<Adley Reed> The Apiary had become Adley’s home as much as The Hive had; it was where he worked, for one, but that didn’t really factor into the equation as much as it ought to. Eventually, he knew that things would settle down and he wouldn’t need to hover around Indigo as much as he did, but knowing that she was in the other room, that she was in the same building, was a comfort.
The forge wasn’t too far past the entrance; the Apiary almost had an industrial look, though it was open and vast. On the right, grated stairs led down to the artist’s retreat where there were canvases and paints. On the left, the same kind of stairs led to the dark room, where Adley spent a lot of his time. Directly ahead of the entrance one could see straight through to the bar where coffee and alcohol were served. It was in the entrance hall that the force was located, and where Adley stood in his jeans and his tank top, large gloves on his hands to keep from being burned, holding a nearly-finished blade over the fiery hot coals, lazy dangerous flames licking at the metal which was slowly beginning to glow red-hot.
<Vienna Torres>: She was just here because Yelp said the coffee was good.
After another long afternoon had bled into evening, she needed to clear her head. Besides, maybe they did dinner here too.
Still, it wasn’t the coffee bar that caught her eye first. She paused in the entrance hall, glancing toward a guy standing at the forge, working on something that had already begun to take shape into a blade. It was cool, watching the metal glow with bands of gold and then red - enough to make her to reach back over her shoulder, fingers pressing against the cloth-concealed hilt of the sword that stuck out of her backpack.
Then, with a shock, she realized that she recognized the smith. “Adley?”
<Adley Reed> Adley was forced to pause, his attention torn from the metal in front of him to glance over his shoulder. He at least had a few blades stacked up, given to him by both Kaspar and Indigo, that he didn’t have to go foraging through the catacombs. When he did go, he’d have to encourage Indigo to come with him.
Maybe he just didn’t want to let anyone down.
His attention narrowed, focused. The woman looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her. There was a twisting feeling in his gut, like somehow the encounter wasn’t a good one, or … was it something else? He cleared his throat as he pulled the blade from the coals and instead laid it carefully over the nearby Anvil. He then focused all his attention on the visitor, a welcoming smile lifting the corners of his lips.
“...hey,” he said. “I’m sorry. I know we’ve met but…?” he kept that smile plastered on his lips, a welcoming gleam in his blue eyes. People could be offended when other people didn’t remember their names. He was trying to alleviate the offense.
<Vienna Torres>: Sanity reasserted itself a moment too late. Was she really going to attract attention from a vampire, here? Especially considering the clusterfuck with Grey the last time she’d seen him. The proper response was to walk away and never come back.
Too late though. On the bright side, she was pretty sure she was safe from biting- and wasn’t he supposed to like nibbling on fellow bloodsuckers, anyway?
“We met a couple of times at Lancaster’s.” She studied him with a shrug. She hadn’t expected the friendliness - their first meetings hadn’t left her with a good impression and besides - vampire. Though he couldn’t be too bad considering that he was Kaspar’s friend-with-benefits.
“You might remember my friend Grey.” Probably, all things considering.
<Adley Reed> And there it was. My friend Grey. Friend. That’s where that twisting feeling came from; that association with bad memories. Adley should have remembered Vienna -- yes, he remembered her name, now -- by her own merits. But it wasn’t his encounters with her that left a bad taste in his mouth, but instead her association with someone he wasn’t too fond of -- and who clearly wasn’t too fond of him.
Assuming that Vienna would share the same attitudes and opinions as her ‘friend’, Adley straightened his shoulders and curled his fingers around the hilt of the hammer, as if he were preparing to go back to work, and for this conversation to last no more than its allotted two minutes.
“Yeah,” he said, the sum total of his association with Grey. “Vienna, right?” he said, keeping up the air of friendliness despite the subtle shift in demeanour.
<Vienna Torres> The change in his attitude was subtle, but there. She’d expected the mention of Grey to startle him, but she hadn’t expected him to reach for the hammer and look about to go back to work. That was so not the response she’d expected, considering that he’d let Grey eat him.
But then again - Grey was dating Kaspar these days.
“Yeah, it’s Vienna.”
