Klaus

[kersen]

[continued from here]

Kersen stood and offered Klaus his hand, then led him out of the office, down a flight of stairs and (after a key-code locked entry) into the small studio apartment down there, even sparser than his office, but with a couch and bed and small kitchen.

"You're not lightheaded are you?" he asked suddenly. "There's some orange juice in the fridge..."

Comments

[seanceinfurs]

Klaus smiled and belatedly explained one of his tattoos. He held out his arm and pointed at the Umbrella Academy symbol. "Ever heard of us? The Umbrella Academy. We were a thing, before it all went to shit. Six kids with powers. So yeah, I've seen stuff."

[kersen]

"I haven't," Kersen said, and traced a finger over the tattoo. He did like tattoos, after all. "But I've certainly heard of far stranger things myself. So you have... powers?"

[seanceinfurs]

"I commute with the dead," Klaus provided. He left it there to sink in. It was the sort of thing that usually required some sinking in.

[kersen]

"Oh," said Kersen, and then after a moment added, "You mean actual dead people? Not like... dead in the way that I'm dead."

[seanceinfurs]

"Dead people," Klaus provided. He passed a finger by his neck to indicate the slitting of a throat and then turned it into a fist as if hanging himself from a noose, then pointed a gun and pointed it at his own head and blew a raspberry as if shooting himself. Dead people. All manner of dead people.

[kersen]

Kersen thought that as far as powers went that didn't seem like the most useful one. "I can see how that might not be entirely pleasant," he said, thinking of the many, many deaths he'd seen in his lifetime.

[seanceinfurs]

"It's fine," Klaus lied easily. He didn't want to go into it right now He was pleasantly buzzed and pleasantly spent and he didn't want it ruined by ghosts.

"So, you're dead," he changed the subject. Sort of. "That explains the lack of heart-beat... And you're cold. Not freezing, just... not warm."

[kersen]

“Do you find that unpleasant?” Kersen asked, not directly answering the question. “Some people find the lack of a heartbeat unnerving.”

[seanceinfurs]

"It's just quiet," Klaus said as he inclimed his head a little to register the lack of heartbeat. "I hadn't really noticed before."

[kersen]

"Humans can be remarkably unobservant," Kersen teased.

This was nice, laying in bed with someone. Just chatting, like everything was normal.

"Any other questions?" he murmured. He owed him that.

[seanceinfurs]

"How'd you become a vampire?" Klaus asked, perfectly happy to chat.

[kersen]

Kersen had been expecting questions more about vampires in general, but he didn't mind answering this one. "The short version is that another vampire turned me a very long time ago," he said. "With my consent, though I confess was rather young and stupid at the time. Or were you curious about the mechanics?"

[seanceinfurs]

Klaus wasn't a really curious person. It was probably the effects of drink and drugs, but he kinda floated around everything else.

"No, I was just wondering how long you've been like this."

[kersen]

"Since the seventeenth century," Kersen said matter-of-factly. "I was already wearing dresses when I was turned, though back then it was just because women weren't allowed to act."

[seanceinfurs]

"You never faked being a woman?" Klaus asked, curiously.

[kersen]

"Not... really," Kersen said. "I've never wanted to actually be a woman, and I've no desire to trick men, in particular. Besides... until quite recently, such things could have gotten me killed." He paused. "Well, not actually, because it's very hard to kill me, but you get the point."

[seanceinfurs]

Klaus snickered. "So which of the stories are true? Not a fan of garlic? Crosses, stakes?" Perhaps it was odd to ask his bed-partner about the ways he might be killed. Death interested him.

[kersen]

"The garlic bit is a myth," Kersen said. "But yeah, sunlight will make me burst into flame. And silver in any form is... very bad."

[seanceinfurs]

"Man, that sucks," Klaus - mortal and killable in many ways - said.

He sighed, still feeling a bit of a high. "This is a very cool way to feed, though."

[kersen]

Kersen frowned a little. "No, it's.... really not. You know, people have asked me before if I would do it again, if I could go back and decide without my youth and stupidity and vanity blinding my decisions. I've had such wonderful experiences, seen such beauty, in the time I've lived, that I can't bring myself to say I wish I hadn't been alive for it. But I'd rather have been human for it. To have been in the sunlight and not have to have blood to survive."

[seanceinfurs]

"Oh, right," Klaus said, sobering up a little. "I just meant the sex was great. But yeah, I guess it's not so great when its a daily routine for survival."

[kersen]

"Mmmm well as much as I'd like to think I'd still be a good lay without that part, who knows," Kersen said, with a slightly self deprecating smile.

[seanceinfurs]

"You are," Klaus assured. "It's just the cherry. You know, that thing that makes you unique." To Klaus, at least, this was pretty unique.

[kersen]

“Mmmm well I confess, you brought something out in me tonight,” said Kersen. “I don’t fall into bed with strangers very often. It can be dangerous.”

[seanceinfurs]

Klaus smiled at that. "I don't really, either. Guess we brought out stuff in each other."