Just like a ghost to me Who: Laurent and Rae Where: Rae's place When: After dark
Laurent had gone to the march because that was what good Azraelans did, apparently. They drank their fae-blood, pulled on their smiles - and he knew that he had one of the best even if it was fanged - and went to play with the other supernaturals. It was not that he minded going, exactly, so much as he did not like having to march down the middle of a street in daylight. It went against all of the instincts that had been trained into him when he was still a member of the calvary. Walking down a street in broad daylight while declaring something that people would object to was like flying a bright flag that declared 'we're all here, shoot us now!' Those instincts had turned out to be right when everything had exploded. Laurent... did not remember much of the day. His ears had been ringing for awhile and there had been dust and soot and blood all over him, like it was on a lot of other people, and he had offered his help where it had been needed; but he did not remember much of it. Was he supposed to? It had been like walking into someone's nightmare only he was not able to fix it. Things like that were why Laurent preferred the world of dreams to the waking one where everything could go wrong - and when they went wrong here? They stayed wrong. Those people stayed dead and they were real, not just dreamed up figments, but real people who had been killed because they had taken part in a march that was an awful idea to begin with.
Laurent could have stayed sulking in his room, thinking about all the reasons the previous day had been an awful idea, for days on end. Just because his body was in the room did not mean that his mind was and there were still a few pleasant dreams to pick from. How people could have such pleasant dreams when they knew what had happened absolutely fascinated him. The minds of mortals, and vampires who still dreamed he supposed, were amazing things when it came to the ability to dream. Sometimes he wondered what it was that he would have dreamed of if he had been able to. France? His family? Phillipe and whether he was still alive? Only no, he knew he would not have dreamed of any of those things. There was one thing that he would have dreamed of, but since he could not close his eyes and drift off to have those dreams he decided that he was going to do the next best thing.
Which was why he was standing in front of Rae's house, much as he had been a week or so ago, a cigarette in hand that was doing nothing but smoldering as it burned down, risking another scar being added to the multitude that had already been burned in there the same way. The only reason he even lit the things was for the smell and the brief contact with fire and imagined heat that, sometimes, he really missed. Once there had been someone, obviously an unimportant someone since he could not remember their face or name, who had pointed out that he should just do that with matches or lighters since they gave a better flame and lighters would not burn him. Laurent had pointed out in his turn that lighters and matches as they were now had not existed when he was still alive. Neither had cigarettes, but they were much closer and he had taken up this habit back before he was even a century old. Shouldn't burn myself. Still, Laurent reached down and put the tip of the cigarette out with the pad of his hand, a quiet hiss slipping out before he flicked it away. He was not stalling to buy himself more time before he walked up to knock loudly on the door, of course he was not, why would he do that? Because vampires died yesterday too. Only that was a ridiculous thought. Since when had Gabriel's taken part in anything like a peaceful march unless they were scoping out their next meal or target? Rae would not have been there. She would have stayed home where it was safe.
Rocking back on his heels, Laurent slid one hand into the pocket of his jeans before glancing up at the house. "Come on, Rae, I know you're here." Naturally that meant she should come to the door. Laurent never admitted to himself that she probably had plenty of reasons to just ignore him until he went away. Especially since he never actually went away.