With the sun rising over the city of London, it did the same in Gehenna. Morning did not come for only the demonic duo, as it also came for a certain police officer. The run-down apartments that were still partially under construction in Gehenna's C-Block was where Tegwen Sibyl made her residence, and for once, she wasn't woken up by the sound of construction, but rather the sound of a phone ringing.
The woman's eye's flickered open and immediately snapped shut as a throbbing pain surged in with the sunlight, filling her entire head. Tegwen didn't even remember coming home last night, much less changing into her sleep clothes, but from the way she was feeling, she had drank too much while at the wedding party. She groaned as the phone continued to ring, making her headache worse as it forced her to get up and do something about it. Sitting up was a bad idea, however, as she immediately felt nauseous. Still, she trudged her way out of her bedroom and managed to reach the phone. She picked it up and tried to collect herself for a moment before finally answering.
"Hello?" she greeted, her voice tired and groggy.
"Tegs? It's Akira." Her friend said on the other end of the line. "Are you okay? You sound terrible."
"I just woke up." Tegwen yawned, leaning against the wall.
"It's past noon?"
"…And I'm hungover."
"Good thing I called in sick for you." Laughed Akira. "I was just checking to see if you were alright."
"And for that, I thank you. I'm good, though. I feel like shit, but otherwise fine."
"Ah, that's good. I was a little worried. Nobody from the station really recognised the girl who helped you home, so I'm glad she wasn't a serial killer."
"What girl?" Tegwen asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.
"The one you were dancing with last night?" answered the other officer. "Vampire, blonde hair, black lipstick… that one?"
Akira's explanation caused the elf a bit of alarm. "Wait, how did she know where I live?"
"Sophie told her? She wrote it down on the back of her hand and everything."
"Why didn't you take me home?"
"I was drunk, too." Said Akira. "Why? What's wrong? Who is she?"
"Remember the girl I told you about who kept pestering me while on patrol?"
The other officer paused for a moment. "That was her, wasn't it?"
"Yep." Answered Tegwen.
"Is that bad? You seemed really friendly the other night?"
"Well, yeah, because she was actually nice to me." The elf replied.
"I think she's into you, mate…" suggested Akira.
"Then why doesn't she just say so?"
"Some people have trouble with that." The officer on the other end of the line said. "In fact most people do. You're just weird about that shit."
"Am I?"
"You're very blunt…"
"Hey, it's better to be too the point than confusing." Tegwen protested, hearing her friend chuckle on the end of the line.
"Yeah, but it takes people off guard." Said Akira. "Anyway, if you're alright and no stalkers are after ya, I have to get back to work. Some people are productive members of society who don't get completely sloshed at other people's weddings."
"Fuck off."
"Too blunt~!"
"Fuck you!"
"Even worse! Later, Tegs~!" Before Tegwen could answer, the other woman hung up, causing her to pout.
"Bitch…" she grumbled, hanging up the phone. She then sighed, figuring she should take a shower and do something about this hangover. It wasn't as though she was going to get dressed, however. Running around the house clothes suited her just fine.
At least, this was how her plan was until she spotted the lifeless form currently lounging on her couch. A blonde woman with fangs was fast asleep in her living room, slumped over the armrest so that she was out of the sun. Tegwen nearly had a heartattack at the sight, jumping back and losing balance so that she fell flat on her rear. None of this was doing her sick feeling any good. The elf clutched at her chest as the other woman groaned, clearly unhappy about being up in the middle of the day.
"Keep it down…" complained Kyung-Soon, seemingly forgetting where she was.
"What are you doing in my house?"
The sound of the voice caused Kyung-Soon to wake up a bit more as she now had to figure out why on earth she was waking up to Tegwen. Opening her eyes, she snapped them shut again at the bright light the poured into the room.
"Could you close the curtains?" she asked the elf, grunting as she positioned herself upright a bit more. "The whole reason I'm still here is because of the sun…"
"Fine…" answered Tegwen, standing up and squinting herself as she shut the curtains. "Trapped by the sun?" she asked the vampire, looking over her shoulder.
"Yeah… I didn't bring any shade gel because I thought I would be back before dawn. Turns out I was wrong." Kyung-Soon informed. "Sorry I kinda squatted here without asking."
