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Tweak says, "My spidey senses are tingling."

Armand (vagabond_child) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-09-09 07:42:00

Entry tags:

armand, arrival, complete, day 14, toph bei fong

Day Fourteen
Who: Armand and Toph
Where: Along the beach, to start.
When: After dark
What: Armand arrives
Rating? This could be a PG-13 for descriptions of burning alive.
Status? Complete

The small televangelist who had somehow gotten a hold of the icon held it up, and Armand saw the very face of Jesus blasted into the fibers. Dora, her name was, but he didn't really care about that. She could have been anyone. The veil was the important thing. Just a simple piece of white fabric, but the face of the savior...

Gabrielle had gone down into hell itself, maybe as some sort of reaction to losing her son. She had been reckless, impulsive, since Lestat had pulled his disappearing act. And she'd brought the Veil from the very grasp of Satan. Armand couldn't stop staring at it. His mind slipped back more than five hundred years to when he'd been the one creating religious imagary. He could smell the paint. And then, to see that his best work was thrown in the mud when he was kidnapped, and he had failed. He hadn't protected the icon.

This one, though, was a million times more precious. A real relic. Not made by human hands. The sun was going to rise soon. Any sane Vampire would be safely inside by now. But though Armand felt the drowsiness of the coming day, he didn't seek a resting place. Instead, he stood where he was, on the steps of a church, and waited.

It had been so long since he'd felt like this, that there was anything in the world worth sacrificing himself for. So long since he was last filled with this religious feeling, this faith, this hope. It was overwhelming. But it left no doubt to him what must happen. He was evil, the Veil was good. Therefore, to sacrifice himself to the power of the icon, that would be a good thing.

His eyes started to hurt. The sun was starting to lighten the sky, though it hadn't made its appearance yet. It wouldn't be long. He looked to the East, waiting. Others pulled at him, told him to stop, but he pushed them away. Soon enough, they had to go into their resting places themselves, and left him alone. Only mortals would see him die. But, since it was to them that the world belonged, maybe that was fitting.

As the sun crested the hills and sent it's first rays shooting to the steps of the church where the vampire stood, he saw his first sunrise in over 500 years. How nice, that he would die in beauty. His skin started to smoke, and the pain shooting through him was unendurable. But he did endure it, and even somehow remained on his feet.

Something was wrong, though. Flames should have been shooting out of his skin by now. He'd been so sure his death would be quick. But the minutes passed, and he just smoked, blackened, but didn't burst into flames. His wild mind, crazed by the warm, early-morning sun, remembered the story of Those Who Must Be Kept. Put into the sun for a whole day, and they survived. He wasn't going to die. He was too old.

He fell onto his knees, screaming in denial. He'd come here to die! His sacrifice had been rejected. But not by everyone, it seemed. Maybe the sun didn't want him, but someone did. A burst of golden light shot out of the sky, illuminating the vampire, and when it lifted, he was gone. To a mortal watching, it would have just seemed another miracle. They had been quite common since the Veil had been brought to earth.

Armand, however, nearly passed out. An unusual thing for a vampire to do, but he wasn't fully himself from the sun. The light, he was sure, was God's wrath shining down to kill him after all. So when he found himself deposited onto the sand, his skin still smoldering and blackened, he was shocked. Was this hell? It really didn't look like hell. And it couldn't be heaven, not when he was in so much pain.

He'd landed on his knees, just as he'd been when he'd been back on earth, and slowly, he rose. He winced with every step. Already, his body was trying to heal, but the damage was extensive. He was still formed exactly as usual, of course, but his skin was black. It was nighttime here, and as he looked around, a few things became apparent. He was by the sea, and he was nowhere in North America. Even in Florida, it wasn't as gorgeous as it was here. And it just didn't feel right, somehow.

Where was he? Where had his sacrifice taken him? Who had rescued him? He didn't know, and, standing in one place, he looked around.

