September 27, 2017
- A Z R A E T H -
The city of the dead was a quiet. As far as he knew, Azraeth was a lone figure amongst the still dead, and he had made the decision to leave his gun back home. Instead, he relied on the three things that had always gotten him through when he was alone: his wits, his magic, and his sword. So he slogged through the levels, getting deeper and deeper into the demesnes of something darker and bigger than he could imagine. And that was where he met with the Enslaved Revenant. Theirs was a short-lived face off, because Az wasn’t the type of man who dawdled when he knew what he needed to do. Minutes later, he was dusting some ashes into a vial, and putting quark stopper on the top.
He had needed time to think, and that was precisely what he’d done.
It was nearly an hour later, after a shower, to clean off the gunk and stink of death, that he stepped into the Dragomir Temple. A bit of business. A bit of nightly routine. After the Longslade incident, his temporary contract with the university had been immediately terminated, and the remainder of his term was being taught by someone else. He was a vampire, and those classes, the late night ones, were a bit of a shameful mark. Nobody wanted to be associated with vampiric sympathy, and him actually being a blood sucking monster made it all the worse. He suspected the program was going to get scrapped after the semester ended.
But he was a resourceful guy, and there was someone he wanted to talk to. Besides. He owed the guy one after having his back during the **** storm a few weeks back. And so, he reached out, as if with the core of his being. And suddenly pulled Flynn to himself. Az was seated on the ritual altar at the head of the Dragomir Temple, his legs crossed at the ankle, his palms on the edge as he leaned over to watch the newly appeared man. And he grinned.
Wearing
- F L Y N N -
The day had been exhausting. With the news breaking about the ‘vampire terrorists,’ the lawyers of his firm were like vultures. Somehow, they were convinced that they were about to see an influx of clients, each of them looking to build a case against a supposed vampire for rights to their bodies or some other weird **** that Flynn had stopped bothering to listen to. There had just been a literal slaughter, and all they seemed to care about was making money out of it. Naturally. He had left annoyed and feeling dirty, like his suit was stained with their apathy.
His apartment was just the solace he needed, away from the chaos and panic that seemed to be overtaking the general population of the city. A shower was enough to mellow him out, but that didn’t stop him from dropping onto his couch with a groan. Using his forearm to block out the dim lights of the living room, he tried to clear his head of all the nonsense the days had caused.
That came to abrupt end as he felt a tugging sensation at the pit of his stomach, his eyes snapping open. And he wasn’t even in his apartment, anymore. In fact, he hadn’t a clue where he was, just that he was staring at Azraeth, who had the grin of a man responsible for the sudden shift. Doubling over, Flynn placed his hands on his knees and groaned, “I might throw up…” he sighed, closing his eyes against the sudden vertigo. “What the hell did you do?”
WEARING
- A Z R A E T H -
It was like one of those moments when someone was horsing around and accidentally punched another person in the face. Sure, it was all fun and games, until someone got hurt, and then it was time to make apologies and profusely beg forgiveness. For a second, Az’s characteristic over-sized (too toothy, no pun intended) grin faltered as he jumped off of the altar and onto his feet. His shoes were polished and leather, which held such a sheen that he could actually see things in their reflection. He rarely felt the need to dress up, but when he visited the Temple on business, he felt the need to put in the bit of extra effort. It was, perhaps, a callback to the days when he and his brother both wore monochromatic suits. Whatever the case, his hand immediately went to the other man’s back, so he could lay his palm against a spine, and lazily, lightly massage warmth into flesh through a t-shirt. “Sorry about that, Mr. Ryder. New to the whole summoning thing? It can be a bit of a kick to the gnads the first couple of times, but you’ll get the hang of it.” He didn’t even bother to say not to vomit on the altar. Because it had certainly seen a lot worse than puke. He did however keep his shoes carefully out of the way of a mouth.
“Also, welcome to the Dragomir Temple, if you feel something cold, that’s probably a ghost walking through you.” His voice was naturally soft, unremarkable in its range, being neither exceptionally high in pitch nor deep, though it had a sort of silken quality to it, smooth and unrushed. It made it difficult to tell if he was making a joke or not right then.
- F L Y N N -
For a moment, he was convinced that vomitting all over the altar was exactly what he was going to do, but after a few deep breaths, his stomach settled enough to feel confident enough to open his eyes. There were no attempts to straighten up right away, and that was partly due to his own shock at the easy way in which Az had began to comfort him. The act itself wasn’t the problem, it was the immediate reaction his body had to the touch. The muscles of his shoulders tensed, the grip on his knees tightening. “I’ll get the hang of it? That implies this is going to happen again…” he said with a turn of his head so that he could look up at the man at his side. “A phone works just as well if you wanted something.”
