savetheearth | First Blade | Action/Locked

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First Blade | Action/Locked | Backdated to Feb 25th

It was supposed to be her day off. Celine had been woken that morning by a call from her boss, asking her to come in to cover for two waiters who had called in sick. This always seemed to happen on her days off. She finally agreed after some coaxing, dragging herself out of bed and through the drudgery of preparing for the day. As much as she didn't want to, the extra money would be welcomed.

She arrived just as the doors opened, already in dressed in her uniform, checking her appearance one last time in a small mirror and plastering a fake smile on her face as she entered.

She would be handling two sections and the unusual busyness kept her well occupied the entire day. It was two hours before closing and she was already exhausted, relinquishing her post at the front to another co-worker so she could get off of her feet for a few minutes. She sat down in a chair in the back, fidgeting and twirling her pen between her fingers as she listened for the bell above the door. Fortunately things had died down for the most part. There were just a few checks to give out to the few remaining customers. Then she could go home-

Unfortunately, the bell did ring. She thought it might have been a customer leaving but the sound of faint voices reaching her ears a moment later. Celine didn't get up for several more moments, tucking her pen back in her pocket. Hopefully this would be the last customer for the evening.

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Unfortunately, the vampire Emilia Stacojiu had decided, purely on a whim, to have a look at this particular establishment. Perhaps she'll bring along Arthur on a date here if she likes it enough...

Eating food had no benefit for the vampire, but her sense of taste was still the same as it was, so was her sense of smell.

Her German was poor, but she managed to communicate to the person at the door well enough. If only someone here spoke French.

The waitress understood enough to show Emilia to her seat before going and coaxing Celine out of her chair. Emilia had communicated well enough to inform the woman who seated her that she spoke french, so, naturally, Celine's break would be cut short by a "a strange numbered french woman."

Taking several moments to one again compose herself, Celine delivered a check to a nearby table, giving Emilia some time to decide on her order before making her way over to her table with a glass of water. She set it down quickly, withdrawing the pen and paper from her pocket. "Bonjour Mademoiselle. Mon nom est Celine. May I take your order?"

Indeed she had, and fortunately someone here could speak French. She doubted anyone knew her mother language, unfortunately.

By the time Celine had arrived, Emilia had decided on trying Blutwurst, something she might be able to gain nourishment from, even if it was pork blood. But she wasn't expecting to see a young woman that looked almost exactly like the silver haired one from one of her echoes. The only real difference was the black hair. As she looked up at her, there was the familiar sensation of an echo. "...Oh? Now isn't this a familiar face."

Ah yes, she was serving her, wasn't she? It felt... right.

Celine wasn't able to get a good look at Emilia until she looked up from her menu, the dark haired waitress, pausing, staring blankly for a moment. Celine had not experienced a mental echo before so she was understandably confused... Wasn't the woman she was serving smaller or...?

It was likely a reaction Emilia would recognize though. It left Celine a little shaken, visibly shaking her head, bringing her gaze back up to the customer. She had to focus. "I'm sorry it's been a very long day for me." A pause. She looked familiar? "... I beg your pardon but, have we met before?"

Remilia knew the signs of an echo well, and that got a small bit of surprise from her.

"My, did you get a unfamiliar memory just now? I believe we have met, but not in this life."

Celine had to pause for a moment and think. She felt more than a little distracted.

"I... Maybe?" She was understandably confused. "I'm not sure what you're talking about. I've worked here for a long while." She looked Emilia up and down. "You were a lot shorter." She didn't comment on the "not in this life" part, just focusing on one bit at a time.

Her hand strayed to her right side, clutching her phone in her pocket for comfort.

"Hmm, you have a number, yes? One that you can always recall, no matter what?"

The vampire felt it would be best to point that out. It was the one defining trait that all Numbered had. Nobody knows how it works or the cause of it and the Numbered abilities. Whether it was God or some other being, Emi didn't know.

"I was, yes. That or you were really tall."

