Stephen Shorne
Ireth
University Junior: Vampire
Dancing through life...
Posts: 168
|
Post by Stephen Shorne on Nov 4, 2009 19:55:40 GMT -5
Stephen avoided meeting Dubhiarr's eyes as he racked his brain for hidden memories. The scarf had triggered something in him, a snatch of memory. He latched onto it, seeing other things in his mind's eye... a pendant of silver and amethysts, shaped like a flower; one purple rose in a bouquet among eleven pink ones; another purple rose hidden in a vase of irises. A handwritten note: You will be in my heart until the purple rose dies.[/color]
He blinked, coming back to reality and looking into Dubhiarr's face. "I remember... purple flowers... a silver necklace and a note. Does that mean anything to you?"
|
|
|
Post by Meriel "Dubhiarr" MacNamara on Nov 4, 2009 20:18:18 GMT -5
Dubhiarr didn't answer him for a few long moments. Yes, those things did mean something to her... but why would he remember them before anything else?
Unless...
She never had discovered who had given her those things, had she? It was entirely possible that it had been Stephen all along. Strange, she thought to herself, how he had hidden his identity from her, only to have her discover his feelings when he no longer remembered who he was...
It took another several seconds for Dubhiarr to remember that she hadn't answered Stephen yet. Blushing a little, she smiled at him and spoke up. "Yeah, those things mean something to me. A lot, in fact. I think you were the one who gave them to me."
The idea of Stephen's hidden crush both flattered and disquieted her at the same time. Now she understood Nina's reaction to her outburst of affection, how she had been so hard put to take it in all at once. This was only a little better... it spared Stephen the embarrassment of admitting his feelings for her, but still filled Dubhiarr's heart with confusion and doubt.
In the three years she had known Stephen and Nina, she had viewed Stephen as a good friend, and Nina as a sister... more than a sister. How long had Stephen been harboring these feelings for her? At least a year, judging by the timing of his gifts. It shamed her to think that she hadn't even noticed his affection until now. Unlike her, who hadn't much bothered to show Nina her feelings until that outburst... and the events following after that, which had nearly cost her her life. How could she have been so stupid?
|
|
Stephen Shorne
Ireth
University Junior: Vampire
Dancing through life...
Posts: 168
|
Post by Stephen Shorne on Nov 4, 2009 20:30:10 GMT -5
Stephen was silent for a while, watching Dubhiarr. When she wasn't speaking, she was tense and pensive. He couldn't quite tell whether she was sad or angry, or maybe both. He looked into her face, wanting to know--but not see--what lay hidden behind her deep blue eyes. He reached up to tuck a long, long strand of her hair behind her ear.
"Are you okay?" he asked nervously. "I'm not upsetting you, am I? I hope I'm not someone who hurt you in the past or anything..."
|
|
|
Post by Meriel "Dubhiarr" MacNamara on Nov 7, 2009 12:34:21 GMT -5
Dubhiarr blinked in mild surprise as Stephen tucked her hair behind her ear, smiling rather awkwardly. "No, no... I'm okay. This is just really awkward, that's all... I mean, I'm supposed to be helping you get your memories back and I have no idea where to start. What do you remember about yourself, if anything?"
|
|
Stephen Shorne
Ireth
University Junior: Vampire
Dancing through life...
Posts: 168
|
Post by Stephen Shorne on Nov 7, 2009 12:43:41 GMT -5
"Not a lot," Stephen answered. "Just my first name, and that I'm a vampire." He shifted his feet slightly, tapping his toes and heels against the floor. It was strangely pleasing to him. He blinked and looked down at his feet, something else triggering a shred of knowledge. "And apparently I'm a dancer... is that right?" he asked, looking up at Dubhiarr again.
|
|
|
Post by Meriel "Dubhiarr" MacNamara on Nov 7, 2009 12:58:32 GMT -5
Dubhiarr's face lit up with a grin. "That's right, you are! This is good!" She turned her triumphant grin to the tiny, pale professor, seeing the folder in his hand. "May I see that, please? It might trigger something else."
|
|
Valérian Mervielle-Dion
Kitty Kat
Hold me closer, tiny dancer~
'I am cute, wounded and unloved. Give me a hug and some hot chocolate.'
