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Re: Reprieve [Lorelai]
Posted: 07 Mar 2015, 12:44
by Robin Little
The reaction to Robin’s simple statement flabbergasted him.
It was as if Lorelai were her ordinary self one second, and the next she had turned into the crazy person she proclaimed herself to be. Hadn’t she? If any person says to another that they don’t want to tell them something because of how crazy it must sound, they must think of themselves as crazy, or so Robin reasoned in those few passing seconds as Lorelai pulled him into an awkward kind of embrace.
Of course it didn’t cross his mind that the girl had somehow read the journal entry. He might be aware of vampire and zombies and of a small few of the things that they were capable of, but he didn’t know the majority of it. He had hardly plumbed the depths of vampiric secrecy; could hardly be deemed much of a threat, given how little he did know. Lorelai’s reaction came out of nowhere. Thin air. It proclaimed her as slightly off more than anything she might have told him.
The way she spoke to the space across the table didn’t help matters, either.
But Robin had said he wouldn’t judge, he wouldn’t laugh, he wouldn’t even call her crazy to her face. It wasn’t crazy if they were convinced and anyway, who was he to say that whatever it was that Lorelai thought she saw wasn’t actually there? How could he deny the existence of anything, now that he knew, without any doubt whatsoever, what did exist?
Except. It took a few seconds for Robin’s brain to catch up to his whirling thoughts. How could he even be thinking about how crazy Lorelai may or may not be? He had not told her about any nightmares. He’d not mentioned them at all, so how could she know? Pure guess? Was she, in actual fact, one of those mentalists, and she’d deduced Robin’s sleepless state due to the bags under his eyes (or wrongly assumed, anyway, that they were due to sleeplessness)? Robin struggled to regain control of his own arms so that he could push Lorelai off and grasp her by the shoulders; so that he could look her in the eye and get some kind of honest, unscrambled answer out of her.
”How did you know about the nightmares? And who are you talking to?” he asked. He even glanced across the table again, warily, as if there was something there that he had missed. He was starting to think this reprieve was no longer a reprieve, if it had ever been that to begin with. Instead, the rabbit hole just got a little bit deeper.
Re: Reprieve [Lorelai]
Posted: 09 Mar 2015, 22:16
by Lorelai
Lorelai had promised to write down a message from the child but she couldn't do that without a piece of paper and a pen; something she would have to acquire from one of the wait staff, possibly even the mother herself. But that would have to wait for just a moment as Robin had asked her how she knew what she knew, and who or what it was that she was talking to, because she was clearly talking to someone. She patted at the small hand and looked across the table at her old friend.
"There's a very simple reason for that Robin, one that I will gladly explain but while I do, I need you to remember that I'm still me. Okay? Please remember that."
There was a look in her eye that he had likely seen before when they spoke of her leaving Hoshkosh and it betrayed her fear of the unknown. She didn't know how he was going to react to her news and she obviously feared that it would not end well. Uncertainty could be crippling and both action and inaction promised sanctions and rewards in equal measure.
"There's so much to tell you. And if you want to know how it all began I will tell you, but not here and not now. There was a saying i heard recently that said 'he walls have ears' but it's not the walls you need to worry about Robin." Lorelai leaned in a little closer, her hands clutched together in her lap. She dropped her voice to a whisper and then continued to explain. "Ghosts are real Robin. I see them everywhere. Right now a young boy is sitting next to me. He wants to talk to his mother; our waitress."
Precisely on cue on the woman came back to the table carrying the piece of banana bread that robin had ordered. Lorelai straightened herself up, smiled kindly at the woman and waited for her to finish speaking. She had politely asked Robin if there was anything else she could get him, had told him to enjoy his food and was about to walk away when Lorelai reached out with one delicate hand and touched the woman's arm. Having secured the woman's attention, she requested a pen and a piece of paper and was glad to hear that the woman as willing to supply her with both.
Re: Reprieve [Lorelai]
Posted: 14 Mar 2015, 10:31
by Robin Little
Robin laughed.
He didn’t laugh at Lorelai. It would seem as if he was, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t able to control himself, wasn’t able to explain to Lorelai either. The waitress had returned and even as she acquiesced Lorelai’s request, Robin had scuttled back to his corner and was still laughing. A quiet laugh, that broke from his throat unbidden. Half a snort, half a snicker, it was not the laugh of someone who was highly amused. No, it wasn’t even mirthful. It was instead the laugh of a man with wide eyes and a sudden fatigue. Of a man who had reached the end of his tether, and who couldn’t quite understand the situation that he had somehow inadvertently walking into.