Celine stiffened a little bit, glancing back over a shoulder, but they were alone in this corner of the restaurant.

"Yes..." She felt almost compelled to answer. She also seemed to be relaxing. At least a little bit. "But it's not exactly something I go shouting from rooftops." Her nervousness and caution were starting to translate into some irritation. Not really directed at Emilia, but still.

She clutched her pocket and phone tighter. "What of it?" A pause. "And I'm not especially tall so..."

"Oh, that was a bit of a joke. You don't seem different in height than your other was at all." She flexes a wing a little. She was kind of obviously Numbered, so she is not used to hiding her nature when it was plain to see. "Keep it a secret if you prefer... But we all have one."

"I do prefer. I've not told many people." Her irritation was starting to leak into her voice, forcing the strange feeling of devotion from her mind. "I simply am who I am. Now are you going to order?" Her voice was, perhaps, a bit harsher than intended. Truth be told she wanted to get away from this situation. She had a mundane life to live and some cheap pre-made food waiting for her at home to enjoy.

"Hmm, perhaps I'll try the blutwurst." Of course a vampire would order blood sausage. Emi was unsure about being numbered at first herself, but she changed her mind.

A mundane life sounds so dreadfully dull...

"Of course." The obvious choice. "And anything to drink?" She paused for a moment after she asked, swallowing and looking away, her shoulders shifting subtly.

Only for a moment, Celine focused back on Emilia, her eyes hard once more.

"No need to be so cold... Now, how good is your tea?" Emi wasn't sure what that was about, but it looked like Celine was expecting something. She wouldn't have guessed that it was muscle memory.

To have a customer point out she was being cold hurt her pride a little. Even if that customer was strange and numbered. Celine relaxed a hair, her voice more even when she spoke.

"Our tea is quite excellent. What kind would you like?"

"I would like one of your spiced teas..."

She gave Celine a small, confident smile. She still remembered the 'tea' her other gave Remilia.

"As you wish." She jotted the order down quickly, not really trusting herself to remember it perfectly. She turned on heel and walked quickly away, looking about as distressed as she felt. She delivered the order to the cooks and retired back to her seat.

She insisted her co-worker be the one to finish serving their numbered guest, going to wash dishes after getting off her feet for a few minutes. She even lingered some time after the restaurant had closed, making sure that she was truly alone before heading home.

Ah well, she can still just come back another day. And she will, because this place meets her admittedly high standards. She supposed asking that they make the blutwurst with human blood was a bit much. Congealed blood was still blood.

Emi didn't follow, she simply left once she was finished. But that wasn't the last this restaurant saw of her. Emi had come back, both alone, with her boyfriend on a couple of occasions, but Celene still seemed rather cold.

Just over a week later Celine again stood in front of the numbered vampire, looking more exhausted than angry, twirling her pen nervously in her left hand. Emilia's repeated visits hadn't been doing her mental state any favors. She couldn't shake that memory.

"... May I take your order?" Very exhausted.

Emi couldn't shake the feeling she got after meeting Celine, but she kept coming. Sometimes with one of her friends, or her boyfriend. She knew that memory will still be there as long as Celine was Numbered.

"Blutwurst, and that lovely tea. Like the first time I came here, yes?"

"Yes..." She wrote the order down, tucking her pen and pad of paper away. "I'm not entirely sure why you keep coming back. Our food can't be that good." She really wished there was another french-speaking waitress on staff...

"Your other had a watch, I saw it," Emi said, choosing to ignore the statement about the food, which was actually pretty good by the way.

"So, I decided to get you one. Maybe it'll give you an echo." In that memory of her serving tea, Sakuya had the watch on her hip. The way Celene fidgeted brought that to mind. It's silver, like the one in that memory...

"My other?" She grimaced a little bit. She was really loosing her patience. To the point where it was difficult to sleep at night.

"You decided to- Miss. You haven't even told me your name. And I would rather you not buy me things. I don't need charity. Or a watch" Her hand strayed to her pocket, squeezing it tightly.

