alex+ravi; hey bro it's only been 17 years
Who: Alexander & Ravindra
When: Monday, late night
Where: Streets of Tyrol
Ratings and Warnings: PG for swearing?
Duty after dark was a lonely affair. There was nothing most nights: the occasional drunk, or homeless man on a street corner. Ravindra didn't mind it. He liked the quiet solitude of an empty street, not having to worry about who would see him, what they thought of him, what they'd say to each other. Even with the dangers of Others in this city, he felt more comfortable patrolling the streets at night than he did anywhere else. At least if something happened here, he could be sure he knew how to handle it.
He paused, leaning against the side of a building, to roll and light a cigarette. Tonight was quieter than most. He wondered where Myron's killer was, if people were staying off the streets in fear.
His eyes fell on a silhouette across the way, skulking through Tyrol's darkness. Not the staggering of a drunk, nor the shuffle of the destitute. It could just be a noble sneaking out to the brothels, but it could be something more sinister. Ravi watched, curious and wary, trying to discern a face or at least a purpose.
It had been a week since waking, six days since he had found strangers in what was once the home he shared with his beloved and his child. His best friend wasn't in his usual, either. Alex had been trying to locate either party, and while the capital wasn't particularly large, movement at night limited the amount of ground he could cover. He had thought that Catherine might have moved back with her parents after his death, but hadn't found her there. Neither had he found her parents, for that matter. The implications did not sit well with him.
Where was she? How long had it been? Ishmael Bharquite had just been named the King of Balfour before he had died. Apparently, he was still the king, so it couldn't have been that long, could it? Alex hadn't dared ask anyone questions on the current time period lest he bring suspicion on himself, nor was he keen on speaking to anyone at all lest they recognize him from his time in the Guard. He had managed to steal a shirt and pair of slacks from one of the farms, but that was about all of his interaction with people thus far. This vampire thing, it was complicated.
He wished he had a hat. His reflection in the mirror of a sleeping family's house was fuzzy, but he could see, as clear as day, that his hair was decidedly no longer red. It had been blonde, actually. What in Cita's name? Ah, but he supposed he shouldn't be using his name any longer. Best he find Catherine or Ravindra and see if his family was safe. He wasn't sure how it would pan out, but he was determined to see them.
So far nothing unusual, just a lone wanderer out on the streets at night. But, honestly, that was worthy enough of suspicion in the wake of a crime like the city's most recent. Ravindra pushed himself off from the wall, moving to follow the shadow and close the distance between them. It wouldn't be strange for a person to be stopped by a guardsman at this time of night, so Ravi walked with the same casual sense of purpose that he always portrayed.
With one hand on the hilt of his sword--not to draw it, but as a sign that he was willing to--he set his other hand on the figure's shoulder and stepped around the man to see his face.
Whatever iteration of, "hey there, where are you headed?" that he'd been about to give died on his lips. It had been years, nearly two decades, but he would never be able to forget the face of his best friend. He froze, eyes wide. Surely it was his imagination. But no, even though the hair was the wrong colour and his features were a bit slimmer and more sunken than Ravi remembered, that was Alex's face, looking not a day older than the day he'd died.
That pressure on his shoulder shot off a string of choice words in his mind. His lips parted to speak, but the nonsense information he was ready to spew fizzled out as his mind took a break from cursing to register the image of the man in front of him.
His friend, his brother in arms, the godfather of his child. "Vin..."
... Shit!
"Have I done something to incur the suspicion of the Guard?" he asked, turning to angle himself against Ravi. His fingers searched for the brim of a hat to pull down, only to pinch down on his curls instead. He really needed to get himself a hat.
Still frozen in shock, all Ravindra could do was stare. There had been some doubt, that maybe this was just a coincidental look-alike, but the voice and the obvious recognition on the man's face proved it. Alex had always worn his emotions on his sleeve and been awful at concealing anything. His reaction was classic Alex.
Classic Alex, but recognizing him and trying to pretend he hadn't. That stung. It stung enough that Ravi's answer came out accusatory. "You are dead."
