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meridian_roseTitle: Wake
Fandom: Original
'Verse/Series:Aura
Pairing/Characters: General Series
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1092
For the 100_tales prompt 038 Minutes
Summary: A costume party wasn't first on Carter's list of fun things to do. Still, it would have been a lot more fun than this wake in the apartment.
Warnings/Content Notes: Temporary character death. Mentions of death and decomposition.
"So who is this guy?" Carter asked, checking his rear-view mirror. Aura, seated in the back with Robin sprawled across her lap, looked to Nikolai for guidance. Interesting.
Nikolai had one arm up on the car door, his elbow sticking out of the open window, annoyingly nonchalant. "Someone we know."
"I got that much."
"His name is Robin," Nikolai added, and, before Carter could inform him in no uncertain terms that he'd got that too, said, "It probably isn't his prime one."
"What do you mean?"
Nikolai gave one of his elegant shrugs. "Not the first. Not the name that he was given at birth. Robin is what we first knew him as. He's used other names since, but he's Robin to us."
Aura spoke up. "Telling someone your original name is often considered the mark of true friendship. It shows a certain amount of trust."
Carter sighed. Supernatural creatures and their damn special rules of etiquette. Maybe there was a handbook or something.
Also, that corpse better not stink up his car.
***
It wasn't long before they were back at the apartment. With Robin laid out on the sofa, Aura sat on the floor nearby. Nikolai wandered over to the sideboard and gestured to the decanter.
"Drink, Carter?"
"Damn straight." He hadn't been particularly looking forward to the party but since he'd made the effort to get dressed up and attend, Carter wasn't pleased at having to have left so soon. He hadn't even got near the snacks and wished he'd taken the time to eat before meeting up with Nikolai and Aura. "I only had two mouthfuls of beer before you two caused a scene."
"That’s an unfair accusation," Nikolai said smoothly, pouring amber liquid into four glasses with a skill that made Carter wonder if bartender had been one of Nikolai's previous occupations. Or butler perhaps? Carter's mind rebelled at the thought of the aristocratic Nikolai with a silver tray perched atop a white gloved hand.
"We didn't make a scene," Aura agreed. "Robin did."
"Though that's hardly his fault either," Nikolai added, handing Carter a glass. "He had dropped dead, after all. It's not as if he'd punched someone out or taken a piss in the fireplace."
Carter blinked a few times and decided not to comment. "So what did happen to him?"
"I can't see any obvious injuries," Aura said. She had rummaged around in Robin's shirt after he'd been laid out on his back but for all Carter knew this was some sort of ritual, the way dogs sniffed at your groin. Damn supernaturals. Come to the party, they said. You'll have fun, they said. Look, another dead body, they said.
Carter sat in the leather armchair that he knew Nikolai favoured. If he'd hoped to annoy Nikolai, he didn't succeed. Nikolai just wandered over to the picture window and sipped calmly at his whisky, watching the city streets grow darker.
Presumably they were going to have to wait for the moon, tiny waxing crescent that it was, to come up. Carter had half a mind to go home and leave them to it, but the apartment was warm and cosy, the whisky was smooth as silk, the chair was the most comfortable he'd ever sat in, and, damn it all to hell, he was curious to know more about Robin. He wasn't even that hungry now, the initial urge having passed.
The minutes ticked by.
"How long is this going to take?" Carter asked at length. Comfortable as he was, sitting here, he was human. He couldn't afford to have their patience.
"I have no idea. There are a number of factors to consider." Nikolai didn't bother elaborating on the factors and Carter hadn't the energy to press him on them. Something to do with the moon, he knew that much, and at a guess, maybe the manner of death – something they didn't know and so couldn't calculate for.
Aura sighed. "Hours. Minutes. Maybe even a day."
Carter took a long swallow before he dared ask the next question. "Won't he…decompose?" Which was the nicest, or at least most professional, way he could think of to ask if the smell would start bothering the neighbours no matter how much Allure was used on them.