Not only were there vampires and zombies, but there were ghosts too.
Because there it was. That was the hitch. Robin didn’t even hesitate to believe Lorelai. Why should he? What right had he not to believe her, when he had seen so many other things that should not be real? Yes, Robin wanted to hear the entire story. Of course he did. His resumed position in his corner of the booth may have looked like an avoidance tactic, but really, how could he resist?
Robin Little was the idiot who saw he had swam far too far away from the shore, and rather than try to fight against the tide to make his way back, he instead laughed and kept going, trusting that the universe would throw him a life saver. Maybe there’d be an island somewhere out there in the distance; some place upon which he can take refuge. Right now, he was right in the middle of that swelling, surging ocean and he had no choice but to tread water.
Bright eyes fled between Lorelai and the corner to which she referred; as if he were trying to find some disturbance in the air, there. He saw nothing, however, and waved his hand for two purposes. One: he didn’t need anything else from the waitress. And two: she should do what Lorelai requested, and Lorelai should keep doing whatever it was she was about to do. For the time being, he kept himself upright by leaning against that wall, his hand covering his mouth, the cogs turning behind his eyes. Maybe he looked a tiny bit frantic. But really, he was resigned. Resigned to his fate; and the break that he would not be getting just yet. All he had to do was continue to tread and do his best not to drown.
Re: Reprieve [Lorelai]
Posted: 19 Mar 2015, 10:07
by Lorelai
Lorelai's heart sunk as Robin began to laugh at her. She didn't understand that he was coming unhinged, that this was perhaps a step too far for him, all she saw was her friend laughing at her and it hurt. She'd been eased into this life in some ways and it had helped perhaps that she'd been fascinated by what Ana was rather than repulsed. She'd known the supernatural was real most of her life, as sorcery was in her blood and yet she'd never experienced the true magic of it until she'd come to Harper Rock. Unlocking her potential seemed easier there and her gifts were more easily accepted. It was perhaps the change of scenery that gave her the confidence to embrace what she really was, as she had been born to that life. That was probably what made being a vampire all the more difficult to swallow, as the last path came naturally to her, it seemed to be her destiny, whereas this path was one she'd of chosen to avoid, even if the price was her own life.
"Please Robin," she whispered when the waitress walked away. "I'm still me. I am. You don't need to be afraid."
There was no other explanation for her as to his actions. He'd pulled away and all but buried himself into the corner of the booth. Shock was one thing but he'd also pulled himself away as if trying to distance himself from her. Something she could understand in some aspects as she often found herself curling into a ball, the tears streaming down her face as she tried to escape this reality herself. It wasn't that the spirits that sought her were mean to her, it was more that they were relentless. Once she spoke to one, more generally followed and they were all so desperate that they needed her attention and her help immediately. They didn't see how tired or upset she was, only that she could help and that she wasn't.
The waitress returned with a sheet of paper and a pen and Lorelai took them gratefully. The sheet was a sheet from an order pad they kept behind the counter to write out their stock lists on but it was sufficient enough for the task at hand. She only had to write a note from a child; so she assumed, perhaps wrongly, that they wouldn't have much to say. Of course Lorelai had to wait for the woman to leave before she could speak with the over excited young boy.
Concerned blue eyes moved between the child and Robin as Lorelai tried to decide who it was that perhaps needed her help first. Were the living really more worthy of priority or has she been wrong earlier to shun her duty and prioritise her friend's pain. It didn't take her long to decide, for as much as she loved Robin, and she did in her own way, she had to choose the child this time. All the poor thing wanted to do was let his mother know that he was okay and that he forgave her for not telling him. He'd watched her cry and cried with her after his death but it wasn't until he spoke with Lorelai that he really understood all that had happened to him. What took the boy had been rather sudden and in his last few days his mother had promised him that everything would be okay; only she'd lied as things had not been okay at all and the boy had died of an infection. The mother of course blamed herself, but the boy knew that had he not wandered off and been playing out in the abandoned building, that he'd never have caught the illness that killed him. Having written out a rather short note that said everything the child wished to say, Lorelai folded it in half, wrote the waitresses name on it and left it on the table. Now able to focus on her friend, she looked at him with guilty eyes.
"I'm sorry Robin. I didn't mean to upset you. I just needed you to know before..."
