2012-03-07: Dinner With A Vampire

Players:

Jill_icon.jpg

Special Guests

Dracula_icon.jpg Geoffrey_icon.jpg

Summary: Jill has her dinner date with Dracula and Son.

Date: March 7, 2012

Log Title: Dinner With A Vampire

Rating: PG-13


Romania - Tower - Eighth Floor

The walls, floor and ceiling are shades of black in this dark foyer. Along the walls are large portraits of various men and woman with sharp features, pale skin, dark hair and red eyes. Elegant tables rest against the walls with black candelabras which have matching black tapered candles along with vases of red and black roses. The carpet is soft with an intricate red design. In one corner of the foyer is a large complex looking sigil glowing bright blue. Several doors lead off the foyer, all closed except for the middle door which is wide open showing a large dining room.

A long black lacquered tabled stretches across the dining hall with enough chairs to seat twenty people. Matching black chairs line the table up and down. Silver dishes and goblets sit in front of each seat with enough silverware to have what seems like endless courses. Food from all different countries sits up and down the table, making it look overstuffed. Everything is extremely succulent and cooked beyond the most accomplished chefs standards. Windows line the walls on either side of the table, long windows with black pains decorating them, that let the moon shine into the room. A large black iron chandler with black tapered candles hangs in the middle of the room giving flickering light against all the black. On the far wall is a large portrait, a least ten feet tall, of what looks like Count Dracula, that sits above a black fire place.


It's night time, like it always is so who knows if it's really night or not, but needless to say it's dinner time. Igor has come to escort Jill down to the floor below, through some sort of teleportation spell. With her arm in his, he escorts her into the dinning hall with a large table with only three settings at the end, one for the head of the table and two on either side. A large display of roses sits in the center of the table but otherwise it's empty. "The Masther will be here thortly." He says with a bow as he leaves her in the room alone.

"Thank you, Igor." Though outwardly trying to maintain a calm aloofness, Jill cannot help the fact that the small of her back tickles with pinpricks of sweat. She lingers, drawing a hand slowly across the backs of the chairs one by one, wondering if she should sit or wait to be seated while scrutinizing the decor like a detective. Anything to keep her mind off how nervous she is. Her dress is a deceptively elegant gown in white, its square neckline and pouf sleeves trimmed in white Chantilly lace and small silk ornaments in pale rose reminiscent of cherry blossom petals. A satin belt of the same color cinches the dress high, just under the bust, to create a fashionable Empire silhouette with the long, loose skirt, a ruff of pink satin running up its center from hem to waist. Fully accessorized with white elbow-length evening gloves, a gold heart-shaped locket, and a periwinkle ornament cloisonne hairpin holding her golden blonde hair in a loose bun, Jill has even delved into the faintly recalled realm of makeup and dusted her cheeks with a subtle blush. About the only thing missing from the ensemble are its gold and pearl earrings, absent because her ears are not pierced and the girl is unwilling to go quite that far, no matter who her dining partner might be. After the initial summons it took her nearly two hours to dress and primp, a further hour spent breathlessly waiting with hands that refused to cease their trembling. Without the aid of clocks or the movement of the sun, it felt like days.

Even more time passes before the Master of the Tower sweeps into the room. He's dressed in an elegant suit, ruffled shirt and a cape with a high collar that shows red on the underside. He looks every bit as one would expect Count Dracula to look. Behind him is a younger looking man, looking to be in his late teens, with long dark hair dressed in ripped jeans and a black hoodie zipped up looking every bit the rebellious teen.

The older of the two walks over to Jill and bows in greeting. "Good evening Jill Pervinca it is a pleasure to meet you, I am Count Dracula and this is my son…" There's a pause as he grits his teeth in frustration. "Geoffrey." The younger one behind Dracula waves a hand. "Yo."

Lost in her own thoughts and worries, the blonde girl jumps in surprise at the arrival of the long-sought Master. Her feet actually leave the floor, but to her credit she does not make a sound of surprise or alarm. The girl's face pales noticeably, the blush applied to her cheeks standing out starkly. "…" Though her mouth is open, no words are forthcoming for several seconds. "Count," she repeats, followed by a pause. "Dracula," Jill finishes, somehow managing to sound neither shocked nor incredulous though she feels both. She stares at him, then the younger man, then back to him.

