By Chance - Hong Kong/Taiwan
anonymous
January 31 2010, 06:41:36 UTC
He likes winter. It means the sun goes down sooner and he can go to the Reading Room earlier and stay longer. Vaguely, he wishes that he were like Chel, who can walk out in full sunlight with no more than some blisters. She can walk in overcast London with no trouble at all.
He takes little notice of the visitors to the museum as he blends in far too easily. Eurasians garner no curiosity now, though he had taken more after his long-dead mother in any case. So he looks like the many flocking tourists from east, from the no longer so exotic Orient. But he doesn’t pay heed to the babble of Japanese and Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese, flickers of Thai, Vietnamese.
Without thinking, he reaches sideways and he prevents a young woman to his left from falling as she trips on the slippery marble steps. It takes care to grip her; though he is not old, he still can easily break her arm if he is not careful.
Their eyes meet and he should not be frozen in her gaze.
He has seen beautiful women, pretty mortal girls and stunningly luminous vampires, from the luxurious parties his father had thrown, from the few gatherings his maker deigns to attend. The vampire Frances, who irks his maker so deeply, has all the beauty of a Botticelli angel, a Renaissance Venus. A century and half is enough time to see such things.
But suddenly, he cannot think of them.
The young woman is not particularly tall, her features delicate. He thinks of those poems that sing such poetry about the beauty of a woman’s hair, of waterfalls of night. Perhaps they have some sort of merit. She blinks up at him and smiles abashedly.
“Thank you,” she says in heavily accented English.
“It is no trouble,” he hazards in his limited Mandarin.
Her eyes widen and her smile widens further. “Ah! Where are you from?” she continues in Mandarin. She has a touch of an inflection that he recognizes as Taiwanese.
“Around here,” he says.
“Oh, were you born here?”
“I was originally from Hong Kong.”
“I see…”
He cannot bring himself to say anything more because now her smell hits him. It has overtones of tropical flowers and citrus fruits, sweetness that is almost unbearable. She smells- like home. He cannot think of anything else.
Her head turns at the sound of someone calling her then she glances back him apologetically. “I am very sorry but I must be going. It was- nice- meeting you. My name is Lan Yueh, by the way.”
“Xiao Lang,” he finds himself replying.
The corners of her eyes crinkle. “That’s a very nice name. Thank you!” She bows and she scurries into the Museum, disappearing into the shifting crowds. But he could still smell her, fruit and flowers, even through the swell and stink of so many people, the stench of London.
He stands stock still on the stairs, and he feels a strange heat start to blossom in his chest, to match the heat upon his chilled cheeks.
He takes little notice of the visitors to the museum as he blends in far too easily. Eurasians garner no curiosity now, though he had taken more after his long-dead mother in any case. So he looks like the many flocking tourists from east, from the no longer so exotic Orient. But he doesn’t pay heed to the babble of Japanese and Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese, flickers of Thai, Vietnamese.
Without thinking, he reaches sideways and he prevents a young woman to his left from falling as she trips on the slippery marble steps. It takes care to grip her; though he is not old, he still can easily break her arm if he is not careful.
Their eyes meet and he should not be frozen in her gaze.
He has seen beautiful women, pretty mortal girls and stunningly luminous vampires, from the luxurious parties his father had thrown, from the few gatherings his maker deigns to attend. The vampire Frances, who irks his maker so deeply, has all the beauty of a Botticelli angel, a Renaissance Venus. A century and half is enough time to see such things.
But suddenly, he cannot think of them.
The young woman is not particularly tall, her features delicate. He thinks of those poems that sing such poetry about the beauty of a woman’s hair, of waterfalls of night. Perhaps they have some sort of merit. She blinks up at him and smiles abashedly.
“Thank you,” she says in heavily accented English.
“It is no trouble,” he hazards in his limited Mandarin.
Her eyes widen and her smile widens further. “Ah! Where are you from?” she continues in Mandarin. She has a touch of an inflection that he recognizes as Taiwanese.
“Around here,” he says.
“Oh, were you born here?”
“I was originally from Hong Kong.”
“I see…”
He cannot bring himself to say anything more because now her smell hits him. It has overtones of tropical flowers and citrus fruits, sweetness that is almost unbearable. She smells- like home. He cannot think of anything else.
Her head turns at the sound of someone calling her then she glances back him apologetically. “I am very sorry but I must be going. It was- nice- meeting you. My name is Lan Yueh, by the way.”
“Xiao Lang,” he finds himself replying.
The corners of her eyes crinkle. “That’s a very nice name. Thank you!” She bows and she scurries into the Museum, disappearing into the shifting crowds. But he could still smell her, fruit and flowers, even through the swell and stink of so many people, the stench of London.
He stands stock still on the stairs, and he feels a strange heat start to blossom in his chest, to match the heat upon his chilled cheeks.
(Shameless plug, but this takes place in a vampire AU here: http://hetalia-kink.livejournal.com/11411.html?thread=23290771#t23290771)
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I've seen other Taiwan fills before, in this part too oAo
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