A not so simple gesture

[Keara Aithne]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

This RP is set on Tuesday 26th November 2013 in Oldtown Theatre.

Enver: He was sitting at a table, closest to the main entrance in, waiting for her. He had emailed her and asked her to meet him here after he'd done what he was planning on doing since he told her about going off to California, and her rejecting the idea a few times over. Not that he was bothered by it, because he understood why she couldn't, or wouldn't go with him. He was working on a cigarette, dressed in jeans, trainers and a t-shirt that said "Hard Rock Cafe" on it.

Keara: She’d received the email and was grateful for it, as having spent most of the day in the catacombs, she had convinced herself that returning home to sort out her safe might be a better a use of her time and yet she knew the task would be a tedious one. It didn’t take her long to get to the theatre but when she walked in, she ignored Enver and headed straight for the toilets. The last few creatures had been a little messy and she wanted to make sure she didn’t have blood or guts on her or her outfit. Looking herself over in the mirror, she dusted herself off, loosed her hair and then made her way into the theatre to find him. She was wearing her usual form of attire, along with the recent pieces of jewellery he’d given her, even if they weren’t placed where he might expect. ((Garb: http://i72.photobucket.com/alb...412.jpg))

Enver: He had the cigarette about half way done when he saw her. She wasn't hard to miss for a lot of reasons. She certainly was a woman who knew how to made an entrance when she walked in to a place. He stood, crushed the cigarette out and grinned at her. He noticed she was still wearing the ring on the right hand and then the necklace on her wrist. He chuckled and shrugged. So long as she liked it and wore it, he wasn't going to say anything about it. His hand reached out for hers, tugged her closer to him and then kissed the top of her hand, as per their custom. "I'm glad you came." As if he doubted it, he didn't, he just felt like saying it for whatever reason.

Keara: She smiled when she saw him. He’d been dressing much more casually since his return and she liked that look on him. They tended to look less like a miss-matched couple to compared to the times he was suited and booted, but then she didn’t so much care how others saw them, she just thought he seemed more relaxed when not wearing his formal attire. As he took and kissed her hand, she nodded slightly, only just resisting the urge to courtesy in front of him as he did so. “Come to you I always shall when ask that of me you do. Circumstances permitting, of course.” The last bit was added as more of an afterthought as she was sure there would be times when dropping everything and coming to meet him wouldn’t be possible, although truth be told she really couldn’t think of many circumstances in which that might happen.

Enver: He chuckled at her words, and grinned a little wider. He knew it to be true and she probably knew it'd be the same of him with anything she asked of him. "Ditto." He said, then realized she probably didn't know what that meant. "Me too." He clarified. "So, you ready?" He asked her, his thumb brushing over the top of her hand. "Not that we've got to go far." He chuckled. "Just wanted to show you something. More or less."

Keara: She was thankful for his clarification of the word ‘ditto’, at least she assumed that that was what it meant. He was getting used to her and her questions and seemed to have pre-empted the need to clarify this one. Keara nodded when asked if she were ready. She didn’t much care where they went or what they did as long as they were together and she was trying very hard not the anxiety she felt in knowing he was leaving tomorrow show in any way. “Follow I shall where lead you do.”

Enver: He nodded, collected the other hand and then looked at her very seriously. "You have to close your eyes though. Gives things a bigger impact or something. Trust me. It's just better if you do it. I think." He waited until she had them closed before he began to lead her to their destination for the night, which would be the second floor of the theatre.

Keara: She closed her eyes as instructed and squeezed his hands gently to indicate that she was ready. She trusted him completely and had no trouble at all being led by him. Though, in her mind it might have been quicker if she’d of hoped on his back and been carried there. Not that she suggested such a thing, as they had strict boundaries in place a suggestion like that could lead to those boundaries being moved once again in as many days.

