Fucking hell this wasn't right, not at all. Blaise couldn't think of a bloody thing that had gone right in ages. -Ages-. Here he was, in his prime, and trapped in this ivory tower, surrounded by suits, held in what seemed to be universally poor regard, and scared. That last one he probably wouldn't admit short of torture but he was scared, and confused, and lonely. Blaise knew they'd let Cecile go and that was good, he hoped she was safe. She'd probably run right to Alfred which was how it should be, but it would have been nice if she'd tried to get a hold of him, help bail him out.
Knowing his sister had ditched him left Blaise feeling rather hollow. How many times had he gotten her out of a jam? Bugger that he was in this jam because of her, he was a vampire because of her. Granted it was a long chain but the first link had been Cecile dating Jarrod.
Jarrod, there was another thought. One Blaise did his best to ignore. While he'd pretty quickly spilled his guts and gotten this sort of work release program, Jarrod had stayed clammed up. Blaise didn't know what was going on with him. No one would tell him and he didn't really want to ask. If Jarrod ever got out through, Blaise suspected he was a dead man. The odds were good that once Cecile got to Alfred, his creator would want to kill him too. As Blaise rather aimlessly circled the shops Blaise sighed. He really should have thought through his choosing to sing.
Half collapsing into a chair outside the coffee shop Blaise put his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands. This wasn't going well. Centuries to live and he was sort of screwed. He might not have burnt his bridges with Alfred, but it didn't seem like a great option. Given his role in snatching Pakpao he doubted those Anantya people he'd heard about would want him, even if he could find them. And he wasn't at all certain what his status with these Evenhet people was and how long they'd hold on to him. He didn't know if Cecile was alright and didn't dare contact her.
Fan-fucking-tastic. Eternity and trapped. Brilliant.
Sitting there feeling sorry for himself Blaise heard footsteps approach his table and looked up. Someone probably wanted to take his order, he didn't have one, money was a bit tight under the circumstances, he was startled to see Pakpao when he looked up. Startled and a bit intimidated, but he did his best to summon up a cheerful cocky manner.
"There you are lady bird. Thought you'd forgotten about me. I knew you couldn't stay away.â€
Without warning she slapped him, hard and a vampire slap stung a hell of a lot more than some random chick in a bar. Blaise shook his head and blinked a silent question up at her. He didn't ask what it was for, lord knew she had cause. She could probably justify a dozen more. Much to his surprise haven't clobbered him she sat down and ordered two coffees.
"Why do I get the feeling I missed something here?â€
Just How Long Did You Plan on Staying?
Sometimes everything seemed to happen at once. Pak wasn't a fan of those times. When things felt frantic and disorganized and chaotic she felt out of control and that was bad. She could do that on her own quite well enough without outside influences and she didn't like it then either. Things were starting to settle down though.
She was cheerfully continuing to ignoring any communication attempt Bao made. She was still angry with him and didn't feel at all guilty about her action. He could deal with it. You didn't get to turn a person, ignore them for more than two centuries, get them kidnapped and then have everything be all right. In fact, she was still so irritated with him that she wasn't even allowing read or delivery receipts to be sent on any of his emails. Pak also wasn't going out of the towers any more than she had too. Partially because she wasn't sure if someone meaner would try and nab her but primarily because she was convinced that eventually Bao would take to hanging around outside waiting for her. Of course, MARI would let her know but Pak preferred not to take the risk.
Reluctant to leave the Towers or not Pak was fairly proud of herself. She'd not fallen apart. Yes she'd hold up with Kem and Aishe for a bit and she was being a bit more cautious than strictly necessary, but she wasn't afraid. She'd almost managed to stand up for herself when kidnapped, she could have done better and would if it ever happened again, but she'd stayed mostly calm and gone to the right people for help and come out of things with no permanent damage, just less reluctant than ever to date any one.
