Not yet ready but doing it anyway. (Open)

[Zodiac]

She nodded her understanding when Crissy thanked her. The rest was more preaching to the choir stuff as she saw it, but she never acted like it annoyed her. Everyone had to get it out of their systems at times and by the virtue of who and what she was, Zo was a common target for release of such things. It was what she did. She listened, then offered the best advice she could along with insights. She didn’t say anything in reply as they crossed the marketplace and approached the tea shop she ran there.

“What should I do? What is in store for me? Come a devenit acest?"

That gave her pause. One hand resting on the handle of the door to her establishment as she considered. She raised a single finger for patience, then opened the door. She was pleasantly surprised. An almost normal sized crowd was in place despite the dangers of encountering zombies on the streets. She lead Crissy to a small table marked reserved and took a seat. Zodiac shed her back pack and jacket as one of the wait staff approached.

“Excuse me. That is reserved for the owner.” A young woman looked pointedly at them both. Zodiac simply took off her hat and shook her head to free her ebony locks and then slipped off the sunglasses to bath the waitress in the full gaze of her intense eyes. “OH! I’m sorry ma’am! You just didn’t look…..look like you.”

She waved the apology off with a smile and informed the woman telepathically what she required. As the waitress hurried off to fill the order, she glanced at Crissy. ”You pick an odd time to ask me a question like that. Come a devenit acest? How did it become like this?” She never understood how Crissy, who was normally oblivious to understanding Romanian could speak and understand it on occasion. ”Is a good question. Perhaps one of the best ones you could ask.” She sighed softly. The waitress returned and sat a large, steaming mug in front of Crissy along with a small dish of condiments for the tea if needed. A second plate held miniature pasty and cookies. Last, a violet colored thermo cup was sat in front of Zo.

”Forgive me if I don’t exactly join you. That is today’s special. A Chai blend that has proven very popular and the pastry is fresh.” As she flipped the stopper open on the mug, a hint of warm blood could be smelled by sharp noses if they were paying attention. Zodiac took a quick sip and dabbed her lips to be sure no trace of what she was drinking was left behind.

”So, you want an answer. Understand this is just a raw impression here. To do it proper I’d need the cards to gain a deeper view but the deck I would use with you is not in my backpack at the moment. So hear me out as I go along and no freaking out on me.” Another sip as she pushed a few stray locks back off of her face.

”You seek perfection. You are smart enough to know nothing will ever be perfect, but you continue to try and get as close to it as you can. Perfect relationship, perfect guy. And when it doesn’t work, you try again. Not right away, but you do. You want this. You need this, but perhaps ‘this’ is the problem.”

"You so busy trying to get ‘this’ that you ignore ‘that’. This and that. 2 different things. Some part of you is not into ‘this’ at all. Something buried, forgotten. It gnaws at you sometimes. You don’t quite get it, but the part of you that is aware doesn’t really want a part of ‘that’. You want ‘this’. Is not just a relationship thing, I think. Something deeper and more involved.”

She paused to sip again as she gathered her thoughts. ”I think you seriously need to figure out the issue of ‘that’. Once you manage that, then ‘this’ should become easier or you may understand why 'this' doesn't work. I think. Sorry I can’t be more specific, but that is the overall vibe I get from you now. Is why when you stayed with me for a time, I left you to your own thoughts as much as possible. I figured you was working things out on your own. So, you need to figure out what ‘that’ is before you can focus on ‘this’.”

She took another drink. "So how's the tea?"

[Cristiana]

It was laughable how the girl didn't see right thru Zodiac's disguise. Couldn't she feel the woman? Zodiac has always had a presence about her, it was never Ginny that had given Zodiac away to Crissy, but the woman herself. The cat only helped her zone in on the woman. She almost laughed but recovered herself with a slight coughing chuckle hidden behind the back of her hand. It had bemused her how no one else could see or feel the obvious that was right there. Diguise or not, this was Zodiac.

She looked to the woman, one she didn't see here before and asked the woman, into her mind this time, "New Girl?"

The tea was as it always was, relaxing and calming. Each sip of the tea tingled her taste buds, making her nearly purr with delight. The cookies were just an indulgence and one she took delight in. She listened to each and every word Zodiac said, between this and that. She needed to work on THAT. She knew she needed to work on herself for a while, but what she wanted was support and love. What she wanted and what she needed were conflicting idealolgies. That was the issue. When you couldn't get the two cooperate, there was issues with the mind/heart and soul fighting internally. In the mean time it just drew her into a closed tight ball, and made her delve deeper into the workforce.

