Characters of a Minor Sort (jesschars) wrote in btvsal, @ 2010-03-16 14:18:00 |
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Current location: | Lena's Estate |
Current mood: | hopeful |
Entry tags: | lena jacobs, place: la, ~devon gibson |
Ain't Unlife Grand?
Who: Lena and Devon
Where: Lena's Estate
When: Friday Night, 3/12
Even after all the years Devon had been 'alive', so many that years bled together into nothing, the calm, meditative vampire still had moments of weakness. Moments where he couldn't hold his proverbial shit together. This was one of those moments. He knew even before he and Meredith had gone their seperate ways that it was going to happen. She tried to make herself love him, and he felt sadly grateful for that. But for some reason... he just wasn't what she needed. But then he saw everything that was happening. Especially the part with her turning human again. And he realized why she didn't want him. Because... he wasn't Ash. And that led him to visit Lena again. His 'pet project'. Much like he had once been to Melina, years ago. He called in, his voice lacking its usual soothing, calm tone. "Lena? Are you in there?"
She hadn't expected anyone to drop in tonight. Tonight was supposed to be a night spent alone. Lena was wanting more and more of those lately, nights alone, and she wasn't sure why. If it had been anyone else calling to her (the butler just let anyone in out of habit), she might have told them to go away. However, it was Devon, so she might as well see him. "I'm in the study," she called out to him.
The study itself was about what you'd expect in a home like this, a grand affair filled with books of all sorts of ages and languages, although many were in Lena's preferred and native language, Italian. Right now she was actually rereading an ancient copy of 'Dante's Inferno' while sitting by a fire, her feet curled up underneath her. She wore designer jeans and a blue cashmere sweater, but this was still dressing way down for her. After a moment, she shut the book and looked up at Devon. "Do what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Inferno? How fittingly cliche." He smirked, walking in with his hands stuffed in his pockets. "I... suppose I needed a friend. And you're... the closest thing to a friend I have right now."
"I'm a sucker for the classics," she said with a smirk. When he said that she was the closest thing to a friend he had at the moment, she furrowed her brow. "I'm not sure if I should congratulate you or pity you for that fact. Sit down, anyway, though." She took a deep breath. She had to actually *try* to be comforting now, sadly enough. "What is wrong?"
"Feel free to poke fun at me. Meredith... well... it seems she'd rather be with a teenaged boy that's with someone else than be with me. To say my self-esteem is in tatters right now... would be a bit of an understatement." He actually couldn't even meet her eyes now, in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Actually, she was, which confused her more than anything else. And she HATED feeling confused. It made her feel like the servant girl she once was in Italy. "I heard something about her being human again. Is that true as well?"
"Yeah. Seems the human boy was... packing some serious power on a scale none of us knew even existed." He sneered a bit there. DEVON! SNEERED! Seems everyone's capable of a little jealousy and hatred at times, hm?
It was actually interesting (and strangely comforting) to see behind the outer shell of zen to see a real emotional being on the inside. "I never did like magic users. Too unpredictable. I've met sewer dwellers who were more stable." Her attempt at comfort. Obviously it had been a LONG time since she had tried.
"Perhaps I'd have been more attractive to her if I'd killed a few more people." He shook his head, sitting down beside her. "Regardless.... I wanted to check on you. To see if you've... given thought to what we talked about."
"Most young girls want a bad boy," Lena said simply to him. The allure of one in particular was starting to tarnish for her in particular. She turned a little so that she could look at him. "I have thought about it. To do what you want, I would need a lot of work." And so would Ariana, if she would go for such a thing. She didn't want to bring her up, though. Not yet, anyway.
"But... what if I said I was willing to put that time and effort into it? That I think you're worth it?" It still killed him a little to hear how flat, almost emotionless her voice could be. She was far too beautiful to be so emotionally dead.
She arched an eyebrow at him. "I know that you had a vision of me. Is that the only reason you are doing this?" That cultured, slight Italian accent was something that had been taught to her for years upon years. It wasn't even how she originally spoke. That might be part of why it sounded so emotionless. It was very rehearsed.
