High in the sky, the moon was glowing full force whilst the stars where illuminating the night-time sky. It was the dead of midnight and everything seemed to have been brought to a stand-still. No cars where going down the road, no voices could be heard. Everything was peaceful and for once, Christian couldn't find anything he was unhappy about.

Approaching the large front gates at Cedarwood Park, Christian saw they where bolted and padlocked shut. He could break them open but it would have caused too much problems with noise. Besides, there was a better way.

Christian looked at the gates and began to walk towards them... and just as his foot was about to hit the metal of the gate, his whole body seemed to dissapear into smoke. Or to be more precise... mist.

This misty form simply glided through the gates with no trouble at all and when it had reached the otherside, Christian became solid again. Simple, and with no noise or unwanted attention whatsoever.

Walking forward, Christian traversed along the grass trying not to make any sounds at all. After a few minutes walking, he came across a shadowy corner in which he sat down and looked at the park.

Everything was so peaceful...

Elyzabeth needed some peace and quiet. This past week had been rough, nevermind that she'd been the one to start that argument with the guy who lived on the floor below her. It was his fault, after all, that he'd tripped over her foot and spilled coffee on her favorite blouse. She'd awoke this evening feeling grumpy and out-of-sorts, but swiftly decided that a quiet hour or two in the park would go a long way in helping improve her mood.

So far, it was working. She'd found a sturdy branch about ten feet up a gnarled old tree's trunk and settled comfortably on it, her back against the trunk and one leg dangling down. Had anyone passed by, all they'd've seen was her stiletto-heeled sandal. An hour had already passed swifly for Beth, who was so comfortably wrapped in her thoughts that at first she didn't notice the arrival of another vampire.

When she did, however, Beth straightened up, intrigued. She hadn't talked to anyone in a while, unless you counted the mortal she'd argued with (which she didn't), and maybe this new arrival could provide some intelligent discussion. Gracefully she leapt from the branch to the ground and walked towards the other vampire.

"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" she remarked quietly, as if afraid of disturbing the sleepy calm blanketing the park.

Christian was in deep thought... he was at peace for once in his miserable horrible life. And all he needed was someone to talk to... but not a mortal, a vampire.
"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" came a feminine voice.
Christian looked at the source of the voice and saw a vampire female. Well that was good timing at least. This vampire was shorter than Chirstian, but not by much... but she looked like a mortal.

Christian smiled, something he hadn't done in a long, long time.
"It's a wonderful night," he said quietly, "I haven't been at peace like this in over a millenia."
He looked down at the lake and saw the moon reflecting off the surface of the lake, and decided that now would be a good as time to make a new friend.
Trouble was, Christian was never good at making new friends...

"What are you doing during this night?" he asked, hoping that this vampire didn't notice he was blushing. Christian found it extremley difficult to talk to new people.

Beth returned the smile with one of her own and tucked her hands into the pockets of her long coat. "A millenia? God, that mustn't have been fun," she said, once again saying what she thought. "I haven't even been around for two centuries and I've already battled my inner demons a few times. But yes, nights like this do go a long way in helping restore my... inner peace, if you will."

She sat down next to him without asking, which may have been a bit rude. In fact, it was rather unlike Elyzabeth's normal attitude entirely. She had always clung resolutely to the etiquette and courtesy she'd learned as a child, but lately her grip seemed to be slipping. Ah, well. It was the twenty-first century, and it seemed that society today had completely abandoned etiquette altogether. So really, by neglecting to ask if it was all right to sit, Elyzabeth was blending in with the mortals. Hurrah.

"Truth is, I don't really know what I'm doing," she admitted in reply to his question. "Lately I've been feeling out-of-sorts, and that usually leads to a couple nights during which I aimlessly wander the city. Tonight, though, I just wanted to get away from the whole city thing, you know?"

Oh, but there was one small bit of etiquette the twenty-first century mortals had not abandoned! Pulling one hand out of her pocket, Beth held it out to the man. "I beg your pardon, how rude of me not to introduce myself. I'm Elyzabeth."