"Nnnnnnno, I am not," he replied, attention now preoccupied with twirling a few curls between his index finger and thumb. "I wouldn't be moving or talking like I am now if I were. If that's all..."
Wait, what? He was trying to excuse himself when he had spent a week trying to locate this man? This is what he got for not planning ahead.
Of course Alex would just show up seventeen years after he'd died and pretend everything was fine, that asshole. Even though Ravi's temper had mellowed out since Alex's death, the response he was getting struck his fuse like a match. It was like being 23 again.
Glaring, he threw down his cigarette, not caring that it was a waste of tobacco, and shoved Alex back with a rough hand to the chest. "Don't give me that. You died. Stop acting like you don't know me and tell me what the fuck is going on." Ravi didn't swear often; it always sounded strange on his mouth, in his accent. Alex was the only person who could get that reaction out of him consistently.
He grunted in surprise, though all things considered Ravi's reaction shouldn't have been a surprise at all. Alex knew Ravi as a man prone to settling things with his fists rather than his words, and this-- showing up in front of him so unnaturally -- was as good a reason as any to elicit such a response.
"Ah! You must know me from the Varistas," he began, feigning realization. "I was told he was well-known in this city, but not that he had enemies. Does he owe you money?" Bullshit, utter bullshit. He contemplated turning into a bat and flying away, but that would leave no doubts to his new identity. Could he calm Ravi down, the same way he calmed the livestock? The will to survive was strong in him, but not, perhaps, strong enough to hypnotize his best friend.
This was stupid.
Letting out a long sigh, he rubbed the bridge of his nose, then he threw his hands up in the air. "You're right. Of course you are. I died." His tone dipped, just a bit. "Is Catherine safe? Amelia?" Once he got the answer to his most pressing question, he could think of what to do with the man in front of him.
It was stupid. It was really stupid. Ravi was insulted that Alex expected him to buy an excuse like that, and it only made him angrier. He was just short of cold-cocking Alex right in the jaw when his friend finally decided to stop being an idiot.
His rage dissipated when he realized that he was going to have to tell Alex his wife was dead. "Amelia...Amelia is fine. Catherine..." He couldn't say it. He looked Alex in the eyes and clammed up, but didn't try to hide the apologetic guilt on his face.
The corner of his lips began to rise in relief of hearing of Amelia, but they faltered and then fell at Ravi's hesitance to speak of his wife. "Catherine," he repeated, urging him on. "What of Catherine?" But he could tell, by that look, that his wife was not well. His voice grew heavier, more rushed. "Where is she?"
There was a joke to be made here about not being so sure anymore, but it wouldn't even cross Ravi's mind until long after the conversation would finish. His friend's pain was serious enough that all he could think to say was the truth. "Dead. Ten years ago. Pneumonia."
Alex stared at Ravi, jaw dropping. Dead? Catherine? But that couldn't she be, she had been so healthy, so full of life! He had often joked that she would outlive him on the basis of tenacity alone. How could his wife, who had lived through childbirth, die so soon?
"You're joking." Ravi must be getting him back for trying to deceive him. "I realize how serious a matter it must be for me to be here, but please, forgive my less than welcoming greeting. Where is she?"
Ravi just shook his head and turned away. He should have expected the denial, but it still hurt to see. He couldn't bear to repeat the news and drive that knife home.
He took a step back, exhaling audibly. Catherine was dead. Those three words should have never had to been joined into a sentence. Though he was looking straight at Ravindra, Alex wasn't seeing him at all. The love of his life, gone from the world. In the dirt as he once was. This desolate, crushingly lonely feeling -- was it the same thing she had felt when they had buried him in the earth?
She should have never had to bury him.
Alex slid down, until he was crouching, and hung his head beneath his arms. What did he care if anyone saw him like this? He had lost his first love, his beloved, his everything. After a few minutes, he found his voice again, though it was now muffled. "You're caring for Amelia?"
