commemeorate (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
commemeorate) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bakerstreet2020-03-14 10:48 pm
commemeorate) wrote in bakerstreet2020-03-14 10:48 pm
Entry tags:
pale november dew
comment with your character.
respond to others
lbr — no one uses rng. just go wild, and maybe kinda sorta pick from the scenarios below?
post picture prompts OR write starters OR whatever!
have a grand ol' time
TYPES OF SCENES
① Action → Gun fights, bar brawls, fights to the death are all possible scenarios.
② Angst → Characters suffer emotionally or physically from relationships breaking up, death, injury, etc. Hurt and comfort themes are included.
③ Crack → Genderswaps, super powers, sudden compulsions are all possible outcomes.
④ Fluff → Something that is devoid of angst. It's light-hearted and might have the overtone of romance.
⑤ Gen → General fun, things that didn't fit in the other categories.
⑥ Sex → First times, kinks, even dubcon are all possible themes of sex related scenarios.
⑦ Your choice → Think of your own scenario, choose one of the above or make a combo even!
ACTION.
① Zombies → It's the zombie apocalypse, lock and load!
② Bar brawl → You had one too many drinks, said something wrong, and now you're being asked to take it outside.
③ Chase → You're caught in a high speed chase.
④ Gun fight → You're caught in a big shoot-out.
⑤ Fight with a friend → You're fighting with a friend, all out.
⑥ Interrogation → You're being interrogated for some offense you've done.
⑦ Aliens → Aliens are attacking and you're not going to take your probe laying down!
⑧ Final battle → This is it. The battle that will end all the fighting for you. Will you win? Will you get that peace you want?
⑨ Training → You're not actually fighting, just training for the inevitable.
⑩ No hope → You know this fight has no hope. It's not going to end well for anyone involved, but you can't turn away.
⑪ Sneaking in → You're stealing a diamond or sneaking in to kick some bad guy butt, but whatever it is, you have to practice stealth.
⑫ Blue wire → You're faced with a bomb that needs to be disarmed.
⑬ Fight for honour → You've been disgraced or someone you care about has, so it's time to fight for honour.
⑭ Showdown → Time for a cowboy-style showdown. Whoever draws the fastest wins.
⑮ War → You're caught in the middle of a war here. Remember to keep your chin up and keeping fighting.
⑯ Apocalypse → The apocalypse finally happened and now you're left to scavenge and fight for whatever is left.
⑰ Sabotage → It's time to sabotage someone's plan! How is entirely up to you. Do you set up a bomb in their toilet? Do you double cross them at the last minute?
⑱ Big damn hero → You know you have to handle this one alone, so that means disarming or knocking unconscious the person who wants to join you.
⑲ Fight club → You know the rules... you're in an underground fighting ring and you're fighting with all you've got.
⑳ Threaten → You've just been sent here to rough them up a little, threaten them into behaving.
ANGST.
① Injury / illness → Your character has become injured or ill! To what extent is the mun's choice.
② Last moments → You character has been gravely injured and this is their last chance to say their last words.
③ Depression → Your character is depressed, what actions they take is up to the mun.
④ Betrayed → You character has been betrayed by the other. How do they react?
⑤ Tortured → Your character is being tortured and needs rescuing or at least a sympathetic ear to help him through it.
⑥ Jealousy → Your character is feeling jealous and must deal with it, how will they do it?
⑦ Breakup! → This relationship has gone as far as it can, it's time to breakup.
⑧ Broken → For whatever reason, the character is broken, mentally or or physically.
⑨ Fight → You can't even be in the same room as your friend or lover without arguing anymore.
⑩ Lost → You lost the biggest fight of your life and now all you can do is try to pick up the pieces.
⑪ Worst nightmare → Whatever you fear the most is now real or maybe you're just trapped in a dream together, but whatever it is, it feels too real.
⑫ Addicted → You're addicted to something, alcohol, drugs, sex, whatever. It's destroying your life and you can't do anything to stop it.
⑬ Hurt you → You're being forced to hurt someone you love either by betraying them or even being forced to shout things you don't mean. It's for their own good in the end though.
⑭ Separation → You were forced to leave this person for their own safety and while you've been miserable without them, you really didn't mean to run into them again... maybe it was by accident or you were watching them from afar this whole time.
⑮ Becoming a monster → You are slowly changing, becoming a monster: vampire, zombie, demon, something you can't recover from and no-one can help you.
⑯ Frozen → You are entirely helpless, frozen, to stop some kind of disaster.