She was a little surprised he’d remembered - but then, she had cussed out both him and Kaspar. Back at the bar, he’d pissed her off somehow, but she’d already forgotten why. Whatever it was, it must have been insignificant - what did it say that after the past month or so, anything short of trying to eat her was starting to seem insignificant?
She probably should have let him get back to work, but she couldn’t resist asking, “What kind of sword are you making?” She didn’t bother to hide her surprise at the fact that he was making one. Who made swords these days? She especially wouldn’t have expected him to.
<Adley Reed> Adley paused again, shifting on his feet as the girl chose to stay. Against all odds, she was asking him regular questions. Non-personal questions. A single question, really, that he was well able to answer. Maybe she’d been shoved aside, too, relegated to less than first priority.
“It’s a long sword,” he said, tilting the blade so that she could see it, the length of it, the smoothness that he was trying to submit it to. The metal was starting to cool -- he’d probably **** this one up. He wasn’t beyond ******* them up every now and again, regardless of how hard he practiced.
“I took the blade from one of the ******** swords -- the kind you find in the catacombs…?” he asked, testing. She didn’t seemed phased that he was forging an archaic weapon. She was friends with someone who must have been well-versed in all things vampire. So how much did she actually know?
<Vienna Torres>: Her brow furrowed. She gave him a flat look. “You’re a grave robber?”
She paused. “Isn’t the whole point of making a sword to - make the sword?”
<Adley Reed> Adley laughed as he glanced at the metal, then back at Vienna. He’d never thought about it that way.
“I guess, in a way, there’s grave robbing involved. But they’re old graves. No one cares,” he said. Did anyone ever visit the catacombs to visit the grave of their long lost great great great great grandfather, and risk getting slaughtered by said grandfather in the process? Not likely.
“Yes -- and no. The metal has to come from somewhere, and the swords from catacombs are sometimes really good quality. And it’s free. If I take the metal from there and re-forge them into something better, which I can sell, it’s profit all around, see?” he said. Questionable morality, maybe, but when had Adley ever been morally sound?
<Vienna Torres> A frown crossed her face as he laughed - then, she gave him an unconvinced look. She didn’t buy it. Grave-robbing was totally a crime. But then, what would he care, as long as he didn’t get caught? She certainly didn’t care. It wasn’t like he was going around disemboweling people in the night like some others.
“Not worried about respecting the dead?” But then, he was dead.
She studied the long, straight blade with fascination. “Robbing graves for steel, then making swords - that’s a really weird business. Who even buys those - martial artists and historical reenactors?“
And why were there even swords in the catacombs? ******** swords were Scottish or something, weren’t they? Considering this city, it’d probably involve highlander vampires or something.
But it made her wonder where her sword had come from. Had it been another sword once, before it was reforged? She’d never asked Grey for the details of where he’d got it. For all she knew, maybe Adley had made it.
<Adley Reed> Adley snorted.
“You’ve never been to the catacombs, have you? The dead literally walk around and try to slash you with their archaic weaponry. I don’t like to respect things that try to kill me,” he said with a shrug. Vienna had to be aware of the kind of world she lived in, right? Telling her these things couldn’t do any harm. Though there was a stubborn, vindictive corner of Adley’s soul that took pleasure in the idea of corrupting something that Grey might have tried to keep pure.
“It’s not my only business. I’m a photographer, and I help Indigo out with this place,” he said, gesturing to the welcome hall around them. But he couldn’t help the smirk that played across his lips.
“Vampires buy them, mainly. I suppose you could call them martial artists, or budding martial artists. Sires buy them for their new fledglings, or for people they want to help out. I try to sell mine cheaper than usual, to help those who might not have the money for something exuberant,” he said. Only because he remembered what it was like, being a fledgling with no help, and wanting to a buy a weapon but being unable to because he had no ******* money.
At this point, he put the hammer down and removed the gloves from his hands. “How much do you actually know about… everything?”
<Vienna Torres>She arched an eyebrow at his question. Why would she want to go the catacombs? Tread around dusty old graves, under the earth. And that was without even mentioning the other reasons for her to stay away from places where the dead hung out -
At his next words, she froze. She glanced around - but no one was paying attention.
"Well, the fact that I haven't called you crazy yet should give you a good idea," she said at last. She stared at him. "Aren't you supposed to be keeping this stuff - “ she waved a hand. “- hush-hush?"
