Tweak

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Tweak says, "Jinkies!"

Lestat de Lioncourt (i_liveforever) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2012-03-21 19:40:00

Entry tags:

eric northman, lestat de lioncourt, stand still

oh, now you're just taking things too far. (eric)
Lestat did not need as much rest as younger vampires of his kind did; in fact, he'd mostly gotten away from the Hells Bells of his youth, from the sound of dawn approaching feeling like a death knell.

But sleep he did, shortly after the sun came up, and he'd wake just before sunset. Fully fed and strong, he could withstand the sun--and had, in the dessert. The sun still put him to sleep, though, whether he wanted it to or not. There was only so hard he could fight it.

When he awoke this evening, in his beautifully appointed apartment made to look just like his home in New Orleans, something caught his eye. He was reaching into the wardrobe for a jacket and shirt to wear, something eye-catching.

That was when he saw it.

The heart on the mirror. A lipstick-drawn heart. And a square in the middle, a picture.

Holding his chosen garments, Lestat crossed the room in the blink of an eye, grabbing the picture up.

Eric. Eric in the park. During the day.

Lestat growled. It was a low, angry, predatory growl.

The clothes were donned in a flash. And he was out the door in a blur. Eric was out during the day? Eric, whose particular brand of vampire was so vulnerable to the sun?

Once he was on the street, he pursued Eric with a single-mindedness that rivaled actual obsession.

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i_bite
2012-03-22 03:15 am UTC (link)

"In this day and age they have cleaning products that will get the disease off of a whore. I wouldn't worry about your mirror."

Eric stooped and picked up the photo, smiling. He had taken it specifically for Lestat. He had picked a spot where the tops of the trees could be seen and the sun behind them. He didn't want Lestat thinking that a flash had been used. Or some artificial lighting.

"You're so angry." He held out the photo, unsure if Lestat would take it, or take it and crush it.

"I just wanted to share with you this new thing. It's exciting, is it not?"

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i_liveforever
2012-03-22 03:26 am UTC (link)

Internally, Lestat snorted. Perhaps Eric should have met a New Orleans waterfront prostitute.

There was no getting them out of anything--not the carpet, not your mouth, anything.

You're so angry. He looked from Eric's extended hand to the other vampire's eyes. He did not touch the photo.

Actually, this was about threat level yellow. Orange and red were still to come. Lestat was notoriously short-fused, unless dealing with his favorite fledgelings.

"Yes, so exciting you felt the urge to break and enter," he said. "How are you able to walk in the sun?"

Lestat could withstand the sun with serious burns, resulting in the net effect of looking like he'd gotten a tan, but he could not move much once in the sun.

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i_bite
2012-03-22 03:31 am UTC (link)

"I knocked. You didn't answer." Eric was still holding his smile. It wasn't unkind exactly. But it wasn't perfectly nice, either. "I touched nothing else. I didn't even look for you. I just left the photo."

Eric stopped himself. "And drew the heart. I couldn't resist it."

And now they were getting into things that Eric knew would come. Things that would likely make Lestat even angrier than he already was.

"I cannot share that." It wasn't just his secret, not that he would have told Lestat the full truth of it anyway.

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i_liveforever
2012-03-22 03:49 am UTC (link)

Lestat would be hitting a lesser being by now. Or threatening to hit.

"So just dropped by to gloat?" He asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Something's been done. Changed."

People were passing them on the street, seemingly oblivious to their conversation, or the gravity of it. It was changing from late afternoon to full-blown night, now.

Late afternoon was the earliest Lestat could move around.

"What happens if this new gift is lost?" he asked. "Or goes wrong?"

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i_bite
2012-03-22 03:53 am UTC (link)

"Experiments were run before I risked playing outside by myself." Eric answered the second question first. He was drawing out what he was going to say next.

"Not entirely just to gloat. I thought that perhaps we could experiment. You said you can gain abilities from drinking another's blood. I don't think that it would last forever, but you might get a day." He didn't even know if it would work, honestly. But it might be worth a try. "If you want."

Eric was ignoring everybody else. He didn't care.

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i_liveforever
2012-03-22 03:59 am UTC (link)

Partially, Lestat had hoped that Eric was too stupid to think of experimenting. He hoped it'd just been a ridiculous run of luck. This was because, simply, he wouldn't have thought to experiment--not without someone else's suggestion of it--and refused to believe that Eric might in any way be superior.

... but you might get a day.

There must be another catch. Lestat's other eyebrow rose, both forming an odd canopy above eyes that managed, despite everything, not to look surprised.

Just curious.

