Palace of Power - Waiting Room
This room is wide, carpeted in the same red as the Audience Chamber above. Long tables and seats fill this room, the waiting area for new arrivals from the Warp Zones. Missions are sometimes planned here, and the place often serves as a kind of briefing area, a command center for the war for Videoland's freedom. It is usually busy in here, regardless, beings coming and going constantly from the zones below.
Contents:
Soma Cruz
Obvious exits:
[W]est leads to Palace of Power - Warp Zone Room.
[U]p leads to Palace of Power - Audience Chamber.
Heather Mason walks up from the downstairs, heading out of the warp room. She's tracing her hand across the interior wall of the building... holding fast to the railing, and her eyes darting about when she reaches the upstairs. She's not sure if she should expect anyone around, at this hour of the day.
Soma Cruz is sitting at one of the large tables in the room, his feet up on it. In his hands is a magazine, sports from the look of it. His coat is draped over the back of the chair, and he's dressed, for once, in a shirt that doesn't look like it's been burnt off of his back recently.
Heather Mason spots Soma, a person she hasn't really seen before. At least...looks like a guy, that much she figures out only after a second glance. "Hey," she says, detachedly.
Soma Cruz lifts his head from the book, and offers a warm smile as he sets it down and gets his feet off the table. "Good evening." He neglects to un-tip his chair, however, and thus spends the next couple of seconds barely managing to negotiate a lack of falling over backwards, which is followed by a sheepish silence.
Well, he doesn't seem all that talkative, either. Maybe there's no reason to linger. But it's not as if Heather has anywhere to go. Bed? Ha. "I haven't seen you around."
Soma Cruz chuckles softly and nods, "Yes, well... I've been away recently. A good friend dragged me along to a movie marathon, and it was... quite some time before I recovered." He rises to his feet with a faint smile, "But where are my manners..." Giving you a sweeping, courtly bow, he pronounces, "Soma Cruz, bearer of several boring titles, at your service, fair lady."
Heather Mason puts her hands behind her back. "Heather Mason, bearer of no boring titles." She clears her throat. "Well...no. Actually I'm Princess's Assistant. That might be suitably boring."
Soma Cruz chuckles softly, "Well, I suppose that warrants a sharing of one of my own... I suppose the one I prefer to get out in the open the most is Ex-Count Dracula... Because it's best to air secrets like that before they can become secrets, lest someone decide to tell you in a less explainable light..."
Heather Mason does a very pronounced double-take. Her eyebrows raise, and lower, and she blinks several times, then, shakes her head. "You said you were...what now?" She reaches up to her vest pocket, and doublechecks to make sure her radio is on.
Soma Cruz chuckles softly again, "I'm fairly used to that reaction... I am the reincarnation of Vlad Tepes, the Count Dracula." He frowns faintly, "Though it's rather confusing here, since he still lives..." Shaking his head to clear it, he continues, "I am not evil, however, I assure you... I was given a chance to choose my own path, rather than continue in my former incarnation's footsteps, and I took it."
The radio WAS on, so Heather was willing to believe this person wasn't evil.
It's the admission that startles her the most. It seemed so geniune and out of the blue, as a way of personal introduction. "Me too," says Heather, vaugely. It's an unusually cheerful statement, especially coming from her. "How did you figure...that out?"
Soma Cruz smiles, "That I was the reincarnation of Dracula? I had it rather forcibly 'reminded' to me by my past... CastleVania itself tried to reclaim me. That I could walk another path, I learned from a man I call brother... a man I called son in my former life. Alucard."
Heather Mason goes wide-eyed for a second, and shuffles a foot on the ground. "...Bummer," she offers. Very helpful. "Do you get a lot of headaches?"
Soma Cruz shakes his head, and taps his chest over his heart, "Not usually. What I was is sealed within my soul. So it doesn't bother me too often... The occasional twinge.when I'm truly angry is all." He tilts his head, scrutinizing you, "... I get the feeling this is not a wholly... rhetorical... question."
Wow. Yeah. Heather meets the man's gaze, and, blinks her dark eyes a few times. Other than seeming really pale, he looked healthy. She felt sick almost all the time... especially when angry. And now she almost feels a little jealous. "Do you have...powers, or something?"
Soma Cruz shudders very faintly, before nodding, "... of a sort." He sighs, and politely offers a chair as he explains, "When I first... awakened... to my heritage, I discovered that somehow I was given as a natural ability one of the spells I used most frequently in my past life... The spell of Soul Stealing." He shivers again, and continues, "I... don't know how I got it, but now within me are the souls of the denizens of CastleVania, lending me their strength and powers. It is not something I am completely comfortable with, to be totally honest. I often awake with nightmares because of my worry of what I have become..."
"I'm sorry," says Heather. It's the kind of sorry that can only be spoken by someone who completely understands. By someone who walks the halls late at night because of the dreams that keep her awake. But...someone scared, still, to make that admission. "I'm... really sorry to hear that."
Soma Cruz smiles softly, reaching out to gently squeeze your shoulder, his eyes meeting yours with a gaze of understanding, as he begins to grasp at the edges of the situation, "As am I... I suppose that is what keeps us both from being abed currently... A desire to fend off sleep, and the dreams that come with it..."
Heather Mason wonders about Castlevania. She's...never been any closer than Jova, before turning back. She doubts that Soma will want to provide a tour, however. She shrugs off the grip on her shoulder, after a moment, looking embarassed. "I'm a light sleeper, myself. So I go for a lot of walks. I don't have special powers or anything." Maybe that was a lie, but, it was a small one. "It's kinda interesting to ask around."
Soma Cruz nods, still smiling as he retracts his hand, "I myself tend to sleep in the form of a bat... One of the powers I obtained." He shakes his head and sighs, "It helps a little... makes the dreams recede somewhat when you remember the form you see is not the form you are in..."
"Wow. Cool." Heather smiles just a bit. It certainly seemed cool. But she takes a step back. He's gonna start asking questions, too, isn't he? They all do eventually, just never for very long. "People around here are really nice, and...it's good to meet you. If you have those headaches, you should let me know. I have something that works really well on them."
Soma Cruz nods again, apparently not interested in prying at this time, "Alright then. It's quite a pleasure to meet you as well. If I do get headaches, I'll be sure to look you up. And thank you very much for offering, it's greatly appreciated."
Heather Mason smiles at Soma. That was...great. "No problem. Happy to help. I've...had them almost all my life." She glances at the stairs that head up, and, raises her hand to give Soma a wave.
Soma Cruz smiles and waves, calling out, "Take care of yourself." As he watches you go. Still smiling, he returns to his seat, and picks his magazine up again, propping himself comfortably once more and resuming reading.