Haunted

[Ash Leone]

"Don't be ridiculous, Dani," he said, shaking his head and sounding far less American than he usually managed, though he did happen to manage fairly well normally.  "If there was a price on your head, that person would already be dead.  You should know that by now."

And he had no qualms about taking care of such things.  He'd lost so many people in his lifetime, he wasn't going to risk losing anyone else prematurely.  "And if you think there ever is a hit out on you, I want you at the Hollow, immediately."

[Danielle Vida]

Her brows perked. "That's a heavy statement. I might just run in with a mob behind me weilding pitchforks and flaming sticks, you know. I have a talent for attracting a crowd when I least want it."

She did stuff that offer away for later use, though. She needed a place she could call 'base' that wasn't a new apartment in a new city in a new state/country.

"What would I do without you?"

[Ash Leone]

"This is hardly the Middle Ages, and you are not Frankenstein," he said with a roll of his eyes, then smirked.  "And Mary Shelley would have thought you were an interesting person even though she kept you out of that book, while her husband would have thought you were insane.  He wanted to sleep with me, but then, I'm not as blunt as an ox, so he never knew I was out of the ordinary.  And Byron would have been a bit peeved at being replaced."

He had no problem tossing all of this out at her, and continued as though it was nothing important.  Just a tangent, nothing more.  "And without me, you'd be driving some psychiatrist insane, or killing something, right now."

[Danielle Vida]

"You're absolutely right, there," she said, voice dull and humourless. She probably would be killing something right then.. she was sure she would have gone to her apartment, walked around, had a cigarette, and then gotten restless and gone somewhere to do bad things in the solace of the dark, where nobody could see.

She wondered if she could develop new powers based on her allignment - like Star Wars. Lightside points equalled certain abilities and Darkside points fell under certain.. more questionable powers. Like Force Lightning. She grinned at the thought of it - the lightning, that is - and managed to look a complete fool, standing in her kitchen grinning at a private thought.

She shook herself of it. "Well, Ash, what now? I can't just sit in this apartment. I was only coming home for a brief interval before I probably would have - no, most definitely would have - been back out on my merry way." She smiled again, this time something of a genuine grin and very much not as sinister as before.

[Ash Leone]

If Ash could have heard her thoughts on alignment, he'd have probably been torn between laughing out loud and being concerned, but he ended up settling for a curious look at that little smile she showed at her own thoughts.  "I know I'm right, I've been around you since you were born," he remarked casually, as though he didn't look deceptively young, around her age.  

"What now?  That depends entirely upon what you had planned, ma petite.  I could always accompany you somewhere.  We spend time together so rarely," he pointed out with a small shrug, though he was of course willing to let her be if that was what she wanted.  He just had a feeling she could use the company.

[Danielle Vida]

She walked to the door, sweeping up a black duster, thin in material, just enough to hold in some warmth, and shrugged it on. "Let's go for a walk, then." She paused, reaching down and patting at her calves once, thighs once, and then gingerly reached 'round to her back. Seemingly satisfied that her weapons (of course) were in place, she waited at the door.

"What is there to do in this city, anyways?" she asked, pushing away some vanilla-blonde hair. "Also, anything I should know? I haven't had time to hit the books or ask around. Been too busy with, er, business."

[Ash Leone]

He stood up gracefully to follow her, already aware that his own weapons were in place, and stopped to smile at her and brush some hair out of her face.  He was good at those subtle little movements, full of meaning while at the same time brushed off as nothing.  "Just trust me, chere.  Most won't attack us, and those who will you'll know are enemies without my warning you ahead of time."

He had a reputation, and it wasn't one that most Nyeusi brushed off.  He'd have vampires, older ones, assume he wasn't a threat, and that usually ended in him correcting them, but he otherwise didn't tend to find trouble when he went out.  "A walk sounds quite nice.  Anywhere you'd like to go?  There are so many places."

[Danielle Vida]

"Heh," she said. "That's all the reassurance I need." She smiled at him as he fixed her hair, and started out the door, walking in step and adjacent to him, falling neither behind or moving ahead.

"Tell me.. how long have you known people in the Vida line? I'm interested to know if there was something that happened to Dominique that made her the way she is now." The woman was ageless - she had to be in her late thirties, if not mid-fourties, and yet, somehow, she looked timeless - like she was carved of glass and ice. Dominique could pass for Danielle's older sister if they stood side by side.

She was fishing for information for both personal use and psycological analyzing to be done later with a pack of cigarettes and a quiet balcony. "I mean.. my mother, Celeste. She's.." How did you say that in your opinion you could wipe the floor with your own mother? Without outright saying it, of course. "I'm positive I could best her because she either will not or cannot seem to grasp the reality of kill or be killed. That woman should have been from a different bloodline."