⑰ Prison → You were very bad and now it's time to pay the price by turning yourself in or maybe the law just finally caught up to you.
⑱ Fear → You're not sure why, but you are suddenly terrified and you can't deal with it. You need help.
⑲ Hated → You are now hated by the person you loved the most.
⑳ Down and out → You're living on the streets, you've hit rock bottom, and you don't know what to do.
CRACK.
① Sexswap → Uh-oh, you're suddenly the opposite sex!
② Forced confessions → No matter what it is and no matter how hard you resist, you're going to be compelled to spill some deep dark secret!
③ Mind-reading → You've suddenly got the ability to read minds!
④ Animal → You're suddenly part animal or transformed into an animal!
⑤ Awkward pick-up lines → You're compelled to use bad pickup lines on whoever is closest!
⑥ Back in School / Graduated → You're suddenly back in school! Or if you were already in it, you've aged and long since graduated!
⑦ Vampires, werewolves, and zombies, oh my! → You're suddenly a vampire, werewolf, or zombie! Maybe even a demon or a devil, whatever creepy crawly you can think of. What do you do now?
⑧ Ghost → You're suddenly a ghost or at least invisible. What are you going to do with this new ability?
⑨ Awkward conversations → So did you just fart or what? Any conversation goes, as long as it's embarrassing and awkward.
⑩ Crossdressing → For whatever reason, you're suddenly dressed in clothes of the opposite sex.
⑪ Suddenly naked → Oops! Your clothes are suddenly gone.
⑫ Suddenly a kid → You're a kid again! Have fun with that second childhood.
⑬ Fortune cookie → You've suddenly received a note with something that will happen in the future, either precise or vague.
⑭ Super power → And suddenly you're like Superman! Any power goes.
⑮ Bodyswap → Somehow you've changed bodies with the other person.
⑯ Back in time → Somehow, you wound up in the past again. Do you try to correct something or just sit and wait for time to jump? Maybe it jumps to various points in your life or maybe you actually think you're back in the day. Have fun, run wild with the idea!
⑰ To the future → Is it everything you've dreamed? Is it horrible? Whatever happens, you're here to witness what happens to you in the future. Either you take the place of your future self or you're just there to watch. Might cause some confusion if people start seeing double though...
⑱ Angels, mermaids, and fairies! → You're not necessary something dark or evil. You're just something different. How do you deal?
⑲ Locked in a closet → For some reason, you're locked up in a closet with someone else. Do you make nice and try to figure your way out or what?
⑳ Finger trap → You're caught in a Chinese finger trap... with somebody else! You can't figure out how to get loose either... have fun with that.
FLUFF.
① Cuddling → For whatever reason, characters feel like being close and cuddling.
② Pillow talk → After the main event, characters are up for some pillow talk.
③ Celebration → Anniversary or some other big event is taking place and characters want to celebrate!
④ Love confession → Someone has finally decided to confess their love and today is the day!
⑤ Appreciation → You feel the need to show appreciation for that person closest to you, even if it's just a pat on the back.
⑥ Apologies → You made a mistake and now it's time to make it up in some way you know the other can't refuse!
⑦ Get back together → Why did you break up again exactly? Whatever the reason, it was a huge mistake and you both know you can work through it.
⑧ Date night → You've planned for a wonderful night together and you can't wait to get it started.
⑨ Family → You've either found out you're pregnant or you've already got that addition to your family.
⑩ Marriage → You're just about to get hitched or maybe you're enjoying your honeymoon. Maybe you've been together for years now! Whatever the case, it's time for that next big step.
⑪ Meeting again → It's time for that happy reunion finally!
⑫ Love at first sight → For whatever reason, you are now insanely in love with the first person you set eyes on.
⑬ Flirtation → You can't resist to do a little bit of harmless flirtation all of a sudden.
⑭ In the snow → Look outside! It's a winter wonderland, so why not go out and play in it?
⑮ Engagement → You've planned it all out and now it's time to finally pop the question.
⑯ Friendly games → You've set up the game station or board games for a friendly competition!
⑰ Gift → Time to give that special someone a gift just because.
⑱ Recovery → You're taking care of someone who's just recovered from some illness or injury.
⑲ Healing → Time to help mend that someone who's been through hell and back.
⑳ Better than ever → You've finally got everything you've ever wanted here. What is your ideal life and who does it include?
GEN.
① Nice meeting you → It's your first time meeting this person! You bumped into each other on the street, in a bar, at work... whatever!
② Drinks → You're out for drinks! Or just chilling at home with some beers. Wherever!
