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[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/UyQgaCF.jpg[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/kGkbmAm.gif[/img][/center]
[b][center][color=C44A00]VULCAN[/color][/center][/b]
[/h1][/sup][/color][indent][sub][COLOR=C44A00][I]Home >>> 𝓒𝓪𝓷𝓵𝓲𝓼 𝓡𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓾𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓽[/I][/COLOR][/sub][/indent][indent][sup][right][COLOR=C44A00][b]Mood: Doldrums into melancholia[/b][/color][/right][/sup][/indent][/url][hr]
[indent][indent][indent]The air was crisp and the view was mystifying. The clouds rolled heavy and the mist veiled a view of dense trees. In the corners of the speckled droplets are the edges of a cold lake and the colors of dying leaves. The abstract hues were brilliant, even through fogged glass that made up the entirety of the wall that ran high towards vaulted ceilings. There, within the beautiful architecture of a wealthy home, within the reflection of giant slabs of windows, was a god. Not one that would be easily recognizable—no, especially not now, with his sullen, irritated expression, and his unapproachable, easily-angered demeanor; not now, with all his sorrow and misery lacing together with all his wealth and achievement. No, Vulcan was not recognizable now.

[b]“I can’t seem to get over the view, even after being here for so long.”[/b] The woman’s voice was familiar, though. A seduction hinted in her speech, finishing with a soft breath of lingering desire. Vulcan, now dressed in a suit tailored perfectly to fit his broad shoulders and wide chest, only gave her a quick glance. Her body was bare, her curves casting a faint shadow from the dimmed sunlight as she came closer to him. 

She reached up, fixing the collar of his suit as she pressed her body against his. [b]“A brunch. I didn’t take you for one to join in endeavors like that.”[/b]

[color=C44A00]“Well, it’s family, so . . .”[/color]

[b]“How about a little scotch to get the edge off,”[/b] she suggested. She knew him well.

[color=C44A00]“No,”[/color] Vulcan answered curtly. [color=C44A00]“This is something I should arrive completely sober to.”[/color]

Her brows furrowed in confusion, her hands tracing the muscles beneath the smooth materials of his attire. [b]“I’ve never seen you so worked up about a meeting before. What’s so important?”[/b]

Anna was her name; cute and delicate, smart and helpful. She was his assistant, and sometimes lover. Meddling into his business was always expected from her, but never appreciated. [color=C44A00]“The weight of this is heavier than anything you’ve ever seen me partake in before. Please don’t involve yourself.”[/color]

Anna scoffed, breathing up into his ear that she had to stand on her toes to reach. [b]“Maybe you should have me cancel.”[/b]

Vulcan let out a heavy breath, not one of lust, but one of irritation. His gaze was still set on the whimsical environment that made up his backyard. His bedroom could be seen through the reflection, just behind the hourglass of her figure. [color=C44A00]“Did you not hear me? This is important.”[/color]

[b]“Well,”[/b] she paused, [b]“Maybe you can be late.”[/b] And her hands moved below his belt, maneuvering between his thighs.

[color=C44A00]“Stop.”[/color]

[b]“What? You never finish, and I think you should let me try again. Come on, I can make it quick.”[/b] Her voice and her touch were compelling, but still, Vulcan has had better—always, he’s heard, seen, felt so much better. He pushed her hands away, maybe a little too harshly.

[b]“I can’t seem to win,”[/b] is all she said, stepping away from him. This time, Vulcan turned to face her. [b]“You’re so hard to read. You’re impossible to get close to. Hell, you can’t even have sex right.”[/b]

Vulcan’s eyes seemed half-opened, more from absence with himself rather than exhaustion. Still, the clench of his jaw tightened the bones just above his thick neck. [color=C44A00]“That shouldn’t be anything new to you.”[/color]

He was about to turn around, but her frustration was still ascending like a rollercoaster. [b]“I’ve worked with you for years, and everytime you ask me to come into the bedroom with you it’s like you’re trying to use me.”[/b]

Vulcan’s eyes twitched. [color=C44A00]“You work [i]for[/i] me,”[/color] he clarified before continuing. [color=C44A00]“And I am using you for sex. That much is obvious.”[/color]

[b]“No,”[/b] she was shaking her head. [b]“You’re not using me just for sex, you’re using me to remember something—[i]someone[/i].”[/b] Vulcan’s eyes met hers, with devastation of a now revealed intent that he might’ve subconsciously had. [b]“I’m not stupid.”[/b] She folded her arms. [b]“I can see how distant you are, I can see how your eyes search for something that’s locked away in that damn confusing brain of yours.”[/b]

[color=C44A00]“What do you want from me?”[/color] Vulcan announced, his own anger increasing. He reached into his pocket and pulled a stack of cash from his wallet. [color=C44A00]“Here, is this what you want?”[/color] His voice was much more assertive, yelling almost. He threw it at her, watching the $100 bills fall softly around her.