[Ash Leone]

He smiled at her questions, even if not all of them were in the form of questions.  She tended to do that, as well as ask questions he really shouldn't answer.  Sometimes he did anyway, sometimes he didn't.  "I have known the Vida witches since I came to the New World," he said, which really didn't tell her too much, just that he'd met up with them in America.  He'd never told her when he personally came to America.  

"And there's something you must understand, Dani.  Some people are just not born with the instincts required to be a killer, a fighter.  Your mother is one of those people.  Dominique?  She has the instincts of a predator, and she's been using them all her life.  That affects a person, and not usually for the better."  He hesitated at this point, as though looking for the right words, then tilted his head to the side somewhat and gave her a small, almost sad smile.  "Sometimes, mon coeur, it is not being bested that is the tragedy."

[Danielle Vida]

She eyed him as they walked, silent as he spoke. She wondered how she'd come to have so much darkness in her heart. She couldn't remember a time where there wasn't a snide remark at her lips or a hand twitching to draw down. She looked straight ahead again, folding her arms like a spoilt child, and walked with a frown as she sat on what he'd said for a few moments.

[Ash Leone]

((*Is getting such Luke/Yoda images, especially with all this 'dark side' talk.*  That, or Highlander and Ramirez, with Morf as the Kurgan ^.^;;; ))

He had to grin and shake his head, aware that he'd just drawn out the petulant child in her.  His own had died long ago, probably with his cousin and parents, but he didn't so much mind hers.  Afterall, he was simply happy she still had it.  "Come, cheer up, you can hardly expect a direct answer all the time.  Especially when you don't actually ask your questions," he teased, slipping and arm around her to walk with her.

[Danielle Vida]

((LOL))

She shrugged. "I dunno," she said, hands thrusting into the pockets of her duster. "Maybe I'm just ready for a break. Ready to play human for a few months. Pretend none of this is happening. Family is all gone, I dropped out of school to do something stupid like follow an acting career, ended up living in X town with X job, doing X all the time. Not killing. Not maiming. Just being.. stupid and happy with it," she finished.

She wouldn't, though. Be happy, that is. She didn't know what would make her happy anymore. She needed help of a psychological kind for the things she'd done - to others and to herself. At the end of the day as long as she was standing it was all she needed, but it was starting to become 'not enough'. When her only release became not enough, she began to search for bigger and harder things to take on.

[Ash Leone]

Personally, he wanted to suggest a boyfriend for her.  In his experience with mortals, especially modern mortals, a partner, even if only temporary, was a good thing.  But then, how could he of all people suggest such a thing?  He hadn't had a partner of that sort in over a century, and he didn't intend to.  He couldn't endure watching a wife die, whether slowly of old age as he remained the same, or of unnatural causes at a young age, he couldn't handle it.  Not again.  And so he didn't get into relationships, and only rarely indulged the temptation for a fling.  He was hardly the one to tell Dani she should try out a fling or relationship.

"A break is good, but you and I both know you'll never truly be happy playing human.  I can provide a more normal job for you if you find the need to try it out, with a less normal crowd to keep you on your toes.  I find it rather....interesting."

[Danielle Vida]

She sighed, leaning into him. She was glad he'd popped up.. she hoped she hadn't been leaving a trail of 'angry Vida' wherever she went, though. She was trying not to do that - control was limited as of late. With none of her family around and never having completed a lot of her 'finishing' when it came to learning patience and endurance, Danielle exploded big, made pretty lights, and burned out fast and hard.

"You're right. I don't know what's going to make me happy. I don't think anything is. I'm trying to go with complacent right now. It's working - so far.I'd like to take you up on your offer sometime. When I'm.. you know. Not quite so angsty-ragey-boom-boom." It was a pretty adequate description of herself. Upset, angry, kaboom.

Maybe she didn't hate Dominique for being so cold. Maybe she just envied the hell out of her for being able to do it. It was a strange goal, to strive to be emotionless, but one she'd seen over and over again in her family.

[Ash Leone]

He smiled and nodded at her description of herself, quite agreeing with its accuracy.  "You do what you have to, chere.  But I would honestly prefer if you came to me when you were feeling the most 'angsty-ragey-boom-boom'."  It sounded far more amusing out of his mouth, that he knew, but he pretended he didn't notice.

"It's no coincidence that you calm around me, ma petite, and it may be in your best interest to pay me visits when you're feeling rather....destructive, non?" he asked, looking at her appraisingly.