Path of the Vampire forum

OOC: Continuating of this thread From Nov. 3rd, 2013

The night was so not going well. She hadn't been paying nearly enough attention to her business since Saige had floated into her life and the consequences of that were not pretty. She'd gotten to the store just after sunset to check on things and the place had been a mess. There were items out of their proper places, boxes and items in the aisles and the paperwork mess was enough to give even a vampire a headache. Not to mention the fact that the store should have been open for another hour.

Velia had been livid. She wasn't quite sure how long she had just stood there looking around her shop before the voice behind her had scared her so bad that she'd jumped so high she wouldn't have been surprised if her head had smacked into the ceiling. Now she was glaring in the general direction she was sure her wraith was in, the ********. She refused to reply to him in French, knowing damn well he understood and spoke flawless English as well. "And you couldn't zoom your *** to my house and tell me?" She rolled her eyes then, not giving him time to answer. "You know what. Don't even bother. What is the point of you skulking around here if you're not going to keep me updated on stuff like…. like this?" With the end of that statement she held her arms out to show him the utter disaster of her store. She couldn't see him, but she got the impression he wanted to say something so she stuck her finger out at where she thought he might be and kept going. "I swear if you say another word I will find a way to send you right back where you came from and get me a wraith that isn't broken. I'm not in the mood right now. Be quiet or go away until I get this mess sorted."

That was the last she heard from him as she went about the grueling process of picking her shop back up. She'd thought about calling the employees who should have been doing this all along in to fix it, but she didn't trust herself to be around humans at the moment. Each minute spent cleaning it up didn't help at all as there were things she'd much rather be doing during the nighttime hours. She had no idea how long she had been going, but she finally had the place looking like it was supposed to. She was brought of her inspection by her phone vibrating in her pocket. ****. She hadn't let Saige know what was going on. Pulling her phone out she was relieved by what she read. Saige was going to be doing her own thing tonight anyway, so it would give V time to get her store and staff straightened out. Hopefully.

That's okay. We'll do something fun tomorrow night then. She hit send before she could add in anything about what was going on in her shop - not wanting Saige to worry or anything. Figuring Saige wouldn't call or text her for the rest of the night, she turned her phone completely off and put it back in her pocket - not wanting to be distracted while she fixed things up. With that, she went on to tackle the paperwork while simultaneously trying to decide what she was going to do about her sales staff, as her sire and the vampire she'd hired on to maintain the servers weren't in charge of the actual sales floor at all.

It wasn't until the store was set to open that she finally got done with the paperwork done and got a call out to the sales staff that wasn't scheduled to open to get their asses in. The store was going to be opening late today, but that was fine. By the time she was done retraining them and making them realize that what she'd walked into was never going to happen again the sun was already out and Velia was exhausted. She wanted to just go home but there was no way for her to, not now. Teleporting home would just have her with a wicked sunburn before she could get inside and she wasn't in the mood for that. With a grumble she went back into her office long enough to use her powers to hide in the shadows and move back out onto the sales floor. She waited until the sales girl headed back to shout out to her. "I'm heading home. I'll be back to check in though!" To which she quickly opened and closed the door, knowing it would be heard.

She waited a minute more before activating her tome that would take her to her sire's crypt for the day. She didn't know how to make one for her own house, but she'd be safe there at least. She didn't bother checking her phone or anything else before curling up on the foldout bed she had at her sire's house and passing out to the daylight.

Velia woke back up just as the sun set, stretching out slightly before standing up and checking her phone. She doubted there would have been any problems at the store, but she should probably check anyway. What she saw had her feeling as if her heart had been stabbed. "Oh my god…" The whisper was barely out of her lips before she was teleporting herself outside of her house and running up the porch steps. Surely Saige would have left when she hadn't answered, right? The smell of burnt flesh that almost immediately met her nose told her differently.

"Saige? Angel? Are you…" Her voice cracked at the end of that. How could she ask her if she was okay? She'd skidded to a stop down onto her knees in front of the porch swing, scared to so much as touch the body in front of her. How could she have been so stupid to turn her phone off like that? It was never going to happen again.

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Saige: Pain. A thousand needles pricking her exposed skin all over, the slightest movement sending more and more pain throughout her entire body. Skin was blistered and cracked where the sun had beat down on her all day, passed out on Velia's porch swing. She had managed to get her bounty down after a long night, but she had paid one of the most harshest prices for it - receiving a nasty sun burn from sleeping on Velia's porch swing all day. Shifting on the swing ever so slightly, she nearly cried out at her cracked and blistered skin protesting the movement. She had no one to blame but herself for this misfortune, and all she could think about while sitting there for the few minutes alone was that it was all her fault.

Snapping out of her thoughts at the sound of another near, she cracked one eye open and looked to the side, trying to not move as much as possible. She heard a soft sweet voice, one that was genuine and caring and for a split second she thought it was that of her sires; though she instantly realized it was Velia who had made it up the stairs of the porch to the swing and knelt in front of her. "Hey..." She managed, parting burnt lips to curl them up into a faint smile as the single word slipped past dry vocal chords and into the dusk air.

As far as she could see, Velia was unhappy. The smile that Saige usually got out of Velia was absent, the woman's facial expression of sadness and regret encompassing entirely. She felt her own lips tip into a slight frown, the pain from the action sending bolts through her cheeks. "Don't be... frowny." She whispered, wincing harshly as she brought her burnt hand up from the phone on the bench beside her and placed it against Velia's cheek. She sighed, the air escaping her lungs felt fiery against her dry throat and blistered lips. The price she had paid for sitting in the sun.

Velia:She heard a whimper and it took a second to realize that it was coming from her and not the burnt body in front of her. "Oh god…" She didn't know what else to say or what to do. She was still afraid to so much as touch the other woman, though she was glad to know that at least she was alive and didn't seem to be close to changing that status. She wanted to ask her if she thought she could move, but a second later she shook her head as her concerned gray eyes stayed fixed on her Angel. "Just.. Stay here. One more minute, okay? I'm so sorry…" She bit into her lip to keep from saying more as she rushed over to the door, getting it open as quickly as she could and making a mental note to get Saige access to her house before the night was over.

It took her a moment to decide where to go and she quickly ran up the stairs - tripping over one in her haste and having to reclaim her balance before she could proceed. She didn't care. She was up in her room and sitting on her bed in no time, allowing her to close her eyes and focus on Saige; focus on bringing the woman to her. She hoped this way would be easier, though she wasn't a hundred percent sure it would be. At least, if this way hurt too, the moving process would be over with in a second instead of the moments it would have taken for Saige to either walk up to her room or for V to carry her.

Once Saige reappeared back in front of her, Velia whispered to her again that she was sorry before taking off down the stairs and grabbing a handful of blood packs from her fridge and proceeded to rush back upstairs, dropping the contents in her arms on the bed next to her crispy Angel. "What can I do? I've never… Oh god." There was that whimper again, though this time she knew immediately it came from her own lips. She grabbed the nearest blood bag and quickly tore into it with her fangs - causing blood to splatter everywhere as she did so. She held the messy opening next to Saige's lips, not quite touching for continued fear of the pain she would bring her.

Saige: Velia had slipped from her hand, and the action made her wince again as she tried her best to shake the pain. But this was nothing like getting shot, nothing like the way she felt after a hunter had ran her through with a sword. It was like a razor blade was on her skin everywhere at once, still, and not subsiding. She sighed and tried to hold back the tears that brimmed in her eyes as she idly wondered how horrible she must have looked. Covered in blood from multiple enemies, her hair a complete mess, her skin covered in multiple burns and blisters that proved to be the source of her pain time and time again. She whimpered while Velia was out of sight, until her skin started to burn again. She blinked, furrowing brows through the pain as Velia summoned her. The power had made her skin catch fire all over again, like she had found the sun all over again, like she was caught where she didn't want to be. Though clearly she had wanted to be there, on that swing, at Velia's house as that was where her untamed power had taken her - and now she was on the bed and looking over at her. That same smile returned as she reached out to Velia, wanting to feel something familiar again. She suddenly felt safe. Like the pain had melted at the simple sight of Velia, of the room she had slept in, the house she had clearly grown comfortable in.

And then, just as soon as she had seen Velia, she was gone again. Saige sighed and laid on the bed, moving slowly and making sure to not breath instinctually as she had grown to do in order to keep up her appearance of being human. The pain radiated through her like lightning every time she so much as twitched - though she figured that reaching for Velia was well worth it. Then she was back at her side just as fast as she had left again, and Saige was staring at the armful of blood pouches she had dumped on the bed next to her. Saige cracked that smile again, the faint soft one that offered little to no pain. The blood pack was at her lips and she was reaching up and drinking from it hungrily.

It hurt, sure, but she was thirsty. She drank, pulling in mouthful after mouthful until she had managed the pint into her stomach. She sighed and pushed the pack away, letting her hand fall to the bed as she didn't even care that her lips were stained red. "Ohhh." She groaned, her face twisting in a grumble of pain as she curled fingertips against sheets. She was so hungry, but she was sure that anymore and she wouldn't be able to keep it down while she struggled with the pain. She looked back to Velia, giving her a smile. "I... missed you." She muttered softly, the words lingering lightly as she swallowed thickly.

Velia:"Shhhh" Was all Velia managed to get out. She could see the blood and wounds all over her Angel so she was fairly sure one bag wasn't going to do it. She quickly grabbed up another bag, slashing into it even more messily than she had the previous one so half of the contents ended up all over her bed. "Drink up." She urged, moving the bag to Saige's lips just as she had the other one. "I'm so damn sorry, Angel. My phone was off or I would have been here. I swear I would have." She wanted to ask why Saige hadn't gone to her sire's when she hadn't shown up, but was worried it might sound like she was blaming Saige. And she wasn't. Not at all. She should have had every reason to believe that V would be there when she needed her.

She had no idea what to do about the burns. She'd never gotten a burn herself so had never had to deal with it. She had never seen another vampire with a burn like that either, nor had she ever thought to ask her sire what to do about one. "What.. What happened?" That was the real question, wasn't it? She couldn't see her sweet Angel going on a rampage, which it kind of looked like she had done. Not all of the blood and wounds were from the sun. Velia had to bite her lip to keep from demanding answers or seeming pushy. She didn't want that, but god she wanted to know what it was that had caused so much damage.

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Saige: Velia was rambling, and if it hadn't hurt her, Saige would have giggled. But instead it came out a scoffed laugh, that turned into a light groan at the pain the rise and fall of her chest had shot through her. She moved to push the bag away that Velia had insisted, giving a shake of her head even though it was clear that it hurt her to do so. "No, no, I cant. So full..." She trailed off, letting her hand slide to find Velia's side and rest there. She just needed to rest, the more she thought about it, sleeping there would have been more than comforting to her though Velia was asking her questions. She drew a deep breath and set to answering them one at a time while she closed her tired burned eyes. Figuring just starting at the beginning would be the best, she did just that. "Accidentally killed some guards while breaking into an office... had to get my bounty down." She visually shuddered at the memory that flashed in her mind of the female guard she had shot to kill. She went on though, "So I went home, and got my broadsword." She motioned to it in its hilt at her side, "Killed what I needed to..." She shuddered again, "Even a paladin in the sewers..." She accidentally bit into her lip that was blistered and gave out a soft sharp whimper.