She looked at Zodiac, "The tea is magical as it always is." She drank the tea leaving little bits of the leaves in the bottom of the cup. Tea Reading Tasseography was a rare gift, and honestly both woman possessed the gifts. Just with the dislocation of herself she wasn't sure her own reading was going to be accurate. Still, she looked down at the bottom of her own tea cup when the hot brew was for the most part finished, you never drink it fully. As she gazes at the leaves she seen three figures in the bottom of the ornate cup. One a flock of birds - the bird were a good omen as far as she could remember. And anchor, also from what she could remember was a bit of luck but it was the heart that had the bird flying out of it... that was what she stared at. The heart, a lover, again conflicting. She showed the cup to Zo, maybe she would get something else from it so she didn't say anything. However, the look in her eyes told Zodiac she already knew what was to be said. Confliction once more. Lucky for her, she had an asprin between her knees at the moment.

"All this craziness going on in the city, tell me of the remaining people? Who is still here that we know of?" There seemed to be fresh faces everywhere she turned, new ones that reminded her traces of people she once knew but never them. She almost called out to someone in the club the other night "Zwei" But as the man fully turned she seen it wasn't him and part of herself fell deeper into the depression. Ah, the good old days. How she neglected things and people she shouldn't have. Regrets were all that were left.

Especially the ones where she had up and left in the middle of night, leaving Zodiac's house empty without so much as a note or mental message to Zodiac. More regrets. The fact the woman was talking to her right now proved she was as saint. Crissy didn't deserve her forgiveness, let alone her friendship.

[Zodiac]

”Totally new girl.” she said while inclining her head in thanks for Crissy’s opinion of the tea. ”I am glad you are enjoying it.”

That had been slowly becoming a serious issue for the gypsy and every other business owner in this town if they were honest with themselves. It had been a process that started long before the zombie issues. Familiar faces and trusted souls began to disappear for longer and longer periods of times and eventually vanished. Were the night feeders dying off? Not all of them. Some had spread their wings and moved on or tried to return to familiar lands while others grew more secretive, but yes there was evidence some had simply given up.

It was the way of everything, but she had expected people blessed with the potentials of life eternal to last longer than this. Every time she had a group trained and working together like a clock, they began to fall apart. Forcing her to bring in new ones, unknown ones, strange ones. Her human help held up longer, but with the type of customers she got as the norm she could not trust them to be safe dealing with some of the egotistical hot heads who would wonder why are they debating with a walking bit of lunch. No, she needed both the living and otherwise to keep things rolling along.

She glanced into the offered tea cup for a moment. ”Still this and that,” she said absently while motioning to the waitress to bring Crissy a second mug. Crissy’s next question mirrored her own thoughts so she repeated what she had been thinking, then added.

”I kinda slice it up into three parts. First would be what I’d call the ‘originals’– the ones in play when I first got into the club. That’s when I met you, Tempy,…” she paused in silence for a moment. ”Myk, Micah, Velveteen, Liz, Habren, Mordie, Zaph, Dulce. Next would be the ‘seconds’ – Doc, Chain, Emily, and others. And currently we have the ‘new breed’ and I am clueless on the majority of them. I don’t know. I don’t really try that much anymore.” she frowned. ”Truth is, most of our group is either gone or just quiet now. If you try, you may find a few of them, but keep your expectations within reason. You may not like what you find, or don’t find.”

She tipped her own mug and drained it quickly. ”Try in the surrounding towns outside of the Rock. They are not having the issues we are here. Hell, most people living there do not even accept the idea vampires even exist. Some of the originals and seconds slipped into those areas to avoid the drama storm here has become.” As the woman arrived with the second cup, Zodiac handed her the mug for more ‘tea’.

[Cristiana]

For this and that to align she thought maybe, just maybe, apologizing to some of the former people she had done wrong to in the past would help bring both aspects together. It would sync up the ill begotten feelings and emotions weighing on her. "I expected as much, the people never stick around. It is rather disheartening though." The young woman slipped a second glass in front of her which she graciously accepted. Se would have to remember to leave a big tip. "I wonder if Nikki is still around." Not Nikolas, but the dragon man himself. She'd missed him, while she was away. He had been a great friend and she hoped he thought vice versa. That was while they were around in the city. As she had said most everyone was gone. The times change, nothing ever stays the same. If it did, no one would ever be happy. Not that any one was happy.

When she woke up, the faithful night, she was alone and scared. At first everything seemed big, the buildings were so tallk and the crowds of people walking together. It was insane. She was one small person. And, at that moment, back in time, she was one small person who didn't even know her own name. She only found you her name from an ID in her pocket and the remnants of a purse that littered the alleyway. For all she knew Cristiana might not even be her name. At this point, she had been called it so often, it was her name no matter what. She looked at Zodiac sitting there and remembering before all the pains that had come, but also all the joy and memories. A small smile crossed her lips.

