destinystrings | A sad home just won't do, so let's fix that, shall we?

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A sad home just won't do, so let's fix that, shall we?

Who: Avitus and Aoi (

eyewillprotect), closed if you don't live/stay with them.
Where: Aoi's house, where they live now, in Libra.
Summary: After the Taurus event, neither are in the best of moods. So Avitus is going to try to make her feel better. ♥
Warnings: Cuteness? IDK, none yet

Those odd few days hadn't been good to either of them. He'd been a mess for no good reason he could put a finger on, jumping at shadows and even taking days off from his job at the town hall -- a desk job, at the moment! -- because he'd apparently forgotten how to face people, transit, and the possibility that he'd see the cat that'd been wandering around Libra now and then. Worse still, he was pretty certain Aoi'd noticed.

And she'd been so kind to him through it, humoring his nervous delusions as though they could've had a rational basis of some kind. She'd insisted on handling all their dishes herself, checked around the corner every time he looked, wondering if he'd heard something....

And now that he was feeling back to himself again, he'd caught a glimpse of her, of something... a little different in her expression.

She'd gone out of her way for him, and even before that, her calm had always been reassuring. She was a soothing presence, something in her smile never failing to make him feel better. It was high time to repay the favor, and return that smile to her pretty face where it belonged.

He went out shopping after he got off work, and by the time Aoi found him in the house, he was busy arranging flowers in a big vase, whistling softly to himself under his breath (or so it sounded, except sometimes there were two notes at once...) and looking pleased about something.

On the table with the vase were a fresh bowl of fruits and a pair of obvious presents for someone, smallish parcels of shiny silver paper wrapped around something soft and vaguely longer than it was wide, with curly ribbon holding it together.

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He blinked, still confused. "Allergic to garlic? ...Well, I suppose if it's too strong it could be noxious, but so could anything else. I know my kind tends to have a very good sense of smell...." Perhaps that was enough of an explanation? Though, now that he thought about it... most people he'd met so far had questions about what he was, or about vampires in general.

"I'm going to guess that vampires from Nosgoth and those of your worlds, if only in lore, have differences...?" He glanced between Otonashi and Aoi. He'd discussed a few things with her before, sure, but never quite covered some of the topics he'd found himself on with other people. Being diurnal was evident; they'd lived together for a while now, and she'd seen him outside in full sunlight... perhaps some things didn't need to be said? But Otonashi hadn't been staying there long yet.

He still had a copy of the notes Naoya had taken a while ago, but those were in his room, and so dry, besides. It was like reading a textbook. He'd offer them, if the others were curious, but....

"If there's anything you'd like to know about, you're welcome to ask." He tried giving them a small smile and lifted the blood to his mouth again to have another drink of that while he waited for a reply.

"Oh-- no, that will be alright. I should finish what I have, first."

She returns to her bowl, eating it rather delicately considering the dish as she listens to the conversation unfold. She knew, of course, of the more day-to-day details of vampirism when it came to Avitus just because it had been unavoidable. However, she's also run into quite the slew of... interesting creatures in her own world, and hadn't thought much of the difference between the vampiric traits Avitus had exhibited and the ones she had always heard of.

However, that doesn't mean she's opposed to learning more - but she'll leave the questioning to Otonashi for now while she thinks of her own.

"Oh, s-sure..." His attention seems to be elsewhere, far removed from eating or refilling Aoi's bowl even if she had answered differently.

"There aren't any vampires in my world-- neither of my worlds..." His eyes wander off to a nearby wall, focusing on it instead. Learning about something new is fine by him, but this isn't asking about a new subject of study or place; this brings an entire -- race? species? -- into question. It feels a bit more objectifying.

"I thought vampires had garlic allergies? And they were strong and, ah-- not that you're not, but strong as in some kind of vampire strength that came as they aged. To make them better... hunters?" Vampires were usually portrayed as the "bad guys," after all, but of course he couldn't make that assumption with a real one.

"I feel like I read one manga where the vampire was some kind of seduc--"

And he was doing so, so well. But what is there to be done? It's not like he ever read horror novels about vampires or the legitimate source of the lore. The afterlife had some manga -- clean manga, as Hinata so "tragically" noted -- and that speaks nothing for what he read when he was alive.

"T-that's not what I meant! A-ha, go on! Don't let me overwhelm you with questions!" Which of course means please be distracted by the other things I said.

It took Avitus a moment to finish the rest of that word, and when he did, he nearly choked on his drink. He set it down on the table and covered his mouth with a hand as he coughed a little, which turned into quiet laughter soon enough.

