A cold, chilly sweat forces Katherine awake. Its a startling awakening as the vision is burnt into her mind as she awakens, like a bad dream mixed with a nightmarish reality, cordite and cherry and blood all still in her nose. Eleanora shifts, eyes creaking open with an effort of extreme will as the daylight keeps her barely able to even exist.
"Mon amour, qu'est-ce qui ne va pas." My love, what's wrong? She asks, trying to shuck the influence of the daystar and failing, body hovering between animation and true rest.
"It's fine, just a bad dream," Katherine whispers, "One of the visions this one is a bit harder to parse. It'll be fine." She whispered, cuddling into Eleanora, feeling her body cool and soothing to the touch. She curls over her, holding her so very tight. A panic has not slipped over her thank god, but it might come soon. The tight grip on the day locked woman made her feel relaxed. Sleep escapes her but for a moment. She moves to her trench coat and grabs a pill that helps night shift workers orient their circadian rhythms to better match their shifts, and soon falls asleep, ready to face the night once again.
She wakes up that night very tired, not from lack of sleep but a deep exhaustion that emanates from somewhere inside. A fragility like glass comes over her. She can hear Estelle moving, slight steps of Eleanora. She hadn't felt like this in… Years… Or a month, depending. Another fifteen minutes. Another twenty minutes to the previous fifteen. Eleanora is asking if she is okay, so she nods. Though Eleanora doesn't seem to believe her. She smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes. Another hour she finally gets up and gets her meds. They don't help, but six Dexedrine manage to get her mobile.
She talks but she doesn't speak, "Oh hi guys, sorry I felt like sleeping in." The words felt hollow, like they don't quite slip together.
Estella looks to Eleanora immediately, "You want to handle this?" She asks bluntly, pointing a black cigarette at Katherine with a look on her face.
A kind of rough noise, As Katherine mutters, "Share." Pointing at the cigarette, "Menthol?" then seeing the black paper confused. "Vampire cigarette?" Katherine is moving towards her slowly.
"Indonesian I think." She offers it to Katherine, not reaching over any further than the couch she's on, forcing the other woman to come close.
Katherine takes it from her hand, then plops on the couch. Almost lights it before looking at Eleanora, "Do you smoke inside?" Again very short, not terse, but like words were a currency she was running out of.
"I am French, my love." Eleanora says as if that answers everything, waving her to continue smoking. Estelle also chuckles, "Isn't it your house too, Kat?" She culminates the tiny barb with a prod on Katherine's arm, poking it to test the waters of physical contact.
In almost perfect french, far past any of the 'awkward' French she had shown the day before, Katherine said, "Ah, ma bien-aimée, je ne manquerais jamais une occasion de te couvrir du plus profond respect et de l'amour le plus tendre." Ah, my beloved, I would never forsake an opportunity to shower you with the deepest respect and the most tender love, before lighting it quickly and puffing. "It's going to be a rough couple weeks I think…"
Eleanora smiles broadly, but lets the conversation continue without her as Estelle leans up, putting herself next to Katherine and throwing an arm over her shoulders to pull her into a side hug, somewhat roughly, "Whaddya mean? Visions, right?"
"Hmmm? Oh, no. Down swing." She says exhaling, a sunken hollowness taking her eyes, "Should have noticed when the Paranoia peaked out a few days ago. No-one puts up eight cameras in two hours, then cleans the house twice to check for bugs." Another puff, her mind locking on nothing. Looking at nothing with a laser focus.
Estelle works her jaw, thinking carefully on what to say, before promptly throwing that caution to the wind and going with her gut, "What, you wanna be on a twice a day orgasm schedule while you cope or something?"
"Literally might not be able too." She says somewhat morosely, "When it's really bad, but I'm down for anything as long as I don't have to move too mu—" She stops, suddenly razor sharp, her body tensing as if the whole thing had just been shot with lightning. Then she takes a deep breath and the moment passes. "Sorry. Someone walked over my grave. It's nothing." She takes another puff quietly.