Drinking Eric's blood could have odd side effects. Eric was older, yes, but he was another kind of vampire. One that was, from what Lestat inferred, weaker in several ways. If Eric wished his blood in return... Lestat was not sure he could offer that. He'd been made to promise not to make any fledgelings (and look how well he'd kept to that promise) due to the strength of his blood. His fledgelings were monsters, stronger than they should be by centuries, thanks to Akasha, and Maharet, and Marius, and, he imagined, Christ.

"Oh?" He gave Eric a slight smile, one that was laced with less nice things underneath. "What's the catch?"

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i_bite
2012-03-22 04:10 am UTC (link)

"Catch?" Eric thought he might be able to ask for about anything for this particular gift. "There would be a connection between us after."

He thought about it a little more, considering further. Thinking about the things that Lestat could do that he could not. Sure, there was much that he could do that Lestat could not. But there was a trade off.

"You could also share." He said, finally.

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i_liveforever
2012-03-22 04:35 am UTC (link)

There was a limit.

Years ago, there would not have been. But fool as he was, Lestat had learned a thing or two over the years. He knew the strength he had, and he knew better than to just hand it out.

Look what it'd done to Nicki.

If he gave Eric his blood, the other vampire's mind would be closed to him forever. That was probably both a good and a bad thing, Lestat considered.

"Connection?" Great. Because he'd just love being tied to Eric.

He didn't say anything in response to the request that he share. Not yet.

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i_bite
2012-03-22 04:40 am UTC (link)

"Sharing blood with other vampires isn't rare. But there is always some connection that lingers. I honestly don't know how it would work with different vampire species. Perhaps it would be lesser. Perhaps it would be more. When I give a human my blood, I can feel them. Track them. For a time. The more blood, the stronger the bond. The longer it lasts."

For some, he would never stop knowing where they were. Others, it would fade over time. Still others, it was gone forever.

"Perhaps we would only be more aware of one another. But there is sure to be something."

He wasn't exactly happy about the idea, either. But it might be worth it to taste this blood of another that he would never have another chance to do, he didn't think. Never would have, if he had not been brought here.

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i_liveforever
2012-03-22 04:51 am UTC (link)

Lestat did not like the idea of Eric being able to sense him, and know where he was... although he was still not over Eric's entry into his home. He crossed his arms over his chest, pondering.

"In your tests, and your little jaunts to the park," Lestat began, "you don't even tan?"

He thought of how he'd deliberately damaged his skin, just to fit in. Eric still looked sheet-white. "Not even human-level skin damage?"

That was not really possible, he didn't think. This had to be a spell, or some kind of magic...

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i_bite
2012-03-22 04:55 am UTC (link)

"No." Eric looked at his arm. "Nothing like that. Why would I tan?"

He hadn't had a whole lot of color when he'd been changed, given where he was from, but there had been some.

"I am not vulnerable to that kind of damage, and it is damage. Further, if I am able to walk in the sun without problems, why should it touch me at all?"

There was a lack of logic in the question, he thought.

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i_liveforever
2012-03-22 09:10 pm UTC (link)

Lestat didn't press it. He didn't have a boatload of logic to begin with. He wasn't going to try to make someone understand his way of thinking. He'd largely given up on that long ago, except for the times he got preachy and my-way-or-the-highway.

"This is very tempting," Lestat said, almost under his breath.

And yet, he still wasn't sure. Sharing his blood with Eric might make Eric damn near unkillable, too. Lestat did not want that.

He could not be responsible for that.

But, oh, the things he could do with a day of sunlight...

He smiled, and the smile became slowly more broad before breaking into a laugh. There were fewer consequences, here. It wasn't like Maharet could show up and tie him up with her hair again. The City had found a way to chain him with her hair, sure, but actually harming him? Only she and a few others could do that.

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	i_bite 2012-03-27 08:20 am UTC (link)
	Eric eyed Lestat, waiting. When the other vampire smiled, he raised his brows. "You say one thing, yet your smile says something entirely different." Admittedly,he was starting to get a little impatient. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

i_liveforever
2012-03-27 11:49 pm UTC (link)

Lestat arched an eyebrow. "I was just thinking what my punishment would be back home, for sharing my blood."

The smile grew, if such a thing were even possible. It was already pretty wide.

"Such things no longer apply."

He could almost hear David in his head, telling him he could not do this, that it was folly (oh, David's love of that word...), and all manner of David-like warnings and admonishings rang out in his brain. But he was what he was, and would always be. There was no changing Lestat. Many had tried.

"I believe we can reach an arrangement."

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i_bite
2012-03-28 01:27 am UTC (link)

Eric's smile returned, then.