She cut herself off, as she wasn't sure he was ready for what came next. Telling her parents in a letter that she'd died was bad enough, but now she'd have to tell someone she cared for that the woman he knew was gone. Okay, so maybe she wasn't exactly gone but she was no longer who she had been. Her heart ceased to beat, taking with it all her potential and promise. The most painful adjustment hadn't even been the loss of her powers or direction, it was her loss of being able to create life, for as much as she hadn't planned to get pregnant again in the near future ,she had still hoped to have a child one day; a desire that now, would never be fulfilled.
"Are you okay?" her voice was meek, the pain and guilt that she felt for having hurt him all too evident.
Re: Reprieve [Lorelai]
Posted: 28 Mar 2015, 07:43
by Robin Little
”I’m not afraid, Lorelai…” Robin said with a heavy voice. He watched what she was doing with half avid interest. Robin couldn’t not be interested. Even when he knew he shouldn’t be, even when his head was reeling and he was feeling overwhelmed, he couldn’t help but watch. It was the writer in him, always curious, wanting to know everything there was to know, from every perspective and every view point. He watched as Lorelai seemed to converse with an empty corner, writing something down upon the piece of paper she had requested before leaving it on the table.
Robin felt like he was in some kind of twilight zone. But he sucked it up, and tried not to slump so much. He had to come to terms with the fact that his friend was not the same as she once was. She said she was the same Lorelai as he knew, and in a way she was. Except, he hadn’t known everything about her, then, had he? And she had come to Harper Rock, and now there was something… something… something he couldn’t put his finger on.
”I’m fine. It’s just been a very…very long couple of months, is all. All the **** I know now and you’ve added ghosts to the list,” he said, and then snorted. Some more of that same laughter, like he didn’t quite believe the fresh hell he’d dropped into. Except… well it wasn’t exactly hell. But he couldn’t say he was enjoying himself, either. Not entirely. Or was he? Yes. There were certain things that he enjoyed. Getting paid for giving away his blood. The giving of the blood itself…yeah, that was enjoyable. It was the castles with the slaughter and the undead corpses stumbling around in the Quarantine Zone that he didn’t enjoy so much.
He straightened up in his corner, eyeing Lorelai. There was guilt written all over her face. And for what? He tried to smile. Not an insane smile, but a real one.
”Needed me to know before what? You didn’t do anything Lai, I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed,” he said; he was struggling not to glance at that corner where, supposedly, there was a boy-ghost. ”Sometimes too much can be just a little bit too much….” he said. He wasn’t succeeding in keeping that smile normal.
Re: Reprieve [Lorelai]
Posted: 28 Mar 2015, 17:05
by Lorelai
"Before I tell you what needs to be told. But I think..." she looked about them, her eyes falling upon the people around them as she practically counted the number of potential witnesses. "We may need a change of venue before we continue this conversation. Once you've finished your meal that is."
She gestured the banana bread that sat in front of him. While telling her friend out on the street that she was a vampire may not have been the best plan, it was the only one she had. Of course there was the option of taking him to her flat too, but what then? What if Pru was there? What if they weren't alone? Would she be permitted to tell him? Could she pull him into her bedroom to tell him? Would he even make it that far? A shiver ran down her spine at that thought. She knew she wasn't supposed to tell people and she had no intention of outing he beloved Prudence, but herself? She could definitely stand for him to know the truth about her, so long as the way in which he looked at her didn't change. It was a crazy kind of logic in as much as the way in which he looked to her had already changed. She spoke to the dead. And not to the ones that everyone saw. She spoke to the echoes themselves, the ones that walked the earth long after their mortal hearts had ceased to beat and their bodies had been laid to rest.
The boy at her side had been quiet for a few moments and it was upon noticing this that the blonde turned in his direction once more. A soft smile, one that spoke of satisfaction and peace, graced her lips. He was gone. He had said what he wanted to and he had left. She had not seen him go, as she had been focused on her friend, but he had moved on, or so she believed.
"He's gone," she said, looking back at her tired and emaciated looking friend across the table. "I like it when they trust me. He didn't wait to see if I would pass her the note, he just believed that I would."
