Accidental (?) video | O, longing of the arteries / to purify the blood | Forward-dated to day 363

[feyecandy]

[The light in the room is muted and warm, but still bright enough that you get a clear view. You can see a fair slice of the room, in fact, but the obvious focus appears to be the man kneeling in front of a woman, both seemingly unaware of the camera. The angle is such that his face is relatively visible to any viewer, while hers is somewhat hidden behind her hair, although those familiar with her might recognize Ghanima’s tanned skin and sun-bleached hair, or the crysknife in her hand.]

[Fai, his eyepatch a little bit ascew so a hint of a scar is sometimes visible when he moves, has his good eye shut as the video feed starts, but soon opens it to reveal a slit pupil, a yellow sclera. He smiles a little bit tautly, as if both amused and feeling some strain.]

At your leisure, my lady. I think I’ve got myself under reasonable control. [A hint of a joke there, but rather dark.]

[She pulls her hair around to rest over only one shoulder, revealing more of her profile and the long, graceful line of her neck to the camera. It’s most definitely an unnecessary intimacy when she places the edge of her deathly pale blade against her own throat to draw a thin red line there before kneeling down as well, tilting her head to offer Fai the wound, but she sees very little reason to resist her urge to flirt a little with danger in this situation.]

How reassuring.

[Her tone is very dry, filled with the same dark humor as Fai’s]

[His eye widens just a bit in response, and his face betrays unfeigned shock for a brief moment, before his smile widens a bit, not really in humor as to mask any other treacherous emotion. He nods gracefully before leaning in, mouth closing over the wound.]

[And with that, the feed ends.]

Comments

Video

[the_saner_one]

[Okay, so there's no way Yuui actually just saw what he thinks he saw, right? Right!? It must have just been a trick of the light or something that made it look like... oh who was he trying to kid. He knows what he saw, even though he can't even begin to imagine the hows and whys involved, and he's not one to deny what's right in front of his eyes.]

Ah, that sure was an interesting thing you two decided share with the rest of us. [That probably would have sounded a bit more bitchy if he wasn't so confused.] Are you alright? [It's unclear which one of them he's talking to, and to be honest he's not really sure himself.]

[ghani]

The decision wasn't ours.

[ Ghanima's face betrays none of her irritation at having this private moment revealed for all of Asgard to see, nor does it show her surprise at seeing a face that is so like Fai's on the network. ]

We are both quite all right. Are you his brother?

[ It seems to be the most logical answer to why the two young men look so similar, though it begs the question why Fai would come to her for blood if his own (so to speak) is so readily available. ]

[the_saner_one]

I see. Sorry about that. [As worrying the idea the recording devices could decide on their own to broadcast things for everyone to see is, it's even more reassuring to know that they actually hadn't meant for this to be seen.]

I'm glad, I have to admit I was a bit worried. And I- [He hesitates, not quite sure what he's supposed to say to that. In hindsight this was probably something he and Fai should have talked about but the thought of it hasn't even crossed his mind until now.] -I suppose you could say that. The simplest answer is probably that I am, even though I'm afraid the truth is a bit more complicated.

I'm Yuui. [While still shaken he's managed to calm down enough to give her a genuine smile, even though it is a bit rueful at his inability to properly answer her question.]

[ghani]

Ghanima, and there is no need to simplify things for my sake.

[ A small smile softens her features a little, though there is something mildly mocking about the expression nonetheless. Ghanima is mostly a kind woman, but she is still far from free of the Atreides arrogance. Yuui cannot possibly know just how complicated Ghanima is used to things being, and yet she doesn't particularly bother with hiding her amusement at what is merely him attempting to be courteous. ]

Video

[feyecandy]

[Give it a moment for Fai to experience Blue Screen Of Death(TM) at realizing that a) that was just broadcasted and b) Yuui just saw it. It takes a little while, but then he manages to at least look like he's not openly panicking, if only just.]

Ah, I- I didn't exactly mean to- Well, I'm not sure what happened, but we didn't exactly mean to broadcast it. [He looks down at his hands, having troubles even looking into the camera properly.] I'm sorry if I worried you. It's nothing serious, it's just something I... need to do.

Video

[the_saner_one]

Yes, she- your friend, she told me. [He does his best to smile reassuringly, even though he's still a bit too shocked by it all to make it very convincing. But he doesn't want Fai to feel guilty about this, especially since Yuui witnessing it wasn't actually his fault.] And I- well, I won't say I'm not worried, exactly, but I'm fine. It was just quite the surprise, that's all.

