Como La Flor [Saressa]

[Carolina]

"Lonely? Looking for a family, a clan known for epic campaigns, and epic fun? Join the oldest and largest clan in the city, Clan Capadocious!”

Carolina turned the small card around to stare at the printed address in bold, black letters. Capadocious. The name sounded all too familiar and yet it seemed entirely foreign. She said the word aloud in a whisper, then worked it into a song, and finally settled for spelling it out. C-a-p-a-d-o-c-i-o-u-s. The more she pondered the invitation and the tiny business card, the more confused she became. What sort of use did a nurse have in some sort of gang? The white business card slipped from her fingers and landed in a puddle on the side of the street. She had no use for Capadocious.

She moved with grace, her footsteps barely making a sound upon the sidewalks of the city. It was another crisp night, cooler than usual for the season the humans claimed was upon the city. The roads, once covered in water, were beginning to glisten in the streetlamps; black ice promised accidents for many. Despite the chill in the air, Carolina wore her usual attire, a sleeveless dress in a chocolate shade, her favorite color, and a pair of matching peep-toe heels. Whenever she managed to pass a human on the street, she immediately received second glances for her lack of warmer clothing.

Where was she heading at such an ungodly hour? Honestly, Carolina had no idea what she was doing out at three in the morning, but she felt the need to continue her search for Gavin, her beloved fiancé. Though her fiancé died over sixty years ago, her broken mind acknowledged little. She spoke to her deceased mother, though she lacked any ability to communicate with the dead, and she still thought herself a nurse, though that part of her life ended with the beginnings of the World War Two. Carolina considered her stay in the city to be temporary, but each night of fruitless searching extended the time.

“I know I should have grabbed my coat, Mami.” The streets were entirely empty, but Carolina spoke to the empty space to her left as if someone were actually standing there. Her brown eyes appeared lively for the first time since she dropped that business card only two blocks back. She always seemed happiest when lost in her own world. “I’m not that cold. I promise.” Her gentle speech paused as she heard a rustling in an alley across the street. “Gavin!” She smiled, her left foot just leaving the curb when she watched a stray cat dart out of the same alley, a trashcan rolling out after.

Her chest always seemed to hurt her, and it was at that moment that the throbbing began. Resting a hand over her still heart, she waited for the ache to subside. Her mother no longer seemed important; in fact, Carolina seemed to have forgotten that her mind conjured the woman at all. She took another step off the curb and collapsed onto it, stretching her legs out into the street. Dirt and mud covered her hands and any inch of the dress that touched the soiled ground, but she cared little for her appearance when Gavin wasn’t found. It seemed another fruitless night.

"I miss them,” Carolina spoke softly; her mind filled with images of Mandolin and Saressa, the only true friends she’d managed to make within the city. And just as soon as the sadness swept over her, it was gone---forgotten. She sat on that curb quite happily, tapping her heels against the pavement. Where was she heading at such an ungodly hour? Honestly, Carolina had no idea; she didn’t care.

[Saressa]

It was quieter than what she was used to as she walked aimlessly through Ravenblack City. Upon leaving the tavern, she had convinced Khja to stay a bit later so she would be able to go hunting (despite the fact she wouldn’t hunt) without worrying about him. The woman didn’t want to become a bother, nor did she want him to lose contact with his friends but now she regretted it as she shivered and picked up her pace. Without her headphones and music or Khja to distract her, she had no way to block out her thoughts or the quiet that lingered in the still, cool air.

Dressed in a pair of faded worn out blue denim jeans, a short sleeved black Metallica shirt underneath the jacket that matched her jeans, Saressa remained comfortable and semi-warm. Her strange, silver-greenish blue eyes lifted to the sky for only a minute before the bottom of her shoe caught a patch of black ice as she was crossing the street. With a startled yelp, the young woman landed flat on her back and had the wind knocked out of her – although she hadn’t needed to breathe in eighty-eight years. Even through her jacket, tee-shirt, and the tank top she wore underneath, she could feel the coldness seeping into her skin.

With an unhappy sigh, the woman got back to her feet. People stared at her, obviously having not missed her slipping on ice. Ignoring them, she proceeded to brush off the seat of her jeans only to pause when a strong wind knocked off her cap, sending it in the direction of the gutters. “…” Had it been part of a dress, or a dress itself, the woman may have just given up but she quickly walked to wear her hat had fallen, quietly cursing as she prayed for the wind not to knock it into one of the few puddles that hadn’t frozen. But of course, because God hated her, the baseball cap landed in water.

Nearby, she could hear a woman giggling. Snatching up her hat, Saressa turned to narrow her eyes at the red-head who immediately went back to walking around her corner. Saressa didn’t get along with most women, in fact most of the time she avoided them unless they were the ones that had somehow made it into becoming important to her. Prostitutes spooked her the most, however. Frowning, she sighed and looked down at the Lakers cap in her hand while she once again started walking. It was her favorite, out of all the ones she owned.

I like your hat. The words entered her mind from a memory as she paused in mid-stride and ended up falling once more. She had made it near a puddle that had a business card in it. “Pip…” The woman spoke quietly, thinking of one of her friends that had been terrorized by Saressa’s ex. She couldn’t even remember meeting up with the other, which made even her dead heart ache with pain. Her tailbone smacked the concrete curb, making her wince as she fell.
Though faint, she could remember the pretty woman that would often wait in the tavern, searching for a man named Gavin.

