Cemetery Talks
Livia's clothes stuck uncomfortably to her body when she stopped in front of the entrance of the Mère-Lachaiselongue cemetery. With her eyes slightly narrowed, she looked up into the cloudy sky. It had been raining the whole morning and the dark rain clouds showed no sign of imminent change. Heavy raindrops hit her face and felt as cold as the tears of the previous evening as they ran down her cheeks.
She had crossed a line yesterday, as she unfortunately realized too late. Unforgivable things were said and could not be taken back. Not Dettlaff, but HER, was the monster. She had never been ashamed of her actions in her life, but the hurt look of the man after her impulsive outburst had burned painfully and irrevocably into her mind. He had begun to trust her, had tentatively reached out his hand to her and she had destroyed the fragile bond between them with her thoughtless statement. Regis had described Dettlaff as an extremely emotional personality of extremes, which was confirmed in past encounters. She was all the more shocked by the fact that the vampire hadn't confronted her aggressively as in the last encounters, but had slowly let go of her after her hurtful statement and disappeared with a painful look, transforming into smoke. The absence of an offensive reaction from her counterpart was worse than all the other scenarios that Livia had thought about afterwards. Her lower lip began to tremble and she pressed her eyelids tightly together to counteract the rising tears, while the scene of the previous evening took place again in her mind's eye.
When the rain suddenly stopped, Livia's consciousness pushed back into reality. She noticed that Regis was standing in front of her with an ineloquent expression and had thrown his cape over her to protect her from the wet. Their eyes met and Livia felt her grief disappear for no apparent reason. Bitter realisation was reflected in her eyes before she broke eye contact and tried to push Regis away from her. The vampire grabbed her clammy hands and denied her any kind of resistance. "We should discuss this in peace but not out here, Livia." His voice was calm, but tensed and did not tolerate any contradiction. The person addressed snorted audibly and looked the man in the dark eyes again. "That is why I am here, but please,'" she paused and her gaze took on a hurt expression, " don't take away my grief. I am no longer the little girl I was 16 years ago and after my impossible behavior, I deserve to feel this pain." The vampire blinked, but nodded and led them into the crypt, which he had inhabited for some time now.
The candlelight and the larger stone fire bowls bathed the musty smelling vault in a ghostly light. Cobwebs stretched over a large area through the rooms and, on closer inspection, the scurrying eight-legged shadows on the wet masonry appeared to the young alchemist. Livia pressed her lips tightly together at this sight and pulled Regi's coat tighter around her. The attentive vampire could not escape this gesture and elicited a small smile from him. "You're afraid of arthropods but not vampires?"
The young alchemist truncated and gazed steadfastly into Regi's watchful eyes before starting to answer. "Well..." she paused and thoughtfully looked at the shadows on the wall before her eyes fell to the floor and found only her own outline. The corners of her mouth suggested a smile. "Vampires, fortunately, are more talkative and appear more human, at least at the first sight."
Regis bowed his head understandingly. "This is quite understandable. It's always easier to communicate with your own kind than with other beings." Livia raised an eyebrow in surprise, but abstained from any further comment.
When they arrived at an improvised work table, on which the most diverse ingredients were placed, Regis pointed to the wooden chair and with surprising elegance pushed it towards the young alchemist. "Even though I would love to discuss this extremely interesting topic of the subjective perception of individuals with you further, I fear that we should first devote ourselves to something else. My friend's state of mind, if you'll allow me to make this comparison, has been in a state of ups and downs these past few days, and I suspect that you have not been entirely uninvolved in this." Dark eyes rested on the blonde woman and inside she had to admonish herself to rest. The level-headed appearance of Regis put her completely out of her concept, as she could now take a direct comparison to another vampire. These beings could hardly be more different and yet they had one thing in common. Their actions and ways of thinking were unpredictable for her.
"I can imagine that it has not been easy for you lately. Especially as a blood brother, you must have taken some hits, or am I wrong about that?" Regis looked surprised and leaned against the wall with folded arms. "It seems to me that Dettlaff has told you something." The person addressed nodded and began to tell the elder about the latest events.
When it ended, there was a tense silence. During her monologue the vampire remained with his back against the wall and occasionally ran his index finger thoughtfully over his lower lip. She noticed that his nails were slightly shorter than the black-haired one.
"Hmm." He slowly detached himself from the wall and walked up and down a few steps in front of her. "I didn't want it to end like this. He seemed extremely hurt at that moment and before I had a chance to apologize, he just disappeared."
