Somewhere in Deepest Uberwald...
A clock stopped. Leda watched the elegant long hand judder to a stop in the perma-dark and sighed. Once the clockwork had seized up that was it. Her ineptitude with the delicate cogs had been proved repeatedly, and she no longer attempted to repair them.
Out in the street another knot of vampires paraded past, cooing and laughing loudly, banging on random doors to frighten the inhabitants. Just another sunless noon. And her, singing a hymn under her breath absently as her mind circled around the major accidents of her life, her birth being the first, she supposed, at least as far as her unknown parents were concerned, her aging so many years in so few minutes on the day the sun was blotted out the most arcane, and her being cast out as "sinful" the most recent and most avoidable.
As she lay the clock down in a corner, Leda shrugged. Anthony has been fun, at least, and in this new world there was so little room for the church anyway. The vampires left her alone, obsolete clocks could be found easily on the streets and in the debris, and she had no one to fear for.
12/21/2011 . Edited 12/21/2011 #1 Report"Maedchen!" called a voice. A figure, with a high black (but surprisingly muddied) collar and well kept (but oddly worn) attire and the most bizarrely out of fashion shoes came by. "Maedchen, liebchen, haben Sie die Zeit?"
He had a huge package over his shoulder and carried it like it was nothing. He had black hair slicked over his head and big, wide eyes. Paranoid. His smile was large and wanted so desperately to be friendly it was almost pathetic.
((Girl! Girl, darling, do you have the time? he said.))
12/21/2011 #2 ReportSomewhere else....
Gwydion looked sadly at the ground, and sighed. "Well, here we are again."
12/21/2011 #3 Report'It was twenty to six,' Leda replied sadly, with a last look at the clock. 'Does it matter particularly to you?'
12/21/2011 #4 Report"Oh, oh, wonderful, wonderful," he turned in a circle, muttering sarcastically. "Yes, yes, important, a little. I'm expected." He let out a withering sigh and adjusted the package on his shoulder.
12/21/2011 #5 Report'Who by? Who are you?' Leda tried not to sound too accusing. 'Vampires roam very freely around here, you might want to move on soon.'
12/21/2011 #6 Report"But I am a vampire, my dear." He hurriedly found a spot for his sack and managed a long, grandiose bow. His ragged (but expensive!) cape swooshed around slim shoulders. "Lord Drakhen, at your humble service. It is a most exquisite pleasure to make your noble acquaintance! Who might you be?"
12/21/2011 #7 Report'Oh. Sorry.' Leda looked skyward wryly, cursing her own mistake. 'I would be Leda. And why would a vampire be travelling alone in this age?'
12/21/2011 #8 Report"...To get my shopping?" he offered. "But what of you? Why is a charming young Fraulein such as yourself all alone in the busy streets?"
12/21/2011 #9 Report'Right.' Leda shrugged. 'The vampires tend not to bother me. And I was bored. There's very little to do-and if I am relatively safe then I may as well take advantage of it.' Leda frowned. 'Why-planning to take a bite out of me?' She grinned confidently. 'You'd be an odd one if you were.'
12/21/2011 #10 ReportDrakhen waved her off. "I've already eaten," he assured. The 'shopping' squirmed.
He glanced about nervously, sniffing the street. "I don't wanna go home."
It scared him. The ramshackle abode sent melancholy down his spine. Then the two faces awaiting him there, bloodless, drained...
"But why shouldn't I eat you?" he asked.
Anything to delay the eventual return. If he came back late there would be no end of it. He might as well come back really late and get a little peace in the meanwhile.
12/22/2011 #11 Report'I have no idea. I was hoping you might know, to be honest-no other vampire has been good enough to stick around long enough to explain.' Leda sighed. 'So don't go home. You are a vampire, not a child.'
12/22/2011 #12 ReportKeeping his head down, Piotr passed by. He didn't like being mistaken for part of the gangs of vampires who roamed the streets around this time of-- well, he had to call it night, but there really was no difference anymore.