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vagabond_child
2008-09-11 01:31 pm UTC (link)

He hadn't thought. He'd never been blind before, and the images he projected into her head were bright, vibrant. Venice, New Orleans, Florida, even Kiev. All full of colors, just like the paintings he'd made while he was a mortal. He hadn't realized how much it would mean to her to see them, even in her mind. Her silence, and the emotions she was projecting, made him feel a confusing tangle of emotions.

"You're welcome... would you like to see more?"

He spoke gently, though he knew that if he showed pity, it would infuriate her. Of course, he had the same thing. He could handle being hated, but pitied... that was a different story all together. So he made sure not to show too much compassion. Easily, he slipped his thoughts back into her mind, murmuring softly as he did so, "I believe that, first, I will show you what you look like, beautiful one."

He looked at her intently, and let her see through his eyes. The dark hair, smooth skin, everything he saw. He had noted her discomfort with being called beautiful, and he wanted her to know she was. Then, he slid back to Venice, focusing on the churches. They had had such gorgeous churches there, full of light and color. He'd seen them both while mortal and as a vampire, and gave her a head full of his impressions. That, he sensed, would probably be quite enough for her to handle, and he backed out of her mind carefully.

"If you ever need this again, my darling, come to me and I will show you." When she changed the subject, though, he went with it. He sensed she was shaken up by the whole experience. "It could be interesting to meet these people, then, that share my world. Although, really, I already know about my own world. I want to learn more about other places. Might as well take advantage of being brought here."

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rocksolid
2008-09-11 10:01 pm UTC (link)

She didn't say anything when he offered to show her more, but she certainly didn't object. The young earth bender hadn't wanted to ask, but figured he could tell how badly she'd wanted to see more. She supposed it should've bothered her more then it did, his being able to pick through her thoughts and emotions, but her proud nature kept her from asking things of people. With him she didn't have to ask, and he already seemed to understand so much about her, the way he kept pity from his tone, or had left the feelings of contentment before to keep her from being furious about the compelling gift.

Her cheeks flushed at the repeated comment on her beauty, but before she'd had a chance to say anything against it the image of a young woman formed in her mind. It was like looking at a stranger at first. Toph bit her lip, lifting a hand to touch her cheek, forcing herself not to go all mushy. She was almost thankful when he moved on to the pictures of churches again. They were different from the temples she knew, but it didn't matter. She loved the way the light filtered in to them, hell -- just seeing the sun and the moon through the glass was amazing in itself.

"Thank you, Armand." She said again once he'd stopped. "Maybe -- You could show me what you look like sometime." Toph didn't want to take advantage of the gift he offered, but it couldn't hurt to ask for this last thing.

"I was told there was a man from a totally different planet from the others. Um, a Doctor of some kind. There is a huge library too, I'm sure you could learn about all kinds of places there." The teen suggested. The library hadn't done her any good, but he'd probably appreciate it.

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vagabond_child
2008-09-12 12:28 am UTC (link)

"You're more than welcome..."

Her thoughts were strong. The emotions attached to them had to be equally strong. He had no trouble reading them. It really did seem that the more time he spent around a specific mortal, the easier it was for him to read them. It had been so long since he'd been around one specific mortal that he'd forgotten. He really did tend to seek out his own kind. Clearly, he'd been missing out.

As he slipped into her mind once more, he laughed and spoke softly, the words echoing inside her head again. But there was no compulsion this time. It was simply a more direct way to communicate. A way with less misunderstanding. Would you see me as I am now, or as I was? I'm burned right now. He glanced down at his hand, surprised to note that it was merely dark brown, not the black it had been before. Although not as badly as I was before.

He'd always been a little vain, as a result of everyone telling him how beautiful he was. Idly, he wondered what he even looked like right now. Normally, he could see through her eyes, but she couldn't see... he looked around for a window and found one. Too quickly for mortals to see, he went to it, glanced at himself, and was back again. With her vibration sense, he had no idea what she had made of that. But he had his answer. He looked as he always did, but dark, as if he had some exotic blood in him. Not bad at all.

