001 ounces of blood [audio]

[suckmysilver]

[There is a new vampire on the boat, already out of his room and using the nightfall to walk the decks slowly. As he does so, he leaves his message:]These lines have been crowded with the typical drivel I've come to expect of humans, even from those who claim to be otherwise

Comments

[he can't leave you alone for a minute, can he]

[powerofgod]

Eric.

[He says the word aloud, to dual purpose. If Eric does not heed him over the usual channels, he will hear the utterance of his name.]

[it is amazing he has lasted decades alone] 1/2

[suckmysilver]

[See icon for the basic summary of his interaction with Lilith. Eric hears his name as he goes for the kill -- it stops him dead in his tracks.]

[but things are better now AS LONG AS DADDY DOES NOT LEAVE] 2/2

[suckmysilver]

Godric.

[That is Eric abandoning his dinner in the stairwell and running towards where your voice came from.]

[daddy has been there, done that. now he's on a boat. s'up]

[powerofgod]

[Godric is in his room. He has little interest in the goings-ons elsewhere on the ship, and has thus far left it only to check the validity of the rumour that blood is available at the restaurants. There is anti-social, and then there is two-thousand year old vampire, and ne'er the twain shall meet.

He's been aware of you, progeny, since your arrival. That he has waited to speak is a sign of his conflicted emotions - yes, emotions regarding your presence. Enter at will, Eric.]

[action] daddy, eric is not certain he can comprehend what you just said

[suckmysilver]

[It is a mark of his centuries that Eric finds Godric by the single call of his name. He does not hesitate to do so, stopping only to push the open door fully aside and assess the situation.

Godric, without the shirt he had been wearing at the Hotel Carmilla.

The response this elicits is the only he considers reasonable. Without allowing his gaze to stray from his maker, he enters the room and moves to stand -- not before him, but to the side a slight degree. It is then that he breaks eye contact, descending with slow, fluid motion to one knee in deference.

No words, not even a repeat of his name.]

[action]

[powerofgod]

[Godric's gaze follows him down. So familiar, this. Almost a parody of their last meeting. His lips quirk in a worn smile, kin and cousin to the first Eric had ever seen of him. You're just a child.

I'm not.

A thousand years lies between them, an ocean. It is a rift met and matched by a single sunlit morning.]

Stirring up trouble as always, I see.

[His words carry no particular inflection, but there is something there, deeper and older than anything made manifest in his other correspondence.]

[action] 1/3

[suckmysilver]

[Eric does not rise from his knee, nor does he look up at Godric quite yet. The position is a deep reaching reflection of respect -- not required, never resented.]

[action] 2/3

[suckmysilver]

[It is a statement he hears, not reprimand nor tired objection. An affirmation that he behaves in a familiar manner. As he well should; no matter the time passed, he retains the warrior -- the leader of rogues into battle without a reigning king. Trouble is the very thing he specialised in then and has see no need to grow rusty about.]

The options available to me were limited if I were to find you quickly. She chose to be stubborn about it and I had to respond.

[action] 3/3

[suckmysilver]

[Then he shifts, looking upwards with a hint of teeth bared in smile.]

That is a choice she will reconsider after this.

[And by 'this' he means what he intends to do later. Eric is going to find and eat you, Lilith; a vampire scorned is not a pretty picture, nor does he intend to let you remain one.

How many times did they do that before? Terrifying humans was, at one point, their idea of fun. And sometimes, it still is. For Eric.]

[action]

[powerofgod]

[There is something in his voice that gives it away. A nuance known by no other. Quite simply, Eric does not know. Though he is similarly attired to Godric's most recent and last memory of him, he is from a prior point in time.]

There are penalties for fighting in this place, Eric.

[It's not a warning. His child will do what he desires in the end. It is something they have always had in common.]

[action]

[suckmysilver]

[That is twice in recent memory that Godric has not responded to an old quip, an amusing memory shared between them. Though a great deal of time has passed since they last spent any time in the same area, this lack of reaction troubles him when combined with the words spoken at Hotel Carmilla.

The smile fades into a blank expression.]

No fight occurred. She was not capable of withstanding me.

[A tiny and unconfirmed falsehood. She displayed a remarkable and unfamiliar ability and her neck appeared impervious, but there were other places to bite her that would not be similarly protected. Any scuffle would have been short-lived and one-sided, as far as he is concerned.]

[action] 1/2

[powerofgod]

Nevertheless.

[action]

[powerofgod]

[He is sitting perfectly still as he speaks, cross-legged on his bed. There is little else in the room - and as old as he is, he has somewhat more of a right to call it Spartan than many others who might claim the same.]

This ship is called the Elegante. You will notice your abilities somewhat diminished.

[He does not feel the need to add that his are likewise. Even with his abilities reduced to those of a fledgling, he remains unconcerned.]

The Captain is a man known as Redd, who seems to hold himself in inappropriate esteem for one who's only known accomplishment so far is taking people from their homes. The crew are fiercely loyal to him.

[He raises one eyebrow at that, the only indication that it is a loyalty he would find questionable.]

We can neither leave this place, nor permanently die in it. And there is human blood served at one of the human-run establishments.

[action]

[suckmysilver]

I have noticed this.

[As Godric felt it unnecessary to include himself in the statement, his progeny feels it unnecessary to detail how suppressed he feels. That a damp blanket has settled on him and rusted muscles long used to application?

Eric will not let that affect him quite as any crew intended.]

Diminished is not gone entirely. I still possess enough to ensure nothing untoward happens.

[This triggers a recollection, something that troubled him before he appeared here. That same thing begins to trouble him now.]

Loyalty is no substitute for ability.

[A pause and he looks briefly, ever so briefly, conflicted.]

Did you... allow this Captain to take you?

[The question is direct, accompanied by a look straight to Godric. There is an intensity to it that may have been likened to concern in life, but has grown more complex than that for every decade since

[action]

[powerofgod]

[Godric meets his child's gaze with an evenness that evokes the familial triumvirate of his millennia-old promise. In this moment, they share the brotherhood he spoke of then.]

I did not.

[It is not a defiant statement, or a defensive one. If anything can be said of his inflection, it is tired.]

[action]

[suckmysilver]

[Relief is an old emotion, worn down and incapable of being felt with particular intensity. Eric is above it now, but not above bewildered thought of how this could happen. His maker is very old and very powerful -- troubling as his surrender to the Fellowship was, it could explain how it was that humans could be seen to overpower a sheriff.]

Then how is it possible?

[That casts different light on their situation, a throwback to something said when Godric first disappeared.

If one such as he can be taken...

Nothing human could be behind that.]