Joscelin Fitzthomas (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dredefulchilde) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
undergrounds2016-01-04 08:58 pm
dredefulchilde) wrote in undergrounds2016-01-04 08:58 pm
Entry tags:
No Way to Handle Things/Who Made Me So Bad - January Catch-All
Mamma, the weeping
Ealing, 4 January
Jamie Brown died on 28 July 1990. He was nine years old; the victim of an accidental drowning at a crowded water park. Joscelin knows this because he did his research. That is one of the main perks of the modern technological era; all it took was a name on a headstone and a few keystrokes on a smartphone and he had access to twenty-five year old obituaries and opinion pieces about whether the water park was liable for the tragedy.
It also helped him track down the boy's mother, Candice, at her flat in Ealing. She was still grieving, the poor old dear, all these years later.
Getting her to invite him into her flat had been a bit trickier than usual, but once he was in he wasted no time in integrating himself into her little family. Joss excelled at mind control; he had her fully convinced he was her long-lost little boy in a matter of minutes. The arrangement worked well for both of them. He was back in London for the first time since the Seventies, and she had a son to take care of once more.
But it's been six months, and Mrs. Brown, no longer as young as she had once been, is fading fast. He has to find a new blood bag. Soon.
Before that, however, there's an appointment to keep.
An all-night cafe is a strange place for a small boy to be at two o'clock in the morning, but the very large bribe the boy gave the proprietor to keep quiet means he remains undisturbed. Looking quite bored, he idly checks the time on his phone. That is when he hears the footsteps behind him.
"You're late, Lord Coward."
Mamma, the angels
Westminster, 6 January
The Sixth of January marks the Feast of the Epiphany, an important point on the liturgical calendar celebrating the arrival of the Three Kings to the Holy Family. Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas season, and the beginning of a series of holy days culminating in Candlemas in February.
It's also Joscelin's birthday. He is six hundred and seventy-nine.
Birthdays are hardly important in the life of a vampire. Now that he's in his seventh century, they don't exactly hold the same significance as they once did when he was alive. The only reason he even remembers that his birthday even is 6 January is because of the interminable church services he endured as a child before getting to go home and feast.
Still, it isn't every day a boy turns 679. He decides to treat himself - a day at the cinema, perhaps. Or a cupcake at the cafe down the street.
Or a visit to a blood bag for hire. Just to celebrate.
No sleep in heaven
Tower Hamlets, 15 January
It's taken months to work up to this. Tower Hamlets is Islington territory, pure and simple. He's been all around London, everywhere but here, since his return to the city more than six month ago...just not to the heart of the vampire's world.
It's changed a lot since he was in power here during the nineteenth century. So has he. He's calmer now, more patient. Revenge doesn't need to be hasty to be effective. Time is one thing he has a lot of.
He smirks at a figure in the distance.
"Pleasant evening, isn't it?"
Or Bethlehem.
Ealing, 24 January
It isn't raining for once; a small mercy. The full moon shines down on the wintry city, and Joscelin knows instinctively he must be careful--werewolves could be about. But that doesn't matter, not now. Not when Candice Brown is dying in his arms in the middle of an abandoned park.
Joss hadn't thought about her heart when he started feeding off her. It hasn't kept up well with the strain of the constant bloodloss, and it's giving out.
"Help me!" he calls, out trying to get someone's attention. "Someone! She's sick!" It isn't supposed to happen this way. He's stopped killing humans. That was one of the terms of his banishment and he's kept it, damn it.
"You're not going to die, old woman. Not yet."
He bites his wrist and holds it to her mouth.
Ealing, 4 January
Jamie Brown died on 28 July 1990. He was nine years old; the victim of an accidental drowning at a crowded water park. Joscelin knows this because he did his research. That is one of the main perks of the modern technological era; all it took was a name on a headstone and a few keystrokes on a smartphone and he had access to twenty-five year old obituaries and opinion pieces about whether the water park was liable for the tragedy.
It also helped him track down the boy's mother, Candice, at her flat in Ealing. She was still grieving, the poor old dear, all these years later.
Getting her to invite him into her flat had been a bit trickier than usual, but once he was in he wasted no time in integrating himself into her little family. Joss excelled at mind control; he had her fully convinced he was her long-lost little boy in a matter of minutes. The arrangement worked well for both of them. He was back in London for the first time since the Seventies, and she had a son to take care of once more.
But it's been six months, and Mrs. Brown, no longer as young as she had once been, is fading fast. He has to find a new blood bag. Soon.
Before that, however, there's an appointment to keep.
An all-night cafe is a strange place for a small boy to be at two o'clock in the morning, but the very large bribe the boy gave the proprietor to keep quiet means he remains undisturbed. Looking quite bored, he idly checks the time on his phone. That is when he hears the footsteps behind him.
"You're late, Lord Coward."
