trans_9 | Midnight walk

Entry tags:

Midnight walk

She had lost. Well, of course she had lost. She had expected to lose. The was really little chance of her winning. She had known that. The election hadn't been for actually gaining the position, but making herself known on the ship.

Still, that didn't mean that losing the election didn't hurt her pride. She had logically never expected to win, but emotionally she had expected it. Perhaps even felt entitled to it.

She had other things that she was free to do now, things that would continue to move her plan forward, but for now she ignored Kano's urging for her to keep moving with her plan. Instead she wandered among a labyrinth of flowers and shrubs of all sizes and species. Benches were placed periodically among the plants to sit and relax. Several fountains dotted the twists and turns of the path. The garden itself was half surrounded by a chest high wall, the other rounded wall was made of sheer rock face and was dotted with little white flowers that sparkled in the moonlight. They grew along the walls as well, so that the outer line of the garden seemed to be surrounded by silver. Closer investigation would reveal that the flowers were covered in a thin, clear mucous. One should still be careful by the chest-high wall, since just beyond that was the rest of the mountain face.

Every so often Nanashi would stop any bury her face in some of the flowers, taking in a deep breath, absorbing the scent of the flowers.

She was so lost in her own musings that she didn't even realize she had left the sensorium door open- which replaced the usual door to the garden. It helped that a great burst of wild flowers helped to block off the view of most of the door.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She straightened and pressed against him a bit, resting her head on his shoulder. "I wasn't told many stories as a child. I know many now though. Many of my children are talented story tellers."

She was smiling softly, gazing at the flowers. She reached out a hand and gently caressed the petals.

"It's not so much storytelling as movies, TV, and books and stuff. America lost its oral tradition centuries ago," he replied. He glanced over at her with a kind of fond smile.

"But this really is wonderful. I might need to mention to my Lord and Lady they should consider a garden like this in the future."

Nanashi smiled, "It is a wonderful garden. The right flowers must be chosen carefully in this case, since being made on a mountain cliff they get strong light in the evening just before sundown, but get almost no light in the morning."

She began to wander towards the far part of the garden where the wall protected people from falling over the cliff edge. "Many flowers burn out in such light."

He followed her out to the wall. "This is a fantastic view..." he whispered. "I've been a lot of places, but this beats most of them."

Nanashi smiled brightly, "You honestly believe so? I have not been many places of the like to judge."

She turned to the little white flowers that covered the wall. Their petals were soft, silky, but the stems, leaves and exposed roots on the rock seemed to shine in the moonlight, the way the light reflected off this gel-like coating that covered them. If you looked carefully you could see them shine dotted across the mountain face.

"These," she said, "Are the Vampire's Flower- Moon Flowers. An old name for our race was the Moon Childern, though the humans do not even remember that name. Many vampires have forgotten as well. This flower hides from the sun, and this oil protects the parts that remain exposed."

He nodded. "That's not a name I've heard before either. I'm kind of jealous that you know all of this ancient history. For us, we've been in hiding for so long, the veracity of anything older than a certain point is highly questionable."

Nanashi leaned into him, draping her arm around his shoulders and resting her head on his shoulder, having completely forgotten her decision to distance herself from Sam. It just came to her so naturally. "I would not believe everything that is written in our history books, but indeed, it is nice to have an idea of your history."

She looked out over the cliff, various towns and other cities visible in the distance, roads winding between them like little veins, broken only by great patches of forest. A grand lake even sparkled some distance away.

He wrapped an arm around her waist when she draped an arm on him. He was used to women taller than him. He looked out over the expanse, an easy smile on his face. "Thank you for showing me this," he said, looking over at her.

She smiled back warmly, "I am glad I got to show you this." She squeezed his shoulders gently, and forgetting all decorum and all the cultural differences she had learned about, she kissed him softly on the cheek.

While he really had no room to be so bashful, his biology said otherwise, and he turned pink. "And, I'm glad I've met you." He looked up at her, out of necessity.

Nanashi wasn't used to hearing that sort of thing very often. Not from an adult at least. Her growing attachment to the other vampire showed in the way that she blushed, and in the fact that she did not challenge his honesty.

The mere fact that she believed him went to show how low she had dropped her guard. her lips tingled, wanting to steal another kiss, but on the lips this time. She considered it, but no, his wife. It would put a wall up that would be hard to break back down. No, she wanted that wall down, but she also somehow wanted to make him forget about her.

