#para evelyn

[carbrakes-and-stakes]

Knowing me, knowing you {Evelyn & Alain}

Setting: August 22nd in the evening, Evelyn’s house Summary: So... about Italy... Warnings: None. (: With: @thronesofshadows​ 

It was past dinner time when Alain arrived at Evelyn’s. It would be a cloudy night, and the air still smelled humid from the recent rainfall. Wondering if it was going to rain again tonight, the man had approached the front door with a tight chest. He had been feeling weird the whole day, knowing that this would be the first time he saw her in weeks. It had been their longest time apart ever since April, and he never felt heavier than now, his heart like lead in his ribcage. Their recent online conversation lacked the carefree beauty of the previous months, and he wondered if they would ever go back to the way things were. The people he had spoken to about Evelyn had both told him that he should be honest to her, before and after finding out who she was. 

His hand came to a halt, just a few inches from the wooden door. He had to do this. And with this in mind, he knocked on the door.

She didn’t know what to do about everything, still. Evelyn had always been someone to plan things out - she liked to have control over things and ever since Alain had found out that she wasn’t human she couldn’t get the heavy feeling out of her chest. It was almost a heavy hollowness, not something that she had ever experienced, at least not that she could remember. He was coming over though, and so she’d grabbed a bottle of something old and a few glasses and put them all on the table in the living room. Perhaps they could have a simple night of watching films. She’d changed clothes half a dozen times before settling on the dress she’d worn when Alain had first come by her bar - what felt like ages ago. When she finally heard the knock on the door she moved to open it, letting a small smile cover her face. “You can come in,” she said, as a greeting. “Mind the carpet, I got a new one.”

Even if he had never been one to care for those details, Alain recognized immediately the dress she was wearing as the one she had worn several months ago. The look in his eyes went from stress and distress to something much softer, much kinder. With the same small smile on his face, he walked in and had a look at the carpet. This was not a detail he would have cared for, typically. “How is your hand?” He turned on his heels to face her, wanting to get closer to her again, like things were normal, kiss her, like everything was normal, and remain forehead against forehead just because it felt right. His hand reached for hers and he pulled her closer to him, kissing her forehead, kissing her. “I’m so sorry,” he held her against him, and sighed against her hair.

“It was not a bad cut.” Evelyn glanced down at her hand. It hadn’t even properly scarred - the memory was only in both of their minds. If he was here though - if he was here despite being so very human, then maybe it was okay. She let him pull her body close against his and she welcomed the feeling of his lips on her own, letting them curve into a smile. “You do not have to be sorry.” She shook her head, allowing her hands to rest against his shoulders. “I am ever so grateful to see you.” She turned her head to face him and pressed another kiss against his lips - warm and familiar. “If you would like, I found a good bottle of wine. I just thought - well, for everything - I still like that.” Her words were laced with more caution than before, but at least they were talking. At least he was here and in her house and touching her, despite everything. “It is over in the living room.” She raised an eyebrow. “Unless you have something else you would prefer to do.”

A reassuring smile, the familiar smell of lavender, the softness of her skin. Everything felt so normal, as if nothing had happened, nothing had been changed. And maybe things would not change. One thing Alain knew for sure was that he liked her enough to claim to be in love. “Me too, I missed you,” eyes full of emotions stared back at her, and with a warmer smile, he nodded his approval. A glass of wine sounded nice, especially with the kind of discussion they would have. Knowing her more, and her knowing him more was the only way they could work. “It’s funny, even knowing you’re wearing them, I still can’t tell that you have contacts on your eyes,” one last kiss and he led the way to the living room. “No, that’s fine. I suppose wine is a great beverage for sharing words.”

“Me too.” She let her breath even out - she wasn’t even nervous - not exactly, anyhow. Not typically. There was just still too much uncertainty about everything, despite the fact that he was here. Evelyn gave a shrug. “The contacts work well.” She offered him a shy glance, though she could feel her body relax again as he kissed her. “You know I was not quite done here,” she offered with a smile as she followed him over to the couch. As she opened the bottle of wine and poured them each a glass, she gave him a curious glance. “Sharing words? Do you have further questions for me?” She took a small sip of her wine. “I will say I think I made a good choice with this one. French, naturally, though we ought to try some from some vineyards in California sometime.”

 “I can come back later,” he offered, a twinkle in his eyes. Leaving his jacket on the arm of the couch, Alain sat down his ankle under his thigh and rested his chin in his hand as he watched her open the bottle. “You look like you’ve done this your whole life,” he smiled brighter again, and reached out for the glass, taking a sip. Obviously what he was going to tell was not easy, but it felt like the right thing to do. She didn’t really have a choice but he did, and just for that he felt a bit luckier than her right now. “I’ve asked you quite a lot already don’t you think?” His nose wrinkled. “I think it’s time I tell you more about myself. You’ve shared a lot,” and lord knew he had a lot of things to tell her. She knew next to nothing about his family, about Audrey, and about what his life was really like. It was about time. “I heard South Africa had some nice wine too,” he commented, reaching out to squeeze her hand.

“I can work with that.” She watched him - always and ever so curious about what he was thinking, wanting to know more about him from the moment they’d met, even if her curiosity then erred more on the side of wondering how someone ended up on a private beach all on accident. Evelyn rolled her eyes. “Thank you, though I find it to be inadvisable to ask babies to pour wine,” she offered another shrug. “You have, but I know that for some, it can be a lot to process. I should have been more open before now - and -” she bit her lip. “Of course you can tell me more about yourself.” She let her foot run up and against his leg. “I would love to understand you even more than I do now.” His next comment earned another smirk from her, and his hand felt nice against her own, “well, perhaps that is something else we must add to our list, then. Quite the travel schedule we have planned, is it not?”

“You could not have guessed that I would understand it, or accept it,” she had told him about the way her father felt about her being a mara. Alain could understand how frightening it must have been to learn that the supernatural existed and that his daughter was not human, and had trouble judging the man, even if he wished Evelyn never had to go through all this. “Alright,” he sighed heavily. “I suppose this will explain why…” Why he loved her no matter what, why he came back to her side even though he knew she was not human, why it took him days to find out what she was  (although he would admit to feeling foolish for not finding out months earlier). “Well you know,” shaking his head, he looked at their hands then into her eyes. “I’m…” He bit his lip. Better pick his words well. “Well,” his anxiety from earlier was coming back, but he had to tell her, and he felt like she might understand. “I hunt the things that died, and came back to life. I guess the right term would be slayer,” pinching briefly at the bridge of his nose, he did not see her reaction immediately.

“This is true,” she replied. “You never know.” She could only think to her father, every look he’d given her ever since she was born. Even if he did love her, and she did believe that the love was genuine, Evelyn knew that he would have been far happier if she’d been human. “Explain?” She looked at him curiously. Perhaps he was a researcher, like Arthur. Perhaps… her mouth went dry as she heard his words. First hunt, then slayer. Hunter. The wine felt sour in her mouth and she put her glass down quickly, a bit of the wine splashing out and onto her coffee table as she stood up and backed away from him. “No.” She shook her head emphatically, squeezing her eyes shut. “No. That is not a funny joke, Alain.” She couldn’t breathe for a moment. “No.” She could see Melanie’s dead body in her mind and she shook her head. Opened her eyes. “I think you should go.” Her voice was cold.

Alain watched as she stood up. First confusion took over, incomprehension etched on his face, but soon it was replaced with sorrow as he realised what was happening. Her voice felt like having been dipped in a frozen lake, like she was a stranger, or like he was the stranger, and had nothing to do here. "I don't understand," once again his heart felt as if it had been filled with lead, heavier than before. "I'm not going to ever cause you harm, look at me, look at us," if he did stand up, he did not move away, and instead held both his palm before him, as if to appease the whole room. "Don't do this, please."

“You,” Evelyn did her best to keep her voice as even as possible, “I do not know that.” He stood up and she took another few steps back from him. He’d know about mara - he’d known what she was before she’d told him, from the knowledge of her physiology. “I am looking at you. I can see you quite well.” Her fingers curled around the hem of her dress. “Do not do what? You need to leave. I cannot believe I let you,” she could feel her eyes getting wet, “touch me.” It felt as though all of the air had left the room. She didn’t know where to focus. “What were you planning to do?” She couldn’t believe all of his words. Hunters hunted people like her, even if she wasn’t his speciality. The idea of specialties itself was making her head spin. “...when you found out? Did you think about how you could kill me?” Her eyes narrowed - she’d never been angry with him, not once in the months that they’d known one another, but now she could feel little besides disgust towards him. “I need you to leave.” She repeated again, her lips quivering.

"You know that, you fucking know," this was a nightmare. Of course he knew that she might be horrified by this. He had not reacted to the blue blood too well either. But the fact that she thought that he could hurt her, kill her, hurt more than any wound he ever had to suffer from. "I was planning to ask you the questions I already asked you," and if he had not liked the answers… That was not something he wanted to think of. Break up? Stay? Would he have been a hypocrite for leaving? Probably. "And then I was planning to tell you who I am because it felt like the right, the fair thing to do," rubbing his hand against his face, Alain was starting already to realize that he had just lost her. "You're not listening. It does not matter, you're not listening," shaking his head he took a step back and turned his back on her, his hands on the back of his head. He could feel the anger building up, but the last thing he wanted was to explode and prove her right, and scare her.

“No.” She shook her head again. “I do not.” Evelyn didn’t know what to think right now, she only knew that her head was spinning and Alain was still there and she felt sick. “I gave you every bit of information I could because I thought you were human. I wanted you to understand how safe I was.” She watched him turn around and she felt a flash of anger course through her body. She wasn’t listening? He wasn’t listening to her. She walked over and faced him again. “You know more about me than anyone ever has. I let you…” into my heart... her voice trailed off. “Well, it is a good thing that I was just in this for the sex, then, was it not?” It wasn’t true, not even a little bit, but she needed to make her words bite as much as she could make them. “Give your lonely life a little excitement. You didn’t think I cared, did you? After all, you consider me a monster, right? Monsters cannot fall in love.”