Dracula goes over and sits down while Geoffrey holds out the seat for Jill. "Thank you for coming to dinner." Dracula says, as if Jill has much choice. "I hope you have been comfortable in your stay here." He unclaps his cape and drapes it over the back of the chair and ajusts the cuffs of his sleeves as he speaks. His son, goes over and plops in the chair and stares at Jill for a bit, not saying anything.

Automatically, Jill sits when her chair is drawn back with something like a nervous half-smile locked in place. "But," she finds herself protesting softly when the blown fuse in her brain flickers dimly back to life. "Dracula wasn't a count. That was just in the book. I saw it on the History Channel." The girl's mouth does not fully close after her sudden statement and her eyes flick with apprehension from the younger man to the older. A white gloved hand rises slowly to cover her lips as if to keep herself from saying anything else.
"That is why I'm not referred to as 'Your Grace'." Dracula says with a nod of approval. "Though the History Channel isn't always accurate, do you really believe I'd like some American cable network tell the true story?" He asks raising an eyebrow. "Are you enjoying your stay here?" He asks expecting an answer as he is set on being a good host. Geoffrey on the other hand, has an elbow on the table and is resting his head in his hand. "Most TV is boring, why watch that crap when you can live it."

"Ah, umm," the blonde girl stammers, forgetting for a moment to move her hand before speaking. When she finally does remember, it drops sheepishly into her lap. When it becomes obvious he is waiting for an answer, Jill tries her best. "It, umm… the… the rooms are very… nice?" Bright blue eyes flick from Dracula to Geoffrey as if she still can't fully grasp the incongruity. "It's been a little, umm… dull?" she ventures, then tries valiantly to soften her statement. "Maybe?"
"Dull, how so?" Dracula asks curiously as if he couldn't understand how someone would find their living situation dull. "Of course it's dull Dad." Geoffrey says rolling his eyes. "Women aren't like they were in your day where they were fine sitting around doing needle work or some crap. God, I'd be in my room with an X-Box if you had electricity here but no, everything has to be magic." He says waving a hand. "Damien! Don't be rude in front of our guest." He says to his son before looking back at Jill with a charming smile. "So tell me, what would make things…not dull for you." At being called Damien there's a death of a look from son to his father.

Jill is quick to raise her hands, palms out like she's trying to defuse the situation. "It- it's all very lovely," she assures the Count with a quick glance at his son. "We just… Igor didn't… or couldn't tell us why we were here. S-so…" The girl wets her suddenly bone-dry lips and her eyes wander away briefly to the gigantic portrait above the fireplace. "Umm, it was difficult to pass the time." Her gaze drops back down to Geoffrey with something like a brief glimmer of sympathy or understanding. "So I think, maybe… that would be a good place to start?"

There's a snap of his fingers before Dracula speaks an a creamy chesnut soup in small elegant bowls and garnished with croutons and thyme appears in front of them. "You are here because my seventy eight year old son has neglected tradition and has been single for far to long. Since he will not go out and find a wife for himself, you seven were brought here for him to choose." He talks as if they don't have a choice in the matter. "I found the seven best candiates I felt were worthy from New York City."

That shuts Jill up fast. Her eyes widen and she leans back in her chair as if she'd just been slapped. Slowly she looks down at the soup, the entirety of her body save her eyes deathly still. Abruptly and in a very unladylike tone of shocked disbelief, she blurts, "Seriously?"

Geoffrey looks at Jill and shrugs. "Not my idea." He says as if he doesn't want to take the blame for it. "Seriously, Jill." Dracula says. "Out of all the women in New York you were one of the ones I found to be sutable." He says it like it should be a compliment. "Now your soup is getting cold or should I call for the next course?" Geoffrey leans across the table and whispers to Jill, loud enough that he knows his father can hear him. "Dad's big on tradition, I'm just letting him do his thing."

