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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 11:32:04 GMT -7
A grey sky hovers low over London, and the smoke from his cigarette drifts out lazily to meet it. Between the light patter of rain upon the canopy over his head and his own slow tap on the glass table, the rest of the world is muffled. A city turned to a low hum. A million voices dulled to whispers. He stares out across the patio towards the river and exhales a slow breath.
He closes his eyes and just listens, trying to conjure the whistling wind of the mountains from his memory, the cold touch of mist, the rumble of a distant storm.
But instead, all he sees is a wisp of dark hair falling over his face...
"You dreamin', Adi?" A voice breaks through his thoughts, and the city settles back into place all at once. The whine of brakes, the chatter of low conversation, the tinkling of glasses. He blinks and glances over through the corners of his eyes, seeing the man that drops down into the chair beside him at the outdoor cafe -- shoulders spotted with rain and pulled tightly inwards to fend off the chill. Adrian sucks in a breath and reaches for his coffee.
"You have it?" He asks before taking a sip. The other man is no older than thirty, but his hair is thin and his eyes are heavy with sleepless bags from too many nights spent trying to get up women's skirts in clubs. He reaches into the pocket of his jacket, fumbling for a second, eyeing Adrian's drink and cigarette and sniffing like some poor orphan, before sliding the paper-wrapped parcel across the table. Adrian takes it, and tucks it within his black jacket, not bothering to count the cash. He knows it’s there. And if it isn't...
"Thanks again, Adi." The man sniffs, shoving his cold hands back into his pockets. "I don't know how you do it. Keeping poor blokes like me on our feet. I'd be rottin' in a jail cell right now if it weren't--"
"Don't mention it." Adrian replies, cutting him off. "Really." He adds on, his brown eyes set upon the man's face and serious. "There won't be a next time, Charlie. If you make another mess on a full moon, I'm not sticking my neck out for you." He reaches back for his coffee as Charlie shifts uncomfortably in his chair, glancing around at the others seated out here, but no one is paying them any notice. Charlie looks back to Adrian, but his brown eyes are directed back out towards the river, watching a barge slowly track passed.
"I know, I know." Charlie mutters, hunching even further on himself. "It won't happen again."
"And stop calling me Adi." Adrian huffs, shaking his head slightly and taking another sip.
Charlie is quiet for a minute, a rare luxury, but he doesn't leave the seat next to him. A fact that tickles at his nerves. Charlie is not the worst man he's rubbed shoulders with since coming back to London. He's made a reputation of helping people like them out of stickier situations, some far more troublesome than a werewolf whose worst habit is breaking into butcher shops on full moons and getting caught naked and rolling in the meat displays. If Fili could hear some of the stories he has...
But Charlie isn't quiet for very long. He never is. "Think you could spare a fiver? I could do with some lunch--"
"Charlie." Adrian says, slow, annoyed.
"Right, right. Sorry." Charlie sniffs and swipes a hand across his nose, rising from his chair. "See ye' around, Adi."
"Stop-- eurgh." Adrian sighs out, eyes slipping closed for a moment as he slumps down into his seat. Charlie is already shuffling away through the rain, looking more and more like a lost dog. Adrian shakes his head again and sets his cigarette to his lips, pulling in a deep drag. He straightens his jacket over the parcel before letting his gaze wander once more, the morning starting to turn busy. Idly, he thumbs at the silver ring upon his finger.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 12:06:31 GMT -7
Lexi had been to England a few times but never had she been to London so it was the first time she was experiencing the place. Her dark hair was pulled up into a ponytail and she had a jacket on because it was definitely cold here in England. It was weird to think of her actually over here but she had booked herself into a hotel room and wasn't sure just how long she would be staying but from what she could gather it could be a little while. Her mother had thought her mad when she announced to her that she would be going on a family history trip to find out about their past.
It had caused her mother a great deal of worry because Jo was trying to deal with Lexi and Jake's separation even if it had been nearly a year. She remembered the day that she had sat her mother down and told her of their broken down marriage. It had broke her heart, it had left Lexi laying in her room for days because she couldn't believe that it was over but over it was. It had taken her months to take her ring off let alone actually talk about it. It wasn't any one persons fault it just happened and they had loved each other for a good while but it just didn't seem enough.
She still could hear Jake's laugh when he was doing something ridiculous.
