Aubin
Aurillian
Posts: 64
|
Post by Aubin on Mar 30, 2007 18:43:29 GMT -5
By midnight the trendy bars and discos of Valir’s entertainment complex were in full swing and at full or nearly full capacity. Humans and Vampyr’s intermingled at tables, on the dance floor, and at bars, although for the most part only the Vampyr’s knew of the co-habitation of the two distinct and very different species. Near the Opera House one of these Vampyrs, the artist Aubin, sought refuge in the semi-darkness of a trendy club/bar hybrid that went by the moniker ‘The Loft.’ Amid the pulsing base, black marble floors, polished wood walls, and combination recessed and mood lighting it was easy to miss the man hunched over the bar who was quietly but dutifully drinking himself through several of resident sommelier’s best vintages. Although decidedly more underdressed that most of the clientele in a simple ensemble of boots, trousers, shirt, suspenders, and (admittedly) a long and expensive jacket, no one cast their eye on Aubin long enough to reflect that he didn’t exactly fit in.
Then again, Aubin hadn’t exactly fit in the party he had left to be here. He had spent two hours prior to his arrival in The Loft at a swank soiree in the home of an Aurillian gentleman far too famous to actually need a name to be known. Aubin’s leaving so early had been decidedly rude (and not only because the soiree was being held in his honour) but the Vampyr had been unable to withstand any more insipid chatter about cheese, wine, or the latest reform bill and his agent, Illiam, had wisely seen fit to turn a blind eye to Aubin’s departure and make his excuses for him after the artist had taken his fill of the host’s food and thoroughly fucked the host’s wife (which, upon later reflection, probably wasn’t exactly polite either). The host had fortunately not been offended (on either count) and chalked it up to Aubin’s ‘artistic personality.’ Aubin personally chalked up the night’s failure to entertain as a symptom of the host’s ‘asshole personality.’
Now comfortably anonymous amid a sea of noise that was so loud it was fairly easy to ignore the stray, unguarded thoughts of the jubilant humans around him, Aubin had returned, once again, to his work. For hours now he had been bent over a cocktail napkin sketching a image that had come unbidden into the forefront of his consciousness. Rather than resisting the inspiration, Aubin followed the creative spark wherever it led him, slowly sketching out an idea for a painting that he knew perfectly well he had never considered on any conscious or intellectual level. Leaning back he examined his work in progress, perplexed by its meaning. He understood, of course, the ancient glyphs and symbols that he had rendered and he knew very well how to translate and understand the meaning of various instances of iconography present. But what he couldn’t fathom was the figure at the centre of the image, a female nude, who was at once unfamiliar and yet perfectly well known to himself.
Frowning, Aubin leaned back in his seat, glaring first at the picture and then at nothing in particular. Hoping to break the trance of the mystery surrounding the girl he turned his gaze into the crowd, studying the faces of the diners, dancers, and drinkers. He recognized several faces among the crowd but he made no move to acknowledge them, nor did they attempt to acknowledge him. He was just turning back to his pictorial conundrum when movement caught the corner of his eye, a sudden flash dark brown hair, and he was compelled (why, he would wonder later) to turn and gaze fully at the subject.
And then, just like that, there she was. Dancing with her friends on the floor some 30 feet away, completely unknown to Aubin and decidedly human, there was the nude from his picture. Aubin blinked once, twice, then accepted the fact that the girl was the picture and the picture was the girl. His unconsciousness must have felt her in the room, must have seen her when Aubin didn’t. Gesturing for the bar tender to defend his seat from poachers (and flashing his fangs in a movement far too fast for human eyes to see at a young, lean Vampyr who seemed poised to ignore the ‘tenders protestations) Aubin stood, pocketed his drawing, and made his way silently towards the girl. Once at the edge of the woman’s party he paused and stared quietly at her, obviously hoping to hail her attention but not quite yet ready to demand it.
|
|
Vae
Human
due to patient/doctor confidentiality, I can't tell myself anything
Posts: 47
|
Post by Vae on Mar 31, 2007 0:58:46 GMT -5
A rare evening off. Well okay, maybe not so rare now that she had cut back her days at the hospital. Vae supposed she shuold really refer to the evening as a rare evening out, or perhaps even more specifically as a rare evening out where she felt almost excactly, in entirety, the way she felt before she ever heard the word "leukemia" uttered in her presence without referencing someone else's condition. There was life, laughter, and gaiety. Hospitals, needles, mortality rates, and treatment options were the farthest things from her mind. These were the moments that made you feel alive; people who jumped out of planes were just complicating things.