Now that he was sure the contents of his stomach were going to stay there, he straightened up and took in his surroundings, which he now knew to be the Dragomir Temple. “So, not only did you bring me here unannounced, you brought me somewhere haunted. Great…” he sarcastically commented, half-turning to glance behind him to get a better idea of where his exits were. There was no expectation of needing to make a hasty exit, but being completely unaware was just bad taste.
- A Z R A E T H -
He noticed the way Flynn tensed, and at first, his instinct was to pull his hand away. Normally, he probably would have asked before touching another person (Well. Unless he was going to kill them, but that was a different situation entirely). However, he had been operating purely on instinct, and he knew that as a paladin, Flynn had a sort of natural enmity towards him that he had to overcome. He was worried, for a moment, that perhaps he had made the other man flinch. It was this sort of irrational response, but when he wasn’t met with violence, he dismissed it as just normal warines. “Yeah, it’s probably going to happen again at some point or another. Summoning someone can get them out of a tough spot. Once there was a member of my bloodline that got lost in the wilderness, where the Fae roam freely and attack my kind. I had to go in and teleport her out...mind you, this was before I learned how to summon.” He explained.
Which was about the time Flynn began to sit up properly, so Az took a step back, sitting perched on the arm of a pew. “Yes. Though honestly most places in Harper Rock are haunted. We have some real Derry, Maine, Pennywise **** going on here with our death rate.” He muttered. And then finally. “Fine. I’ll call you before summoning you from now on. Or shoot you a telepathic message.” And that was when he took the time to really watch the other man. Not just what he was doing, but the way he looked, and how he moved, the way Flynn’s eyes darted around, drinking the whole place in. “Oh, also I have something for you.”
- F L Y N N -
Satisfied that he had a better grasp on his surroundings, Flynn allowed himself to relax and release the built up tension. At least, as much as was possible when in such close proximity to Az. He knew he wouldn’t always so reactive to the other male’s presence, and eventually, he would be able to block it out completely. That didn’t make it any better in the current circumstances, but it was something he would have to deal with. Only time would make the difference, that meant patience. Granted, patience had never been his best virtue. In fact, it was probably one of the lower ones on the list. He made a mental note to work on that as he leaned back against one of the backs of the pews, palms grasping either side.
“That’s fantastic. Now, not only do I get to look forward to being yanked around the city, I should keep my eyes out for killer clowns…but, at least I can expect a call, first.” His words were accompanied by a smirk over in Az’s direction. He was quiet for a minute after that, merely watching the man across the aisle. If he was being honest with himself, he hadn’t expected them to cross paths again, so soon. Clearly, Azraeth had had other plans, and Flynn didn’t see himself complaining. “You...have something for me? What is that, exactly? Another head?” His eyebrows rose up together toward his hairline, half expecting to get just that.
- A Z R A E T H -
His gaze followed Flynn as the man came to rest against a pew. Az’s eyes set him apart almost immediately as a vampire, or at least something...otherwordly. For this reason, it was occasionally difficult for people to read him. In fact, when he put his mind to it, he was absolutely inscrutable. It was perhaps for that reason, he normally didn’t bother to veil what he was thinking. His head tilted to one side and he reached into his jacket pocket so he could pull out the glass vial he’d filled with ashes just a few hours before. “Think fast!” He said, and then gave it a toss. “Those are revenant’s ashes. When you have them on you, it’s going to make you kind of...a little incorporeal? Like it’ll be harder for people to hit you with bullets and blades, but magic is going to really kick your ***.” He explained. Of course. He hadn’t just called the other man there (called being totally incorrect as a term in this case) just to hand him off a gift. “I figured since you made sure I didn’t get my head blown away when we were in that government facility, you deserved it.”
The truth was just that Az liked to dote on people. He enjoyed giving them things. “Anyway, there’s also the matter of all the absolute crazy-banana nonsense that’s going on with the riots and the marching and the protesting.” He murmured, his shoulders lifting into an ineffectual shrug as if to say he didn’t know what was happening. Of course, he was all too aware of it, and all too aware of the role he had played. “Also. That head is yours to keep. If you scrape off the scalp and skin, I can turn the skull itself into a tome for you if you ever want one.”
