Home Alone ((Open for anyone))

[elizabethmay]

*Elizabeth-May*

A pair of dark, coffee eyes watched the miniature world and the people in it as they went on about their day. From a small, caramel body came a sigh--it was a sign of extreme boredom. Elizabeth-May had just completed her school lessons, Biology and Geometry, and she had the whole day to do whatever satisfied her best. The small apartment was also in her possession, for now. Her father and older brother were busy working until they dropped dead, leaving her locked away in the apartment of Paternoster Square.

Elizabeth-May was too frightened to even walk out of the door anyways, but not because of the constant threat of werewolves and vampires lurking around. She promised herself to never step foot out of the Jacobs' Apartment, in fear of being violated by a stranger once again. But she had to cure this severe case of boredom; the more she moped and whined, the more of her body that boredom consumed on the inside... or that's what Elizabeth-May thought. She had to decide now, before the day ended.

Elizabeth-May stood up, snatched her house key from her table, and walked out of the shared bedroom. She felt terrified as she waltzed the hallway and entered the living room of the apartment owned by her, and her brother and father. Something was missing, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

She had heard that it was bitterly cold today, and there was no way she was going to leave the apartment building without a jacket or a hat or even mittens on her body. It was something that her father always nagging about, and something that her brother simply ignored. She was always told to dress warmly because of the possibility of becoming ill. Getting sick was not part of Elizabeth-May's plan today.

Elizabeth-May threw on a large, puffy black jacket, then her matching scarf and gloves. With her house key in her gloved hand, she was set to go explore a bit of Paternoster Square. She locked the door after exiting the small apartment and proceeded down the stairs to the main door of the building; her eyes scanned the scene before her. So far, no one suspicious-looking came up to her. That had let her know that it was safe to begin her walk around the block.

[Nessarose Allens]

She walked around in the solemn and slightly morbid way that she normally did. Nessa, even on the brightest of days, had the tendency to draw the shadows like they were sunlight. The black clothes she wore, coupled with the black hair often made strangers assume she was either an 'emo' or 'goth'. The stereotypes never fit her and if they bothered to take the time to get to know her then they would have realised that. The thing was that her body language seemed to scream 'don't touch me' as nobody ever took the time to get to know her. At one stage in her life this would have annoyed her and depressed her, now, however she relished the solitude and the peace that came with it. She loved the fact that nobody depended on her. The more people that she associated with, the more people there was that could hurt her. She'd been torn to the point of no return, there was no way she was allowing it to happen again.

When she was younger, she'd never been very social, yet she'd never been afraid of anyone. There was an innate confidence that was recognised, it was only after the wolves had killed the only people she'd ever loved, and before that when Kaleb had attacked her that she'd started seeing the evil that lurked within human nature. For years she'd been terrified to turn around, to look around corners yet soon that all vanished when she saw that humans could pose a threat to the supernatural, that with enough training there was possibility for redemption. This thought excited her, and while she was not yet capable of killing any supernatural creature, she was working to become apt at it.

The jacket that she wore was not thick enough to keep the bitter chill from creeping into her veins; yet it was enough to stay the majority of the cold weather. Nessa found that - unlike others - the cold kept her mind alert, she did not allow herself to become so comfortable that she no longer thought about the dangers of the world, it would never happen. For Nessa had seen what happened when she forgot what she was doing, when she got careless, she'd taken the pain and the memories were a constant reminder. It would never happen again.

A girl walked out of an apartment building close to her and looked around. There was something in her frantic gaze that told Nessa she was more than she appeared. Oh, she was distinctly human, but it was an acceptance - knowledge - that dangers lurked out here and one had to be careful. She knew. Nessa smiled to herself and her pace quickened to catch up with the girl, perhaps she could be convinced, perhaps ... maybe she could be trained. The thought brought a smile to her lips. Atrum Venator needed members, perhaps she could be convinced? "Hey! Wait up!" Her voice fell easily after the girl as she jogged up beside her, waiting for a reaction of any sort.

[elizabethmay]

As her feet continued to guide her body down the sidewalk, Elizabeth-May's small, golden brown hands hid themselves in the pockets of her jacket. Even with the matching gloves covering them, her hands felt the wrath of winter's freezing breath. She felt something smooth and solid; what was it? Then--a thought invaded her mind. She remembered putting a cell phone in her pocket the day she left with her brother to fetch ingredients for dinner.

Her head turned... a woman was walking by her side. Elizabeth-May didn't see her as threatening or suspicious, but rather friendly. Just as she opened her mouth to greet the woman, her shyness kicked right in. She stopped walking, to converse with the older female, yet she knew that this woman was a stranger and that talking to a stranger. "H-hello...", She lowered her voice, to try and cover up the stuttering. She hated it when she stuttered as she spoke to someone new.

What does she want from me?