Velia:Oh damn. Oh damn. Saige was so sweet and she'd had to… It made her feel bad for even asking what happened, making Saige relive something that was obviously traumatic for her. "Shhh….shhh. It's okay. You're home now." She nodded her head, not even noticing the small slip she'd made. She let the torn blood bag fall to the floor, completely uncaring of the disgusting splat sound it made as it hit the floor. "Can I get you anything?" The words were soft, meant to be soothing as she looked around her bed, wondering if the blanket and pillow cases were feeling too rough on Saige's poor abused skin.

"I could go get a warm cloth? Try and clean up some of the blood before it…" She cut herself off there. She was sure the blood had already dried and was incredibly uncomfortable. "Well I could clean it up anyway… it might help?" She figured she should probably avoid soap for the moment, not sure how the blistered skin would react to anything harsher than just water. She was already dreading running back downstairs to get the required materials for this and simultaneously adding a note to find a way to add in a small bathroom upstairs. Surely it wouldn't take much to do that. She would definitely find a way. Even if it was just a small sink area instead of the whole shebang? That was definitely doable. Possibly.

Now was not the time to linger on that, though. She'd already added the thought on her to-do list. Getting Saige as comfortable as possible was the only priority worth mentioning right then. She still wasn't quite sure how the little Angel had made herself so important so fast, but she was hardly going to complain. Even now she found it hard to complain. Her house just felt so much more like a home now, even with Saige all hurt and burnt up. It was nice and a feeling she wasn't likely to give up any time soon.

Saige: Home. She had said she was home, and Saige opened her warm blue hues on Velia when she had heard that slip out of the others lips. Saige smiled. She smiled wide, despite the pain. She couldn't have cared less of the pain. She wanted Velia to realize the slip she had made, though she wasn't going to point it out. She would simply smile at it for now. She figured that it would be best to get cleaned up, to get out of her bloodied dirty nasty ruined clothes, unless Velia was a miracle worker and could get the dark crimson stains and sewer grease out of her jeans.

She figured a cool cloth would be better, so she nodded then shook her head, both actions very light an hardly noticeable unless one was watching her as closely as Velia was. "Cold." She already felt like her skin was on fire... she wanted something cold. Like... an ice bath. Her lips turned into a soft pout that she just couldn't help. "Maybe an ice bath?" Her suggestion sounded even better verbalized, and she swallowed with another wince while she tried to get herself pushed up a little to sitting up. She wouldn't be pathetic. She couldn't be anymore. She looked more squarely at Velia. "I'm alright... I'll be alright." She wasn't sure who she was reassuring, herself or Velia, but she knew it needed to be said.

Velia:She wasn't sure how she was going to turn her hot tub into an ice bath, but she was almost positive she'd have it done by the end of the night. "I can do that…" She nodded her head, not wanting Saige to think for a minute it would be a difficult or time consuming task. "How about for now I bring up a cold cloth?" That should give her some time to get the ice bath done up. She leaned down to press a kiss to Saige's cheek, but stopped herself just away from the burnt skin. She had all the time in the world to do that, she could do it when it wouldn't hurt her Angel anymore. "I'll be right back."

She didn't wait for a reply, deciding to move quickly instead. She would have teleported herself down stairs if she could, but she had yet to find herself able to actually teleport herself inside somewhere. She made her way quickly to the hot tub room and sought out the user's manual for the thing, figuring the easiest and quickest way would be just to drain it and refill it. The technician who had installed it had filled it that first time, however, so she had absolutely no idea what to do. Luckily, it didn't take long to find the proper part in the manual that told her how to do this. She vaguely remembered the technician mentioning that there was a hose capable of doing both functions stored in the hot tub itself and she knew where both the drain and the tap were for filling. Excellent.

Tossing the manual to the side she quickly began her work on first the circuit breaker to the hot tub and then she found the drain valve. It didn't take long for her to see what she was looking for and she moved to attach the hose to it, the other end attaching to the floor's drain line that the company had suggested she put in in case of spillage. Excellent. Once she was sure everything was hooked up properly she began the process of the water draining, figuring it would take a fair amount of time for all of that water to drain anyway. Hopefully Saige could wait long enough for this and then for her to refill it for her ice bath.

Jumping back up, she made her way into the bathroom next door and grabbed a basin which she immediately began filling with cold water. She left it to fill as she all but ran into the kitchen to grab the bag of ice from the freezer. She didn't even bother shutting the door to it as she whooshed back to the bathroom, dumping the entire bag into the basin and shutting the water back off. Hopefully that was cold enough, though now she had no ice. She frowned, before grabbing her phone out of her pocket and made a quick call to a store that she knew delivered and requested 20 bags of ice cubes and 5 blocks of ice. That should be plenty. She could order more later if she needed it. The person on the other line seemed skeptical, but Velia quickly gave out her account number. "If you could, I would prefer it if the delivery happened between half an hour and forty five minutes from now. Is that doable?" The girl quickly said that yes it was and Velia hang up on her without another word.

Next step had her reaching under the cupboard for a cloth, which she immediately placed into the blistering cold water. She couldn't rush now, walking carefully so as to not spill any of the liquid that Saige had wanted as she made her way through her living room, up the stairs and across the way until she could get into her room. The basin was placed on the nightstand next to Saige's side of the bed, which was as close as she could get it without actually putting it on the bed. "How… what would be easiest, Angel?"

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Saige: She wanted so bad to lean into the offered kiss to her cheek. So bad. But the pain prevented it, the sharpness shooting through her neck and down her chest as she grunted at the protesting from her screaming skin. Whyyy... She struggled to fight the tears that welled up in her pain filled ocean blue hues. Why do I pass out like that... though I'm sure it didn't help that I had already exhausted myself... stupid. Stupid, stupid stupid. The word echoed in her mind as she struggled more and more to hold back the tears. Tears of anger, pain, dismay, confusion. She struggled. And Velia wasn't there to help her.... but Saige knew the woman was doing important things that would benefit her in the long run. Like drawing her a nice cold bath.

Her skin pulled and tugged uncomfortably and painfully in certain areas as she laid there, unable to do much but push herself up with her palms pressed into the bed at both side of her. Her fingers curled into the sheets and comforter as she groaned and finally settled sitting up against the back of the headboard. A long sigh escaped her lips as she closed her eyes and a single tear escaped to roll down her cheek. The salty liquid found a crack in her skin and she winced as she gingerly reached up and did her best to wipe it away. She couldn't even cry without it hurting. So she had to be strong. She had to strengthen her resolve through this just to get through it and she knew it.

Juliet had taught her one thing, if anything, that it was easy to love. Saige had loved Juliet the night they met; she had grown that love that a child would have for a mother only mere hours after they had met and Juliet had saved her pathetic human life. Saige recalled the first day she had actually lived for herself, and had come to realize that in dying, she had finally lived. The irony forced a slight smile on her lips and she shook her head and sniffled lightly. She gently wiped her nose and rested her hands in her lap as she waited for Velia to return.

Finally the woman came back with the bowl full of icy cold water, and Saige was ever so grateful. She was in pain and feared that the pain wouldn't stop until she managed to start to heal a little and take care of the wounds. She frowned and shook her head, looking down at her blood crusted hands. "I don't think there will be an easiest way for this... like a band aid." She spoke extra softly, and she hoped that Velia could hear her, those soft words not even echoing in the bedroom they were in. She moved to slide her shirt up over herself slowly, painfully, and with great effort.

Velia: She wasn't all that happy with that answer. She'd been hoping for a way to make it hurt less, not to be told there really wasn't a way for it to be done. She'd been about to reach her hand into the ice cold water when Saige began to lift her shirt up and she immediately stopped, moving to stay Saige's hand instead. She still didn't dare actually touch her skin, but the gesture was clear enough. "I doubt we can save your clothes, Angel. It would probably hurt a lot less if I grabbed some scissors?" She was sure she had a pair somewhere, at least. If not she could definitely run quick to the store to buy a pair.

Saige: Saige muttered something about Velia apparently not being a miracle worker, her attempt at dry humor only making herself smile a bit more as she sighed then and dropped her hand back to her lap. "I like this shirt... oh well." She shook her head, those warm ocean blue hues looking up and over to Velia in a sort of pleading fashion. "I'm sorry..." She felt bad. She felt bad for dumping her problems on Velia. For just showing up out of the blue. For being a hindrance to Velia. For making the woman feel like she was. Saige frowned and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the headboard. There wasn't much else she could do except go along with what Velia had in mind. Though her hand slid to slip fingers into Velia's hand and clasp the two together. She didn't want the woman to leave her side again.

Velia: She added a mental note to start looking for a shirt at least similar to that one to replace it as her free hand moved to the bedside table's drawer and fumbled around, letting out a relieved sigh as her fingertips grazed against the all too familiar figure of a pair of scissors. "It's just a shirt, Angel…" She gave her a smile as she pulled the scissors out of the drawer and moved them to the bottom hem of her shirt. "****…" Between the blistered skin, dried blood and the wounds she was sure lay there as well. "This'll probably still hurt some… If the fabric is stuck…" She couldn't help but wince there, remembering a few times when she'd let blood dry her clothes to her skin and had to later peel it off. She lifted the bottom hem of Saige's shirt just a little bit, testing the waters before she did much more than that.

Saige: Saige didn't open her eyes until the woman had the bottom hem of her shirt, at which point she reluctantly let go of her hand to give her better access to do what she needed to do in order to assist her. Saige bit into her lip again, despite the pain, pushing the thoughts of it aside even though it was clear in her eyes that watered with more tears. "That's..." She swallowed thickly, "Alright, go ahead..." She nodded ever so slightly, giving Velia the go ahead to snip through one of her favorite shirts. She couldn't help the fractured smile that tipped one side of her lips upwards, the fact of how very differently the two viewed clothing dashing in thought through her mind. Velia would probably never understand the connection Saige had found to materialistic objects, especially her clothes.

Velia: All Velia could do was nod before sliding the cold metal of the scissors between the shirt and Saige's skin, careful to keep the hard blades from touching her any more than they absolutely had to. Her fingers squeezed the plastic handles, the telltale snick of the blades coming together through the fabric sounding. She worked slowly, the blades taking what seemed like an eternity to fully cut through that first bit of fabric before she slid them further up, finding another patch of fabric to cut through while doing her best not to tug the same fabric away from her skin too harshly. "Sorry…" She couldn't help but to utter the word, knowing no matter how slow and carefully she went it was still going to hurt.

