lumière//noir

The sounds in the building across the street were as clear as a bell to his sensitive hearing. With his ears perked in that direction, Silas heard each footstep and word exchanged between Sylvia and the vampire. He might have been worried about his friend if she wasn’t one of the very few people he knew that he would think twice before picking a serious fight with.

As he waited, he glanced at the vial of holy water that Sylvia had given him, which was balanced on one of the steel rungs of the fire escape ladder, where his clothes also hung. For a moment he thought about leaving it behind; using things like that wasn’t really his style. But then he decided to take it, holding it between his teeth just before the dueling pair arrived in the middle of the street.

That was his cue, and in just a few bounding strides on all fours he was able to close the distance, and Sylvia slipped out of the way just in time for his massive body to collide with the much smaller vampire, knocking her to the ground. His massive claws pinned her to the crumbling asphalt; a normal person probably wouldn’t survive such an attack, but the person hissing and baring her fangs below him was far from normal. He heard Sylvia’s warning just as he crushed the bottle of holy water between his teeth, showering the liquid over the vampire’s face.

The resulting shriek was ear-splitting, and not a second later Silas felt a blow to the side of his jaw that sent everything spinning. He quickly leaped back and away from the screaming vampire, his mouth hanging open at a grotesque angle, lolling tongue dripping with saliva and blood from breaking the vial in his mouth. His jaw was dislocated on one side; luckily for him this had happened before, so he was able to set it back into place fairly easily, with a painful snap that seemed to echo around his skull for a moment.

“Now you tell me.” Silas uttered in a joking tone as he rubbed the side of his face with the heel of his clawed hand. He was probably more amused than he should be for someone who nearly had half of his face knocked off, but how often did he get a chance to fight a vampire? He spit out a shard of glass that had been lodged into his tongue, and the vampire stood up, still holding half of her burned face with one hand while giving Silas a murderous look. He returned it with a bloody grin.

Silas bounded toward the vampire again, without much thought toward any kind of strategy. The lady might have had a few tricks up her sleeve, which might have evened the playing field more if he didn’t have a witch backing him up. Ignoring the pain in his jaw, Silas opened wide went straight for the vampire’s head. Anticipating her moving out of the way, his head followed her movement with surprising speed of his size, until her hand and forearm were caught between his massive teeth. Although it took a bit more effort than usual, he managed to bite down until he felt the crunch of the woman’s bones in his head.

He saw a quick movement out of the corner of his eye and realized it was the vampire making a counter attack, but instead of letting go to move away he decided to hold her in place and simply eat whatever was coming his way.

Sylvia was tittering nervously at the battle unfolding before her.  She was confident Silas would win in the end, but she wasn’t sure what the injuries were going to look like after this was all over.  The sound of Silas’ jaw snapping out of place made her stomach roll -- that was a classic Arabelle move.  Clearly she was right about the fighting dojo.

There didn’t seem to be a good place for her to step in, and frankly it didn’t seem like Silas wanted much help.  Only playing support wasn’t going to help in the long run; she bit her hand hard until she drew blood and quickly drew a complex pattern on the ground, keeping one eye on the fight in front of her.  Sylvia recited a spell and the mandala glowed green; she clutched her chest as she felt a piece of her soul rip away.  A man yawned as he lazily floated out of the glowing symbol; he wore a gladiators outfit, and leaned on a massive spectral sword.

“How can I help you Sylvia?”  He spoke with a very strange, almost Italian accent.  “I was a tad busy, so get on with it.”  Sylvia was still recovering from the pain as she shakily pointed towards Silas’ tussle with the vampire; he had latched on to her arm, but she was about to throw another punch that would probably take the werewolf out of the fight for a moment.

The man hefted his sword over his shoulder.  “Of course.”  While the vampire was fast, the spirit was faster; he grabbed her hand before it connected with Silas’ jaw and twisted it behind her back.  A kind smile was on his face as she writhed around -- one arm captured by Silas, the other by the ghost -- to face him; her already pale cheeks seemed to pale more.

“I apologize child, but I was interrupted while I was in the middle of a game of chess, so I do need to end this quickly.”  He released her arm and immediately brandished his sword; it sliced through the air with a distinct whooshing noise and chopped off her free arm.  The arm plopped to the ground; the wound sizzled and glowed blue as she let out a high pitched, agonized scream.  He swung it again and lopped off her opposite leg; she tried to collapse to the ground, but Silas was holding her up with her other arm.  The wounds stopped sizzling and appeared to be cauterized.

“Just try not to get killed, yeah?” Silas flipped through the camera screens. It wasn’t that he was particularly worried; Sylvia was one of the last people he would want to get into a serious fight with. But no one was invincible, and he would although he would never admit it out loud, he had developed a fondness toward the witch and would definitely feel it if anything happened to her. “If you can’t get him onto the street, get him somewhere close. I’ll be able to get to him quick enough if he’s near the building.”

He caught the two items one after the other, in one of his large hands and placed them on the desk as he continued to monitor the cameras. He doubted that he would have much use for them, but it was nice to have them just in case. While Sylvia was preparing herself Silas did the same, although his process was much simpler. He pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it onto a counter somewhere. He would worry about the rest of his clothes while he was waiting for Sylvia to deal with the mole inside the building.

“Thanks.” Silas thought he caught a glimpse of something on one of the screens, but when he zoomed in on it there was nothing there. Wishful thinking, perhaps. Unless they were lucky, he supposed they could be staring at this screen for the next two or three days. “Hopefully we can get to this guy before he has the misfortune of running into Whit– Hang on a minute.” Clicking to the next screen, he watched a medium sized tree limb bend unnaturally beneath a window that was just outside of the frame of the camera. A second later, the limb sprung back up as if an invisible weight had been lifted off of it. “Looks like our cue.”

