[PRP] Wanderlust (Ravnos x Grendel)

[Seussi]

"Ah, yes. That does sound vaguely familiar." He said slowly, his frown deepening as he looked around for his shirt. And it did sound familiar, though fuzzy around the edges, like a forgotten dream suddenly resurfacing. The stuff about a place with no Masquerade felt like a fantastical tale, like something that might be told to a child before they drifted off to sleep, though he knew he never slept, never dreamed.

It felt more and more likely that Lilith had told him some of this, the words jogging more of his memory, enough to make him believe it was her. Caine certainly had never mentioned it, and why would he? All Grendel had needed to know was laid out before him, and the past was inconsequential.

"Interesting." He murmured, still looking for his shirt. How could it have gone missing in such a small space? He would have decided he didn't need one, but he didn't want to get funny looks outside in the cold air.

"But why would they want to go there?" He asked, suddenly turning his gaze back to Ravnos.

yayoi

 

[Yayoi]

“Treasure of course.” Bending down he fished around underneath the bed before pulling Grendel’s shirt out. How his clothes always ended up underneath the bed was a mystery to Ravnos. Holding it out for him to take with a chuckle. “Maybe one day you’ll be less haphazard with your clothes so they don’t end up under the bed.” He was teasing of course.

“However, the only problem with that is Enoch has been under water for centuries. So they wouldn’t be able to get into the city itself. I suspect there are caves in the mountains that served as tombs or crypts. If they haven’t been plundered already there could be some interesting things in them.” Leaning an elbow onto the bed he lay across it half way.

If such were the case it would probably be best for Ravnos to not accompany the Roma in their treasure hunting. He still needed to sort out his stuff and organize it and adding more, no matter how much his vice called to him, just wouldn’t work.

Sitting up again he grabbed his boots and slipped them on. The heels clicking against the wooden floor as he made his way over to the God. Leaning up to kiss him on the cheek before he turned and headed past the beaded curtain and to the door that led outside. The sun was nearly down so he felt it was safe to leave. “I will meet you outside.”

What he stepped into was a desert landscape and yet he could still smell salt. As if there was a large body of water nearby that he couldn’t see. Stepping off into the sand he sunk a couple inches into the warm sand and it almost pulled his boot off when he went to take a step out of it. “Great. I’m gonna find sand in places I didn’t even know sand could get in.”

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Oh. There was his shirt. He took it from Ravnos with a smirk on his lips but didn't bother putting it on right away. He was still listening to what the Disciple was saying, though he shrugged in response to the shirt comment. "I believe you were the one who practically ripped it off of me. I do not feel like I am responsible for where it ended up after that." Though the God probably was the one who had kicked it away afterwards. There was no sense in them accidentally getting their feet tangled up by stray clothing that littered the floor.

He had only begun to slip the shirt back on, one arm at a time, when Ravnos approached and kissed him. Grendel grunted an agreeable sound and nodded, knowing he would not be far behind the other, as he deftly began to do up the buttons on his shirt and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. Even while he did this, however, he pondered the First City. A place without the Masquerade? With mortals who knew who they were and gave blood freely or were kept as cattle? It sounded positively idyllic, which probably meant it couldn't be that.

Still, he could not help the what-ifs that began to slip through his mind as he moved past the beaded curtain and back through the Vardo towards the door that would lead outside. Faintly, he could hear Ravnos grumbling about something, and he stopped when he reached the doorway and looked outside.

Sand. He hated sand. His nose was already wrinkled in distaste.

"I knew we should have just stayed in tonight."

yayoi

 

[Yayoi]

Ravnos turned as the door opened and he heard Grendel talk about how they should have just stayed in tonight. “It’s….not that…. bad.” The Disciple tried taking a few more steps almost loosing his boot again. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. But I’m going up there.” He pointed towards the top of some very tall dunes. “One way or another.”

He started trusting through the sand once more, this time not even lifting his feet up but simply plowing through it. Grendel could float but it probably wasn’t wise around the mortals. They would start asking questions.

The Disciple finally found a spot that wasn’t sand to sink in beneath some palm trees. The ground was sturdier here and he could take a break and get his bearings. He imagined going up the dune was not going to be any easier. It was ALL sand after all. But there had to be something on the other side of it. He could see mountains in the distance from where he stood but that salty smell he couldn’t place to anything currently visual.

