An impasse. Eric can respect that. He's not so naive to believe that there might be friends of his victims who won't be as willing to let things go as she is.
"I did, too, at first. Everything was so overwhelming. I could see things thousands of yards away and smell even further. But it was the sounds I could pick up, pulses and heartbeats, conversations through closed doors."
He shrugs.
"Luckily you don't have to deal with it for long."
"He sounds like a number of vampires I know. Similar to a dead-beat father who has seventeen kids across fourteen states."
Eric has an opinion on it, of course, even if he released both his progeny's. He knew he was going to die and the last thing he ever wanted was for Pam to feel the same pain he did when his bond with Godric abruptly ended once he'd met the sun.
He turns and props his arms up on the railing and glances her way again.
He squints, noting the way she reacts. Eric has done his fair share of glamouring before but her answer is fairly unsuspecting on it's own. So, he asks.
Eric realizes right then that Rosita was obeying; a blanket order glamoured into her by that maker and he can't help but be angry on principle alone. That was a line that shouldn't be crossed. There were responsibilities.
He meets her gaze and holds it, nodding in understanding. "All right. We won't talk about that."
For her sake, he hopes temporary isn't very long. He can see what it's doing to her already.
She's coping with it the best she can, doing her utmost to pick and choose what falls under his command not to speak of their meeting - of her murder.
She'd been hoping it would get better when Cazador isn't here. So far, no such luck. She tries not to think about it, or the raw, aching absence sitting heavy behind her ribs.
That, she's learning, is probably mostly just her anyway.
"My point is just - I can't imagine some of the things Godric said the two of you mean to each other. But I can imagine a bit better now, perhaps."
Eric smiles, mostly to himself, but he can appreciate anyone who might want to try to understand even a little. The only other person that did is worlds away now.
"Yes, it is hard to imagine choosing to be with someone for a lifetime," He lingers, giving himself a second to think about the bond he had with Godric. "Let alone a thousand years. You really learn about a person in that time."
Eric welcomes the change of topic. Talking about his relationship with his maker is never one he wishes to get too in depth about.
He thinks about her question for a moment and then shrugs. "Are you looking for me to caution or enlighten you? And are you prepared to answer the same question?"
"Whatever you think is most important," she says again, and she shrugs.
She's in a delicate place, more than she thinks anyone here knows, more than she's willing to freely admit, but that's not the most important thing she thinks anyone should know about her.
Blue eyes bounce from Rosita to the passing scenery and back to her again, weighing her question before he finally decides. "I can't enter anyone's cabin unless they invite me in. They can also rescind that invitation at any time."
A beat.
"I will also probably try and seduce you at some point."
A little of both, she decides: warning and enlightenment. She isn't shocked or offended by the last comment. Indeed, she raises an eyebrow and pointedly looks him over from head to toe and back again.
"And what if I seduce you first?" No reason to be shy about it. He's no doubt well aware of what he looks like, as is she.
"I'm a straight shooter and I respect the same. Even if no one wants to hear it."
Eric's lips twitch and he can't help but dip his head forward and lean in towards her slightly, staying right outside the edges of her personal space.
He hums a pleased note. "Now that, I would wholeheartedly encourage." Another smile and he leans back again. "And I can see that you are. I appreciate blunt honesty."
Does that mean he's the honest type? Eh. One might say it depends on the need for being straightforward, Eric supposes.
She doesn't move when he does, doesn't lean forward, doesn't lean back. Just watches him.
She said she might, not that she's interested now. She said that she might be open to it, not that she's made up her mind. Then he leans back and she shakes her head.
"We'll have to see how things go." Sometimes she's a bit more literally a straight shooter than anticipated. "Anyone given you trouble yet, over coming in hard?"
The look is telling. Eric should be more respectful and to him, he is. But, Rosita did ask, however rhetorically it might have been and he simply stated, in not so many words, that he'd like that.
