People have all the time in the world to plot and sceme against one another and still have plenty more time to spare. And what do they use that spare time for? Wrong question, as it turns out. They most certainly don’t use it to party every once in a while. Saddest St. Patrick’s Day ever.

As nights go that one started out particularily bad. I still had those mindnumbing headaches. Fortunately Shiraz was there, seeing as I had those pains because I screwed up with something I did for him. Basically he waves it away and said I’d owe him, the latter being what could have been expected. All in all it went quite peachy. No harm done. Odd though. Usually I don’t screw up like this.

Was present during an interesting conversation between Simon and the Doc. Basically the good old Doctor now has a new task, which is to figure out the greater sense behind his clan’s insanity. Good luck on that. It’s not as if nobody tried this before. Talk about being bound to fail. A shame Simon told me not to talk about this to anyone. Would have made for a good story too.

Finally got that date with Baumgartner fixed. It’s going to be on April 16th. Curious to see what he’s got in store. And why he chooses his particular diet. If it’s volunatrily or out of mortal habbits this could be very interesting.

Then there was Saarbrücken… Seriously, I don’t want to hear another word from Alena about how my offspring can’t behave. Those fellows paid no respect at all to their own prince while all Marius did wrong was not to kneel before her, a neonate who keeps clashing with another primogen because she can’t do the proper bows either! Also they kept ignoring Jason in their games and bent their rules when I tried to screw with them a bit. Not very sportsmanly. I am displeased.

It was a very strange mix that Brückner brought with her that night: There was the Countess von Lehndorff-Bruni, von Lützow, Thomas as primogen of his clan, Jason, Baumgartner and I. Imagine the surprise when we ran into none other but Sparkle right there! Naturally she was a bit pissed that Jason didn’t wear one of her gifts. Ah, and did I mention yucky drinks? Yuck!

Either way. Thomas was interested in the prince’s well-being as well. Which was either and act that he learned so well that he actually believes it… Or it was genuine. I’m inclined to go for the latter. We had a short talk about that. Will have to go into detail on this some other time. Also I tried to calm Jason down a bit, seeing as he is still worried sick over Marius. Him and Thomas talked at some point and Jason seemed… devastated. I’m not going to pry. If he needs my support he knows I’ll help him. But he’s no fledgeling. Some things we need to figure out on our own. What worries me is that Jason is very swift to point out that he trusts people. I don’t think he’s enough of a fool to actually do it, at least not with everyone he says it’s so. Letting aside what I think binds us – and though my head may tell me differently I’m still deciding to trust him – this could mean that somebody else catches up on that. So while he’s worried that Marius might be my undoing I’m worried that his behaviour, fake or not, might get him into some serious trouble.

And then as to the prince and her friend… Though there was no real intimacy of any kind last night I still feel that there is a certain amount of benevolence both of them grant us, for the time being. With Lehndorff-Bruni I’m pretty sure she does that because she has no reason to take us down yet, which is good enough for me. It’s different with Brückner though. For someone who seemingly cares so little about her own humanity she is too interested in the well-being of her subjects. Maybe it’d be best to remind her that what helps us best is that she is fine.

Maybe in a couple of centuries things will have changed. Jason will be somewhere, being somebody’s Seneshall and having his prince think that he’s in power while in reality Jason is the one holding the reins. And me? By that time I will either be all the way dead or have matured enough to actually give a shit about responsibilities and rank. If so, I might have some position as well. However, we will never reach that age without a good leader in our current situation. Brückner is just that. So as far as I’m concerned it’s in our best interest to keep and protect her.

The whole thing about Marius makes me wonder whether it was a good idea to drag Dee with me through the ages. I wonder whether she would have decided against it, had I given her the chance. We never got married… But: “Until death do part us” – and death did. Only I wouldn’t let the old bastard do it, which makes me a bit of a fraud. But does it make us real?

Die Wunde an seinem Handgelenk war zu, noch ehe er es von den Lippen geführt hatte. Erstaunlich. Das erklärte die Unversehrtheit seines Halses wenige Nächte zuvor. Sein Blick ruhte auf dem Glas das vor ihm auf der Anrichte stand.
“You’re still not telling me what it is, right?” Gespielt schmollend rief Dee aus dem Wohnzimmer herüber.
“No, I’m not.” Nein, würde er nicht. Konnte er nicht, jedenfalls nicht bis das hier hinter sie beide gebracht war. Er nahm das Glas auf, trug es einen Raum weiter und hielt es Dee hin, die es mit einem skeptischen Blick annahm und musterte.
Einen Moment schwieg sie. Dann war die Skepsis in ihrer Stimme keineswegs mehr gespielt. “It does look like blood.” Sie führte das Glas unter ihre Nase und roch am Inhalt. “Smells a bit like blood too.”
“Seeing as I’m the one who handed you the glas I am perfectly aware of what it looks and smells like.” Das zugerhöige schelmische Grinsen hatte schon bei seiner Mutter funktioniert. Seine Gesprächspartnerin hatte die Güte es entweder nicht zu durchschauen oder es ihn zumindest nicht merken zu lassen. “You have my word that you will never before have tasted something that great – and if you did I would be seriously concerned right now. So whatever it is… Trust me. Just like it used to be, hm?”

Die Rollläden des Schlafzimmers waren vollständig heruntergelassen. Das Licht war aus. Nachdem Dee anfänglich immer wieder ihren Kopf anders auf seiner Brust abgelegt hatte war irgendwann die Erkenntnis durchgedrungen, dass egal wo ihr Kopf lag, sie würde den wohlbekannten Herzschlag darunter nicht hören können. “You will be alright, won’t you…?”
“Yeah… I’ll be fine. You’ll see in the evening when I wake up, once the sun is down.” Der Herzschlag fehlte, ja. Aber seine Hand kraulte wie immer ihren Rücken, während sie da so lag.
Dee lächelte ein wenig zu seelig in sich hinein. “I love you…” In all den Jahren hatte sie das nie gesagt. Wenigstens einer von ihnen erhielt den Trend aufrecht. Aber Dee wusste, er würde lächeln. Jedenfalls wenn er gekonnt hätte. Sicherlich ging gerade viel zu viel in seinem Kopf vor. Er war so abgelenkt. Sonst hätte er es erwidert. Ganz sicher.
So war es Dee, die vor ihm einschlief. Und erst dann erhielt sie die Antwort. “I’m so sorry…”