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

The unimpressed and exasperated look he gave Ravnos then probably went completely unnoticed as the Disciple began slowly wandering off in the direction of the dune he had pointed to. Grendel looked towards it, his brow furrowing as he pondered whether he could just portal himself over without anybody noticing. A glance around showed many who were out and about; however, several had already glanced his way.

With an inward sigh, he stepped out into the sand, his face set in a grim line as he felt his feet sink up to their ankles. The feeling of the coarseness between his toes made him shudder, but he walked through it anyways, making it look somehow effortless compared to the way Ravnos struggled through.

"It might have been simpler to wait until nobody was awake, and then I could have transported us both easily." He said, voice cool as he shot the Disciple a sideways glance, having caught up to him in very little time. At least now, where they stood, the ground beneath them was firmer.

He could also smell the salt in the air, and he was curious enough about that to keep going.

"Need a lift?" He asked, face suddenly splitting with a grin. Yes, he was offering to carry the Disciple the rest of the way.

yayoi

 

[Yayoi]

“Could have mentioned that before I got halfway there.” He grinned wide. “Besides they say a little exercise does you good.” Humor filled those green eyes as a chuckle rumbled in his chest. Ravnos was strong but he had no delusions that Grendel was much stronger so of course he made it look effortless to walk through the sand.

“HA! You act as if I won’t take the offer. Jokes on you.” Ravnos laughed.The God was trying to tease him again. After the last time Grendel had carried him over the threshold of the temple he didn’t quite feel as silly about it. “Mod obișnuit sau spate de porc?” Either way would do. One way would let Grendel keep his hands free the other not so much.

Ravnos cocked an eyebrow, a devilish smirk on his lips as he tried to hold back more laughterS

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

"You seemed so determined." The God shrugged, his own eyes glowing softly now that they were away from prying eyes, shining with good humour now that he was no longer dealing with the sand sliding around his feet, the feel of it as grating as nails on a chalkboard to Grendel.

The humour dimmed a little when Ravnos, surprisingly, accepted his offer without argument as he had done on a previous occasion. However, he could only quirk an eyebrow at the question he was asked next. There was at least one word that he did not recognize and another that felt off, but he knew he was probably taking it out of context.

This meant he was just going to have to guess the meaning. It seemed the Disciple was giving him an option. In his arms or on his back? That seemed most likely. For some reason, the thought of carrying the ancient vampire piggyback like he had done for Vadoma and Kieran so many times when they were still small made him smirk, and he gave his head a slight shake and huffed out a sigh while glancing at the dune in the distance, judging just how far away it was.

Finally, he held his arms out, decision made.

yayoi

 

[Yayoi]

“I’m always determined. Especially when it’s something I want.” Dark eyebrows lifted. Ah now he was just being silly.

It seemed he had caught the God off guard with his acceptance of being carried. It definitely was not the reaction he was expecting. After how long it took him to convince the vampire to let him carry him. Funnily enough he overcame that embarrassment while raising the children. He always encouraged them to try things at least once to see if they like it, if they didn’t like it they didn’t have to try again but if they did it and liked it now they knew it was nothing to be embarrassed about. Ravnos preferred not to be a hypocrite. How could he ask them to do this if he couldn’t himself?

He stepped up to Grendel and slid an arm around his neck waiting to be lifted and carried off into the dunes.

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

The God could lift him easily, just as he had before. The only difference now was that Grendel would trudge through deep, cumbersome sand to get to their destination, whereas before, the ground beneath him had been quite solid. Still, he was a God, so it should not be difficult.

Scooping Ravnos up into his arms, one beneath the crook of his knees and the other wrapped around him, he held the vampire close to his chest and let out a long, slightly overdramatic sigh.

"I think you may have put on some dad weight." He grumbled, the words vibrating from deep in his chest.

But one glance at the God would show that he was only teasing, his lips pulled up into a good-natured smile, and he brushed his lips against the Disciple's cheek while giving him a one-armed squeeze.

And then they walked. And walked. And walked some more through the sand. The feel of it still annoyed the God to no end, but he could at least be pleasantly distracted by the feel of Ravnos in his arms and against his body, by the warmth he felt down to the very core of his essence, for this man that he held. Yes he would walk through an endless sea of sand for him. Why not? He had already walked through realities which had been infinitely more complex.