③ Lost → You're lost and you kind of need help finding your way to where you're going. A little help with directions?
④ Costume party → You're at a costume party, both of you are wearing masks. Do you keep the anonymity or take it off and see whose company you've been enjoying?
⑤ Wrong number → Oops, actually you didn't mean to call that person...
⑥ Drunk → You're already drunk! Drunk dialing, stumbling into someone, showing up unexpected... what type of drunk are you anyway? Aggressive, loving, happy? How does the other react?
⑦ Old friends → you haven't seen this person in a long time!
⑧ Rivals → you're suddenly rivals! Or maybe you have been all along...
⑨ Problems → you've got a problem with each other, just got in a huge fight, whatever. Try to work it out!
⑩ What are your intentions... → This person? They're dating a close friend, family member, etc. You need to find out if they're going to hurt them! Or you need to discuss your friend/family's dating choice.
⑪ I saw you → you saw the other person doing something bad and you need to confront them about it.
⑫ Sorry but no → the other person has feelings that you just don't share. They don't necessarily have to be romantic... maybe you just don't agree with their sudden desire to quit their job and start a business making tiny, fuzzy teddy bears.
⑬ My hero → you need to tell this person how much they mean to you. They've been your best friend or your role model your whole life and they need to know.
⑭ Enabler → you're enabling the other (or each other) to do something bad, really bad. Addiction, stealing, killing, or just any other self-destructive behavior.
⑮ Cooking → Time for an impromptu cooking lesson!
⑯ Oh, sure, I remember you... → It's that awkward moment when someone comes up and seems to know you, but you have no idea who they even are!
⑰ Rescue! → One of you was in trouble, but you came to the rescue!
⑱ Boss → One of you works under the other. Is your relationship good? Are you scheming things? Or do you hate each other?
⑲ Perfect crime → You and the other person have just pulled off the perfect crime... or you're planning to! What are you doing? The heist of the century, an assassination?
⑳ Movies → movie night! Maybe it's a sleepover. Whichever the case, it's time to eat a lot and have fun.
SEX.
① First time → it's your first time together or your first time ever! Enjoy the awkward times!
② Bondage → You and your partner decide to experiment a little with ropes or handcuffs or whatever you'd like to tie your partner up with.
③ Rough / Aggressive → Your characters want it rough.
④ Romantic → Slow and gentle, meaningful, that's how characters want it.
⑤ Dubcon → Character A wants Character B and it doesn't really matter if Character B wants it as bad or not.
⑥ In public → Characters feel like taking a risk and doing it in a public place.
⑦ Roleplay → Naughty nurse fetish? Pirate kink? You and your partner decide to try it out now!
⑧ Healing → You've both fought hard or gone through a rough time and it's time to get some R&R in.
⑨ Last time → This is the last time you're going to this because you're breaking up or maybe your lover is running off to sacrifice their lives in some heroic way. The possibilities are endless, but you better make this one count.
⑩ No strings attached → You're just friends with benefits. Nothing wrong with that, right?
⑪ Anonymous → You met in a restroom or bar, any location of your choosing, but you don't even know each other's names.
⑫ Toys → You're eager to try something new, so why not toys?
⑬ Aphrodisiacs → You've been slipped a strong aphrodisiac somehow and now you absolutely cannot control yourself.
⑭ Show → You're putting on a show by either doing it right in the club or filming it for a bunch of people.
⑮ Ménage à trois → It's time for that threesome you've always dreamed of.
⑯ Non-penetrative → Frottage, handjobs, whatever you want to try out.
⑰ Controlled → You are under mind control and must do whatever your lover asks of you.
⑱ Hatesex → It's not just rough or aggressive, you absolutely cannot stand each other.
⑲ Extreme → Fisting, knifeplay, whatever you can think of so long as it tests the boundaries.
⑳ Fantasy → This is just a fantasy, a dream, and you know it, but what is your ideal fantasy and how willing is your partner?
c:
( It's an old, private joke. His father used to make mention of it as one of the contributing factors that lead to the downfall of that old empire. Not the thing, perhaps, a layman would know, but despite his resolution that he will not tell her who he is there is a very real, selfish part of him that wants her to figure it out. She's certainly smart enough.