- F L Y N N -
The warning wouldn’t have been necessary, if only because Flynn had relatively good reflexes. He snapped the bottle from the air and lifted it up to get a better look at the inside. He could see they were ashes, and just as he was about to ask about the contents, it was being explained to him. Lowering the vial, he turned his head to look the man and study his expression. For the first time, he actually considered the animalistic quality of his eyes. They had never bothered him, or seemed odd...which was odd in itself. That would be something anyone would have picked up on immediately, but they somehow just seemed to fit, and so it was easily glanced over as nothing to be concerned with. “I’m pretty sure I don’t need a gift for having your back, Az…” he replied, shaking his head, slowly. His eyes shot to the ceiling, then, trying to remember an instance where he had ever used such a nickname. Shrugging it off, he gave the ashes a small toss and allowed it to return to his palm. “I won’t ask if you’re sure, and just leave it at thank you.”
His demeanor shifted once he considered the topic of the craziness outside the Temple doors. They had played their roles in it, but Azraeth was the one to suffer the most of it. Despite being there, Flynn was still human and had no trouble walking through the streets. There were no fingers pointed at him. “Yeah...how are you doing with all that, anyway?” he asked, tucking the ashes away into his pocket so that he could cross his arms over his chest. “I’m not the one who was labeled a terrorist, after all.”
- A Z R A E T H -
He watched at Flynn caught the vial, though the observation was perfunctory, and his gaze seemed to have moved right past the human. It was as if there was an entire world around them that only he could see. In a literal sense, this was true. He could see the spirits milling around. The way the dead crawled across the floors of the Temple. How they screamed. How they danced. How they trembled in fear. How they did all of the things the living did. Of course, he wasn’t looking at those. Rather, his mind was on something else. “I also don’t really need an excuse to give you things. I seem to have lost my Oakley. I had been gifting her with things, but she is infamously terrible at getting lost in walls.” Which. Actually was the truth, even if it made Az seem insane. The Dragomir themselves were known to be a little bit. Off. Sometimes that manifested physically. Other times they were blatantly crazy.
“Anyway, it’s not the label I’m worried about.” He admitted with a sigh. He slumped back, falling onto the pew’s seat, his arms folded behind his head, his legs dangling over the arm so that his feet partially invaded the carpeted aisle. “It’s war. For years, vampires kept themselves secret. The last time we were revealed en masse, my kind were slaughtered mercilessly. A lot of our people tried desperately to keep our existence a secret. And then that ended. Now it seems like we’re balancing on a razor’s edge. On one side is peace, and on the other side is all out war. A war that I frankly don’t think we can win. Not with how easy it is to identify my kind and with the vast difference in numbers.”
- F L Y N N -
“Alright, I’m gonna gloss over that comment and not ask for an explanation of what the hell that means…” he muttered in regards to getting lost in walls. Probably some other vampire business that was beyond his humanly scope of understanding, and frankly, he didn’t need any other reasons to envy them. He was still pretty peeved about the water walking business, and still had half a mind to go burn that bridge down. If only out of spite. Except, that was considered impulsive, or something like that, and could likely land him in some hot water. Keeping a low profile was in his best interest, even if he wasn’t one of the vampires being protested against.
He watched as Azraeth dropped down in the pew, the heavy topic falling over them like an avalanche. With a push off from his perch, he moved across the aisle and sat down in the pew behind Az’s, leaning over to rest his elbows on the top edge. “Yeah, I’m not entirely sure that you could win it, either. It’s one city against the rest of the world, and those aren’t very good odds, even for vampires with supernatural power. Hell, they are even talking about a quarantine...like we have some rampant virus running through our streets.” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. Staring off at the wall, he absently chewed on his lip in thought. “Vampires may have to pull off one hell of a miracle, at this point.”
- A Z R A E T H -
He glanced up and caught sight of Flynn’s face, the other man having leaned over the back of the pew he was lying on, which meant that he was able to peer right into the paladin’s eyes. Oh boy. He sure had opened a can of worms, hadn’t he? He supposed it probably seemed strange to have invited someone he barely knew to talk about something that was such a big deal. He couldn’t even say it was because he wanted a human perspective, because he was closer to Amalea. But at the same time, he sort of wanted a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ for the problem. “It’s not even that vampires would lose. There are some really chaotic, really dark members of this community who would do erratic, dangerous things if they felt pushed into a corner. Imagine what you would do if you felt trapped, like you were going to die anyway? Now imagine there are hundreds of you with magical powers the world barely understands. If we get quarantined for example, at least that’s just isolation. All out war though? Fighting in the streets? I don’t think anyone really understands the cost.”