Finally, they reached the base of the dune, and the God began to hike upward, glancing back over his shoulder to see the distance they had come. It did not seem like it would be that far when they started. Still, he pushed on until they reached its peak, and he paused there, shifting the Disciple slightly in his arms.

yayoi

 

[Yayoi]

Ravnos quirked a singular eyebrow at the dramatic sigh and the joke about dad weight. “Well I didn’t hear any complaints last night.” He pressed his lips to Grendel’s cheek. “Besides if I did it’s all your fault. You made me a dad.” Again. He kissed him a few more times.

It hadn’t looked that far but The Disciple noticed that it was farther than it looked. They finally reached the bottom of the dune he gazed up and then they were climbing. Ravnos sniffed the air and could smell salt and now a fishy smell. When they reached the top of the dune down below was a large body of water. Obviously the source of the smells. Rwvnos had been right, Enoch was still under water.

“What a shame.if not for Caine this city might still exist.”

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Looking down at the large body of water, the God was silent for a few moments, simply casting his gaze over it, pondering what lurked beneath the depths. Finally, he loosened his grasp on Ravnos and gently set him down.

"I can not even imagine what it would have been like." He said, trying to picture it, vampires, out in the open, not afraid of being found out, not hiding, living together in one city. Had it been a peaceful existence? The God doubted it. How could it be?

"How did it end up underwater? What caused it?" He asked though he had a feeling he already knew.

yayoi

 

[Yayoi]

The Disciple put his feet back on the ground. Sinking only a little bit. “It was free. Unencumbered. Just like the cities now except vampires walked freely as what they are instead of what they pretend to be.” He barely remembered a time now in recent times where he had been able to come and go without worrying about breaking the Masquerade.

“The Deluge. A flood sent by a God to punish Caine. After the city was destroyed Caine went into exile but still some of his childe had survived.” Now it came back to him, crawling out of the water onto the sandy shore and seeing the city covered in water. It was the end of an era and so Ravnos had to find his own place in this world of the Masquerade.

He sighed. Even not Caine plagued him. The vice in his blood a wonderful gift from the former Vampire God.

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

By the way, Ravnos spoke of it, Grendel got a sense that it was so much more than what he could only see in his imagination. It seemed as though he was only really scratching the surface of it. Still, he pondered it over in his mind, mulling over the idea of it all.

Of course, the flood had been sent to punish Caine. Nobody liked Caine. Not even the family he created for himself. Just thinking about him now filled Grendel with a well full of seething disgust. He pulled his upper lip back from his teeth in a sneer, his arms crossing over his chest.

"You were there?" He asked, eyes flicking toward Ravnos. "You were one of the survivors?"

A moment of pause while the machinations of his brain continued, his eyes narrowing slightly, his face set in one of its typical, brooding scowls.

"What if..." He paused and turned to face Ravnos fully.

"What if we found a new place? Where Vampires could be...unencumbered, as you put it?

yayoi

 

[Yayoi]

By the time Ravnos’ path brought him to the first city he hadn’t been a vampire very long. Still young and a little wet behind the ears. But the First City was amazing. It had been hard at first living out in the open.

The Disciple had only been there a few years before the Deluge hit. “Yes, I was there and I survived. But we were all abandoned and spread to the wind.”

He turned to regard Grendel fully. “I never thought about it. It always seemed like such a pipe dream. Plus the Second City didn’t fair well either.” That city hadn’t even been given a name. “But….I like the idea. A true sanctuary for Vampires where they don’t have to worry would be amazing. It would help with keeping our family safe too I’m sure.”

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

“…How many cities have there been?” He asked, sounding slightly exasperated. Not only that, but knowing not one, but two cities had been destroyed made his task seem that much more daunting. If he did do what he was thinking about doing, what would stop it from being destroyed as well? He was not Caine. He had tried, over and over again, to make that fact very clear. But he still had enemies. Powerful enemies. Ones that ******** with him, it seemed, on a whim, out of spite, or apparently because they were bored. Would his own settlement end up the same? Could he achieve what Caine could not, or would it all come to ruin in the end?

He huffed out a breath, his fingers coming up to lace through the hair that often hung loose around his face, the red and black strands threading through as he pushed it back and held it there, arm raised, elbow bent.

“Would it though? It does not sound like my Father had much luck with it.” He gave Ravnos a mixed look then, something helpless and imploring. If the Disciple truly thought that it was a good idea, if he thought that it could be a safe haven, for vampires to exist and not have to hide what they were, and that Grendel could keep them protected in that place, then he would explore the possibility further.