The girl's open mouth shuts with a soft click of teeth. Her head bobs unsteadily, listing slightly to one side. "Okaaaay," she finally says uncertainly like a person who's just been told to accept, for sake of argument, that the moon is made of cheese. She picks up the soup spoon shakily. Before the first taste of it can reach her lips, Jill stops and glances at Dracula. "Okay," she begins to carefully frame her counterargument. "Supposing that's true…" A slight pause turns into a longer one. "Just supposing…" she attempts to start again but falters. Apparently yet another fuse has just been blown. "… Seriously?" the blonde asks again.

There's a bored sigh from Dracula, which is odd since he doesn't need to breath, and he waves his hand. "Yes. Seriously. Didn't we already establish that? And I was pegging you as one of the smart ones." He mutters. "Oh and your competitor Rashmi, asked me if the Stradivarius was real, yes it is and yes you may play it. Seriously." He says almost mockingly. Geoffrey looks almost bored with the conversation before he decides to speak to try to ease the tension. "So, you were the one asking for all the stuff right? Why didn't you ask for anything to make your stay…less dull?"

"Well, umm." Jill's shoulders hunch and her head drops at the thinly veiled contempt from Dracula, looking wounded. She spoons as her soup disinterestedly before shooting back at Geoffrey in a catty tone, "Well I was *trying*. I asked for a TV or a radio and after those were a no-go the best I could think of was stuff to do magic tricks with. Excuse me if I assumed a magical castle stuck in the 18th century in a land of eternal night might be a little short on Monopoly boards." Then, as if suddenly remembering where she is and exactly whose son she is berating, Jill goes a little paler and looks fearfully at the count.

Geoffrey just grins at Jill's resposne and then leans back with his hands behind his head. "I asked for that stuff too." He says and Dracula's patience is indeed being tested tonight. "If you wish for some additional board games I can send up a number of them." He says sounding bored and with a snap of his fingers the soup vanishes and in it's place is the second course, a salad with candied walnuts and pears with a basalmic dressing. "Now, Jill, what sort of things do you like to do besides magic…tricks and play the violin."

Apprehension makes Jill look away from the count quickly, her bottom lip actually trembling. She is not making a good impression and it weighs on her visibly. Picking up her salad fork to stuff her mouth and hopefully impede more stupid things from tumbling out of it, she's cut short by the question. "Umm, well, I like to read. And I used to play volleyball but I haven't in a while," she muddles through her answer timorously. "And there's the internet, and the school just got a copy of King of Fighters XIII. That's a video game," she explains. "I like shopping too, even if I don't usually buy very much. And, umm, I was taking a painting class. I didn't think I'd enjoy it but actually I kind of did even though I'm not very good." After each revelation, she tries to sneak a glance at Dracula's face for any remission of his disapproval.

If there is any sign of disapproval it doesn't show on Dracula's face, but the signs on Geoffrey's face show that he's amused. "What are you scared of?" The younger vampire asks Jill. "Yeah, yeah we might be forced to be married, -might-" He says looking over at his father. "but you'll be young and beautiful forever if it happens ya know." He says picking through the salad. Dracula then chimes in. "You know he's right Jill, you accept what could be offered to you and you can remain how you are forever. You won't have to worry about waking up as a puddle, you can put on makeup whenever you like as you did this evening, people won't be able to see right through you…"

The girl's eyes move from Dracula to Geoffrey, brow slightly furrowed. "You know about that? … Of course you do," she asks the younger vampire then answers her own question with a glance at his father. "You turned me back. Back into a real person." Jill picks up one of the candied walnuts, balancing it carefully on her fork all the way to her mouth. It gives her a moment to think while her mouth is occupied. "But… doesn't being a vampire suck? No pun intended," she adds hastily with a nervous little laugh. "I mean, it can't be all wine and roses, or whatever, like it is on TV or in romance novels. Not that I read them."

