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 Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:54 am
It was against his better judgement, but Eremon had agreed to take Niamh for a walk through Cyrus Square and allow her to remain within the park with Thor while he returned home. The tall man was sure that the dog could get his charge home safely, but that didn't stop him from worrying about her. Though Niamh was his friend and a sister to him, he couldn't stop himself from thinking of her as being a blind person above everything else - she couldn't see anyone or anything around her, and leaving her alone in such a public place scared him just a little. But she was independent, and she did have Thor....and Eremon did have the mystery of the smoke of the scented oil to solve, so he finally gave his permission and guided her towards a park in a nice, sunny area with a tree nearby so she would have some shade before heading off into town.
Pleased with herself, the Irish woman sat happily on the park bench, one hand feeling the grain of the wood and the iron wrought legs of the bench, and the other resting on Thor's head. The feel of the sun as it started to set felt good on her skin, and she tipped her head slightly towards the direction of the warmth, wanting to soak it all up before it was gone. There was the slight rustling of the leaves of the tree Eremon had so thoughtfully placed her next to, and she vaguely found herself wondering just what kind of tree it was. Perhaps if she felt the ground for some stray leaves, she could try to gather an idea from that?
But no, it was relaxing enough to just sit and listen to the sounds of the children at play and the parents beckoning them to return, because it was time to head home and get ready for bed. A small smile touched her almost pouty lips as she listened, remembering times when she and Ailin had gotten into trouble. Before she had lost her sight, when she could still see well enough to be a troublemaker - and a troublemaker she had been! Since then, though, she had grown accustomed to the darkness, and tilted her head slightly as she heard Thor whine just a little.
"Don't worry, Thor, we'll go home later. For now, I'd just like to sit and enjoy the evening air."
She felt his furry head tilt into her hand as if in indication he wanted her to pet him, and so she obligingly began to stroke his head, her smile growing as she deftly moved her fingers to that spot he liked oh so much and began to scratch just behind his large, floppy ears. Laughing at how eagerly he leaned into her, she scooted down just a little on the bench to accommodate his size and his strength as he pushed into her, and she gave him a gentle nudge on the side of his neck to remind him to be careful. It wouldn't look good for her to fall off the bench, then Eremon would really lecture her about going off on her own!
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:48 am
Orpheus had gone out a bit early, even before Qadir had woken up. It humored Orpheus slightly, since the last time Qadir had let himself sleep in, Orpheus had tied up up and hog pulled him through the streets of Cyrus as a present for Crystal. Even now, the little prat was reminiscing on the 'old days,' before he'd woken up as a teen, an event which had only occured very recently and wouldn't possibly have been deemed the 'old days' by anyone with a sound mind. But that was Orpheus, always looking out for number one.
A quiet stroll to the park to enjoy the sunset had been a good idea at the time, but he was suddenly remembering how not pleasant it had been for him when he'd forgotten to inform Qadir where he was going. After a pause, Orpheus shrugged and continued onwards, again just passing it off at the 'old days' and accepting his new freedom as a teen. Of course, Qadir wouldn't be thinking quite like that when he woke up to his son missing, teen or not, but that little event could wait till later.
Nearing the park, Orpheus found, to his great distaste, that all the benches with a good view of the setting sun were taken, and most all by a bunch of sappy, kissing couples. Wrinkling his nose and letting out a huff of a sigh, blood dripped gaze searched for anywhere he could perch where his clothes wouldn't get dirtied. Eying a woman and her dog, the teen moved over and motioned towards the empty portion of the bench, "Is it free to sit?" he asked shortly.
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:00 pm
With her hand on Thor's head, she had felt the dog tense slightly and turned her head to match the angle of her dog's head. Although the woman knew this could give off the illusion she could see, the fact she was not wearing sunglasses and could not gauge the height of the person made her imagine the person would figure it out on their own. Or, at least, that was her hope. As the person got closer, she heard the very light tap of their feet against the crisp grass from a long and sunny day, and so the slight woman put her best smile on her face even as her head inadvertently tilted and tipped in order to ensure the small amount of noise the person made would be funneled straight to her ears. In doing so, the woman had turned her head only slightly away from the approaching being.
