dorian & godric

[brushoff]

Christ, how Dorian hated Texas.

It was the best and worst of America. There still was so much space, plenty of towns barely hanging on, hardscrabble little places that were trying to make their move, the drive and determination and chutzpah that Dorian adored of the America in the past. America in the 1920s was great. A feisty nation, determined to prove itself on the world's stage, bright and brilliant and ready to take on the challenge.

But the Texas cities? The cities were horrible. Large, ugly things almost crushed under the weight of their own self-importance and overpasses. Forgotten centers where all residents fled to cookie-cutter nigh identical houses set in towns created solely for the purpose of commuting. People didn't thrive in places like that, with their subdivisions and big box stores and fucking Targets. You lived there, but you didn't thrive. And Dorian Gray was always looking for something new, something bright and breathing and alive.

Granted, a shitty little dive bar wasn't exactly what most people thought of when they thought of 'alive.' But Dorian had been lingering around Dallas long enough that a few things had gained his interest. The coming out of the closet, so to speak, of vampires had been the big one. Idly, he wondered what Toby would have thought of it all—he felt so alone for so long. Would vampire advocacy groups or these cute little pamphlets have changed anything? Or would the Sunday morning cable news services about how all vampires are damned have made things worse? There's no way of knowing. But Dorian wanted to learn more about this himself.

Try as he may to fit in, it's obvious that Dorian is here for something. He flirts with the waitress and casually asks a few questions about vampire activity in the area. He loses a game of pool but presses his competition whenever they bring up 'fangs.' This is the third day in a row he's made some not-so-subtle inquiries about vampires, something's got to give eventually. He's British as hell, the accent is a dead giveaway, so might as well lean into the obviousness and see what happens.

And as he slips out of the back door of the dive bar, stepping outside to light up a cigarette, Dorian's certain that something will happen. What precisely? He doesn't know.

Comments

[brushoff]

"Find a way to kill me. If you succeed, I'll leave you and yours alone. If you let me live, I'll take a flight back to England the next day. But until then? I'll give you and your group the shaking up it needs."

If being a nuisance is the only way he can try and draw this man out of his shell, to try and pull him closer, then Dorian Gray will be the most annoying man on the planet.

[loveisall]

Godric tilts his head.

"What's the catch?" he wonders because he knows there has to be. "You aren't just human."

[brushoff]

"The catch is that I don't think you'll be able to find out how. Which means that I'm going to be a thorn in your side for as long as I want."

[loveisall]

Godric sits on the edge of the bed and regards him a while. He doesn't like this wager. He doesn't like what he's proposing, but....fuck, he is curious, at least.

"I don't want to kill you," he says. "But you are interesting and I have seen many strange creatures in my time. Go back out and enjoy the party. Come back tomorrow night and we can talk."

[brushoff]

Dorian considers this a victory. He looks remarkably smug as he gives Godric a nod.

"Tomorrow it is. Don't have too much fun without me until then."

Dorian is absolutely going to fuck someone silly on Godric's guest bed.

[loveisall]

Godric's room is soundproof and light tight. He doesn't care what he does.

He hates that Dorian is still on his mind as he showers and sleeps, curling up in his big bed for the day.

The next evening is quieter, with Godric taking care of his duties during the first part and just enjoying the quiet.

[brushoff]

Godric is on Dorian's mind, as he has been ever since they first met. Dorian ends up sprawled out on his hotel bed, vampire at his side.

The evening is quiet for Dorian as well, as he basically spends it looking at Zillow listings for an apartment. It's around ten pm, after sunset, that Dorian knocks on Godric's door.

[loveisall]

Godric answers the door and steps back to let him inside.

"Who did you stay with last night?"

He smells like four vampires.

[brushoff]

Dorian smells like so many vampires.

"Selena, I think? Blonde one, turned far too young."

[loveisall]

He chuckles. "You are lucky. The last lover she took ended up pining for her on a plane bound for New York."

He walks to his chair and sits, turning the music on lower.

[brushoff]

"I can see why," Dorian laughs. "She does this phenomenal thing with her tongue - it's to dream of."

Dorian sits down in a chair next to Godric, sprawling like he owns the place.

"Though I know you didn't ask me here solely to kiss and tell."

[loveisall]

"No. You offered me a story once," he says, watching the fire crackling in the fireplace. It's too hot for ut, but Godric can't feel it anyway.

[brushoff]

"I did," Dorian nods. There's a moment as he muses things over before,

"Something happy? Or something sad?"

[loveisall]

He waves a hand.

"What does it matter now?" he wonders. "Just tell a story you wish to tell."

[brushoff]

"I'm a nice person!" laughs the man who knows he is not a nice person. "It's good to check."

And so he starts to talk. Dorian talks about how he met a woman named Pamela. A bright girl, the life of a party. But during one of these parties, just for fun, a mystic decided to start a seance. Pamela was possessed by something and tried to kill everyone in the house. Dorian solved that problem by pushing Pamela out of a window.

Notably, at no point in the story does he explain his immortality or talk about it more. It's just a story of possession.

[loveisall]

Godric sits back, listening to the story with rapt attention, though he doesn't look art him at all.

"And what happened to her?"

[brushoff]

"She died."

It's said bluntly, without any care or subtlety.

[loveisall]

He nods. "I assume so. But you didn't save her from possession then, did you?"

[brushoff]

"No." Which Dorian hates to admit.

"I'm a man of many skills. Magic isn't one of them. I thought it was better to die than to live like that. I don't regret my choice. But it was just that: my choice."

[loveisall]

"It was." He stands up, his hands behind his back. "How much of your history do you know?"

[brushoff]

"I remember everything," said with a little shrug. That's a lie. Dorian remembers everything except the memories he traded away to keep Toby safe, to save him from that succubus. But Godric doesn't need to know that.

[loveisall]

"As do I," he says. "How many years do you remember?"

Because that's a strange way to answer the question. No one talks about their own history that way.

[brushoff]

"Around a hundred and fifty? It got...odd, for a bit. I'm not sure how to count those."

Nobody talks about their own history that way as well, buddy

[loveisall]

"You are old for a human," he points out but there's a smile on his face. Just a hint of it.

"How about I trade a story for yours?" he wonders. "Will that hold your interest in between your bouts of sex and hedonism?"

[brushoff]

"I'm all ears," said with a little nod. He's always up for a story.