Path of the Vampire forum

OOC: Backdated to January 26th

<Clover> [txt] What are you wearing?


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] Clothes.


<Clover> [txt] You're **** at this.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] You know how I like to tease. I have to keep some mystery.


<Clover> [txt] It's sexting, Jesse...


<Clover> [txt] You're supposed to say something better than "clothes"


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] I basically wear the same thing every night. With a little variation. Use your imagination.


<Clover> [txt] Again, you're **** at this. Lucky for you, I have an amazing imagination.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] Did you know... they have these sex toys, now, that can be activated by an app? Can I get one for you?


<Clover> [txt] That depends. Would you abuse your power?


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] Probably.


<Clover> [txt] Then yes.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] Yesss.


<Clover> [txt] I can already tell you're going to cause so much trouble...


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] It's my middle name?


<Clover> [txt] No it isn't, JJ.


<Clover> [txt] Nice try.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] I changed it. Legally. You never knew.


<Clover> [txt] Change it back. I can have more fun with JJ than JT. No one likes a JT.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] C'mon, I know you're all over Justin Timberlake. You'd have him for dinner if you could.


<Clover> [txt] Are you projecting your desires onto me? I'm not a Justin fan. I'd have to say...Bert McCracken of The Used.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] We're talking about JTs, not BMs.


<Clover> [txt] I don't like JT!


<Clover> [txt] Take the BM.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] I don't want the BM.


<Clover> [txt] I can think of something else you might want that starts with a B.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] What if I told you that's what I'm wearing?


<Clover> [txt] I'm suddenly very interested.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] Well I'm not. But I could be?


<Clover> [txt] You're terrible. I was going to offer you sexual favors, but forget it. I'll suffer. Alone and cold. Because you're wearing clothes and you prefer JT.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] You know if you want my body, you just have to summon me, right? Tear me to pieces. I don't care.


<Clover> [txt] I know I can summon you. You've given me permission. I just felt like trying something new.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] ...are you upset with me?


<Clover> [txt] No! I'm not upset with you.


<Clover> [txt] The face helps a little bit.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] Ah. Well then. I won't ask you about all the ways you'd like to punish me.


<Clover> [txt] You're not teasing me, JJ.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] I think that's for me to decide.


<Clover> [txt] I don't think that it is. I think I've decided for the both of us.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] Mhm.


<Clover> [txt] Yeah.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] Where are you?


<Clover> [txt] Nope. You have to ask nicely, JJ.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] My beautiful lady, blood of my blood, twinkle in my eye - pretty please tell me where you are?


<Clover> [txt] Perfect! My apartment.


<Jesse Fforde> [txt] I could have guessed that.


<Clover> [txt] I know. I enjoyed you asking nicely.


<Jesse Fforde> Jesse considered keeping her waiting. He considered putting the phone away until he got another text from her. Asking where he was. Or until she finally gave in, and summoned him. The whole time, however, they weren't too far from each other. They were in the same building. Exiting the green room where the plants (and Jormun) were still thriving, he took the elevator down. He went straight through the few people who'd gathered, offering nods here and there. Inside the apartment, he whistled; a low whistle, indicating his presence, gaze sweeping the area as he looked for Clover.


<Clover> His lack of response irritated her. Her initial text messages had meant to lead into another subject, a serious one, but she’d enjoyed being playful and sarcastic. And then he’d stopped replying. And then she’d gotten upset. Clo moved on to text Jersey, but she kept checking to see if Jesse had replied. Not much time had passed, but their text messages had come in quick succession, so the lag toyed with her infamous lack of patience.

When she heard the door open and close, she turned her phone off and tossed it aside, trying to make it seem as if she weren’t just waiting about. Instead of him going to her, she left the bedroom and went out to the living room to meet him. “Twinkle in your eye?” She smirked at him.


<Jesse Fforde> He grinned when he saw her. The clothes that he did wear were meagre; track pants, and a tank. Bare feet, dirty with soil. The soil was stuck under his fingernails, too, a bit smeared across his cheek. He didn't make it too far into the apartment before Clover was there to greet him. He grinned, and nodded. "Brightest twinkle there ever was," he said. He considered closing the distance, before he changed his mind, spun on his heel, and went to the couch instead. He dropped down, sprawled, before nodding to the space beside him. "C'mere, twinkle," he said. "Come sit with me a while. What mischief have you been causing?"


<Clover> Jesse said nice things to her, and she completely ignored her plans to bring up Andras. Mentioning the family meant ruining whatever good mood still remained. After their texting, after ranting with Kaelyn about Victor, Clo had a lot of good to go around. “Normally I’m just a pain in the ***, so this is new,” she replied. Clo circled around furniture to get to the couch, and she wasted no time dropping down onto the cushions. Instead of him tugging her closer, she made the first move. She pressed her side against his, their legs brushing, and took in his scent.

