perfectdevil | the city: inbox

Mr. Du Lac wasn't what I expected, he's a good man.

[ You done good, Lestat. Also, he still feels bad about the almost attack (twice) so this is purposefully late. ]

I know I already said it but thanks.

( Guess who just woke up? )

Where are you?

Joke: what is an unfortunate Ferris wheel rider's least favorite season? "Fall".

[Ghost, why are you like this.]

I suppose you think I'm some sort of idiot after a careless mishap like that.

[ It's nearing midnight when Lestat's device pings with a message. ]

Couldn't sleep. GOing on a booze run over by the university if you want to tag along

[ Johanna shoves her own phone back into her jacket pocket without looking for a response and heads for the stairs down to the street -- and fails to notice that her phone autocompleted "The" to thevampirelestat rather than The Seventh Crown of the Seventh Demon King. She figures if the trains aren't still running this late, she can just walk. District 3 is far enough away that she might get herself properly worn out by the time she gets home. ]

👻👻👻BOO!👻👻👻 Did I scare you? Well! It's OCTOBER SO! 🎃 SPOOKY SEASON IS UPON US! 🎃 DO YOU WANT TO MAKE YOUR HALLOWEEN WISH COME TRUE?!?!?! 👻🧟💀 SEND THIS MESSAGE TO 5 OTHER PEOPLE IN HALF AN HOUR AFTER READING THIS...🎃🎃🎃 otherwise something awful will happen on OCTOBER 31! HALLOWEEN! PERHAPS DEATH AWAITS YOU! ☠️☠️☠️ Just kidding you'll just have the bad luck of eternal BODY ODOR!🤢🤢🤢 So better beware!! 👻

[ Will isn’t panicking. Not at all. Not even a little bit okay. He’s being perfectly rational and reasonable and not internally screaming about how he’s an idiot and he should have said he wasn’t interested in going to black tie party at all. Nope. ]

You know stuff about fashion, right?
I figure you’re the best person to ask about it.

What do people wear the black tie events? How would I find something in not very much time at all?

[ Listen he’s been to one singular school dance and his mom put him in a sweater vest for it. He’s clueless and he needs to not be at very short notice. ]

[ at lestat's doorstep sits a paper-wrapped gift blooming profusely from its seams with long-stemmed paper flowers in dizzying greens and reds and oranges splayed along the painted watercolours of a rising, winter-morning dawn pale with still-visible pinpricks of mourning stars.

the package is no larger than two palms put together, and when picked up, weighs no more than standard flashlight. when unwrapped, within is a miniature version of the stained glass kaleidoscope that adorns the roof of the planetarium. the handcrank generates the power needed to bleed light through the opening, upon which its patterns are cast across the ceiling: a setting sun, a golden field stretching endlessly framed by two, towering trees that spiral into the cutting dusk of a weeping sky. pinpricks of silver light seeps through along the cracks of the sky proper, but not a star is to be seen.

the world is complete; the world is empty.

the card reads thus: ]

To Lestat,

With time constraints, I could only make but a pair of these devices, so you must forgive the quality of the imagery. However, I've always wondered if an image cast inside the lid of your coffin would bring you pleasant dreams. These devices can be mounted for ceilings as well, though I will need time to find the right images and stain the right kind of glass to compose it.

Lastly, if I may ask you for a favour: wait twenty-four hours, then tell Ghost the words 'pigpen', then ask her for me what took her so long, hm?

May your coming year be as sweet as watermelon, and as fruitful as pomegranates.

Regards,

Kaveh

[ There's a package that will find its way into Lestat's hands one way or another.

Inside, there's a box of 36 pearlescent shades of nail polish and a drawing of... one assumes is Lestat and Louis, sketched carefully but it's very hard to make art when you absolutely are not an artist and it won't capture their beauty but maybe it's charming? There's a note with no signature: ]

I don't think you need help looking more beautiful but I saw them and thought of you! Say hi to Louis for me too!

[Unfortunately for literally everyone, Ghost's idea of what makes a good gift is...sometimes. It's. It's really questionable. And often brightly-colored. And almost always ridiculously tacky.

Case in point: the box that Lestat receives contains TWO OF the world's tackiest snap bracelets in whatever hideous pattern you feel is most befittingly atrocious. Unfortunately, he'll likely discover that there's a note beneath.

Feel special, Lestat, you got the only sonnet in the whole bunch:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
I wouldn't dare. It'd be too cruel of me
To call up images of sunny May
When sunlight's something you can only see
Through borrowed eyes. Could I be so unkind
To leave you to rely on memory?
Those faded echoes paling in your mind —
A dream, at best; at worst, facsimile.
But neither shall I liken you to night,
For all that one might think it'd better fit;
For all you claim your darkness smothers light,
Those claims are, to be candid, full of shit.
What are you, then? This secret I entrust:
My fangs, my claws; my safety and my trust.

Merry Christmas! 🎄]

( Hidden around the apartment on Christmas Eve is an assortment of wrapped gifts for Lestat to find: warm leather gloves, a cashmere scarf, a set of combs and hair oils, a detective novel, CDs and films that sounded interesting or at least tolerable to watch together. The main event, however, is a Polaroid-style camera with instant film, and a scrapbook bound in soft red leather. On the inside cover, in Louis' neat cursive hand: )

For the memories we've yet to make.
Yours eternally,
Louis

[ He said any night, so don't mind if he picks the night right after the gala. Fatigue isn't something that usually obstructs him. ]

Are you ready for that spar? You can pick the location.

[ The next time Lestat stops by the diner, he'll get a box shoved into his hands by Daniel - who will give him a smile, but otherwise say nothing about it, conveniently disappearing into the backroom to grab some stuff for the diner..

Sorry, Lestat, seems like you'll have to check out what this is all about by yourself. Though it probably speaks for itself, given that it's definitely wrapped like a present. If he opens the box, he'll find an empty scrapbook inside.

There's also a note, which reads: ]

Thank you for your thoughtful gift. I actually had to think quite a bit as to what to give you in return, especially since we can grab practically anything we want ourselves in this place.

Still, I felt like this might be something you wouldn't think of yourself, but something that I think would be good for you. I don't think I told you before, but I love scrapbooking back home - gathering photos and other mementos of my family and putting them all down into one place. Perhaps this would be a good way for you to keep your memories of you and Louis safe too.

I wish you a good year too, and nothing but the best. This place may be cruel, but I know you'll make your way through it.

- Daniel

[ Have the recent revelations about this place been sticking in Daniel's mind like crazy, threatening to drive him crazy? Yes. Especially when he doesn't know what to do about it. Daniel definitely is someone who likes to take action when he's got worries about a very specific thing, but what do you do about a city that's very likely to kill both you and everyone you love sooner or later?

.. maybe the only thing you can do is checking up on said people. So-- ]

Hey, Lestat. Sorry for the sudden message.

I was just wondering how you've been lately. Has everything been alright?

text; username: mr. chandler

text; un: louis

text; un: raverobber

text; un: Constantine; mid-October

Text: PantsonPyre