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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 17:03:15 GMT -7
Lexi startles when she hears his voice and her eyes widen before she slowly turns and sees him standing there his shoulder pressed into the door frame. Her heart is pounding hard in her chest to the point that she was starting to wonder if her heart was going to come out of her chest because it felt like it would end up on the floor and maybe that would make things easier for him. She wasn't blind to the frown pulling at his lips especially when he looked down at the picture. He speaks and honestly she's wondering whether or not she is dreaming about all of this.
"This isn't possible" she said and held the photo up at him. "This woman looks like me and yet... I definitely wasn't around in the 1940s" she swallowed hard and watched him. Her honey coloured eyes on his face an there is silence and for a moment she kept that silence because she was still freaking out in her head. None of this was possible but she knew that there were things out there in the dark so really it could be possible but this woman was like her. The dark hair and the face but in the picture the woman was looking away as if the person who had taken the picture had caught her mid-way through a thought and she looked so pretty but at the moment Lexi wanted to find out what the hell was going on.
After a moment Adrian took a step towards her and she moved backwards, holding her hand out towards him but as she kept moving back her back hit something and realised that she had hit a wall and she tried to calm her heart down but it didn't seem like it was possible right now. He moved in the direction of her and he took the picture from her hand and she watched him, she was sure that there was a slight pain crossing his face but then it was gone. Lexi kept the silence for a moment and she kept her back at the wall but her eyes were on his face watching him.
"Who is K?" she asked softly and kept her eyes on him. "Because she looks a hell of a lot like me"
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 17:24:09 GMT -7
The girl is panicking, her heart thundering hard against her ribs, loud in his ears. By the time he met Katherine, her heart had long stilled. It's strange, here and now after so long, after knowing the silence of Katherine's chest and veins, to hear hers beat so surely. It's the only thing convincing him that this is not just a trick. Not just a dream. Not just some weird apparition he's conjured for himself to battle the loneliness. She holds up the picture, the still frame of a girl sitting at a cafe years ago, her face an almost perfect mirror image to the woman holding it, and the frown deepens a little around the edges of his lips.
He pushes himself off of the door-frame and steps towards her, but the girl takes a quick step back. Adrian unfolds his arms and holds his hands up slowly, trying to reassure her, but even he steps forward again, she moves back yet again. Sighing out a breath, he continues forward until the wall stops her and he comes within a breath of her, the scent of her quickly rushing blood filling his nostrils.
He does not think about it. He's learned not to. But he does not move away either.
Adrian reaches up, and plucks the photo from her fingers.
"Katherine." He murmurs to her, answering her question. If he doesn't, he won't get any answers himself. Finally turning away, he moves a few steps back from her, looking down to the photo for the first time in years. "And you're Alexandra Richards from Corpus Christi, Texas." He glances back at her, lightly smacking the photo against his palm, one brow arched, and a mirthless but snarky smile tugging at his lips. "I do my own kind of research."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 17:41:15 GMT -7
Adrian spoke the woman's name and she pushed her eyebrows together because the name sounded so familiar that she was sure that she had heard it before but she wasn't sure where she had heard it from. But it definitely was recent. She watched him, watched his back and then chewed on her lip gently. He glanced back at her and then spoke her name.
"Only my mother calls me Alexandra and only when I've been naughty" she huffs out softly and then looks down at the ground at her feet but more than that she was well aware of him watching her as if he was a predator trying to get it's prey. It was a little unnerving especially with the picture in his hand but at the moment she was trying not to think like a hunters daughter but rather than the Lexi that had told her mother that she was leaving for England whether she liked it or not or like the girl who stood up to people who called her strange because of the honey coloured eyes. But right now the only thing that she could keep thinking about was the woman in the picture.
"Call me Lexi" she said after a moment and then looked up at him her eyes on his face before she slowly moved away from the wall.
Lexi stood up straight and put her hands into her jeans pockets but she made sure that her eyes were on him. "Well then you know who my parents are if you've done your own research and that is why I had to check you out but I never guessed that this would be what you were hiding" she then chewed on her lip gently "Is that why you couldn't look at me because I look like this Katherine" she muttered. His face did look as if he had seen a ghost when he had seen her at the cafe and this definitely would explain why he was spooked and couldn't look at her because she looked like the woman in the picture. Someone he clearly had cared about.