Or perhaps, my Earth Angel, I should show you both.

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rocksolid
2008-09-14 11:51 pm UTC (link)

Honestly, it didn't matter to her which form he showed her. She'd be pleased either way, though she supposed a burnt body would be less appealing then however he normally looked. Burns, even if they weren't her own, were still unpleasant to think about. Her mind turning briefly to the time her feet had been burned, how it had made her truly blind for a short time.

Her shoulders rose slightly in what might have been simply a shrug before he decided to go look at his reflection. Instead her hands rose suddenly, defensively, as she jumped back a step. She wasn't sure what to make of the feeling. He had moved impossibly fast, and it all just registered at once. Moving towards her so quickly had startled her, thinking for an instant that he'd for whatever reason decided to attack her.

Not that any such attack came, just his voice again in the back of her mind suggesting he show her how he looked both before and after the burns. Toph let her hands fall to her sides again slowly, not bothering to explain her self or ask for one from him. She was sure it had been movement, he'd just gone much much faster then the average person could. It's not the weirdest thing Armand was capable of, it just caught her off guard is all. "Both sounds good." The earth bender stated simply.

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vagabond_child
2008-09-15 09:59 am UTC (link)

He nodded, knowing that his current form wasn't as bad as all that. Even at his most burned, when he was literally black, he'd still kept his form and features. He had them now, underneath skin that was dark brown. His vanity was pleased that he still looked as beautiful as ever, just in a different way. He had no shame about showing this form to her, and certainly not his old one.

As I am now...

He projected the image into her head, large, innocent eyes, auburn hair, sun-darkened skin, and opened his mouth to let her see his fangs. An important part of who he was, in his opinion. Slowly, he let the image fade.

And how I was...

Pale, faintly luminscent, he almost glowed. Same hair, same eyes, the only major difference being the color of his skin. Same teeth when he opened his mouth. Beautiful in either form, but different. This image, he held for longer, and then let it fade as well. When he spoke again, it was out loud.

"I like to show you things. Odd, really. I have no time for mortals, usually. I don't know why. Do you have some sort of gift that makes people want to do things for you?"

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rocksolid
2008-09-18 12:21 pm UTC (link)

Beautiful really didn't seem to be the right word to describe a guy, but it seemed to suit Armand perfectly. He didn't even looked burned to her, she liked the darkened flesh as opposed to the colorless way he normally was. The teeth didn't really capture her attention either. Sure they were sharper from her own, but that was the only basis she had for comparison so it she couldn't exactly say for sure that it was unusual.

"Nope. No gift. I'm just not like most mortals, I guess." She said with a small grin. People often felt they had to do things for her because she was blind, like she wasn't capable of doing it herself. Toph knew, however, that this was not what Armand meant. He had actually don't a lot for her, but she'd never really gotten the impression that it was out of pity or anything.

Toph kinda wished there was something she could do to repay him for what he'd shown her, but she'd already offered -- and they were both stuck here so she figured he could find her later if he needed or wanted. "My room is E103 if you want to talk again sometime. I'm going to get back though." She would like to keep talking to him, but she was kind of tired.

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vagabond_child
2008-09-18 01:00 pm UTC (link)

She had given him her room number, implied that she'd like to see him again. He laughed softly, and shook his head. This one was something else.

"You are full of surprises, beautiful Toph. You know what I am and yet you would invite me to see you again."

His delight was clear in his voice. He just wasn't used to having this from mortals. Those who knew what he was, died. But then, that was going to have to change, wasn't it? He couldn't kill anymore.

"Yes, go, and don't be surprised if we meet again. I like you." He smiled, withdrew fully from her mind. "I have exploring to do, and a room to find. Goodnight."

Then, because he wasn't all that great with goodbye's, he moved so quickly out of the room that, again, he would seem to have disappeared. He had a lot to think about, how this would change everything, these new rules. And he did have to find his room, as well.

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