The music was bounding through The Loft though it was emanating from another part of the room they were in. It made her chest bones rattle and her breath feel oddly deep but stolen. It was exhilarating, even though for the moment they were taking a break from teh giratingly smooth movements of the dance floor. They were catching their breath and the cool air conditioned atmosphere near the bar felt wonderful. Their drinks slowly disappeared, her friends' more quickly than her own, and with them their inhibitions.
"And so the guy stumbles out butt friggin naked, and we're all straining to see who he was in there with, right?" Mannie was telling one of her fabulous stories, hips still nodding in time as she played with the stabbed olives in her martini. "And then who came out but our Lit professor Mr. Drooms!! Married and drunk as a skunk! So we're all ducking for cover so he doesn't see us, and then Jared stands up and yells, 'Hey Mr. Drooms! If I promise not to tell your wife about this do I get an A on my next paper?' And then Mr. Drooms says, " Here Mannie did an impressive imitation of Vae's former literature teacher, showing that this acting degree was paying off, "'Only if you manage to turn in the paper, Mr. Arntz, so not bloody likely.'"
The group chortled into their drinks, high on alcohol and the euphoria of the evening. As they all lifted their glasses the song overhead changed, shifting to a slower and off-kilter beat. "Uh oh! Vaedra... it's our soo-oong!" called Andrew, moving closer to his taller friend and beginning a geeky, retro, hammed-up dance that he apparently expected her to join in on. She protested at first, groaning at 'Drew, but eventually his ridiculousness was too much to fight and she gave in. Her own silly moves were just as painful to watch as his, and Mannie and Drake were howling with laughter and calls for them to stop when Mannie noticed Aubin's quiet approach and inspection of Devaedra.
"Hi!" she called out to the man, waving for him to come closer. She was carefree and outgoing on her shiest day, and she had already had a few drinks in her. But hey, she thought the guy was cute, and it had been far too long since she saw her friend hook up with anyone. "Join us!" she invited, smiling brightly. In the meantime Vae and Andrew's dancing slowed and they both turned to inspect the newest arrival curiously. Not quite understanding where all of this was going, since she hadn't seen his look, Vae could only tuck a strand of long hair behind her ear and stuff her hands into her back pockets. Andrew looked wary of Mannie taking over the situation like this and Drake just looked like someone had killed his kitten.
"I'm Mannie!" the smaller girl continued, nodding to each of her friends in turn. "This is Andrew, Drake," she paused significantly and then motioned to the taller girl beside her. "And this is Vae." Vae managed a smile of greeting, her eyes almost apologetic but also a little cagey of this newcomer that Mannie seemed so ready to push her off onto. She rolled her lips together and nodded her head slowly, before realizing half a moment later than she should that Mannie had left it up to her to ask the obvious.
"And you are?"
|
|
Aubin
Aurillian
Posts: 64
|
Post by Aubin on Mar 31, 2007 1:42:25 GMT -5
The cheerful greeting forced Aubin to break his focus and turn away from the dark haired girl and her…intriguing…dancing. Slowly, smoothly, Aubin turned his head to look at Mannie and then, after returning her greeting with a silent nod, to each of the party as they were named. He offered no greeting to either of the men beyond a brief flicker of direct eye contact and gave the woman, Vae the small one called her, a soft smile as her named was announced. Old instincts learned so long ago they had become ingrained kicked in as silently and unconsciously Aubin considered and classified each of the woman’s friends. The garrulous speaker was obviously the fun one, or at least the one who was generally loud enough to be considered fun, the sort that could probably be easily convinced to drink too much and then go into some dark, secluded corner of the bar with a stranger. The first male was more cautious, less certain, and probably would have been the hardest to hunt in the days when humans really did have to be hunted down with thought and animal cunning. The second male was perhaps the alpha male, or at least, Aubin thought silently, the one who wanted to be the Alpha male assuming Human men were allowed such a role anymore. And then there was Vae who Aubin couldn’t get a read on. There was something different about her, something hidden, something too far beneath the surface for the Vampyr to easily identify and understand.
“I’m Aubin,” he offered, forced to shout a little over the music, “it’s nice to meet you. All of you,” he added a moment later, glancing briefly at the woman’s three friends again. He offered all three a smile this time, one that was somewhere between friendly and nervous, before gesturing to the drinks that they held. “Can I buy you lot another round?” he asked, still forced to shout at the music changed to something with a whining, repetitive bass that made Aubin’s fangs throb, “I was just about to get another. What about you, Vae?”
