Author Topic: The (After) Life of the Party  (Read 21599 times)

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Offline Harlequin

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #30 on: March 12, 2012, 08:46:21 AM »
They were wired, the two of them, mind to mind. Heart to unbeating heart. Nadia sniffed, and dropped her eyes when Pierre did, unable to bear the weight of watching him. The normally placid lake of her mind was a maelstrom.  "I think you're getting ahead of yourself," Nadia responded to Pierre's words, though the sentiment was hollow, "He may be replaced from inside. It's not as though they're going to hold elections if he steps down." She shook her head, "And what would you have Damien do? Stage a coup on the Oligarchy? It's suicide."

Offline Saiketsu

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #31 on: March 12, 2012, 11:44:08 AM »
If it wouldn't have hurt so badly, Pierre would have laughed. "Don't be so dramatic," he said to Nadia in response. "We would never stage any kind of mutiny, even if the Mimic demons weren't under the control of the Oligarchy. That's just not our style."

"I think Nadia's right, Pierre," Damien said. "Either Vomas or McCloud would more likely become the Luminary over anyone else, well before I even apply for the position." There was a brief bit of laughter from the elder vampire. "He'd be a complete fool to elect McCloud above Vomas. At least Vomas is a little older than McCloud, hopefully a bit more serious about his position too."

"Don't get me wrong," Pierre said in response, "I'm not expecting that anything is going to change overnight. I'm not expecting that they're going to call up Damien and offer him a job in government. Quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they were afraid of us, and a coup is just what they're expecting." Damien's notoriety had been getting rather big within the city over the past few years - since they had found Rachel. While they weren't important enough, thankfully, to be abducted from the mimic demons and questioned by the Luminary for heresy and sedition, neither he nor Damien were stupid enough to think that he was escaping their radar. If they had been, they would have never gotten an invitation to the Masquerade in the first place.

"I just bet there's a nice fat little file with all of our names in it sitting in Kerr's filing cabinet. So what I'm saying is, if Mr. Galvin does decide to step out of office, you better be sure that you look into getting your foot in the door."


Damien sighed under his breath. He could remember a couple hours ago when he was dancing with Odessa, thinking of nothing but the steps of a dance that he had long since walked. It was probably the most comfortable part of the evening for him so far, though he hoped that the rest of the night wouldn't be as jarring and uncomfortable as the Masquerade had been. So far, his wish didn't seem as if it were going to be granted. Not with the awkward tension still existing between himself and Rachel, the awful attempt at civility within the current group, the worrying over Pierre's safety and wound, and of course the ever-tumultuous relationship that existed - and he feared, always would exist - between the young ex-lovers in the room. Not all of a sudden, it became too much for him to deal with calmly.

A short moment of silence had passed between the company, Pierre refusing to acknowledge Nadia's bothersome presence and Nadia acting just as she was always trained to by her sire. Damien was not so much upset by the pair as he was annoyed by their constant game-playing, each party as guilty as the other. It had been a long time since he had stopped telling Pierre what to do with the angry pieces of his broken heart that he didn't show anyone but himself and Jenella. Jean-Luc was a womanizer and he assumed that this was part of the unconscious treatment that Damien had always enforced as punishment. And yet as soon as he had felt annoyed by his son, he felt a pang of guilt because of it, though not enough to prevent him from standing and inviting Odessa - and Odessa alone - outside with him to take a better tour of the property. As he extended his hand to her and the queen took it, the suppressed look of anger in Pierre's eyes told him that his subtley was less than he expected it to be. What Damien couldn't express was that the lover's quarrel between them was only a piece of the mental stress puzzle. 

Offline Harlequin

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #32 on: May 22, 2012, 12:37:49 PM »
If subtlety was what Damien was aiming for with his gesture, he was failing hideously. This crowd knew subtle, and this ploy to force Nadia and Pierre into an interaction was anything but. To what end? She had to wonder. So that they could work out their differences? The idea was laughable. At this point, their differences were completely indistinguishable from their similarities.

