*"No one can tell what goes on between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out on the other side. Or you don't."* *---Stephen King; The Stand \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_* Once, Sunny had been normal. He'd worked hard--two jobs and a side hustle--to make ends meet. He had a boyfriend he loved, and a found family that, while small, he knew would be with him to the end of everything. He'd lost his parents, but he had everything he thought he needed, and his only real worry was making enough money to pull by. It all started to unravel though. His boyfriend went missing one night after a fight. he was on the verge of losing their apartment. His best friend stopped speaking to him for what felt like no reason. It was as if his life were falling apart and he was powerless to stop it. Someone was listening though. Through the phone screen, myriads of texts, and loving Instagram photos and in place of Cal, who was lacking, a monster chose Sunny to bear a legacy no one should. For two years Sunny was Merek's pet project and his Great Work. Sunny didn't know to what end he was being molded, but in those two years the pain was unspeakable and the nights and days he was out of commission were countless. But Sunny also reaped the benefits of becoming breathtakingly beautiful. He was sculpted into the perfect vessel, though to what end Sunny was never made privy. And then Merek was killed. It meant no more pain. No more being seen through like he was glass. No more looking at himself in the mirror to find the pieces Merek hadn't yet corrected. No more painful, unrequited love for a monster. Merek's Last Will and Testament blindsided him. Every piece of the vampire's legacy had been left to Sunny. His money, properties, and company now belong to a ghoul who came into this with less than nothing, who was born with less than nothing. It was the ultimate mind-fuck. Merek had been kinder to Sunny in death than he ever had been in Unlife, making sure he was at least financially provided for and never had to go back to living hand to mouth. It was more than Sunny ever dreamed he'd have, and he had no idea what to do with it. He knew he'd need help. But he also needed blood. He was fortunate enough to be taken under the wing of Merek's budding pack, specifically by Sebastien Dupre, a Lasombra with business acumen, an appreciation of aesthetics of the sort Sunny was, and expertise to help Sunny navigate his newfound wealth. He offered his assistance, blood, and the promise that Sunny would never be alone. Sunny knows that nothing is free, but what choice did he have? And then Sebastien....disappeared, and he was alone again. Alone, desperate, and he did the only thing he could think to survive: Reach out to that secret phone number again.... ....Which was how he ended up on his back, flying over international waters, being drank dry and Embraced by a man he'd just met. Now, he's back in Baltimore, running a company, and trying to find his footing as a fledgling being watched from afar by a sire who would rather take a hands-off approach. Where he'll end up, only God knows. If there is one. *\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_* **Modification Explanation:** The smoothing of fine lines, slight sculpting of his jawline, and the few other rough edges. Just before Merek's death, he had gone so far as to replace every inch of Sunny's skin to make him more pure (and after he'd been in captivity for two weeks due to a spat between Merek and a now-dead Deacon.) Sunny was out of commission for weeks due to the pain and healing. Sunny hasn't told anyone, but he knows that there are the beginnings of...other things. He hasn't found what those were yet, but he's sure they're in Merek's notes. He just has to find it because he *will* finish Merek's work. He owes the man that much. *\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_*