Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}
<h1 id="title">Elliquiy Role Playing Forums</h1>
		<h2 id="linktree">Play-By-Post: Bondage, D/s, S&amp;M =&gt; Bondage: Human Solos =&gt; Topic started by: Trouble on 15-05-2010, 04:43:52</h2>
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				Title: <strong>Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 04:43:52</strong>
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				<br>In almost all ways, it was a typical enough winter night. It was still fairly early in the evening, only around five thirty pm, but already a veil of darkness covered the city. There were no glorious sunsets of orange, red, and yellow, no luminous night skies speckled with light. In the city, electricity buzzed creating a sickly orange glow from streetlamps to beat back the darkness. For the most part, the shops around here were closing. Or, rather, trying to close. Empty crisp packets, Styrofoam cups, and long-forgotten candy wrappers were swept up by a passing wind, like dead leaves. Luckier wind got to whisk through peaceful valleys, or wind through forests, or just roar across the tundra. The city did horrible places to wind. This particular wind idled through a dark street and probably either got into some kind of tourist trap or wandered into an alleyway where it was mugged and beaten. On its way to be mugged and beaten, it idled past a particular charity shop. <br><br>Like most charity shops, this one appeared to have been hit by a freak whirlwind which had been transported from the past. Clothes had a distinct property of mold about them; books were not only foxed, but also dogged and possibly catted as well. It was the kind of store where the owner wore slippers and only opened when she absolutely felt like it and she most assuredly did not want to be open now. The only truly new thing in the store was the young man trying to make a purchase. <br><br>Emphasis on the word ‘trying’. <br><br>“Look, it’s not that difficult. I’m looking for an electric kettle,” he said in the tones of one who was normally quite patient but was finding such a thing in short supply by now. If the request for a kettle didn’t give away his nationality, his accent certainly did; the young man----who was indeed quite young; he was young enough to still have faint spots from acne----was so English that just to look at him was to mentally say something foolish like ‘toodle-pip!’. He was also quite annoyed. Clearly, his tea addiction was getting the better of him. <br><br>“And I’ve told you, we’ve got lots of teapots,” the woman proprietor said. “See, some real fancy ones too.” At first, it was merely amusing to listen to the young man. English accents were supremely mockable and even the most vile curse words became adorable. But, by now, she was tired and starting to get a little pissed off. <br><br>“No, a kettle. You know, a ket-tle. It’s a thing with a spout on one end, a handle on the other, and it heats water! With electricity!” Dear GOD, it should never be this difficult to get a simple cooking implement. People back in England had warned him that America would be a little… different. He just hadn’t imagined that looking for a simple electro-kettle would turn into a full spun adventure all by itself. Of course, he could always just purchase on online, but they were so expensive. A new college student---especially one without mummy and daddy to send money over----had to watch his dollars carefully. Unfortunately, with all the confusion about pounds and dollars, Caleb didn’t do a very good job of that. <br><br>Doubly unfortunately, it seemed as though there weren’t any electric kettles in the secondhand store either. Caleb clung to hope like a drowning man to a lifefloat, but it was sinking fast with the blank look he got. It was a bit stereotypical that an Englishman would be so addicted to tea, but… well, he’d grown up on it. He was used to it. It was pretty much the last link he had to home. <br><br>Also, he really, <em>really</em> liked tea. <br><br>Defeated in the end, Caleb left the shop, trying not to feel too dejected over this failure. After all, he could always borrow a friend’s hotplate and heat up a saucepan of water for his tea. A gust of wind made him bundle his thin jacket closer and he tried to think of warm things. In all honesty, the young man wasn’t very imposing. In many ways, he looked very much like the archetypical bookworm, complete with slightly messy blond hair and silver-rimmed glasses. All in all, he looked like the type of boy who was almost certainly destined to grow up into a banker or, perhaps, someone who spent all of his time in a very small room adding up numbers. <br><br>In fact, Caleb was a history major and he generally looked like one, seeing as he was dressed to stay inside away from the cold. This was supposed to be his first term in uni, but it had gotten off to a bad start. A lack of tea was to blame, he was certain of it. Well, there were other shops to visit before he gave up. He continued on his way with the blissful ignorance of someone who had very definitely not been born and raised in this city. 
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 05:29:11</strong>
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				Unfortunately for the naïve young Englishman, there was someone else wandering the dark and dangerous streets of the city on that particular evening. Another person who had not been born and raised in this city, not even this country, not even this century. He had however lived in this city for the past fifty years of so. He found it suited his purposes perfectly. <br><br>In this city there was always a new variety of strangers in many different flavors, many of which took part in such nefarious deeds that he felt no guilt at all in ending their evil little lives. Also, the crime level was as such that no one would take any notice of a couple extra dead bodies abandoned in an alleyway per week. All he had to do was hide the fang marks and take the green pieces of paper from their wallets, so people would think it was just another attack. <br><br>Gabriele Di Luca did not give off the physical appearance fo being someone that should be feared. He looked young, barely out of his teens, longish curly black hair and dark eyes, skin that seemed a little too pale when compared to his other features. His height was a perfectly normal 5'8", and his build was slim but toned.&nbsp; If anything someone would simply assume he was a drama student from the local college, dressed as he was in an exciting combination of clothing that seemed to mimic the rennesiance period, as well as modern clothing. He wore a black velvet jacket tailored to resemble a frock coat over a t-shirt advertising an old Bella Legosi Dracula movie, knee high black leather boots with silver buttons pulled up over tight blue jeans. <br><br>This evening, Gabriele had no need to hunt. He had fed last night, so he was free to enjoy the night. He then smelled something…something very interesting. Something he had been waiting for centuries to smell. It was coming from a young man entering a curiosities shop. He lingered outside of the shop, listening in with his keen ears. He had to chuckle softly. Poor English boy, so far from home, and without a tea kettle. <br><br>As the young man exited the shop, he spoke to him softly, his voice still carrying the accent of his native Italy. “Americans…they act like they’re the center of the world and yet, still such a cultural wasteland.” <br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 05:52:45</strong>
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				Caleb jerked in surprise as a voice came seemingly out of nowhere. And that was just silly; voices had to come from somewhere. It was what they did. In this case, the voice came from an unknown stranger, one who looked only a few years older than Caleb himself. Probably an art student who had wandered down from the college in an endless search for art supplies. Caleb had been warned about them, somewhat needlessly, since London had her own supply of neurotic artists. They were nice enough, in their own way, so long as you didn’t actually talk about art. <br><br>“It’s not the culture that’s the problem. I was raised on Sesame Street and the like when I was toddling about. I grew up watching the same celebrities as most Americans, I bet. It just doesn’t go the other way. England is like the creepy stalker of America. We know all of America’s little likes and dislikes, but the favor is never returned. So, you came up from uni, right?” Alright, so Caleb was babbling a little; it was just sometimes nice to meet someone else who wasn’t from America. <br><br>No, that wasn’t right. Like most big American cities, this one was a mishmash of cultures from all over the world. In the course of a single hour, one could hear any number of languages being spoken. It was just nice to find someone willing to talk to Caleb. Americans in general were busy bustling around and trying to get things <em>done</em>. No one took the time to talk to anyone else anymore. Actually, they didn’t do that in London either, but Caleb was feeling uncharacteristically proud of his city for the day. <br><br>Besides, the Italian man seemed nice enough, if a bit anachronistically dressed. He held out a hand to the other man for a shake introducing himself. “I’m Caleb, by the way. Just so you don’t endlessly think of me as The Guy Looking for a Kettle.” <br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 06:21:33</strong>
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				Gabriele smiled. This was going to be easier than he had expected it to be. Many were leery of strangers, however unintimidating they seemed to be, but not this boy. He was as friendly as can be, eager to make new friends in a new place. The young Englishman smelled delicious, it would be the hardest thing to not simply drink his blood, but Caleb had the potential to be so much more than just a meal. <br><br>He had a good hard laugh at Caleb’s description of England as the creepy stalker of America, managing to keep his fangs hidden at the same time. He was going to be a lot of fun…and he was going to be all Gabe’s forever if he played his cards right. <br><br>“Yes, I am from the university, I study theatre and art.” He said with a smile. That would be very easy to pretend. There wasn’t anything about art or theatre that he didn’t know. He had lived in the birthplace of the renaissance at the height of it’s glory. “I have an off campus apartment not too far from here, I’m just out for an evening stroll.” <br><br>He shook the hand that Caleb offered him, giving him a winning smile, laying the charm on thickly. “It is a true pleasure to meet you Caleb.” He said with a smile. “I am Gabriele, or Gabe if you like…just so you don’t endlessly think of me as the Stranger Lurking Outside of the Curiosity Shop.” <br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 06:40:37</strong>
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				Oh, a drama student. That fully explained the strange clothes. Drama students were a bit like the science students in that they tended to wear strange things, huddle together, and whisper to each other as though there were some huge secret that only they were privy to. Caleb didn’t really find that in the history department; they tended to just avoid each other, because interaction would mean actually dealing with another human being. “I thought you were an art student of some sort. The clothes are a bit of a tip there.”<br><br>Speaking of interactions with another human being, Caleb was pleasantly surprised to discover how easy this all was. He’d even made the other man laugh! And not at him! This was a proud moment for Caleb, who was more commonly the butt of a joke than the instigator. “I’m a history major. European history, mostly, which is bad enough. I know, it seems a bit backwards to move to America to study European history, but it made sense at the time.” Actually, it didn’t. It had never made sense and it never would. <br><br>Abruptly realizing that he had been holding onto Gabe’s hand longer than was strictly necessary for a handshake, Caleb let go of the other man’s hand abruptly. “I’m living in the dorms for now. It’s just cheaper, with the meal plan and everything. See, at the time, I had assumed that the meals would actually be food. And this is an Englishman complaining about food here. We never should complain about food, being the people who came up with spotted dick and black pudding.” <br><br>The charm was definitely working. In London, it was practically traditional for people to hold all their feelings close; showing emotion was like showing someone your underclothes. The fact that Gabe laughed so easily and was so… well… free was strange and that intrigued Caleb. <br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 07:04:54</strong>
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				"Yes, I suppose they are a bit of a tip off." He said with a soft chuckle, looking down at his own clothing. "I just prefer not to be bound by the constraints of what someone else considers to be fashionable. Sometimes I have to have things specially made but such is the cost of self expression I suppose."<br><br>Gabe was thoroughly enjoying his conversation with Caleb. He was a charming young man. He always had liked Englishmen, even when he really was twenty. He wanted to carry him off then and there, but he had to play it cool, keep it smooth. "Oh, History." He said with a grin. "Another one of my great loves." He knew much about history, of course, he had lived through a lot of history. "It makes a lot of sense to be coming to America to learn about European history actually...learn about it from an outsiders perspective, it puts a whole new spin on things." <br><br>"Ah yes, I'm well acquainted with the college meal plans. I was on one my freshman year. That food isn't fit for any man, even an English one...How would you feel about joining me for dinner? Get you a meal you can eat without fear that it will eat you first."
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 07:25:31</strong>
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				“It seems like that would be expensive,” Caleb said without really thinking about it. There were a few things that he knew for absolute certain: gravity was very much still in effect, the Americans were clueless about the amazing electric kettle, and that very, very few college students had money to spend frivolously. Those that did tended to go to fancy universities, ones with titles like Harvard: School for Smug Rich Douchebags. Unless… oh right. “Although, I guess in drama things might work differently. Costuming and all that. I always imagined that the uni would want to keep the costumes afterwards, though.” <br><br>Huh. Gabe had a very good point there, one that Caleb hadn’t really thought of. “…You know, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll steal that excuse the next time someone asks me about it.” He paused to think for a moment before adding, “Not that anyone really does ask me about it. Mostly, they seem to assume I’m here because the universities are just so much better. America’s ego strikes again.” <br><br>Gabe’s sudden offer of a meal was definitely a surprise; even someone who was practiced at hiding emotion couldn’t hide the sudden bafflement. Caleb was well-aware that he was good-looking----unlike many history majors, he took care of himself and exercised----but to have another man just come out and ask him out to dinner… at least, he was assuming that was what was happening here. “Wait, wait. I think we may have misled each other here. Are you asking me out on a date?” he asked point blank. <br><br>Not that he wasn’t gay. He was. More or less. Sexuality just wasn’t something Caleb really thought about. He was attracted to some people----Gabe lay in this category since he seemed so different----and not attracted to others. Attaching a name to it just seemed silly. <br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 07:44:25</strong>
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				Right. College students were generally poor...that was something that he had forgotten to take into consideration. Something about living an insane amount of time (and murdering an insane amount of people who made insane amounts of money in illeagle ways) made Gabe very wealthy. He didn't have to worry himself about money in the least. He hadn't needed to since he was a human. Now he had to try to remember how to be frugal. <br><br>"No...it's really not that expensive, you see I have a friend that sews- a fashion major. She doesn't charge me anything other than materials as long as she can use the designs I give her as she wishes." There...that sounded...plausible. At least Gabe thought so. <br><br>"You're very welcome to use that excuse if you have the need...though it's my belief that a man should do what he wants with his life without feeling the need to make excuses to others. You are who you are, be proud of it." He said with another winning smile. <br><br>He sighed when Caleb seemed so shocked about him asking him out to dinner. Did this mean that he was going to freak out about being asked out by a man? So many young men were so...uptight about that sort of thing. ""I'm not going to lie to you Caleb, I do tend to be more attracted to men than to women, and I find you to be an attractive and intelligent man, and I'm already rather fond of you. If you feel the same way then it could be a date, if not, it could simply be two new friends getting to know eachother."
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 07:56:42</strong>
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				Oh, a fashion major. Yeah, that sounded pretty believable, considering that the only students who were more insane than drama and art majors were the fashion majors. Caleb wasn’t even sure how it could possibly be a major, honestly, since creativity wasn’t something that could be taught in schools. “That’s an admirable trait, Gabe. Many people say they believe that, while following something completely different. Did you know the Japanese actually have a word for that? Two words, actually, <em>tatemae</em> and <em>honne</em>. They don’t translate neatly, but it’s basically what you pretend to believe in because society says you should and what you actually believe. Reality was we understand and reality as it actually is. It’s pretty interesting, since they don’t say one is better than the other. It’s just the way things are. It’s like telling Granny that you love her clumsily knitted sweater when you actually know that it’s an abomination that should be contained in a lead-lined chest.” <br><br>Alright, he was blabbering again. It was probably a side-effect of that charming smile of Gabe’s. It was overflowing with charm that Caleb honestly worried that some might get on his trousers. Honestly, the Italian ought to be made to walk around with a warning: may reduce people to gibbering. Poor Gabe looked so disappointed that Caleb had to feel pity for him. <br><br>“Uh, no it’s not that. I mean, this is modern times. It’s acceptable and whatnot. I just don’t expect people to be so blunt about it. How’s tomorrow for you then?” Hey, it was a free meal. Well, not really free, since Caleb rather felt he ought to pay for at least his half of the meal, but at least it was food with good company. That was a catch out here. He wasn’t sure if it would count as a date or not; for now, he was content to consider it an amicable gathering between two men who happen to enjoy each other’s company and, maybe in the future, would enjoy each other’s company without clothes on. <br><br>That seemed to cover just about all the bases. <br><br>ooc| Slight edit. I misspelled a word. <br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 08:32:39</strong>
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				But to Gabe, Caleb's 'Gibbering' was very fascinating. He was actually telling him something that he didn't know. It had been a long time since he had met a human that could tell him something that he didn't know. He wanted Caleb more than ever before now. He even had a pleasant and colorful way of wording things. He had been worried that when he found someone that would be compatible for a blood bond they would be some idiotic and unattractive person that he would not want to spend time with.&nbsp; Now standing before him was his dream man. Gabe was certainly not going to let him get away. <br><br>He smiled when Caleb was actually okay with them going on their 'Date'. Everything was going very smoothly, and Gabe was ecstatic. Then Caleb said 'Tommorrow then?'. Actually he was thinking tonight. There and then. That very moment. However...that would be rushing it wouldn't it? He needed to back off, not appear to be over eager. That was not the way it was done. If Caleb was worth having he was worth waiting for. He had waited centuries to find a man like Caleb, he could certainly wait a day to have him. <br><br>"Yes, tommorrow would be wonderful, when and where should I pick you up?" he asked him. He would have to find a place near enough to where Caleb lived so that they could walk there comfortably. Not that it was a problem for Gabe, but it would be for Caleb. Gabe would be happy to pick Caleb up in the beautiful car that he had and take him to an expensive restaurant, but he had to play the part of the broke college student if he was going to pull this off.
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 08:49:34</strong>
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				<em>There are probably rules about this</em>, Caleb thought to himself. The blond had some vague recollection of ‘wait three days before calling someone, so’s not to appear overeager and scare them off’, but that probably only applied to heterosexuals. It was, broadly, figured that homosexuals had already shamed themselves and their family enough and didn’t require any rules to further protect themselves from… uhh… themselves. Still, he didn’t care; tomorrow sounded like the perfect time to spend a few hours in Gabe’s rather charming company. <br><br>Still, there were some things that Caleb knew just by instincts. One of those things was ‘never tell strange men exactly where you live’. Besides, the dorm wasn’t just his home, as he had a roommate and everything. “Why not meet me here? I mean, we both know where it is and it’s easy to walk to. And there are probably some restaurants around here that charge reasonable rates. Probably have some sort of understanding with the uni, right?” <br><br>“Um. I don’t have a car,” he said after a while, realizing that this probably wasn’t completely obvious. “And I haven’t figured out the public transport system yet. I’ll need several different colors of yarn, some tacks, and a nice chart to figure it out. And never mind the old chestnut about Americans driving on the wrong side of the road.” That was simply overused. <br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 17:39:22</strong>
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				Gabriele smiled, he could hardly wait until tommorrow. He hadn't been this excited in centuries. Tommorrow would be the perfect opportunity to sweep the young Englishman completely off of his feet. He would have to plan it out carefully, make it a night that he would never forget, and hopefully bring him home to his bedroom, and there, make the bond with him. He was sure to be frightened at first, of course, but surely once he understood about Gabe's situation, he would accept him. What fun was it to live forever if you had no one to share it with? <br><br>"Yes, I don't have a car either." He lied. Actually it was a very nice car, and his apartment was very nice too...he would have to hide some things there, and come up with an excuse for why he had such a nice place...but then by the time he got Caleb into his apartment he was likely to be able to keep him there until he made the bond, one way or another. "That's alright, we'll both just walk here, meet at about...six in the evening? And then we'll walk to a restaurant in the area and have dinner. Tommorrow night is supposed to be a little bit warmer than tonight, so it should be fine. I love going for walks at night in the city anyway." 