He lets out a chuckle before moving his gaze back out beyond the deck. "Ironically, no. I half expected a lynch mob to seek me out. Should I still expect it?"
She doesn't mind. The things she's survived- both before and after the virus - have left her with a thick enough skin to tolerate two people feeling out each other's boundaries.
He responds, and whether that's more his natural inclination, something about her, or Godric's nearby presence remains to be seen. As far as the question goes though, she shrugs again.
"I stabbed someone when I first came on board. It took her wife a few weeks to try to get her licks in, and the flood distracted people soon after your arrival. I would say it's not off the table. I'll also say the source may surprise you if it comes."
"I'm not worried if anyone does," Eric replies, seemingly indifferent about the whole experience. He's been hunted in his own world, too, and right now, he's pretty sure there will be hunters on the barge, in some capacity or another.
He shifts, turning to face her more while still keeping his distance. "That sounds more like a warning coming from you than what might come from the friend of someone else I killed."
Which was still very much unintentional given the less-than-clear circumstances of his arrival.
"What do you mean?" she asks, watching him. The stoicism is... neither here nor there just now in her opinion. She isn't happy that she hurt people when she arrived, but she thought she had to under the circumstances. If she'd had warning, she wouldn't have. As far as she's concerned it's the Admiral's fault.
"You said retaliation might not be off the table and the source may surprise me, if it comes," he repeats, though it's without accusation. He may have understood what she meant by saying that, though it still sounds a lot like it was an indirect warning coming from her for hurting Jesus.
Either way, he's not too worried. However, there is a small part of him that thinks maybe he should be, at least a little.
Eric lifts his head in understanding, finally getting what she meant.
"Well, you have nothing to worry about. The frenzy is done and that kind of temper only comes out when I don't sleep or eat," he tells her, tilting his head into a shrug that suggests she can believe him or not. He wouldn't try to convince her. Eric didn't know her well enough to care.
There's a quiet pause before he looks at her again.
"What happened to you before coming here that made you into who you are? You're hardened and fiercely protective of Jesus. Are you both from the same place?"
That or she's been there longer than he originally guessed.
"We are." Rosita can be cagey with details, especially with strangers, but this she doesn't mind being common knowledge. It's not worth trying to hide, and it's nothing either of them can change, given how different their world is from most of the others she's heard of here.
"There was a virus in our world, a couple years ago. It killed almost everyone, and then... brought them back." It's a gross oversimplification, but there aren't really words to convey the horror of it all anyway, so she starts there. "Anyone left has had to work pretty fucking hard to survive. Other survivors, as much as the dead."
At first, Eric can't help but compare it to his own world; the battle between vampire the undead and the humans who made it their mission to wipe them off the face of the planet and vice versa. But there is a difference and he listens without saying anything until she's finished.
"Is that how you ended up here?" he questions, curious if her hard work inevitably didn't pay off.
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"I did, too, at first. Everything was so overwhelming. I could see things thousands of yards away and smell even further. But it was the sounds I could pick up, pulses and heartbeats, conversations through closed doors."
He shrugs.
"Luckily you don't have to deal with it for long."
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"Mainly, though, I stink to myself. And I don't trust my friends with me."
She looks, finally, up at the stars and how they look different to her now.
"But it did also give me a glimpse of what it's like to be made. And, shortly thereafter, to have that maker fucking bail."
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"He sounds like a number of vampires I know. Similar to a dead-beat father who has seventeen kids across fourteen states."
Eric has an opinion on it, of course, even if he released both his progeny's. He knew he was going to die and the last thing he ever wanted was for Pam to feel the same pain he did when his bond with Godric abruptly ended once he'd met the sun.
He turns and props his arms up on the railing and glances her way again.
"Did they, at least, release you?"
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She should've known it would come up.
"I can't talk about that," she says, a bit brittle if she's honest.
"But I'm told it's only temporary anyway."
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"Why's that?"