Lexi sighed and looked out the window of the local coffee shop making sure that she had her morning coffee before she headed off to see someone. Her hand fell on something in her bag and then pulled it out to look at it. It was something that had been passed down through the family. Apparently it was two family sigils together. There was definitely a wolf of some sort on it and with how her family had been hunting for years it made her wonder if hunters had existed back then too. Of course that was the angle she never wanted to come up with. She gave the woman a smile at the counter and took her coffee before walking out.
She put the necklace back into her cross body bag. Lexi was determined to find something out about her family.
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 12:40:53 GMT -7
He finishes his now lukewarm coffee, downing the rest in a long, single swallow, ignoring its bitter taste. He could stay here all day if he wanted to, as he has done so many days before. Watch the Thames and the tourists and the traffic, drink coffee after coffee after coffee and let the minutes tick by. The rest of these people move quickly to and fro, trying to catch time before it slips through their fingers, trying to make most of the short expanse of their existence. Once, he was like them. Eager to make enough coin, eager to find adventure, eager to appease his own whims to keep the story grand.
But now time moves so slowly. And the chapters seem endless.
He rises to his feet, stabbing out the last sliver of his cigarette and exhaling smoke through his nostrils. Ducking out from beneath the canopy, he steps into the light drizzle of rain, not caring about getting wet. But his shoulder bumps someone unintentionally, the figure appearing out of cafe in the same instant. He smells their coffee first, and hears the jolt of their heart at the unexpected jostle, both things that make him wholly unprepared for what he sees he glances over, an apology ready upon his lips, a hand reaching out to steady the other person.
"Shit, sor-"
Her face is familiar, painfully so, sending a stab of surprise through his hollow chest.
In an instant he remembers humid New Orleans nights and soft laughs and even softer kisses. That dark wash of hair drifts back over his gaze, and he sucks in a breath slightly as his hand pulls back away from the woman. And Adrian doesn't dare let his mind speak the name nor his tongue, even though he wants to. Even though it feels as if he should. Because he can hear the thrum of a pulse certainly not his own and the rush of blood through veins and smell the sweet honey of humanity lingering on this girl. But still he stares for a moment longer than he probably should.
"Sorry." He finally makes out, his dark brows twitching close.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 13:01:15 GMT -7
Her mind had been on other things when she bumps into someone and she looks up at him and then pushes her eyebrows together because honestly it always felt weird bumping into people and he then started to speak and a small smile pulled at her lips. It was cute when someone swore but for some reason when it came from his lips it sounded so different as if she was trying to place the accent but never could. It didn't sound English but it didn't sound like it came from anywhere she had heard of either.
He apologised for bumping into her and she chewed on her lip gently before shaking her head. "It's fine, I should've been looking where I was going" she admitted. Her own accent was definitely clear. American... Texan actually. But she wasn't sure if he would actually know that or even care. The man was looking at her with what could be a bit of shock on his face but she wasn't sure why he would even be shocked but then again it's probably not every day that he bumped into someone.
Lexi straightened herself up and made sure that her coffee was fine before she put her honey coloured eyes on him once more. She had come to England on her own to chase up their family history and she was actually looking forward to see what was going to pop up on her searching and of course she had come to England to find out things that she couldn't find out in America. She still got texts from her mother to make sure that she was still alive and it made her love her mother but there wasn't anything here that was likely to kill her other than her mother if she didn't text back. That's why she liked the time difference between the two countries.
"I didn't see you when I was coming out of the coffee shop but I probably should've when you're so... taller than I am" she huffed out a soft laugh before clearing her throat. Lexi was acting like an idiot.
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 13:28:46 GMT -7
Adrian listens as he looks at her, hearing the flustered tone of her words and yet too distracted by the familiar making of her face. He knows it well. Her round, button nose and high cheeks and bow lips. And yet... This girl's eyes are lighter than Katherine's ever were, more honey than earth. Her smile is shyer. Her face softer. Even her voice carries a different lilt, young and American and light. And Adrian wonders if he's just imagining it. The similarities. The visage of a woman who long left him behind.
He blinks, and clears his throat, looking down for a moment.
"No, no, my fault." He replies, shaking his head and shrugging off her apology. He gives a small smile when he looks back up to her, but the image still remains. And that strange feeling continues to linger in his chest. "Too...distracted by the downpour." He comments, making excuses. The rain has started to soak into his hair, making the short strands stick to his forehead. And it's starting to soak into her as well, misting her face and hair. "Speaking of which." He murmurs, and with a light hand guides her beneath the canopy. She's warm, even through her jacket. And he knows Katherine had never been in all the years he'd known her. "I'm used to it, but you might not be." He tells her, drawing his hand back away as if she had shocked him.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 13:41:47 GMT -7
Lexi couldn't shake the weird feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her something was going on here. His eyes were on her face but it always felt like he had seen it before and that he was seeing a ghost and that didn't make her feel any better about this situation. She could feel his eyes pretty much moving over her face and it was making her feel a little bit uneasy.