The first thing that ran through her mind was why this woman approached her. She hoped it wasn't anything she wasn't supposed be involved in. Then again, maybe this woman just wanted to have a friendly conversation, or ask her for directions. Of course, Elizabeth-May was terrible with giving directions to a location; she couldn't even find her way to her apartment in the building that she had just left.

Just wait and see...

[Nessarose Allens]

She's scared of you.

As she should be.

You're not scary.

You're not real.

She knew she had won the argument and she gave a slight, triumphant smile. Although it was not something to be proud of - having a voice in your head, it was incredibly satifsying to win the arguments with something that was so very annoying. Inconspicuously, she shook her head to try and erase the constant distraction, the last thing she needed at this minute was the voice annoying her when she was trying to find out if this girl would make a valuable member of Atrum. Of course, there would be no specific questions, not just yet, she would throw some generalized ones out there and then she would go back to Atrum, find someone who was trained in interogation and the girl would be further interogated. The process into acceptance was not taken lightly and they did not accept just anyone. Inside all who had been fucked around by supernatural there was a desire for revenge and for justification, one just had to dig deep enough to uncover it.

Nes did not respond to the stuttered greeting, her hands were in her pockets, hiding them from both the cold and visibility. She gave the girl a non-chalant smile. Nessa could fit in quite easily with the world when she wanted to, it was just that she did not frequently want to. She counted the seconds in her head, to make her appear as a friendly stranger who had wanted to start a conversation and then had either become nervous or had no idea what to say. It was a way to make the girl more comfortable around her, rather than having someone who could draw attention to them with nervous body language. Oh yes, Nes had no doubt that there would be supernaturals around them now, there always was. Not that they watched her specifically, yet they watched nevertheless to find things out of the ordinary.

"Sorry, kinda out of the blue wasn't i? My name is Nessarose, by the way. Whats yours?" She made her speech rapid, though not to the extent where it could not be deciphered, merely so that she would appear nervous. There was no point coming off too strong, it would only go wayward. She gave a little shrug and gave the girl a sheepish grin. Now the waiting game begun.

[elizabethmay]

When she heard Nessa speak again, this time introducing herself, Elizabeth-May felt safer talking to her; this woman wasn't trying to pull her away to do something that Elizabeth didn't like. She felt like she could speak to her without stuttering in each of her sentences. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Nessarose," She said, breaking out of that shy girl's soft voice, "I'm Elizabeth-may", she flashed a small smile when she replied to Nessa's introduction.

She seems really nice....

Being outside didn't seem as frightening as Elizabeth-May thought it would be. If she didn't focus on the prowling predators out on the streets, and kept her mind on the friendly residents around, there shouldn't be a reason why Elizabeth wouldn't want to go outside. After my walk... I should tell Trey, and Daddy that I can go outside without freaking out now.

She knew that she wasn't supposed to be outside with out some kind of supervision, perhaps her brother Treyvon? Or a really friendly and caring neighbor? Maybe that wasn't necessary, for the kind Nessarose was here, so maybe she would accompany Elizabeth-May on her walk.

[Nessarose Allens]

She could tell from the girls body language that she was becomming more relaxed around Nessa and she fought the urge to shake her head in disgust. If she did become part of Atrum then she was going to need alot of training in hiding her emotions and thoughts from others. She was easy to read, just from the look on her face. Elizabeth May. Nessa nodded politely, almost vaguely at the girl's words as she glanced around as if unsure as to where she was meant to be. Then she looked back at the girl with a sheepish grin upon her lips. "Uh, are you going for a walk? Do you mind if i come too?" Ugh. This pointless babble made her feel sick and yet she knew that it was required to get Elizabeth in her comfort zone, otherwise nothing would be achieved.

Nessa widened her eyes a little and played a hopeful smile upon her face. Her hands were in her pockets and she waited. Oh, she was confident that this girl would not refuse her, she could tell that there was something nervous about this girl, it was just ebbing at the edges of her personality. She would jump at the chance to have a 'friend' accompany her on a walk.

Made the right choice?

Oh yes, i'm quite sure i have.

[elizabethmay]

"I don't mind at all..."

She would love to have someone accompany her on her walk around the community. Being locked up in a small apartment with completed school work and nothing to draw from didn't help much; it just added on to the boredom she suffered earlier. That was the whole reason why she was outside, but she knew that she wasn't emotionally stable to be outside at the moment. Though, it wouldn't hurt to try and cope with it. Elizabeth-May had a question, ready to be asked. She couldn't ask it though, she was so shy to even open her mouth and say something that wasn't responses to Miss Nessarose's questions. If only she wasn't so quiet, so shy, so weak... maybe she would be able to talk to this woman without having an issue.

Just ask it already! Get it over with!

