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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Nov 22, 2008 20:20:24 GMT -5
Although Nicolas did not keep track of the time, it was about an hour before Nicolas stopped laughing and recognized that he was alone. He had, of course, recognized that Armand had pulled his hands away from him and walked off, but that he had walked away, leaving him to his mirth in solitude, had not penetrated until the humor had finally clearly and Nicolas had, smiling widely but without the smile touching his eyes, looked up to find, to his surprise, that Armand was not standing there anymore. He had somehow expected he would be staring at him rather coldly, with another funny thing to say. When he wasn't, Nicolas sombered quickly, blinking in annoyance and leaving to find someone on whom to feed that night.
After leaving the body messily strewn on the ground, blood in a wide arc around it - well, what could he say? He certainly did not intend to touch it - Nicolas realized he had yet to find someplace to stay that night, and he did not actually have any desire to find a mausoleum.
This was how he came to find himself at a castle, with some swift scanning of the mind that he was not really conscious of and a reliance on his own supernatural speed. It took some difficulty, but he scaled the wall and went in through a window, landing silently on his feet before straitening and glancing around the room he found himself in. It was small and empty, though no less luxurious, though he did not take in the surroundings, save for life.
There, at the other end, a door. Nicolas strode towards it and threw it open, without any care for where he might end up, only a mild expectation that it would lead to someplace momentarily safe.
((tag Aurel - sorry it is quite bad.))
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Post by Aurel on Nov 23, 2008 15:53:43 GMT -5
((No no, it's fine. ^_^))
*Suddenly feeling a strange prescence, Aurel got up from his chair. He was reading one of his favourite novels, and didn't approve of anyone interrupting him. He quickly finished his glass of blood, put it down on a table while noticing a servant hurrying towards him.*
"Mylord, there's an intruder in the castle. One of our own kind!"
*Aurel sighed. He already knew that. Ignoring his servant, he walked towards the direction he sensed the intruder were at. He soon found him, and crossed his arms as he stood in front of the strange vampire.*
"So... " *He said as he slowly approached, staring angrily with his jade-green eyes* "... Either you tell me who you are and what the heck you're doing in my castle, and I'll throw you out - or you will spare me the trouble of listening to you pointless words and let me throw you out right away."
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Nov 23, 2008 16:10:48 GMT -5
Nicolas folded his hands behind his back unassumingly and turned around at the interruption. He had not consciously expected another vampire, not really, and yet his own lack of surprise told him he had known something along these lines would be here. Either that, or his senses were getting duller. He would not have been astonished to hear it.
"A great deal of good it does you, owning an artfully-stacked pile of rocks," he said, bending slightly at the waist and glancing over at the stones of the castle wall, dispassionately. He straightened and extended a hand listlessly. "Nicolas de Lenfent."
Someone who did not know him might suppose he was being saucy but still within the bounds of propriety, his posture especially suggestive of it. Someone who did would know that just because he was not outright rude did not mean it wasn't just around the corner, and would react with just as much wariness towards his seeming-respect as they would to anything else. But this fellow didn't know him, now, did he; and as this occurred to Nicolas it also occurred to him that he did not know him. He frowned, and turned his head, looking at him sideways. "I don't remember you from a hundred years ago," he said. "You're not new to Paris, are you?"
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Post by Aurel on Nov 23, 2008 16:22:10 GMT -5
Pile of rocks?! What the...
*Aurel sighed. This punk was wierd. He couldn't handle wierd.*
"I'm originally from London, but I have been here before, if that's what you mean. What business do you have here, Nicolas de Lenfent?"
*Aurel took a step closer and studied Nicolas's face. Besides his irritation for him, Aurel also felt a slight curiousity. Maybe he might be able to wait another minute or two before getting rid of him.*
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Nov 23, 2008 16:34:08 GMT -5
Nicolas refolded his hands behind his back and leaned forward slightly, which meant that he brought his face even closer to the other vampire's than they already were, his own eyes fixing on his. It was as though he were returning a challenge - tilting the lance, or cocking the pistol - and he smiled deliberately and licked his lips before speaking, teeth pronounced due to the manner in which he held his mouth.
"Just looking, you know," he said, voice soft (partly due to tone and partly because it was needless to speak loudly when this close to someone else); "for someplace to sleep. I have been...away... From Paris, and am only just returning. You know castle dungeons. They're very accommodating in this respect...with or without the help of their hosts." One hand still held firmly at the small of his back, he lifted the other and made a gesture with the flick of his wrist. "There is somewhere else I might go, but I'd rather not."
Not Les Innocents, that was certain, although he had actually had Armand's tower in mind. But he did not think that if he saw Armand again that night that the other vampire would be able to hold onto his temper, even though his patience was formidable, usually.
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Post by Aurel on Nov 24, 2008 14:43:56 GMT -5
*Aurel stood perfectly still as Nicolas came closer. He growled slowly, pronouncing every word perfectly.*
"And what makes you think I'd let you stay here?"
*He circled around the strange vampire and eyed him from top till toe. This was an extraordinary creature, that he could tell. He was really irritated from Nicolas's rudeness and ironic way of speaking, and did his best to not throw a punch at him.