He flashed Sylvia a grin before taking the quickest exit, grabbing the vial of holy water and leaving the stake, then ducking out of the fire escape window and hopping over the railing. He arrived on the ground below with a forward roll to muffle his landing, and once he was in the dark cover of the alley beside the building he quickly removed the rest of his clothes.

For the sake of things running smoothly, he hoped that everything would go according to plan. But if they didn’t he supposed that would just make the night a bit more interesting. His grin grew into a maw full of sharp, glinting teeth with the rest of his body mirroring the animalistic change until he was a dark hulking figure blending in with the shadows, the large black ears atop his head trained forward to pick up the sounds inside the safehouse.

Sylvia felt a thrilling chill wrack her body for a moment as she snatched the crucifix out of the bag.  It’d been awhile since she’d but her battle skills to work; while she didn’t consider herself a fighter, it was getting a little boring simply going through basic exercises in the dojo once a week.  She stretched her arms into the air to pop her shoulders before cartwheeling into the teleportation circle she’d drawn in the corner of the room.

She cartwheeling out the other end and knocked right into the unsuspecting vampire.  The vampire -- a woman she vaguely recognized from the fighting dojo -- fell onto her butt on the floor; she gave Sylvia a very befuddled look.

“Yeah, Arabelle taught me that one.”  The young looking vampire was the master of insane looking surprise attacks, but the cartwheel was the only one Sylvia had managed to master to any degree.  “Anyway I’m sorry for what I’m about to do, but also not really.”  The woman rolled out of the way into a standing position as Sylvia took a step forward, but Sylvia predicated it and leapt towards her at the same time.  She wrapped her arms around her neck and they instantly teleported into the middle of the street.

Sylvia wasn’t sure how close she had managed to keep them to the safehouse -- she was just picturing the street in her mind, not a particular part of the street -- but the vampire was disoriented enough from the spell that Sylvia at least had enough time to brandish her stake.  The vampire blinked a few times before finally regaining her sense of direction.  She bared her fangs at Sylvia and launched herself towards the witch.

Unfortunately for Sylvia, she was at a massive disadvantage as far as speed went; unfortunately for the vampire, Sylvia didn’t need speed when she knew her backup was coming.  She only barely managed to put up a shielding spell in time, but she could see Silas’ hulking figure bounding up the street.

“Oh, this really is unfortunate for you.”  The vampire -- apparently too distracted to notice Silas quickly gaining on them -- paused mid-punch to give Sylvia a quizzical look.  Silas pounced on her as Sylvia twirled out of the way; now she was support, which was her preferred method of fighting anyway.

Goldie herself had never given mortality any depth of thought at all, and certainly not her own or that of people she cared about. However in light of the discovery of her own immortality, and the way Sylvia described her own views of the subject, Goldie felt irrationally afraid. Not for herself, but for her friend.

Despite that, Goldie mustered the biggest smile she could as she screwed the cap onto the nail polish she had been using. Sylvia had said that it was nothing to worry about for at least a few decades, and perhaps she was right.

“Well… I know you’re busy, but can we do this again soon? Maybe we can make it a once-a-month thing. Maybe we can keep doing it until we’re old.” She smiled. The thought of the two of them being old, yet only one of them showing any signs of it was still a strange concept to her. “And when you’re old… I can help you dig up bodies, or carry your groceries into the house… I wouldn’t mind doing that for you, you know.”

She could tell Goldie was perhaps a bit disconcerted by Sylvia’s blasé attitude towards her own death, but she would get used to it soon enough.  You can’t be friends with a necromancer and except them to not spend half their time having morbid thoughts.

Sylvia smiled back at Goldie at her suggestion.  “This will be the only way I manage to leave my lab, so I’d be happy to do this more often.  You give me the date and time; I’ll clear my schedule for you whenever you want me to!”  Whit will be simultaneously delighted and terrified to hear that she and Goldie will be spending more time together.  She could picture his face in her head right now, but she’d let Goldie be the bearer of that good-bad news.

“I’ll probably have to put a pause on digging up bodies when I’m that old...but I’d appreciate if you’d help me with groceries.  I just know Whit would complain about it all the time.  He’d say something like ‘well when I was 70 you didn’t hear me crying about needing help carrying boxes in from the car’.”  She rolled her eyes at the thought.  “If you haven’t been forced to listen to his old man jokes by now, count yourself lucky.”  Sylvia laughed.

“To each their own, I guess.” Silas shrugged, sometimes it was best to agree to disagree. In this case he had to admit to himself that there must have been something about Whit and Goldie’s relationship that he simply couldn’t see. While it seemed pointless and childish to him, they clearly had their reasons for sticking by each other. Whit had even murdered several people (and eaten one) for Goldie, which was highly out of character for him. At the end of the day, Silas simply had to accept that he didn’t know anything and move on.

Silas listened to Sylvia speak as he ran through several scenarios in his head. Keeping Whit out of the picture would be ideal, since there was a good possibility that he would try to kill anyone who even looked like they were a threat to Goldie.

“Things never work out according to plan.” Silas agreed, his eyes still glued to the monitor. He cycled through a few of the cameras before settling on the grid of multiple camera angles on a single screen. “But in this case I think you’re right. We should try to take the fight away from those two if we can.”

He paused for a moment to contemplate their options. “I know you can get over there pretty much instantly. How fast do you think you can get him out onto the street? If you can do it before Whit tears his head off, I’ll meet you outside and we can take him down. He won’t be able to escape both of us.”

“Onto the street...?”  Hmm, there were a few ways she could do it.  “Well, remember how I teleported us back home a few weeks ago?  I can do that but faster as long as I don’t try to be so specific with where I want to end up.  It should also disorient them enough to give us an advantage.”  She wasn’t entirely confident that she’d be able to grab him before Whit swallowed him whole, but she was hoping he’d hold back if only because Goldie was with him.