"Cool superpower, I don't notice when they walk over mine." Estelle grins, rattling her fingers on Katherine's shoulder, no long fingernails on any of them, a blunt cut, done at some recent point in time, three hours, a sudden realization hits Katherine. Three hours and one minute.
"Quick question, did you cut your nails… Three hours and one minute ago? I know a question like that from a schizo probably seems like it holds weight, but it's a grounding thing." She fully admits, reaching for her phone quickly.
"I really don't wanna answer truthfully, so I'm gonna keep delaying until its not that amount of time. Okay?" Estelle makes a joke of it, glowing eyes drifting past her sunglasses to look at Katherine fully.
"Don't worry the meds keep most things in check, and I got some tricks in therapy to help fact check myself." Still very direct, tense, quiet. "Delusions still suck. Time loop, perfect grasp of when things happen, either of you think that's related." Another puff as she scratches her chin.
Eleanora hums to herself, Five hundred and twenty six years, thinking, "I would think so, yes."
"Five hundred twenty six? Have to ask, either it's real or it's not." She said matter of factly. "Excuse the rudeness." Then she reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out a champagne flavored black and mild with a wood tip, lighting up a cigarillo.
The elder vampire tilts her head, "Je suppose que vous m'avez pas demandé mon âge exact." I suppose you did not ask my age exactly. A slow smile spreading over her face, nodding.
Katherine made a kissy face. "Ok, so… I'm magic." Then quietly to herself, "Fuck. This is literally the worst possible time to figure out I might be magic." She took out her phone, writing down her thoughts.
Can guess exact time
Currently in love with two vampires
Was caught in a timeloop
Am currently hunted by the LAPD
Prophetic visions
Visions of things that happen in other places.
Being monitored by government organization for vampires.
"You." She said to Estelle, "Fact check for me." She hands her the phone. Quickly, Estelle taps away at it, making quick corrections.
Can guess exact time
Currently in love with two vampires (Ur cute)
Was caught in a timeloop (Dunno)
Am currently hunted by the LAPD (Fixing it)
Prophetic visions
Visions of things that happen in other places.
Being monitored by (Rogue elements of) government organization for vampires.
Taking it back and looking at it, "Ok, was not expecting all of that to be one-to-one." She said quietly, "Might just be depressed then, which would be a nice change of pace." She was silent again thinking, taking a larger draw of her Black and mild.
"You know, vampirism usually solves like, neurochem issues." Estelle says, getting a glare from Eleanora "Just saying."
Katherine looks at her, "Is there rules? You have a whole government that tries to ban you from the internet. I can't imagine they're like, 'yes my children go forth and propagate.' You know?"
"I would have to ask my Prince for the right of childer." Eleanora explains, "And, given time, you would come to dislike it. And so will I."
"I'm also already immortal because of the time loop. If something happens to you, I can just put two in my head and I go back, then fix it on the next loop." She says quietly, "Already tested it a few times." Then looking to Estelle, "Don't shoot yourself in the head if you kill yourself, it hurts the entire time. In fact, just don't commit suicide. Every method hurts, terribly, normally after you can ask for help."
"Le lien qui nous unit va se renforcer…tordu." The bond between us would grow…twisted. Eleanora frowns deepest at that, mostly whispering to herself.
"At being a vampire, or time loop," She asks, looking at Eleanora suspiciously.
"If you were of my blood, you would…no longer have a choice in loving me, mon amour." Eleanora explains, carefully choosing English words.
"I'm not actually interested mon amour, Pourquoi changer ce qui est déjà parfait dans sa beauté et son romantisme?" Why change what is already perfect in its beauty and romance? She takes another puff with a smile.
"Parfait, mon amour." Perfect, my love. Eleanora seems calmed by that, the frown slipping off her, replaced with a beautific calm. Estelle on the other hand has finally digested the words.
"No-no, I know. I've made people commit suicide before." Estelle answers, "But like… just aim at the brainstem with a slug, yeah?" She considers, "But the recoil–"
"Time dilation." She cuts her off, "In life or death moments you perceive time slower. Whole time between the trigger and the stem is anxiety, fear, and pain as it worms it's way through. Wouldn't notice if you weren't experiencing it." Ashing the cigarillo into an ashtray, "I tested a bunch, turned me off the whole idea."