"That's... I... ah... believe that's rather... subjective... isn't it?" He was pretty certain that his cheeks had gone purple by now, but rather than continue to cover his face, he held his hands in his lap, absently polishing one of his nails by rubbing it. "I'm afraid I don't exactly know how to... ah... confirm or deny that... particular... thing. I'm not really... um... I mean, I've never... er.... I'm certain I'd be a bit disturbed if many people took such an interest in the other clans as they currently are; mine's the one that looks the most human still. And you can see how much we're... well... not." He lifted a wing, trying to draw a little attention to it, hoping his subject change wasn't too obvious.

"And... I have to agree that I'm not very strong; I've never been a fighter." He paused, but apparently decided on something, for he sighed and tucked his wings back in behind him, folding them up halfway down their length, somehow -- an extra joint? -- so that their tips poked up above his head, rather than letting them stick out behind him and rest along the floor. He sat back a bit, giving a somewhat embarrassed sort of smile as he looked to them again, and then back to his nails as he continued. "I was... actually one of the servants for the clan, when I was human, and... then I was Winnoc's apprentice. He was one of the architects... an artist." If Aoi had ever wondered why he'd taken so easily to the household chores... now she knew? "So honestly, I don't very well exemplify what my clan's become. Aside from myself and my brothers, they're... more or less all from the human guards' elite ranks. Their best vampire hunters. So they're... probably far more what you would have in mind than I. They're far stronger and... more capable.

"Back in the Empire's days, though... the clans still looked rather humanlike then. Perhaps they'd have been more comparable to your worlds' lore. I know that there were most certainly those among the humans who... rather fancied several of Raziel's clan back then...." Yep, still blushing. "And they were much stronger than humans, even so long ago... it was one of the reasons they were able to conquer Nosgoth, I suspect."

He took another little drink, still not looking up at them directly. Maybe someone could rescue him with another question? Preferably before it became even more painfully obvious that he was taking a drink to excuse himself from continued rambling?

"We have stories where I come from as well, but after seeing some of the things I have... I'm not sure how many of those stories are exactly right." Aoi gives a bit of a wry smile. "Although... many of the... opponents we encountered had begun human, so I am not sure if that affected it at all." The smile fades for a moment, but she quickly turns her focus back to Avitus.

"Vampires in your world seem to have developed much differently from the stories I know of, but you began as human as well. For your kind... it was a long process of change, wasn't it?"

The worst part of all this is that he can't even pretend he was word-vomiting to cover up for someone else. This time, it's all on him, and it's enough to make him slouch and focus too intently on the bowl of lukewarm ramen.

"Y-yeah, that's completely subjective... I don't know very much about vampires. The things I've read shouldn't be-- I mean, none of that stuff seemed real, so, ah..." Otonashi shakes his head. "I only know vampires from video games and manga, so I'm not the best person for this..." Though he stops to allow Aoi to speak, he looks up. Apparently that had given him time to consider something a little less -- well, fictional, and something more serious.

"What about... immortality? I, uh... I was dead before I was brought here. We couldn't die permanently." So, perhaps a common thread or perhaps not, but it's a safer question.

He nodded, looking between the two of them. "Yes, on both counts. It's... well... complicated."

He sat the container down again, thinking. "For me, it took a long time. When I was turned, I looked still nearly human, compared to how I do now. For those added to the clan now, they come out of their changestate with wings and everything; it's merely their feathers that need to grow in, yet. And for them to get used to all of the changes at once, and recover their strength... learn to fight with their new bodies, before they leave the safety of the Citadel to resume hunting the other clans.

"It's taken my clan thousands of years to reach this point in its evolution; none of us are certain what'll happen next. There've been jokes about beaks and tails, but I dare say none of us honestly find them funny." Why yes, he did just imply that he was a few thousand years old there. "Well... except for what my brother Heldrad did once. Our brother Vedast is a doctor, and Heldrad went into the hospital just after he'd come out of another changestate... handed him a couple of eggs, and left again without offering any explanation. Vedast nearly had his head once he figured out they were merely dyed chicken eggs."

He tried to quit smiling quite so much, to look serious again as he continued. "But... those states take a while, usually a few months. And mercifully, I won't be due for any for at least a century or more yet.

"So... I suppose that confirms what you asked, as well?" A look to Otonashi, almost sheepish. "And it isn't that we can't be killed; I've been dead a few times myself. It's that we don't always stay dead, due to how we heal." And a glance at Aoi too, simply making sure she's hearing this. He knows she must've seen him holding some small injury or other, only to let go of it a moment later, perfectly fine again. "As long as it would be possible to recover from an injury, it won't be permanently fatal. If one were to... ah... behead me? You'd only need replace my head, and the damage would mend. Dissolution in water and burns are more difficult; regrowing flesh is never as simple as rejoining what was parted, but it really depends on the injury then, as to how well it heals, if it heals at all. I won't die of a spilled glass of water at the table here, but you won't catch me bathing as you do.