The silence was deafening. Ravi knew how Alex felt--the same way he'd felt when Alex had died. He let the silence stretch on as long as Alex wanted it to.
His own emotions were in turmoil. There was the smallest pang of jealousy over Alex's grief for his wife, combined with joy, relief, guilt, confusion, and a million other things. It felt ridiculous to stand here discussing what had happened in Alex's absence instead of discussing his sudden return, but Ravi didn't know if he could deal with that subject just yet. He'd rather concentrate on everything else, anything else, the questions that were easy to answer, the topics that didn't force him to look at his feelings.
When Alex finally spoke, breaking the silence that had solidified around them, Ravi nodded, turning to face him again. "Yes. Like my own daughter."
"Then you have been a better father to her than I," he replied, tinged with a touch of jealousy. "And I've no doubt she's been taken well care of. How old is she now?"
Yeah. He had. Alex's jealousy caused a stirring of some ugly vindictive satisfied feeling that Ravi was quick to shove out of his mind, or at least under a metaphorical rug.
"Twenty," he answered. It struck him suddenly that he may have to introduce Amelia to the father who'd been dead most of her life. It also struck him that he didn't want Alex to take Amelia back, which was selfish and nasty and he shoved that under the metaphorical rug too.
That caused him to look up at Ravi -- hah, up at Ravi -- in shock. "Twenty? You say she's twenty? Then..." That meant he had been dead for seventeen years! By Cita! But... the revelation caused him to realize that yes, when he actually looked at the Ravindra standing before him, it was obvious that he had aged. Considerably.
"You are quite old, dōsta." Even as he joked, Alex's mind was elsewhere. There was no way for him to come face to face with Amelia, not now. It had been far too long. Though she may not remember what her biological father looked like, Alex wasn't so sure he could stand to pretend to be someone else to her.
Ravindra's eyebrows rose, a smile hinting at the corners of his mouth. He hadn't heard Alex mangle his native tongue in seventeen years. It felt good. Familiar. "I am forty now," he replied, good humour colouring his tone. He wanted to ask what Alex intended to do about his daughter, or why Alex was even here, but instead he fell naturally into the pattern of their friendship. Even after so long, it still felt familiar. "What do you expect, when you leave for so long? Murkha."
Despite the gravity of the situation, the familiar word managed to garner a smile out of him. But it was short-lived. Ravi's statement only drove home further the reminder of what Alex had missed out on, on what Alex would have been had he not died in that arrest.
The arrest. "Those--things," he started, speaking as if the word was foreign on his tongue, "were they killed?" He assumed Ravi would know what he was referring to.
It took Ravi a minute to figure out what Alex meant. It had been such a long time, after all. But once he adjusted his mental timeline, he realized immediately. The ogres. "Yes," he answered. Hopefully that was some sort of closure for him, to know that his killers had been slain.
He let out another sigh, this time lighter than the first, accepting. "Good. Very good." Amelia hadn't been threatened then, and the rest of the children of Tyrol had been spared from becoming a meal. Ah, but that brought up complicated ethical issues he hadn't thought of then but was painfully aware of now. What if ogres could only live on children?
Preposterous. If Alex could sustain himself on the blood of animals, then ogres could survive on the meat of them, too. There was no acceptable reason for them to target children.
He ran his tongue over his canines, then stood up to his full height. He studied his friend for a minute, features as clear as if it were day to Alex. But it was probably not the same for him. Drawing in a breath, preparing himself for the expected resistance, he said, "I'll confess that meeting you was a blessing and a curse, Vin. You must have a lot of questions, but I'm not up to discussing myself right now."
Dick? Yes.
Alex's reaction made Ravi feel slightly better about the whole thing. One piece of good news among the rest of it.
When Alex stood, Ravi's eyebrows rose along with his gaze, his expression becoming serious. Surprise at the sudden motion, but also apprehension at what would come next. He waited, breathless and tense, for Alex to speak.