Nodding, she continues a silent thought process audibly, "Yeah, that's usually why i say Relax," There's an immediate sense to listen, hard to ignore, though ignorable if Katherine tries.
"Can you do that?" Katherine says as tension suddenly leaves her body, looking to Eleanora, "Extremely useful. Christ." Finally feeling a moment of calm.
Eleanora shakes her head, "I've never been very good with direct Domination."
"Please can we keep her, my entire body feels unfurled." She said mostly joking as she stared at the ceiling.
"Most people," Estelle interrupts herself by placing a slim black cigarette in her mouth, "Most people are uncomfortable, feels like it shoves its way into your brain and makes you do a thing. Guess it's not so bad for you, huh?"
"Everything my brain does is without my consent. You tell me to Relax and I just go with it and feel better? Fuck fighting it." Another heavy puff, A second one already coming out of her pocket.
"We'll have to rethink that biting rule, me doing that all day's a one way ride to hungry." Estelle laughs, fangs proudly displayed as she pulls Katherine down to lie with her on the couch, the vampire catching herself on the skin with a cigarette tip, causing a spark of flame and an aggrieved hiss that fades into a chuckle.
There's a moment where Katherine notices the spark, and knows she should feel concern. "Maybe… Switch to vape if you're going to catch flame if a cherry touches you?" It's a very matter of fact statement as she stares at the burn.
The vampire watches Katherine speak, before saying, "You wanna see something hot?" Estelle's voice is teasing as she lifts the cigarette, relighting it. Whether answered or not, she shifts, pulls the hem of her shorts up, stopping as Katherine talks.
"Really quick, before you do, is it possible for me to hear a noise you two didn't?" Katherine said rubbing her eyes.
"Doubt it, I'm listening to a couple arguing four houses over." Estelle laughs. "No Ted, you smell like her!-Peak comedy!"
She nodded relieved, "Fuck, this may be the safest I've felt in years." Katherine admitted.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
At that, Estelle completely crumples a cigarette on her thigh, watching the skin ripple with flame and desiccate on contact, rapidly dying at the very point where flame licked it, a mark-a brand really, forming there.
"How permanent is that." Katherine asks as she pokes it, making Estelle let out a hiss.
"Fuckin-The night, unless I don't wanna heal, then forever." Estelle answers past her hiss after batting away Katherine's hand jokingly.
Something about this is kind of funny, but she's not sure what. She puts her head in Estelle's lap. "Eleanora, how come you're always in a chair, never a loveseat or a couch. Makes me feel bad I can't sit with you."
Eleanora thinks on it, considering why she has the habit, "I could not tell you, mon amour."
"Est-ce parce qu'une belle reine doit toujours avoir un trône?" Is it because a beautiful queen must always have a throne? She asks with a smile, setting Eleanora up as she continues on to her third Black and Mild.
"C'est très gentil." How sweet. Eleanora chuckles, shifting to stand and move over to their couch, to the mild apprehension of Estelle. She sits just at both women's feet, brushing Katherine's calf.
She looks at Eleanora with a wink, "Et j'ai un beau visage. Peut-être que ma reine devrait avoir un beau trône?" And I have a beautiful face. Maybe my queen should have a beautiful throne? Hoping the dirty joke lands.
"Aujourd'hui? Vous voulez faire un spectacle pour Estelle?" Now? You want to put on a show for Estelle? Eleanora is surprised, but entertained, "My brave Katerina." She comments softly, looking at the aforementioned woman lovingly.
Katherine laughs, but is also so very tired. "Les bons comptes font les bons amis, peut-être ? Même si j'étais sérieux en disant que je ne voulais absolument pas bouger." Turn about is fair play maybe? Though I was serious about not wanting to move at all. She says but when she looks at Eleanora, the bags are so heavy around her eyes, puffy and drooping.