The closer the person got, the quieter Thor's growl grew as he moved more towards a defensive and tight position next to Niamh, than to warn him away. While Thor wouldn't make a move without an indication from his master, or move to harm the person without cause, he did want the young man to know that this was his person, and he would not accept any bad behavior. There was a slight nod from the medium sized dog as a question was asked, and in response, Thor tipped his head in a silly manner back towards his mistress to indicate it was her job to answer, and not his.
A small smile of amusement touched her lips at how her dog was reacting to the approaching person, a fact she had gathered by the gait of the steps and the fact her dog hadn't barked like he would at another animal. When Thor tipped his head back, she responded by patting the bench next to her, and nodding with a friendly smile, "You can sit here if you'd like, I don't mind." Her head tilted slightly more, as Thor nudged her with his cold, wet nose, and she added with a slight chuckle, "This is Thor, he thinks he's human. My name is Niamh." She had pronounced her name just a little slowly at the end, so that he could hear the way it was pronounced - "Nee-av" with a soft a and light sounding v for the end. "So, what's your name?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:44 pm
The teen watched the dog dispassionately, almost feeling the need to broadcast to the woman, or for that matter to the dog, that it wouldn't be a fair fight, but that would have made him sound like a carefully planned serial killer, and that wasn't quite what he was hoping to approach in his attempt to simply watch the sun set. The more he grew, the less vampire he was. Sun bothered him less than it had the day before, and he didn't ponder what sort of blood type the woman had. For a brief moment he allowed himself to feel sad as he sat on the bench, realizing he was growing apart from Qadir as he was growing up - though he'd mention no fondness for the older vampire on threat of death.
It almost hadn't registered that the woman beside him was talking, and he had to go over general rules of thumb in his mind for polite conversation as he attempted to remember or puzzle out what she'd opened with. There was a dog with her, likely they'd done the introductions first. With the slightest nod of his head towards the dog and the woman he'd softly reply, "My name is Orpheus." A distinguished name, he liked it. In a sense, it made him feel regal and old, as if he could possibly connect himself to the Greek hero who could defeat death. Well, until the hero had failed in his mission. That wasn't quite like Orpheus. At least he thought it wasn't much like him to be on the losing side.
"What brings you out here?" Orpheus asked after a moment, keeping the question oblivious enough to keep her guessing either about the futility of a blind person watching the sunset, or that he was genuinely interested in her presence in the park. She was certainly new to him, but honestly, so were most of the people necking each other in the surrounding benches. Orpheus didn't get out much.
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:28 pm
When Niamh indicated her permission to allow the stranger to sit with them, Thor gave one final growl as if to say, "But don't try to hurt her" to the young man before his curiosity took over and he began sniffing at the person as he sat down. Niamh smiled as she felt Thor go from disapproval to curious, and folded her hands neatly in her lap, content that he would behave himself. Her smile grew just a little bigger when she heard the name of the boy was Orpheus, and she gauged that by the pitch of his voice he couldn't be past 16, maybe 17 years of age. He was young yet, then, and it made her slightly curious as to what he was doing off on his own, but then again - as Niamh was blind and out on her own, she supposed she couldn't really judge the boy.
"Its a pleasure to meet you, Orpheus." Which was the truth, even if she was unable to see him, it was always nice to meet new people. Especially due to the fact she rarely made it out of the house without Eremon breathing over her. It was tempting to ask him what he was doing out alone, particularly when she could feel the air cooling, a clear indication that the sun was steadily retreating to its hiding place so the moon could take over the sky for the night. However, the young man beat her to it, and a lighthearted chuckle escaped from her soft mouth, "I suppose you're curious why a blind woman is out enjoying the sunset?"
A secretive smile replaced the laughing, and she glanced in the general direction of where the man had supposedly taken his seat. With a futile wink of her unseeing eyes, she whispered conspiratorially, "I'm here to escape from the prison of my home." Another small laugh while she paused, clearly enjoying herself and the presence of someone else before adding, "I enjoy the whisper of the breeze against my skin, and the warmth of the sun as it gazes down on us, that's all. Its nice to be able to just sit and soak up the sun, even if I can't see the sun as it sets."
The fact that he had asked her first, gave her the opportunity to ask him back, and with relish, she did so after another short pause, "So what brings you to this lovely park, Orpheus?" Smiling, she leaned back against the wooden bench, relaxing into it as she twiddled her thumbs and Thor nudged his large head into the young man's lap, clearly looking for some attention as his large brown and droopy eyes stared up at Orpheus' face as if to say, "Pet me."
