InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Let's party like it's 1999"

Oliver Van der Meer (veridicality) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-04-25 20:13:00

Entry tags:

john seward, van helsing

Who: Oliver Van der Meer and Aiden Shephard
What: A meeting of minds
Where: Oliver's apartment, #605
When: Tonight
Warnings: None so far

Since he wasn't entirely sure when Aiden would turn up, Oliver set himself in to one of the books on the huge pile of "things to read before the paper goes moldy". At the top of that list was the one recommended to him by Aiden himself: Dracula. His curiosity had been piqued by Aiden's confession during their lunch that day, and as such, the book had held more appeal than it might have before. Oliver had read it before, of course, but he hadn't seen a need for a reread of the classic.

He was finding a lot of things he used to think were being turned upside down.

A few chapters went by before he let out a sigh, marking his place and leaning back in his chair, hands folded behind his head. His thoughts lingered to another place, the depths of the catacombs, to the state of the young man he had helped, the note pinned to his very skin, and Oliver just couldn't shake off the feeling of horror and disgust that had enveloped him then. And then there was... the body.

He hadn't stayed long after John and... Cole, was it? Had found it. The paramedics had taken Nick and the one girl off, and Oliver had found his exit soon after, leaving with some things to ponder over. He wasn't entirely sure what he had wandered into by coming to stay at Bellum Letale, but he had finally come to the realisation that whatever it was, was quite serious and dangerous indeed.

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arcere
2010-04-26 02:32 am UTC (link)

It was unexpected, but not entirely unsurprising, for a message to come from Oliver. Previously their talks had been via e-mail, so a forum message wasn't too different. He supposed that now that they lived in the same building, being able to talk face-to-face would be seen as the preferable option ... though Aiden was really more fond of e-mail.

Nonetheless, he'd made his promise to show up, and while he wasn't over 'in a bit' like he'd said, he was over within an hour (or two). Three flights of stairs up and then the blank door, the relatively quiet hallway, the slight apprehension that stuck itself to him every time he started going upward. He knocked on the door and leaned back, in less of a hurry than the last time he'd been here. After all, it was just a talk, not going out for lunch, an urgent desire to get out of the building.

Unless there was something wrong.

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veridicality
2010-04-26 02:36 am UTC (link)

The knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts, and he glanced towards the door, simply staring at it for a moment before he shook his head and rose. Sylvie wound around his ankles, nearly tripping him up as he pulled the door open, one foot shoving her back and out of the way.

"Glad to see you could make it," Oliver said with a tired smile, pulling the door open further to let Aiden in. "Hope the trip up here wasn't harrowing or anything. I know it's quite a venture from the place you seem to like to hide in." His smile grew just a bit, the door nudged shut once they were both within.

"You want something to drink?"

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arcere
2010-04-26 02:41 am UTC (link)

Ha-ha.

"Very funny," Aiden said dryly, slipping inside and carefully avoiding the cat that seemed intent on bringing people down to her level. Letting her suffer with only getting fur all over the shins of his pants, he made his way into the room and sat down on the edge of one of Oliver's chairs. "Water, maybe."

The man looked tired. Sleeping badly, or ... ? Aiden knew he wasn't one to talk, not that it ever stopped him, but he didn't say anything at the moment. Assumably whatever Oliver wanted to talk about would get said, and that would lend a couple clues. If it was traditional occult talk, he doubted he would have gotten called up to chat face to face.

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veridicality
2010-04-26 02:45 am UTC (link)

"Maybe?" Oliver chuckled to himself, padding into the kitchen to grab the filtered pitcher, pouring them both a glass and returning soon with it to join Aiden in the living room. He didn't say anything until he had settled back down, pressing back into the cushions of his chair with a sigh.

"Did you hear about what they found in the ba- catacombs, I mean?" he asked, though it was a shoddy way to start the conversation. He really wasn't sure where to start, though, but somehow he felt that what he had seen needed to be shared.