She could also remember the disappointment that came with it as Piper realized it would be another night without him before leaving to who-knows-where. From what she could understand – which wasn’t very much about her – Piper was a nurse, talked to her mother (which to her, Saressa could tell the woman wasn’t there) and was engaged to a man named Gavin who she figured out would have to be dead, or very old. Pip had told her she knew the date, that it wasn’t 1942 anymore. Saressa had managed to go so far as to question how old Gavin was.

After a little while, mostly because her phone began to vibrate and it felt strange while she was sitting down, Saressa Morte climbed back to her feet and checked the message that had disturbed her thoughts to see that Khja was saying goodnight. Texting a reply as she began to walk for the third time, she headed down an alley. The two rings on her right hand reminded her that she had someone that worried for her… who would wait for her just like Piper would.

“I’m so sorry… Pip…” She spoke softly, and she set her phone back into her pocket, continuing on her aimless walk to no where. All she knew was that before sunrise, she would have to use the scroll that was tucked into the waistband of her jeans unless she wished to turn to ashes.

[Carolina]

It was the wind that made Carolina leave her spot upon the curb. The cold breeze seemed to come out of nowhere and assault her thin frame, hitting her flesh like a thousand knives. Instead of quickening her pace, Carolina crossed her arms over her chest and began wandering down the deserted street. Her slow, careful steps aided her as she passed over the frozen patches of concrete, but she eventually slipped; the heel of her chocolate peep-toe caught in a crack.

She wobbled for a moment, her body swaying as if deciding which way to send her, before falling directly onto her hands and knees. Graceful as she was, perhaps she wasn’t destined to be without some form of suffering at the hands of nature. The sound of giggling made her raise her head. A woman with fiery red hair rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks, examining Carolina for a moment before trying to hide the smile that begged to blossom on her lips. She thought it was funny that Carolina had fallen!

“It wouldn’t be so funny if you were the one on the ground!” Carolina pushed herself off the ground and quickly wiped at her dirty knees. All the while, she muttered to herself in Spanish, paying no attention to the red-head that walked right past her. It only took that woman three more steps before she also had a spill. Carolina didn’t even turn around to laugh; she walked in the direction the woman had come from, her hands clenched at her sides.

There were plenty of buildings lined along the dark streets, but only a few remained alight. If Carolina craved lights and people, she should have turned back and headed towards the main strip of the city, but no. She very much enjoyed wandering along, the bottom of her dress dancing in the beginnings of another breeze. The sound of her nickname made her stop in her tracks, her head swiveling as she searched for a sign of someone else.

“Mami?” Carolina paused for an answer, but she only received the sound of a business locking up for the night. She’d imagined many things throughout her life and unlife, so what was one more mistaken noise? Crossing her arms once more, Carolina quickened her pace. She heard the sounds of others, or perhaps just one person, slipping on ice, but she didn’t stop. Where was she going? “Gavin,” Carolina thought a loud. “It’s so late though. I have to get back to my patients. We’ll just have to try again tomorrow,” she sighed, her eyes quickly scanning the closed storefronts.

Patients. She had so many patients. Every night, she used them as an excuse, an escape. When her dead lover failed to show for their dates, Carolina brought up her job and how she needed to leave. The woman always seemed in motion. The thought of stopping scared her more than her father, more than the closets she’d been locked in as a child. The thought of stopping meant admitting there was no hope.

“I’m so sorry…Pip….” Carolina nodded along with the words she heard, assuming it was another voice in her head. She was sorry too. She dragged herself out at a late our and wasted another lovely dress for a missed date. She owed herself an apology. If she hurried, she found herself thinking, would she be able to get back in time for a game of cards with the elderly patients? The younger patients cheated and looked at all the cards. “I’m sorry too,” she finally sighed.

[Saressa]

The quiet sounds of the morning beginning to slowly unsettle was enough for Saressa to pick up her pace as she toyed with the cell phone in her pocket. “Just wonderful… I wonder if I could call Khja…” Saressa trailed off from that thought, though he wouldn’t laugh at her, he’d question why she couldn’t just head home with him next timeShe wanted to head home, at least soon. The alleyway was darker than what she had expected, but still, the woman ignored any begger that came up to her, asking for coin for booze.

Get it yourself, you lazy bum. You’ve got enough ability to ask for it, try working for once. The thought slipped through her mind before she could control it and she shoved her hands fully into the pockets of her jeans. Turning on her heel, the woman made her way back up the alley. “I’m sorry too,” Her ears twitched a bit at a sigh, though she turned to look over her shoulder before back at the place in front of her while searching for the direction it came from, but she blinked as she saw a woman wearing a sleeveless long dress walking past the opening.

Saressa stopped suddenly, a bit puzzled. What was the woman sorry for, and more so… who was she? She quietly began to jog towards the figure at a decent pace, jumping over a patch of ice that she didn’t want to fall on. “Excuse me!” She called upon reaching the opening. The woman would have walked far enough that she still would have been able to hear, right? “Miss?” She frowned slightly, there was something familiar about her. From the distance she could tell it was a woman, she wasn’t that blind. There was enough light to show off the figure of the other. Picking up her pace while jogging after the other, she placed her hat back on her head with a shiver. It was still damp and made her grumble inaudibly to herself, the cold wasn’t helping a bit.