lordofthestrix

[lordofthestrix]

2024 is almost over!

With the final month of the year here, it’s your chance to send the mun or muse something you’ve wanted to tell them! Whether you haven’t had the chance to or you’ve been too shy, now’s the time to say what you feel, and don’t hold back!

prompt originally made by: x

[lordofthestrix]

"I am...Overflying you. In the absence of the proper metaphor to convey anything but an approximation to the experience. In its raw, primeval state, the union of two minds is no more sophisticated than a furious whirlpool of recollections and sudden knowledge raging at the mercy of conflicting currents. Will creates these spaces. The mind is not something orderly enough to be read. As interesting as it is for some to perceive it and demand it as such." He added in entertained insinuation to the bookshelves encircling them. "There are only a handful of experiences as sincerely sacred as games. To explore beyond the entrance seemed in poor sportsmanship. If I peek just past the threshold..." He stared for a lingering moment, creating the image of someone deciding the precise color of her eyes. The result seemed to subtly amuse him. "Your subconscious in indignantly nudging you to remember that Sorrow, picturesque name by the way, is in fact not one of the night people. Don't fear. We won't count it as a lie. There was no intention to deceive me." In fact, the exchange had been rather curious so far. The intriguing voyage that followed secrecy. No protest made by either of them. If anything, she delayed her last answer in apparent willingness to share beyond expectation. It was perhaps in this spirit that he offered a small addition of his own.

"Commonly? Power far beyond your assumption. It isn't rare for a human to glimpse the soul of a vampire once the connection is made. I told you. These are harsh, unpredictable waters. But you won't be able to do that with me. Someone corrupted my memories once upon another life. A very long time ago. Since then, I have taken what plenty would deem as obsessive measures to never revisit that weakness." He spoke as if retelling the story of someone else. Or someone so distant from him that he may as well be an entirely different being. Only now ending the visit of his gaze. Extending a nod in her direction what an air of curiosity. "Show me land and I'll take us there."

She wondered if he had actually seen the movie or just read her thoughts. Was that a thing vampires could do? She didn't know, but he did know those fateful words from that scene. It felt very much like something Tristan himself might say about the difference of life, death and vampirism. She could ask as much, but all thoughts felt scattered at the warmth of his hand on her cheek. Eyes unable to focus elsewhere but for the blue of his eyes , utterly distracted by him and unseeing of the shift of location.

Till he pulled away. And her shop was gone. A dark street illuminated by familiar stars to her, but unknown to London skies. She loved the stars desperately. Her father telling her the stories of the constellations, and her Uncle Aleksander telling her how to find her way by its position. It was the bookshelves that were out of place that happened to be the biggest comfort. Grounding as they were. Her father teasing that she could always find her way around in a labyrinth like library by looking at the shelves. Somehow she knew those shelves had the books to her life.

Silence hung between them as he elaborated the horrible truth. Vampires out matched humans in every way possible. And even now though it was something of her own mind and apparently his...it felt as though it were all entirely within his control. They hadn't moved and this dream was of his making. Did that mean she was trapped within the confines of her own mind? Somehow she felt unable to make herself follow after him and stayed standing exactly where she was. Some faint gesture of remaining connected to where in reality she physically stood.

And then he asked his question.

Somehow she knew he'd ask that, but still surprise and dismay flooded and drowned her heart at the idea of sharing that. Wickedness. It went against what she believed. How she tried to live. There were so many little offenses, but none really what she'd define as wicked. Wickedness was intentional. Harmful. Spiting. Mean or cruel. She wasn't any of those things.

" I..." And she stopped.

Felt the tension squeeze in her chest as the law of morality silenced her tongue before the lie fell through and ended it all. Brow furrowing, eyes cast down from his gaze while arms crossed tightly; she hesitated and wrangled with the memory. Guilt and ache dug deeper into the hole it carved and had left the last time she had revisited it. It was viscerally clear in her mind that she startled slightly then glanced around as a thought crossed her mind. "A question to sort of begin to answer yours...if this is my mind- ahm, our mind then do I have some control in here too? Memory sharing wise?"

[lordofthestrix]

“Would you dare turn me into a creature of the night?”

"I have unleashed other plagues upon this world before. My audacity shouldn't be in question." He responded in assessing cordiality. " I can only surmise I must be feeling rather wrathful and eager to seek your misery in this hypothetical? You are among the least suitable people to harmonize with forevermore I have ever known." Tristan responded in what was neither a condoning nor condemning hue. "You see, for me, it never stops. It has never once stopped. Call it entropy. Call it whatever you desire. The world is a slumbering dragon. Foolishly pawing without a conscience. To command what treasures the wicked beast must hoard for eternity. To direct him at what deserves to burn to ash. It is quite a monumental endeavor. Eternity is barely enough time. These are my early days. Your perspective is rather unlike my own, from what I gathered. You exist in the form of a ticking bomb. Barely a few decades, less than a paltry century left, and yet the world moves infuriatingly slow. You hardly know what to do with yourself now. What do you think eternal life would bring you other than madness?" The vampire reasoned with a shade of dark amusement. "I assumed you would favor the life a firework. And most fireworks don't aspire to become constellations. They are too busy brightly burning towards their end. Preferably scorching someone's eye or claiming someone's hand as their final trick."

@kingofthewebxxx

[lordofthestrix]

"You can't be all that elitist if you accepted me."

