Walkin' the dog, walkin' the dog.

I just got in from taking Toblerone on an investigative walk. He peed on everything he could during the walk, then continued to hike his leg and pretend he had more water to mark stuff when he ran out of juice.

This walk was hopefully going to find me at a bus stop, but my plans failed miserably. When I reached Linbrook Drive and saw no sign, I turned Toby around and headed back to the house. When I got back, I checked how far I had walked. It calculated in at just under 2 miles. Not to shabby for a chick with no right knee, who's not used to walking like she used to.

In other news, I've made an appointment with a potential family doctor for Monday. I'm hoping we get along okay, and I don't have to doctor shop. I hate doing that. The only thing I dread about going to the doctor is all the talking I'll have to do. I've become painfully aware of my accent, even though it's not nearly as thick as those around me in the South. I'm afraid that the more I talk, the more people will think I'm some kind of brainless Redneck. And I'm not. But I know I'll have to talk to the doctor extensively about my medical history, my knee issues, my medications, blah blah blah - and I am going to be so self-conscious.

I'm gonna try not to worry about it. I'm going to try to enjoy this glorious cloudy day, as they're rare in these parts. And I'm going to work on this Cadmus/Orphaeus short I've been dabbling in for a while. ::firm nods::

More of the Cadmus/Orphaeus Story I'm Playing with

"So is that why I'm here? You've decided to dispatch me?"

"No," Cadmus Pariah whispered. "I summoned you because tonight marks five years since we retrieved the Blood Crown."

"You mean to tell me that you are celebrating an anniversary?"

"Do I look like a celebrant, Swan? No. I wanted to see if you could summon up the ancient memories on this night. I need to feel connected to that part of me, and I do not know why. Perhaps the memory you summon may shed light upon this mystery, so I might find some peace."

"I could only tap into those memories when I drank Kelat's Blood from the chalice, Cadmus. Both of them are gone. I don't see how you think I can help now."

Cadmus returned his gaze to the heavens hanging over Dubai. The swirls and collisions of the cosmos sang to him, and he wondered if perhaps Vincent van Gogh had possessed some of the Tarmian blood, for his Starry Night was the closest a human had ever come to realising the truth of the night sky. Pieces of broken poetry filled his endless mind, inspired by what he beheld above him. Eventually, they may show up as songs, a voice in the night reaching out to souls who felt most at home when the sun hid on the other side of the world.

“Have you not thought that my Blood may work, Orphaeus? I am her child, after all. It would be worth trying, in my opinion. And I am willing to share my sacred elixir with you, in the hope that you can tap into those ancient memories.”

Orphaeus was flabbergasted. “You want me to drink your Blood? Your Blood…”

“You would be only one of two Darklings to do so, and I feel compelled to do this thing, so much so that whatever gifts you receive by drinking from me would be worth the surrender of my normal control.”

Silence grew between them, as Orphaeus tried to make sense of a situation that bordered on insanity. In the normal world he was used to, Orphaeus would never have been given the offer of Cadmus’ Blood. To Orphaeus’ knowledge, the Plenipotentiary had never engaged in a full Ambrosciata, taking the Blood he wanted just before the orgasmic exchange, and killing the Vampire unfortunate enough to trust him to the point of opening up to such an experience.

“Will you do it, Swan?” Cadmus whispered, his voice cutting into the night sky above them like a scimitar. “Will you help me on this, our anniversary?”

Orphaeus weighed his options, then asked, “We won’t be engaging in Ambrosciata, will we? Because I do not trust you enough to engage in that.”

“No. No, Orphaeus. I could not bear to think of being intimate with you. I am unsure what our relationship truly is but, to be brutally honest with you, I despised you from the moment we met, and I despise you now."

Even MORE Cadmus and Orphaeus

Yeah, I'm writing kind of slow, but at least I'm writing!

Orphaeus laughed. “Well, it warms the cockles of my heart that the feeling is mutual.”

“Why, then, did you come back for me on Brown Mountain? Why did you not just let me die there?” Cadmus asked, and his voice was almost plaintive.

“Cadmus… I don’t know,” Orphaeus replied, splaying his fingers out before him in an unconscious expression of dramatics. “I just felt it was the right thing to do. You and I, we had been through so much, I couldn’t imagine a world without your predatory presence, I guess. Or maybe it was ingrained in me to do it along with all the memories Kelat passed along. Maybe she knew you wouldn’t die immediately. Maybe that was her plan all along.”

The Pariah cut his eyes to Orphaeus and smiled grimly and briefly. “That is exactly something like what my Mother would do. And I am certain her hope that the redemption I suffered on that accursed mountain would carry over into my new life as a full Darkling. She was wrong. She was wrong about many things. If she were responsible for your returning to save me, then she is responsible for the suffering the New Hive experiences now, and will experience until all of you are but the myth and legend most humans think we already are.”