And Nadia wore an expression similar to Pierre's as she watched Damien escort her sire from the room. She'd expect this of Odessa, but Damien could usually be counted on to keep things civil.  And Nadia seriously doubted her ability to remain civil toward her ex-love if he continued to act as he had at the masque.

She kept her eyes on the departing pair, and continued to stare in that direction even after they'd gone. Thoughtfully, after a long pause, she wet her lips with the tip of her tongue and shifted on the couch, looking toward Pierre. Better to rip off the bandage than let the wound fester.

"So," she said finally, "Do we think we can be alone together without bickering like children? Or is that where we are now?"

Offline Saiketsu

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #33 on: May 22, 2012, 01:14:00 PM »
The temptation to snicker at her comment was almost too strong to resist. His ability to do so should have won him a gold medal of achievement and a large sum of money. Alas, his strength went unrecognized as he controlled himself enough to dig down to the deepest part of her statement and grasp her meaning despite the bitchy sarcasm. As far as he was concerned, the only wounds that seemed to ever need bandaging were his and he was getting pretty sick of it.

"That all depends," Pierre began with an icy tone, his hard expression now landing upon Nadia, "on whether or not you’d like to put your foot in your goddamn mouth again." If she had said anything in retort to him, he either ignored it or gave her a poisonous look. It took him several more moments to remind himself that what she was saying was (more or less) what he was wondering as well. When he had been toppled by Kerr, he wasn’t making his way over to her to start a war all over again, but rather to call a peace to it all. He had been an asshole, embarrassing (or at least trying to) her like that and it wasn’t something that made him feel like a champion. He had come to talk to her. Now, that they were standing in front of each other, forced by both of their sires to come face to face, he felt that same feeling arise that had made him drift through the Masquerade after her.

After a moment of collection he said, “Look, I’m not trying to start anything. I don’t want anything out of this.” His words felt messy and he began to feel impatient with himself, something she was notorious for making him feel when he was angry at her. “Before Kerr took me down at the Ball, I was... coming over to say I was sorry. I'm sorry, ok?" He didn't know what he was expecting her to say, but something about verbalizing it made him feel better. Even if she did laugh in his face.

Offline Harlequin

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #34 on: May 23, 2012, 04:34:01 AM »
The corners of her mouth pinched downward slightly at the insult and she shook her head, disappointed. No, apparently they couldn't.

Because he was trying to start something. Otherwise why would he have done anything other than apologize? "Sorry for what? For embarassing me -- and yourself -- at the party, for no valid reason? Or for bringing it up and picking at me about it just now?" The reply was scathing, but seemed somehow automatic; like default response someone had programmed into a computer. She gave another head shake, this one impatient, and closed her eyes.

No. She was doing it wrong.

"It doesn't matter," she said, "never mind. It's...fine." And this, somehow, seemed much more difficult for her to say. Pierre knew well that forgiveness was not one of her strong suits.

Offline Saiketsu

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #35 on: June 02, 2012, 04:17:20 AM »
He blew air out of his mouth in a very human-esque sigh, his lips humming quietly, unable to figure out what to say to her now that she had seemingly given up on the argument. He feared that anything that he said now would be greeted with a tight-lipped agreeing tone. One word answers. It was then that he realized that once again he had put his foot into his mouth - him, not Nadia.

Moments passed before he had even thought of anything to say. He could hear Damien talking to Sonya at the edge of his property about something that sounded nostalgic. He could hear Rachel up in her room flipping pages, the cat purring in its bed. Pierre looked at Nadia, who remained sitting with her eyes closed against him. He found himself wishing, just as he had wished centuries before, that his image was burned into the inside of her eyelids just as hers was on his. That same tension that had filled his chest when he had first seen her after she had refused his proposal filled him again in memory and made him angry. At least his eyes were kept open – at least he wasn’t running.