"You don't know what you are saying." The sudden death still tinted the air and now the illusion of golden shades radiated inebriating finality. Around them, a thousand familiar shadows seemed contented and gleeful in the hedonism and celebration of commemorating the fall. Ichor making dark silhouettes around the Sun. "A great deal of courage and cunning are demanded to overcome the final test. Still, that is hardly the point of the trial. Those lacking such qualities wouldn't have reached us here in the first place. I'm monstrously elitist, darling. Utterly unrepentant and remorseless about it too. I recruit among the most extraordinary individuals imaginable and yet I insist their scratch their way out of a seemingly adamantine wall before joining our ranks." His harshness was proven in the drops and caresses of cheerful scarlet that now tinted the formal wear of more than a few of the Strix all over. All that was left of the candidate. "There are reasons for my hefty demands. Someone incapable of achieving a little impossible qualifies as inadequate raw material for eternity. The talents of our failed aspirant were impressive. The waves of such existence among mortals will be missed, no doubt. But as far as we are concerned? We will have no reason to even remember the name after tomorrow. For you to compare yourself to someone like that..." His tone approached her, equal parts reprimand and endless affection. "You are more alive than any soul I have ever contemplated, Rory. Amid the endless nothingness of starless skies. you would still burn in the most unforgettable majesty. Whatever grievances you encounter, whatever complications are there to be faced within your spirit, never doubt this. He turned. And his hand lifted her chin. As if there was a primordial solemnity to his words. As if, right there and then, he craved to ensure she knew there was no trace of placating diplomacy or mere flattery to the statement. Something that, in all of his unabashed elitism, Tristan de Martel never felt towards anything else the raging storms of evermore provided. "You are perfect. And far more than that"

@ladamedemartel

[lordofthestrix]

sure, I don’t get a “healthy” amount of sleep like SOME PEOPLE do but can they do THIS *stands up, blacks out for a second*

[lordofthestrix]

[lordofthestrix]

“I opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had. But I didn’t.”

— Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

[lordofthestrix]

the first rule of writing is that there are no rules. the second rule is to save your work every 5 minutes because technology is a fickle god.

[lordofthestrix]

"I am aware, yes. In fact, that would would be precisely the reason summoning me home." Her strangely built protest managed to steal the subtle insinuation of a curved smirk upon his lips. "Please do not tell me that I infected your life so greatly as to make the idea of two weeks away from me unbearable?" What would they ever do if they had to envision yearly months apart? Beyond teasing devilment, the invitation arrived with swift certainty. "The journey there would be significantly more tolerable with a shard of winterly spring by my side. If my adorably clingy colleague and partner in crime is feeling in the adventurous mood to keep me company and discover Marseille..."

OPEN

"-yes, but its Christmas? "

[lordofthestrix]

“I am selfish, private and easily bored. Will this be a problem?”

-Neil Gaiman

[lordofthestrix]

Prolonged family reunions are certainly an experience.

[lordofthestrix]

“Show some compassion…“ (liesel horrified at a strix issue)

"What laudable self-righteousness." There was no trace of apology in his cold amusement. Tristan de Martel observed her candidly. Unyielding. "This world has always succumbed to intertwined cycles of creation and destruction. Peace and war. Agony and bliss. Some would argue it is its primeval nature. Unfortunately, those forces crawl, brutish and wasteful, when mindlessly unleashed on their own accord. I did not impose the demons of ruin and calamity upon this world. I gave them meaning. Purpose. My Strix saw a ceaseless Titanomachy and ascended even its most devastating catastrophes into majesty. You are weeping over clay discarded away by masterful sculptors. When it is highly likely that, in our abssence, existence would be nothing but broken shards by now. Still...That is your freedom in the world we made. To condemn our signature, inked in shadow or blood, over the last millennium. To navigate history books and play pretend. Ignore the fact that you wouldn't change some of its most notorious horrors because, given time and perspective, you see their reason for being. Because yo do hear our secret symphonies."

@noblehcart

[lordofthestrix]

@ladamedemartel suggested curling up by a fire reading together. The fire crackled softly in the stone hearth, casting a warm, flickering light across the room and weaving dancing shadows on the walls as Tristan joined her. The outside world could have been nothing but illusion. A passing rumor blanketed in a crisp, untouched layer of snow, muffling all sounds other than the wind and leaving their home wrapped in ethereal glow. He found her draped in fur and flickering firelight that casted a rosy glow across her face. His hand greeting her by accommodating the cover next to her neckline in protective care against the cold. His attention was often both focused and discursive. As if he had grown into a creature that handled the affairs of a myriad gazes. With Aurora, Tristan only cared to have one pair of eyes. "Choose one." He invited in insinuation to near bookshelves. His hand visiting her cheek. "By title, spine or whim. Any novelty, memory or color beckoning your attention."

@ladamedemartel

[lordofthestrix]

Tristan: "I value all of my Strix in this room equally. Aya, Shen Min, Claire, Arthur, Rowan, Holt, Cadence, Takahashi and..." Subtly looks at smudged writing on hand. "Moe is hidden."

[lordofthestrix]

[lordofthestrix]

I just checked and I was dangerously close to the end of this cycle without my traditional honoring Shen Min post of the year.

ELIJAH: Why were you following Hayley?

SHEN MIN: I was ordered to remove her from the playing field. She is an obstacle to the thing we truly want.  ELIJAH: Which is what? SHEN MIN: Davina Claire.

ELIJAH: What do you want with Davina Claire? SHEN MIN: : Tristan needs her to activate a weapon to use against your family. ELIJAH: What weapon?

ELIJAH: Forgive me. I'm having a little difficulty hearing you right now. Speak.  SHEN MIN: I'd... Rather... Die!

No commentary. Just the classic commendation for a vampire loyal enough to resist compulsion from an Original long enough to kill himself before revealing his organization's secrets. As a bonus point: Shen Min specifically expressing that Tristan needs her instead of we need her or the Strix needs her. You won't convince me that there wasn't a friendship there.

[lordofthestrix]

Using the night to inaugurate this year's version of Phantom Lex.

The twist: It will likely be beneficial for my activity here this time. Enjoy a glorious December, ladies and gentlemen.