2019-08 Home is where the heart is

[Fleur]

This is the address of the house: Zuid Brouwersstraat 2, Haarlem. See you there tonight, xxxx

The neighbourhood is very quiet and peaceful. The large cathedral can be seen from almost every angle of the street. Towering above all it gives the idea of being watched, but no lights flicker behind the stained glasses. The bells start ringing loud, making all know that it is now 23.30.

Fleur is sitting on a little blue bench, scarf wrapped around her, waiting for Duncan to arrive. He looked so surprised and almost shocked at the open mic night. It made her worry that he didn’t take the key from her right away. First she thought it was the heart hanging on it, but then she realized that it was the whole symbol of it.

In her mind she ponders on why she has bought this apartment. Yes, it is safe to have a place to meet, she vaguely told Vid where it was, but not the exact address. Maybe it is wanting to have something of her own.
The house she used to life in with Laurens was never a happy place after he left. The house she lived in with Vid & SC wasn’t hers. The house of Dusza they life in now… Painful memory of someone who should be living there.

This house gives new promises, options on how to life in this unlife.
A smile plays on her lips as she thinks back on that little dance they danced together. Maybe just maybe they can dance in the living room together.

[Duncan Ackerley]

On his way there, he was thinking about things a lot more than he wanted to. He'd lived on himself for a long time now, but always together with someone. He'd never lived alone. The only apartment Duncan had ever had to himself, apart from at his parent's, or the streets, was a small flat on the West side of London where he'd lived with his brother for a long time. Later, Tanner came to visit regularly and recently he'd been living with the Australian in their small cellar appartment in Amsterdam. It wasn't something he appreciated living in, but it was good enough; especially without anyone to make sure the sunlight didn't burn them up during the day. Maybe if they at some point found someone they trusted enough they would be able to move to somewhere better. Then again, the smaller the neighborhood, the more people would find out. Big cities had that benefit about them; nobody asked any questions or really paid attention.

He slowly approached the Zuid Brouwerstraat, looking around the neighborhood with a frown. Sure, the neighborhood wasn't top notch (luckily) but it was nice enough. It somewhere reminded him of the outskirts of London, where they had little houses like these (even if the architecture was clearly Dutch in this case). It was on biking distance from the train station, which was nice, especially since he needed to split his time between Amsterdam and Haarlem and also not in the neighborhood he was staking out, which was even better. Even if it felt more nostalgic to be in Schalkwijk, it wasn't a neighborhood he wanted to live in semi-permantently.

He spotted the playground in front of the house immediately, with the stand out-ish blue-and-green railing, shed and benches and the weird statue. Fleur was sitting on the bench and instead of looking at the house first, he walked over to her with a faint smile on his face. It still felt like they were meeting in secret in some weird way, but it said enough that he'd brought a backpack with a change of clothes and toiletries to make himself feel a little more at home.
"Hi luv," he said admiringly as he walked over, spreading the one arm he wasn't holding his backpack with to welcome her into an embrace if she wanted.

[Fleur]

Fleur gets up and snuggles herself in an embrace.
"How are you doing?"

She gives him a kiss on his cheek and turns without letting him go towards the house.
"That's the place, did you bring your key?"

[Duncan Ackerley]

The way she buries her face into the crook of his neck makes him feel all warm and tingly inside. He smiles, despite his usual awkwardness and holds her for a moment to enjoy the feeling of her warmth against his cooler skin. He uses just enough blood to make himself less pale and only the necessary warmth to make him seem at least human, but that was all for now. Every time he gets to see Fleur he makes sure she's fed, knowing what kind of temptation her blood might hold, to make things easier for himself. But like he said to Thomas; he trusts himself to act like an adult and don't make any stupid mistakes. He doesn't want that for them, not at all.

"I'm alright," he says, as he gives her a gentle peck on her temple. "Better now." he adds in honesty, as they slowly lets himself be turned around towards the house, which he gives a short glance before he lifts his hand that's been holding the key already. "I did. Let's go check it out."

Instead of letting go he wraps an arm around her waist and walks over to the front door, unlocking it before he allows her to step inside first (a gesture of chivalry he never really unlearned), giving the neighborhood one more glance before he also steps in and locks the door behind them. Just for safety. After that, he gazes around the small entryway and slowly gets used to his surroundings. Since there's nothing much to see, he nods towards the stairs that will take them to the next level of the house, seemingly where the living room is supposed to be. These Dutch houses are so strange...

[Fleur]

Fleur is so excited to show him around. It is only the third time she entered the house.
First to see it and buy it, second to make sure the topfloor is sunlight proof.

Climbing up the stairs she looks backwards with a big smile. "I so hope you like it, I still need to get some furniture but maybe when it is winter we can go to a store together or maybe a fun second hand"

When they get upstairs there is only a simple couch and small table. The table however is scatterd with little samples of fabrics, paints and a book from IKEA.

"There are two bloodbags in the fridge, but we cant leave them here. The day after tommorow people will come to install beter locks"

She stands in the middle of the room and lifts her arms, curls bouncing everywhere "Tada!"