"...I see," was all he could say. Anger--being kept in the dark, not getting his important questions answered even though he'd given enough answers in return; guilt--Alex had just found out his wife was dead after returning from death seventeen years later, how dare Ravi feel angry with him for not wanting to talk about it?; confusion--what was Alex planning to do now that they'd met, and what was Ravi supposed to do about this whole situation?
"Do you, ah..." He hesitated. Normally he wouldn't think twice about the offer, but this was...complicated. "Need somewhere to stay?"
His eyebrows rose in mild surprise. No demand for his questions to be answered? How uncharacteristic of Ravi to settle for an unequal exchange. He managed a crooked smile at the offer, though. "That's kind of you, friend, but for your sake I must decline the offer. It isn't good that we've been standing here together for so long. I am, after all, a dead man walking." He tilted his head to the side, winking. Alex didn't feel the mirth, not really, but it was something he was good at auto-piloting.
"Is the house down on Willow Street still abandoned? We could meet there." As much as he didn't want to tell his friend what he was, Alex couldn't not keep him in the dark, not after all that had happened. He tried not to think of how Ravi might react.
The joke fell flat, and the wink only served as a knife RIGHT IN THE FEELINGS. Alex wasn't going to tell him anything, and he was going to just leave after all that? It wasn't right, it wasn't fair. Didn't he know that Ravi didn't care if anybody saw them?
The house on Willow Street? It took a moment, but he remembered the house Alex meant. Surprisingly, it was still abandoned. Rumour said it was haunted by the ghosts of those who had been murdered in the house, so nobody would buy it.
He nodded. There was a problem with the idea of meeting there, though: Ravindra didn't want to let Alex out of his sight.
He stepped forward, setting a hand on Alex's arm. A friendly gesture, but it came in place of an embrace Ravi wouldn't let himself give. It wasn't enough. He stepped closer, setting his face in Alex's shoulder, which felt natural given their difference in height. Alex was solid enough, but cold. Like a corpse.
"If this is a dream," he said, his gloved fingers curling in Alex's sleeve, "I would be very cross. And if this is not a dream--" His voice caught; he paused before continuing. "If it is not a dream, and I do not see you again, I would be even more cross."
Ravi may not have cared if anyone saw the two of them together, but Alex did. It was bad for anyone that spent time in the company of a bloodsucker, but doubly so for a member of the Guard. Letting him go without a fight? The damage it would do to his reputation.
He remained still, allowing Ravindra his moment. Hugs were not at all uncommon in their youth, but this was something different. He felt -- yes, he felt sad.
Alex placed his own bare hand on Ravi's back, returning the gesture. "It would be best if it were a dream," he murmured. Why hadn't he thought of that? "But if you believe my presence here to be true, then I'll see you tomorrow night, this same time." He slapped his palm lightly against the other man's shoulder blade twice, then stepped out of the embrace. There was a faint smile on his lips now, a shadow of the smile he was often found in during his life, but given the circumstances and discoveries of recent, it was a good sign. "I must go now. Do not tell anyone about this." A pause. "Not even Amelia."
It hurt to ask of it, but for now, his daughter could not know of him.
Ravi didn't want to let go, but he stepped back, composing himself, and gave Alex a single, definite nod. This time tomorrow, the abandoned house on Willow Street. If Alex wasn't there, Ravi would track him down and kill him again for lying to him.
He wanted to say something, but he didn't trust himself to make it through more than a few words without breaking down. So he just said, "I won't," and let it stand at that, because even a farewell would have been too much.
Then that was that. Alex turned to go, walking in the opposite direction. It didn't matter, really, where he was going-- he would find a dark, deserted corner to blend into and then leave the city through the air. He'd make sure that no one was following him before that, though -- and especially not Ravindra.
He would have to be fed properly by tomorrow night.
He'd be seeing Alex again tomorrow, he told himself. He'd have his questions answered then. He'd know why Alex had come back and whether he was staying and what they were going to tell Amelia. Tomorrow. It wasn't that far off. Just one day. Twenty-four hours. Hardly any time at all.
And yet watching Alex walk off after seeing him for the first time in seventeen years was the hardest thing Ravi had ever had to do.