Enver: When she closed her eyes without so much of a peep out of her, Enver was floored. So floored, he stopped moving even. He wasn't used to someone just doing what he asked them to do, even if it was something that wouldn't get them in any trouble or hurt them. He stared at her, even with her eyes closed, cleared his throat and nodded his head. Once they made it to the staircase He'd tell her to "Step" the few steps it'd take to get them to the second floor and then lead them in to the main area of his flat on the second floor. "Don't open them yet." His tone seemed to ask it, more than say it, as he stepped away from her and headed to the middle of the room. Once he was there, he looked around the room, made sure everything was as it should be and nodded again. "Alright, you can open them." When she opened them, Keara would be greeted with a variety of things. The floor was now engulfed in sand from where she stood, to the other side of the room. There were fake palm trees stuck to the wall due to tape on the back of them. Candles strategically placed on cheap tables around the room (as his furniture had been moved to other rooms), that smelled like mint meeting avocados, two signs, one that lit up, one that said the words that matched his shirt and the other that said "Boulevard" on it, green in color. And finally, he had constructed more or less a setting sun on one of his walls with various colored construction papers for her to look at and enjoy, which he made sure still looked half way decent before he turned his attention back on her. "Alright. I guess you can open them up now."

Keara: When instructed to do so, she opened her eyes and looked about the now oddly furnished room. It had been some time since she’d seen sand in what seemed to be its natural form, as everything in this day and age seemed to have a different use. She liked the candles in the room, as those she understood well enough but the signs were lost on her. The fake sunset made her smile, as there had to have been an easier way to do that and yet he hadn’t taken any shortcuts. She moved to stand before him, took his hands in hers and then looked around the room once more. “While sure I am not what exactly here you constructed have, very pretty it is.” She was filled with awe and wonder at what he’d done and why but it was perhaps tempered a little in her features, as she was struggling to control some rather odd urges of her own, seeing as how she was the tactile sort when it came to stuff like this.

Enver: He grinned like a fool, knowing she wouldn't know what it was. But he knew he'd have to explain it, and was ready for that. "Well, these are some things about California." He pointed over to the palm trees and the sunset. "What you'd see a lot of there. Best place on earth for a damn good sunset." He added. "Those," He pointed to the candles. "Well, the mint in it was kind of a cheat, but avocados are grown by the truck loads in Cali. The signs, well, that one." He pointed to the green one, "Is a street sign and where my hotel will be on. The other one is a place I stop at and do my usual eat, sign a few autographs and whatever else they like me to do." He shrugged, then pointed to the sand. "And beaches. Cali has tons of them." He took her hand. "I made this for you. So if you miss me, you'll know what kind of place I'm at, where I'm at and what I'll probably be doing." He grinned at her.

Keara: She had a little trouble focusing on his words and her eyes kept drifting to the sand beneath her feet. She was biting her lip in a different manner as she tried to resist what came natural to her and take in what he was saying. She nodded occasionally, trying to force her eyes to follow where he pointed. This was the most romantic gesture anyone had ever done for her in her entire living history and she knew she was about to spoil it. She was already looking a little annoyed but the anger was entirely turned inwards. As he finished explaining, she turned away from him and gave a one word answer. “Lovely,” she whispered as she sank to her knees and began raking the sand in front of her with her fingers in an animalistic fashion. It wasn’t long after that that her instincts took over and she was on all fours, her nose practically buried in the stuff as she took in the scent of it before turning her head to the side and started “listening” to the sand with her eyes closed.

Enver: Well, he certainly hadn't expected that sort of reaction. "Is it bothering you?" he asked as she started pushing the sand all over the place, thinking that was it before he saw her smelling the sane. It hadn't smelled off to him, but maybe his senses weren't as strong as his, given their "Age" difference. "Uh." Enver cleared his throat as he looked at her and not so much what she was doing and again, she was more or less flashing him. He groaned, turned his body at a different angle, then cleared his throat loudly. "So, I take it you're not a sand girl, eh?"

Keara: She didn’t reply for a while as the sand had her full attention, then slowly, she began to talk. “Sand…mhm…No. Like it do. Funny it is. Hear that?” she went quiet and started drawing in it with her right hand, still bent over on all fours like some sort of animal. What she was drawing was anyone’s guess at it didn’t seem to have any real form at first. “Unnatural is, here to be,” the prattling started up again as her finger carved line after line into this new art medium. “Like it does not that we upon it tread.” She sat up and looked at the floor as if it had done something to annoy her. “Wrong. All wrong…Oh,” she suddenly exclaimed. “Know I do what wrong is. Mhm. Fix that I can.” She leant forward and pawed at the floor till the image was done. It seemed to be a depiction of a scene, there was a boat, some shadow like figures and a natural backdrop of what was perhaps the impression of clouds and water. To any with an eye for art there was more than likely a strong emotion attached to it, but only Keara really knew what it as she’d drawn. She moved away from it a little when it was done, seated herself on the floor and began removing her boots, all of which she did without making another sound.

