Skylar James Bale (socialiterocker) wrote in btvsal, @ 2010-01-30 12:09:00 |
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Current mood: | contemplative |
Talking Things Out
Who: Skylar and Devon
Where: Avarice
When: Saturday, Jan 30, Evening
Skylar nursed her drink as she sat at a table in Avarice. Tonight it was just a coke for her. She was feeling a little sick to her stomach. Ben was busy working on some business thing (no telling WHICH business), and Bella was with a babysitter, so it was just her. She felt fine hanging by herself, though. In the crazy that was going on in her life always in some form or another, it was nice to be able to take a little time to herself for a change.
With Meredith off helping come up with ideas for Ben's bachelor party (which, Jesus Christ, the idea of Meredith and Neely co-planning it was frightening), Devon had decided to just try to spend a normal night out. No meditating, no training, just... trying to be as normal a guy as possible. So he threw on his favorite leather jacket over a white t-shirt and faded jeans, and strode into Avarice, smirking to himself as he realized that, well, without Meredith at his side? He... pretty much knew NOBODY here.
Skylar's eyes were flickering to the door every few minutes, just seeing who was coming in and out. When she saw Mere's boyfriend walk in, without her, well, that was something that caught her eye. Mere out alone wasn't that strange, but Devon? That was interesting. With a smile, she waved to him.
Thank the heavens. SOMEONE he at least, er... kind-of knew. With a friendly wave, the vampire walked casually over to her, hands stuffed in his front pockets. "Evening."
"Evening to you as well," Skylar said to him. "Would you like to have a seat with me?"
"Yeah... that'd be great." He said with a soft smile, silently, gracefully, pulling the seat out and sitting himself down. "So.. what's got you out by your lonesome this evening?"
"Well, Ben's out doing some business type thing, so I figured, instead of just staying in, I'd go out." She looked at him. "What about you?"
"I... just needed to get out I think." He looked a little... conflicted. Deep in thought. "Meredith's out planning something undoubtedly evil for your man's bachelor party, and I just didn't feel like sitting at home."
"Ugh, please don't remind me of that," Skylar said with a laugh. "I'm not sure I even want to know what those two can put together as far as a bachelor party is concerned."
"Does Meredith seem.... happy... to you?" He asked, seemingly out of nowhere. He figured if anyone knew her better than he did, it was her bandmates.
Skylar blinked. "Yeah, she really does. I think you're a good influence on her, actually. She gets that glowy look when she talks about you, which is sort of strange for a vampire. Why do you ask?"
"I worry, actually. That I... hold her back too much." Why he was suddenly opening to someone he barely knew, he couldn't quite determine. "You have no idea, really... how hard it is, how much effort it takes, to reign myself in. To keep from being the monster most of my kind are. It's taken years, and more meditation and training that your mind could fathom. But I fear that that same discipline... might be stifling her."
"Don't worry so much," Skylar said to him. "Mere's always been a bit wild, true, but she really seems to like you, a lot. Whatever she's doing or not doing right now, it's because she wants to, not because you're forcing her to."
He nodded, brow furrowing a bit. "I just... don't want to hold her back. Now that she has a soul, she can control herself. She... doesn't need the same determination I need to not give in to the hunger."
Good thing Mere had a soul, because she didn't seem to be able to control herself otherwise very well. "Maybe, but don't think of being with her as holding her back, though. Why do you even think that?"
"Because I see how she is with me. She... cares for me. I might even say she loves me. But it's... comfort. Complacency. I still don't see the passion within her that she still has with her ex, even though I know she doesn't mean it."
"Which ex? The one that once threatened to set the world on fire?" Skylar asked. "That's a passion that burns too hot that it consumes. Even if it's there, it doesn't seem to be what she wants. What she wants is you."
"Yeah. That one. And I don't feel threatened. At all. I've... been around far too long to feel things like jealousy or bitterness. I just... wish she had that obvious fire for me that she has for him. And I find myself wondering if his girlfriend ever feels the same way I do." As always, Devon was as concerned with others as himself.