"Well, that's his way of not acting rashly. Before he could commit an act he would regret afterwards, he thought it wiser to retreat. You usually describe his behavior in his last encounters with you as extremely aggressive and dismissive, but I assure you that this was not and still is not his intention. One must not forget that the incident in Beauclair was only a few days ago and he still has to process these events. Inside he is beginning to understand that Syanna cannot be blamed alone and that his actions were not exactly appropriate. He is only afraid to repeat the mistakes he has made."
The alchemist tilted her head a little. "Still?"
"For him, this subject is by no means closed. But he needs some time to sort his thoughts and to be able to face you again. You were smart to come to me before you met him again." With this, Regis came closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Your concerns about your, well, let's call it rebuking pronouncements are unfounded. I think you have done the right thing by always facing him openly and expressing your opinion without restraint. Dettlaff certainly appreciates your honesty. "
Livia shook her head in disbelief, while small trickles of water poured from her hair and ran down her reddened cheeks. "Nevertheless, the truth can be expressed in a less hurtful way."
The vampire gently embraced her face and looked at her compassionately. "And you shall have your chance to make a proper apology." She pressed her lips firmly together and let his words sink in. Exhausted, Livia closed her tired eyes and breathed out in resignation. "I do not recognize myself. The last days were so..." "Eventful?" She smiled a little before nodding in approval. "Yes. Very eventful." The little smile remained on her lips as she gazed at the table, lost in thought.
"Unfortunately, I can't serve you with dry clothes or a warm drink, but I have a good alternative." At these words Regis handed her a dark bottle with an elongated neck and leaned against the wall again. The alchemist looked at the vessel in surprise and smelled carefully at the opening. When she recognized from the strong smell what she was holding in her hand, she looked at the vampire in astonishment. "You retire to a crypt to get drunk?"
The combination of her stunned gaze and the greatly elevated pitch of her voice made the man laugh, allowing Livia to inspect the sharp tips of his teeth for a brief moment.
"It takes more than a bottle of mandrake brandy to put me in a state of intoxication. I rather use the botany of the local habitat for one of my hobbies and try to improve my skills in it." Livia took a strong sip and had to cough shortly afterwards. Her throat was burning and immediately tears came to her eyes. Regis chuckled amused and took the bottle from her to drink from it himself. "I admit, it has become a little strong. Nevertheless, it should serve its purpose and quickly produce a warming sensation in your body."
She could already feel her cheeks reddening, but she didn't know whether this was due to the alcohol or to her embarrassing feeling. "You know the thing that fascinates me about your human body?"
Grateful for the change of topic, the young woman shook her head helplessly and added dryly. "It's surely not the case that inexperienced drinkers CHOKE on it." "Well, that circumstance less so, of course. But more the fact that alcohol dilates the vessels, causing the body temperature to drop. And despite this fact, you claim to get warm after consuming alcohol."
Thoughtfully, Livia drove her palm over her forehead before she took the bottle back to drink another sip. This time the liquid no longer burned unpleasantly in her throat, so she immediately put the bottle back on again. She kept the brandy in her mouth to taste the different flavours. The main component was the already mentioned mandrake, which gave the drink an extremely bitter taste and dark colour. For the subtle sweet aftertaste, she suggested aniseed, sugar and honey cabbage, while the barely perceptible pungency could have come from ginger.
"I must admit, after a short acclimatization period, this stuff doesn't taste that bad." Regis frowned as he critically examined the bottle again. "Your judgement, however, both pleases and encourages me to further optimize the recipe. I aim for a strong alcoholic beverage, yet easily digestible." He pointed the bottle at Livia and added with a meaningful tone: "Even for occasional drinkers."
The unpleasant cold had long been forgotten and Livia was more than grateful for the cheering conversation.
"One thing I have to say for Dettlaff's sake, though." At the mention of the name Livia flinched imperceptibly and was annoyed that she now stared at the vampire with blatant curiosity, like one of the village women gossips. "He told you that I met him for the first time after the encounter with Vilgefortz, right?" Instead of an answer she just nodded and waited curiously which would follow now. Regis laughed and drove himself with one hand embarrassed over his face. "That looks like him. Despite our dispute, he doesn't mention anything negative about me." For a moment, Regis seemed to hang on to his own thoughts, while Livia crooked her head questioningly.
"You should know that I knew Dettlaff before this incident. Strictly speaking, however, we never really met. We merely spoke a few sentences to each other at various festivities as a matter of courtesy and then went our separate ways again."