Saige: Velia nodded and then set to work, the snipping of the blades being heard just before the fabric peeled off her skin and more pain shot through her all the while Velia moved at a painstakingly slow pace. Saige had thought the band aid analogy had spelled it out for her, but apparently not as Velia tried to be gentle, only drawing out the pain that Saige felt longer and longer. She whimpered and dug her teeth into her lip a bit more, squeezing her eyes shut as she drew in a sharp breath through her nose and curled her fingers into her thighs heavily trying to disregard the pain. Overwhelming, she suddenly felt light headed and woozy, like the effects had crashed over her in waves. "Whoa..."

Velia: Something about Saige's reaction and subsequent vocalization had Velia looking at her with even more concern than before. It wasn't working. "So sorry…" And with that she was tossing the scissors down onto the bed and using her strength to finish tearing the shirt the rest of the way, tearing it away from Saige's skin as she did so. The action made her wince, knowing damn well how that felt. She didn't really want to see what the damage was, but knew she would need to in order to help Saige treat it as much as she could, so reluctantly looked down at the abused flesh.

Saige: The second Velia had ripped Saige's shirt off, Saige didn't feel anything. It was euphoric, almost. Like that moment of clarity before the ship sinks that a captain has, Saige felt serene. And then the pain ripped through her like a thousand hot branding irons pressed to her skin, and she cried out before muffling the cry into her bottom lip as she had before. "Ohh-mmmnph." She lurched forwards and then back again, arcing her back against the headboard as her fingers dug more harshly into her thighs.

Finally relaxing as much as she could with the pain dulling itself out again, she looked down at the gut shot that showed plainly. Remembering, she brought her hand up to her neck at the wound that was there and already half healing, showing off the bright red claw wounds on her right arm down it and around to the full of her back. She sighed and shook her head. How could she let any of this happen? "Irresponsible..." She muttered past the sigh.

Velia: "Oh god…Oh Angel…" She shook her head, reaching out to the basin to her left and grabbing up the now nearly frozen face cloth and ringing it out as much as she possibly could. "I hope this helps…" She had her doubts, but this was what Saige had wanted. She brought the freezing wet cloth over and placed it first on the open wound on her stomach, just leaving it there for a moment to allow the numbing coldness of it to seep into Saige's body before moving the abrasive fabric along tender skin.

Saige: Saige smiled and exhaled gently as she looked at Velia and reached her hand up to the woman's cheek again. "It already helps-" Yet her words were cut short as Velia started sliding the cloth along her skin that was blistered and cracked. Saige nearly cried out again, but she resisted the urge as she gritted her teeth and did her best not to show Velia that she was in pain even though she knew it was written all over her face. There was nothing she could do about that. It hurt. Her eyes welled in tears as she pursed her lips and swallowed, looking down as she focused more on the fact that the cloth was colder than her own dead, blistered skin.

The coldness seeped into her very being, and she blew out another breath of air that allowed the skin on her face to be stretched as her cheeks bulged in the action that made a loud whoosh noise. "Damn..." Slipped past in the exhale, and if anyone knew Saige, they would know that it really did hurt if not from the look on her face, but the fact that she was cursing... she never cussed. It hurt. But she maintained strong. Almost a new person... almost as if she had found a resolve out of this entire incident. And yet, she was still the same go-lucky, carefree, fun-loving Saige. She swallowed thickly again and watched Velia's hand intently as the cloth cleaned the dried blood off her wounded skin.

Velia: The cloth was hard, which wasn't exactly helping matters at all. Usually a wash cloth was soft and warm making for easier removal of dirt and grime. As Velia tried to clean her up with the not so soft freezing washing cloth she was fairly sure it was a losing battle. "Maybe we should go with warm water? At least to get you clean…. And by then the ice bath will be all ready for you. I promise." The look in her eyes as she gazed down to Saige was pleading. There was no other description for it.

Saige: Saige nodded as she slid her hand from Velia's cheek. She just didn't have it in her to argue with the woman. Not right now. Right now, she was thinking about walking through the arctic in a bikini bathing suit and making snow angels on the cold fluffy element that was snow. She was thinking about the cold ice from the rink the first time the two had gone out and tried ice skating together, the way Velia had used it to make her hurt wrist feel better. She was thinking about one of her first jobs that she had while working at a restaurant, the way the industrial sized cooler led into the freezer that held all their precious desserts and ice cream and it felt so cold... she shivered. "Alright." She swallowed again and gave a soft nod.

Velia: Oh. Good. This was good. "I'll be right back!" She jumped up, forgetting that this might jostle Saige, and dropped the cloth back into the basin before racing right back downstairs. She detoured, going back into the hot tub room to check on its progress. She frowned, seeing that it was only about halfway drained and wished she had a power that would speed the whole process along. She didn’t linger any more than that, however, going straight back to the bathroom to fill up the second basin with lukewarm water - figuring Saige really didn't want it to be any warmer than that. She didn't care about the water that ended up sloshing out of the sides this time as she rushed back upstairs, placing this basin on the bed next to Saige completely uncaring about any potential damage to the bed if it were to spill. "Okay Angel… let's try this again." And with no more warning than that, Velia reached into the new basin, ringing the cloth practically dry before placing it back against the wounded skin in front of her.

Saige: Again, Velia had left her side, and this time rather quickly which caused Saige's back to rub against the headboard behind her, and she muffled yet another cry into her lip. The more it hurt, the more she was finding that it was becoming easier to push it aside and tame it. She had personally never had to deal with this amount of pain, for this long, as the times before she hadn't been burnt so bad. But this time she had spent so long in the actual direct light from the sun that it clearly singed and took its toll on her skin. She sighed although her soft gentle smile returned when Velia did moments later, carrying another basin full on more water and another wash rag.

She couldn't help but smile at Velia and her attempts to make Saige comfortable and take care of her with no more questions asked. She reached and rested her hand on Velia's leg when the woman retook her seat next to her, and Saige wanted that closeness that was the level of security she had found within being surrounded by Velia. She knew what she felt with Velia, but she wasn't sure if Velia knew herself what it was, and she wouldn't ruin the moment. The perfect moment, even though it was pain filled, was just that; perfect.

Velia: She didn't bother wasting any more time, choosing instead to just get Saige cleaned up as quickly as she could. It wasn't long before the water had turned murky but Velia continued to wipe away what she could, rinsing the rag in the already disgusting water and ringing it out before repeating the whole process again. She cut away the rest of the fabric of Saige's shirt. Before long it was not only the rag and water, but the blankets and sheets around them that were covered in the bloodied water as well. Velia didn't care. She was finally able to see Saige's skin, as blistered and wounded as it was.

"Where else are you hurt, Angel?" She knew they healed fast. She knew the wounds wouldn't last. She closed her eyes and just shook her head. She was being a tad ridiculous. Saige was going to be okay, after all. Smiling, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Saige's blistered cheek just in time for the doorbell to ring. "I'll be right back. And then we can work on getting you down to your ice bath." As she jumped up she noticed the obvious blood colouration that had soaked through into her own clothes and gave out a huffed breath before quickly shredding them and rummaging through her closet for her one and only nightgown. It was a tank top style one that went down to her knees and while she wished she was more covered, it would do for now.

With that fixed she rushed back down the stairs, stumbling at the landing before righting herself and making it the rest of the way to the door. She opened it to come face to face with a rather curious looking delivery man who was doing everything he could to get a look inside. She was sure her appearance only piqued his curiosity - piercings and tattoos visible along with her obviously dyed hair. "You can just put that all right here in the entry way - I can take care of it from there." Her voice was overly high pitched and chippy, but she didn't care. While he was dealing with that she quickly went into the coatroom to her left and grabbed a $20 out of one of her jackets, handing it off to him once he'd finished unloading. "Thanks a bunch. Ta-Ta now!"

She practically pushed him out the door, not happy until she heard that satisfying "click" of the lock re-engaging after he was outside. She grabbed up the freezing cold blocks of ice and ran into the hot tub room, glad to see that it had finally drained. Using her teeth she tore into the plastic bags one by one, dumping them as gently as she could into the very bottom of the hot tub before she unscrewed the hose and reset the drain valve so it wouldn't start draining again once it began to fill. In less than a minute she had the hose hooked up to the tap they'd installed for this purpose and the other end inside the tub itself, the water on and slowly filling up. She watched it for a moment before rushing back off to grab an armload full of the ice, repeating the same actions as she had with the blocks until all of the ice was in the tub and it was filling up nicely.

She hoped this really was what Saige wanted; it hardly looked comfortable. She didn't want to stay down here and wait for it to finish, so she was going to have to bring Saige down even before it was ready. She walked at a normal pace through the hallways, living room, up the stairs and finally into her room - her smile much more bright than it had been before. "How do you want to do this? Do you want to walk downstairs? I could carry you? Or summon you again? It's up to you - whichever you think would be easiest, Angel."

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Saige: With every swipe of the rag, Saige's muscles on her jaw visibly clenched as she struggled to hold the pain at bay. Though still, it was getting easier and easier to maintain the image that it didn't hurt, and she swallowed once again as if to eat the pain and trap it deep within her. Her fingertips curled against Velia's jeans as she watched carefully with warm ocean blue hues as Velia cleaned her up for her. Saige probably would have been better just braving a cold shower, but she honestly wasn't sure she had the resolve to stand there alone to her own thoughts and devices after what she had had to put herself through the night before. She sighed, her eyes welled with tears relieved one down her cheek again and she moved as quick as she could to wipe it away.

She didn't need Velia seeing her like that. All a ball of mush. Torn between her emotions and the necessity of being what she now was. Caught in the rift of living, and being forced to live. She felt confused, upset, unsure of herself as she struggled with the notion that what she had done was what she needed to do in order to maintain herself here. She sighed again and gave Velia a slight smile with the side of her mouth as she shook her head. She didn't want Velia to see her like this. She felt... weak. She blinked a couple times and patted her knee, letting her know that it was in fact alright for her to go to the door. Saige knew that she would be alright. That in a couple days' time it would be like this never even happened.

Because of that, she felt a glint of hope in her that hadn't originally been there. She felt like everything was going to be okay in the long run, and for the moment she didn't even have the fleeting thought of the poor guards and paladin she had slaughtered the day before. Though she looked down to her hands that were still caked in blood and the memories came flooding through her mind, all the blood and gore that she had caused along with the infinite pain she had caused with her sword. Her hand slid to her sword and she quickly unhooked it from her belt, shoving it off the bed so that it landed a foot or so from the bed. She didn't even want it near to her, the killing utensil that her grandsire had given her... she couldn't even bare to look at it.

Moving to grab the cloth from the dirty basin she rung it out as much as she could before slowly and gingerly wiping her hands and then face as much as she could while bearing the pain. Rinsing it out once, she repeated the process, hoping that she didn't look as dirty and nasty as she was sure she had prior to the battles and fights she had had yesterday. She really felt the need to run a brush through her mangled mess of a hair that birds could have nested in by now, but she didn't know if she could make it to the bathroom downstairs through the pain she knew she was going to have to endure in the actions of getting up and moving down the stairs. And then Velia was there and she was smiling broadly, something rather infectious to Saige.