"I'm certain that our healing is why we live so long, too; it keeps us from aging, and how does one die of what doesn't happen?" A pause, and he held his hands in his lap, to polish a nail by rubbing it again, not certain if he ought to look up at them. "...And why we always look the same, evolution aside. If I might ask.... Ah... how old... would you say I looked to be?"

((/popcorns))

Well, that certainly explains some things, including why her own healing abilities had often been unnecessary when Avitus found himself injured. But as for his question...

"I couldn't say exactly, but... You certainly do look very young." Younger than Aoi, even. He would have fit right in with the other high school students, aside from the. Well. Vampire thing.

There's scant information that he can personally connect with, though he hears Avitus out. Unfortunately, years spanning into the thousands only sounded like mere numbers to him, so far removed and unrelatable to someone who had never seen his eighteenth birthday that they became almost incomprehensible. Even age thirty seemed like a far cry from his known reality, much less hundreds or thousands. Though he has no reason to disbelieve Avitus by now, he finds that he cannot speak meaningfully on the subject either.

"I wonder why you kept your healing and, ah... state, but we didn't..?" Otonashi pulls back at the question however, glancing around to see if, by some stretch of the imagination, it isn't aimed at them. Once Aoi answers though, he straightens up.

"Eh? I-- I don't know. T... twenty-something..?" Maybe more? Maybe less? "Ah... I'm not good with this at all."

Enjoy that nonspecific answer, because that is indeed all he has.

He was quiet a second, looking between the two humans again. "Twenty-something? So... twenty-two is believable?" Ugh, but he'd been given such a hard time about that by one of his co-workers recently, when he'd tried to claim that. Sure, the co-worker had been right to disbelieve him, for multiple reasons, but that wasn't the point.

But something Otonashi'd said just now....

"Your state didn't come with you? You... weren't a normal human before, but you are now?"

Edited 2013-06-11 11:07 (UTC)

While Aoi could technically answer on behalf of Otonashi, she instead chooses to keep silent for now, continuing to eat her ramen before it goes entirely cold. After all, it's his story to tell, and she wouldn't feel right trying to explain something she only vaguely heard about second-hand.

"I'm not the best judge... Why?" He could take a guess that claiming age twenty-two was simply for the sake of ease.

"Ah, no, it's not that. I was always human." He settles his spoon in the ramen, disturbing the settled mix of seasoned broth. "I mean that I was dead before I got here. Misato told me that by coming to Hinoto-Ri, I was alive again. Me and the others... we all lost our ability to heal quickly from anything."

That gets a small sigh from him.

"Including deaths." So when Avitus says that it's rather hard to kill him, Otonashi can relate. Or could, anyway.

"Oh...."

He was quiet a second, trying to figure out what to say to that. "That... would have been nice to keep, wouldn't it." He bit the inside of his lip a little again, thinking on it. "I'd offer to give you mine, but..." A sheepish smile; he was joking. Probably, anyhow. "...I doubt you'd enjoy the rest of it.

"Um... on the note of ages... might I ask yours? Or... more to the point, perhaps.... I mean, not that I'm planning anything for them already... but it might be a nice reason to have some sort of celebration anyhow, wouldn't it? ...since... I know humans where I'm from celebrate their birthdays... when do you celebrate yours?" A little glance from Aoi to Otonashi, a bit quieter, "...if you still do?"

He pulled his wings around himself a little, back to biting his lip, half certain he'd managed to put his foot in his mouth with that. He could've phrased that a lot better, if he'd thought it through first, he was certain.

"Ages?" Aoi tilts her head to the side slightly as she considers it briefly, but there's no real reason not to trade birthdays, is there? Besides, this will make it possible for her to celebrate their birthdays as well.

"I'm eighteen right now, and my birthday is the 20th of September. I'm used to celebrating it, but we don't usually do anything very large." Wealthy though her family may have been, her father was always out and about and frankly hers was not a home that often lent itself to inviting boisterous friends over. The servants would usually do something, but it all tended to be rather self-contained.

"What about the two of you?"

A very distinct look of hesitation washes over him, as though everything he intended to say had just been knocked out of him and swept away. He scratches at his forehead, personally taking mental note of Aoi's birth date. "I... I don't know."

