Needing a Fix (John) - Johnathon's Haven

It hadn't even been a week.  But it was shortly after sunset when she knocked on his door.

The Anarch answered the door with a somewhat distracted look on his face. In one hand was a set of machinist's calipers, and in the other was what appeared to be the beginnings of the action of a rifle. He smiled when he saw his unexpected guest.

"Hey Colorburst, come in, come in" he said beckoning her towards a leather sofa.

When the door opened, he could see how she was dressed. She slipped past him, moving to the couch where she perched cross legged.

"You don't mind my just showing up, do you?"

"Hmmm... lets see. You have access to all my digital information, know where I sleep, and work for the Man so to speak. Yes, I am deeply offended you did not call ahead and schedule an appointment at least a week in advance with my secretary over there"

He was smirking while pointing to his cat. "No, I don't mind in the least. People like me don't usually get vistors. Nice outfit, what can I do for you?" he said setting down his tools

She leaned forward. It was a very calculated move.

"I found I missed your company."

He smiled and looked her in the eyes before sitting down next to her. "I am flattered, and enjoy your company. I also know when I am being buttered up, which is also fine as that means I've risen in the esteem of someone enough to require buttering up. "

A smile crossed his face "What can I do for you then my Lady of the Electronic?"

One of her hands moved to hold his knee. She shifted to face, thigh brushing his.

"You told me you would share stories with me."

He smiled and put an arm around her shoulder "Yes,I did didn't I? What would you like to hear? Or you can start off first if you like"

She leans into him, legs coming up into his lap. She's curling there. Her arms wrap around his waist, and she sets her head into the hollow of his shoulder.

"I want to hear about this wondrous 19th century you seem to think I missed so much from."

He held the Nos close and smiled "Ahh it was a time of great progress and innovation. An era that ushered in so much of what is around us now. Even your computers had their roots in the 19th Century. Let's see. So much to go on about. The railroads, the closing of the West, the Alaska Gold Rush, steamships, and homesteaders. Robber Barons and brilliant inventors. What tickles your fancy Raz0r?"

(OOC, dunno how much you know about the history of Olympia and that area, but I've got a rather rare book put out about 35 years ago that is a rich telling of they history of the area. Anything you hear him go on about is firmly grounded in historical truth )

She smiled and tilted her face to look up at him.

"The steamships and Robber Barons sound exciting."

"As you wish then" he chuckled "Olympia being the terminus of the Puget Sound was home to any number of steamers, and part of a mail route that ran all the way up to Vancouver Island. One of the oldest boats on the run was the old Eliza Anderson. Reliable, underpowered but she always got you there. I think I took one of the last trips on her, I was about ten and I got to go with my father up to Victoria on business. It's what made me decide to get into steamboats, and probably lead to my embrace."

She just watched him talk, snuggled in.

"And why did you getting into steamboats lead to your Embrace?"

"Because it lead me into business, and it also lead me into a brawl with a drunken sailor that lead to an injury which lead to an illness, that lead to my sire fearing I would die too early, which lead to my rather un Ventruish and hasty embrace."

He pulled her closer in and kissed her forehead

She chuckled.

"Okay, I must hear about this brawl."

"It started in Seattle actually. I had ridden up from Tacoma aboard a fast passenger steamer I was considering buying, and putting on the Alaska run. At that time, anything that could float was being pressed into service, but I had an eye on this one, and longer term plans than just quickly getting people up to the Klondike."

He paused to stroke her hair and continued

"We tied up in Seattle, and I went with the ship's owner to Maynard's." He chuckled at that "A vicious circle that is as well. Anyway, we were discussing the deal, and then as shipping men are prone to do, we began discussing the fastest and best ships on various runs. We had just finished a spirited debate one which was the best on the Seattle to Port Townsend run, when a drunken ruffian took umbrage with our overheard claims and insisted that the ship he crewed on was in fact the best on the run."

She closed her eyes, as if imagining the picture he was painting.

"Human nature, especially when drunk, never changes."

"It doesn't" he chuckled. "We both politely tried to get the man to leave, even as we were both slightly intoxicated. He produced a blackjack, I stood up, and produced a bowie knife, and the gentleman I was with produced a small derringer, and pretty soon I was on the floor with a cracked jawbone and a concussion, my associate had emptied both barrels into the drunken lout's gut... he lived by the way, and I was off to a hospital where they found several broken ribs as well. My own blade was buried in our attacker's shoulder, so I at least gave as I took."

"Well, one thing lead to another, I developed a fever and was being attended in my Tacoma home by a nurse and private physician... a stranger entered one evening claiming to be an expert in infectious diseases, and soon ended my fear of illness for all eternity. And that my dear Colorburst is how a steamship ride can cause one to become one of the Kindred."

She smiled.

"I will not be sorry for your unusual Embrace, though I sense that you were unhappy with it. Even if you had lived through your fever, you would have died at least fifty years before I was born."

He sighed contentedly and nuzzled against her cheek "One cannot change the past, even if they choose to live in it as much as possible, and as you point out, I would have never met you. So tell me of yourself, we seem to be a good century apart in birth and mindset. When were you born?"

"I was born on a spring day in the early 1980's. Within ten years, I was in the foster system, both parents dead, and I was struggling to have a decent education. Especially in the homes I ended up in. It was a hellish life, but one that made me what I am today. It uniquely educated me for the life of a ghoul and a Nosferatu."

He shook his head sadly "Nobody should endure that sort of thing. I see know why you revel in joy and color."

She smiled and wriggled closer.

"Now that I have the leisure to revel in it, yes. It is a rather new development."

Oh he was liking this. He held the Nos in a close embrace and scraped his fangs across the base of her neck. "That is the cause of civilization though, to create the leisure time to do more than just labor to exist."

She shivered lightly.

"There's not much that is civilized about me."