Returning the smile as much as she could without splitting her skin open she looked over to Velia. Disregarding the questions of where else she was hurt, and how she wanted to do anything, she simply reached and managed to grab a hand full of night gown enough to pull the woman closer to her. She hoped that she didn't see the sword on the ground, she didn't want to have to explain her lapse in anger towards the simple act of violence... right now all she wanted was a hug. She wanted a hug, to be held, fingers through her ratty hair and told everything was going to be alright. She more than wanted that, she needed it. She needed Velia, in that moment, and she admitted it.

"I need you." Came out quietly, hushed almost as she buried her blistered face in the woman's stomach area and forced herself to bring her arm around her and hug her. She drew a deep breath and exhaled it just as slowly as she had inhaled, and in the action she couldn't help the tears that escaped out of the corners of her eyes. She felt so much in that moment, and yet again she was overwhelmed only this time by emotions as she clung to Velia and her night gown. Saige felt more tears, and she couldn't hold them back anymore. They fell freely, and she allowed them to as she sniffled instinctively at her running nose. "I'm sorry..."

Velia: "I…I…" Velia was at a complete loss for words as Saige burrowed into her and began to cry. She'd seen the way the way that her Angel's sword had been tossed off to the side. Her hands patted at the other woman awkwardly, even though she'd so easily cleaned her not that long before. It was that awkwardness that seemed to come and go - hitting her sometimes when others she was too focused to be overwhelmed by such things. She wished now was one of those times - that she could focus more on the woman curled up with her than on her own ridiculousness.

"I'm here…" She somehow managed to keep herself from having the words come out sounding more like a question than a statement, but that didn't change the awkward and unsure tone that they came out in. She kept up the awkward petting - her hands just barely touching Saige before she lifted them up again. It wasn't at all the type of petting one might expect a woman to give to the person they'd been sharing a bed with as they broke down in their lap, but it was the automatic response that came to Velia.

She bit into her bottom lip as she looked down at the curled up ball of Saige, knowing they couldn't stay up there much longer with the water running downstairs. She could get it fixed, so it wasn't like she was worried about that, but she didn't need to add another thing that would surely make Saige upset. "I can come with you into the bath if you want?" It wasn't the most appealing thought that she'd ever had, but that didn't change the fact that she would do it if it was what Saige needed.

Saige: Saige felt Velia petting at her, patting awkwardly as the woman had done before, and she was just glad that she wasn't standing there like a pure marble statue. She was glad for the interaction. For the humanism, for the emotion, no matter how awkward Velia made it in her head; Saige was just glad Velia was there. The words that filled the bedroom of reassurance helped Saige get a reign on her emotions, to pull them in and slowly stop the tears that fell from her eyes. She loosened her grip on Velia slowly. "Oh wow." She whispered, shaking her head and bringing her hands up to her eyes as she pulled gently back from Velia. "I just feel so overwhelmed." She swallowed, drawing a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself.

Don't be so pathetic... She thought, shifting against the bed as she nodded. "I'd like that." She looked up at Velia, suddenly caught by those grey eyes. Beautiful.[/i ] She blinked. She blinked again, trying to stand up. "I think..." She pursed her lips and managed to stand, her skin protesting every little movement as she shifted and put a hand up to Velia's shoulder to steady herself. Thank god for her... what would I have done otherwise? Probably call Juliet... who would never let me out of her sight again. She gave Velia a soft smile and leaned to press a kiss to her cheek. "I think I'm grateful to have you Velia."

She looked down to her sword, resisting the urge to kick at it. Looking back up, she blinked again. "Whatever you think is best, though the pain is becoming more bearable.... or rather, I s'pose I'm just getting more and more used to it as I experience it." She informed, balling her hand into a fist, then stretching her fingers back out again. Sure it hurt, but just as she had said, it was easy to manage the pain. To focus on the ice bath waiting for her downstairs.

Velia: She caught Saige's look towards her discarded weapon and added a mental note to place it somewhere out of the way; somewhere Saige would never have to see it again if she didn't ask about it. "Do you feel up to trying to walk then?" Velia wasn't sure if she'd be up to a walk down the stairs if she were in the same condition as Saige, but then again she didn't want Saige to feel like she wasn't allowing her to try if she wanted to. She wasn't Saige's mother, after all. She was….

The thought made her blink a bit. She wasn't exactly sure what she was. She also didn't know how she felt about that. What she did know was that now wasn't the time to dwell on any of this. "I don't mind carrying you if you're not up for it…or I could just walk with you so I'm here if you need to lean?" She hoped her tone showed that it didn't matter to her one way or the other, though she was never really sure if these intentions came off or not.

Saige: Saige took a deep breath and thought about trying to walk. She instantly remembered the first time the two of them met, and how Saige had to learn how to walk with those ridiculous ice skates on. And how Velia had caught her. Always there to catch her. Even on the ice. Saige smiled and shook her head. No, she couldn't walk. She felt sick to her stomach and hurt all over. Walking was not an option. She moved to wrap her arms around Velia's back of her neck and rested her forehead against the woman's shoulder. "I feel so pathetic." She sighed, fingertips curling softly into Velia's back. She really did feel hopeless. Helpless. Unable to do the simple things she needed to do in order to take care of herself. She couldn't even feed herself. Velia had to do that for her.

Carrying her. Yes, that was a hell of a thought. Saige nodded again, swallowing thickly at the thought of feeding as she pushed it to the side of her mind. "Carry me? Please?" She asked meekly, as if she didn't really want to ask, but had no other options. She just really didn't want Velia to leave her side. Not again. She wanted to be near her because for some reason, she didn't feel like she hurt as bad with the woman near to her. Like somehow, Velia stole some of Saige's pain from her. And she didn't want that to go away.

Velia: At Saige's request Velia immediately curled her arm under the other's legs and lifted her up. "Then carry you I shall…" She murmured out before making their way back down to the hot tub room. She walked slowly and carefully, not wanting to stumble or drop Saige. The hot tub was only half full when they got there, but it still looked like plenty of water to start out with. That was good at least. She didn't want to just dump Saige into the water, so instead she set her on the edge of the tub and smiled at her.

"Do you want to get undressed the rest of the way? Or just go in how you are now and deal with that later?" As she asked the question, her fingers immediately moved up to lightly caress Saige's cheek, hopefully light enough not to harm the damaged skin.

Saige: Saige softly giggled her signature giggle at Velia's words, all proper like. She clung to Velia tightly and drew in a deep breath of the woman's scent. It was the same as it had been since the first day, the first moment she had met Velia. And that familiarity was perfect. Saige needed that, as much as she needed Velia in this moment, this moment of second guessing who she was and what she was doing here. She sighed into Velia's shoulder and didn't let go when she was set to the edge of the hot tub. She tipped her head into the gentle caress. It was perfect. "You're perfect." She whispered.

She shook her head then, snapping out of the moment. "Just like this." She whispered again, not wanting to even deal with her jeans at this point in time. Those would probably have to be cut off too, honestly, and she really liked those jeans. She sighed and clung to Velia, shivering at the cold air that radiated from the hot tub. Wait. The hot tub! "Oh my! Your hot tub!" She blinked then, and corrected herself, "Well now it's a cool tub." She giggled gently.

Velia: It was hard not to smile at Saige's reaction to what she'd done - so Velia didn't even try. "You asked for an ice bath… so I made it happen." She slipped back out of her nightgown, letting it pool to the floor and then grabbed two big fluffy towels out of the cabinets. She figured at least she'd want to dry off and warm up afterwards, even if Saige wasn't up to that much. "Okay, Angel… Let's get you feeling better."

She still didn't want to drop Saige into the water, so instead she hopped into the water herself, freezing slightly at the instant bone chilling cold that was the water at the moment. She blinked, suppressing the urge to jump back out or scream or possibly even cry. Was this really going to be good for Saige? Well… if it wasn't, she would just take her right back out and never ever attempt this **** again.

Finding herself finally in control of her muscles again, she leaned forward and scooped her Angel back up, sitting them both down in the burningly cold water, ready to jump back out at a moment's notice if Saige asked it of her.

Saige: Velia had indeed made that happen. Even if the ice in the tub that was supposed to be filled with hot water ruined the expensive piece of leisurely equipment, she had done it without hesitation, clearly. Saige couldn't believe it - though she was glad that she had gotten Velia to smile. Because that meant the world to Saige; that even though Velia was clearly upset about Saige in her position of pain filled movements due to her sunburn and wounds, Saige had gotten her to smile. She watched curiously as Velia had disrobed and grabbed towels, and then got into the water herself. Surely it couldn't be that cold. After all, they were vampires. Cold and dead.

Burning. It burned. The cold water hit her skin the moment Velia grabbed her and settled in with her, and she instinctively sucked in a sharp shortened breath through her mouth in a loud gasp. "Oh!" She tightened her grip on Velia around the back of her neck and squeezed her eyes shut until it didn't hurt anymore, and she was soothed suddenly. Like someone had rubbed bottle upon bottle of aloe all over her body and didn't even rub it in, just let it sit there caked on to continuously soak into her skin and pores slowly over a long period of time. She shuddered and then relaxed, a content smile crossing her face as she sighed and then looked up to Velia. "Relief..." Was all that came out for now, as she succumbed to the icy cold waters they were in.

Velia: She'd been two seconds from jumping back out based on Saige's reaction when Saige began to relax. The look on her face changed from one of pain to one of almost bliss, which had Velia relaxing and ignoring the fact that the arctic cold water was making her feel like a vampsicle. "Yeah? It's helping?" She pressed a kiss against Saige's forehead as she just held her closer, though not so close that there'd be too much pressure against the skin she was sure wasn't fully numbed from pain.

"I can get more ice?" Her eyes locked on the water level then, which was getting close to the full line. She didn't want to give up her treasure long enough to get up and shut it off, but she doubted it would do either of them good for her to let it overflow. It didn't need her getting up right that second though. Surely another minute or two wouldn't hurt.

Saige: Saige leaned into that kiss, giving a gentle nod as she simply hummed out her reply. "Mhmmm." She closed her eyes and allowed Velia to hold her close, the closeness that Saige had longed for being that of entirely welcoming. She nuzzled the tip of her nose against Velia's chin gently, sighing again as she felt the soothing relaxation course through her to her very bone. This relief would have been nice an hour ago... "Someone should set this up as a business. Vampiric Ice Baths - we come to you!" She giggled again, her warm blue hues sliding closed as she loosened her grip around Velia's neck slightly. She shook her head then, gently and slowly. "No, no more ice needed. This is perfect... just perfect...." Her words trailed as she half dozed, half simply rested in the moment.