Christian grinned...
"Being a Roman isn't fun. It's why I welcomed the change into vampireism in the first place."
And that was true as well, being a Roman meant sharing the world full of people who thought they were better than everyone else. But vampires didn't care... they only wanted to live life to the full.
When the young vampiress sat down, Christian was suprised. Not many people wanted to sit down anywear near him mainly because they thought he was weird. It was nice to have company that didn't run away once they got to know him.
"Sometimes, I feel the need to escape from the hectic life of being an Amman and simply come to somewhere peaceful like here. It makes me sometimes forget about everything I have done up until this point"
Christian took the hand and shook it.
"My name is Christian," he said, introducing himself to Elyzabeth, "and it's a pleasure to meet you Elyzabeth."

"You welcomed the change? Did your maker give you a choice?" Beth asked, genuinely curious. She hadn't gotten much say in the matter when she'd been turned. "It took me ages to come to terms with it... I don't think I really forgave my maker until..." At that moment, she realized that she hadn't yet forgiven Derek, not truly. Not that it mattered; the last time she'd seen him was at the turn of the last century. "I haven't forgiven him," she finished simply.

"I know how you feel. Sometimes I got to thinking about all the things I've done, and quite frankly it depressed the hell out of me. So I stopped thinking about it, mostly." Idly she worried her lower lip between her teeth, an old habit she'd never been able to shake. "I don't know how you Amman do it. I'd go mad, having lived so long and not being able to forget everything I did," she said bluntly.

After shaking hands, Beth returned hers to her coat pocket. "The pleasure's mine, Christian," came automatically out of her mouth. At this point, she decided to give up on forgetting etiquette and courtesy. It was just too hard.

Christian closed his eyes... a single trickle of blood came down his eye from where a tear should have been.
"I chose to become a vampire to avenge my mother's death. However, I sometimes wish I didn't because... eternal life is not what it promises to be. It is nothing glamerous."
Christian opened his eyes again and listened to Elyzabeth's tale...
"The Amman manage somehow, I can't explain but we manage because if we don't... humans will know we exist."
(OOC: Sorrt it's a bit boring but I'm in a hurry...)

She could sympathize wholeheartedly with his tale, and sympathize she did. Beth reached out and brushed the blood tear from Christian's cheek with the back of her knuckles, then wiping them off on the grass. "I lost my mother when I was small. I know how that feels," she said quietly. "And you're right, eternal life certainly isn't all it's cracked up to be. For me, keeping up with the advancements of mortals is the only thing that keeps me sane. They're so clever, despite their short lifespans." In her voice was admiration and fondness, as though she were a doting aunt lavishing praise on her favorite, very successful nephew.

Beth nodded at his somewhat garbled explanation of the Amman's dealing with the millenia. "That makes sense. I, and at least a few of the other Enashe, manage because humans exist. I love them still, and were it possible, I would wish to walk among them again."

((ooc: no prob, I've been in the same way))

Christian tried to hide his shock when Elyzabeth wiped the tear away from his eye. Most people didn't talk to Christian and no-one certainly wiped away his tears... they simply left him alone and regarded him as a lone wolf.

This vampire was unlike anyone Christian had ever met, she was kind, caring and she understood the feelings of losing a loved one during their mortal life. She shared the same philosophy as Christian and today was the first day Christian felt like a human again.

"One day, I hope that humans and vampires will go-exist peacefully... but I know that may happen. There are humans out there who are afraid of the unknown and there are people who would persecute us for being who we are.

"It doesn't help that there are some vampires who mutilate humans on first site either, I've always had a dislike to the Ishtak and Tarepha because of what they do."

"It would be like the old witch-hunts all over again," Beth agreed. "Except worse. Instead of burning us, they would lock us up in laboratories and study us. There would probably be a big government cover-up, which would lead to a resurgence of vampire mania. Like Roswell, you know. It's nice to dream that one day we'll all live peacefully together, but I feel it's safe to say that it won't be happening anytime soon."

