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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 28, 2017 18:14:33 GMT -7
Tessa watches him and she bites on her lip. She would like to say that Katherine was the first immortal friend she made when she went to London but she wasn't. Katherine had come after that, way after that. She had heard all about what Tessa could do and she came asking with a question and something from Amelia. She had watched as Katherine's eyes went wide and tears erupted from them.
It was an experience that she hadn't ever forgotten, one that she wasn't likely to do ever. It was after that that they became friends as Tessa explained more about what she could do. It was then that she set up a deal with the vampire that for one day only every year she would do the same again but only for an hour. Anything longer than that and Tessa would put herself in danger and she didn't want that. She never wanted her abilities to put her in danger.
Maybe that's why she's glad Katherine never told Jon or anyone else but it was widely known in her own circle back in the 1800's especially when she was nearly killed because of it and because of when she had been specially born into what she was. Tessa didn't want to be in anymore danger right now, she was slowly finding normality away from everything else until the others come knocking at the door. But for now she was going to enjoy the quiet that she had found here in the bookshop.
She was glad that he knew that Katherine loved him and that he loved her because without that kind of love, the evil in the shadows would win and they didn't need any more of that.
Tessa watched him tug on his jacket and he turned to look at her. He asked whether the offer was still open to him. A smile pulled at her lips "You better bring me pie because if no pie then the deal is way off and the day after tomorrow sounds good" she nodded and then grabbed her jeans and pulled them towards her, getting rid of the cover and slipping her legs into the dark pair of jeans and standing up to pull them up over her ass and button them up. Her grey eyes on him still.
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Post by Ray on Nov 28, 2017 18:59:19 GMT -7
"Pie," Jon says, chuckling a little around the request. But he nods, agreeing to the terms of her offer. "I'll remember that." He says, still smiling. She truly is different. A good kind of different. Perhaps the different he needs right now. Gods know he could do with laughing a little more. The sex was nice but...perhaps this is nicer.
With that thought, he pulls in a deep breath and glances back towards the stairs that lead down to the front of the shop, the journey back to his apartment lying before him. "Well, I should..." he begins, motioning vaguely with a hand in that direction. "I have class in the morning and tomorrow I get the joy them their final assignments." He says with a hint of sarcastic, putting on a matching expression. He has nothing terrible planned. Nothing like he's sure they're expecting. But it's hard deciding that this, this last piece of work, will be the summation of the entirety of the dark ages. As if it were that easy to wrap together in a nice little bow.
"But...thank you. For...well this." He tells her, the sarcasm fading into a faint, genuine smile. "And I will see you in a couple days." He promises. With one last smile he turns and walks for the stairs.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 28, 2017 19:18:58 GMT -7
"You really should remember the pie because if you forget the pie then the deal is off" she said that and grinned at him. If she was honest the deal wouldn't be off because she could easily go out and get one for them to share, there was a bakery down a bit from the store and she knew the couple who ran it, they were nice people.
She watched him and then nodded. "The dreaded professor" she said in a soft tease. Tessa was sure that whatever happened in his class that it would be worth it and if it scared them a little then so be it. The kids got off a bit lightly lately so having a professor that wasn't going to go down the route of being nice was a good thing to hear.
Tessa looked down the stairs at the front door and then nodded once more, she wasn't sure what time it was but she guessed that it was late but rather than just going home she would stay here and put the new books out. Her store was cosy and it might come across a bit romantic but the only romance one would find here is the love in books and she was okay with that.
"A couple days will be good" she said and walked down the stairs with him so that she could lock up when he was gone, even get herself a drink to keep her warm for the rest of the night and then settle down on the couch upstairs and if she crashed then so be it but for now she was happy to settle with a book.
They came to the front door and she looked at him. "Thank you, for tonight even though I'm not sure thank you is the right word" she laughed softly. She wasn't sure what to say after having sex with her friends love. But if it was thank you then at least she said it.
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Post by Ray on Nov 28, 2017 20:08:49 GMT -7
She thanks him as they reach the front door of her bookshop, her laugh soft and a little unsure. "I'm not sure either but...I think for this situation it works." He replies, smiling a little at her as well. Jon wouldn't know what else to say. He's not exactly the most experienced in casual sex, having been in a relationship that has lasted for seven hundred years. Perhaps Edric would know the answer. Perhaps Edric says nothing at all.
He can never tell with that man.
