She'll make you cry...

[deals_death]

WHO: Selene (deals_death), Michael Corvin (bloodofboth), and Jade Curtiss (necroshmancer)
WHAT: Rescuing Fetching Michael from the docks after his untimely arrival.
WHERE: The docks, and then on to Selene's home.
WHEN: Immediately after Michael's arrival.

Comments

[deals_death]

"No," Selene scoffed quietly and shook her head, turning on her heel to head back the way she'd come, motioning for Michael to follow.

It was a relatively short trip down the main roads on any normal day, but the attack was proving to be quite an issue. Selene knew the city well, having wandered and patrolled every back street and alley on a nearly-nightly basis since she arrived. It was by no means the fastest route, but it was certainly the safest at this point. From what Selene had seen, there was no way most of those snakes were small enough or dexterous enough to fit down any of the seedy alleys. In all, the usual 10-minute walk took a very winding, roundabout half-hour to complete.

When they arrived, Selene showed Michael quickly up the front steps and into her home before they were spotted by one of the flying snakes. Her home was small, but very nicely-appointed and rather cozy. Most of the acquisitions contained here came from the days when life in Rivelata was still free. Selene was one of the few smart enough to realize that it wouldn't last forever, and had found herself a home and everything she needed for it before the queen instated her new monetary policies.

Finally home, and finding the downstairs blissfully free of roommates, she sighed softly and turned the key to one of the oil lamps, taking a seat on the couch across from the hearth. "Make yourself comfortable. I have a feeling this could take a while."

[bloodofboth]

He trailed after her with obedience. Michael would have fallen into step beside her had he known his way around the place, instead he opted for simply following the turns from a few steps behind her. It was easier that way.

The silence sunk into his skin with fangs and latched on. It made him itch and if his hands weren't still in his pockets, they surely would have been fidgeting. He wanted to say something, he just didn't know what he was supposed to say aside from the obvious. Given that they weren't to talk about that outside, he was left speechless. The time ticked by until they finally reached a house and he was ushered inside.

The house seemed nice enough. Not as grand as the mansion had been but it still held an air of luxury. He shuffled after her, moving to the farther couch, pressed back against the window. Once he was sitting, he withdrew his hands from his pockets and set them on his thighs, fidgeted with them for a minute.

"I don't know where to start. This is all still confusing." He huffed out a breath. He might as well try. "What's the last thing you remember?"

[deals_death]

Selene peeled her boots off, tugging her legs up beside her on the couch. For some reason, she had been expecting Michael to take a seat beside her. The fact that he didn't was at the same time comforting and a bit bewildering. For someone who seemed so attached to her, he certain didn't seem very pleased to be around her. Perhaps he had been expecting something different from her. If that was the case, it was certainly a shame for him.

She ran a hand through her hair. It had grown longer in her time here, now hanging roughly shoulder-length. She had adopted a much lighter style as well. Rivelata was not like the rainy, dank, chilly European streets they used to roam. It was sultry, humid, and at times stifling. It demanded a style quite opposite of her usual full vinyl and leather. Tonight, to fetch Michael, she wore only her corset and a pair of dark, tight denims. She was trying to recall exactly what she remembered happening before arriving here.

"I came to find you... they were following you, and I wanted to know why. I needed to talk to you, warn you. But Lucian got to you first. Damnit." She scoffed, looking up to the ceiling. "But Kraven killed him centuries ago. It can't have been... Regardless, you were bitten. I got you to the car, but I'd been injured. I was losing blood, we were arguing, and I think I blacked out. And then I woke up on the ship, coming here."

[bloodofboth]

There was something about her that told him not to sit beside her like he wanted to. Aside from the obvious fact that he wasn't sure she was the same. She looked the same, of course. Michael couldn't actually be sure of this, not until she said her part. He looked at the wall across from him.

He was afraid to hear what she had to say. If he was right, if she really was different like the guide had prepared him for, he didn't know what he would do. Selene had been the lone figure in lessening his confusion, in keeping him grounded. Without her, well, he couldn't exactly go back to being who he was before now, could he?

Blue eyes came back to her when she began to speak. The more she said, the more he found himself frowning. Lucian? Was she kidding? No, of course not. She just wasn't the type. He had to drop his gaze again to listen to the rest and keep himself from freaking out. There was a span of silence when she finished, more so he could gather himself enough to talk and find the words, rather than thinking of where to begin.

"Are you sure you want to know everything?" He asked, looking up to meet her eyes.

[deals_death]

Well if that wasn't the question of the hour... How could she possibly answer that question truthfully? The simple fact of Michael's appearance here had been enough to trip her up. Her mind hadn't been moving this fast since her arrival here; at least, that's what it felt like. It was very nearly giving her a headache, she could feel the dull pain creeping up in her temples and up across the back of her eyes. This was such a bad card to be dealt just now.