"Well, according to Akira, you helped me home, so I guess I can't really complain." Tilting her head, Tegwen asked: "Are those my sweatpants?"
"What? Oh, yeah. Sorry about that, too. Sleeping in a skirt just wasn't working for me. Oh, and for the record, you dressed yourself before you keeled over."
"It's fine…" Tegwen answered, blushing a bit at the explanation for her being dressed in sleepwear as well. "Uh… You can crash here until it's dark again. Sorry for waking you up."
"What? You're not going to kick me out?"
"Yes, I'm going to force a vampire into the sun. I am just that much of an asshole." The elf answered, causing the vampire to laugh.
"Ooh~! So you've got a sarcastic side? Nice." Kyung-Soon said with a smile, flashing her teeth as she stretched out a bit. She had washed off her makeup from the night before, making it the first time that Tegwen has seen her without black lipstick. The vampire was a bit confused when she caught the other woman staring. "What? I was just teasing…"
"Oh, I was just thinking." Answered the officer. "My head hurts and I want food. Hopefully, I don't throw it up."
"Yeah, you probably should eat. Your stomach is probably empty from last night. Don't worry, none of it got on the floor, and I held your braid back for you."
Unconsciously, the elf reached up and grabbed her braid, making the vampire laugh again. She hadn't undone it the night before, and her hair clips were still in her hair. Sighing, she took them out and started walking toward her bedroom in order to put them away, untangling her now-messy braid as she did.
"Thanks." She said. "You can stay on the couch until night and get some sleep. Just shout if you need anything."
"M'kay~!" the other woman answered, waving as Tegwen disappeared into her room. When she came out again, Kyung-Soon made an attempt to go back to sleep, but then heard another door close, and the sound of a shower turning on.
"Too awake now." The mumbled, sitting up. Taking a deep breath, she rubbed her eyes before taking a good look around the room.
Unopened boxes were stacked around the minimal amount of furniture that the room contained. There was a couch, and there was a coffeetable with an old radio sitting on it. That was all, other than a guitar propped up in the corner next to what appeared to be a homemade ukulele. A Gehenna Police bicycle was leaned against the wall, which was bare as the room was devoid of any decoration whatsoever. It would seem that Tegwen had only moved in recently. Judging by the small amount of boxes, however, she didn't have much.
Kyung-Soon found herself compelled to look inside the boxes and ordinarily, she would. This time, however, she wanted to make a decent impression, so she would just have to contain herself until Tegwen gave permission to do so, and that is if she did at all. This would have been much easier for Kyung-Soon to bear, had there been anything else to do. All she could do was sleep, but now the vampire was far too hypervigilant to do so.
Soon, however, the other woman came out of the bathroom, feeling much better now that she was clean. Tegwen had simply put on another set of comfortable clothes meant for running around the house, although she did make a conscious attempt to try and match, given the fact that she wasn't alone. Pausing, she looked over at the vampire for a moment confusedly.
"Not going to sleep?" she asked.
"Too awake." Answered Kyung-Soon, shaking her head.
"Oh, sorry, mate." The elf replied, walking across the room in order to dig in a few grocery bags. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Nothing I can think of." Said the other woman.
"Well, what do ya wanna do?" questioned Tegwen. "I've got books, a radio… We can just talk, if you don't mind me talking while eating."
"That sounds like a pretty good idea." The vampire chuckled. "I don't know what we would talk about, though."
"Whatever you want." Answered her host, sitting down on the floor while pulling out some sort of convenience store snack and eating it. "I feel really rude for not offering you anything to eat, but I really don't have anything that you can."
"That's fine. I wasn't really expecting it, so don't worry." Kyung-Soon replied. She paused, trying to think of a conversation starter. "Sooo… You keep your bike inside?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah. Just in case something happens to it." Tegwen informed. "I doubt that anyone would steal it or anything, given that it has the word 'Police' on it in big letters. I guess I'm just paranoid."
"Nah. I would probably do the same." Kyung-Soon answered. "Only, in my part of town, it probably is a legit risk."
Tegwen hummed in acknowledgement, continuing to eat as she tried to come up with something to say. It was difficult, as she spontaneously remembered that Kyung-Soon was a high-ranking member of the equivalent of a supernatural gang. How exactly does one appropriately answer that? Her obvious discomfort, however, as picked up by her guest, causing the American to fret over saying the wrong thing. As one could imagine, Kyung-Soon wasn't exactly well-versed in casually conversing with "outsiders".