And then there was the other thing. Something he had never told anyone, not even Nikolae. And why was he going to tell Flynn? Because he figured that maybe the other man would get it. “Right now, I sort of wish that there was a reset button. Like me and the rest of the vampires could fabricate a second holocaust. Bury ourselves for a century. Come back with everyone believing we’re dead. So we can go back into hiding. Except that wouldn’t work. Vampires can never agree on anything, and there are times when I feel like Cobb...he was the guy who caused the last holocaust, had it right. I think that maybe most of the vampires in the world should be wiped out and only a few copacetic individuals should survive. But then I think that I wouldn’t be able to save the people I love, and I know I could never make the choice to pull that trigger. I guess what I’m saying is that I have a lot of doubt. The hard route is rarely what my kind want to do, and it will take a lot of hard work to restore humanity’s faith in us. Maybe I’m just being fatalistic.”
- F L Y N N -
Flynn laced his fingers together and nodded along as Az opened up a floodgate of his thoughts, laying it all out between them. It was some fairly deep stuff, and he couldn’t help but wonder why he was the one hearing it. They barely knew each other, but there was that odd saying somewhere about stranger spilling their deepest secrets to each other with knowledge that it wouldn’t come back to haunt them. Granted, Flynn wasn’t going to up and disappear from the city, taking Azraeth’s thoughts with him to never be spoken aloud, again. Not that he would repeated them, anyway. Regardless of who else knew about it, he had still shared something private. “I think you may be underestimating the majority of the population. Most people have a pretty good idea regarding the devastation of war. Of course, knowing it and experiencing it are very different things…”
Flynn trailed off for a moment, picking at one of his nails as he collected his thoughts before continuing with the rest of his answer. “And, maybe you’re right. It’s possible that vampires and humans were never meant to coexist. But, they did. At least, for a little while…” he sighed, glancing down at the man below. “Humans like to think they are the top of the feed chain. The existence of vampires proves they are not, and that scares them. They have a right to be scared. Like you said, some of your kind are chaotic and unpredictable. It’s hard to accept something when you don’t understand the mechanics behind it. But, what good would really come from wiping the vampires out? Just another dark stain in human history?”
- A Z R A E T H -
That did ring true to him. Most people didn’t want war. Maybe he was being a bit pessimistic, and a lot hyperbolic. But then, really it only took a few bad apples to really **** things up, or however the old saying went. What he wanted, what he would have loved, was a way to truly punish the vampires who actually deserved it. Killing the undead did absolutely nothing - they just came back later, angrier, and smarter. It was like putting humans in prison. The number of people who were actually reformed was miniscule. The ones who treated being behind bars like university for criminals? That figure was much higher. The end of secrecy had all but proven that. There had been ample and numerous punishments handed out to vampires who broke code, and in the end, it didn’t make a difference. Az dragged his lower lip between his teeth as he thought, rolling the flesh with his jaw.
“I think that’s part of the problem. Vampires are easy to otherise because there isn’t a ton of information about us. Ironically, the cure and the people who made it probably have a better idea of how our internal mechanics work than we do. Even still, there is a lot that can’t be explained. I think that there are probably a lot of solutions right in front of us, but the most obvious one is that vampires need to be better. We need to stop being violent. We need to keep our own in check. We need to weed out the ones who can’t control themselves. We need to be better than our human counterparts to be treated human. Even that isn’t going to guarantee our safety.” He paused and then his gaze focused once more. “Yeah, so if it were you, what would you do? “
- F L Y N N -
There was a lot to be said in regards to vampires ‘doing better,’ but it was probably best if Flynn didn’t offer his input on such a matter. The fact of it was, vampires would always need human blood to survive unless they all picked up the habit of feeding from each other. And as far he was aware, that was considered a bit of a taboo among their kind. That being the case, humans would need to willingly donate to the vampire race if they did not want to see their blood taken by force. They had enough trouble collecting blood to keep in blood banks for those in dire need of it. Getting them to just hand it over would be a feat in, and of, itself. Humans had a sense of self-preservation, but they could fairly dense when it came to selflessness. And that’s exactly what they would need be.
Flynn snorted at the question, leaning back from the pew. Shifting, he slid himself back so that his back hit the arm of the pew and his legs were stretched out across the seat. “I’m positive I am the wrong person to ask about what I would do in your shoes. Let’s think about this for a second...I willingly stood with vampires during an assault on a military facility. And that’s one thing. But, my stance in an all out war is an entirely different situation. ‘No man’s land’ doesn’t really exist, and eventually I would be expected to pick one or the other…” Taking the bottle of ashes from his pocket, he began to twirl it in his hands with his focus on the contents within. “I may not have the same mentality as the other paladins, and the humans certainly don’t need more numbers...but, your kind has the opportunity to come back when faced with death. We don’t. The question becoming who has more to lose, and which one would I rather die for?”
