Luke Hayes ♕ Laurent, Prince of Vere (thegoldenprince) wrote in thereincarnates, @ 2017-07-30 13:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | dominic akana, luke hayes |
Who: Luke Hayes & Dominic Akana
What: Two princes meet again, under entirely different circumstances
Where: Arles, Vere (A fictional location in Romania)
When: Sunday afternoon, July 30th 2017
Warnings: TBD? It is Vere, so, there could be nudity, even if it's not their own.
Since becoming a reincarnate, Luke had still never thought that one day he might actually see it. Laurent's memories of Vere, the majestic woods that surrounded it, of the sparkling capital city of Arlas and the elaborately decorated structures of the palace itself had always seemed like something merely out of a dream to him, and yet here he was. Living inside one of those dreams, which looked and felt just as real as anything else would outside of his own head. The inside of the palace was just as Laurent had remembered. Every room looked identical to the ones in his memory, almost as if they'd never been touched. Even Laurent's room, the first time they had sought it out, it held the strange combination of looking exactly as Laurent had left it, and like Laurent himself had not been living in it. Everything in its place, not a book off the shelves, bed made like it'd never been slept in. Luke had never been to any other reincarnate locations before that he knew of so he didn't know if that's how they always were, but that's how Vere was. Shiny and polished and good as new.
He hadn't actually been planning on coming here. Not at first, anyway. When he'd first seen the strange news reports of someone in Romania on a backpacking trip suddenly finding themselves in uncharted territory and describing a mysteriously appearing city in the middle of the forest that sounded too familiar to be anything but Laurent's home, Luke was originally skeptical of the idea to go looking. Not because he didn't want to see it, but because most days, Luke was afraid to go anywhere. It took a long pep talk just to get himself to leave his apartment every day and go to work, and that was when there hadn't been any immediate danger surrounding him. Luke existed in a constant cloud of anxiety and what he was sure was some form of untreated PTSD. There was the ever looming presence of his father that Luke could always feel, even from thousands of miles away and after not actually seeing the man in well over ten years. There was a part of Luke that would always be afraid of his father, and a lingering fear that he would actually find Luke one day, but until a week ago, that was all it had ever been. A fear that kept him from immediately leaving the house, or being afraid to go any place new outside of the familiar streets of Ashland that Luke had already memorized, including alternate routes if he ever needed to lose someone quickly.
Until a week ago, the fear of being followed had never been a reality. Then, after ten years of feeling as lost as he possibly could be, all the way across the country from everything he'd ever known, it happened. It felt impossible, but he looked up one day from his table at the cafe he always went to across the street from the library and saw a familiar face standing right outside. It was really more of a familiar profile, Luke couldn't see his entire face on account of the fact that he wasn't turned towards the cafe window, he was looking at something down the sidewalk, but Luke would recognize those features anywhere. Even from a side view. It was the one face, other than his father's, that Luke was truly afraid of. The face of the man, one of his father's men, who had taken advantage of him so completely when he was still barely more than a young boy. Certainly nowhere close to a man. Luke was a man now, but the minute he saw that person outside from his past, a past he'd been so desperately trying to forget, he felt like that boy again. He felt what that boy had felt. Small, helpless, and afraid. Insignificant. Luke hadn't felt that way in a long time.
Luke had waited until the man had started to move on down the sidewalk, until he peered further through the window and saw that hauntingly familiar form rounding a corner, and then Luke had made a run for it. Threw some money down on the table, shrugged on his jacket, and bolted from the cafe in the opposite direction, taking as many different routes and short cuts back to his apartment that he knew of, his mind racing the whole time. Why was he here? Had his father sent him? Had his father finally tracked him down, despite how hard Will had worked to help Luke disappear? Had his father sent the one person in the world that Luke dreaded most, other than him, to drag him back home? Luke wasn't going to wait around to find out. Once he'd reached his apartment he called into work and told them he needed to take a few weeks off, finally use all those vacation days he never took since other than work and home, Luke never actually went anywhere. He sent off a quick e-mail to Will that he was taking a trip, that he'd be gone for at least a few weeks and he didn't know if his cell phone would be out of range, but not to worry. Then he packed a bag, and without any real plan, Luke left.
It didn't take long for Luke to realize where he was going, though. Where he'd always been planning on going. It was the only place that made sense now, the only place that he would truly never be found by anyone. He took the MTN as far as he could, to get as close as he could to their intended destination. That far out, the only MTN's were in major cities, so even after he reached Bucharest, he still had a day's ride or so ahead of him. That was where Laurent really came in. Once they'd secured a car and after asking around some, Luke headed off in the direction of the newly appeared city, with Laurent able to direct him once they went off road and started seeing some other, strangely familiar sites. Apparently, it wasn't just Arles that had appeared. They passed by what looked like Acquitart and Ravenel, though they didn't stop. Luke drove until he was too tired to hold himself up, slept briefly in the back seat before resuming their drive to Laurent's beloved capital city. A place that felt more like home to Luke than anything had since he'd left home at eighteen.
What they hadn't counted on was the place not actually being... deserted. Or, that when they were met with people walking around in the palace, that they would address Luke as Laurent, like they all seemed to think it was really their king who had come home after a long time spent away. Luke didn't understand it at first. Obviously, he and Laurent had a lot of similar features, though Luke's blonde hair wasn't nearly as long. He had a similar build, his eyes were the same shade of blue, and yes, his manner of speech was chillingly familiar. Luke wasn't even sure the people in the palace were actually real, but they never left, and the servants insisted on calling him 'your majesty', which made Luke extremely uncomfortable. He got them to back down to 'your highness', but they wouldn't budge any farther than that, so he just tried his best to ignore it. After his arrival, Luke got a very rapid but thorough introduction into most Veretian customs and way of living, including the clothes, which they stubbornly insisted he wore because apparently his more modern attire offended their delicate Veretian sensibilities, and it wasn't worth the argument for Luke. There were servants who went about their business every day and people at court who strolled leisurely around with their pets, almost as if they'd never left the palace and time had simply stopped for them, familiar and unfamiliar to the two men all at once. It was a lot to get used to at first.
Veretian clothing had taken some getting used to, all those laces and hooks, and even with as conservatively as Luke had dressed before, he'd never been quite so covered, or wearing such tight fitting clothing. Having someone lace him up in them every day had taken some getting used to as well, considering how much Luke detested actually being touched by other people, but for the most part, this place was easy to get accustomed to. Like losing yourself in a role, except the role was more or less you. Or some version of you, anyway. It was Laurent's home, and it felt a little like a home to him. Way more than his shitty little apartment in Oregon had, and definitely more than the home he'd grown up in ever had. For the most part, he'd contented himself to spending most of his days getting to know Laurent's books, and he was currently reading one while lounging on a pile of luxurious pillows in one of the main rooms of the palace, his long form uncoiled like a cat sunbathing, for once no visible tension in his body. One of the ones that might have been used for court spectacles, but for obvious reasons, that wasn't something Luke was interested in encouraging in this life. "Your majes- apologies, your highness?" The uncertainty in the servant's voice caused Luke to actually look up from his book with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?" The servant shifted nervously. "There's... someone here. A visitor." Something about the way they said that didn't immediately put Luke on edge, so he simply waved his hand. "By all means, send them in."