Many spirits happily believed that she would follow through with their requests once they were gone. It always made her feel good about herself when that happened. She wasn't sure why they trusted her exactly but then who was she to question it, when she herself was so trusting of others. It was perhaps this quality that they saw in her, or perhaps she had an honest face. Whatever it was, she liked it. Of course she could rip up the note she'd written now that the boy was gone. She could spare the mother the pain of reading the words of the child she mourned but she had to believe that the message was as important for the recipient to hear, as it was for the giver to say. She had to believe that though, else she would have to believe that she was bringing people nothing but pain; something she would never willingly do. There had to be some reason for her gift, for the messages themselves, there was a need for closure and she was sure that it was equally strong on both sides of death’s divide.
Re: Reprieve [Lorelai]
Posted: 04 Apr 2015, 12:51
by Robin Little
Robin lifted the banana bread to his mouth and took a bit, but the bread was stale, tasteless. At least, to Robin it was. He realised he wasn’t really hungry. Maybe he was, but his body was lying to him. It didn’t matter whether he was hungry or not, he just didn’t feel like eating the bread. It made him ill even to think about it, so he ended up pushing the plate away from him.
He didn’t know whether it made him feel better or worse that the boy was gone and that they were no longer accompanied by a ghostly presence, listening to their every word. Robin had no idea what else Lorelai could possibly have to tell him that she couldn’t tell him here, in the warmth of the café. But then, the café no longer seemed warm. There was a mother working here who’d lost her son, and Robin knew that he was imagining it, but the grief seemed to permeate the air. He didn’t want to notice that white note in the corner of his eye, and what might be inside of it, and the implications that those words might hold.
He dug into his pocket and retrieved his wallet, from which he pulled enough cash to cover his food and coffee for the afternoon and night. After the notes were settled, he pushed his laptop back into his bag and packed up. What he really wanted to do, now, was leave the café. But he didn’t want to go home. He didn’t want to go curl up in a ball and fall asleep in the hope of some forgetful oblivion. No, the nightmares would come, then. What he really wanted to do was leave this café in favour of a bar. And he wanted to consume an entire bottle of whiskey.
He would not admit that what he really wanted was to find Jameson and get high.
Except, this was his friend. And she had things to tell him. Robin was curious, of course, and he felt somewhat responsible. He had urged Lorelai to leave, hadn’t he? Was it his fault, if something irreversible had happened to her?
Robin slid out of the booth and threw the bag over his shoulder.
”I’m not hungry. We can go,” he said, gesturing toward the door. He wasn’t irritated or angry. He wasn’t sad. He was just exhausted. Really blood tired. ”Do you have another venue in mind?” he asked, already heading toward the door.
Re: Reprieve [Lorelai]
Posted: 08 Apr 2015, 18:43
by Lorelai
Lorelai shook her head as she stood up from the booth. She turned and took one more look at the table to check that the waitress' name was obvious enough for the woman to read; she didn't want the note to be thrown out before it was read. It was and so she turned her attention back to Robin, pulled her cardigan about her and stepped outside back into the freezing cold elements that awaited them.
"I do not have a venue in mind. I would be happy to take you to my apartment but... I think perhaps you should hear what i have to say before, as you may not wish to follow me there."
Telling him her secret while walking the street seemed like a good idea. She would not have to worry about people over hearing them and even if they did, they likely wouldn't hear every word or believe what they heard. the main problem she had was where to start.
She wanted to link arms with her friend but again hesitated as she didn't want him to feel trapped by her as she told him her secret. It wasn't that she was expecting him to freak out and run away. He knew vampires existed but how did she tell him that she was now one of them. That she had died.
Just tell him and get it over with.
Now? Right now?
No. Next Christmas. Of course now.
But...
No buts Lorelai, get it over with.
Lorelai took a hold of Robin's arm, drawing him closer to her. She looked to her friend. He looked ill and she knew she should try and take care of him. If only she was still a sorcerer. Had she been her old self she'd of been able to heal him, restore him to what he should be and perhaps guide him through the dark underbelly of the city; as even human she knew enough to get by.
"I need to tell you my secret now. Are you ready to hear it?"
Her voice cracked a little with fear as she spoke. She was so scared to lose the one friend she had in the city that really knew her. The old her that was. The her that was not pregnant or falling apart from having lost her child. He knew the Lorelai that dreamed of the city; the one that had been so full of hope and wonder. Not that she'd lost that side of her entirely.
Re: Reprieve [Lorelai]
Posted: 12 Apr 2015, 10:31
by Robin Little
Robin pulled the jacket tight around his shoulders even as he shoved his hands deep into his pockets. Soon, his body heat would fill the small space—or so he hoped. The warmth of the café had finally warmed his fingers, the way he’d constantly cradled a hot drink, and now that they were back out in the cold he didn’t want them to go numb again.