"I rather hope not. He'd be actually dead if that were the case." Aura didn't seem offended by the question, and Carter felt comfortable with a follow up question.
"You can tell the difference?"
"No. We just assume he'll recover. Our kind tend to. We'll wait at least one month or until, er, decomposition begins before resigning ourselves to believing otherwise." Aura drummed her fingers on the hardwood floor. "Maybe we should do something else. This is very dull."
Carter stared at her. "Like what? Watch a movie?" The sarcasm was utterly lost on them.
"Sure." Nikolai glanced at the huge flat screen television. "I purchased some more last week."
Watch movies with a dead body in the house? It seemed utterly wrong and Carter had to bite back his immediate response, which would probably have turned into a lecture on propriety.
"In days gone by, it wasn't so unusual to have a body in the home," Aura pointed out, clearly seeing his discomfort. "Wakes, you know, and/or storage before a funeral."
"Yes but these aren't days gone by," Carter insisted, despite himself. "There are proper funeral homes and morgues. Refrigerated morgues! You can't keep corpses in your home. There are laws!"
Nikolai laughed. "Then arrest us. Have Robin taken to the local morgue. Then you can spend weeks filling in paperwork and issuing apologies and explanations when Robin revives."
Carter had zero interest in arresting anyone. That was pretty much how he'd got involved with the couple to begin with. If their Allure had worked correctly on him, he'd never have tracked them down and his life would be so much simpler now.
Safer.
Boring.
Not that there wasn't risk involved in tagging along with them – and the costume party hadn't exactly been first on Carter's list of fun things to do. Still, the party would certainly have been a lot more fun than a wake in the apartment. Nikolai refilled Carter's glass almost without Carter noticing, which made him reconsider the notion of Nikolai being previously employed as a domestic servant.
"What about poker?" Nikolai gave Carter a dazzling grin.
"You cheat at poker," Aura said darkly.
Whatever retort Nikolai was about to make was forgotten when Robin chose that moment to take a sharp inhalation of breath.
Fandom: Original
'Verse/Series:Aura
Pairing/Characters: General Series
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1092
For the 100_tales prompt 038 Minutes
Summary: A costume party wasn't first on Carter's list of fun things to do. Still, it would have been a lot more fun than this wake in the apartment.
Warnings/Content Notes: Temporary character death. Mentions of death and decomposition.
"So who is this guy?" Carter asked, checking his rear-view mirror. Aura, seated in the back with Robin sprawled across her lap, looked to Nikolai for guidance. Interesting.
Nikolai had one arm up on the car door, his elbow sticking out of the open window, annoyingly nonchalant. "Someone we know."
"I got that much."
"His name is Robin," Nikolai added, and, before Carter could inform him in no uncertain terms that he'd got that too, said, "It probably isn't his prime one."
"What do you mean?"
Nikolai gave one of his elegant shrugs. "Not the first. Not the name that he was given at birth. Robin is what we first knew him as. He's used other names since, but he's Robin to us."
Aura spoke up. "Telling someone your original name is often considered the mark of true friendship. It shows a certain amount of trust."
Carter sighed. Supernatural creatures and their damn special rules of etiquette. Maybe there was a handbook or something.
Also, that corpse better not stink up his car.
It wasn't long before they were back at the apartment. With Robin laid out on the sofa, Aura sat on the floor nearby. Nikolai wandered over to the sideboard and gestured to the decanter.
"Drink, Carter?"
"Damn straight." He hadn't been particularly looking forward to the party but since he'd made the effort to get dressed up and attend, Carter wasn't pleased at having to have left so soon. He hadn't even got near the snacks and wished he'd taken the time to eat before meeting up with Nikolai and Aura. "I only had two mouthfuls of beer before you two caused a scene."