The city of the dead was a quiet. As far as he knew, Azraeth was a lone figure amongst the still dead, and he had made the decision to leave his gun back home. Instead, he relied on the three things that had always gotten him through when he was alone: his wits, his magic, and his sword. So he slogged through the levels, getting deeper and deeper into the demesnes of something darker and bigger than he could imagine. And that was where he met with the Enslaved Revenant. Theirs was a short-lived face off, because Az wasn’t the type of man who dawdled when he knew what he needed to do. Minutes later, he was dusting some ashes into a vial, and putting quark stopper on the top.
He had needed time to think, and that was precisely what he’d done.
It was nearly an hour later, after a shower, to clean off the gunk and stink of death, that he stepped into the Dragomir Temple. A bit of business. A bit of nightly routine. After the Longslade incident, his temporary contract with the university had been immediately terminated, and the remainder of his term was being taught by someone else. He was a vampire, and those classes, the late night ones, were a bit of a shameful mark. Nobody wanted to be associated with vampiric sympathy, and him actually being a blood sucking monster made it all the worse. He suspected the program was going to get scrapped after the semester ended.
But he was a resourceful guy, and there was someone he wanted to talk to. Besides. He owed the guy one after having his back during the **** storm a few weeks back. And so, he reached out, as if with the core of his being. And suddenly pulled Flynn to himself. Az was seated on the ritual altar at the head of the Dragomir Temple, his legs crossed at the ankle, his palms on the edge as he leaned over to watch the newly appeared man. And he grinned.
Wearing
- F L Y N N -
The day had been exhausting. With the news breaking about the ‘vampire terrorists,’ the lawyers of his firm were like vultures. Somehow, they were convinced that they were about to see an influx of clients, each of them looking to build a case against a supposed vampire for rights to their bodies or some other weird **** that Flynn had stopped bothering to listen to. There had just been a literal slaughter, and all they seemed to care about was making money out of it. Naturally. He had left annoyed and feeling dirty, like his suit was stained with their apathy.
His apartment was just the solace he needed, away from the chaos and panic that seemed to be overtaking the general population of the city. A shower was enough to mellow him out, but that didn’t stop him from dropping onto his couch with a groan. Using his forearm to block out the dim lights of the living room, he tried to clear his head of all the nonsense the days had caused.
That came to abrupt end as he felt a tugging sensation at the pit of his stomach, his eyes snapping open. And he wasn’t even in his apartment, anymore. In fact, he hadn’t a clue where he was, just that he was staring at Azraeth, who had the grin of a man responsible for the sudden shift. Doubling over, Flynn placed his hands on his knees and groaned, “I might throw up…” he sighed, closing his eyes against the sudden vertigo. “What the hell did you do?”
WEARING
- A Z R A E T H -
It was like one of those moments when someone was horsing around and accidentally punched another person in the face. Sure, it was all fun and games, until someone got hurt, and then it was time to make apologies and profusely beg forgiveness. For a second, Az’s characteristic over-sized (too toothy, no pun intended) grin faltered as he jumped off of the altar and onto his feet. His shoes were polished and leather, which held such a sheen that he could actually see things in their reflection. He rarely felt the need to dress up, but when he visited the Temple on business, he felt the need to put in the bit of extra effort. It was, perhaps, a callback to the days when he and his brother both wore monochromatic suits. Whatever the case, his hand immediately went to the other man’s back, so he could lay his palm against a spine, and lazily, lightly massage warmth into flesh through a t-shirt. “Sorry about that, Mr. Ryder. New to the whole summoning thing? It can be a bit of a kick to the gnads the first couple of times, but you’ll get the hang of it.” He didn’t even bother to say not to vomit on the altar. Because it had certainly seen a lot worse than puke. He did however keep his shoes carefully out of the way of a mouth.
“Also, welcome to the Dragomir Temple, if you feel something cold, that’s probably a ghost walking through you.” His voice was naturally soft, unremarkable in its range, being neither exceptionally high in pitch nor deep, though it had a sort of silken quality to it, smooth and unrushed. It made it difficult to tell if he was making a joke or not right then.
- F L Y N N -
For a moment, he was convinced that vomitting all over the altar was exactly what he was going to do, but after a few deep breaths, his stomach settled enough to feel confident enough to open his eyes. There were no attempts to straighten up right away, and that was partly due to his own shock at the easy way in which Az had began to comfort him. The act itself wasn’t the problem, it was the immediate reaction his body had to the touch. The muscles of his shoulders tensed, the grip on his knees tightening. “I’ll get the hang of it? That implies this is going to happen again…” he said with a turn of his head so that he could look up at the man at his side. “A phone works just as well if you wanted something.”