“I’m the exact same person, except this time I’m honest,” his fingers pinched together, he hit his chest once, showing his incomprehension once again. This was ridiculous. “You’re right, I know more about you and I’m here,” he had to cut himself off as she went on, this time, saying the most obnoxious, cruel things she could have said. “You really think that I, a hunter, need excitement? I need calm, normalcy, and I had that with you and I liked that.”  And sure, her being not a normal human being kind of ruined the idea of having a normal person in his life, but at least what they had was real, no matter what she was saying. “You’re so full of shit. You’re mad, I get it, but don’t you fucking use your insecurities against me. The only reason you don’t usually do relationships is because you think no one could love you,” Alain looked her in his eyes, hurt, “I don’t know if you can fall in love, but I did,” and he could tell that his eyes were starting to water up. Either it was pride or pain, but he turned once again on his heels before she could see, grabbing his jacket from the couch. “I’m not going to listen to this. You’re hurt, fine, but don’t expect me to stay here to see you lie and try to erase us. This happened, and you were happy,” his voice was not as assertive as it usually was as he left the room.

“Only because it benefits you now.” Evelyn looked over to him, a mixture of many different feelings swirling around in her chest. She couldn’t focus on any one thing, because everything that was happening was all too much at once. “Here for what purpose? Here after multiple weeks of not seeing me.” She offered a shrug, only half paying attention to his words. “Well too bad. I do think you need excitement. Or at least someone around to help you and your lonely life.” She knew that the words would sting, but his words did too. You think no one could love you. Even if he hadn’t intended for it to, it felt like a punch to the gut. Something she had thought ever since she was little. “No, I do not do relationships because I find them pointless.” I fell in love too. She could feel her tears falling against her cheeks. “Besides, I thought it could be fun to get you in bed. It was so easy too.” None of that was true, but she wanted him to hurt. This was far worse than him being human and not wholly accepting her. He killed things because of some purported duty. Or at least that was what Melanie had told her, even if she didn’t entirely understand it back then. “No,” she said as he began to leave, quickly moving to get in front of him. “The one person who I did love was murdered by someone like you.” She had to place her hand against the wall to steady herself. “I’m not lying about any of this.” She hated that he could still read her so well, even now. Hated that he had apparently cared deeply and had paid attention to all of her habits. None of that mattered now. She brushed her hand over her eyes, willing herself to not cry more. She didn’t cry. That was just another behavior that her father had encouraged her to never partake in.

“It benefits me? What kind of benefit am I getting exactly?!” How could she be saying something like this right now? Alain looked down. Should he have told her sooner? He did not reply when she spoke again. He had to leave, get out of here before she destroyed it all. If she wanted to pretend that nothing happened, that all of this was just some sort of childish, cruel mind game, then he would not be a spectator of that. “Stop it.” He shook his head. “If you’re trying to be a monster, then good job, but that has nothing to do with being a mara,” his hand on the front door’s handle, he looked away as she moved to get in front of him, although it was hard not to look her in the eyes as she spoke of Melanie. “You don’t have a monopoly on sorrow, now get out of the way,” clearly he would have no trouble getting her out of his way, but this was not something he was going to give her. If she wanted proof that he could hurt her, she would not get it. “Then why are you standing in my way when I’m trying to leave. This is what you want, now let me get out,” his voice had broken several times, but he did not care for it. Maybe he was a monster too, but at least, he would have been true to her the whole time.

“Getting to choose when you tell me.” He wasn’t talking and somehow that made her all the more frustrated. “I am only saying what I believe.” Evelyn didn’t dare look at him, instead focusing on the hallway behind him. “I may not, but I ache for her every day of my life.” That much was true. “Fine.” She moved from in front of him, tears stinging her eyes and her cheeks. “Leave.” Would he tell others about her now? Her mind was swimming and her whole body felt incredibly heavy. “Just go. If you wish to,” she stepped out from in front of him, “do not let me stop you. I do not want to listen to what you have to say any longer.”

“Wow, what an honor and privilege,” Alain drily replied. Clearly she was running out of insults if the only thing she could come up with was accusing him of the thing she wished she had : a chance to tell him about who she was. Leaving was necessary, but he didn’t want to, because he knew that if he left it would be for good. His head shook no, still he opened the door and headed out into the night. He knew that she would not stop him from leaving this time, but wouldn’t it have been nice? The tears that had threatened to pour out started running down on his cheeks. It seemed like after all, it really was going to rain again tonight. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpsn_mgEJ_w

  “It’s like that scene in Mamma Mia 2, but instead of finding out he has a girlfriend she finds out he’s a hunter” - Amélie

[blancheharlow]

Iron Out the Details || Evelyn & Blanche

@marvelousevelyn

Blanche let out a sigh as she stood in line for coffee. It was hard to blink the tiredness from her eyes-- another nearly sleepless night hadn’t been the best for her. It had been months, and Blanche was still having trouble getting to sleep. It was anxiety-inducing to even close her eyes because her mind kept picturing The Girl in the Gap’s black eyes staring back at her, or some other monster lizard would be clinging to her ceiling ready to eat her. 

She thought she was just being dramatic, as the clock ticked to 2am and she was on her hands and knees, making sure the wards she put up under her bed were still in order. Then Blanche would risk to check the ones by the window, ignoring her reflection in the glass, before rushing to the door. Granny wouldn’t even try to bypass them now, but whenever they broke, Blanche would have a lot worse to deal with than her creeping paranoia as Granny made her attempting to sleep even more frightening-- Blanche had a sneaking suspicioun that the nightmares she had when she actually got to sleep were always caused by her.

Granny wasn’t even really her Granny anymore. There were a few precious moments of clarity-- when she acted normal. Like she used too. Even if Granny picked at her appearance constantly or her choices, she was never this mean or this violent about it.

Blanche’s eyes shot around the coffee shop, carefully examining her surroundings. It looked normally, for the most part. Granny wasn’t here. That was good. Somebody coughing behind her got her attention back into the real world, and Blanche silently cursed as she realized she let the line move on without her, her eyes trained to the ground so she didn’t draw too much attention to herself Taking a few steps forward, she collided with a man on his way out--

“Shoot, sorry-” Blanche stumbled, not hearing the man’s reply as her backpack and purse slipped off with a small clatter as she caught herself on her a nearby table. Her cheeks flushed.

So much for not drawing attention to herself. Her wallet, phone, and other miscellaneous crap and had fallen out of her purse, and the only good thing was that all of her weird shit was tucked safely away in her backpack, not her purse.  Awkwardly, Blanche stooped to start gathering her stuff, muttering a flustered apology to the woman nearby as she hurriedly collected her stuff. 

“Just, uh, some bad luck, I guess.”  

[ben-washington]

Fried Food Bonanza || Ben & Evelyn

Ben scrolled through his phone. There had to be something. Was there seriously no place to get fried-everything. There had to be at least one restaurant owner how didn't care about their customers' health. And if not that, then some fair somewhere. He needed to get this skinny little thing into some place unhealthy and half a dozen baskets of fried food in front of her ASAP. As far as Ben was concerned, if someone doubted the deliciousness of a fried Snickers, they were not living life properly.

"Aha!" finally he'd found some small fair in a town about half an hour north. Not ideal perhaps, but it would have to do. There was no way he was going to wait until September for the Massachusetts state fair to get this girl to actually start living her life. "Come on there's a county fair up north and those things always have fried everything. You'll kill your arteries, but really, who care about those anyway." He grabbed the girl's wrist and drug her toward the car. "We're going to start with the fried Snickers and fried pickles. ...wait have you had a funnel cake? Because if you haven't had one of those you're just insane and seriously need to get a life."

[vermelhidao-blog]

Lembrarei de nós

À chegada da lua, 

à despedida do sol,

à cada crepúsculo,

lembrarei de nós.

Nossos elásticos,

nossos nós,

nossos laços...

lembrarei de nós.

À cada alvorada,

à cada linha avermelhada,

a cada gota branca,

ou lágrima branda

lembrarei de nós.

[carbrakes-and-stakes]

Blue Moon - Evelyn and Alain

Where: Evelyn’s house, Harris Island

When : Dinner time, 08/05/20

Summary : Alain learns more about Evelyn. This can only get them to grow closer.

Searching through the drawers and cupboards for a whisk, Alain’s mind was focused for once, not on his nightmares, nor on his thoughts, and he had had a lot of thoughts lately. Staying awake, or being forced to stay awake had left him alone with his thoughts too often, and his stream of consciousness had brought him to mental places he had not visited in a long long time. The whisk was found, and brought to the mixture of mascarpone and batter. He frowned. This was not what he wanted to do. He wanted to whisk the egg whites first, to skip cleaning the whisk before he put it in the mascarpone and yolks. Heading to the sink to wash it once he was done with the cheese, he got lost in his thoughts, which was exactly what he was trying to avoid. You have to tell her, now. She has a right to know, his mind told him. Part of him knew that this was the right thing to do, but quite frankly, he had yet to figure out how you were supposed to tell a person that you hunted vampires at night. The whisk now dry, he headed back to the bowl of egg whites, his gaze wandering to glance at the golden hair that lazily rested on Evelyn’s shoulders. He caught himself grinning and turned back to his baking.

She’d never been one to especially enjoy baking. Certainly, Evelyn had spent many hours in the kitchen in her father’s home (her home too, she supposed, but it had never felt quite like home, not when she had to be human always) with her cooks, observing carefully and taking samples of whatever they were making that day. However, in the months since she’d started dating Alain, she’d started to properly enjoy it. Find pleasure in it, even. She still of course did not prefer to eat human food, but the experience of it was now one she enjoyed. She caught his gaze as he looked over to her and she grinned before making her way over to him, tapping her finger on one shoulder and running it along the back of his shoulders before she made it to the other side of him. “I mean, I know you like to look at me, but do tell, is there anything I can do to help with this? I like to think I can be more trusted in the kitchen now, right?” It was nice how normal this felt, even though she was still pretending to be incredibly human. Even if she was following in her mother’s footsteps more than she’d ever have expected to. The fact that she was dreaming now was fine - it was something to worry about at a different time. Not now, when things felt so right and good and normal, even.