When: Monday, late night
Where: Streets of Tyrol
Ratings and Warnings: PG for swearing?
Duty after dark was a lonely affair. There was nothing most nights: the occasional drunk, or homeless man on a street corner. Ravindra didn't mind it. He liked the quiet solitude of an empty street, not having to worry about who would see him, what they thought of him, what they'd say to each other. Even with the dangers of Others in this city, he felt more comfortable patrolling the streets at night than he did anywhere else. At least if something happened here, he could be sure he knew how to handle it.
He paused, leaning against the side of a building, to roll and light a cigarette. Tonight was quieter than most. He wondered where Myron's killer was, if people were staying off the streets in fear.
His eyes fell on a silhouette across the way, skulking through Tyrol's darkness. Not the staggering of a drunk, nor the shuffle of the destitute. It could just be a noble sneaking out to the brothels, but it could be something more sinister. Ravi watched, curious and wary, trying to discern a face or at least a purpose.
It had been a week since waking, six days since he had found strangers in what was once the home he shared with his beloved and his child. His best friend wasn't in his usual, either. Alex had been trying to locate either party, and while the capital wasn't particularly large, movement at night limited the amount of ground he could cover. He had thought that Catherine might have moved back with her parents after his death, but hadn't found her there. Neither had he found her parents, for that matter. The implications did not sit well with him.
Where was she? How long had it been? Ishmael Bharquite had just been named the King of Balfour before he had died. Apparently, he was still the king, so it couldn't have been that long, could it? Alex hadn't dared ask anyone questions on the current time period lest he bring suspicion on himself, nor was he keen on speaking to anyone at all lest they recognize him from his time in the Guard. He had managed to steal a shirt and pair of slacks from one of the farms, but that was about all of his interaction with people thus far. This vampire thing, it was complicated.
He wished he had a hat. His reflection in the mirror of a sleeping family's house was fuzzy, but he could see, as clear as day, that his hair was decidedly no longer red. It had been blonde, actually. What in Cita's name? Ah, but he supposed he shouldn't be using his name any longer. Best he find Catherine or Ravindra and see if his family was safe. He wasn't sure how it would pan out, but he was determined to see them.
So far nothing unusual, just a lone wanderer out on the streets at night. But, honestly, that was worthy enough of suspicion in the wake of a crime like the city's most recent. Ravindra pushed himself off from the wall, moving to follow the shadow and close the distance between them. It wouldn't be strange for a person to be stopped by a guardsman at this time of night, so Ravi walked with the same casual sense of purpose that he always portrayed.
With one hand on the hilt of his sword--not to draw it, but as a sign that he was willing to--he set his other hand on the figure's shoulder and stepped around the man to see his face.
Whatever iteration of, "hey there, where are you headed?" that he'd been about to give died on his lips. It had been years, nearly two decades, but he would never be able to forget the face of his best friend. He froze, eyes wide. Surely it was his imagination. But no, even though the hair was the wrong colour and his features were a bit slimmer and more sunken than Ravi remembered, that was Alex's face, looking not a day older than the day he'd died.
That pressure on his shoulder shot off a string of choice words in his mind. His lips parted to speak, but the nonsense information he was ready to spew fizzled out as his mind took a break from cursing to register the image of the man in front of him.
His friend, his brother in arms, the godfather of his child. "Vin..."
... Shit!
"Have I done something to incur the suspicion of the Guard?" he asked, turning to angle himself against Ravi. His fingers searched for the brim of a hat to pull down, only to pinch down on his curls instead. He really needed to get himself a hat.
Still frozen in shock, all Ravindra could do was stare. There had been some doubt, that maybe this was just a coincidental look-alike, but the voice and the obvious recognition on the man's face proved it. Alex had always worn his emotions on his sleeve and been awful at concealing anything. His reaction was classic Alex.
Classic Alex, but recognizing him and trying to pretend he hadn't. That stung. It stung enough that Ravi's answer came out accusatory. "You are dead."