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 21:29:24</strong>
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				“That’s probably a good thing. It’s not like London doesn’t have a couple of quirky driving rules, what with the roundabouts and everything, but Americans drive as though they honestly believe that every drive should be a thrilling race, leaving flames and carnage in their wake. Wonderful people outside of a car, but as soon as they get behind a wheel they forget it all.” In all honesty, Caleb’s usual method of transportation was to just use the tube, since it got him away from insane drivers who were possibly high on tea. It had taken him years to figure out London’s; he wasn’t looking forward to puzzling out this city’s system, since it seemed to be a conglomeration of confusion, bright colors, and an indecipherable bit of Aztec lore. <br><br>“Six sounds great!” Caleb paused, realizing that he appeared far too eager. Was it possible to take back an invitation to a date on account of your date being an idiot? He hoped not, because he sort of doubted his ability to ever date again if that was the case. It wasn’t like this was his first time going out on a date ever. That would just be sad and pathetic all mixed into one, rather like a one-legged puppy dog. <br><br>Speaking of the weather, it really was getting absurdly cold out here, reminding Caleb that he was not dressed for this sort of thing. It seemed very rude to just wander off now, but he felt like he ought to get back to the dorms while there was still a chance of getting some food. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow evening then. Later, Gabe.” <br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>15-05-2010, 21:44:28</strong>
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				Gabe chuckled when he heard that description of the way Americans drove their cars, and he knew that it was true. "Perhaps it has something to do with all over hose action movies...fast and furious, gone in sixty seconds, all of those." He commented. He made no mention of the way that he himself drove his car. With his heightened reflexes he was able to drive in a way that would cause most humans to wind up in a fatal accident, and leave no one harmed. He found automobiles thrilling, largely because he remembered all to clearly the days in which the only way to travel was by boat or horse. <br><br>He was not at all put off by how eager Caleb sounded, in fact, it was rather encouraging to him, as he himself was every bit as eager, perhaps more so, but he was doing a reasonable job of concealing it. He had to be patient or he really would scare Caleb off. <br><br>"Yeah, I'll see you tommorrow, right here." He said with a smile. He could tell that Caleb was getting cold. It was a little bit cold for humans out, but it didn't really effect Gabe. It was just as well that they parted here. Gabe had many things to prepare for the next night if it was going o be the success that he hoped it would.&nbsp; He shouldn't have too much difficulty. It was amazing how fast things could get done when money wasn't an object.
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				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 01:06:50</strong>
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				Caleb returned the smile, blissfully ignorant of just what Gabe really had planned for their date. In some ways, the Englishman did suspect it would end in the bedroom. Sure, it was considered tacky and sluttish to sleep with someone on the first date, but come on: Gabe was hot. There was totally a loophole in the law, so long as the person was really, really hot, right? Although he was still without an electric kettle, Caleb still felt that this evening was ending on a high note. Uh. In a good way, anyway. <br><br>“Bye, then,” he said, apparently having forgotten that he said the same thing just a few minutes ago. He gave a little half-hearted wave before walking back to the uni. <br><br>~~~~~~Later that Night!~~~~~~~<br><br>Venturing into the cafeteria was an experience not unlike venturing into the lost jungles. There was a good chance of poisoning, you were never quite sure what was totally edible, and rumor had it that there were still lost civilizations of students who had made the wrong choice. Caleb’s usual technique for dealing with the overly crowded place was to just get in, grab food, and then run out before anything dreadful could happen. <br><br>“Hey, Vee? Can I talk to you for a second?” Caleb was pretty sure that gathering information on a potential date was considered sort of skeevy. If he thought someone was gathering information on him----that is, spying----he probably would’ve been considerably creeped out. But, at this juncture, he was more than happy to embrace hypocrisy. He wanted to know more about Gabe, damnit. Unfortunately, his quest for information had been fairly empty, since he mostly only talked to other history majors and only when he could pry them away from their own studies. And thus his noble quest brought him to Vee. <br><br>Actually, her full name was Veronica Noell and she was a full-blooded American. Quite literally, actually, seeing as she had a good dose of Native American in her along with a mishmash of other ethnicities in there. The results were striking. At twenty, she was a transfer student, not a first-time freshmen like Caleb, but they hit it off well enough. She was a remarkably lovely young woman with a laugh like a sawblade and a tendency to use it at every opportunity. She did so now, along with saying, “Why, whatho my good chappie!” <br><br>“You know, no Englishman has ever said that. In fact, no one has EVER said that until you.” Caleb had tried to explain this to her before, but it never really stuck.<br><br>“So long as I’m the first!” she chirped, clearly unoffended. For her, offense was only something that happened to others. So was shame. In the world of drama, one couldn’t afford to be easily shamed. She swung her long black hair over one shoulder and peered at him curiously. “So, what brought my favorite little Londoner from the depths of the library? Was it my outfit? I bet it was.” <br><br>“Oh, I’m sorry. You meant to put that on on purpose? I was under the illusion that you had merely suffered a minor head trauma and were unaware. I was avoiding the subject out of tact.” Alright, so the outfit wasn’t that bad. Caleb’s mind just blocked most of it out as the jarring colors could probably cause epilepsy in a field of butterflies. <br><br>Vee let out another sharp laugh, more amused than insulted. “There’s the snark we know and… well, tolerate, but only because of your adorable accent. So, Cal, what brought you out? Or did you get lost? Because I can get someone to show you back to your cave.”<br><br>“Um…” now that it came to this, Caleb felt embarrassed once more. He was pretty sure that Vee----who, more than once, flirted openly with other women----wouldn’t give a damn that he liked men. It was just sort of weird to admit that he was trying to get information on Gabe. <br><br>“Oh, now this MUST be good.” <br><br>“See, I’ve a date with this… person,” Caleb said, choosing his words with some care. “And… uhh… look, do you know everyone in the drama department?”<br><br>“Just about. We’re a pretty close group, you know. Hell, I can tell people apart in the dark just by listening to their farts.” This probably wasn’t something that ought to be said with pride, but Vee was plenty proud of it anyway. “So, you’ve got your eye on someone, huh? That’s adorable! Come on, tell me who it is. I’ll tell you what I know so you can sweep her off her feet.” Or stop the date if she felt it would only ruin Caleb’s adorable little innocence. The fact that Caleb was reluctant to tell her everything only made Vee all the more curious about this. <br><br>“Well, um. It’s a he,” Caleb started hesitantly. He stopped, waiting for the laughter that he felt certain would follow. It didn’t. Vee didn’t even have the grace to pretend to look surprised. “Um, look. He says he’s a drama major. Well, drama and art.”<br><br>“Most of the cute gay boys are.” So, Caleb liked the menfolk, did he? Vee honestly wasn’t surprised. It took a very certain type of man to ignore the girls practically throwing themselves at him----American girls, it turned out, were extremely turned on by just about anything said in an English accent---- and that type was gay. “Anyway, that really doesn’t narrow it down. I’m pretty sure that half the boys in drama are gay or bisexual.”<br><br>“His name is Gabe.” This name was meant with blank stares. “Um. Gabriel? Something like that? He’s Italian, got dark hair, dresses in a combination of Victorian and Renaissance fashions, and has a great arse?” Again, only blankness from Vee, which sort of worried Caleb. <br><br>Honestly, the dark-haired girl wasn’t sure what to tell her friend. By the first few weeks that she had been at the college, she had amassed a reputation for elevating rumor to an artform. Hell, she made it her business to know everyone else’s business, mostly for her own entertainment. “No… there’s no one in the drama department. I think someone’s playing a joke on you, old bean.” <br><br>Caleb was just stunned for a good thirty seconds and the hope that had been rising in his chest for the past twelve hours deflated like a balloon. That was… huh. That was sort of depressing, on a whole number of levels, primary among them: someone was just having a go at him. No wonder Gabe had just been sitting outside of a secondhand store. It was probably Caleb’s roommate’s joke; it seemed like the sort of thing the fucker would do when bored. <br><br>Vee watched Caleb carefully, with far more interest than really should be given to anyone. “Are you still going to meet him?” she asked, honestly hoping the answer would be ‘no’. <br><br>He didn’t answer immediately. Once he had gotten over the disappointment, he just felt pissed off. What the bloody hell was up with that anyway? Why would Gabe lie about something so… so stupid! It wasn’t like they were all in grammar school or something. “Yeah. I want some answers.”&nbsp; <br><br>~~~~~The Next Day~~~~~~<br><br>As Gabe had predicted, the next day was slightly warmer, although it was still just cold enough for Caleb to see his own breath. In all honesty, he was fairly certain that Gabe wasn’t going to show up at all; that was probably the joke, haha, let’s poke fun at the foreigner or something like that. Dickwads. He was still annoyed over this and fully intended on getting some sort of answer out of Gabe. Caleb’s roommate had protested absolute ignorance over this and denied having any part of a joke, which only made things more unusual. <br><br>Well, Caleb was certain he’d get some answers tonight, whether Gabe liked it or not. As soon as the bloody man got here, anyway. It was still a few minutes before their arranged meeting, but Caleb was feeling uncharacteristically impatient tonight. The fact that the street was fairly deserted only heightened his uneasiness; London was never quiet and it never truly fell asleep, probably because it didn’t trust its own inhabitants. To be in a large city and see an abandoned street… it was positively alien. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 02:53:03</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabriele arrived in front of the shop that they had met at the night before just after six o'clock. He was of course completely unaware that Caleb now knew that he was not a drama student at the university. He was excited about the date, anxious to learn more about Caleb, and hoping that tonight would go well. He was dressed similarly to the previous night, but a little different. Instead of just a T-shirt under his frock coat he wore a white poet shirt. He carried a smallish brown box under one arm, and in the other hand he carried a red rose. Sure, it was a little cheesey, but he felt that it might still go over well with Caleb. <br><br>When he saw Caleb there waiting for him he gave him another one of his big winning smiles, but behind it was a genuine happiness to see him. "There you are Caleb." He said with a grin. He handed him first the red rose. He wanted to pull him in for a kiss, but it was their first date, that would have been too foreward of him. "I...also got you this." He said with a smile, handing him the small box.<br><br>Inside the box he would find an electric kettle. It hadn't been easy for even Gabe to get one, but he still managed. There wasn't a whole lot that he couldn't accomplish when he really wanted to. He just thought that any Englishman should have his tea kettle. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 03:04:44</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Oh, wonderful, and there was Gabe, dressed like a Victorian poet who hoped that a dashing enough coat would make up for an inability to actually write. Admittedly, the Italian actually looked bloody sexy in those clothes, managing to pull off a look that had been dead for roughly a hundred years. Undead fashion statement, more like it. Still, Caleb wasn’t so easily distracted by an a… oh, hey, his ass looked even better tonight. Caleb shook his head and forced himself to focus: something was going on here and he didn’t like it. <br><br>The appearance of the rose and the box momentarily distracted him, though, and curbed his anger. His annoyance was replaced by a sense of shame, since he hadn’t brought anything for Gabe a… goddanmit, he was getting distracted again. Crossing his arms across his chest, the younger man made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t going to accept any presents tonight. <br><br>“What the bloody hell is your game?” he demanded. He didn’t sound so sweet and innocent now; he was too busy riding the wave of anger to really care. Since wild accusations never ended well, Caleb explained things a bit more. “I know you’re not a student. At least, not a drama student. I’ve been asking around and my friend swears up and down that she’s never even heard of you before. So what is this to you?” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 03:54:27</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe's heart sank when he saw how clearly displeased Caleb obviously was, and when he heard what he had to day he found out exactly why it was that he was so displeased. He hadn't thought that a history major so new to the school would have any ties into the drama department. He didn't know what he could say. Of course he had had to lie to him...he couldn't' tell him the truth. He still couldn't tell him the truth. Another lie to cover up for the first lie...that was what it was going to have to be, and he hated that. <br><br>"I'm sorry." He said quietly. "You're right, I don't attend the university. The truth is that I've never gone to college." Alright, so he was telling the truth so far, but that certainly couldn't continue forever. "You see...my parents were incredibly wealthy, and they died when I was seventeen. I inherited all of their money when I came of age, and as it's more than enough for me to live very comfortably on forever I've just traveled and done as I wish since then." Okay...that was...nearly plausible. So why did he lie?<br><br>"I lied because...I didn't want you to just see me as a lazy rich playboy, or worse, to go after me simply for the money...I've had to deal with too many people like that.&nbsp; I wanted you to get to know me. I was going to tell you once you knew me better, but I felt that the only way that you could actually get to know me properly was...if you didn't know THAT about me. It seems rather silly now...Can you forgive me?" 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 04:16:45</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Caleb had expected anger or a sense of betrayal on Gabe’s part. Those would’ve been easily understandable, since the young man had basically admitted to digging up information on the Italian. What he didn’t expect was a quiet admission. It was a bit like running at a door with a battering ram only to have the door open up at the last second. Caleb hesitated, his irritation wearing itself out a little, only a little mollified by the explanation. <br><br>It sounded vaguely reasonable, in a twisted sort of way. But some things just didn’t make sense. Quite a lot of things, actually. It sounded a bit <em>too</em> neat, a bit <em>too</em> perfect. It wasn’t that Caleb was ugly or anything (quite the opposite; he could be a perfectly charming young man when he wanted to be, or at least pretty to look at), but a sense of suspicion was bubbling up. Why would a supposedly rich and handsome young man go looking for someone among college students? And not just any college students, but one like Caleb, a recent immigrant with relatively few social ties? <br><br>Something was wrong with this situation and he couldn’t quite figure out what. “It wasn’t just silly. It was stupid. Did you honestly think that a relationship should start out with a lie? Or that I’m just too fucking stupid to figure this out? No, Gabe. I could forgive the lie, but I can’t forgive that you thought so little of me. I’m going home.” <br><br>The lie was a little thing, really. Like so many other people, Caleb had, once or twice, had hoped to meet someone rich and handsome, so Gabe was sort of a dream come true in that respect. But the insult to his intelligence was unforgiveable; he didn’t have a lot going for him in his life, but Caleb clung to the things he could. He wished that he had a long swooshy coat or something. It would’ve made this all so much more dramatic as he turned away from Gabe and started walking off. <br><br>He walked about three steps before he felt bad. Jesus Christ, he was being a bit of a dick here, wasn’t he? It wasn’t like Gabe had put a dunce cap on him and went ‘durrr’ at him or something. It was just a stupid mistake and it wasn’t like Caleb hadn’t made a few of those in his time. Besides, didn’t Gabe deserve a chance or something? A second chance? He seemed pretty sincere, after all… Caleb hesitated before walking back, a bit sheepishly. <br><br>“Alright, fine… you’ll get another chance. But, this is it. Deal?” 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 06:52:55</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe could feel his heart breaking inside of him when he told him that he couldn't forgive that. If he couldn't forgive something simple like that, then there was no chance in hell that he would ever be able to accept the fact that he was a vampire. Then, just as he was going to head back home, he returned. He felt so happy. <br><br>Caleb had told him that he would get one more chance, and that was it. That made him wonder if here and now was the only time that he would have a chance of getting away with coming clean, telling him what was really going on, that the reason that he had lied was because he was a vampire. <br><br>No. Now was most certainly not the time. Not while he was still angry. In fact, this whole fiasco might have to set all of his plans back a couple weeks. A couple weeks of keeping Caleb happy, treating him like a king, and most of all, allowing him to get to know and love Gabriele for who he was on the inside. After all, once he really loved him, if he found out that he was really a vampire, that wouldn't matter, right? True love conquers all. <br><br>"Alright, deal." He said with a smile. Then he handed the box containing the tea kettle back to him. "Now come on, you have to open this...it wasn't easy to find one." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 07:10:12</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The present was still an awkward note for Caleb, but he accepted the box anyway. It felt slightly heavy which, to him, meant it was probably expensive and that just made him feel guiltier that he hadn’t brought anything for Gabe. What could he have brought anyway? A book detailing the history of the trouser press? Ohh, how fascinating! “Gabe, I can’t accept this,” he said, offering the box back to the other man. “I didn’t bring anything for you and, besides, it’s the first date. That’s a little strong for me, you know?” <br><br>Mostly, he didn’t want to feel obligated to sex someone up. That would just be awkward for everyone involved. “Look, why don’t you save it for a few weeks? If we’re still going out by then, you can give it to me th…” <br><br>He was cut off by a very distinct sound, and a curious one. The only weapons Caleb had ever encountered were guns on telly and they didn’t quite live up to the real thing. All he heard was a simple ‘click’, but to someone more acquainted with weapons, it was very clear: a gun was being cocked somewhere nearby. <br><br>“Well, shit. And I thought I was being all subtle. Whatho, my old chappie, Cal. Sorry you had to get all mixed up with this.” Vee looked considerably different now; she had abandoned her typically bright fashions and adopted something far more somber in dark gray and green. But that was really unimportant. The important part was the powerful gun in her slender little hands. “Come on, Cal. Stay away from him. He’s very dangerous.” <br><br>“…” Caleb was silent for a moment as his brain attempted to figure out what was going on. When it failed, he voiced his concerns succinctly. “…Uh. Vee? What the fuck have you been smoking? I told you I was going on a date as a… I don’t know. Just because, I guess. I don’t need you to threaten my date.” <br><br>“He’s not what he appears to be, Cal. Stand back. You’re alright, right? He didn’t hurt you? Look, there’s not a whole lot of time to explain, but I have reason to believe that he’s been killing off college students. Just back away and everything will be alright.” Vee kept her brown eyes fixed on Gabe, just daring him to move. She would only be too happy to put a bullet in his legs if she felt he was going to make a run at innocent little Cal there. <br><br>Since she was the woman holding a gun, Caleb thought it would be best to obey Vee. Besides, it was suddenly making sense. “Oh my g… OH GOD. He’s been killing people?! Gabe, you’ve been killing people?!” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 07:27:22</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe sighed when Caleb turned down the gift he had gotten him again. Nothing was working out right for him tonight. He had worked so hard for this to be a perfect evening. He had been waiting for centuries to find someone just like Caleb, and though he would have found it simple to sweep any random human off of his feet, it just wasn't working out with Caleb. Everything that could go wrong was. <br><br>Speaking of which, just as Gabe was about to insist more that Caleb really should take the present tonight, there was a click of a weapon. Great. It wasn't like this was the first time that he had been tracked down by a vampire slayer, but did this have to happen TONIGHT?!? He just couldn't catch a break here. <br><br>"Caleb, I am not exactly what I appear to be, but believe me when I say that I have NOT been killing college students." Gabriele said, keeping the box in one hand and the other where Vee could see it. It really wouldn't have been very difficult for him to get away from the slayer, but he didn't want to leave with Caleb there, listening to what she was telling him. Telling him that he was a monster. She was going to tell Caleb, so he might as well tell him himself. <br><br>"I am a vampire, but I do NOT kill innocent college students...I kill killers...honestly I've probably saved thousands of lives over the years...I've been waiting centuries for someone like you...I will not harm you...I'd rather die." He said, giving him a pleading expression. "Please, don't listen to her...come with me." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 07:40:07</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Caleb’s head spun. He’d had a feeling that tonight would be a night to remember, but not like this. Not with a friend pointing a gun at his date and all. Then again, he probably would’ve needed extensive therapy if he thought his dates would end with guns. And the vampire th… wait, what? What the bloody blue fuck was that even supposed to mean!? “Is this some sort of joke? Come on, it must be a joke. Haha, how we are laughing! Come on, drop it, Vee, Gabe.” <br><br>“This isn’t a joke, Cal. Just stay back from him, ok? Everything will be alright.” Why did the smart ones have to be so stupid? It would’ve been helpful if the vampire hadn’t just told Caleb that. That sort of announcement led to a lot of awkward questions later. Then again, he probably knew that. “Do we look like we’re joking?”