"Alors chut. Je prendrai soin de vous." Then shush. I will care for you. Eleanora shifts, moving onto the larger woman's back, pressing Estelle into the couch with a surprised look as, to her, this came out of nowhere. Eleanora's fingers are surprisingly strong to anyone else, merely familiarly powerful to Katherine as they reach in for muscle knots and press into joints, massaging as much tension from her Katherine as she can.
"Can't say this is where I thought I'd be today." Estelle mumbles into Katherine's shoulder, trapped as she is.
Looking at Estelle, then gently stroking her cheek, "I asked her to sit on my face, but this works too." She whispers. "Thinking it might be a manic episode actually, just a kind of empty one. Being sick is fun. Do you know the difference between schizoaffective and schizophrenia?"
Estelle tries to shake her head, only accomplishing brushing her lips against Katherine's jaw in the limited range of motion. "No, not even a little."
"Schizophrenia, you're just schizo. Some days are better, some days are worse but that's what it is. Consistent in it's inconsistent realities. Schizoaffective is fun though, it's a cycle, but not always in a super clear pattern. Some days it's terrible, Hyper or Depressed, mixed with possibly delusions (believing things that can't be true.)" She continues on her hand, counting off things, but not really down or up just counting. "Hallucinations you know that one, can't talk somedays, or only talk gibberish. Can't sleep, sleep too much, or just be completely out of character. Like you just wake up some days feeling off, like someone else."
"They give you all these stabilizers right but then, some days are worse then others. So you get a script, for a dozen meds, and they tell you what they're for and they all say take daily." She leans in, almost like she's about to tell her the secret to some big conspiracy. "But it doesn't make sense. Amphetamines and Benzos at the same time? With stabilizers?" Katherine shakes her head, almost upset, "You're just supposed to figure out the day you're having before it's too late, and pray you took the right thing. Fucking sucks, unless you're into just… Tweaking your bio chemistry a ton."
Estelle listens, eventually having committed to being underneath everyone. Hands settling on the small of Katherine's back, thumbs making circles there.
"That was for you too, Eleanora." Katherine said, "I like this, being pampered by both of you, I mean."
"You are very lucky then." Estelle chuckles, "Smiling Kat's worth the effort." The grin that splits her face is predatory, aggressive and fun all the same.
She smiled, and felt guilty, which made her want to cry, but not for the reason it probably seemed. "You have no idea how much things sucked before a week ago… Or… A hundred? Years ago. There's no real way to keep count. How long do you think it takes to learn flawless french, some engineering, learn to tailor, learn epee, and then uhh…" She's thinking quietly, "There was some other stuff, I don't remember everything, which made them kind of useless I guess."
"Tempête ou vagues, guerre ou paix, je serai là, ma chérie." Storm or wave, war or peace, I will be here, my dearest. Eleanora whispers into Katherine's ear as she arrives at her shoulders, leaning forwards to press into the other woman, flattening her thin dress and body for a long moment.
Katherine smiles, putting out her cigarillo in the ashtray, almost a half-dozen wooden tips having been discarded.
Estelle considers the question, giving an actually reasonably informed answer, "All of that? Maybe… ten? Fifteen years?"
"Five hours a night, that was how long until sunrise. Eleanora would let me do anything so I had an internet connection, and a woman who knew all her favorite hobbies and interests. Sometimes I'd take a break, but I'd just go back, over and over. Learn new skills, learn new things, learn new stuff. It's going to be harder to learn about you Estelle, because you're like two weeks in, so I'll have to wait two weeks instead of five hours." She's liking talking, even though it might not totally make sense, "I'll learn you. That's the cool thing I like someone, I can just learn them." She felt really tired
"Maybe!" Estelle excitedly chuckles, "But I'll make it hard, promise." She sounds sure of that, briefly being distracted by Eleanora rising from Katherine's back languidly, pressing her hands back in after a seconds rest. "I definitely think you were in there fifteen though."
"I wonder if I can tell?" She suddenly thought, wondering if there was a hand mirror somewhere, "I could maybe loo—" Then she remembered, "How do I keep forgetting your vampires. You probably don't have hand mirrors."