Enver: "Well, yeah. The stuff is crunchy sometimes under shoes and boots." He chuckled at her, then watched her more. "And yeah, I mean this sand came from California. I mean, we'd have to go there for you to see it in its natural form, but..." He trailed off with a shrug. "It'll only stay here until I come back. Then I'll get it cleaned up." He watched her drawing, then took a good look at it. "Hey, that's not half bad." His eyes moved around the room, then back at her to see her taking off her boots. "Yeah, that's the idea of it. Come up here and put your feet on it. In it." He corrected himself as he fished out his cigarettes and lit another one.

Keara: With her boots off, and her tome secreted back inside the right one, she looked around the room once more. “Had too,” she said answering a question he probably hadn’t asked. “Wonder do what sound it makes when home it is?” She now sat cross legged on the floor, racking at the sand and then flattening it all back out, over and over. “Landed did on sand. Long ago. Dark was it then. Colours this vibrant were not,” she had a handful of sand held before her, her left index finger pushing it this way and that, as if she were searching for something. Then the flickering flame of one of the candles caught her attention and she was off, crawling towards it like a jungle cat.

Enver: "Uh." He started out not really sure what she was talking about. "Well, it probably sounds the same if you're walking on it in boots or shoes." he offered. "What landed, where? I just got this sand earlier today." He frowned, rubbing at his jaw, until he saw her take off at something. At the candles. "Um, slow down there." He was following after her, not sure what had more or less possessed her.

Keara: She perched herself next to candle, her chin resting on the table as she focused on the way the flame flickered and danced. It was kind of pretty too and the scent…well that was a little confusing and perhaps a little too strong for her but she pushed it to the back of her mind. Without turning to look for where he was, she reached out a hand behind her and motioned with her fingers for him to come sit by her or perhaps take her hand or something. The signal wasn’t entirely clear to anyone that wasn’t her. “The boat landed,” she replied in a wistful tone. “Long journey it had been. And a sister gifted me was. Though…” she went silent for a bit. “A gift I did not think her then.”

[Enver Marshall II]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Enver: He followed after her, more so to the fact he was afraid in her excited state that she might knock a candle over. Not that it would do much being it'd fall on sand, but it was perhaps just a normal, human reaction. Or would have been, if he was still human. He sat beside her, not real sure on taking her hand in case she decided to play with the sand again and listened to the story, she was more or less telling him. "Never had any siblings myself. Until River." He said, wondering if she even wanted him to comment, but it seemed like he should say something, even if it was to keep the story going.

Keara: She nodded in an awkward fashion when he spoke, as her chin was still pressed to the table. “Siblings had I enough before him. Liked that alone we were,” she said, the fact that she was probably talking about Ven becoming more apparent. “Liked that journey I did not but…me here it brought.” She really wasn’t doing much of anything now as she was hypnotised by the dancing flame. “Same feeling have I now. Storm coming is.”

Enver: He looked at her from the side. "I'm not following. I'm sure you mean metaphorically, but the city is pretty damn quiet these nights. Since after the war thing or whatever the hell that was." He scowled at the candle's flame, before shaking his head and looking back at her. "I mean, Ven's not here right now. So I doubt you have another sibling."

Keara: “Mhm, same feeling have I. Something wrong is. Like that I do not. Darkness. Too much darkness,” she sighed and then turned away from the flame and crawled back over to the drawing in the sand. “All wrong,” she said smoothing it over before laying down where it had been. She lay on her back, her feet sprawled out with no real thought as to her position. She then grabbed two handfuls of sand and held them stretched out in front of her. Allowing the fine particles to rain down on her stomach. As the last few grains passed through her fingers, something else caught her attention as the light in the room caused it the shimmer. Now she staring at the charm on her wrist, the one he’d given her. She brought it closer to her, holding it over her head, tapping at the movie reel with her left index finger and making it swing.

Enver: He sighed, mostly because he didn't get what could be wrong. Was the thing he set up really that bad? He thought he'd been pretty clever setting something up like this, hoping to get her to want to go with him the next time he went. But instead, it seemed everything in the room was wrong. Who'd want to go a place when everything was wrong? "Yeah. I know. I couldn't just find avocado candles though." He grumbled, a hand running through his hair. "I was kind of running on limited time." He looked around the room. "Sorry." He muttered, stood and took two quick drags in off his cigarette.