<br><br>“Well, no… but you’re a drama student…” Caleb wavered, unsure who was telling the truth here. On one hand, he’d known Vee for a while and trusted her with anything except for a secret. On the other hand, there was Gabe, who was really hot. And who had already lied to him once. There was that. <br><br>“Cal, I hate to break it to you, but I’m not really a drama student, exactly. I mean I am. It’s really just that I’m going to school part-time and this is my other job a… well, it doesn’t matter right now.” Vee caught herself before she could start chattering. That was one of her faults as a person, a love of incessant chatter. Her victims generally got away because she was too busy talking. “And you, shut up. Immortals shouldn’t rule over mortal crimes. You can’t judge us. Yes, Cal, vampires are real. So are werewolves. You just be quiet and be a good boy, alright? I’ll buy you a lolly on the way home. Just don’t listen to him. They’re predators, Cal. And the best predators are the ones who look perfectly innocent. He already lied to you once. He can be lying again.” <br><br>“Um…” it wasn’t the most intelligent response ever. In fact, it was right up there on the Dumbest Responses Ever, right up there with ‘Er’ and ‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’. “I’m sorry, Gabe. Um. You won’t actually hurt him, will you? I mean, you don’t sound certain.” <br><br>Ah. He was going to be THAT sort then. Vee paused for a while. “No. He’ll just be contained until we are sure,” she lied. Finally, Caleb moved slowly, backing away from Gabe, giving her a very clear shot. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 07:55:38</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				This Vee girl was just like every other slayer that he met. It didn't matter if he was killing people that had already killed people, would kill more people, and in some cases had actually been preparing to kill someone when he stepped in. No, they felt that he didn't have a right to kill anyone, even if not killing would mean his own death. They didn't care about being fair in anyway. They didn't care that he himself had had no choice at all in what he had become, and now they didn't care that all he wanted to do was find someone that he could spend his endless life with. They wouldn't be happy until he was dead, and his death was what this one was aiming for. She told Caleb that they weren't going to hurt him, but Gabriele knew better. He CERTAINLY wasn't born yesterday. Caleb walked away...leaving him open to her. <br><br>It was at that moment that his superhuman reflexes and speed came in handy. He quite likely could have killed Vee himself, but that really wouldn't have done anything for proving to Caleb that he was not a monster. Caleb seemed to be friends with this girl. He wished that he could get away, and take Caleb with him as well, to convince him that he was not evil, but that would have been impossible. He would have to try to track him down at a later date...but that didn't seem too likely. <br><br>And so, Gabriele ran away. He quickly dropped down, ducking below the barell of the gun, and took off down into an alleyway, then down the street. There would be no way that a human would be able to keep up with him. But he regretted so much what he was leaving behind. <br><br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 08:11:15</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				“Fucking hell!” Vee cursed and aimed the gun at the retreating form of Gabe, but she didn’t try to fire. That would just call attention to things right now, and the Slayers preferred to avoid unwanted attention. Besides, the primary objective was to keep people safe. If Gabe was the predator she was seeking, he wouldn’t come back to the college. When found out, vampires generally moved on. Besides, Caleb was safely out of his hands now. Still wearing a most un-Vee like scowl, she tucked the weapon away. “You alright, Cal? It must be a bit of a shock.” <br><br>Gabe was impossibly fast. By the time Caleb had registered this very simple fact, the vampire----vampire!----had already run off and disappeared into the night. ‘Shock’ didn’t even begin to cover what Caleb was going through. “What? Oh, no, of course not. We English go through strict training to keep proper stiff-upperlipishness under all continuities. Why, third term was actually focused on this very situation: what to do if your date turns out to be a bloody vampire, Vee what the fuck is going on?” <br><br>Vee watched in some fascination at Caleb’s little panic attack, thinking that it was probably the third most adorable thing she had seen that night, right after that youtube video of kittens cuddling. No wonder vamp-boy had focused on Caleb. Plus, he was a little stupid when it came to avoiding obvious traps. She patted him on the shoulder anyway, trying to lend what comfort she could. “I promise I won’t tell your Queen to take your English card away. Anyway, I’m guessing I’ve got some explaining to do…” <br><br>The pair began to walk away, venturing towards the lightpoles that illuminated the paths. “Have you ever heard of Slayers, Cal?” <br><br>~~~~~Five Years Later~~~~<br><br>That was five years ago, of course, and the past was an eternity away. Lots had changed in that time. <br><br>In this world, there were many things that annoyed Caleb on some level or another, beginning with the fact that he was ‘semi-retired’ and working up from there. Most people would have considered it a blessing to retire at age twenty-three; Caleb didn’t. He considered it boring. After five years of hunting down the most dangerous creatures imaginable, simply sitting around and wiling away his evenings by writing was just… dull. Dull, dull, dull. Prior to this, he didn’t believe that sheer boring could make a noise, but it surely did: humdrum, humdrum, humdrum, the very sound of monotony. <br><br>It was a little late for coffee shops to be open, but a few cafes found it worth their while to keep their doors open late. Caleb sat at a table outside of one of these establishments, sipping idly at his tea. Or, rather, what the Americans insisted was tea; it was just a load of herbs steeped in hot water, honestly. It lacked the true robust flavor that he felt tea should have. A real tea ought to punch you in the teeth. He flicked open the notebook he was writing in and jotted down a few sentences as they occurred to him. Memoirs had been Vee’s idea, something to keep Caleb occupied while he was healing. <br><br>He appreciated the gesture, but Caleb was smarter than that. He could tell when he was being put out to pasture, so to speak. After a few simple words, his arm seized up, his muscles suddenly contracting violently until he put down his pencil to poke his right shoulder. Five years of work and what ended it all? A bloody bullet! He’d always rather imagined the end would be at some vampire’s fangs or a werewolf’s claws, but a bullet? That was just so… <br><br>So normal. The doctor had done the best he could, but there were still tiny slivers of metal stuck in the muscle. It would be a long time healing before his arm was better, if it ever fully healed. <br><br>Besides that, the past five years had been good to Caleb. The once scrawny and rather gawky teen had matured into a slender man. He still held an aura of academic around him, though. These days, he looked less like a historian and more like a lawyer who had escaped from the local courthouse. Or maybe a librarian who somehow managed to emerge from the library. Caleb eyed the newspaper uneasily, unwilling to read it; he was sure it would only contain disappointment. He had spent every night of the past five years trying to save people who would happily let others die. <br><br>It was just so… disappointing. Caleb finished his tea, tossed the cup away, and started his walk home. Well, not to his actual home; in his injured state, it was felt that he couldn’t look after himself and so he’d been placed in a nearby hotel. That way any of his past enemies----and he had made plenty in the five years---wouldn’t be able to find him so easily. <br><br>It was literally the least the Slayers could do. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 18:22:51</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				However the past five years had not changed very much in Gabriele's life. He had continued to live his life much the same as he had for the past several centuries. By day, he slept. By night he would feed, always only on killers. He would also attend plays whenever he had the opportunity, work on his paintings, but really his life didn't have much thrill in it. Every day people were born, people died. People grew older. Gabriele did not. The world around him was constantly changing, while he remained the same, like a stone in a river, watching the world pass by. He was eternally twenty years old, and eternally alone. <br><br>He had tried many times to relocate Caleb, but the few times that he had managed to successfully locate him, that Vee girl was around. He really did not want to kill Caleb's friend in front of him, and he really didn't want to be killed himself because he was not fighting back. From what it looked like, Caleb was working on being a slayer himself. Gabriele couldn't really blame the slayers. He knew that there were many vampires and werewolves out there that were every inch the monsters that the slayers imagined that he was. Gabe was a rarity among vampires. <br><br>Yet no one seemed to recognize the good that he did. Occasionally a story would surface about a vigilante killing: a murderer or rapist who had his victim cornered in an alleyway suddenly grabbed from behind by a mysterious young man, the body found dead the next day. Mostly it made people angry, that there was someone around being judge jury and executioner to the criminals of the city. Gabe found it frustrating that humans loved superheros, and they loved vampires, as long as the were not real. <br><br>Gabe always felt that in the centuries he'd been around the only time that he'd been really close to making a connection with someone when it actually had the potential to work out was Caleb. He couldn't really seek out relationships, even friendships among mortals. If they discovered what he was it would just spread more word that there were vampires around, and make it harder for him to keep slayers off of his tail. Besides, what if he did fall in love with a mortal? So few were compatible to a blood bond, and he wouldn't wish being a vampire on anyone. He'd be forced to watch the one he loved die. He couldn't handle that.&nbsp; That was why over the last five years he had never given up in finding Caleb again.<br><br>It five years later that he saw Caleb's face in the newspaper under the heading 'Latest Victim of Gang Violence'. He had the sickening feeling of the bottom droppign out of his stomach, figuring that Caleb had gotten himself killed, but under further investigation of the article it turned out that he was merely wounded. It sounded as though his arm had been hurt pretty badly. Gabe figured such a thing was likely to put his slayer career on hiatus, at least for several months. <br><br>&nbsp;A few days later while he was out for one of his usual walks around the city at night, he passed by a cafe and saw Caleb there, drinking his tea, looking at a newspaper. Gabriele decided that it would be best to start out subtle. He went quickly to a nearby florist and purchased a single longstemmed red rose, just like the one he had bought for Caleb on their first date. He then met one of the workers behind the cafe that was having a cigarette break. He gave the young woman a rather generous tip to bring the rose to Caleb. When she asked who she should say it was from he told her to tell him it was from an old friend. <br><br>He stood in the shadows outside the cafe on the other side of the street, watching through the window to see what Caleb's reaction would be. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>16-05-2010, 23:47:01</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Caleb was just preparing to leave when a voice called out. <br><br>“Wait, sir!” the waitress ran up, puffing slightly. God, one of these days, she really ought to quit smoking. It was playing havoc with her lungs. She held out the long-stem rose to Caleb explaining, “It’s not from me.” <br><br>The Slayer stared at the rose as though he’d never seen one before and was wondering, idly, if it might explore or bite, or do something other unpleasant thing. “Ok…?” he hazarded eventually, finally accepting it. He patiently waited for the girl to explain who it was from. Once he realized that no explanation was going to come without him asking, he asked, “…So, who IS it from?”<br><br>“An old friend is what he said.” She fumbled out a cigarette and began smoking nervously, waiting for something to happen. If watching romantic comedies had taught her anything, it was that Caleb would certainly recognize immediately who the rose was from and run off to be in his arms. <br><br>Unfortunately-----or perhaps fortunately, depending on one’s view of romantic comedies----life was not like one. Caleb twirled the rose between his fingers, still staring down at it. Huh. An old friend? Well, through the years, he had dabbled a little with people, most of them men. Some had ended well (or as well as a relationship could end), while others ended more like a bad chemical shed (that is, in explosions that smelled funny and left the land so charred and barren that nothing would grow there ever again). But he hadn’t gotten a rose in a long time. “Is he here?”<br><br>“Yeah he’s right ov… oh. I guess he left…” that was mildly disappointing to the young waitress, who had been rather hoping for some entertainment to spice up her break. “I guess he’s shy.” <br><br>“…Yeah. I guess so.” It was, Caleb had to admit, a very sweet gesture, which made him smile, just a little. But, on the other hand, it was incredibly ball-less. “Well, thank you. And thank him, if you see him again.” Then Caleb continued on his way, carefully folding up his newspaper and pocketing the rose. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>17-05-2010, 00:00:24</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabriele wondered as he watched the scene whether or not Caleb had made the connection with the red rose, but he was rather shure that he would not. After all...it had been only two nights, and five years was a vary long time in the mind of mortals. He wondered if Caleb could even clearly recall those events so many nights ago. <br><br>He watched as Caleb walked away, and then he started walking, following him from a reasonable distance. he could still see him, but he didn't think that Caleb would be alerted to his presence.&nbsp; He wanted to find out more about what he had been up to lately. Where was he staying? What places did he frequent? He had been hasty when they had first met. He needed to take it slower this time. <br><br>But as he followed a thought entered his mind. Caleb had not exactly been reluctant to see him go when he left. He was going to turn him over to the slayers to be killed, and he had become a slayer himself. If he knew it was him his reaction was likely to be either of fear or violence. He wouldn't be one to greet a vampire with open arms. Gabriele needed another plan. One that put the situation entirly in his hands, one that would ensure that Caleb had ample opportunity to get to know him...whether he was willing to or not. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>17-05-2010, 00:41:31</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Caleb, like so many people, was a man of habit, wandering the same streets for comfort. Five years ago, he had been a stranger to this city----hell, the country----but now he knew the city better than some of the natives. He lived and breathed the city, knew it better almost as well as he knew himself. It was simply… comforting to know exactly where he was. He stopped off at the tea shop briefly, just long enough to pick up his usual tea (Earl Grey, because he still had the same weakness for London Fog that always plagued him). By now, he had his own little electric kettle. It had been an expensive machine, but well worth it. <br><br>He stopped at a few other places as well, more out of habit than actual necessity. The grocery store, a newsstand (just in case there was anything interesting happening back home), pausing briefly to talk to some people. All in all, stalking Caleb was an exercise in boredom. The man was pretty much the most un-Slayer-like Slayer who ever existed. Either that, or he merely wanted to bore any stalking vampires to death. The bookstore was his longest stop and he came away with a happy purchase of what appeared to be a history book. <br><br>Clearly, some things hadn’t changed. Another thing that hadn’t changed much was Caleb’s almost naïve approach to the city. Walking and reading is generally a bad approach, but he already had his nose in the book by the time he left the shop. <br><br>His phone rang and a brief conversation followed. "Hello? No, no. I'm just on my way home now. No, not home. You know, the hotel. Bloody hell, I don't know the name off of the top of my head. It's in Fountain Square." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>17-05-2010, 04:14:40</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabriele followed him silently, making careful note of all of the places that Caleb went. He figured that if he lost track of him any of those places would be a good place to catch up to him again. He found Caleb to still be just as adorable as he had been five years ago, but now he was even more handsome. Something inside him found following him to be incredibly thrilling, even if he wasn't doing anything exciting. <br><br>He listened when Caleb was on the phone. He knew this city better than just about anyone else, so he knew exactly what hotel Caleb was talking about. He hurried off to the hotel much more quickly than Caleb could have gotten there. The tricky part was to find out what room Caleb was in. Of course asking at the desk would be pointless. They wouldn't be able to give him that information, and then they would have told Caleb that someone had come looking for him. Well, he was a vampire, wasn't he? He needed only to cause a light to malfunction in order to get the clerk away from the desk to investigate, and then in a flash he checked the database and found exactly what he needed before the frustrated clerk returned. <br><br>After that it was a simple matter of sneaking into an employees only area and grabbing one of the key cards that could unlock any room in the hotel that the maids used. For a vampire it wasn't difficult to get into places like that undetected. He strolled up to Caleb's room, opened it with the key card he had stolen, and walked in. He knew this was Caleb's room. It smelled like him. He didn't have a whole lot of time, and he knew it. He had some preparations to see to before Caleb arrived. The most important thing was to open the window and remove the screen from it. That would be annoyingly in the way when he needed to make his exit.&nbsp; He stashed that in the shower with the curtain drawn. That would have to do for now. He would have to act quickly when Caleb returned. He pushed the window shut, but did not latch it, then he hid himself in the closet awaiting the arrival of his (as Gabe considered him) long lost love.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>17-05-2010, 04:39:21</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Just as the closet clicked shut, Caleb arrived, glaring at his hotel room as though it had personally offended him. Normally, he paid rooms little attention: they were just places for him to eat and, occasionally, sleep in, but he truly did despise this place. Like all professional hotel rooms everywhere, it had been carefully conditioned to look as though it belonged to no one. Anything that was even potentially offensive had been removed and, presumably, burned at the stake. Americans were so easily offended. It was only after physically chasing off the maids that Caleb had convinced the hotel’s cleaning crew to stay out of his room. <br><br>At least then he was able to get the room set up the way he liked it, which mostly involved leaving random books open around the place. Subjects varied widely, from ancient myths to modern crimes to trouser presses to the breeding of stoats. All in all, it was a fairly eclectic collection that had absolutely no rhyme or reason behind it. Caleb added the new book to the collection and put his other purchases on the counter in the small kitchen. The kitchen was another thing that bothered him. Technically, it was only a kitchenette, or so it had been advertised, but it barely had room for the electric kettle and a microwave. And he flatout refused to live off of microwave foods. <br><br>The room felt… strange, like something had disturbed the air in it. Caleb’s senses screamed at him, telling him that something was very wrong. Old habits died hard; Slayer habits tended not to die until the Slayer himself---or herself---did. Caleb hesitated, uneasy among this place that would never really be a home. Then again… it was probably just the cleaning crew again or something. <br><br>Something like that. He shrugged off his jacket and put it on the coatrack before lying down on the couch; sleeping in a bed didn’t really occur to him, honestly. After a few tosses and turns, he fell into a light nap, his breathing slowing. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>17-05-2010, 05:06:09</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				When Gabriele could tell that Caleb was asleep, he acted quickly. The first thing he did once he was out of the closet, was to go and open the door, which now led straight outside, five levels down to the street below. Gabe wasn't concerned. He could make the climb down easily, even carrying Caleb as he would be. His next move was to tear three strips off the sheet on the bed. He used one of these as a gag to keep Caleb quiet if he woke up, one to bind his hands behind his back, and the other to bind his feet together. He then wrapped him up in the blanket from the bed, hoisted him over his shoulder, and climbed out the window, sticking to the shadows. <br><br>The possibility of getting caught wasn't something that had even occurred to the vampire. He was fast, he was silent, and he was a master of going undetected. He navigated through the city faster than any car could have, and then entered his own apartment through the window, something that he was used to doing when he was covered in blood, or had another reason why he needed to get home without anyone seeing him. Caleb's weight wasn't at all a hindrance. He was strong enough, he could have climbed the wall carrying a full sized van, however, getting it in through the window would have presented more of a challenge. <br><br>Once he was inside he placed Caleb on his bed, looking down at him to see if he was awake by now. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>17-05-2010, 05:28:19</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				As a matter of fact, Caleb had woken up just when Gabe was climbing out the window. This was an exceptionally bad time to wake up, as being five stories above ground is right up there with clowns and spiders on the List of Things Caleb Doesn’t Want to See Upon Waking Up. Being wrapped up in a blanket made struggling difficult, especially since he seemed to be tied up with something. Mostly, he was more angry and annoyed than frightened. How <em>dare</em> someone abduct him? How dare they!? Didn’t they realize that his life was already difficult enough without piling abduction onto the list? <br><br>Once he was seated on the bed, Caleb drew himself up proudly and glared at the other man right in the ey… “Gaeff?” he managed to get out around the gag, his surprise surpassing his annoyance for a brief second. In all honesty, over the past five years he hadn’t really thought much about the first vampire he had encountered. He had assumed that, once Gabe realized the jig was up, the vampire had flounced on to some other hunting ground. <br><br>And… this was Gabe, wasn’t it? Caleb squinted slightly; he had taken off his glasses for his nap and wasn’t wearing them now, but his eyesight wasn’t that poor. This was definitely Gabriele. Same dark hair, the same… uhh… vampire stuff… now that he had gotten over the shock, Caleb was beginning to feel the first tingles of fear. This time, Vee wasn’t here to point a gun dramatically. This time, he was on his own. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>17-05-2010, 05:44:02</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				When Gabe looked down at him and realized that he was awake, he gave a small smile. This was far from the most ideal circumstances for the two of them to fall in love, but he couldn't help but take a bit of happiness in the fact that Caleb was here, in his apartment, on his bed. He could understand Caleb being afraid. The distant memory of when Gabriele was stolen from his home by a vampire echoed in his mind. He had no intention of forcing Caleb to become a monster.<br><br>"I'm not going to hurt you Caleb." He said quietly, sitting next to him, brushing his fingers lightly through his hair. "I was never going to hurt you. I lied to you, and I'm sorry for that...but if I would have told you the truth, you never would have agreed to go on a date with me." He gave a weak smile. He knew that it would be next to impossible for him to get Caleb to forgive him...but he had a lot of time. He had an eternity if he needed it. <br><br>"I'll remove the gag, if you promise not to scream." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>17-05-2010, 06:01:42</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Oh god, the rose! Suddenly, it made a helluva lot more sense now. Gabe had given him a rose like that, or had tried to. Somehow, this failed to comfort Caleb at all, since it only meant that the vampire had been stalking him earlier. That wasn’t the sort of thing he usually associated with romantic partners. But… five years? Five years?! What the bloody hell was going on here?! Surely a vampire had better things to do for five years than just follow someone around! Then again, maybe not. For a vampire, five years was just a quick nap, practically. And all of this for a date? Maybe it was just plain confusion, but… <br><br>Ok, yeah. The whole thing was just confusing to Caleb, who still rather hoped he would wake up and realize it had all been a crazy absinthe-induced nightmare. Honestly, did that whole ‘if you promise not to scream, I’ll take off the gag’ ever work on anyone? On the other hand, it meant that there were probably other people nearby, if Gabe was worried about being overheard. <br><br>Caleb nodded slowly, already planning to… no. He couldn’t scream. That would just attract attention (which was sort of the point of screaming), and that would bring other people into danger. Right. All he had to do was wait until Gabe wasn’t around. He couldn’t be here all the time, right? “Mroff?” he asked, trying to say the word ‘rose’. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>17-05-2010, 06:32:18</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe could practically see the gears turning in Caleb's head as he tried to understand everything that was going on. When he saw Gabe nod he knew that he was agreeing not to scream, so he reached behind his head to untie the gag. As he did so he heard Caleb's 'Mroff' and by some miracle understood that he had said 'rose'. "Yes, I sent the rose. I was rather hoping that when I did you would remember me, but I knew that it was a long shot." He said with a small smile. <br><br>"I keep forgetting how hard of a time humans have seeing in the dark...I'll get some lights on for you." He said, standing up. He forced himself to move at a normal human speed as he got up and switched the lights on. He didn't want to frighten Caleb with any unnecessary displays of vampire power. The bedroom was pretty much what someone would have expected of Gabe. The bed was a king sized four poster with thick violet velvet bedcurtains, no doubt to keep the light out during the day time. The walls were decorated with old movie posters, many of which dated back to the thirties and fourties.The room was a messy hodgepodge of paintings, art supplies, books, Cd's and playbills. There was a door leading out to the rest of the apartment, but it was closed right now. <br><br>Gabriele gave a laugh. It wasn't an evil, mocking, or condescending laugh. It was a laugh that showed that he was genuinely happy. "I know you have to be incredibly angry at me right now, but I'm just overjoyed to see you again."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>17-05-2010, 06:52:40</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				As the lights flicked on, Caleb blinked several times; in all honesty, his night vision was pretty good for a human’s. That was one of the perks of being a Slayer. Or perhaps a drawback. The ones who didn’t develop decent night vision generally just didn’t live long enough to do so. Once he got used to the light, he looked around the room hungrily, searching for anything that could help his escape. It turned out that finding ‘anything’ wasn’t really the problem. The problem was finding something in particular. It appeared that Gabe followed the old ‘put something down where there’s room’ method of organization, which Caleb could agree with. <br><br>Huh. So Gabe hadn’t been lying about the art part, judging from the art supplies lying around. Gabe’s sudden laughter brought Caleb’s attention back to him quickly; despite the vampire’s promises that he didn’t want to hurt the Slayer, Caleb was understandably still wary. For all he knew, they could have different definitions of ‘hurt’. But, bloody hell, Gabe still had a beautiful laugh. It wasn’t menacing or threatening. It was just the sound of someone who was happy with something simple, truly and honestly happy. <br><br>“You’re welcome, I suppose,” Caleb said, trying to edge away from Gabe just slightly. “Um. You mind untying me? I normally wouldn’t complain---the British don’t complain, especially not about something as crass as this---but my shoulder has been giving me the gyp lately. Did you grab my glasses, by any chance? No? They’re not just for decorations, you understand.” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>18-05-2010, 00:08:57</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Of course. Yes, I read in the paper about how you got shot in the arm...I'm sorry to hear it. I'll get you untied." He said, rummaging through a drawer. He pulled out a pair of padded handcuffs that had the key clipped to the chain. He pocketed the key, put the cuffs on Caleb's feet, then proceeded to untie his feet, and then his hands. "I suppose if you can't walk I don't have to worry about you escaping or anything. And I'm right here to keep an eye on you. I do want you to be comfortable." He'd of course have to bind Caleb more securely when he wasn't around, but for now this would work fine. <br><br>"I apologize for forgetting to grab your glasses." He said, as though it was naturally the responsibility of someone who was abducting someone to remember to grab that person's glasses when they did. "I understand that it must be an inconvenience, but if you tell me your prescription I can get you a new pair by tommorrow evening." <br><br>Gabe's whole demeanor towards Caleb was not that of a kidnapper speaking to his victim. It was that of a friend speaking to another friend, or a host speaking to his guest. The fact that he had cuffed his guest's feet together didn't seem to strike him as odd. "Are you hungry? I can order something for you if you like."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>18-05-2010, 01:00:59</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Oh, so Gabe had seen his picture in the paper. That explained a lot, mostly how the vampire had tracked him down in the first place. Bloody reporters… Caleb had thought it was a stupid idea, but the Slayers had needed some sort of a cover story to cover their own asses. At first, the Slayer was hopeful; all he had to do was wait until Gabe was out of the place and then he’d just leave. Unfortunately, the vampire was smarter than your average pigeon and had thought of that, producing a pair of the fluffiest handcuffs Caleb had ever seen. “Wait, you’re keeping me here?” he asked, more incredulously than anything else. “You can’t keep me here. I’m a Slayer!” <br><br>There was also the whole business of why Gabe would want to keep a Slayer of all people. Sure, Caleb had made an impression on him, but that was five years ago. “Um, I don’t know. I mean, my glasses were made in the UK. I don’t know if they use the same prescription values in America.” Good, that was a good stall. And it sounded likely enough for all he knew. <br><br>The way Gabe was acting simply struck Caleb as bizarre; this wasn’t going according to his instinct of how a kidnapping should go but, considering that most kidnappings ended in death, he was fairly grateful for that. It didn’t seem like Gabe wanted to kill him. “No, I’m not hungry. Would you mind telling me what all of this is about? I’m just really confused right now.” That was putting it mildly. Apparently, Caleb was considering entering the Understatement of the Week World Event. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>18-05-2010, 01:34:11</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabriele chuckled a little bit when Caleb was so surprised that he was planning to keep him.&nbsp; It was even more amusing when he insisted that he couldn't keep him because he was a slayer. "Yeah, but your feet are chained, don't have any weapons or anything, and you're injured, so it's not likely that you would be doing any slaying." He said casually. "Plus I find it unlikely that any human slayer has ever killed a vampire that was more than a single century old." <br><br>"That's alright, just let me know what the prescription values were in the U.K. I'm sure I can find out what the equivalent is and get it for you." He said, clearly not at all put off by this possible complication.<br><br>When he asked what this was all about he decided that the best way to go about it was to be honest. "Look..." He said, taking a deep breath and sitting on the bed next to Caleb. "Do you know what the biggest cause of death is among vampires more than one century old? We're immune to diseases, and so much stronger than humans. The truth is the life of a vampire is incredibly lonely. Many just...give up. Vampires can't hardly stand eachother's company, it's something in our nature. You...you're special in a way that you don't even know yet, and when we met I felt that we really had a connection. I really feel that it would have worked out...if there hadn't been so many things keeping it from working out. If that makes any sense."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>18-05-2010, 02:27:09</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Caleb’s protest of ‘I’m a Slayer’ had little to do with his slaying capabilities, honestly. He was just trying to get over the bit about ‘vampires kidnapping Slayers’. That sort of thing happened to normal mortals, not Slayers! Clearly, Gabe hadn’t ever read the ‘So You Want to be a Vampiric Kidnapper’ handbook. He was getting things wrong! Just all wrong! Still, Caleb’s pride was a little hurt when Gabe pointed out that he was, essentially, harmless. It was true, but that didn’t mean it hurt any less. <br><br>“You’d be surprised. Some of us are very good,” he murmured, trying to save face. He just hoped Gabe wouldn’t take it as a threat. He watched the vampire uneasily as he sat down, not quite sure what to make of any of this. To be honest, he was still half-hoping, half-expecting to wake up in about thirty seconds and realize that this was all some sort of insane tea-inducing dream. <br><br>“…No, it doesn’t make any sense,” he said once Gabe was finished speaking. “For Christ’s sake, Gabe, we met once! We spoke for like fifteen minutes! How do you suddenly decide, ‘we have a special connection’ in the space of fifteen minutes?” Clearly, the vampire was insane or something. Insanity was common enough in older vampires (the Italian definitely had at least one bit right; older vampires tended to sort of… shut down. Caleb had always just assumed it was the stress of living ‘in the future’ or something like that). “Look, if this is about Vee’s accusation, I know you weren’t hunting college students. Hell, she knows that too, now. After you disappeared, the attacks continued and everything, so you’re all clear there.” <br><br>Ok, now he was getting a little frantic and he knew it. Caleb stopped before he could get into a full-fledged panic mode and tried to calm down, or at least pretend to. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>18-05-2010, 02:54:08</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabriele listened quietly and patiently as Caleb told that he couldn't possibly know that they had a special connection after only fifteen minutes. He supposed that in the grand scheme of things fifteen minutes seemed like an insignificant period of time even to a human who lived such a brief amount of time compared to the life of a vampire. <br><br>"After living as long as I have, time takes on a different significance. One single night, one single moment, can contain more meaning and purpose than a whole year, a whole decade. As I heard it phrased in a musical I saw...'Why are entire years strewn on the cutting room floor of memory, when single frames from one magic night forever flicker in closeup on the 3-D Imax of my mind?'. I feel that question really sums it up quite nicely. And it grows increasingly more like that as the centuries pass by. "<br><br>He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, it was clear that Gabriele was a bit nervous about what he was doing, but he was resolved. "I don't know if this is crazy or not, maybe any chance there was for us to have a great love has been lost by the years you spent having your mind an heart poisoned against vampires, but I just feel that it's worth giving it a chance, and that's what I'm doing." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>18-05-2010, 03:11:51</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<br>Ok. This was just… insane. Completely and irrevocably insane. Caleb paused for a moment, trying to figure out if maybe, previously that evening, he might have accidentally consumed some sort of hallucinogen. It didn’t seem very likely, but sometimes it was difficult to tell just what Americans put into tea these days… his sort of thing simply did not happen. Caleb’s typical method of dealing with things that couldn’t possibly happen was to simply ignore it as an anomaly. Unfortunately, he couldn’t ignore this since he was right there, sitting on a vampire’s bed with silly little fluffy handcuffs on his feet. <br><br>“Wait, what? My mind hasn’t been poisoned!” he latched onto the one thing that he could argue about right now. As it turned out, kidnapping made Caleb a bit argumentative, so it was almost a relief to get combative about something. The ‘great love’ thing couldn’t really be spoken of, since it was just… <br><br>Well, he didn’t want to think about it, pretty much. He ran a hand through his hair and looked around the room, once again looking for anything that would make even a bit of sense. Unfortunately, nothing really did, since it appeared that Gabe was just as eccentric a collector as Caleb was. Well, they had that in common at least. “So that’s your big crazy plan? To just keep me here? Hasn’t it crossed your mind that this is completely bonkers? You can’t seriously be intending to keep me here locked up in fuzzy handcuffs!” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>18-05-2010, 03:31:44</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"I meant metaphorically, of course." Gabriele stated when he insisted that his mind had not been poisoned. "As much as you would have been opposed to dating a vampire when we first met, I'm sure that that has increased now that you've spent the past five years learning about how to kill them and seeing the horrendous things that some vampires do. I'm willing to be that a time or two a vampire has nearly ended your life by now. Was it a vampire that put that bullet in your arm?"<br><br>"Anyway...before all of that happend we could have gotten to know eachother with you thinking I was human, and perhaps after a while, if I felt you could be trusted with the information, I would have told you what I was...and if you knew me at that point you would know that you had nothing to fear from me. Now it's likely to be very difficult for you to believe me when I say I have no intention to harm you...that is what I mean when I say that your mind and heart have been poisoned against vampires." <br><br>He looked down at the blanket on the bed, not making eye contact with Caleb for a moment. His expression showed sadness. "Maybe it is a crazy plan. Maybe after centuries of being alone I've finally lost my mind, but there's really only one way to see, and that is to give it a chance, so that's what I'm doing."&nbsp; He turned and gave Caleb a weak hopeful smile. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>18-05-2010, 03:44:15</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Caleb shifted uneasily, partly because he was thinking that Gabe was too close physically but mostly because he knew Gabe was too close mentally. The vampire had a point; there had been one or two----more, actually---close calls between Caleb and some vampires who had wanted nothing more than to rip out his throat. He didn’t say any of this out loud, but his body language was loud and clear. “Um. I don’t know. We----that is the Slayers… uhh, it was sort of a surprise,” he murmured, clearly embarrassed about the whole ‘bullet in the shoulder’ thing. “I hadn’t been expecting to be shot. So I don’t know who did it.” <br><br>Gabe certainly seemed sincere about all of this. About as sincere as a possibly insane kidnapping vampire could be, of course. Caleb paused for a moment, wondering just how honest that really was… the sample pool was probably too small to really worry about. It certainly didn’t help when the vampire no longer wanted to make eye contact. And yet… as angry and betrayed as he felt, there was still something endearing about that tiny smile of Gabe’s. It was like seeing a last distant speck of hope before all lights went out. <br><br>It would be a while before anyone realized he was missing, he thought. Vee was his only close friend and she had been keeping her distance lately, since Caleb tended to get a bit tetchy when he couldn’t work. Might as well make the most of this situation, right? “…Can I have my own room at least? Or at least my own bed?” he asked eventually. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>18-05-2010, 04:49:02</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabriele had the encouraging feeling that Caleb had actually listend to what he had to say, that he was actually thinking of him as a person instead of a monster. Maybe this would really work. He heard Caleb's request to have his own room or at least his own bed. Gabriele paused for a moment, considering this. <br><br>"Well I rather like the idea of you being in here with me." He said with a soft smile, wrapping an arm tenderly around his shoulders, he leaned in close for a moment, taking in Caleb's scent. He was truly an excellent specimen of a human. Even if he had just been a human himself, unable to detect that subtle difference in Caleb that had caught his attention in the first place, he would have been exactly the type that Gabe would have been drawn to. <br><br>"But I understand that you're not quite comfortable with that yet." He said, removing the arm. "I'm sorry I don't have anything prepared for you; this was really a spur of the moment thing. I'm afraid for now you'll have to sleep with me, but I'll get something brought in for you tommorrow night. I will have to insist on you staying in this room while I'm sleeping during the day, until I'm certain that I can trust you not to try to escape or get your slayer friends in her to kill me while I rest." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>18-05-2010, 05:24:01</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Caleb froze up at the arm across his shoulders and eyed Gabe uneasily, half expecting a bite or something any second. When it failed to come, he relaxed, but only slightly. If it hadn’t been for the cuffs on his feet, he certainly would have edged away at least a little. “Well, I don’t like the idea,” he said bluntly, not feeling like mincing words right now. Usually, he went around the more delicate way of putting things but, right now, he was tired, grumpy, and bewildered. All in all, he wasn’t much in the mood to be polite. <br><br>“Wonderful, glad to know that my abduction was merely bad luck on my part and not some intricate scheme on yours. Right. I’ll sleep on the floor then. You’ve carpet in here, so it won’t be too bad.” He would just have to sleep on his left side, since his right shoulder would inevitably ache. Glancing around the room in vain, he searched for a place that wasn’t covered in Gabe’s collection of paintings and CD’s. It wasn’t easy to find anything, honestly. <br><br>He slid off the bed anyway, defiantly trying to inch away in the cuffs. Yes, it was absurd. Yes, it was silly. But, damnit, he had his pride. Now if only he could find it… “And a blanket. I’ll need a blanket, please.” And clean clothes. At least he didn’t rise to the bait about contacting his Slayer friends to murder Gabe in his own home. Honestly, Caleb was more interested in just getting away than revenge. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>18-05-2010, 05:45:59</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Here, at least let me get you a place set up." He said, getting up and clearing a place on the floor. He walked out of the room and returned literally in a flash with the cushions from a couch which he set there. He then left abruptly again, returning with a sheet and a blanket. He tucked the sheet around the cushions to form it more effectively in a bed. Then, he put one of the soft down pillows from the bed on the floor on them, and placed a blanket down too.<br><br>Gentleman that he was he would have given up his bed and slept on the floor himself, but he needed the shield that the curtains would provide to keep him safe from the sun. There were curtains on the windows of course, but it just wasn't quite enough.<br><br>Gabriele then realized with an embarrassed jolt that he had been setting the whole bed up using his superhuman speed. "Sorry...I forgot, I hope I didn't scare you or anything..."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>18-05-2010, 07:37:13</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				At first, the sheer speed shocked Caleb. One moment he was blinking and then the moment he opened his eyes, Gabe was gone. It wasn’t exactly humbling; most people were frightened at shows of strength like this. Slayers just tended to get annoyed at such things. Caleb himself simply looked imperious at the demonstration, half-suspecting it was meant to intimidate him into… whatever it was that Gabe was expecting. <br><br>“Thank you,” he said coolly, sitting down on the proffered cushion as gracefully as he could. Actually, it was less of a ‘sit’ and more of a ‘drop down’, since the cuffs were starting to trip him up. They really were getting on his nerves… he glared at them for a moment before smoothing his ruffled feathers. Well, he’d just wait until Gabe was asleep and break out of them. They were just fluffy handcuffs, after all. The lock mechanism couldn’t be that strong. <br><br>“Gabe, that wasn’t scary,” he said, quite honestly. “You dashed around and put together a bed. That’s probably in the list of the Five Least Threatening Things a Vampire has EVER done.” Actually, Gabe was on that list at least four times. The fifth winner was a particularly OCD vampire who had offered to clean Caleb’s room. He looked around the room once more, trying to think of something to say. “…So, I guess you weren’t altogether lying at least. I mean, you really are interested in art and stuff. You know, I did finish my classes at the university. I graduated last year.” