A New Hobby {Anastasia}

[livinginadream]

----------
BUT MY HEART IT DON’T BEAT THE WAY IT USED TO
and my lips they don’t kiss the way they used to
FOR REASONS UNKNOWN . . .

The smoke curled about before him, making ghostly outlines as it swirled and twisted in the stale air. Alex's eyes watched it dully emit from the cigarette placed in between his finger before him. In the dim, hazy winter’s day, its silhouette added to the eerie glow from the street lamp, and its shapes seemed to dance to the slow music that drifted from the open door of the café behind him. It wasn’t his usual haunt. It wasn’t a bar with loud pounding music that you couldn’t hear yourself think above, or a club where a woman would be pressed against him now for his attention. It wasn’t the sort of place where you could drown yourself with a drink or two; in fact it was the complete opposite. Instead of a cup of hard liquor before him, there was a cup of coffee, its steam rising and dancing just like the smoke before him.

He had been lucky to find a place that wasn’t a bar yet still allowed smoking around it. He was sure that it was illegal by some law or other, but this wasn’t a room where children would dwell, therefore he didn’t feel a shred of guilt for lighting one up. The week before he had passed out at a bar and woke up on the street, looking like a regular bum, so he figured it was time to take it easy on the drinking. And if he was going to have any sort of hope doing that, he was going to need to pick up something else. Smoking had been a habit he kicked once before, but..well so much for that. He couldn’t be perfect, and he still assumed that he was doing a pretty good job by choosing one or another. The only downside was that cigarettes just didn’t taste as good as a good drink.

It was getting close to dark, but the clouds overhead that were promising snow shielded the sun’s beams from completely reaching them below. So all that was given was an overcast day. A fresh blanket of snow had fallen a few hours ago, and most of it had yet to be sullied by muddied feet walking on the side walk. But the street was turned to black ice. If the impending snow storm they were promised reached them soon, no one would be moving anywhere. Alex didn’t mind, he had walked to this café, and planned on walking back despite the cold weather. As the wind picked up, he curled his leather jacket a little tighter around him, and flipped up the collar against it. It pulled and tugged at his hair, making it a mess, but he did nothing to fix it. The weather was going to take its toll on his regardless of his efforts.

tagged:Anastasia

[/font]
lyrics:For Reasons Unknown- The Killers
notes:
credits:
template to OPHELIA! @ CAUTION 2.0
banner to OPHELIA! @ CAUTION 2.0[/blockquote]

[Anastasia Kirilovna Marisova]

look at what you see in her face the mirror of your dreams
MAKE BELIEVE ON EVERYWHERE GET IT IN THE LINE. HIDDEN ON THE PAGES IS THE ANSWER TO
A NEVER ENDING STORY. REACH THE STARS FLY A FANTASY DREAM A DREAM AND WHAT YOU
SEE WILL BE. RHYMES THAT KEEP THEIR SECRETS -------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------- WILL UNFOLD AND THERE UPON THE RAINBOW IS THE ANSWER

It smelled like snow. Anastasia tilted her head back to look up at the sky and the dark clouds that blocked out the sun, making it darker than it was supposed to be. The last thing Anastasia wanted was more snow, but it was better than the winters in Russia. Compared to her homeland, this was so much better. But already she was tired of the snow. There was still some on the sidewalks, and Anastasia trudged through it, leaving two long lines where her feet had been, opposed to footprints. She wasn’t in the best of moods and was dragging her feet; though, she hadn’t been in a good mood since the death of her friend. She wanted Kyla back and missed her so much. It was too quiet in the Gorchakov mansion—though it was technically her mansion, left in her name she never really thought of it as her own—and she had never felt so alone in her life. It wasn’t unusual for her to now wander the streets, hoping to find someone she knew to hang out with for a few minutes, maybe an hour. Anastasia had all but left her human friends, knowing that she couldn’t hang around them without them starting to catch on that she no longer aged. . . .

A door opened in front of her and Anastasia stopped before she ran into the person who was leaving, murmuring a quiet apology. It was a group of a few people, and Anastasia didn’t want to cut through right the middle of them, so she stood still, waiting. It was just small café and Anastasia sighed slightly as she waited for the group of people to leave. The smell of fresh snow drowned out everything else as Anastasia tried to block everything else out. . . the smell of masses of bodies, smoke lingering on people’s clothes, cars. . . pretty much the smell of the city. Anastasia looked at the sky for a moment, wondering when the clouds were going to dump their load on the city. When the last person filed out of the place, Anastasia started to walk again. Up ahead, she saw someone she recognized and her mood lifted a couple notches. That was the Alex fellow she and Kyla had met at the museum, wasn’t it? Oh. There went her mood again. How friendly had the two gotten? Anastasia could only imagine that with Kyla it had gotten as far as the bar. . . and then maybe the bedroom, but she couldn’t be sure. Of course, he wouldn’t know about what had happened. . . did he even know what they were?