Sylvia bobbed her head.  “Yeah, I think that should work.  Or, I’ll at least attempt to make it work.”  She stood up to approach the screen and leaned in to look at the camera keeping an eye on Whit and Goldie.  “I think they’re almost asleep already.  We should probably make sure we’re ready to mobilize.”  She crossed the room to find the duffle bag she had packed; it was full of anti-vampire weapons, but would also work well enough against a few different possible assailants.

“I’m sure your teeth and claws are good enough weapons, but maybe keep one of these somewhere close just in case.”  Sylvia grabbed two wooden stakes from the duffle and tossed one to Silas, the other she tucked in the waistband of her jeans.  “I also have Holy Water packed in here.  I’d dump some on your hands when you get a chance; even if their not the wet, they’ll still burn the vampire when you touch them.”

NAME: Sylvia Stanwood NICKNAME(S): Syl AGE: 25 SPECIES: Human -- Witch

PERSONAL

MORALITY: LAWFUL / neutral / chaotic / GOOD / grey / evil SINS: lust / GREED / gluttony / sloth / PRIDE / envy / wrath VIRTUES: chastity / charity / DILIGENCE / humility / KINDNESS / patience / JUSTICE PRIMARY GOALS: genuinely just wants to spend all her days working herself to death to be The Smartest

PHYSICAL

BUILD: SLENDER / scrawny / bony / fit / ATHLETIC / curvy / herculean / babyfat / pudgy / fat HEIGHT: 5’11″ WEIGHT: 130 lbs SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: none

ABILITIES/POWERS 

NECROMANCY: Sylvia can bring the dead back to life. Zombies are good for basic tasks as they’re not particularly bright and easily persuaded. In great hoards they can be used as an army, but she isn’t very keen on fighting most of the time. If she raises someone shortly after they die they frequently are undetectable as a zombie as their spirit can reattach itself completely. They will not decay while she has them raised but will decay faster as soon as she re-releases their spirit.

SPIRIT SUMMONING: She can summon spirits that can be used to obtain or disperse information as they can move anywhere in space in a matter of seconds. They tend to be rather rude as they don’t enjoy being woken up, but will do what Sylvia asks regardless. Risen spirits tend to be chatty and frequently insult the necromancer that raises them unless they knew them personally while alive.

SPIRIT BOMBS: Sylvia can harness the energy of dark or light spirits and hurl their energy at others. The effects of this depend on the type of spirit used, and many times it cannot be predetermined. She’s rarely utilized this as it’s difficult to know what exactly will happen.

GENERAL MAGIC: As a witch, Sylvia can perform other magic spells aside from her specialty in Necromancy. This includes a lot of things including but not limited to: moving objects around, translating foreign languages, cause objects to work on their own, general hexes and jinxes and teleporting objects if she knows their current location.

FAVOURITES

FAVOURITE FOOD: chicken noodle soup FAVOURITE DRINK: lavender tea FAVOURITE COLOUR(S): brown, purple FAVOURITE MUSIC GENRE: classical FAVORITE BOOK GENRE: harlequin romance, science nonfiction FAVORITE MOVIE GENRE: horror FAVORITE SEASON: fall FAVORITE CURSE WORD(S):  almost never swears but when she does it’s probably an Almighty Fuck  FAVORITE SCENT: lavender tea brewing

FUN STUFF

BOTTOM OR TOP:  depends :thinking: SINGS IN THE SHOWER: hums music but most of her music doesn’t have lyrics LIKES BAD PUNS:  loves to hate them

“Hey, I don’t only come up with bad ideas. Sometimes that rock in my head works extra hard and comes up with a not-awful one from time to time.” Silas scoffed, although he was actually pretty pleased that Sylvia liked his suggestion. In fact she seemed to like the idea the more she talked about it, and he watched her with some bemusement as she mentioned her two-year-long knitting project.

“Well, that’s a relief. Hate to have you fall ill for a month, then I’ll be the only one for Whit to complain about all his problems to.” He glanced at the clock in the corner of the computer monitor and closed his eyes. He had about fifteen minutes to get a power nap in before he had to tag in. Silas had a notorious skill for falling asleep absolutely anywhere, even standing if he really wanted to. “Wake me up when the hour’s up, alright?”

Several hours later, it was once again Silas’ turn to monitor the cameras. It was dark outside, and with none of the street lights actually functioning it was pitch-black. The perfect time for a vampire to make a move, if it was indeed a vampire that they were looking for.

Silas clicked through the cameras again and paused on the screen that showed Goldie and Whit sharing a blanket on the couch as they attempted to sleep. Whit appeared to be on edge, which wasn’t a surprise – until Goldie turned her head to place a kiss on his cheek. Then it seemed like she whispered something close to his ear, and he relaxed, his shoulders visibly loosening up. Silas wrinkled his nose and clicked to the next screen; if he had to witness many more of those types of scenes he was going to lose his mind.

“I hope the mole makes their move tonight.” He said to Sylvia in a low voice. Silas had told her to try to sleep as much as she could, but he could tell from the rate of her heartbeat that she was awake. “Not only is this the most boring shit imaginable, but the lovebirds are giving me a massive toothache. Don’t know if I can stomach much more.”

Sylvia hadn’t been able to sleep at all.  Only a very small part of it could be considered nervousness; mostly she was excited.  Not sleeping was basically second nature to her, so she wasn’t exactly hurting.  Still, she was making an attempt to sleep by at least closing her eyes while she wasn’t in charge of watching the cameras.  When Silas spoke the corner of her mouth twitched into a smile.