She laughed, albeit a trace bitterly. "What am I saying? Why should we care when it happens; we'll still be around when it does. All we have to do is wait. A decade, a century, a millenium, however long it takes."

At his remark about two other covens, she again bit her lower lip pensively. "I don't dislike them, exactly. I dislike what they do. But you can't blame them for it, really. That's just how they cope with things, though it seems terrible."

Christian frowned at Elyzabeth's theory of the Ishtak and Terepha.
"But there are other ways of dealing with who you are. To maim and kill someone for fun simply puts fear into humans, and it will stop humans from ever co-existing with us."
Closing his eyes, Christian wiped the hair from his eyes and smiled...
"But I'd rather not talk about that now. Today, I would like to forget about being in the Amman and just enjoy the peace..."

Tactfully, Beth chose not to make any more comments about the covens. It wasn't a subject she was overly fond of, anyway. "Do you ever climb trees?" she asked suddenly. Completely random and completely harmless. "I used to climb trees all the time. At night, especially when I was upset, I'd sneak out of my room and climb up this huge old tree outside my window. I would sit there and look up at the stars through the leaves, and it always made me feel better about whatever was bothering me."

She smiled wryly. "Of course, when my parents found out, they were never very happy. It wasn't becoming of a young lady to go clambering up trees like a chimpanzee, they said."

Christian was suprised by the new topic of climbing trees that Elyzabeth chose to talk about. It was indeed a random thing to ask but nethertheless it was a change from talking about mutilation and such.

"I've never climbed a tree in my life. My childhood was spent indoors wishing my mother would stop working her job and my teenage years were spent in a gladiatorial school learning how to kill or be killed. I never had time to do anything such as climb trees or play."

And there it was... the feeling of numbness that Chirsitan felt anytime he was talking about his roman childhood.

"Are you serious? You've never climbed a tree, ever?" she demanded, incredulous. Standing up, she offered Christian her hand. "Come with me."

Well, tonight was shaping up much better than she'd planned it to be. Not only had she met one of the Amman, but she was (hopefully, if all went according to plan) going to teach him how to climb trees. Beth fluttered her eyelashes prettily and tipped her head coyly to the side. "Don't talk about killing and awful things like that," she said with a pout. Whaddya know, after over a hundred years, she still had the "fluttering graces" her tutors had strived to teach her. "We're here to enjoy the peace, remember? Come with me and we'll do just that."

There. Let him try and resist Beth the Belle.

Chrsitian grinned at Beths reaction to him never climbing trees before and when she offered him his hand, Christian took it and then put his hand on one of the tree branches that looked strong enough to hold his weight. Pulling himself up, Christian managed to stand up on one of the branches, his Jeet Kun Do training providing the balance he needed.

This was a nice night and for once in 2000 years, Christian was having fun. Elyzabeth was a really nice person and she had shown him friendship and companionship. Christian hadn't had many friends before but the ones he did have... or had, (he lost contact with them 500 years ago) never made him feel this alive before.

Whenever Christian looked down at Beth and talked to her, he felt at peace... this was probably the best night he had in ages.

"So you can get into the tree," she said, pretending to be unimpressed. "Let's see if you can climb."

With that, she pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail before swinging up into the tree. From experience, she knew there were few things worse than getting one's hair tangled on a tree branch. Balancing on the same branch as Christian, she surveyed the higher limbs for a moment before selecting one. Beth reached up and grasped it, then braced her feet against the tree trunk and "walked" her way up it until she could swing her legs over the branch. The next three branches were low enough that she could pull herself onto them with no trouble.

Grinning, she leaned over a little and looked down at Christian. "Are you coming or not, slowpoke?" she teased, kicking her feet and yawning as if bored.

Christian laughed when Elyzabeth started to tease him and decided to show her that maybe he could climb trees as good as she could, maybe even better. Rather than climb up the trees, Christian crouched and then jumped to the other brach like a tiger pouncing on fresh prey.