<Adley Reed> Again, Adley shrugged. The reaction was purely entertaining for him, though he eventually shook his head and sighed.
“The alert level is pretty fucked right now, so I doubt my telling things to someone who’s already in the know is going to make much of a difference. I don’t do it to all the customers,” he said with a wink. “You’re friends with a blood thief who’s chained himself to a vampire. I assumed you’d know something, and if you didn’t I figured it was high time you found out,” he said.
Adley was of the opinion that the more a person knew, the safer they would be.
<Vienna Torres> She had no idea what the alert level was, but she could make a good guess. Adley really didn’t give a ****, did she? Kaspar hadn’t either, though he hadn’t quite been so blatant. It made her wonder if Trahir was the only one who gave a damn.
There was no one within hearing distance - at least, a human’s hearing distance. She figured that she could get away with the argument that if anyone had overheard, they would already know.
“Before I get myself in trouble and someone tries to kill me, you mean?” she asked ironically.
<Adley Reed> “Sure,” he said, with yet another shrug. There were quite a few vampires out there who liked to just kill humans who knew too much. If she went around asking questions of the wrong people, she could get in trouble. Maybe that was the danger of knowing too much. But it would be better for her to know to avoid dark corners at night time, and stay away from places where there were creatures that’d surely kill her.
“Every vampire I’ve met seems to have a pretty solid moral compass, and killing isn’t high on their to-do list. Sometimes accidents happen, though. Sometimes urges can’t be controlled. So it’s better for those in the know to know where not to go and what not to do. I suppose,” he said. He hadn’t really thought about it before, and it had never really been much of a concern to him. Maybe Indigo was rubbing off on him more than he was aware.
<Vienna Torres>: The point where he mentioned that every vampire he’d met seemed to have a pretty solid moral compass was the point where she burst out laughing. “We,” she said at last, “are clearly hanging out with a very different crowd.”
“I’ve met one decent vampire,” she said. “The rest of you seem to be dramatic, murderous assholes.”
<Adley Reed> Adley arched a brow. The one decent vampire clearly wasn’t Adley, then, given the accusatory you.
“Hey now. I never murdered anyone in front of you,” he said, though he was grinning. It wasn’t something he was particularly proud of - he knew he could be murderous, but he also knew he fell into the category of ‘urges can’t be controlled’.
“How many have you met, exactly? Where’s Kaspar on your compass of dramatic and murderous?” he asked, curious now about Vienna’s opinion of the person Adley tried hard not to think too much about, these days.
<Vienna Torres>: “So, elsewhere?” she shot back. Though maybe the corner of her mouth twitched a little.
She frowned at the next questions. “I’ve met -” There were Adley and Kaspar, of course. Trahir and his psycho girlfriend. A...Mortal or whatever? And everyone at the dragon-themed vampire party she’d walked into.
“- enough, okay?”
Adjusting her backpack so that it was slung only over one shoulder, she leaned back against the wall. She shot him a defiant look. “Kaspar’s dramatic, for sure - but he’s not that bad. Any other questions?”
<Adley Reed> Adley continued to grin, just a small thing that was at least testament to his good humour. That was one thing that came along with acceptance, really - at least he was starting to return to his old self again.
“I’m not a premeditative serial killer, if that’s what you’re asking,” he said, even though the question seemed rhetorical. He laughed, and shook his head.
“No other questions,” he said. Adley did remember, now, how prickly Vienna had been the times that he had met her. This encounter had proved to be a little more chill -- maybe she was in a better mood. But he didn’t push it.
<Vienna Torres>: She rolled her eyes. “You’re not inspiring any confidence here.”
She nodded when he stopped with the questions. Good, because she had no intention of answering more questions about Kaspar.
But still, it bothered her that he didn’t seem to take what she said seriously at all. How could he think that everything was rosy with the vampires - or if he didn’t think that, how could he think that she could believe it?
“I’ve met a couple of vampire serial killers,” she said. Her hand brushed against the cloth that covered the hilt of her sword, playing with it. “They’re also into torture, mind-control, slavery - you know, every single evil vampire cliche out there.” She exhaled. “And you know what? No one seems to be doing anything about it.” She’d kept her voice steady and casual, but scorn bled into it now. “So don’t try to tell me that most vampires have a ‘solid moral compass’.”
