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And She Wondered Where the Insight Went...
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Post by Tempest on Jun 24, 2008 12:57:23 GMT -5
It was a grey day. Caroline wished that the clouds would burst forth and release the rain so the world could stop holding its breath in the wait. Aromatic scents of fresh-ground coffee beans filled the air and made her almost dizzy with the contrast of the warm smells with the cool colors that the day's light painted everything in.
She was leaning back in chair next to a large window, the well-used paperback in her left hand open but forgotten. It was some book about vampires that she'd fallen in love with at an airport once and had reread every time she needed to clear her head.
Her brown eyes were glued to the skies outside the window, though, her thoughts even farther than that. In the background, the radio played mellow tunes that were light on the vocals and relied mostly on the acoustic guitar or piano to carry the tune.
Today she was wearing her first pair of jeans in a very long time and a loose-fitting blouse. It didn't hide the scars on her forearms, but she no longer minded it so much.
Her tea gave off curling tendrils of steam that floated up and disappated like a ghost in the light of day. It reminded her too much of a certain person, so she avoided looking at it.
Caroline sighed when droplets of water hit the window at an angle, heralding the arrival of rain. Finally.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2008 19:24:30 GMT -5
It was going to rain. It was going to rain soon. Her hair had stood up, frizzed by the weather, and was now tamed with a large leaopard-print clip. Even now, rushing to make sure not to get caught by the rain, strands of her hair fell from that stupid worthless clip. She saw a coffee shop up ahead; it was a pure Godsend! Before she could even reach the street, it began to rain. Not just a small rain; no, it started out small and got very large.
Amorina burst through the door, wiping the rain off her face. She wasn't completely soaked, but wet enough to make her cringe with each step she took. Of all things, wet clothes was one major thing Amy could not stand at all. Her skinny jeans clung more than they should, her college hoodie sticking to her as well. Walking towards the counter, she ordered something extremely caffeinated and looked around.
There weren't many people in here, but one seemed to stand out. Where had Amy seen her before? With her...she didn't even know what it was... her cup in her hand, she approached the woman with a warm smile. "Hi, I'm Amy Riddell. Do-do you work at the school?" It would be the only place Amy would recognize this woman, anyway. She wasn't exactly a wanderer who just aimlessly walked around the small town. She looked only a few years older than her, but something seemed sad with her. Something depressing; not something a woman should be experiencing. No, women were supposed to always be happy; it was their job to make men miserable.
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Post by Tempest on Jun 24, 2008 19:47:37 GMT -5
Caroline looked away from the window when a young woman approached her table. Even if she had not glimpsed her around the school, she would have recognized the girl from a description given by Emilio. He'd been so excited about a date or something. Later, when she'd asked him how it went, he'd shaken his head and said something vague about just being friends. Caroline refused to read any further into it- she wasn't going to let her half-brother and his peculiarities ruin an introduction for her.
"Yeah, I teach English. You're... the art teacher, right? My name's Caroline." She took in the girl's soaked appearance and decided that Emilio was absolutely right in his glowing description of her, even if she had been caught in the storm.
Realizing how rude she must have appeared, Caroline smiled amiably and gestured to the seat opposite hers and said, "Join me. I happen to have a pretty good seat near a heat element- a radiator or something."
She put her book down, noting the page she was on. Then Caroline picked up her cup of tea and let its warmth spread through her fingers.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2008 20:08:20 GMT -5
Sitting in the open seat, she was glad to hear this woman worked in the school as well. "Enlgish? Oh, I wouldn't have the patience for that,"she commented. "Kudos to you, though. You're a brave woman, Caroline." She took comfort in the warm heater, and even more comfort in her warm drink. She didn't know what it was, but it was amazingly good.
Listening to the rain and music made her smile, but turned to Caroline when she remembered something. "How long have you been here?"she asked. Emilio had said something about having a half-sister. The chances of thing being her was slim to none, but it would be incredibly good luck if she found her.
She was glad to finally have a woman to talk to. One man had walked in and out of her life, but the other two seemed to linger there. One was definitely going to stick around the best her could, but the other... She just didn't know. Why did men always have to be so damned complicated? One second, they're as interested as a monkey with a balloon. The next, that monkey popped the balloon.
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Post by Tempest on Jun 24, 2008 20:54:46 GMT -5
Caroline smiled to herself. Courage... boy, was she pegging Caroline wrong. If anything, Caroline was the biggest coward alive. Still, she didn't say anything about it. No need to alienate any more people, right? She'd done a wonderful job with her parents and probably a coworker too.
