closed; forward-dated

[ofhope]

Who: Damon Salvatore, Joshua Christopher, and later Julia.
What: Joshua's loss ends...in a certain vampire's room, and Damon tries to be a hero. Unfortunately a bystander gets caught in the crossfire.
When: Sunday morning (FEBRUARY 5th).
Where: Room 222 → Outside
Rating: R for violence and psychopaths.

Eight people (not counting the other people that got to walk in and out) and just over two weeks after the start of his loss, Joshua was steadily losing patience. The laundry room and kitchen had both been the most trying, given their loud activity. It wasn't his fault he had become a little violent.

At least he hadn't ripped off any heads.

Comments

[ofhope]

That drew his attention back towards her with a slight raised eyebrow before another smile touched at his features. So far he didn't mind this woman. Both in the situation with Spike as well as here, she was remaining very calm and quiet.

He liked that. It was nostalgic. Did she have a deadpan humor like Fiore, he wondered?

"You're welcome. But it comes with a bit of a price. I'm not going to be able to take you back to the castle until tomorrow at the soonest. And don't be alarmed, but I hid your journal. Staying here now is already a risk, and I can't let you make it worse."

*not that she... edit button why do i fail to use it :|

[common_name]

There it was. The catch she'd been waiting for. Her suspicions had been merited.

Maybe she didn't usually put much trust in the journal, and tried to rely on it as little as possible. She still wasn't convinced that the filters were completely secure, and who knows what could be picked up on if a page were to be accidentally left open. But the fact that it had been taken from her left her feeling entirely too vulnerable. Combined with her current condition, the fact that she'd been cut off from the most available avenue of communication rendered her completely dependent on someone she barely even knew.

She had to work actively to suppress the surge of blind panic that threatened to take her over. It wouldn't do her any good. Letting that kind of irrationality win would prevent her from thinking clearly, and that would lead to nowhere but trouble. Not to mention, an action as simple as moving her arm still required a significant amount of time to recover from; if she tried to bolt, she knew she wouldn't make it very far.

A deep breath. "We're not in the castle." It wasn't a question. She knew she was stating the obvious.

[ofhope]

Shrugging, Joshua glanced around the room once more. It was just a plain room, an old one that had never been used. It was in terrible shape, really, and dust was everywhere. Not to mention it was freezing.

"I'd tell you where we are, but it doesn't really matter. Either way we're both stuck here for a little bit."

This was a predicament, though. He'd went through all the trouble to save the woman's life, but it was clear she was still having trouble. Had she lost that much blood? Joshua was no nurse, but at the same time he didn't just want to leave her in the room to freeze and starve. What was the point of healing her in that case?

"Don't panic, miss, I'm going to pick you up. I'm sure you want to move to a warmer room, and so do I."

Not bothering to wait for a response (what could she do? pinch him?), Joshua wasted no time in reaching down to scoop her up bridal style and pick her up off of the bed. At the very least, he was gentle this time, less rushed than before.

"There should still be some food here that hasn't gone bad. You look like you need to eat."

[common_name]

Even if she'd been left alone, she wouldn't have been able to keep up this conversation for much longer anyway. Her efforts to keep a grip on consciousness, to process all this information being thrown at her at once, were steadily beginning to run out of steam. Her eyelids, which had only become increasingly heavier as time went on, finally closed.

Figuring out the finer details of her current predicament would have to wait.

There was no protest on her part when she suddenly found herself being picked up, even if she might have wanted to try. How could there have been? It was almost impossible to register what was even happening anymore, much less be able to find enough energy to make an argument about it. She was instead quiet and limp in his arms.