Talking to him about his appearance was a waste of time. Jesse did what Jesse wanted to do, so she overlooked the dirt that still clung to his barefeet. “Mm, you smell like you’ve been one with nature,” she joked, wrinkling her nose. Licking the pad of her thumb, she moved in to brush at the dirty streak on his cheek. “While you were away, enjoying the earth and its bounties, I volunteered to provide cupcakes for the Valentine’s Day party--no, I’m not baking them.” The grin on her face was one of pride.


<Jesse Fforde> As soon as she was seated, Jesse's arms fell over Clover's shoulders. He, too, took in her scent; that scent that was so distinctly Clover. His arm was heavy, the urge to nuzzle shoved aside in favour of talk. He arched a brow as she mentioned cupcakes, and the Valentine's party - all amusing quips about his oneness with the earth fell away as he leaned forward to lick Clover's cheek. Childish, for sure, but he couldn't help himself. "You are a cupcake, my happy little homemaker. If you baked them yourself I might have to ask where Clover went, and who this imposter was," he asked. "You should make them Christmas themed," he said. "Just to confuse everyone," he added. This party was supposed to be one that made up for the lack of a Christmas event, right? So why the hell not.


<Clover> Clover’s mouth fell open and she regarded him with suspicion. He was being especially nice. Between them, they had a rocky sort of relationship, where each one went through hardships, troubled times that the other person could also endure. And yet they were both in good spirits. His tongue on her cheek had been the thing to surprise her, even more than the fact that they were both quite happy. He’d licked her cheek once before, yes, but she’d been just as surprised. “Ugh, so gross,” she teased, nudging his side with her elbow. Even after the time she’d broken his ribs, she made sure not to go too easy on him.

“If I make Christmas-themed cupcakes, and I’m your happy little homemaker, what will you do for me? It has to be good. I know Pera can eat cupcakes. My cooking might incapacitate her.”


<Jesse Fforde> "I'm not sure how a lick to the cheek is any more gross than a lick to... other places," he said with a slow stare and a vague wink and a shift in his seat, as if preparing to shift. Preparing to make good on the texted conversation, somehow. "I could shower you with niceness. You like me nice, don't you? I can ask you all kinds of things, nicely. Compliment you. Treat you like a queen," he said softly, smirk playing neatly across his lips. "Though I kind of wish I could taste your cupcakes. If you make them yourself," he said, dipping to press a proper kiss just below Clover's ear.


<Clover> Uncomfortable. His words had hit her in just the right spot. Where she was comfortable touching him and being with him, she wasn’t entirely used to niceties. His suggestions left her feeling heated, her cheeks tingling, as if she were capable of blushing. The feeling overshadowed her good mood and left her feeling embarrassed. She wasn’t able to take too much of his compliments; she couldn’t handle any type of consistency in his good moods. Clover knew him as a grumpy man, a sarcastic man. “You’re making me uncomfortable,” she blurted out. “I like it! I just…,” she stopped and fumbled for more words, but she couldn’t find them. Clo offered him a small smile instead.


<Jesse Fforde> Jesse laughed, and nodded slowly. This was the interesting part of any relationship - not that he'd had many, in the past. But, he found this interesting regardless. They were still getting to know each other despite their policy of honesty. They were getting to know each other in ways they hadn't had the chance to in the past. The kind of knowledge you get when spending copious amounts of time with one person. "Okay," he said, still laughing. "How'd your meeting go with Athena?" he asked, head cocked to the side. No more niceness. No more discomfort, due to niceness. Jesse knew there'd been a meeting. How could he not, with Ursula's very public announcement?


<Clover> He’d saved her from more of the same, from the irritation that arose whenever she had too much anxiety or confusion. Uncertain of how else to show her appreciation, she just slumped against him. His question made her want to do the same, so she left it up to him to decipher her body language. The meeting with Athena, the meeting brought on by Clo summoning the woman right into Circle and implying that their friendship was almost nonexistent. “I didn’t take her to Larch, Jesse. I know that you know. You’re smart,” Clo mumbled. As if she were giving him time to scold her, she stopped and waited for him to speak, to say anything, to ask anything.

<Jesse Fforde> He could have come in here raging. He could have been raging about Kaelyn, and the conversation he'd had with her earlier; it had started off well enough. But Jesse's lack of trust in other people had been justified. It should have smarted, but it was to be expected. He did not trust anyone outside of their small family, and even some within it. Well, Kaelyn, at least, he didn't trust anymore. Jesse took a deep breath. "Maybe, in future - summon your friends to Larch instead of into Circle," he said, quietly. "I'd like to trust her because you trust her but the security is in place for a reason. Or... will be," he said. He hadn't replaced the traps, yet.