He shakes his head, goes to wash his hands as he's been bid. Then he ties his hair back deftly with a pin — how many times had he heard that as a child? No loose hair in the laboratory.
what he can't hide is the fangs, but she is so well accustomed to vampires and fearless besides that he doesn't think she will make a fuss about it. for now, as he methodically soaps his hands up to the forearm — )
It's very kind of you to help me. I know my people will be grateful.
no subject
Something about the young man strikes Lisa as familiar in a way she can't quite identify -- aided, perhaps, by the ease with which he navigates the laboratory -- but she's quite certain she would have remembered an aristocratic face like that. ]
I'm happy to do it. No good comes from knowledge like this staying locked away for no one to understand or use. If you can help even one person with what you learn, then you've made the world just that little bit better.
[ Shaking her head, she pulls two small folded linens from a drawer, offering one to her guest before turning to face the laboratory anew. Where should she start... ]
Sorry, I don't mean to lecture. Will you tell me your name? I could keep calling you "hey, you," but I'd much rather not!
no subject
( he says that almost teasingly. of all the things he'd missed about her, he can't believe he can add that to the list. he daubs his hands dry with the linen and then puts it over his shoulder, out of the way but still available should he need it again. )
My name? Ah... ( well, fuck him sideways and call him greek, he actually hadn't thought that far ahead. he can hardly go by adrian, now can he? nor would alucard be suitable, his mother's clever mind would work out that palindrome in a heartbeat. but the longer he takes to answer the more suspicious she'll become. shit. ) Trevor.
( he blurts that out all in a rush. trevor. really. christ, he's glad the others aren't here. he'd never live it down. )
Well, Trefor, actually, but I find Wallachians struggle a bit with the pronunciation. Trevor's been easier.
( why is he still talking. is this what normal humans feel like on a daily basis? it's miserable and terrible and he hates it, thank you. )
itp please do not follow fantasy medical advice
With her voice utterly serene: ] I appreciate the consideration, Trevor.
[ Intuition may not be the strictest of sciences, but Lisa's has rarely led her astray: it's a falsehood, clearly, but not a dangerous one. She's curious, but whatever reason he feels he has for telling it doesn't strike her as malicious. ]
Alright, for many infectious ailments, what I've found works most broadly and consistently is this -- [ she leads Trevor to one of the alembics set upon the table, simmering merrily away, and unstoppers the lid of a jar to show him several very moldy lemons. Her smile is rueful: yes, she's well aware how disgusting it looks. ] This particular mold can be distilled into a liquid that kills the particles causing infection. It can be a bit precarious to isolate, so I'll send you home with some to use as a starter.
lmao god ikr
Does it always smell so badly?
( it feels dishonest, perhaps — more than simply being here, more than taking trevor's name — to pretend he doesn't know how to make this concoction. he had learned it at her knee. he always had an interest in medicine — he never matched her, of course, as he was equally interested in swords and history and languages and magicks, but. this was hers, somehow. even though she had gleaned the knowledge from his father, it was always... hers. his earliest memories are of her mixing salves of tannic acid and honey and, yes, mold. )
no subject
Yes, unfortunately. And it needs to be taken in small, regular doses for quite some time, so I've resorted to mixing it with sweet wine or fruit jam to get my patients to actually drink it.
[ It won't do any good to send him off -- wherever he actually intends to go -- without knowing how to make the distillation, so she walks him through the process a few times, bringing out examples of it in the later stages so he would know what to look for in a successful attempt, and showing him different ways it can be administered.
All the while, the ever-curious part of her that drove her to seek out an absurd legend is prodding with interest at her observations: A vampire who could slip unnoticed into Dracula's own castle, make the same references to obscure Roman history as her husband, and only identifies himself with a false name? Evidence suggests he's familiar with Vlad, and thinks Lisa may recognize his real name.
She finds herself studying him a little more closely when she can do so without being obtrusive or distracting herself from providing instruction, trying to place the familiarity of his features. ]
Hmm. Has there been any trouble in Lovech recently? I can teach you how to treat wounds as well, if it would help you.
no subject
suffering is a long, impossible, infinite moment. there can be no relief, no panacea. it simply exists in your breast and takes over your organs like a brigand calling itself the heart. it is the only truth of the world. everything ends, everything dies, everything rots. sorrow subsists in ruined places and on dead things. his is still sharp.
he nods along with all her pronouncements, makes the occasional observation on her methods, and when she asks about lovech — )
Nothing out of the ordinary. Rumors of a werewolf that I find quite ridiculous. But we've had an influx of traders from the Carpathians, and they do not all mean us well.