"Nah, it might be a little time-consuming to grade papers, but I like English well enough. I bet it's not nearly as fun to teach as Art, though." Caroline smiled and inhaled the steam from her tea- a wonderful blend of mint and honey.
The half-hispanic woman took a sip of her tea while she calculated how long she'd been in the school. "About a month and a half now, I think. Yeah, I'm pretty sure because I discovered To- another teacher in a rainstorm like this one when I arrived." She wondered why she hadn't just gone and said his name. It wasn't like she had feelings for him anymore or her having met him was a secret. Caroline didn't want to call attention to her gaffe by correcting it belatedly, though so she merely asked in return, "You?"
Caroline took another sip of her tea, smiling at the thought of Emilio dancing with this woman- Caroline was sure that she was taller than her half-brother.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2008 21:20:31 GMT -5
Amy rolled her eyes and laughed. "Art? The worst I have to do is wash some paint away. Kids are easy in Art; they aren't forced to take notes or anything. Honestly, I let them draw whatever they want and grade it." Shrugging, she took a small sip of her drink and looked at her bangs, already curling from the heat. "I usually just develop and mess around with my pictures."
Listening to her, she nodded. "About a month or so, too. An event month, at that." She didn't sound exactly unthusiastic, thinking about all the events that had led up to this.
"Anything exciting happen to you yet?" Amy had noticed the scars on Caroline's arms, but didn't want to ask the woman where they were from. Sometimes it was better for people not to talk about certain things. She didn't want to pry into business that did not concern her.
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Post by Tempest on Jun 24, 2008 22:09:19 GMT -5
Caroline listened, her expression changing to fit the mood of Amorina's speech. Her head stored away little facts she soon discovered about Amorina, like the photography thing and the fact that she seemed as tired as Caroline felt with the amount of activity in Foresta.
"I'll say. I came here to have a little peace, ironically. The first thing that happens? I meet an ex. Later, he goes all feral and attacks me. Honestly, I should stop being so surprised." Her tone was wry and hardened with the memories, but there was something in the way she looked into her tea... it was like she was split between wanting to smile when she spoke of him and wanting to yell.
"What about your time here?" Her tone and expression brightened somewhat now that she wasn't thinking about it. "What kind of things have you been up to?"
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2008 22:32:55 GMT -5
Caroline's story was too familiar for comfort. "Was.... Was his name Tobias?" In all honesty, she had been practically attacked by a crazy wolf-man; going "feral" seemed to be the perfect description of it.
Amy let out an exasperated sigh when Caroline asked her the same question. "For a while, I just minded my own business and took pretty pictures. Then, one day, I was walking around and came across a Spanish man dancing in a rose garden. Next thing I know, I'm on a date with him. I thought it was going very well, until something happened and he just shut down. I just kind of let it go. If a man isn't interested, why push him any more?" She took a pause to take a sip of her unusual drink and feel her pants. A little damp, but not like before.
"I got over it and went to go take some more picture out in the forest. And guess who walks back into my life like a slap in the face? My vampire ex-boyfriend from four years ago who I just found out I'm not over." Amy sighed and shook her head. "And it sucks... No vampire-pun intended."
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Post by Tempest on Jun 24, 2008 23:02:34 GMT -5
"You know Tobias? Interesting... I assume you gathered from his behavior that it was him. Therefore, you must have seen him in one of his moods." Caroline's expression was both dark and interested. It was interesting to meet another person who knew exactly how Tobias could be.
Caroline smiled a knowing half-smile at Amorina's tale about her brother. "So I was right in thinking Emilio was feeling a little out-of-sorts. I don't know what's wrong with my half-brother sometimes." This was said more as an aside to herself than an actual thing to be followed in conversation.
She listened carefully to the rest of Amorina's story about her vampire ex suddenly reappearing. Ironic, given Caroline's choice of literature for the day. She thought about the girl's predicament and asked politely, "I take it you still have issues with him?"
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2008 23:09:39 GMT -5
"I was honestly interested at first," she answered. Amy thought of how to say this. "He had said something about needing help but I never thought how bad it was." She gave a sarcastic smile and raised her drink. "Without my own special gift, I wouldn't be here right now,"she answered, and took another sip. Whatever this was, it was amazing. Amy's hair was completely dry now, but would be very curly if she let it down from her ridiculous clip.
"So you are his half sister. I wondered." She shrugged. "Maybe it's a man thing,"she suggested, looking out the window. The rain seemed to have let up a little bit...