The forge wasn’t too far past the entrance; the Apiary almost had an industrial look, though it was open and vast. On the right, grated stairs led down to the artist’s retreat where there were canvases and paints. On the left, the same kind of stairs led to the dark room, where Adley spent a lot of his time. Directly ahead of the entrance one could see straight through to the bar where coffee and alcohol were served. It was in the entrance hall that the force was located, and where Adley stood in his jeans and his tank top, large gloves on his hands to keep from being burned, holding a nearly-finished blade over the fiery hot coals, lazy dangerous flames licking at the metal which was slowly beginning to glow red-hot.
<Vienna Torres>: She was just here because Yelp said the coffee was good.
After another long afternoon had bled into evening, she needed to clear her head. Besides, maybe they did dinner here too.
Still, it wasn’t the coffee bar that caught her eye first. She paused in the entrance hall, glancing toward a guy standing at the forge, working on something that had already begun to take shape into a blade. It was cool, watching the metal glow with bands of gold and then red - enough to make her to reach back over her shoulder, fingers pressing against the cloth-concealed hilt of the sword that stuck out of her backpack.
Then, with a shock, she realized that she recognized the smith. “Adley?”
<Adley Reed> Adley was forced to pause, his attention torn from the metal in front of him to glance over his shoulder. He at least had a few blades stacked up, given to him by both Kaspar and Indigo, that he didn’t have to go foraging through the catacombs. When he did go, he’d have to encourage Indigo to come with him.
Maybe he just didn’t want to let anyone down.
His attention narrowed, focused. The woman looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her. There was a twisting feeling in his gut, like somehow the encounter wasn’t a good one, or … was it something else? He cleared his throat as he pulled the blade from the coals and instead laid it carefully over the nearby Anvil. He then focused all his attention on the visitor, a welcoming smile lifting the corners of his lips.
“...hey,” he said. “I’m sorry. I know we’ve met but…?” he kept that smile plastered on his lips, a welcoming gleam in his blue eyes. People could be offended when other people didn’t remember their names. He was trying to alleviate the offense.
<Vienna Torres>: Sanity reasserted itself a moment too late. Was she really going to attract attention from a vampire, here? Especially considering the clusterfuck with Grey the last time she’d seen him. The proper response was to walk away and never come back.
Too late though. On the bright side, she was pretty sure she was safe from biting- and wasn’t he supposed to like nibbling on fellow bloodsuckers, anyway?
“We met a couple of times at Lancaster’s.” She studied him with a shrug. She hadn’t expected the friendliness - their first meetings hadn’t left her with a good impression and besides - vampire. Though he couldn’t be too bad considering that he was Kaspar’s friend-with-benefits.
“You might remember my friend Grey.” Probably, all things considering.
<Adley Reed> And there it was. My friend Grey. Friend. That’s where that twisting feeling came from; that association with bad memories. Adley should have remembered Vienna -- yes, he remembered her name, now -- by her own merits. But it wasn’t his encounters with her that left a bad taste in his mouth, but instead her association with someone he wasn’t too fond of -- and who clearly wasn’t too fond of him.
Assuming that Vienna would share the same attitudes and opinions as her ‘friend’, Adley straightened his shoulders and curled his fingers around the hilt of the hammer, as if he were preparing to go back to work, and for this conversation to last no more than its allotted two minutes.
“Yeah,” he said, the sum total of his association with Grey. “Vienna, right?” he said, keeping up the air of friendliness despite the subtle shift in demeanour.
<Vienna Torres> The change in his attitude was subtle, but there. She’d expected the mention of Grey to startle him, but she hadn’t expected him to reach for the hammer and look about to go back to work. That was so not the response she’d expected, considering that he’d let Grey eat him.
But then again - Grey was dating Kaspar these days.
“Yeah, it’s Vienna.”
She was a little surprised he’d remembered - but then, she had cussed out both him and Kaspar. Back at the bar, he’d pissed her off somehow, but she’d already forgotten why. Whatever it was, it must have been insignificant - what did it say that after the past month or so, anything short of trying to eat her was starting to seem insignificant?
