open | everything's just fine!

[clairedanvers]

She had been cursed for days. Throwing herself at Myrnin like a lovesick puppy in heat. And Myrnin, being Myrnin, had really shown all the restraint that anyone could expect of a vampire... or of anyone really. In hindsight, Claire knew that he had resisted for as long as could be expected. In hindsight, she remembered throwing herself at him on numerous occasions. She had been a sure thing for him. And in hindsight, she was mortified. How couldn't she be? She had never... not with him. They had never... And now an already complicated relationship was made even more so.

Honestly, she was never touching another red rose for as long as she lived. Never again.

So far, she had kept busy, pretended like everything was back to the status quo, imagined that none of it had happened at all. She worked at Subtext, the massive bookstore that Itinere had given her and Myrnin. She could often be found there with her nose stuck in a book or trying to put the multitude of books into some semblance of order. This was easier said than done in a bookstore that randomly made books appear out of thin air. Needless to say, she had plenty to do.

More recently though, right before the dubious mass text from some lady named Brig, she had started feeling her skin itch. Her skin itched so badly that she would scratch it in her sleep or find herself scratching without realizing it. Sores were starting to appear on her skin and she was trying so hard to keep everyone and anyone, especially a certain vampire, from noticing. The weather was nice outside but she wore long sleeved hoodies with thumb holes and jeans so that every inch of her skin was covered but her face and fingers.

Claire was sick, but still able to operate in the day to day. And as the mysterious Brig had instructed, she was waiting for further instructions.

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[trapdoorspider]

The moment he smells blood, his attention snaps to Claire, more specifically to her neck. Eventually he tears his gaze from her neck to her eyes. "This is going to be quite difficult if you continue to make yourself bleed," he warns her a bit idly. He knows that it's a compulsion, something she's not really thinking much about. He's not worried about attacking her; he's got more self-control than that, but it is distracting.

No, she wouldn't have goosebumps nor would she flush and he would miss those things about her.

He is capable of romantic, but under a different set of circumstances, a set of circumstances in which he's certain that aforementioned romance and desire is mutual and wanted. He will get better should they continue this relationship. However, he will always be Myrnin. Honestly, if she were more girly Myrnin would be nearly so attracted to her. For example, Eve simply confuses Myrnin. He doesn't understand her and that confusion would muddle any attraction should he be attracted to the sort of person that Eve is. He does like it when Claire makes an attempt, when she dresses up and the like. She might have noticed it in the way Myrnin's gaze on her gets a bit more heated, a bit more intense when she is dressed up.

His eyebrows pop up at her confession; the look on his face is entirely surprised. "Oh." His brow furrows a bit as he processes this information. "Then you're no longer opposed to a relationship with me? As...boyfriend and girlfriend I believe is what you young kids say."

[clairedanvers]

"I'm not making myself bleed. My skin is just... coming off." Which was actually kind of terrifying. Scabbing and decaying skin? Her concern ratchets up a bit and she looks over to Myrnin. "What if it all falls off? Muscle can only hold in so many internal organs before they... don't stay in." In truth, humans are such fragile creatures, Myrnin is right in that regard.

And oh wow are they really having this conversation while her skin is falling off? Of course they are. Her and Myrnin can't ever do anything in a normal way.

"Boyfriend and girlfriend. Yeah, I... I mean if I live that long. This is so not the way I saw this happening." She shakes her head, grasping at straws for any way to make this better, both her sickness and this conversation. "I mean you liked it too, right? You seemed to like it. And you've proven you can hold back from drinking too much..."

[trapdoorspider]

That makes Myrnin furrow his brow and abandon his current work, moving over to get a look at Claire's neck. He'll lean in and sniff at it, lick the blood against her skin and collect some of the skin onto a slide. "We'll wrap you up in saran wrap," he answers blithely before reaching up to place his hand against her cheek, his thumb along her jaw. "I won't let you die, Claire. I promise."

Wow, they really were and he didn't think it was that odd.

"Of course, you're going to live that long. I'm going to test my blood against this and see what it does. It might provide some sort of gap-stay." Actually, he's thinking that she might get her chance to be turned sooner rather than later because he meant it when he said he wouldn't let her die. At her question, he grins a bit manically. "Oh yes. Very much in fact." The manic grin falls a bit. "Yes, well, it would be a shame to have you pass out in the middle of such things and miss the best parts."

[clairedanvers]

Claire lets him take some of her skin (gross) and listens to his promises, promises she knows he can't actually keep, not unless he intends to turn her. She doesn't want to be turned, not yet, maybe not ever. But she has no doubt that Myrnin will do so whether she wants it or not in order to save her.

She nods at his idea. Maybe his blood will slow down whatever's happening to her. That's a good plan. She's glad Myrnin is thinking straight right now. Her own thoughts keep oscillating between panic and uncertainty. It's one thing to do science in general. It's another to do science on herself because her skin is boiling and falling off.

Claire hates this part of herself. The part that doesn't want to react or be like a girl but still is. She wants Myrnin to be attracted to more than just her brain. She wants Myrnin to want her. She wants him to have liked what happened between them while she had been cursed. She wants him to still want that with her. She wants him to be sane and not drink her blood dry. And yes, she wants to know what it's like to be romanced on occasion... and she hates that the most.

She watches Myrnin for a moment before he went to work with her blood and skin samples. "You won't let that happen... me passing out."

[trapdoorspider]

That's the thing about Myrnin; he's inherently selfish and he rarely takes into consideration the feelings or desires of others when his own feelings or desires are involved. Really, it's a miracle that he's considered (for as long as he has) Claire's feelings on having a relationship with him. She's correct in assuming that if she's dying, Myrnin will turn her against her will. She can spend several centuries being mad at him for all he cares. She'll eventually get over it.

He's fortunate that he's not sick and maybe it's a vampire thing or maybe it's that he doesn't often breathe. Either way, he is thinking straight and it is fortunate for the both of them. In fact, it's probably fortunate for the entire town. Myrnin has spent enough time doing science on himself that it wouldn't bother him, but it does rattle him a bit doing science on Claire because this matters. If he doesn't get this right then Claire could die and that is unacceptable to him.

There's no reason to hate that part of her. Myrnin doesn't in the least. He's just unaccustomed to catering to that sort of person and it will take a bit of time for him to figure it out. It'll be good for him and she certainly puts up with enough from him. Give him some time. He will always have his crazier moments. His mind is far too damaged by the disease he's now cured of, the centuries he's lived and the things he's done to ever be entirely sane. However, Claire makes him better. She makes him saner and more human. She makes him want to try and that's a very good thing. He can cater to some of her girly whims in return. He can certainly avoid draining her dry, or at least he will do his best and hope that she's sharp enough to stay away when he can't.

He smiles a bit sadly at her, watching her with an incredibly amount of fondness. "Your faith in me is one of the things that endears me most to you, My Dear, and it scares me the most as well." He moves closer to her, putting his hand beneath her chin and tipping her face up to kiss her on the lips. It's not a chaste kiss in the least, but a desperate one, a grateful one; it's a kiss that says he can't lose her; he would be so entirely lost without her.