when it came to dealing with his enhanced senses.

While Foxx moved to a stall filled with small wooden carvings, Harlow's eyes were drawn to the one directly beside it. Nearing, he eyed the tabled filled with knives and swords, the handles carved in various designs. As unique and well carved as the hilts were… "Can't imagine these would be well balanced, or comfortable to hold."

Harlow glanced over when Foxx remained silent, his eyes widening on not finding him there. "Foxx…?"

He spun, glancing around, not seeing even a hint of the yellow Care Bear.

"Foxx?!" he called out again. Harlow took a deep breath, intending to try to catch Foxx's scent…and while he did…he also caught the scents of others.

"Vampires," he ground out between clenched teeth. With an angry growl, Harlow took off.