undergrounds | Magic's in the make-up~ [nighttime, mid-November]

Caroline hadn't known what to expect when the box was delivered. She ordered a fair amount of things online - especially now that her shopping hours were so limited - but she was pretty sure this wasn't one of them. She was even more sure when she opened the box and discovered a bottle of perfume inside. She definitely hadn't order that.

It wasn't until a few days later that she actually tried it on. And when she did, it actually good. Like, really good.

And so, the next time she had a night off, she decided to pull out a super cute outfit, spent half an hour on her make-up, put on a generous amount of the perfume and headed out the door. She wasn't exactly sure where she was going but it really didn't matter. She just knew it was going to be an exciting night.

[Caroline's perfume has some strange properties, naturally. It will make her highly attractive to anyone of a different supernatural type and utterly repulsive to any vampires. There is no effect on humans. Feel free to run into her anywhere in London that is at least somewhat safe for a vampire to be.]

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She nodded. "I just moved here myself. I grew up in Virginia. Mystic Falls, if you've ever heard of it." So far, no one in London had - not that she'd really expected them too.

Cesare just smiles at her, the way you do when you're talking about something entirely more suggestive.

"I haven't I'm afraid. Is it nice?" He leans in to mention something slightly more racy but then he feels a pull towards repulsion once more. He moves back, his eyes narrowing, trying to figure out quite what it is. She's cute. She seems nice. Why is he finding her so gross right now?

That was a bit odd. For a moment, she pretty sure he'd been trying to hit on her and then stopped? Weird.

"It's ... small. But nice, if that's your sort of thing." Somehow, she had a feeling it wasn't this guy's sort of thing.

Cesare doesn't hate "small but nice." He just doesn't typically gravitate towards it. He's always had a fondness for cities, with their hustle and bustle and their business potential. He's had a few decades every so often where he's sought out a small, middle of nowhere town, but it's been rare.

But for now he's distracted, still squinting, mostly ignoring her words.

"Excuse me, but you're a vampire, yes?" He's trying to figure out if there's some werewolf in her somehow. Is that why he's finding her so strangely repulsive?

That was definitely not the next question she'd been expecting. She looked at him carefully for a moment, then realized she'd actually seen him before, at the party after Southwark. She didn't remember much more than that though - she hadn't even caught his name.

"Yes," she answered. "You are too, I assume?"

Cesare nods.

"Of course." But he's still caught up on it all, still confused and distracted.

"You must excuse me but there's...something about you," he says as if he were talking about how beautiful she was, except instead he's highlighting the fact that for some reason, that he can't put his finger on, he finds her revulsive.

"Something good or something bad?" Caroline really can't get a good read on this conversation. It's beginning to make her a little nervous. Not quite nervous enough to get up and leave - though given what he is, that might not be as easily done as she would have liked anyway. She'd decided to pretty much assume that most vampires she met were older than her, and thus both stronger and faster.

He doesn't quite have the heart to say something bad to her.

"Something," he says as a form or compromise. "Please excuse me but There's something...aversive about you. I find myself repelled, which is odd because I shouldn't." Basically, Caroline, you're hot. Which is why he's finding this so damn weird.

He laughs a little and takes a swig of his drink.

"You must think me mad."

Yeah, mad about summed it up. But Caroline wasn't going to come out and say that.

"Um ... Sorry?" She didn't really know what else she could say. Aversive wasn't usually how someone described her, unless they were a person who hated her because she was a vampire. Obviously, that wasn't this guy's problem.

There's another pause as Cesare tries to figure out how to explain this. It's not exactly the easiest thing to describe.

"I think it might be..." His eyes narrow. "Your scent? With the greatest of respects, you smell of dog." Have you been hanging out with werewolves, Caroline? Because that's what Cesare is starting to believe.

"Excuse me?"

Caroline can't believe that he actually just said that. Or that he possibly thought that anyone could say something like that "with the greatest of respects."

And no, she has not been hanging out with werewolves.

His voice lowers for a second as he talks to her, leaning in slightly.

"You're a beautiful woman and by all accounts, I should be inviting you to somewhere more private by now for a drink of something stronger, but something is stopping me, and I think it's your aroma." He knows this sounds ridiculous, but at least he's putting it all out on the table.

"Where have you been?" Where possibly could she have picked up that scent?

Caroline had been on the verge of storming off - even debating the merits of throwing a drink in his face - but she stops when he leans in, deciding to give this conversation on last chance.

This explanation is at least significantly less insulting than the first. But she frowns at his question. "I haven't been anywhere. I just came here from my apartment after getting ready and ... oh." She suddenly thinks of the perfume, which had just shown up out of the blue. "Actually, I might know what it is."

Cesare still doesn't understand quite what it is, but at least Caroline is starting to seem to.

"Well, if you need a shower, I own a hotel a few streets away. I'm always happy to help out one of my kind." For a second, he considers offering to join her, but thinks better of it. This hasn't been the best conversation and she's still gross so. Not even Cesare can get past the smell just yet.

Caroline considers it for a moment, then shakes her head. "I think I'm going to call it a night. Go home, shower, try to recover from being told I literally stink." It was tough on a girl's self-esteem.

Cesare gives her an apologetic smile.

"Well, the offer is always open." After all, she's hot and polite and Cesare has a tendency to house a lot of people whom he finds useful...or hot and polite. It seems that's what happens when you have a large hotel. It's what happens with Cesare, anyway.

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks," Caroline says, before standing up and heading for the door. It has been a very strange night and it's left her longing for her apartment like never before.

Magic's in the make-up~ [nighttime, mid-November]

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