There was silence as she subdued the tears that would gloss over the brown of her irises. This was the peak of her rollercoaster, the calm before it’s sudden drop. She inhaled deeply, and spoke with it’s release, [b]“You know, it’s not nice to play with someone’s heart. Maybe that’s a lesson you should learn next. Maybe that’s something you have to feel before you do it to someone else again. Maybe have someone break your own damn heart for a change.”[/b] The words were like boulders that launched at him: fearful as they came, bigger as they approached, and painful as they collided into him. And so the broken hearted became the heart-breaker.

Vulcan turned to look out the window again, and he mumbled under his breath. [color=C44A00]“You’re fired.”[/color]

Another foreshadowing silence at her peak. [b]“What?”[/b]  She murmured back.

[color=C44A00]“I said,”[/color] Vulcan paused, spitting as he shouted into echoing rage, [color=C44A00]“You’re fired!”[/color]

And her descent finally came, with explosive anger that was supported from times like these before. It came in a prolonged scream as a lamp came flying beside him, only to crash into the glass of a window pane. The bulb shattered first, then the glass cracked next, and then the ceramic crashed as it hit the floor beside him. She stampeded out, with her clothes in hand, until a slam from a distant front door could be heard to finish her rampage.

Vulcan was far too numb to really process the situation. He didn’t feel the regret, nor the mistake—maybe not yet anyway. He stood, staring at the sharp glass on the ground, and it called to him, ominously.

[color=C44A00][center] ✖   ✖   ✖   ✖   ✖ [/center][/color]

Vulcan had his butler call for a cab, he was too angered to drive and the brunch held too much weight for him to properly be coherent enough to pay attention. There was no doubt she was there, her involvement with the roman gods was prominent and undying. Now, in Vulcan’s decision to finally resurface after being MIA to the gods, he didn’t feel as ready as he thought he might’ve been. If it were decades, centuries even, that he would’ve seen her last, it would always feel like minutes—with her new human form taking just as much beauty as the last, and with all the more vibrance and temptation as her godly embodiment would bring forth. Each second that came closer to the brunch came with such a gale of once treasured memories that now haunt him in ways he couldn’t describe.

Before he knew it, the car door was opened for him, and the venue was staring at him with all it’s familiar architecture, housing the ones that could actually destroy his heart and soul; the ones that Anna’s words and actions wouldn’t even compare to.

Vulcan sent his butler off to park somewhere he wouldn’t be able to find. That way he wouldn’t feel obligated to turn and run from the coming moment he’s feared most. Still, he remained stalwart as he could with his decision, even if he was dragging his feet to the front entrance. The doors were opened for him, the first of the establishment’s hospitality.

Mr. Canlis greeted him first, [b]“Now that’s an unfamiliar face to the Canlis Restaurant, but not one for my eyes. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. D’Angelo. You are quite the artist—so brilliant in your craft. I just have to applaud you before you go on with your brunch.”[/b]

Vulcan was used to commendation, but the moment was so blurred that he couldn’t even hear the words leave his lips. He went through the motions absent-mindedly, shaking his hand and tilting his head in thanks. Without words, and only a simple smile, he proceeded to the elevator which would lead him to the event that he tried to predict for years.

As the doors closed, the elevator ascended much like his heart rate. The elevator was smooth and fast, but still his heart would beat four times in between the numbers that lit the display above the metal doors. He pulled at his collar, trying to find more room for oxygen to keep him standing.

But he was quick to put on a mask—to hide the quick breaths and the shaking of his hands. He clasped them together in front of him as he stood straight with his shoulders back. But if their eyes looked hard enough, they’d see the white of his fingertips that clenched too tight or maybe the hard set of his jaw. If they looked close enough, they would see his chest rising too fast for comfortable breathing, or maybe the awkward steps he would take to enter the room. If she looked, maybe just even once, she would stop his heart.

And the time finally came in which the metal doors framed the exquisite room. Though welcoming as it was, clad in expensive furniture and tabletop embellishments, it was still daunting. Even with the view of a beautiful city, just behind the foliage of trees, did the haunting moment commence into the still moments before the uncertainty of a nightmare.

Vulcan stepped inside, his hands falling to his side, but his thumbs scratching deep into his forefingers. His eyes scanned the room and he recognized his brothers first. But there, beneath the lighting of a delicate chandelier, did her curly brown hair fall gracefully. There, within the rays of a gentle sun, did her amber eyes glow above a brilliant smile. There, with linen tabletops and golden cutlery, expensive wine and spotless goblets, did Vulcan’s heart truly stop.

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