“I like to look at you? Me, I do that?” Alain snorted sarcastically, shaking his head. “The ego of this person, I swear,” his frown vanished in a matter of seconds, and his hands reached for the towel tucked in his belt, wiping them clean. “Well,” he looked around. His tiramisu was almost done, he only had to make stacks of cream and biscuits now. Vanilla beans caught his eyes and the frown came back. “Do you know how to extract seeds from those?” Obviously he had forgotten about something. If his sleep had improved, he now had trouble falling asleep and his nights were shorter than before, which meant that his focus was far from optimal. He reached for a flat knife on the kitchen drawer behind him (having spent so much time with Evelyn, he now could say that he knew the location of nearly everything in her kitchen - the rest of the house, being so big, was another story), placed it on the counter near the beans. Before he picked up another knife to cut the Cuillère biscuit to fit the dish he had planned to use, he reached for her waist, tilting his head to the side as he smiled, “unless of course you would rather look at me. I know you like to do that,” his eyebrows raised in playful mockery. 

“On occasion, or so I have observed.” Evelyn shrugged. “I mean, I do know that I look good, and that people appreciate that. You appreciate that, even if you still will not tell me when you first had a crush on me.” She winked at him. “Which I will get out of you sometime.” Though not right now, she supposed. She nodded in response to his question. “Well, I cannot say that I have done this before, but I figure it cannot be all too hard.” She certainly wasn’t any sort of master cook; however, she had learned a decent amount through watching her cooks as a child, and more recently, through watching whenever Alain came over. How hard could extracting the beans from the pods be, after all? She watched him find the rest of the materials that they would need for the dessert and couldn’t help but let a small smile cross her face. “Careful, or else I may have to test your memorization of the layout of my kitchen. Perhaps I ought to give you another tour of the rest of my house. Though I suppose you know my kitchen and my bedroom quite well, and really, what more could one ask for?” As he pulled her toward him she grinned, grabbing the knife from him. “I mean, I do like to look at you, and I am happy to admit this. I would also like to help you out though, so hand over the vanilla beans, please.”

“Bragging is not a good look on anyone, Ms. Hoffman,” Alain did not seem to find it so bad however, as he said it with a smile. “Bold of you to assume that I would feel embarrassed about this,” his smile dropped and his face got a lot more serious. He took out a cutting board, figuring that a knife against the stone countertop couldn’t be a great idea. Putting the knife and beans on top, he moved aside to let her do her part. This wasn’t too hard, and if he recalled correctly, she had told him before that she used to spend time in the kitchen as a child. Now it was time to see if she remembered those things as much as the things  Alain had said a month ago. “Try not to lose a finger,” he did not have to glance down at his hand for her to see that this was a joke. At least he hoped so. Leaving her side to get the biscuit from the cooling grid, he turned his back on her and started cutting into the cuillère biscuit. Having done that, he grabbed a brush and started smearing coffee and Amaretto on it. “Everything going alright?”

“It may not be, but I can pull off things that others might consider to be a poor look.” Flashing another wink to him, Evelyn gave a small shrug. “Well, perhaps you can tell me later tonight then.” Not that she cared all too much, she’d noticed how he’d relaxed when he came by her bar that one night many months ago now, noticed how he smiled around her, and that was enough. It was also beyond strange to have that be enough, but perhaps it was not so awful. “I promise to do my best. I like all my appendages just as they are, not everyone can pull off the nine finger look.” She pressed her lips against his for a moment before she picked up the knife and one of the beans, holding them both carefully in her hands. This’ll be nothing, she told herself. It was just like dicing onions, which she’d done countless times for different pasta dishes. Just involved a little more precision, but she was good at that, and besides, if she was able to be more precise, Alain would perhaps ask for her help on even more cooking. For all that she certainly did not consider herself an expert (and never would, most likely), but it wasn’t so terrible to know more about human food. Evelyn held up one of the beans and carefully cut it in half, before she slid the knife along the edge, pulling the seeds out and into a nearby cup. One down, a couple more to go. She picked up another one and cut it in half, though as she moved to cut a slit down the middle she felt the knife slip just slightly and she could feel it cut into the palm of her hand. No. She glanced down, a few dots of blue fell onto the countertop before she pressed her opposite hand against the now-slightly-injured one. Looking up at Alain she offered a weak smile. Did my father find out in a way similar to this?, she had to wonder for a moment. She was practically positive that something about this had been in her mother’s journals, but she couldn’t bear to make complete eye contact with Alain, her thoughts already too jumbled. He’s human. You’re not. Then why didn’t she feel the sense of pride that she was supposed to feel? Why did she feel concerned instead, worried that not being human would make him think less of her? She wasn’t supposed to truly worry about the opinions of humans. “Sorry, just a small hiccup in the cooking process, I just need to find a bandage and I will be ready to go again.”

“See, there are some looks you cannot pull off,” an unconvincing smile accompanied his banter. You could not say that he kept great memories from that day, although he did make himself a good friend then. This reminded him that he would have to check on Erin sometimes. With Regan, and then this whole nightmare business, he didn’t really have time to take care of his relationships with people, and while he was naturally rather aloof, it was not in his habit to completely go silent. Speaking of the silence, he no longer could hear the sound of Evelyn’s knife on the counter. He turned to check on her, and his eyes were drawn to the blue stains on the stone. Qu’est-ce que c’est que ces conneries? “I’ll go get you a bandage,” he corrected her, his voice stiff.  Alain, dropping his own knife on the counter and leaving the room with haste, headed upstairs to get to the bathroom. He had a good idea of where she kept those plasters, although right now, this was not exactly what his mind was focused on. What the fuck was that? He did not open the drawer to get bandages, but instead, took a seat on the edge of the bathtub, so he could stop pacing around. It had hit him in the face almost immediately : this could only mean one thing. Not human. Of putain de course. He was not sure whether he wanted to fucking laugh or cry right now, and quite frankly he was too fucking tired to be asking himself these kind of questions.  He covered his face and his shoulders started to shake, followed by nervous laughter. What were the fucking chances? She was not even from this town. Really, what were the chances ? He wiped tears from tired eyes and leaned his head against the cool tiles, wondering if he was capable of walking back downstairs, and act normally. Could he ? Should he ? Maybe he should just leave. Well that wouldn’t be suspicious at all, his mind seemed to reply. His inner monologue must have gone back and forth like this for a few minutes. His decision taken, the hunter walked back downstairs. 

“Okay.” She nodded, her opposite hand still placed firmly against the cut, though more out of a need to hide it over anything else. Which was perhaps useless at this point, given that she hadn’t quite caught herself in time. She noticed how stiff his voice became, when they’d been joking just moments before. Evelyn tore off a paper towel using her fingers and began to wet it, carefully cleaning up the small mess she’d made. She could hear her father’s voice echo in her ears, stiff and firm, yet far too loud, always. Best to make sure nobody sees, you understand that, right? She could see herself, young, with hair that almost hit her waist, nodding in response. Of course, father. She bit her lip as she waited for Alain to return, fighting the urge to pace around the kitchen. Fighting the urge to go up and try to find him, to use one of the dozens of explanations that her father had used over the years. Did Alain even believe in this sort of thing fully, she had to wonder. Certainly, he knew something about banshees but all that took was an interest in fantasy - it didn’t guarantee anything further. He was human, she was not, and part of her had to wonder how much of everything was going to fall apart. She knew that she was the only reason her father hadn’t left her mother right away. That, and public image. It wasn’t the same, here. He would be no worse for the wear if he broke up with her and as that thought crossed her mind, her chest and throat felt tight. Releasing her hands from the tight grip that they’d had and placing a towel on the injury - where was he? it was not as though finding bandages took so very long, was it? - she took a sip from a glass of water on the countertop. Reminded herself to breathe for a moment. Looked up to see him entering the kitchen again. “Hi.” She said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Thank you.” She didn’t dare move a step closer to him.

The fact that she was panicking was entirely clouded to him by a thick fog, one that often had allowed the hunter to pretend that he was just your completely normal, friendly neighbor/shop owner, but one that also meant that Alain never really was too much in touch with reality. Rare were the people who knew who he was, and rare were those who could judge him for that, as a part of them was hunters, another part was things he didn’t care for their opinions, and the last part, was people like her, Erin, Skylar, etc. . Those were the people who were often disappointed when they heard what he did.  This was why hunters mostly kept to themselves. You couldn’t expect civilians to understand why what they did was necessary. Soon enough, you were being called a murderer or ironically so, a monster. 

Now clearly, Alain knew that blue blood only meant one thing : not human. But not human could mean too many things. As far as he was concerned, it did not mean that she was undead, and it also meant that he could not reveal to her that he was a hunter yet. Clearly, he had no idea of how she would react to this if he were to tell her this right now. Was it reassuring to know that he was not the only one who had not been completely honest? He wasn’t sure. Quite frankly, from his current state of panic, you could probably say that no, this was not one bit reassuring. Still, he kept his composure. Pretending that everything was okay was something he was used to do. “I would make sure this doesn’t get infected if I were you,” this was the kind of advise you could give to a stranger, and his tone was a bit too neutral to be really warm. “I’ll finish making dinner,” he barely looked at her as he picked up the knife and finished what she started. He remained quiet as he assembled the tiramisu. Silently, he wondered if staying was the right decision. Looking over his shoulder, he watched her take care of her wound. There was a certain kindness in his eyes, still, but there was worry too. Was this why this mara had decided to give him nightmares? They knew about Evelyn’s nature, feared for her safety ? It had to be it. He did not notice that he had been clutching the wooden spoon a bit too tight as he thought of his nocturnal visitor. It was only when he heard the wood crack that he snapped out of it. Great. Time to change the subject. It was clear that neither of them wanted to address the elephant in the room anyway. “If your cut isn’t too bad, perhaps you can help me making risotto?” He offered. His voice sounded a bit warmer than a few minutes ago, more convincing too, but he had doubts on whether or not this would suffice.