"The worst part is carrying it up the stairs, though." Tegwen finally said, trying to keep things going. "It's only one floor, though, so it's not too bad. I feel sorry for the cops who live on the third floor."
"More police officers live in this building?"
"Yeah. We get to live here for free, as long as we're still working for the city. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here." The elf informed, crumpling up her wrapper. "You're not up to no good, are you?" she teased.
"What? Me? No." Kyung-Soon answered, smiling as the other woman laughed. "At least, not right now, anyway."
"Good. Please keep it that way around this building, m'kay?"
"What? You worried for me?"
"Well, yeah. You're a nice person." Stated Tegwen. "And none of us really want people to get in trouble. That would be fucked up."
"You're very different than human police…"
"You're not in trouble with them either, are you?"
"No."
"Good."
Kyung-Soon giggled and shook her head. "So you like your job?"
"Yep." Tegwen answered. "I've always wanted to be a police officer, so I jumped at the chance when they were recruiting."
"Really, why's that?"
"Well, most of the books in those boxes are detective stories…"
That made the vampire laugh harder. "So you wanted to be like the heroes in those books?"
"Hey, don't hate on someone's dreams." The other woman said, playfully scolding her guest. "It's not a bad thing. I just like helping people."
"No, no, I mean, it's pretty amazing that you actually did it." Kyung-Soon corrected, shaking her head. "It's a pretty good thing to aspire to do."
The vampire grinned, flashing her teeth at Tegwen, but the elf wasn't intimidated in the slightest. While her guest was one of the highest-ranking members of the largest coven of vampires in London, Tegwen didn't find her scary. In fact, Kyung-Soon's praise made her blush a bit, and she could only hope that her guest couldn't tell due to the darkness in the room, but that was unlikely. The other woman could sense her pulse. This only made the vampire smile more, knowing the affect that she was having.
"So, you're a police officer, you like detective novels, but is there anything else that you like to do?" Kyung-Soon inquired. "You've got instruments and a radio, so I assume that you're into music, too?"
"Huh? O-oh, yeah… I play all the time." answered the officer, playing with the long lock of hair on the left side of her head where her braid normally was. "There's CD's in those boxes, too, but I don't have a player. I had one back home, but it was my sister's. I'm trying to find one."
"You play guitar?" asked her guest. "Do you sing?"
"Yeah, a little…"
"That look in your eyes says otherwise…"
"Okay, quite a bit…" Tegwen corrected, feeling oddly embarrassed. "I'm not that good, though…"
"I'll be the judge of that~!" chimed Kyung-Soon, gesturing toward the instrument. "Entertain your guest!"
"Are you saying you need me to sing you a lullaby?"
"Whatever you want, Maestro." The vampire grinned as she laid down on the couch, putting her hands behind her head.
"Maestro didn't play guitar."
"If he did, he would be you."
Tegwen rolled her eyes at her guest, turning her back on her momentarily as she crawled over and grabbed the instrument before turning around and leaning against the wall. She took a few moments to make sure that the instrument was in tune, perhaps taking too long as she tried to think of something to sing at the same time. Once she could no longer fake tuning, she sighed, pondering what to do.
"Uh, I dunno what to sing…"
"Anything's fine." Kyung-Soon said. "Whatever you like."
"Uh…" the elf looked up at the ceiling as she thought before scrunching her brow and closing them again. Eventually, she looked at her guest then. "Is a ballad okay?"
"Sure, sure."
"I can't tell you how good it'll be… The only thing coming to mind is 'The Twa Sisters'." Tegwen said as she began to strum. "It's about murder."
"Pfft! Sounds lovely~!" Kyung-Soon giggled, prompting the other woman to smile again. Taking a deep breath, the elf sang:
"There were twa sisters sat in a bower;
Binnorie, O Binnorie
There came a knight to be their wooer.