As far as Otonashi knew, the dead should have no reason to celebrate. However, upon coming here his friends appear to consider birthdays and other important dates. Time meant something here, as did death and birth.

"What I mean is... I don't remember it. All I know is that it--" His shoulders sag a little, testament to his guilt. He only knows anything about it courtesy of that awful event. "It falls under the Virgo sign. So... anywhere from late August to late September."

So she'll be nineteen... next step, find out when September was. Why did people name the months so oddly here?

He looked to Otonashi. His was a bit before Aoi's? "Well... if you'd like to celebrate it, I see no reason not to decide on a day to represent it and do so. Or... we could celebrate when you arrived here, if you'd rather? Or some other date?

"I don't celebrate my human birthday either. I... think it would be more appropriate for me, to observe the day I came here, which was... near enough the winter solstice. Else, I can think of another day I'd feel like celebrating... but if anyone from my world knew about that...." He rolled his eyes a little, as though dismissing it, while trying to hide a wince. "It... wouldn't go over well with my clan in the slightest, if they found out somehow, so... I probably ought not to."

"Ah, right... the ID card doesn't display the actual date." It was so easy to forget when so much other information was displayed.

After pausing to listen to Avitus, Aoi nods. "I agree. There isn't any reason we couldn't come up with a date, could we?"

She turns then, her voice encouraging as she speaks to their resident vampire. "It's up to you, but... If you are going to choose a day to represent your birthday, I feel like the most significant date would work best."

"No, it doesn't. It has my full name on it, but the rest is city information..." Admittedly, it disturbs him to know that Hinoto-Ri's government knew his name when even he didn't. For a moment, he seems too fixated on the bowl in front of him, as if maybe he isn't listening to them at all.

Did Philemon read minds? Did he keep pry into people's minds to dig that information out at all? No, worse yet, maybe the government did something to everyone and observed them from some sort of... giant fortress, maybe it was mechanical and controlled--

Thankfully, their suggestion snaps him back to reality. His imagination is a dangerous place indeed.

"Ahh--... I guess I don't see why not... Maybe not when I arrived here, that doesn't feel right. I'll think about it." He turns to Avitus, this time opting to stray from asking questions.

"If that date is important to you, then... you could do it. What would be the harm if it was a small celebration?"

He nodded to Otonashi, but at the comments after, gave a quiet snort. "It wouldn't be a birthday, but it would be something, certainly. As I said, I came here about the time of the winter Solstice; the other event I can think of would be roughly fifteen days after the fall equinox. ....I think."

It's a bit of a dated way to refer to times, but she manages to understand at least. "The winter solstice would be close to Christmas. If we celebrated then, the city would also be lit up for the festivities."

It's more something to note than an outright suggestion. She definitely feels this is up to Avitus to ultimately decide, so she won't try to deliberately sway him one way or another.

"Ah, yeah, I'm sure Hinoto-Ri decorates everywhere for..." He trails off mid-thought, his mouth still lingering open. His breathing hitches; his eyes gloss over, distanced from the conversation, until he forcefully shakes it off and leaves himself with an overly rigid posture. "... Christmas."

Standing and bowing is all he can manage at first before he remembers to pick up his dish. "Ah. It's late... I'm going to clean up and rest." His voice comes out dull, and when he tries to thank both of them, he soon finds that the words die on his lips. Holding a normal conversation is completely lost to him; holding this conversation incites a sort of agony that he can't fully and accurately explain.

Edited (kitty sent the tag, not me... aha) 2013-06-19 10:15 (UTC)

If he forgets to take his presents with him, Avitus will probably try following after with them. As it is, he's sitting up a little straighter, watching Otonashi, worried. He caught that change in demeanor easily enough; he knows it well. He knew that this Christmas thing had a connection to the Solstice celebrations here, and those strings of lovely little colored electric lights he'd bought, but beyond that, nothing. Certainly nothing about why it should bother the other boy so much.

"Is everything all right?" No, obviously not, but if Otonashi wanted to volunteer any details, he would.

Naturally, Aoi is concerned as well. She doesn't move to stop him - after all, even his being here was a way for him to have some time to himself - but there's quite a bit of worry in her voice. "Otonashi...?"

The presents wouldn't have crossed his mind right away if Avitus had not brought them into the kitchen. Otonashi looks up and neatly stacks the newly-washed bowl into place.

"R-right, thanks... I'll talk with Misato about doing this... later. When we're both free." He doesn't sound ungrateful: only flat and unfocused.

"I would... just like to rest. Thanks again, both of you."

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A sad home just won't do, so let's fix that, shall we?

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