[Duncan Ackerley]

Duncan takes in the house with a curious, gentle gaze and stays quiet for quite a long time before he finally turns back to Fleur. A smile on his lips reach up all the way to his eyes and he adresses her warmly when he comments: "'Tis cosy, for sure. Reminds me of me old flat in London- but this one has two floors right?" He nods at the obvious entryway in the form of black wooden stairs up to the next floor. "Bedroom's upstairs I take it?" It was more of a rhetorical question than anything else and he his gaze just wandered to the colours of paint and fabric on the table.

He turns around with almost superhuman speed when he stands in front of the table and Fleur mentions bloodbags. His eyes widen a little at how casually she says it, like it was something she would otherwise always arrange. He never used bloodbags before, even if he knew it was a possibility. He'd always hunted and had never been unsuccesful in finding a proper means of feeding himself. For a moment he didn't really know how to respond when she mentions that they need to be gone by tomorrow.

"What're you implying?" he asks, eyes narrowing slightly. He's not at all angry, just... curious?

[Fleur]

When he turns around that fast she lowers her arms in defense. The look is surprised but also slightly scared, she didn't expect these sudden movements at all. She almost looks like an animal that got beaten once upon a time.

Fleur straightens her back and tries to relax her shoulders "I am not implying anything. It is important to have options. What if I am to hungry to go hunt safely" she crosses her arms in front of herself, suddenly feeling very unsure about her own capabilities "I don't want to hurt anyone by drinking to much, and I don't want to hurt you either"

Why does she feel so uncertain all the sudden, he didn't attack her or anything. All is still fine and fun...
Maybe he never drinks from bags...

She carefully smiles, trying to sent away the annoying voices in her head
"I brought one for you as well, should you want something"

[Duncan Ackerley]

He immediately regrets his reaction when he sees her almost physically get smaller in response. Slowly but surely he forces himself to relax, returning to a less predator-like state as he reflects on why he gave her such a reaction the moment she started to talk about a bloodbag.

Maybe everyone's warnings- mostly Thomas'- had put him a little on edge after all. He had known perfectly well what he'd gotten into from the start; well, almost. The moment Fleur showed him what she could do, with all the magical lights, he'd quite easily made the one-and-one-is-two about the fact that she was probably some kind of fey. He at least didn't want to risk tasting her blood, regardless whether she was or was not like Thomas. Apart from the fact that tasting another kindred's blood was already dangerous to start with, he definitely didn't want to frenzy again.
That's probably why he's so put off by the idea of drinking blood in Fleur's proximity, or anything really that connects vitae with this lady. He doesn't want to think about drinking her blood, even, knowing how dangerous it's going to be. No, he's quite sure that his Beast will drain her dry if she also tastes like sunshine and rainbow-sprinkles, as Thomas so amusingly calls it.

"Sorry," he says after a moment of thought, in which he looks away from her, eyes directed to the ground. "I didn't mean to scare you'r somethin'. I think hurting you scares me a li'lle more than I though'." He frowns a little as he looks back up to her again, looking years older than his body portrays him to be with a gaze that knows from experience how bad things can be. "Guess I could've shared; I always feed before I meet up with you. To make sure I don' get tempted. So drinkin' blood in your presence... scares me. I don' wanna be... tempted. 'Cause me Beast definitely is."

[Fleur]

In the few seconds he looked down she took two steps towards him. Wanting to wrap her arms around him and kiss him until he feels better, again smiling and laughing. No stress about what they could possibly do to each other.
“Mmm, I do the same” her hand touches his arm “The feeding upfront” she clarifies.

What would be so tempting for his Beast? As far as I know my blood doesn’t taste different… although Dusza seemed to have trouble to stop drinking it.

“Duncan, I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. Should you ever need substance
Yes not using that word might help
I always try to either have some in my car or fridge. For emergencies you know”

She desperately wants to hug him and carefully takes another step towards him
“We got this, as long as we both stay determined to not drink from each other we will be fine”
Right?

[Duncan Ackerley]

Duncan frowns a little deeper upon hearing Fleur speak. No matter how much he wants the words to calm him down, there's no way of agreeing with what she's saying when it comes to staying safe with only intentions.

"There won't be as big a risk if we both stay determined, sure," he says, gesturing with his hand as if to allow himself to vent a little frustration through it. "But there's no guarantee. And that part's what scares me. I'm afriad my Beast will be tempted by the sight of blood when around you." He shook his head and rubbed his temples with one hand, the one where Fleur's hand didn't lie on his arm. "There's no way of controlling the predator, only thing you can do is work with it, not through it. In all the years we're allowed to live, there's a huge chance it will happen at some point. Either me or you will lose their willpower and feed on the other. If we don't want that to happen, we shouldn't be doing this." He gestures between them.

In the years he's been alive, more than he should've been given to him as a ghoul, he's seen Tanner hunt more than once. Because he wanted to see what it would be like. The Beast inside of his Sire already looked terrifying, but he has no idea what he might do himself if he looses control. He can't remember how long it took for people to get him off of Thomas but he was afraid to ask. By the looks on the other's faces, it had been with considerable effort. No wonder they were careful around him.

He slowly raises his hand to place it on the one Fleur is holding against his arm. "Only thing I can say is that if your blood indeed tastes similar to that of Thomas, I will do everything in my power to stop myself from draining you dry when it happens." He slowly lifts his other hand to her face, gently caressing her cheekbone and ear with a faint smile.