Pannic and Dragon

ooc:// Last sentence was a jewel. Literally LOL'd. Is he in human or wolf form right now though?

bic:// Marie was in his room almost as soon as he had opened his eyes.

"Good, you are finally awake," she said sharply. She was speaking in French, and speaking fast. The thickness of her accent also didn't help things. She handed him some water, and a plate stacked high with large chunks of rather raw meat.

"I have no idea what your tastes were before, but now you will like this," she said. She sat back and studied Pernas with her small blue eyes and was silent for a while.

"Bridgette came over while you were still asleep. She was worried about you, very worried. You must have made quite an impression on my little song bird. She normally doesn't take to Kristof's other slaves, but then...you are different, aren't you?"

It wasn't really a question. And her tone wasn't really light or cheerful. She was very nearly glaring at Pernas now, though she had neither done nor said anything unpleasant to him as long as he'd known her. She stood up suddenly, and walked to the door.

"Eat," she ordered, pointing at the plate with a long finger. She straightened her hair, that was, funny enough, done up in a French twist.

"I have no desire to watch you eat, but come to me when you are finished. I will be waiting outside on the veranda. I am sure a little sunlight could do you some good. You're very pale for a human," she snapped. And with that, she was gone.

ooc:// (Warning: Random Emotion) -huggles Pernas to death- He's such a sweet, cute werewolf!

((He's in wolf form right now))

It took a few seconds for Pernas to notice Marie. There was a slight... aversion, coming from the instincts (werewolves traditionally aren't too fond of vampires), but he managed to suppress it. After all, he trusted her. And besides, she had food.

He'd never had raw meat before, but the smell was strong and highly enticing. He was about to bite into it, when Marie told him about Bridgette's visit.

"She..." he started, but he paused so long before talking that Marie had already left the room.

He wondered what exactly it was that made Bridgette concerned about him. After all, if she usually didn't care about the servants... what made him special?

Well, his mind couldn't keep up with that train of thought. Food!

After he finished eating, he realized that he'd have to go back to Kristof. The thought unsettled him - what would Kristof do?

Marie was seated in a little white chair, palette in her lap, and paintbrush in her hand. She was painting a quaint little village, full of cottages and flowers and animals. She had started to paint a woman who looked as though she were holding an infant in her arms, and two small children beside her. The woman looked a bit like Marie, though he might have been mistaken. It was hardly even a sketch at that corner. She moved the brush with swift strokes, yet the landscape was soft and soothing. As Pernas walked out, she put down her palette and brush and motioned towards a rather larger chair for Pernas.

"Sit," she ordered in her thick French accent. She was silent, and sipped from a teacup on a table next to her. It was deep red, yet it had teabags in it. Marie followed Pernas' gaze to it, and laughed softly.

"'E do not all 'ill to feed, you know," she explained, "This iz ac'ually dove's blood mixed with rose petals and chamomile. It iz quite sweet, though, of course, you 'ould not like it." She became quiet, and thoughtful, staring at her unfinished watercolor. She seemed lost, lost inside her own thoughts and memories so deep that she could never return. But she did.

"Bridgette has just arrived, but perhaps you smell her now, hm? Orchids, she iz always smelling of orchids," she said with a smile. The sweet smell of flowers grew stronger, and Bridgette skipped in with a smile, crimson curls bouncing about her face. Her skin was still pale, but she certainly looked healthier than she had the last time Pernas remembered seeing her. Today was apparently an old Southern day for she wore a large white, blue flowered hoop skirt. The perfect Southern belle.

"Why don' you just look li' the bee's knees!" she exclaimed happily. Marie rolled her eyes, and Bridgette laughed.

"Oh, sorry, habit," she said, without any fake accent. She trotted over to Pernas and looked up at him with lively obsidian eyes. She reached up on her tiptoes and scratched behind his ear.

"You were right; he does make a good werewolf," she said, looking at Marie. The vampiress took a sip of her blood tea.

"O' course, I am. I am always right," she said lightly. Bridgette laughed, skipping over to Marie now. She planted a loving kiss on the vampiress' cheek, and Marie smiled more brightly than usual, muttering something about her 'sweet, little song bird.' She sat down, dress all around her, beside Marie's feet, and gazed at the painting.

"Your children?" she asked quietly. Marie turned her gaze towards the painting, and nodded silently. Her face was tight, and Bridgette's eyes grew softer. She laid her crimson head in Marie's lap, and the vampiress began to stroke her hair very gently.

"They say time heals all wounds, but they are wrong," she replied, now speaking in French. Bridgette whispered a heartfelt condolence to her in French, which Pernas heard very easily. Marie patted her head, and took another sip of tea.

"Perhaps, you should 'ell our friend, your good news? You were nearly bursting with it just yesterday," she said calmly. Bridgette's face lightened, and she turned to Pernas with an enormous smile.

"I've convinced Kristof to keep you as my permanent body guard!" she cried, jumping up to run over to him. She threw her arms around his furry neck, and buried her face in his fur.