"Originally? Yes." Maybe this was one of Devon's faults. The fact that he was so brutally honest. All the time. "Now? It's a mixture of that... along with finding myself attracted to you... and the fact that I feel as though you and I are in many ways... all we have."
She blinked. She expected nothing but brutal honesty. It was all she had ever gotten, after all. You'd be amazed at how little a vampire truly has to lie to hurt a person. It was the rest of what he said that truly surprised her. "This...attraction. Is it purely physical? Or what?"
"It's very physical. But I feel like... somewhere inside you... is a person I could be very attracted to in other ways, as well." This WAS a little refreshed, he'd admit. Being able to just blurt out whatever he was thinking again. For a vampire, Meredith had still been very... typically human in her emotions. He'd never had dared be this blunt with her.
What emotions Lena had were long buried deep inside her. If Devon wanted to get more than distant stares and blunt responses, he'd have to do A LOT of digging. "You are physically attractive as well," she said to him. "You're also interesting, which helps you a lot." And probably what kept her from tossing him in the fire, more than his looks, at any rate. "I'm not sure who this person 'inside me' is, but I wish you luck looking for her."
"It won't be easy." He admitted, giving a shockingly sweet and boyish grin there, "But as I said... not only do I think you're worth the effort... but it's not like either of us have anyone else to turn to here. Besides..." he couldn't help but laugh there, "It's not like either of us are getting any older."
"I suppose that is true," she said with a simply shrug. Especially the part about them not having anyone to turn to. His ex was apparently some sort of tramp, and her's (let's be honest, you don't disappear without closing the books on that) was a vampire who killed without guilt and had a taste for Slayers that she had always disliked. (One reason she may send the warlock a card in thanks was that he got rid of that distasteful thing.) She had Ariana, but her childe had a few of her own problems as well, such as a true addiction to blood. So, they really were all each other had to depend on. When did things get like this?
"Perhaps... in some ways, we're meant to show each OTHER the way." He thought aloud, looking her over. He couldn't help but notice that if she smiled, she'd likely be one of the most attractive women he'd ever seen. It was only that scowl, that derisive sneer, that made her seem so... distant and cold to him. "Maybe the most true... the most balanced way to be isn't how I am... OR how you are... but somewhere in between. Perhaps we need to learn from each other..."
She didn't smile very often, and it was usually a bad thing for whomever she was with for her to do so. So, not exactly the cheeriest of smiles when she did bother. "Perhaps you are right," she said to him. "I'm willing to learn, though." Besides, how else would she pass the time?
"And along with everything else..." He reached over, placing one of his hands upon one of hers, "Perhaps among everything else... we can both heal a little."
She said nothing for a bit, but didn't pull her hand away, either. Truth was, she had no idea how to respond to that. Could she heal? Did she think there was something to heal other than the ache she felt for Luke's presence? Was he talking about that? She wasn't sure.
He gave her hand a little squeeze. "You miss him. I know. Believe me, Lena... I'm hurting too. But maybe we can help each other at least partially forget the hurt..."
"I just don't understand why he left." She had been looking down at her hands for a while, but, when she looked back up at him, there were tears in her eyes. "Was I not enough? What did I do wrong?" She sounded more like the sixteen year old girl she had once been instead of the world traveler and sophisticated woman that she had become.
He knew now certainly wasn't the time to express his feelings about Luke, or about his inability to love ANYONE but himself. He merely brought her hand to his lips, before slowly moving toward her to sweetly kiss the tears from her eyes. "Only a fool would ever judge you 'not enough', dear. And I'm sure we've BOTH done plenty wrong in our times... although I doubt you did anything personally to drive him away."
She would merely protest if he did bring it up, so it was better that he didn't. He had been her sire, the one who brought her into this life, having watched her grow up from the shadows before plucking her just on this side of womanhood. Lena finally leaned against his shoulder and sighed, not sure if she believed him about doing nothing to drive him away. Still, why would he lie to her?