<Clover> Some part of her had hoped he would give her permission, in addition to forgiveness, but his words made sense. Even as she’d summoned Athena, she’d known. Clover has disregarded everyone else, including Jesse. “Yeah,” she agreed, “I know.” If she’d pissed Athena off enough, the two women might have ended up in a verbal altercation, possibly a physical altercation, and Clo hadn’t considered the fact until after she’d summoned the other woman. “It could have gone better, or worse.” Finally, she’d addressed his question, still hesitant to admit to some of the things she’d said to someone she once considered, and still considered, her best friend.

“I told her I didn’t forgive her, and I meant it. I mean it. I’m still angry. I’d tell her to stuff the whole relationship, but I know it’s just the anger. I needed her though. She wasn’t here. She was ‘sleeping.’” Clo even did the air quotes to accompany the word sleeping.


<Jesse Fforde> There was no argument, no push. Interesting. Jesse could have been dealing with these kinds of things with such smoothness the whole time, if he just asked nicely. Without anger. Chilled. It was a rather large discovery on his part, one that he stored in the back of his mind. He'd try it with others, when required. Maybe it had only worked because it was Clover. He hadn't actually known that Athena was in Circle; if he checked the camera footage enough, he might have figured it out, eventually. But he could have guessed. Jersey was in there all the time. But Jersey was different. "Do you know why she was sleeping?" Jesse asked, bracketing the word the same way Clover had.


<Clover> Clo shook her head, the action slow and deliberate. Not because she did or didn’t know, but because she found the question irrelevant. “Her reasons for sleeping don’t make a difference, not in the long run. She left the love of her life (as I think she referred to him), her family, and her friends. She can’t just waltz back in here, apologize, and expect forgiveness. That’s not how it works,” Clover explained, her own anger temporarily at rest. She’d been focused on trying to recall the exact words and feelings associated with the meeting.

“Usually, I want to forgive, but not this time. Athena is...she’s like me, except she’s beyond me, if that makes sense. I go to her when I need advice, and I needed advice. I’ve been there for her. I’ve been there for her since we became friends. It’s unfair. Where was she when I lost you and Jers couldn’t be here? Sleeping. **** her. **** her and her dreams. She makes me so mad!” Clo had clenched her fists and rested them atop her lap.


<Jesse Fforde> "Jesus," Jesse muttered. Like Clover, but beyond? Clover, who rejoiced when shooting him upon arrival after death, who slit his throat for fun? Clover, whom he could romp around the city with, slaughtering on a whim? Clover, whose taste for chaos rivalled Jesse's own, though she did understand the need for moderation, too? Who wanted to hunt down Grey and tear her to pieces, slowly? She clung to her humanity enough to keep her sane, he supposed. And there was someone out there beyond that? "I mean I'm sorry. I got distracted thinking about this... this love of her life. She's beyond you...?" he asked with a arch of the brow, leaning back a little so that he could try to watch Clover, see her expressions and not just the clench of her fists on her lap.

"Then... don't forgive her. Make her pay. Let her see what it's like to go without friends and advice for a while, and it might stop her from doing it again in future."


<Clover> Yes, the love of her life. Was it really so hard to believe that someone like Athena had found love, had found contentment? Perhaps. She’d found those things in the most unlikely of places. Cosimo was a special case. Distracted, she’d unclenched her fists. “He’s special,” she explained, immediately relaying her thoughts. “To be with someone like Athena, he’d have to be. She’s beyond me in that she’s more explosive. She overreacts more than I do, and I know I overreact sometimes.” Clo shrugged a shoulder, as if admitting her faults meant nothing at all.

“I think I’ve told you how I idolize her. The things she does are freeing. I’m not that shitty, as a friend. I don’t think I am. Well, unless you count the fact that I’m working on learning to curse, so I can curse the hell out of Vic. In which case, yes, I’m a terrible friend. But we aren’t friends anymore. Maybe it doesn’t count?” For a moment, she appeared thoughtful, and then she just leaned against him. Satisfied. Quiet.


<Jesse Fforde> Jesse shook his head. He was trying to gel this Athena Clover was talking about with the one he’d met not too long ago. Though, he’d not been in the best state of mind to make good first impressions back then. He’d not been in the frame of mind to take in details about anyone else. She was just a blur in his head; a fuzzy memory that might not even me a memory at all. A face imbued with the things he thought he knew, but actually didn’t. Now Clover was saying a guy had to be a special kind of person to want to be with Athena; then to hear that Clover idolized her? Jesse blew a breath of air from his lungs.