"No nasty dog fighting for you. When Kristof is away, I'll finally be allowed out alone. We could go to the zoo, or the boardwalk, or the beach to have picnic, or anyplace we wanted! I mean, as long as Kristof approves it, of course," she said, pulling back just far enough to look up into his blue eyes. Her obsidian black eyes were flashing with liveliness again, and this seemed to cheer Marie up considerably. Even she was smiling softly.

Pernas entered the room and sat, as Marie commanded. She had a very strong tone, and was compelled to do as she said. So he sat down. Nice comfy cushions... he felt as though he could fall asleep. But he rose to alertness again, as Bridgette entered the room.

A new theme. It's as though Kristof had ADD or something. At least Marie seemed to be consistently French.

"Bridgette!" he said happily, sitting up and letting his tail wag a little. He watched her as she conversed with Marie, talking about stuff he had no comprehension of. Something somber, he gathered, from Marie's tone.

Then came a piece of good news. Good news? he thought. The thought was interrupted by Bridgette hugging him profusely. He was going to be her bodyguard.

"Bodyguard?" Pernas asked. "So... that means I'm with you and I protect you and stuff?" he asked eagerly. No dog fights. This was wonderful. Just like he had said - something happened to pull him out of the bad. And it was all thanks to Bridgette. "And I don't have to kill anyone or die?"

Marie rolled her eyes at the bewilderment of the werewolf, but Bridgette laughed. It was a beautiful sound. Light, happy, almost free. There was no Kristof now, only Bridgette. It was a glimpse of the girl as she was, as she was meant to be.

"No, Pernas, no fighting or scrapping or killing," she assured him cheerfully, "In fact, you'll probably last longer than me. I'm sure once Kristof gets rid of me, he'll still find some artistic use for you."

Marie flinched, and her face looked as if it had hardened into stone. Bridgette felt her discomfort, though she had still been gazing at Pernas. She unfolded her arms from his furry neck to look at the vampiress.

"I'm sorry. I...I just forgot," she whispered. Marie said nothing, and she was so still, she may have been made of stone. Bridgette's smile faded and she crossed the veranda to sit again with her head in the vampiress' lap. Marie did not soften, and she did not stroke the girl's crimson curls. Bridgette sighed, and looked up at Marie.

"Will you tell me again what your last words were as a human?" she asked. There was a slight twitch of a smile on her face now, and the smirk spread slowly to Marie's face as well.

"Monsieur, I ask your pardon. I did not do it on purpose," she answered, the smile spreading. Bridgette laughed softly, and shook her head in disbelief.

"You apologized for stepping on the foot of your executioner," she giggled. Marie laughed lightly now, and nodded. She began to stroke Bridgette's hair, and this seemed to comfort her.

"It was proper manners," she said.

Pernas' ears fell. There was an awkward silence.

'Once Kristof gets rid of me...' That word struck a nervous chord with him. If Bridgette was gone, he didn't want to be left with Kristof, alone...

But why should she die? Couldn't Kristof just... let her go? Why would he have to kill her?

Bridgette and Marie were now talking again. About Marie's last words as a human. Pernas let out a little grunt that was apparently laughter, but he didn't get it all that well. Didn't know the history of the fact.

He was really starting to feel stupid. Maybe being a wolf was making him dumber? No, that would be racist. But it was a bit hard for him to keep his train of thought consistent - instincts kept switching his focus. Random things he smelled or heard he would focus on, causing him to lose focus. Maybe that'd get better as he got more used to it.

Marie patted Bridgette's head one last time before taking up her teacup again.

"You two should be 'ff now, don' you think?" she asked. Bridgette's face hardened for a moment, but she nodded, put on a smile, and walked over to Pernas.

"Say 'thank you,' you dope," she whispered in a kind of hiss. Marie's lips twitched, though she held back the snicker. Finally, Bridgette tugged on Pernas' hairy paw, and led him out of Marie's house. There was no car. Apparently they were walking. Less time with Kristof was obviously a luxury that Bridgette enjoyed as often as possible.

"You know who she is, don't you?" she asked. Her obsidian eyes were flashing brightly, as though she expected the werewolf to respond immediately. It was a bit comical now, the two of them strolling together. She had to tilt her head quite a bit higher to look at his face now, though his furry change didn't seem to have bothered her at all. Then again, she'd lived with immortals for a very long time, in human years that is.

"She's Marie, the Marie. Marie Antoinette of France, well, actually she came from Portugal, but whatever," she explained, "She was turned a few days before they brought her to the guillotine. The vampire who turned her made sure that when they buried her, her head was placed back on her corpse. He dug her back up, gave her some blood, and she healed right up." She spoke as though it were the most common thing in the world that the two had just been conversing with a supposedly dead royal figure. Bridgette became quiet now, crimson curls bouncing along as she walked. She put her arm around Pernas' own, and pressed her tiny body as closely against his as she could without causing either to stumble.