They weren’t outside long before Lorelai turned Robin’s soul cold. At least, that was how it felt. So negative, this news she had to tell him. The way she was speaking he couldn’t even grasp at what it could be, that it might turn him away from her company. That she thought it might disgust him so much that he would run for the hills as soon as the secret passed her lips.
But no. This was sweet, optimistic, bright little Lorelai they were talking about. Hadn’t she always been like this? Maybe a little too dramatic for her own good. No, not dramatic. Not insultingly dramatic, but she was serious. A very serious person who took far too much responsibility for the smallest grievances. Robin sucked in a deep breath and paused as he felt Lorelai’s fingers close around his arm. He wished they were back in the café, in the warmth. The wind whipped around the corner and slapped at Robin’s skin, and when he released that held breath it billowed from his mouth in a stream of tantalising steam.
There was not enough flesh on his bones, not enough blood in his veins, to keep him warm. If he was in his right mind he’d know that in order to do good business, in this new business of his, he should keep his health. But he was a self-made employee in his honeymoon period and he was enjoying his job far too much to exercise caution.
Robin turned to face his friend with that familiar old smile upon his lips.
”Tell me, Lorelai. I bet you it’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be,” he said, the slightest bit of laughter colouring his tone. He said it because he liked to be an optimist, too. And he really hoped it wasn’t as bad as she was making it out to be.
Re: Reprieve [Lorelai]
Posted: 14 Apr 2015, 06:14
by Lorelai
She was half frightened to open her mouth after he spoke. He was hoping for the best and she knew the best was not to come. Her story had been a rather sad one. It was almost lonely in some ways, as even when she’d been with her angel she’d still spent the majority of her time alone. She’d been in a very controlling relationship; something she hadn’t noticed until it was all but over.
“I have to start at the beginning. I need to explain where my journey started or else you won’t understand the end.”
It was true what she was saying too, she couldn’t even begin to explain to him how she’d ended up in that alleyway, or how she’d died on a grimy table in a bar, not without first explaining why she would be in those places.
“I found the courage to leave home when I became pregnant. And please don’t judge me for that. I wasn’t married and it wasn’t planned, but in a strange way I was happy about it.” Sadness filled her voice as she spoke of her child. Whatever Robin’s hopes had been, it was already clear that she had undergone something quite painful. “And so, I moved here. I wanted my child to be raised in the real world. I wanted them to have a full life...” Tears were beginning to fill her eyes and she had to pause for a moment and draw on her inner strength to continue. “I’m sorry. This is far more difficult to say than I thought it would be. I lost him you see. My child. My son. I was here. I was happy. I was with an angel and then my life changed. I was alone. And then I lost him. I lost him and then I lost me. I set myself on a very dark path. A path I’m sure you’re aware of. You know they exist. That we exist.”
She paused to let that sink in. Her story wasn’t done and she had more to say. She had to say the actual words but for that to happen she needed to give him a moment; she needed to give herself a moment.
“You would not have recognised me Robin. I wasn’t me. I began drinking to fill the hole in my heart but it didn’t work. I began experimenting with any medication I could get a hold of. Some of which were prescribed to me even. I would fill the prescription and then fabricate a story to get more. But it didn’t work. None of it. I knew what waited in the darkness and I was drawn to it. I wanted to be unaware.” She stopped walking and turned him to look at her. “Do you understand what I’m saying Robin? I wanted to be fed on. I wanted that period of numbness that followed. I wanted the void. I wanted to become aware of my surroundings and be somewhere else in the city. Anywhere, so long as time had passed and I had not had to endure it.” She paused to see if there was any spark of understanding in his eyes. “And then one night I was fed upon by one that didn’t want me to survive.” Her hands instinctively covered the area in which she’d been stabbed. “I went to another for help. One I trusted. I wanted her to take me to the hospital. To use her powers. To transport us there so that I could be healed. I had no powers of my to accomplish the task. I hadn’t been looking after myself. And well… She didn’t do what I hoped she would and I… I died.”
Lorelai fell silent. The blonde was shaking. Her hands reached for his though not in any fashion that would lead him to suspect that she wanted anything but comfort from him. She wanted him to stay. She needed him to understand. He knew her story. She hadn’t said the words but she had told him everything he needed to know to understand and when she was unable to vocalise her fate, she found herself projecting it into his mind.
‘I’m a vampire.’