By the bonny mill-dams of Binnorie…"
Kyung-Soon had trouble making out the meaning of the lyrics due to the older English, but focused greatly on the elf's voice. It was sweet and suited the woman well as she was seemingly unaware that she was being watched so intently. Now it was the vampire's turn to blush as her red eyes made out every detail of her face, from the long eyelashes that were as white as the elf's hair, to the way her lips curled as she sang. Her fingers were rough from plucking the strings of her instruments, and she was not dainty or fair-skinned, but she was beautiful all the same, being so passionate about the ballad that she conveyed to her guest. Kyung-Soon could only blush, being unable to look away while the other woman sang, feeling the sadness in the song.
It was a tale of two sisters, both courted by the same knight. Stricken with jealousy, the eldest sister pushes the younger into a pond and refuses to pull her out, drowning her to death. When her body washes ashore, it is found by a musician who fashioned her remains into a harp, using her golden hair as strings. Later, he visits the King of the land, but when he plays the instrument, it sings about how the elder sister killed the younger, causing her to be punished. Kyung-Soon was surprised that the elf knew of such a story, given her typical demeanor.
Tegwen sang several songs that day, strumming one ballad after another, and the Girasol vampire listened intently until her eyes could no longer stay open. Yet, the host continued to play, causing the woman to sleep soundly throughout the day. They spoke whenever she woke up, engaging in banter and rambling on about nothing at all until the sun set and it was time for the vampire to leave.
Like the gentlewoman that she was, the officer insisted that she walk the other girl home, but Kyung-Soon wouldn't allow her to cross into Girasol territory for her own safety. Thus, they parted a little ways from Kyung-Soon's actual place of residence, but the vampire still found it endearing, and enjoyed the extended conversation all the same.
"I'm sorry I made you sing for me all day." The vampire said as they stopped. "I had a really good time, though."
"No problem. I did too." Grinned Tegwen. "You can keep me up next time."
"Sounds good." Chuckled Kyung-Soon. "I should give you my number so I can call you. What's your number? I can just text it to you."
"Uh, I don't have a mobile, actually." The elf bashfully answered. "I can give you my home number anyway, though."
"Okay, I'll enter it in." Kyung-Soon said, taking out her phone. She punched in numbers as the other woman recited them. Once that was done, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a marker, taking Tegwen's hand and beginning to write.
"Aaaand here's my number." She said.
"Do I even want to know why you keep a permenant marker in your pocket?" the elf asked, watching the other write.
"To write graffiti on bathroom stalls." Bluntly answered the vampire, smiling as Tegwen nearly choked on her spit while trying not to laugh.
"And now bathroom stall is on my hand. Thank you so much."
"You're welcome." the Girasol woman answered, taking her hands and her marker away and putting it's cap back on before placing it back in her pocket. "I thought you'd appreciate that."
"Oh, you know it." Tegwen answered with a smile. "So, uh, I'll be seeing you then, yeah?"
"Be seeing you, too." Answered the vampire, leaning forward and kissing the elf on the cheek, staining her skin with black lipstick. "I had a great time."
With that, she turned away, leaving Tegwen wide-eyed in shock. She waved at her before continuing on, prompting the elf to do the same. Once she was gone, Tegwen reached up and touched her cheek, feeling the residue of lipstick while blushing. She knew that Kyung-Soon could feel her pulse just then. Was it long enough for her to register just how fast her heart was beating?
"'Better to be blunt than confusing'…" Tegwen muttered to herself. "I'm still confused, though…"
A/N: Yeah, I did a Tegwen chapter... I'm sorry to interrupt your regularly-scheduled Cielois, but I had this idea and wanted to write it.
So I did.
No one can stop me, either...
If you want to look up the song that Tegwen sang, I actuall combined several versions while summarising it! *sobs* In some versions, the sister was turned into a swan after drowning, and that's why the musician-dude thought it would be okay to make a harp out of her dead body?
Ballads and folktales are fuckin' weird...
ANYWAY
Yeah, we'll be going back to murder husbands in the next chapter. I hope you guys aren't too upset.
Oh! Also, I got a question that I think needs answered:
"I was just wondering wether you were going to continue with Alois going to college? Because he does have to attend and now he's married to one of his professors... And I think he's missed a lot of class." by Shizue-seijin
He is still in college, actually! It just hasn't been talked about because it wasn't particularly important to the plot at the moment. After all, the whole deal with the Scarlet Order on the boat took only an afternoon in DLTD-time.
Him being married to a professor might be a bit of a problem, though... We'll find out...
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