She loathed the fact that she still cared what others thought. That Evelyn cared what humans thought. Perhaps it was the fact that she’d been told for so long that everything she was was wrong. Despite the fact that she’d never outwardly believed that, she had to wonder if her father’s words had gotten to her more than she believed that they had. We have to keep this under wraps, you see, my darling, don’t you? What would the press think? What would everyone think? Specialized doctors, a specialized diagnosis that seemed to change monthly, some years. She adored what she was, but she’d gotten too similar to her mother and fallen for a human, and she could only imagine any of the thoughts that could have been running through Alain’s head right now.

This was only confirmed by his practically sterile tone as he reminded her that she ought to keep her injury clean. “Of course. I am good at taking care of myself.” Formal, clipped, yet too eager. Too willing to say just what he might have wanted. To comfort him somehow, still. Yet she just continued to bandage her injury. That taken care of, she nodded at his next comment. “Okay.” She whispered. Practically begged in her thoughts for some sort of divine intervention of guidance from her mother - not that her mother had been entirely successful - had her mother survived, Evelyn knew very well that her father would have separated from her within weeks of Evelyn’s birth - but her mother had gone through this too, and it made her body ache to watch someone she cared about react in such a formal way. All of a sudden there was a snapping sound and Evelyn jumped - not out of fear, but she had been startled and that in and of itself unnerved her on another level entirely. Alain’s not going to hurt you, she had to tell herself and she did her best to regulate her breathing. “My cut is fine. It was surface-level, nothing too bad.” Just enough to out the fact that I do not exactly have normal human physiology. “Anything you want.” She moved back over to the countertop and looked over to him for a moment before looking back down, letting her hair fall over her shoulders. “Just tell me what to do.”

“Alright, that’s good to hear,” whoever or whatever she was, Alain did not want her to get hurt, and while he was very confused, he knew right now that he still cared for her and he felt bad in his core for being unable to reach out and hug her. He simply could not find the will to do something as simple as that. He had joked about this with Kaden, after he found out that Regan was a banshee but not for one moment did he imagine ending up in the same situation. He wondered how Kaden had found out, and what his reaction might have been. Clearly, he could have used his input right now, because he was feeling completely helpless now. Maybe if he had a distraction, he could pretend that everything was normal. After all, he had spent the past few months completely avoiding mentioning his night hobbies to her. Not letting people see or know things he wanted to keep hidden was something he was good at, and this could not be too different, right? Usually, feelings were not thrown into the mix however. “Well, obviously you are staying away from knives for now,” he turned his back on her and took two shallot, putting them before her. “You can peel these. I’ll cut them and get the bouillon started while you’re busy.” Leaving her with the two bulbs, he moved to the sink to fill a pot with water, and put it on the stove with a cube of broth in it. “Are you done peeling them?”

Please do not leave, she wanted to say, but the words were caught in her throat. Evelyn wanted to go over to him, wanted him to tell her that everything was okay. The fact that he wasn’t, that he wasn’t even joking any more, made her feel sick. She didn’t want him to think any less of her, because of what she was. “Obviously.” She said, her voice still quiet, willing to say anything to placate whatever worries he might have had. He didn’t even casually touch her - brush away hair from her face or hold her hand. She had to wonder if he’d ever want to touch her again - if he was so put off by the fact that she wasn’t human (she could explain away her lack of proper appetite but she wasn’t certain if any sort of explaining about her blood would do this situation any good. She picked up the shallots and made quick work of them, finishing peeling them just as he’d turned back around to ask her. “Yes.” She’d never been so stilted with him. “I am sorry.” The words came from her lips before she could stop them. Never apologize for what you are, she could see her mother’s handwriting. Hear her words, even - thanks to the dreams. She should not have had to apologize, and yet here she was. “The broth already smells nice.” Formal once again. “Is there anything else I can do?” Can I please kiss you? 

His eyebrow shot up. Apologies were not something he was expecting of her, and he couldn’t remember seeing her apologizing to him about anything in the past either. “What are you sorry about?” Alain tried to stay focus on what he was doing, while his mind kept thinking about that damn blue blood he had just seen. Bordel de merde. He reached out to get the shallots from her, but instead took the hand she left resting on the kitchen counter, briefly, giving it a squeeze before he let go and went back to cooking. Heading back to his saucepans, he hummed as she tried to make small talk. Glad that she could not see him frown about it, he shook his head and took the broth off the heat. “I don’t know, there is not much to do here,” he was not even trying to be unpleasant or to push her away, but he had literally nothing that she could do. “I guess you can set the table, or clean up the counter,” he finally said.

“Worrying you.” The fact that I am not human and you are and that you have to find out this way. Sorry for the very fact that I feel any guilt about what I am. Evelyn wished she could talk to her mother about this. Ask her for advice on just what to do. He grabbed her hand and she practically jumped - not because she’d expected him to do anything but because it was so unexpected. But instead of the usual consistent casual touches they had, he dropped it as suddenly as he’d picked it up and she nodded at his remarks. “Of course.” She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. She knew she should have told him about what she was before, but there had never been a good moment for it - and now - now she couldn’t bring herself to explain what she was. Especially not when he’d spoken of his nightmares. Ones that she was mostly positive she wasn’t causing, but he hated them. She was a living and breathing one, and she knew that she was more gentle in person than was her nature - sometimes, at least - but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t get pushed away even further. “I can - I cleaned a bit, I will set the table.” She grabbed a few dishes and knives and forks, and made her way over to the dining room, placing each one with purpose and care. Taking more time than she usually would. Give him space, she reminded herself, even though she wanted to do the exact opposite. Finally, after a number of minutes - more than it should have taken her - passed, she returned to the kitchen. “I can do the counter now.” Grabbing a cloth from by the sink she wet it and began cleaning the countertop.

“Worrying me?” He pinched at his nose, covering his mouth as his face went through a whole spectrum of emotions. Those two words reminded him of how much he had grown to love her since they had met on that beach, but he was also annoyed, not worried.

And so, Alain had to hide the small smile on his face as he remembered why he was still standing in her kitchen while his instincts demanded that he left until he knew more. He could not believe that, her secret now partially revealed, she would show whatever true nature she could have possibly been hiding. This did not change who she was, right? He tried to reassure himself. She left the room, he remained by the stove, lost in his thoughts as he blankly watched the rice drown then reappear from under the broth once it had soaked it all up. Before she walked back into the kitchen, he had had the time to transfer the risotto into a nice dish she had picked earlier. “Alright,” he let her clean the counter while he walked to the sink to let the pans soak in water. “Dinner’s ready,” he said. There was something bland about the way he spoke, but he felt like if he tried to convey emotions, those same emotions would control him. “I’ll open the wine,” he glanced at the dish then back at her in silence, before he headed to the dining room, the bottle of Chablis in his hand.

She was well aware that it was even cliché to think such things, but in the silence now present between the two of them, she almost felt as though she could hear a pin drop. Certainly, Alain was far from the most talkative person she had ever met but usually there was something. A wry chuckle when Evelyn made a remark, or the humming of some song that she was fairly certain he didn’t always realize he was doing. Then he spoke and all she could do was nod. Since when was he the more talkative one? Not that this is very much at all. “It smells nice.” She didn’t look at him. His voice flat, and hers matched it. No gentle lilt to the way she spoke as there usually was.  Giving another nod at his remark about the wine, she followed him into the dining room, grabbing a few more cloth napkins along the way. Just to have something to hold onto, even if there were already some at each place setting. She didn’t wait for him to pull out a chair for her, instead quickly and quietly sliding into her space, taking a small spoonful of the risotto. She waited for him to sit down before she took a small bite. Looked up at him briefly before she glanced back down at her plate. This was worse than her father’s rejection - twofold - her father had never properly accepted her, and so there had been something hanging over her for her entire life, and she loved Alain. She’d cared for him from before they became involved and even though he hadn’t said a word against her yet, his body language had changed in every way she hoped she’d never have to see. This is why you have to stay at home, my love - think of all the questions people will ask, she could hear her father’s words after a small cut. Age seven, too eager on the outside concrete sidewalk. Torn white stockings, stained blue. She’d watched her father give her nanny at least a thousand pounds, with hushed whispers. Don’t say anything to anyone. He’d patched her up but she saw the stern look on his face. One that clearly said: I would have liked you better without these extras.

She’d hoped that whatever happened with Alain, he’d never look at her like that. Even though Evelyn had explicitly avoided telling him that she wasn’t human. She took the wine glass in her hand and took a careful sip. “How did this turn out when compared with other times you have made it?” The most she’d spoken since cutting herself.  She still didn’t look at him, not for a long period of time - occasional glances. At least he hadn’t left. Yet. It had to be a “yet”, didn’t it? She knew humans didn’t understand what she was.

Alain sat down at the table in the silence, took the cork out of the bottle in silence, and poured the wine in silence. Heavily sighing was what he would have done had he been alone but for now, he would just have to wait. He could feel a ball forming in his stomach, and the anxiety running back to him. This was a feeling he had not had the misfortune of feeling lately as it was hard to be anxious when you knew happiness was just a message or phone call away. There was not a day when he did not at least speak for a moment with Evelyn, but right now, he couldn’t manage to speak just one word. Just like he could feel anxiety running back to him, he felt his appetite running off, as if the two bites of food he had eaten were going to be enough to sustain him. He did not notice that he had started to fidget with the scar on his ring finger stump until he went to reach for his glass of wine. Great. Taking a long sip, he looked at her from over the rim of the glass, his brows furrowing for a split second. So they were doing small talk now. “It’s alright, although you were right about the rice. Yours is better than the one I used to buy,” maybe a compliment would help ease the atmosphere a bit, and he hoped it would, because he did not have the energy to be more social than this right now. His chest felt heavy, the ball in his stomach weighing him down. “You wanna go for a walk after dinner?” He offered, wondering what her answer would be. Considering he was not necessarily talkative on walks, this sounded ideal to him.

Her lips trembled for a moment and Evelyn cursed herself internally. This was not her fault. Being something other than human was not her fault. It made her special, it made her better than some others, sometimes - or so Melanie had said. Yet right now she felt almost sick. Certainly, she knew that of the two of them she was always the more talkative one, but she usually would catch him smiling at her or making a small side-remark. None of which was happening now. She took another sip of her wine, mostly pushing her food around on her plate. She normally would have ran her foot against his leg, made some sort of remark to lighten the mood or anything else. “Well, I may not know much about cooking, but I am rather decent at understanding my staples.” She felt her cheeks grow hot and she looked back down, taking another sip of her wine. That was easier than the risotto, right now. The risotto felt too heavy. “A walk?” She looked up at him. “I would lo - I would enjoy that. If you would.” 

