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 Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 4:10 pm
"I daresay they know where this place is. Just not, perhaps, who lives here," he sighed, brushing back a wayward lock of his dark curly hair and tucking it gently behind his ear as he turned his gaze back to her.
He had just gotten used to the idea of having company-and here she was preparing to leave him-it...the castle. She hadn't really come to see anybody here at all, it had been the result of an accident that she had even arrived here in the first place.
"Don't-" he whispered, sighing again as he collected his thoughts. "Don't feel like you have to leave if you don't want to, Victoria. I think I could dissuade them from coming too far in," Mortimer said gently, a soft smile playing upon his lips as he looked up at the ruin of an old garret-one of the castle's watchtowers when the structure had been in its prime. The forest bats liked to roost there now, and they always came when he called them.
For some reason, most mortal men feared his leathery-winged companions. It was quite silly of them, too, as most of the bats that lived in the tower were of the fruit and insect variety. Very few possessed the vampiric traits of blood-sucking that lay at the heart of mankind's fears and superstitions toward them.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 6:08 pm
Victoria shot him a questioning look. "Yet they haven't bothered you here. Or is it they never dared come close to this place i assume if thats the case you gave them that fear." Turning quickly around she smelled the air and crinkled her nose up in disgust. Humans always have such odd scents to them that Victoria strongly disliked.
Turning back to Mortimer she frowned and tilted her head to the side. "I guess I'll stay but only as long as you'd like me too. I don't want to cause anymore trouble then i have." Looking over her shoulder. "Trouble seems to follow me."
Carefully, almost cautiously she walked to his side. "How do you plan on keeping them at bay from me and your home? Humans aren't the most logical of creatures but they do have an odd desire to capture me. I heard they want to study my kind, as if half breeds are some kind of test rodents in their laps.
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NitemareNightCross Captain
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 6:51 pm
"Perhaps now would be a good time for you to meet my friends."
He closed his eyes then, pleased by her sudden closeness, and hummed a high note in a frequency far above the normal hearing range of a human. Samson? he called softly with his mind as a great cloud of darkness emerged from the crevices in the garret.
A great brown bat descended from the throng as the mob worked its way to his courtyard, the beating of hundreds of pairs of wings like a quiet roar as the bat known as Samson landed upon the man's shoulder, clinging to the vampire with a slight degree of difficulty as he sought to find purchase in the folds of the vampire's cloak.
Heeerrrrrrre I am Mortimerrrr, the bat purred softly, holding a wing carefully to shield his over-large eyes as he looked up at the man. It iiis not yet niiight. Why do you call usss? The bat's name was Samson, the closest thing that Mortimer had to a companion. Unlike the rest of the bats, he was a megachiropterid and, though Mortimer believed this had something to do with the creature's close association with himself, was possessed of something of an exceptional intelligence for one of his kind.
"Oh, there you are," Mortimer said, as if bats falling from the sky and dropping into the pockets of his cloak-or near to them- was an everyday occurrence. "This is Victoria," Mortimer said politely, motioning with a hand to the girl beside him, looking fondly at the bat as Samson's dog-like ears cocked at the sound of his master's voice and he swiveled his head around to look at the blonde vampire.
"And she brought some...friends....with her. Friends that we would very much like to see depart."
Samson nodded his head and released Mortimer's cloak, swiftly taking to the skies at the head of his colony. It was not unusual for Mortimer to receive unwelcome guests of that kind. Though none had been seen for quite a while. He doubted that many of the bats that flew with him now would remember the last encounter-which meant that he would need to leave Mortimer's side and orchestrate the eradication of the fleshlings himself.
Come brotherrs, he called softly, issuing a series of the high frequency clicks his kind use in order to locate the pests which plagued his friend.
They would rush them, as they always did, and presumably the silly fleshlings would scatter like so many leaves, beating the air with their wingless appendages in a vain attempt to frighten them away.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 7:42 pm
Victoria watched as a swarm of bats descended around them. She could only guess that these were his friends. The larger bat that landed on Mortimer's shoulder looked at her when she was introduced and she smiled at it. When they all flew off towards the hunters she flinched not expecting the sudden movement.
"So thats how you take care of any wonders. You use their fear of bats to scare them off. Thats humorous. Why they fear such animals that are so small I'll never know." Victoria bit her lip ring in thought. "So now that is take care of, what do we do now."