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 18:13:33 GMT -7
"Lexi, then." Adrian replies, and turns to sit just at the edge of his low, wooden dresser. Her heart has calmed somewhat, but she stays at him with a sort of calculating wariness, as if he might suddenly lunge for her throat. But that's not him. It's never been him. Even during the darkest times of his life, he's never been much like a predator seeking out the next meal. Just a man who could not control his addiction. But the years have changed him. He's found a way to keep it all balanced.
Took him long enough.
This Lexi continues on, and he huffs out a faint breath of a laugh at the mention of her parents. He'd have to be stupid not to recognize the name Hane. Hunters are nothing singularly twenty-first century, but no family has ever made quite as much a dent in the supernatural world as her parents. They're almost legends. And for those like him, not necessarily the good kind of legend. But Adrian is not worried about that. He's grown up with an executioner's blade hovering just over his neck, and somehow he's outlived it all.
He likes his chances.
But she mentions Katherine again, and he rolls his tongue against his lower lip as he looks down towards the photograph. And then he sets it aside. "There's a saying that if you live long enough, you start seeing the same faces on different people." He says, looking back to her. "I did not anticipate that being so literal." He admits, setting his palms upon the edge of the dresser on either side of him, holding it tight. "I'm half starting to think I pissed off a god somewhere."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 18:24:40 GMT -7
He sits on the edge of the dresser and she watches him, listens to what he has to say. Her eyes falling to the ground once more because all of this was hard to actually take in and she finds herself sinking down onto the bed and swallowing hard.
Lexi was sure that this is how she reacted around the time that her mother sat her down and told her that demons and ghosts existed. She then laughed and then asked about vampire and werewolves and got that they existed too. Jo had wanted her prepared just in case anything came at them. Elizabeth is the only one innocent of what is out there in the dark but that might be down to the fact that she was Chris' daughter. Lexi was sure that she probably wasn't much of a threat to anyone just yet but she was sure in the end Elizabeth would too have her innocence taken from her when Jo sat her down and spoke about what was lingering in the darkness.
She caught what he had said and then slowly looked up at him. "Vampire?" she asked and had it pretty much confirmed and she nodded and scoffed. Lexi leaned her head back and looked at the ceiling before chewing on her lip gently. All of this was a little too much and was in need of a very strong drink right now. "Do you have whiskey?" she asked after a moment and looked at him. "I really could do with a whiskey right now" she admitted.
Anything strong was needed right now. Just to make sure that she settled her nerves and everything else that was running through her head. A strong drink was needed for the two of them if he wanted one too. It can't be easy looking at her when she looked so much like this Katherine that had clearly hurt him from the way that he was reacting to her being here even back at the cafe and the way he had taken the picture and had stopped looking at it after a while.
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 18:43:43 GMT -7
Ever the hunter's daughter, it does not take her long to figure out what he is. It feels weird hearing the word out loud after so long. Especially from someone so human. It's not a fact he shares often, not a fact he shares at all save for those who can smell it on him like some sickness. But he nods, once, confirming. If she was planning on driving a stake through his heart, he assumes she would have done it by now. He would have.
He pulls in a deep breath when she asks for whiskey, almost wanting to laugh at the fact that she asked at all. "Plenty," he replies with a small smile and pushes himself off of the dresser. He nudges his head towards the door, indicating for her to follow, before he moves towards the kitchen. He flicks on a light along the way, rather than letting her continue to stumble through the dark. His apartment is no lavish palace dripping in refinery and trinkets and assortments of expensive looking furniture that suit no need, but with the light it does not look so bare either. All the basic furnishings are there -- a black couch pressed against a wall, a thin blanket folded upon the cushion; a wooden coffee table with a few stacked magazines and a forgotten coffee mug; a TV hung on the wall; a bookshelf not entirely full but not lacking either; a rug covering the cold floor. The only truly missing thing are pictures.
But he has none other than the one she found tucked deep away.