Those other vampires frightened him. He had always felt vampires were supposed to be solitary, stealthy creatures, which suited him just fine, but ever since the sun had stopped rising over Überwald they had become more arrogant-- if that were possible.
12/22/2011 #13 Report'See? Like that one skulking by over there-anyone would think The Comtesse herself had a warrant out on me.' Leda sniffed. 'I really hope that isn't the truth of it.'
12/22/2011 #14 ReportHearing this, Piotr flinched. "I don't have anything to do with Comtesses," he mumbled, half to himself.
12/22/2011 #15 Report"Too much of a good thing can be bad," he explained, sitting on top of his grocery sack. "Delightful becomes mundane when used in excessive quantity--except, of course," Drakhen lit up like a lightbulb, "when it comes to theatre. Where will you go tonight? And, I must apologize, what was your name?"
12/22/2011 #16 Report"Um."
A small sound coming from behind Drakhen and his sack (which were effectively blocking the narrow road).
12/22/2011 #17 Report"Oh, oh!!" Dräkhen called, leaping to his feet. He flung the sack aside and bowed hurriedly. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't see you there. The lovely young lady distracted me, I must apologize."
12/22/2011 #18 Report"I-it's f-fine," mumbled the boy, starting to push clumsily past him. He had curly, neatly combed hair of a shade that glinted vividly red even in the dim moonlight and the pale, smooth face of a vampire, and wore a classy suit that he seemed rather uneasy in. "S-sorry."
12/22/2011 #19 ReportNearly knocking Leda over as he stumbled over the edge of the sack, the boy flushed an anemic red; obviously he hadn't been a vampire long.
"S-sorry. Um. I d-d-don--" Ducking his head in embarrassment and taking a deep breath, he tried again. "I d... don't s-suppose you could tell me w-which way Castle Höllental is fr-from h-here?"
12/22/2011 #21 Report"Oh no, no problem at all," Drakhen smiled brightly and patted the boy's head. He turned to Leda: "Lovely name, my dear, quite the most lo-- "
He blinked and swirled around to the boy again. "Why, do I know you? You look awfully familiar! Awfully, awfully familiar..."
12/22/2011 #22 ReportFlinching at the over-familiar gesture, the boy blinked back. "M-my name's F-f-f--"
Pause. Long, somewhat shaky breath. "Francis. Francis C-codstone. Sir."
((Francis is/has been speaking Morporkian, btw.))
12/22/2011 #23 Report'Hi Francis,' Leda offered with a grin. 'Nice to meet you.'
((Leda speaks Uberwaldian and Morporkian. Finally, I have a bilingual character.))
12/22/2011 #24 Report((whaaaaaaaat? Darnnit, just imagine there was an accent in the last post.
HE AND LEDA WERE SPEAKING UBERWALDIAN THOUGH, RIGHT? *is worried*))
"Francis? Vell, vell, dann, I guess not. But you look-- eet's so strange." He folded his arms, shaking his head. "Hm. Vot do you sink, Fraulein?"
12/22/2011 #25 Report'He doesn't look in the least familiar to me, but I have said how few vampires I know.' Leda shrugged. 'You alright, Francis? Seem a mite nervous, if you don't mind me saying.'
12/22/2011 #26 ReportFrancis mumbled something politely noncommittal, then: "P-please, I've r-really got to g-get back home and I c-can't remember wh-which road I'm to t-take-- I'm going t-to Castle Höllental."
12/22/2011 . Edited 2/24/2012 #27 Report'Just keep heading West, you can't miss it.' Leda raised an eyebrow. 'Although if that's home, no wonder you're so jumpy.'
12/22/2011 #28 Report"I'm, um, s-sort of n-new. In town," he clarified. "W-well, at the c-castle too. Uh-- -y-yeah. Th-thanks, um, L-leda. I'm already l-late..." giving her a pathetically grateful look.
12/22/2011 #30 Report Reply 
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