Normally, Alain would probably have made a snarky comment about her cooking and how well balanced they were in the cooking area, but he did not really feel like it right now. In fact, he did not feel like anything, not even that walk he had just offered her to do later. It all felt bland, tasted bland. He finished his glass of wine, glanced at her nearly untouched plate then back at his. Yeah, no one really had an appetite tonight. Still, he finished his plate, making small talk as best as he could, he mentioned how his dogs loved those covers she had gotten them, how business was going well lately, but no matter what, they both looked and sounded like they wanted to be anywhere but here right now. “I’ll clean up. You probably want to get changed to go out?” He asked, figuring that she would enjoying some alone time as much as he did, and already bracing himself to be with her again. 

They had never talked in such a formal way as they did now. Not even when they were first getting to know one another. As he ate the rest of the food she couldn’t bring herself to eat more than another spoonful. It is not like I need it, anyhow. Not like I should bother playing pretend. The one thing she did finish was the wine, and that felt too much like the hundreds of parties she’d attended - both before and after she could legally drink. The wine was palatable, at least. She had a high tolerance, at least. “Okay.” Evelyn wanted to speak louder. Though she had never been the loudest person in the room, she felt herself opening up around Alain, typically. Save for the glaring items that she’d never talked about. Which, in retrospect, she knew that she should have - but she hadn’t wanted him to look at her just like how he was now. “I should change.” She walked quickly, though quietly, out of the room and made her way up to her bedroom. Stripped off her clothing before pulling on a different dress and a loose sweater, pulling her hair up and into a halfway messy ponytail. Adjusted the covering on her incredibly minute and yet entirely damning injury before she made her way down the stairs. “Whenever you are ready, I am.” She pulled her sweater closer to her body. “If you, you know - if you still want to go out.”

Once the dishes were in the dishwasher, the table was cleaned up, and the kitchen tidied up, Alain sat down on the porch that faced the seafront, waiting for Evelyn to join him. As he waited, the hunter raised his chin to stare at the night sky. Yet, tonight, this peaceful sight in which he could so easily get lost, did not manage to make him think of anything that was not Evelyn and her blue blood. The sound of her voice startled him out of it, and he glanced at her from over his shoulder, an air of melancholy in his eyes. Would things ever be the same? “Let’s go.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yIuePXvgus

[carbrakes-and-stakes]

B&E B&B - Nora, Evelyn & Alain

As in : Breaking and Entering Bed and Breakfast

“It’s better if you don’t show me.” The words online had stung like a slap to the face. Was Nora supposed to be ashamed of who she was? It was all a lot. Between Kaden’s messages and Alain’s information that there are people who kill people like her she was learning too much about the world too fast. And honestly? Nora had thought she knew a lot about the world. But these sleepless nights were killing her. How could she sleep not knowing what she needed to know. With bags etched deeply under her eyes she made her way to Alain’s. It was slow. It was agonizing. Every step, every breaths hot a new branch of pain up her side, trickling deeper and deeper into her weary bones. “Just one more step and I’ll take a break.” Was the constant lie she told herself as she inched closer. Finally Nora was there, opening the door, entering his bedroom. She hadn’t noticed the dogs but it was fine. She couldn’t think about it. She sat at the edge of Alain’s bed taking deep labored breaths. “I can’t lie about who I am, Alain. I’m a bugbear. Is that a problem?”

Alain was woken up by a sound coming from the front door. A frown on his face, he sleepily searched for Evelyn’s arm. Yup, still there. Not that he would have expected her to sneak out, but she could have gone out to get fresh air. Yawning, he would have stood up to go have a look at the living room, but this was when Nora appeared in the doorway, and made her way without ease to the end of the bed. “Nora? What are you doing here?” He whispered, his brows furrowing furthermore. Carefully, he moved Evelyn’s hand off of his chest and searched around the room with his eyes for his t shirt. He did not even think of turning on the lights. Not finding a trace of it, he figured that nudity fan Nora wouldn’t mind much and sat up, rubbing his face. “Couldn’t this wait for morning? I…” Once again, he brought his hands to his face, to wake himself up, and give him time to think. “It’s not a problem as long as you only… scare people.”

“It can’t wait. I can’t sleep until I know this doesn’t change anything.” The pain was still raking through her body and all she wanted to do was lay down. Alain had sat up, the action looked exhausting to Nora. She layed on the edge of the bed staring up at the ceiling. “I like scaring people. I think Kaden thinks that’s part of the problem. Scaring trauma into people, or something. I’ve never traumatized you have I?” There had hardly been any time in Nora’s life where she wanted reassurance on anything. She knew who she was as a person, but now? Everything was topsy curvy. She pushed herself up on the bed, until she reached the headboard and was looking up at Alain. “Alain?” No tone had changed in her perfect monotone voice. “Who else is in this bed?” She asked, turned her head to look at the sleeping form.

She hadn’t actively stayed the night with someone in a long time. Even if she cared about them, staying the night was something of a whole other level. Evelyn found that she didn’t entirely mind, though - because she did like Alain, even if it was still new and confusing. Which was something else abnormal for her. She’d been deeply asleep when she heard someone else’s voice. Not Alain’s, certainly, and nor was it anyone else that she recognized. Opening her eyes, she covered her mouth for a moment as she gave a small yawn before she sat up. “I am Evelyn, though I could ask the same. Alain, who is this?”

“Nora,” he wanted to reach over to put a hand on her shoulder, reassure her, but if he could avoid waking Evelyn up, that was probably best, and nothing could guarantee that this sort of thing was something Nora would like or want. “It doesn’t. As far as I’m concerned, you’re still you,” this was not entirely true. Now, he had to worry about whether or not she could accidentally hurt someone, or kill someone while she was a bear. He did not know much about them, or at least, not how they felt when they turned into one. “Do you control anything you do when you turn into a bear?” He did not protest when she pushed herself toward the headboard and sat between him and Evelyn. Her question made him raise his eyebrows although it came with a smile this time. “Well, I-” He heard Evelyn move and wasn’t surprised that she would ask him what was going on. “This is Nora, a friend of mine. I think I mentioned her, you know, breaks into my house, got me arrested at the lake, etc.” Clearing his throat, Alain looked at Nora with fondness. “And now we can add : doesn’t know about boundaries to the resume.”

“I know boundaries.” The unspoken ‘I choose not to adhere to them’ drifted in the air, tangible to all those awake enough to grab it. “I’m Nora Pine, It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Nora grunted as she shifted herself so that she could offer a hand to Evelyn to shake. The wound was truly cramping her style. How was she supposed to be a mysterious enigma fleeting in and out if she couldn’t even reposition herself without the constant reminder of pain. “Do you come here often? I like the food here.” Nora knew other people might be embarrassed about this situation. It was obvious these two were having a sleepover, and it probably included other adult things. However Nora had decided that since she didn’t actually interrupt them in the act, there wasn’t really much she was interrupting. Just their sleep.

“Pleasure to meet you too,” Evelyn replied, pulling the sheets up and around her body more as she adjusted her position. She took Nora’s hand and gave it a quick shake. “Oh, yes of course, Alain has mentioned you. I have to say, though I am glad to meet you, typically I would expect it to be under different circumstances.” She bit her lip and glanced over to Alain. “No, in the past he has visited my home, but it only seems fair to provide some balance, I figure. Alain is a wonderful cook, I will absolutely agree with you on that.” She was still more than a bit confused about what exactly was going on, but she only responded with a raised eyebrow. “Also, though this may take the top spot, I have met many people in rather atypical ways.” Evelyn ran a free hand through her hair, wondering what exactly Nora was going to do next.

“I think…” not. Obviously. Either this, or she did not give a flying crap about boundaries. OH, that one might have been it. Taking an amused glance at Evelyn, he sighed and leaned his back against the headrest. “I’m sorry, Nora but… Do you plan to stay here?” Between us? In MY bed? He would have asked, but he figured that with her, those details would have been just details, and not clues that she had no business being here. “I hope you don’t regret coming over Evelyn. As you can see, you never get bored here,” scoffing, Alain rubbed his face with his hands and laughed at Evelyn’s next comment.

Nora’s tongue twisted her lip ring around her mouth. Slowly she pumped her hand up and down three times in the world’s most awkward handshake before putting it back down to her side. Repositioning herself, she lay looking up at the ceiling. Wondering what Evelyn meant by ‘atypical ways’ Nora pulled a piece of ham from her pocket and carefully started eating it. She wanted to be sure she wasn’t leaving any crumbs. “Your bed is comfortable.” Nora said in a deadpan answer to Alain’s question. “But no. I just wanted to make sure we’re okay and that I don’t have to hide it anymore.” Nora looked over at Evelyn, wondering what the woman thought about this conversation. “Life has recently handed me some lemons and Alain is giving me a lemonade recipe.” She expanded, as if that was an explanation for everything.

“I can see that your home is never boring,” Evelyn let Nora finish shaking her hand before she moved and somehow picked a piece of - was that ham ? - out of her pocket. Okay, certainly this was the strangest way she had ever met anyone. “I do agree, it is a very nice bed.” She raised an eyebrow at Alain, a smirk crossing her lips. She focused back on Nora, “well, be it a real one of not, he does seem to know a lot about many things, so I am glad.” She reached over to find one of Alain’s hands and gave it a small squeeze. “Do you usually stay a long time when you come over?” She dropped Alain’s hand for a moment and turned on her phone, squinting at the time. Certainly not when she would have typically chosen to wake up, not typically. “I am merely a bit curious.” She blew a strand of hair out of her face and put her phone back where she had gotten it. “I knew Alain was more popular than he let on.”

