Bump in the Night [Phoenix]

[River Illia]

Once again she found herself wandering the streets searching for something. The what exactly defied explanation. Sure she had journals of who she was, and yes she was trying to move on with her life. But there were times like this, that she found herself, wandering the sewers, wandering the topside, searching for something or somebody and it ******* frustrated her.

Rubbing her forehead, she decided to go to the catacombs and kill **** to calm down. Splicing apart zombies, and shooting the ugly *** alien ....whatever they were, gave her a much needed feeling of control in her otherwise weird *** new life.

Gun in the holster, pack on her back, and a dagger that was almost large enough to be a sword in a sheath, she felt ready for anything that could come her way in the catacombs.

[Phoenix]

Annoyance didn't begin to describe how Phoenix felt about the guards constantly patrolling the perimeter of the mausoleum. Her once easily accessible home was now barred, requiring a permanent detour. She could have used Ariadne's secret tunnels to gain access, but that too was out of the way. Down the hatch she went, through the sewer tunnels she went and descending further still into the catacombs.

She didn't usually come by these parts anymore; there was usually better picking to be had elsewhere in the sewers, but she could sense some darkness brewing in her bones. Sooner or later, someone would discover a rogue neromancer's work, and she felt the night would best be spent in the mausoleum, waiting for that discovery. Perhaps she would wake to the whispers of the only pair of earrings she ever wore.

The redhead paid no mind to the passers by, those lingering in the dark depths of the catacombs as she made her way through. She was here for a purpose - purely utilitarian in nature - and didn't much feel interested in a chat. But then... she paused, senses tingling as blood called to blood. There was some down here she knew; she could taste it.

[River Illia]

Zilch. It seemed all the creatures in the southern chambers had been slaughtered already.

"Damn it" Muttering this as she made her way to the door that blended with the walls to the northern chambers, grey eyes searched around as suddenly she felt what could only be a buzz inside of her.

"What in the name of gators..."

She knew how it felt when her child..type kiddos were around her, but this was different. This felt like the one time she had come upon Jareth and... shutting down those thoughts, she concentrated on the buzz. Though she still moved cautiously through the catacombs, even she without her memories knew that coming upon one of those creatures suddenly was an invited to get bitten and chewed on.

[Phoenix]

Phoenix froze at the crossroads - both ultimately lead to the south section of the catacombs, but one was quicker than the other. The longer way around was the direction from which she felt the call to her blood, and she followed that call. Parts of a whole always had a way of coming back together. It wasn't as strong as she felt with her childer; it was a sibling bond.

The only one she was aware of that she ever saw was Ariadne, but somehow she knew this call wasn't Ari. Through the darkness, Nix pulled her phone from her pocket and suddenly flashlight mode illuminated the dark recesses and pitted walls of the catacombs, and the vampire skulking in the dark.

"River," she stated curtly, voice clipped. The memory of anger and hurt came to her upon spying the woman, but she couldn't quite remember why she felt that way. Perhaps that was because it didn't matter why she'd been angry anymore. She'd moved on.

[River Illia]

The feeling was faint at first, but then it became stronger as it seemed to grow from the right of her. Deciding to let the person, whoever it was find her, she leaned against the wall and waited to see who would pop out. Another kid, maybe one who hadn't been fully made, or could it be Habren. Surely that bond would feel different then her kids.

The woman who appeared was in fact no one she currently knew. She had an image of Habren in her mind, how she had no ******* clue but it was there. Her head now tilted in confusion at the red haired woman who seemed to know her.

"Uh, well I guess ya know me for sure. But I don't know..or anymore I don't. Sorry bout that. I'm told it was brain damage from that shadow place. You'd be?"

Her usual ramble was followed by a half smile, though she could tell the woman was not thrilled to see her.

[Phoenix]

Nix's head cocked to the side, the memory of her anger slowly replaced by curiosity as River spoke. This was her sister, the one who'd usurped the faction-bloodline that they'd created to escape the Grigori yolk. Veritas et Libertas, rose the mocking voice in the back of her mind. What a joke. And now she doesn't remember any of it? She doesn't remember who we are? Hah! Nix couldn't necessarily disagree with her inner voice, but she wouldn't feed the flames of that old hurt. It had happened and she refused to have it taint her psyche. It just wasn't worth it.

Phoenix ignored the words only she could hear and continued to examine the woman as would a predator about to pounce. She'd heard rumors that River had returned, but had dismissed them as she'd not seen her once sibling in a very long time. Over a year. Those honey brown eyes squinted in the darkness, trying to glean the truth of this supposed memory loss. After an extended silence, Phoenix nodded, seeming to accept what she'd heard - at least for the time being.

"My name is Phoenix," she began, voice cold as chips of ice. "You and I are sisters. Or were sisters. **** happened and we stopped talking to each other." Despite this, she didn't feel the need to elaborate further on what had happened; it seemed unnecessary.

[River Illia]

"Sisters. ..uhhh..."

Everything blanked for a moment inside of her. She had always wanted family. Our at least family that didn't die. Her parents had died when she was a kid, and her gramps had died when she was 8. Then the nightmare of foster homes, institutes and doctors had begun. She'd always known she'd had issues. It was the damn the math crap in middle school that had given away the fact that with very little she could figured out complicated math problems. It was only on simple math stuff that she had a hard time figuring it out. Which had lead Dr. Evil and his now dead minion to her in the first place. She was still convinced that ******** wanted to capture her and disect her, but the problem at the time had been that she had still be a child. So they had to treat her like a kid. This however had given her the chances to escape out of multiple lock ups and be safely on the run.

Shaking her head, she focused on the last part. Simple but to the point. **** had happened and they had lost the connection. After reading those journals..she couldn't say she blamed anyone for loosing connection with her. She'd always hated those who bitched and moaned about their problems. The words to that effect stumbled out of her mouth.

"Was it because of my emo ****? Cause if so..I uh..apologize. I'm honestly not so over emotional...infact, I have no ******* clue how becoming dead made me be such a twit..Gawds after reading the journals I could find..and all my mopey depressed crap..I don't blame you if you walked away. Honestly if I had acted like I wrote in those journals "wah wah no love blah blah" I would have slapped me.."

Rubbing her hair, she looked at the woman through the blond strands. "I mean I hope I didn't do anything really bad? I mean besides the whiney crybaby stuff.."

[Phoenix]

How much should she tell her? How much of this loss was an act? How much real? Phoenix couldn't know, but she could choose to accept the words as truth. If River truly remembered nothing, it would do her no good to play catty games with the woman - she wouldn't get the subtle jabs. If she was lying, the bitchy act would serve no one in the end. For the second time that night, Nix took a slow, measured breath and opted for the high road.

"Yes and no. It was partially your emo ****, partially... not." She paused there, shifting her stance as she mulled over her words, carefully considering each before settling on a final product. "We founded a bloodline together to get away from some oppressive ********. And then you flipped your **** over some minor thing I don't even remember and kicked me out on my ***." That was the short and simple and honest version of events, as far as she knew or remembered. "I find it very hard to trust in someone who has usurped my share of something we created together, but that was your choice, then. That said, at this point I couldn't care less about that sort of thing. If you really forget what happened, then I'd be..."

Content wasn't the right word, and neither was happy, so she trailed off in silence for a moment, waving a hand as she scrambled for a word that fit. "I'd accept to try getting to know you again. Just... perhaps not here." Or course these surroundings were hardly conducive to proper meet and greets.