Picnic fun times. (Invite only)

[vadablade]

His hands slowly tap against the basket he carried as he walked through the streets. His tanned skin reflecting the lamp light softly as he made his way between the buildings. He found the park he was looking for and pulled out a large blanket and spread it out.

He opened the basket as he pulled out a few plates of cheese and some wine. He also pulled out a small glass and then another as he set them up. He poured a mix of blood, vodka and orange juice into them. To anyone looking it would look like a simple blood orange screw driver. He smiled softly as he placed a cushion onto the ground and made a small fire.

The warmth of the fire warmed his skin as he placed a silver kettle on the wood and let the water boil. He prepared a china cup with rose hearts and almond slivers as he looked around. He had the basket filled with an assortment of foods and a bag with chilled wines and spirits. He had a third basket with glasses as he looked at the stars.

He was looking forward to the night and hoped Pi had received the letter he left asking her to join. Klara would attend when she was free but he looked forward to talking with Pi away from the craziness that was his new family. He would have to meet them, but wanted to know Pi more really.

As he sat there he looked at the stars and saw April in his mind again. " I miss you April." His voice soft as he looked at the kettle and smiled as he heard it boiling. He reached for it and then stopped as he saw others, he quickly grabbed a towel and used it to pull the heated silver kettle from the flames.

[Pi dArtois]

Pi received the message and smiled.

She hadn’t had a picnic in, well ages, considering she could no longer eat. It was a rather precarious position to be in considering how much she enjoyed cooking. The act of cooking was cathartic for her, creating and sustaining the body (obviously not hers anymore) was an ironic antithesis from the other more deadly talents she had.

But she hadn’t had a chance to really talk as much to Vada as she would like. Not after the first few nights after turning where she gave him as much of the basic information she thought he would need to keep himself safe in this life.

She had shown him the portal room, ensured he knew how to navigate the city to keep himself safe and to access the useless parts of the city easily. It’s why the Den had been created, the reason the portals reached to nearly every important section of the city with one word.

Still, she was mindful he was still new. A vampire newly turned, who still needed (once in a while) time from her to make sure he was still adjusting. She couldn’t do to him what her own sire had done, turned and then abandoned her to the city without a by your leave. She’d lived that turning and it hadn’t been pretty. Pi was determined not to make the same mistake with the people she’d chosen to turn herself.

Vada asked her to meet him in the park in Coatside, the small strip of manicured lawn between the bank and other shops. One of those carefully maintained stretches of green in the middle of shops created solely for the use of the public, just like this.

It didn’t take long to find him, stretched out on the blanket, staring into the night sky. She approached silently (as vampires were wont to do) her tilting at his words. “Bonjour Vada…” she greeted, sliding onto the blanket next to him, tucking her jean clad legs underneath her and holding up a bottle for him to see “I brought wine.” She added, placing the bottle in front of her as she made herself comfortable.

“Who is April?” she asked as she laid back, resting her weight on one elbow.

[vadablade]

He smiled as he saw Pi sit beside him and leant over to kiss her cheek softly and placed the wine in the chiller and offered Pi the glass of blood, orange juice and vodka. He made his cup of tea and looked at the sky. Who was April? He pondered the question and then looked into her eyes.

"April was a childhood friend, she grew up on the streets with me and had been there for me. She was like my little sister at one stage and then my closest confidant. When a new street gang entered the area we ended up in a fight with them." He looked down and sighed softly as he sipped his tea.

"They took her one day and that was the day my mind snapped and I became the demon of the streets, vada the blade. When I found her my heart felt like it exploded. To see what they did to her, to leave her like that." He sipped his drink and looked at the small fire as he pulled out some marsh mellows.

"It is a part of my life I usually hide, and one I vowed to right. That night you turned me I was on my way to one of the 7 generals houses to end his life. I already found 4 of them. Each one cut to look like how they left April." He blew into his cup and drunk the tea slowly as he looked at her.

"You truly are beautiful Pi, I am lucky to be your childe my sire. I need to ask Doc something but when I do I want to ask you about Klara. Not yet because Doc should be asked first."

[Pi dArtois]

“I can’t drink this.” Pi replied, as she took the glass from Vada. “But if you open the bottle there is something inside I can.” She said with a smile, quickly tossing the contents in the glass (was that orange juice) out and then offering the now empty glass up for Vada to fill with blood.

And blinked as the man took a sip of tea. She opened her mouth to tell him to stop, but like a person witnessing a car accident (and not being able to stop it) Pi could only watch as he sipped. “Vada… you can’t…” but it was too late, whether he could or couldn’t was not something too late to stop as the man took his sip of tea and Pi held herself still, waiting for what she knew would be an inevitable conclusion. “… drink anymore.”

The last was said softly, followed by her putting down her empty glass and shifting forward so she could be of assistance if he needed it.

She heard the words after he drank, knowing something would happen soon, wondering if she should wait until after to continue the conversation with him or to reply as if nothing was about to happen. Except, pretty soon he would throw his guts up and it seemed inappropriate to be talking about his misspent youth when she knew he was about to blow tea chunks all over the green grass (and hopefully not her) except one part of what he said caught her attention.

“Why do you need to ask Charles first?” Looked like her curiousity won after all.

[vadablade]

His body began to hurt as he frowned just catching her words, was he truly unable to drink again? He felt himself stirring again as he used his mental and stubborn will to suppress the building pain inside him: surely he could over come this, it was just a bit of tea.