Aurel took a step back, his eyes not leaving Nicolas. He smirked slightly, a smile that didn't reach his eyes.*
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Nov 24, 2008 17:08:32 GMT -5
Nicolas raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you think I thought this place was occupied? Do you have any idea how many unoccupied castles there are? I should imagine you do."
Nicolas did not, now that he thought about his words as interpreted rather literally, think this castle was unoccupied. But he had not imagined it was occupied by another vampire, and that might as well have been the same thing. Not that he imagined another vampire would have some right to throw him out into the street again. It was much better to network, if you had any intention of spending the next hundred years living civilly together. Not that Nicolas could behave civilly for more than five minutes.
Nicolas took a few steps away towards a painting, leaning forward to look at it more closely, appearing very engrossed in its details.
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Post by Aurel on Nov 27, 2008 12:21:24 GMT -5
*Aurel hissed at Nicolas*
"Did the thought never occur to you that one might try knocking at a door at first, and then break and enter when one had make sure there's no one inside?"
*He grew even more irritaded when Nicolas turned to study a painting.*
"What in the world are you doing now? Stop staring at that painting when I'm talking to you, you punk!"
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Nov 27, 2008 15:14:32 GMT -5
Nicolas turned to look at him quickly, the expression on his face suggesting he thought the vampire lord must have been mad. Not very fair of him, all things considered.
"Knock?" he repeated in disbelief. Nicolas did not knock. And vampires were these uncivil, outcast things, weren't they, and he couldn't actually picture them holding castles and expecting other vampires to knock. It sounded positively ridiculous. Owning a coffin was one thing, or owning a tower, like Magnus and then Lestat and now Armand did. It was aware of their own death, their existence being an intrusion. But this was ridiculous. And so Nicolas stared at him as though the man were stark raving mad.
And he really had no idea what a punk was, but it sounded vaguely insulting and mildly amusing at the same time. He imagined it was synonymous with tart. Not something he really wanted to be called, but he'd been called worse.
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Post by Aurel on Nov 28, 2008 12:20:16 GMT -5
*Aurel felt something very similar to a headache and sighed loudly.*
"Yes, knock. I know that many of our kind really are as mounstrous as humans think we are. But it doesn't mean we have to be, right? Why can't our kind show any kind of manners at all?"
*Aurel knew he was exaggerating quite a bit. He wasn't exactly an angel himself, that he knew too well. He remembered how cruel, rude and monstrous he was when he had just become a vampire so long ago. That cruelty was still in him, but as time went on, he had learned how to act more graciously. Especially when he met her... Ciel Noir. That's when he realised he coulnd't keep on acting so badly.
Snapping out of bittersweet memories, Aurel looked at Nicolas once more. He didn't actually seem like a threat to him. He suddenly gave Aurel the impression of being kind of lost.*
"Tell me, Nicolas...How long have you been a vampire?"
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Nov 28, 2008 17:57:20 GMT -5
Nicolas continued to look at him as though he were partially a lunatic and he were slightly nervous that the vampire would lunge at him at any moment. His shoulders were slightly knotted beneath his shirt and cloak and the torn wariness showed in his face. Manners. How bizarre. It was as though he couldn't at all remember being the modest and sensitive and sensible young man he'd been before he'd died.
Nicolas turned his head slightly, watching him carefully as though the last statement were a trick question. When he could discern no attempt to trap him, he sighed and gave in. "A century. A little more than that..." When he'd died it had been a matter of years before the revolution that had destroyed the monarchy. He grimaced. "Not all of which I can remember."
After going into the fire, he could only recall bits and pieces of the early days. He had some sense that he had been resurrected very shortly afterwards, and would have flashes of memory, of a fashion, a cut of coat, a kill, but no purpose, and no one in particular. But he could not remember anything before the 1870s, the brief chaos and turmoil then. Such a short time. Not even two decades, all in all.
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Post by Aurel on Nov 30, 2008 12:55:39 GMT -5
*Aurel nodded slowly and looked away from Nicolas. He had a certain way to look at him that made Aurel feel uncomfortable. It brought back unwelcome memories of dark times. Even though he wasn't brand new, Aurel knew it might take a very long time before one would come to accept the true nature of oneself. He glanced back at Nicolas and the look that said 'you're mad' in his eyes was gone.*
"Fine", he said as he took a step away from Nicolas, "you can stay. You can have Vincent's room while you are here. I don't think he'll come back for a while."
If he ever comes back at all.
*Aurel turned and started to walk.*
"Follow me, I'll show you the room."
*For some reason he felt tired. It was such a long time ago since he had these old memories, and for some reason Nicolas brought them right up to the surface again. He couldn't tell why, but something told him Nicolas wouldn't try to hurt him. At least not for the moment.*
((Thread continued at "Vincent's room"))
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Nov 30, 2008 21:05:13 GMT -5
Nicolas was taken aback by the sudden resignation and hospitality, but was by no means the sort to spit in a drink he had been offered. (Nicolas only spat into a drink someone had been forced to let go of. Had the vampire lord chosen to throw him out, he would surely have managed in the end, but only after a great deal of reluctance and violence on Nicolas' parts - he was not much capable of caring what befell him when in one of those mad moods, only that he fought to the last ounce of his will.)
So, wary though he might have been, he calmed somewhat, and, watching the lord, still and silent, he nodded slowly, and followed him out.
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