Michael looked distressed though, and something in her gut told her that this would not be easy news to hear or give. It almost pained her to see someone looking so terribly fidgety and worrisome on account of her. She didn't like to have people concerned about her, or caring for her, for that matter. She didn't like to feel like a burden. But it certainly seemed that if Michael didn't get whatever this was off his mind soon, he was simply going to explode into a giant black cloud of stress and anxiety.

What could he possibly have to say that he thought would anger her? To be frightfully honest, nearly her entire coven could disappear off the face of the planet without Selene so much as blinking a lash in despair. They were all dimwitted overindulgent pricks, when it came right down to it. Unless... unless it had to do with her Viktor.

But she never had been one to wallow in ignorance, even if the reality was harsh. With a soft sigh, Selene took a moment to mentally brace herself for whatever might follow. "Yes. Please, tell me everything you know."

PLZ TELL ME IF I'M TYPOING OR FAILING. 8D

[bloodofboth]

He got his answer. If he was satisfied with it, he didn't show it. How exactly did you tell someone everything they had been told to believe was a lie? Michael wasn't so sure she would believe him. It was worth a shot, he supposed. He could only hope she wouldn't strike out at him if she did come to think he was lying.

Michael nodded a few times to himself. It wasn't like he was a very good story teller. He was plain and boring, or well, he used to be. Never had a story to tell. He focused on the coffee table not too far away and cleared his throat. "You were right," he told her.

"About Lucian. It was him you saw. Kraven lied. I don't actually know the whole story behind that aspect, just that it was him." He was first filling her in on the things she had mentioned. "The car accident.. God, that seems so long ago now." In reality, it hadn't been all that long.

"You passed out, I saved you and I guess you brought me back to your place. That mansion, with the vampires. It's a little fuzzy. I had a concussion. I woke up to this girl.. which was kind of weird in itself. I freaked out, she was, uh, on the ceiling." She didn't need to know every little detail of his side, it wasn't important that he had gone back to the hospital.

"Anyway, I left and when I came back you took me to a safe house. You told me about your past, about Viktor and then you left me there with a gun." He scoffed at the memory. She had tricked him. "You told me to kill myself if you didn't get back in time. When you did finally come back, these people had followed you. Werewolves, I think. I'm pretty sure. They got a hold of me and took me back with them - to Lucian." He paused, letting all of the details so far set in.

"I know exactly what started the war, Selene."

YOU'RE WONDERFUL, BBY. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. <3

[deals_death]

One of Selene's greatest flaws was, arguably, her ability to trust. Whether it was in the folly of a man, or the greatness, she trusted it completely and without question. She had already been given reason to trust Michael's word, and so it was, without much doubt, that she believed every word of it.

It was helped, surely, by the fact that Selene had never, from the very start, trusted Kraven. It was not his brashness, or his crudeness, or his centuries-old obsession with her. It was something in his eyes. Even if Viktor trusted him enough to hold him as his right hand in the coven, Selene had never liked the look in his eyes. It reminded her of a snake, and recalled an old Hungarian proverb her mother taught her as a girl: Never trust the snake that thinks himself a dragon.

The fact that he had lied about Lucian and was likely, as a point in fact, working with him... this was no great surprise to Selene. What surprised her was the fact that all of this, Lucian and Kraven and Michael, seemed to tie in with the origins of their ancient war.

"Go on."

<3

[bloodofboth]

Michael was wondering what to tell her first. His importance in all of this or to get on with the part about the war. He figured since he had said the war part first, it was only right that he went with it. He was finding it increasingly more difficult to tell her the vampire she treasured was a fraud.

"There are some things about Viktor, about yourself, that you need to know." He met her eyes and tried to keep the contact, to convey a deeper meaning, to show his sincerity. "Viktor had a daughter. She was.. in love, with a werewolf. He couldn't handle that and so he killed her and he made Lucian watch. She burned alive.. and after that, he declared war."

"There's more," he paused again and looked away from her. "Werewolves didn't kill your family." It was straight-forward and harsh, but there was no way to let that one down easy. "Viktor did it. He spared your life and he lied to you about it."

Michael really hated being the messenger of such ill news.

"At that point, Kraven had already shot me with silver nitrate. I was dying. I remember you had told me what I was turning into - a werewolf. You said people can't survive both bites, that it would be lethal. But that's the thing, I did. You bit me and I did survive it."

He ran a hand through his hair and let it rest on the back of his neck. "I became the exact thing Viktor feared most and he would've killed me if.." He trailed off, having trouble finishing.

[deals_death]

All Selene had ever known, the very reason for her centuries of life, just came crashing down around her in the span of less than five minutes.

She could do nothing more than stare at Michael. She didn't look angry, or saddened, or betrayed. Rather, perhaps for the first time in centuries, she looked completely and utterly lost. She couldn't even find it in herself to go into denial about what Michael was telling her. The more she thought about it, the more perfectly the pieces seemed to fall into place.