"Nnnnnnno, I am not," he replied, attention now preoccupied with twirling a few curls between his index finger and thumb. "I wouldn't be moving or talking like I am now if I were. If that's all..."
Wait, what? He was trying to excuse himself when he had spent a week trying to locate this man? This is what he got for not planning ahead.
Of course Alex would just show up seventeen years after he'd died and pretend everything was fine, that asshole. Even though Ravi's temper had mellowed out since Alex's death, the response he was getting struck his fuse like a match. It was like being 23 again.
Glaring, he threw down his cigarette, not caring that it was a waste of tobacco, and shoved Alex back with a rough hand to the chest. "Don't give me that. You died. Stop acting like you don't know me and tell me what the fuck is going on." Ravi didn't swear often; it always sounded strange on his mouth, in his accent. Alex was the only person who could get that reaction out of him consistently.
He grunted in surprise, though all things considered Ravi's reaction shouldn't have been a surprise at all. Alex knew Ravi as a man prone to settling things with his fists rather than his words, and this-- showing up in front of him so unnaturally -- was as good a reason as any to elicit such a response.
"Ah! You must know me from the Varistas," he began, feigning realization. "I was told he was well-known in this city, but not that he had enemies. Does he owe you money?" Bullshit, utter bullshit. He contemplated turning into a bat and flying away, but that would leave no doubts to his new identity. Could he calm Ravi down, the same way he calmed the livestock? The will to survive was strong in him, but not, perhaps, strong enough to hypnotize his best friend.
This was stupid.
Letting out a long sigh, he rubbed the bridge of his nose, then he threw his hands up in the air. "You're right. Of course you are. I died." His tone dipped, just a bit. "Is Catherine safe? Amelia?" Once he got the answer to his most pressing question, he could think of what to do with the man in front of him.
It was stupid. It was really stupid. Ravi was insulted that Alex expected him to buy an excuse like that, and it only made him angrier. He was just short of cold-cocking Alex right in the jaw when his friend finally decided to stop being an idiot.
His rage dissipated when he realized that he was going to have to tell Alex his wife was dead. "Amelia...Amelia is fine. Catherine..." He couldn't say it. He looked Alex in the eyes and clammed up, but didn't try to hide the apologetic guilt on his face.
The corner of his lips began to rise in relief of hearing of Amelia, but they faltered and then fell at Ravi's hesitance to speak of his wife. "Catherine," he repeated, urging him on. "What of Catherine?" But he could tell, by that look, that his wife was not well. His voice grew heavier, more rushed. "Where is she?"
There was a joke to be made here about not being so sure anymore, but it wouldn't even cross Ravi's mind until long after the conversation would finish. His friend's pain was serious enough that all he could think to say was the truth. "Dead. Ten years ago. Pneumonia."
Alex stared at Ravi, jaw dropping. Dead? Catherine? But that couldn't she be, she had been so healthy, so full of life! He had often joked that she would outlive him on the basis of tenacity alone. How could his wife, who had lived through childbirth, die so soon?
"You're joking." Ravi must be getting him back for trying to deceive him. "I realize how serious a matter it must be for me to be here, but please, forgive my less than welcoming greeting. Where is she?"
Ravi just shook his head and turned away. He should have expected the denial, but it still hurt to see. He couldn't bear to repeat the news and drive that knife home.
He took a step back, exhaling audibly. Catherine was dead. Those three words should have never had to been joined into a sentence. Though he was looking straight at Ravindra, Alex wasn't seeing him at all. The love of his life, gone from the world. In the dirt as he once was. This desolate, crushingly lonely feeling -- was it the same thing she had felt when they had buried him in the earth?
She should have never had to bury him.
Alex slid down, until he was crouching, and hung his head beneath his arms. What did he care if anyone saw him like this? He had lost his first love, his beloved, his everything. After a few minutes, he found his voice again, though it was now muffled. "You're caring for Amelia?"
The silence was deafening. Ravi knew how Alex felt--the same way he'd felt when Alex had died. He let the silence stretch on as long as Alex wanted it to.