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NitemareNightCross Captain
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 7:53 pm
Mortimer beamed at her, pleased that his use of the bats amused her. "I have found a trick you like, eh?" he said, chuckling as he moved to sit upon the edge of the fountain's crumbling base, patting the cold stone beside him invitingly.
"Provided that your hunters do not test my patience and persist in their course, I would say that the night is free for us to do as we please." It had been all too long since he had had guests and Mortimer vaguely felt as though he was failing at some obscure bit of hospitality-yet he had absolutely no clue what it was.
Perhaps it would be safer to allow his guest to make the decision.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 8:15 pm
Victoria simply nodded and smiled at him. When he motioned for her to sit with him she hesitated for a moment. Victoria didn't trust easily but she shrugged it off not wanting to be rude at all. Sitting down next to him she tried to relax her muscles so she didn't seem so tense.
"Hopefully their fears will drive them back home. If they happen to come near then i will have to resort to my own methods of avoiding them." Victoria said looking up at the sky. Turning her head to look at him she tilted it to the side allowing her bangs to fall of her left eyes as she smiled. "What do you propose we do with our free time?"
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NitemareNightCross Captain
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 8:29 pm
Pleased that she had decided to sit beside him, Mortimer sighed inwardly as he felt her tension. Surely he wasn't that terrible? Running a hand through his dark hair, he nodded in agreement.
"Those methods wouldn't involve that purple fire of yours, would it?" he asked, his grey eyes glimmering with a mixture of interest and disgust and he quickly averted his eyes, not meaning to offend her. The disgust was directed at himself, after all, for suggesting such a grisly thing. What if he had offended her?
Well then she would leave and I would be back to monopolizing Samson's time, he thought, surprised at the slight disappointment he felt at this prospect. Ever since he had found the bat as a youngling in the woods, exhausted from his long journey from his native Egypt, Samson had been his closest companion. Though even the faithful Bat was unsure as to what he had compelled him to fly so far north.
"Well...what sort of things do you enjoy?" he asked politely. He doubted she would be interested in such simple things as poetry or music.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 8:45 pm
Bringing her hands up she formed shadows around her hand that slithered around her hands like snakes. Victoria laughed when he mentioned her powers but her laughter stopped when she sensed his feelings. Thinking she had upset him she hung her head and closed her palms. "I'm sorry." Immediately she apologized hoping she hadn't upset him in anyway.
Victoria didn't have any true friends and she hoped she didn't upset the only person she consider anything like a friend. Thinking she bit her lip. "You'll think my methods of fun are silly and foolish."
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NitemareNightCross Captain
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 8:59 pm
Mortimer smiled, enraptured by the spectral snakes that danced about her hands, slightly saddened when they disappeared almost without warning. Flicking his gaze up to her face, he twitched when he heard her apology and recoiled slightly as if one of the now-nonexistent snakes had bitten him.
She had noticed his look, after all. He, too, bowed his head in shame. "I spend the bulk of my free time in the company of bats...or books. Your methods are undoubtedly loads more interesting. And, I liked the snakes," he added, smiling softly at her through his curtain of dark hair.
Bang up job, mate. Now you've gone and upset her when we were just starting to have a good time, he mentally scolded himself.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 9:20 pm
Victoria saw him flinch and her frown deepened into a full-on pout. Her eyes flickered to his for a moment before she looked away. She could relate to his loneliness in many ways but he had the bats and she had no one.
A small smile played at the corner of her lips when he said he liked her shadows. Lifting her head she lifted her hands again and pulled shadow energy around her hands up her long arms and around her body. "Thank you. I just travel........" She ignored the nagging feeling she had. Victoria would rather not discuss what she did in her free time, it defiantly wasn't plausible. Shifting her gaze to her hands she pushed away her thoughts focusing on how she was bettering herself.
An idea came to her and she giggled a airy giggle for a moment. Turning to face him better she concentrated on shifting the snake like shadows from her body to his. Her body tingled as they left her and on to his arms.
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NitemareNightCross Captain
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 9:46 pm
"Traveling doesn't sound all that bad. I used to do quite a bit of it myself..." Trailing off, he studied her face as she turned to face him more head on. Mortimer frowned for a moment, unsure of what was going to happened when-suddenly-not only were the snakes back, but they were winding about his own arms!
Mortimer lifted one of his hands experimentally as the snake slithered over it. He wasn't sure if the leathery feeling he felt was completely psychological or not, but it was completely fun.
