Drabbles: Coldfire (G to soft R, slash)

[winter]

I should have known better than to offer drabbles to a fic-starved fandom with so many plotbunniers on my f-list, really :) In order of appearance, for alighiera, alice_montrose, fuumasfrog and trobadora.

WORKAROUNDS

Ever since Mount Shaitan, Gerald had been learning to appreciate the simple pleasures in life. For example, at the moment he was lying sprawled across Damien’s broad chest, idly toying with the ex-priest’s shirt and watching the dazed look in Damien’s eyes. Even the cramped quarters only meant that he had an excuse to climb just that close, and Damien had to put an arm around his waist.

Presently, Damien blinked, his eyes turning clearer. “Are we on a ship-“

Gerald leaned in and kissed Damien again until the other man’s eyes were glazed over once more, the guarded question turning into a drawn-out moan before it could be fully phrased.

If he had known getting Damien to enjoy ship travel would be that easy, he would have tried this method ages ago.

-FIN-



SO THE WORLD WILL NEVER FIND YOU

Damien sighed as he pushed through the crowd, taking another drink from a flask of liquor someone had pressed into his hand. At least in the black mask and cloak, even if he did make a fool of himself at the Jaggonath carnival, no-one would be able to tell him apart from every other guy dressed up as a vampire. And a few real vampires, he had no doubt.

He wondered what Gerald would wear. The adept had been reticent about his plans, only setting the meeting place on the outskirts of the city-

Near Karril’s temple, he realised as a woman flung herself into his arms. She was wearing a version of a First Landing uniform, though he was sure the real colonists never had ones that tight.

She kissed him on the mouth. “Praise Karril,” she whispered. “A man is waiting for you, two alleys down. An... urgent matter.”

She laughed shrilly, and as she flung her neck back he saw the imprint of teeth. Not quite Gerald’s type, he thought, too strong, but then he wasn’t Gerald’s usual type either.

He stumbled through the throng of people, found the alley, leaned against a door that opened to rapidly for him to do anything but fall through it to the floor.

A chapel of the Church, he realised as he looked around blearily. Closed down temporarily, with a pagan festival roaring through the streets. Yet there were candles burning, and a fresh cloth on the altar.

Something – someone – moving, and he raised his head as he struggled to his feet.

Layers of silk obscuring limbs and body, so that he could no longer recall their past or present look. A broad collar of beaten gold with a pattern of flames. Dark hair instead of light brown, but oh, never mistaken, and now he remembered too clearly.

“I remember you felt particularly strongly about that dream.” Even the old mocking cadences were back in Tarrant’s voice. “You will enjoy this better than you would have the masquerade.”

Strong hands pushed Damien against the altar before he could think of fear, revulsion, desire, sacrilege.

“Don’t worry,” the man who had been the Hunter whispered in his ear as clothes were quickly, deftly pushed aside. “I won’t let you think.”

-FIN-




PETTY ANNOYANCES

Damien moved his wrists experimentally. The cuffs were far snugger than it should be possible for something lined with fur.

“Gerald, this is vulking ridiculous,” he muttered.

The former Hunter shook his head as he surveyed his handiwork. “You have a habit of tearing buttons off my shirts. I’m running out of outfits, and the shops here are not up to my standards. Therefore, you’ll be chained until I undress myself.”

“Only until then?” Damien asked hopefully.

Gerald’s smile was sweetness itself as he ran a hand down Damien’s bare chest. “Perhaps a few minutes longer than that.”

-FIN-




PROOF OF FAITH

The bracelet was tarnished silver, a streak of near-black on the red velvet lining the box set on the street stall. Gerald’s fingers closed in on it without hesitation. Damien raised his eyebrows, but remained silent as Gerald ruthlessly argued down the price.

He got his answer when they left the street fair and Gerald tenderly wiped the grime and tarnish off a fragile piece of glass. Underneath it was the face of a clock, too small to ever house the appropriate mechanism.

“A watch used to be an important theological analogy, Vryce. As the watch with its complexity proves the existence of a watchmaker, so the world proves the existence of its creator.”

Under Gerald’s touch, a tiny screw turned without resistance.

Tick.