He then pounced on another branch, landing his toes before bouncing on another branch and then another before he finally caught up with Elyzabeth.
"I'm sorry, what was that about me being a slowpoke?" Christian said with a grin, brushing some of his raven black hair out of his eyes.

"Cheater!" she accused, sticking out her tongue in a very childish way. "That wasn't climbing. That was jumping. I still say you don't know how to climb a tree."

Climbing higher, she hooked her knees over a thick branch and let herself fall backwards, putting her at (upside-down) eye level with Christian. There was just something about climbing trees that always made her feel... free, as if the outside world just ceased to exist in the thick foliage of whichever tree she happened to be in. It was a feeling she didn't experience much, if at all, when she was doing anything else.

Giggling, Beth shook her head from side to side, causing the thick mane of her hair to swing like a heavy curtain. "No more of your fancy little tricks, mister, you hear me? You climb this tree the right way or I'll push you out of it!" she threatened.

"I'd like to see you try to push me out of this tree..." Christian said in a mock tone, raising his eyebrows...
Rather than listen to her, Christian jumped from the tree branch and straight at the thick tree trunk. When his foot landed on the tree trunk, Christian jumped again... "Wall-kicking" from the tree trunk and landing perfectly on a tree branch before jumping again.

"Feel free to stare at my feet whilst I climb to the top" Christian shouted down to Beth, laughing in a 'come and get me' sort of tone.

"Oho, it's a competition you want, is it?" Beth called up to Christian, swinging back into an upright position and moving one branch higher. "Well, m'dear, you're not the only one with a few tricks up your sleeve."

And, before a full second had passed, she was standing on the very branch that Christian was on. Planting her feet firmly on the branch and her hands on her hips, Beth glared with mock seriousness at him. "You are not supposed to be better at this than I am!" she pouted. "You're supposed to be a beginner at it, so I can finally feel superior to one of you ancients. I've half a mind to leap out of this here tree and waltz my pretty little self clear out of this park, seeing's how smug folks like you done took it over."

((ooc: teh crap. I was working all this weekend and last and I'm frazzled. but huzzah for lots of southern dialect!))

Christian knew that Beh obviously was a vampire who possessed immense speed... something that Christian did not possess, despite the fact he was over 2 millenia old. Beth was going to be difficult to deal with but Christian had other tricks up his sleeve... he could easily transform into his mist form and float to the top of the tree and stay there. But he would be spotted if he did something like that and he had heard that Marcus, the Amman leader, did terrible things when one of his Amman screwed up.

Deciding not to take that chance, Chrstian simply decided to walk up to Beth and smile...
"Don't worry Beth, give it another 1000 years and you'll be able to do every that I have done... but not as good as me that's for sure. But please don't leave... I'm having too much fun to see you leave me alone..."

Beth chuckled and sat down with her back against the tree trunk, legs dangling on either side of the branch. "Now, don't fuss. I was only teasing, darling. 'Course I won't leave, at least not for a while yet."

She smiled brightly at Christian, kicking her feet idly like a little kid. With deft movements, she undid her ponytail and instead braided her hair before coiling it into a loose knot at the nape of her neck. "What do you do for fun? After a thousand years, I imagine you've done it all. Is there anything you haven't done yet?"

((ooc: gah. work and school really caught up with me. and it's late.))

(OOC:There are times when Education blows...)

Christian smiled as he sat down beside Elyzabeth, watching her play with her hair and styling it. Quite frankly, Christian thought she was a very nice person and wondered what the heck they should do next. Even though he had lived for over 1000 years, he hadn't had much fun in the process and he was hoping to change that sometime soon.

And then he looked at his watch and realised that he had to be back at the Amman Coven in a few minutes. Darn... and he was having so much fun.

"I have to go, I'll be needed back at the Amman soon. But... perhaps we could go out sometime, maybe a meal or a movie or both? It's just been like something out of a dream for me, I've never had so much fun with someone else before and I'd like to see you again. So... what do you say?"