avciterbiyecisi

[avciterbiyecisi]

Didn’t matter much. He gladly went to the other room to go see the little girl that his son seemed to adore.

“You get close to God too, only through your cereal enjoyment.” Sadik joked as he reached out to smooth her wispy hair back with a smile. What a cute kid. She was going to grow up to be a lovely lady just like her mother, he was sure. “How are you and Arthur doing?” He called back.

“Äh, Ramadan mubarak to you, too, Sadik.” At least she hoped that was the appropriate response. “Would you like to wish your niece well, too?” Lilli nodded toward the kitchen, where she left Margaret to be occupied in her high chair with some dry cereal. 

[avciterbiyecisi]

“Ramadan mubarak, my friend.”

[avciterbiyecisi]

“Armand, hold on for just a moment.” Sadik sighed in resignation as the other got up to leave. This always ended up messing with him, no matter how many acts of kindness he performed to wash away his guilt. No matter how many he reconciled with. He set the mug on the front counter before gesturing that he would lead him out.

“I do regret that our meeting turned out this way, but I am going to have to make it just a little more unpleasant. Even though I am sure Adem gave you that picture willingly, he knows he is not allowed to have images of his face around. I would ask you to delete it.” Sadik said as he started flipping through his ring of keys. “In return, i’d give you a hint to finding him.”

Armand was able to hate every single one of them. The concentrated abuse had happened continuously for around half a year (his grasp on time had obviously weakened) with hardly any let up until he was rescued. He barely remembered any faces to forgive. It was a different matter when it came to Marius.. but, well, he hadn’t forgiven him either.

The last thing he had wanted was to be corrected in that matter-of-fact tone. Now, he couldn’t drop it. “I am not irrational. And I never made a claim on the size of my suffering compared to anyone.” He didn’t like this at all. He needed some time alone. Horribly upset and angry for reasons he didn’t quite understand himself (although he knew it was something to do with disappointment), he picked up his phone and made to stand up, unwilling at the moment to listen to any justification he had. “I’m sorry for wasting your time. I can find your son myself.”

[avciterbiyecisi]

Sadik couldn’t blame him for keeping those strong feelings for so long. If he had gone a different route, if things had turned out another way, he might have held his hatred for much longer than he had. As it was, he had been unable to hate his own master in the end. Had sought to be stronger so that it couldn’t happen to him again.

“You act as if Ottomans invented the concept. Though, the trespasses we suffer are always greater than what comes before or after because we feel them more intensely.” He said simply. “But my government and I were very guilty at the time of quite a lot of suffering. I am well aware and we can drop the conversation as you see fit, though not all slaves of that millennium are dead.” He corrected.

Armand stayed firmly and vacantly quiet for a longer moment than he might have expected. It was like a sick joke, that he would turn out to be one of them. If a vampire could feel nauseous, he would. He didn’t know what to do or say. Funny that he seemed to revert into this state when even the memory was brought up. Helplessness, pain and vulnerability came to mind when he thought about the Turks and the capital of Constantinople. 

“How very big of you.” He muttered, clenching his jaw in an attempt to not let his temper flare up or show that this was upsetting him as much as it was. Sadik seemed to have done this before, and his cardboard cut-out answer didn’t much help things. “No, you can’t change a thing, not now it is all over and done with. Everyone who was mistreated on your slave market are long dead, luckily for them. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

[avciterbiyecisi]

Not to say he jumped to the wrong ones.

Ah, he always did end up finding someone from the wide range of old enemies and victims. There were quite a few possibilities with that time that could have made this man hate his people. A certain portion of them directly his fault, of course But not all. Certainly not individually. Italy had been no small guilt of his.

“From start to finish, yes.” He confirmed, setting his coffee down with a bit of a tired expression. Not that he suddenly looked like he hadn’t slept but that the loss of his warm expression made the general exhaustion he felt more clear. “If you wish to air your grievances, I will listen to them. I can’t change it and I will not accept guilt that isn’t mine, but I don’t ignore the harm caused.” He said calmly.

“I had another one. It was changed, many times.” He replied dismissively. Armand paused for a second, and fitted the pieces of history together in his head. Not to mention where he had heard Constantinople referenced to as that. To say that he was jumping to conclusions was accurate. “Well, then. Were you an Ottoman, Sadik?” He asked quietly, with a dangerous change in tone. 

[avciterbiyecisi]

“Russian? You sure migrated your name, then.” He joked lightly before taking another sip of coffee. Well,  Muscovy hadn’t been a place he was interacting with too terribly much, at the time. Why not be honest here? “Otranto for a short while.  Kostantiniyye for most of it.”

“Kiev.” He answered after a short hesitation. The trace of a Russian accent in him was muddled with so many of the different influences he had known throughout his life, and the most anyone could pin it down to was normally just European. “So, you see, there really were some unfortunate circumstances involved. Where were you?”