Mamma, the angels
Westminster, 6 January
The Sixth of January marks the Feast of the Epiphany, an important point on the liturgical calendar celebrating the arrival of the Three Kings to the Holy Family. Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas season, and the beginning of a series of holy days culminating in Candlemas in February.
It's also Joscelin's birthday. He is six hundred and seventy-nine.
Birthdays are hardly important in the life of a vampire. Now that he's in his seventh century, they don't exactly hold the same significance as they once did when he was alive. The only reason he even remembers that his birthday even is 6 January is because of the interminable church services he endured as a child before getting to go home and feast.
Still, it isn't every day a boy turns 679. He decides to treat himself - a day at the cinema, perhaps. Or a cupcake at the cafe down the street.
Or a visit to a blood bag for hire. Just to celebrate.
No sleep in heaven
Tower Hamlets, 15 January
It's taken months to work up to this. Tower Hamlets is Islington territory, pure and simple. He's been all around London, everywhere but here, since his return to the city more than six month ago...just not to the heart of the vampire's world.
It's changed a lot since he was in power here during the nineteenth century. So has he. He's calmer now, more patient. Revenge doesn't need to be hasty to be effective. Time is one thing he has a lot of.
He smirks at a figure in the distance.
"Pleasant evening, isn't it?"
Or Bethlehem.
Ealing, 24 January
It isn't raining for once; a small mercy. The full moon shines down on the wintry city, and Joscelin knows instinctively he must be careful--werewolves could be about. But that doesn't matter, not now. Not when Candice Brown is dying in his arms in the middle of an abandoned park.
Joss hadn't thought about her heart when he started feeding off her. It hasn't kept up well with the strain of the constant bloodloss, and it's giving out.
"Help me!" he calls, out trying to get someone's attention. "Someone! She's sick!" It isn't supposed to happen this way. He's stopped killing humans. That was one of the terms of his banishment and he's kept it, damn it.
"You're not going to die, old woman. Not yet."
He bites his wrist and holds it to her mouth.
Mamma, the weeping
Which was part of his job. He didn't just answer for London. He answered on a national -- and even international -- scale. He had to look into possible terrorist attacks quite seriously. Even more so when he knew the origin of the assassination and had to make sure that an Incident wasn't caused by accident. So far, the navigation of the waters had been successful.
Difficult, sometimes complicated, but successful.
"I do have my own work to handle."
no subject
It says quite a lot about Joscelin that he has absolutely no problem with lecturing the head of the Metropolitan Police about how to do his job.
"Have you thought about what we discussed earlier? Am I welcomed back into the loving embrace of the Islington Nest?"
no subject
The authorities would accept that the perpetrator who had acted alone was out of the country. And everyone would go back to their daily business.
At the real question, Coward flashed a faint smile. Or, well, rather -- a smirk.
"Welcomed might be a bit strong of a word. You... may stay. But you will be watched. For some reason, they don't quite trust you. Not that I can imagine why."
no subject
He missed the little crucifix on its gold chain. Being stuck in the dark all the time was depressing. It had been far too long since he'd felt the sun on his skin (and not had it burned away to nothing).
"I can't say that I blame them. I supposed I earned that reputation." And there were still many, many vampires in the Nest who remembered his particularly spectacular ouster.
"Do I have to move back in? I've got a fairly good set-up going on with my blood bag. It's properly domestic."
no subject
"I imagine they'd prefer some distance. Until they're sure what to think about you and your return."
no subject
Joscelin straightened and fixed Coward with his most winning and angelic smile. "I do appreciate you coming out this evening. I take it Millicent has not been kept completely abreast of our little arrangement...?"
He certainly hoped she hadn't. It would be much funnier if he just showed up on her doorstep some evening, unannounced, having been fully reintegrated into Islington Nest...
no subject
Which meant that if he betrayed that trust, it would be Coward's responsibility to deal with him or die trying. It wasn't appealing, no, but it was another reason to have several political allies. People he could call in a favour with if he needed assistance hunting down a vampire much older than himself.
no subject
"I don't want that anymore. I don't even want my old position back. I just want back what is rightfully mine and damn the rest." Though revenge would not go amiss either, of course.
no subject
He might be young and considerably weaker than many vampires, but he'd lived a very different life than most of them. He was used to not only politics but double-dealing. Playing one Circle off another, using magical influence to alter human government, too. He could play the game, certainly.
no subject
How nostalgic.
"Well, you can assure Her Most Dignified Muchness that I'll be a good little boy and mind my Ps and Qs."
no subject
After all, over the years, things like that could change hands. He certainly hadn't done any investigating himself to see whether it was still around to be gotten back. It hardly mattered to him.
no subject
And, more importantly, it had been his sire's.
"Well, Lord Coward, I will let you get back to whatever it is you're doing. Letting the wolves overrun the city and all that."
no subject
"Do mind yourself. I doubt the nest will be as generous as they were last time should you cross them again."
no subject
"But the same to you. Until next time, Lord Coward."