"Lucy's a sweet girl, but she can be a tiny bit oblivious," Skylar pointed out. "If you're looking for passion, then make some. Sweep her off her feet. Break out the whips and chains. Do whatever it takes."
Devon's eyes bugged a little there. He... couldn't even picture that. "You know... I knew her when she was still human. And every time I saw her... it took every ounce of self control I had not to kill her. To drink her blood like a fine wine. And it was that control that, I think, was the reason I was appointed to get her on the right track once she was turned." He sighed. "And I've been lax in my duties. I've been so... obsessed with making her happy, I've barely noticed the signs I've been being given. And I want to make sure we're all prepared. ALL of us."
That did catch her attention a bit more. "You're talking about the water to blood thing, aren't you?" Well, it was coming up more and more lately. "I've been having dreams about that kind of stuff, too, you know? Have you been dreaming anything, or being told anything about that?"
"I had the dreams, too. And what's worse... I think the signs the Powers are giving me are being crossed.. like they're trying to warn me of multiple things." He sighed, holding his head in his hands. "I'm not sure exactly who to TELL about all this."
"Really?" She actually hadn't been aware that Devon had some sort of connection with higher beings as well, but that was good to know. Actually, Mere may or may not have known, either. "What other sorts of dreams? And, if you can't tell a Slayer to save the world, then who can you tell?"
"Mixed with the... the plague dreams... I've been seeing time. Well... time lines, really. Mixing together, like... in ways that make realities blend together. And then a third thing on top of it... just words... whispered.... something about the coming of someone called 'The Master'... I've been ignoring the signs, thinking that I was going crazy from ignoring the hunger... until I saw one of those plagues actually HAPPEN. And now I'm terrified." He looked to her, the fear in his eyes true.
"Well," Skylar said with a sigh, "you're not crazy." She did NOT want to explain how the time line was sort of fucked right now. It still hurt in so many ways. "Our time line has been...tweaked with, I guess you could say."
"I just.... fear that things are going to get a lot worse before they get any better. Especially if these things happen at the same time." He said, looking around before giving a wry smirk. "Not exactly the 'getting-to-know-you' talk you were likely hoping to have eh?"
She smiled back at him. "You have no idea how much I hear this stuff," Skylar pointed out to him. "I didn't know that you got visions and stuff, too, though. Did you always get them?"
"I started about fifty years ago... around the same time I finally gained true control over myself." He vaguely suspected that it was that control that had caused the Powers to deem him worthy of such... 'visions', as they were.
"Can I ask you a personal question? Why did you want to get control of yourself?" she asked him. "Mere was weird with how she started. Were you like that?"
"I.... have no idea. I just know that when I was turned... every time I took a life... I hated myself more and more. And I knew it was either learn to control it, or walk out into the sunlight. And suicide... never seemed like a viable option to me." Actually, his religious upbringing had pretty much forced any thought of it from his mind.
She nodded. She was just curious. When you're told that all vampires are bad, and then get shown again and again that they aren't, well, you get curious. "Well, at laest you are trying with it, you know?"
He nodded, smiling. "There are more of us than books would like you to believe. We are the vast minority, granted... but we ARE out there."
Skylar nodded. "So I see," she said. "From what I can tell, it's a lot higher than any Watcher would like to let on."
"Just remember... nothing is ever black and white. Just like vampires aren't ALL evil, not everything the Watchers ever taught was good." He wasn't trying to turn her against the Council, more like remind her that not everything they were handed down through the generations was necessarily entirely true.
"Now that's the truth," Skylar said. "If I listened to them, I would never date, have children, or live past the age of eighteen. By the way, I'm twenty-five. They failed on that."
"Look. I... should go. I think it's time I made a more intimate detailing of my recent dreams, to give to your peers." All he wanted was some normalcy... but now he was seeing that sometimes? You cant get everything you want. "Thank you, Skylar. For the company. And the clarity."
She nodded. "Hope you find what you're looking for, Devon," she said to him.