Welcome Home {Ginny}

[shade]

Climb three stories and walk to the end of the hall and you'll find a simple enough looking door marked with a brass "98". That was the desired destination of a slender pale woman that appeared to be eighteen with her long black hair twisted up to the back of her head and a leather messenger bag slung over one shoulder. Slipping a key out of her pocket, Kaimira Kazu unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping inside and quickly slipping her shoes off and stepping aside for her guest, a new werecat she had met on the subway in serious need of control.

Kaimira cast a dark brown eye over her apartment and sighed. Covered canvases, sketchbooks, framing materials and bags of sketching supplies littered the couch in the livingroom to the right and the small kitchen on the left looked like a ghost town since Kimmy really wasn't around all that much. Her apartment was small, two bedrooms and one bathroom but it never bothered her since she wasn't around a lot. Dark woods accented with light upholstery and wall tones gave the space a Japanese vibe, simple and relaxing. Two windows in the livingroom looked down at the busy streets below but this far up you could seldom hear the traffic and noise.

Stacking some of the covered frames and setting them on the floor off the couch, Kimmy looked over her shoulder at her Scottish company. "Sorry about the mess, like I said I've been a little busy."

A mew made her look around and smile as her little white cat, Bast, padded toward her. Bast was a simple cat, small in size with big baby-blue eyes and an affectionate nature, especially toward werecats. Kaimira picked up the little cat named for the Egyptian goddess of cats and stroked her. "I'm a cat person, hope you're not allergic" she said, leaning against the back of the sofa. There were three cats that called Kaimira's house home, Bast, Hecate and Freya though two of three seemed to be nowhere to be found.

[†The Blood Countess†]

Phew. That was a long ride in the subway but at least they made it back safely. Ginny had called her family and informed them on what was going on in New York. Naturally, they asked questions, but all she could tell them was, "I know what I'm doing. Trust me. I will return in a few months or so and explain everything. I will be there." And that was that. Her family couldn't stop her from making decisions as "drastic" as this. If they knew she was a were-leopard things might get nasty or worse, dangerous, especially for her beloved family.

Kimmy opened the door and in the two females went. "Oh don't worry. I've been in much worse. My room was so bad, I couldn't see the floor for days until I finally finished organizing things." But that never remains. Teenagers rooms always find some way to make it messy as all hell...without meaning to! Must be a curse.

"Allergic? Good heavens no. I love cats. Hopefully yours will love me in return." Most cats Ginny ran into were either wild or just didn't like her. It's a pity because she really did love cats and just about anything else that had fur and walked on all fours. One cat ran out from beneath a chair and leapt up onto the chair beside Ginny. Wow she was a beauty!

The red head cautiously reached out and patted the cat on the head. Phew. She didn't scratch her.

[shade]

Kaimira, still cradling Bast watched as a ginger tabby sprang from under a chair studying Kimmy's new roommate with intense green eyes. Kimmy smiled at Hecate knowing if Hecate approved of Ginny then Bast and Freya wouldn't have a problem. "This little white one is Bast" Kimmy said, stroking the blue-eyed white bundle of fur in her arms before gesturing to the bigger ginger tabby. "That is Hecate and Freya is..."

Before Kimmy could finish her sentence, a cat that may as well have been an ash grey tiger sprang from nowhere with a growl and a hiss. Dropping Bast with a thump, Kimmy yelped and snatched the big grey cat before it found it's target which had been Freya. "Freya!" Kimmy yelped, hugging the wriggling bundle of fur while Bast slunk off to sulk on the chair beside Hecate, deciding attention from Ginny was better then being dropped by her mistress. Kimmy kept her hold on Freya firm and looked over at her new roommate apologetically. "Ignore Freya, she's cranky." Loosening her hold, Kaimira flung Freya toward the sofa, not looking to see if she actually landed. Taking the hint the big grey she-cat slunk off to sulk in another room but Kiamira knew she'd find the cat curled up against her legs later when everyone went to bed. Freya was just picky.

Looking over at Hecate and Bast, Kaimira smiled. "Looks like two out of three like you which is means that Freya will probably loosen up soon."

[†The Blood Countess†]

Well this was nice for a change. The cat was actually appreciating her attention. Most cats found Ginny to be uninteresting and would slink off into their little corner, keeping their large eyes on her.