She remembered back at that vicious little temper of her, and how she could always count on one person finding her when she was. How she had fallen in secret for people who only used her. Or how she could let people let slip thru her fingers because she could never tell their emotions. She looked at Zodiac, really looked at her. Her hand reached across the table, covering the other womans. The city is just as it always has been, a revolving entity of its own. The zombies will fade, a new monster in its place. People will complain that blah blah blah... but there will always be one thing..." Her voice trailed off and she looked at the woman hoping she understood the meaning.

[Zodiac]

Disheartening barely covered it in the mystic’s view. She grew up in a very gregarious social environment that had little or slow change involved. Everyone knew each other and they all acted as a unit to ensure the survival of the whole despite their differences. None of that applied in a place like this. Families…no, bloodlines, sorry, and factions sounded good, but the application and practice fell woefully short. Everyone had an agenda or used the whole to forward their own aims or protect what or who was important to them and not the whole. When you felt alone in the middle of such an arrangement like that– what was the point of being there?

There were always exceptions, of course, and a few relationships that had been forged in such attempts transcended and endured. But on the whole the experiences left a bad taste. Better to be miserable alone than sit in a group meeting and feel the same way. Besides, the ones she had grown close to in those past endeavors were now gone.

A single eyebrow rose sharply when Crissy mentioned ‘Nikki’, but she remained silent. Did she mean the self declared ‘Dragon’ or the ‘Prancing pony boy’ she did not know, nor care. Neither of them ranked very high on her personal radar (but to be fair, ‘Puff’ had never been a thorn in her side like the other had been.) She knew Crissy knew them both and had some type of connections to them, but that was her problem and not Zo’s.

She blinked in surprise when her hand was touched. Usually she was the touchy-feely one in interactions. She mainly did to either put people at ease or off their game– depending on the current situation. Hard to stay focused and mad at someone hugging you, but the same gesture brought calm to one in distress. A standard survival and business tool that meant so much either way. She looked up and listened to Crissy’s words. It was pretty much what she had said to others on current events. ‘This too shall pass’. The only question would things get better or worse? Her concern in that was for the living. The night feeders were like cockroaches. They could bounce back from anything, but the living was a more delicate issue. Despite the vampire’s arrogance considering mortals, they were a part of the equation the vampire would be hard pressed to live without. Humanity, on the other hand, could live very well without fangs in their necks and being forced to deal with all the other ******** that was following the vampires like zombies, fadebeasts, and such.

The living was scared and knew what they were afraid of now. Plus they had the power to fight back and were slowly bringing such things into play. Of course, some of the more self important ones would survive, but what kind of life would you have in a bombed out crater? Would they learn and try again elsewhere? Try again– yes. Learn?

She didn’t move. A half smile crept onto her lips for a moment before she pulled her hand gently free. ”Yeah, I know. No worries.” her thoughts a bare whisper in reply. She took her refill when it came and took a long drink from it.

"You know, it has been dancing in my mind for a good while now," the volume of her thoughts going back to normal. "To get back to basics. Basics for me, at least. I occurred to me that I have been in the same spot for almost 10 years now. 2 living, and almost 8 like this. Perhaps its time to go back to a 'normal' way of life. Put people in charge of my shops who know what they are doing, sell off a ton of junk, get myself a Winnebago and me and Miss Ginny go back to living on the road. A lot of Canada, the US and Mexico I have yet to see. I grew up that way, so would be no problem to return to that. Maybe start my own 'tribe' of travelers."

[Cristiana]

The world went on. It was a natural fact. Times and cities change, you’d never find the happiness you once had in the same place once it was gone. The same was said for relationships. There was always going to be the dwelling of the past over both heads. It was just how it was. Mistakes get made but there was never really any going back.

She thought to herself, ‘How I have managed to screw up so badly was beyond me.’ But then it was also that she too had issues with previous relationships. She was such a mess everyone always wanted to keep quiet or hidden, like she was some sort of mistress. In some cases that was true and the promise of more was always ********. It is how it is. Finally she thought she found something or someone she could take pride in and that could take pride in her as well. Someone not ashamed, or not just wanting to keep things behind closed doors. Someone who didn’t mind grabbing her hand and holding it in public while staring in her eyes.