“Please don’t. Become more like her, I mean. I know I can be a bit special sometimes, but I like you how you are. No better no worse,” he said, but there was laughter there in his words. Ah, Victor. Now he was special. Used to be, once, he could joke with Victor. Could tease him and play around. Now? Every joke is an immediate insult. A knife to the heart that sends Victor on a suicidal bent. “It doesn’t count with Victor. I’d curse him myself but I think he’d legit actually kill himself…” he said, wonderingly.


<Clover> Clover imagined that if she were more like Athena, Jesse wouldn’t be in the picture. Neither Clover nor Jesse would have been able to stand one another, because they would have succumbed to complete and utter violence. Athena had a fire that consumed everything in its path; the woman was a living, breathing representation of the scorched-earth policy. Clover wasn’t that bad. That’s what she kept telling herself, night after night.

“He probably would,” she added, completely ignoring his previous words. They’d both come to an understanding that she was better off as she was, no more and no less. Except she had so much more to offer, so much negativity and so much hostility. “What if I told you I’m not as good as you think I am? I reached out to Athena for a reason, and it wasn’t to enquire about her well-being.” Clo tucked one leg under the other and turned in her seat. It was her turn to try and survey his features, to gauge the safety of the subject based on his eyes and his mouth.

Clover still had the journal entry. The paper had been burning a hole in its hiding place, so she’d smoothed out the wrinkles and tucked it back into her journal. She was waiting. Waiting for him to discover the page. Waiting for him to confront her about the page. And yet she didn’t want to call attention to her most recent entry. Clo wanted him to find the page on his own time, at just the right time. Maybe he wasn’t ready.


<Jesse Fforde> Jesse snorted. Yeah, he probably would. Some of the things that Victor had told him were a little… strange. A bit creepy, really. But for all that he claimed to ‘feel’ Jesse, to be soothed by his presence, Jesse rarely saw him. He didn’t need that kind of pressure, or responsibility. Victor was a grown man and didn’t need to be coddled by someone he so fondly liked to call ‘kid’. Victor may have been older, but Jesse had to wonder whether he’d lost a few years, somewhere. He’d probably lost them to drink.

As Clover turned to look up at Jesse, Jesse turned to look down at her. He’d been so lost in his thoughts about Victor that he almost didn’t hear what she’d said; but the words finally settled, late. Jesse’s brain deciphered them and he just shook his head. What was she talking about, now?

“I know you’re not good. What do you mean by good? We… I mean we’ve killed families. We have fun spilling blood. We…” he laughed, thinking of all the things that they had done which defied any definition of the word ‘good’. Again, he shook his head. “You’re going to have to elaborate. Please, explain…” he said. It wasn’t a question. He wanted to hear more, to know more. He wanted to know what was going on in Clover’s head. He always wanted to know what was going on in Clover’s head. It was such a fascinating place. He wondered, sometimes, whether he would ever really, truly know her.

He tried to imagine what else Clover could have gone to Athena for, but he came up blank. Honestly, he didn’t know Athena all that well. He’d never had a conversation with her, just her. Whatever interaction he’d had with her was clouded with the memory of violence and bloodlust. Anything else he had to go on was conjecture.


<Clover> “I should just show you and get it over with. It’s part of the honesty,” she sighed. “You can’t just...don’t freak out. Whenever I reread it, I do. I’m disgusted. I reached out to Athena because she understands, and I was looking for advice on how to better deal with this issue, and it is an issue.” For a moment, Clo looked as if she were going to remain seated, but then she got to her feet. “I’ll be back,” she mumbled, leaving him there to go and collect the infamous journal. Nothing she said could have helped with the preparation, so she just had to swallow her doubts and her fears; she had to finally show him that page she’d hidden, moved, and replaced.

Perhaps he could have offered her advice, something more than Athena had to offer, but Clover had panicked and hidden the problems away. She swept her weaknesses under the rug and hoped that he would never discover them. Jesse had to see her as something more than a collection of faults, more than an example of weakness. They were more than representations of their worst qualities. The book burned figurative holes in her hands, but she forced the discomfort aside and returned to the couch. Clo curled against him as if she’d never left him, and she offered him the book. The torn page had been replaced inside, taped back into its original place; the wrinkles had been smoothed out, or as much as possible.

“You know I get possessive of you. I just care,” Clo tried explaining. Her words were meant soften the blow, but they paled in comparison to the journal entry. Nothing could have properly prepared him, but she’d decided to try. “I was upset, I think. I’m not really sure anymore. I just...I wasn’t...it’s not that bad,” she tried to lie, “but it is bad. I think it’s bad. It’s pretty bad.” Her rambling wasn’t helping, and her words came to a close. Nothing else needed said, and she had a feeling he’d place a hand over her mouth, if she continued rambling while he tried reading.