"From stiff, forced conversation to blood brothers seems a long way off."
"Indeed. As a young vampire, I was quite... vivacious and therefore the complete opposite to Dettlaff." "Hard to imagine," while Livia took another sip from the bottle.
"The character of an individual changes constantly and only takes shape with a sufficient amount of knowledge and life experience. In the past I lacked this foresight, so I didn't recognize people as equal beings, but only regarded them as cattle." His conversation partner looked at him with big eyes in disbelief, but did not dare to interrupt him and instead took another sip of the self-burned firewater. "I lived a very adventurous life and never got enough. The longing for blood drove me on and on to more daring deeds until I finally went over the edge." Completely absorbed by his narrative, the young woman bent forward, the bottle resting on one of her thighs, her gaze fixed on Regis, while her lips were slightly open.
The vampire lowered his head in shame and cleared his throat in embarrassment before continuing. "I flew in a state of intoxication, which is why I overlooked the taut clothesline and got stuck, allowing some peasants to overpower me, cut off my head, stake my heart and finally bury me."
The bottle on the alchemist's dainty thighs began to tremble in an uncoordinated way, which the vampire did not miss. Worried, he looked up at her and noticed her trembling lips and tense features. "He raised his arms and calmly began to speak in a low voice. "You don't have to worry about it anymore. I have renounced human blood and will never again", he was interrupted when the bottle landed on the table with a swing. The young woman could not hold herself back any longer and broke out into resounding laughter, which left the old vampire perplexed and paused. She patted her thighs and isolated tears of joy were squeezed out of the corner of her eye. It took a while before Livia gradually calmed down and only sporadic chuckles were heard.
As a result of the gradual side effects of alcohol, she spoke more slowly and underlined her following statement with excessive gesticulation. "Forgive me, Regis, I don't mean to be rude, but are you trying to tell me that you're flying drunk and hanging around on clotheslines? What does it look like?" Regis groaned tortured and ran his hand through the grey hair. "I WAS flying high at the time", pronouncing the verb extremely stretched. A short pause passed, during which both looked each other seriously in the eyes, before the crypt was filled with consensual laughter.
Livia wiped the isolated tears from her cheek and gave Regis a grateful look. "Thank you. It's good to talk to a friend about problems." The vampire wanted to start something but was interrupted by Livia with a nervous hand movement. "Not only for this. It's also long overdue for me to thank you for saving my life. Had it not been you, these men would have..." The young woman's face pulled away in disgust as she thought of the men's touches and phrases, though she missed the vampire's confused look. "Livia, I'm not sure if" "It doesn't matter! For that I am sure I will be eternally grateful to you. And I will continue to do you every favour, however strange, as long as it is in my power. Even if I have to cheer up a certain downcast vampire, I'll do my best. The certainty that I didn't completely screw up after my disgraceful appearance to Dettlaff relieves my conscience immensely. There seem to be certain advantages to being bound together by blood. I could have sworn he never wanted to have anything to do with me! To tell you the truth, I was pretty scared about it. Even if our past meetings were not entirely peacefully, they were still amusing in their own quirky way. I suppose if Dettlaff were to disappear from my life again now, ... I would miss something." Regis silently followed the young woman's monologue and noticed that her speech became more and more subdued towards the end and her facial features took on a warm expression.
"I'm glad that you gave my friend a chance and now you've seen his positive qualities." Livia's cheeks now resembled overripe tomatoes and the fact that they were in a crypt seemed to have completely disappeared from her mind. "I must confess that I am a little surprised You don't seem to tolerate alcohol very well. Has Mandrake's brandy got a little too strong for me after all?" He looked thoughtfully at the bottle and smelled at the opening, while she could hear the drink sloshing against the bottle wall. "You should rest here for a while and go to Beauclair before you go home. I'll write a note with an address for you to go to." The blonde-haired woman nodded and let her gaze wander through the vault. "RESTING sounds good. I've always wanted to REST in a crypt."
Regis shook his head, smiling. "Please forgive me. I hadn't considered that you couldn't handle alcohol. Please accept this letter as an apology for my little mishap and read it in peace at home."
Livia rose and walked a few steps unsteadily. Meanwhile she noticed herself that speaking became more and more difficult and that she tried to compensate it by talking even slower. "Just put it in my bag. I'll try to get some rest now." She chose a marble slab without any decorations on the lid and made herself comfortable on it before she gave a little fart and slipped into a dreamless sleep.
The vampire blinked in amusement and looked approvingly at his self-made drink.