[A moment of hesitation.]

Will you tell me about it?

Video

[feyecandy]

[Yuui doesn't even ask him to tell him, not direcly, he just asks if he will. He doesn't know why, but that in itself makes his heart squeeze painfully with the knowledge that he'd kept it from the other on purpose. A part of him wants to insist that he didn't have to, that Yuui isn't his twin and he doesn't owe him anything, but he knows that's not true. No matter what world, no matter how far apart, he will still owe his twin everything.]

It's... I got very hurt a little while ago. [He lifts his hand to his eyepatch, following the edge of the fabric before letting his hand drop.] I was dying. To save my life... I was given the blood of a vampire, who heal much faster than ordinary people, but it comes with a price.

Video

[the_saner_one]

[A small wave of relief goes through him when Fai starts to explain, no matter if he had purposely kept it from him before he's not doing so now and that's all that matters, but he tenses up again when he hears that Fai had been dying. The fact that this Fai is not truly his twin does not change his fear or worry at him having been through so many painful and dangerous things.]

You have to drink blood to survive. [It was fantastical but what since he arrived here hasn't been, and in the face of simply meeting this Fai, a man who carries his twin's soul, the shock of him being a vampire on top of that just seems to fade in comparison.] Okay. [It's possible that he will freak out a bit about this again once they've stopped talking but right now it's pretty easy to just accept it as one more difference, that in the end don't really matter much, between this Fai and his twin.]

Why didn't you tell me? [There's no judgement in his voice, and he manages to keep the unreasonable bit of hurt he feels out of it as well. He hopes that Fai will say something of the lines of "Oh, it just slipped my mind" but he knows that isn't very likely.]

[Video] A few hours after this goes up

[goesagainst_thegrain]

[This is just what you want to see when you come back from the dead... your ancient enemy, basically flaunting what he is to everyone. Damn... he'd liked Fai, from what little contact he'd had with the man.]

I take it this little... display wasn't intended to be broadcast to all of us?

[His voice is carefully neutral, because... well, he's met good vampires before, so he's trying not to make snap judgements here. It's not like he hadn't known there were vampires in Asgard, but so few of them revealed their natures in such an obvious way, it was easy to turn a blind eye and leave them be.]

[Video]

[feyecandy]

[Fai is better prepared this time, partly because this isn't Yuui, and partly because at least he's now aware that there had been a broadcast. He looks somewhat uncomfortable nonetheless, somewhere between apologetic and simply wishing to squirm out of his own skin, but trying to not let the latter on too much.]

I'm sorry, I realize this isn't exactly something anyone would want to see. It's not exactly... tasteful, it's just a necessity.

...this was supposed to be voice, but /sticks to [Video]

[goesagainst_thegrain]

[The Doctor is trying to keep his expression neutral to go along with the voice and mostly succeeding, though he looks a bit grim. But it's hard to keep your emotions in check after what he's been through in the past few days, so we'll see how long he'll manage to keep this up.]

So you are a vampire, then?

[He just wants to clarify this just in case he's wrong, before anything else is said.

The Doctor does note that he doesn't seem happy with it... that's points in his favor, at least.]

IT HAPPENS <3 [Video]

[feyecandy]

[Fai nods, with just a hint of a wry smile.]

Mmm, I am. For what it's worth, though, it wasn't really my idea. I wasn't given that much choice in the matter.

[He's not bitter or anything.]

[Video]

[goesagainst_thegrain]

I see.

[He can hardly hold that against him; the initial anger he'd felt and his knee-jerk reaction to the video are both fading now, somewhat.]

...you still have to take blood here? I thought this place rendered everyone... well. More or less human.

[ACTION]

[ghani]

[ Yes, it was a little unfortunate that her... arrangement with fai got put on display for all of Asgard to see like that, but is she even a little bit ashamed of it?

No, no she is not.

There is only one person she would ever really permit to have an opinion on the matter, and he is not in the city so while this whole thing is a slight inconvenience, it doesn't actually bother her.

She's assuming that what most people will take from what they saw is that she and Fai have a carnal relationship that they enjoy involving blood in, and at least among her own acquaintances and friends she doesn't see that causing enough of a stir to actually become a true annoyance.

There is, however, still something she would like to discuss with Fai.

