(no subject)

[onceaviking]

Eric is seated by a table, reading. It appears to be a biography on Jacques Cousteau.
There's an empty glass on the table.

Occasionally, his eyes flick from his book to the wall where his door ought to be.
It's still gone.

Comments

[witchfinder_general]

"Underwater exploration for the dead?" Father Harman says. He's almost friendly, or at least conversationally neutral.

[onceaviking]

"Just underwater exploration," Eric replies, turning a page.

[witchfinder_general]

"What do you want with it?" Father Harman asks.

[onceaviking]

Eric looks at him.
Then he says, patiently,"I am reading it, because I find it interesting."

[witchfinder_general]

"I fail to see how it could be useful to see," Father Harman says, shaking his head.

[onceaviking]

Eric lifts an eyebrow.

"You fail to see why reading for pleasure is useful?"
Really now.

[witchfinder_general]

"You find it pleasurable to read about underwater exploration?"

Father Harman finds this oddly endearing, if still worrisome. Like a shark happily playing with a colourful beach ball.

[onceaviking]

"I do. I like the way he wrote," Eric replies, returning his attention to his book.

[witchfinder_general]

"It's not something I would have expected a vampire to enjoy," Father Harman says, shaking his head.

[onceaviking]

"Why not? I like the sea. I find it fascinating."
He seems genuinely puzzled that this is surprising.

[witchfinder_general]

Father Harman is genuinely puzzled that this is the case.

"What do you like about it?" he asks.

There must be a reason!

[onceaviking]

"The descriptions. The thoughts that went into designing the equipment . The descriptions of the animals."

[witchfinder_general]

"So the inventiveness of the exploration, mostly?" Father Harman asks. "Our ingenuity in overcoming conditions inimical to human life?"

[myshootingstar]

Minx watches from a corner, her back to a wall and a sketchbook open across her knees. She draws as she watches the room, and Eric. He's interesting and the way he watches the door is interesting.

[onceaviking]

Eric is pretty sensitive to when he is being observed.

Next time his eyes flick up, they land on her and not the empty wall.

[myshootingstar]

Minx colours a little at being caught but doesn't look away, still drawing.

[onceaviking]

"Do you need me to sit still?" he asks. His voice carries effortlessly.

[myshootingstar]

"Why?" She smiles confidently. "I wasn't drawing you. I could, if you wanted me too."

[onceaviking]

"Do you want to?"
Now, he is the one looking at her.

[myshootingstar]

"You have an interesting face." She shrugs. "But I'm not much good at faces."

[onceaviking]

"No? What are you good at then? Arms?"
Interested. Perhaps a little teasing.

[myshootingstar]

"Abstract figures more than details." She turns the page around to show him.

In the time they've been talking she's sketched an outline of him, more light and shadow than detail but there's a sense of confinement in the image, of movement stilled.

[onceaviking]

He moves over to look closer at her drawing. He moves - almost - like a human, but a little smoother. A little bit faster.

"Very good," he says.

[myshootingstar]

She watches him. Closely. "You look trapped."

[onceaviking]

"I'm Bound," he replies. "It is not something I enjoy."