#8, Road Trip: Friends Long Isolated
Originally posted here on November 29, 2021.
In a change of pace for me, I will talk about something nice. In a melancholy tone, perhaps, but something nice.
I warn for extremely brief mentions of betrayal and death, in the "assuming this didn't happen" way.
A road trip... I can think of two separate road trips I would take. I would not take these people together--not for believing that they could not get along, but because I would be seeking vastly different things from my time with them.
The first option would be Amzira Alavar, a woman that canon does not even deign to recognize as existing. It defines five of the original Council of Seven; Amzira and Kaladrom are notably absent. Assuming, of course, that I was on good terms with her (I had long since "betrayed" the clan by the time she was killed), we would have a riot of a time. She was one of the few people that could make me laugh without trying, someone who could force me into having fun. Amzira was the friend to drag you out to dance in public or slap you on the ass to give you a boost of courage... or embarrassment, whatever she felt you needed.
I don't know where we'd go. We'd probably go sightseeing, assuming that vampirism didn't plague us. Explore the 21st century, get drunk, laugh, see the sights and enjoy the times. I can see her dragging me into many situations that I never would have involved myself in ordinarily. I imagine us driving along stretches of highway, windows down and music blasting, exchanging grins as the wind messes up our hair and breathes life into us, washing away the stagnancy of centuries.
Amzira would love convertibles, I am realizing.
My other road trip option would be my beloved Tremere. Assuming, of course, that we were on good terms and nothing bad ever happened to us... I miss him. The road trip would be less of a "spend time with a friend" vacation like it would be with Amzira, and more a way to escape our fates for as long as possible, an eternal time running from our responsibilities to try to drag out the heaven that we were to each other for just a few hours more. We'd make stops, of course, enjoy what there was to enjoy, but I see us mostly driving, stopping in the middle of nowhere to sit and just stare at the world around us, hand clasped in unaging hand, bound through magic and love and something far stronger, forever, like nothing could ever undo it, not now, not ever if we had our way.
I would tell you that I would say things to him that I had never gotten the chance to say before, but if I am truthful, I did. I did have those chances, and in most cases, I did say them. It just didn't change anything, in the end. He knew, and it still turned out this way.
Still. This is a friendly scenario to think about. As I run out of things I wish to say, I find that I am sad to let it go.