"She raised me from the time I was two, or somewhere around that age. I doubt my birth mother even kept track. She was a prostitute on the streets of Paris. Not high class, like the escorts. She may as well as lived on the street, selling herself for bread and wine to keep us from starving. It was a mystery to me for a long time, why Kristof chose her as his prey that night. You know Kristof, he likes the expensive and lavish and extravagant. It finally dawned on me though. I...I must look a lot like her, my mother. Kristof is always talking about my hair and my eyes and my skin. It must have been what attracted him to my mother, even if she was probably colored in grime," she said. She spoke slowly now. Even her steps were shorter and softer. Her obsidian eyes grew darker, though it was hard to believe they could, and something in her jaw tightened.

"After he killed my mother, he just...happened upon me by chance. I must have cried out in the other room. I don't remember him back then. He took me straight to Marie, told her to train me in every art she knew. Language, dance, speech, etiquette, song, instrument, drawing, painting - everything. From every different era. So she did. And when I turned 18, he came for me. I'd been raised knowing what I was, knowing what would happen. But I wish he had chosen someone other than Marie. The loss of her children almost broke her, and now after losing me...I'm afraid she may go mad with grief," she said. She stopped walking, and thrust her tiny frame into the werewolf's chest. He was warm, and the fur was soft. She breathed in his new scent, and sighed in contentment.

"It doesn't bother me," she said calmly, "I would have died 17 years ago if Kristof hadn't found me, just another unnamed brat that starved to death on the streets of Paris. I've been with Kristof for over a year now, and as far as vampire masters go, he's very kind to me. I know that someday, maybe in a month or two, or maybe a year or two, he'll decide he wants a new blood doll and he'll kill me, but I...I've had a good life. I had many happy memories with Marie, and I think I'll have many happy memories with you too, Pernas."

She did not move, but stood, face, chest and arms curled into his big furry chest.

Pernas just stood there like a big dumb brute. He worried if he said something, he'd sound stupid and get chided or something.

He put his arms around her as she buried her face in his fur. He thought, and he made a decision:

He was going to save her. He wasn't going to let Kristof kill her. As a matter of fact, he was going to get her away from him forever.

And he had an idea how.

He listened to what she said.

"I don't have very many memories," he said. "I woke up a year or so ago in a hospital, in a far-away place. The people there asked me some strange questions that confused me. I didn't understand anything. After a week or so I left, with just a few possessions that I had, somehow. Sometimes I try to remember, but I can't. Some things I know, like that music. I have no idea how I know those pieces, but I just do, like I learned them at another time - a time I can't remember."

Bridgette looked up into his eyes, a slight frown on her pale face.

"No memories at all? Well, maybe Kristof could help. He's a mind reader. He may be able to find something in that head of your's that you've forgotten," she suggested. She didn't need to see a look of apprehension on his face to know what he would think of that idea. She twirled out of his arms, grabbed his paw in her hand, and began walking again.

"I know. Having him in your head is really...uncomfortable. Take my word for it. And if I know Kristof, and I think I do, he'll leave a trace of himself. Some kind of mental link. He gave me one. He uses it to find out where I am and what I'm doing. He doesn't do it often anymore because he trusts me, but..." she stopped speaking and a visible shudder shook her tiny shoulders.

"Well, maybe you and I should just try and find a way. We can start with the music," she said. Now she drifted off into thought as every step led them closer to Kristof's mansion.

Pernas thought a minute. "I... don't think I want Kristof's help on this. I doubt the memories are particularly important. If they were, I wouldn't have forgotten." he said.

Well, there they were, back at Kristof's mansion. He imagined that Kristof might want to take a look at and see what he had pulled from the dogfighting ring. Likely cause to be subject to more debasement. Then another thought hit him.

"I wonder if Marie Antoinette could play herself in The Ghosts of Versailles..." he thought out loud.

ooc:// Sorry, I'm taking so long. I have serious writer's block, and I can't figure out what I want to happen next. Any ideas?

((Hmm. I'm not sure))

ooc:// I've finally hatched an idea, but I've got homework. Should be able to reply tonight.

ooc:// I have come to a rather...unflattering realization about myself. Again, I will have to ask for your forgiveness. I have been extremely unfair to you, though please understand it was not intentionally done.

I wanted to write Bridgette as a character. I thought that meant that I wanted to enter into an extended One on One roleplay with you, her being my main character. But I was wrong. Now that Bridgette is "out of my system" I no longer care for the story. I am completely apathetic about it, now that her character is explored.

I know this will sound cheesy, but it has nothing to do with you, or your writing. I cherish your writing and your characters which is why this is so hard for me to face. If I offended you, and lost your friendship, it would grieve me very deeply. I do not exaggerate.

So I offer you my sincerest apologies and a proposition. I will force myself to continue writing the story if you and I could make up a focused outline, wrapping it up in the next two or three weeks. Let me know your thoughts.