He turned again to the woman, studying her intently as best he could without unnerving her (a trait that Vampyrs seemed to share, or at least it seemed to Aubin). He offered her something of a sheepish grin and added hopefully, “What are you drinking this evening?”
|
|
Vae
Human
due to patient/doctor confidentiality, I can't tell myself anything
Posts: 47
|
Post by Vae on Mar 31, 2007 2:24:24 GMT -5
She thought he had a peculiar air about him. At first she thought him rather too quiet, a very hasty judgment born probably out of Mannie's dominating the conversation than any fault of Aubin's. Then he smiled and it was a nice sort of smile, not that nice smiles meant anything since anyone can have a nice smile, but it looked genuine enough and the touch of nervousness that donned it made her feel kindred to him. She felt relief immediately. She didn't know how she was going to deal with one of those really 'suave' men pressing in on her with their obvious intentions, so Aubin's friendly interest was allaying.
She fought the urge to raise her eyebrows as he offered to buy them all another round - hey they were poor college students/poor ex-students, and that kind of purchase seemed rather big to them - and even Drake who still looked like he'd been kicked between the legs seemed to brighten at the idea. Each of the trio shifted in their places while they tried to think of a gracious way to accept the offer, but luckily Aubin offered them an easy way out by turning his offer more personally to Vae. She reflected a demure but nevertheless grateful smile back at him, and only thought a moment before she responded, accepting his offer. "Cranberry and vodka," she answered, lifting her glass and making the ice cubes clink. She could feel the silent cheer from Mannie as Aubin wandered off to fulfill their orders, and when he was out of earshot the floodgates were opened.
"Cute and rich! Oh you have so got to let him take you home," Mannie advised, at which Vae could only laugh. Drake put his face in his hands and groaned loudly while Andrew made a comment about 'whoring out her friends' but Mannie insisted. "No, really! He has to banking, just look..." She trailed off, lifting her fingers to her mouth as she had a dawning realization. "Oh my God. Oh my God, Vae, he's the guy! The artist guy that I was telling you about, the one my Dad was throwing a party for tonight? He's really famous!" She shook her head in awe. "Oh you so have to do him."
"I do not have to do any such - " She interrupted her protests as Aubin returned, and she flashed him a brilliant smile to compensate for Mannie's insinuations even though he hadn't heard them (she assumed). "Thank you!" she told him, accepting her drink. Mannie, however, was a woman on a mission.
"So, Aubin. What do you do?" Her eyes slid sideways at Vae and she smirked into her drink, which made Vae want to crawl under the table and hide. Did she have to be so obvious??
|
|
Aubin
Aurillian
Posts: 64
|
Post by Aubin on Mar 31, 2007 12:11:48 GMT -5
Fortunately for Vae’s personal sense of embarrassment, Aubin did not hear Mannie’s dawning realization of who he was, nor did he hear Mannie’s suggestion on how Vae should deal with Aubin’s fame. His attention at the time had been focused on manoeuvring through the gyrating crowd on the dance floor without spilling the humans’ drinks or losing the waiter who followed close behind bearing five additional glasses and the very expensive red wine Aubin had ordered along with the martinis. When he returned to the group he carefully doled out the glasses, first to the ladies, and then to the men. As he passed Vae her drink he made sure to do it in such a way that their fingers bumped briefly, a flash of skin on skin contact that looked innocent despite its being planned. He blushed at the touch and looked away, mouthing an apology that he didn’t mean and watched from the corner of his eye to see how the woman would respond.
Vae still discreetly watched, Aubin turned his attention to the chatty member of the group. He smiled faintly at her question, managing to look embarrassed in the way humans for some reason often felt people should look when they admit they have dedicated their lives to art rather than more traditional labours. “I’m a working artist,” he said, glancing down at the glass of wine the waiter had handed him, “paintings mostly, some sculpture.” He debated adding that his work wasn’t important or known but decided not to least one of the party catch him in a lie and think he was milking for compliments which he decidedly wasn’t.
“What about you?” he asked, glancing at Mannie first, then the men, then, finally, Vae, “What do you all do?”
Aubin leaned back, waiting to hear the replies. He was honestly interested in what each of the young people did as he felt their professions might say something more about their personalities and their roles in the clearly close knit group. He was of course most eager to learn about Vae. Something about her had caught his attention before he had even known it was wandering; there must have been a reason his vampyric senses singled her out, after all.
|
|
Vae
Human
due to patient/doctor confidentiality, I can't tell myself anything
Posts: 47
|
Post by Vae on Mar 31, 2007 18:49:16 GMT -5
Mannie's nudge of the elbow at Aubin's response wasn't entirely accidental, but Vae ignored it. Contrary to the way Mannie was currently acting she was capable of attracting men on her own. Her dating had slouched a little since she had started work at the hospital, or perhaps more realistically since a few weeks later once she knew everyone and there was no more mystery surrounding her or the men she worked with. The slump didn't bother her much; with everything else she had on her plate it was nice not to worry about the neediness and wantonness of a boyfriend. Mannie was convinced she was 'losing her touch.'