She probably should have let him get back to work, but she couldn’t resist asking, “What kind of sword are you making?” She didn’t bother to hide her surprise at the fact that he was making one. Who made swords these days? She especially wouldn’t have expected him to.
<Adley Reed> Adley paused again, shifting on his feet as the girl chose to stay. Against all odds, she was asking him regular questions. Non-personal questions. A single question, really, that he was well able to answer. Maybe she’d been shoved aside, too, relegated to less than first priority.
“It’s a long sword,” he said, tilting the blade so that she could see it, the length of it, the smoothness that he was trying to submit it to. The metal was starting to cool -- he’d probably **** this one up. He wasn’t beyond ******* them up every now and again, regardless of how hard he practiced.
“I took the blade from one of the ******** swords -- the kind you find in the catacombs…?” he asked, testing. She didn’t seemed phased that he was forging an archaic weapon. She was friends with someone who must have been well-versed in all things vampire. So how much did she actually know?
<Vienna Torres>: Her brow furrowed. She gave him a flat look. “You’re a grave robber?”
She paused. “Isn’t the whole point of making a sword to - make the sword?”
<Adley Reed> Adley laughed as he glanced at the metal, then back at Vienna. He’d never thought about it that way.
“I guess, in a way, there’s grave robbing involved. But they’re old graves. No one cares,” he said. Did anyone ever visit the catacombs to visit the grave of their long lost great great great great grandfather, and risk getting slaughtered by said grandfather in the process? Not likely.
“Yes -- and no. The metal has to come from somewhere, and the swords from catacombs are sometimes really good quality. And it’s free. If I take the metal from there and re-forge them into something better, which I can sell, it’s profit all around, see?” he said. Questionable morality, maybe, but when had Adley ever been morally sound?
<Vienna Torres> A frown crossed her face as he laughed - then, she gave him an unconvinced look. She didn’t buy it. Grave-robbing was totally a crime. But then, what would he care, as long as he didn’t get caught? She certainly didn’t care. It wasn’t like he was going around disemboweling people in the night like some others.
“Not worried about respecting the dead?” But then, he was dead.
She studied the long, straight blade with fascination. “Robbing graves for steel, then making swords - that’s a really weird business. Who even buys those - martial artists and historical reenactors?“
And why were there even swords in the catacombs? ******** swords were Scottish or something, weren’t they? Considering this city, it’d probably involve highlander vampires or something.
But it made her wonder where her sword had come from. Had it been another sword once, before it was reforged? She’d never asked Grey for the details of where he’d got it. For all she knew, maybe Adley had made it.
<Adley Reed> Adley snorted.
“You’ve never been to the catacombs, have you? The dead literally walk around and try to slash you with their archaic weaponry. I don’t like to respect things that try to kill me,” he said with a shrug. Vienna had to be aware of the kind of world she lived in, right? Telling her these things couldn’t do any harm. Though there was a stubborn, vindictive corner of Adley’s soul that took pleasure in the idea of corrupting something that Grey might have tried to keep pure.
“It’s not my only business. I’m a photographer, and I help Indigo out with this place,” he said, gesturing to the welcome hall around them. But he couldn’t help the smirk that played across his lips.
“Vampires buy them, mainly. I suppose you could call them martial artists, or budding martial artists. Sires buy them for their new fledglings, or for people they want to help out. I try to sell mine cheaper than usual, to help those who might not have the money for something exuberant,” he said. Only because he remembered what it was like, being a fledgling with no help, and wanting to a buy a weapon but being unable to because he had no ******* money.
At this point, he put the hammer down and removed the gloves from his hands. “How much do you actually know about… everything?”
<Vienna Torres>She arched an eyebrow at his question. Why would she want to go the catacombs? Tread around dusty old graves, under the earth. And that was without even mentioning the other reasons for her to stay away from places where the dead hung out -
At his next words, she froze. She glanced around - but no one was paying attention.
"Well, the fact that I haven't called you crazy yet should give you a good idea," she said at last. She stared at him. "Aren't you supposed to be keeping this stuff - “ she waved a hand. “- hush-hush?"
<Adley Reed> Again, Adley shrugged. The reaction was purely entertaining for him, though he eventually shook his head and sighed.