“I think they’re cute.  A little sweetness doesn’t hurt every once in awhile.”  She opened her eyes and uncrossed her arms.  “After listening to some of the arguments my next door neighbors get into, I’d personally much rather watch those two cuddle innocently.  Anyway, I have a sneaking suspicion that once they fall asleep that’s when we’ll be getting some action.  They may or may not know Whit is there, and if they do know he’s there then they’re well aware that he can tear them to shreds if they so much as look at Goldie the wrong way.  Once he’s asleep they’ll be able to take him by surprise.”

She stretched her arms and yawned as she leaned forward to look at the cameras Silas was watching.  “I guess the question is whether we want to catch them before they get in the building to cut them off, or if we’d rather take it off the street.  We don’t exactly have many people choosing to pass through this area now that it’s dark; I’m indifferent either way.  I don’t want to wake up Whit or else he’ll try to join in, but I can’t imagine there’s any way to really make this quiet.”

Sylvia was silent for a moment.  There were pros and cons to both sides, but she would prefer to keep it outside as a whole.  There was a distinct possibility that both she and Silas would cause some sort of structural damage to the building if they attempted to take it inside.  She finally shrugged.

Despite Sylvia’s attempts to delicately explain the situation, Goldie was having a hard time processing the information. Her initial thought was that she wouldn’t be a wrinkly old woman in a few decades, while Whit still looked the same way. That had been a concern that she had shoved into a corner in the back of her mind since she had absolutely no control over it, and now she felt a strange relief.

Yet at the same time, she thought of Sylvia, who would be a wrinkly old woman at some point in the distant future, while Goldie remained the same. And one day all of the humans she could would be gone… and she would remain the same. It was a scary thought, one that made her pulse quicken. She took a deep breath to steady herself.

“So I’m… immortal,” she said the word as if it was a foreign concept to her, “like Whit.“ She paused again. The idea had yet to sink in fully. “I think… I can live with that. I guess I don’t have a choice.” Goldie smiled, then glanced back at her fingernails, which seemed to be dry enough now. She reached up and slowly peeled the sheet mask from her face and shoved it back into its packet. “Maybe I should have known. I haven’t really changed at all since it happened… but it’s only been a couple of years.”

In Goldie’s defense some people didn’t change very much in the years between eighteen and their early twenties. It didn’t seem like anything to take note of. “It’s kind of weird, though. I think it’ll take time to get used to. Thanks for explaining it to me, Sylvia.” She didn’t have any immediate questions about her own immortality, but she was curious about something else. “Does it make you sad that you’re the only one who will age while the rest of us stay the same?”

Sylvia gave her a small smile.  She imagined it was extremely difficult to process all things considered.  Honestly she felt quite bad that she had to find out in such a bizarre manner, but it was better that she learned now and not another ten years down the road.  She froze at Goldie’s question and carefully considered how to answer it.  In the end it made the most sense to simply answer it honestly.

“Not really.  I guess since I spend so much time with dead bodies I’m sort of desensitized to the whole thing.  I’ve raised plenty of bodies, you know, and I’ve spoken to them about what happens when you die.  I’m at peace with it.  I guess it’ll be sad to get old and not be able to keep up with you guys anymore once my joints start giving out and the arthritis kicks in.  I’m not really concerned with, like, eternal beauty or anything like that.  I think getting old is beautiful in its own way.  I guess I’m more curious how you all will be when I’m gone.  I feel like sometimes I’m the only person who doesn’t have rocks for brains er-- not necessarily you, but the rest of them.”

She grinned and shrugged.  “Did you know I’m the only living necromancer?  People stopped specializing in that practice hundreds of years ago.  It’s like, if any of you died I could keep talking to you, but if I die I’m just gone.  I guess that’s what I think about most often.  It’s not really a mortality thing, though, more just an observation.  I’m the only person capable of summoning the dead.  Any dead person can live on at least for a short time through me.  But once I die, that’s it, you know?  Everyone stays dead.”  It was something she hadn’t thought about in a long time; it didn’t make her sad necessarily, but it did make her pensive.

Goldie’s eyes had widened ever-so slightly at Sylvia’s reaction to her question. She hadn’t expected her to be so flustered, or perhaps she wouldn’t have sprung such a personal question on her so suddenly. Still, Sylvia didn’t seem too upset, and Goldie was touched to be trusted with such a secret.

“I won’t tell.’ Goldie smiled and shook her head. There was no judgement in her tone or expression. “I am a little surprised, though. Someone as pretty and smart as you are, I thought that you’d have a line of people trying to get close to you… But I don’t think it’s a bad thing, either. It’s important to do things at your own pace, I think.”

She mused silently on that thought for a moment. If she had been able to do things at her own pace she wondered if Whit would have been her first kiss – but quickly pushed the thought out of her head. Like Sylvia had just said, she could drive herself crazy thinking about the what if’s.

After a moment Goldie froze as a realization seemed to dawn on her. She stayed like that for a moment, with a deer-caught-in-headlights sort of expression. “Wait. Can we, um, go back to something you said before?” Goldie’s eyebrows had pulled together slightly into an expression of mild uncertainty. “You said you’re the only one in his friend group who isn’t immortal. Does that mean I’m…” She pointed a freshly manicured finger at herself incredulously. “Me?” Goldie seemed to be short-circuiting, unable to process full sentences. Surely this was a misunderstanding.

Sylvia froze in place at Goldie’s reaction.  She hadn’t realized no one had told her about her newfound immortality and she didn’t particularly like that she was the one who just broke the news.  Sylvia carefully replaced the cap to the nail polish and gently set in on the table in complete silence.  She folded her hands in her lap and let out a deep breath.