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Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:26 pm
Orpheus raised a thin brow at the noise from the dog, and it was all he could do to manage not to return the growl and bare some fang. He sure as hell didn't appreciate being seen as the threat first off. Perhaps if he'd been more familiar with dogs (or hell, ever met one to begin with) he'd have understood the action. As it were, a threat was a threat and he managed a slightly narrowed gaze and nothing more towards the dog. Growing up had, in the most minimal way, softened Orpheus. Perhaps only Kaoru and Crystal would have noticed the change, but his restraint on the dog's behalf was just part of that little growing process.
The teen settled and exchanged a bit of pleasantries related to the whole introduction system - a system which the boy would have sooner gotten rid of for that matter. Shoulders lofted with a soft sigh, and he shook his head despite her inability to see it. "If I were to wonder why a blind woman wished to view the sun, then I would be forced to wonder why a vampire would wish to do the same," he replied simply. He didn't assume she could guess him for what he was, but it seemed an appropriate reply to her assumption.
As the dog insisted upon attention, Orpheus would shift a hand to brush against the big head, fingers scratching behind one ear after the other. "Although I am able to walk in the sun, it is draining, and a great detriment to my health in a number of ways. Because of this, I am unable to enjoy the day as so many are." Orpheus was clearly not phased by the loss of spending a day out in the sun; the moon offered more to him, and he preferred such soft glow attentions to glaring obscurity. "The sunset allows me to best walk both worlds; to enjoy the warmth of the sun as I await the beauty of the night."
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Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:26 pm
Thor thought the man that had just sat down with his mistress didn't like him much, but when the newcomer scratched behind his ears, he couldn't help the thwapping of his tail as he grew excited and happy, or the piteous puppy dog eye look to beg the man to not stop.
Most of her dog's antics escaped Niamh, but the steady tapping of his tail against her foot certainly didn't, and she couldn't help but smile at the way he grew so excited and happy just from someone new giving him attention. If the man next to her grew upset with him, she would reprimand him to let him know that was not appropriate behavior, but until then, she would let Thor have a little fun. He deserved it, after all, for coming with her to the park and choosing to sit with her rather than run around and chase birds or small animals, or whatever it was he enjoyed doing the most at the park. From her comfortable spot, leaning into the back of the wooden bench, one hand idly lifted to rub the forearm of the opposing arm as the breeze grew chilly with the dipping of the sun. Perhaps she should have requested a jacket from Eremon, after all...
When the young man next to her mentioned the word vampire, she was unable to resist a futile look in his direction, as if attempting to figure out just what he had meant by that. Without the gift of sight, she had never actually met and seen a vampire to her recollection, and it made her regret just a little she couldn't see him to find out just what vampires looked like - or at least see what the youth next to her looked like, at that. But she said nothing about it, and instead turned her attention to his next words, doing her best to commit them to memory to ask Eremon about later. Perhaps he had had some run in with this youth, or with a vampire in the past, and he could tell her more about their looks? For one thing she felt was certain, but she highly doubted this stranger would permit her to touch his face in an attempt to create a visual in her mind as to what he looked like.
Once more, a small smile lit the woman's nearly pouty lips, "I am glad, then, that you can at least walk in the sunset. I have heard it is a very beautiful sight, and I'm afraid I can't really remember what it looked like." Niamh paused slightly, and one hand twitched as if it meant to fly towards her mouth, and a delicate blush of pink touched her high cheekbones as she realized she had just spoken out of turn, a bit too personal for the stranger she had just met, perhaps. Or he might even see it as a remark meant to garner her pity, rather than simply polite conversation. The beauty of the night was another thing Niamh could not recall, for she walked in darkness regardless of the time of day, and she found herself deeply wishing he might perhaps describe to her the beauty of the sunset, or even the beauty of the night.
Instead, however, she found herself inquiring about him, curious to know more about this man who called himself a vampire, and one who Thor seemed to have taken quite the liking to. "Aside from being a poet, Orpheus, what do you like to do with your time? I can't imagine what kinds of things there are to do at night, when things are dark." Truthfully, though, she liked the nighttime, if only for the fact it reminded people that their sight was not perfect, and gave them the opportunity to see as she saw. Blackness. Occasionally slight shadows in her peripherals, but never anything she could describe as more than a blob.