Hence she has returned to his room, not even bothering to knock before entering. She'll start respecting his personal boundaries again when she is no longer irritated with him. ]

[ACTION]

[feyecandy]

[Fai is attempting not to feel sorry for himself over the whole debacle, and activity he has never been any good at, and which usually only gives him another reason to beat himself up. It's what would be called a positive feedback loop, except nothing about it is very positive at all.]

[He's aided in his thoughts by some alcohol, although he's not going to let himself get sloshed and possibly give Yuui another reason to worry about him. He looks up in surprise as his door enters, because Ghanima is usually stricter about things like that, and Yuui is faultlessly polite - sometimes to the point of meekness - and who else could it be? But otherwise he doesn't move at all, apart from maybe sitting up a bit straighter.]

[She seems... upset about something. Had he misjudged her reaction on the network, and was she perhaps more bothered by the display than she had let on?]

My lady? Is something troubling you?

[ACTION]

[ghani]

[ She walks up to him at a carefully measured pace, neither slow nor hurried, and gracefully joins him where he's sitting. ]

There is much that you and I have not spoken of to one another. Much that there is no need to speak of. You asked of me something that would have carried... quite a lot of weight where I am from. More so before I was born, but certain things stay within a culture even though they might no longer serve as much of a purpose. But I chose to not disclose that information.

[ She regards him calmly, but with the outmost attention to details, reading his reactions from moment to moment. ]

Just as you chose not to tell me that you have a brother of sorts in this city.

[ It shouldn't matter, really, and in many ways it doesn't. But she still wants to know why he came to her door and not Yuui's.

She knows that her annoyance at this information being kept from her is irrational, and even as she speaks she wills it away. Brothers are a touchy subject for her, but it would seem that the same might be true about Fai. ]

You were unaware of what you were truly asking of me, and I did not enlighten you because such things cannot be allowed to govern decisions when they serve no real purpose. I honor my heritage, I am proud of it, but I will not be held back by it.

You owe me no answers, but I find myself curious what the reasoning behind your omissions of information was.

[ACTION]

[feyecandy]

[He'd had a feeling that there was... something. Something in that spark of anger he'd detected when asking for her blood, something that she'd hidden beneath that iron self-control which he cannot help admiring immensely. But to hear her admit such a thing still cuts deeper than he's willing to let on. Kurogane had never minded bleeding if it was for the right reason - what Fai had objected to was that he thought that Fai was a good enough reason, and that he'd given him very little choice in the matter. But the real sacrifice had been resentment and cold distance, had been Good morning, Kurogane and a thousand others small ways of being nasty and cruel.

Realizing that this had been a deeper kind of sacrifice to Ghanima too is disconcerting, to say the least, but he won't ask about it. Out of respect or cowardice, he doesn't know.]

I'm sorry. I'm not sure why I didn't mention him, except perhaps because I was certain that you'd be able to tell quite a lot from the way I act with him. You're very clever, and I'm used to keeping secrets. [A hint of a smile, a dull kind of self-humor.] Oh, and because I think you'd ask me why I didn't go to him for blood, and I was afraid of that question.

[ACTION]

[ghani]

[ He won't ask, and she won't tell because at the end of the day it doesn't matter. He might consider it a sacrifice, but she does not, because there is no real loss attached to it in this place.

She sighs a little, the irritation leaving behind nothing but tiredness as it leaves her.

She nods to accede his point, yes, she would have been able to read many things in the way Fai behaved around Yuui. Yes, she is indeed very clever. ]

The question why you would come to a relative stranger for this when he is here did come to mind, even if I realize that things between you and him are not entirely... straightforward.

[ And oh, does she ever know that feeling. ]

private audio

[liquidsky]

So, how was it?

private audio

[feyecandy]

[Fai doesn't know what to make of this at all, and is glad that the audio doesn't show the rather perturbed look on his face.]

I'm not sure what you mean. She was merely helping me out with a... necessity.

private audio

[liquidsky]

Then why make it a show?

private audio

[feyecandy]

[But the wince this time is most definitely audible.]

We did not intend to. The lady thankfully appears unconcerned, but I prefer to keep my feeding more... private.

private audio | assuming with permission that this was meant for Ghani as well

[ghani]

You didn't see the most interesting part.

private audio | totally was

[liquidsky]

It's just teasing to stop at the prelude.

Re: private audio | who wouldn't want to talk to her after all?

[ghani]

Feel free to take it up with the gods, it wasn't our intention to show any of it.