for isnt_the_same

[chesstotem]

The night Ariadne met Aubrey, things didn't turn out as they were supposed to. It started out just fine - they met in the bar they'd agreed on, chatted inside for a while about nonsense like the weather, then stepped outside to talk business.

It was as though the dark figure had been waiting for them - Aubrey was right in the middle of a sentence when suddenly a tall figure swooped in out of nowhere and descended on her like a rabid dog. Ariadne screamed as the person - thing - whatever it was - ripped her throat out, and the next thing she knew she was running blindly back towards the street, something warm trickling down her temple. The time that followed was fuzzy - she knew she must've ran for a while, because she was out of breath, but then she was in a cab (the cabbie was giving her a funny look, maybe to do with that warm trickle), and then she was at a hotel, getting more funny looks as she stumbled into the elevator.

Then she was pounding on Arthur's door, praying to whatever gods might be listening that he was inside.

Comments

[isnt_the_same]

"There are," he said with a shrug.

[chesstotem]

"Like what?"

[isnt_the_same]

"If you blab, we kill you."

[chesstotem]

"That's it?" She looked rather horrified.

[isnt_the_same]

"There's a trial of sorts, but no one ever survives."

[chesstotem]

"And you people can just do whatever the hell you want?"

[isnt_the_same]

"If we're not caught, sure. But most, if not all, like how things are right now so we don't push it."

[chesstotem]

She looked down at her hands. "Have you ever... killed someone? Like that. I mean a human. Drained them."

[isnt_the_same]

"Once, a long time ago."

[chesstotem]

She shivered a little. "Does Dom know what you are?"

[isnt_the_same]

"No, but Mal did," he said quietly.

[chesstotem]

"Oh." She thought about that for a moment. "Did you ever feed from her?"

[isnt_the_same]

"Once when we had sex," he replied.

[chesstotem]

She looked at Arthur in surprise. "Oh."

[isnt_the_same]

He laughed. "What?"

[chesstotem]

"I just didn't realize that you and she had..." She trailed off, feeling stupid for having thought he might be interested in her. After Mal, well.

[isnt_the_same]

"We only had sex a handful of times before she was with Dom and during."

[chesstotem]

"So she cheated on him with you."

[isnt_the_same]

"If you want to put it that way, yes."

[chesstotem]

"How would you put it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

[isnt_the_same]

"It was more than just cheating on him."

[chesstotem]

"What do you mean?"

[isnt_the_same]

"You can be in love with someone who's in love with someone else."

[chesstotem]

"You were in love with her, and she was in love with Dom, so she slept with you a few times? To, what, make you feel better?"

[isnt_the_same]

"It's more complicated than that, Ariadne."