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 4:00 am
The young teen had an easier time being pleasant to those who were pleasant to him, and as the dog leaned his head in for the scratching and showed obvious preference to Orpheus' hand over a nice romp through the park the boy could take it as nothing but a compliment - something anyone who'd met him more than once would know were the only way to glimpse his heart, let alone get close to it. He would use the sound of the dog's tail to know whether to stay in the same position or move along and find a new nice place to scratch, all the while keeping his head at a careful angle so he might watch the old woman without a straight stare. Although Orpheus had not noticed it when he was a child, he received rather unpleasant reactions when he stared directly at someone, which was not a way to receive praise. Ah, but at least he had some sort of driving force in his life, unlike the usually listless or overly-dramatic teens of the day.
A puzzled expression crossed the vampire as she spoke, and he couldn't help to wrinkle his nose to keep from interrupting her, breaking into stride with his words just as quickly as there was a second to do so - just as soon as he could feel the period being drawn into the silent space. "You say you cannot remember it, and yet you say you've only heard that it's beautiful. I'm sure it can either be one or the other, can it not? Either you've seen it before and it has left you, or you've never seen it before and have only heard of it." Orpheus shifted upon his seat to recline slightly which caused his hand to be just out of reach from where the dog rested. His pale hand remained raised ever so slightly though, as if there were an invisible creature just below it, a clear invitation that the boy would continue, but only at the expense of the other party. Truly, the petty boy didn't look so very different from other children, a little pale in terms of color, and a bit haunted in the eyes, but not so strange that one would gape at him standing around in the streets. Perhaps they would discuss his sulky nature, but never his strangeness. At least not within ear-shot.
"Poet indeed," the vampire snorted through his nose after taking in a breath in through his lips which couldn't help but twitch with the crook of a smile that vanished like the breath through him. Truly, his vanity was such that he could have been persuaded to allow him to touch his face, but he'd only do so if he felt confident of the praise that would follow - and surely it would. "Things are never dark to my eyes," he said simply, though softly as if he didn't wish to hold back his thoughts, not insult her in some way. Whereas she was below the human average, he was above it and this needed no rubbing in. "My father and I are monster hunters. When time calls for it, we travel to old and ancient countries and we destroy the myths that plague those lands." Clearly it was only another source of pride for the boy and his eyes twinkled in a way his smile never would. "When we are not hunting the monsters, we are studying. Languages, histories, art, culture..." Orpheus' voice trailed off, clearly unable to give himself fully away to the woman. Although he would have easily described the bloody sunset, the days which made gold seem pale, and the nights which glowed in soft blue currents, she had not very easily asked for it out right, and the vampire boy was not what one would call keen at pin-pointing the desires of anyone but himself.
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Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 2:41 am
Thor was only happy to oblige the new friend he had found by thumping his tail wildly when the spot was just perfect, or leaning his head one way or the other to hint at which direction to move in next. In fact, should anyone look at the large dog they would notice his eyes had become half-lidded from the thorough head scratching and his mouth was open in what could only be interpreted as a huge grin. Attention was something the dog was always happy to receive and any time the boy's hand hesitated or came close to pausing, a barely audible whine would issue forth from him to indicate the displeasure he felt. He was not a picky dog, so as far as he was concerned - he got pet and the tone used did not sound like a threat, so therefore in dog logic that meant for now the newcomer was a friend.
This fact was not lost on his owner, because she could hear in her dog's tail thumping that he was happy and not angry or unsure of the person next to her. So when the youth mentioned the fact she both had said she could not remember the sunset but that she had only ever heard it described she couldn't help the small laugh that issued from her mouth. It did, after all, seem somewhat contrary to imply she had seen it but did not remember it yet also say she had only had it described to her. In a voice that indicated the story was well practiced, or oft-told, Niamh began simply, "I lost my eye sight when I was very young. Two or three years old - so just old enough to have seen the sunset, but young enough to have taken the sight of it for granted." A soft, wistful smile showed on her face when she spoke. Almost as if she was regretful of having taken her sight for granted, even if only for a little while.
