Facing Facts

[pinkroses]

It didn’t take Oliver long at all to make his way back to Echa’s house and he was feeling distinctly nervous after he had left four days ago and not been back since. So much had happened and a lot of it Oliver didn’t want to tell Echa about and he just hoped the older vampire wouldn’t see that he was hiding stuff from him. He carefully walked up the steps and let himself into the blue house, slipping off his shoes like he knew Echa liked people to do.

Echa? He sent the thought out probingly, trying to figure out if Echa was here or whether he’d gone out to feed. He wanted to talk to Echa, but was also anxious about it and knew it would be so much easier to just write a letter and then just disappear. But Echa had taught him everything about being a vampire, he’d shown him how to feed and given him a place to stay, how could he just leave? He felt guilty enough as it was that he’d disappeared for about four days without telling him where he had been.

[Noctambule]

Echa was in the kitchen, weirdly enough. Or at least it was weird for a vampire that he was sorting through the little-used kitchen. There was some food...still left over from mortal visitors. He divided it into piles of useable and expired and continued with the cleaning of the cupboards.

Really, it was pointless busy work but he liked it well enough. It kept his mind away from much graver things. He knew he shouldn\'t be so much into the business of others, especially not his foundlings. In all truthfullness they had every right to leave but he still would perpetually worry for them.

Therefore the door opening was welcome and Echa barely restrained the urge to go bounding into the living room to see who it was .The mental voice told him soon enough and he released a breath he didn\'t even realize he\'d inhaled.

"Kitchen," He called out, too strained for a moment to speak through his mind. It was simpler this way, anyway.

[pinkroses]

Oliver hesitated for a moment before heading towards the kitchen, not sure whether to be relieved or worried that his teacher was home. He clasped his fingers together in front of him in an attempt to stop himself from fidgeting nervously as he entered the little used room and cast his eyes around, taking in what Echa was doing. His lifted one hand and gave a short wave and a smile before impulsively walking forwards and moving to wrap his arms around the older vampire in a hug. He and Echa hadn’t been all that physically close before but Oliver just suddenly felt the urge. Like he needed to be close to someone who wasn’t involved in the fucked up mess he’d made and although he knew he would have to tell Echa at some point he just wanted a bit of reassurance before Echa blew up at him.

[Noctambule]

The hug came as a surprise. A good one, or one Echa wasn\'t about to take negatively, but it was slightly worrisome. He hesitated for a moment, the irrational part of his mind wanting to warn that Oliver would go for his throat, but finally closed his arms around the smaller frame.

"Where have you been?" He asked, as gently as he could. Of course he already knew a good portion of it but...but better to let him explain somehow. Echa wanted him to know that he wasn\'t going to assume or jump to any conclusion...he wanted to hear it in the other\'s words first.

Shoving a few things to the side to be organized later, Echa leaned back so he could clearly look at his charge.

[pinkroses]

Oliver took a small step back, letting his hands drop down to his sides and glancing down at the floor as he leant back against one of the kitchen counters. One of his hands found the edge of it and he gripped it, wanting something to hold onto.

Heather, he replied simply, not wanting to let out too many thoughts at once in case he gave away something he didn’t want to, but the name was accompanied by an image of her flat, just to clarify. He felt uncomfortable under Echa’s gaze, although there was nothing malicious about the way the older vampire spoke, he just didn’t want to hide things from him that he knew he should.

[Noctambule]

There was another pause. Echa absorbed the name and the image and understood...and yet that was no reason for Oliver to seem as skittish as he did. "In the future," Echa said slowly, reasonably "If you\'re going to be gone could you tell me? Then I won\'t worry so much that something bad has happened."

Bad things could happen, he knew, even if Oliver told him where he was going but it was for his own peace of mind so he wouldn\'t wonder if he\'d missed some vital clue as to what was happening...which was the sensation he had now.

"You were with Heather." Simple enough except..."Were you secure enough sleeping there during the day?" Something was strange and Echa wanted to find out what without invading the other\'s thoughts.

[pinkroses]

Oliver nodded quickly in agreement to the condition of telling Echa where he was going. He hadn’t been planning on going back to Heather’s that night, that had been Seth, not him. Yes, I made sure ti was safe before going to sleep, there was no one going in or out, he replied to the question of security. And it was only a little bit of a lie, Heather had gone out to work, but the door had been locked, he’d done all he could with the windows, and he was still here now, so it must have been good enough.

And I spoke to… my other… personality. Seth, he calls himself. We’re trying to work this out… but it’s difficult. I wish he would just go away, he thought, lowering his eyes to the floor once more, hoping that Echa might have been able to find out more information about multiple personalities and how it could happen during siring, or something like that. Heather’s been helping, he added, hoping that that would be a good enough reason as to why he had been with her for so long without returning home. Of course, he would soon have to tell Echa that this wasn’t going to be his home much longer and that he was moving in with Heather… but that would lead to questions about her being human… and she wasn’t any more. Damn.

[Noctambule]

"At least it was safe," Echa said finally. His mind was still spinning and he was trying to figure out what exactly Oliver wasn\'t telling him. There was something skirting around his mind...a doubt or a worry...that Echa couldn\'t read without prying. Whatever Oliver was hiding, it wasn\'t clear.

In a way, that made the older vampire glad that he wasn\'t so easily able to find out. In another it was frustrating because it did make him extremely tempted to figure it out. All in due time, though, and prying would only make things worse.

"You\'re spoken to him?" A dark brow lifted in curiousity. "That is interesting. But as much as you want him to go away I don\'t suppose he\'ll consent to that."

There weren\'t very many options. Pretty much making Oliver the dominant personality was the only choice. Avoiding things that would set Seth off until Oliver could control it or not think about it...Echa wasn\'t certain. But that would find something that worked.

"What else?" He was trying to be patient, at least. Perhaps failing but he still looked nothing but concerned.

[pinkroses]

Oliver shoved his hands into his jeans pockets, his feet shuffling on the tiled floor as he tried to think of what to say next. Echa’s words might be saying that he knew there was something else wrong, or he might just be asking more about Seth. It was difficult to say and although Oliver guessed it was the former, he wished it was the latter.

We’re trying out every other day, see if that will work, so he won’t just force himself/ on her/ out. Oliver visibly flinched as he accidentally let a couple of words slip, but it was so hard not to when there was so much going on in his head, so much he wanted to say, but so much he wanted to hide as well. He lifted his hands to rub over his face, trying to think clearly but after a moment he simply shook his head.

Echa, I did something. You’re going to hate me. I don’t want to get in trouble, but I didn’t know what else to do, he thought to his teacher quickly, running the words together swiftly in his mind, trying to stop anything else from slipping through. His bright blue eyes, full of worry, settled on Echa once more as he bit gently on his lower lip. What if Echa really hated him for this? What if he killed him, or took him to the Oligarchy? What would happen to Heather? But he had to help him, he wouldn’t hurt him, surely? He hadn’t just turned her and let her loose like had happened to him, he’d taken care of her, made sure she didn’t kill anyone, although Seth hadn’t been much help on that part.