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Velia: "It won't be me… I don't think I want to make a business out of something like this." She frowned as Saige seemed to doze off, the water level getting to the point where she needed to get up to shut it off. Damnit. She pressed a kiss to Saige's cheek, nuzzling lightly against her skin there. "You need to wake up for a minute, Angel. I need to go turn the water off so I need to get up for a minute." She moved them, readjusting Saige so she'd be against the seat while Velia was up and moving around, though she waited to let go of her until she saw that she was alert and not about to sink below the cold surface.

Saige: Saige mumbled something about how she didn't want to, but she did manage to open her eyes and loosen her grip on Velia so the woman could get out of the hot tub. "Mhmm." She muttered softly, the word itself vibrating against her lips enough for her to sigh. She didn't want Velia to leave her, but the woman was right, Saige opening her eye enough to peek at the level that was clearly dangerously high as the tub was about to over flow. She instinctively wrapped her arms around herself, snuggling into the seat and side of the tub comfortably.

Velia: She hopped out of the tub as soon as she was sure Saige was aware, turning off the water and pulling the house out of the tub, letting it lay next to the drain. She knew Saige wanted her in the tub with her but the chill deep in her bones only seemed to intensify as the air brushed along the cold water dripping from her skin. She grabbed the nearest fluffy white pillow and began patting herself dry, not even wanting to feel the fabric brushing against her skin. Once she was mostly dried off she dropped that towel, grabbing the second one and pulling it tight around herself before moving to sit on the edge of the tub so she could at least be close to the other woman. "I don't know how you can stand that… ****'s cold." Just the thought of it had her shivering again and wondering why she thought adding ice was really a good idea.

Saige: Her warm blue hues followed Velia. She watched the woman, giving Velia a faint smile that she couldn't hide as she watched her dry off. Velia could get awkward at times, Saige knew this much - in fact she liked that the woman often took the time to think things a bit deeper than just to be superficial. But now was not one of those times, and Saige admired how comfortable Velia seemingly had gotten around her. She closed her eyes and sighed, the ice sloshing around gently in the tub as she tried not to move but twitched involuntarily because it was in fact so cold. Her muscles weren't happy with it, but her skin was, and that was all that mattered. She opened one eye to look up at Velia that was now sitting on the edge of the tub clad in her stark white fluffy towel.

"Mmm, its soothing..." She muttered softly, the shifted to tip her head back and open her other eye as well, staring up at Velia, reaching up to touch the tip of her finger to the tip of the woman's nose. "I feel better already."

Velia: At the feel of Saige's fingertip against her nose Velia rolled her eyes, her grin broadening at the other. "I'm glad you feel better." Velia let her own hand cup Saige's cheek, her thumb moving gently against her skin. "Will you be okay for a minute?" She didn't actually want to leave her side, but she definitely wanted to get the bedroom cleaned up before Saige was done soaking. She wanted Saige to see nothing but a clean bloodless room when it was time to go back. "I promise I won't be long."

Saige: She leaned into the hand at her cheek, giving a gentle nod. It was reassuring that she did indeed feel better, that Velia was able to touch her skin and Saige not recoil from the connection. She sighed and smiled gently, though it was immediately turned into a soft frown. She didn't want Velia to leave her. She didn't want to be left alone. She wanted her to stay... but she knew that that would be living in a non-realistic world... and she knew she also didn't want that. She was hurt, not delusional. "I'll be alright, thanks to you." She added, her smile flashing pearly whites up at Velia. She blinked then. Promise... No one had ever promised her anything, that she could remember... "I'll hold you to that."

Velia: She chuckled before leaning down to brush her lips against Saige's for just a moment and then she was up, walking away from what had become the heart of her home. The towel was big enough that she was easily able to do the weird tucking thing that seemed to magically keep towels from falling - even though Velia really wasn't sure why it was enough for that to happen. Normally she'd have thought about that while walking around in her towel, but tonight she was more interested in getting upstairs to get it cleaned up as quickly as possible so she could get back downstairs.

Her nose wrinkled at the mess that was their bed, but she quickly shrugged the thought off and took the second basin off of the bed - placing it on the second nightstand. From there she quickly tore off the soiled material from the bed, tossing it out into the center room. Sliding her hand along the now bare mattress she was glad to see that only a minimal amount of water had soaked through all of the bedding. She debated putting a new set of bedding on right away, but decided against this - to let the mattress air out for a while first instead.

She eyed the basins full of water and groaned slightly. She really didn't want to make any more trips than she absolutely had to and she doubted her ability to carry two basins full of water along with the soiled bed dressings. She chewed on her lip for a moment before grabbing up the first basin and making her way into the center room. Her house did have windows - they just had amazing shutters to keep out the sunlight during the day. Placing the basin on the center room's table, she quickly unlocked and opened one of the windows that led to the back yard before going back for the basin and dumping it out. Grinning, she went back and grabbed the second basin, disposing of the water in the same fashion before stacking both basins beside the linens.

That only left Saige's weapon that was still lying discarded next to the bed. Velia walked over and picked it up gently, not wanting to cause any damage to it in case Saige did in fact want it back. She'd seen Saige's reactions to her own weapons, though, so wasn't exactly sure what the woman was doing with one of her own. She shook her head and then carried the blade across to her study, quickly entering in her code so she could enter and place it into her weapon's safe there. It took up a lot of room, but it would be safe and there for Saige if she ever asked about it.

That was everything, she thought, so she quickly left her study, the lock reengaging the moment it was closed, and stuffed the linens into the top basin and began her journey back down the stairs. She didn't go right back to the room Saige was in, stopping in the regular bathroom first to throw the linens into the washing machine. She didn't feel like washing the basins out just then, so those she stacked on top of the dryer for now. Then she was making her way back to Saige, hoping she hadn't taken too long.

Saige: Velia had leaned down and brushed a quick kiss to Saige's lips, and Saige slowly let her eyes close as she kissed her back; though the action was so quick she almost missed it and ended up kissing air. Velia left the room quickly and Saige let her kissed lips curl up into a smile, flashing pearly whites again to no one in the room. "So perfect..." She whispered, moving to wrap her arms around herself again. Her skin was feeling quite wonderful at the moment, not hurting like it had been when Velia had cleaned her up... but she knew that once she got out of the tub Velia would see the wounds on her back and back of her arm, and she scowled lightly. Maybe I could heal some of them... She thought idly, concentrating about healing the worst of them on her back.

The pain that radiated from her back suddenly subsided, and she was sure that she had managed to do just that, heal the deep wound that spanned from her neck to her lower back. She knew there were other more superficial ones to the side of back and on her arm, but there was nothing she could do as she sighed and tightened her grip on herself. Blinking, she felt the fabric of her jeans and suddenly thought to remove them while Velia wasn't near in case it hurt and she needed to verbalize her pain. Gently shifting in the seat she sat up and realized that she wasn't in as much overall pain as she had been, probably more in thanks to healing the horrible wound at her back.

She gingerly slid her thumbs under the waist band of her pants and slid them off, lifting the soaking wet jeans up out of the ice cold water and letting them slop noisily to the ground. She sighed and figured that she should probably get out, seeing as how her teeth had started to chatter in a most annoying way, clattering uncontrollably together to make the sound echo lightly in her ears. She brought her hands up to her face and lightly scrubbed at it, thanking god that they were cold and that it felt good on her skin as she tried to stand up. Her knees were weak as she put her hands on the edge of the tub and lifted herself up and out of the water, sitting on the edge of the tub with her feet resting on the seat she had been placed on.

Her skin had started to feel burned again, but she figured that burned skin was better than getting sick... not even thinking that she couldn't get sick, after all she was a vampire. She lifted one foot out of the icy slush and moved it over the side of the tub, bringing her other to follow as she slid off the side of the tub and stood up with her hands on the side of the tub to steady herself. She felt weakened, so tired that she could sleep for another five hours straight, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to. Ever since her turning she could never sleep at night... always only during the day. She sighed and wobbled over to the towels, grabbing one up and instantly wrapping it around herself and huddling there in it to try to get warm again.

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Velia: She made it into the room just in time to see Saige wrapping the towel around herself and instantly made her way over to curl her arm around the woman. "You want to just laze around the house today? We can watch movies or something?" She didn't care about the wet pants that were on the floor - that was what the floor drain was for. All she cared about was getting Saige somewhere comfortable for a little while. Maybe tomorrow they could really talk about what had happened and find a way to keep it from happening again. She wouldn't care if it hadn't have obviously distressed Saige so much, but it had - so this wasn't what she should be doing. Surely they could come up with a better pass time for her.

Saige: Saige's eyes snapped open as she felt the arm around her, nearly losing her balance and instead ending up leaning against Velia as one arm flew from under the towel and grasped at the other woman's towel. "Oh-h-h-h." She blinked up at Velia, the woman insisting that they lounge and be lazy for the rest of the day. Her look softened considerably and she even gave Velia a bit of a sheepish smile as she nodded. "Y-y-yes, I would l-l-like that ver-ry much-ch-ch." She blinked again, giving a shiver to indicate that her skin had indeed heated back up as her chattering teeth slowly stopped clacking against each other. "What-t-t kind of movies-s-s do you l-like?"

Velia: "Uhhh…" She wrinkled her nose again and pulled Saige slightly closer. "I don't really know? I've never been much of a movie watcher. Always something else to do. Why don't we start with what you like and we can go from there?" Hopefully she had something there that Saige would like.

Saige: Velia pulled Saige closer and for that she was grateful. She was cold, still. But mostly because she was burnt, and she was sure that she looked horrible still, noticing the burns on her arm she frowned and moving to put her arm back under her towel and out of sight. How ugly. She sighed and pushed her face up into Velia's shoulder so she was looking down, shrugging. "I like chick flicks. Like, mushy movies. And silly comedies." She thought about it for a moment, "My favorite is Grease. Do you have Grease?"

Velia: "Maybe? I haven't actually looked." She stopped herself from admitting that she'd actually handed a bunch of money to one of her employees and gotten her to go out and shop for her, preferring to run the shop for a while than be out shopping for stuff like that. "Why don't we go look? We can curl up on the couch with a blanket?" She had noticed the shivering and knew how cold she felt herself. She didn't wait for an answer, instead she took a step back and slid her hand down into Saige's and began to lead the other out into the living room.

Saige: "Haven't looked?" She blinked, pulling back to look up at Velia again with her warm blue hues even though deep down to her core she was freezing cold. She found herself wondering how one could have a selection of movies and not know what one had... and her quizzical look proved that thought to be rather confusing to Saige. She gave a smile and nodded, though she was already being pulled to the living room as she clutched to her towel... though the thought of a blanket was already warming her up.

Velia: She left Saige next to the couch, allowing her to settle herself in while she looked to see if she had the movie or not. She checked through her DVD collection once and then again only to shake her head. "Nope… I don't seem to have that one." She made a mental note to buy it, though. "Is there another one you might like to watch?"

Saige: Saige frowned. It was her absolute favorite movie, and she knew that it would make her feel better. But Velia didn't have it, so she sighed. "Well, name a few off you haven't seen, and I'll pick one." She offered, moving to settle on the middle of the couch. Whichever side Velia decided to sit on, Saige would curl up on the woman instantly. She reached up and smoothed her hand over top of her pulled back hair, hoping to tame the mess that it was though it did little to do so.