The sound of the boy's snort reached the ears of the blind woman, and that smile quickly grew into something that showed more amusement than anything else. As the teenager spoke of his own life, however, the woman's hands folded together in her lap and her head tilted ever so slightly to one side. This gave the appearance of her cocking her ear towards him in a manner that could have meant either piqued interest or an attempt to better hear what was said. While the thought of someone so young being a monster hunter made her feel concerned for his safety, the self-assured way with which he spoke left her with very little doubt he was either very good at taking care of himself - or he was not telling her the whole truth. Niamh preferred to believe the former, however, and chose not to question what Orpheus prided himself on.
Instead, as his voice trailed off, she inquired further, her interest in who this young man was that had sat next to her at the park having clearly grown. "It sounds as if you lead a very adventurous life for someone so young. What made your father decide to take you with him on these..." here the woman paused, her hesitation in agreeing that the boy was telling the whole truth about monster hunting, but she quickly continued so that her pause would only be noticed by those who were truly perceptive, "..hunting trips?" What the woman did not continue on to say was that she was worried that someone who was clearly a youth would be hunting monsters - and why he would be doing so. After all, she had no wish to cause him to stop talking to her. Niamh enjoyed Orpheus' company, even if it was only a passing conversation and one that would likely never be repeated.
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Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2010 11:15 pm
Despite himself, Orpheus felt intrigued by her childhood, but the thought of having something and then having it taken away. How had it happened? How did she feel? Not that Orpheus had had a normal childhood by any means, what with being quite suddenly born out of a gel cup around the age of 8 and then equally as suddenly shooting up to the grand old age of probably 15. In this way it was hard to relate to humans and their different aging structures. Usually it did not bother him or interest him, and yet here was a human that he was indeed very eager to ask questions of.
But that would perhaps be rude, wouldn't it? "What was it like?" he asked, clearly unable to follow his own moral and mental arguments. The boy did what he wanted when he wanted to do it. Thus was his way of life much to the exasperation of those around him. Hopefully she would understand that he meant what it was like to lose her eyesight and that she was being prompted to tell him the story in its entirety. After all, he didn't wish to look like he was too very interested by going out of his way to ask fully-formed questions and curiosities.
Pleased that the conversation was taking a proverbial turn back into his court, Orpheus' expression brightened and he gave an extra vigorous scratching for Thor at the back of the big dog's head and along his neck. "For quite a long time Qadir refused to allow me to go with him. Too dangerous, he said it was. How silly. I was not afraid and neither should he have been. I am more than capable to take care of myself." The teen's vanity and pride washed over every word, caressing it with his own self importance and immortality. "I finally talked him into allowing me to attend him on his missions, though I am still a bit waylaid by his parental concerns."
No mention, under pain of death and torture even, would have Orpheus admitting to the ridiculous dance he'd performed to win a contest as the major deal breaker for his being allowed to join the hazardous trips. Even now, Orpheus had not decided if it was truly worth it or not.
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Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 1:29 am
There was just a brief moment of silence between Niamh and the young boy when he asked her what it had been like to lose her vision and many thoughts passed through her mind during that brief span. How to answer such a question when the memory of having been able to see had been so short a part of her life. Few were her memories regarding it, though she recalled very well how upset she had been when she had been told. Many were the tantrums thrown, hours spent pleading with her mom and dad that they had to be wrong, that the doctor was definitely wrong and she would not actually lose her sight. But as the black spots in her vision grew even her young mind had been forced to accept the eventual reality that she would not be able to see forever. Once she had accepted the inevitability that was, she had tried desperately to commit the faces of those she loved to her memory. As her sight had faded, though, so too had the memories of the faces of the ones she loved. In a way, she was glad that she would not have to witness the passage of time on everyone's faces, that forever they would be the young couple and the little troublesome boy that was her brother. On the other hand, though, she regretted that she could not look upon their faces and see them for who they really were and instead had to rely on the sounds of their voices and what her hands could decipher of the contours of their faces.