If she knew anything in the world, she knew Viktor. She knew his kindness and mercy, but she also knew his anger. His obsession with keeping the bloodlines pure was absolute, and he believed in it even at the risk of forsaking something he loved. And if the rest of what Michael was saying made so much sense, why should she have any reason to doubt that Viktor killed her family as well?

Viktor had been her savior, better than a god for all her years of loyal service to him. He had bred her to be a killer, fed her the very lies that he knew would spurn her into unquestioning action against the lycans. He was completely capable of that. She had seen him do it countless times before with little thought into the matter. And if he had indeed been responsible for the murder of her family...

Michael didn't even have to finish the statement. Selene knew exactly where he was going with this. If Viktor had killed her family, then there was absolutely no question that she would have ended his life at the first available opportunity.

It was a very long, silent time before Selene even started breathing again.

[bloodofboth]

The look on her face said enough. She knew what he was going to say, without him having to say. All the pieces lined up right and he had explained that Viktor had killed his own daughter for the cause, easing in that he would have done the same if he hadn't been stopped. Selene had all the right motives to stop him and she filled that in guessing by the lost look.

He hated to be the one to do that to her, make everything she had known come spiraling down around her. Maybe that was why they had related so well before. Both of them had every shred of their life ripped apart, told it wasn't what they thought. Michael wasn't sure if that mattered now, if it would matter ever again.

His hand slid down from his neck and he rose from the couch, moving to kneel down on the ground before her. His right hand lifted and it looked as though he was going to place it on her, an attempt at comfort, until he thought better of it and set his hand down on the armrest.

"Selene, I'm sorry."

It wasn't entirely his fault, but he didn't know what else he could say.

[deals_death]

Selene was suddenly exhausted by all of this. It didn't seem right, or fair, and she wasn't about to give herself any benefit of the doubt at this point. Everything she knew was a lie. What did she even believe anymore? She'd done so much, killed so many, all based on a singular, well-crafted lie of the most epic and secretive proportions.

Her eyes were watering.

She bowed here head and lifted a hand to her forehead. She couldn't stop it now. It was coming whether she wanted it to or not. She fell forward a little, resting her forehead against Michael's, and eventually sagging down against him completely. The soft hiss of a sob wracked her entire body, shoulders shaking, and the damp warmth of a tear fell upon Michael's neck. Selene had never seemed frail, never felt weak, until this very moment.

[bloodofboth]

It wasn't like he could blame her. If he was in her place, his eyes would probably be watering too. Michael was a considerate person in nature, he liked helping people. Her pain only made him want to reach out more. There was an ache in his own chest, he was right there with her, because whether she liked it or not, he did care about her. Even if she was different from the Selene he knew, somehow, she was still the same and how he felt wouldn't change because he was here.

Michael let her crumble against him and made no complaint. Selene needed this and he wasn't about to take it away from her. Why would he? She hadn't had the time to grieve it the first time, he found no reason to deny it from her. He held her in his embrace, incapable of repeating the soothing words going through his mind.

There just weren't words for something like this.

[deals_death]

Selene couldn't stifle her tears for a very long time. It felt to her that she'd been weeping for an eternity before she finally managed to calm herself again. She supposed it was warranted, this kind of response, but it still made her feel as if she were weaker for it. Wasn't she supposed to be able to control herself a little better than this? Warriors kept their emotions in check, and the death dealers were some of the greatest warriors that existed.

And Michael? He was now the very thing they'd been trying to prevent, and it was completely her doing. Why would she do a thing like that unless...

When she managed to calm herself into something relatively respectable again, she straightened herself slowly. She quickly brushed her cheeks dry. Her eyes looked a little swollen and bloodshot, and it stung to keep them open, but that would pass quickly enough. She stared down at Michael, trying to detect any untruths in his eyes, but of course she found none. The road to the truth would be easy enough to determine, and he probably knew that. He had no reason to lie to her.

"And what does this make us, precisely?" Selene asked warily, her voice raw from crying.

[bloodofboth]

He waited it out. When she had quieted and seemed to grasp onto some form comfort to settle, he let go of her. Michael remained kneeling there though, having no real desire to move. It might have been better if he had left some things out and of course, he had. The minor details, things that were important to him but not to her.

Michael figured he was off the hook about them, until she asked. Was this the part where he lied? His lips twitched into a brief, forced smile. Being put on the spot like that only made him more nervous. He stood up and looked down at her, met her eyes and tried to predict her reaction. In the end, he went for the neutral option.

"It's different here."

[deals_death]

Selen regarded the response with a certain degree of both confusion and understanding. Yes, it was different here. They were from slightly different spots in their lives, but that didn't necessarily make their connection to each other any less than it had been. Perhaps she didn't understand exactly what he had gone through, but...

There was something about him that called to her. He seemed to need her, and she could not ignore that no matter how hard she tried to be. He needed her, and for some reason she couldn't quite place, she felt a certain pull to help him and protect him.

"Perhaps... not as different as you think." She said quietly, her gaze not leaving his eyes.