Geoffrey doesn't even let his father answer before he starts speaking. "Oh yeah it can, but I was born a vampire so I don't really miss what I've never had. The thing that sucks the most is having the most powerful vampire as a father and him putting pressure on you all. the. time." Now is when Dracula chimes in. "Damien, and no I'm not calling you Geoffrey anymore tonight, we've had this discussion over and over and now is not that time." Geoffrey scowls and continues. "Anyway, I go all over the world whenever I want, I know magic, I get to go to parties and do whatever I want, whenever, what's to suck about that? So I can't step into a church and I have to watch out for assholes like that guy Blade but how's that different from you having to watch out for mutant hunters." Dracula then catches something Jill has said and clings on to it. "I turned you back into a real person again, a real person? So you weren't a real person before you came here?"

Chewing slowly on a bit of lettuce in balsamic vinaigrette, Jill listens to Geoffrey (nee Damien) with her eyes downcast. She almost chokes on it when Count Dracula speaks up. "Ahuh! Uh, no, that's not what I meant!" protests the blonde, putting a hand to her mouth as she coughs again. She looks to the younger vampire, eyes watering, as if he could throw her a lifeline. "Y-you're asking me to *literally* make a deal with the devil! Give up my humanity!" She sputters a bit but it has nothing to do with the salad. "And… and what if I say no, huh?" Jill challenges. "What if I don't want any part of your undead dating game?"

"Oh I assure you, I'm not the devil. Am I evil, quite probably so and as for my undead dating game." There's a grin from Dracula that full shows his fangs. "You're already playing it." He says with a laugh. "Yes I'm asking you to give up your humanity in exchange you'll be able to do things you never dreamed. If you wanted to visit Paris you wouldn't have to worry about a thing, you'd just be able to go. And noone would look at you strange and you'd never have to wear that device that hides you again."
The elder vampire's laugh earns him a petulant scowl, one that vanishes like smoke at his sudden and wholly unexpected mention of Paris. Blue eyes fix on him warily, searchingly, but Jill says nothing. A wedge of fresh, admittedly delicious pear is stabbed by the girl's fork and popped into her mouth, eyes avoiding father and son. "The salad is wonderful," she compliments without eye contact, apropos of nothing.

"I pride myself in having nothing but the best, and that includes cusine." Dracula says but there's a certain tone to his voice that says he's being cordial for cordials sake. "When you are ready for the main course, you can choose what ever you would like to eat for dinner. The choice is yours since I am not entirely opposed to choice." The Geoffrey finally chimes in cause it's hard to tell if he feels sympathetic or not to the girls cause. "Anyway, since there seems to be a layer of ice over everything, so that other girl, Rashmi, said you played the violin, have you tried out the instrument yet?"

"Thank you, I'll decide once I've finished my salad," Jill offers Count Dracula, equally civil for civility's sake. She prods at it but doesn't seem to be making much headway. Distractedly, the blonde girl lays her salad fork down and picks up a silver goblet in her white gloved hand. "Ah, no. Evelyn… Evelyn was the one who asked for it. She sent it back before I could see it." Jill tries unsuccessfully to hide the note of disappointment and disapproval in her voice by taking a quick sip. "I assume, then, you got it when it was new?" she asks the lord of the manor. "Since you must be… five or six hundred years old or so?"

"Actually no, I did not, and yes that assumption would be around accurate." Dracula says. "I aquired Provigny back in the eighteen hundreds." The matter in how he aquired it is left to the imagination. "So you were the one who asked for the specific violin then? Well if you wish to see it, and play it, you will be welcome to. It can be yours while you stay here, no strings attached."

Jill sets the goblet down just a tad ungently, though it doesn't spill, and wets her lips before speaking. "Yeah, the 4/4 Barcus Berry with the carbon fiber bow and real horsehair. It's… it's what I have at home. It's what I'm used to." She hesitates. "But as long as I'm here," she equivocates. "That is, if you've already got the… other one. It'd be a waste not to try it. At least once." The way she appears to reluctantly agree to it, it's more like she's doing him a favor.
"I'll always have the other one." Dracula says with a bit of a smile. "The other one was being made for you, as per your request, would you still wish for it to make your time less…dull?" He asks but he isn't being insulting this time. Geoffrey just sighs. "What'd make their time less dull is some reall stuff. Instead of this whole charade."

