InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "THING!!"

Aiden Shepard [ Abraham Van Helsing ] (arcere) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-04-23 20:00:00

Entry tags:

jonathan harker, van helsing

Who: Peter and Aiden
What: Discussion. Also beer.
Where: 1104
When: The day after this.
Warnings: Probably none?

Aiden was, for several obvious reasons, somewhat unsure about going all the way up to the eleventh floor. Though he was sure he could put that hollowness in his stomach down to the fact that he hadn't eaten much and had to go up so many flights of stairs (the elevator was off-limits permanently), the real reasons trickled down his spine, making him wonder if this was really the best idea. But he was already nearly there. Turning back would be stupid. And anyway, he was up here for a damn good reason. With what was going on lately, he figured he really didn't have any cause to be nervous.

1104. The last time he'd been here had been that strange and infuriating night. At least this time, he was himself. Aiden paused outside the door for a few moments to catch his breath and recollect himself, then knocked. It was just after one. He wasn't really that late, but hell, the stairs were enough of an excuse for something like that. How people could live this high up in the building with a broken elevator baffled him.

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nylonghorn
2010-04-24 07:30 am UTC (link)

Pete was all over the place mentally and emotionally. This, in turn, caused him to be all over the place physically. As much as he wanted to just lay on his couch chain smoking all day his mind refused to let him sit still that long. In fact, it barely let him get a good night's sleep.

He was tidying up around the apartment in advance of Aiden's arrival and he'd even gone out to pick up beer that was currently getting colder in the fridge. He was just running out of things to do and starting to panic when he heard the knock at the door. Good. More distractions.

He opened the door and gave a half smile to Aiden and stepped aside so he could come in, "Come on in, make yourself comfortable. Feel free to wear shoes on the carpet." He wasn't intentionally trying to ruin the carpet, just half hoping Lena had some kind of radar and it would send her hurrying back. The other half though, that was just trying to make himself feel better.

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arcere
2010-04-25 01:24 am UTC (link)

For a man whose wife had just left him for his boss, Peter didn't look too bad. Tired, obviously, and stressed, and the room smelled like cigarettes, but overall things could have been much worse. He'd expected them to be much worse. So Aiden was a little surprised, though not visibly so, when Peter opened the door and let him in. Wear his shoes on the carpet, huh? That was an unusual greeting.

Aiden went in - the apartment wasn't much different than his, but the skyline was much more visible. He glanced out the window for a few long moments before looking around the apartment itself. Definitely a couple's place. He avoided making any comment (Aiden did, on rare occasions, realize the proper use of tact) and sat down on one of the chairs, a little more off it than on.

"You're holding up all right." It was more comment than question, but he did want to know, on some level, how Peter was doing. After all, he remembered that particular night fairly clearly even now. He'd known Peter, except it was more that he'd known Jonathan, and he'd known he had to help the man who'd suffered so much at the hands of one foul creature ... now it was more helping by association, but it was helping all the same.

... and the man's wife had just left him for that man. Bad enough that she would leave at all. All things considered, Peter was holding up fairly well.

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nylonghorn
2010-04-25 04:45 am UTC (link)

Peter sighed and shrugged his shoulders, he supposed he was holding up all right. Better than he felt on the inside. He was pretty sure one day it would actually hit him, he wasn't sure when that would be, but he wasn't looking forward to that day.

"I'm doing okay," he answered giving a small nod. "Do you want a beer or something? I have soda too, water, tea, coffee...Just about everything you can think of," he offered seeming just a bit distracted. It was easier to just be busy the whole time rather than actually sit down and decide what on earth he was supposed to be doing with himself.

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arcere
2010-04-25 07:09 am UTC (link)

As a general rule, Aiden didn't drink - his headaches were bad enough without hangovers - but he figured that given the situation, one or two wouldn't be a problem. It was a good drink for commiserating, or so he'd learned.

"Beer's fine." He took another glance around the apartment and waited for Peter to come back with the drink, thinking to himself - about what to say, how to say it. He was here about what was probably going to happen on the full moon, because there was no doubt that if it happened, certain current relationships would be rendered obsolete in the face of novelistic accuracy. "Where is she, right now? Do you know?"

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nylonghorn
2010-04-25 05:41 pm UTC (link)

Peter grabbed two bottles of beer out of the fridge and opened them before carrying them into the sitting room where Aiden was parked. "Here you go," he said handing it to him before he took his own seat.

He shook his head, "The last I talked to her she was staying at a motel nearby, but I don't expect I'll get regular updates from her or anything like that. I also expect that eventually...Well eventually he'll have her up in P3."

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arcere
2010-04-25 09:03 pm UTC (link)

He couldn't stop the dark look that flashed across his face - didn't even try, actually - when Peter said the words eventually he'll have her up in P3. Sensible parts of his brain were telling him that in a situation like this, she wasn't actually in danger, that Vlad was going to ensure that no harm came to her, but it was hard for the louder and angrier parts to accept that. Almost impossible, in fact.

"Eventually." Aiden sipped at the beer, ignoring the bitter taste and letting the cold keep him coherent. "What are you planning to do when the change happens?" If the change happens. "Jonathan is going to want to find her. And I have the feeling Mina's going to be looking for him, too."

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nylonghorn
2010-04-26 09:41 pm UTC (link)

Pete wasn't thrilled about the situation for plenty of reasons, but the Jonathan part of his brain was constantly screaming at him for being a complete moron about this. It wasn't like he had many choices here, and short of storming P3 and demanding his wife come home, he was out of options.

He shook his head, "I wish I knew, I know Jonathan is going to go crazy looking for her, and I suppose if he actually does find her the best thing he'll be able to do is keep her safe and when it's all over I'll be short one wife again." God this sucked.