Amy turned back to Caroline and shrugged again. "Depends on what you mean by issues. Issues on what?" She was very open when she felt she needed help in a relationship and, at the moment, she needed a lot of help. Looking down at her hand made her sigh, remembering the other day. Vampires. Men. Ugh to them all.
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Post by Tempest on Jun 25, 2008 8:57:38 GMT -5
"You too? Well, I guess I was a little more than "interested" in him..." Caroline nodded, her expression oddly nostalgic. "I hate seeing him like this... It's like a step back from how he used to be. Tobias had gotten himself pretty healthy back then, even went on a pilgrimage-thing to heal. And now..." She sighed, remembering how she'd almost left during his trip, just to make sure one of her ghosts didn't kill him. "What's your gift?" she asked, curious as to what would stop Tobias other than his own will.
She couldn't help but smile at Amorina's comment. "Yes. I honestly think that the only thing that changes between high school and adulthood for them is their size. Other than that," she shook her head, "they're still boys- thinking with their pants first and their brains later."
As for the Vampire thing... Caroline shrugged. "I only guessed that given what he is... you might have the same kind of troubles I used to have with Tobias. The entire "torn between wanting to kiss you and wanting to eat you" thing." Her eyes followed Amorina's and she gasped. "Did he do that to you?!?"
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2008 9:08:57 GMT -5
Amy shrugged. "Maybe something bad happened to push him back so much,"she suggested, looking down at her now-almost finished glass of amazing. Her gift... How to explain... "I can kind of make other people's powers disappear. Around me, when I actually 'let it out', people can't use their gift. I guess I pushed whatever it was out of him for that period of time."
Giving a small laugh, she shook her head. "If they think with their brains at all." She only knew of one man who actually tried to tink before he acted, who had denied her when she was practically throwing herself at him just to make sure he didn't hurt her in any way,
She looked down at her hand and smiled. "No, I did that to me because he won't eat me. Well, not that way... Not that he'd do that way either..." She took a deep breath and tried again. "We got in an argument, I locked myself in my bathroom, threw a brush at a mirror and, when cleaning it up, cut myself which, in turn, unleashed a creature of darkness loose in my apartment." Amy sighed. "It just sucks because... I really do love him. We're just so different now. The bastard didn't even warn me he went back to human blood..."
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Post by Tempest on Jun 25, 2008 9:46:24 GMT -5
"Wow. Useful. Especially with people like Tobias." Caroline was impressed and she didn't bother to hide it. "Yeah... that must be it. I can't imagine what it could have been, though..." she replied, thinking about Tobias and how skinny he'd let himself get. "I bet his other half didn't appreciate your influence as much as the sane Tobias did."
Caroline's eyebrows rose as she listened to Amorina's story. And Caroline had thought she'd had problems. This was certainly complicated. She took another drink of her tea, letting the mixture of sweet and biting drift down her throat smoothly before speaking. "Wow. Yeah, that's rough. Does your power work on him?"
She realized something then and smiled. "Why do we fall for the dangerous ones?"
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2008 10:07:12 GMT -5
Amy gave a small snort. "His other half wanted to rip my throat out, watch me bleed to death, and then start feasting on my corpse. So yeah, I don't think it was very happy either,"she replied. Being a bit modest, Amy looked outside. "It is useful, but it always kind of set me apart as a kid. I was too normal for the freaks, but too freaky for the normals."
"Well, he's dead. See, with Toby, at least there was another part of him that was alive. With Kenric, the vampire, there's only one 'living' part of him. It might be able to help his urges, but,"she shook her head. "We don't know what would happen."
She sighed, smiling in return. "I don't know. They make us feel adventurous, and when we help them, we feel useful?"
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Post by Tempest on Jun 25, 2008 12:16:19 GMT -5
Caroline nodded, both to the Tobias thing and to the freak/normal thing. Boy, did Caroline know what it felt like to not fit in. Ever since getting her powers when she was a kid... she just wasn't a part of her peers. It wasn't that she showed them the scars or used her power around them... In this, she was a different case than Amorina. Caroline had distanced herself purposely.
"Oh," she said simply, processing this new information. "Dios mio... I'm sure you'll figure something out. There's always a way around a problem."
She had to chuckle at Amorina's answer to her final question. "Yeah, that sounds about right. I have a feeling that my addiction to the bad boys is so strong that I'd probably go after one even after meeting a decent, stable guy. Maybe I should reconsider my tastes."
Caroline laughed weakly, then sighed. "Yahhh, there's something about the weather today that matches my mood... Have you ever felt so conflicted about something that you could just... I dunno... split into two?"
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