"Well," Andrew began, pushing his black glasses further up onto his nose, "I'm studying pathology and biochemistry, in the hopes of working at the disease research facility at the hospital and one day curing cancer." Vae swallowed but said nothing, waiting for someone else to go on as if speaking so soon after the word 'cancer' would give her away. It was Andrew who continued, "Drake's going to be a surgeon when he finally gets out of school, and Mannie... is just trying to make a record for most dramatic break ups in a six month period." The young man took a sip of his drink and then pretended to make a 'what?' face when Mannie punched him in the arm.
"Actually," Drake continued in defense of the girl, "she's going to be a brilliant actress." Mannie folded her arms and stuck her tongue out at Drew, looking very pleased at this intervention. Drake's next words were colored with an even stronger sense of admiration and pride, subtly, more in the look he gave than in the tone of his voice. His eyes were trained on Vae. "And Vae graduated early and is working at Sacred Heart."
Smiling, Vae nodded her head in a small bow at Drake's intro. "Mmmm, the oh-so respectable employment of kissing ass and making coffee runs." She went on, joking, "If you think a medical internship is a real job I can recommend a very good mental ward." She laughed. It would have all been worth it if she could make it into physical therapy like she'd been hoping; now it was more just something she did to pay the bills. Besides, one day, if they made a break through, it could be her stepping out of those wheel chairs, winning her life back.
|
|
Aubin
Aurillian
Posts: 64
|
Post by Aubin on Mar 31, 2007 20:46:05 GMT -5
Aubin had noticed the shift in Drake’s demeanour and intonation when he offered his little insight into Vae’s career and recent history. This, the Vampyr thought, explained the Alpha Male impression he had picked up earlier. The youth was interested in Vae, a fact Aubin wasn’t entirely sure Vae was perceptive of, despite the fact that he, Drake, was doing a poor job of hiding it. This made Drake slightly more interesting for the moment and Aubin made a mental note to keep a close watch on the would-be surgeon throughout the night.
“Well,” offered Aubin in the verbal lull that followed Vae’s self-effacing joke, “the medical field, on any level, is a noble professor. As are,” he added with a smile at Mannie, “the arts. It’s a subject related to the second profession, actually, that inspired me to come over. I am, as you know, and artist. And I was wondering,” Aubin turned slightly so he was facing Vae, his question clearly intended for her rather than an open invitation to everyone, “if you would be interested in doing some modelling to that effect? I have a project in mind that you would be ideal for…”
Aubin drifted into silence, studying Vae’s response intently with all his senses, including those that had been heightened since his Embrace. He expected at least some confusion on the girl’s part and, he suspected, no small measure of resistance. Had Aubin asked Mannie he had no doubt the girl would agree without any hesitation but Vae, he suspected, would not be so easily convinced. Drake, Aubin felt certain, would voice an objection but Aubin wasn’t worried that he held any actual veto power with the intern. The other male likely wouldn’t approve either but his antipathy towards the idea would, Aubin assumed, register the least consideration of them all.
Glancing briefly at Mannie, mostly to check and see if she might help him convince Vae to relent, he added simply, “If you’d like to see some of my work first I would, of course, understand…”
|
|
Vae
Human
due to patient/doctor confidentiality, I can't tell myself anything
Posts: 47
|
Post by Vae on Mar 31, 2007 23:07:43 GMT -5
The chorus of reactions at Aubin's request were as follows. Andrew raised his eyebrows until they met his eyebrows, admiring for a moment the balls o' steel this Aubin fellow must have. He raised his beer to his lips without any further feeling on the subject either way. Mannie gasped, thinking what a fantastic offer Aubin had just made. She would, of course, have accepted in a heart beat, if only because her parents would see the painting and that would make them so angry, it would be amazing! Drake simply looked as if he'd had the wind knocked out of him; he was trying to figure out just how he was going to compete with this Aupinhead without looking like he was competing (because if Vae continued to hold out Mannie was totally crunching on him and he might as well have a cute bird in his bed than not). The most important reaction, however, was by far the least colorful.
She was, for a moment, too surprised to register any feelings either way. But when emotion did creep into her features, it was mostly amusement. She lifted a hand to her chest, her eyes flipping first one way and another before they landed back on Aubin's. "You mean... me?" she asked, air full of incredulousness. She shook her head in confusion. "Can't you, like, pay people for that kind of thing?" She was fighting the urge to laugh, perhaps more out of nervousness at having been approached at all but also because the request genuinely shocked her. She looked in the mirror nowadays and only saw a sick girl. And he wanted to paint her? Wait... is that what he was painting? A sick girl picture??
