Moment of silence

[evelynbelli]

Eliza sat in the streets of Volterra at night humming a soft tune to herself as she gazed around. She was trying to find something new to paint or draw this time around, she was thinking about the clock tower. Each hour it tolls a somber melody loudly, also it’s gothic architec was amazing compared to some of the clock towers she saw in other places. She smiled at someone walking by and stood up, still humming the song in her head.

She didn’t know what song it was, probably some Italian song that she heard of once. Eliza did like music even if she was no good at playing any instrument she got her hands on. Eliza brushed her blonde hair away with her hand, she did like it long but hated how it always got in the way sometimes or stick to her painting when she wasn’t looking. She laughed lightly at the thought and kept walking closer to the clock tower.

Eliza looked up at the clock tower and smiled at it as it struck eleven o’clock at night. She closed her eyes and listened to the tone of the dings. When she opened her eyes again the short song was over. It was getting close to midnight where the spirits of the dead are normally easiest to see. Today she felt lonely so she thought she would find one to talk to for a while. It was always the same old business like how they died or what it was like when they were alive, or possibly any living members if they been around there family. Eliza sighed quietly to herself as she got ready to find a friendly spirit.

[jasmine]

For whatever reason, Jolene had convinced her family to come to Volterra again. It was always a nice feeling to know you were surround by people like you, bloodthirsty vampires. Especially when you were so largely outnumbered by those you considered food. Well, at least her kind would never want for meals, that was certainly a plus. Besides, she quite liked the splendor of Volterra, and also the irony of some of it's holidays. St. Marcus Day for instance, could be quite funny to those who knew the person it was based on. Marcus of the Volturi, one of the three leaders of the vampire world, had supposedly driven all the vampires out of the city. Didn't do a very good job, did he? Besides, Marcus as he was now was unlikely to undertake such a task, though of course the reason for his 'new' attitude was nothing to laugh at. She couldn't imagine how she'd feel if she lost her mate.

She looked upward as the clock tower signaled signaled the time. Eleven o'clock at night, perfect. She smiled as she listened to the dings and glanced around. Not many people were out anymore. Eventually her eyes stopped on a brunette girl who seemed to be looking for something. Curiosity got the better of her, and she approached the woman. "Miss? Are you looking for something?"

((Sorry about the short post, I was trying to finish this before I had to leave this morning))

[evelynbelli]

”Hmm?” Eliza turned around to see a girl who was slightly younger looking than herself with brown hair. She smiled kindly at the lady as she looked around again. Death seemed to be common around there and she wanted to meet one. ”I’m ok just looking around. What about yourself?” She knew better than to openly admit, ’I’m looking for a few ghosts. Can you point me in the right direction?’ Knowing how few people actually believe in them and how she would get really weird looks if she did mention ghosts.

”I mean there must be some reason for being out so late, right?” Eliza tilted her head slightly while she was still smiling, then frowned when she realized she counteracted herself. Eliza did notice that the girl did not seem human, mainly because of the scent, she had the advantage of having the wind blowing in her direction at that current time. Though she knew soon the other girl might know she was a vampire since she doesn’t try to hide it at night as much. Eliza looked at the tower again and sighed, she knew the volturi lived near here, there must be some sort of death near here.

[jasmine]

Well, she didn't smell like food. That was usually a good sign that the person she was talking to wasn't human. How nice, it would have been quite depressing to have a conversation with someone she might drink from later. "Oh, I'm fine, thank you. My brother and my husband are off doing...whatever boys do when they hang out together, so I thought I'd come see the sites. She said smoothly before looking up at the clock tower. "Beautiful isn't it? She commented as she turned back to the stranger. "But where are my manners? I'm Jolene Issacs, and you are? She asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"Oh it's not late to me. I'm a bit of a night owl, if you know what I mean. It's when the sun comes out that I get grouchy and head inside." She said with a smile, showing all of her teeth. Of course, the sun rarely came out anywhere she went, her gift was helpful like that. "Why did you come to Volterra, if you don't mind my asking? It's not exactly most people's first stop when they go to Italy. Or are you from here?" She asked with polite interest. She didn't think there were any vampires who lived in Volterra except the Volturi themselves, but she could always be wrong. Some people might like the close proximity to the vampire world's royalty. Why? She didn't know. They were bound to be under closer scrutiny in Volterra than they would be anywhere else in the world.

