GREYBURN - INTO THE LABYRINTH

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Anselm looked pretty stoked about getting clung to, but tried to hold her gently and chastely. He looked over his shoulder like he was backing up car, and hopped backward from ledge to ledge. He moved in quick bursts, like a small bird flitting between branches. It afforded Babette a great view of the rest of cathedral, and of the entire city itself as they ascended above the tallest trees. When he came to a wall without a good ledge to hop to, he floated the rest of the way, letting his feet brush the wall. Perhaps he didn't just float the entire way, because it was much slower than going point to point. It felt oddly smooth, like taking a gentle elevator ride the rest of the way.

He hopped over a bit of decorative trim, and jostled Babette a little, but held her fast and she didn't slip. The roof was steep, and lumpy with ill-kept tiles and broken filigree. Anselm elected to stand on a jagged strip of vaulting, and kept a cold hand on Babette's shoulder as she sought her footing.


((I imagine the view/the roof is something like this  But with a bit more severe architecture and a less fancy parking lot ))

Anselm-
"Maybe vee vere human, to take a picnic here."

The roof was damp, but not clogged with plant debris like the lower levels. The wind whipped their hair around, and distorted their voices. Anselm leaned over the edge with no fear, and took in the view.

Anselm-
"Harlan iss a very big city. Vhere do you come from?
You can point to me?"

[DKender]

"There aren't many things I miss about being human, but picnics were nice. Ru and I used to eat sandwiches at night."

Babette tried to cling to the solid surface with her feet and stared at the view directly in front of her; that's how her old gym teacher taught her to stay balanced on the walky beam. Look straight, and don't swing your head around.



"It is beautiful at night. The city is nice like this. Far away, in the dark, you can't see its dirtiness. Just the lights and shadows. I used to live in an apartment building, a big one. It was like a boxy anthill. There. I think that's it. Could be one of my neighbor buildings."

She pointed far away.

"It's always fun to wonder about the lives of strangers, all those people behind the small windows. What were you before you died? Did you live in a city, too?"

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

"Ohh I don't know every vord,
but it zounds so romantic!"

If the two of them had been human, the roof would be pitch black, the dim lights below not reaching them at all. Anselm sat on the edge of the roof, letting his feet dangle and looked off into the city.

Anselm-
"I did live in 'dhe city, in a place for poor people.
It's dirty too, as you say. I liff by myself,
in apartment vith little birds.
I do arts, draw paper vith ink."

Anselm-
"You do movies before? Vhat else?
I go to art college too, but graduate long before."

Anselm-
"Did you 'die?' I don't haff to... but I get too old."

[DKender]

"I didn't know you were an artist! It's a difficult career, isn't it? I never went to college like the other people in the movie group. I was just a waitress who made coffee. The kind of coffee with little flowers and hearts in its foam. That's like art, I guess. When I really liked a customer, I'd give them a cat face on their latte, and when they were rude to me, I'd give them a sad blob."

She sat beside Anselm, no longer worried about getting grime on her dress. There'd be other dresses!

"Lord Greyburn is very old - maybe the oldest vampire I've met. After all those centuries, it must be difficult to think. Doesn't your brain get full of memories? I shouldn't ask you - you're still young!"

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Anselm-
"Ohhh you make coffee? I don't know before!
Cool, are you poor like me?"

Anselm-
"Oh... I guess it's not cool, zorry...
University is cheap in Grauland,
so yeah I don't make any money.
I get more vhen I haff a business,
but I'm already dead by 'dhen."

Anselm-
Hm, yeah, I'm not zo very old yet.
Maybe too old for you...? "

He gave her cheeky looks in the dark but didn't bust any moves.

Anselm-
"Maybe vee ask Lord Greyburn about
his old brain? I'm very curious."

[DKender]

"As long as you aren't younger than twenty, age is just a number. I am not picky. You're in luck tonight!"

She glanced nervously at the sky, looking for owls. It would be so *Ellen* to ruin her fun. At that thought, Babette felt a little guilty. Ellen was just trying to be a good vampire Aunt, after all! And she got enough grief from Aubrey.



"Well, I say that, but I haven't met somebody who was born before the wheel yet. Maybe a millennium is my limit."



