thoughtformed | {closed}

Entry tags:

{closed}

Who: Helen Magnus and Arthur Kirkland
What: A walk, followed by dinner.
When: After this.
Where: The Beach | Somewhere with food?
Warnings: None, as of yet.

Having slipped out of her shoes, Helen stood barefoot on the beach as she waited, musing over her reasons for being there. It was rare she allowed herself such freedom, but perhaps Arthur had been right. A few moments taken for herself wasn’t likely to result in the world collapsing, as much as it sometimes felt it might.

She still wasn’t certain why she had asked him here, why she had invited him for dinner afterward. Had she actually asked him on a date? The thought registered as absurd; she was reading too much into the offer. An offer she had made. Had she wanted it to mean more than it did?

Whatever her reasons, she couldn’t deny she was looking forward to the evening.

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Arthur wouldn't have pressed her for an answer to that question, but the answer he did get surprised him more than any conclusions he might have come to himself. A small line creased between his eyebrows as he listened to her explain her experiments, and what they'd done to her, and when she stopped, he did too, hooking his thumbs over the top of his trousers.

"I have to say I'm rather curious as to where you managed to get vampire blood.."

He'd only ever met one vampire, and the man was another nation like himself. They were secretive creatures, from his experience.

"Now, where would a girl be without her secrets?" Her lips quirked in a half-smile as she tilted her head to the side.

"It wasn't easily acquired; my source was quite reluctant to part with it. By then, most of their population had been sterilized. They were all but wiped out. I believe they hoped our experiments might lead to a rebirth of their race."

He nodded. That sounded more like what he would have expected. Though her words brought a smile to his face he still looked deep in thought as he listened to her.

"I can't imagine that a revival of the vampire race would mean anything good," he said, frowning slightly.

She shook her head. "Certainly not. They were born to rule and would have done so at any cost."

He nodded in agreement to that, and gently took her arm to continue their walk down the beach. Mortals, usually, didn't interest him in this way but there was something rather special about this one.

"I only knew one vampire at home. A pleasant enough fellow. Rather fond of making jokes."

She couldn't help the small smile when he took her arm, easily settling into step with him. He reminded her a great deal of James. She had yet to decide how she felt about that.

"Mine is an insufferable flirt and in possession of quite the ego."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised by that."

He smiled in return, their pace rather slow now as they walked. The weather was fine, the view pleasant, and the company exquisite, so why should he feel the need to rush?

"I think it's something that comes to some with age."

She was in no particular hurry, quite enjoying her evening despite his questions. And she couldn't even say she was entirely reluctant to share her past with him.

"In Nikola's case, I believe it came shortly after our experiments."

"Nikola?"

He glanced over at her, interested, then away, looking out over the sea. His attention was still on her, but his memories were somewhere else. It was only a moment, though, before he snapped himself out of it and turned a smile to her.

"He was different beforehand?"

"Nikola Tesla." She smiled softly, shaking her head. "He wasn't my source, but he is the only of his kind still living. As far as I'm aware."

It was a few steps before she answered his second question. "He was human. As I said, the serum had differing effects."

"The Nikola Tesla?"

Arthur's eyes widened for a moment at the thought. He'd never had the chance to meet the man while he was alive in his own world.

"... You mean it turned him into a vampire?"

"Indeed."

Nikola's work certainly deserved acknowledgement, but she still found the familiar response amusing. It had been some time since she had thought of him as the famous scientist rather than simply Nikola.

"We were all changed by the Blood. Nikola's gifts were perhaps the most profound. He didn't only gain a new ability; he became something else entirely. And the more he learned of his ancestors, the less he identified with the human race."

"I see..."

Interesting. Very interesting indeed. Arthur gave Helen's arm a small squeeze and looked over to her, his gaze lingering on her face for a long few moments before he spoke up again. How long had it been since he'd been in the company of a woman like this? Too long, he thought.. and he hadn't realised how much he'd missed it until he'd met Helen.

"But he was human first, was he not? Were vampires truly his 'ancestors'?"

She found she didn't mind the attention, smiling in response. His question earned a chuckle, though.

"Nikola would certainly argue that they were. He was human, yes, but those traits had to have already been present in his genetic code. The Blood works by activating latent traits in an individual's DNA, something nearly all of us have."

"I suppose that the thought of being something greater must have been too much of a temptation."

Sadly, a temptation that Arthur could understand very well indeed.

"We had no idea what that blood would do. We very well could have killed ourselves." She wasn't certain what it said that they had gone through with it, despite those risks.

"And yet you did it anyway." There was an odd tone in his voice, something between admiration and annoyance.

"I'm not sure whether to brand you all brave or stupid."

"Perhaps both." The smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "We believed we could change the world, and in our own ways, I imagine we did."

"Possibly in more ways than you realise," he commented quietly, glancing away. Ah, yes, he did understand that desire to change the world - he'd had it once, and he'd spent so many years watching it develop in Alfred.

"But these things.. they never end in the way we'd wish them to, do they."

"Rarely, it seems." The Blood had changed all of them. Not for the better, she felt.

"I won't deny the benefit it's been to my work. Living so long. I'm not certain that excuses us."

"I wouldn't call it an excuse, no." Blunt as always, but he couldn't help his honesty. He knew better than most that a long life wasn't something to use as reason for your actions.

"But would you have done things much differently, if given a second chance?"

There's that smile again, genuine, yet still carrying a weight that's easy to miss if one isn't paying attention to her eyes.

"I've made it a practice not to regret my decisions, regardless of their consequences."

It was just as well that he was paying attention to her eyes - he was watching her face rather intently whenever he looked at her. It might have been unnerving for some, but somehow, he didn't think anything could shake this woman.

"A good practice. One I rather wish that I could take up."

With such careful attention, he'll likely learn quickly that her eyes are a far better indicator of what she's thinking and feeling than even her body language.

"There are times, it's the only way to continue living."

She's made mistakes, some more difficult to forgive than others. But if she allowed those regrets to take hold, they might very well destroy her.

Arthur did much the same thing, when he was comfortable enough to let down his guard, though it usually took longer for people to figure it out. He was, after all, a politician at heart and one didn't make a good politician without having a marvellous poker face.

There had been a time when his greatest skill was lying.

"I know," he murmured, a small smile touching his lips. "But we endure, don't we?"

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