[avciterbiyecisi]

eternalandrei

He decided not to question that too far. “Maybe not, then. My birth date.. 1489? No, 1480.” He frowned. “There’s not much I remember solidly, either, near the beginning of my life. Unfortunate circumstances.”

“I will hold you to that.” He shrugged, seeing no point in trying to argue with him on the matter. He didn’t believe it in the slightest. A lot of decades had passed, after all.

“Then again some periods of our life aren’t very memorable. I can remember quite a stretch of time where I just did the nomad thing. Content years but not the kind you put in your memoirs.” He laughed to himself.

“1480.. Hm, where were you born?” He asked. An interesting year for him. He had refused to go to Italy at the time but had been quite... Involved in other parts of that campaign.

[avciterbiyecisi]

“Ah, it’s been a while since I last counted. Your ‘Maker’ seems to have a few years on me. The earliest I have pinned myself is about fourteen hundred but I haven’t really been able to find exactly when I started realizing I was sentient.” He shrugged a little. “Memories tend to get fuzzy.”

“That sounds so cynical. Maybe you just need to wait a few more decades. Humans always cycle through different styles, you’re bound to find something that is good.”

He paused for a moment. “I think you are old. Older than you seem. From your answer, I suppose you still consider me young and inexperienced. You seem like my Maker.. he has been living for two thousand years.“

Armand held back a cynical laugh. “Thank you for the suggestions, but if it was as simple as that I’m sure I would be happily married with a restaurant of my own.” He replied skeptically. “Don’t think that I haven’t tried. I’ve tried travelling, settling, opening my own business and burning it to the ground. There isn’t a place for all of us.”

[avciterbiyecisi]

“And how old do you guess I am, then?” Sadik asked curiously. Armand was still considerably younger than him. Felt more like an angsty teenager, which Sadk had experience with.

“I won’t deny that it has gotten much harder to just blend in with them. But I think you have a weird concept of science and technology.” He nodded thoughtfully. “It sounds more like you just haven’t found what you like doing yet. There’s a lot out there and weird people doing it that are pretty interesting. I’ve certainly had many careers to fill me time but the end of the all-consuming cult mindset isn’t the end of your life.”

“I am over five-hundred years old. I am not a ‘young man’. Don’t be fooled by appearances. It’s a good thing neither of us are looking for unpleasantness, then.” He assured back patiently. “In every sense. We-I- used to have a place in the world. Before technology and science. We were the creatures of the night, and we had a purpose. I was a servant of the Devil, scum, like I was supposed to be. Then I was thrown into a world where I didn’t fit at all. Now, even the Devil doesn’t need a creature like me to carry out His dirty work.” Armand had grown more agitated, but he took a moment to breathe and calm down. “It doesn’t matter. Sooner or later, the humans will find a way to destroy us, like anything else that threatens them.”

[avciterbiyecisi]

“I know very well that I don’t have to answer anything. If you did mean harm, this conversation would become much less pleasant for the both of us, I assure you, young man.” Sadik smiled, leaning back to show he was quite comfortable with being locked in a building alone with a vampire. Not his first rodeo. Not to say he wasn’t protective of his family.

“Do you mean biblically pointless or pointless in the grand scheme of whatever in the universe?”

“Why? Because I’m curious and I find your family interesting. Do I need any other reason?” Armand answered ambiguously. “I am a vampire, and I am sick of other vampires. We are evil, selfish things, and our existence is pointless.” Funny how Adem had asked him the same thing. Maybe his last statement had been wrong. “You don’t have to answer my questions if they make you uncomfortable, but I mean you no harm, and I have no reason to hide anything. I only want an interesting discussion.”

[avciterbiyecisi]

“Don’t really know what you mean by that but I suppose I do. I’ve lived with humans for most of my life and, trust me, that’s been a while. Got the full range of emotions, feel pain, so on.” He chuckled before taking another sip of coffee. “It’s only rude when you don’t return the favor of telling me who your kind are when you are eager to find out such things about my family.”

He was unable to hide his intrigue at this point. “I have never met someone who is truly happy living like that. But then again, you are not one of my kind, so I have nothing to compare you to.” Armand leaned forward a little. “I hope this isn’t a rude question. Do you feel like a human does? You are so different to your son.”

[avciterbiyecisi]

“On the contrary, I feel much better about myself. I’m not on some overzealous quest to save the world or starving myself like a young Siddartha. I’m living the way I want to and giving my excesses to those that can make their own life goals to help the poor and abused.” He explained with no reservations about discussing his ethic drive. At least, until it came to why he felt compelled to do so. That tended to stay vague.

“Not at all.” A lie, but it wasn’t a damnable offense. That was pretty interesting, too. They had very differing philosophies. “Don’t you think it’s pointless? The moment you help someone, someone else is in greater need and the cycle never ends, and suddenly you feel personally responsible for every tragedy that occurs. It can’t be very emotionally healthy.”

[avciterbiyecisi]

“Did I offend you?” He asked, raising a brow at the other’s expression.