"I mean..." She continued, biting her lip slightly before asking straight out, "Why me?"
|
|
Aubin
Aurillian
Posts: 64
|
Post by Aubin on Apr 1, 2007 0:21:34 GMT -5
Aubin had been looking at Vae when each of her friends responded to his request in their own way. Despite this, he registered all the reactions telepathically and was, to be honest, rather surprised by each and every one. He had expected the loud, high-spirited group to respond vocally and their mass silence went against every preconceived notion the Vampyr had for the three individuals. Had his gaze not been so completely and resolutely locked on Vae his surprise at the three would likely have caused him to turn and study each of the faces in detail.
Instead, however, Aubin only offered Vae another of his half-sheepish smiles. “Models are paid, yes,” he explained, “and I would of course pay you for your time. Would $200 an hour be sufficient? I assume you’re a novice, if you have some experience I would of course be willing to pay more…”
Aubin trailed off and offered the girl, and then her friends, another smile. He then reached into the interior pocket of his coat and produced the pen he had been using previously at the bar. He put this pen to a napkin that was, thankfully, free of both damp semi-circles and liquor stains and began to sketch quickly. The image he had sketched at the bar was replicated on the napkin bit by bit, coming faster now that the image had already once been drawn and the idea itself had solidified in his mind. As he drew, Aubin spoke, although this time his gaze was directed not at his companions but at the task before him.
“You’ll work well for this project,” he explained, “One might even say you’re ideal. You have the sort of beauty that would compliment this project; alluring, thought provoking…obviously beautiful but, at the same time, obviously not just beautiful.”
Aubin glanced up then, blushing once again. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, “I’m rambling. But this,” he handed the sketch to Vae, “is a rough version of the project I’d like you for.”
The drawing, though rougher, was an exact copy of the one currently tucked away in his pocket. It featured at the centre of it a female nude that bore a passing resemblance to Vae, but it was not so much like her as to be alarming. Although the nude took up a central position on the proposed canvas it was clear that the woman’s nudity was not the point of the painting, nor was it a central factor. Strange glyphs and a foreign, curling writing that was incomprehensible to any human currently alive drew the eye away from the body but, even in this rough version, it was evident that there was some connection, some unknown meaning, between the naked body and that text that surrounded and covered her.
“It would have an expressionist bent,” offered Aubin, who seemed completely unmoved by the fact that he had just asked Vae to be appear naked before him, “soft colours; primarily pinks, reds, yellows, and oranges. Some blues as well. The moments of fine detail would come in the glyphs rather than the body.”
|
|
Vae
Human
due to patient/doctor confidentiality, I can't tell myself anything
Posts: 47
|
Post by Vae on Apr 1, 2007 0:50:41 GMT -5
The silence of the rest of the party had been largely due to a small amount of respect owing to Aubin's very personal request of Vae, and their own curiosity to see how she would reply. But at the mention of $200 an hour, which was a large sum to any college student, their comparative silence ended. Mannie choked on her drink, Drake's hands fell with a reverberating 'thud' onto the table (as in thud, damn, I can't compete with that!) and Andrew raised one long finger into the air and noted that if Vae said no, he was available for modeling tuesdays and thursdays after eight and all weekend long. It was Vae's turn for the silent reaction; her jaw opened in a look that was neither faked or theatrical, merely stunned.
As Aubin began to sketch Vae pretended to scratch her neck in order to get a gander at her three friends. She mouthed the words 'Oh my GOD' rather inconspicuously, and Mannie's just as loud mouthed answer was, 'I KNOW.' Andrew shrugged and lifted his beer as if to say 'Why the hell not?' and Drake leaned back heavily in his chair, clearly unhappy with the idea. That much, at least, Aubin had predicted correctly. Their opinions thus registered Vae returned her attention to Aubin's quickly moving hands.
She watched the sketch take shape curiously. When it became obvious that she was to be nude in the piece she tilted her chin in preparation for a blush that never quite touched her cheeks. She was distracted by his rough outline of what the painting was to be; it intrigued her. She recognized herself in it and yet it didn't feel like herself. It felt like someone altogether more worldly, experienced, ancient. She raised her eyes to his when he glanced up, allowing a touch of embarrassment to grace her eyes but not, actually, because of the nudity but instead because she had been staring so steadfastly at his pen while it worked that she felt somehow voyeuristic. She accepted the sketch from him and blinked at it more slowly, thoughtfully, her mouth resting in the cup of her hand as she had a tendency to do when considering things.