Now that he was sure the contents of his stomach were going to stay there, he straightened up and took in his surroundings, which he now knew to be the Dragomir Temple. “So, not only did you bring me here unannounced, you brought me somewhere haunted. Great…” he sarcastically commented, half-turning to glance behind him to get a better idea of where his exits were. There was no expectation of needing to make a hasty exit, but being completely unaware was just bad taste.
- A Z R A E T H -
He noticed the way Flynn tensed, and at first, his instinct was to pull his hand away. Normally, he probably would have asked before touching another person (Well. Unless he was going to kill them, but that was a different situation entirely). However, he had been operating purely on instinct, and he knew that as a paladin, Flynn had a sort of natural enmity towards him that he had to overcome. He was worried, for a moment, that perhaps he had made the other man flinch. It was this sort of irrational response, but when he wasn’t met with violence, he dismissed it as just normal warines. “Yeah, it’s probably going to happen again at some point or another. Summoning someone can get them out of a tough spot. Once there was a member of my bloodline that got lost in the wilderness, where the Fae roam freely and attack my kind. I had to go in and teleport her out...mind you, this was before I learned how to summon.” He explained.
Which was about the time Flynn began to sit up properly, so Az took a step back, sitting perched on the arm of a pew. “Yes. Though honestly most places in Harper Rock are haunted. We have some real Derry, Maine, Pennywise **** going on here with our death rate.” He muttered. And then finally. “Fine. I’ll call you before summoning you from now on. Or shoot you a telepathic message.” And that was when he took the time to really watch the other man. Not just what he was doing, but the way he looked, and how he moved, the way Flynn’s eyes darted around, drinking the whole place in. “Oh, also I have something for you.”
- F L Y N N -
Satisfied that he had a better grasp on his surroundings, Flynn allowed himself to relax and release the built up tension. At least, as much as was possible when in such close proximity to Az. He knew he wouldn’t always so reactive to the other male’s presence, and eventually, he would be able to block it out completely. That didn’t make it any better in the current circumstances, but it was something he would have to deal with. Only time would make the difference, that meant patience. Granted, patience had never been his best virtue. In fact, it was probably one of the lower ones on the list. He made a mental note to work on that as he leaned back against one of the backs of the pews, palms grasping either side.
“That’s fantastic. Now, not only do I get to look forward to being yanked around the city, I should keep my eyes out for killer clowns…but, at least I can expect a call, first.” His words were accompanied by a smirk over in Az’s direction. He was quiet for a minute after that, merely watching the man across the aisle. If he was being honest with himself, he hadn’t expected them to cross paths again, so soon. Clearly, Azraeth had had other plans, and Flynn didn’t see himself complaining. “You...have something for me? What is that, exactly? Another head?” His eyebrows rose up together toward his hairline, half expecting to get just that.
- A Z R A E T H -
His gaze followed Flynn as the man came to rest against a pew. Az’s eyes set him apart almost immediately as a vampire, or at least something...otherwordly. For this reason, it was occasionally difficult for people to read him. In fact, when he put his mind to it, he was absolutely inscrutable. It was perhaps for that reason, he normally didn’t bother to veil what he was thinking. His head tilted to one side and he reached into his jacket pocket so he could pull out the glass vial he’d filled with ashes just a few hours before. “Think fast!” He said, and then gave it a toss. “Those are revenant’s ashes. When you have them on you, it’s going to make you kind of...a little incorporeal? Like it’ll be harder for people to hit you with bullets and blades, but magic is going to really kick your ***.” He explained. Of course. He hadn’t just called the other man there (called being totally incorrect as a term in this case) just to hand him off a gift. “I figured since you made sure I didn’t get my head blown away when we were in that government facility, you deserved it.”
The truth was just that Az liked to dote on people. He enjoyed giving them things. “Anyway, there’s also the matter of all the absolute crazy-banana nonsense that’s going on with the riots and the marching and the protesting.” He murmured, his shoulders lifting into an ineffectual shrug as if to say he didn’t know what was happening. Of course, he was all too aware of it, and all too aware of the role he had played. “Also. That head is yours to keep. If you scrape off the scalp and skin, I can turn the skull itself into a tome for you if you ever want one.”