A small, sad smile had touched her face while she decided how best to answer her question and in response Thor had leaned his body so that while his head was still with Orpheus, his warmth also touched his master. Even though he was just a dog, he could tell that something had changed and was bothering her although he knew it was not the boy so much as something else. To any onlookers, the silly contortion the dog had pulled off would look humorous and they would likely laugh, but to Niamh it made her smile turn to a brighter one as her hand reached down to touch his body where it touched her leg. Some good things had come of her sight loss, even if she didn't always see it that way after all. And so the woman decided to speak the raw truth to the boy, so that hopefully he would learn to not take things for granted much as she had before she had to learn the lesson the hard way. The world was harsh and she ever worried for the younger generation and when they would be confronted with reality, even if not everyone's reality was the same.
"It was...difficult to lose my sight. I don't recall much of what I could see back then, just that when I was told the news I was distraught and threw many tantrums." At this another smile appeared on her face and her head lifted a little as if she were no longer remembering things from a sorrowful viewpoint, but instead amused from how childish she had been about the situation. How hard it must have been on her parents! "Since I was so young, I was sure the doctors had made a mistake and the black spots would go away. Eventually the spots grew and became thicker until I could no longer see anything at all. It was as if someone was slowly turning the lights out on my world and it felt like I was being punished for something I knew I hadn't done."
Niamh's slender hand reached up to her eyes as if doing so would make her see the paleness that was her own skin, and she shook her head lightly, "I tried very hard to commit everyone I knew and loved to memory, as if the loss of my vision meant the loss of them, as well."
Her rueful laughter was almost musical in its nature as she shook her head slightly again, "I was wrong though. I may not be able to see my brother, my parents, or my friends but I did not lose them as I had thought. I took being able to see for granted and never really cherished the beauty of the world until I began to lose that ability. Now I regret acting that way, even though I was just a baby by all standards."
Another small smile touched her rosy lips as a shade of red grew on her cheeks as she realized she was droning on and on while she was sure Orpheus would love to talk about his own life some when Thor reacted with a happy, heavy thumping of his tail against the ground at the suddenly vigorous scratching. Thor even let out a happy hybrid of a groan and sigh over the action, sinking his head almost into the boy's lap from sheer pleasure over the attention. As Orpheus spoke, again the woman tilted her head, smiling slightly as she tried to imagine what could have made a father agree to take his son on adventures that were thought to be too dangerous. The woman's active imagination even came up with wild and crazy scenarios that might have met that level of danger. Being blind, most of them were a little too crazy to be real because she didn't really know what danger consisted of having been guarded for most of her life. The pride with which the boy spoke amused her, especially when he spoke of being put off by the concerns of his dad.
"You must be quite the talker to have convinced your father to allow you to go with him on those adventures!" Truthfully the woman doubted it was just words that had convinced Orpheus' dad to allow him to go with, but she did not know much of the pair and did not wish to intrude by asking. Besides, maybe it was just kind of a 'coming of age ritual' or something. She knew some places did things like that. Niamh's curiosity about the type of adventures, however, especially since she recalled Orpheus had mentioned monsters at least once was slowly simmering ready to boil over, so she turned her head towards where the boy sat and inquired, "So what kind of adventures do you go on, Orpheus? I know you had mentioned hunting monsters, but" here the woman gestured towards her eyes once more, "I have never seen them or gone on an adventure myself." Hopefully the boy would accept that as genuine curiosity and not doubt in his honesty, for it was more of the former than it was the latter. Besides, Niamh had been closely monitored her whole life, hearing tales of danger and valiant men sounded exciting!
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Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 4:31 am
The vampire was really beginning to like this dog, against his better judgment of course. Though he still didn't so much smile at the dog while he administered his attentive fingers along different area's for Thor, his face was softer, less pensive and sulky than usual. He looked more like a normal teenager might, instead of the aristocratic snob he rather pictured himself as. It even got him thinking how nice it would be to have a pet at the house with him and Qadir as a means to break up the everyday. The bats did not count as they were so very rarely allowed around.
Although he listened with apparent attentive ease, the boy slightly regretted asking the question. Not that he did not feel sorry for her, his heart indeed grew a bit heavy with the thought of how she had rallied as a child and yet still lost the battle. In fact, a rare streak of sympathy and strange longing to help had flickered through his mind, but it didn't take root as he so rarely took the time to care more than a second about strangers. Harsh as that sort of reality may be. Besides. Who was he to try and offer help or condolences? Surely she had long ago resigned herself to her life and her ways, she did not need yet another prat cooing sympathies in her ear he was sure.
