#aliceconvo

[companyofthelost]

Someone remind me to go back to that quaint little bookshop tomorrow

[companyofthelost]

[text] You guess?

[text] Yep. 

[companyofthelost]

[text] Because I wanted to know who my mysterious adviser was. Or, I guess, my adviser's assumed name.

[text] I guess it's Sherlock Holmes. 

[companyofthelost]

[Text] (To: Alice) What does SH stand for?

[text] SH is the way Sherlock Holmes signs his texts in the BBC version of Sherlock. So, I suppose it stands for Sherlock Holmes. Why? 

[queenoriginal]

Loose Ends | Alice & Tatia

Greed - The girls rob the Mystic Falls Founder's Museum

"Go ahead."

"Me -- What?" The werewolf whispers, turning to her with wide eyes, but her hand was already halfway to the handle, like the crawling branch of an elm tree.

Tatia returns the exclamation with a raise of her brows, fracturing quickly into a reassuring smile. With no difficulty at all, Alice begins to pop the back door to the Founder's Museum open, and in they go, moving silently across the room. Apart from the faint sounds of late night cars across the street and the low drone of generators in the building, the museum stands empty, the air freezer cold. They walk down a series of corridors, its old green walls reminiscent of a dark hospital.

Small town, no alarm, no sheriff until morning.

"What am I here for again?" Squeaks the voice of the girl, surprisingly sturdy and cordial for a squeak.

"The Alabast." Her voice bounces off the dry walls.

Silence. They turn down another corridor. Tatia withholds a sigh.

"Because you're the only one I have in Mystic Falls who can tell me where it is. --You'll know it when you see it." This time, the vampire's voice wavers with uncertainty. The Alabast was an artefact that she had traced through the journals of naturalists who had ventured into cryptozoology in the twentieth century. It was rumoured to be able to prolong the life of whoever possessed it, but had disappeared for seventy years. Presuming immediately that it had to involve vampire blood somehow, she had brought a werewolf, but that didn't mean she was entirely sure what it was, or whether it was really here. But the Council had a habit of keeping secrets. It was worth a casual look-see. "I'll protect you--food; shelter..." Drenched in guilt at using her, Tatia's voice trails off as she seems to reassure herself, instead of Alice. The girl nods, keeping up in little steps with the vampire, whether by thankfulness or quiet indignation, Tatia doesn't know. But the vampire's mind runs with how manipulative she's become for a goal.

There's very little talking; it was a dishonest job. They descend the flight of stairs to the store room, darker and staled by the warm air from the humming machines and poor ventilation. Tatia hears a flick. The room lights up and Alice comes into view, her slim fingers still resting on the switch. The werewolf scans the shelves and compartments in the room. Paintings, terra cotta pots, marble statues, everything looked normal for a history museum's storage area.

Tatia shifts her weight, watching as Alice roams the aisles with her gaze landing on one artefact to the next. In a swoosh, she appears at Alice's side as soon as she hears something. She peers down at the object in the girl's hands. A brass box, laced all around with intricate Victorian carvings. She already knows what it hid, since it was a werewolf that had sniffed it out so quickly. Alice lifts the lid: A vial of blood. Vampire blood.

The elder sentient pockets the vial, reclaiming what belonged to her species. In the careless, greedy hands of scientists and doctors who were new to the supernatural world, that vile alone was enough to upturn the world.

It's time to go, but the vampire doesn't budge.

"I humbly apologise," she breathes finally, eyes on the ground. She feels a kind hand on her arm and turns to look. Alice's eyes were different. Understanding. Forgiving. Tatia frowns, but lets the werewolf lead her out of the museum by the arm, not speaking a word about the stolen miniature painting in Alice's coat pocket.