One cat in particular belonged to her pastor. What a sweetheart she was. Even though she had a face that looked like it was smashed in, she was still such a beautiful creature. Problem was...Juliet didn't like Ginny that much. All the female would do was sniff her hand and then walk away. It was saddening at times...

"Oh! Oh it's fine. Wow that's a feisty cat you've got there. Looks like the sort of fellow who'd attack you in your sleep." She grinned and then headed towards the couch. Her large bag was set down gently upon the cushions, not too far from the cat.

"As long as none of them scratch me I'll be fine with it."

[shade]

Kaimira laughed and followed her new roommate around the couch, batting Freya away. "They'll only pounce you if you're an unwelcome guest but you don't have to worry about that." Bast, tiny and white, all blue-eyed innocence pounce up onto the back of the sofa purring and looking for a hand to stroke her. Kimmy obliged, stroking Bast as Hecate made her big orange self comfortable in a chair across the room, studying her mistress and her friend. "Leave your bag here and I'll show you the guest room" Kimmy said, waving her hand and heading down a slightly narrow and short hall. "First door on the left is the bathroom and this room is yours."

Turning right, Kimmy sighed as she leaned against a wall studying the room with a slight frown. Junk. Well not junk but mostly her artworks in need of moving and perhaps a bit of dusting. The room wasn't painted but it had a window that gave you a good view of the city. What was most noticable was there was no bed. Not an obvious one anyway. Pushing off the wall, Kaimira walked over to the closte which extended along the farthest right wall and slid the door open, digging around in it for a moment.

"You'll be sleeping on the floor for a bit because all I have for this room is a futon and not the type you'd think of, these are Japanese futons from my home."

Pulling out three mats, Kaimira set them on the floor and started unfolding them. "We'll find something else for ya but for tonight these won't be half bad, they're actually better than some of the beds you'll find around here."

[†The Blood Countess†]

"That's good to know. I wouldn't want to wake up in the middle of the night to a cat biting off some part of my body. I've heard of cats doing that." Ginny tossed a glance towards the cats looking up at her with widened eyes before they ended up looking away, meowing a few times. Cats were so unpredictable at times, hence why she never owned any. "Okay. Lead the way." The leopardess placed her bag on the ground and followed Kimmy.

The place was indeed a mess and there wasn't a bed in sight within this room. Then her question as to where she's sleeping was answered. "Sleeping on the floor? Eh. No problem. I've slept on a futon before but it's been a good while. I'm good wherever I am." She grinned. Despite growing up in a pretty luxurious lifestyle, she wasn't too picky about where she slept. If there were no rocks prodding at her nor sticks? She was fine.

"So you are from Japan? I took Japanese for a hear in college...but it was a tad too difficult for me. I might take it up again but I'm not certain."

[shade]

As she set up the futon for Ginny, Kimmy laughed lightly. "Really? I can still speak if fluently but haven't been there in a good while, not since I came here." Bast bounded into the room like a snowball with legs and pounced playfully onto the futon, tumbling about and looking just like a kitten ready for play. Kaimira laughed and shooed Bast off the futon as she got up to grab a sheet from the closet. Turning up her nose at her mistress, Bast padded over to Ginny and wound around her legs in search of decent attention. She was a loveable ball of fur that was perfectly content so long as you gave her a nice long pet and a comfy place to sleep and something told her little kitty mind she would like this new girl.

"What other classes did you take when you went to college?" Kimmy asked, looking over at her new roommate as she stacked some covered canvases and leaned them against a wall. "All my stuff is self-taught, never actually went to a modern school, just had a tutor some two hundred years ago."

She spoke the honest truth, all the things Kaimira knew now were taught to her by other weres or she taught herself. It had taken forever to learn how to write correctly in English and she'd had to have another were-tiger help her figure out speaking English. Since then she hadn't bothered with another language since that would simply be too much of a bother considering English had been such a difficult transition. Besides, with such a long lifetime she had plenty of time to change her mind so she was in no hurry. Her chosen profession of playing the part of a "poor" street-side sketch artist wasn't something you could learn in a school anyway, especially with over two hundred years of experience. When she sold old family artifacts to collectors she did it through someone else so nobody found out she looked eighteen, thus nobody figured out she was somewhat immortal.