She looked to Zodiac nodding, “Yes I have thought about that as well. Just take off, it’s not like I would really be missed seeing as I have been gone for this long. Heck even my own blood is either asleep or gone. Not just into the shadow realm but true death.” She looked at her hands, more so her nails. One seemed a little jagged on the edge but that was working hands for you.

“How grand it would be to just have a life where you could travel all over the world, and not look back at one destination. Where new memories await right around every corner, and you keep only a small few to share it with.” Those would be good times, and yet she had an irking that it had been like this in the past. Buried deep in her memories, something wanting to come up but as soon as she thought it, it was gone. There was a lulling dull pain behind her eye, she touched her forehead gingerly, rubbing the spot as best she could for the moment. “But I have returned here for the time being. I don’t know what is in store. It’s all pretty much up in the air. Such is the way of life, plans change at a moments notice.” She shrugged, finishing off the second cup she pushed it out over the table.

“Besides, it’s not like there will be some miracle where life instantly falls into place. We all get disjointed once in a while. Things could be worse… I could be one of those sad beings who can get pregnant and be in this situation, or worse. Dear god, why do people do that to themselves. Maybe I should open up LL (Lascivious Legacy) to those people and use the apartments I own in there for them. Or all the apartments I am not using… hmm.. That does seem an idea, doesn’t it?” She looked to Zodiac, “I once opened my apartments and houses to the students in the allurist guild, so it would not make much a difference. I could open the apartments to people who needed to use them? That’s an idea for now?” She pondered if it was a good idea or not.

Since she had plenty of money, that was not her goal or objective. It would be interesting to see who or what out there needed an apartment. There was so many people, yet she hoarded living spaces that went unused. Again her violet eyes fell on Zodiac silently wondering what she thought. Options and opinions, she liked running her crazy ideas and antics by Zodiac who always seemed to come up with both the good and bad perspectives, like she did when it was not her own thoughts and ideas. For others she could see objectively, but for herself she was daft.

[Zodiac]

She glanced at Crissy as she began to babble. Did she really understand the concept of life on the road? She could not be sure for when she met the woman she was already a vampire and working her way to success with The Metronome. The mystic saw hints of Romany in her at times, but did she ever live the full experience? Always a new place to be, working for scab wages just to be able to keep moving along, wondering where the next meal was coming from, the next charity bin to raid for new clothes, and always being under suspicion in every town and hamlet you arrived in? It was not the easiest of lives to lead, but Zodiac was born into it. “Do what you must– survive!” her Grandmother’s mantra for life.

But there was a quality to that life no ‘civilized’ person would ever know. They were free. Bound by no contracts or mortgages. All that was theirs fit into a couple backpacks, traveling the back roads and seeing things many would not even accept existed. Moments of pure beauty and endless terror. Stopping for a season of rest in Harper Rock meant a year-max. Not a prison sentence moving past year 10 and no parole in sight. She lost more than her life in this place. She lost her freedom, which was a death sentence of a different sort to anyone truly a gypsy.

She glanced under the table, where Ginny had curled up and dozed while the friends talked. She knew the life as well. Many times she thought the cat would continue without her exploring the world, but she stayed, Another soul trapped by this place or was her prison made of the binding of her relationship to the girl? Was this the end of the road for them both? How long were the pair of them together? 11-12 years now. If Zodiac was careful, she could ‘live’ who knows how long, but the cat was another matter. The last piece of her past, and when the day would finally come, another large part of her would be ripped away.

Her thoughts paused when she heard Crissy mention opening up her properties to those in need. ‘Sad beings who could get pregnant’? She almost wanted to laugh in the woman’s face. Yet another dream destroyed by this so-called ‘gift’ of the night. From such a life where she was denied so much of what she wanted, but had everything she ever needed, to now where all her needs had been destroyed one by one, but she now had all the wants she could dream of.

”I think it could become time consuming, but yes– it would be a worthwhile project.” her thoughts flowed smoothly. ”However, if it was me, but it won’t be-I would offer some advice to them in the process. Tell them once they are able to do so, get as far away from Harper Rock as possible. Let’s be honest, would you raise a child here where the danger of them becoming a zombie snack or food for one of the ‘superior life forms’ who walk about with impunity? Or run the risk of leaving orphans behind for the same reasons?”

She laughed softly. ”But yes, it is a good idea. Someone has to watch out for the living. The gods know the living don’t give a damn about each other, so someone has to try and help them.”

[Cristiana]

Her words rang true. Corruption however was all over the world. There was no one city truly better than another. If you think you have come close to perfection there is only a blind eye to what is going on. Whether it was poverty, being homelessness on the street, or famine, not enough food to feed the community, there was always something wrong. Life could be ideal and happy for you as long as you turn a blind eye to these things. She looked at Zodiac, “Isn’t it time we were more proactive and gave them a reason to want to donate blood? Shouldn’t we give them a reason to be all Yay Team Glittery Sunshine ***? Or whatever that fake vampire movie guy name was.”