-FIN-

Comments

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

I'm actually klinda glad about vampires being around in the head. They may keep away the evil family-death and real-gore stuff away. Huh. Never thought I'd see the day when vampires were my safety net :D

Oooh? I think I need to hear this Italian one ;) (And is it just me or are the majority of English-language Christines insanely insipid and emotionless when they sing? The only one I saw who was any good was the Canadian understudy on the UK tour)

Re: *is evil*

[winter]

This is probably not the time to mention the fact my flappy-wingsy-Danish-vampire keeps watch over my bed ;)

Will upload in a moment :) Whoever's singing Erik sounds like Gerard Butler with actual operatic ability.

(And yeah, English Christines generally seem to pattern themselves after Brightman, and it goes partially for foreign-language ones too. I'm very fond of the original Japanese one, though.)

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Just randomly, to warn you, have been plotting furtehr prequel chapters. We'll have two somewhere between 1880 (William's intro) and 1898 (Angelus' souling).

One of them is when tough-man Spike is starting to appear, which would probably be about 1894-ish, post their encounter with the Immortal and Herbert just eyes him and when Spike is cheeky to him, lays down a backhand, drags the boy out into the hall by his hair and does naughty things to him ;) (While Angelus, Darla and Dru are sure William's manners are being brought into check (Also, am terribly amused to recall that in "Til the moon" has scruffy, shabby William still happily quoting poetry and Herbie :D))

The next is just pre-souling, so Angelus tries to smackdown Herbie, because he's just found out about the nature of Herbert and William's relationship and is cranky ;)

Re: *is evil*

[winter]

Looks like Spike and Herbert are the major Carpe Noctem OTP after all, then ;)

All of these sound delightful. And might turn out actually shorter than the plotty present-day stuff?

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*grumbles* It was meant to be a sodding one-shot! But with each interaction, they're noting there should be an explanation about why they behave the way they do and gah!

Fingers-crossed. The Angelus one, certainly. The Spike/Herbert #2 encounter? Perhaps, not so much, but I'm not sure...

Re: *is evil*

[winter]

I'm really amazed at how well it all comes together - especially with prequels, I know from experience how hard it is to make things mesh up, but you look like you do it so effortlessly :D

Oh come on. How long can a single molestation scene be? ;>

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*eyes the library scene* UM... 8 pages?

Re: *is evil*

[winter]

*blinks* Seemed shorter when I was reading it in installments, I guess.

Will be waiting for the finished chapter, then, especially since I've thought of ways to tweak my vignette to fit it.

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*grins* I'm re-reading it just now and tweaking and adjusting stuff. The last scene willl be dad and son watching their guests leave ;) Only 7000 words this time, but still...

Re: *is evil*

[winter]

For you, that's positively a drabble ;)

And yay for dad and son scene :D I assume VK is all sorts of amused about how proud of himself Herbie is?

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Dad's also wonderfully amused by the fact they had Angelus running in circles like a concussed labrador in the woods all night :D Angelus is still convinced he was chasing Herbie, because VK was standing on the balcony and leaving magical markers with Herbie's scent. It was his doing that made Angelus trip and land in the briar patches ;)

Re: *is evil*

[winter]

LOL! Glad to hear everyone was having fun that night ;)

(And incidentally, I was thinking again about what would happen if Angel turned out to have ended up Shanshu'd after all. When he heard about Dawn's new living arrangements, he'd faint.)

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Angelus did, admittedly, get one brief ksis from Herbert in the morning and got told "darling, you cheated, so naturally, I had to do the same, but it was fun, all the same" ;)

(I have been considering the possibility of the shanshu thing - since he was dusted, would he be restored to a new human body? And if so, wouldn't it be back to where he began and would he have his memories of who/what he was? At least, at first? I could imagine a human Liam going on holiday to Europe and getting suddenly glomped by a very human Dawn, but not remembering... and then, suddenly, everything coming back... or something. The brain, it plays tricks today)

Re: *is evil*

[winter]

And then he could perhaps have his memory jogged by Spike, or by VK's magic at Spike's request? :>

BTW, Italian POTO: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=P6SE611Y

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

There's a thought - somewhere in the human consciousness, there's a memory of someone powerful and magical ingrained so deeply, that he goes there, trying to find answers, but not knowing why and the minute he walks in, everyone stands and stares at him, while he's going "er... I'm looking for someone... but I don't know who..."