He felt it working as he listened to her and then it happened. He turned his head as he felt himself throwing up into the now empty kettle, the pulling on his stomach, the burning in his throat. Everything he hated along with the fact he was in such a state.

He felt like he was hollow and empty once more as he looked at her, such a loving female and he just threw up in front of her. He cleaned his mouth as he looked about and put the kettle in the nearby bin. He shut his eyes as he looked at her and smiled softly as he slowly poured her drink into the glass and sighed.

"Because Klara is like his daughter so I have to ask him if I can marry her first." A smile playing on his lips as he spoke of Klara.

[Pi dArtois]

There wasn’t a social protocol that dealt with what a person did when the other person at a picnic leant over the blanket to throw up their guts and continued talking as if nothing happened. Pi winced though, because you couldn’t see something like that and have no reaction at all. She probably would have felt a bit queasy if she were the queasy sort instead she leaned forward, picked up the bottle he’d just finished when he poured her a glass and poured him one in return, into his now empty tea cup.

“Here… you can drink this though.” She offered magnanimously. The blood was warm, because the bottles they had at Lancaster’s were kept in a warmer under the bar. Lifting the glass to her own lips she sipped as he talked. She hadn’t realised she’d halted the glass at her lips, the normal motion halted by his blandly stated news.

Instead she blinked at him, once, then twice as her brain processed what he’d told her. “Married?” she asked as she slowly (very very slowly) lowered the glass away from her lips. “I didn’t realise you two were… you know, close?”

[vadablade]

He took the tea cup she offered and was a little scared to drink it, honestly he had a lot to learn and to remember, he would throw up a lot more before he remembered it. He sipped it slowly, carefully, as he looked at her and nodded at her words. " Klara and I are close, and one day we will be with each other. I mean to ask for permission to one day marry her, not right this moment."

He moved the bucket and stood as he placed it in the bin before he made his weak and unsteady way back and sat down in front of her. He wondered if the others would attend, or if they found the letter inviting them yet. " I hope Klara and the man you were with at the house can make it later. I gave them a later time because I wanted to talk with you more alone ."

He slowly sipped the blood again as he looked at her, the angel that gave him a gift no one else had, something he longed for without knowing. He loved her greatly for turning him, for making him what he was now, and would always love her no matter the issue that rose. " I am thankful for your gift Pi. I am deeply in your debt and I love you more then words can say my lovely sire." The last word but a whisper as he made sure only Pi could hear it.

[Pi dArtois]

“About Klara?” She asked, the question asking whether his ‘alone time’ with her was centered around him wanting to ask Klara for her hand in marriage. “I’m here when you need me and his name is Elliot… the man from the Den. We haven’t had a good chance to catch up much, not with everyone, but hopefully that will change after Skylar’s reception evening". When he said he loved her Pi smiled, reached out and squeezed his hand.

She didn’t always understand what made people say the things they did. She did know enough now that his statement wasn’t about a romantic love so much as a more platonic familial one. Well, god she hoped so because she didn’t know what the hell she would do if it wasn’t.

Letting him go she leaned back on the blanket, her gaze still drained on him as she took a long sip from her glass of ‘wine’. “When are you planning to go see Doc? “ She asked, curious about his plans for him and Klara.

[vadablade]

He sipped from his cup as he looked at her, the woman that had given him so much and asked so little of him. He smiled as he felt her hand and looked into the stars as she spoke. "I do not know when I will seek Doc out. I don't want to rush it, but I will ask him soon. Mostly because I wish to have everyones blessing before our feelings grow even more."

He pondered the name Eliot a few times before he tried to lock it down in his mind. He would have to memorise so many names and yet they only needed to learn one new one, if they wanted. He finished his drink as he began to feel better and looked at Pi " Do I have your blessing Pi? I love klara a lot, and she seems cracked and actually loves me, silly I know."

His eyes seemed to shine brighter as he spoke of her, it was only him moving slightly so the light reflected on his face, but he loved talking of Klara. His mind wondered what Doc would say, but secretly he didn't care as much as he should if Doc said no, it was Pi he was truly nervous about.

His love for the woman who gave him this gift was eternal. She would be his sire until the end of days and she will always have a place in his heart. Not one of anything more then a child would their mother. Pi was like that, he would do anything she asked, and as such, meant a great deal to him. If she said no he didn't know what to do about everything.

[Klara]

Klara looked at the note and smiled fondly, her mind going back to the pleasant times she had spent in the parks around the city. Running in after work, she ran to her bedroom and slid on a pair of shorts and t-shirt, grabbed a hoodie and slid on her Chuck Taylors. She threw her hair up into a ponytail and headed out the door with a smile on her face.

One thought of her man brought a smile to her face every single time. No matter what crazy thing was going on, he calmed her. He made her feel loved and cherished. She never thought to taste love again and no one was more surprised the day he shot her, that she would find it in this man. Everything she wanted in a mate, so far he had it and no problem showing it. It scared her sometimes that she was this lucky. If things did not work out with vada, she wondered if she would be able to even go on this time.

“No bad thoughts!” she chided herself, not letting anything ruin her happiness. She walked quickly to the park enjoying the warmer weather. She quickly found the pair sitting on the ground. She smiled as she watched them interact and saw that vada truly had a real fondness for his sire. It made her smile happy that he had the fortune to find such a good sire.

She walked up quietly; they seemed to be in a serious conversation and did not want to interrupt. She got close enough that they could see her without being able to hear what they were talking about, smiled, and waited.