Why would anyone not hate vampires if they don’t know what the vampires had done over the past decade alone. They have every right to fear vampires, you always fear the unknown. And their kin was one huge unknown clusterfuck of a mess. You seen the aftermath but what of the businesses that kin brought to the city, or the programs they had to help people. The things people didn’t know. How the vampires worked to get rid of monsters in the city. Especially the zombies. No one wanted zombies no matter how romanticized they were in Warm Bodies and Shaun of the Dead.

The question is where does one begin to help mortals and bring them on the side of vampires. Opening her homes was one way she opted to help. Civilization, as a whole, just sucked. Evolution was always in play. It was our time, like the dinosaurs humans were going to eventually become extinct. Life was going to be put to an end. We could keep living blind in a dog eat dog world or we could band together and make things better, make the world a better place to live. Make it worth living in. It was small little things that would make the world as we know it a place to want to be.

Maybe she could start a food garden somewhere in the city as well. To rip down one of her houses and open it to everyone, make it a food garden for anyone who is hungry to come tend to it and grab some food. And open a restaurant that gives away food as much as it sells. Didn’t some of her friends in the past open places? Maybe a pay it forward board for people to come in and get something when they are starved. There was things, small things, to start with. It was all a small reason to be here, something small to do within the community. She would start with planting a small garden on her properties that were near sidewalks so people could come take foods as they needed. When she left here, she would call a gardener. “What of Mortll? Is she still around?” There was sooooo many others. Her heart ached knowing how many were gone. But who was here and who would help her?

[Zodiac]

For a moment, the normally tranquil blue-violet eyes flashed red. Crissy was spewing the nonsense that started some of this idiocy surrounding them now. There was a time she would have tried such things. Zodiac respected the rights of the living and unlike some, did not view them as talking cattle. She only stole what she needed and did not kill them for sport or fun. She enjoyed her privacy , and did her best to help the living every single time they entered her shops. Charity work galore as well especially during the holidays.

No, she had been one of the most loudest (which was ironic considering she could not speak a word) voices against the idea of letting the world know vampires were real, but one of their number made that decision for all of them. Just as a few made another major decision for them all and left them neck deep in the current ********. A few might suspect her, but she would be damned again if she did anything to confirm such suspicions. She would donate money to such efforts as Crissy was describing, but not her face nor the fact she was cursed.

”I have farmland I always saw being converted into a commune of sorts. People could work the land and have a place to live in. I could let you use that and I would pay the bills such as water and electric. Just keep my name and the fact I am what I am out of it is all I ask. I don’t need the drama storm people like Marshall seem to thrive in.” her mental voice took a low tone for a moment before perking up again.

“As for Mort? Yes, she is around. Kinda hard to find her, but she is still about her business here.” She eyed her mug. She had finished her second cup and was sated, so she pretended to take another drink for the masses around them. ”She finds me every so often, so next time she does I can tell her you are looking for her.”

[Cristiana]

There was factions of people, who have long since fell asleep now that their destruction ruined the city, that wanted vampires to become known and made it a mission to make them known. She, the raven haired woman who with the right light could see violet or red highlights in the dark color, was not one of those types of vampires. But if they had to be known, instead of this all being a nightmare, then they should do something to sway the masses unto their side. Give them a damned good reason not to worry and even more so a damned good reason not to hunt them down and kill them off one by one while they slept.. Or in Cristiana’s case since she rarely needed much sleep - while she worked. As far as she knew, everyone had known she was a vampire before the populus had known. There was lists going around and her name was nearest the top of it as far as she knew.

She seen the flash in the other woman's eyes. It wasn't that she thought Zodiac didn’t do anything, but maybe if the vampires did more for the city they would be more excited about having them around and wouldn’t just burn their houses down during the daylight hours, with them inside it of course. Not that it was an issue just yet, she didn’t want it to become an issue in the future.

She smiled sweetly to the woman, “I think it is awesome that you do that with your farm! I should do something awesome like that with my properties. I have so many that just sit unused. It’s time to use them. Even in Lascivious, so many apartments go unused. Want to help me throw a party in Lascivious one night? Or the Metronome? Something to get people involved. Maybe if they hear one of my parties is going to be going on again they might flock from the woodworks? Who knows?” She shrugged, wondering if those parties that lasted 12 and 13 hours long still existed. Those were some crazy parties!