[†The Blood Countess†]

{Sorry I took so long D: D: D:}

Ginny blinked at Shade, "Really now? I don't remember too much since it was hell on earth. Vocabulary was tossed at me from left and right, couldn't keep up. Don't even get me started on the kanji. THAT was a nightmare coming alive. All I have to say now is, 'Thank God I'm not taking Japanese anymore.'" She scratched herself under her chin while trying to recall what classes she took at University of Idaho. Oh goodness it's been a year or so since she last returned to the small town of Moscow.

"Let's see...I took English 101 and 102. Japanese 101 and 102. Math 143 and 108. Uummm...Tribal Culture Studies...Fencing 101...Vocal Lessons...Yeah...I believe that's it. Most of the time I remained in my dorm playing World of Warcraft and such. I was a geek and still am."

Not to mention she read a lot. At this point she had lost count of how many books she got her small hands on!

[shade]

Kaimira laughed lightly as she finished up with laying out the futon. "I guess there's a plus to having Japanese be your native tongue, even if I haven't spoken it for almost seventy years" Kaimira mused. Flopping down on the futon and patting the spot beside her for Ginny to sit and relax, Kimmy thought back for a bit about her own experiences when she'd been a human. "I lived outside of Kyoto all my life and practically raised my sister and brother after mother died. When I was eighteen, I fell for a the heir of a wealthy clan that nobody really knew anything about. When somebody attacked us at our wedding, my husband bit me and when I came around he was a tiger with his head in my lap. What I learned from his family was my only formal education really. The rest I just kind of put together." Kimmy laughed sadly. "Imagine being a wife for three hours and then your husband dies?" Looking over at Ginny, Kimmy smiled. "How about you, have anybody special or were you too geeky to date?"

Most of the time Kimmy wasn't bitter about her love dying. He gave her the closest thing to being immortal there was and eventually she'd see him again. In her room she had an ink painting she'd once done of him and her wedding kimono hidden away and well preserved over the years. If she got to really missing him she would wander around in that and stare at his picture, not that it happened often. Being a were anything had responsibilities with it so she was constantly kept on her toes, watching out for hunters, vampires and enemy weres. Not a life she would have chosen willingly but a life she had nonetheless so she had to make due.

[†The Blood Countess†]

Ginny listened to Kaimira, suddenly frowning when she said she was only a wife for three hours, "Wow that's...that's really upsetting. I don't know what I'd do if my future husband died." The leopardess smoothed out the futon to make sure there was no dust or any other any other annoyances, "Love interests?" Ginny slumped back, sitting atop her folded legs. Love interests...

"I had a few in the past but none of them were successful. The first one I met, I felt for sure I was going to marry. He manipulated me too much, hence why I am no longer with him. Too much of a horn dog." she shrugged and forced herself up, "My second and third don't count, since I was never truly in love with them to begin with."

"The fourth person...I felt something special for him for a time but turns out he just wanted to have someone there. Know what I mean? I just keep having bad luck so I gave up for now. Not ready to get married yet anyways."

[shade]

Kaimira tapped her finger lightly against her chin as she studied Ginny with a sly little smirk on her face, dark eyes twinkling with amusement. "Well that eases up my mind a little, won't have to worry about walking in on anything." Kimmy winked and laughed. "I'm thinking of heading out to a club tonight for a little change of pace if you want to come." Glancing around, Kimmy made a mental note to stick a clock in the room but she was fairly sure it was almost sundown, when all the bats and weres would flock to the clubs for a little fun when the sun went down. Sure she didn't particularly love vamps but she didn't mind mixing with the local human crowd or sharing some drinks with fellow weres so long as they didn't try to gut her.

Rising fluidly, Kimmy stretched, arching her back like a cat and looking back at Ginny. "If you want to stay that's fine, what with settling in and all. If you want to stay and settle in there are some movies in a chest under the window in the living room if you get bored. I'll be out of here as soon as I can get changed and stuff so if you want to come you've gotta hustle."

Humans always thought of the artist-types like Kimmy to be eccentric and fun. Kimmy was no exception, despite being a tigress. So, shooing Freya out of her way, Kimmy headed for the door and padded across the hall into her own room, not bothering to close the door before shuffling through her closet in search of something to wear. If Ginny wanted to say something Kimmy wouldn't be able to hear her through a closed door.