“Okay I need you to not freak out.”  How best to explain this?  “I’m sorry to have sprung that on you; I figured at this point someone must have told you, but I guess I was silly for thinking people would ever give you pertinent information.  Werewolves are immortal.  Silas was born a werewolf, so he essentially stopped aging at a certain point.  Similar to Whit; you reach maturity, you stop aging.  You were turned into a werewolf so you don’t exactly get the same treatment.  You’re never going to age past the day you were bitten.  The Goldie you see in the mirror is the Goldie you’ll be for...the rest of eternity I guess.  Until the sun explodes or something.”

A part of her wanted to follow up with the warning; the warning that many werewolves tend to die even before their human counterparts due to their nature.  That was too much to drop on her right now, and it would only ruin the fun night they were having.  It was something she was going to have to learn eventually, but perhaps someone else should take a stab at explaining it to her.  Someone like her boyfriend, who should’ve told her this information in the first place.

“Okay, Grandma. I meant fun hobbies. Gardening and making tea aren’t valid pastimes.” He rolled his eyes as he plopped back into his chair and put his feet up on the desk. If her comment about his sexual conquests was meant to hurt his feelings it had the opposite effect. He interlocked his fingers and rested his hands over his stomach. “Sex is a valid hobby. It’s decent exercise, takes care of social and physical needs… and it’s just good, old-fashioned fun. But I get that it’s not your thing.” He let out a small sigh.

When she put up the hypothetical question, the first word that came to Silas’ mind was Vegas. The neon lights, the gambling, the drinking, the food, the strippers – everything about it was a recipe for wanton self-indulgence, which was his exact brand of fun. However he knew immediately that Sylvia would never go for it. So he decided to suggest the next best thing, which also happened to have the exact opposite vibe that Vegas promised to deliver.

“How does a nice, quiet, secluded cabin in the woods sound?” A relaxed smile settled onto his lips. He did enjoy camping, although he usually went alone, sleeping under the stars rather than in a cabin. Although he was very aware that sleeping outside would be a bit of an issue for a human, especially with the weather getting colder. “A crackling fire in the fireplace, you could curl up with a book for a couple of days, or make tea or whatever else you grandma types like to do.” He snickered quietly before continuing. “I don’t know, something about getting away from the city, being out in in the wild for a few days is just nice. Kinda resets your brain, I guess.

Sylvia rolled her eyes so hard they strained for a moment as he described sex as a hobby.  He was delusional, but entertaining at least.  When he followed up with a relatively thoughtful suggestion to vacation in a cabin she was actually quite surprised.  She tapped her chin pensively for a moment.  It wasn’t a bad idea; she had a stack of books that was just getting higher and higher since she never had time to read them.  She could even make tea with wild plants instead of the ones she grew in her garden.

“That’s actually not an awful idea all things considered.  I figured you were going to suggest the red light district in Amsterdam, but that was surprisingly normal.  Although cabin rentals are a bit pricey...”  Well, it’s not like she vacationed often.  And it was paid, at any rate.  “I suppose I could indulge.  Especially since I wouldn’t be spending much money on anything else.”  She felt a bubbling in her chest that she could only assume was a feeling excitement.

Goldie felt a particular warmth welling up inside her as they both unscrewed the caps of their respective nail polishes and got to work. There was just something so very cozy about the atmosphere, and she thought that Sylvia had a very comforting presence. “I don’t think you’re predictable.” Goldie said candidly as she brushed each nail with practiced ease.

“He never causes me trouble.” Goldie shook her head lightly, glancing up at Sylvia with a smile for only a moment before returning her attention to her hands. “We’re in a really good place, I think! He’s been coming out of his shell a little more recently. But I don’t mind when he gets flustered, I think it’s cute.” She giggled softly, nearly smearing the nail polish in the process.

She paused and placed her hands lightly against the edge of the table to let them dry for a moment before going for a second coat of polish. Sylvia’s comment about the way Whit grew up made her think about what he had told her while they were in Paris – which wasn’t the whole story, of course, but he had still given her a little glimpse into his past. Her expression looked thoughtful as she continued. “Have you ever wished that you could have met someone sooner? I know I wasn’t even born yet when Whit was my age–” she smiled, it was a little funny to say that out loud, “but, if I had met him then… I wonder if things would have been better for both of us. Maybe we could have just run away…” Goldie’s voice trailed off as she stared at her nails, literally watching the paint dry for a few seconds. Then she seemed to snap out of it, turning to Sylvia with a grin.

“But things are still really good right now. And everything will be okay.” She stated these things as if they were fact, and she truly believed them. Then, a slight raising of the eyebrow shifted her expression into an inquisitive one. “Do you have someone special in your life, Sylvia?”

Goldie sure knew how to tug on Sylvia’s heartstrings.  She knew Whit had had a similar thought more than once; if he had known Goldie as a teenager -- a real teenager -- he probably wouldn’t be half as neurotic.  He also would’ve had someone to lean on much earlier in life, someone other than his maman who couldn’t really understand what was going on with him.

“Speaking as the only person who lacks immortality in this friend group, I haven’t really thought about what would happen if I had met anyone sooner.  Despite being between decades and thousands of years younger than them, I’m pretty sure I’m the most emotionally stable and reliable.  I don’t know if teenage me could’ve handled Whit’s inability to hold a serious conversation without having a mental breakdown halfway through; Arabelle’s wanderlust to the point that she never stays in one place for more than a few months; Chidi’s anger at humanity at large; or Silas’ playboy attitude that stops him from forming meaningful relationships.  Frankly, you’re the only one who I could’ve met as a teenager and not felt like I was insane.  But I think it’s best to not dwell on what could’ve been.  You’ll just make yourself crazy thinking about the what ifs and ignoring what’s going on right now.”

Goldie’s grin was contagious, but her follow up question cause Sylvia to jerk her hand which left a streak of polish up half her finger.  She sighed as she reached for the nail polish remover and dunked a cotton ball in the solution.  Normally she wasn’t one to get so easily embarrassed, but something about Goldie’s earnestness made her flush ever so slightly.