Posts: 191
|
Post by Valérian Mervielle-Dion on Nov 7, 2009 13:14:21 GMT -5
Valérian hesitated at giving her Stephen's file, then handed it to the other vampire. "It's your file, if you choose to let her see it as well, that is your choice."
This was making him even sicker than he had been. Seeing Du so excited over such little things... to know it was his fault the boy couldn't remember anything...
|
|
Stephen Shorne
Ireth
University Junior: Vampire
Dancing through life...
Posts: 168
|
Post by Stephen Shorne on Nov 7, 2009 22:29:31 GMT -5
Stephen nodded, taking the file and opening it. His good eye darted back and forth as he read silently. Name: Stephen Shorne. Age (Actual age and the age you appear): 21, 21. Gender: male. Eye color: green. Hair color: medium brown. He lingered on every word, wanting to take in as much as he could about himself. Certain phrases jumped out at him from the page.
Significant Physical Details: ...a long scar running down the right side of his face, across his right eye. Stephen shivered, raising one hand to touch the scar, running his finger down its length. He shut his eyes, a memory flashing into his mind -- himself, in his mid-teens, on a school playground, surrounded by a tight-knit ring of other boys. All of them were laughing, mocking him. Two of them grabbed his arms and held him still as he struggled, his eyes bright with tears.
"Let me go! Please!" Stephen begged, tears running down his face. "Why are you doing this?"
A boy stepped forward, something sharp glinting in his hand -- it looked like a shard of glass. He whimpered, shutting his eyes, and screamed as pain seared into his eye and down his cheek. He could smell the blood running down his face, hear the laughing and taunting of the boys around him.
Stephen blinked, coming back to himself and realizing his hand was pressed rather tightly against his face now. He sighed, lowering it, and read on.
Fears: confinement... Oh, joy, more memories. He cringed as they arose.
He was eight years old, maybe nine, standing in a large, dark house with a teenaged boy and girl; the only light came from the beams of the flashlights the girl and boy were holding. The place was a mess; it looked like the ceiling might fall down on them at any second. Stephen took a step forward, jumping as the floor groaned under his foot.
“Hey… isn’t this the house of that doctor who killed himself?” he asked, looking up at the girl. She was tall and thin, with a long blonde ponytail hanging down her back. As Stephen watched her, she blew a bubble with the gum she was chewing.
The older boy came up behind Stephen and grabbed his shoulder, making him jump and spin around. The boy laughed, running a hand through his dark hair and grinning viciously. “That’s right,” he answered. “Dr. Winters. Cut his throat with his own scalpel after his wife died in the OR. They say he haunts the hospital, watching over the surgeries to make sure no one else gets killed by accident.”
“Well, that’s nice of him,” Stephen replied nervously.
The dark-haired boy grinned wider and shook his head, walking around behind Stephen again. “Not when someone dies on the operating table. He goes after all the surgeons who were doing the surgery, takes his scalpel and--” He reached around and drew his finger across Stephen’s throat from behind. Stephen yelped and jumped away, and the boy laughed. “And nobody ever finds the bodies.” “Shut up, Darren,” snapped the girl, popping her gum. “Do you want to scare him to death?” She grinned down at Stephen… not a friendly smile at all. He stepped away from them, moving toward the door -- or where he thought the door should be.
“I want to go home,” he said, trying to keep his voice firm. The only problem was, he wasn’t sure he knew the way. Everything looked different at night.
“Not yet,” the girl told him, catching his shoulder and ushering him forward, toward where the beam of her flashlight was pointing -- a door leading down out of the room. Darren opened it, revealing a staircase. Stephen hung back, but Darren and the girl led him down the stairs.