- F L Y N N -
The warning wouldn’t have been necessary, if only because Flynn had relatively good reflexes. He snapped the bottle from the air and lifted it up to get a better look at the inside. He could see they were ashes, and just as he was about to ask about the contents, it was being explained to him. Lowering the vial, he turned his head to look the man and study his expression. For the first time, he actually considered the animalistic quality of his eyes. They had never bothered him, or seemed odd...which was odd in itself. That would be something anyone would have picked up on immediately, but they somehow just seemed to fit, and so it was easily glanced over as nothing to be concerned with. “I’m pretty sure I don’t need a gift for having your back, Az…” he replied, shaking his head, slowly. His eyes shot to the ceiling, then, trying to remember an instance where he had ever used such a nickname. Shrugging it off, he gave the ashes a small toss and allowed it to return to his palm. “I won’t ask if you’re sure, and just leave it at thank you.”
His demeanor shifted once he considered the topic of the craziness outside the Temple doors. They had played their roles in it, but Azraeth was the one to suffer the most of it. Despite being there, Flynn was still human and had no trouble walking through the streets. There were no fingers pointed at him. “Yeah...how are you doing with all that, anyway?” he asked, tucking the ashes away into his pocket so that he could cross his arms over his chest. “I’m not the one who was labeled a terrorist, after all.”
- A Z R A E T H -
He watched at Flynn caught the vial, though the observation was perfunctory, and his gaze seemed to have moved right past the human. It was as if there was an entire world around them that only he could see. In a literal sense, this was true. He could see the spirits milling around. The way the dead crawled across the floors of the Temple. How they screamed. How they danced. How they trembled in fear. How they did all of the things the living did. Of course, he wasn’t looking at those. Rather, his mind was on something else. “I also don’t really need an excuse to give you things. I seem to have lost my Oakley. I had been gifting her with things, but she is infamously terrible at getting lost in walls.” Which. Actually was the truth, even if it made Az seem insane. The Dragomir themselves were known to be a little bit. Off. Sometimes that manifested physically. Other times they were blatantly crazy.
“Anyway, it’s not the label I’m worried about.” He admitted with a sigh. He slumped back, falling onto the pew’s seat, his arms folded behind his head, his legs dangling over the arm so that his feet partially invaded the carpeted aisle. “It’s war. For years, vampires kept themselves secret. The last time we were revealed en masse, my kind were slaughtered mercilessly. A lot of our people tried desperately to keep our existence a secret. And then that ended. Now it seems like we’re balancing on a razor’s edge. On one side is peace, and on the other side is all out war. A war that I frankly don’t think we can win. Not with how easy it is to identify my kind and with the vast difference in numbers.”
- F L Y N N -
“Alright, I’m gonna gloss over that comment and not ask for an explanation of what the hell that means…” he muttered in regards to getting lost in walls. Probably some other vampire business that was beyond his humanly scope of understanding, and frankly, he didn’t need any other reasons to envy them. He was still pretty peeved about the water walking business, and still had half a mind to go burn that bridge down. If only out of spite. Except, that was considered impulsive, or something like that, and could likely land him in some hot water. Keeping a low profile was in his best interest, even if he wasn’t one of the vampires being protested against.
He watched as Azraeth dropped down in the pew, the heavy topic falling over them like an avalanche. With a push off from his perch, he moved across the aisle and sat down in the pew behind Az’s, leaning over to rest his elbows on the top edge. “Yeah, I’m not entirely sure that you could win it, either. It’s one city against the rest of the world, and those aren’t very good odds, even for vampires with supernatural power. Hell, they are even talking about a quarantine...like we have some rampant virus running through our streets.” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. Staring off at the wall, he absently chewed on his lip in thought. “Vampires may have to pull off one hell of a miracle, at this point.”
- A Z R A E T H -
He glanced up and caught sight of Flynn’s face, the other man having leaned over the back of the pew he was lying on, which meant that he was able to peer right into the paladin’s eyes. Oh boy. He sure had opened a can of worms, hadn’t he? He supposed it probably seemed strange to have invited someone he barely knew to talk about something that was such a big deal. He couldn’t even say it was because he wanted a human perspective, because he was closer to Amalea. But at the same time, he sort of wanted a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ for the problem. “It’s not even that vampires would lose. There are some really chaotic, really dark members of this community who would do erratic, dangerous things if they felt pushed into a corner. Imagine what you would do if you felt trapped, like you were going to die anyway? Now imagine there are hundreds of you with magical powers the world barely understands. If we get quarantined for example, at least that’s just isolation. All out war though? Fighting in the streets? I don’t think anyone really understands the cost.”
