Caliber

State Your Name

Alexis

“My god… Dima—Demitri… I…”

There was a brief silence, and then a brisk set of footsteps followed.

“O-oi! Wait!”

A door slammed shut, and as far as I’m concerned, the conversation made no sense, and was annoyingly a bit muffled in my ears. I averted my head, with strained effort, from the ceiling towards the general direction I heard the voice come from. My eyes took a moment to focus, but as soon as my pupils relaxed, I saw that he was also staring back at me, looking distraught... But I might as well have imagined it since a second later his posture straitened and his disposition betrayed nothing but confidence.

“Well, well…looks like Sleeping Beauty is awake.” He smirked. Already, he pisses me off.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Oh, such vulgar words, princess…” he feigned to have taken offense, his voice having a measured and practiced quality; nothing short of ‘velvet and husk’ as I used to read in romance novels. “But to answer that, ‘who’ is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a young adult with killer looks and a decent tux.”

I immediately recognized the (paraphrased) quote from V for Vendetta, one of my favorite movies.

“Well, I can see that.” I quoted Evee’s response, amusement momentarily extinguishing my anger.

He smiled, impressed.

I returned the smile, but the amusement has to be cut short now. “Seriously, who the fuck are you?”

“You know, I’ve honestly never seen, or legitly heard, someone hypnotize using a coin tied to a string. Ridiculous dramatizations of media…”

He switched topics—delaying tactics. What the heck is he up to?

He cleared his throat and started quoting V once more. “On this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace sobriquet…” He started walking behind me, away from my view. 

“…to suggest a character for this dramatis persona.” I continued shakily.

With strained effort I turned—or rather, sluggishly squirmed to change my position on the couch.

I was met with familiar blue eyes.

“You… you’re the one who”

“Shh…” He bent down and placed a finger between my lips. With his other hand, he pressed the familiar black mask he was wearing over his face. Now his hand and his mask obstructed the view of every part of his face but his eyes. “Let me finish, princess.” An odd smile strayed on his lips.

I looked at him questioningly, but reluctantly, I stayed silent.

“Voila, in view a humble vaudevillian veteran cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate”

I notice the words from the same movie, but he said them with such an otherworldly grace and strength that can force anyone to pay attention. His voice was so overpowering, singing a ravishing conversational symphony.

“This visage, no meer veneer of vanity is a vestige of vox populi, now vacant, vanished.”

A normal person might have already been lost with the abundance of v’s, but not me. I loved the artistry behind them and continued to listen, savoring the repetition of my addiction. It was a speech that was filled with both determination and sadness, coating a tragic past that continued to haunt the persona.