An Introduction...

[mlle_claudia]

A small hand, pale and infinitely graceful in its movement, reached up to take the handle of the door, pausing only briefly before pushing it open and stepping inside, the clicking of her shoes seeming to echo into the night that lay behind her. Pushing back the heavy cloak hood that partially covered her face, she glanced around with an expression

Comments

[lestat_the_lion]

After the recent reappearance of Nicolas, anyone might assume that Lestat would be less stunned to see Claudia. It wasn't as though he had not encountered visions of her before, and for a moment the sight of her small form in the hallway made him believe that it was simply another -- not possibly real at all. Yet he could hear the beat of her heart, and as he drew closer, the familiar scent was not something that he could ignore. The dress was unfamiliar, but he knew that it was her nonetheless. He paused, and stared at the way her golden curls fell down her back, his eyes slightly narrowed in contemplation. He stood entirely unmoving, a slightly ominous figure if she would have turned.

Then suddenly he approached, lifted Claudia up, and swung her around once before setting her on her feet again. At the same time he knelt and looked into her face. Even though his grip was gentle, she wouldn't be able to move away. He wasn't going to assume how Claudia would act, since the Nicki he met (as well as the Armand) had been vastly changed from what he had known because of this place. He stared at her for a moment, and then smiled and his eyes lowered to look over what she was wearing. "Why haven't I seen this before?" It was a lighthearted question, but Lestat watched her carefully as he asked it. "You have too much yellow."

[mlle_claudia]

Had started to turn to look at Lestat when he approached her, sensing him but at the same time not fully realising who...hmmm...and when he swung her around her eyes had widened to an almost impossible degree, flashing with a light that is anything but natural, though once she is down and staring at him face-to-face she appeared completely calm, despite how large her eyes remained.

Claudia looked Lestat over for a very long time, not moving at all to get away from his hold on her, not seeming at all as if anything about what he is doing is bothering her at all...hmmph. Tilting her head to the side she studied him a moment longer before speaking, her voice very quiet and without any tone to it to indicate her mood or what she thought of all this, though at the same time it was obvious she was not being unkind.

"It is new." As if that explained anything. "You..." She frowned very faintly, the only indication that she found this entire situation very...off.

[lestat_the_lion]

"Oh?" Lestat inspected the dress with a critical eye, his hands still on either side of Claudia's arms. He held her like that for a moment, inspecting everything about how she looked silently, but then his eyes meet hers again. He didn't speak, but looked back at her wide, calm eyes with a thoughtful expression. After a moment he tilted his head, smiled, and then straightened. He moved his hand as if he would take Claudia's, but then seemed to change his mind and lifted her back up in his arms. Her weight against him was a strange familiarity that he'd almost forgotten, and his eyes briefly flickered to her face.

He didn't at all seem shaken by her presence, as if he'd waited for her to come through the doors and they now had somewhere to go. With a smile, he turned to continue down the hallway they stood in. "Have you seen Louis? I spoke with him earlier." Lestat reached up to pat Claudia's hair lightly with his free hand, his voice quiet and completely carefree.

[mlle_claudia]

Claudia stiffened in Lestat's arms when he first picked her up, her eyes again becoming wider and wider until it seems they might never shut again, but forced herself to relax after a few moments. It is still hard to determine what she is feeling at the moment, her eyes narrowed in a studying way and her arms hanging limply down by her sides as he carried her.

Answers him in a guarded tone, now obviously not at ease with the sitaution but does not move to get down from his grasp, almost leaning against him the longer he walked. "Yes." Does not say more than that, as if finding it unessessary to share a converstaion between herself and Louis to Lestat, after all...she has not seen him in so long.

Bringing a hand up she appears for a moment as if she'd touch his cheek, her fingers curled slightly in a hesitant way, then finally does press her hand against the side of his face, her skin warm from the recent kill, and says in a blunt way, seeming almost wary but at the same time wondering. "You look different."

[lestat_the_lion]

If her small hand on his cheek startled him, Lestat did not show it except for his eyes to flash slightly, though the emotion behind it was difficult to discern. He shifted his eyes to her, and at the same time reached up to take her small fingers and pressed them in a gentle way. For now he didn't answer her question, but seemed to be preoccupied by something about her fingers -- most likely the coldness of them.

He turned with Claudia and brought her into one of the sitting rooms, which was thankfully empty. Lestat paused by one of the chairs, considered setting her down in it, but then changed his mind and sat himself while keeping her on his lap. He drew back to look at her face, studiously, though there was still nothing in his eyes to suggest any strong emotion.

Finally he shifted, smiled at her, and lifted one hand to tweak her nose. "I suppose being poisoned, stabbed, and set on fire would do that to anyone," he said lightly, but his eyes remained on Claudia's with careful consideration. "You look absolutely the same, my dear, but lovely all the same. Did Louis pick out that dress? ...No, of course not."

[mlle_claudia]

Claudia did not appreciate such things from anybody, but she did not mention such a thing to him then, knowing it would not matter even if he did care. She tilted her head slightly after he spoke, not seeming amused at all, and then replied in a controlled tone. "Is it to your taste? Would it amuse you to know I thought of you when it was purchased?"

She leaned forward then, her faced tiliting up to she could see him better, to study him. "Perhaps you could explain to me why you are here. What do you want from me, Lestat?" Her voice was as sweet and calm as it ever was, though at the same time there was an obvious undercurrent of something else there, an emotion that gave her tone a darker quality...

[lestat_the_lion]

"Did you?" If Lestat felt any bitterness about Claudia's statement at all, it was well hidden -- or perhaps truly absent. "I should hope not. The color is a bit faded." He let his eyes move over it again, and then paused to fix one of her curls that hardly needed it, but he only wanted the excuse to touch her. His eyes remained on her face, searchingly, but there wasn't anything in them that might suggest threat.

If her studying bothered him, Lestat did not show it, and then used the opportunity to do the same thing. He openly stared at everything about her, the curve of her cheek and the way her hair framed her face. Claudia's words weren't surprising to him and he smirked a little, entirely humorlessly, and barely managed to repress his instinctual response. "Why? I have no idea. I hardly meant to come here." He knew that Claudia had actually been asking why he was alive, but chose to ignore the question.