It was a reason to go and talk to him, anyway. He had seemed nice enough, and Anastasia had though he was a good person, though he was more of Kyla’s type anyway. Taking a deep breath, Anastasia jogged to catch up to him and put on her best fake smile. “Alex?” she called loud enough for him to hear—if only just barely. When—if—he looked her way, she lifted her hand in a half wave and adopted a more sheepish expression. “Ah—It’s Anastasia. . . Kyla’s friend.” She obviously didn’t think she was worthy enough of being remembered and suddenly felt self-conscious, like he wouldn’t know who she was and would think she was crazy. Or maybe she had the wrong person and he really didn’t know who she was, in which case she would just feel like a great big and idiot and want to crawl even further under a rock than she felt like she needed to right then.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------STATE Done
---------VOCAB 372
---------MUSE Sloped off at the last paragraph.
---------CHATTER Sorry it took so long!
---------COSTAR Alex
---------WARDROBE Coming soon.
---------STAGE Streets
---------CREDIT coding/banner by yours truly. lyrics by Limahl

[livinginadream]

* i look at you all see the LOVE there that's SLEEPING
(WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

<sup>Alex took one last drag, inhaling deeply so that every last bit of tobacco was successfully used and ingested into his body. The more he smoked now, the less he would desire to smoke later, right? He knew it was most likely wrong, but there was nothing wrong with trying a few little mind tricks on yourself to make things better. After all, wasn’t that half of what life is – a series of mind tricks? Alex wasn’t in the mood to dwell in subjects as deep as that, so he huffed at himself and stood up from the wall he had been leaning against. The brick building had done little to shield him from the onslaught of the wind, but it had broken it enough so that it wasn’t as harsh as standing out in the open. Flicking the brown end of the ciggerette that was left, which was nothing more than the filter, he watched it fly slightly in the wind before landing in a pile of pure, white snow. Could he had been anymore obvious with his littering? There was a little sign next to the café’s door, something about respecting our enviorment, but Alex could care less about that. He wasn’t going to be around to see the resources of the world run out, so he wasn’t going to worry about it.

He turned to go inside. It was cold, and he had a warm cup of coffee waiting for him at one of the small tables inside. Its warmth reached to him even now though the cold of winter was choking and using it before it could come in full strength. Every time someone opened the door, he felt a little bit of that promising heat. It was much more pleasant than the heat of bodies gyrating to a heavy beat, but he still wasn’t yet sure which one he preferred.

But before he could turn his back fully he heard his name – which was strange. He wasn’t used to very many people knowing him enough to call out his name. Th call was faint, almost like a whisper in the wind, and for a moment, he wondered if he had really heard it. Upon turning back around, he did in fact, see a familiar face.

How could he forget the second half of the pair he had met at the museum. It had lead to an interesting night, Not only that, but the experience of the two had shaken up his life for a moment and he was glad to run into one of them again. Something was different though, it was all too clear as he approached closer. He knew Anastasia was shy, and perhaps she was even more so without Kyla around…but something was seriously off. He wasn’t sure what it was, and couldn’t place his finger on it, but the way she smiled. IT set him off in the fact that it was fake. He had seen her smile before and that simply wasn’t it. Of course, he had only met her once before, who was he to judge?

“Hey,” he said casually, wishing he hadn’t just smoked. He must reek of it, and it wasn’t the best impression to make. He took a few steps so that he was closer to her as to talk, meeting her half way so that she didn’t need to jog all the way to him. “I remember you.” This time he let a little half smile touch his lips. “How have you been?”</sup>

&tagged; Anastasia
&lyrics; while my guitar gently weeps by the beatles
&notes;
&count; five eight eight
&credits; template by brooke from caution

[Anastasia Kirilovna Marisova]

look at what you see in her face the mirror of your dreams
MAKE BELIEVE ON EVERYWHERE GET IT IN THE LINE. HIDDEN ON THE PAGES IS THE ANSWER TO
A NEVER ENDING STORY. REACH THE STARS FLY A FANTASY DREAM A DREAM AND WHAT YOU
SEE WILL BE. RHYMES THAT KEEP THEIR SECRETS -------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------- WILL UNFOLD AND THERE UPON THE RAINBOW IS THE ANSWER

