mamagermany

Somethings Can't Be Forgotten

If Jaspin truly believed she was asleep, he was certainly delirious. Between his coughs, his body shaking, and it being nighttime after all, Elizabeth was not very deeply asleep. She opened one eye as she felt him getting out of bed. Soon after, the smell of blood hit her nostrils and she buried her face in her pillow. She hadn’t been feeling well herself lately. She was hungry. She would never dream of drinking from him when he was so weak, of course, and his blood probably tasted terrible by now anyway, but that didn’t mean she didn’t still feel the pangs of hunger stab sharp in her stomach.

Even though it went against everything she knew about being a good woman, she was absolutely furious with him. She wouldn't admit it. She wouldn't express it. She cared for him the best she could, washing the sweat off his body, placing her cool hands to his temples, even stay awake during the day to watch over him. But she was furious. Furious about their fight last night. Furious that he would reject her help at a time like this. Furious that he would use her existence against her like a slap in the face. Furious that he would buckle and accept defeat and death, when a way out was right within his grasp.

Did he understand that he was all she had to exist for? That she had gone at least two hundred years without having anything that was truly hers to love? And after sharing what might as well have been a single day together for all her long existence noticed, he was prepared to rob himself from her. What kind of man abandoned his woman like that?

If they could die together, she could accept that. But living together was better. She didn’t want to disobey his orders. But he didn’t know what was best for him. He simply didn’t. She was the one who’d lived so many lifetimes already. And he hadn’t even lived a single one. If he died right now, he would die full of regrets. She just couldn’t let him do that to himself.

She pushed herself up and stepped out of bed. Her eyes didn’t have to adjust to the light at all as she wandered over to the kitchen.

“Do you need my help now?”

Perhaps she wasn’t hiding her bitterness as well as she’d hoped.

Somethings Can't Be Forgotten

I think so, yeah. I think that was in some of the original stuff we wrote near the beginning of the thread.

Also, I've begun adding affiliations and ages turned to my profiles, might help keep track of things, especially since ages are getting real complicated.

Somethings Can't Be Forgotten

Name: Nadya (Kostareva)
Age: 160 (turned at age 20)
Affiliation: Mercer clan
Background: Born into a community of poor Russian travelers, the Ruska Roma, regarded as little better than thieves, gamblers, prostitutes. Appropriately enough, Nadya was little more than an entertainer and, once she was considered of age, a prostitute. She remained sequestered in her community all her life, fearful of outsiders, rarely straying from her people wherever they went, and entertained travelers, mostly men, half-heartedly and with a forced smile.

But her community was of Russian gypsies that were persecuted at every turn. When nearby villages began to contract diseases, Nadya's community was blamed, attacked, and violently driven out of the area. Nadya was beaten to near death and her family was driven away before they had a chance to bring her body with them. That night, once the hordes had moved on, Rowland found her and the bodies of several of her kinsmen. Nadya was barely alive, but alive enough that she could be turned. Rowland took the opportunity to sire a new vampire for Elizabeth, Nadya was turned that night, and as she suffered the effects of the venom, Rowland brought her back to Elizabeth's home.

To everyone’s surprise, Nadya quickly embraced her new identity. She relished it almost immediately. She felt freer than ever before, strong and invincible. She proved difficult to control. Her experiences made her cheerfully disregardful for almost everyone, from ordinary villagers that she saw persecute her community, to the community and family that she saw as having used and abandoned her. She made no qualms about feeding when she wanted, on who she wanted (usually men she told she was a prostitute), and with little discretion. She didn’t share the concern the others had for human life and to retain her humanity. It wasn’t until she was caught, nearly burned to death, and cast out by a town and nearly abandoned by the Mercers that she realized how wrong she was for spending her existence like that. Elizabeth was eventually persuaded to give her another chance, but though Nadya remains a wild child and can't help but toe the line, she knows her boundaries very well and of the dire consequences that she'll face if she doesn't respect them.

~~~

Nadya's place within the ruse of the clan is to pose as Bela's young wife.

Somethings Can't Be Forgotten

Name: Rowland Kilroy
Age: 199 (turned at age 39)
Affiliation: Mercer clan
Background: Kilroy doesn’t talk much about his background. During his human years, he was a longtime bachelor, earned a living as hired muscle for various nobles and high-class merchants, and usually spent those earnings on alcohol. He caught Elizabeth’s attention due to his habit of getting kicked out of bars late at night for fighting. She decided he would be perfect as both a bodyguard and an enforcer, and she was convinced she could get him under control. One night, Elizabeth lured him away from the busier parts of town and turned him herself. When he came to, he was initially angry about what she had done, even after she explained her proposal. He remained bitter at her and hid himself away for years, before learning to accept who he was now. He had been going nowhere in life, and now that he wasn’t going to die anytime soon, he had to figure out something to do with his time. He eventually returned to her to for the new purpose she had proposed for him. What began as a strictly professional relationship softened over the years, and they became confidants. By the time he had spent over one hundred years with her, he had become completely loyal to her. He remains a dignified bachelor and tries to live from day to day, not to ever think much of the endless future he faces.

~~~

Kilroy's main function in the blending in of the clan is to provide the coffins Jonathan needs for his ailing patients, so he busies himself with the skills of a woodsman and carpenter. When need be, he poses as the head of the household, with Elizabeth as his second wife and Bela as his son from his (fictional) first wife.

Background is a work in progress

Somethings Can't Be Forgotten

I do mean good hell of a time. That kind of contrast is what makes for interesting characters.

I've been working on that math myself- however, I wasn't sure how far into the present to go. Yes, if we're comparing the numbers to today, they should be older, but I thought we weren't playing up until the present day. More like until the 1800s.

Somethings Can't Be Forgotten

Well, but of course it is. I was pretty happy and relieved that you remembered me too. I wasn't expecting you to at all.

I am having a hell of a time coming up with these character things. I'm working on like three more clan members and I'm having a good time thinking of how Elizabeth is growing as a character. Like this woman with such maternal instincts and old fashioned views on how a wife is supposed to be to her husband, but then the potential for her being so vindictive and cutthroat.

Somethings Can't Be Forgotten

Aw really? I'm so glad. You did say you were flattered I remembered you.

Somethings Can't Be Forgotten

It's been two years coming, after all. I'm real excited too.

Somethings Can't Be Forgotten

I don't know if Eleanora will end up betraying the Mercer clan. She may or may not. It's too far down the road to decide right now.

Somethings Can't Be Forgotten

There's two main reasons. One, there's a clash of values. Elizabeth definitely has a more old-fashioned view of how relationships are supposed to work, and sees Eleanora as not acting like how a good wife is supposed to act - her outspokenness, her relative immodesty, how she has Jonathan in the palm of her hand.

Two, she can see how Eleanora is really out for herself. That's the biggie. She doesn't think Eleanora loves her son, and would break his heart and betray them all if she thought that was best for her.