Jon leans towards Tessa to give her a small kiss on the cheek, squeezing her arm gently before he pulls open the door. "Till next time." He says in goodbye, smiling warmly before he lets the door close behind him. Pulling in a deep breath, the cold air swirling into his lungs, he glances up towards the dark night sky. He tugs his phone out to check the time, seeing 3 am stare back up at him. So much for a restful night. Not that he's truly had one in centuries. Not that he would complain. He tucks his phone away once more and gives the door one final look before climbing the stairs to the street.
Returning to his apartment only takes a few minutes, especially at this time of night when the roads are barren. His first yawn comes when he's stepping inside, starting to feel the exhaustion settle into his bones. He closes the door with the heel of his shoe, tosses his keys and phone onto a nearby table, and reaches out for the switch in the living room.
He flicks it, and for a moment he swears a shadow passes near the window. His body halts, freezing in place with his hand still poised over the switch, his dark staring in the direction he'd seen the movement. But there's nothing there now. Just his couch. Just the lamp glowing beneath the closed curtains of the window. Just a black feather resting upon the cushion.
His hand falls slowly away and he takes a careful step forward, brows pressing close. He picks the feather up between cautious finger, lifting it into the light. It's large, the same kind he remembers littering fields after battle, the same kind he remembers drifting from the sky near the Maester's tower, the same kind he'd seen all his life.
A raven's.
He twirls it slowly, his eyes shifting back and forth across his apartment. But nothing comes. No voice. No figure. Only an ominous feeling that prickles the hair at the back of his neck. He presses his mouth into a flat line and looks back down to the feather, seeing how the light turns it iridescent and blue.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 28, 2017 20:50:28 GMT -7
Tessa knew that she was a bloody idiot but really did she have to embarrass herself in front of him. She has never done anything like this before and even when it was suggested to her a long time ago she pushed passed it and stood firm and said no. But maybe she was tired of being lonely and just wanted to have a little bit of fun while everything was quiet because one things started ticking over again that's when the world would be in bigger shit.
She didn't need or want that right now. She has struck up a friendship with a man that was lonely too and she was sure that it wasn't going to be that bad. Jon kissed her on the cheek and she smiled softly to herself and watched as he left, she locked the door behind him and flicked the light switch back off. But she looked back over her shoulder at him and sighed under her breath.
Katherine really was going to kill her.
Tessa grabbed herself a drink before heading up to the loft where they had been and grabbed her book from where she had left it earlier when she started to shelve the books.
The next couple days actually went by quickly, in fact she's been busy most of the time. Out of nowhere the bookshop seemed to get even more customers and she found that she was working through her lunch break. It wasn't something that she has done before but she decided to stay open but the next day at lunchtime she closed because there was a friend that she was going to be meeting.
With the placard turned to closed and a moment to herself she finally took a breather and even grabbed herself a cup of coffee. She was about to take a sip when the jingle of the bell went and Tessa smiled and turned around but it wasn't Jon.
It was Katherine and she didn't look pleased at all.
She was in so much shit that Tessa put her cup down on the side and looked at Katherine again.
"You know I've seen vampires rip people to shreds, I've seen them drink from someone with such a frenzy that it's frightening to think I could ever be like that" Katherine ran her finger along the bookshelf as she moved closer towards Tessa. When she was in front of her she said "And I probably would've ripped you apart for what you did but why should I have your blood on my freshly painted nails?"
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Post by Ray on Nov 28, 2017 21:27:35 GMT -7
The days pass slowly and uneventfully, as they had since arriving in Cambridge. Sometimes, that is a welcome thing. Jon has spent so much of his life frantically pushed and pulled, to and fro, back and forth from war and death and chaos that the slow days, the quiet ones, can be a relief. Sometimes, they're not. Sometimes, after seven hundred years, he finds himself just wishing that the one thing keeping him here, whatever it is, would just happen already. But as he waits for his set lunch for Tessa, those thoughts don't invade his mind. The feather is all but forgotten, pushed to the back burner as he sets out for the bookshop.
The day feels drearier than most lately. The sun sits hidden behind grey clouds that threaten to release rain upon their heads, passerby's bundle themselves in heavier coats than usual with scarves pulled to their noses, the coffee shops bustle with a new train of traffic. But he feels none of it. The fire persisting in his chest.
He carries a small tray of two coffees and a wrapped apple pie towards the door of Tessa's shop, glasses perched on his nose from class that morning, his stomach rumbling quietly. He glances up as he nears the door, the apprehension he had felt the first time replaced by a small sense of contentment. He passes by a figure leaning against the brick wall to reach the steps, little more than a shadow, smoke trailing from the end of a cigarette.
