Eric's room

[onceaviking]

Eric switches on the light as he unlocks the door and steps inside.

The room is quiet. Neat.
The bed turned down, the desk empty.

He hadn't figured he'd be back.

He lets Emcee come inside and then he locks the door behind them.

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[i_am_your_host]

Eric's room has the feel of a place that hasn't been lived in for a while. He's used to seeing at least a few personal items around, but apparently there had been such a sense of finality that nothing was left behind.

But he's back.

And Emcee will try to rebuild on this emptiness by making himself comfortable. He sets the bottle down on the low table and slips his coat off. He's shirtless, wearing only the trousers Eric had given him with suspenders. Uncorking the bottle, he takes a swallow and wipes his lips.

He then turns and waits for Eric to call the shots. To talk, to feed, to fuck, whatever he wants.

[onceaviking]

Eric seems a little undecided himself, walking to the desk to stroke along its edge, peering into the bathroom, and then returning to where Emcee is seated.
Leaning down to sniff the bottle ( and his skin).

"Have you abandoned gin?" he asks, letting one, cold hand rest on Emcee's shoulder.

[i_am_your_host]

He kicks off his boots and brings his feet up on the edge of the chair, toes curling around it like an impish gargoyle. He tips his head back to look up at Eric.

"No, of course not," he chuckles. "I enjoy a little variety. And I like the way it makes me feel."

[onceaviking]

"And how does it make you feel? " Eric asks, his face still close to Emcee.
"Tell me. "

[i_am_your_host]

He blinks at him slowly, not turning his face away.

"Warm," he murmurs. "Very warm. The warmth starts in my belly, and then it moves to my chest, and then my head. And then my fingers and toes. And it makes everything light and heavy at the same time; asleep but awake; numb but tingling all over. Moving half a second too slow, as if the very blood in my veins has turned to honey."

He tilts his head a little.

"Would you taste something different, if I drank enough?"

[onceaviking]

"Sometimes it carries over, " Eric murmurs. "A little."

He moves his hand from Encee's shoulder and up, into his hair.
"A hint of sweetness. "

[i_am_your_host]

He nods, leaning his head against his hand.

"Far from the blood of an actual fairy," he says with a faintly wry smile.

[onceaviking]

"Far from it," Eric agrees. Tugging at his hair.
"But tasty all the same."

[i_am_your_host]

He tilts his head back even more, his eyelashes fluttering, his skin flushing warm. He'll take it as a compliment that Eric thinks he's tasty.

"What was it like, darling?" he murmurs. "For you to walk in the sun?"

[onceaviking]

"It was - before the pain, it was - magnificent."
His voice is so soft it is almost inaudible.

"It was warm and the light was so bright. I'd forgotten that. The brightness."

[i_am_your_host]

He looks up at Eric, imagining him in the sun, the light shining in his hair and in his eyes. Eric must have looked glorious.

In a liquid movement, he slips off the chair and tugs on Eric's wrist, urging him to sit down.

"Was that when Godric came to you?" he asks softly.

[onceaviking]

He lets himself be urged, sitting down in the chair.
"No," he says. "Not then. Not until I began to burn. Edgington thought that the fairy blood would keep us from burning, but it just makes you burn slower."

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee takes another swallow of mead before kneeling by the chair, folding his arms on the armrest and resting his chin there.

"So it's just a half-truth, then, about fairy blood. There really is no way for you to experience daylight for very long."

[onceaviking]

"No. There isn't. My face began to burn after just a few minutes. So I stood with my back to Fangtasia, hoping that he wouldn't notice before it was too late. And he didn't."

It's all said very quietly.

[i_am_your_host]

His brow furrows and he purses his lips, glancing away from Eric's face.

Eric was going to die.

"Where was Miss De Beaufort? Was she-- watching?"

[onceaviking]

"I - yes. We have surveillance cameras installed around the parking lot. So - yes."

Now it's his turn to look away.
Pam.

[i_am_your_host]

His eyes flick back up to his face. He thinks back to when his Maker was dying, the emotional state that Eric was in. And he figures that Pam would be the only person who would feel Eric's death the most deeply.

He lets the fingers of one hand idly stroke the fabric of Eric's sleeve.

"So she was safe. Good."

A quiet pause.

"Was Godric as you remembered him?"

[onceaviking]

"He was - he was like before he met the True Death."
It's said very quietly. And Eric is still looking away.

"I didn't understand what he said."

Couldn't. Wouldn't.

[i_am_your_host]

His fingers still, lightly curled over Eric's forearm.

"What do you mean?" he asks gently.

[onceaviking]

"A vampire is never controlled by his emotions. He taught me that. That we are - he taught me everything. And then he changed and started saying all these things. In Dallas and now."

When he looks back at Emcee, he looks almost distraught.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee doesn't know what to do with that face. What does a human say to a thousand year old vampire in these matters?

"Do you not believe that some vampires may change over time?"

[onceaviking]

"... no."

Maybe he does. A little.
But he didn't want Godric to change.

[i_am_your_host]

"But Godric did, or else he would not have said any of those things to you. Perhaps he wanted you to change, too."

[onceaviking]

"But I can't. This is what I am."

He'd looked disappointed, Godric. When Eric wouldn't listen.

[i_am_your_host]

He touches Eric's arm.

"Maybe Godric saw that you are more than what you think you are."

Maybe, just maybe, a little bit human.

"You know yourself best, darling. But what you are and who you are, are not the same thing."