"uh, y-yeah. I would. Sure." Jill glances down at her salad before, in a complete violation of proper table manners, nudges it away by an inch or so. She lifts her eyes from it to look across at Geoffrey, trying to catch his eye, one eyebrow raised slightly. "I would, and I think the other girls too, would like some more… modern clothes. I mean, the dresses are pretty and everything. Gorgeous, really," she attests appreciatively, running a silk gloved finger over the lace at her neckline. "But it's not what we're used to. Not at all." Out of nowhere, she adds, "Pad thai. No peanuts. And spring rolls, the kind with the see-through rice paper wrapping. Please."

As soon as she mentions what she wants, the salad is cleared and what she requested on her plate, on all her plates, complete with individual bowls of peanut sauce for dipping. Geoffrey nods to Jill. "Okay, I'll handle the clothing thing. Dad will end up giving you a poodle skirts if he was up to the more modern clothes." There's a quick wink from Geoffrey to Jill and if it's cause he's hitting on her or not is quite determined. "I'm probably just as bored as you guys are when I'm stuck here."

Despite all she has seen in Castle Dracula thus far, the blonde girl's eyes still go a bit wide at the sudden appearance of exactly what she asked for. She instantly starts to reach for one of the spring rolls but stops herself with a look of mild embarrassment, pulling off the silk evening gloves gingerly first. Her eyes meet Geoffrey's just in time for the wink and she looks away, suddenly self-conscious. "Ahh, pardon me if this sounds rude or anything, but you don't seem like you're seventy something years old or whatever. I mean, I know a girl who's, like, eighteen going on forty or something and she's completely different from you." Jill adds, more to herself than anyone else at the table, "She was different to start with, though." Hastily she dips the end of a spring roll in peanut sauce to shut herself up.

Geoffrey swallows his mouth full of food and shrugs a shoulder. "Doesn't sound rude at all, I usually make up my age but yeah, seventy eight, never gonna act a day older than twenty one if I can help it." He says with a mischevious grin. "Dad here wants me to start acting like the Vampire Prince I am though." Dracula stays quite for the time being, trying not to snap at his son's attitude but since he's actually conversing with the girl, the promise of his son finding a bride over rules his pride for the moment. "Anyway I reached puberty and just started aging really slowly, Dad said it'll get slower and slower as time goes on too so being young for, pretty much ever, is awesome."

"I guess…" Jill considers aloud with a little shrug. "I just never thought I'd meet a vampire who plays X-box. I never thought I'd meet a vampire, period." A quick sideways glance at his father. "Let alone two. Let alone basically THE vampire." Her fingers hover over the remaining selection of forks before remembering that she's supposed to start from the outside and work her way in. "It's been… interesting, actually," she admits with a little reluctance. "I mean, like, you were alive for World War 2 and stuff."

"I don't remember it." Geoffrey says with a shrug. "But I've played Call of Duty?" The answer gets a sigh from his father as he speaks. "World War 2 was a very interesting time, as were the wars before it. War is always a good time for Vampires." He says as it's easier to get at victims without rising suspicion. "It was much different than the video games my son loves to indulde in." He says with exasperation in his voice.

With her fear of the vampires at an apparent all-time low, Jill's head bobbles in a kind of excited nod. "I mean, wow. Just thinkin' about all the stuff you must've seen for the first time. Television, the moon landing, the internet. You could write a book about it or something." Twirling some spicy noodles on her fork, she favors the elder with a few slight nods without meeting his eyes. "Or, umm, electricity… and steam engines and stuff."

"You've… really been to the moon?" the human girl comments as casually as she's able, with a sidelong look at Dracula that tries not to give anything away. Her attention falls back to her pad thai and it occupies her for a moment. "I guess I just wonder, umm," she begins. "I mean, what do you do, exactly? For decades or centuries at a time. I've only been here for-" A hand lifts to indicate the room, and the tower as a whole, before dropping back into her lap helplessly. "I'll be honest, I don't *know* how long I've been here, and it's driving me crazy. I didn't even think I had that exciting a life before this. But what do you do with…" She seems hesitant to say it but finds no alternative. "Immortality? Doesn't it get boring?"