Anastasia’s smile became a little more sincere when Alex admitted that he did in fact remember her. That was one weight she didn’t have on her chest anymore. She stopped when they got closer and she reposition the purse on her shoulder. But then he asked her how she had been. Anastasia’s smile fell—though it hadn’t been all that real in the first place—and she looked down. How had she been? How was she supposed to answer that question? She hadn’t been fine at all for the past week. She’d been lonely and miserable and lost. There had been nothing good about her life for the past week, and she couldn’t help thinking that if she had been a braver coward, she would have taken her life with the end of Kyla’s. She was far too cowardly to take her own her life, so she had to sit and be miserable until she found someone else to hang around and have fun with. . . . Alex might have been this, but he was human and as far as Anastasia knew, he didn’t know anything about the night world. He would just die in a couple decades like all of her other human friends. . . . But where could she find an immortal that could put up with her?

“I—Uh. . . well I’ve seen better days,” she muttered quietly. She was going to have to tell him eventually what had happened to Kyla. It only made sense that he would ask about her since she wasn’t with Anastasia at the moment, and the two had hit it off better than he and Anastasia had. Anastasia wasn’t that good with men. At least, she wasn’t compared to how Kyla was with men. She seemed to bring a new home to her room every night. . . two, sometimes. Anastasia shuddered at the thought of what the three of them were doing. “How have you been? I haven’t seen you since the museum. . . but that’s not surprising considering who you were with. . . she barely ever invites the same guy over twice in a row,” she said, speaking fondly of her friend and smiling slightly to herself. It was a sad smile, and she didn’t even notice how she had referred to Kyla in the present-tense instead of the past-tense, like a person normally would with someone who had been dead for longer a few days.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------STATE Done
---------VOCAB 412
---------MUSE Fine
---------CHATTER Sorry it took so long. ><
---------COSTAR Alex
---------WARDROBE
---------STAGE Streets
---------CREDIT coding/banner by yours truly. lyrics by Limahl

[livinginadream]

* i look at you all see the LOVE there that's SLEEPING
(WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

<sup>Alex noticed that her smile became a little more pronounced when he spoke to her, letting her know that he did in fact remember her from the museum that one time. Had she been worried that he didn’t remember her at all? It bothered him a little that she would think him so careless, but then again…he wasn’t exactly the responsible type, was he? He was sure that he didn’t look the responsible type either. He smirked slightly at the irony of that, but it was only fleeting. He didn’t want to make her think that such an expression was at her expense. Although their meeting had been brief he learned her name – which wasn’t something that happened often in such a fast paced city. He tended to hang on to things like that.

As soon as his question passed his lips, he saw that smile, although it hadn’t been completely real in the first place, fade away fast. Obviously his first assumption had been correct. She really was upset about something, or something had happened to make her feel miserable. He knew that look, it was one of loneliness, and heart break. Had she had a break up or something of the sort? Alex didn’t pry, but he hoped for her sake it wasn’t anything deep, something that she could recover from in time. She was the more reserved of the pair, he remembered, but she had seemed rather happy at the time he met her. Just as full of life as Kyla had been, just in a much more reserved way.

“Better days, I guess we’ve all seen those,” he agreed “Good thing about those is that it means there are more better days to come along” He then shoved his hands in his pockets, surprised at that strange sense of optimism that had popped out of him. Tucked away there was a much better place for his hands. He wanted to reach out and touch her shoulder or something, tell her that he hoped it was going to get better for her, but he had only met her once. He didn’t want to come off with a creep. Funny though, he found himself thinking over the same thing when he had first met Kyla.

A smirk crossed his lips then, as Anastasia spoke of Kyla’s rather eccentric habits. No, it hadn’t been surprising. To tell the truth he hadn’t expected to see the two of them ever again, though he would have liked to. “I’m alright – not great, not bad. Rather mundane really,” he shrugged his shoulders lightly. Nothing too exciting had happened since that night really. "And Kyla? How has she been? I got the sense that you two only traveled in a pair"</sup>

[/b]He asked casually, a way of making conversaton. He had no idea how much weight that question might actually hold.