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arcere
2010-04-26 10:23 pm UTC (link)

"At this point, that's probably the best you can hope for." When the shit hit the fan, Vlad would - Dracula would be going after the women again, determined to drink every last drop of blood out of them and let them wake back up as his unholy servants of the night. If he was actually a vampire then, and not just a man with very sharp incisors, they would possibly wake up ... but then what happened when the night was over? When everything went back? No, they couldn't risk it. So they had to keep them safe. "Do you think she'd agree to coming back here just for the duration of the change?"

And then, thought a darker part of him, he'd know where Vlad was headed. Aiden - and Van Helsing - could be patient when he wanted to be.

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nylonghorn
2010-04-27 05:01 am UTC (link)

Pete sighed loudly, he didn't know what to say or how to answer that question. "I'm pissed as hell, but I don't want anything bad to happen to her, Aiden. I mean...She took off but she's still my wife and I don't want him to hurt her. I don't think he will today but...I don't know." He took a drink of his beer and rubbed his forehead for a moment.

"I don't know if she'll come here. I want to ask, but I'm afraid of what the answer is going to be."

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arcere
2010-04-27 05:20 am UTC (link)

There were so many things Aiden wanted to say but didn't. He grit his teeth and pressed the beer bottle to his lips to try and hide the tightening of his jaw. I don't want him to hurt her. Even the worst criminals, he knew from history lessons, could be wonderful, loving people when it came to those they cherished above all else. That didn't excuse them from being the monsters they were inside.

"You should ask anyway. She'll probably understand this, at the very least." Aiden wasn't looking forward to having to charge up and save two people as Van Helsing, who tended to slow down due to age and wasn't quite as furious about things as Aiden. If he could just keep them together ... then again, they'd be hunting each other down. Mina would run from Dracula. Maybe. "If not, then she'll try to find you as Mina. If we're lucky we can get the two of you back in here for the duration."

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nylonghorn
2010-04-27 05:28 am UTC (link)

"If she says no I just hope that...I hope Jonathan can find her fast enough. The bastard gets a little wordy sometimes and starts doing an internal monologue," he said rolling his eyes a little.

He leaned back in his chair and drummed his fingers on the table for a moment, "I can't believe I'm having a conversation about what to do with my wife's alternate personality when my boss turns into Dracula."

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arcere
2010-04-27 05:39 am UTC (link)

Aiden snorted slightly, amused. Yes, Jonathan had a very long section of the novel all to himself ... the entire first fifth or so, all journal entries. You could blame Stoker for that kind of thing. Waxing poetic and going on and on for pages ... still, he was no Leroux. Dracula was actually bearable.

"It doesn't seem real, does it?" He took another long drink of his beer and leaning forward, elbows on his knees. "But here we are." Chewing briefly on the rim of the bottle, Aiden though to himself about things - about everything, actually, all the things that were going on right now and in the next week or so. He would have to try and keep control of himself (though he didn't know if that was even possible). He would be protecting Helena and Kiki, and maybe even Peter, though in the book the man had gotten on by himself fairly well. And who knew if there was going to be anyone else appearing out of thin air? Was Renfield next?

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nylonghorn
2010-04-27 06:14 am UTC (link)

"It shouldn't be real, I keep wondering if we're all just crazy and actually in some high class looney bin," he said sighing and trying to imagine how he would ever explain any of this to his family and friends.

What on earth would he say? That Helena left him for his vampire boss? That every now and again they turned into Victorian action figures and ran away from Dracula? It was probably best they didn't know. They'd have him committed for real.

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arcere
2010-04-27 06:23 am UTC (link)

"Crazy we may be, but committed we are not." Grinning just slightly, Aiden quietly turned over his pun and took another drink. "Living here brings up some interesting questions." Mostly about fate and just how much of his life had been his own - and how much would be his own. But so long as he knew who he was, he figured he'd have fine control of his life. After all, he was here for a damn good reason. And if Van Helsing was going to help him out, then all the better.

Aiden glanced at Peter again, remembering why he was here. Wife: missing, boss: stole her, potential of boss going insane and killing said wife: rising.

"If she won't stay here," he said, jumping back to the previous topic as if they'd never veered off it, "then at least convince her to find someone else safe to stay with. Someone who's willing to lock and bar all the doors and windows."

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nylonghorn
2010-04-27 03:25 pm UTC (link)

"If we're as crazy as I feel I'm pretty sure we all need to be committed," Peter was feeling a bit fidgety, this wasn't the most comfortable of situations, but he wasn't made uneasy by Aiden's presence. It was nice to have someone to talk to aside from Kiki, even if their topic wasn't entirely pleasant.

"I think that might be easier than getting her to stay here, she'll think I'm just trying to get her back and give me a line about how she doesn't think it's a very good idea."

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arcere
2010-04-27 09:07 pm UTC (link)

Aiden could only vaguely sympathize; he'd never had a relationship for more than week, if that, and it had been at the beginning of grad school anyway. Those kinds of things were utterly beyond his comprehension, right alongside sociability and generally getting along with people on a regular basis. They'd be protecting her from a danger she couldn't possibly fight off; hell, in the book, she'd come weeks from turning into a vampire herself. It'd only be for a day! She wouldn't have control of herself, anyway ...

... though maybe that would make it worse.

"Then that's what you should go with. Leave her a voicemail or a text message if you don't think you can talk to her." Blessed be the people who updated the message-taking system, for yea, without them he would suffer greatly. "Maybe leave a note for Jonathan saying she's safe. In case he doesn't remember."

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