"I'm glad to hear that."

He had no idea what kind of effect this would have on either of them, it could turn out very badly. Maybe one or both of them would become ill. But what was life without a little experimentation? Trying new things?

Look at what it had gotten him with Baba.

"I will allow you to take mine first." The unsaid threat was there, that if Lestat bolted after without the trade, there would be problems. They each had their own advantages over the other, but Eric was very certain his speed and strength outmatched his companion's.

He rolled up the sleeve of his shirt and held his wrist out.

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i_liveforever
2012-03-29 01:49 am UTC (link)

Both of Lestat's eyebrows rose. They were on the street, where people could see them. Eric had to have some sense of decorum, and not causing people with no preternatural knowledge whatsoever to panic and flee, if not grab pitchforks.

His eyes darted to Eric's wrist. This was a fair display of trust, considering the way the two treated each other and sniped.

He nodded. "Not here," he said, just as two people walked past.

At least an alley, something...

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	i_bite 2012-03-29 03:07 am UTC (link)
	"Seriously?" Eric looked around. "You're worried about the meatsacks here? They aren't even smart enough to be qualified as anything but vegetables." He shook his head. "Fine. Let's go back to your place then." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

i_liveforever
2012-04-04 01:39 am UTC (link)

Meatsacks? A younger Lestat would have laughed at the word. This one shook his head just slightly. "Surely you have some sense of decorum," he said.

With a sigh, he agreed. There would have to be a change made. Something to better keep Eric out of his apartment if he didn't want Eric there. But for now, it'd do.

Follow me, then. Not that you don't already know the place.

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	i_bite 2012-04-10 10:52 pm UTC (link)
	He didn't really care what people saw, but he followed Lestat back to his flat. Once inside, he resumed the posture he'd taken previously. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

i_liveforever
2012-04-16 08:07 pm UTC (link)

Lestat did not have to be asked twice once they were both away from any mortals that might have to be... dealt with, in whatever way... if they saw a blood exchange on the street. He did understand that the City was not 'normal,' and that people probably did not bat their eyes at weird occurances.

But even in his beloved permissive New Orleans, this was not a thing to be seen by mortal eyes. The last thing he wanted was Eric to glamor passersby.

From the time the pair of vampires entered his apartment, it was less than ten seconds before the front door was shut and locked, and Lestat's fangs were breaking Eric's skin.

It wasn't as difficult as he'd thought, but Eric's age was evident. One of his kind, Eric's age... would be much like Mael, the druid. Lestat had never tried to share blood with Mael, but he imagined that his skin was damn near impenetrable, almost stone, like Akasha's had been. Like he knew Maharet's was. Eric's skin was not human, but it was not as difficult to penetrate as that of Lestat's elders.

He drank.

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i_bite
2012-04-17 04:43 am UTC (link)

Eric watched Lestat carefully. He could see the eagerness, but couldn't fault the other vampire for it. He was excited for this, himself. To see what would happen to them, if anything.

Lestat had mentioned penalties for sharing blood. Eric had never been put under such constraints. It was common for vampires to drink from one another if they were close, and during sex it was bound to happen even if it hadn't ever before.

Of course, if power transferred during this exchange, like Lestat had been speaking of, it would be easier to see why restrictions would be placed. He and Lestat were already powerful. If anything came of this, it would make them so much more dangerous.

He let Lestat drink for much longer than he thought was necessary, just in case.

"I think you should let go now."

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i_liveforever
2012-04-17 05:15 am UTC (link)

Lestat barely heard the vampire.

There was only blood, and it was interesting blood, rich blood. Vampire blood was always so different, and carried with it so many more images, such a flood of memories, that it was almost more intoxicating than drinking in a fragile mortal life.

He swallowed a rush of memories similar to his own mortal life-- a revered Viking son bedding many women, just like the son of the Marquis and the local girls. Feasts and battles, a language Lestat seemed to innately understand, though he did not know it. And then there was the blood, and the club, and arriving here. There was... a mortal girl, one he hadn't met personally, not yet, but recognized. He'd seen her around, at least at the masquerade. And that obnoxious Winchester, fighting. He almost smiled at that.

I think you should let go now.

Lestat barely heard him over the roar of the blood. It was like a distant call. He smiled very slightly, letting go of Eric's arm, licking at his lower lip, a the remnants of the blood. There was a look on his face that was somewhere between bliss and amusement. He knew it might be similar for Eric, but the blood was everything to his kind.

With slowness that was not deliberate, simply lethargic out of satisfaction, Lestat drew himself up, eyebrow arched. He rolled up his right sleeve and held his arm out to Eric.

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