Then he blinks and clears his throat and she watches as he looks down. It's like he can't look at her and yet she's not sure why that would even be,it's not like they have come across each other before and he's quick to shrug off her apology like he doesn't even want it. She chewed on her lip before she moves her eyes away from him and looks back towards the door of the coffee shop and a part of her wished that she hadn't actually left the place because there was a feeling she couldn't shake when it came to this man.
Lexi moves her eyes back to look at him when he speaks about the downpour and she then realises that it's actually raining and was getting soaked but he guides her under the canopy and before long he's moving his hand away from her like she shocked him and now she knew that something was up. She cleared her throat and looked up at him. "Rain feels so much better than Texan summers" she muttered and then licked her bottom lip tasting the rain on her lips. It tasted fresh and while it was soaking into her light jacket she did give a shiver but she was on a mission and had things in which she had to do.
She looked up towards the rain once more from the canopy and sighed softly. "Typical British weather" she said and smiled slightly. Lexi moved her free hand up and moved the strands of hair that was stuck to her face thanks to the rain and put them back to behind her ear.
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 14:02:01 GMT -7
A small smile tugs at his lips as he pushes his hands into the pockets of his jacket instead. Texas. He can't ever imagine Katherine willingly stepping into a desert such as that, can't imagine her enduring the hot sun or the dry air or the low valleys. Which only makes this even more disconcerting. Which only tangles his thoughts into tighter, stranger knots. He's seen plenty of weird things in his lengthy lifetime. He's seen dragons and the dead and the future unfold before him. But he's never seen this.
Somewhere, Mahal must be playing a trick on him, extending just one last trial towards the last of the men who remember his name.
"Very typical." He murmurs, half to his own thought and half to her. His life has been too quiet lately. Of course the gods would throw something like this his way, just to trip him up, just to unsettle him, just to make him remember far too many years of heartbreak and loneliness. One can never become too comfortable. Not with his name.
He watches her for another moment, eyes narrowing slightly, almost wanting to ask impossible questions but holding his tongue.
"Anyway," he says instead, finally looking away and glancing over his shoulder. "I should..." He points back with a thumb as he glances towards her, but doesn't really let his eyes connect, needing to pull himself away from this whole scenario before he truly does do something stupid. Something like this... is far better left alone. He does not want to open another Pandora's Box. "Sorry again." He tells her before stepping back out into the rain, lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck as he turns away from her.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 14:16:21 GMT -7
He speaks and she looks back over at him and it's then when she feels his eyes on her but all of this still feels wrong and she can't put her finger on why all of it does actually feel wrong but it's the feeling that she has in the pit of her stomach and its slowly starting to fill the rest of her body as if now the rest of her knows just how weird this situation is. Lexi nods when he nudges a thumb in the direction that he had been doing and he glances at her but it's like a distant look as if he can't bring himself to look at her. As if some how he knows things about her and not sharing it with her.
All of this was weird to a hunters daughter, it probably wouldn't be to a normal person but Lexi knew what was out there in the dark. Knew what lingered there when someone turned the lights out and it was the reason why she had kept a knife with her when she went to college and of course she couldn't bring it into England because of the rules that passengers had to follow now and it made her feel a little naked but if need be then she would have to just think up other ways if need be.
She looks back at the rain once more and gives a soft smile when he apologised and then walked out into the rain and she kept her honey eyes on him and she tapped a finger lightly against the coffee cup in her hand and cleared her throat softly. Lexi had to find out just what was up with this guy because if not then it wouldn't calm the feeling in her if she didn't. Even if she really did have other things she should be doing but with this man acting strange and not really looking at her it was just a feeling that she had to check out.
Lexi pulled her lip in between her teeth and bit on it for a moment. The thought of her family history was pushed out of her mind because of this man.
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 14:37:50 GMT -7
The small smile slips from his lips the moment he turns away from the girl, his feet carrying him through the drizzling rain with no direction in mind. The parcel of cash in his jacket is all but forgotten in the mirrored face of an old love, something he had not expected to ever really see again, save for in his memories. And yet, it's not that the girl looked so much like Katherine that continues to ride his shoulders uncomfortably as he pulls free his pack of cigarettes and taps out another upon the back of his hand. It's the differences. Like someone took a photograph and changed the details just enough to fool the eye. To make him think twice. To hit him hard in the gut and call him a fool all at once.