( he lifts up a small flask of a burnished red liquid — he recognizes it, he thinks, from her earliest attempts at synthesizing blood that a young boy might gain nourishment without obligate harm to others. being half human meant he needed considerably less than a vampire to sustain himself, but it is still an essential nutrient. what if she had finished this project? she might have changed the world. if vampires could be convinced to sup on a synthetic alternative... christ, he can't imagine it. what a better world they might have had. )
Amazing, isn't it? All this knowledge, lost to humans. Safeguarded by vampires. It must have taken immeasurable courage for you to come here to learn.
( he had taken that courage for granted, once. it had simply been the way of his life, all things as they should be, all things as they were. )
no subject
I don't know if I deserve that much credit. Perhaps there's something to be said about achievements in ignorance, but really I was just desperate and stubborn.
[ Sick of seeing people die needlessly and then being told it was humors, or wandering organs, or curses from walking through a certain part of the forest. Being pressed to stay quiet and obedient and not ask questions. Being called a witch for wanting to know more.
Granted, now she's aware that curses and magic are real, but still -- no one is going to be casting a legitimate evil eye on a smith to make him smash his thumb with a hammer and die of sepsis a week later. That's just how the body works if left untreated. There are real, scientific reasons for things, and understanding them is the first step toward clearing the fear of uncertainty. It's exciting to know the way things work in the world. ]
My dream was to go to Salerno, but their studies are still limited by the will of the Church, and convincing them to allow a poor Wallachian peasant to attend would have been impossible. [ Her own choice of words gets a crooked smile out of her. Impossible. A flimsier word than even she had believed. ] Tracking down an apocryphal roaming castle full of secret knowledge guarded by some sort of ghost lord just seemed like the next logical step, of course.
[ She goes through the motions of returning bottles and tools to their proper places, replacing them with rolls of linen cloth. Where's that stash of antiseptic? Somewhere on the upper shelves, probably... ]
no subject
Of course. ( the procession of logic is staggering, really. his tone is pleasantly dry, but not devoid of affection. ) A pity you were born nearly a millennia too late to learn at the knee of Rufaida Al-Aslami.
( his father had gone to great pains to obtain some of her written work regardless. that won't happen for several more years, but his mother had always admired her. )
And now you're the lady of this castle. There are many among the common folk have immense goodwill for the changes you've brought to Wallachia.
( not all of them. some are gripped by fear and superstition beyond reckoning. but while some speak of her as being a witch — and other less kind terms, he's heard them all by now ‐ there are those that would risk much to lay flowers in her memoriam. his mother has only ever cared for making a difference. bettering lives. it wasn't about leaving a legacy — though perhaps that has been an unintended side effect — but about helping in the here and now. )
no subject
I'm glad to hear that. Earning people's trust as a doctor can be... difficult.
[ It would be an unconscionable act of hubris to believe she could change the world herself. She cannot move that mountain on her own. But she's only just begun, and for every single person she does help, maybe their world changes a little for the better, and that's one more person happier than before.
And absolutely none of that is actually on Lisa's mind right now, because she's staring down at the bottle of antiseptic sitting innocently on the table, a faint line cutting its way between her brows.
She had not told him where to find that.
Gaze sharpening, she looks at him again with greater scrutiny, the same steady look that pinches the corners of her eyes when peering through a focus lens that needs fine-tuning. Then she lets her expression shift into something more casual, lifting one shoulder in a half-shrug. ]
My husband always says, what is a man but a ridiculous pile of secrets.
[ She mangles the phrase deliberately, though she's not even sure what she expects the conclusion to be. Recognition? A correction? ]
no subject
he studies one of the little tinctures of mold, trying to buy himself a moment's reprieve so he can just decide what to bloody well say. he has to say something. in a moment, something becomes anything and he decides to just sort of stomp blindly onward. )
I think I've heard a similar phrase, l'homme est ce qu'il cache: un misérable petit tas de secrets. I'm rather surprised to learn it's left France. Has your husband done much studying abroad?
( but it feels flimsy even to his ears. why would a man from lovech — admittedly one that is likely not from wallachia to begin with — know an obscure french philosophical phrase? what is man, indeed. )
no subject
[ Perhaps it was a mistake to show her hand so soon, but Lisa's curiosity is beginning to overwhelm her. How much teaching he even requires is rapidly becoming less clear, which is the only part of the deception that truly vexes her: having a student, even if only temporarily and for such a small facet of the field, is a great part of how she hopes to help the knowledge of true science spread among people, but more and more this is seeming a farce.
Not yet a harmful one -- if anything, the man seems embarrassed by her sudden play -- but there is obscuring the extent of one's experience with the subject, and then there is this.