He steps into the kitchen, not so full as others might be, and opens a cabinet to pull down a bottle of whiskey and a glass. He screws off the top, pours a healthy amount, and slides the glass towards her across the clean granite counter-top. And keeps the rest of the bottle for himself.
He nurses it a bit, feeling it burn down his throat and settle heavily in his stomach, before finally pulling it away.
"So I assume you have questions." He says, leaning a hip against the counter. "I know I do, but mine rarely get answered."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 18:55:09 GMT -7
Lexi can’t help the relief that runs through her veins when he says that he has plenty of whiskey. She’s not that type of drinker normally but right now she was sure that she could do with it. He moved off the dresser and indicated for her to follow but she left it a moment before she finally got up from the bed and followed after him. By the time she had he put a light on and she turned the light off on her cell before putting it back into her back pocket.
He slid the glass towards her on the counter and then he spoke before she scoffed. There was so many questions but right now she wasn’t sure her mind could actually sort them out long enough for her to actually ask them. So instead she looked up at him and said “I honestly have no idea how this happened, if that’s one of your questions” she muttered and then looked down at the glass in her hand and even though she had the drink there she didn’t take a sip of it.
“But,” She said after a moment and looked up at him. “This definitely isn’t what I came here to do, I came to find out about my own family history and instead I stumble onto a woman that looks like me and a vampire” she huffed out and then shook her head “No offence of course.”
Lexi let the silence linger between them for a moment before she finally asked “What is her last name?”
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 19:08:21 GMT -7
"Well at least that makes two of us." Adrian replies, allowing a small amused smile to find his lips. None of it makes any sense to him. Her existence, her face, her being here. Most of all, why, of all people and of all times, he is the one who has stumbled upon her. After years and years of getting over Katherine, after finally finding some semblance of normality again, after letting go. If he still believed the gods were listening, he'd tell them to go fuck themselves. Or to bother Jon with this one.
Adrian is quite sure the Snow bastard would love having two Katherines. A cruel thought, he realizes, and regrets almost as soon as it crosses his mind.
He downs another swallow of whiskey.
He lowers the bottle and arches a brow when she mentions why she's here, a little bit of his curiosity piqued. He has heard plenty of reasons for venturing abroad but... that is a first. Most people come to London for the culture or for the ale or for the little bears in Beefeater hats. A few will claim their ancestors were Lord Such-and-Such from one of the shires with no real proof other than a vague family tree probably smudged halfway through, but in the day and age where information is right at your fingertips, people rarely go searching for roots anymore. Especially not hunters. They're either too proud or too deep in self-hatred.
And then for her to fall right in his lap...
"None taken." He says, shaking those thoughts from his mind, barely even registering being referred to as a vampire as an insult when it's true. "Petrova or...Stark or...Pierce, or whatever she's going by these days." Adrian replies to her question, shrugging his shoulders. "We're not exactly...close anymore."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 19:21:55 GMT -7
He speaks the last names and two of them caught her attention. Stark and Petrova. These days Petrova was a Bulgarian name but she had traced it all the way back to two countries that she hadn’t even heard of but with Amelia Starks journals and the necklace that she had in her bag, it was no coincidence that Katherine was named Stark and Petrova.
“Well that makes more sense” she huffed out a breath before looking over at him. “She’s my ancestor” she took a drink of that whiskey. Lexi has heard about doppelgängers but she had never seen it til now. “And I guess I’m a doppelgänger especially if we look so much alike” she leans back against the counter behind her and then swallows hard once more.
Lexi wasn’t deaf to what he had said. Clearly Katherine had meant a lot to Adrian or he wouldn’t have her picture or still react the way that he did when he saw her. She wasn’t sure that he still felt the same way about her but either way he clearly had been hurt by her. “I’m sorry,” she said after a moment and set her eyes on him. “For her hurting you, she probably won’t say it but I will” she nods and gives a slight smile before knocking back the rest of the whiskey and wincing slightly. She hated the taste of it but right now it was needed.
Especially with the news that she had taken from this. Katherine was clearly still alive and clearly a vampire which meant that she really didn’t want to piss this woman off or when would be after Lexi and she had enough stuff after her when she was younger without adding on a very pissed off vampire who was definitely older than her.
