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Cristiana had stopped going home from work to the traditional place. She no longer made the journey every night across town to her large castle like building with the double doors where she use to once think of it as home. No, she didn’t do that any longer.

Outside The Metronome Club, across the street, where she had once lived in the Beta Apartment Building. She owned a few apartments there and had access to others. She slipped her key into the old apartment. Bear, the guardian of the apartment, would come padding over to her for cuddles and lovings. His tail wagging back and forth as he saw her. She would feed him, knowing the girls were feeding the rest of the animals. At this point she would not be surprised if the girls had staff of their own she didn’t know about. But these thoughts were dwindling and fleeting. She hated to go back to Lascivious Legacy because of the memories the building held. They were all there on the surface of the place. Smells that lingered in the stagnant air. So she had taken to living back in her first apartment, that held its own memories. They were of course, everywhere.

Yet, that was not what had caused this melancholy in her. Existence seemed to do it well on its own or how she could no longer suppress the urges that once she could sing or dance away, now it consumed her. A frown passed over her lips for the moment because she didn’t necessarily need healing, as per the thoughts that came into her mind in the angelic voice of Zodiac. She wasn’t really broken to need to be fixed. This would pass, it always does. This is why she would hide away for periods of time, even if that meant going into the Shadow Realm. She wanted a fresh and clean place where they could make their own traditions, come up with their own things like ‘Taco Delivery Guy Tuesday’ or ‘Naked Kitchen Dance Contests’ but also one where they could celebrate the holidays together instead of running back and forth between homes.

Zodiac had her homes, where they were plentiful amount. As did Cristiana. The problem with Cristiana’s homes is that so and so lived here or she dated and spent her time with this person or that there. And it was time to get over all that, time to release it and let go not just memories but possibly the properties as well. That was easier said than done… she liked having different properties across town. It wasn’t right to have ask Zodiac to live in the place where memories haunted their present, so the best thing she could do was ask her to invest into another house, together. The two of them.

“Really?” And for the first time, her head perked up with recognition of who she was and where she was. The fog seemed to be lifting, even if a fleeting moment. A smile formed, then faded but formed again. It was a struggle, she tried to fight it internally. “What kind of house?” She was trying but then she always did try for Zodiac. Most of the time, anyway. She wasn’t going to believe in a white picket fence and 2.5 kids. This was more like a graveyard in the back to talk to the spirits and a river for the cat horde to catch some fish and a haven for all the animals to hang out when they weren’t in the house. It was time to get her own animals to mix with Zodiac’s. Even Ginny and Bear have met, but it had taken Ginny a second to see if she would even bother with the rather large Rottweiler dog. Bear was not the only dog or animal she owned. Over the course of the years she, like Zodiac, collected animals as well. But she had never gathered them up in the apartments at once, they each had their apartment and space. It would be interesting to see what Ginny thought of the bear that live around the cabin. Or the duck from the trailer. Each place held something different, a different treasure to go through and see what or who would be joining them. Ginny seemed to like other animals, unless they were going to attack her. She didn’t think there was going to be a problem there. What kind of a house indeed…

Her mind flooded with thoughts, not the dangerous kind that got people killed or the ones to worry someone. Now her mind flooded with thoughts of decorations, of layouts of the place that would be theirs, where they didn’t have to break into each others places or have keys too, but they automatically came home together. It was the natural progression of a relationship, wasn’t it?

She suddenly seemed animated from within. Not the forced moments of her chain smoking, but actual interest. Zodiac allowed herself a smile as she watched life flow back into Cristiana.

“What kind of house?”

Ah, now that was a question. Many ideas came to mind. She had several types of dwellings in her time and all had their pros and cons. She motioned for the waitress to bring them a fresh round as she finished her mug while her thoughts debated. No matter what it was, it had to have room to expand in time and be both tactical as well as comfortable. Unlike most of her kind, she tended to avoid confrontation -unless it was on her terms– but she would not delude herself into thinking trouble would never find its way to her front door.

As Melincamp used to sing about, no ‘Little Pink Houses’ for her. Perhaps when she was alive, but not now. Any dream like that had burned to the ground once she had become one with the night. No tidy little home to raise children in and be loved and to love in return.

But she had adapted and things appeared to fit into those empty spaces, some smoothly and others awkwardly. None were a perfect fit, but they helped her feel less empty inside. What kind of house? Large was a must. Where was another question. Her first impulse was in the depths of the wilderness. Alone and secluded where she could do her works in peace and quiet. Living in the main part of the town was often taxing to her nerves, especially when her telepathy got out of hand. Having the thoughts of strangers drifting into your mind when she was trying to rest was annoying at best. To be fair, there was a time or two when such an invasion proved quite helpful, but the majority was odd tidbits of stories that would not even make a good cheap novel. She did not care about people’s problems at work (or their lack of work) or their lack of money, time, or sex. Bad partners, cheating ones, lying ones. Everyone had problems, herself included, but she had no desire to be let in on the details from random people of their issues unless they were sitting on the other side of her reading table.

The middle of nowhere would be perfect, for her, but totally unfair to Cristiana. Something more in the middle.

”Some place quiet,” she began softly. ”Outside of town to a degree but not in the middle of nowhere. Where the fuzzy children could play and be safe, and large enough to hold our habits. Something like that would be nice.” She took her mug from the waitress and took a small sip and watched Crissy’s eyes. It was like watching an old antenna based television at times. Sometimes the picture was crystal clear and other times it fuzzed out. If she answered while the ‘picture’ was fuzzy, Zo would wait and ask again once it had cleared.

“I would like that.” She said blinking, focusing on Zodiac. “I am sorry I fell asleep, and keep drifting off. The weight of this world is heavy on my shoulders. When we can buy a house, we can start decorating it but first we need to see what it is. I tried for Lascivious Legacy to be out there but things are popping up all around it. I was thinking of opening it and selling some of the apartments in their. Opening it to the public?” It was the most inspiring talk she had focused on yet. Then the clouding and doubts hit her like a dumb bell and she shut the hell up.

What was she doing even trying to be happy? There was no happy that she deserved, not in the slightest. After all she was a whore. She was an affair at one point, cheated on people she said she loved, but never Zodiac. And now her sins weighed her down, bore down on her shoulders like they were crushing everything she was and sucking all her happiness. The thoughts damn near drove her back into the Shadow Realm.

Without warning, she just burst into tears and didn’t even know why she was crying. It was those quiet sobs hidden behind her hands. She didn’t know what it was that caused the crying but she knew it needed to stop. After a moment she gathered her voice again, between sobs she apologized to Zodiac who must be so confused. It was all too much. She needed to leave the tea shop. She tried to mutter out asking Zodiac to take a walk with her but in the end she rose from her seat and began to head out. She needed air, not where the walls were closing in on her. She could physically see then bending inward but she knew it was only her sick mind. She would make this up to Zo, just not until this spell passed or ran its course.