“No, that wasn’t really what I was asking.” Silas turned the page of his book, not looking up. He wasn’t surprised at her answer, though; Sylvia had a knack for becoming overly consumed in her work, whatever it may entail at any given time. However he didn’t expect the fact that Goldie had agreed to help with the disgusting graveyard business. Silas looked up, his nose scrunched slightly and his eyebrow lifted.

“She actually helped you dig up those fucking corpses? Jesus.” He wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near those smelly things. His disgust finally abated once his surprise wore off, and he glanced at the monitor for a moment as Sylvia clicked through the screens. A small smirk tugged at the corner of Silas’ lips as she attempted to fool herself for only a moment, before accepting the reality that she was in fact a terrible workaholic. “You know, what I really wanted to know was whether you’d met any new people, seen any movies, been someplace new… You know, things normal people do.”

Silas stood up, setting his book on the edge of the desk and began pacing the room. It hadn’t even been an hour and the space was already feeling cramped, and he was already beginning to feel restless.

“Anyway, to answer your question, I haven’t been up to much.” This was a not-so-subtle way for him to say that she probably didn’t want to know the details of what he had been up to. “You know, if you’re going to insist on hoarding your vacation time until they force you to take a break, you might as well pick up some kind of hobby or something that’ll get your mind off of work. Hangin’ out with corpses all day long can’t be good for your health.” He paused. “I could help you out with that, you know – help you get your mind off work for a little while.”

He let a short silence settle between them, allowing the suggestive undertones of his offer to sink in for a moment before continuing again. “Nasty jokes aside, though, I am available if you wanna take a mini-vacation or something. Could be fun to hang out and do something other than killin’ people. I mean unless you want to kill some people, I’m down for anything.”

Sylvia snorted.  “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but neither of us fit the description of ‘normal people’.  I haven’t left 20 miles out of Seattle in probably a year at this point.”  She clicked to another camera, rolling her eyes at his comment.  Yet another reminder that he was -- as Whit tended to so aptly describe -- a satyrmaniac.  It was better that he kept those stories to himself, so she wouldn’t press the issue.

“I have hobbies thank you very much.  I garden and I make tea.”  Those weren’t exactly impressive nor time consuming hobbies, but she was insulted by his insinuation.  “I do tarot card readings for people sometimes.  Those all have nothing to do with corpses.  And I find the company of corpses to be quite soothing considering they don’t argue back.  Well, I guess they do sometimes...”  She bristled at his next sentence.

“You really have nothing other than your next sexual conquest on the brain, you know that?  Even if I accepted you would have no idea how to handle that situation.”  Sylvia sighed.  “But I suppose a mini vacation isn’t an awful idea.  I can feel myself reaching the point where I usually burn out, and then I get sick for like a month and can’t do anything but lay in bed while running a fever for 30 days straight.  Perhaps a break would set the timer back just a bit so that I can at least finish a few of the projects I’m working on.”

Silas listened intently as Sylvia spoke, although he made it a point to appear as if he was only half-listening as his eyes scanned the open book in his lap. Of course he knew that Whit had a tendency to blow things completely out of proportion; he should have known that this would happen with Goldie, his first girlfriend in literal decades. But Silas was completely aware that he had slight difficulties emphasizing with others, even friends he felt quite close to, so when Sylvia explained the situation he took it to heart.

When she was finished he looked up from his book and locked his gaze on her for a moment. Then, he opened his mouth…

“You know, he’s probably right. She probably would leave him for me.” He grinned; of course he was joking, and he knew how much Sylvia appreciated his particular brand of humor. “Also, I’m touched. Hearing you say I’m attractive means more to me than you’ll ever know.”

Laying it on thick, he wiped an invisible tear from his eye to show just how affected he was. Then a second later he glanced at the screen before lowering his gaze to focus on his book again.

“Ugh, but look at ‘em. They’re so fucking wholesome. Makes me sick.” He turned the page, speaking without looking up. “Anyway, last time we didn’t have a lot of time to really talk. How are things going on your end? Still as absorbed in your work as ever?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’ll be the first and last compliment you get from me so keep it to yourself.”  She rolled her eyes but smiled regardless.  Sylvia clicked to another camera to look at them and snorted.  “You’re used to grab and go relationships.  Although even I’ll admit they can be a like puke worthy sometimes...don’t tell them I said that.”  She clicked back to the previous camera; she couldn’t help but side eye Silas as he asked the question.  It was a suspiciously normal question, but it’s not like they had much else to do to pass the time.

Her attention returned to the camera’s as she answered.  “I’m still working on the secret assignment if that’s what you’re asking.  It takes up most of my time, but I’ve had side projects I’m working on.  I’ve been testing to see what diseases are transferable through contract with dead flesh.  I’m also still working on mapping the decomposition rates in various types of soil.  Goldie found herself wrapped up in that one a few weeks ago; she’s a trooper for managing to dig up bodies without vomiting everywhere.”

Sylvia squinted as she saw a glint, but upon looking out their own window it appeared to just be a reflection from a passing car.  She sighed and rapidly clicked through the camera’s again.  “I’m told that I’m long overdue for a vacation, but I frankly don’t find them all that relaxing.  I just spend the entire week thinking about all the work I could be getting done if I were at home.  Whit says I’m too consumed by my work, but it’s not like I don’t have other ambitions.”  She paused as she tried to figure out what exactly those were.

Goldie was on the edge of her seat nearly the entire movie. She would anxiously bring her mug to her lips, then freeze there for a few moments, her knuckles turning white from gripping the cup much too tightly. She had seen scarier movies – ones that haunted her with nightmares for weeks afterwards – but even as mild as this movie was, she anticipated that she would have nightmares tonight.

