InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Well that's just fantastic!"

Vaughn Davis (shebringscurses) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-07-11 10:31:00

Entry tags:

black forest witch, dracula, quasimodo, shere khan

Who: Vaughn & Sam & Vlad & Sebastian
What: The Jane demasking.
Where: Lobby to begin with.
When: Early evening.
Warnings: TBD.

Jane's life was comfortable. It was safe, professionally orchestrated between the pages of library books and lonely, long walks in the city. It's infrastructure wasn't built on the bloody edge of a thousand knives, a hundred threats, or a swarm of cackling dreams. Jane's life was so comfortable, it was the warmth of a down comforter. Vaughn had crawled beneath the glowing furnace of Jane, warmed her hands away from the frostbitten chill of her own reality. Now, she was cozy. Now, she was Jane. Why should she ever go back from this? She was getting closer to degreasing Daniel's resolve. He was drinking again, she knew. That alone was another nail in their mutual coffins.

Summer was here, and the sun stayed up long after it had a right to. Dinner bells were ringing in every happy home, but the sky was still dayglow. The horizon was set aflame in a cotton candy swirl of brain matter and tangerine flesh. Jane put out her cigarette on one of the front steps of Bellum and swept through the front doors of the lobby. She exhaled long after making her way across the tiles of the lobby, infiltrating the cool, machine conditioned air with the musk of her own tar and toxicity.

Her dress was a noncommittal shift of bruised plum linen, it fell like a funeral shroud around the subtle carve of thin limbs. 90's culture combat boots ruined the illusion of delicacy, they laced angry and black up the bone white display of her calves as she slithered to the mailboxes.

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shebringscurses
2010-07-14 12:16 am UTC (link)

Her attention skirted briefly to Vlad when he spoke, but it wasn't a look of malice. Somehow, he'd become one of the very few people in Bellum that she trusted to tell her the truth. Probably because she'd properly threatened the woman he loved, but still.. a bond was a bond.

Her attention trailed with an achingly slow pace back to Sam, still rudely nameless, when he spoke up. Sebastian's consoling and apologetic words fell deafly upon her when she took one mechanical step toward Sam. Inky Medusa hair spilling across one celluloid eye when she tilted her head, considering him in the way a socialite wrinkled her nose at a first course.

"I don't like you.."

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tiger_says_rawr
2010-07-14 12:22 am UTC (link)

"No problem. We can build on that," Sam replied. For fuck's sake, did anyone like anyone around here? What else was new? "I think you're alright. And if I may be so bold, much more attractive like this." He wasn't going to tell her his name until she did the same! Sebastian may have been attempting to turn this into a 'let's hold hands and sing kumbaya' event, but Medusa did not seem to have the same goal in mind.

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nobleblood
2010-07-14 12:36 am UTC (link)

Vlad couldn't help but roll his eyes this time, not after Sebastian introduced himself like this was some kind of friendly meeting. People really needed to learn when to shut up, but it seemed to be one of the many skills they had difficulty with. This was not the time for introductions; it was a situation that needed to end as quickly as possible. He would feel a lot better if it was just him and Vaughn instead of these other too clueless men.

"This is unnecessary," he said finally, although it was unclear whether he was directing his comment towards Vaughn or Sam - or maybe it was both. "I have no idea what happened, but what's done is done. Perhaps we should all just be on our way."

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dysmorphic
2010-07-14 12:43 am UTC (link)

Okay, so, friendliness wasn't working, either. Sebastian decided to revert back to being silent -- situations like these were exactly why he preferred to keep to himself. He had never met anyone as socially challenged as himself. He was not sure if he was comforted or not by the fact that Vaughn was ignoring him and focusing on Sam.

At Vlad's suggestion, he gave a quick nod. "Yeah, maybe we should. Sorry." He really would like to be in his room now, avoiding whatever else would possibly be thrown his way.

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	tiger_says_rawr 2010-07-14 12:50 am UTC (link)
	Brilliant suggestion! And if Vlad had no idea what happened, well, Sam wasn't going to tell him since he seemed so eager to dismiss everyone. Oh well! "Sounds like a plan. Nice seeing you all," he said politely. Yeah, what a fantastic interlude. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

shebringscurses
2010-07-14 12:57 am UTC (link)

She stood quietly for a moment, assessing the three of them as Vlad tried to smooth things over. Sebastian and the other seemed to be in agreement of dismissing what had happened. Vaughn wasn't completely reassured, but she recognized that her name had not been brought up, and that neither of the strangers recognized her. Who could they tell?

That left only Vlad. She looked him over, dark brows skewing into sharp arches. "Will this stay between us?" Of course, the question was only customary, Vaughn knew that Daniel and Vlad were friends. This wouldn't stay a secret very long.

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nobleblood
2010-07-14 01:16 am UTC (link)

At least the other two men didn't argue, which slightly redeemed their prior stupidity. For him it wasn't difficult to figure out what happened - the nameless man bumped into Vaughn, and immediately after her Jane facade vanished into thin air. A child could put two and two together. Vlad glanced at the still-nameless man before shifting his gaze to Vaughn.

She knew just as well as he did that Daniel was his friend, which meant that he couldn't keep something like this from him. For a moment he simply looked at her before nodding. She couldn't have expected him to answer any other way, and there was still Helena to consider. "It will."

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dysmorphic
2010-07-14 01:26 am UTC (link)

Taking a cue from Sam, Sebastian began to leave, as well, but decided to give another go at being polite, despite how it had not served him well thus far. He gave a large smile, although it came out more nervous than he intended, and it was, for the most part, genuine. "Sorry for all of this, I hope you all have a good day." There was nothing else to say, really. He had shown his idiocy far too much, and getting out of her was his priority now.

With a slight, awkward wave, Sebastian scurried off. No need to linger, he just wanted to get back to his room -- oh wait. He abruptly turned around just as he reached the staircase, and hurried back to the mailboxes.

"Forgot my mail," he muttered nervously. With that, he avoided eye contact with the others, and left as quickly as possible.

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shebringscurses
2010-07-14 02:25 am UTC (link)

Her attention was primarily for Vlad, and the weight of her eyes said quite plainly that they would see just where his loyalties lay in the coming days. Surely he knew the consequences of trespass.

Vaughn deposited cursory glances on Sebastian and no-name Sam, a skybound twitch of eyebrows and the venomous sliver of an unfriendly smile. The pamphlets and sale cue cards in her hands slipped loose from her fingers, thoughtless and forgotten. Not that it mattered, they were all addressed to Current Resident, and other ghostly nicknames derived by the city's postal system. The papers laid in scattered ruin on the tiled floor as the soft heels of her lace-up boots led Vaughn back toward the door of the lobby, with not so much as a farewell or a forget-me-not.

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nobleblood
2010-07-14 04:11 am UTC (link)

Vlad waited until Vaughn and Sebastian left, one heading up the stairs and the other out of the building entirely. It was frustrating, to want to tell Daniel and yet know that if she found out then Helena would be in danger. If she was still living with him in P3 then it would have been different, but now that she was down on the fifth floor he didn't want to risk it.

Sighing, he finally collected his mail and headed towards the stairs. With one last glance at the nameless man who he was not going to let touch him under any circumstances from this day forward, he turned and disappeared up the staircase.

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