The next night Keres cautiously made her way back to the ritual room, making sure not to deviate from the path that they had travelled the night before. When she finally found the correct room hesitantly knocked on the open door of the ritual room. From where she stood in the doorway Keres could see the back of her Regent's head, he didn't seem to be moving.
Lyle's had claimed one of the seats to spend the day. He removed his shirt to be more comfortable or perhaps to not wrinkle it. Eventually sensing no response from Lyle was forthcoming Keres approached, he seemed to still be sleeping, his head slumped down, arms on his legs, and phone in his hands.
Keres shrugged slightly, she stepped close enough to check him over before deciding against touching, instead she took one of the seats opposite him and waited for him to wake up in silence. Whilst she waited she looked at his arms again to see if he had bothered to heal them but she would not wake him for fear of what he could do to her in his hazed state, better to allow him to wake in his own time.
From her vantage point the Apprentice could easily see that the wounds she had inflicted the previous evening had been healed. Dotted here and there were a few inconsequential scars which had obviously occurred whilst he was still alive, though none of them gave the impression he was alive in the sixteenth century, or that he had been a part of the Crusades as he had claimed.
Eventually he awoke, and his first gesture as the good geek he was, obviously to check his phone, before even noticing someone else was present. Keres sat in silence not wanting to interrupt his routine feeling she would be rude. So she just sat and watched, waiting for him to notice her. Seeing nothing of interest, Lyle raise his head, and gave her a curious look. Then a vague smile graced his expression.
"I overslept."
Keres gave a slight smile back but it left her expression quickly as the words she was about to speak formed in her mind. The statement tugged in the back of her mind, was this common as Kindred aged? Would she be like him in the end? Quickly she discarded the thoughts, choosing instead to speak the thoughts that had first crept to her mind.
"I did knock, but I didn't really think it was a good idea to try and wake you..."
He put the phone away into his trouser pocket, then reached out for his shirt to put it on as he replied.
"Good survival instincts."
"Mmn." Habitually she looked away as he got dressed, Keres still had some form of privacy even if the Clan had mostly beaten it out of her. Once the shirt had been buttoned up Lyle reached for the vest he had removed and wore that over the shirt before tying his hair correctly with a length of red ribbon, vaguely Keres could make out the Clan's emblem embellished the end of it.
"Do you wish to go change or are your current clothes suitable for hunting?"
When he looked, he could see she had taken her clothes off and folded them, they didn't look too creased and she looked relatively neat. She wasn't too sure what he had in mind, she gave him an uncertain look.
"Depends what you had in mind..." Keres didn't look back to him until he spoke directly to her, as much as she didn't mind looking, his body wasn't exactly uncared for she still had a strong sense of what was right and what was wrong.
"Hunting is something personal. You must take the lead here, I'll just follow you and watch out for Masquerade breaches."
"Then no, I'm fine as I am." She picked up the jacket and scarf she had left on the table the night before and put them on carefully. Keres wasn't sure how she felt about him following her around whilst she went to hunt, it felt a bit odd since she was only ever used to Griffin watching her. Lyle sensed the hesitation in the redheaded woman, though he didn't really press her on it.
"Just do what you have to do, you won't even notice my presence.'
"I know you're watching, not exactly the same." She shrugged grumpily and made a move to leave seeing little point in delaying the inevitable but still let Lyle guide them back to the exit not wanting to get lost.
He walked outside, finding his way with little difficulty. The air was crisp as fall had begun to set in. The narrow street was the side entrance , the front entrance being the Church and not commonly used by the Clan.
"Not too close, don't worry. I won't judge you from your feeding habits as long as you get your fix." She nodded and once outside followed the small road to Rue Saint-James to see how busy it was there and try her luck at finding some easy food.
Unsurprisingly it was busy, this was an excellent place to attempt it. The long street had heavy foot traffic. Bars and cafes were spread along there, people sat outside eating, drinking and smoking. Tourists and locals alike enjoyed this place, it was hardly a hardship to find vitae here.
Before Keres realised it she was alone, Lyle had vanished and she couldn't spot him. The sudden disappearance unnerved her, how had she missed him? The thoughts were soon pushed out of her mind as Kine walked passed her with frequency. Her Beast tugged at her consciousness, demanding and unrelenting in its need for vitae.
Slowly Keres made her way along the street stopping every now and then, looking around as though she was lost and disorientated. She grasped at a lone pedestrian, mimicking life with warmth and a pulse. She stopped and looked at her, confused by suddenly being grabbed, then came the questioning look on her expression. Though she could speak fluent French she broke up her words, taking longer to decide on her words. As though she was learning the language, and hadn't much practice in using it.
"Um..can you help me please?" Hesitantly she took a step towards the Kine hoping they'd be kind enough to give her directions. Purposefully she had picked a woman who was on her own and seemed relatively healthy looking but also someone who smoked.
It didn't take long, the woman was kind enough, even offering to take Keres as she was heading that way, once alone Keres fed upon the unsuspecting Kine. She drank deep, greedily but left enough to not damage them. Without hesitation she Dominated them, making the woman forget what had happened before sending them on their way.