"Aubrey is pretty close to that limit, actually. I'm sure a historian would have a field day with him, if they could get a reliable answer. Give it a try! I think you'll find some common ground. He's quite artistic. Such curious philosophies, too. And as another poor kid, you may be shocked by the number of precious gems lying around his basement. I certainly was ... "

Just one ruby could buy so many insta noodles.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

The sky was thankfully clear of owls-- BUT FOR HOW LONG?!

Anselm-
"Ohhhh?"

Anselm-
"Really?"

Anselm-
"   "

He totally went to kiss Babette's cheek!!! 

[DKender]

It was Babette's first kiss on the roof of a cathedral with a vampire from Grauland! .



"Darling! That was my first kiss on the roof of a cathedral with a vampire from Grauland <3 Why, thank you. Here's one for you."

Babette [REDACTED]. Lipstick all over his cheek.



"I should just jump. What do you think? Maybe if I'm scared enough, I'll grow a pair of wings."

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Anselm touched the lipstick mark on his cheek.

Anselm-
"Huhuhu.. You alvays draw a pretty design on my cheek! "

He hopped to his feet, and held out his hands to help Babette to hers.

Anselm-
"You ready? It's not so scary! I catch you if it needs."

He walked her to the precipice, and the view to the ground looked... real far.

 
Anselm-
"Ready for you... tell me vhen on a vone, two, t'ree?"

[DKender]

"I'm ..."

Nope. It was so much higher than a roller coaster hill! She leeeaned forward, then back, then forward.

"Aaaalmost ready. Let's start that countdown again. Sixty. Fifty-nine. Fifty-eight. Oh, look at me! Such a kidder."

She peeked down again. Still far.

"Okay. Three. Two. One. Oh. Wait. How sensitive are your ears? I'm probably going to scream a lot. That's one reason August hired me for a vampire movie - my scream is something special! I practiced for weeks. My neighbors hated me. Heheh. They actually did."

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

 
Anselm-
"Hahaha, I don't hate you! Scream forever, I don't mind. "

Anselm-
"Um..."

He held both of her hands, and inched toward the edge.

Anselm-
"Maybe vee just take a big jump!
Ready for me...? Vone... two..."

He looked ready to step off the edge...!

[DKender]

"Au revoir, world!"

Following Anselm's lead, Babette skipped off the edge, her grip like a spidery vice. She didn't even wait until the fall to start screaming. What great fun!

No gloomy cathedral was complete, after all, without the sounds terror whispering through its nooks and crannies. How many screams had those old stones absorbed? OoooOoooh.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Anselm took a perhaps supernaturally assisted hop and he and the screaming Babette tumbled through the sky. He laughed good naturedly amid her screams, the sounds almost stolen completely by the roaring wind as it tore past them. Forth story, third story! Was it going faster? Slower? The world was a blur of darkness, and Babette clutched tight to whatever she could clutch.

CRASH!

Glass shattered around her in an explosion of color. Had they fallen through the stained glass windows somehow?!

WHUMP!

They landed hard on... a pile of pillows?

What? It wasn't time to land yet, was it? Babette found herself in a dirty old room styled to look like a luxurious opium den of the past. The once colorful tapestries and plush furniture now rendered pastel by thick coats of dust. Stone walls surrounded them, a humble wooden door on the far wall was shut tight. Where had they fallen from? There wasn't even a window in here! But silvery glass shards scattered the floor.

Anselm-
"HELP! PLEASE INVITE!!!"

Anselm threw himself against the wall, like his body wanted to escape through the stones without his permission. Blood welled in his eyes.

[DKender]

"Where ... OH! Anselm, you're welcome here! I invite you to this place! Poor thing!"

He reminded her of confused a little bird throwing itself against the wall. Heartbreaking! She stood, looking for the window they fell through, an escape if the invitation didn't take, but there was nothing!

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Anselm crumpled against the wall, almost seeming to pant for breath as the relief washed over him. He wiped the red from his eyes and sighed.

Anselm-
"Uff-- 'dhank you..."

There seemed to be no window here at all. A few dusty paintings hung on the wall, still-lives of luscious fruit, cuts of raw meat and dead birds that were probably appealing to people of the past. On the far wall was an empty frame, the seeming source of the glass shards on the ground. There was nothing inside it now but a stained wooden backing.

Anselm-
"Vhere do vee go? Do you know 'dhis place?"

A weak draft rolled from under the plain door, the room otherwise choked with dust and airless.