He doesn't like that. Doesn't like that this feels like some sort of game, some sort of test, to see just how far he's come from loving Katherine.
The gods were always funny, always halfway to cruel, but never like this.
He pauses around the corner of a brick building to lift the cigarette to his lips and light it with an old Zippo from years ago. As the flame licks and the smoke fills his lungs, he finds himself looking at it. And then the watch still looped around his wrist. And that sharp pain shears his chest once more. He shoves the lighter away, and continues on, teeth gritting tight together.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 14:50:17 GMT -7
Lexi watches as he moves away from her and she sighs under her breath and reaches up to move her hair away from her face once more and as she did she caught her eyes on the glass but it wasn't her reflection that was causing her to raise her eyebrow but the fact that he had been sitting in the same coffee shop that she had just come out of and now there was an idea that came to her. She moves away from the canopy and pulls the door open but lets a couple of people leave first before she moves into the coffee shop. It had felt like a while since she had left this place but it wasn't because Lexi hadn't even left the grounds and now she was back in the place.
She watches as people get served before she waits for the line to die down before going up to the counter. She says hello to the barista and they ask if her coffee is actually fine and she glanced down to the cup in her hand and honestly hadn't even tried it before but Lexi said that it was good and smiled before she then got to the whole point of why she was even back here in the first place.
"I bumped into someone outside and honestly he is a bit of a hot man" she grinned softly "but being an idiot I never asked his name and I was wondering if you could remember, dark hair... tall" she muttered and tried to get his height right with her hand but honestly wasn't sure that she had actually got it right at all but hopefully the barista would know who she was on about. Lexi had to find some sort of information about this guy because she still had that feeling in her stomach that something was wrong and maybe if she got a name then she might get a little bit of information on him and if not then she would have to make sure that she was here tomorrow and the day after until he actually spoke to her more.
If he even decided to turn up now that she had been here. There was just something off about him and he couldn't even look her in the face, that is what was so strange.
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 15:09:28 GMT -7
The barista glances up, yawning open-mouthed as the dark haired girl steps to the counter. It's only morning, but this day has already been shit long and not even all the coffee in the world could make her feel any less annoyed by the traffic. But it's the same as always. Everyone needs their three shots of espresso to get through another dreary day. She lifts her brows when the girl talks about something other than an order, a bit of an amused smile ticking at the corner of her mouth at the mention of a particularly hot man.
Well there certainly aren't very many of those around here.
"Oh," she begins, turning slightly away to start working on someone else's order, grabbing a cup and stepping towards the machine. "So you met Adrian, then." She grins a little, saying his name like it were some sort of fine wine. And surely it is. "Comes in here often, bless him for that." She admits, his morning visits probably the only reason she's ever willing to wake up at shit-o-clock for this job. God, his smile... "Adrian Durin, I believe." She fills in the rest of his name, quite happy about the reminder. "If you're staying in London for a few days, he's usually here every morning about this time. Must live around here, though none of us have ever been lucky enough to find an invitation back. If you know what I mean." She winks a bit suggestively and snorts at her own blushing joke.
"I wish you luck."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 15:27:24 GMT -7
Lexi watches the girl and she reaches into the back pocket of her jeans to grab her phone when the girl gives her the name. "Adrian Durin you said?" she asked and then put it into her cell with a smile. "I will be staying for a few days so maybe I will get a chance to get that invitation" she smiles softly once more before slipping her cell back into her back pocket. She picked up on what the barista had said about him living around here and honestly it gave her a very crazy idea that she really didn't want to entertain but it would be the only way she could get some answers but the barista wasn't likely to know anything about this Adrian.
Sometimes she hated being the daughter of two hunters because it caused her to see things other people didn't see and this Adrian could be completely harmless but now that he had got her attention she was going to have to calm the thoughts in her mind before she actually done anything else. It seemed like he knew her and yet she wasn't sure she had even come across him in fact she knows she had never come across him at all but he never looked at her and when he did he got a shock as if she was so familiar to him.
"Thanks for the luck" she smiled once more. "I'm probably going to need it" she chuckles softly before biting on her lip and letting the barista get back to work while Lexi took a sip of her coffee and headed towards the door once more.