Velia: She hadn't seen any of them, but she didn't say that. Instead she started grabbing at random, calling the name out as she did before placing it on top of the shelf. "I've got…. Marley and Me, Bend it like Beckham…" She pulled out one called Night of the Living Dead and immediately put it right back, figuring that wasn't exactly what Saige was looking for. "Up in the Air, Miss Congeniality… do any of those spark your interest?" She could grab some more if not, or possibly fire her employee for bringing her sub-par movies.

Saige: Saige settled on the couch comfortably and looked up and over at Velia as she read off movies. She saw her pull one out and immediately put it back, and Saige figured it was a movie she had already seen. She pursed her lips to the side slightly, then chewed on her inner cheek for a moment before she shook her head. "I've seen all those... Do you happen to have The Notebook? I like that one enough to watch it again. Or even The Titanic... both good story lines. Have you seen either of those?" She asked, tugging the blanket off the back of the couch to do her best to unfold it and get it over her; even though she was failing.

Velia: "Uhh…." She looked through her collection twice again while shaking her head. "Nope. Neither…" The decision to fire the employee was growing more appealing with every minute. "But I have… ummm…" Again she started pulling movies out at random and calling their names out. "Snow White and the Huntsman…" Snow White was a fairy tale, right? So surely that would be a good one. "Easy A…" That one sounded like it was maybe about school? You got A's in school and Velia couldn't really think of any other reason. "The kids are All Right…" She really had no idea on that one, but if people were all right then surely it was good? "Do you want to watch any of those?"

Saige: Saige blinked. Velia needed more romantic films. She decided to go shopping for her the second she was feeling better. At least if she went shopping she wouldn't be doing anything to get her bounty up, or killing anything to get it down. She was glad for that. She chewed on her lip for a moment, then shrugged and leaned back against the couch, finally getting the blanket to cooperate and cover her legs. "Just pick one, they are all good movies." She smiled lightly. Yes, she had seen them all, as she herself was quite the movie go-er. She was usually the lonely girl in the back of the movie theatre off to the side munching away on her bucket of popcorn during the film.

Velia: She still had the last one in her hand so she decided to go with that one. She did, thankfully, know how to work a television and DVD player at least, even if she never really used them. Once it was in and the previews were playing she was making her way back to the couch, sitting just to the right of Saige with enough room between them that Saige could have her space, if she wanted it.

Saige: Velia took her spot finally next to Saige on her right, and Saige scooted (painfully) over to close the gap and draw her legs up on the rest of the couch to her left. Pulling the blanket up to cover Velia too, she patted it on the woman's far knee then nuzzled the side of her head into Velia's shoulder as she reached behind and tugged the woman's arm around her. Saige leaned and pressed a kiss to Velia's jawline. "I like this one. Good choice babe." The word had slipped out, but to Saige it felt natural so she didn't even blink after saying it.

Velia: "I'm glad you like it…" The words were soft as she readjusted herself slightly, finding a comfortable spot now that Saige was curled up against her. She wasn't sure she'd actually be able to tell anyone what the movie was about when it was over, but that wasn't really the point of this for her. Not even a little bit.

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Saige: Saige's eyes flew open. She sat up, quick at first then slow like as she realized she still hurt. She swallowed dryly and then coughed lightly, fingertips brushing across soft fleece like blankets as she realized that she was in bed. Looking to the side she saw a blank spot on the bed where the covers were thrown back clearly and it was obvious that someone had been sleeping there next to her. Saige slid herself out from under the covers and realized she was in nothing but what she had gotten into the hot tub in the night before, and she would have blushed had she could have. She giggled softly due to the dryness in her throat, and got up to go to the dresser where she had gotten some clothes before from Velia.

She opened a drawer and plucked out a pair of sweatpants and a super large T-shirt, throwing them on carefully but quickly before she moved to make the bed. She pulled the sheet up first and made it look nice, then the comforter and lastly the two pillows that the two had used to rest their heads on at night. She nodded in approval before she moved to open the closed door to the bedroom in search of Velia.

Velia: She hadn't been able to sleep the whole day, waking up with a half an hour or so to go until the sun was ready to set. They had stayed down in the living room all night, watching move after movie until Saige had finally passed out in her arms. Even then, Velia had stayed there for a while before heading upstairs to close the window she'd forgotten to earlier, make the bed up with brand new bedding and double check that the window shutters were set properly. It was something that it never hurt to double check, especially seeing as how Saige had already received more sunburn than V ever wanted to see on her again.

She had gotten Saige and herself back into bed just as the shutters had engaged for the day, shortly after which her eyes had closed and she'd fallen into a peaceful sleep (or whatever vampires did) for the day. Waking up with so much time before Saige was likely to wake hadn't been in her plans and she'd debated for a moment to just lay there until sunset. Saige was already looking much better though, even if not quite back to her full self, and Velia was more interested in thinking up a way to keep Saige busy and away from things that obviously didn't make her happy. Killing or even dealing with weapons at all obviously wasn't what made Saige happy.

This is what had her sitting in her study with the door open as the sun set for the night. She had been sitting at her computer trying to come up with ideas that might suit Saige, but nothing was coming to mind. Her computer was probably enjoying the use though, as she hadn't been using it much since starting up her business. There was even a fine layer of dust along it, even though she tried to make a habit of at least dusting the place one a week or so. She wasn't doing anything other than staring at her computer when she heard rustlings from her bedroom. "I'm in here." The words were said in a soft tone, knowing she wouldn't need to yell for Saige to be able to hear her.

Saige: Saige turned the handle and opened the door slowly, in case Velia was on the other side and Saige could have potentially startled her. She peeked her head out first, then slightly frowned as she didn't immediately see Velia, she secretly hoped that the woman hadn't left her alone in her house to go out for some reason. Of course if it was for I.D.F.K. Saige would have understood. Then she heard Velia's soft tone and her frown instantly turned into a gentle smile as she followed the voice to the woman's open doored study. Saige hesitated to just walk in - this room had always been locked and she wouldn't encroach on Velia's privacy as she leaned in and knocked on the door very lightly. "Knock, knock..." She whispered.

Warm blue eyes fluttered around the room until they laid on the barely clothed Velia sitting at her computer. Saige smiled even wider, happy to see that Velia was getting more and more comfortable around her, she slid slowly into the study and made her way over to Velia behind the desk. Leaning down she pecked a kiss to the woman's lips and pulled back just enough to look the other straight into those deep pools of grey hues. "Found you." She giggled gently.

Velia: An automatic purr escaped her lips at the feel of Saige's lips against hers before she smiled at the woman. "Was I lost? I didn't even realize. I'm so glad you're on the case then!" Her grin broadened at this, glad to see Saige in such high spirits after the previous night. "How do you feel angel?" A slight edge of concern wound its way back into her eyes as she swiveled her chair so she could face Saige.

Saige: Velia swiveled, and Saige took the opportunity to seat herself in the woman's lap as she slipped her arms around the woman's neck and nuzzled her nose to hers with that signature giggle filing the air at Velia's comment. "Case solved." She nodded, effectively brushing her nose against Velia's. She pulled back and gave a soft shrug. "Not bad... I heal fast, even faster than some vampires I've found." She moved to tug the sleeve up on one arm to show Velia the already healed wounds on her what was now only cherry red skin without blisters and burns. She moved her arms back around the woman's neck. "Hopefully I won't have to do that again..." She said lowly, giving a slight shudder at the memories that flashed behind her eyes of the humans she killed.

Velia: Her arms moved to curl around Saige's waist, pulling the woman even closer to her. She knew Saige was showing off her wounds, but Velia didn't feel like taking her eyes off of the other woman's face. Saige's last words, however, brought it all back. "It won't…" There was a hard edge in her words, and her fingers gripped into the shirt that Saige had taken from her own dresser. "Have you thought any about what you want to do?" She wanted to add in that doesn't involve killing but decided to leave it more open ended. "Maybe it's something I could help with?"

Saige: Saige felt the tug on the shirt that she had borrowed, and she furrowed her brows gently at Velia. Clearly the woman cared. Clearly Velia didn't want Saige to get hurt. But Saige couldn't help but feel like she wasn't pathetic - like the wounds weren't something that she couldn't handle. She frowned a bit, then sighed. "I'm not weak..." She trailed off in a mere whisper, then shook her head and settled against Velia comfortably as her legs swung gently back and forth. "Anything... anything but that." She glanced to the computer, giving it a look for a moment, then pulled back and up to look at Velia again with a curious look. "There are other things to do for us that don't involve... violence?" She clearly had no idea what Velia was even referencing.

Velia: Velia growled slightly. "Did I ever once call you weak?" Her eyes narrowed slightly to go with her words before she softened them again and fully relaxed against the back of her chair. "I just…" She sighed, closing her eyes as he tried to find the right words. "Do you enjoy violence and killing? I was under the impression that you didn't…" Velia reopened her eyes as memories of that first night and Saige's reaction to her gun came to mind. "If you enjoyed doing it and you got hurt then…it'd be different. Why should you be getting hurt doing something that makes you so…. miserable?"

She grinned then, nodding her head. "Of course there are other things to do. Not all vampires run around killing things. I have my business, which gives me things to do that don’t involve killing things most of the day. I used to hack… although I don't have much time for that now. My sire crafts things…." She shrugged her shoulders, not really knowing what else there was that was along those lines. "You could do whatever you wanted, Angel."

Saige: Saige blinked as Velia seemingly got upset, but then the moment she relaxed Saige simply tipped her head to the side as she listened. Velia had a point, why would she do something that she just clearly didn't enjoy? And Velia was entirely correct in knowing that Saige didn't like guns, let alone swords or blades or anything of the sort. Saige hated violence, really, when it came down to it. She just figured that with being a vampire came violence; like those old black and white Dracula movies where all he did was kill and get blood everywhere. Business... Saige loved to work. She loved making people happy in the store. Making customers smile.

But most of all, she loved the paycheck for the little amount of work she felt she did. So to think about her having her own business... she couldn't imagine the work behind that. No, she didn't want to do that. She bit into her lip gently and teased it between her teeth in thought. She wasn't very good with her hands when it came to things like woodworking and building stuff, so crafting was out the window. She had even gone through three phones just in the last year - it was like she had the devils touch when it came to things like that. Hacking? That sounded more her speed. "Hacking?" She inquired, looking back to Velia with a soft curious smile.

Velia: "I could teach you how to hack…" Velia grinned at this, feeling guilty that she'd let her computer sit unused all of this time anyway, becoming nothing more than a relic of her human life. "How familiar are you with computers?" Her question was said with the slightest amount of hesitation, as the amount of knowledge Saige already had would possibly determine how much of a headache this was about to be for V. Even if Saige didn't even know how to turn the thing on, V would still sit there and do her best to teach her, though.