Alain’s eyebrow shot up, although he did not make a comment. Certainly, pulling a piece of ham from her pocket was not the strangest thing Nora had done either tonight or the other time he had spent time with her. He could not have explained why but he found her endearing, and he hoped that Evelyn wouldn’t be harsh about her, although so far, she had shown no sign of annoyance or anything close to it. He caught the look on her face as comments were made about his bed and rolled his eyes, turning his face to give the wind a look as he felt his cheek warm up. “”We’re okay, Nora. Will you be fine?” He doubted that she would talk too much about her injury, as she had not complained so far, but he couldn’t help but ask, or worry about that. “What time is it?” He glanced over Nora’s head to look at Evelyn’s phone, but couldn’t catch the digits, still, he reached over to poke her in the side as she mentioned how popular he was. “Very funny.”

“I normally just stay until the food is gone.” Nora said, just after swallowing her ham. “Look at that. Foods gone.” Nora forced herself into a sitting positon, the pain of it actually caused a flash to go across her face. “Thank you for tolerating my night visit. This really cleared up what I should do with my lemons.” Nora started sliding back towards the end of the bed and stood up with a low groan of effort. “It’s 3:21” Nora answered for Alain now that she was standing again. “I’ll, uh… I’ll let you guys go back to sleep. I can lock up after myself.”

“That seems reasonable.” Evelyn nodded, though her eyebrows knit into an expression of vague concern for a moment as she appeared to wince. But she was standing up and walking toward the door before Evelyn could say anything. “Thank you. For stating the time.” As the door closed, she glanced back over to Alain. “Well, this was quite an evening, on multiple levels. If you think she’ll be okay we can go back to sleep, or anything else, if you’d like.” She raised an eyebrow and pressed a kiss on his lips. “Maybe some other time we could have her over for dinner. So she does not have to just have pocket-ham.”

“I’ll call in the morning, okay?” He called out, watching her disappear in the corridor. Pursing his lips to the side, he sat up and turned  toward Evelyn with a sheepish smile on his face. It would have been weak to call Alain sorry about what had just happened. “I’m so, so sorry,” he let a small laugh out and kissed her back with more passion than you would have put into a good night kiss. Hearing the front door close, he turned his attention back to Evelyn, his hand travelling across her belly to reach the curve of her side and pull her closer to him. “Mmmh, maybe we could do that. Although, pocket-ham sounds delightful. We should do that sometimes, you and I,” he offered with an innocent smile as he lowered his lips to her neck. “No pressure, of course.” 

[carbrakes-and-stakes]

Waterloo || Evelyn & Alain

Location : Evelyn’s home - Harris Island When : Evening - 18th of April

Birthdays are as good an excuse as any to cross something off a to-do list, aren't they?

Alain had just finished preparing samosas and a bunch of small bites they could have over a glass of god knows what. Ever since he had taken the decision to stop drinking so much, he had come to realize that there were many casual moments like those in which he would have usually have had a glass not too far from him. He shook the thought out of his head and glanced at the oven then at the timer on the counter. Even if this was not his kitchen, this being the second time he was cooking here, he was already feeling quite comfortable being here. Of course you could not say that he had completely gotten used to it, but he finally had memorized where the pans were stored, which was an achievement, considering the amount of drawers Evelyn’s kitchen counted. He was mincing garlic thinly when he heard footsteps getting louder. Even if he had told the birthday girl to keep out of here while he was cooking, he was impressed that she had waited a good hour to take a peek at what was going on here. “So much for a surprise,” he commented, shoving the garlic into a pan. Obviously the cake was concealed in the fridge, and it was the only thing he did not want her to see yet. As a matter of fact, her showing up was perfect timing, as she could help him shape pasta with him. This was something he had never done, and if all failed, they would have tagliatelles tonight.

Years ago, she would have balked at the idea of her birthday being anything but a large event. Even at Cambridge, she’d had parties with dozens of people. However, White Crest had changed multiple things about her, and Evelyn had yet to have a big birthday party or anything since moving here. Four years ago, now. She’d invited Alain over because they were friends, even though Kaden’s line of questioning still stuck in her mind. She wasn’t going to focus on that too much, because the last thing she wanted to do, for one of the first times in her life, was to screw up a friendship. So she’d listened when Alain had kicked her out of the kitchen, gone up to her bedroom and changed from the more casual outfit she’d had on when he first came over and into a new dress, which seemed more festive and appropriate for her birthday anyhow. She’d gotten bored though, and so after only a little more time she made her way back over to the kitchen, grinning at his comment, “yes, well, I do have the ability to be patient, but I also sometimes get impatient, and it is my birthday, so you have to indulge me.” She walked past him, tapping him on the shoulder. “So, what are you cooking? It smells brilliant.”

“You are not getting anywhere near that fridge,” Alain pointed his index briefly at her, before looking up and noticing the change of clothes. If he first wanted to comment on the outfit being quite a disappointment, just to pick on her, he figured that considering that this was her special day, he would stick to the truth : “You look nice,” he smiled at her and glanced back at what he was doing as she asked what was in the oven. “Well, I’m not about to tell you, but I can promise that it will taste as good as it smells.” He took the dough from the bowl and brought the pasta machine closer to himself, turning the ball of dough slowly into a thin sheet of pasta.  “Alright, so this is the fun part.” It was absolutely not the fun part. “We’re going to try to make pasta,” he offered with a smile that only show how little he was sure about what he just said. They were really going to try here. He detailed the sheet of pasta dough into 2 inches circles. “So, I prepared the filling last night,” he explained, pointing at a pastry bag on the counter. “I’ll put a bit of that in the middle of each pasta, and then we’ll fold them, alright?” It took him a good ten minutes to get filling on each pasta, and when he was done, the kitchen towel tied to his apron was not as clean as when he began. “Alright, look,” he took his time to fold the first tortellini, following the instructions he’d scribbled in his cooking notebook, and invited Evelyn to do it at the same time as he did, when he started to fold the second one.

“See, that just makes me want to.” She said, a light laugh crossing her lips. “Nice music, by the way.” It was faint, but she could appreciate it. Perhaps it was a cooking thing, something that aided in concentration. Either way, it was nice. Though she knew that her music taste was nothing to talk about, she did sometimes enjoy having music around, even if it was just scores from movies or from ballets. Evelyn glanced down at her dress at his remark, “thank you, it is new. I like the dark blue.” She bit her lip for a moment as he continued talking. “Make pasta?” She replied, her eyebrows shooting up. “Well, this will be a first for me so I should hope that you do not judge me too harshly.” Her gaze flicked over to the pastry bag as he described it, nodding along. “Well, alright, that sounds okay. It is sort of like decorating, and I am good with delicate things, with my hands.” She shot a glance over to him, a small smirk crossing her lips, though she wasn’t entirely sure if he would catch the double meaning. If maybe half-flirting with someone who she valued deeply as a friend was a stupid idea, but she shook her head and focused back on his words. Besides, she was good with her hands in many other ways, she had to be, to feed in the way she did, and it had always been her nature, though she was extroverted, she had rarely been the loudest person in the room. She waited as he filled the circles, tapping her fingers against her thigh, and then watched him as he began to fold the first one. “I think I can do this.” She moved closer to where he was standing and began to quickly fold one of them, careful to get the folds as precise as possible. “How did I do, teach?”

Alain stared at her right in the eyes, his eyebrows raised and his chin tilted down as he waited patiently for her to step away from the fridge. “Merci,” he wiped his hands clean on the towel, and picked up the pastry bag, turning the plastic end around his thumb and getting rid of the air inside of the bag. He froze in his motion as she joked about having capable hands, and gave her a glance. Obviously she looked like she was quite proud of herself, and he couldn’t help but laugh when he saw her expression. “You are unbelievable,” he shook his head, and with still a thin smile on his face went back to work. Folding those things weren’t as easy as it would have looked, and with his hands, they weren’t exactly looking as good as they should have, but all he cared for was that they would not open up when he’d throw them in hot water. Glancing over at Evelyn’s tortellinis, he pursed his lips to the side. She may have done less of them than he did, but hers looked much better too. “You’re cheating, you’ve got ten fingers and I only have nine,” he scoffed, glancing at his work then hers. “You think you can fold the rest of them while I start making the sauce that goes with those?”

She’d been worried, for a moment, that her remark had gone too far. Which wasn’t something that Evelyn usually thought about, if she threw a half-flirtatious (or even more) sort of remark out there. But he had a small smile on his face and he’d laughed, so that was good, right? “I like to think of myself as just believable enough, thank you.” She smirked at his next comment. “Well, I apologise for the number of fingers I have, but I think you do a bang-up job with what you are given.” A small pause, before she added, “besides, I did tell you I am good at decoration, you made all of this and it looks delightful. So yes, feel free to begin the sauce, I also have sparkling cider if you would like to drink that with our meal? I figured, well, I do not want to drink for two, so…” she bit her lip again. “I just thought that would be nice. There is a shop here that makes it locally, so I promise I didn’t get any fancy imports.”

“You did not lie about your decorating skills,” he agreed, turning on his heels to get his pan on the stove. He frowned, turning around again to get his notebook from the counter. “Right, okay,” Alain muttered to himself, focusing his attention on the ingredients, although Evelyn’s voice pulled him from his notes : “What ? Oh, sure, that sounds nice. The local products always taste a lot better too,” he bit his lip and picked up a wooden spoon, adding parsley and butter to the garlic. Letting it all caramelize a little, he had a look at Evelyn’s work, figuring that she would be probably almost done by now. “Looks like you’ve been making those your whole life,” he observed. His attention went back to the stove when he started hearing noise in the pan. Adding diced canned tomatoes to the rest, he explained, “It’s not really tomato season, but I promise it won’t matter much for this,” otherwise he would have picked a different recipe for her birthday. “What do you think, smells nice, right?”

“I try to avoid lying if at all possible, even if it makes me seem as though I am bragging.” She shrugged. “But thank you, I appreciate this.” She continued to fold the tortellinis together, savoring the smell from the sauce that Alain was cooking. Even if actual proper food was not Evelyn’s favorite, she certainly was permitted to enjoy the smell of it, at least, and the taste too - especially if Alain’s other baking was even half a show of his talent. “Well, I used to watch my cooks back home sometimes, if I got bored, so maybe I picked up skills I never knew that I had.” She nodded at his explanation, “Do not worry, I bet that the canned tomatoes will taste utterly divine as well.” She brushed a stray strand of hair from in front of her face. “I think it smells utterly wonderful.” She said, folding the last tortellini. “What do you know? We are quite in sync, once again.” 