"Of course I've been to the moon." Dracula says and then Geoffrey shrugs. "It's not that big of a deal, it's just really quite and nothing is there. Except for Dad's.." But he's cut short by a look of his father and Geoffrey recovers by saying "Friends. Dad's Friends." Dracula then answers Jill's question. "You just said yourself seeing electricty be invented, internet, cable television, the monorail, cars, humans evoloving must have been facinating. Imagine being Immortal and getting to see the things that come after all this."

The pad thai is suddenly not as interesting or impressive as it once was. For a span of several heartbeats, the only sound is the soft click of cutlery on plate as Jill stirs the noodles around. Decisively, she lays down the fork and folds her hands in her lap, Rashmi's words echoing in her mind. "Y-… y'know I can't possibly *agree* to this, right?" she counters, as obligingly as she can. "Never mind the fact that I was abducted on my way back to school and brought here, that you hurt people when you did it, that my Nana and my friends are probably worried to *death* about where I am, or even that you apparently want to turn me into a vampire." She draws in a breath, head up and shoulders back with the import of what she has to say next. "But you just expect me to marry somebody I'd never even MET before today. Tonight. Whatever." Underneath the lip of the table, her hands squeeze tightly together, white-knuckled in fear and the desire to conquer that fear. "And that pisses me off."

"Oh I assure you that the friends of yours that were hurt have recovered just fine and if your friend are that worried we can send word that you are physically fine." Dracula offers before smiling at her and the grin isn't a polite one. "Aranged marriages have been happening for centuries, do you think I care if you want it, or if my son wants this. It is going to happen and if it's not you, it will be one of the other girls." Geoffrey is glaring at his father like a sulky child, obvious that he's not fond of his father's plans either. The Pad Thai vanishes off the table as if to say the third course is done. "Please bear in mind that I've been gentle with the seven of you, my genoerosity could end at any time."

The blonde girl's jaw is clenched tight to keep her teeth from chattering, but at least it gives her the appearance of being resolute and defiant rather than terrified. "An'…" she starts to reply, the word sticking thickly in her throat. "And what happens to the others when one of us does get chosen? You'll just… let them go?" hesitantly asks Jill with a wary, suspicious undertone.

"I haven't decided yet." Dracula says to Jill and all the while Geoffrey sits there with his arms crossed looking sullen and angry himself. "We can make a deal if you wish, depending on you is if the others are just let go or not. If you and Geoffrey do wed, the others go free, unharmed and back to their normal lives. If you do not wed and he chooses another girl, you and I will be married instead and, the remaining girls will go home, unharmed. Those that will go free, will not even be turned." With a snap of his fingers dessert appears on the table, a beautiful chocolate dessert served in gold decorated goblet with gold and chocolate shavings on top.

Jill swallows hard. Ragged breaths and the pounding of her own heart in her ears fill the stillness of the moment. She does not answer. The chocolate and sweet cream might as well taste like ash in her mouth. She proceeds to eat slowly and yet does not answer. Sweat rolls down her back, her hands are clammy, fingers slick and clumsy on the delicate spoon. She is small, cold and shivering, and still she does not answer.

"I do not expect an answer right away, Jill. I'll give you time to think about it." Dracula says and all the while Geoffrey is avoiding the gaze of both his father and Jill, it's obvious he doesn't like it one bit. The younger vampire chooses to chew on his own lip instead of eat, after all neither Vampire really requires this type of food. "Though if you say no, you won't know the fate of your friends. Come Damien, let's go and leave Jill to think about her decision." As Dracula stands up and starts to walk out of the room, Geoffrey finally tries to catch Jill's eye to mouth one word 'Sorry', before getting up and following his father reluctantly.

Hands unsteady, Jill's spoon rattles against the edge of the goblet. Vivid blue eyes follow the vampires' exit, pupils contacted to tiny black beads. Her eyes close, squeezing shut hard until pinpricks of false colored light flash in them. They sting with unshed tears until she sobs once into her hands, helpless and hopeless.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License