As he takes the first step down, a voice interrupts, "I wouldn't go in there if I were you."
He halts, brows twitching close. The voice is not known to him, husky and warm, and yet a slight chill crawls down the back of his neck. A slight accent wraps the words, familiar in only that is unfamiliar here, sounding as if it were pulling from some far off place he cannot name. He glances over, a sort of tightness forming in his chest, expecting not what stood there.
She leans off of the wall and rest her elbows upon the small metal railing that rounds the stairwell, bronze wrists crossing and cigarette dangling from her many ringed fingers. A moon is tattooed the back of her right hand, a sun on the left. Smoke drifts lazily from full lips, clouding in front of her aquiline face, making her darkly lined eyes seem almost purple for an instant. Despite the cold, she wears only a black blazer rolled to her elbows and sitting open over a blood red bralette. Wind drifts lazily through thick black hair, and it moves like it shouldn't. Like the wind itself.
"They're closed," she continues with a hint of a smile, motioning towards the doors.
Jon falters for a moment, though his stomach twists oddly. She watches him, her irises now blacker than the night sky. The cigarette burns, but does not seem to go down. "I'm meeting a friend." He says, feeling the need to excuse himself, to explain, though he does not know why.
"I think a meeting might already be taking place." She replies, inclining her head to the side and smiling just at one corner of her lips.
His teeth click together, and he glances towards the door, not liking the feeling that's rushing up his spine.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 28, 2017 21:45:19 GMT -7
Tessa watched Katherine's eyes and then swallowed hard before asking "Are you going to hurt me?"
Katherine raises an eyebrow at that question. A laugh falls from her lips and she shakes her head "Unbelievable" she said and bit on lip before looking around. "I like this place" she admitted and run her finger over another book that was near her, there wasn't any dust on them. Maybe Tessa goes around cleaning them. She had only read one book and that was Fifty Shades of Grey to see what the hype was all about, she got three pages in before she burnt the damn thing. She had more interesting sex stories to tell. Over seven hundred years worth. No one would believe her of course.
"If you met me over seven hundred years ago I would've ripped that throat out of yours but now.. no I'm not going to do anything to you but I don't want to hear from you" Katherine said and watched her. "My god you even smell of him, Jon's blood has this distinctive smell and I could pick it out of a crowd and it's all over you"
Tessa watched her. "I thought that you might least-"
"What kill you?" Katherine laughed. "I don't need your people coming after me, it's bad enough I have a drunk hunter banging on my door saying that he wants to kill me, no you're not worth dying over" she turned away from Tessa and moved back towards the door.
"He's lonely" Tessa called out to her. "It seems like you've found your place in the world but he hasn't and he's my friend, Katherine the same as you are but this isn't about love, it's nothing like that it's about two people who are lonely and spending some time together so that their worlds are a little less lonelier" she said and watched Katherine's back.
Katherine turned her head to the side and bit on her lip. "You're not my friend, not anymore"
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Post by Ray on Nov 28, 2017 22:11:50 GMT -7
It's only then, turning his attention away from the woman hovering over him, cigarette smoking into the sky, that Jon hears the voices from within. He only has to make out one for his heart to drop into his stomach. A voice he could pick out of any crowd, anywhere in the world. One he's known for nearly as long as he's lived.
"Katherine," he breathes in a rush, pushing himself down the last few steps towards the door, forgetting about his efforts at keeping the coffees level, at keeping the pie from falling. At the moment, none of that seems to matter.
The woman behind him sighs, lifting the cigarette to her round lips as she mutters, "Once a fool, always a fool, Jon Snow."
He pushes the door open, the bell jingling in a scattered tune at the abruptness of it, and steps into the shop. As he had known, as he had heard, Katherine stands there amongst the books and sweet smell of lingering coffee, looking back towards a pale, worried Tessa. He knows he's far too late. He can see it in their faces in that very moment. A shaky breath falls from his lips as he looks between them, only a single thought coursing on repeat through his mind.
Shit.
"Katherine," he says, stepping through entirely, letting the door close behind him. He sets the coffees and the pie down on the nearest shelf, the nearest stack, the nearest whatever, not caring if it even fell right now.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 28, 2017 22:27:58 GMT -7
The bell jingles and both women looked towards the door and in steps Jon. His voice breathes out her name and Katherine closes her eyes but she had to push passed that, she opened her eyes and looked away from him, her dark eyes on Tessa. "Remember what I said" she said and watched her before she moved away from the book shelf and in the direction of the door, Jon was in the way. "I never hurt Tessa if that's what you're worried about" she said and finally looked up at him but there wasn't any of that familiar smile on her lips, there wasn't anything of her teasing looks that she would give him. Just a cold stare that wasn't anything like Katherine has ever given him in the years that they argued.