"That’s an unfair accusation," Nikolai said smoothly, pouring amber liquid into four glasses with a skill that made Carter wonder if bartender had been one of Nikolai's previous occupations. Or butler perhaps? Carter's mind rebelled at the thought of the aristocratic Nikolai with a silver tray perched atop a white gloved hand.
"We didn't make a scene," Aura agreed. "Robin did."
"Though that's hardly his fault either," Nikolai added, handing Carter a glass. "He had dropped dead, after all. It's not as if he'd punched someone out or taken a piss in the fireplace."
Carter blinked a few times and decided not to comment. "So what did happen to him?"
"I can't see any obvious injuries," Aura said. She had rummaged around in Robin's shirt after he'd been laid out on his back but for all Carter knew this was some sort of ritual, the way dogs sniffed at your groin. Damn supernaturals. Come to the party, they said. You'll have fun, they said. Look, another dead body, they said.
Carter sat in the leather armchair that he knew Nikolai favoured. If he'd hoped to annoy Nikolai, he didn't succeed. Nikolai just wandered over to the picture window and sipped calmly at his whisky, watching the city streets grow darker.
Presumably they were going to have to wait for the moon, tiny waxing crescent that it was, to come up. Carter had half a mind to go home and leave them to it, but the apartment was warm and cosy, the whisky was smooth as silk, the chair was the most comfortable he'd ever sat in, and, damn it all to hell, he was curious to know more about Robin. He wasn't even that hungry now, the initial urge having passed.
The minutes ticked by.
"How long is this going to take?" Carter asked at length. Comfortable as he was, sitting here, he was human. He couldn't afford to have their patience.
"I have no idea. There are a number of factors to consider." Nikolai didn't bother elaborating on the factors and Carter hadn't the energy to press him on them. Something to do with the moon, he knew that much, and at a guess, maybe the manner of death – something they didn't know and so couldn't calculate for.
Aura sighed. "Hours. Minutes. Maybe even a day."
Carter took a long swallow before he dared ask the next question. "Won't he…decompose?" Which was the nicest, or at least most professional, way he could think of to ask if the smell would start bothering the neighbours no matter how much Allure was used on them.
"I rather hope not. He'd be actually dead if that were the case." Aura didn't seem offended by the question, and Carter felt comfortable with a follow up question.
"You can tell the difference?"
"No. We just assume he'll recover. Our kind tend to. We'll wait at least one month or until, er, decomposition begins before resigning ourselves to believing otherwise." Aura drummed her fingers on the hardwood floor. "Maybe we should do something else. This is very dull."
Carter stared at her. "Like what? Watch a movie?" The sarcasm was utterly lost on them.
"Sure." Nikolai glanced at the huge flat screen television. "I purchased some more last week."
Watch movies with a dead body in the house? It seemed utterly wrong and Carter had to bite back his immediate response, which would probably have turned into a lecture on propriety.
"In days gone by, it wasn't so unusual to have a body in the home," Aura pointed out, clearly seeing his discomfort. "Wakes, you know, and/or storage before a funeral."
"Yes but these aren't days gone by," Carter insisted, despite himself. "There are proper funeral homes and morgues. Refrigerated morgues! You can't keep corpses in your home. There are laws!"
Nikolai laughed. "Then arrest us. Have Robin taken to the local morgue. Then you can spend weeks filling in paperwork and issuing apologies and explanations when Robin revives."
Carter had zero interest in arresting anyone. That was pretty much how he'd got involved with the couple to begin with. If their Allure had worked correctly on him, he'd never have tracked them down and his life would be so much simpler now.
Safer.
Boring.
Not that there wasn't risk involved in tagging along with them – and the costume party hadn't exactly been first on Carter's list of fun things to do. Still, the party would certainly have been a lot more fun than a wake in the apartment. Nikolai refilled Carter's glass almost without Carter noticing, which made him reconsider the notion of Nikolai being previously employed as a domestic servant.
"What about poker?" Nikolai gave Carter a dazzling grin.
"You cheat at poker," Aura said darkly.
