#spliced.open

Lily shuts her eyes, lashes fluttering against her cheeks and groans. Her mouth fills with saliva and feels all the more of her fangs sharp against her inner bottom lip. She swallows, battling with herself to keep her eyes shut and ignore them. Lily opens her eyes, eyes dark, but smile inviting. “You smell phenomenal.”

               upon arriving in bielefeld, the vampire already knew what she had to do and safe to say, it was actually something she looked forward to. as cliche as it sounds, she prefers the company of the quiet over the opposite and the humboldt bibliothek had given her the perfect opportunity, the interview as smooth as the breeze. however, the last time she was here, she was an elder. still, it’s nothing new to her. now she’d be taking care of the books instead of just reading them, as she currently is. gloved hands carefully drawing out an ancient book from the shelf, she pauses when she senses someone nearby. she glances at them after sliding the book back in. ‘ can i help you ? ’

its the way everything converges on him at once,  parties were not his scene and as factitious as it sounded, with how young in comparison he was to at least half the population of supernaturals,  it drug up too many memories---- memories he’d rather forget,  mostly with scarlett.  would he pass up the opportunity to get drunk and let someone have their way with him,  probably not,  doesn’t mean he has to mingle. that is until a presence is brought beside him,  “y’know this my third glass of wine an’ I think m’finally startin’ t’feel it.”

Her tongue and throat burn from the whiskey she’d drank, but another drink she has still in her hand. It makes her think of him, and he is home and he is not here (he had to travel somewhere, she had to travel somewhere, that is how it was sometimes) and that is fine but she would rather be distracted by familiarity than chaos. And if she does not get the distraction she wants, she is rather afraid a part of herself she does not like will come out. The part that misses the fight.

Part of her wonders if she had gone too far with her outfit, she had worn a long coat to the event and had it taken by coat check, and now she stands in her dress with leather and chains, posture taught. She takes in the crowd, the pounding music, and takes a deep breath. She has yet to find a thrawl, and there is the inkling of an ache in her throat. Lily feels calmer around other vampires, and this party is full of Shadow Graced and witches and angels, and if she’s honest anyone pumping blood through their hearts smells delicious, even the werewolves who smell a little like licking a lake rock. Lily slips into the throng of beings and grabs two flutes of champagne off a tray and downs the first in one gulp, and returns it to the tray, preferring to nurse the second as she pushes through the crowd. 

“If you’d like to bum a cigarette, I have to warn you, these might knock you over.” He glances at the person behind him with a small smile. Even when he isn’t necessarily working, he would maintain the same respect for others he always has. Personably, welcomingly, like old friends. Even if they are perfect strangers.

The tokens in her pockets feel heavy, but her hands are warm again thanks to the tea she’d bought at the cafe. An loose leaf blend completely appropriate for the Blood Moon, herbs whose magical properties would be more powerful. Mini-spells made stronger. She’d do something similar for her husband when she returned from her walk——— to neglect this opportunity would be wasteful. She needed to cleanse her cards, charge her jewelry and crystals, spend time under the moon. For her husband, he felt pain, but she... she felt raw. Like she has been given an open channel to magic. She looks at the deck of cards and the crystals she’d set out on the picnic table she’d found and come to sit at, meditating on them lightly, because anything else—— anymore effort and it feels like too much.