Mortimer grinned as he watched the snakes play about his arms, delighting in their odd slithering movements. Things without limbs fascinated him to a small degree. At least with his bats, though they had wings, they still possessed hands and as long as you promised to be gentle, some of the colony would permit you to examine the delicate claws that protruded from the ends of the digits within the membrane like those of a dog. Though they did not possess all five claws like the other creatures, it did not seem to make any difference to them.
All the same, Mortimer sometimes wondered if the snake missed having legs or arms. He wasn't sure, personally, what he would do without fingers-or toes even-as all of his past-times involved some kind of extra mobility that only they could provide.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 10:08 pm
Victoria was proud that he liked them. Most people that felt the shadows running over their body were terrified at the foreign feeling and it usually left them feeling perplexed.
She wanted to say that the reason she traveled a lot was not for purposes of entertainment but refrained from it. "Yes traveling is very time consuming. I love seeing the beautiful sites and the exotic things in different countries. I love to learn about different cultures and their beliefs."
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NitemareNightCross Captain
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 12:06 pm
"Yes...that is very nice," Mortimer said carefully, attempting to gauge her expression. He felt almost as though she was keeping something from him-yet his brushed those feelings aside in a second. Victoria was his guest, and it was rude of him to doubt her honesty.
He watched as a snake slipped its scaly body onto one of his pale hands, tipping it gently as the snake began to coil around it, piling his fingers on top of one another as it constricted gently.
Suddenly aware that he had allowed an odd silence to creep between them, he cleared his throat softly and added, "Did you travel for business, or purely for pleasure?" All of his various adventures he had gone on because he had wanted to...which made them pleasure. Yet he always seemed to accomplish something whilst he was gone, so he almost always chocked his experiences up to business.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 12:30 pm
Victoria watched silently as the shadows coiled around him. He seemed so carefree about it, he even seemed to enjoy them moving about his person. Her eyes followed the movements of the snakes in thought.
Victoria kept her emotions guarded and bit her lip. Biting her lip was a nervous habit of hers that she did almost self-consciously. Her mind raced to find an answer that wasn't a lie but wasn't telling him the truth.
Admitting what she had done in the past would ruin any chance of a real friendship. A deep sigh escaped her lips as she adverted her gaze back to the roses. "If i tell you why i travel. Will you promise not to let that sway your opinion of me. I'm rather ashamed of it myself but its like i can't control it." She struggled to keep her voice from cracking and to keep it even. Nervousness set in as she waited for his answer.
Pulling her knees to her chest she slowly pulled the shadows back to her. As the disappeared her eyes turned back to their greenish blue color. Victoria wasn't sure if she was ready to admit anything about her past when she wasn't even sure on most of it.
"You may not like what i tell you. I am trying to change but its hard to change." She whispered.
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NitemareNightCross Captain
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 1:08 pm
His eyes narrowed slightly as she bit her lip. She was hiding something from him, then. He listened closely to her words, following her gaze over to the roses as the snakes disappeared from his arms. Frowning softly, he mourned the loss of contact in a guarded silence. Of course he felt the stone at his back, supporting him, yet stone did not feel or provoke such tender feelings as a being of flesh could inspire.
I'm rather ashamed of it myself, but it's like I can't control it.
Those words stayed with him long after they died upon the cool evening air as the twilight began its slow descent into true darkness. That much he could understand. It seemed that another bore a Christoph of their own.
As a human, he had been reckless and passionate; he had dreamed dreams full of riches and splendor such as he, born of the lower classes, could never hope to achieve. As a vampire, under Sylvia's careful guidance, he had grown up gentle and kind. He had forsaken the violent urges which writhed within him when he smelt fresh blood-but not completely as he had thought.
After her death, he had taken to the skies, his hands filled with flame and his heart filled with malice for the world. Christoph had visited death upon many innocents and in his grief, Mortimer was unable to stop him from doing terrible things. Horrors that Mortimer only half-remembered swam before his eyes, overcoming him in the solitude of his study, on occasion.
Mortimer still wasn't completely sure how he had regained control. All he could remember was waking up here, in this very courtyard. He was covered in blood, but it did not rouse him for it was dry, thankfully. After his 'outburst' Mortimer had decided that it was unwise to spend great deals of time in the company of humans and had chosen but a handful to favor over the years.
Attempting to curb his interest, and retain something of his natural courtesy, he pulled his eyes back to her face and said, "I understand. I would not wish to force you to speak on matters which would cause you unhappiness." He, for one, intended to continue to veil Christoph from her. That particular 'being' was not a pleasant character for one to discuss.
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