And then there was the other thing. Something he had never told anyone, not even Nikolae. And why was he going to tell Flynn? Because he figured that maybe the other man would get it. “Right now, I sort of wish that there was a reset button. Like me and the rest of the vampires could fabricate a second holocaust. Bury ourselves for a century. Come back with everyone believing we’re dead. So we can go back into hiding. Except that wouldn’t work. Vampires can never agree on anything, and there are times when I feel like Cobb...he was the guy who caused the last holocaust, had it right. I think that maybe most of the vampires in the world should be wiped out and only a few copacetic individuals should survive. But then I think that I wouldn’t be able to save the people I love, and I know I could never make the choice to pull that trigger. I guess what I’m saying is that I have a lot of doubt. The hard route is rarely what my kind want to do, and it will take a lot of hard work to restore humanity’s faith in us. Maybe I’m just being fatalistic.”
- F L Y N N -
Flynn laced his fingers together and nodded along as Az opened up a floodgate of his thoughts, laying it all out between them. It was some fairly deep stuff, and he couldn’t help but wonder why he was the one hearing it. They barely knew each other, but there was that odd saying somewhere about stranger spilling their deepest secrets to each other with knowledge that it wouldn’t come back to haunt them. Granted, Flynn wasn’t going to up and disappear from the city, taking Azraeth’s thoughts with him to never be spoken aloud, again. Not that he would repeated them, anyway. Regardless of who else knew about it, he had still shared something private. “I think you may be underestimating the majority of the population. Most people have a pretty good idea regarding the devastation of war. Of course, knowing it and experiencing it are very different things…”
Flynn trailed off for a moment, picking at one of his nails as he collected his thoughts before continuing with the rest of his answer. “And, maybe you’re right. It’s possible that vampires and humans were never meant to coexist. But, they did. At least, for a little while…” he sighed, glancing down at the man below. “Humans like to think they are the top of the feed chain. The existence of vampires proves they are not, and that scares them. They have a right to be scared. Like you said, some of your kind are chaotic and unpredictable. It’s hard to accept something when you don’t understand the mechanics behind it. But, what good would really come from wiping the vampires out? Just another dark stain in human history?”
- A Z R A E T H -
That did ring true to him. Most people didn’t want war. Maybe he was being a bit pessimistic, and a lot hyperbolic. But then, really it only took a few bad apples to really **** things up, or however the old saying went. What he wanted, what he would have loved, was a way to truly punish the vampires who actually deserved it. Killing the undead did absolutely nothing - they just came back later, angrier, and smarter. It was like putting humans in prison. The number of people who were actually reformed was miniscule. The ones who treated being behind bars like university for criminals? That figure was much higher. The end of secrecy had all but proven that. There had been ample and numerous punishments handed out to vampires who broke code, and in the end, it didn’t make a difference. Az dragged his lower lip between his teeth as he thought, rolling the flesh with his jaw.
“I think that’s part of the problem. Vampires are easy to otherise because there isn’t a ton of information about us. Ironically, the cure and the people who made it probably have a better idea of how our internal mechanics work than we do. Even still, there is a lot that can’t be explained. I think that there are probably a lot of solutions right in front of us, but the most obvious one is that vampires need to be better. We need to stop being violent. We need to keep our own in check. We need to weed out the ones who can’t control themselves. We need to be better than our human counterparts to be treated human. Even that isn’t going to guarantee our safety.” He paused and then his gaze focused once more. “Yeah, so if it were you, what would you do? “
- F L Y N N -
There was a lot to be said in regards to vampires ‘doing better,’ but it was probably best if Flynn didn’t offer his input on such a matter. The fact of it was, vampires would always need human blood to survive unless they all picked up the habit of feeding from each other. And as far he was aware, that was considered a bit of a taboo among their kind. That being the case, humans would need to willingly donate to the vampire race if they did not want to see their blood taken by force. They had enough trouble collecting blood to keep in blood banks for those in dire need of it. Getting them to just hand it over would be a feat in, and of, itself. Humans had a sense of self-preservation, but they could fairly dense when it came to selflessness. And that’s exactly what they would need be.
Flynn snorted at the question, leaning back from the pew. Shifting, he slid himself back so that his back hit the arm of the pew and his legs were stretched out across the seat. “I’m positive I am the wrong person to ask about what I would do in your shoes. Let’s think about this for a second...I willingly stood with vampires during an assault on a military facility. And that’s one thing. But, my stance in an all out war is an entirely different situation. ‘No man’s land’ doesn’t really exist, and eventually I would be expected to pick one or the other…” Taking the bottle of ashes from his pocket, he began to twirl it in his hands with his focus on the contents within. “I may not have the same mentality as the other paladins, and the humans certainly don’t need more numbers...but, your kind has the opportunity to come back when faced with death. We don’t. The question becoming who has more to lose, and which one would I rather die for?”
[To Be Continued]