Saige: "I'm not horrible at them, honestly, I know quite a bit! I could make you one of the best spreadsheets you'd ever see." She grinned, flashing Velia bright whites. She had graduated and had started to attend the community college online, so she already knew about computers and even how to use them. That part wouldn't be the hard part, so she looked over at Velia's desktop and smirked slightly. "What operating system does it use?" She didn't know too much about the actual making of computers, but she did know that they ran on specific operating systems. Sure, she may have been trying to sound smart about computers, but in reality Saige was actually quite intelligent as it were. She even kept clerical records for Juliet over at the Sanitarium lately.

Velia: She shook her head and even rolled her eyes slightly. "Why don't you have a looksee at it and show me what you do know?" V's encrypted flash drive that had all of her hacking programs was locked up in the drawer, so it wasn't like Saige could accidentally stumble into somewhere she really shouldn't be just yet. At the moment her computer was pretty much just like any other computer. Well that wasn't exactly true - there was nothing personal on this computer. She had a laptop for that, which was downstairs in the living room. This computer had its own internet connection and had nothing loaded on it that could be tied back to Velia at all. It was almost like it was a new out of the box computer.

She swiveled back towards the computer, even if this made Saige face away from it. She let her hands slowly slip away from being curled around Saige and grinned up at her. It wouldn't show her anything about Saige's hacking skills, but she was fairly sure they were nonexistent at the moment. It would, however, give her a good idea of how comfortable Saige was with the computer to start with.

Saige: Saige looked back to Velia then over at the computer, shifting in the woman's lap and leaning to the side so that Velia could see what she was doing. She slid her hand to the mouse and woke the sleeping computer up, clicking through its control panel to the hardware. Looking through the drivers, she smirked, "You like to play games? This computer is stacked for gaming." She clicked out of the control panel then and clicked to the internet, typing in with one hand 'wn.com' and hitting enter, sending them to the world news website. She clicked through a couple articles, scanning them before going back to the address bar and typing in (again with one hand) 'famouspaintings' and then slid her hand over to press Ctrl with her thumb and Enter with her ring finger.

Luckily for her, the shortcut worked, and the hyperlink was automatically completed for her by adding in the www. and .com in it for her, and soon she was clicking through several images of famous paintings that she hoped one day she would be able to go see in person in their retrospective museums.

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Velia: She shook her head, knowing no games had ever even been loaded onto the computer let alone played. She didn't even open the minesweeper game and play that even though she was addicted to the game. "It has nothing to do with games, Angel. Having your computer freeze or act up in the middle of being somewhere you probably shouldn't is not an experience I ever want to have." Her hands had moved to curl around Saige's hips as she'd readjusted herself on Velia's lap as her eyes tracked Saige's movements. She really didn't do much with it, though it was obvious she knew her way around some at least. Enough that it shouldn't be too much of a headache to teach her the ins and outs of hacking. Hopefully.

"Ready to get to the hard stuff?" She grinned at the thought, sitting up more fully to get ready to show Saige how to use her programs. As she did, she leaned forward slightly and pressed a soft kiss to Saige's neck, though the moment she did she was unsure of what had made her think to do it. It had been more instinct than anything, leaving her feeling awkward afterwards as she tried to reason it out.

Saige: Saige nodded and pointed to a picture of 'Waterlillies at Giverny' by Monet, grinning. "I want to see this painting in person someday. I just love Monet, he is by far my favorite painter." She sighed longingly at the picture then a sharp shiver ran down her spine from the kiss to her neck. Her skin was still slightly burnt and so it was hotter than normal, though to any human it would still feel cold; it wasn't as cold as normal so Velia's lips against the sensitive skin of her neck made her instinctively draw a sharp breath to accompany the shiver. She giggled and reached down, relinquishing the mouse to Velia in order to slide her hand to the woman's side of her thigh and give it a light squeeze. "Mhmm, I am."

Velia: Her hand didn't immediately slide to the mouse, but instead slid underneath the desk to the hidden security feature there. She didn't need to see it for her fingers to find the correct numbers to key in the security code - though she would need to remember to give the code to Saige, or set her up one of her own. The moment the last digit was in the drawer to their right popped open. It wasn't a very big drawer as its only purpose was to hold the USB device. "Do you want me to show you first? And then let you try?"

She had never shown anyone how to do this before, so she hoped she wasn't going to be completely horrid at teaching her. Velia hoped that wasn't the case, though. She didn't wait for Saige to answer as she slid the drive into the computer and waited for the computer to register it. It didn’t take long - as Saige had said, the computer was stacked. The commands didn't prompt her for a password right out, instead coming up with a normal looking command prompt which would revert to the computer's own prompt unless the correct response was entered. She immediately did this and then grinned as the familiar program booted up to the screen. Not that it looked like a hacking script at all - as it was actually a completely playable minesweeper game that filled the computer screen at the moment.

Saige: Saige was watching the computer screen waiting for Velia to grab the mouse before suddenly the drawer popped open the right and startled Saige enough to make her jump slightly on Velia's lap. She peered into the drawer just before Velia plucked out the USB, and watched as the woman inserted it into the tower and then the screen came to life. Prompting her with a normal command prompt, she blinked. She knew what that was, but thought that only IT professionals used it. Again she blinked as that prompt disappeared after Velia entered a command; the hacking program booted itself from the flash drive and Saige blinked yet again at the screen. "Oh wow." She said, her words squashed together as she said them quickly.

She turned to look at Velia slightly out of the corner of her eye as she smiled. "That's so cool... I definitely need to learn how to do this. Then I'd never have to leave the house except to shop for better looking decorations for your house." She giggled gently and looked back to the screen, curiosity dashing wildly in her warm blue hues.

Velia: "Well then…" She turned her head to look at Saige, giving her another grin. "You should be a perfect little student then, hmm?" She chuckled at that, shaking her head before leaning forward and sliding her hand into an bland looking brown box that was slightly hidden behind the fairly big computer monitor. She fished out a generic looking USB drive and handed it to Saige to put into one of the remaining ports. "Personally, I don't like having anything physically on the computer. I wipe it after I use it so it's like new and all of my programs and anything I find is on flash drives." She shrugged her shoulders, fully aware that Saige may not feel the same way about security as she did, but wanting to explain as she went.

"Mmm" she hummed out as she debated where to start before placing her chin along Saige's shoulder. "Well, the easiest thing to learn is probably just looking for files to sell. She slid her hand over to the numpad to the right of her keyboard and tapped the number 1, bringing up a new command line. "The 1 key starts the process for the program to search out a random program, then you have to confirm it - or in my programs you do anyway. I like layers of security on all of my devices, really." She shrugged her shoulders than and started typing the confirm command /run search=random It wasn't exactly unbreakable code, but it was what it was.

She'd typed the command slowly enough that Saige should have been able to see it, though she would go over it again with her anyway. Her fingers itched to continue on, knowing exactly what she wanted to do next. She didn't though - instead choosing to allow Saige a moment to look over the screen in front of them.

++ Connection successful.
++ You have entered systemID: <451.895.46.99>
+ System security level is estimated at 9.5
+ Loading gateway node ...
+
+ You are currently in node 10_10_gateway
+ System alert is at: green.
+ You have 32 actions remaining.
+
++ Security program "authentication" has pinged you, awaiting clearence authentication.
+

Saige: Saige's eyes flickered to the box that she hadn't noticed until just then, then surveyed the little USB device in her hand that Velia had handed her. She blinked at it, then pursed her lips to the side. It was dark blue and black. She didn't like dark blue and black together like that, but it wasn't hers and she couldn't complain about it at the moment - Velia was well on her way into the hack and Saige needed to start paying attention. She plugged it into the tower in one of the remaining USB ports and then nodded, she could understand that. After all, this was illegal, she was sure of it. But it didn't involve killing anyone... so she liked it so far. The grey screen lit up with bright green command text, like an old 1960's computer had. Or that game of pong.

She leaned back a little, giving Velia a bit more shoulder to rest her chin on, bright blue hues trained on the screen as she watched intently. She watched Velia hit the number one on the num-pad, and then watched the screen fill with more bright green words. Saige nodded slowly in understanding, trying to get her head around all this information all at the same time so she could do it next. She knew that she was smart enough to, that wasn't the issue - the issue was doing it right the first time. She figured it would take her a couple tries before she got it right - not having too much confidence in herself as usual. "I understand that." She confirmed, watching her type the command and then watching the screen fill with more green letters and numbers.

She stared at them blankly, clear that none of them meant anything important to her. Though she knew what the words meant, she had no idea what they meant in terms of hacking. She had never used a computer to do anything like that. She blinked and then furrowed her eyebrows as her concentration increased tenfold. "So you just told the computer to find a random program, and confirmed it with the command?" She was a quick learner. Sometimes.

Velia: She shook her head, though the action was small as her chin stayed firmly on Saige's shoulder as she did it. "I'm using a program and what I told it to do was to search out a random system." She let go of her mouse so could point at the IP address that the program had logged them into. "That's what these numbers are - they're really not important for what we're doing, but the program logs it anyway." She pointed to the next line of text. "The program will give you a rough idea of how secure the system is as a whole - the higher the number the harder it is to hack through the different nodes."

She slid her hand back down to curl around Saige as she continued going down, line by line explaining their meanings figuring Saige was smart enough to follow along with her without her needing to actually point everything out. "The program will always put you in the gateway node. It's like… the starting point of a maze. There will always be a security program there that you will need to deal with and then you get to continue on in search of files." She let her head tilt down to press a kiss against Saige's shoulder, somehow finding the awkward feelings easier to keep at bay as they sat there talking about hacking like they were. "I have it set to my proficiency settings, which we can change for yours when you start, so it gives me a rough estimate of how long I can be fiddling around in here before I get noticed. The program will automatically terminate once it gets down to 0. If I trigger too many alarms, the system itself will shut down and we'll be locked out."

Velia: She slid her hand away from Saige to curl around her mouse, highlighting a word on the screen. "This particular system requires authentication in order to get passed the gateway. This program can be deleted - but in my experience that's not a very good choice - or you can run a mask program, which will try to fool the program into thinking we're authorized to be in here." As she explained this she clicked on the drop down menu that her programs had, showing all of the different add ons she'd programmed into it. After highlighting her masking program she clicked submit, telling the software to run that particular program. "The better coded your mask programs are, the more likely they are to succeed. When you get into higher security systems, you'll definitely want decently coded hacking scripts to work with." She eyed the screen as a bunch of code worked through the screen as her mask program did its magic before finally disappearing and displaying the results.

+ You are currently in node 10_10_gateway
+ System alert is at: green.
+ You have 31 actions remaining.
+
+
+ Authentication accepted.

Saige: Saige took note of the fact that they were using a computer being obsolete at this point - that it mattered that they were using a program. Velia had said that she had told the program to find a random system, did that mean another random computer? She looked over to the pointed at numbers and nodded. She knew what an IP address was, and that that's what computers connected to the net using. It was basically the barcode of the computer, she knew that. Then Velia used a word she had no idea what it meant - nodes. Saige's furrowed eyebrows got heavier as she struggled to follow along. Gateway - start of a maze. That was simple enough. She bit her lip and nodded, expecting Velia to continue on.