“Do you have any questions for me?”
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 19:45:10 GMT -7
"Not entirely alike." Adrian finds himself saying before he can stop himself, his eyes still set upon her face. The differences are more and more pronounced every time he looks at her. Though he's sure the life of a hunter has not been easy, there's a sort of youthful innocence in her eye. A sort of hope. At one time he was sure he had seen something similar in Katherine's dark gaze... but that had been years ago and now those looks are saved entirely for Jon. But Lexi looking at him right now... where Katherine had been dark and sorrowful, this girl is light and...
"But a Stark," he continues, trying hard not to think any more about how these two women are different, knowing it will only hurt the deeper he digs himself into that hole. He lowers his gaze to the bottle, turning it slowly. "Well, I'm sure those old sour-faced Northerners would love to know their descendants have become hunters." He snorts out a slight laugh. "And doppelganger. That...makes sense. Weirdly." He admits, furrowing his brows and shaking his head, before adding in a mutter, "Now I've seen it all."
Mahal, his life is strange as hell. And he once thought dragons were the be-all-end-all.
He turns his eyes back towards her when she apologizes, his brows knitting even closer. He did not want an apology. Did not need one. It's been over sixty years since Katherine reunited with Jon, and left him in a city alone. Sixty years of deciding that she isn't coming back. If he ever needed an apology, it was a long time ago when the wounds were still fresh and the heartache still deep.
And yet her words make his shoulders relax a little. It's been a long time, a long long time, that someone was so needlessly kind to him.
"You're not her." He says though, trying to brush it off. "Thank Mahal for that." He adds under his breath. He turns to screw the top back onto the bottle of whiskey and set it back with the cabinet, flicking his brown eyes towards Lexi as she asks for any questions from him.
"Why London?" He asks, going off topic. He closes the cabinet door and turns back to her, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why start here on your...quest for family roots?"
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 20:00:47 GMT -7
Lexi listened to him, he might be right she might not be entirely like Katherine but they still had the same face and with Katherine being a vampire and around a lot longer than Lexi there is a chance that she had pissed off some supernatural beings and they could come for Lexi. It was strange to think that way but it was the truth. She gave a light smile at him anyway before nodding.
Adrian said about the Starks and she had to laugh softly “I know about the supernatural, I know how to kill them... but I have never hunted in my life and I don’t plan on ever doing it.” She admitted and nodded. Lexi knew enough to keep her safe but she wouldn’t actively seek out the supernatural. She might be stupid but she’s not that stupid. She’s not going to look for things that could kill her... even if she’s sure that Adrian could kill her right now but he didn’t look like he was going too.
He spoke once more about doppelgänger and honestly it was the only thing she could really think of. Of course Lexi was going to have to do some research on that but she was sure that was what she could really be. Between beknnf nephilim and now a doppelgänger it was hard to keep up with everything but she was getting there. She watched him put the bottle away and then turn and ask her a question.
“Because I believe that I have family here” she admitted “and I don’t mean Katherine, I mean other parts of the family that could help me understand our family history” she admitted. “So I got on the first flight to London, nearly gave my mother a heart attack and now here I am”
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 20:16:34 GMT -7
"Well it's been...a long time." Adrian says, nodding a little, knowing well enough just how much time has passed between now and then, how many generations have come and gone. It's one of the reasons why he had been so angry and so reckless for so long. Watching the clock wind passed and lives rise and fall to ash is not easy for one man to take. "You're bound to have plenty of family wandering around." He admits. Which is one thought he has deliberately kept himself from thinking about. He knows that Fili had children, knows they had children of their own, and on down the line it goes. But he could not bear the thought of seeing them grow and continue on. Could not bear the thought of burying more family. So he'd kept far away. Let the lineage blur and split and fade until he could no longer recognize it even if he tried.
Fili might deserve better. But he has grieved that man for seven hundred years. He can't handle grieving more.
He pushes that thought out of his mind and bites upon his lower lip for a moment, worrying it as he focuses back upon Lexi's quest instead. The Starks...the Starks he can follow. And who better than him? A man who was literally there at the start.