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She lowers her eyes from the stars, meets his squarely again.
"Unless you mean the other and that is, of course, because this is temporary for me."
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He meets her gaze and holds it, nodding in understanding. "All right. We won't talk about that."
For her sake, he hopes temporary isn't very long. He can see what it's doing to her already.
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She'd been hoping it would get better when Cazador isn't here. So far, no such luck. She tries not to think about it, or the raw, aching absence sitting heavy behind her ribs.
That, she's learning, is probably mostly just her anyway.
"My point is just - I can't imagine some of the things Godric said the two of you mean to each other. But I can imagine a bit better now, perhaps."
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"Yes, it is hard to imagine choosing to be with someone for a lifetime," He lingers, giving himself a second to think about the bond he had with Godric. "Let alone a thousand years. You really learn about a person in that time."
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"What's most important for me to know about you here?" she asks.
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He thinks about her question for a moment and then shrugs. "Are you looking for me to caution or enlighten you? And are you prepared to answer the same question?"
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She's in a delicate place, more than she thinks anyone here knows, more than she's willing to freely admit, but that's not the most important thing she thinks anyone should know about her.
So she adds, "Sure. Why not."
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A beat.
"I will also probably try and seduce you at some point."
Hey, he's being honest here.
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"And what if I seduce you first?" No reason to be shy about it. He's no doubt well aware of what he looks like, as is she.
"I'm a straight shooter and I respect the same. Even if no one wants to hear it."
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He hums a pleased note. "Now that, I would wholeheartedly encourage." Another smile and he leans back again. "And I can see that you are. I appreciate blunt honesty."
Does that mean he's the honest type? Eh. One might say it depends on the need for being straightforward, Eric supposes.
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She said she might, not that she's interested now. She said that she might be open to it, not that she's made up her mind. Then he leans back and she shakes her head.
"We'll have to see how things go." Sometimes she's a bit more literally a straight shooter than anticipated. "Anyone given you trouble yet, over coming in hard?"
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He lets out a chuckle before moving his gaze back out beyond the deck. "Ironically, no. I half expected a lynch mob to seek me out. Should I still expect it?"
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He responds, and whether that's more his natural inclination, something about her, or Godric's nearby presence remains to be seen. As far as the question goes though, she shrugs again.
"I stabbed someone when I first came on board. It took her wife a few weeks to try to get her licks in, and the flood distracted people soon after your arrival. I would say it's not off the table. I'll also say the source may surprise you if it comes."
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He shifts, turning to face her more while still keeping his distance. "That sounds more like a warning coming from you than what might come from the friend of someone else I killed."
Which was still very much unintentional given the less-than-clear circumstances of his arrival.
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Others don't agree.
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Either way, he's not too worried. However, there is a small part of him that thinks maybe he should be, at least a little.
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"I said I was letting this one go. I meant it. If it happens again that's off the table, but we'll deal with it then."
If it happens again, Rosita won't care what Godric says about it, or Jesus himself. Not unless it's wildly out of the ordinary.
"It might be someone you didn't know even cared about anyone you hurt, or it might be someone using the excuse."
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"Well, you have nothing to worry about. The frenzy is done and that kind of temper only comes out when I don't sleep or eat," he tells her, tilting his head into a shrug that suggests she can believe him or not. He wouldn't try to convince her. Eric didn't know her well enough to care.
There's a quiet pause before he looks at her again.
"What happened to you before coming here that made you into who you are? You're hardened and fiercely protective of Jesus. Are you both from the same place?"
That or she's been there longer than he originally guessed.
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"There was a virus in our world, a couple years ago. It killed almost everyone, and then... brought them back." It's a gross oversimplification, but there aren't really words to convey the horror of it all anyway, so she starts there. "Anyone left has had to work pretty fucking hard to survive. Other survivors, as much as the dead."
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"Is that how you ended up here?" he questions, curious if her hard work inevitably didn't pay off.
(no subject)