She looked up from the short work, the stiff paper cloth bending between the pressure of her light hold. She listened attentively to Aubin's description of the work as he envisioned it, though she had largely already made up her mind as to how to respond. When he had finished his description she looked down at the sketch again, searching her soul once more just to be sure she found the same answer there she had the first time. And then she answered.
"Would it be possible to see more of your work, before I decide?" It was Drake's turn to look shocked, Andrew faked disappointment at not being able to steal her glory, and Mannie clapped and squealed lightly. Vae rolled her eyes to her friend. "I'm not saying I'll do it," and then she returned her look to Aubin, "I'm just curious enough to ask for more details."
|
|
Aubin
Aurillian
Posts: 64
|
Post by Aubin on Apr 1, 2007 1:27:01 GMT -5
“Of course,” replied Aubin easily, “that wouldn’t be a problem.”
The Vampyr offered the human a smile that was both friendly and business like. He knew that many people would have simply refused had they been asked by a stranger to pose nude, even at rate of $200 an hour, and so he was impressed by Vae’s willingness to consider the offer in any serious fashion. Of course Vae couldn’t possibly know that she was considering consenting to spending time alone with a Vampyr, but there were stories enough about young women who went home with men who claimed to be artists and never returned or, and sometimes this was worse, returned permanently changed in all sorts of ways. Vae must have some idea of the possible dangers, reflected Aubin, but she was still keeping an open if cautious mind which was, at least to the artist, a highly impressive quality.
Reaching a hand out, Aubin lifted his glass and drained it of the remainder of its contents. He gently returned the fragile item to the tabletop before turning once again to face Vae, his expression inquisitive.
“Would you like to see some of my work now?” he asked, “With your friends? Or would it be better suited to your schedule if we made an appointment? I’m afraid I’m only available to show, or, I should note, to work, at night, however. It’s an old habit a picked up long ago that I just can’t break. If that’s inconvenient to you, should you decide to take the job I mean, I can increase the fee….time and a half, maybe?”
The Vampyr shrugged and folded his hands before him. His gaze he kept cast down, focusing at some insignificant spot on the table so that the four humans could consult through looks and rather amusing silent mouthing. Not for the first time Aubin wondered what the humans would do if he simply translated their thoughts for them as Illiam could easily do, if he were here. In truth Aubin’s telepathy was decidedly more limited and it was unlikely he would actually be able to pick up any distinct thoughts from any of the four before him. Impressions he could manage, particularly as they related to him, but they were a strain to sense on a level deeper than what might be considered animalistic and often, in Aubin’s experience, not worth the effort.
|
|
Vae
Human
due to patient/doctor confidentiality, I can't tell myself anything
Posts: 47
|
Post by Vae on Apr 1, 2007 1:59:22 GMT -5
Vae was just going to utter a non-committal, "Uuuh," while she thought about things when Mannie's excited voice overrode her own.
"Of course we want to see it now! But oh no, look at the time. We all have class tomorrow." She gestured sadly to herself, Drake, and Andrew, who both seemed to be looking at Mannie for their cue and who both would have made rather bad actors. "But Vae doesn't! She's used to working the nightshift. So you two should still go!" Mannie blinked at Drake and Andrew for their support and eventually they chimed in.
"Oh, uh, yeah I have class in the morning so I should probably be turning in," Andrew finally agreed, nodding emphatically as he stood up and reached into his ratty jeans to be sure his things were still in his pockets. Drake, however, stubbornly picked up his drink and nursed it obliviously. It took further cunningness from Mannie to pry him off of his seat.
"C'mon, Drake, one last dance?" She wriggled her fingers into his crossed arms and pulled him along by the hand until he begrudgingly stood with a sullen expression. With a wide grin at Aubin and Vae (who had a deer-in-the-headlights look to find her friends abandoning her), the future actress began to march towards the dance floor, stopping only once to embrace Vae in a one armed hug. Below her breath she whispered into her friend's ear, "Don't worry! If he tries anything dodgy my parents can have him blacklisted!" More loudly she added, "You two kids have fun!" And then she was gone and Vae was left looking at the could or could-not-be dodgy man before her awkwardly. She offered him a broken smile and then sat up a little straighter, trying to regain some measure of control of the situation.
"So... um... is your studio nearby?" It seemed a pertinent enough question to her.
|
|
Aubin
Aurillian
Posts: 64
|
Post by Aubin on Apr 1, 2007 2:31:49 GMT -5
“It is,” replied Aubin around a genuine smile that had flourished in the light of Mannie’s theatrics, “It’s rather near the hospital, so not very far at all. Quite easily walk able, you’ll see.”