"Like a guard to the maze entrance." She mumbled to herself, then went quiet again as she listened again intently. She understood that hacking had to be done proficiently - otherwise they would get caught which was why she figured the system would shut down - so they didn't have the FBI charging through her doors at any random time for the hacking. She nodded again, and watched as Velia slid her hand back to the mouse and highlighted the mask program. She took note of all the different choices, but also took note that Velia had suggested the Mask as the best choice. Her nod slowed but still continued as Velia explained more and more what she was doing.

"So it's like burglarizing with a mask on - instead of just shutting the cameras off." She tried to put analogies with the hack job - for her that had always made things easier. "The better the mask, the more likely it is to work. That makes lots of sense." She giggled. She thought she was getting the hang of it. She gave a soft 'oooh' as the program worked and the screen told her that the authentication was accepted. "It worked!"

Velia: Saige was absolutely adorable. Or at least, she was to Velia, which was all that really mattered to V. "Exactly - you've got this, Angel. And yes it did. My masking script may not be the best there is out there, it's definitely decent enough that it doesn't fail that often. The program is designed to find systems within certain security ranges." Velia opened the drop down menu back up before sliding her arm back to curl around Saige's middle again.

"Now - you see the mask script isn't even showing up as an option anymore? That's because the authentication program is no longer requesting information, so the program isn't recognizing a need to circumvent it. Which is alright, because it would be a bit pointless to use now and would just waste time." She gave a slight squeeze with the arm she had around Saige, before going back to what she was doing. "Some of these commands really aren't necessary because of some of the add ons that I've incorporated into the program, but they're still there regardless."

She frowned, wondering how much information was too much all at once, but decided to just keep going. It wasn't like she was just going to go over this once and then throw Saige into the deep end of the pool. "The first option, for example? One of the scripts I've added makes that obsolete. Its purpose is to find out what nodes you're currently connected to, so you can decide where to move to next. But if you look down to the last option, the program is already aware of all of the connecting nodes, so it would be a waste of time to ask the program to find the nodes again." She debated talking about the middle two options, but decided against that for now and moved her hand back to the mouse, hovering over the last option on the list and clicking on it before hitting submit.

"The security program has been taken care of, so all that's left in the gateway is to continue on into the rest of the system. Seeing as how we only have one option on where to go, the choice is fairly easy - though sometimes you have to make a choice between a handful of different options."

+ You are currently in node 10_9_security
+ System alert is at: green.
+ You have 30 actions remaining.
+
++ Security program "authentication" has pinged you, awaiting clearence authentication.
+
+ Connected to node 10_9_security.

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Saige: Saige beamed when Velia affirmed that she was in fact getting the hang of it. To Saige it was hacking, how hard could it be? She still watched the computer screen, in case it did something that she was likely to miss, not wanting that to happen for the life of her. She was determined to get this down as quickly as possible so she wouldn't have to pick up her sword again. Which, now that she thought about it... where had it gone to? She remembered tossing it off the bed but... she pushed the idle thought aside and nodded gently. Noting that she would only need the Mask program for the guard at the gate, she glanced down to the arm that squeezed around her middle then back up to the screen.

She listened intently, and it was clear to her what Velia was talking about. "So that's like having a map of the maze already then..." Again with the analogies, and her soft smile as she reassured herself internally that she did understand this. That she could do it. She raised her brows interestingly at the last statement, turning her head again to glance at Velia. "This stuff is hard... but I think I get it." She nodded and urged Velia to continue with a squeeze of the woman's thigh as she had before.

Velia: "Okay so, the only place for us to go here was to this security node, as it's the only area linked to the starting point. Now that we have entered the node, the program lets us know that this area of the system also requires authorization to proceed." She clicked on the drop down menu again, showing the list of actions that was much bigger than it had been in the previous node. "Because the system is looking for authorization, the program is giving us the mask option again." Her arm went back around Saige, as if it didn't want to be away from her any more than was necessary to show her how to do this.

"If we try to move passed it without appeasing it, the security program will block us and cause the system as a whole to be more alert. We don't want that. So always remember to double check before moving that there isn't a required security program that needs to be dealt with." Instead of letting go of Saige's waist again she tilted her head down to press a kiss to her shoulder. "Go ahead and run the mask program on the authentication program."

Saige: Saige smiled warmly at the computer screen. It seemed hard... but all together it all made sense. Security issues required masks, she understood that much. She raised her brows again at the second security node. "Oh, so we do need masks again." She muttered, staring at the lime green words. Velia explained more, about what would happen if they tripped the security, and Saige bit into her lip.

"That wouldn't be good." Her words were soft and spoken in a gentle tone, as her head shook from side to side for a moment, allowing her ponytail to sweep over the back of her neck. Velia told her to run the mask program on the authentication program and she moved her hand up to the mouse to click on 'run maskv4', then click on submit. She watched the screen come to life once more as it ran the program through. Saige admired Velia then, the way she seemed so smart and able to do everything. She grinned, letting her hand slide down from the mouse to overtop of Velia's hand at her waist.

Velia:

+ You are currently in node 10_9_security
+ System alert is at: green.
+ You have 29 actions remaining.
+
+
+ Authentication accepted.

"See, that's easy enough." She grinned, wiggling her fingers slightly to try and lace them with the hand Saige had placed over top of it. "Alright so now the security program here has been taken care of, so we're free to move around as we see fit. If you look, the program is giving us the options of either going to two switch nodes or a file node. What we want to find right now are the file nodes, because that's where we can actually find files that are worth selling. Some are worth more than others, depending on what's in the file."

Wiggling her arm free from Saige, she immediately curled her free arm back around her, not sure why she didn't think of doing that sooner. She moved the cursor down to highlight the file node and then clicked submit, the program taking the cue to move them to the selected mode. "Once we're in here we can see all of the files that the particular node has in it and go from there." To show her point, she clicked on the drop down menu so Saige could see the available commands.

Saige: Saige giggled slightly and made it so that Velia could more easily intertwine her fingers into her own, curling them under Velia's once they were tangled together. Saige couldn't help but glance down at them and blink; thinking how right it felt, how she felt so incredibly comfortable in this very moment. She sighed very lightly and tipped her head to the side, trying to follow still. It was all so new to her, the learning process itself was proving difficult but she felt she was managing. "So we go node to node until we find files worth downloading? And if a node has security we trick it with masks? Is that all?" She asked lightly, turning to look at Velia who had her chin perched still on her shoulder.

She looked back to the screen and watched Velia select the node for the files, and she blinked slightly, still not wanting to miss anything. "So it's like we made it back stage with our fake pass. No more check points then?" She felt the need to ask, in case she wasn't following correctly, because if she wasn't, she feared they may have to start from the beginning. And Velia had put so much effort into explaining it to her that she would have felt incredibly bad if they had to do that. So she made sure to pay extra attention and be that 'good little student' Velia had mentioned at the beginning of the lesson.

Velia: "There could be more check points. There are other security programs too, not just this one. Do you want me to tell you about all of them now or wait until we come across them so you can see it at the same time?" She had been prepared to go on about downloading of files now that she'd gotten them into a file node, but she perhaps this wasn't the way that Saige learned best. It probably would have been a good question to ask before they started. Perhaps she liked to have everything explained all in one go and then put it into action?

Velia didn't care one way or another. She was comfortable sitting there with Saige on her lap and could easily sit there and do this for the rest of her life. That was a scary thought. Or was it? Her arm squeezed around Saige again before she forced it to relax and her mind to go back to the task at hand and not things she wasn't quite ready to think about just yet. "We can do this however you want to, Angel. However would make it easiest for you."

Saige: Saige gave a soft 'ohhh' under her breath at Velia, realizing finally that the programs Velia was using were there to be used and that more than likely she would need them several times over. She went back to staring at the computer screen, as if all the answers about what was going on were going to be explained to her in a nice little neat power point that she could understand, but they weren't. She was left putting it all together in her mind. She shook her head gently, then tipped her chin upwards at the computer. "No, no, this is good, absorbing it as we go is the best way." She nodded, reassuring Velia that. She suddenly had an urge to grab Velia's free hand by curling her fingers around it and lift it to her lips to press a kiss to it.

Saige was so thankful that she had stumbled across I.D.F.K. She was so grateful that Velia had cared enough to help her since the moment they met, Saige bounding into the store full of bags on every finger, her shopping addiction clear from the start. Saige idly wondered if she had never went shopping that day if she had never had the chance to meet Velia, but she stopped that train of thought as quickly as she started it. She couldn't imagine her life now with no Velia. The mere thought saddened her, and that emotion pinged in her eyes for a brief second - though Velia couldn't have seen it, Saige new one thing for sure - she would never want to go another day without the woman she had come to like. The woman she had come to trust. To care for. Grown to love.

Velia: She grinned, mostly glad that Saige had chosen to continue going through it this way. "Alright so… one thing you need to know is that some of the files that you will find are encrypted and will generally need to be decrypted before you can do anything with them." At this she hovered the mouse down to show the decrypt options for both files that showed. "My program doesn't know right off the bat if the files are encrypted or not, but it knows it's a possibility so it gives the option to decrypt the files it sees." She paused for just a moment before hovering up to the check(files) command and then continued.

"If you try to download an encrypted file and fail - which you most likely will - the system's security will get alerted. So you really don't want to do this. So, because we have a couple of files showing here, if we tell the program to check them, it will let us know if there's any encryption we need to play with." As soon as she finished explaining, Velia selected the check command and hit submit, watching the code go over the screen before disappearing and showing its results.

+ You are currently in node 9_9_files
+ System alert is at: green.
+ You have 27 actions remaining.
+
+
+ File names in this node:
+ passwords8.txt
+ schedule18.ics

"Okay so neither of these files are encrypted. If they were, the program would say so in parentheses after the file name.

Saige: Files that were locked made sense, especially if they were going to be worth anything to sell later on. She nodded in understanding to this, pressing another kiss to the woman's hand and leaving it pressed to her lips there as she let out a soft "Mhhmm." She understood that if one had the check files program that they wouldn't need a program to tell them right off the bat if the files needed to be decrypted - it would be nice on time for how much they had left, but so far this hadn't taken much to get to this point so Saige wasn't worried. She wondered if she would ever get to the point that she felt worried, but with Velia there, she quickly dismissed the thought and pressed yet another kiss to curled fingers.

She gently shook her head in agreement as she knew that she didn't want to alert the system of her presence at all - if she knew one thing about hacking it was that a good hacker never left any trace they were there. She let her eyes drift to the list and she watched Velia select the check files command and then watched the code trail on the screen quickly before it displayed its results to them both. Saige gave off another "oooh," clearly intrigued. "Passwords? To what?" She inquired.