"It's not what you think it is Katherine" Tessa called out to her. The dark haired vampire turned her head to the side once more so that she could glance over her shoulder at the other immortal in this place.
Katherine felt her lip tremble but she was sure it wasn't from wanting to cry so she bit down on her lip to stop it from shaking. "I'm not thinking" she said and shook her head. "But don't contact me, Tessa because..." she sighed and looked away before settling her eyes on Jon and moved around him and to the door. "Now you have someone with a working heart that can keep your bed warm at night" she said and pushed open the door before moving out of the bookshop, the bell jingling as the door opened and then shut and Tessa watched Katherine walk up the steps.
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Post by Ray on Nov 28, 2017 22:42:30 GMT -7
Katherine's words catch him off-guard, said with a coldness that he has never had directed at him. Even during their worst arguments. And he knows he deserves it. Of all things, this he deserves. "I wasn't worried about you hurting anyone." He says, shaking his head a little as he keeps his eyes upon her face, wanting to pull her from this shop, wanting to explain it all though he's not sure any of it would make this better. But he would try. If she would let him.
But she storms passed him with a quickness that leaves him unable to stop her, unable to grab her, and the door shuts before he can even turn.
A breath falls from his lips shakily as he closes his eyes tightly. He takes a second to gather himself, to try to put his head on straight, hands balling into tight fists momentarily at his sides, before he can finally speak again. He glances up, eyes settling upon Tessa and shakes his head once, "I'm sorry about this. All of this." He murmurs. Turning, he throws the door open once more and steps out, hoping to catch Katherine before she disappears entirely. He leaves the pie and coffee behind, his appetite lost.
The woman still waits there at the railing, her eyes finding him as soon as he steps out. He gives her one look, brows furrowed tight in anger at himself, before storming forward with gaze set ahead. But as he searches the street for Katherine, he feels the woman watching him. It makes the tension already riding his shoulders turn nearly unbearable.
"I told you so." He hears her say behind him as he forces himself forward, hurrying to catch up with Katherine just a little ways away.
"Katherine, please." Jon calls after her. "Please let me explain and apologize."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 28, 2017 22:56:34 GMT -7
The one thing that Tessa didn't want was apologies from Jon, he had done nothing wrong. Hell not even Katherine did. These were two people who didn't talk to each other, two people who didn't sit down and have a conversation by the looks of it. Two people that actually needed their heads banging together. She watches as he walks out the door after Katherine and she couldn't help but wonder just what he was going to say to her, what she was going to say to him. Tessa knew from first hand experiences that words said in a heated moment came out harsh and words that didn't mean anything but hurt the other person and couldn't ever take back.
She just hoped that they were careful with their words. She moved towards the door and looks up at the woman leaning against the railing and she pushes her eyebrows together. Just who the hell was that?
Katherine heard him calling her and against her better judgement she sighed and then shook her head before turning around and seeing him there. They had arguments, so many times and they both just needed calming down and would leave it a couple or so days before Kat would come back with her tail between her legs and a big apology. The one thing that never happened was violence, they got angry with their words but never their hands and while Katherine was a vampire and their reflexes were heightened she never hurt him. She could never do that no matter what. He would never hurt her either.
But this, this hurt. Katherine knew it would probably happen one day, he would get sick of her and it would be the end and now it feels like it's here but it hurt too much. She stood there waiting for him to explain or apologise or whichever one he was going to do.
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Post by Ray on Nov 28, 2017 23:08:34 GMT -7
She stops, thankfully, giving him a chance to actually catch up with her. But he knows this will not be an easy conversation. He knows that forgiveness is not likely to come by the end of it. But he can't let her leave without at least trying to explain himself. Even if he is not sure if he can. In his own mind, he had made excuses, reasons, for the way he'd lost himself with Tessa. Ones that, looking back upon them now, would only sound stupid voice aloud to the woman he loves.
He falters for a moment as he comes to stop in front of her, seeing the hurt upon her face. It makes his throat tighten, his chest constrict, his heart give a painful lurch.