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arcere
2010-04-26 02:57 am UTC (link)

Aiden took a drink as Oliver spoke, raising an eyebrow slightly. He'd heard about ... well, he knew the police had come by, obviously, and that there was blood and vines all over the place, but he hadn't heard anything about the basement. The catacombs hidden under the building, where so much was apparently hidden that he hadn't had a chance to investigate yet ...

"No. I haven't heard anything." He watched Oliver curiously. What exactly had gone on down there, then, that caused the police to be called? All they'd told him when he opened the door and gave them his statement was that something had happened. "Why? Do you know?"

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veridicality
2010-04-26 03:00 am UTC (link)

He took another drink, then sighed, placing his glass on the small table that served as a coffee table, quiet for a long while. "There... was a boy down there. Nick, I think is his name, that had been..." Oliver trailed off then, his lips turning into a frown. "Hurt, quite badly. Someone had actually safety pinned a note to his back." Another pause, another sigh, and he shifted slightly, pinching the bridge of his nose with one long-fingered hand.

"A couple of other guys came down too. I didn't stay long after the paramedics showed up, but... I'm pretty sure the other two found a body. It..." He pulled his hand away from his face, steadying a look towards Aiden. "What the hell did I buy myself into coming here?"

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arcere
2010-04-26 03:07 am UTC (link)

A badly hurt boy. A note pinned to his back. A body.

Aiden had known for a little while, at least, just how strange this place was. He knew that people had died - his apparent predecessor had, anyway - but there had been so little notice made about any of the deaths (for obvious reasons) that he'd figured they were freak accidents. There was a chance that this was the same, but ... something in Oliver's tone read at least slightly different. Aiden was terrible at social cues but even he knew when things were getting bad.

People dying ... he scowled slightly and sipped at the water again, then set it down nearby.

"Honestly, I don't know. It's like everything that makes people awful and great all pushed to its limits." From a historical standpoint, anyway, Aiden could at least analyze a little bit. Sociological perspectives would have to go to people who didn't come ten points from failing the class. "A lot of buildings have bad blood in them, but it really isn't helped by the whole story thing that's been going on. It makes the bad blood even worse."

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veridicality
2010-04-26 03:11 am UTC (link)

"It's just odd. And... it leaves a bad taste in my mouth." There was a shake of his head, and Oliver shifted yet again, grabbing for his glass of water to take another couple of hurried sips. "You've heard of a mob mentality, right? Yeah, of course you have. It feels like that. Like... a lot of people who normally wouldn't be involved in anything like this are being sucked in to this chaos because of a small handful of individuals who are... causing it." Not that he knew much about that, just the bits he had gathered from reading the past posts on the forums.

"It's not just bad blood flowing through the veins of this building. It's gone downright wicked, I think. What happened to Nick... that..." Oliver sighed, closing his eyes. "Normal people don't do that."

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arcere
2010-04-26 05:24 pm UTC (link)

A mob mentality. Yes. It fit fairly well. The only thing missing was the actual mob. Aiden picked up his water again, took a sip, and bit down gently on the edge.

"Oliver. With everything I've told you and what you've experienced already, what exactly makes you think that anybody here is in the least bit normal?" He assumed the man had seen the fables list; he himself had seen it go up, seen it evolve, seen his own name slapped down by someone too cowardly to reveal themselves. He'd wondered for ages who exactly it had been. It was unlikely he'd ever find out unless he started casting wild accusations, which, while not something he hadn't done before, wasn't going to get him anywhere now.

Witches. Beasts. Vampires. Possibly worse, since that list had hardly been comprehensive. Most of him was wary and apprehensive and irritated beyond belief, but there was that little part that was all but leaping for joy at the opportunity to be somewhere this inherently occult. Thank god he'd managed to quiet that part years ago, or he was sure some of it would show. Had already.

"Is the kid going to be all right?" It came out almost as an afterthought. Oliver probably would have mentioned if there had been a death, but ... who knew. What with all the police activity, he was sure things had gotten a little lost.

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