Keara: His tone had changed and it didn’t go unnoticed, as she tilted her head in his direction and gave him a questioning look. “What for sorry are you?” she asked, the mist in her mind beginning to clear a little, but not enough that she wasn’t playing with the charm once again. It wasn’t something she’d of chosen to wear but it did remind her of him and for that she loved it. She watched the reflected light play on the golden surface and smiled at it as if it knew she were watching.

Enver: "Because it's wrong. Should have gotten more signs or something. Maybe some other sort of vegetable or fruit for a candle." He shrugged. "Like I said, had some time constraints. But maybe all this won't be needed after a while." he was hopeful that he'd be able to bring her to Cali with him. Maybe even next month. "If you don't like it, you don't have to come here. Not like I'd know." He grinned at her from the side, his eyes trailing up the length of her bare legs.

Keara: “Sensor have you at the front door,” she replied quickly and without turning to look at him. “Know you shall when here I am. Enver?” she had that tone again like she was about to ask him something he probably didn’t want her too. “Why did you this to your room do?” She was definitely coming back to her senses and as she waited for his reply she sat up and start shaking the sand from her hair.

Enver: "I already told you." He looked at her oddly. "So you'll know what sort of place I'm at and what I'm doing. And you know, maybe one day we could go there and do these things together." He cleared his throat, and looked at her, after putting his cigarette out with two fingers.

Keara: “Many places like this doubt I there are,” she said looking over him with a soft, playful smile on her lips. “Unique think I this room is.” She patted the floor next to her, wanting him to come and sit by her. “Explain more you must. So better image have I.” She’d glossed over his comment of her coming with him, one day it was quite possible she would but she didn’t think it would be any time soon. In her mind it was far more likely that he’d find a way to work from home.

Enver: "Well, on most the beaches, the sand is this color. Looks like snow, but it's not. Hardly ever snows in Cali and if it does, doesn't stick for long." He shrugged. "Well, maybe in the mountains, but I don't venture up that way. So it's miles and miles of white sand and the water's amazing. Good surfing there. And there's sharks and all sorts of other things, not that it stops people from surfing." He chuckled. "I've never done it, but maybe now that I'm a vampire." He shrugged his shoulders. "People are sort of big on appearances down there,. Or, they sort of dress how they want the world to see them or know them when first meeting them. You've got your hippies, your posh princesses, divas, and then the classes. It's just a crazy place to be. So much going on all the time." He said after he sat next to her. "Can't tell you much more than that, or you'd never have reason to go some night." He chuckled.

Keara: She listened and waited as he spoke, when he was done talking, she lay herself back down in the sand, only this time, she was using his lap as a pillow. She reached out and took a hold of one of his hands and began playing with his fingers by running her fingertips up and down the length of them. “Curiosity no good reason is, else travel the world I might. Only one reason have I for there to go. And that reason sufficient is. Or…shall be…if fear the city to leave I no longer do.”

Enver: "Yeah, well the rest of the world has some pretty interesting stuff about it too. I've been all over the place for filming purposes. Australia's got some nice beaches too. Sting rays can get quite big there. Bigger than me." He chuckled. He hadn't gone that far since becoming a vampire, maybe because a whole day of travel might worry the guy a little, like a few hours of travel worried her, or maybe he'd just been too busy doing other things. It didn't matter. "Well, you're not getting more out of me than that." He nodded. "I can send you pictures on your email if you want. Of all the places I go. Otherwise, you're going to have to see it, to believe it." He chuckled, but not for too long, realizing she probably wouldn't get that old saying either. "Just means seeing things is better than someone telling you all about it." He looked down at his fingers, then at her face, the male thinking about the fangs that hid under her lips, before he cleared his throat.

Keara: Apparently it was his turn to prattle on about things she didn’t understand, but she didn’t mind. She loved the sound of his voice and was more than content playing with his fingers. She listened to him speak of other places and movies again and then it kind of dawned on her; he was famous. Did she know that? Why hadn’t she googled him? She thought about doing it then and there but it seemed a little rude. “You…famous are?” she asked now realising why he mentioned signing things before. The thought of being surrounded by random strangers who wanted something from her scared her but he sounded like he was used to it, at least she didn’t sense any tension in him.