“The alert level is pretty fucked right now, so I doubt my telling things to someone who’s already in the know is going to make much of a difference. I don’t do it to all the customers,” he said with a wink. “You’re friends with a blood thief who’s chained himself to a vampire. I assumed you’d know something, and if you didn’t I figured it was high time you found out,” he said.
Adley was of the opinion that the more a person knew, the safer they would be.
<Vienna Torres> She had no idea what the alert level was, but she could make a good guess. Adley really didn’t give a ****, did she? Kaspar hadn’t either, though he hadn’t quite been so blatant. It made her wonder if Trahir was the only one who gave a damn.
There was no one within hearing distance - at least, a human’s hearing distance. She figured that she could get away with the argument that if anyone had overheard, they would already know.
“Before I get myself in trouble and someone tries to kill me, you mean?” she asked ironically.
<Adley Reed> “Sure,” he said, with yet another shrug. There were quite a few vampires out there who liked to just kill humans who knew too much. If she went around asking questions of the wrong people, she could get in trouble. Maybe that was the danger of knowing too much. But it would be better for her to know to avoid dark corners at night time, and stay away from places where there were creatures that’d surely kill her.
“Every vampire I’ve met seems to have a pretty solid moral compass, and killing isn’t high on their to-do list. Sometimes accidents happen, though. Sometimes urges can’t be controlled. So it’s better for those in the know to know where not to go and what not to do. I suppose,” he said. He hadn’t really thought about it before, and it had never really been much of a concern to him. Maybe Indigo was rubbing off on him more than he was aware.
<Vienna Torres>: The point where he mentioned that every vampire he’d met seemed to have a pretty solid moral compass was the point where she burst out laughing. “We,” she said at last, “are clearly hanging out with a very different crowd.”
“I’ve met one decent vampire,” she said. “The rest of you seem to be dramatic, murderous assholes.”
<Adley Reed> Adley arched a brow. The one decent vampire clearly wasn’t Adley, then, given the accusatory you.
“Hey now. I never murdered anyone in front of you,” he said, though he was grinning. It wasn’t something he was particularly proud of - he knew he could be murderous, but he also knew he fell into the category of ‘urges can’t be controlled’.
“How many have you met, exactly? Where’s Kaspar on your compass of dramatic and murderous?” he asked, curious now about Vienna’s opinion of the person Adley tried hard not to think too much about, these days.
<Vienna Torres>: “So, elsewhere?” she shot back. Though maybe the corner of her mouth twitched a little.
She frowned at the next questions. “I’ve met -” There were Adley and Kaspar, of course. Trahir and his psycho girlfriend. A...Mortal or whatever? And everyone at the dragon-themed vampire party she’d walked into.
“- enough, okay?”
Adjusting her backpack so that it was slung only over one shoulder, she leaned back against the wall. She shot him a defiant look. “Kaspar’s dramatic, for sure - but he’s not that bad. Any other questions?”
<Adley Reed> Adley continued to grin, just a small thing that was at least testament to his good humour. That was one thing that came along with acceptance, really - at least he was starting to return to his old self again.
“I’m not a premeditative serial killer, if that’s what you’re asking,” he said, even though the question seemed rhetorical. He laughed, and shook his head.
“No other questions,” he said. Adley did remember, now, how prickly Vienna had been the times that he had met her. This encounter had proved to be a little more chill -- maybe she was in a better mood. But he didn’t push it.
<Vienna Torres>: She rolled her eyes. “You’re not inspiring any confidence here.”
She nodded when he stopped with the questions. Good, because she had no intention of answering more questions about Kaspar.
But still, it bothered her that he didn’t seem to take what she said seriously at all. How could he think that everything was rosy with the vampires - or if he didn’t think that, how could he think that she could believe it?
“I’ve met a couple of vampire serial killers,” she said. Her hand brushed against the cloth that covered the hilt of her sword, playing with it. “They’re also into torture, mind-control, slavery - you know, every single evil vampire cliche out there.” She exhaled. “And you know what? No one seems to be doing anything about it.” She’d kept her voice steady and casual, but scorn bled into it now. “So don’t try to tell me that most vampires have a ‘solid moral compass’.”