It was even colder down here; Stephen’s teeth began to chatter. The flashlight beams showed him the cold stone walls and dusty pipes around him, and the many cobwebs that stretched across them. Darren pointed his flashlight toward the far wall, revealing a small door close to the floor, beside a large cardboard box. He nodded to Stephen. “Go ahead.”
Stephen took a step back, wrinkling his nose. “I’m not going in there.”
“Oh, come on,” the girl wheedled, taking Stephen by the shoulders and bending down to meet his eyes. “You’re the only one who can fit in there, and we want to see if that’s where Dr. Winters keeps the bodies.”
“If they were in there, the whole house would stink,” Stephen answered, shrugging her hands off. “I don’t smell anything rotting.”
“There are ways to keep bodies from stinking,” Darren spoke up matter-of-factly. He gave Stephen a shove toward the door. “Go find out what’s in there.”
Stephen looked coldly up at the older boy. “After you.”
“I won’t fit in there,” Darren told him again. “Neither will Sarah. Open the door.”
“No.” Stephen stood firm, eyes narrowed. “I’m going home.” He started to walk toward the stairs, but the girl stepped quickly in front of him, cackling as she shoved him back.
“Go on, half-breed,” she taunted. “You’re part vampire, you shouldn’t be scared of the dark. Or doesn’t your mommy want you to embrace what you are? Guess that’s why she screwed a human -- she was ashamed to live among her own kind. Wanted to be one of us.”
Stephen clenched his hands into fists. “Don’t talk about my mom that way.”
“Or what?” Sarah sneered. “You’ll bite me? Try it.”
She spat out her gum at him; it stuck to his cheek. He pulled it off and flicked it aside, baring his small white fangs. “Say that again.”
She met his eyes, her upper lip curling. “Try. It. Freak.”
That did it. He pounced, tackling Sarah to the floor. She shrieked and threw up her arms to protect her throat, and Stephen sank his fangs into her wrist. Her blood welled up hotly into his mouth, its spicy flavor surprising him. Mmm, type AB.
He felt Darren’s hand gripping his arm, pulling him away from Sarah as she scrambled out from under him, clutching her bleeding wrist. Stephen thrashed in Darren’s grasp as Darren turned him around, and Stephen looked down just in time to see Darren’s free hand opening the small door in the wall. Then he was shoved forward, into the tiny crawlspace.
He bumped his head as he landed, and scrambled to turn around, just as the door was slammed shut and the light disappeared. He heard the sounds of scraping from outside, and Darren and Sarah’s voices.
“…bloodsucking freak could have killed me!”
“We’ll leave him there and come back for him in the morning. That’ll teach him. Little creepy momma’s boy…”
Stephen heard their footsteps, quickly fading away as they headed back up the stairs. He sucked in a panicked breath, his eyes filling with tears as he hammered on the door and screamed.
“Let me out!” he hollered, trying to breathe as he shouted and wept at the same time. “You can’t leave me here! Let me OOOUUUT!”
He knew he was wasting his voice. There was no one there to hear him. But the walls of the crawlspace pressed in around him, trapping him in his curled-up position. He barely had room to turn around in here. The door wouldn’t budge; they’d probably put the box in front of it. No one knew, no one cared that he was here. He could suffocate or starve, and die in here, and no one would find him until he started rotting and stinking.
The thought of dying sent waves of panic through his body. He didn’t want to die, not here, not now! He pounded on the door, trying to breathe as he started hyperventilating. He couldn’t see, couldn’t scream for help, and he was going to die alone and forgotten…
Stephen jerked and gasped as though he was awakening from a nightmare. He still held the folder, but his hands were shaking badly and his heart was pounding so hard it hurt. He was gasping for breath, remembering where he was and trying to calm himself down. It was almost like what had happened with Professor Dion’s memories, but backwards.