That was the biggest casualty really and she wasn't even sure it was reasonable. She and Blaise hadn't quite been dating when he did this, they hadn't quite been friends, they'd been something though, and now he was here. If there was a higher power, he/she/it had an odd sense of humor because although Pak hadn't thought keeping Blaise locked up forever was a great solution and killing him didn't seem right either Pak wasn't sure she wanted Blaise about. Although she'd spoken up for him and done what she could to soften people's opinions, Pak still hadn't forgiven him for smashing her over the head and stashing her to get back at Bao for some idiot slight.
Nope, Blaise was still on her 'All Time Jerks' list. Bao was at the top but Blaise had a good solid spot in the top ten. Not at all certain she trusted him a few times a day Pak would ask their friendly AI to give her some information on his whereabouts. That had turned out to be fairly interesting. Much like her he seemed reluctant to leave the Towers but where she had a few friends, Blaise seemed to have no one. That was hardly surprising under the circumstances but it was something that caught Pak's attention.
Blaise
10 years ago
Pakpao
10 years ago
Pak retrieved a clove from the cigarette case in her pocket, she couldn't light it up in a public area like this, but the ritual of opening the case and holding it as well as its spicy scent was somewhat comforting. She wasn't at all certain why she was doing this. It was stupid. She should just leave well enough alone and leave Blaise to security and Bao to himself and move on. Instead she snorted and rolled her eyes at Blaise.
"Somehow I think you miss a lot of things.â€
It seemed like Blaise took exception to that as he straightened up and sneered back at her.
"And just what do you mean by that ladybird?â€
Apparently she'd acquired a nickname. For now Pak let it slide not sure what to make of it. Unruffled by his demanding response she toyed with the clove for a second before answering.
"I should think it was fairly obvious.â€
"Why don't you shed some light on it. So I don't miss anything else.â€
"You got yourself in over your head taking me, no back-up and no back-up plan, it doesn't seem well thought out or organized. Now you're in this,†Pak vaguely gestured to everything around them, "situation and you haven't got a clue what you're doing.â€
She'd watched Blaise enough to know he didn't have a plan, at least he didn't act like a man with a plan. It was possible he was just acting, but since he didn't know when or if people were watching him that seemed unlikely.
It was possible she was taunting him, Pak realized that, but she couldn't help herself. She needed to understand him, to understand what had happened and why; how much of Blaise had been an act or part of a plan and how much had been genuine. More than that, she couldn't understand how he could switch sides on the fly like that. She couldn't imagine turning her back on her family, friends and clan. But Blaise had. He'd sided with her over his sister and Jarrod and whoever else was involved with mess. There was also a sense of responsibility, she'd said he deserved something of a chance and if Blaise screwed up she'd take it personally so Pak would poke at him until she was certain Blaise was trustworthy. Given her nature and their relationship that could take decades.
"Somehow I think you miss a lot of things.â€
It seemed like Blaise took exception to that as he straightened up and sneered back at her.
"And just what do you mean by that ladybird?â€
Apparently she'd acquired a nickname. For now Pak let it slide not sure what to make of it. Unruffled by his demanding response she toyed with the clove for a second before answering.
"I should think it was fairly obvious.â€
"Why don't you shed some light on it. So I don't miss anything else.â€
"You got yourself in over your head taking me, no back-up and no back-up plan, it doesn't seem well thought out or organized. Now you're in this,†Pak vaguely gestured to everything around them, "situation and you haven't got a clue what you're doing.â€
She'd watched Blaise enough to know he didn't have a plan, at least he didn't act like a man with a plan. It was possible he was just acting, but since he didn't know when or if people were watching him that seemed unlikely.
It was possible she was taunting him, Pak realized that, but she couldn't help herself. She needed to understand him, to understand what had happened and why; how much of Blaise had been an act or part of a plan and how much had been genuine. More than that, she couldn't understand how he could switch sides on the fly like that. She couldn't imagine turning her back on her family, friends and clan. But Blaise had. He'd sided with her over his sister and Jarrod and whoever else was involved with mess. There was also a sense of responsibility, she'd said he deserved something of a chance and if Blaise screwed up she'd take it personally so Pak would poke at him until she was certain Blaise was trustworthy. Given her nature and their relationship that could take decades.