Whatever retort Nikolai was about to make was forgotten when Robin chose that moment to take a sharp inhalation of breath.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 01:05 am (UTC):-)
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Date: 2012-10-01 09:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-01 12:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 06:08 pm (UTC)Well done honey!!
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Date: 2012-09-29 06:12 pm (UTC)I'll try and get another Aura fic written while you're away - and I hope you come back with some great ideas for fic!
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Date: 2012-09-30 12:25 am (UTC)Waiting for a vampire to wake up, let's watch a movie - I love that :D
Poor Carter, having to deal with this stuff. And yet he doesn't want to go because they're really friends :D
no subject
Date: 2012-10-01 09:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-11 04:03 pm (UTC)LOLOLOL :D
"Not the first. Not the name that he was given at birth. Robin is what we first knew him as. He's used other names since, but he's Robin to us."
Makes perfect sense. :D And I love the attention to such details. :D
"Telling someone your original name is often considered the mark of true friendship. It shows a certain amount of trust."
But Aura and Nikki usually go by their "real" names, no? I mean Aura doesn't consider herself Cecilia anymore so Aurelia must be the real name for her. Or there's something we don't know about them yet?
*curious*
Supernatural creatures and their damn special rules of etiquette. Maybe there was a handbook or something.
LOLOLOL :D Love Carter! :D
"I only had two mouthfuls of beer before you two caused a scene."
"That’s an unfair accusation,"
OMG I'm loving it soooo much! :D
"He had dropped dead, after all. It's not as if he'd punched someone out or taken a piss in the fireplace."
OMG. I choked at my drink here. :D
Come to the party, they said. You'll have fun, they said. Look, another dead body, they said.
You'll be the death of me! I can't! :D
Comfortable as he was, sitting here, he was human. He couldn't afford to have their patience.
It's a brilliant line, bb! I love it! :D
Something to do with the moon, he knew that much, and at a guess, maybe the manner of death
I'm fascinated by your mythology! :D And I want to know everything! :D
Which was the nicest, or at least most professional, way he could think of to ask if the smell would start bothering the neighbours no matter how much Allure was used on them.
You're killing me you know that? LOLOLOLOL, I can't even! :D
"Like what? Watch a movie?"
OMG you ARE killing me. :D
Whatever retort Nikolai was about to make was forgotten when Robin chose that moment to take a sharp inhalation of breath.
Oh yes, this is perfect!! BB, I love it so much ASAKJDHLKGJASGKHKLSFHGALSFG!!!
AWESOMENESS!!! :D
no subject
Date: 2012-10-11 05:48 pm (UTC)But Cecilia is her prime aka birth name. So when she tells Carter her backstory, he'll know this is a big deal :)
Nikolai on the other hand…I don't think of him as anything but Nikolai. But he may have had another name when he was human. Or maybe he's just a rule breaker. Which of course he is!
OMG I'm loving it soooo much! :D
I'm so glad :D More bickering and you know how I love to write bickering!
Thank you so much :D
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Date: 2012-10-12 08:03 am (UTC)Oh. Now I get it. :D
I don't think of him as anything but Nikolai. But he may have had another name when he was human. Or maybe he's just a rule breaker. Which of course he is!
Yeah, I kind of can't imagine him having any other name that feels real... Maybe supernaturals assume that absolutely everyone changes their name, and so no one will ever suspect that Nikolai hasn't? Hide it where everyone can see it and nobody thinks it's the real thing? - That kind of stuff. O_o
Bickering is always so much fun! :D And it shows the great deal of trust between characters, too. I love it! :D Bickering FTW!! :D
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Date: 2014-07-30 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-03 06:35 pm (UTC)How they met: the heist
Why they're friends: more complicated and involves scenes I haven't written yet!
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Date: 2014-08-03 09:03 pm (UTC)I look forward to seeing those. :)
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Date: 2014-08-04 08:05 am (UTC)Thank you. This series has stalled a bit but maybe one day.