“I wouldn’t call this bragging,” Alain commented. Coming from him, who never knew how to react to compliments, and never liked to talk too much about what he did, that was rich.  Anytime he spoke about things he did well, he felt like he was bragging, and that was why he did not speak about it too often. “That must have been nice,” he paused. He did not really want to mention that he too grew up with cooks, watching them because then he would have a lot of explaining to do. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you learned a thing or two just by watching,” he left the spoon in the pan and opened a drawer, looking for a pot where they could cook those pastas she was just done folding. “Ah, there it is,” he exclaimed, speaking to himself. The pot was soon filled with water, the water salted, and placed on the stove. “So, how did you like folding those,” he took off the apron, figuring that he wouldn’t get too dirty putting pasta in the water, and approached the kitchen island, where she was. It was nice, spending time with her. She was always curious, and for someone who did not usually cook, she even managed to get the job done well. He couldn’t hold back his smile as he looked at what she had made, and then at her. “The water’s going to take a few minutes to boil, we should probably clean up…” He corrected himself, “No, it’s your birthday. I will clean up my mess.”

“Okay, I accept this.” Evelyn grinned. “It was nice, even if once I - well, not every experience in the kitchen was lovely but this certainly is.” She was incredibly appreciative of the fact that he had agreed to come over, that he’d agreed to cook for her and spend her birthday with her. Even though some of Kaden’s messages still swirled around in her mind. There was no way he liked her, not like that - even though he did agree to spend a lot of time with her, which had to at least mean that he liked her in some capacity. It was weird, too - she so rarely had any doubts about whether or not people liked her, because she knew most did. “I did like it.” She glanced over to him as he took off his apron. She smiled at him, too, for a moment - “Well, I can help, if you want.” She bit her lip again, taking a few steps toward him. “You know, it only seems like the nice thing to do.” She glanced over to where everything was cooking, before grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him closer to her and pressing her lips against his before pulling away for a second, looking down. “Sorry. I  - well, maybe Kaden’s questions had more validity than I thought.”

He had a jar of flour in one hand, and the pastry bag in the other when she pulled him into a kiss. She looked down, he put down the jar of flour, and couldn’t help his smile as she mentioned damn Kaden and his stupid questions. “I cannot believe that you just proved him right,” his hand reached for her cheek, and he kissed her back, forgetting about his hunter friend, and thinking about all these times when he had wondered if she was messing with him, or actually interested in him. He had been wrong, apparently. “Shared blame,” his shoulder shook with amusement. Biting his lip, Alain looked at Evelyn. “Is this your attempt at distracting me from cleaning all that up ?” He kissed her cheek this time, and handed her the pastry bag. “We’ve got a birthday dinner to finish cooking, Evelyn,” he raised his eyebrows, although he had trouble not to smile at her.

“Yes, well,” she looked over to him. “I have to say, I am alright with proving him right in this case.” Evelyn liked the feeling of his lips against hers as he kissed her back. But then he broke away and she frowned for a moment. “Good to have balance.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, at the risk of sounding too cheesy, I think you taste better, even if this does smell fantastic.” She pulled him toward her for another kiss, this time biting his lip with her teeth, gently. “I suppose we can finish, but only if we can continue this later, if you are okay with that. My couch is nice for kissing.”

“You are right… About this sounding cheesy,” sure her comment made him laugh but he gave her the same look he had given her earlier as she told him that she would look inside the fridge. “I’ll get the appetizers out of the oven,” he didn’t have time to add another word for she was kissing him again, “Really? Well, we’ll have to clean and eat first, don’t you think?” He reached for her hand, and put it on the bowl where the pasta dough used to be. “If you help, it should not take too long,” winking at her, he took a step back and headed toward the trash can, getting rid of wrappers and empty paper bags. The oven. Merde. Alain hurried toward the appetizers, cursing at himself for not using a timer that beeped. Taking his time to put them on a nice plate, he heard the water boiling behind him and glanced over at Evelyn, on the other side of the kitchen. “You can put the pasta in the water if you want…” He would have added that she should be careful with the boiling water, but she could probably handle making pasta. She had mentioned that she liked that, and that’s why he had picked that dish for tonight after all. “I’ll set the table, alright?”

“Yes, well, I have layers.” She smirked at him. “Apparently some are a little, well,” she gestured vaguely in the air. “Yes, really. It is good and soft and I am more than happy to show you how good it is for other sorts of things and longer kisses later, after dinner. You know, if you want?” She let him guide her hand. “Well, I have always believed that being given motivation for doing a task well is excellent, and this, any of this, is more appealing than some silly sort of sticker.” She watched as he moved the appetizers to a plate and nodded at his comment. “Yes, of course.” She said, carefully placing the pastas into the water.” Evelyn nodded. “Yes, if you - well, you do actually know where some of my dishes are already, so feel free to use any that you please.” She went over to one of the cabinets and got out the sparkling cider. “We cannot forget this, especially given that this evening has turned out to be even lovelier than I thought it would be.”

“Questionable?” She certainly did not want him to finish her sentence, but he could not help it. “One thing at a time, alright?” Searching through the cabinets for plates, he picked up two small ones for the appetizers and two larger deep ones for the rest of the meal. The table set, he asked her for table napkins, and then took care of the pastas, adding them to the sauce and setting the heat to the lowest setting. “Let’s have dinner then,” one plate in each hand, Alain pecked Evelyn’s cheek and invited her to follow him into the garden. He had figured, since it was a warm evening, that they could have dinner outside. They would probably have to head back inside for dessert, but that was not something he had thought of yet. The table looked quite simple, compared to those you could find in fine restaurants, but anything that was free of mimes would probably suffice.

“Not what I was going to say.” She replied, but her eyes and lips conveyed that she was not at all mad with him. “Yes, one thing at a time. We could even make a list for tonight.” Another smirk crossed her lips. He kissed her cheek again and she couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. It was nice, though admittedly more than a little bit surprising, that he seemed to be nearly as receptive as she was willing to give. She gladly followed him out and through part of her garden, winding around towards her beach and a small platform at the back of her house; not one she used frequently (though again, when did she use anything frequently for eating actual meals?). Evelyn sat down as Alain did, and she poured each of them a glass of the cider. “Well,” she began, holding her drink up, “here is to new beginnings.” After tapping her glass against his, she took a small sip before placing it down and taking a bite of one of the appetizers. “This is wonderful. Thank you. For more than I was expecting, even.” She took a few bites of her pasta. “We do seem to make a good team.”

“We could make a list for tonight,” Alain raised an eyebrow, “but I’m pretty sure I can remember all that is planned so far,” even if he had a bad habit of forgetting things, even sometimes important ones, his short term memory was rather decent. Sitting down at the table, he had a look at the ocean for a moment, just long enough for Evelyn to serve them drinks. Taking a sip of cider, he picked up the bottle to have a look at who was making it, and listened to her as she commented on his cooking. “Careful with the samossa, I don’t want you to get burned,” he warned, disregarding the compliment (as per usual), putting down the bottle and starting to have a bit of the food cooked. “We do make a good team,” he agreed, finishing the appetizers before he started having his pasta. Being used to eating his meals quietly, he remained silent for a while, although from the moment they had met, several months ago, Evelyn had been warned that he was never the most talkative.

“Me too,” she said, pursing her lips to the side. “I think I can forgo a list for tonight.” She nodded at his words regarding the samosa, careful to have only taken a small bite of them, allowing them to cool down. She glanced over to him as he began to eat, and so she, too, took a few more bites of the pasta, and another sip of her drink. Evelyn put her fork down and looked back over to him. She was never nervous. Well, that was not entirely true; she did have the capacity to feel nervous but it was not usually in regard to any of - whatever this was. Hanging out with someone in any capacity; but then again, it was new, in some way - because usually she was fine with kissing someone and asking questions later - or not at all. “Are you - are you still okay with more of what we were doing earlier? For longer periods of time?” She took another sip of her cider. “Unless, of course, you would prefer to just not, that is fine too.” She grabbed another samosa and shoved it into her mouth, waiting for his reply.

“You did not scare me away, yet,” Alain put his cutlery down and looked at her kindly. “So yes, I suppose we can make more pasta later,” he raised his eyebrows, examining her reaction. It was the first time since he had met her that she did not seem so confident in herself, which was actually rather reassuring. He currently had no idea of what he was doing right now either, and winging it was a nice way to describe everything that had happened since that first kiss in the kitchen. “I will tell you if I want to change my mind, until then…” He picked up his napkin to wipe an imaginary crumb from his mouth, and get rid of the sweaty hands feeling. “Anyway, would you rather open your present before or after dessert?” He hoped that she would like it, although considering how interested she seemed every time they had done that, it could only be well received, right? Or maybe she didn’t really like it and just liked spending time with him, which was an option. “I mean, we have to do that before the mime strippers arrive, right?”

“Not what I meant.” Evelyn raised an eyebrow at him. “I think we have more than enough pasta, and I would not want to make more and have it go to waste.” She glanced down at her plate, taking another forkful of pasta to give herself something to do. “Okay. Okay, just, um,” she hated filler phrases, “let me know.” She glanced back over to him at his next question. “Well, I think dessert first and -” she rolled her eyes. “If you brought stripper mimes I will walk up and leave right this moment.” But she let out a small bit of laughter - she had grown to at least partially understand his humour in the few months since they had known one another. “But yes, I think dessert is good, first - if you are full?” She pushed a few of her pastas around on her plate, taking another small bite of one, grateful that Alain was a good cook, and even if proper food was still not her favorite, these were quite lovely. “That will be a proper surprise, too.”