His own emotions were in turmoil. There was the smallest pang of jealousy over Alex's grief for his wife, combined with joy, relief, guilt, confusion, and a million other things. It felt ridiculous to stand here discussing what had happened in Alex's absence instead of discussing his sudden return, but Ravi didn't know if he could deal with that subject just yet. He'd rather concentrate on everything else, anything else, the questions that were easy to answer, the topics that didn't force him to look at his feelings.
When Alex finally spoke, breaking the silence that had solidified around them, Ravi nodded, turning to face him again. "Yes. Like my own daughter."
"Then you have been a better father to her than I," he replied, tinged with a touch of jealousy. "And I've no doubt she's been taken well care of. How old is she now?"
Yeah. He had. Alex's jealousy caused a stirring of some ugly vindictive satisfied feeling that Ravi was quick to shove out of his mind, or at least under a metaphorical rug.
"Twenty," he answered. It struck him suddenly that he may have to introduce Amelia to the father who'd been dead most of her life. It also struck him that he didn't want Alex to take Amelia back, which was selfish and nasty and he shoved that under the metaphorical rug too.
That caused him to look up at Ravi -- hah, up at Ravi -- in shock. "Twenty? You say she's twenty? Then..." That meant he had been dead for seventeen years! By Cita! But... the revelation caused him to realize that yes, when he actually looked at the Ravindra standing before him, it was obvious that he had aged. Considerably.
"You are quite old, dōsta." Even as he joked, Alex's mind was elsewhere. There was no way for him to come face to face with Amelia, not now. It had been far too long. Though she may not remember what her biological father looked like, Alex wasn't so sure he could stand to pretend to be someone else to her.
Ravindra's eyebrows rose, a smile hinting at the corners of his mouth. He hadn't heard Alex mangle his native tongue in seventeen years. It felt good. Familiar. "I am forty now," he replied, good humour colouring his tone. He wanted to ask what Alex intended to do about his daughter, or why Alex was even here, but instead he fell naturally into the pattern of their friendship. Even after so long, it still felt familiar. "What do you expect, when you leave for so long? Murkha."
Despite the gravity of the situation, the familiar word managed to garner a smile out of him. But it was short-lived. Ravi's statement only drove home further the reminder of what Alex had missed out on, on what Alex would have been had he not died in that arrest.
The arrest. "Those--things," he started, speaking as if the word was foreign on his tongue, "were they killed?" He assumed Ravi would know what he was referring to.
It took Ravi a minute to figure out what Alex meant. It had been such a long time, after all. But once he adjusted his mental timeline, he realized immediately. The ogres. "Yes," he answered. Hopefully that was some sort of closure for him, to know that his killers had been slain.
He let out another sigh, this time lighter than the first, accepting. "Good. Very good." Amelia hadn't been threatened then, and the rest of the children of Tyrol had been spared from becoming a meal. Ah, but that brought up complicated ethical issues he hadn't thought of then but was painfully aware of now. What if ogres could only live on children?
Preposterous. If Alex could sustain himself on the blood of animals, then ogres could survive on the meat of them, too. There was no acceptable reason for them to target children.
He ran his tongue over his canines, then stood up to his full height. He studied his friend for a minute, features as clear as if it were day to Alex. But it was probably not the same for him. Drawing in a breath, preparing himself for the expected resistance, he said, "I'll confess that meeting you was a blessing and a curse, Vin. You must have a lot of questions, but I'm not up to discussing myself right now."
Dick? Yes.
Alex's reaction made Ravi feel slightly better about the whole thing. One piece of good news among the rest of it.
When Alex stood, Ravi's eyebrows rose along with his gaze, his expression becoming serious. Surprise at the sudden motion, but also apprehension at what would come next. He waited, breathless and tense, for Alex to speak.