[evelynbelli]

Eliza laughed, “haha, boy will be boys alright they think alike sometimes. My name is Eliza Bates. Nice to meet you.” She gave one of her best friendly smiles. She looked around and then focused on the clock tower. For as old as it was she was applauded the people for keeping the structure working and basically in it’s original form. “Indeed, it is very beautiful. I always loved older building. They seem to have that old fashion atmosphere around them.”

She smiled at her comment, “oh I know what you mean alright.” She laughed and sighed softly, Jolene had a sense of humor to her, plus she knew she was a vampire, finally seeing one of her own kind made her happier. “I came to Volterra because of it’s buildings and it’s atmosphere. I hope to incorporate it into my next painting.” Eliza looked around and spotted a faint white glow showing nearby the build; a ghost. It wasn’t fully there and seemed to want to keep its distance. It must have been a recent death and an adult at that. Eliza looked back at Jolene quickly and gave an awkward smile hoping she didn’t notice she was staring at nothing. She looked back and the spirit was gone, “Damn it,” she muttered under her breath. Eliza wanted to go talk to that spirit later, maybe she will find it later.

[jasmine]

"I fear I will never understand the males of any species." She said with a dramatic sigh and a shake of her head. "They are so very strange." She said both to herself and to Eliza. It was nice to be able to put a name with her face. When she saw Eliza glance up at the clock tower she glanced up as well. "It is indeed. I quite like older buildings myself, I'm a bit old fashioned as well. Though thankfully, there are plenty of people even more old fashioned than me. It makes me feel better knowing that."

She smiled fully again at Eliza's response. "I thought you might." She replied with a satisfied note in her voice. "You paint? I love painting! I'd love to see some of your works sometime if you don't mind." She said as her eyes lit up a little. She was more of a sketcher really, since her coven traveled a lot and she couldn't exactly carry a proper easel, canvas and paints with her everywhere they went, but she still painted on occasion, it was very calming. She frowned when she saw Eliza looking in a complete other direction, following her gaze she saw...nothing. Tilting her head to look back at Eliza she frowned. "What are you looking at Eliza?" She asked her, obviously confused. She was even more confused when the woman looked at her briefly before looking back and cursing. She blinked slightly as she waited for an answer.

[evelynbelli]

“It’s one of life's biggest mysteries to the females.” Eliza joked around playfully with a bright smile on her face. It was nice to talk to someone that wasn’t dead. Well, some people would say that vampires are dead but she always thought they were living creatures compared to the ghosts. Eliza never mentions it though because she’s embarrassed of her power, plus people would call her crazy. “I love these building, I mean who wouldn't love them? All nice and dark, kinda creepy, but during the day it is so beautiful.” She sighed softly and looked around, less humans around now; thankfully she wasn’t thirsty.

Eliza looked down at her hands and smiled to herself; she was proud of her paintings and sometimes she even sold them for quick change. “Yeah I paint a lot, I basically paint a lot of stuff I see. If I had some of them with me I would show you.” She spoke calmly and quietly. Evelyn stared at the direction of the ghost as she heard Jolene talking to her. Eliza looked over at Jolene, “n-nothing really. Well, nothing anymore.” Just thought I saw something thats all. She paused for a moment and smiled. “Hey do you know any place around here with a high rate of death?” Eliza raised an eyebrow seeing if she would get a decent answer.

[jasmine]

Jolene shook her head. "So true! I doubt we'll ever understand them. But what can you do?" She asked with a small smirk and a shrug. She nodded in understanding when Eliza told her about her paintings. "That sounds nice. I paint on occasion, mostly though I just draw in my sketchpads." She said serenely. "Perhaps I could see some of your samples some other time then?" She asked, curious about what the other girl's paintings looked like. She paused when Eliza asked about a place around here with a high rate of death. What an odd question. Did this have something to do with the reason the other woman had been staring at 'nothing' earlier? Why on earth would anyone want to visit a place based on it's high death rate? She'd never heard of such a thing before!

She couldn't help but look at the other woman a bit strangely as she answered. " Well, if you're talking about places within Volterra, then of course we're very near the place with the highest rate of death. At least, I sincerely hope it has the highest rate." She said as she looked up a the clock tower, knowing that the Volturi's home lay beyond it. If the Volturi's home did not have the highest rate of death in the city, there was something seriously wrong with this town. "If you meant outside the city though, there's Naples I suppose. I've never been there myself, but I've heard it has a rather high crime rate compared to other Italian cities." She answered honestly, still wondering if the woman in front of her was completely sane.