"Oh that's an Eleanora thing, Kat." Estelle clarifies with a raised phone, "I show up just fine in mirrors, what I can't do is cross running water." She waves at her reflection on the black screen.
"Must make cross country flights a… How does that work with plumbing? Like Water mains?" The thought almost hits her immediately as she looks at herself. Wondering how the magic worked, would she know? two-hundred and five years "Oh." Her eyes had become very sunken at that. "Two-hundred and five… Is my current age. I was thirty-one when I went in."
Estelle has a flicker of concern pass over her, something close to humanity, "Shit, that's a hell of a lot of nights."
"They were very fun." Katherine says quietly, "I must have lost track of time. Sixty-five-thousand nights…"
"Lorsque les choses répétent, le temps se transforme en riviéré." When things repeat, time turns to a river. Eleanora seems to know what that's like, a personal awareness of losing track of time, of where you are in it. "It is…a common condition at my age, mon amour, I understand it."
"Je ne m'attendais pas à ce que nous nous connaissions si bien." I didn't think we'd know each other so well. Katherine admitted, so quiet now, "C'est agréable que tu comprennes." It's nice you understand.
The elder vampire leans to press her lips at Katherine's neck, a soft, cold kiss to draw out more tension, almost chaste compared to many others she's given. Estelle rolls her eyes, "You are are going to give me diabetes, christ." She chuckles out.
"For all you know, we just said we'd take turns going down on you," Katherine snorts, finishing the last of her black and milds, pulling out a second carton of six from the cavernous trench-coat she had thrown on the end of the chair, peeling away from the vampires for just a moment.
Estelle does say, as if remembering, "Hey, bootlick!" Making Eleanora glare at her again, "Isn't Elysium tonight?" The words bring a certain…energy? Panic? Anxiety? Something similar to Eleanora, drawing a quiet curse from her as she stands up and starts to rip through her wardrobes fast.
The younger vampire turns around on the couch to watch her storm off as she laughs, "To catch you up, Elysium is like…bootlick powwow, once a month deal, they all get together and vampire super hard at each other to make sure they're all still alive, make deals, do judgments–"
"Piss each other off so they have reasons to kill each other before next month," Katherine says, "Forced politeness that makes it so that every insult is a hundred times worse." She stops, "I'm not supposed to know that."
"Did I say you're cute?" Estelle laughs, smiling, "Good intel work Kat, you drilled Eleanora deep."
"You did, keep saying it please," Katherine said, now crawling into Estelle's arms with a smile, "I lost a lot of info though too. I don't remember who my parents really are. I might have a family? I don't think so." Even though she's six-one she's almost curled into a tiny fetal ball on the woman's lap.
"'Course you do." There's something possessive to Estelle, a grit to her voice as she tightens her hold on Katherine, "I'm right here."
"You bond fast," She whispers, it's not an insult. Then she wonders if everything she says sounds… Cryptic and knowing… Maybe she shouldn't mention the loop as much. "Or… You seem too, just as good in my opinion." She rests her head on Estelle's shoulder.
"Here's the thing, right?" The vampire explains, pulling another black cigarette to herself, "You are mine, simple as can be. I took you under my wing, don't need to bond after that. That's mortal shit."
"But now I don't want you to solve the thing. So that I can stay under the wing." She admits quietly, "You and Eleanora make me happy. I… Hold onto people for pretty much ever. Sixty-five thousand nights, and I'm still right where I'm happiest." She whispers, putting the black and mild in the ashtray, as she realises she's now falling asleep after only a few minutes of waking life. "Make sure I eat when I wake up."
"You're cute." Estelle lowly chuckles at the request, pulling the other woman in and staring at the ceiling, A few seconds after that, she does say, "When I wake you up, wanna come along, do some investigation shit together?"
"Yes, I would." She whispers almost completely still now, as the sleep crawls into her mind. "Someone is… No-one is watching us, we're watching each other." Can't deny the feeling, simply twist it a bit. It never works.
"It's me, Kat." Estelle comforts in her own way.
And with that Katherine is out like a light.