"...I see," was all he could say. Anger--being kept in the dark, not getting his important questions answered even though he'd given enough answers in return; guilt--Alex had just found out his wife was dead after returning from death seventeen years later, how dare Ravi feel angry with him for not wanting to talk about it?; confusion--what was Alex planning to do now that they'd met, and what was Ravi supposed to do about this whole situation?
"Do you, ah..." He hesitated. Normally he wouldn't think twice about the offer, but this was...complicated. "Need somewhere to stay?"
His eyebrows rose in mild surprise. No demand for his questions to be answered? How uncharacteristic of Ravi to settle for an unequal exchange. He managed a crooked smile at the offer, though. "That's kind of you, friend, but for your sake I must decline the offer. It isn't good that we've been standing here together for so long. I am, after all, a dead man walking." He tilted his head to the side, winking. Alex didn't feel the mirth, not really, but it was something he was good at auto-piloting.
"Is the house down on Willow Street still abandoned? We could meet there." As much as he didn't want to tell his friend what he was, Alex couldn't not keep him in the dark, not after all that had happened. He tried not to think of how Ravi might react.
The joke fell flat, and the wink only served as a knife RIGHT IN THE FEELINGS. Alex wasn't going to tell him anything, and he was going to just leave after all that? It wasn't right, it wasn't fair. Didn't he know that Ravi didn't care if anybody saw them?
The house on Willow Street? It took a moment, but he remembered the house Alex meant. Surprisingly, it was still abandoned. Rumour said it was haunted by the ghosts of those who had been murdered in the house, so nobody would buy it.
He nodded. There was a problem with the idea of meeting there, though: Ravindra didn't want to let Alex out of his sight.
He stepped forward, setting a hand on Alex's arm. A friendly gesture, but it came in place of an embrace Ravi wouldn't let himself give. It wasn't enough. He stepped closer, setting his face in Alex's shoulder, which felt natural given their difference in height. Alex was solid enough, but cold. Like a corpse.
"If this is a dream," he said, his gloved fingers curling in Alex's sleeve, "I would be very cross. And if this is not a dream--" His voice caught; he paused before continuing. "If it is not a dream, and I do not see you again, I would be even more cross."
Ravi may not have cared if anyone saw the two of them together, but Alex did. It was bad for anyone that spent time in the company of a bloodsucker, but doubly so for a member of the Guard. Letting him go without a fight? The damage it would do to his reputation.
He remained still, allowing Ravindra his moment. Hugs were not at all uncommon in their youth, but this was something different. He felt -- yes, he felt sad.
Alex placed his own bare hand on Ravi's back, returning the gesture. "It would be best if it were a dream," he murmured. Why hadn't he thought of that? "But if you believe my presence here to be true, then I'll see you tomorrow night, this same time." He slapped his palm lightly against the other man's shoulder blade twice, then stepped out of the embrace. There was a faint smile on his lips now, a shadow of the smile he was often found in during his life, but given the circumstances and discoveries of recent, it was a good sign. "I must go now. Do not tell anyone about this." A pause. "Not even Amelia."
It hurt to ask of it, but for now, his daughter could not know of him.
Ravi didn't want to let go, but he stepped back, composing himself, and gave Alex a single, definite nod. This time tomorrow, the abandoned house on Willow Street. If Alex wasn't there, Ravi would track him down and kill him again for lying to him.
He wanted to say something, but he didn't trust himself to make it through more than a few words without breaking down. So he just said, "I won't," and let it stand at that, because even a farewell would have been too much.
Then that was that. Alex turned to go, walking in the opposite direction. It didn't matter, really, where he was going-- he would find a dark, deserted corner to blend into and then leave the city through the air. He'd make sure that no one was following him before that, though -- and especially not Ravindra.
He would have to be fed properly by tomorrow night.
He'd be seeing Alex again tomorrow, he told himself. He'd have his questions answered then. He'd know why Alex had come back and whether he was staying and what they were going to tell Amelia. Tomorrow. It wasn't that far off. Just one day. Twenty-four hours. Hardly any time at all.
And yet watching Alex walk off after seeing him for the first time in seventeen years was the hardest thing Ravi had ever had to do.