Will download once I get home :) Computer in the office is... unsteady at best :)

Re: *is evil*

[winter]

Would be especially fun if Buffy happened to be there :> Or, another thought - what if the invitations for VK's balls are done by magical means, by some sort of spell set to target "last party's guest list minus whoever got dusted, plus vamp A, vamp B and vamps C, D and E"? Human!Liam has been spending the last year or so trying to pull his life together when he finds a gilt-edged piece of pasteboard inviting him to a party in Transylvania...

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*ponders* Y'know, this would make this even bigger than ever and as much as I wanna scream and throw it aside and run away, oh my, the intrigue...

Regarding magical invites, I'm not sure if they would be the best of ideas, although they would be practical, because Dru showing up at the same place as Buffy and the Immortal and Spike and VK and the humanified daddy? BAHAH! Sparks and then some :D

I could see mortal!Angel with faint memories, trying to pick out details, treying to focus on certain things, like an amnesiac trying to remembering more about who he is/was, which means he visits all the places we know Angel spent memorable times and, eventually, 20-something Angel shows up at the castle, staring at it and going bzuh?

Re: *is evil*

[winter]

Hmmm. If he showed up randomly some time before next year's ball - perhaps not at the castle, but in a town nearby, maybe on his way to/from the place where he got cursed? Running into Herbert on a supply run would provide a good opportunity for mutual confusion, and Herbie would probably haul him off to dad out of sheer curiosity.

And then a few weeks/months later, when Angel's at least partially recovered, the ball could be a good opportunity for his reintroduction to society at large... :>

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Ooh, That would work nicely. Especially going to the place where he was cursed. And then, we've got the whole fun arc of him still having a living, breathing teenage son on the western seaboard, who he can't remember much about.

Re: *is evil*

[winter]

Oh dear. Would VK deign to give Angel parenting advice in such a case? :>

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*twitches and rocks* When did this stop being a one-shot?

Not to mention the fact that Dawn's almost the same age as him now, Buffy has moved onto a guy who screwed his woman 250 years earlier and the whelp he used to smackdown regularly is now one of the top boys in the area...

Re: *is evil*

[winter]

And then Angel being back would throw Spike on such a trip. All the issues and recriminations and anger, and on top of that divided loyalties, because of Angel being human now and Spike formally being part of VK's family... (And oh dear. I could see Herbert and even VK biting Spike at every opportunity for the first few days, just to remind him where exactly his loyalties are.)

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*headdesks a bit* I know Spike's definitely always going to have that part of him that hate/loves Angelus/Angel because of what he was and what he became. He blamed him a lot and not just because of him being the Sire's Sire, but he admired him in ways he can't even understand himself.

But even if Angel said to him to come back with him (which won't happen just because Angel remembers who he was and how he made Spike suffer and wouldn't be able to face that, day in, day out), Spike's with Herbert and VK, regardless of long-lost loyalty.

But yes! Biting all over the place! Just because! :D I can even see Dawn tackling him and clutching at him, even biting him out of sheer worry that this 'Angel' will try and break up her happy little family.

Re: *is evil*

[winter]

I think the temptation (and yes, not enough of it to outweigh his current attachments) would be more because he can see how broken Angel still is, despite the human thing. Caretakery instincts in overdrive, especially since he hasn't had an opportunity to deploy them on Angel before. And once word gets out that Angel's human and defenseless now, quite a few people may be after his hide

Then again, between Herbert and VK dragging Spike off for random biting and shagging, he might not have time to reflect on all that ;)

(And ooh. Dawn doing the primal-pseudo-vampire thing? That would be terribly cool.)

Re: *is evil*

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

I can actually see Angel being quite like Connor at the end of Season 5 of Angel, where the two parts of his identity have come into some kind of balance and he's just trying to undertsand what/who he is now. No more guilt and brooding - something about the shanshu let him accept that he had done all he could and then some. He's just a man now, with a second chance.

But, oh, it's going to be a fantastic scene when he and Spike see each other, because he remembers the stake, remembers dying and meeting Spike's eyes as he did so. Spike might even hug him, after maybe ten minutes of solid WTF-staring :D (And of course, the "Don't you dare die for me again, you stupid arse!")

Also, the whole Angelus-is-mortal thing would probably be the only reason Spike would keep him around, rather than by choice - he knows now that words out, peple'll be after him, so they keep him with them to protect him for a while.