tattooed heart

Buttercup had decided it was nap time now, please and thank you. And with a warm fire and a hot drink in hand, Vidya was a little tired herself. They’d had a long day out and about, socializing & shopping & enjoying the beach, and she was ready for a nice, long sit-down.

When the woman next to her spoke up, she looked over. She was a little younger-looking than Vidya, closer to college-aged. “Yeah, it’s pretty,” she responded, with a smile. “It depends a bit on the weather… but even with clouds, it’s still a nice enough view. It’s hard to have a bad one out here on the beach.”

I’m kinda new here slipped its way into the darker recesses of her mind. The time was coming round, and she’d struck out last week at the bar…

It wasn’t the time to think about that, and this wasn’t the place to be picking victims. Vidya took a sip of her tea, then responded, “Oh, yeah? It doesn’t get less beautiful over time, but you’ll get more comfortable.” This woman seemed a little on edge. Vidya wondered if she’d come here alone. “I’m Vidya, and this is Buttercup. What’s your name?”

"Hi Buttercup," she waved at the dog before turning her attention back to the woman, "and hi Vidya, I'm Olivia," she introduced herself with a nod and a smile. "I think we might be seeing each other a lot, actually, I just got a job at the pet store, like, yesterday."

Olivia felt more confident now, shifting her body to face Vidya. "I'm glad to know about this place, though. I wasn't really planning on moving here but plans change and now I'm here so... it's really nice to know that it's as beautiful as it looks right now. Hopefully I can get used to it."

It had been an early start to the day with the morning dip, and the bonfire was the perfect place to wind down from it all. Lucas was lounging on one of the beach chairs, beer in hand, towel thrown over the back of it, half-considering getting back in the water to give the day a little more symmetry.

For now, though, he was having a decent time next to the fire, letting people’s voices blend in with the music the way it always did when he stopped paying too much attention to his surroundings. 

The newcomer wasn’t unwelcome, but it took him a second to register that he was being addressed, and what was being said. “Oh? Yeah, it’s a good night for a bonfire. The sky’s usually really pretty here.” 

He sat up a bit, turning slightly to face her better. “You said you’re new in town? Where are you from?”

She nodded at his question. "I'm from the US? Chicago more specifically. At least that's where I grew up, I don't really know where I was born. Kind of the reason why I'm here. I never knew my birth parents but I heard they might've visited here at some point so... here I am" Okay, she was definitely oversharing a little bit, but at some point she was going to have to start asking around... maybe she'd get lucky. "What about you? Have you always lived here?"

Oneiroi knew he had to go back to the far realm soon attended his mother. He was just thankful one of his apprentices wanted to earn his favour and offered to watch over her for the day. He had collected flower and trinkets for her bedside, all safely way in the bad he’d been carrying for the whole day. He had stopped for just a few more moments to admire the night sky.

Looking up it felt odd, like he was looking at painting from a distance. He could think back to when human had seen his true form, how they described him looking like a starry night. How it drew them in and made them feel small. Like he was a black hole pulling in the light around them. He didn’t see the resemblance to the night sky. “I suppose it is.” Maybe he needed to see it from a different perspective to understand the resemblance those human had described. “I can’t say I’ve paid attention to it. I’m not normally outside at this time. Eden Ros has its views, you just need to k ow where to look for them.” But so did the rest of the world, what made Eden special was that it was a mixing pot.

She shook her head to try to clear her thoughts and rubbed her hands together to warm up. "Do you have any recommendations? I just got here a few days ago and I'm staying for a while and I have no idea where I'm supposed to look," with the ways things worked out, Olivia didn't even have time to do any research on the place. All she knew about Eden Ros was the name. It was honestly kind of crazy how she ended up there. "I thought about trying all the touristy spots, but I know that those are usually traps, so. Maybe I'll have better luck asking the locals."

Thera sat on a log, face warmed by the nearby fire feeling perfectly content in her solitutde as she let her head tip back, her cheeks stinging slightly in the salty air as she let the warm fizz of her last sip of cider, the taste lingering on her tongue, keep her warm.

It had been a lovely day all in all, more informative than busy, a rarity given how Thera usually ran her schedule.