Occasionally, she would mindlessly reach into the bowl and bring popcorn to her mouth, chewing slowly as her eyes remained glued to the screen. Goldie was completely unaware of the times Sylvia glanced over to make sure the movie wasn’t scaring her too badly.

When the movie was over, Goldie wasn’t comforted by the ending. Her mind was racing with questions, did any of them make it out alive? Did they all die in the end? It was very unclear, and even as optimistic as she was, Goldie had a hard time believing any of the characters survived in the end. She was quite unsettled, but as Sylvia spoke during the rolling credits screen, Goldie seemed to relax a little bit.

“I think…” She tapped her chin. In fact she had been convinced that what happened in the movie had been supernatural. “I think there was something else in the woods with them. I wish the movie had been a little more specific… If it wasn’t a witch, maybe it was a ghost? Or maybe just a psycho killer? I think I would feel a little better if I knew for sure.”

She sighed and sunk back into her spot on the couch, a contemplative expression on her face. However a second later her signature bright smile was back. “Ah, I was so into the movie that I forgot my face mask. I guess we can put them on while we paint our nails?” After ripping open the packet and unfolding the sheet mask, Goldie carefully placed it on her face, then grinned. “Have you decided on the color you want? I think I’ll go with…” Her eyes scanned all the bottles before plucking one from the table. It was a dusty rose color, a bit more on the muted side and not too pink. “This one!”

Sylvia smiled at Goldie’s hypothesis.  She supposed that Blair Witch theories really told you about someone’s personality.  Sylvia -- despite all the supernatural weirdness she was used to -- was so sure it was an elaborate hoax to hide a murder with nothing actually supernatural about it.  That made her a realist, probably.  Goldie wanting it to be something supernatural -- anything other than three humans turning on one another -- made her an idealist.  At least, that’s what she figured.

“I’ve been eyeing this dark teal since I bought it.”  Sylvia picked the color out of the line Goldie had made and ripped open her own face mask.  “I hope that wasn’t too predictable of me.”  She laughed as she carefully placed the mask against her skin, stretching it out around the corners.  “I just think darker nail polish looks better on me.  That rose color will look really good on you.  It compliments your skin color.”

Sylvia unscrewed the cap off her color and wiped the excess polish on the edge of the opening.  “It’s been so long since I’ve done this.  I hope my hands are still as steady as they were in grade school...”  She stretched her fingers out and carefully brushed them with the polish.  It was a painstaking process; it took her forever to finish just one finger due to her inherent perfectionism.  She paused to blow on the nails occasionally in order to dry them so that she could add another layer.

Silas nodded. Since Sylvia had a notion that the mole might be a vampire and he completely respected her opinion, the thought had already crossed his mind. It would make the surveillance cameras a little more challenging, but that was just the way things were sometimes: much harder than they needed to be.

Silas grabbed a book and sat down in the chair beside Sylvia’s. Finding his spot in the middle of the pages, he opened the book. “I guess we can take turns watching the cameras, yeah? You take the first watch, and we’ll switch off… how does every hour sound?” He spoke without looking up. He seemed focused on what he was reading for a while, then looked up suddenly.

He glanced at the screen that was cycling through the cameras. Goldie had picked out a book and hopped onto the old couch, patting the spot beside her in an attempt to get Whit to sit down. “Whit really likes her, huh?” The question was rhetorical and seemed to lead to another point he was trying to make. He visibly deflated somewhat, sinking slightly into the chair. “I haven’t met her, you know. I don’t think Whit wants me to.”

He seemed somewhat exasperated at the fact. Sure, he was a despicable scumbag at times, and he wasn’t exactly ashamed of it. But he had thought maybe Whit had a little more faith in him. After pouting about it for a couple of seconds he looked back down at his book.

“I guess it’s none of my business. But I haven’t seen him this worked up over a girl before.”

Sylvia covered her mouth with her hand to hide a wry smile from Silas.  After a moment she coughed to wipe it from her face.  “Well, he might have mentioned something to me about that.”  She paused, deliberating whether she should tell him or not.  In the end what she was about to say would likely come as no surprise to him.

“He’s worried that you’re going to make a move on her.  Not make her uncomfortable -- I’ll be honest, she seems immune to that -- and while he knows you’re just joking and that’s how you are, he’s...ah, afraid you’ll beat him I guess.  You’re significantly more suave, have a lot more experience than him, and speaking plainly you’re more attractive than him.  He’s cute, but boyish.  I guess he’s worried Goldie will jump ship if she meets you.”

She watched Goldie curl up against Whit and open her book.  It looked like she was reading it to him, but he was only slightly more relaxed than before.  “To me she doesn’t seem like the type to care about things like that.  Every time I’m with her and mention something nice Whit said about her, she’s just absolutely elated.  I think even you’d be hard pressed to convince her to leave him.  But that doesn’t stop him from worrying anyway.”  She glanced at him and shrugged.

“I don’t think you would try to steal her anyway myself, but I guess Whit has watched one too many of your conquests to feel as confident about it as me.”  Sylvia clicked through to the camera’s until she found the one that showed both the doorway and one of the windows.  It seemed the most optimum camera position for the time being.

Goldie clasped her hands together and grinned at Sylvia’s reaction when she bit into the cookie. There were lots of things that made her happy, but seeing a person’s face light up while eating something that she made with her own hands was definitely somewhere at the top of the list.

“I’m glad you like them! It’s been getting pretty cold lately, but on the bright side, it’s the perfect weather for baking.” Goldie got a small plate down from one of the cabinets and started stacking a few cookies onto it while Sylvia started a bag of popcorn in the microwave. “The Blair Witch Project… I thought, maybe something spooky would be fun to watch. I can’t watch scary movies by myself anyway, I get way too scared.”