Now, that was interesting. Not surprising, as long as Adem said it with a wrinkled nose like it was explaining brain surgery. “It is an active giving. I make much more money than we need and so does my husband. So I do give as often as possible to those that need it much more than I do.”

Rude. He set the phone down on the table and scowled a little, folding his arms. Armand didn’t want to be grouped with however else Adem surrounded himself with. Probably no one of a very high caliber, considering Sadik’s tone.

“It’s not unheard of for people to act in such ways. It has been a long time since I’ve come across someone that lives like this, but I suppose they are less conspicuous.” He reminded him a little of Marius. That was something he preferred to suppress right now. “Come to think of it, I should have guessed. Adem told me you gave all your money to charity.”

[avciterbiyecisi]

Sadik’s eyes went from Armand’s face to the device in his hands that he kept glancing down at. He wasn’t sure what to make of it until it clicked in his head. Adem had let this guy take a picture of him to remember him by, hadn’t he? Allahim, grant him the patience needed not to get frustrated with that toddler.

“I am never unimpressed by his pool of friends.” Sadik snorted lightly, pausing when his employees exited the kitchens to wave goodbye. The woman from earlier rushed over to Sadik once more to thank him profusely before he kissed her cheeks and sent her on her way to the door. After locking up, he returned to tend to the coffee kettle.

“Let me guess. You were expecting someone in a really expensive suit that looks like he would set a pack of dogs on people he wanted to disappear?” Sadik asked while he serenely poured his drink. Fingers wrapped around the hot mug, he sat across from Adem’s friend. “Am I right?”

He raised his eyebrows in partial surprise. Son, hm? So he had found one of his fabled male parents? He pulled up a picture from his phone and compared the both of them, tilting his head in interest. Hopefully this was the one that had experienced womanhood. Armand thought it might be rude to bring that up yet, and apparently he’d already gotten Adem in trouble. “Oh, don’t you worry. We are.. friends. Of a sort. We went out to dinner. He promised me he would make the chase interesting when I tried to find him next.” 

He paused. “You aren’t as I pictured.” For a moment, he felt a rare stab of jealousy. Adem had a father, and he was looked gentle and kind. Docile, even. He obviously cared for him. Did he know how lucky he was, with creatures like them?

[avciterbiyecisi]

eternalandrei

He sat himself down on a chair and glanced at a menu, mostly disinterested in it. “I must confess that I can’t consume anything you can make for me here.” He sneaked a glance at Sadik over the paper. “I’m looking for someone. It’s a challenge, considering I keep forgetting what he looks like. He goes by Adem Rouvas. I heard this was the place to go.”

“Oh, we are going to have such a long talk when he gets home.” Sadik chuckled to himself while the little kettles heated.

“You’ll keep forgetting no matter what you do, don’t worry.” He partially lied. A still friendly smile on his face, he hopped up on the counter to face his guest. “May I ask what my son has been up to that brings you here?” 

[avciterbiyecisi]

eternalandrei

Armand was richer than anyone he ever came across. It went without saying, normally, that he could throw enough money at a situation that it would work itself out. And, of course, he normally wasn’t really younger than anyone he met apart from a chosen few. 

He crossed his arms and watched her right back. He couldn’t tell what he was talking to, but he seemed to get along with humans and own a steady business. Offense certainly wasn’t intended, and it was as honest a bribe as he could make it. It hadn’t escaped his notice that this guy seemed to be from the same part of the world as Adem. Dare he say they even shared a resemblance? How curious. He shouldn’t jump to conclusions, though.

The laugh made him raise his eyebrows a little. It was enough money that he thought he might take him seriously. But, alas, an eternal seventeen year old had to take being laughed at from time to time. “Fine by me. I appreciate peace and quiet.” 

Indeed, you could see a few traits they shared, if you were to compare the picture to the Turk in front of you. While Adem was notably more Greek in his features with turquoise eyes, they did share very similar skin tones and build. It could be entirely conceivable they were related.

“Did you want to order anything while you sit around?” He asked, gesturing for Armand to follow him to a table near the front counter. Just close enough that Sadik would be able to talk with him while he made some coffee on the two-burner stove just for the hot drinks.

[avciterbiyecisi]

Sadik took one look at the money and couldn’t hold back the laugh. Was he being bribed by such a young face? It was just enough to make him more interested than offended. “Gulsu, burada, lutfen.” He called out in amusement.

When a young woman in a restaurant apron made her way over, sparing a curious look towards the stranger and her boss. “Evlilik hediyesi,” He smiled, taking the money from Armand to give to the young woman. She seemed to receive first before he laughed and shooed her away to her closing duties.

The older man watched her hurry away to show the other employees before turning to look at his customer once more. “I’ll keep the front open for a while, just you and me. I won’t keep my employees here late with no notice.”

Ah.. a non-human. Not the one he had wanted, but this couldn’t be a coincidence. He flashed a friendly smile, and pulled a few notes out of his (stolen) wallet. “Would this be enough for you to keep this place open a little while longer? I hate to be rushed.”