Keres continued like this until she finally managed to spot Lyle in the periphery of her vision. He was waiting for her on the corner of the street, he seemed bored, but he often looked like that in her opinion. He waved her over to get her to come closer and silently she complied. He lent on the wall of a building and kept his voice low to not breach the Masquerade.
"Need more?" He doesn't seem to judge about her wanting or not wanting more."I'd advise you to get as much as you can when you have the chance, since you're never sure when will be the next time.."
"Can I do the rest on my own and meet you back at the old Chantry?" He denies and makes a point of sounding like a teen who's just been scolded.
"You're sending me back? But I also deserve some fun.." He smiles as he spoke, teasing openly. "I won't watch, I'll do my own. You've got an hour."
She ignored the whiny teenage voice but acknowledged his instructions with a curt nod of her head. Without hesitation Keres moved to go the opposite way this time, the initial taste had only made her want more.
Within the allotted time she returned and knocked on the same entrance as before. It wasn't until she heard footsteps that she realised he was not in the building. As he got closer she could see his shirt had been unbuttoned, when he was finally stood next to her she spotted the lipstick stains on his neck. Another smile graced his expression and suddenly Keres was assaulted with the strong scent of perfume that seemed glued to his skin and clothes.
Keres didn't comment on his feeding habits, instead she stopped him and a bit like a mum cleaning a dirt mark off a kid licked her thumb and rubbed away the lipstick. Out of everything it was those marks that bothered her the most. Lyle remained still as she cleaned him, his smile only broadening. Idly Keres' thoughts wandered, how much fun had he had?
"Did you take enough?" He questioned her as she rubbed the sleeve of her cardigan against his skin to remove the stubborn stains that seemed glued to him.
"..Yes, I see you had a good time." There was no tone of disapproval from her, she sounds quite amused. After another moment of inspection Keres seemed satisfied she had gotten all of it rubbed off. Habitually she straightened the shirt that had been tugged away from his skin, carefully buttoning the garment back up once more. It didn't seem like the Apprentice was really thinking about what she was doing, just following habit.
When she's done fussing over him she stepped back and gave him his personal space back. She doesn't seem to notice the lipstick stained the cuff of her own clothing. Lyle remained quite passive throughout, once she stepped back she didn't even seem to care about personal space, unlike her Sire, who was much more attentive of such things, though for him it may have gone with having the education he had whilst alive.
"I like women, can't help it..." He allowed her inside, pausing in the better light as he caught a glimpse of the sleeve of Keres' cardigan.
"Women who bathe in perfume instead of water." She nodded her thanks before stepping inside once he had opened the door. Her own perfume was drowned out by the stronger scent of whoever he had been with. He can see she wrinkled her nose slightly before responding with amusement. Finally he spoke himself, changing the topic of conversation without making it seem unnatural.
"Now your clothes will need washing. You didn't need to do this, hm. I may be an old bloody wizard, I can still take care of myself." As he spoke she looked down at her sleeve passively, noting the stains for the first time.
"It's not a problem doubt it will stain...Old habits die hard I guess." She shrugged silently telling him it was something she had done many times before for people without stating it outright. Before Keres could get her brings on things he closed the door behind them and going back to their previous topic of discussion.
"I'm used to perfumes, and it has the interesting side effect of annoying other Kindred. I don't care about it. Make sure not to display such gestures in public, they may harm your credibility and used against you." As he spoke he walked her back to the ritual room nothing seemed to bother him in this place, Lyle knew it well, as they walked he did not hesitate or get lost.
"Habits can be a very powerful tool to those who wish you harm, so you'll have to be very analytical of yourself, change your habits often enough. Routine is a death sentence to Kindred."
"Huh, I'll remember that for the future. What's the point? Once you go out like that in public it's been seen no point trying to help then, I wouldn't even bother if you had turned up in Elysium like that." She nodded telling him she had taken onboard what he had said.
"I never cared for my looks, I wear a suit because it's the easiest and most comfortable considering my status." He chuckled a little, finding the situation amusing.
"Griffin's far more orthodox about all of this. I don't suppose you ever had to fix something for him like that?.. That's sweet." Lyle's tone was mocking, but the only reaction he garnered from the redhead was seeing her eyebrow hike up. The woman could act like stone when she wanted to.
"So you do care otherwise why bother with suit at all?" She tried to poke holes in his argument but he just kept on talking about her Sire.
"No, for some reason I imagine he could roll out of bed and still look as though he'd spent hours getting ready." Keres openly ignored his mocking tone, it didn't seem to rile her up at all.
"Because last time I showed up in flip flops and hawaiian shirt, I swear to God they all died a little inside." He opened the ritual room and went back to sit with a slight sigh. "He probably just shaves. Blah, the English."
Lyle seems to think that Griffin being English is good enough reason to have impeccable elegance.
"Speaking of him, what did he exactly teach you about the clan, and what did you learn in Vienna?" She followed and closed the door behind herself, she doesn't sit immediately instead she walks around the room for a bit listening until finally speaking herself.
"Trust me when I say the English have gone down hill since his day." She was not even sure if Lyle knows she's English. When he asked about Vienna she turned and took a seat though it was reluctantly.