Waking up

[Aleth.]

Aleth sat on the desk in his office, the curtains drawn over the window which would have displayed a purple sky lit up by a sun in its final throes of day. Knowing that there was still partial light outside made his skin itch, and he felt a phantom burning sensation. He fed on a regular basis - the sun was very much so his enemy.

The office was dark, the only light very dim, peeking from a spot near the top of the window, where the curtains didn't meet all the way. He tapped his foot on the floor, looking directly at Mallory.

"I don't know what we can do," he said finally. "I really don't." She looked up at him, arms crossed, brown eyes almost furious.

"You should do something! You know you can! You're just scared to, and for you...? I'm sorry, I won't accept that!" Aleth couldn't help but smirk at her. Mallory was his underling, but could never seem to treat him as such. And he could never seem to discipline her for it.

"I will never be able to stop her. I keep telling you that."

"Then we'll do it together! Aleth, let me help! She's wreaking havoc on this place! And it's your fault! If you won't do something, then I will!"

"Mallory..."

--------

Aleth willed himself to wake up, opening his eyes groggily. That was a memory out of nowhere, he thought. Mallory... he could barely remember her. That exchange had been the last time he saw her.

His surroundings slowly came into focus. He was wrapped up in the sheets of Silence's bed, his arm holding her gently as they had slept. Was she still asleep? Had he been making noises? That would have been embarrassing...

Sighing, he stroked her shoulder and readjusted his head on her pillow, waiting patiently till she woke.

[Silence de Morte]

Goosebumps ran along Silence's bare skin as Aleth gently ran his fingers over her exposed flesh. She shivered slightly before her eyes opened, the pale blue of her eyes staring up at the ceiling. A murmur escaped her lips as she shifted, followed by a small yawn, though both gave way to a light smile as she found Aleth lying next to her, just as he had so many months ago.

"Morning." she said softly, placing a tender kiss on his shoulder. "I trust you slept well." she added, gently hugging him.

[Aleth.]

Lie to her or tell the truth? Lie to her or tell the truth? Lie to her or tell the truth?

"Most of the way through," Aleth said to her, running a hand through her hair. Running away from this had been stupid, he thought to himself. "How about you? I'm sure you slept well!" He smiled slyly at Silence and kissed her on her forehead.

Why had he left this in the first place? Oh that's right. For a stupid reason.

[Silence de Morte]

Silence laughed as he gently teased her. "Well enough. I forgot just how tired you could make me." she said with a sly little smile. She gently rested her head on his shoulder, her eyes closed as he gently played with her hair and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"So now tell me, why was only most of your night restful. That is if you wish to." she added, her eyes opening once more so she could look up into Aleth's face. "You don't have to tell me Aleth, but I am always here to listen." she told him softly.

[Aleth.]

"Bah. Nothing really serious. Just dreams. Irritating memories that pop up after twenty or so years and then go away again. It wasn't that bad... I just had very unrestful sleep for the last hour or so... but I'm fine."

He smiled and held her close.

But he couldn't stop thinking of Mallory.

The hell he couldn't! He took in a deep breath, trying to pass it off as a yawn, and pushed the memory as far back into his mind as he could. Memories were stupid. Well, they could be nice, but they meant nothing. You couldn't relive them. They were meaningless.

"Is there anything you'd like to do today? Or do you have errands to run?"

[Silence de Morte]

The vampire chuckled a bit, placing another tender kiss on Aleth's chest. "Alright, but the offer stands. I'm always here to listen." she said with a soft smile. "As for plans, I really don't have anything urgent that needs to be addressed today. Perhaps we could use it to get to know each other again. And I don't just mean between the sheets." she laughed.

[Aleth.]

"Sometimes I forget that I don't really know that much about you!" Aleth said, laughing. "But alright. Let's get dressed and..."

He rolled over on his back and thought for a moment. What could they do together? What was something they could have a good time doing, and at the same time, get to know each other? He hadn't dated in so long, and their last date at Starless hadn't gone that well.

"... meet me in the kitchen!"

He rolled back onto his side, kissed his woman deeply, and parted from her lips. Then, he left her bed and put on yesterday's clothes so he could hike over to his room and freshen up a bit. No need to reek of getting his ass kicked, right?

[Silence de Morte]

The vampire laughed once more, her smile only spreading as he made his joke. "Alright, I'll see you downstairs shortly." she said softly, accepting his deep, loving kiss before he left her bed to go back to his own room. As much as silence hated to see him leave, she loved to watch him go.

Silence, now left alone in her chambers, sat up and left her bed, wandering over to her large wardrobe to find something to wear. She really didn't feel like wearing a dress today, but pants didn't sound overly appealing either. Gah, she would never have worried about such things before she moved here. Capella had warped her mind, made her actually care about crazy girly things. With a soft sigh and a chuckle, Silence chose a long black skirt, a simple long sleeved white shirt and a black vest for over top. She wandered into her bathroom to get changed, slipping from her nightwear and into the comfortable clothing she selected. After brushing through her hair and twisting it up into loose curls, applying a bit of her rose perfume and all the other boring tasks she took care of in the little boring tasks that took up her morning.

Once finished, Silence grabbed a simpl pair of shoes and left her room, heading to meet Aleth in the kitchen.

Hoping that she hadn't kept him waiting, she opened the door to the kitchen, entering the vast room and looking for Aleth.

[Aleth.]

He could not dress quickly like some women could, what with their skirts and not needing to take the time not to rip a pant leg, but he did have the upper hand, or so he thought, by not having to spend as much time picking out something to wear.