[evelynbelli]

Eliza smiled at Jolene and walked towards the clock tower a little bit. ” Yeah I’ll have to show me some time.” From the look of the town square there was only a few ghost that appear here and there. Obviously traveling spirits which go from place to place and are normally the free and happy type. Although she wasn’t here for a happy spirit she wanted to see the darker side of the spirits; and what better place then Volterra, home of the Volturi. Ironic how the Volturi live in a place where they almost have the same name.

“Well seems like a very charming place in the city.” She looked over and noticed Jolene was looking at her weirdly. Eliza smiled awkwardly, and took a step back towards the clock tower. “Yeah hard to explain...I just have a..fascination with death. Okay, that sounds weird. I, uh...I see dead people.” Eliza muttered under her breath hoping she wouldn't get burned at the stake for being 'weird'.

[jasmine]

She...saw dead people? Was this some sort of joke? She knew some vampires had incredibly odd gifts, but seriously? She saw dead people? A vampire's power was supposedly influenced by their personality, so what did that say about her? Part of her, a rather large part to be honest, wanted to just back away slowly and go see what the rest of her coven was doing, perfectly happy to never see this woman again. On the other hand, she seemed like a nice person once you got past that, and she didn't really want to see what someone who saw dead people could do to her if she upset her. That would not be wise. So she waited a few moments, trying to clear her head before speaking. "Really? Well that sounds vastly depressing. Do you see them all the time, or can you control when you see them and when you don't? Is that the 'nothing' you were looking at earlier?" She asked curiously.

At any rate, it certainly explained her earlier question about a place with a high rate of death. She glanced up at the Volturi's home thoughtfully. "I don't know how well they would like visitors at the moment, but we could go see them if you like. There are bound to be plenty of dead people there." She offered to the other girl. Once you got past the utter creepiness of her power, it was actually quite intriguing. She was both looking forward to and dreading Eliza's response.

[evelynbelli]

Eliza laughed at Jolene’s silences. “Yes it was the nothing I was looking at. Anyone with a trained eye could see them a little bit, but can’t talk to them like I could.” She knew that it was shocking to some people, even to the point of scaring them off. Sometimes she said that to some vampires for them to leave her alone, they either thought she was crazy or she was just plain weird. Eliza smiled when she noticed that Jolene hasn’t excused herself from the conversation, which was a fresh experience but still noticed the nervousness in her eyes. “I don’t think it’s depressing, it’s a different take on life. When I first used my power I couldn't control it and kept seeing flashes of them. Although now I see them clearly but I can’t stop seeing them, it’s like seeing humans..or vampires.”

Eliza looked at what Jolene was looking at, would it be a good idea to go there? As the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat, what if she was the cat? She shook the thoughts of her head. “Maybe I shouldn't visit them, Then again I get a tiny bit nervous sometimes ha ha.” She smiled at Jolene. “Although there is a lot of dead people around, if they didn't go on to the afterlife.” She shrugged and laughed lightly.

[jasmine]

Anyone could see them? That was a bit of a stretch wasn't it? This was getting stranger and stranger by the minute. Then for her to go on to say that it wasn't depressing at all, just another take on life...She could practically feel herself sweatdropping like she had seen some cartoon characters doing in the few television shows she had watched. A different take on life...right. She did realize they weren't actually alive didn't she? Personally, she still thought it would be horribly depressing to see dead people everywhere. It was depressing that she could see them at all really. "Whatever you say..." She trailed off, not at all convinced. Well, to each their own, as long as they seemed to remain friendly. "So if someone has gone onto the afterlife, you can't see them? What decides whether they move on or not?" She asked curiously, still mildly wondering what the other woman's power said about her personality.

Jolene smiled and nodded when Eliza said they shouldn't go their after all. Perhaps you're right. If they're doing something important I can't imagine they would be too happy about us barging in." She said easily. "They're hosting a ball soon you know, are you going to attend?" She asked glancing at the clock tower again. "They used to host them quite often, but there hasn't been one for a while. I wonder why?" She said thoughtfully, trying to remember if she'd heard anything about why they might have stopped. She couldn't remember hearing anything, how strange. Well, it wasn't like she could really ask them when she next saw them, especially with how tense things were bound to be considering recent events.