Dedicated to Bonniewitch and Discotimelord, thankyou!
Claire fidgeted nervously as she sat in the huge, plush chair in Amelie's office, facing the Founder herself. She had been called out of advanced physics- a subject which would have been a lot more interesting if Myrnin was the one teaching her instead of boring old Mr Whitehead, or Mr Shitehead, as some of the more rebellious students liked to call him. Her instructions were to go to room 57 in the science block, urgently. The only time urgently was used in Morganville was when something bad had happened, and that was very often.
As soon as Claire had opened the door of room 57, she knew it was a portal, and, like the very first day she met her crazy boss, it led straight to An ancient room. Only instead of this one containing stacks of never ending books, It contained a dark oak desk, three ancient, padded chairs (which looked a lot more comfortable than they felt) and three neat bookcases, filled alphabetically with books of all sorts of different languages.
And of course it contained the Founder.
Amelie was wearing a pale blue tailored skirt suit, fastened neatly with a button at her waist and two rows of buttons parallel to each other down the front quarter of her skirt. She was perched on the third seat in the room, tucked neatly behind her desk with her hands folded delicately on her lap. Her cold grey eyes bore into Claire with an intensity that made her nervous. No matter how pretty Amelie was, she was still the scariest woman Claire knew.
Slowly, Amelie's pink tinted lips grew into the slightest smile, which took an edge off her harsh expression and sent relief flowing through Claire like lava. Amelie proceeded to smile primly at Claire, her glossy blonde hair curled around her face in immaculate, elegant waves, causing her to look more beautiful Claire had ever seen her.
"As you know Claire, it is not often that I remove you from your studies, however I have a…proposition, to ask of you" Amelie finally said.
Claire's alarm rate rocketed up, dragging it from 'oh my god what am I doing here?' to 'oh my god this is probably going to kill me', because most things in Morganville would kill you. Including the residents.
She carried on calmly, not noticing Claire's fluttering heartbeat, or being polite enough to pretend not to notice. "I don't know if you've heard, but I am holding a formal ball this weekend, to which you are invited." She paused for a second and her glacier eyes twitched, almost like she was restraining herself from rolling them. "Now, as you well know, Myrnin's fashion sense is…unique. However, if I am to impress the new visitors of Morganville, his choice in clothing would have to be controlled."
Claire finally heard the penny drop. "You want me, to choose him some clothes?" Claire imagined how that would go over with her boss, and she decided that it definitely wouldn't go well, she could hardly get him to open a portal, never mind change his wardrobe.
Amelie smiled politely, obviously realising the struggle Claire would have attempting to dress Myrnin. "Of course this task wouldn't be accomplished without pay."
Claire thought about it for a moment. Why would Amelie pay her for finding Myrnin a suit?
Because then she wouldn't have to struggle with him, instead she had dumped it on Claire, so now its Claire's problem.
Great.
Claire flipped through the ways in which she would actually be able to get Myrnin to agree to this; until she remembered what Amelie had first said.
"Wait, what visitors?" She was sure that by now Amelie would have realised that visitors = bad, however the complete lack of panic in Amelie's graceful posture told Claire that this mustn't be the type of visitor she was meant to worry about.
A strange expression crossed over Amelie's delicate features, an expression that Claire couldn't read but she was almost sure it seemed positive. Almost.
"My sister is coming to Morganville."
"Naomi? But she's already here."
"Naomi is only a blood sister, bound to me by the link between her and my father after he changed her. No, this sister is my real family."
Woah. Claire had no idea Amelie even had any family, not after Myrnin finally got rid of Bishop. Not that Claire even knew much about Amelie, she didn't even know much about Myrnin and he's the most human out of all the vampires, well, emotionally at least. Probably. And of course with Michael as an exception.
Amelie interrupted Claire's train of thought as she carried on answering her question. "My sister has been…adventuring a lot, exploring places that intrigued her. She heard about Morganville through other vampires she had come across and has decided to at least visit, possibly even have a permanent residence. You see, to a vampire with an eternity ahead of them, the world can be a boring place, even the most persistent of vampires lose interest in travelling. Each corner of the world soon becomes familiar and each decade becomes a chore."
Amelie glided out of her plush chair, ambling over to her organised bookcases and scanning through the millions of volumes with eyes that flickered with supernatural speed. At first Claire thought she was looking for something, but after a few minutes of flitting eyes and awkward silence, she realised that Amelie was either doing it to pass the time, or re-living an old memory, lost in her billions of encounters and adventures.
Claire cleared her throat quietly, knowing full well that Amelie would hear her, before attempting to return back to the topic of Myrnin's fashion sense, after all, Claire wasn't exactly the fashion guru of Morganville and she had no idea what she was looking for.
"Erm, wouldn't you have been better choosing Eve to do this type of thing? She's more of the clothes type. I'm more of the science type, and I really have no idea what you're looking for."
Amelie turned to face her, her elegant hair shimmering in the dull light of her office. As usual, for vampires, no natural sunlight shone into the room, so it was lit entirely by one small tiffany lamp, which cast the darkest of shadows in the corners and fluttered eerily in her cool, grey eyes.
"Of course I took that into account, however I decided that out of your friends and the people I am fond of, you dress the most…subtly. Myrnin's clothes definitely need more than a hint of subtlety. But, by all means, if you wish for Eve to accompany you in this task she is more than welcome to, just don't let her tastes get in the way."
Which was a polite way of saying, don't make Eve turn him into a raging goth. Claire tried to imagine her half insane boss wearing the male equivalent of Eve's corsets and black tutus and had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Although Myrnin's style as it was wasn't far off Eve's anyway.
"And as for what I am asking you to look for, a suit."
"Just a suit?"
Amelie nodded, "preferably black, and plain. I know how Myrnin likes his patterns."
Claire nodded, feeling utterly lost and deciding that Eve had no choice in being dragged along to help choose Myrnin's suit. Maybe she could learn a thing or two from her while she was there. Or maybe Myrnin would be complaining too loud for her to hear anything Eve would be saying.
Claire hoped to God it wouldn't be the latter.
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