"Well if it's history you're looking for... I have plenty of that." He admits, inclining his head to the side. "I knew the Starks." He says, wincing a little, waiting for whatever reaction she has. "My brother married one of them."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 20:36:36 GMT -7
Lexi knew it had been a long time and there were bound to be parts of the history that someone couldn't fill in but maybe she could get most of it written down then she might be able to make sense of everything. Her family had thought her insane when she had said about going to England but she had pushed passed that and carried on regardless and now she was going to make sure that she found out as much as she could about her family. Even Katherine. She was a little intrigued by the woman that had clearly been around a long time. She watched him for a moment and then raised an eyebrow when he said that he knew the Starks and that his brother had married one.
That was interesting actually but what was more interesting was the fact that Adrian seemed to want to help her. Wanted to help a human dig up her family's history... a human that looked so much like a woman from his past. But of course she wouldn't say that.
Instead she tapped a finger lightly on the counter next to her but her eyes were on him and then smiled softly. "Well then I guess we could start tomorrow if you are infact willing to help me" she muttered before leaning off of the counter. At least she assumed that was the offer he was handing to her because if it wasn't then this was seriously awkward right now. But who cares. She stood up straight and put her hands into the pockets of her jacket. She moved over towards him for a moment before she whispered softly "Maybe then I can understand a little bit more about you" she gently poked his chest, moving her hand from a pocket before putting it back in once she had poked him. "But for now I shall wish you a good night"
Lexi moved away from her spot and headed in the direction of the door.
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Post by Ray on Mar 21, 2018 20:52:16 GMT -7
Lexi does not react much at all, giving him only a raised eyebrow. But she moves away from the counter after accepting an offer he's not sure why he gave. It would no doubt be better for the both of them if he simply let her walk out his door and out of his life. Less chance of meeting the grisly end of a hunter's stake and less chance of kicking up more grave dirt than he can bear.
But he's in the business of helping people. This is just more of the same. Except this time there may be a few answers to his own questions tossed in.
He straightens his back a little when she moves towards him, looking at her a little curiously since this is the same woman who was ready to get as far away from him before when there had been a picture of her ancestor in the fold. She pokes his chest and he looks down to her hand for a moment, corner of his lips twitching faintly. He flicks his brown eyes back up to meet hers, the questions only piling higher now. He's not entirely sure what he just agreed to. Not entirely sure what he just allowed himself to be a part of. But his curiosity has always been a reckless and fickle thing. "You mean without breaking into my flat this time?" He asks her, cocking up a brow.
She turns away and walks towards the door, and his eyes follow after her, glancing her over once.
"Good night." He says finally.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Mar 21, 2018 21:07:09 GMT -7
Lexi smiled to herself when he spoke about her breaking in, it wasn't the first time she had broken into somewhere. Back in college Sarah and Lexi had kept leaving their keys behind and when they got locked out it was the only way she could get into the damn apartment. James had taught her how to do it and she promised never to tell their mother that he had taught her some things and til this day Jo didn't know that behind her back James had made sure she knew how to break into a place without breaking any glass. "I'll make sure to knock next time" she called back to him and then got to the door when he said goodnight and something told her that it was going to be a very good night.
She headed back to her hotel room and managed to get some sleep, of course she was up early because she had a call from her mother who was worried and wanted to make sure that Lexi was fine. She was. In fact something told her that she would be more than fine. But in the end she couldn't get back to sleep so she showered and decided to head back to Adrian's apartment. He was a vampire. They don't sleep.
Lexi made sure to grab two coffees on the way and even some breakfast before she headed in the direction of his place. It was still a little early but she could see the milkman on his rounds and she even gave a smile before heading up to Adrian's apartment. She knocked on the door, promising this time that she would actually knock. And then waited.
And waited.
She knocked again and then finally the door was opened and Adrian clearly had just gotten out of bed and he... was shirtless. Lexi's eyes looked over his chest and she could see scars and she yearned to reach out and touch them to see if they still hurt him but in the end she cleared her throat and looked up. "Good morning, we have stuff to do" she said moving passed him and into the apartment. "I brought breakfast and coffee.. and do vampires really sleep? I assumed they never had too" she said and headed towards the kitchen.
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