“Fine, I’ll cancel the mimes then,” he gave her a shrug although the blank look on his face didn’t last long and was soon replaced by a thin smile, again. “Sure, I’m good,” mainly because he had nibbled on most of the things that were needed to cook this whole meal, which was not the best habit one could have. Standing up from his chair, he picked up her plate and cutlery first, then his, and headed back inside. He breathed out heavily as he closed the door behind him. For someone like himself that had never been fond of the unexpected, this was a rather pleasant surprise, although one that still seemed to him like a mirage, too good to be true. He shook the idea, but it still lingered for a moment in the back of his head. When he walked back to the table with the strawberry cake in his hands, Alain had not completely forgotten his anxious thought from the kitchen. “I decided against going with 28 candles,” he explained. There were indeed a total of 7 candles on the fraisier, mainly because he wanted to avoid wax ending up on the top of it. “Well ?”

She watched as he made his way back inside her home, and while he was in there Evelyn fiddled with the hem of her dress, trying to calm her breathing. She liked him, in a way that was admittedly confusing for her, for someone who might have liked people before but so rarely liked them enough that she didn’t feel a need to just have them over for one night or two just for fun. Of course, she told herself, if that was what he wanted, she would happily comply, but he didn’t quite seem like the sort to do that. If he was though, she would be fine with it. Luckily, she didn’t have to focus too much on her thoughts because he was back out with the cake and - “Oh, it is beautiful,” she said, her eyes lighting up as she smiled, “I think seven candles is perfectly acceptable, twenty-eight would be quite a lot, I am getting so old, after all.” She glanced up at him, the smile still present on her face. “Do I get to make a wish?”

“Thank God,” he put the cake before her, sighing with relief. Alain had mentioned to her a couple days ago that most of his cooking looked … okay, without ever looking beautiful, and he had actually gone through several youtube tutorials to get his cake to look good. “Absolutely,” now whether or not the candles would grant it was another question. He could not remember the last time he had seen someone do that. There was something very normal about all of this, and he actually liked it.

“Bakery-window worthy, though also it looks as though it will taste good as well.” Evelyn nodded at his allowance of her making a wish before she closed her eyes and blew out the candles; they stayed in place and she held a finger up to her lips. “Well, this worked - but shh, my wish is secret, lest it not come true.” She began removing some of the candles from her cake, placing them between her lips to remove some of the icing from them and she looked up at Alain. “Will you do the honors of cutting us each a slice?”

“Of course,” he replied, carefully getting rid of the candles and placing them on the edge of his plate. The hunter furrowed his brows. First in two halves, then quarters, and once again. The cake now cut in 8 pieces, Alain picked one up with the edge of the blade and placed it in her place with caution. Even if he could be trusted with a knife, delicateness was not his main quality. It was not surprising to see his own slice end up on the side although he was okay with that. “Bon appétit,” he waited for her to start eating to pick up his own spoon. “I’m not too sure about the strawberries,” it was a bit early for them, but his first bite made him change his mind about that. It did not take too long for the plate to be emptied.

She watched him cut the cake into eight pieces, appreciating the neatness of planning that he used, and gratefully accepted a piece of cake onto her plate. “To you as well,” she replied, digging into the cake. “I think that the strawberries are wonderful.” She said, placing one into her mouth. Evelyn ate the cake slower than Alain did, savoring each bite. After a bit, her plate was empty as well, save for a little bit of icing that had spilled out while she was eating. She ran her forefinger across it, before bringing it to her mouth and wiping it off of her finger, looking right at Alain. They had kissed - three times, already - she was allowed to take another step of flirting, wasn’t she? “This was utterly delightful.”

Alain raised an eyebrow as she dragged her finger against her plate to get the last bit of icing. If it first went over his head that she was flirting, it was as he was about to comment on it not being good manners that it hit him. He scratched a spot next to his nose in an attempt to hide, just a little, the faint redness that made his cheek feel warm. “I’m glad you liked it,” he cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “Do you want to have tea or something, or…?” Or she could open her present and then, who knew. He could have enjoyed going by the shore to walk with her, but this was her day.

A small smile crossed her lips as she noticed his cheeks growing just slightly red. Evelyn gave a quick nod. “I did, absolutely. I still think that the Victoria Sponge is my favorite, but this was quite delightful as well.” At his question, she thought for a moment. “I think, if you are alright with it, I would like my present. Then we can see how the evening goes?” She paused for a moment. “Do you have to be back home at any particular time? I remember you were taking care of Abel as well as, of course, your own dogs.” Evelyn smiled at him. “Though of course, you are welcome to stay as long as you would like.”

Alain shook his head. He should have known that she would not change her mind about her favourite cake, and he had to admit that this was one thing the British knew how to cook. “Alright then,” he held out his hand to grab hers, squeezing it lightly. “Let’s go open that present then,” his eyes travelled across her face, lingering on her lips for a moment. Yeah, no, now was not the time. Besides, she had just asked him a question. Walking with her toward the living room, where he had left the wrapped present, he considered what she just asked. It was not reasonable to stay for the night, was it ? If things headed naturally toward this, then fine, although he could not tell her that the rest of his plans for the night consisted of taking care of a spawn nest he had been told about. If she knew about the supernatural, she probably would disapprove, and if she did not, she would think that he was insane. “My dogs are used to being alone,” he finally answered. Now, she did not have to know why. “I don’t know, we will see. I still have to prove that you do snore,” he let go of her hand and glanced at her with an innocent look on his face.

She liked the feeling of his hand against hers, and she followed him toward her house, even though she frowned slightly when his gaze moved toward her lips but he didn’t kiss her. Well, all the more reason to give him reason to later. “I look forward to seeing what it is you got me.” she went and sat down on her couch. Evelyn crossed her legs and looked at the wrapped up box in front of her for a moment, responding to his remark. “I have already assured you that I do not, but if you want to see me sleep, I do have a number of bedrooms that I could show you.” She matched his innocent look with one of her own, a simple grin crossing her lips. “But I also would not want to tear you away from your dogs so, you know, it is up to you. I can give you a reason to come back over again if you would like.” With that, she opened the card he had attached and read it, another smile, softer this time, crossing her lips. She began to carefully tear open the wrapping paper, her eyes growing wide as she saw what it was. “Thank you so much.” She said, motioning for him to sit down, and once he did, she pulled him into another kiss, longer this time.

“I guess I asked for those sorts of comments,” Alain looked down at his shoes for a couple of seconds before he looked down at her, tilting his head to the side. “That is very kind of you,” it was true that recently he had found all sorts of excuses to spend time with her, the latest one being picking her up for Kaden’s birthday party because he wanted to retrieve a baking pan he had forgotten in her kitchen. As she began to open her present, the hunter’s feelings were balancing between expectation and concern. She could either love it, or be really disappointed. His worries faded quickly enough, although her wide eyes managed to bring a frown to his face for a short time. “I wasn’t sure you would -” her kiss cut him off, although since he was about to ramble, it wasn’t such a bad thing. His hand moved to her cheek, carefully, as if he was afraid that she would vanish, his fingers slipping through her hair.

She gave him a bit of an ‘I told you so’ shrug in response to his remark. But then when she had kissed him he responded, he didn’t pull away and she only deepened the kiss as his hands found her hair - and she liked how they felt there. It was one of her favorite and most solid someone else is here with me things. She pulled him down against the couch, almost as though she was desperate to make sure that this was real, that his hands and his weight were not just some sort of false comforting part of her imagination. Which was also weird. Evelyn wasn’t usually the sort to need this sort of comfort, not since Melanie, not really. Having people appreciate her was fine without deep and solid confirmation. Not now, though. She broke away from their kiss for a moment, her cheeks warm and her gaze soft on him.

Alain felt as if his heart had sunk in his chest, as he was briefly brought back years ago. He had had time to grieve, and it was hard to feel melancholy with these little things bringing him back to reality. Warmth, the faint smell of lavender, the touch of her hair under his fingers. When she pulled herself away from him, he met her eyes and his expression softened. He rubbed reddened cheeks under his fingertips and sat up. “That’s…” Trailing off, his eyes were distracted by a Bluray case. Rear Window. “Weren’t we originally supposed to watch this,” he wasn’t against spending the rest of the evening in a .. cooler environment, after all.

“We were.” Evelyn looked up at him, “though it makes it a little difficult to watch given our current predicament.” She grinned, watching as he sat up. She pushed herself up too, grabbing the disc and making her way over to the television, placing it into the Bluray player before pressing play and making her way back over to the couch and sitting right next to Alain again, resting her head against his shoulder. “Thank you, I do not know if I have said this enough. This has been one of my loveliest birthdays.”

His eyes followed her as she went toward the television and came back to his side. Alain shifted a little as she leaned against his shoulder, lifting his arm to give her more room. Her comment made him bite the inside of his cheek. She must have thanked him at least ten times since he had arrived. Although rather than to give her shit for it, he kissed the side of her head and glanced at the screen as the music started, announcing the beginning of the movie.

[carbrakes-and-stakes]

When Orion meets the Moon - Evelyn & Alain

@thronesofshadows

« Retourne dans ton panier » The vampire hunter pointed at the basket sitting by the fireplace. A frown had formed on his forehead as he grew impatient.

This had to be expected: his two German Shepherds were used to accompany him during the night and from the puzzled look on their faces, they did not understand why their owner refused their company tonight. Orion was already back next to the lit fireplace but Procyon, stubborn as ever, was pushing his snout against Alain’s leg, hoping that he’d change his mind. The slayer had to walk back inside, point at the basket, for the dog to understand that he would not come around.

The slayer closed the wooden door behind him, and his telescope tucked in his transportation bag, walked toward the garage. The road to Harris Island from his home was quite short, then the road to anything in White Crest was short. This was not such a huge town even if the population grew a lot during the school year, thanks to the university.

Alain could spend hours staring at the night sky, but finding a place where he would not be bothered by his vampire radar was harder than one would think in such a small town. Of course there was his home, but it was surrounded with forest, and far from ideal. The mountain was out of the question : he was not in the mood for wrestling with a werewolf or any bugbears (and that’s if he was lucky in his encounters).

And so, he had chosen Harris Island, and more exactly, the shore of the island. At this hour of the night, the silence and loneliness would be enjoyable, after a day spent at the garage. There was a lot of room to leave to the unexpected in this town, still Alain had good hopes that he would have a nice, and quiet evening by the sea shore.