Enver: He cleared his throat at the question, not really sure how to answer it. "Maybe to some people." He shrugged. "I don't really do much of what I used to do. Since I'm here and a vampire. Sort of puts a damper on some things." He grinned at that. "I don't mind though. I've done alright." His other hand played with some of her hair, getting a feel for it, since he'd never really touched it before. "Nothing worth note anymore. Just some business tycoon these nights."

Keara: She tilted her head slightly to look up at him so she could try and read his face. “If tell me you do not what famous for you are, forced I shall be online to read what to know there is.” She wasn’t threatening him in any way, just speaking plainly, as she knew from the news sites that there was a lot of information out there on celebrities, not that she was sure she believed it all. She’d much rather hear his story from him than read about it in online articles but if he was going to be closed off to her, she wanted to be upfront about what she’d be doing to find out more about him. She knew he’d been playing with her hair but that didn’t bother her, it wasn’t like it had nerve endings and was going to leave her tingling even after he stopped. Her fingers stopped trailing over his as a sudden impulse overwhelmed her and she brought his hand closer to her face, sniffing at the back of it before turning her attention to his palm. Then while holding his hand open with her one of he, the fingertips of the other brushed along his wrist as she stared at the vein there.

Enver: He looked down at her, then at the setting sun and back down at her. He couldn't believe she didn't know, but then again, he'd been the one to introduce her to movies. "I used to act. I mean, I sort of still do, but not like I used to." He watched her move his hand, then her for a few seconds before he talked again. "I used to act. Nothing real big, just some small films and television things here and there." He finally wondered what was so curious about his hand that even he was looking at it. Was there something on it? She had smelled it, but he couldn't see or smell anything.

Keara: “Like I would something of that to see,” she said still focused on his wrist. The butterflies were back but they’d brought friends with them and she wasn’t really sure what they wanted from her. “Like I would not so much attention on me,” she commented, her train of thought having moved on a little, even if her fingers and eyes were still busy with their task. She brought his wrist to her lips, taking in his scent again and closing her eyes as she did so. With her eyes closed and her senses overwhelmed by him, his wrist brushed against her lips, something that should have had her come to her senses as the touch was unexpected. Instead however, she held it there and pressed her lips against it, kissing it with purpose before realising what she was doing and suddenly relinquishing all control she had over the appendage.

Enver: "Yeah. Sure. I can dig something up." He nodded, still watching her. When she kissed his wrist, he didn't say anything, because this would be the second time he'd mention how weird it was for a woman to kiss a guy's hand. He supposed that she would eventually break the habit, in due time, like a few other habits she had broken. When she released his hand suddenly, Enver frowned, not real sure what was going on. "Uh. Oatmeal." He started off. "There's oatmeal in the soap I use." He chuckled, thinking she had been trying to figure out the scent, then decided she hadn't liked it once she sorted it out.

Keara: “I…erm…did I that ask?” She sought clarification on the matter, wondering if perhaps she’d gone off on one of her hypnotic rants again. Her mind was swimming with the scent of him, she couldn’t even smell the candles anymore. That’s when it suddenly struck her, when he left, he’d be taking his scent with him and unlike when he was dead and she could at least hear his voice, an email was not going to carry any of things she loved about him, besides his words; even if sometimes they were lost on her, she loved the way he phrased things.

Enver: "No. But I thought. Never mind." He shrugged, not really sure what to make of her odd behavior now. "Anyways. Even though I won't be around, you can come here. Now that you've got a key and it's your place too." He added on, as he took on the feel of the sand with both hands, not really sure what was wrong with it still.

Narrator: Things went quiet between them for a little while after that as they both had a few questions running through their minds. The rest of the evening was taken up with much of the same, casual conversation and comfortable silences and then when dawn broke, Keara curled up next to Enver in the sand and fell asleep, allowing him to move her into a more comfortable position in which they could both rest. She didn’t sleep easy in his arms though that night as she knew this would be the last time they rested together for a while and as such, she squirmed around every once in a while, a few words being audible as she rambled; the words being his name, Robert, please, wait and no. He wouldn’t be leaving until the middle of the night the next evening so if he had questions he had time to ask them before he left, if he was brave enough to want the answers that was.