“Look,” he said finally, breaking the air with his Italian that sounded slightly out of place in his opinion, “I wasn’t expecting to see you there tonight. Nobody had told me that you were planning on going… So I was caught by surprise.” It was only part of what was wrong, why he acted like he did. Had she came to him and him alone wearing the dress she did, the dress she wore in front of him now, he would have found it beautiful and enticing. He would have taken her image as some sort of signal for desire. But this was something she wore for the public eye, for every immortal to see. It had angered him even though he knew it shouldn’t have, even though she wasn’t his woman and probably never would be again. Her outfit had almost made him want to turn right around and leave, to pretend that he had no idea who she was and that he hadn’t even seen her.  But he kept this part of himself quiet and admired her frame in the dress as she kept her eyes closed.

Parlez á moi,” He said without actually meaning to, his French breaking through the air between them almost inaudibly. He let his blue eyes linger on her hard face.

Offline Harlequin

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #36 on: June 03, 2012, 01:27:14 AM »
Pierre could never just leave it be. He'd apologized, and she'd said it was fine, and that should've been that. Nadia didn't need his excuses; especially not the pathetic one he offered. Her nostrils flared in annoyance, "Neither did I," she pointed out, in English "You should learn to handle surprises better." she said, voice terse. Maybe that's how he got hurt. If he let the presence of an old lover get the jump on him so badly, she hated to think how he'd react to a real ambush.

It surprised her that she really did hate to think of it.

Her eyes fluttered open as he slipped ever-so-quietly into his native tongue,  and she looked up at him, straight into those ice-colored eyes. One corner of her lips quirked upward, her expression softening. Devil. "And what would you have me speak of, mon petit chouchou?"

Offline Saiketsu

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #37 on: June 09, 2012, 01:10:52 PM »
Had he been human, his pale cheeks and ears would have felt hot at her playful use of his language, even if her playfulness did make him feel as if he were four again. They both knew full well that if Sonya or Damien felt like listening in, they could hear her. As it was, Pierre just continued smirking with a little more ease.

"Tell me about how you are honestly doing. Besides the simple one-word answers you give Damien and Odessa." He sat down near her on one piece of furniture adjacent to her, carefully and with a bit more pain than he was ready to choke down. His expression faltered for only a moment and he was hoping Nadia wouldn't have noticed - though knowing her she very well may have. "Talk to me about how you like the city. You've only been here for, what? Three years?"

Offline Harlequin

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #38 on: June 11, 2012, 08:16:20 AM »
She watched him as he sat, eyes impassive. The flicker of pain was noted, of course. He was hurt worse than he was letting on. But her half-smile stayed in place, betraying nothing of her desire to comfort him; hold him and help him –

dig her nails into the wound and twist –

as if he were a child. 

She even laughed a bit – a small, breathy sound – body shifting toward Pierre as she spoke, "I'm doing...well, I suppose." A shrug of her slim shoulders, "Mostly here, for the past three years. I've been travelling quite a bit as well, for work." She mentioned her job idly now, as if it hadn't caused anything just hours before,  "But I still haven't decided whether I like living around so many of us. On one hand, there's more to talk about, more to do. On the other...there's a lot of power, here, and that bodes ill."

Offline Saiketsu

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #39 on: June 18, 2012, 10:17:17 AM »
He squeezed his tongue between his teeth with enough pressure to prevent himself from reacting when she off-handedly mentioned her job. Pierre didn't think what she was doing could have been so easily dissmissed as she had made it seem - he couldn't think about it with the same nonchalance as she could, he was happy to say. Alas, that had been a conversation they had already had many months ago, one that ended with Pierre walking away in a rage and Nadia facing him with an indifferent shrug and an aggravating little smirk. He never understood why she had gone into the line of work that she had, and he left her apartment that day assuming that he never would. At least now it was less of a shock and more of a general discomfort for the Frenchman. Conversing with her about her fetish modeling was something he could only do on a stomach full of blood and chilly indifference towards her. Tonight was not that night, so he was thankful when her glossing over of her profession was just that and not a discussion of her job.