Aubin waited until Mannie and the boys were completely on the dance floor and then slowly stood, unfolding easily to his full height of 6’1”. He placed a crumpled $20 on the table, resting it casually between the stems of two of the abandoned martini glasses, then led the way through the bustling, warm bodies to the relatively cooler summer night beyond the club. Even beyond the club’s walls the crowd was thick, but Aubin navigated it easily, somehow managing to find the one path through the press of people that never necessitated stopping or stepping awkwardly around other citizens of Valir. When the pair finally exited the entertainment complex the crowd thinned noticeably and Aubin slowed, dropping into step beside Vae, but still giving her space enough to walk without so much as brushing against his side.
In this new, less densely populated area Aubin visibly relaxed, his senses no longer assaulted from all angles by noise, chatter, and the roiling impressions and sensations that always accompanied large crowds of humans. It wasn’t that the unbridled emotions and thoughts of humans bothered him, indeed Aubin was known to seek out such crowds regularly, but there was a peace, a sort of tranquility really, that could only be found when one stepped away from the crowds and clamour.
For several minutes Aubin walked alongside Vae in silence until the novelty of the relative quiet faded. He glanced then at the girl next to him, marvelling for a moment at how boldly she walked into the danger he could so easily offer and wondering if all humans were so brave or if this one was somehow special.
“Your friends seem nice,” he offered amiably, as they passed in and out of the pools of light generated by the streetlamps, “they are certainly very fond of you. Have you known them long? Or did you meet them at the University? Or the medical school, I suppose, in the case of some of them?”
He turned an enquiring gaze to Vae but suddenly stopped and held up his hand before she could answer. “Forgive me,” he apologized, “but I’ve just realized we’re passing some of my work now.”
Waving his hand slightly, Aubin gestured to the wide windows of the decidedly swank gallery they were standing in front of. Three of the windows were filled with three of Aubin’s works (his signature, though not prominent, was easily visible in the lower corner), all of them offering a decidedly different insight into his talents. One was an abstract, a flurry of colours that melded into one another and seemed to make shapes within the criss-crossed hues that disappeared from the eye almost the moment they were spotted. Another was a portrait in something of the wispy, soft style that Aubin wanted to paint Vae in. The figure here, too, was of a nude but male and in darker colours that suggested something at once ominous and very sad. The final painting was of Valir itself from ages past, an imaginative postulation of what Valir might have looked like hundreds of years before. Aubin, of course, knew that is was no guess; it was the city as it had once truly been, as he had himself seen it. There was something sad in this painting as well, a longing that seemed to be infused into every stroke and shingle, every shape and structure.
|
|
Vae
Human
due to patient/doctor confidentiality, I can't tell myself anything
Posts: 47
|
Post by Vae on Apr 1, 2007 3:04:59 GMT -5
If having mutated bone marrow cells made a person special, Vae very well may have been. But it wasn't the act of having cancer that made her special, it was the life she lead because of that fact. Everyone, even the vampyr, had the chance of suddenly dying with or without the chance to leave a message to the world around them. Vae had simply been forced to take a very hard look at her own mortality sooner than most people. She could die, she had learned with a jolt even though she had thought she knew that all along. It was an entirely different thing when your death suddenly has a timeline. The sets of balances that weighed importance in your life were suddenly tipped, handicapped, and moved around. That was the thing.
It wasn't that she was particularly brave, or at least not in the way he thought. And it wasn't that she was naive to the potential danger, either. But she did have it from a fairly good source that he probably wasn't an axemurderer (being famous it would become suspicious if all of his models suddenly turned up missing) and even if he was she wasn't entirely certain that dying a quick but painful death was worse than dying a slow and drug-mollified death. At least she would know what the hell was going on if she died at Aubin's hands.
Thankfully, however, that line of morbid logic didn't go on in the forefront of her mind. It was subconscious, the way her cancer affected all of her decisions, silently, without her knowing. It affected what she wore (if people thought her too small-chested for a particular top, well, they wouldn't talk badly about her for long), how she presented herself to the public (who cared if people in the club thought she was silly, when she was), and how she felt. The value of protecting her life had decreased, and in so doing her life had taken on a whole new importance. It was fragile. It was ending. It should mean something when it was over.
And she should leave something behind. Something in the world that people could remember her by. She wanted them to remember her for her strength, especially, and she thought she was doing that in keeping her cancer a secret for as long as possible. But if she were to be put into a painting, or sculpture, maybe they would remember something else abot her. Her smile, her boldness, her own personal flare. Maybe if they passed by her figure in a painting in a shop window, she would be brought to mind more often. That was her line of thinking, way down deep where you can only just hear it speaking. That's why she was 'brave,' though it could all be due to her fear of being forgotten.