She smiled warmly down at him and gently caressed his cheek. "And I, you. It has been centuries since I have cared about an adult as I do you." She had said those words without thinking, and immediately wished she could take them back. She didn't like the idea of anyone knowing he was her weakness. She managed to conciel her concern, however, by smiling even more warmly.

He turned more red, and looked back down in a kind of awkward bashfulness. "Ah... Dammit..." he grumbled, but it was only out of annoyance over the reactions of his pubescent body. He scrubbed his face and smoothed a hand over his head, stopping to give his hair tie a quick check to make sure it was still holding tight. A nervous habit. "It's times like this I'm glad Jared's not here. I would never hear the end of it." He chuckled a bit.

Nanashi laughed warmly and embraced him, lifting him off the ground with ease. She kissed his cheek again, greedy now that he had all but given her permission to do that affectionate gesture. She set him down on the wall on a patch with no flowers.

She took her hand in his, smiling, "Do you wish to see the burial grounds of the Dragons? It can only be accessed through flight. It is immensely sad, but incredibly beautiful. It is a place only for the eyes of Dragons and their children, the vampires."

He calmed a bit, attuned to to seriousness of her offer. He nodded. "I'd be honored," he replied sincerely.

She took the younger vampire into her arms with ease, and rose off the ground with no apparent aid. She soared across the mountain-side for about ten minutes, even at her inhuman speed. She went over the crest of a mountain peak, and suddenly a great valley that stretched for miles in all directions, so that the far-off mountains seemed to almost belong to a completely separate range.

She set Sam down on a clifface with stairs leading down into the valley. Across the land were various lakes and forests and hills, all seeming to shine with an otherworldly light. Bones littered the view in varying levels of decay, with some of the great dragon beasts looking as if they might wake up any moment and fly off. Their scales glowed in the same way as did the land, and closer inspection would reveal that it was because the scales of many of this once great race dusted the entire valley like a blanket of snow.

"Legend says that when a dragon chooses to die, they become a part of the earth again in greater ways than other species. They become these hills, these lakes, these forests, as they decay, only leaving behind their scales. Supposedly these sacred lands were blessed, so that any dragon born here grew faster and stronger than those born elsewhere. Once this was a place of both life and death, but since humans hunted the dragons to extinction... Only silence and death has been here. No other creatures dare enter this sacred place." She spoke even softer and smoother than usual with a reverent tone. It was as if she was afraid the air that came from her lungs as she spoke might disturb the rest of these creatures. Once she was done speaking, she did not dare take in a breath.

It was hard to tell if the weight in the air was caused by Nanashi's bias, or if it really existed, but the fact that not a single creature's heart beat- besides those of Sam and Nanashi- could be heard for miles suggested that there was some truth to Nanashi's story. The silence in the air that settled after Nanashi finished speaking could practically be cut with a knife.

Sam felt a bit silly being carried like he was, but since there was no one there to see, he quickly got over it. He enjoyed the view, and the wind blowing through his hair. It was not long into their journey when the tie holding it under control was blown away. Once he was set down, he took a few minutes to take in the landscape. It was an imposing vista indeed. The forms of dragons, the ground littered with scales, and the thick scent of bloodless death in the air took his breath away.

He turned to her as though he'd wanted to speak, but no words came to him. He searched for a moment, but then just settled into a look of grateful wonder at the scene around him. Words just failed.

Nanashi smiled at Sam and trailed her fingers down his arm, briefly holding his hand as she went to sit on the edge of the cliff, fearless of the hight. She motioned for Sam to sit next to her with a slight smile on her face.

Her eyes were half lidded as she breathed in the air deeply, glancing across the valley.

He followed her, and sat beside her. "Thank you," he said quietly. "This is incredible." He sat near to her, his hand brushing against hers. He used his gift of enhanced sight to the fullest, taking in all of the details he could. "There is nothing like this back home."

Nanashi slid her hand on top of his with a soft smile and leaned in, "I am so sorry, both that you did not have anything of this sort at home, and that this is a poor shade of the real glory. I only wish I could take you to the real valley. It is so filled with hidden corners, we could explore for a millennia, and still only know a part of the realm. If we were to really explore, it would be rather incomplete."