There was a tiny tug inside his chest upon her mention of her lack of enjoyment at remaining in the city. Not that it mattered. He simply hoped that a good friend wouldn't be leaving so soon after her arrival. Pierre sat for a moment, contemplating her words. At first he was tempted to agree with her, but a small eddy of panice in his gut told him that he shouldn't just blindly agree with her displeasure in the city.

Instead, Pierre grunted with a touch of laughter that sounded to him less secure than he intended and he hoped his partner wouldn't notice. "There's a lot of pseudopolitics, here. A lot of little old men trapped in young bodies thinking the world is for them to rule and too many of them are much younger than either of us. There is an illusion of power, sure, but nothing that can't be handled if push comes to shove.

"Besides," he continued, "This is the only place that we've found in America that has this level of inter-species protection. Elsewhere, humans are still burning vampires at the stake when they find them."

Offline Harlequin

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #40 on: July 02, 2012, 01:52:25 PM »
"Any vampire stupid enough to be subdued by a mob of angry humans deserves to be burned," Nadia's voice was hard as her nails tapped on the tempered vinyl of her handbag.

The taping ceased abruptly, however, as her eyes flicked to her former love's abdomen – travelling up his chest before resting back on his face.

"Apparently it's not them we need protection from, though, is it?"

If he thought for one second that she was going to leave that alone, he was a damn fool.

Offline Saiketsu

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #41 on: July 02, 2012, 02:04:18 PM »
Her comment grated against him - he had lost too many of his fledglings and siblings the day that Lucretia was burned at the stake. He said nothing of this, of course, but made a slightly awkward shift, knowing that she wasn't trying to direct any comment towards the past - or at least he would continue to think. While the subject of his lost fledglings wasn't a particularly sensitive one as it was with Damien, Pierre still had no desire to have anyone make any assumptions about the day when he had almost died as well. Instead he noticed her glance and her tone and steered the subject of the conversation the way that she obviously wanted it to go.

Why couldn't anyone just leave his god-damn burn alone?

Pierre sighed, giving into her demand. "No, it's not. Tell me more about this healer you were talking about? I was under the impression that the onthing that could effect a vampire's healing was blood and time. Are you saying that you think there's a way for me to get over this faster? Damien won't let me do a damn thing now, and he's hopeless without me.

"Besides," he added with a touch of dry humor, "it'd be really nice to be able to sit next to you without having to be in so much pain." He smiled at Nadia.

Offline Harlequin

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #42 on: July 18, 2012, 11:26:19 AM »
Nadia shrugged for perhaps the thousandth time that evening. "I don't know much about her, or what she does. Just that she helps those that need it. Or...something." She waved a dismissive hand, "She does magic. She can mark our skin permanently. IT might be worth getting a second opinion."

Something clattered shut in her hooded eyes, and she looked away.

It hurts you to be close to me anyway

As if it didn't hurt her too.

Less than a second later, she returned the smile, "That would be nice, wouldn't it?" her tone was as bland as blanched rice.

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #43 on: August 06, 2012, 03:03:43 PM »
Pierre nodded absentmindedly at her question, agreeing though he knew she asked it for no other reason than to keep up appearances and be, well, Nadia. It annoyed him that even after everything they had been through together - the laughs, the sex, the stress, the living together, and the mutual interest in having independant sires - she still had the audacity to keep him at such a distance. As if he were some kind of new person she had just been introduced to. He took her comment and it's bland rice flavor and wanted to throw it out the door after Odessa.

There was a momentary lapse in the conversation before he smirked and looked at her, amused with himself. "So," he said, the same sly grin filling his features like it always did when he was taunting for the fun of it, "you going to give me your cell phone number or what? I think I'm done bending over backwards to be the gentleman about it here."

Offline Harlequin

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Re: The (After) Life of the Party
« Reply #44 on: August 06, 2012, 03:15:18 PM »
The smile turned to genuine laughter, "Of course, Pierre," she said, before relaying the desired information.

"Texting will get you better results. And if you leave me a voicemail I swear on Odessa's Manolo's I will end you."