"Emilia. Emilia Stacojiu." As in not French at all, but she can speak it fluently. Part of the reason she comes here was the bond she felt towards Celine, and she would like to investigate it.

In any case, she slides the silver pocket watch towards Celene. "...There must be some reason why you put up with my curiosity."

Celine looked down at the pocket watch, her jaw tightening subtly. "I honestly don't know. It's just a feeling I have, I suppose..." She didn't want to admit it was a memory.

She reached out toward the watch, perhaps to pick it up or push it back, but the moment her fingers touched the surface she froze, her eyes widening. A very unpleasant chill of power rippled from her, washing over Emilia. A strange sense of absence. A wrongness. It dyed her eyes a cold crimson, the woman stumbling back, clutching a very familiar timepiece to her chest as the glow faded.

Edited 2015-03-07 22:32 (UTC)

And Emilia felt it. How could she not? The result was a full body shudder from the vampire as that chill washed over her, rendered silent by the unexpected shock of it all.

She wanted to find out if she could cause an echo deliberately. Now she found out, and frankly, she kind of wished she hadn't.

Celine calmed down a little, her eyes back to their normal steely blue. She carefully... carefully loosened her deathgrip on the timepiece, looking down at it. It was an ornate silver pocket watch.

She licked her lips, a bit of power rippling from her hands as she dropped her arms... Absently she began to hang it on her left hip, pausing, looking at it again.

"... I think you best show me what's going on..."

"Who better to show you? Let's meet up when you're free."

She watched, eyeing that timepiece as Celine placed it in its expected spot.

"Any time after dusk would be fine for me."

"... I will contact you soon if you give me your information." Understandably she needed some time to understand exactly what had happened to her.

She placed her phone on the table, sliding it toward Emilia.

Emi of course inputs her number in Celine's phone, then slides it back towards her.

"There. You might soon notice I'm from far afield..."

Celine tuckes it, pressing Emi's number and letting it ring once before hanging up and away in her pocket. It was easier than entering her own in the vampire's phone.

She took a moment to compose herself further. She was still a little pale, but she had recovered from whatever had just happened. It really was fortunate the restaurant was almost empty.

"How far? I don't have much money with which to travel. I barely make enough to live somewhat comfortably as it is. As for a time, Saturday evenings are best since I don't work on Sundays. However so long as we don't go far any evening works."

Good, that was settled easily enough. For now, she will wait for her order, but before that.

"Somewhere in town will do. I won't make you have to go far."

A Saturday evening sounds good to the vampire, she had nothing planned anyway. "Saturday evening, then."

She hesitated before picking the mundane watch off the table, relaxing a hair when it didn't "attack" her. She briefly compared it to the far more expensive looking and ornate one she had received. The new one was antique, worn but not tarnished. She would need to invest in the proper cleaning items to maintain it... And learn how to maintain it in the first place.

"That will work fine. Simply contact me when you are ready and we can meet up." She placed the watch back down on the table, pushing it back toward Emilia. She pulled out her pen, fidgiting with it before she remembered something. "Oh! Yes I'll deliver your order. I'm sorry for the wait!"

Emilia might be able to help with that. Well, buying Celine the tools she needs and a box to keep everything in.

"Good, good. I think I'll send you a message over the network." She simply smiles at the next response.

With a quick nod Celine walked off toward the kitchen, perhaps a little less refined than she had been before. The door to the kitchen practically opened for her and she was practically pulled inside. A co-worker must have been keeping an eye on her.

Celine exited some time later to deliver the tea, and then once more to give Emilia her food, retiring to the back room for the evening.

True to her word, the vampire will contact Celine on the way to the meeting point, wherever Celine wants to meet her.

But for now, she will enjoy her food and her tea...

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First Blade | Action/Locked | Backdated to Feb 25th

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(correction, the watch is on Celine's right side. Not her left)

Re: (correction, the watch is on Celine's right side. Not her left)

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