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undergrounds2015-08-21 01:33 pm
One Year Deader (Backdated)
After an eventful day, Clara has the night to herself which she puts to good use for herself.
Technically Clara isn't supposed to be 64-years-old today. She shouldn't be here at all. A cold got her back then, a nasty one that she couldn't shake off thanks to her delicate health.
She was supposed to be gone a long, long time ago but here she is, defying expectations of life itself as she continues to linger on and see the passage of time continue marching on. She's around to see the dates she continues to hold dear to her heart come and go time and again: Her sons' birthdays, Antonio and Maja's deaths. In a few short months she'll be celebrating her wedding anniversary (by herself, of course) and Magra's 20th birthday.
Right now? She's including the celebrating her own birthday.
So, at evening, when Henrique is taking a well-deserved break from his job by taking a nice long sleep in his shack, Clara has set up a little 'party' that can be found at the family plot of gravestones that is supposed to be her final resting place along with Francisco and Antonio.
She did her best to make it look festive! No need to make it look depressing and gloomy after all. There are a few things she hopes can brighten up the place at this hour of the evening: Half-used scented candles she 'borrowed' from the coffee shop, relit them again with some of Henrique's matches. A few streamers from an employee's party at the shop, carefully decorated around her tombstone and her husband's and son's. There's a small cupcake too! Right on her marker, a little thoughtful gift from Bianca who had visited by earlier.
Most importantly to her there were flowers scattered across the grounds. Much as she wanted to add sampaguitas, they weren't native here in London, of course, so she was more than happy to use the wildflowers that were near the cemetery to add a burst of colours.
… She hopes no one will consider this a sinister activity.
[ OOC: Feel free to have known about this little party/birthday or just stumble upon it! Prose and brackets welcomed!]
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"Poor guy's gonna have to pull out all the stops to keep the place nice and tended! Although I bet it's fun for the kids."
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"The poor man is going to run himself ragged here at the cemetery but he's not the one I'm worried for this year," she says, used to Henrique's cycle now. He's been taking care of this part of Highgate for the last ten years. He'll be able to survive this Halloween.
Close as she is to discovering it, it'll take a minute or two before she discovers the 'surprise' since she's preoccupied in her conversation with the two fae. More so with the current subject she finds herself discussing with them. "I'm not sure why but this year the kids have been rather reckless. I overheard them the other day when visiting Tonyo over there and they were passing by. Some are heading running off the Tower Hamlets' cemetery or the part of Highgate cemetery located in Islington. Some sort of dare they're pulling."
Meaning she can't keep an eye on the rascals and prevent them from getting harm with how far those two places are from her own cemetery. Going Harrow to Haringey alone had been demanding. Traveling from all three places, back to back, is impossible for the month thanks to her visit at the beach.
Given how active the vampires have been and how those places are their territories -- Well, Clara likes to think she has good cause to be nervous for the boys and girls' well-being.
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It is interesting that children would go to the cemetery in an area that has high vampire activity. Perhaps the more than occasional disappearances adds to the danger. "Human children?" She asked after a moment. Unless someone asked a favor to make it worthwhile she wasn't going into vampire territory on Samhain. But she should at least show she felt something for the human children who might act so foolishly. Though cemetaries would likely have higher security on such an evening at the very least.
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"You worried about Islington? They ain't supposed to target kids, though, right? Or is that more of a 'guideline' than a real rule?" And even if it was a rule, he supposed not everyone followed it.
"Kids do dumb things all the time, but if they're really gonna be doing something dangerous..." He looked at Clara, who probably had a better handle on the pulse of childish plans than he did.
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The vampires have been a little tense," Clara admits to them as she recalls some of the things she's seen. Patrols, violently scaring witches and werewolves away from their established areas on certain nights. A 'little' maybe too generous. They were very tense. "From my understanding, there is a rule for that but I suspect it's more of 'try not to get caught' rule. Especially since I heard whispers of needing 'new blood' -- Whatever that means."
This is where Clara wrinkles her nose and shudders a bit, her area becoming cooler thanks to the sudden spike of negativity form her. New blood means only two things and she doesn't like either of them. "I thought you two would be interested in hearing about this since don't the fae have some areas closer to their place?"
Close-ish, at least. The faculty has been buzzing about the arrival and establishment of both Courts, wondering aloud why the fae are here and making bets on what they want -- the running bet, it seems, is that they want to convert London as a new source of energy of something magical for their use. She saw nothing particularly wrong with it. The fae have been peaceful so far, not causing fights or getting into trouble. Besides the worry of making deals and such, the fae have been very nice in her opinion. She wonders why everyone seems so tense around them.
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They're all children to her, she's far older than Clara so it makes some sense that if Clara thinks they're children from her perspective, Mab should think so as well. She does narrow her eyes at the idea of the Vampires being tense though. The needing new blood sounded more like recruitment to her.
"Yes, they're close by. They have been mostly harmless up to this point but perhaps I need to pay closer attention."
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"Listen, if you need help lookin' after some of those kids, I don't mind pitching in... but maybe the best thing to do would be to try the non-supernatural route. You know, to get them off the streets. If there was some scare goin' around to make parents think their kids would be safer at school parties or at home, then we wouldn't have to worry about tryin' to keep the vampires away from them, right?"
Of course, manufacturing imaginary scares was not necessarily the most law-abiding of actions to take, but since they weren't allowed to tell the public of supernatural dangers at large...
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"If you could-- Please. I mean both keeping an eye on them and finding a way, any way, to keep the young ones from trouble." Even if it meant scaring them because scaring is caring, kiddies. It never hurts to be careful in the up coming months. Clara isn't sure why but she can feel it in her ghostly bones: Something is in the air.
And it isn't even Halloween, proper, too. Oh!
"Thank you either way and look at me being a Fussy Fanny! I didn't even offer you two refreshments." Not wanting to make them think of work or duties at a party of all things, Clara quickly spooks off to her tombstone and picks up the small plate of storebought cookies Henrique had made for her grave. It's something he did for all the graves he personally took care of, hers recently after noticing people looking after it themselves. "Have some, please!
"I promise you won't get bound to here or anything," she jokes, most likely referencing the belief that eating food offered by the fae can have strange consequences. She's reading it up on some things or someone is helping her do so thanks to her limited access to a lot of things.
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She manages to lift the plate which is impressive actually. "You are stronger than I remember." Mab murmurs, taking a cookie politely because lets face it, Clara would never do anything to any of her food. It wouldn't be polite. Her lips quirk up a little. "Are you enjoying your birthday? And how is your daughter?"
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"You guys sure have weird ideas about the fae. But yeah, how've you been?" Certainly he thought Clara would have mentioned something if Magra had taken a turn for the worse after that vampire fiasco, but things seemed to be humming along.