She opened her eyes and turned a warm smile towards the newcomer to the fire pit. “I’ll say it’s been a particularly nice day as someone who’s not quite as new here, we were lucky the rain held.” She knocked briefly on her wooden seat to protect against that changing in the next five minutes. “We aren’t always so lucky in that. I do hope you are enjoying your stay though. Is this a vacation or more of a long term thing?” Thera looked the girl up and down, she could be a university student arrived early to acclimate to the city or something of the like.

"Yeah, I am," she scooched a few inches closer to the other, "enjoying myself, I mean. I haven't seen a ton yet, but it's nice... not really what I thought Northern Scotland would be like. Good surprise." To be fair, she didn't really know what to expect when she boarded that plane, but still. She looked up at the moon for a moment before she continued. "I was supposed to only stay for a few days but, uh, plans changed and now I'm here for the foreseeable future. Don't even know much about this town except that the vet was hiring," she shrugged. "Are you a local?"

CONTENT WARNING: Nudity mention

The solstice bonfire had been reduced to little more than ash by this point, the music long since faded to echoes. Most of the festival-goers had already dispersed, and the few stragglers who remained stayed closer to Bheagain Beach. Bonny Bay was empty and quiet, save for the faint crash of waves below.

Aldora was alone.

More for the benefit of the others at the event than for herself. People these days were so... what was the word? Shy? Modest? Prudish, perhaps? About bodies.

It was a shame, really—bodies were works of art in their own right, and she had always been one to appreciate art.

Humming softly to herself, Aldora lifted the dress she had worn that day up and over her head before stepping out of her undergarments. Everything was folded neatly and set aside in a pile near the base of the cliff before she began the short ascent to its edge.

Being a vampire, she hadn't been able to participate in the morning dip. She had made peace with almost all aspects of being a vampire over the millennia—both the good and the bad—but the sun was something she still missed dearly, even after all this time. And though she'd never admit it, she had been deeply disappointed that she couldn't take part in such a charming local ritual. The feeling had gnawed at her steadily throughout the day.

But as sentimental as Aldora was, she had never been one to wallow. Nor was she going to let something as trivial as not owning a swimsuit stop her.

So here she was, bare beneath the light of the moon, standing only a few feet from the cliff's edge.

If she couldn't participate in the ritual, she thought as she backed up a few steps, then she'd simply make her own.

Then she ran.

Aldora sprinted toward the cliff's edge with a laugh she couldn't quite contain, pulling her knees to her chest as she became airborne. The thrill of weightlessness overtook her before she struck the sea below with a tremendous splash.

The water would have been cold enough to steal her breath, if she had any. A shock to her system that was almost painful in its intensity, and yet made her feel alive in a way she hadn't in a very long time. For a lingering moment, she remained beneath the waves, watching the bubbles rise around her as she sank, admiring the way they caught the moonlight in flashes of silver.

But the cold was beginning to make her muscles stiffen, and so it was time to resurface.

She swam toward the shore, a sharp shiver and muttered curse escaping her as the breeze picked up just as she emerged from the water. As she wrung the saltwater from her curls, she heard it—a faltering step and a sharp intake of breath.

It seemed someone had stumbled upon her.

A soft, amused huff escaped her.

"Lovely night for a swim, no?" she asked playfully as she continued working her fingers through her hair, entirely unbothered by the interruption.

After a moment, she turned her head to glance over her shoulder at them, her eyes shining with equal parts confidence and mischief.

"Or are you just enjoying the view?"

She had always been a little directionally challenged, and being so new in town, it wasn't exactly surprising that this happened, as embarrassing as it was. With her phone dead in her pocket, she walked around the town for longer than she would have liked to admit before deciding to try the last thing that made sense to her and retraced her steps.

The plan was simple: get back to the beach and try to remember the path she took that morning. Either that, or she would just wait there all night and try again in the morning. ...Hopefully not that.

Olivia didn't expect anyone to be there this late at night. She also didn't expect to be able to see so clearly, but the combination of her new werewolf senses and the moonlight didn't leave much to imagination. She looked — how could she not have looked? — until she was snapped out of her short lived trance by the woman's voice. Shit.