It felt as if her inner demon was right in front of her, screaming, bellowing, roaring at her to get a question out of her mouth where it preferred to stay for now. Her inner self can yell all it wanted, Elizabeth-May wasn't going to ask it. But why? Of course, she was still somewhat nervous around this woman although she was mainly comfortable just standing next to the older female. Maybe Elizabeth just needs another little shove...

[Nessarose Allens]

She smiled at the girls affirmative answer, knowing that she would not have said anything else. For who, so obviously lonely, would deny someone the privilage of walking with them? Although Nessa highly suspected that if Elizabeth knew the real her, she would not be so quick to assume that walking was the safest bet. There were many things that this girl had to learn, for starters in her nervousness, her shyness (for it had not gone unnoticed to Nessa that she was carrying the conversation) the girl screamed 'prey', she was the perfect target for a vampire or werewolf that just wanted an easy meal. It made Nes want to shake her, to scream at her to harden the fuck up. After all, tenacity would save her life, it had done so with Nessa many times already.

Quickly, she looked around, as if admiring the scenery with a hungry expression, really she was scouting for predators, the kind that lurked in crowds, watching and waiting for somebody to draw away from the crowd. She glanced back at Elizabeth, offering her another smile, god this girl needed to talk more. Which, in itself was a strange thing for Nes to think. "So, uhm. Do you live around here? I haven't been in this part of London before, its all really new" It was all she could do not to burst out laughing from the tone in her voice. Take a little bit of excitement, mix it with nervousness and rapid speech and voila! The perfect candidate for this girl to speak to. Really, Nessa should have been an actress, this whole pretending thing had always came to her effortlessly. She could have been an interogater for Atrum, only they all knew that her vicious temper would never allow that, not where subtlty was needed.

[elizabethmay]

She looked down for a minute, staring at the pale concrete on which she was standing upon, and fiddling with her wiry tan fingers. She wouldn't know what else was outside of Paternoster Square, let alone know what was inside the community. It had been a year since she had moved here to escape the troubles that American city troubles gave you by the spoonfuls and handfuls. "Yes... I just moved here", She began at a normal inside voice, though she was out standing in the cold, "but I don't know what else is out here...", her voice then trailed off, fading away as if someone taken her voice box out of her body, only leaving her a few seconds to say final words.

Then--silence fell, like a leaf slowly cascading it's way down from the tree, and landing on the ground. Elizabeth-May was mentally debating with herself; she was told that there was a park nearby--or was it the art multiplex? Now she remembered, it was an art multiplex. Her older brother reported seeing the building on his way home from a tiring job, and thought that his baby sister would love to visit the building one day; perhaps a day off?

That was a great way to break the ice; talk about something you were interested in. Usually, people were able to start conversations, or carry them on without worrying, shying away, or becoming nervous. Unfortunately, it would take so much hard work to get Elizabeth to even utter a word. No wonder why not many people spoke to her. 'Talk more, dammit.', yelled her inner demon, whom she completely ignored. Maybe it was best to give her some time, so her shyness and nervousness would easily slip away.

[Nessarose Allens]

Well this is a perfectly thrilling conversation.

I'm beginning to think - as much as it pains me - that you were right.

Always.

She didn't know what to say, talking to this girl was like talking to a brick wall. It was especially hard when Nessa was not generally one to converse with others, much less one to carry the entire weight of a conversation on her shoulders. It was all she could do to not scream at the girl, to not tell her to start talking, honestly. Elizabeth-May was forcing her to agree with the voice in her head and this was something she did not like to do on her best days. Perhaps Nes had been decieved by her looks, she'd assumed that there had been something more than a shy little girl, everyone had to be wrong sometimes. Otherwise it simply was not fair.

She shoved her hands in her pockets and walked in what she hoped was companionable silence while she waited for Elizabeth to fill the void. Whether or not she decided to break out of hey shyness and speak willingly to Nes would determine whether she continued with this facade or simply walked away right now. She was not above abandoning this unknown girl in the street. She never had been.

[elizabethmay]

"So..."

She was never good with carrying the conversation on her own. She struggled to find good subjects to talk about. There were always such great things to talk about, but Elizabeth was unfamiliar with those great things. "What do you do for a living, Miss Nessarose?", She asked her, waiting for the woman's response to her question. It was different from what she had thought about talking, but whatever worked to break the awkward silence between them.

So, maybe this was enough to keep the conversation going. Elizabeth was never talkative in her life, and she never saw it as a problem. She never really had anything to add to a comment, or spoke up to voice her own. She figured her silence was normal. Others didn't see it as normal. When Elizabeth became too quiet, that was when they walked away and left her by herself. One opportunity to make a friend, thrown away, as if it was garbage.

All I have to do is keep this up... but... What else should I ask her...? I know there's lots of things... but she probably won't answer some of them... people just prefer not to answer certain questions...

That was her main problem, decisions. They were simple to most people, but Elizabeth-May would get stumped every time she had to decide on something. Even her father and brother admit that this had to change, along with her shyness.