Ah, but now they were talking about him once more and he straighten his spine and cleared his throat to offer her a rather unimpressive 'sorry' towards her story. There was little else he could say without most likely accidentally saying something rude or offensive. It was his lot in life to simply say that which tends to upset others the most, and he didn't wish to foster such unpleasantness upon the woman that had clearly suffered so much. Hopefully she would understand that his very simple apology towards her was more kind than any other option he could have given her.
"All sorts of monsters. Any sort of monsters," Orpheus replied, his voice glowing with a pride that echoed in his eyes. His father was a scholar, always at his books and antiquities. He'd lived through ages and ages and had seen many things, even the stuff of legend that had been hidden away by fear. Stories had to come from some sort of truth, did they not? Just because one has never seen something, does not mean it does not exist after all. Orpheus told her all that and more, about the books and the treasure and everything in between. Ghosts and werewolves and vampires (though he refrained from pointing out his own connection to that legend) along with one old dragon and the coolest mummy anyone could have hoped to come up against. Sometimes he told her stories passed down from Qadir, for Orpheus had not truly been on an extensive number of jobs. It wasn't like monsters were so plentiful they were out traveling the world every single night after all.
"They are amazing," the vampire breathed at the end of his story, his voice still animated at the happy recollections of his short life.
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Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 9:36 pm
Even if his master could not sense the shifts in the young man's mood, Thor could and he nudged the boy gently with his large head when he felt the swing into heaviness and regret. Thor made no noise, however, as dogs are wont to do when they simply want you to know that they are there, silent and compassionate, ever ready to listen and never speak a word of it again. Much as he always did with Niamh when things went awry or she was having a particularly bad day with being blind or being 'babied' by those around her. For her part, her slender hand reached out until it touched his fur and gently rubbed her hand up and down the spot she had located. She had felt the quiver of his muscles while she spoke, but couldn't really tell what it was for and so assumed it was a cry for attention.
A very soft smile touched her lips as she nodded in acknowledgment of Orpheus' apology. She knew there wasn't much he could say and guessed by the clearing of his throat she had likely made him uncomfortable with her story of woe. With a simple wave of her hand she quietly responded, "Thank you" and hoped he wouldn't take it as dismissive, but as acceptance. In truth, she wanted to laugh and tell him not to worry about it, though she had long grown accustomed to her disability, she had not grown used to people pitying her or showing her undue sympathy. She was grateful that Orpheus had done neither and as he began to tell his tale she listened attentively with her head facing directly in front of her as her unseeing eyes quivered back and forth as she imagined a scene before her as he described it. Her head was tilted slightly to one side to better pick up all the nuances of what he said and a few times she had gasped in surprise or astonishment at the great detail in his stories and the breadth of monsters and such he had seen or heard of.
Since the woman could not see, she had no reason to disbelieve anything Orpheus had said and, having learned to 'see' differently than how others did, had grown used to sensing things that were perhaps not always physically there. Niamh had a strong belief in the spirit world and so while she took the young man's stories with a grain of salt, she accepted them as real. When the tales were finished and he spoke of how amazing they were, she nodded in agreement and echoed his sentiment wholeheartedly.
Without meaning to, she turned her head to face him and reached out a hand to try and pat him on the shoulder, "Thank you for sharing your stories with me, Orpheus. Even though I can never go on such an adventure myself, it was amazing to hear of your adventures and of your Father's."
And she meant it, with absolute sincerity. By listening to the tales of another, she could at least pretend something for herself other than her droll life as a blind woman. Even if for only a few moments. But she would not speak of that to anyone, of her burning desire to no longer be just a blind woman. She dreamed of going on adventures herself and with another smile, her face turned pensive as she finally had to ask, her voice still full of the joy she had gained from listening to him talk, "So how did you manage to convince your Father to allow you to go on such dangerous adventures with him? He must trust you very much to let you go with!"
Niamh then pulled her hand back and her head tilted down, towards where Thor sat, his tail still thumping heavily against the concrete in happiness, "I'm sorry - you don't have to answer that if you don't want to. I know we've only just met and I have no right to pry at all, but I was curious and thought to ask anyway." She felt bad for being so forward and pushing her luck with the boy, but at the same time, she was curious and couldn't help but ask.
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