Adoptive Home ~Open~

[Yurika]

Yurika entered the graveyard, her eyes following the moon closely. It was a relatively clear night and the full moon was allowed perfect clarity. The cemetary itself wa secluded, normally so intensely dark that it was impossible to see one's hand before their face. But the crystal light reflecting off the surface of the moon allowed the luxury of visiblity. Yurika could see every place where her foot was likely to tred and she was able to pick the perfect path around the tombstones...reading epitaphs on the way.

Graveyards had never frightened her but she had never made a habit of visiting them. Nowadays they felt like a slice of home...the home that had so readily adopted her. A hand sought an object within her pocket, drawing out a package of cigarettes. She had taken up the habit of smoking while she was alive. It had been driven out of her by her brother but now she was dead...she had no need to fear it. She placed it between her lips, grabbing a matchbook and lighting it carefully. She disliked lighters...finding the authenticity of matches to be more comfortable in her hands.

She took a long drag before finding a large stone, hopping up to seat upon the top which was cold...she couldn't help but notice. She withdrew the cigarette, exhaling a stream of smoke before resting her hand on her lap...looking about for something out of the ordinary...something interesting.

[Kisa Valera]

Kisa walked slowly into the cemetery, not out of caution but reverence. She had never been superstitious and therefore never had a fear of the dead, it was the living and the undead one should be cautious of. In one hand Kisa carried a small bouquet of snowdrops, a book of russian poetry, a rosary, and a small silver box decorated in scrolling swirls; the other arm hung limply to her side, close to her gun, just in case the dead had company. Kisa approached a small roughly hewn tombstone at the edge of the cemetery in a less favourable spot. The stone was of poor quality and not much effort had been put into its making. It had only a name on it: Larissa Valera, the name of Kisa's mother. The snowdrops were placed at the base of the stone, then Kisa read a poem, said a silent prayer on the rosary, and poured some of the ashes from the silver box into a small hole she dug at the base of the stone. She had never been close to her mother, but she was not about to let her only family pass to their final destination without a proper burial. Kisa stood and slipped the box back into her coat while turning to leave. The small amount of moonlight that there was, cast a dull gray light around the cemetery, adding to its eeriness. In this glow, Kisa could barely see the area around herself, just enough that she shouldn't stumble. She made her way slowly to the cliff at one edge of the graveyard and sat in the natural silence staring into the abyss.

[Yurika]

Yurika's attention was caught by the entrance of an unknown woman into the graveyard. She watched the girl closely as she moved to a grave, moving about it. Yurika could only guess that she was paying respects to a love one...recently passed away most likely. She lifted her hand, taking another deep drag of her cigarette. She exhaled smoke in a long stream before she spoke.

"Your words won't reach the dead..." she commented calmly, resting her hand and cigarette on the tombstone she was perched on. She was referring to whatever the girl had said when she had been so intensely focused on the grave. Yurika knew the fact to be true...not once had she ever heard her brother speaking to her...though she knew he probably had. It must have hurt him...but she tried not to dwell on that kind of thing. It had happened a long time ago.

[Kisa Valera]

Kisa never even turned her head, she felt too at peace to even care what happened, besides turning a gun in the presence of the final home of the forever sleeping had to be some sort of insult. "I do not expect her to hear me, much less care that I am speaking to her. I speak only because I wish to give her memory its due respect, everyone deserves at least that courtesy. The dead are who we will someday become, if we have that much luck, I have met those who don't. Therefore I respect all who can achieve this, but only once, for in my line of work it is harmful to dwell in the past." Kisa stood to face the voice that had adressed her. The silvered glow of the moon revealed the silhouette of a young woman perched on a gravestone, a bright pinprick of orange-yellow light revealed she was smoking. "It is a pleasure to meet you," Kisa bowed deeply to the young woman who sat before her. Kisa rested one hand on her hip, with the other she pulled a silver flask decorated in a swirling, curling carving from her belt, she unscrewed the cap and took a big gulp of the vodka inside, setting a trail of piercing fire down her throat. "Do you respect the dead, or have you already joined there graces only to find a way back?"

[Yurika]

"I didn't merely 'find my way' back to the living world," Yurika commented coolly, inhaling another patch of toxic smoke from the cigarette perched between her fingers. "I went through a whole lot of crap to get back here. Using the word 'find' makes the journey sound easy." She blew out a steady stream of noxious smoke that drifted up into the air.

"And your view on death is nothing but mediocre..." Yurika finished, tapping the middle of the cigarette on the tombstone and dipositing a pile of ash on the grave below. "I'd tell you to live your life instead of looking forward to your own death. Life with the dead isn't all that interesting I'll have you know."

[Kisa Valera]

"Better dead than a victim of human vices; pain, injury, conscience, fear, guilt and attachment. The dead can't be bothered with any of these problems. I'd rather die than put up with the million screams of a blemished human memory. God, how morbid, forgive me for imparting my pains onto you." Kisa moved silently closer to the woman, but not near enough to provide a clear path to herself. "Some lives are pitiful enough to welcome the eternal reprieve. Also, I did not mean to describe your journey as easy, it was mearly a question. I can only imagine what returning must be like, seeing that I have only ever come close to death." Kisa took another gulp of liquid fire from the flask and felt the warmth spread to her fingertips. "I admit there are things to live for, and I do not await death, I am merely ready for it. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

[Yurika]

"Yurika, Yurika Ansderks," Yurika replied stoutly, leaning with a wry smile. She couldn't agree with the girl's perception on death. Death was no free of such pains, it was like life. There were moments of joy and love mixed with moments of pain and fear. Yurika knew this, she was already dead, and she would have it no other way. Without the pain there would be nothing to contrast the joy and thus the joy would not be as strong as it could. Black was needed to make white look brighter. It was how the world worked, it was how the world of death worked as well.

Best not to bring it up though...best not to ruin this human's view on the wonderful world of death, Yurika rebuked herself silently. "I don't believe I got your name either," she said in her slow, cool voice that many men found seductive. Men who had no idea that her heart already belonged to another.

[Kisa Valera]

"You disagree with my view of death, don't you? I can tell by the way you responded, it's a gift of mine to know. You have firsthand experience and know the truth, and I am wrong, perhaps even ignorant in your eyes. If so then I harbor no ill will towards you and I do apologize. If I may ask as well, do not tell me if I'm wrong, I prefer not to know the torment I have sent souls into, it would be a weight on the conscience I abandoned years ago and another scar on the soul I poisoned in myself." As Kisa spoke memories flooded her mind and nearly sent her realing into the tombstone near her feet; however, each memory hit the concrete wall in her mind and in so doing splayed into a million bright shining splinters. Thus was the effect of the large volume of strong alcohol and the nearly constant dose of epinephrin Kisa kept in her system, the latter through injections.

"And you asked of my name, well as far as I know it is Kisa, but I have been called The Cat, or Valera. To become technical I have inherited the name of my late mother, so I would be Kisa Larissa Valera." Kisa took another drink and closed her eyes, seeing a second set of memories shatter in brilliance in her mind. She opened her eyes and let the darkness around her settle into her vision easily. "Now I would also assume you are not of this world and therefore must have some sort of story to share, would you not? I would highly appreciate its telling if such would be acceptable to you." As she spoke, Kisa began to slowly walk towards Yurika, seeing her in greater detail with every step, in a few more steps she would be close enough to touch Yurika with outstreched fingertips.