[/font]
[/sup][/blockquote]

&tagged; Anastasia
&lyrics; while my guitar gently weeps by the beatles
&notes;
&count; four four zero
&credits; template by brooke from caution

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Anastasia Kirilovna Marisova]

look at what you see in her face the mirror of your dreams
MAKE BELIEVE ON EVERYWHERE GET IT IN THE LINE. HIDDEN ON THE PAGES IS THE ANSWER TO
A NEVER ENDING STORY. REACH THE STARS FLY A FANTASY DREAM A DREAM AND WHAT YOU
SEE WILL BE. RHYMES THAT KEEP THEIR SECRETS -------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------- WILL UNFOLD AND THERE UPON THE RAINBOW IS THE ANSWER

Anastasia prayed silently that she would be able to tell Alex about her friend, but she wasn’t so sure. There definitely wouldn’t be any sort of excuse for her to use, and lying wasn’t an option. However, she couldn’t exactly tell her human friend how Kyla had died. She had been killed by a hunter for not being human, and as far as Anastasia was aware, Alex knew nothing of their kind. It only made sense that she wouldn’t be able to tell him circumstance of Kyla’s death. Ergo, she would have to make something up. Car accident? Bad bar fight? Both of those were something that would happen to her. . . . Kyla was a very aggressive driver and aggressive didn’t really mean safe. She went to bars a lot. . . but that was a crap death. At least in a car accident Anastasia could pretend it wasn’t her friend’s fault. . . . Of course, Kyla was the type of person who would drive drunk just because she didn’t have anyone else to drive her and there was no way she was going to take a bus. Though, usually when she was drunk she ran off with some guy and spent the night there. . . . She sighed quietly, and tried to keep her smile.

“And Kyla? How has she been? I got the sense that you two only traveled in a pair.” Anastasia’s heart dropped and her smile followed suit as she hung her head in sadness. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Alex had spent more time with Kyla, and he probably would have liked to see her again instead of quiet little Anastasia. Kyla was always more fun than her. She was the party girl and was loud and playful, and Anastasia was the good child. . . reserved and quiet and not very keen to get into any sort of trouble. It had been a classic case of opposites attract—the two had balanced each other out, but now that Kyla was gone the scales had tipped and now Anastasia was certain she was doomed to live her life alone. “Kyla—Kyla. . . she. . . d-died. . . a little while ago,” Anastasia murmured quietly, trying to be at least loud enough for him to hear her and let it all sink in. Her arms came up to wrap around her body and tears jumped to her eyes. By now one would have thought that Anastasia had cried all of her tears, but somehow there seemed to be more. She took some breaths to compose herself, not wanting to have a break down in the middle of public.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------STATE Done
---------VOCAB 451
---------MUSE Meh
---------CHATTER Sorry it took me so long. ><
---------COSTAR Alex
---------WARDROBE
---------STAGE Streets
---------CREDIT coding/banner by yours truly. lyrics by Limahl

[livinginadream]

* i look at you all see the LOVE there that's SLEEPING
(WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

<sup>Alex had known something was up from the moment that he glanced at Anastasia. She had simply been off balance, something was seriously bothering her. It was only polite not to inquire, he didnt much know her besides their first casual meeting. It was only natural for him to bring up Kyla because he did know her better. In his ignorance he had thought that it would be an easy connection point - little did he know the true context behind his innocent question. He suspected that it was the issue was her as soon as the words passed his lips. Without his realizing it, his brow furrowed in worry. Nothing could be wrong with her right? Alex told himself that maybe they had a fight or something of the sorts. A falling out that would be easily mended. Girls had those all the time with their friends, so he suspected something as curable as that.

Seeing the smile drop from her face, he wished he could grab the words back. He hadn't meant in harm in speaking them, but the damage was done and he felt like an ass. In the silence that fell between them he planned to speak. Maybe there was something light hearted that he could use to cover it up. But just before he could open his mouth to speak something stupid -anything to fill the sudden void and unease in their conversation, Anastasia dropped the bomb.

Died.

The word rung between them, its ugliness a shocking contrast to the pure white beauty that surrounded them. Alex was shocked into silence, his hands curling into fists in his pockets. He looked away and clenched his jaw in frustration. Dead. It was hard to think of Kyla laying motionless. Not breathing. A natural instinct was to speak of the cause, but that to Alex couldn't be less important. He had wanted to see her again, grow closer to her. She had been a breif moment in his life, but brought to him a glimpse of who he used to be. The night they had had been a whirlwind of fun, and he ahd yet to thank her for it.

But no amount of pain of his could be closer to what Anastasia was feeling. He jerked his gaze back to her. It had seemed that Kyla was her other half...how painful to know that that other half was no longer there. He acted without thinking and pulled his hands from the confines of his pockets. He didnt know Anastasia very well, had only spoken to her a few sentences but all the same...he hugged her. She stood there with her arms wrapped around herself, tears feeling her eyes and looked entirely alone. Loneliness was something that Alex knew all too well. He opened his mouth to say something, but in this situation..words simply failed him...</sup>

&tagged; Anastasia
&lyrics; while my guitar gently weeps by the beatles
&notes;
&count; too lazy to count
&credits; template by brooke from caution