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 00:49:30</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe was far from offended when Caleb told him that he had not felt threatened at all when he had rushed around like that. "I'm glad, I don't want you to be threatened by me. I told you, I'm not going to hurt you." He gave Caleb a gentle smile. Gabe wanted so much to be able to hold Caleb close and kiss him without making him frightened or angry. He wanted the love he felt to be reciprocated. <br><br>"No, I wasn't totally lying...I was sort of...pretending to be who I felt that I would be if I was really a twenty year old human in this present time." He said with a little shrug. "I still wanted you to get to know me...even if it was sort of...a different version of me." <br><br>"I'm glad to hear you finished your classes and graduated. My goodness, five years is such a long time to mortals, I sometimes forget how much can change for a mortal in five years. Look how much you've changed. You filled out... you're not an adorable boy anymore, you're a handsome man." He said with another smile towards Caleb. <br><br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 01:29:27</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Five years was a very long time, honestly. Not as long as, say, ten years, but still a while. It occurred to Caleb that the person Gabe was so enamored with could be the eighteen-year-old Caleb from half-a-decade ago, and not the twenty-three-year-old Caleb in front of him now. There was a world of difference between the men, and not just physically speaking. Five years ago, he had been… well, not <em>totally</em> innocent, but certainly a lot more naïve than he was today, and far more trusting. The city was a harsh teacher, hammering away at his softer points. <br><br>“Um. Thank you?” he asked warily, unsure if being complimented by Gabe was a good thing or not. “You know, it’s not just appearances that have changed. I’m not as daft as I used to be.” He considered pointing out the bit, ‘also, I have spent the past five years hunting down and killing vampires, so, you know, there’s that too’, on the basis that it sounded silly seeing as he had just been abducted. Somehow, the fluffy handcuffs took the edge off of this. <br><br>Fluffy handcuffs. He looked down at them curiously for a moment before adding, “So I guess you… ahh… entertain a lot of people here then? I don’t consider fluffy handcuffs something to be kept in a drawer unless you use them a lot.” It wasn’t really anything; it wasn’t like Caleb was jealous or something stupid like that. <br><br>Abruptly, his stomach growled, poignantly reminding him that he hadn’t had a real dinner that night. Tea didn’t count. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 01:48:43</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"I know." He said with a smile when he explained that it was not just his physically appearances that had changed. "You've gotten a little wiser in the ways of the world, you're not the boy you once were, and you've seen a lot of violence in the past five years. Still, any of those changes would have still happend, whether you spent the last five years hunting vampires like you did, or with me. I'd have done my best to shelter you from it, but I'm sure you would have seen me get attacked by slayers a time or two and it's quite likely you'd have seen me feed at least once. Nothing could have made you stay who you were forever."<br><br>Gabriele blushed a little at the obvious conclusion that Caleb drew from the fluffy handcuffs. "Yes...well, even when I was a human I always very much...enjoyed the company of men." He said with a nervous smile. "Keeping a human close, sharing my bed with him for a night or two, it helps the sting of the loneliness fade. I always end it before it gets serious though. It wouldn't be able to work out with them in the long run." He paused, realizing that he may have said too much. He really didn't want to go over what his long term plans for Caleb were just yet. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 02:16:12</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Caleb bridled a little at the suggestion that he would have needed to be ‘sheltered’ from anything. Honestly, he had gotten quite enough of that from his mother; he sure as hell didn’t need it from anyone else. He held his tongue primarily because Gabe at least respected that he wasn’t an innocent little teenager now and wouldn’t have been anyway. Well… uhh… good. So long as he noticed that, Caleb’s pride was at least salvageable. The vampire was letting other bits of information drop as well, primarily that he didn’t plan on feeding off of the Slayer. That was a huge relief, actually, let him relax just slightly. It would have been crass to just come out and ask, ‘you aren’t going to bite me, are you?’. <br><br>“These aren’t from when you were human,” Caleb pointed out. “I am fully capable of basic math, Gabe. You said you were over a century old. I’m guessing you were… uhh… turned, I guess, in the late 1800’s, at the latest. I’m pretty certain that the fluffy handcuff industry wasn’t in full bloom at the time. Course, I could be wrong. I didn’t really study that sort of thing.” <br><br>Meanwhile, Gabe let out another tidbit of information, one that was of considerable comfort to Caleb. Whenever he realized it wouldn’t work out with a human in the long run, he always let them go in the end (as of this point, Caleb was unfairly assuming that Gabe abducted most of his bedpartners). Therefore, once he realized that he was only scaring and worrying Caleb, he’d probably let the Slayer go as well. Or kill him, but that would mean going back on his word that he wouldn’t hurt the blond. <br><br>So… Caleb was just looking at the situation wrong. This wasn’t a kidnapping. It was… uhh… a forced vacation. Yes. With a vampire who had merely happened to carry him off on a surprise whim. Somehow, that made things a little better. Caleb still wasn’t happy about this, but he looked a bit more comfortable now. “You know, I am sort of hungry. You mentioned take-out earlier?” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 03:01:14</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabriele laughed heartily, finding the misunderstanding to be genuinely amusing. "I was turned in the year 1511." He said attempting to stifle his laughter. "We did not have fluffy handcuffs back then..." After a moment he succeeded in getting his laughter under control. "but that doesn't mean we didn't have a good time. We did bondage back then too usually with rope or whatever cloth was around. I'm rather a fan of the fluffy handcuffs though, they don't chafe the skin the way rope or metal handcuffs can. What I was saying was that my enjoyment for...'entertaining' as you put it is something that's always been consistant with me." <br><br>It was a strange thing for Gabe, looking back on his mortal life. It seemed so long ago, and yet at the same time, he could remember it as clearly as yesterday. He remembered his childhood, reaching adulthood, the first time he made love. He could remember it all, and yet he could also remember the centuries that followed his mortal life and brought them up to this very moment. There were times that he felt very, very old. <br><br>"Of course." Gabriele said immediately when Caleb mentioned his previous offer for takeout. "What are you in the mood for? I'll get you anything you like." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 03:30:10</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				It was embarrassing enough to be off by just a couple of years when playing the How Old Are You guessing game. Caleb had made a new record, being off by roughly three hundred years. It was always strange to suddenly remember just how old some vampires really were. It was one thing for Caleb to simply read about historical events; it was quite another to talk to someone who was around when Henry, Duke of Cornwall, had died! “Oh,” was pretty much all Caleb could say as he was educated on bondage through the ages. <br><br>He had to admit, Gabe was very good with knots. Caleb had figured that part out after waking up with his ankles and wrists tied. <br><br>It wasn’t exactly a sterling conversation. Caleb couldn’t really remember what they had talked about five years ago, but it had probably been a lot more entertaining than this. Food, at least, was a topic he could understand. “Well, there’s this little Chinese take-out place on Main Street. They make the most delicious fried rice and fried wonton skins. It’s probably not the healthiest thing ever, but it’s delicious. Er. You’ll just have to take my word for that.” It was a poor joke, but at least he was trying to get along with Gabe. Besides, it was a comfort food. <br><br>Since he figured Gabe might ask, he added on, “I’ll probably just sleep until you get back. It’s been a long night.” This was, more or less, truthful. Escaping was still a priority, but Caleb figured that building up a bit of trust first would be a good idea. He could play the good little boy until he saw his chance. Honestly, Gabe really did seem like a nice guy. A bit confused, yes, but still nice. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 03:55:12</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabriele could see that Caleb was a little shocked when he found out exactly how old he was. With the love of history that Caleb had he would he able to tell him stories that would blow his mind. The people he had met, the events that he had witnessed, things that people could only guess now what it had actually been like, and most of their guesses were wrong. So what were they talking about? Bondage sex. Okay...so maybe Gabe wasn't really going at this from the best angle. <br><br>Gabe thought about what Caleb said about just sleeping while he was gone. He didn't really know if he could trust Caleb not to try some crazy escape plan. Gabriele had people under his employment that with a simple cellphone call from him would find the takeout shop on mainstreet, buy the food, and bring it back to him. Still, Caleb was hungry now, and as fast as Gabe was, it was very likely that he would be able to leave and come back before he had even close to managed to pick the lock on those cuffs. Perhaps it would be best to allow Caleb a few moments of slack to see if he could be trusted. Besides, Caleb wasn't likely to guess at how quickly he would return. <br><br>"Alright. You stay here, and I'll go get your food." He said, and with that, he left through the window. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 04:20:30</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Clearly, along with a certain amount of illogic, Gabe also had a distaste for doors. Or something, considering how often he chose to enter or leave by the way of windows rather than go through a doorway. Maybe it was just a vampire thing. Caleb, however, thought it was just a Gabe-thing. He fiddled with the handcuffs half-heartedly, absentmindedly testing how strong they were. Well, he certainly couldn’t bend them. He’d never been one for building muscle anyway and his injured shoulder certainly limited him for now. But the lock was probably simple enough to tumble. They typically were. He left it alone, reminding himself that the object was to build up trust for now. <br><br>Strangely enough, he no longer felt frightened. Well, maybe a little worried, but not really scared. Gabe seemed pretty honest about his intentions, so it didn’t seem likely that Caleb would wake up with fangs in his throat. (Clearly, while Caleb thought he was no longer the same gullible boy he once was, he was still a little naïve). It was strange. Under other circumstances, he probably would rather like the Italian. Hell, he had liked him enough five years ago to try going out with him. <br><br>It would be interesting to see where this went, anyway. After a bit of nervous shifting----because no one liked being left alone in a house that didn’t belong to them; there was just something intrinsically unsettling about it, along with the urge to poke through their belongings----Caleb lay down on his side, curling up in the blanket to at least try to sleep. His quest didn’t go very well, though, and he stayed awake. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 05:33:17</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Fortunately for Caleb, he didn't have long to sit around and feel awkward. Gabriele came in, this time presumably through the front door of the apartment as he entered through the bedroom door, within ten minutes of his departure. He was carrying a bunch of the little white cardboard containers from the Chinese takeout restaurant that Caleb had directed him to. He set the little containers down in front of Caleb. <br><br>"I got you the fried rice and fried wonton skins like you asked for, also I got you some egg rolls and some fortune cookies." He said with a smile, taking a seat on the floor a few feet away from Caleb, leaning his back against the bed. <br><br>"So...why don't you tell me a little about yourself?" He asked. He was really very interested in finding out what Caleb had been up to aside from going to school and killing vampires. "What interests you...what do you like to do for fun...where do you come from?" 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 06:09:46</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				As the door creaked open, Caleb sat up quickly. He’d have to rewrite his ‘Gabe Hates Doors’ theory later, since he clearly used them occasionally. The food was gratefully accepted with a mumbled ‘thank you’, because Caleb had been brought up to be polite, even to kidnappers. Bloody hell, but Gabe was quick; the food was still piping hot, letting out a cascade of steam as Caleb prized open the lids. He ate a few mouthfuls of the rice quickly before answering the questions. Well, there was no harm in being honest. It wasn’t like it was anything really important. <br><br>“I was born in London. Well, technically a little town just outside of it, but my family moved to the city when I was little. For fun, I…” he stopped here, looking mildly confused, as though he had put his keys down one place and then, upon looking back, the keys were gone. Befuddled, almost. In truth, he wasn’t sure what else there was; being a Slayer was not just a nine-to-five job. It was a lifetime commitment, generally because Slayers didn’t live very long. Still, the pay was excellent. “Um… well, lately, I’ve been working on writing down some of the more interesting cases I’ve worked on,” he said eventually. “And I still like studying history. I’ve been working on some interesting translations and that sort of thing.” <br><br>In other words, he was possibly the nerdiest nerd to ever nerd. He was well-aware of this, and had always been such; he simply didn’t mind it. “And I like reading mystery novels. It’s nice to think that the world is nice and simple like that. You know, a series of clues leads to the criminal and such. When I first started, I thought being a Slayer would be like that.” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 06:24:15</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabriele watched Caleb eat with a sort of detached interest. It was vaguely interesting to watch this part of humanity that he could no longer take part in. For a moment he tried to remember what it had been like to actually eat food. Strangely enough he could hardly remember it. He supposed that while he was doing it when he was alive it simply hadn't seemed like anthing important enough to remember. <br><br>He listened as Caleb explained about himself and found it to be much shorter than he had been expecting. Was vampire slaying and studying history really all there was to Caleb? If so...he really needed to experience more of life. If there was one person that knew a lot about what this world had to offer in the way of fun, it was Gabe. <br><br>"Well I'll have to help you get out more." He said with a smile. "If I knew I could trust you...I could take you out, to dinner and a play...I think you'd like to see live theatre." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 06:50:57</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				As Gabe watched him eat, Caleb began to feel more and more unsettled. He kept a mental list of activities of Things to Do While Unwatched. Most of those things were fairly obvious: anything involving the genitalia, bathroom business, or similar. Another thing was added to the list: eating. Maybe it was just the knowledge that Gabe fed off of blood----and therefore would have a profound interest in watching what ‘his’ human ate----but it was distinctly unnerving. Caleb put aside the rice and nibbled on one of the crunchy wonton skins instead, feeling pretty judged about the whole thing. <br><br>“I like it,” he said, sounding a little defensive about it. “Why is it that, when I tell people this, they always assume that I’m in the wrong? What makes sitting around and just reading a book so inferior to spending a night on the town? I LIKE reading and writing. I enjoy looking over ancient bits of writing and translating them. I don’t see why I should have to change my habits, likes, and dislikes just to settle into some sort of dreadful monotony of what society expects.” It was a rather forceful speech, finished with a bit of a glare. <br><br>Five years ago, he probably would have timidly gone along with whatever he was told. These days, though, he discovered that he was his own person. “And I’ve been to the theater, Gabe. I’m a shy shut-in, not some idiot who’s never been in polite company. Bloody hell, I’m from <em>London</em>, for crying out loud. We have our own theaters and everything.”&nbsp; <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>19-05-2010, 23:22:42</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabriele was clearly taken aback as the rant happend. It seemed that he had unknowingly hit a nerve. "I honestly didn't mean to offend you." He said quietly. "I didn't mean that there is anything wrong with reading books... I really just thought it would be fun to take you to a show as a treat, I've been going by myself for centuries now and I thought that it would be fun for us to go together sometime. If that's not the sort of thing that you enjoy though...It's completely alright. You are your own person and I respect that." <br><br>He paused for a moment, watching Caleb and wondering exactly what he'd done wrong. He hadn't known that Caleb had been to a live theatre show. Simply because he was from London didn't guarantee that he had, plays could be quite expensive, and he was sure that there was a great percentage of the population that had never been. Really Gabe just wasn't used to dealing with people like this. It had been so long that he'd been talking to someone and what they thought and felt about him actually mattered to him. <br><br>"I just want to make you happy." He added quietly. "Anything you want is fine, as long as it makes you happy." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>20-05-2010, 00:09:16</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Almost immediately after his outburst, Caleb felt a little guilty. It wasn’t like Gabe had done anything to deserve it. Well, except for the abduction bit, but that was neither here nor there. Caleb had just gotten enough ribbing from classmates in high school for his interests. He had always hoped this would end by the time he was an adult. Instead, it was only amplified, with people mocking him more and more for his hobbies. Hell, sometimes they treated him as though he was somehow broken! It was absurd! <br><br>His ruffled feathers were soothed slightly by the apology, but he refused to offer one himself. “Thank you. I am very tired of people insisting that, somehow, my hobbies are somehow inferior. And if you really wanted to make me happy, you wouldn’t have bloody kidnapped me. I’m not an expert on psychology, but I’m fairly certain that most people do not enjoy this.” <br><br>In all honesty, Gabe really seemed sincere. He was undoubtedly misguided, but… well, he was trying to be sweet, in a horrible way. Besides, in the 1500’s, it was probably considered polite to abduct a would-be-partner or whatever. “…Are you going to tell me about yourself?” Caleb asked awkwardly, changing the subject with all the grace and tact of a three-legged rhino. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>20-05-2010, 04:23:15</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"I don't think that your hobbies are inferior, I don't think that the quest for knowledge is anything to sneer at." He paused for a moment, clearly just a little upset. "I know that kidnapping someone isn't generally considered the great way to start a relationship, or a good way to make someone happy, but the truth is that I really wanted to get to know you, I wanted us to spend time together, and I knew that if I would have simply approached you in the cafe and asked if we could go on that date that we had planned on going five years ago you would not have gone with me. It seemed to me that what would have most likely happend is that you would have either run away from me or attacked. So unconventional as it may be the only way it looked like we were going to get to know eachother better would be if I kidnapped you." <br><br>He gave a little bit of a smile as Caleb asked him about himself. He hadn't exactly asked it in the most polite and sincere way, but Gabe hadn't really expected this was going to be easy, had he? He decided to simply go along with it. They were never going to start getting along if they kept fighting. <br><br>"I'm not really sure precisely what you want to know." He said quietly. "I was born in Florence Italy in 1491, my parents died when I was ten...I had no other relatives, but I had the good fortune to be apprenticed to an artist. I wish I could tell you that it was Leonardo Da Vinci or someone like that, but he's no one anyone these days has ever heard of. His name was Lorenzo Massironi. He was kind to me and he taught me much.&nbsp; When I was sixteen years old he took me to see a play...La Calandria. It was then that I fell in love with theatre. When I turned 20 my apprenticeship was over, I began working on my own as both an artist and an actor. My acting skills were starting to gain me some renown, but no one seemed to really care for my paintings...to dark and disturbing for most, but then there was this one man, Angelo, who always came just as I was closing up shop for the evening, and it got to where he would buy everything I would paint." <br><br>"All was going well...I never saw anything in my future that would suggest it was going to end...then one night I was stolen from my bed by Angelo...the man who had such an interest in my art.&nbsp; When I saw his fangs in the darkness I was more afraid than I'd ever felt in my life. He drank most of my blood, then forced me to drink his. I became a vampire that night." <br><br>"Angelo killed every night. He particularly delighted in ending the life of an innocent youth. He was a vile , wicked creature, and he was trying to force me into being like him. I despised him for it. In 1529 he was attacked by slayers and killed. I escaped and was glad to be rid of him. I've lived my own way ever since...I understand why slayers kill vampires. I've seen what they can be like..." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>20-05-2010, 05:00:13</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Alright, so Gabe had a point. If the vampire had simply tried approaching Caleb in the café, the Slayer would have immediately panicked and called Vee or someone. The only reason he wouldn’t have tried attacking Gabe himself was because of his injury and lack of weaponry at the time. Socially reclusive Caleb was, but stupid he wasn’t. Even he noticed that this was upsetting the vampire more than a little. His first thought was <em>well, good. He ought to be upset, the kidnapping criminal</em>. But, the second part, the part that had kept the Slayer alive all these years, pointed out <em>you know, if he’s upset with you, he might kill you. Sure, he said that he wouldn’t harm you, but come on… are you really going to trust his word? Make up, will you?</em>. <br><br>Sighing, Caleb said, “Fine. I apologize. I shouldn’t have snapped like that just because I’m overly sensitive.” He didn’t mean a word of the apology, but that didn’t matter. He was decent at acting, anyway, although someone as skilled as Gabe would probably see right through the attempt. Ah well. At least Caleb was trying to repair a bridge, if only so he could walk all over it. <br><br>At the beginning of the story, he reacted to Gabe’s words as though they were a challenge. Unfortunately, Gabe was quite correct: even someone as historically obsessed as Caleb hadn’t heard of his master. Judging by the slight scowl on the Slayer’s features, the blond wasn’t exactly pleased by this failure on his part. The story was listened to with a sense of morbid fascination although, as time went on, Caleb’s fascination lessened and his morbidity increased. Gabe had been kidnapped from his bed and turned into a vampire. For all the Slayer knew, Gabe could… <br><br>There was a long awkward silence at the end before he spoke again. “You’re not… you know…” he pointed at the vampire’s teeth and then at his neck, looking about ready to dash away if he even thought the answer was ‘yes’. Footcuffs or not, he would try his best to run. The food was forgotten. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>20-05-2010, 05:35:16</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"It's okay, I understand...we all have our touchy subjects." He said after Caleb apologized. He wasn't totally convinced by his apology, but he decided that the best way to handle it was to pretend that it had been a completely sincere apology.<br><br>Gabe's eyes went wide as Caleb gestured his question. "No, no, oh GOD no." He said firmly. "I told you, I'm not going to harm you, and there is no way that I'm going to turn you into a vampire. I've learned how to live with what I am, but it's certainly not something that I would force on someone else. I hated Angelo for what he did to me...I certainly don't want that to be the way that you see me." It was clear that Gabriele still had some issues with the way that his mortal life was ended, and the vampire that did it. <br><br>"I know that this hasn't been the best first...well...second impression. But I really am not a monster. Inside...I'm still the young artist from Florence." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>20-05-2010, 06:00:37</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				“Oh thank god…” Caleb let out a sigh of relief once it became very clear that vampirizing him was the last thing that Gabe had on his mind. It was very clear that the words took a load off of the Slayer’s mind. Several loads, in fact, each one heavier than the one before. “I just… well, thank you for telling me anyway. It’s just something that I thought of…” and such worries preyed on the mind, consuming it until it was nothing left but a fire of fear and terror. <br><br>The Slayer finished his dinner, gently pushing what was left aside. “Do you have an icebox for this? I don’t want it to go bad and mum always said it was a bad idea to eat meat after its been left out overnight.” It was abundantly clear that Gabe had more ‘vampire issues’ than Caleb could shake a stick at, if the mood had struck him to go on a stick-shaking spree. So, the best way to keep the vampire happy was to simply avoid the topic entirely. <br><br>Lying down on his side, Caleb tried to make himself comfortable on the little mattress bed, pulling the blanket around himself tightly. Actually, it was pretty easy, seeing as he was used to sleeping on couches anyway. He wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep yet, but… well, it was just more comfortable to lie down for now. “So… you painted a lot of these, right?” he asked, waving a hand at the paintings all around them. “I don’t recognize some of the styles, but I see them repeated.” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>21-05-2010, 03:30:39</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe nodded, taking the box from Caleb and taking it into the kitchen that he never used to put it in the refrigerator. He didn't eat himself, but the apartment came with a refrigerator, and as they had already discussed, he frequently had human guests. He even made a habit of keeping a few basic food items around just so his human guests would not realize there was something wrong with him because he kept no food there. <br><br>He went to the kitchen and back at a relatively normal walking speed. He still didn't consider it to be very polite to flaunt his vampire powers. <br><br>"Yes, I painted almost all of those, over the years." Gabe said, looking at the paintings around the room, some of them were painted with such realism that were it not for the brush stroke marks one would have thought that they were photographs, others were done in styles of impressionism and surrealism. It seemed that he had studied every different style of art that was out there, and even combined a few of them. There were landscapes, all at night, haunting images of violence with demonic faces coming out of the darkness, and sensual portraits of nude young men laying on a bed, his bed. Of in a corner, looking rather dusty, there was a fully clothed head and shoulders portrait of Caleb, the way he had looked five years ago. <br><br>"I give them away sometimes...anonymously of course. Angelo said that he had wanted to give me immortality so that my talent could live on forever...but really he did just the opposite. Five centuries of practicing art have made me too skilled to escape notice, and when people start paying attention they start to notice when something isn't right...Maybe I could have been a well known artist, but the chance for that ended when my life a s a vampire began." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>21-05-2010, 04:12:28</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				It had to be said. Caleb would never admit it, but his eyes lingered on the picture of the young men, their bodies nude and lithe, languishing on the bed. Gabe's bed, he noted, comparing the portrait to the bed itself. Gabe was very talented, it seemed, not only at painting but at convincing young men to part with their clothing. Hell, Caleb himself probably would have ended up there, if their date had gone well instead of being interrupted by a Slayer. Funny how things worked out. The night horizons were simply... well, Caleb didn't find much of interest in the night, since he saw it all the time. The demonic faces probably represented Gabe's monstrous side or his hatred for himself or something. Caleb thought he could see something similar in most people he met, though. Most disturbing was the portrait of himself. <br><br>Gabe wasn't just in love. He was obsessed and had been for five years. At least normal human obsessives generally burned themselves out eventually, either because their fires had been doused by time or they simply transferred themselves to someone new. Vampire obsessions could go on forever, thanks to the immortality bit. Caleb supposed he could count himself lucky that he was at least clothed in the picture. It was an amazingly detailed picture, though; Gabe had even remembered exactly the way that Caleb's hair had flipped up slightly, since it had been a while since he'd gotten a haircut. It was either amazingly sweet or terrifying and Caleb wasn't sure which one it was. <br><br>"I see... and I guess you probably make some money off of commissions, at least. I've heard of some vampiric musicians who simply fake their death and change their name every few decades. That's probably why there's that whole 'musicians just don't live long enough' feeling. I guess it's not really feasible with art. It seems more personal. Styles match up and everything." He was quiet for a while, studying the art as though hoping to gain some sort of insight into Gabe. You know, besides the one where he was obsessed with a particular blond Slayer, liked lithe young men, and gloomy nightscapes. "I used to play piano." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>21-05-2010, 04:59:40</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe watched as Caleb looked at his paintings. He found that he was a little bit embarrassed about the paintings of the nude young men in his bed. He kept those paintings as a way to remember his numerous little flings. Each of those nights had been special and different, just as each of those young men had been special. Still, those nights had been just for fun. This, with Caleb, he hoped this would turn into something more serious, something more substantial. Something that would last forever. <br><br>As he watched Caleb he paid attention to the way the blanket hung on his form, the way his hair fell, the way the light and shadows played on his face. Perhaps later he would paint a more recent portrait of him. <br><br>"No, I don't really sell much art...on occasion I'll rough up my style a lot to make it look more human and do quick portraits for people in the street, but I mostly just do that for fun...you'd be amazed at what vampires find to do for entertainment. You're correct...if I became known as an excellent painter one hundred years ago, and then again today, people might match things up, at any rate it might get me unwanted attention from slayers." <br><br>"So why did you stop?" He asked after he told him that he used to play piano. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>21-05-2010, 06:28:56</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				There was a long and rather ominous pause as Caleb considered the various things that he had seen vampires ‘do for fun’. “…No,” he said eventually. “I don’t think I would be surprised anymore. Remember, I’ve spent five years hunting vampires. Well, ok, so six months of that was training, but I’m rounding up, alright?” <br><br>‘Nightmares’ didn’t even begin to cover what Caleb had seen in that time. Vampires who were all too happy to take whatever they wanted, who thought of blood as a bathing solution instead of something to drink, malicious torturers who got off on screams of pain and terror… yes, painting pictures was a good deal safer. Honestly, he was lucky to have been nabbed by Gabe and not one of the crueler ones. “Honestly, Gabe? Right now, we don’t care about specific vampires. I mean, we do. But not about ones who get off on painting pretty pictures and mooning after random men. I’d be very surprised if you attracted any attention at all from Slayers, considering how harmless what you do is.” <br><br>“Oh, there just wasn’t room for it in my apartment,” Caleb said airily, waving one hand vaguely. “All police departments are underfunded, you understand. Slayers aren’t that different, except we have excellent health care. We’re just not paid very much, considering that we’re risking life and limb, so I stay in a fairly small apartment. I’ve always thought about getting&nbsp; a keyboard, but I don’t like how electronic they sound. It’s just not the same.” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>21-05-2010, 06:44:59</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe nodded silently, he could tell by Caleb's reaction to the very thought of what vampires did for entertainment he was thinking of some of the more nasty things that certain vampires did for entertainment. This thought triggered memories of Angelo. Who'd have thought that someone could leave such a horrendous and long lasting impression in less than half of a century? <br><br>Gabe shook his head when Caleb said that because what he was doing was so harmless he wasn't likely to attract much attention from slayers. "You're laboring under the delusion that all slayers care about things like which vampires are actually dangerous. Many slayers don't give a shit that all I've wanted to do with this immortal life that I've been cursed with is observe life and create beauty. They don't care that the only lives I take belong to those who have already taken life themselves and are going to take more. They loathe me simply for what I am, despite the fact that I did not choose to become this. This is why I cannot do anything that would draw attention to me."<br><br>"Yes, I know what you mean...there is a realness of sound that resonates from a piano that simply cannot be matched by a keyboard. The keyboard has it's place, certainly, but it can never and will never take the place of an actual piano. This day and age likes to modernize everything, and modernizations and improvements can be wonderful, but there or some things that are just best done the old way." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>21-05-2010, 07:22:08</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				“Aren’t you over exaggerating a bit? I mean, I AM a Slayer,” Caleb pointed out. “I know that Vee sort of jumped to conclusions and all, but she honestly did think you were the killer at the time. She had no way of knowing that you weren’t. Anyway, I know that I, personally, am more interested in tracking down vampires who are involved in human trafficking than someone who just paints all day. Most of the Slayers I know agree with this. We’d like to pay more attention to the big crimes, like murder.” <br><br>Clearly, Caleb hadn’t changed that much from the naïve young man who had honestly thought that Gabe would be placed under arrest rather than killed on the spot. It wasn’t that he was gullible, exactly… no. Wait. That was pretty much it. People would tell him something and, until there was proof otherwise, he’d believe them. It was certainly working in Gabe’s favor right now. <br><br>“Looks like you were fine with the modernization of bondage,” Caleb pointed out, still not quite over the whole handcuff thing. It was all a bit of a mystery to him, since he hadn’t really taken the time to explore that world yet. He decided not to tell this to Gabe for now. “Do you have a piano? Since I…” he paused for a moment here, wrestling with the words and his own pride. “If… um… since I’m going to be here for a bit, I might as well practice or something.” <br><br>There. He had gotten words around it. He didn’t look entirely happy about it, a small frown on his face, but he had tried. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>22-05-2010, 02:30:17</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe sighed. "Yeah Caleb, I know that you're a slayer, but not all slayers are like you. And I know you've been a slayer for five years, but I've been chased by slayers for five hundred years...so I think I know what I'm talking about. They see a vampire and they don't stop to see what the vampire's doing, they just kill them, with or without cause. First time I got attacked by a slayer I was on my way home from a masquerade...They don't only attack dangerous vampires." <br><br>He had to smile a little bit. Five years as a vampire slayer, and Caleb was still so naive in the way things worked. Maybe some day he would wise up...but Gabe really hoped that he wouldn't. He thought that he was adorable, just the way that he was. <br><br>Gabriele grinned when Caleb asked him if he had a piano. "I love how well you know me already." He said with a smile. "I've got a piano. I don't play much, but I do love the sound of it." He took the key to the cuffs out of his pocket and unlocked them. "I'll take these off you for now...but when I'm not able to watch you I'm going to have to put them back on." He offered Caleb a hand up to come see the piano. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>22-05-2010, 05:45:54</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Pfft, what did Gabe know? He wasn’t a Slayer. He was merely a vampire who had been around for a few hundred years. That didn’t mean he actually knew anything. Except, you know, how vampires and Slayers normally interacted. Caleb, however, told himself that Gabe was over exaggerating a bit. Or maybe that was how Slayers acted then. Now was much different. People were <em>civilized</em> now, except for their rather deplorable lack of kettles. <br><br>He looked up sharply at the word ‘love’, finding it to be rather inappropriate for the time being. It was just so weird. “But I don’t know you,” he pointed out. “If I had, I would’ve guessed that you had a piano instead of asking after one. And thank you for taking the cuffs off.” Lessons like ‘What To Do If You’re Kidnapped by a Vampire’ were a little lacking in the Slayer curriculum, but Caleb felt it was best to be polite for now. At least until he felt a little safer. He eyed the hand uneasily, as though expecting it to attack before accepting it. <br><br>“I’ll warn you, I’m out of practice. Your neighbors might complain,” he said. It sounded like an innocent enough statement, but Caleb was really just trying to figure out if there were any neighbors. If they were able to hear his awful piano playing, they would hear other things. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>22-05-2010, 06:24:20</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"We haven't spent much time together, but...well, you know what I mean. We have something. " He said confidently. Honestly, details just as not having spend all that much time together really were not something that was going to discourage Gabe. He was as happy as can be about being with Caleb...the fact that Caleb was not there of his own free will didn't discourage him either. He felt things were going very well. <br><br>"Don't worry about the neighbors. I have my apartment soundproofed pretty good because I'm up and about in the middle of the night when other tenants are asleep. The humans that I interact with regularly believe that I suffer from xeroderma pigmentosum...it's a genetic disorder that makes the skin and eyes very susceptible to the sun's harmful effects. They believe this is the reason I sleep during the day and go out at night." <br><br>Gabe led Caleb into the very open main area of the apartment. It was much cleaner than Gabe's bedroom. It seemed he at least tried to keep most of his apartment tidy. The kitchen was full of shiny metal appliances that seemed to be of very high quality...and not very much used. On the counter one thing was likely to stick out; an electric kettle. <br><br>There was a spacious living room with black leather sofas, and a big flatscreen T. V.&nbsp; the coffee table in the center of the room was wood, and appeared to be handcarved. Faces and hands expressing a variety if emotions were all around the sides, but the top of course was perfectly flat. One whole wall of the area was windows. There were green curtains that could be drawn across them, but they were currently open, showing the city not too far below. Next to these windows was a beautiful black baby grand piano. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>23-05-2010, 06:03:39</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				No. Actually, Caleb didn’t have the slightest clue as to what Gabe ‘meant’. To him, it sounded as though the vampire had been drinking from some spectacular drunks and drug addicts. Caleb briefly wondered if it was possible to get a bit of whatever the fuck they were on because it was certainly trippy enough. “What, seriously? They believe that load of crap?” Caleb asked incredulously, trying to imagine how people could be so stupid and easily deceived. “It’d be better just to let them think whatever they want to rather than give an explanation. Explanations have holes.” Like the fact that not many people lived beyond twenty with that particular disease. <br><br>Goddamnit, forget what was wrong with Gabe; what was wrong with Caleb when he was giving tips to a vampire? It was ju… whatever. He followed Gabe quietly enough into the other room, feeling slightly disappointed that the neighbors wouldn’t hear anything. Ah well. There would be other ways. It was probably better not to involve the neighbors anyway. He stopped in his tracks at the room. Compared to many rooms, it wasn’t that special. <br><br>But, compared to the cramped apartment that Caleb came home to, compared to the hotel room that he had been sleeping in lately, it was a small slice of paradise. There was even an electric kettle, one that he recognized as being a fairly expensive brand. A man could live very comfortably here, he thought. Very comfortably indeed… <br><br>At least his temporary imprisonment wouldn’t be boring. “Wow. You really know how to live. Or… uhh… whatever it is vampires really do.” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>23-05-2010, 06:22:45</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Yeah, but most people don't look for holes in the explanations." Gabe pointed out, "Because most of them don't know that vampires exist, besides, I've found that when you don't give an explanation is when people get creeped out. They see a young man that seems sort of different, even if they can't put their finger on what it is, and that man is always inside all day and outside all night. I've never had any issues with humans thinking I was a vampire without an explanation, but I've had a few accusations of being a devil worshipper or some crap like that. Blaming it on a disease explains that 'something' that they might not be able to place, it also ensures that anyone delivering anything during the daytime won't unknowingly let any sun come into my room while I'm sleeping."<br><br>Gabe may have sounded like he was pulling all this out of his ass, but he really had thought everything over. He'd had many years to come up with the perfect way to deal with the people around him. <br><br>"Yeah, it's a good place." He agreed as he looked at his own apartment. "One of the nicer places I've lived." He noticed him looking at the electric kettle. "That was what was in the box." He said quietly. "When we met up for our date and I gave you the box, but you wouldn't open it...it was that kettle." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>23-05-2010, 06:46:19</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Just another nail to support Caleb’s ‘people are stupid’ theory. Hell, he had been suspicious about Gabe… then again, if he had told Caleb about this ‘disease’ all those years ago, he probably would have believed him. To a certain extent anyway. It wasn’t like everyone was a nosy bastard like Caleb and willing to chase down anything that didn’t quite fit. Newly freed from those cuffs, Caleb walked around the room, occasionally touching things as if to see whether or not they were really real. <br><br>“Really? Man. Maybe I should’ve accepted it then. It took me three years to find a decently-priced one, you know. They cost about three times as much here.” But, considering that he practically lived off of tea, it was well worth it. Then again, if Caleb had accepted the box, he would’ve felt even more uncomfortable. It would’ve been a fairly expensive gift for a first date. It was another one of those things that Caleb couldn’t decide were romantic or just plain creepy. <br><br>He moved away from the counter and sat at the piano, running his hands over the keys, but not pressing any. It had been a while since he’d last sat at a piano, but he was sure he could remember. That is, until he pressed the first key and realized almost immediately that it was the wrong note. “Sorry, sorry. I’ll get it,” he said, not really sure what he was apologizing about. After a few false starts, he eventually got at least the first few chords right. For someone who was out of practice, it wasn’t bad. Eventually, Caleb even smiled, pleased with himself for managing to not screw up three notes in a row.&nbsp; <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>24-05-2010, 02:50:09</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The vampire had been using the excuse of this disease for many years now, and no human had ever questioned it other than Caleb, but then Caleb had the advantage of knowing that Gabe was a vampire. The mortality rate from the disease also made it a lot easier for him to make his disappearance when he'd lived in an area for too long. <br><br>Gabe smiled a little bit when Caleb said that he should have accepted the kettle.&nbsp; It made him feel as though the effort that he went to those five years ago in order to get that gift for him was finally appreciated. "Oh well...at least now it's going to be here while you're staying here." Gabe said. He felt that it would be best for now to speak of Caleb's stay as though it were something temporary. Nothing would frighten Caleb more at this stage than if he found out that Gabriele had no intention of ever letting him go. "It's a shame that they're so hard to find here...I wonder why it is that Americans don't use them...they drink tea too, afterall." Though it was true that tea wasn't nearly as much of a part of day to day life for Americans as it was for the English. <br><br>It was with a quiet fascination that Gabe watched Caleb settle in to playing the piano again. The way he made mistakes in the beginning, obviously a result of being out of practice, and then slowly was able to play more and more. It was going to be nice to have Caleb here, filling his apartment with music. <br><br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>25-05-2010, 10:44:39</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				“Yeah. I know it’s stereotypical, an Englishman liking tea and all, but I honestly don’t think I could get through a day without it. It’s like coffee.” Aha! So even Gabe admitted that it was unlikely that Caleb would stay here forever. That was progress. Caleb wasn’t an expert in psychology----in fact, he tended to be wary of such things----but he was certain that this meant that Gabe would come to his senses and let the hapless Slayer go the next day. Maybe the day after that. Either way, he was already realizing how… well… silly all of this kidnapping business was. “It’s barbaric, that’s what it is. America prides itself on how modernized it is, but insists on heating water over a fire like cavemen.” <br><br>This wasn’t so hard. Caleb at least remembered the first few measures of the Moonlight Sonata, which seemed oddly appropriate. It was possible that there was another piece of music that so aptly described vampires, but Caleb hadn’t come across it yet. After a few moments of playing, he paused. “Do you have any sheet music? I’ve forgotten bits and pieces, like how to read it, but I can probably pick it back up.” <br><br>Yeah. This wouldn’t be so bad. It wasn’t like Gabe was an aggressive man or anything. Although he had serious boundary issues----what with the abduction and all---he seemed eager to please. “And glasses. I will need my glasses. Can’t you just go back to my hotel room and pick them up? It’ll be easier than getting a new prescription.” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>26-05-2010, 04:54:40</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Yes, I have some sheet music." He said, rummaging through a nearby drawer. He pulled out a few pieces including Beethoven's Appassionata, Heroic by Chopin, Wanderer by Franz Shubert, and yes, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.&nbsp; "A couple years ago I was incredibly interested in the piano. I have a tendency to go through manias...the piano one was rather short lived...as I found that I had difficulty making each of my hands play something different...they wanted to do the same thing." He said with a shrug. <br><br>"Yes...as I took you only tonight they probably haven't discovered that you are missing, so it should be safe to go back and get them if I go tonight." He said. "I am going to have to chain you up while I'm away though, otherwise I'll come back to find that you've run off." He added casually.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>26-05-2010, 07:22:58</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Well, at least Gabe acknowledged that he went through phases. Sooner or later, he’d get bored of Caleb, possibly when he realized that kidnapping invoked only fear and resentment instead of romance. Still, at least Caleb would be entertained while he was kept here. He smiled faintly at the names of the pieces, recognizing names over tunes. “Yeah, it took me a little while to figure out how to play two lines at the same time. It’s just confusing because of the clefs and how notes are different based on their position and clef and everything. I guess I’ve got the time now. I don’t think that playing will stress my shoulder at all.” <br><br>Caleb looked up sharply at the mention of chains, looking about as distressed as a cat who just realized he was trying to walk on thin air. “Um. No,” he said simply, deciding that this could probably be easily dismissed. After all, Gabe was pretty easy-going, so long as Caleb didn’t do anything incendiary like try to leave. <br><br>“Come on, Gabe. I’ve got a bad shoulder. I don’t have my glasses. I’m not going to try and run off.” Actually, he fully intended on doing just that. “It’s not like I ran off before and, let’s face it, fluffy handcuffs aren’t exactly difficult to get out of. So I could’ve, if I wanted to.” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>26-05-2010, 16:30:27</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Yeah, now will be a good time for you to get some practice playing, and this piano will finally get to be used instead of just sitting here untouched forever." Gabe said with a smile. <br><br>The vampire was visibly upset at how badly Caleb reacted when he mentioned chaining him up, however, he wasn't going to let his personal emotions sway him from what he knew was the smart thing to do. "It will only be for a little while, it won't take me that long to go get your glasses. I know you say that you don't intend to run away, but quite frankly that's exactly what you would say if you did...And yes, you're right, fluffy handcuffs wouldn't be that difficult to get off, but while I'm here that's really all that was necessary. However, it will take me longer to go get your glasses than it took me to get your takeout, so I'm going to have to use real handcuffs." <br><br>"I know you don't like it, but I just don't know for sure that I can trust you just yet. I'm sure there will come a time when I can leave without having to lock you up, but that time just hasn't come yet." He placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "It will only be for a little while, I'll be back before you know it." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>27-05-2010, 07:38:58</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<br>Oh, damnit. Caleb hoped that simply saying ‘no’ would be enough to dissuade Gabe, since the vampire was eager to keep the injured man happy. Or at least passably content. The effect of Caleb’s own distress on Gabe was surprising. Or maybe not so much. Caleb brought a finger to his mouth, absentmindedly chewing on a nail before he realized what he was doing. Nailchewing had always been a nasty habit, one that he thought was in the past. He forced his hands back to the keys, but he wasn’t playing any more. Well, fine. He supposed he could deal with chains for now, however humiliating it was. It wasn’t like there was anyone else who could see him. <br><br>The hand on his shoulder was even more surprising; it was the first time the vampire had actually touched him in a non-restraining way. Caleb eyed the hand uneasily, as though expecting it would attack if he didn’t watch it closely enough. “And you can’t just, I don’t know… lock a door or something? That would be less embarrassing,” he grumbled half-heartedly. The fight was out of his words, though. He would rather conserve his strength for battles he could actually win. <br><br>“Fine, fine. Let’s just get this over with. I need my glasses.” Especially if he was to escape. It made more sense to get away after he had gotten his glasses anyway. “And there should be some pain medication at the hotel room too. It’s in the bathroom. Now, I’d like to get this over with, ok?” God, he had just said that, hadn’t he? <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>27-05-2010, 16:55:45</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"The door locks from the inside." Gabe said when he asked him if he could just lock a door. "Truth is I'm not quite prepared for this; I've never kept someone a prisoner in my apartment before. I suppose there's a first time for everything." He said with an ironic smile. "And you don't need to be embarrassed about it, I'm the only one that's going to see you."<br><br>"Alright, let's get it over with then." He agreed, leading Caleb back into the bedroom. "Alright...so I want to do this so that you will be unable to escape but still as comfortable as possible." He propped up some pillows on the left side of his bed, and directed Caleb to sit down there. He cuffed Caleb's left wrist to the bedpost, then he cuffed his feet together. His injured arm he left free. "I know you're right arm is hurt, I figure you won't be able to do anything major with one hand." he explained.<br><br>"Okay, I will get back to your hotel room and get your glasses and your pills, and I'll be back soon." He said, giving a small apologetic smile as he left. He really didn't want to chain Caleb up, he wished that he could trust him. He wished that Caleb was here of his own free will, but things were what they were. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>28-05-2010, 06:49:16</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				“Glad to know you haven’t made a habit out of this,” Caleb said drily as he followed Gabe. In all honesty, he was distinctly uneasy about even sitting on the man’s bed, let alone being handcuffed to it. That just sounded like a bad set-up. A really bad set-up. All the same, it really didn’t seem like Gabe was planning rape. If he was, he would’ve done something already. With every instinct screaming at him that this was a really, really stupid idea, he sat down anyway. At least Gabe handcuffed the correct arm. <br><br>And left Caleb’s injured arm free, he couldn’t help but notice. “I’m sorry, is that supposed to be a kindness or is it just a sign that you really think I’m absolutely harmless?” Caleb asked, not quite sure which answer was better. Well, theoretically, the first one. All the same, he hated the idea that he was ‘harmless’. The fact that it was true only made him more annoyed. It seemed like most things were annoying him lately. The fact that his shoulder was starting to ache certainly didn’t help. <br><br>Still, it wouldn’t help if he lost his temper with Gabe, so Caleb tried to calm down and act like a proper guest. Just one who had, you know, been forcibly taken from his hotel room and chained to another man’s bed. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>29-05-2010, 00:59:42</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"I meant it as a kindness." Gabe said, clearly a little upset at how upset Caleb was, and a little offended that he would think that he had meant anything unkind. "I know your arm hurts, I thought it would hurt more if you were forced to keep it at an uncomfortable angle, and I figured that with your feet and one hand locked you'd be contained well enough until I returned." <br><br>Gabe left the apartment, and was away for nearly half an hour. When he returned through the front door he walked into the bedroom, he was carrying Caleb's suitcase. He unchained Caleb's hand and feet, and handed him his glasses and medicine out of his pocket. "I thought you'd be more comfortable if you had your own clothes also." He said, gesturing to the suitcase. <br><br>He would have brought all of this stuff with him originally, but carrying a struggling slayer and his luggage would have been taxing, even for as strong of a vampire as Gabe was. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>03-06-2010, 09:57:05</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				It was official. It was officially the most boring half-hour Caleb had spent chained to a bed. He supposed he ought to be grateful for that, considering the other possibilities. Still, he wished that he could have at least had a book or something… Sleep was out of the question, since it meant he’d have to try napping with an arm slightly above his head; that was just all kinds of awkward, Caleb being the sort of man who adapted routines and hated changing them for anything less than life-shattering disasters. Being abducted ought to qualify, but, somehow, it didn’t. <br><br>Left alone with only his brain to amuse him, Caleb began to wonder what would happen if Gabe was caught while he was out. No one would come and look for the Slayer and Gabe wasn’t likely to tell anyone about him. If anything happened to him, Caleb was as good as dead. Needless to say, he was relieved to see Gabe walk back in. Once released, Caleb put on his glasses and blinked owlishly. <br><br>“Oh. Uh. Thank you,” he said, trying to be polite instead of wary. Gabe had a good point, since most of his clothes would probably be too big for Caleb and the fussy man was hardly going to wear the same clothes all the time. That would just be gross. “That was very thoughtful of you.” <br><br>Or something like it, anyway. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>03-06-2010, 15:59:19</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe smiled at the way that Caleb blinked when he got his glasses back on. It was really very difficult to picture someone so cute hunting down and killing vampires, but of course Gabe wasn't going to say anything about that. The slayer was rather sensitive. <br><br>"I do try." Gabe said, clearly pleased when Caleb said that bringing his clothes too was very thoughtful. He wanted very much for Caleb to be happy here; to be happy with him. <br><br>"So, what would you like to do? We could...watch a movie, play a game, or you could keep playing the piano...or I've got books that you can read...." Gabriele, the powerful vampire who had seduced thousands of men in his time, was stammering and rambling like a schoolboy with a crush. He'd never dealt with someone that was as much of a challenge as Caleb, and he'd never wanted someone as much as he wanted Caleb. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>05-06-2010, 06:29:10</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Unbelievable. There was something very… well, special about a man who would thoughtlessly----or at least without really thinking about it---kidnap another man and then think that everything would be hunky-dory. Or hunky-hunky, actually, seeing as they were both men. Caleb had never really fully understood the whole ‘hunky-dory’ thing. Still, the word seemed to suit Gabe’s view, being slightly… well, naïve and simple. But, at the same time, fairly harmless. <br><br>Caleb rested one elbow on his knee for a moment, his fingers curling around his chin. “Yeah, you know? I have to admit I’ve always wondered one thing. What would have happened if I had gone on that date with you? I mean, you couldn’t have told me about the whole ‘vampire’ thing on the first night.” At least not ideally; Caleb was a little unclear on dating etiquette, but he was pretty sure that was like, third date material at least. “How do you really deal with that anyway? It’s clear that you don’t let it get in the way of your romantic life,” a reference to all the porntastic pictures of rather underdressed young men laying languidly on a bed, “so… What? Do you just tell them ‘oh yeah, I’m a vampire’?” <br><br>It was an honest question, asked with the casual innocence of one who simply didn’t----or possibly couldn’t---recognize if something was polite or not. Also, Caleb was trying to figure out if he had been in danger of being abducted back then if Vee hadn’t saved him. Mentally, he made a note to get her some flowers or something if he ever got out of here. Something obnoxiously brightly colored. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>05-06-2010, 06:52:38</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Okay, so they were going to talk about him. Gabe figured he could deal with that, even though talking about himself wasn't really someting that he was completely used to, but he could handle it. <br><br>"All of these...they were just flings." He said. "Nothing more than a week. I had to break it off before it got to the point where they would need to know that I was a vampire." He really had to try to be careful what he said. He didn't want to give away what his overall plan was just yet, or what exactly made Caleb so special that he would be able to tell him what he was. "With you I was planning on dating you for a while. I was hoping that after we spent enough time together and you got to know me you would like me for who I am and not care so much when I told you I was a vampire." <br><br>He wished so much that he would have been able to tell Caleb that he was a vampire on his own terms. "I've spent the last five years wondering what would have happend if our date hadn't been ruined." He said quietly, knowing it would make him sound a little obsessive.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>05-06-2010, 07:17:36</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Huh. Well, at least Gabe’s old plans hadn’t included abduction. That was a minor point of comfort, though, especially since Caleb sort of doubted that the vampire would’ve answered the question honestly anyway. For the life of him, he couldn’t really figure out whether or not it was creepy that Gabe had intended to date him for a while. On one hand, it was perfectly normal behavior; Caleb himself wouldn’t date anyone unless he thought it might be a long-term sort of thing. But, on the other hand… well, vampires thought of time in a slightly different fashion than mortals. A ‘long time’ could mean just about anything. <br><br>“You don’t say,” he said, glancing at the pictures again. And, yes, Gabe was creepily obsessive when he said that he had wondered for five years how the date might have gone. Caleb decided to ignore that; it was pretty obvious that Gabe wasn’t trying to be creepy or anything. It just happened naturally and at least he wasn’t being creepily… uhh… aggressive or something. <br><br>Man, Caleb had low standards for creepiness these days. “I think it’s better that our date was interrupted,” he said, without really thinking about it. When he did have a moment to think about it, he quickly added, “I mean… well, look. I was just a kid. I was eighteen, just barely. I just moved here. I was not, in any way, really ready for, you know. Romance.” Which he figured was what Gabe had been angling for at the time. And now, of course, but that was less important somehow. Caleb was the sort of man who sought refuge in the past anyway. “Nothing personal,” he said, thinking that the vampire might take the comment sort of personally. <br><br>And it was best to keep one’s captor happy. Or at least content. Or at least unlikely to try and kill you. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>05-06-2010, 07:35:37</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe listened as Caleb told him that he thought it was good that their date had been interupted because he hadn't really been ready for a relationship as he was just a kid. "Yeah...but you didn't know what I was then... I would have had more of a chance. A little time with me, and maybe you would have been ready for romance. Romance is something that many people don't think that they are ready for until the right person comes along...with a proper chance I could have been that person." He said, a little depressed about it clearly.<br><br>He was so worried that he wouldn't have a shot with Caleb at all. "I mean you've spent the last five years seeing the worst of what vampires can be and what they can do, and killing them. I don't think that it's pushing it to think that you would normally be more apt to kill a vampire than have a friendly conversation with him." <br><br>"I never wanted to hurt you, or to scare you, and certainly not to kill you. All I really wanted to do was sweep you off your feet."<br><br><br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>05-06-2010, 08:06:52</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				“…Wow. You really think highly of yourself, don’t you?” Caleb commented, once he got his annoyance under control. Among the many things he hated----including politics, the lack of electric kettles, not having his tea in the morning, and people touching his books----people who insisted that they knew him better than he knew himself were very high on that list. And, right now, Gabe was dangerously toeing that line, claiming that Caleb would have been ready, if they had spent more time together. Honestly, the nerve of him! No wonder none of his relationships had lasted longer than a week. Gabe hadn’t said ‘maybe’. He had said ‘you would’, as though he knew exactly what Caleb needed. <br><br>And that just pissed the proud Slayer off, since it heavily implied that he was an idiot who couldn’t take care of himself. “And you jump to conclusions,” he pointed out, as Gabe performed a particularly admirable bit of acrobatics. “Yes, I’m a Slayer. Yes, I’ve been one for five years. But, bloody hell, I’m not particularly violent. Sure, I’ll kill, but only if I can’t see any other way around it.” More or less. Of course, since imprisonment wasn’t really practical for vampires, Caleb had to deal with some killing. It was the only way to get the dangerous vampires off the streets. <br><br>But, goddamnit, it almost hurt to be labeled like that. Huh. This was probably how Gabe had felt at first, he reflected. He tapped his fingers against his knee for a moment before adding, “Right, you want a bit of advice on how to sweep me off my feet or at least make it so I feel something besides vague annoyance and disdain towards you? Don’t assume that you know me better than I know myself. I’ve had twenty-three years of being me. I’m not an expert, but I’m damn sure that’s longer than you’ve been me.”&nbsp; &nbsp;<br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>05-06-2010, 20:54:40</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe winced. He just wasn't doing so good was he? Somehow he kept managing to offend Caleb. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound as though I thought I knew you better than you knew yourself. I didn't mean to offend you." He said giving a sigh. He just couldn't do anything right with Caleb, could he? Any other guy that he had set his sights on in the past, it always worked so easily. It started when he wanted it to start, and it ended when he wanted it to end, but the one time that he wanted a long relationship, the one time that he really wanted it to work out...he just couldn't get it right. Oh well.. he would learn from his mistakes. He would figure out what it would take and he would make it work. <br><br>"I'm sorry if I'm not too...smooth." He said quietly. "I'm used to putting up an act when I talk to people...I haven't spoken to someone as myself in...centuries, so it might take me a while to get it in order...as far as my opinions on slayers...I'm simply acting on my experiences. I have never met a slayer that would care about how dangerous a vampire was, or whether they were evil or not, as when it comes down to it...all vampires feed on human blood, take human life...but I find that there are certain human lives that humanity in general is better off without...I suppose both vampires and slayers have their stereotypes about eachother."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>09-06-2010, 01:00:28</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				No wonder Gabe had never had any long-lasting relationships. Caleb’s own experience with relationships was limited, but he was fairly certain that people looking for one-night stands cared less about personalities----and insults----and more about how people looked. Abductor or not, Gabe was an attractive man and rich. Those two qualities made him plenty attractive to people who just wanted a quick roll, certainly people who were more available than Caleb. Which made the suspicious man wonder just why Gabe was so interested in him… there were plenty of other people that he wouldn’t have to kidnap and keep chained up. <br><br>It was something to keep in mind, anyway. “Apology accepted. I’m just a little overly sensitive right now.” As though Caleb would offer up an outright apology. As far as he was concerned, he owed Gabe nothing. His temper flared again at the audacity of this bloodsucker, the very temerity of his words; what gave <em>him</em> the right to judge mortal lives? What gave him the power to say ‘this is a good human’ and ‘this is a bad human’? Why should an immortal hold court over mortal crimes? But, because he had a limit of only getting overly offended at small things----as small as a life could be anyway----Caleb kept the words to himself. <br><br>Besides, Gabe was right. Caleb had----hell, all Slayers had----at some point or another, entered a bloodsoaked torture-house thinking that a vampire was responsible only to later realize that the real monster was a flesh and blood human. Vampires just didn’t have the same creativity as humans. That made them less dangerous. The fact that Slayers had no jurisdiction over these very human crimes had always pissed Caleb off. He refused to meet Gabe’s eyes now, staring at his own feet instead before finally saying, “Yes. I know.” <br><br>It was a quiet voice, almost holding a tone of defeat. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>09-06-2010, 01:39:46</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe felt a little bit better when Caleb accepted his apology, and conceded that he was right about there being some humans that humanity was better without. It was something that Gabe had always wondered about: If a human had come across a man ready to land the killing blow on his helpless victim, and stopped the man, killing him instead, he would be considered a hero. However, when Gabe did it it was wrong simply because he was not human anymore. He never understood that. Fortunately it looked as though Caleb understood this, at least to some degree. <br><br>"So Caleb." Gabe said with a little smile, wanting to change the subject to something a little bit less touchy. "It occurs to me that I don't know all that much about you, aside from the fact that you're an English vampire slayer that plays piano and likes tea and Chinese food.&nbsp; How about you tell me about yourself? I would love to get to know you better." He said pleasantly. He wanted to show Caleb that he was sincere, and perhaps if he learned more about Caleb he would stop screwing up so much. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>09-06-2010, 03:56:09</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Caleb looked up in surprise as Gabe suddenly spoke, changing the topic. Ah well. He couldn’t get upset over the subject change, since it was beginning to make him feel uncomfortable. Although, it was hard to say what was more awkward: any conversation about his job, or conversation about himself. In all honesty, most Slayers had difficulty talking about themselves outside of their job; it was just what they did. Caleb stared blankly at Gabe for a few moments, trying to understand what he was asking, exactly. <br><br>“I like history,” he said sheepishly. It sounded silly to say it out loud to someone who had lived through all of that. It was like saying, ‘Oh, I loved that bit where the music went all wobbly’ to a professional opera star or something. Then again, maybe this would be a decent defense; if he made himself boring, maybe Gabe would lose interest and let him go. Sadly, he didn’t feel like it would take much effort to make himself seem boring. “What do you want to know? I need a bit more direction to go on here.” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>09-06-2010, 05:28:05</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe listened, smiling a little when Caleb told him that he liked history. That's right, he remembered that Caleb had told him he liked history back when they had first met. "Any particular parts of history that you're most interested in?" Gabe asked, figuring if there was something that he was there for, Caleb might enjoy hearing about it from someone who had seen it first hand. It seemed like a stroke of good luck that the man that he wanted was interested in history and that was something that he knew a lot about. Perhaps this was the only stroke of good luck he had had as far as their relationship (or lack there of) went.<br><br>"Oh you know, you're interests, your family, what your childhood was like, why you decided to come to America, what your life as a slayer was like, just anything there is to know about you...anything you feel I should know." Gabe prompted, eager to learn all about Caleb. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>09-06-2010, 07:01:38</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				“No particular parts. I just like all of it.” The more esoteric, the fewer people who knew about it, the better. Luckily for him, there was plenty of history to learn, especially if someone knew where to look. “I particularly enjoy studying the Voynich Script. Real or not, I think it’s interesting.” Also completely unreadable, but Caleb refused to let that deter him. If it was a real language, it could eventually be translated into English. He had time. Especially now, he realized, although he didn’t have any of his work. Damn. That was a bit of a bugger. <br><br>Now that he knew where to start, Caleb became a little more open and less ‘if you insult me, I swear, I will kill you in your sleep’. “My family’s a bit difficult to understand. Um. My parents were never married. As I understand it, my parents simply had a whirlwind of romance before my dad came back here to America. I was born in London and raised there, mostly in the museums where my mum worked. She cleaned them and did tours.” Which probably explained where Caleb’s lifelong fascination with history came from. “After she died, I decided to come here to find my father. He’s married now and I’ve two older half-siblings. I haven’t met them yet, or my father. Somehow, I just never found the time.” <br><br>“Besides, what do you even say in situations like that? ‘Hi, remember that one woman you shagged like twenty-three years ago? I’m her son, hi, Dad.’ That would go over real well. Especially since he was actually married to someone else at the time, as it turns out.” He didn’t sound particularly bitter about this. More sad than bitter, actually. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>10-06-2010, 05:35:55</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe knew of many people that had their particular areas of interest in history, people who obsessed over specific wars or time periods, but the vampire really had to respect that Caleb liked all of history. He wanted to know about everything that had ever happend. If Gabe had his way, Caleb would have plenty of time to learn it all, even long enough to see the Voynich script that intrigued him so much decoded. <br><br>"Well, I don't know." He said thoughtfully. "It might be better to approach him briefly. Just to have met eachother, even if you never expect that anything ever comes of it. Even if you only speak for five minutes. I think that if you never meet him you will always regret that you never met him. It's not like you'll be any worse off if things go badly."<br><br>In the many years that Gabe had been around he had learned how long missed opportunities could bother you. There were things that he had missed out on even back when he was a human, that still made him ask himself those two terrible little words; 'what if'. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>10-06-2010, 07:56:22</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				For the most part, Caleb had merely been confused by the apparent urge people had to confess things to complete strangers. If someone had a festering secret, wouldn’t it be better shared with a close friend or family member rather than a complete stranger? Still, at this moment, he could almost understand it. Somehow, it was just easier to talk about it with Gabe. <br><br>Besides, the vampire had a surprisingly good and simple point: could it get any worse? Caleb considered this question carefully before pointing out, “Well, he’s married for one thing. And was married when I was… uhh… you know. Conceived. So there’s that. I don’t want to end up ruining a marriage.” And if he was going to introduce himself to his father, damnit, he wanted to meet the rest of the family. <br><br>“…Still, I guess it’s better to just start with my father and work my way from there,” he added reluctantly. Not that this was likely to happen from what he could see, at least until Gabe got bored and let him go. “What about you? I mean… could you tell me about yourself a bit?” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>11-06-2010, 04:56:53</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Yes, exactly, start by meeting your father separate from the rest of the family and if he feels alright about it then you can meet them. Nothing ventured nothing gained." he said with a shrug. An appropriate statement coming from a vampire that had abducted someone in hope of starting a relationship with him. <br><br>"Myself...well as I said, I was a true man of the Renaissance in my time and I haven't changed much since then. I love music, classical, opera, and a more recent development, rock, all kinds. I love theater, live theater mostly, but movies are also enjoyable. I've acted in some plays periodically throughout my existence, I'm rather skilled, but it is difficult to make it out for rehearsals. As you've observed I enjoy painting. I have had a habit over the centuries of finding talented artists in many different fields, and providing them with the financial means to help their careers take off...completely anonymously..."<br><br>He smiled with a nervous laugh. "I see why you had difficulty with this...it is rather difficult to think of what precisely you should tell about yourself to someone else. There are so many events in a life, how do you determine which are the ones that should be told?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>11-06-2010, 07:05:34</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				“But what if he doesn’t want me to meet the other family members? My half-siblings have a right to know about me. They’re both adults, a few years older than I am. I don’t think that his view should really affect them.” Of course, this was all supposing that he got out of this apartment. Unless Gabe had a very short attention span (which was unlikely; vampires had a reputation for being extremely single-minded and as patient as the grave), it probably wouldn’t happen any time soon. <br><br>“When you say Renaissance, which one do you mean?” Caleb asked, because there was no historian in the world who wouldn’t inquire. Given Gabe’s age, there was a very good chance he was talking about the medieval one. Or all of them, actually, all things considered. “Yeah. A lot of the vampires I’ve… uhh… encountered,” in other words killed, “were very good actors. I’m guessing it has to do with being a predator. It takes a very good predator to act harmless.” <br><br>Well, this was good and awkward. Caleb couldn’t help but wonder just how Gabe had thought this would play out. “Here’s another question while I’m feeling curious: why me? You’re a very attractive man, Gabe. I don’t mind admitting it; I was about three steps away from just tackling you five years ago, back when I was busy being a hormonal teen, but, damn. You could have anyone you want. Why me?” It wasn’t a self-esteem issue, since the Slayer thought quite highly of himself. It was just that he figured Gabe would choose someone less likely to try and kill him in his sleep. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>12-06-2010, 02:03:24</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"If they are adults then by all means, you have every right in the world to find them and meet them no matter what your father says." Gabriele agreed. <br><br>"High Renaissance, the early Renaissance was before my time, mostly Italian, but I traveled enough to see the Renaissance in England, France, Spain, even the Netherlands. I found it incredibly interesting." Gabe said with a nod. "Well...it's different with me." He said when Caleb talked about how other vampires had been good actors too, predators acting innocent. "I don't act like a kind person in order to lure innocent humans into private so that I can kill them. I act because I have a love of the theater, and I enjoy playing the part of different characters." There may not have been much difference to Caleb, but there was a huge difference to Gabe. <br><br>Then there was that question, the question that he had been fearing, expecting that Caleb was likely to ask it soon. It was odd indeed that he would be so dead set on finding love with someone who was so incredibly unlikely to love him, and Caleb was much to smart not to notice that. "You're special Caleb." Gabe explained incredibly vaguely. "Though exactly how it is that you're special, I don't know if you're quite ready to hear just yet." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>12-06-2010, 09:19:52</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				“I don’t suppose you’ll let me contact them?” Caleb asked half-heartedly. It was barely even worth the effort of asking, honestly; what sort of kidnapper would let his victim idly call up family members, especially since Gabe had no proof that Caleb wouldn’t dial up fellow Slayers instead. Hell, since most Slayers was practically a family tradition, there was a decent chance that Caleb’s family could also be Slayers. All in all, it was a stupid question. But he’d ask anyway, on the off-chance that Gabe would say ‘yes’. <br><br>“Oh, come on. Are you telling me that you never pretended to be harmless in order to feed yourself?” now his voice turned incredulous. Sure, a vampire <em>could</em> simply chase down and overpower a human, but that was so messy, so loud, so overbearingly <em>noticeable</em> that most vampires avoided it. That sort of thing just attracted attention. Most bloodsuckers preferred to avoid such things. “So, you act sometimes? Huh. Pity that I never did check out the theater. I always meant to, someday.” <br><br>Special. Of course, every human being on the planet loved to believe they were ‘special’, but most of them weren’t. That was precisely what made the special ones actually special. Every kindergarten poster was a lie. Logically, Caleb knew this. But, despite a shallow layer of cynicism, he still loved to believe that he was special. He hesitated, not quite wanting the answer yet. It seemed like a huge coincidence to him. The very day after he met Gabe, Caleb was asked to join the Slayers. There had to be something there. Did they know something about him that he didn’t? <br><br>Did Gabe? “Right. Let’s forget that for now then.” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>14-06-2010, 04:03:19</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"I will let you contact them, but not yet." Gabe said. "I'll let you contact them when I know that I can trust you...when I know that it would really be a call out of a desire to know your family and not some attempt to get me slain or something of that sort." He felt certain that it wouldn't be too long before he knew he could trust Caleb...a few weeks, months perhaps, hardly a tick of the clock to a vampire. <br><br>"On rare occasion I have." Gabe conceded, "Usually I only rely on stealth, but I have acted as a human to get my prey away from a crowd before. But believe me when I say that even in those situations the humans have been of the most vile sort." He was possibly sounding like a broken record, but he wanted to stress to Caleb that he was not some dark monster preying on innocent humans in the dark city streets. <br><br>"Good." The vampire said when Caleb said to just forget that for now. He had been worried that he wasn't going to let it rest at that, that he would keep pestering him to find out exactly what it was that made him special. "So...I'm going to have a bed brought here for you tommorrow. Is there anything else I can get to make your stay here more comfortable?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>14-06-2010, 04:59:48</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				“That sounds reasonable,” Caleb said quietly. From Gabe’s perspective, it probably made perfect sense. Actually, even from Caleb’s perspective, it made sense; no one wanted a grumpy captive, right, especially if that captive could, at any point, decide to try and kill you in your sleep. Slayers did that, especially when distressed and few things distressed a Slayer more than a kidnapping. <br><br>Strangely enough, Caleb actually believed Gabe when he claimed to only go after the ‘bad humans’. Admittedly, the Slayer still wasn’t sure how good the vampire’s judgment was, but he probably really did try. Plus, he was good at sneaking. He’d managed to sneak into Caleb’s room and, against all odds, ran back here with him slung over his shoulder. That was plenty sneaky. <br><br>Hmm, anything else he needed… well, he had food, drink, a piano, and books. There wasn’t much else he really ‘needed’, beyond to get out of here. But, unless Gabe was the most amiable kidnapper in all of history, he probably wouldn’t agree to that. Instead he just had to settle for the second most amiable kidnapper in all of history. “I think I’ll be ok, Gabe, thank you.” He smiled timorously at the other man, trying to encourage him but, you know, keep him away a little. “I think I’m just going to go to sleep now, if that’s alright. It’s… uhh… been a long day.” <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>16-06-2010, 03:17:09</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe smiled, he felt pretty encouraged about how things were going. They had come a long way with getting along after even just the first night. After a few more days, who knew how well they would be getting along. Caleb seemed reasonably happy, all things considered. He would probably be happier when he had his own bed, and when he had gotten to know Gabe a little bit better. <br><br>"Good..." he said with a smile when Caleb told him that he would be okay, and even said thank you to him. "Just let me know if there is anything else that you need." he said. He considered cuffing Caleb now, because going to bed at this time, even though it was well after midnight by now, he was sure to wake up before the sun went down, but he figured it would be easier on Caleb if he cuffed him after he was already asleep. He might have a hard time falling asleep with them on. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>16-06-2010, 06:25:45</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<br>“Yeah, I’ll let you know.” Caleb was still hoping his ‘I’m too boring to be kept here’ defense would work eventually. Failing that, he’d fall back on the ‘oh, well, I’m a totally harmless captive, tee hee’ routine and try and get out once he had earned Gabe’s trust. It wouldn’t be that difficult, he felt, seeing as the vampire already trusted him far more than he would trust him if their situations were reversed. “I… uhh… I think I’m just going to go to sleep,” he said after a moment of thought. There was still a very good chance that, by the time he woke up, this would all be over. <br><br>Besides, his arm was aching now, sending waves of dull pain all the way from his shoulder to his wrist. Wincing more than a little, he managed to grab the medication bottle and shake out a pill. Sending a slightly embarrassed look up at Gabe, he swallowed the Vicodin and waited. Just a few minutes were long enough for him to relax and start to smile the grin of the slightly stoned. Still, at least the pain was gone for the night. <br><br>“Right. Night, Gabe,” he said, rolling over onto his left side. “If I’m lucky, this has all been a hallucination anyway. Although, I have to say, in my hallucinations, you’re usually naked.” Apparently, a side-effect of the medication was unusual candor. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>17-06-2010, 04:49:30</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				As Gabe watched Caleb, in pain from his arm, able to end the pain with the pills that he had brought back from the hotel, he was glad that he went back and got Caleb's things for him. That pain was sure to only get worse. He chuckled a little as the drugged up slayer just before dropping off to sleep commented that in his hallucinations Gabe was usually naked. He wondered how much Caleb had thought about him since that night so long ago. "Well that can be arranged." he said with a laugh, knowing it was the medicine talking. <br><br>Gabe picked up his worn leatherbound book containing the collected works of Shakespeare and settled down on his bed, reading to himself his favorite play of all time 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. He'd seen it performed countless times, including at the Globe Theatre, thousands of different adaptations, and it was always a delight. <br><br>When he finished that, he perused some sonnets. He was having an unusually calm night. Usually he would be out on the streets, looking for evil that needed to be stopped...and devoured, but right now all he wanted to do was stay in, calmly watching over his captive, whom he hoped would soon be his lover.<br><br>When he knew the sun would be coming up soon he moved over to Caleb, putting metal handcuffs around his feet, careful not to wake him. Then he drew the curtains over the windows, and went to his bed and closed the curtains around himself to keep the light off of him.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>17-06-2010, 06:29:29</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				In all honesty, Caleb had thought of Gabe quite often. Well, more often than a Slayer should think of a known vampire, especially in a sexual context. Hey, it was alright if they were only dreams, right? Or hallucinations, occasionally, since that was supposedly a side-effect of vicodin, although not one he had personally come across. Yet. The most common side effect that he got was just plain sleepiness, which was why he barely responded to the sudden shackle on his feet.&nbsp; <br><br>It wasn’t until he woke up in the early evening that he noticed them. Caleb awoke with a quiet groan, rubbing his shoulder slightly. As he sat up, his feet went clank. This was not a noise he usually associated with feet and he stared with mild bemusement at the cuffs on them. In all honesty, he couldn’t quite recall what had happened, but apparently it had been fun. <br><br>No, wait, he realized. Not that fun, since he was still wearing clothes. And wasn’t at the hotel either, he realized, looking around owlishly. And then he saw the paintings and remembered everything. Right. He had been abducted by Gabe. Well, it was like people always said: if you were going to be kidnapped by a vampire, it might as well be by a sexy one. <br><br>Actually, no one in living history had ever said that, but someone probably ought to. “Hello? Gabe? Are you still here?” he asked cautiously, not sure what he’d prefer the answer to be. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>18-06-2010, 01:20:36</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Yes, I'm still here here," replied a sleepy voice from inside the bed that was surrounded by heavy purple curtains. It was earlier than he usually woke up, but the sun was low enough in the sky, and the curtains were still closed over his window. As long as he stayed in this room he would be fine. <br><br>He parted the curtains on the side of the bed that was facing Caleb and gave him a groggy smile. He hadn't dreamed it. He had actually abducted Caleb, and now he was here, in his own apartment. He was pretty excited to see how today was going to turn out, how close the two of them would be by the end of this night.<br><br>"Good evening." Gabe said, in the same tone that a normal person would say good morning upon waking. "Did you sleep well?" the Italian vampire inquired politely as he looked down at the shackled slayer. "Your bed should be waiting down at the front desk, you'll be able to sleep in it tonight." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Trouble</strong> on <strong>18-06-2010, 03:44:34</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				It was probably wrong to think like this, Caleb reflected as he peered over at Gabe, but the vampire really was very attractive. While Caleb had grown older----well, matured----over the years, the vampire still looked the same as ever. That was a vampire’s curse though, wasn’t it… to remain forever young while the world marched on. But, goddamnit, he looked so cute with his hair all mussed up like that, as though he had just woken up from a rather wild night. Caleb returned the smile a little tremulously, only half aware of what he was doing. <br><br>“I slept alright. As well as can be expected, anyway. I didn’t notice this at all,” he said pointedly, shaking one foot so the cuff jangled. Honestly, Gabe was bordering on paranoid now… admittedly, it was completely justified paranoia, but still paranoia. By his voice, it was difficult to say whether or not Caleb thought this was a good thing. On one hand, he didn’t like the idea of knowing that someone had snuck cuffs on him while he was sleeping. Slayers were supposed to be able to wake up in a flash, from like… little birds landing outside their windows unexpectedly. Instead, he had slept like a corpse. <br><br>On the bright side, it hadn’t hindered his sleep, which was better for his health. The news of the bed brightened him up a bit more. “Shit, that was fast. I didn’t think it would be here for a while. Um. Thank you for putting a rush on it. I know you didn’t have to.” Not strictly necessary, anyway. <br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Ashes, Ashes... {Trouble and Roxen}</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Roxen</strong> on <strong>22-06-2010, 01:42:14</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Gabe felt his heart give a little flutter when Caleb smiled back at him, for two reasons, one, because Caleb had such an amazing smile, and it sent a shiver of excitement through Gabe every time he saw it, and two, because the fact that he was smiling at him meant that there was hope for him to earn Caleb's love. <br><br>"I'm glad that you slept well." Gabe said with a smile. "And I'm glad that the shackles didn't bother you, though I'm sure the Vicodin assisted in that. I understand that that can be some pretty powerful stuff." He could tell that Caleb was a little surprised with himself for not noticing them, and wanted to give him a good and easy excuse for why he had not. <br><br>Gabe smiled when Caleb was so surprised and pleased that the bed was already here. "It was nothing, really." he said with a shy smile. "You'd be surprised how fast you can get things done when money is no object." 
			</dd>
		</dl>
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