He was a bit sad that the sensorium could only replicate what one remembered. Sure he could replicate the architecture of his home, but none of the little details he was too busy to notice, or the warmth that filled it when Lady Katarina was cooking something special for her family. He could introduce the people in his life to his new world with it, but Lord Ruthwen would not have the same aura of power around him that he truly did. It would be a lie. He promised himself, that no matter how homesick he got, no matter how low he sank, he would never bring such an artificial entity into his life.

He nodded, and continued to enjoy the view.

Unlike Sam, Nanashi seemed to be bringing these artificial entities into being in the sensoriums all the time. She was dwelling on what she lost, reclaiming it in the only way she could.

Frankly, this could quickly become an issue. Her mental state was such that it made such re-creations dangerous. Kano and Chiharu both were waiting for her to show signs of weakness so that they might torture her some more. Besides their appearances, it seemed so easy that she might just slip into an eternal daydream, spending all her time in he sensoriums.

Unconsious of all this, Nanashi just continued to smile, lacing her fingers with Sam's and resting her head on his shoulder, watching the ways in which the moonlight played across the land and trying to ignore that extra flutter to her heart.

He felt his adolescence rear its head, flushing his face all the worse, alongside all of the other relevant biological effects. He had the strong urge to kiss her, to see if she tasted as good as she smelled. But he chewed his lip with his front upper teeth in resistance. But he really couldn't hold back the extension of his fangs.

This was so not the place, definitely not the time, and he was so very married, married, married, that he probably owed his wife a full explanation for these urges, even though he technically hadn't even done anything yet. Sometimes, he wondered if there was something to the common accusation that he was too good for his own good.

He looked back over at Nanashi, and let go of his lower lip. He closed his eyes to try and get himself back under control.

Nanashi looked up at Sam's face. Seeing his eyes closed, the way his lashes so gently brushed his skin, she grew jealous of them. He was something she wanted, and she still was not accustomed to being denied. She stretched her neck out, moving ever so slightly closer, aiming to press her lips against his.

Her mind was torn, not wanting to give into her feelings, but at the same time she was angry with herself for so vehemently denying herself. She ignored Kano's mocking, that she could never replace him, that she would only be submitting herself to more pain. That she submitted so well.

No. This would end differently. She would make sure it ended differently. She would make sure it wouldn't end. It couldn't end. It had to be different.

Sam, of course, had no idea of what was about to happen. Not until her lips touched his, of course. That kicked his brain back into gear. High gear. He could almost hear Angelina's voice now.

"Samuel! What do you think you're doing?"

Yeah, she'd sound something like that.

Wait. He looked up, and toward the voice.

There she was. Looking just as aghast and angry as he'd expect. She stood there, tall and beautiful, her long red hair in a ponytail that blew in the breeze. She wore a simple, casual white dress, that revealed a small, but obvious baby bump.

"A-A-Angelina..." he stammered. How had he created her here? He hadn't done it on purpose. He was horrified. He focused on reminding himself that she wasn't really there. Her scent had come on all at once, not the gradual build that occurs when one comes near to and enters a room.

Nanashi's head snapped to look at the intruder.

She was beautiful.

She didn't need to be told who it was. It was Sam's wife, courtesy the sensoriums.

"Ha! Fool! What more did you expect? Did you expect him to turn on his lovely wife?" Nanashi's will to keep Kano buried was failing her. His voice echoed in the sensorium, coming from everywhere and no where, "Look at her, she's even more beauiful than you! And kinder, I'd guess. Not that that's very difficult, murderess. Seductress, you're loosing it. You know why? It's because you're feeling compassion. Did you really forget what I taugh-"

"Silence, cur." Nanashi stood, looking between Sam and his sensorium-wife with a sort of fury. It wasn't anything like her normal temper, which was violent and mocking, but instead there was a sort of look of pain and self-hatred.

Why did she keep telling herself that she could have Sam? He was far too connected to this woman here. But...
"Why do you focus on her so? She is surely dead, and if she is not, what makes you think she will wake up? She is gone. There is a certain time frame in which loved ones will wake by, and that time has passed. None of the people we loved in our worlds will show up. They are all gone."

Sure, it had been a ploy, a manipulation, but some how, her words sounded so real. Real enough that her blood-tinted tears began to slide down her cheeks.

Midnight walk

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

She's gonna have to pick him up and carry him!

Yeah because he's gonna need a lot of work before he can do the bat thing |D

kekeke

Re: kekeke

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)