"I'm sorry," he says, quietly, and for a moment it seems like the only thing he can say. The only thing that would not make this worse. "I won't try to pretend that what I did wasn't cruel, but..." he hesitates for another moment, swallowing the hard lump in his throat. "Katherine I love you. I've always loved you. This was not...I was not..." The words feel heavy and useless on his tongue. He looks down to the sidewalk beneath their feet, pulling his lower lip between his teeth to bite down hard on it for a moment, eyes slipping closed. "I needed a distraction. I feel like the walls are closing in around my skull, and I...I did something brash and stupid and reckless." He admits, looking back up to her in a slow, sad blink. "But I was not...looking to hurt you."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 28, 2017 23:28:40 GMT -7
Katherine watches him and then bites down on her lip as she listens to what he has to say. He apologises to her just like he said he would and then he tries to explain. He tells her that he loves her, that he always loved her. She believes him. That night on the ship to Dragonstone they had said they loved each other. They never married and towards the end of Westeros it never really mattered that much because they were together.
In the seven hundred years that they've been doing this there has been one that almost pulled her away from Jon in the 1800's and she understood it now. She really did. Sometimes they get tired and just have to take away from each other. Maybe that would explain why Katherine hasn't been around as much but not talking to him about it has made everything feel so much more worse.
Katherine bit on her lip for a moment. "I've done reckless things so many times that I can't even count them on one hand and that is probably hard for me to admit" she said and shrugs up a shoulder. "I'm sorry I haven't been there for you" she said and nods before looking at him. "I'm sorry that you feel like you couldn't pick up the phone and call if you needed someone" she said and then looked down in the direction of the shop. "It's easy to get lonely when you're immortal and maybe Tessa is right, maybe I did find something and leave you behind but I never meant for that to happen" she said and looked at him and then said softly. "Tessa is a good person, you need someone like her"
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Post by Ray on Nov 28, 2017 23:44:08 GMT -7
"You don't need to apologize for anything, Kat," Jon replies, shaking his head slowly as he watches her. "I made the mistake, I hurt you, none of this...none of my actions are your fault. I just..." He pauses for a moment to pull in a breath, his eyes looking down the street passed her shoulder for a moment, trying once more to find the right words, the right way of explaining his foolish behavior. Maybe there is no good explanation. No good way of saying this. But gods he wishes there were.
"I feel like everyone has found a place and I...am here." He finally says, deciding to stop trying to find the perfect thing to say and just speak. Let the words unfold as they might. "Edric has his daughter, and Tessa has her bookshop, and you...you've found friends. Actual friends." he looks to her for a moment, dark eyes skimming over her face, a small sad smile finding its way to his lips. "I feel as if I am the only one still stuck seven hundred years in the past. Still mourning ghosts of people I couldn't save. Still trying to...figure out why I am not with them when I should have died...so many times." He admits, rolling his tongue against his lower lip.
For some reason, some impulse, he glances back over his shoulder towards where the steps to the shop sit. But the woman there is gone, vanished into thin air. Somehow, that leaves him with no comfort. He looks back to Katherine gradually.
"And I know you mourn too. I know I'm not...alone in that. But I also know that I have not found a way to move on as you and Edric have. And I feel like a burden sometimes. And teaching this fuckin' class was supposed to help but it only made it harder. And I didn't want to dump that on you. Not now, not after this long. So I found comfort someplace I thought would come with no strings."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Nov 29, 2017 0:08:01 GMT -7
Katherine listened to him but for some reason it only made it all seem so much worse. She knew it wasn't her fault but she loved him, god she loved him with everything she had in her. She looked over her arm and found some steps, Katherine moved over and brought him with her. Sitting down on the steps for a moment, it would be better than standing there in the middle of the street explaining everything.
"It took a very long time for Tessa and even myself, you know that" she said looking over at him. "Living in the past for me, hurts too much and that's why I had to move on. Between Robb and Sansa and Amelia... the pain and grief cripples us" Katherine looks down at her hands. "There has been times when I've been so ready to die, so ready to give up and go back home with my family, to see Winterfell again and hear everyone that I love laugh because god I have missed their laughter and I miss my daughter more than anything but that's why I couldn't live in the past" she looked over at him.
"You're not a burden, you're the man that I love and I'm going to love you for the rest of my life no matter what and you can dump whatever you what on me and I will try to make it better, you know that" she looked down towards Tessa's shop "but I understand why you needed to do it, I've come to Tessa so many times over the years" Katherine sighed and looked down. "There is a part of me that has been moving away from you, not because I don't love you because you know I do, but we've done this for the last seven centuries Jo, this was bound to happen"
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