“Well…” he managed to say. “That was… enlightening…”
|
|
Valérian Mervielle-Dion
Kitty Kat
Hold me closer, tiny dancer~
'I am cute, wounded and unloved. Give me a hug and some hot chocolate.'
Posts: 191
|
Post by Valérian Mervielle-Dion on Nov 7, 2009 22:44:38 GMT -5
Valérian looked at him with concern, moving to stand beside the young boy. "Bad memories?" he asked softly, being very careful not to look him directly in the eye. "Well, at least you're getting who you are back."
He gave him a slight smile, putting a hand on Stephen's shoulder.
|
|
Stephen Shorne
Ireth
University Junior: Vampire
Dancing through life...
Posts: 168
|
Post by Stephen Shorne on Nov 7, 2009 22:55:38 GMT -5
Stephen managed a rather strained laugh. "Not so much... just what other people seemed to have thought of me." Bloodsucking freak... half-breed... momma's boy.
He pushed the echoes in his mind away, glancing over at Dubhiarr with a smile to let her know he was okay. He quickly skimmed the rest of the file, which gave him quite a bit of useful information without overwhelming him. Hopefully the rest would come back over time.
He handed the folder back to Professor Dion, absently taking Dubhiarr's hand with his free one. It would probably do him good at this point to find out who his friends were and get re-acquainted with them.
|
|
|
Post by Meriel "Dubhiarr" MacNamara on Nov 8, 2009 12:01:20 GMT -5
Dubhiarr couldn't help but smile as she felt Stephen's hand slip into hers. She looked at him and spoke again, massaging his hand gently to stop it from shaking.
"I think it would be a good idea if I were to introduce you to some more of your friends. We could help you get more of your memories back... better ones. Nice ones." She glanced up at Professor Dion. "I just wonder whether it would be better to do that now or later, when everyone's out of class..."
|
|
Valérian Mervielle-Dion
Kitty Kat
Hold me closer, tiny dancer~
'I am cute, wounded and unloved. Give me a hug and some hot chocolate.'
Posts: 191
|
Post by Valérian Mervielle-Dion on Nov 8, 2009 12:38:46 GMT -5
Valérian thought quietly. "I think it would be wisest to wait until class was over for the day. I know you are eager to get your memories back, Stephen, and I regret the necessity of it, but seeing as you don't even remember what you did in your classes previously, I think you will be forgiven for missing the rest of your day. Miss MacNamara, I will have you excused to remain with Stephen if you so desire."
He turned to Diana, signing to her fairly quickly, but at a speed still easily seen, Thank you so much for helping me, Diana. Hopefully if something like this happens again I won't panic.
A wry smile turned up his lips a little. You and I both should be heading to class, but I don't want to leave the students alone. Um... do you know who is reliable and available at the moment? I know Himmel wouldn't be in class... and I also know he's about as reliable as a watch without power.
|
|
Diana Hawk
Ireth
Ass't Principal; Head of Shapeshifters
You told I had the eyes of a wolf; search them and find the beauty of the beast.
Posts: 262
|
Post by Diana Hawk on Nov 8, 2009 13:02:20 GMT -5
Diana smiled at the joke. Vincent is extremely reliable, but I think he's in a class right now. There are the Volkovas, Yaodensi and Rivienne; and Tristan Gilespi. Hoshi Yogo and Smoke as well.[/color] She glanced over at Stephen and Dubhiarr, relieved to see that Stephen seemed to be doing much better. Looking back at Valérian she continued, Would you like me to help you find anyone?[/color]
|
|
Valérian Mervielle-Dion
Kitty Kat
Hold me closer, tiny dancer~
'I am cute, wounded and unloved. Give me a hug and some hot chocolate.'
Posts: 191
|
Post by Valérian Mervielle-Dion on Nov 8, 2009 16:31:13 GMT -5
Pretty please? he chuckled. I don't know really anyone you listed except Smoke and Hoshi. And I don't know Hoshi very well.
He also looked over at the students, his pale eyes flickering for a second with guilt.
|
|