Aleth simply tossed one pair of black trousers and a black shirt into the basket, and donned nearly identical garments that were fresh and clean. The kitchen wasn't a place where you wanted to wear nice clothes anyway, right? So, he changed his mind and switched out hid black trousers for a pair of dark brown ones instead.

Within minutes, he had cleaned up well and was in the kitchen, preparing for what he was going to teach Silence how to make.

Alatus Nox was lucky enough to have several fantastic farms, one of them with an apple orchard. Yesterday, Capella had had several bushels of apples brought to the manor, and Aleth was going to take the opportunity to use them.

Then, as he was at work chopping the apples, Silence entered the kitchen.

"You look like you're ready to cut up some apples!"

[Silence de Morte]

"apples?" she asked with a curious look on her face. The vampire rolled up her long white sleeves as she approached the sink area, washing her hands before walking over to Aleth. "What are we making today, master chef?" she asked, picking up a knife so she could aid him with the apple peeling. She had an idea of what they could be making, but how could she be certain. Wasn't like she was a mind reader or anything.

[Aleth.]

There had been a few women in his past, Aleth recalled, that he had gotten very close with and had relationships with. Hell, Mallory was one of them, and he realized that maybe reconnecting with Silence had somehow reminded him of her. But he had never, ever spent time with them like this. He had never just... just spent a mundane day with them, doing almost chore-like things. Making dinner. Hanging clothes. Scrubbing floors.

He was so calm, in the kitchen, doing nothing but prepping apples with Silence right beside him. Almost like he had been human. In another life, maybe they would be doing the exact same thing, as humans, in their own home, with the early evening sun still out.

"I thought I would show you how to make my old family's cider. Or, what of the process I can remember, at least. Some of the siblings made it much better than the others!" He laughed a little, remembering such things. He was surprised that it wasn't painful. "I've got this kettle over here that I'm going to put over the hearth when we fill it up with the apples."

He looked over to her, beckoning her to share his counterspace, and giving her a small, peaceful smile.

[Silence de Morte]

Silence smiled warmly at Aleth as he told her what they were going to be making. Well she had certainly been wrong with her prediction of their cooking section, Here she was thinking they would be baking pie, but now that she thought about it, the cider did make more sense. She remembered back to the first date they had shared, as Aleth told her about the cider he enjoyed. "Sound good to me." she said with a cheerful tone of voice. "How long has it been since you last made this?" she asked out of curiosity, starting to peel a new apple after setting the previous one aside to be added to the pot. She paused for a moment, munching on the peel from the apple she had just finished before picking up another of the glorious red fruits.

She moved to stand with him, sharing his space as they just sat there and peeled apples. The gentle smile on Silence's face never left, in fact is simply grew as time went on. This reminded her of the times she would share with her mother back in their kitchen making pies. It was a rare treat in the household to be able to make her great grandmother's special apple pie recipe, so every time she and her mother would slave away in the kitchen working on it was a cherished memory for the woman. Silence had been staring off into space, not really concentrating on the apple she was slicing or the fact the apple peel was still in one continuous string. Her smile was broken as she nicked her finger with the knife, a tiny drop of blood forming against her lily white skin. Thankfully it wasn't deep or very painful, but it was still there.

"Ouch..." she muttered, pausing on the apple she had been peeling. she brought her hand to her mouth to lick away the blood that had formed on her finger. "I can handle swords and the like with no problems, yet the second I get into a kitchen I cut myself. Figures." she said with a chuckle.

[Aleth.]

When she asked him the question, Aleth suddenly grew very embarrassed. One, because of how long it had been, making it very unlikely he would remember anything about the recipe. And two, because he was at least a century younger than her, and she was probably capable of remembering things from back in her human days.

"... It's been about... forty something years..."

But he left home very young, Aleth told himself, trying to justify his lack of memory to himself. They stood there together, prepping more apples. He noticed that she peeled hers, while he just left the skins on like some uncivilized, chest-beating caveman, and started to peel the next apple he picked up.

Suddenly, the smell of blood entered the air. Aleth looked to Silence, who had cut herself, and chuckled at her observation.

"When everyone loves how this turns out, I'll do you a favor and refrain from telling everyone that the secret ingredient is your blood."

[Silence de Morte]

"40 years must feel like a lifetime..." she said softly, her gaze going off someplace else for a moment, however she snapped out of it quickly, turning her gaze to him and offering him a smile. Silence chuckled, licking the blood from her finger. "I appreciate it. Last thing we need is for everyone to be developing a taste for my blood." she said jokingly, walking away from him so she could rewash her hands. Silence returned to his side shortly thereafter and resumed her given task, again pausing every now and then to munch on an apple peel. "These certainly are delicious." she commented. "I can only imagine how wonderful the cider will taste." she added, starting on another apple.

She looked down at the table, taking notice that most of his apples had been unpeeled. "OH, drat, was I doing something wrong? I should have asked if you wanted the skins on or off. Guess I kinda got stuck on something else." she said, an apologetic look on her face as she offered him a weak smile.

[Aleth.]

"No, it's fine! I don't think it really makes a difference. There actually used to be a big debate about it in my family. The oldest sister--" Aleth paused for just an instant, realizing that he... he had forgotten her name. His mouth hung open and he panicked for a second before realizing he was still in the middle of a sentence, and hurried to cover it up, "--she... that's right... she argued that taking them off made the cider taste better. But the oldest brother would leave them on just to spite her and I don't really think it made a difference. His tasted better, but he had a secret recipe of probably eleven different spices that went in it!"

He couldn't believe he forgot her name.

"And I'm just in my 50's. I bet you got more lifetimes than I do under your belt, judging by how deftly you're carving up these apples!"