She didn’t seem to be embarrassed by this admission at all. She placed the plate of cookies on the coffee table and returned to the kitchen just as Sylvia asked about James and Dean. “Oh! They’re doing great! I gave them a little change of scenery.” She pointed to where she had moved them, onto a small table where they had a view out of the window. Around them was an arrangement of tiny pumpkins and gourds, and a couple of small tealights. Having a sudden realization, Goldie gasped. “I just remembered, I have hot cocoa! You take the popcorn to the couch and get comfy, okay? This won’t take long.”

Setting a small pot of milk on the stove, Goldie perused the selection of face masks as she waited for it to boil. It was a very tough decision, but she ultimately decided to try the honey one. Before long, she was entering the living room with two very large mugs of cocoa. After carefully setting them down on the coffee table she settled down beside Sylvia on the couch, criss-crossing her legs.

“Okay, I think we’re all set!” She said, looking at their spread of snacks on the coffee table, as well as the two face masks. “Ready?” Then she hit ‘Play’ on the remote, starting the movie.

Sylvia felt a tug of affection for Goldie as she pointed out her marimo balls new spot near the window.  Most people would’ve forgotten about them long ago and let them get flat from neglect, but she was giving those balls of moss the best life possible.  It was sweet, and a testament to her character.  She nodded as Goldie told her to head to the living room.  Once the popcorn was done, she dumped it into a bowl and made herself comfortable on the couch.

The title screen for The Blair Witch Project played on a loop; as she had admitted to Goldie the last time they were together, she didn’t watch many movies, but she at least knew the gist of this one.  Sylvia hoped that Goldie wasn’t planning on giving herself nightmares just to impress her.  Scary stuff didn’t faze her, so perhaps that would calm Goldie down.

Eventually she entered the living room with two massive coffee cups full of cocoa.  “We can pause if it’s too much.”  There was a hint of worry in her voice, but Goldie would likely try to power through regardless.  Sylvia was quickly invested in the story as she slowly shoveled popcorn in her mouth, then chasing it with some cocoa.  It really solidified her opinion that men in horror movies were much dumber than women, but that was just a background through floating in her head.

She occasionally glanced over at Goldie to make sure she wasn’t comatose, but The Blair Witch Project wasn’t the scariest movie she could pick.  Eventually the movie ended with the harrowing final scene where Heather and Mike were implied to have been murdered.  The credits began to roll just as Sylvia finished her cocoa, and she sat back pensively.

Goldie wasn’t expecting Sylvia for a while, but she decided to make sure all of her preparations were in place one last night. She went down a mental checklist as she walked around her apartment, marking off the items one by one.

Movie? Her tv displayed a static screen, ready to play The Blair Witch Project. Normally she hated watching horror movies on her own, but luckily Sylvia would be with her this time. Check! Cozy blankets? Two ultra soft fleece blankets were folded over the back of the couch, along with several fluffy throw pillows. Check! Popcorn? Goldie walked into the kitchen and spotted the large bowl she had set out onto the counter, as well as the box extra-buttery microwave popcorn sitting on top of the microwave. Check! Cookies? Just as she got to that item on her mental checklist, the oven timer dinged. She slipped on her cat-paw oven mitts and pulled out the tray of made-from-scratch maple pecan cookies and set them on the oven to cool off for a bit. Check!

All of the preparations were in order. She had double, triple, and even quadruple-checked everything. The only thing left to do was wait. She sat at the table, watching her the flame on her new pumpkin butter candle flicker. Luckily she didn’t have to wait for long; as soon as she heard the knock she nearly tripped over her own feet to get to the door.

“Aw, Sylvia! You didn’t have to do that, you know.” Goldie excitedly gestured Sylvia into the apartment and closed the door. “What did you get, though? Here, I’ll take those. Do you want to try some cookies? They just came out of the oven a little while ago, they should be cool enough to eat now.”

Taking the bags, she ushered her friend into the kitchen. She placed the grocery bags on the counter and eagerly began rifling through them. Goldie couldn’t pretend to not be excited; gifts were something that she had very little experience with in her life.

“Ooh! How am I going to choose which one to use?” She carefully arranged the assortment of face masks in color order, then did the same with the nail polishes. She noticed there was one other thing in the bag, and when she pulled out the gift card she felt such a strong feeling of gratitude that tears pricked the back of her eyes. “Y-You really didn’t have to… do all this. ” Her voice was a bit thick from holding back tears. Goldie suddenly threw her arms around Sylvia and sniffed back her tears. “Thank you!”

Sylvia was slightly taken aback by Goldie’s reaction to her gifts.  Maybe she did go a bit overboard, but she was invested in making this a perfect girls night.  She couldn’t help but grin as Goldie barreled into her, and she gave her a tight hug in return.  “Don’t mention it.  I haven’t had a ‘fun’ night in awhile, so I’ve been looking forward to this.  You mentioned cookies?”  Her eyes travelled to the oven to gaze at the delicious smelling cookies cooling on the stove.

“They look really good Goldie!”  Sylvia took one off of the baking sheet and bit into it.  They were perfectly soft, with a lovely crunch from the pecans she had put in them.  “Wow, these are amazing!  I knew you were a good baker already -- those pumpkin hand pies were delicious by the way -- but these are even better!  You better be careful or Whit will eat you out of house and home.”  She took another bite as she looked at Goldie’s set up.  She had everything nearly laid out in the kitchen to properly facilitate their movie night.

“So what movie did you pick out for us?”  She turned around to face her friend again, glancing at the face masks that Goldie had lined up on the table.  Sylvia resisted the urge to take another cookie right away, choosing to instead fold her arms.  “I’ve been excited to see what movie I’ll be enjoying for the first time in-- er, years I guess.”  She laughed and then selected a random face mask from the pile.