“I be tin’k’n et be time ta be pay’n our respects to ‘da great lwa Erzulie. She been real gud ta us.” Atabei said out loud, above a soft whisper, as she sat crossed legged in a small dark corner of the sewers. The naturally curly haired chestnut colored woman stared at the palm of her hand, which possessed a piece of ear and a thin layer of a lower lip, cut off from the woman herself as she talked in the ear and then raised the lip to the other ear that remained on the left side of her head. “O‘Course we ‘gun git ‘er sum real nice t’ings. I be remembr’n ‘ow she likes ‘er t’ings.” Atabei pressed her right index finger to the lower part of her lip, as if motioning for it to be silent, as the woman stood, the tri colored blue hued sarong that was wrapped around her waist covering what might have been exposed not that long ago.Note: The thread is closed for now, but will be open in a new thread linked when 'open.'
It was very rare the woman left the safety and familiarity of the sewers, believing she didn’t need to ever go topside for anything. But tonight? She might very well be needing to, if she couldn’t find Harmony or Valentine in the sewers. Atabei had seen them once or twice in a building in the south side of her normal hiding spot, so that was where she was going to be heading, in hopes she might find them before they go above ground. The light, skinned toned woman with hair that bounced with each fast, heavy step in the sewers waters, passed by a few vampires, who were unidentifiable to her, as she was to them. The woman from hispaniola paid them no mind as she caught the glances at her as she passed by, more than likely surprised by the fact there was a half naked woman running through the sewers with ferocity and sheer determination. The woman had to get to the sewer cover before Harmony and Valentine made their way there.
It was a good thing she didn’t need any breath, and Atabei found herself more or less where she was at in a lot of aspects prior to being killed for her lifestyle practices. Luckily, the woman hadn’t experienced any of the same vampires, or encounters like the night she had been killed. By the time Atabei got to the sewer exit that would take Harmony or Valentine up into the city, the ear and lower lip were no more, just a small pile of grey colored soot, that was comparable to that in a fire place. Atabei dropped the remains of what would have been her ear and lip to the water at her feet, watching it slowly slink down the sewers in the same direction of the water and other nasty things that made its way down here and then glanced up to the metal cover high above the short woman’s body. “Please ‘dun be lett’n ole Atabei be too late.” The woman looked back down, away from the manhole cover to see a familiar looming figure, and his accomplice, the sweet Harmony with hair the color of berry compote coming her way.
The woman with bouncing curls that went every which direction started approaching the both of them and looked between the two of them. “I be t’ink’n it’s time we have us a ‘lil celabrashion. Life be gud wit ‘da two of yous.” Atabei meant every word of it. They were all so unique, and held their own belief systems, that somehow just meshed nicely together. Add in the fact that Atabei’s practice held on to the firm belief that no one person should judge another, as they were as they should be; driven by the lwa’s, there was nothing but acceptance from Atabei, when others might shun those such as she, Valentine or even Harmony. In the hispaniola's woman’s mind, no one but the lwa’s could be judging anyone, from the day they were made of flesh, until the time that flesh was rotting in a crypt, or underground somewhere.
“I be wunder’n if da both of yous can do me a fav’r sumtim tonight? For ‘da party tomorrow.” Atabei clarified, so that they both knew how important this was. “I be need’n sum’tin real pretty and nice. Sum’tin shiney or sum’tin dat be smell’n real nice. Our speshul guest be lik’n to be real fancy, ya see. And sum’tin ta drink. Can’t have no party wit’out the spiruts!” The rest Atabei could take care of, with the things in the old crypt she returned to the night the woman met the both of them and sired them. Both hands came to rest on the waist of the woman’s sarong, where she would slip both thumbs and pointer finger into the top and pull out a wad of different colored bills she came across on her seldom ventured topside escapades.
Since the numbers held little knowledge to her, the currency was passed over to whoever would take it first, without any regard to the fact that Atabei more than likely gave much more than was needed to complete the task, but she had watched from a darkened corner of an alleyway, the transaction between a drug dealer and someone buying it. In the woman’s mind if had been the transaction between a person seeking some guidance from a healer figure in the community with monetary compensation to that healer. Whatever the clear objects in the bag did was still a mystery to Atabei, but nothing she was going to interfere with. What did she need with silly human medicinals? “Bring dem to ‘da crypt tomorrow night for da party we gun ta have. You dun wanna miss dis.” Atabei gave the two of them a crooked smile and withdrew the fingers that once possessed the different colored denomination of bills. “I be see’n da two of yous tomorrow.” she moved backwards, slightly hunched over as she looked between the two of them. “T’ank ya both for ‘da ‘ard work ya be doin fer me.” There was a genuine tone to her words at the end, instead of the jovial, playful banter about the party a couple seconds ago. The woman would continue walking backwards until the dark depths of the sewers encompassed her and neither Valentine or Harmony could be seen by the woman. Only then, would Atabei turn around and sprint back to her preferred location of solitude to begin the preparation for tomorrow.
---Next Night---
The altar had been dusted off multiple times, cleansed with water and spoken of its purpose to the lwa Erzulie. She was a particular, and very clean lwa and wanted things in done in certain orders. Should those orders not be done to her liking, there was a good chance, Erzuile might not do the task, because she wasn’t just particular, she was lazy too. Hopefully, tonight she would find everything to her liking and her gifts would coax the woman to bless them all with continuing prosperity, in whatever form she deemed fit.
On the altar rested a light pink sarong, with a white one on top of that one. On top both sarongs was a heart key chain Atabei found with a set of keys, in the sewers a couple nights back. A pig the color of a top hat one of them lwa spirits associated with death, had on their head, on its side in a corner of the crypt area; dead. And finally, a drawing beneath the altar area, from cornmeal and ashwood, the size of an old portrait of a relative in the days she walked around as a human. The drawing had a heart on a staff, with two swirls leading outwards on each side of the heart, with diamonds and stars strategically placed above and below the heart. Her lips parted so she could speak, the lower lip grown back from a day's rest, the ear still gone, but hidden by a wrap the color of snow over her hair and ears. “Just wait’n on ‘da sacrifices for madam Erzulie and den da fun be beg’n."
She was paying respects to another lwa, one of the lesser spirits in the same house of Erzulie-a guardian of a family and its members, his sacrifices were of lesser values than the madam’s, only because she was jealous and demanded more than he did. All that was required to make him happy was a chicken she stole from a farm not far from the graveyard, that rested on the floor next to the altar, and the bottle of booze Valentine and Harmony were bringing with them tonight.