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 15:45:51 GMT -7
"Bit of an odd name, if you ask me." The barista nods when the girl repeats the name back at her, topping the drink she's making off with some whipped cream. "But I definitely don't mind sayin' it." She smirks a bit to herself. What else is a bored cafe girl supposed to do other than people watch and day-dream about the sole handsome man that stops in here. It's the only thing that keeps a smile on her face when people get impatient about their orders. Mostly because he's never one of those people.
"Ta!" She replies, and slides the drink across the counter to a woman waiting with a bit of annoyance marking her face, the barista's amused smile slipping away a bit, having not realized that someone had been there listening to their entire conversation. The woman takes it quickly, glowers at the both of them, and then huffs as she walks away. The barista fights the urge to stick her tongue out. "Prude."
"Oh!" She calls out suddenly when the girl starts making for the door, remembering something now that that woman's disapproving face is out of view. "One of my girlfriends says she sees him every once in a while at the Globe, a pub a couple blocks from here. Tried chattin' him up one night but he weren't interested. You might try catching him there."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 16:22:08 GMT -7
Lexi looks back at the barista when she calls out to her and then lets a smile pull at her lips. So Adrian likes to go out at night and that would make it more easier for her to get into his place. But of course she wasn't going to tell the barista that she would be breaking into his apartment, instead Lexi says "I will definitely try to catch him at this Globe pub" she smiled once more and then held her hand up and gave a wave before she left the cafe. Now she was just going to have to make sure that she had the right apartment before she even broke into it.
She in the end did find where he lived and even waited for it to get dark and as she did she watched him leave his apartment. More than that she just wanted to find out why this guy was acting so weird around her. Why he hadn't even been able to look her in the eyes without them going wide or even moving his hand away from her straight away when he had guided her to the canopy. It was all adding up in her head that this man was something odd. Lexi waited for a little bit to make sure that he didn't even come back before she headed up to where he had come from.
Lexi started to pick the lock and was worried that she would get caught but that didn't stop her from doing it because this really was the only thing she could think about, the family history thing had been pushed from her mind. She heard the lock click and then smiled softly as she stood up and then headed in. She didn't have a torch so she decided to use the light on her cell to move around the place and honestly it looked like no one lived here at all. Things were so minimal that it made her think of just who Adrian could be or rather what he could be. But at the moment she couldn't choose what he was.
She moved into the bedroom and the light fell on a trunk. There was a creek and she listened for a moment but nothing happened so she moved in the direction of the trunk and got on her knees before she opened it up and went through it but it was a lot harder with one hand on a cell phone. It was just something she would have to go through one handed. Lexi found all different things and honestly half of this stuff she hadn't even seen before. "What is all of this?" she muttered and then shook her head.
Lexi picked up a book and looked at the title, it was definitely old and a first edition, and raised an eyebrow but something fell against her hand and she moved the light to it and found that it was a picture. She pulled it out and put the book down before she opened the picture up and her mouth fell open...
The woman in the picture looked so much like her. Lexi gasped and then stood up before swallowing hard and turning the picture in her fingers seeing the writing on the back. "K 1945..." she moved the picture back and looked down at it once more. "What is going on?" she said and felt her heart pounding hard in her chest because this wasn't possible especially when the picture was from 1945 but the woman in the picture was the image of Lexi.
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 16:44:53 GMT -7
"Usually people ask before they go through someone else's things." Adrian breaks the quiet of the darkened apartment, his gaze set on her back as she stares down at the photograph in her hands. His trunk of things lies open, a few of the items haphazardly set aside, their purpose and worth not noticed by the girl who'd taken it upon herself to search through them.
He'd caught her scent quick enough as he left earlier, his plans all but forgotten when he'd seen her climb the stairs to his flat like some would-be burglar. But she's no thief. It takes one to know one, and unless she is in the business of selling centuries old keepsakes, she passed by a perfectly good TV to get to his bedroom. As well as a dozen other things she could have taken and pawned off if that was her goal. This would be so much easier if it was. A far more tolerable task to take care of.
But instead she's holding that picture, that picture, and looking like a startled deer.
He watches her from where he stands, shoulder pressed into the door-frame of his bedroom, arms crossed. Even in the dark, he sees her just fine. Hears the racing pulse of her heart. Smells the fear on her. He does nothing though. Does not try to intimidate her or scare her, does nothing but look at her, a slight frown tugging at his lips. "And to answer your question," he murmurs, glancing down to the photo in her hand, trying not to let the sliver of pain cross his face. "I'm trying to figure that out as well."
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