One Decade

[Ran]

Since his departure over a decade ago, Ran never thought he would ever see the great oak tree again. When he left, he left with all intentions of firmly closing this chapter of his life. His family, friends, memories… Everything had been closed off from Ran’s mind and heart. He stored everything neatly away in a corner where dust collected from year-to-year. He saw new cities, met new people... But all it took was one person to say something that resonated perfectly within that old box. That one sentence became like a virus, a wild virus, that took over his mind and he could not get any peace until Ran finally made plans to come back to this city.

So, here he was, ten years older, standing beneath the tree that started it all. Running his fingers across the bark, Ran reticently smiled to himself. What was he expecting to find here? His friends? His ex-lover? His enemies? He expected to find them all and to find none. Ran wasn’t seeking but he did want to see the state of things. Ran wanted to know who was left and what had happened to them in the past ten years. At the same turn, Ran wouldn’t blame them if they were there and avoided him. He had left without a trace for ten years.

Slowly, he settled himself down at the base of the tree and brushed his fingers along the roots. He gave a small smile as he looked around the park, reliving the memories that he had so carefully locked away. There were so many people he missed. So many good people. He wished he hadn’t been so foolish but he knew he had to get away. It was the right decision for him at the time but the people… He really wished he could have taken them with him on his ten-year journey.

He would wait until the sun was about ready to come up. If no one came, then it was a shame but no one came. If someone did, old or even new, Ran was open to see what Pisky had left to offer him.

[Idrial]

The cab came to a slow stop, it's brakes giving off a faint squeal as it pulled up to the curb. Sam gave the taxi driver a generous tip before exiting the yellow car. She stepped out onto the sidewalk leading to the entrance of the park. She silently stood in her light blue coat, her hands neatly tucked away in the pockets as she gazed at the estate that lay before her eye's. It had been quite sometime since she had last visited this parkland. Things had been changing so quickly in the city she felt the need to return to her birthplace, this place brought her comfort.

Last time she was here it was with her sire Jake. The purpose of that visit was to reconcile with Jake, things had never been easy for them due to the nature of her siring. That was all in the past and now Pisky Park was one of her favorite places that offered her a zen zone. Sam then had enough of gawking at the park. She exited the sidewalk which was replaced by cobbled stone in the park, not paying attention to what path she was taking at the moment. She knew Pisky Park's cobbled pathways  quite well and as long as she stayed to the path she had no fear in getting lost. The last thing she wanted was to be a pile of ash at sunrise.

She needed a break from the recent changes that had taken over the city, the Oligarchy had ended and everyone had taken a piece of the city for themselves. Now it was formed into districts and the leaders and species of those district's varied. It was quite a gong show the first few weeks after the Oligarchy decided to disband the organization after the Mimic Demons were forced to go back to their original plane. All because someone had given the wrong information to the supernatural paper, she lost a lot of good friends because of that incident. Then she was fired from Risk, now Venture, due to a conflict of interest. It was okay she got a pretty sweet deal out of it, VIP access and a damn nice bonus. The opening of Venture was quite pleasant, she was happy that her friend Levinia had gotten her job as head bartender and she even mingled with a few people.

Lost in her thoughts she stopped, taking the time to figure out where she was in the park, Sam was sure she was near the old oak tree. She hadn't been there for a while and she decided to take the path off to the right. As she walked towards the tree she could feel another vampires presence, she couldn't see the gentleman sitting on the other side of the tree. She wasn't about to go yelling or looking for someone that she didn't know that was in park. That was just dangerous as she knew that first hand. She opened up her vampire senses and her instincts told her that she needed to stay cautious.       

[Ran]

As much as Ran liked the peace of the park, his waiting was interrupted by a new presence. He carefully tilted his body to the side, his palm pressing into the ground. “Hm?” He sounded out in his throat as he gave a curious glance. The feeling led him to believe that this was another vampire, a little younger than him, but not much in the grand scheme of the world. He caught a glance of her. She was small and rather unassuming. Given that she was not bothering him nor did she seem a threat, Ran pushed against the ground and righted himself, leaning back against the tree again. Let a young girl go past, he thought. Surely, she was just passing through.

[Idrial]

Sam defiantly seen someone move, the other vampire was much closer than she anticipated, it brought her some calm knowing where the stranger resided. Sam's bright silver-grey eye's had caught a flash of red hair but what really caught her attention was the strangers violet eyes. He was just sitting down on the ground, against the oak tree's trunk and he didn't pay much attention to Sam when he glanced her way.   

Sam could feel that he was a bit older, he didn't seem all that threatening, but looks could be deceiving at times. She somewhat stayed in her spot then, she decided that she should try striking up a conversation with the man. His violet eye's the main attraction as to why Sam wanted to get a little closer; he had such peculiar eyes. Besides Jake kept on telling her that she needed to work on her vocal skills, easier said than done in most cases.   

She gingerly made her way around the trunk of the huge tree, careful not to trip over the large roots that had grown above ground. Slowly, nervousness was creeping into her body. She hated that feeling it was like a thick, toxic, sludge was making it's way through her veins. A touch of blood raced to her lips making them look like a blood moon, she hoped he didn't notice.

"Hi there," giving him a very sweet smile. Now getting a full view of his eyes as she came around the trunk of the tree. "The tree is beautiful this time of year." So was his eye's, Sam had never seen such a color before, not exactly a common color on a vampire.