"They're... amazing." She replied at last, eyes trailing over the triplets. They were amazing to her for two reasons, one being his obvious talent for his work and the other being how varied those talents were. Before her sat a portrait, a landscape, and an abstract, and each were carried off with that same precision, attention to detail, and touch that other artists could only master in one of those mediums. They must have taken forever to complete, and she was sure he must be a man who lived outside of the pressure of deadlines. "You must have been doing this for a while," she commented.
|
|
Aubin
Aurillian
Posts: 64
|
Post by Aubin on Apr 1, 2007 3:44:50 GMT -5
Extended life or, perhaps put more aptly, extended death, was a common thing for Vampyrs, a reality that after the first hundred years or so failed to intrigue any longer, failed to be a point of much consideration. Of course there were times when the ramifications of an existence that was potentially never ending became clearer than others, little reminders that the Vampyric existence wasn’t common. For Aubin, who perhaps felt these ramifications more often than some others, it was change in the world around him that reminded him of the dangers and sadness that followed so swiftly on the heels of Autor’s gift. Usually these reminders came with an accompanying stab of pain, of grief, but the girl’s unconscious reminder of Aubin’s immortality evoked, at least in this instance, a smile rather than a sigh.
Grinning brightly, Aubin nodded his head in concession. “You could say that,” he agreed, chuckling despite himself.
His question about Vae’s friends momentarily forgotten, Aubin shortly resumed leading the human to his studio. They walked in companionable silence, Aubin too distracted by Vae’s unintentional but still very amusing joke to offer much in the way of verbal companionship. When the reached the wooden stairs of his building (placed inexplicably on the front of the building, rather within it) Aubin stepped aside, allowing Vae to proceed ahead of him to the single door that awaited them at the top. Joining her on the stoop (which was in fact more of a balcony than anything else), Aubin quietly produced the key, unlocked the door, and, reaching over Vae, swung it open to reveal the darkened interior of his flat.
In the blue-velvet darkness of the apartment Aubin’s canvases, sculptures, and tools of his trade made strange but not quite alarming shapes. Moonlight that filtered in weakly from the kitchen windows made the metal sleeves of the paint brushes glint and stacks of paint created shadows of pyramids only have created. For Aubin the darkness presented no problem at all and he stepped inside to find the light switch with as much confidence as would have had entering a room with lights blazing. A faint click precipitated the sudden flood of light and the studio was revealed for what it was; a room somehow both cluttered and organized and alive with the creative spirit. Canvases in various states of progress rested on easels and against the walls and the floor was covered with multiple layers of paint splattered drop cloth. Paints, brushes, stipples, and other tools were spread throughout the room, some clustered together in cups and other holsters, others left, maybe even forgotten, on top of various piles, the window sill, and the floor.
“Come in,” beckoned Aubin, gesturing to the studio in general, “This is everything I’m working on currently or recently finished.”
Aubin might have offered more, but a rustle from the bedroom stopped his tongue. He paused for a moment, tensing as he hadn’t expected anyone to be in the home, then relaxing when he registered a familiar scent and presence. The door to the bedroom opened revealing Illiam looking tussled and tired, his cheeks flushed in a way that might be mistaken for the mark of a man who had recently been in a deep and heavy sleep but which Aubin recognized as a sign of recent feeding. The other Vampyr was still dressed in the fine, black suit he had worn to the soiree Aubin and fled but the once starched shirt was now untucked and rumpled and his feet were covered only by the fine knit of dress socks.
The two men exchanged a silent look, black eyes meeting blue as, unheard, a rapid telepathic exchange was had. Some unspoken conclusion was arrived at and Illiam, sated so recently with blood, gracefully stepped forward into the light without ever blinking as most would do if so suddenly awoken and thrust into so bright an environment.
“This is Illiam,” explained Aubin as the other man, who appeared to be about 10 years Aubin’s junior, stepped to the artist’s side, “He’s my agent. And this is Vae,” he added, gesturing towards the young woman, “she’s considering being my model.”
From his pocket Aubin produced the napkin that bore his first sketch and passed it over to Illiam, his fingers brushing faintly over Illiam’s palm in the process. Illiam examined the image silently, then Vae, before nodding and returning the napkin into Aubin’s back trouser pocket with so casual an air the intimacy of the movement didn’t seem worth noting,
“$200 an hour?” asked Illiam, his words, which were directed towards Vae, inflected with an accent that straddled both formal and foreign on the up notes, “And you know Aubin only works at night?”
|
|