Lisa turns the full force of her investigative gaze on him openly, fists on her hips, and it's in the act of craning her neck to frown up at him that she becomes very still, an odd swooping sensation taking over her lungs as if she had abruptly missed a stair.
She would hardly call herself a tall woman, but neither is she dramatically short, which is something that she forgets when she's spent a significant amount time with Vlad. It's rare for her to arch herself so dramatically in order to meet the eyes of anyone other than her towering husband, vampire or otherwise. And the eyes she meets are a pure, delicate gold, the exact same shade as -- Oh, for God's sake.
Reaching out with one steady hand, she brushes aside the same cowlick she's stroked over a thousand times already, and tilts his face down to her, staring hard. Stranger things have happened. She's standing in the middle of one such impossible thing, after all. ]
... Tell me I haven't gone mad, Adrian.
no subject
and then she calls him by a name that he considers near as dead as his father and he flinches a little, gently reaching up to corral her hands in his and tug them downwards. a dozen lies are sorted through and discarded in the span of instants. he supposes he could claim to be a long-lost brother of vlad's, but then the man himself would debunk that almost immediately.
and secretly, he's. glad. a part of him had hoped she would figure it out, and he himself broke none of he unspoken, unwritten rules of travelling through time. so, then. he takes a bracing breath and then leans in to gently press his lips to her forehead. she used to do that to him as a boy.
softly, )
No, Mother. Not mad. I'm sorry, I quite misliked lying to you. I've always been terrible at it, haven't I?
no subject
There are worse things than having a child not naturally inclined toward deception.
[ Now she's looking at him the way she did when she first held him in her arms, in tender, helpless awe of every brand new feature of the little boy she bore. Her little boy, hers and Vlad's, that cherubic face whetted sharp with adulthood and, unless she's very mistaken, a distinct lack of sleep -- but still, without question, their Adrian.
And grown: it isn't a fear she's dwelled on in quite some time, but part of the uncertainty of having a child half vampire and half human was not even knowing if such a child could come to term, could survive infancy after that. Lisa is hardly inclined to give credit to a divine force, but it's hard not to think of every day Adrian grows older as some kind of miracle.
Though perhaps every mother thinks such things. She pulls a half-step backward, the better to fully take him in. ]
Oh, let me look at you. It's embarrassing that I couldn't see it before, now I can't imagine how I missed it. God, how are you even here? I take it since you're not not stumbling with the coordination of a toddler, this isn't like how you turn into a wolf pup.
no subject
( he lets her fuss. look at whatever she'd like. he feels a little like he's enduring an inspection of the cleanliness of his hands before handling her mold cultures as a boy.
(he's glad, perhaps, that the high collar and long sleeves of the shirt he'd chosen to wear hides the scars.) )
I... would rather not say how I've come to be here. But know that I mean no harm or ill by it, I only wished...
( to see her. it seems as if he'd forgotten so many little things, now sprung wholly to life with the full force of her personality before him. the way that one little lock of hair doesn't quite curl properly behind her ear, the animation to her voice, the love. would that he were less restrained, he might break down and cry. as it stands, he simply gives her a halfly sort of smile. )
I missed you.
( she knows she's mortal. she knows he isn't. if she assumes him to be a hundred years old and herself long passed, that is her business. )
no subject
Adrian's final words do give her pause, transforming the vision of her son into a strange memento mori, grown and mourning her from beyond the future of her grave. But her own nature as a brief mayfly among immortal cicada is hardly new or secret, and there's something comforting in knowing even after she's gone, she'll be so beloved in Adrian's memory. And she can be assured that Vlad and Adrian will still have each other after her.
So while the smile on her face takes a sad waver, tears burning abruptly behind her eyes, she dismisses the concern with a short shake of her head. ]
Don't worry about that, sweetheart. I don't need to know the whole story. I'm only glad you don't have this trick in your arsenal next time you'd like to escape your bath. [ The tweak she gives his chin is an old gesture, though perhaps not yet on her part: a gentle urging for her sensitive boy lift his head and be cheered again. ]
Bad enough I've got to chase a puppy through the castle, I'm not sure I could outrun you like this at all.
no subject
Likely not. I've picked up a few tricks, you know. Some of them my father's, many of them my own. More of yours than you might expect given how poor a student I could sometimes be.
( he was restless, sometimes. less attentive than he now wishes he had been. an excited child, eager to go learn swordplay at his father's knee in the open night air. it had seemed so much more interesting than the endless study of his mother's work, though his opinions had changed in what passed for his teenage years. )