Different Walks of Life .Closed.

[muybueno]

Although she was only a mere eighteen years old, Alice had spent some time experimenting with alchohol. Apparently, drinking was a big part of the 'teen scene.' She figured it was worth a try, and a few months later, she was back in the pub. Her mother knew, of course, and really didn't care so long as she was careful. It was New Orleans, therefore Alice rarely got carded. Besides, she never drank that much anyway. She rationed herself.

Tonight was a boring night, though. She was supposed to be on a date, but her date was getting drunk with a bunch of his cigarette-smoking friends. This was not Alice's kind of scene. To get away from their junk, she was sitting down at one of the grungy tables, swirling her beer around. Alice was a little bit hungry, and she really wanted to call her mom ... but that would be lame to do, on a date.

Sighing, Alice looked up at the ceiling. After resisting the temptation to count the wooden boards in the ceiling, she looked back down at her drink. The yellow liquid swirled around like honey, the foam swishing around making it look like an ale ocean. An alchoholic's dream.

[Giselle Audley]

Giselle dragged herself through the double doors of the pub, the smell of whiskey and beer drifted up her perfectly shaped nose. Tonight was a extremely rare night, Giselle floated into New Orleans herself, coming up from a beach. Everyone knew Giselle to be the one who always worried about her hair or make-up, but tonight she could care less. The world was crashing down around her and she didn't know what to do.

She came from Paris, France before she found herself in Louisiana. She met a vampire and a mortal. The vampire cared very much for this mortal and so Giselle was cast in darkness. Never before has she seen a vampire so human-like, who acted as if he still had a soul. Vampires to her were beautiful monsters who lived to feed off of mortals. Mortals were meant to perish for a vampire's thirst. Unable to comprehend a relationship between a mortal and vampire, Giselle wandered onto a beach and let the waves sail her away, where? she didn't care. She traveled for days. Before the sun rose she sank down to the dephs of the sea until no light could be seen and there she slept. In a depressed state of mind, she wandered through the lively streets of new Orleans.

There were mortals everywhere and she couldn't get herself to look at them, not until she cleared her head. She turned to the pub, the place where all mortals sought when they wanted to forget about life for awhile. Never has Giselle turned away the vein, she thought it revolting for a vampire to do that to themselves. Images and voices were swirling through her mind, questions about where a vampire came from and why they were what they were wouldn't leave her alone. Never had she bothered with such silly questions. Before she was just a vampire, it didn't matter where she came from or why she did the things she did. Things were always the same.

Giselle was thirsty. She had never been so in her life. She couldn't bring herself to drink the drug for all vampires, instead she sought mortal drinks that were so familiar in pubs. She was is terrible condition. Her clothes were ripped and dirty, mud was caked on her knees and elbows and her hair was a rat's nest. She slid onto a stool by the bar and asked for whiskey. The bartender obeyed and brought her the liquid. Giselle slowly sipped it, forcing it down her throat.

[muybueno]

Forcing down her beer, she sighed. This wasn't how she wanted to spend her night. Actually, she would've enjoyed herself much more if she had stayed in her dorm room and studied. According to her classmates, this wasn't how 'normal college students' occupied their time. Studying and hoping for success was, apparently, not the way things were done in college. Alice found this theory confusing, so she normally disobeyed. She didn't know what she'd been thinking when she had decided to come out tonight. The boy she had arrived with was seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was still sitting there. Calling this a terrible date would be an extreme understatement.

A ragged-looking woman sauntered into the bar. Alice assumed that she was homeless, because she looked like a complete mess. Well - she was somebody to talk to, right? Another woman, trying to drown out her sorrows. A chick-chat seemed like just the cure for these dating blues. Her date probably wouldn't even notice that she'd moved. He certainly didn't notice that she was still there, it seemed.

She sat down next to the woman, on a stool right next to her. Seeing as her beer was now co-habitating with the pizza she'd had earlier, she ordered another one, and then turned to the bag lady. "Hello," she greeted warmly. It sounded like a good way to start. She wouldn't dive straight into the dating, girly, love-is-a-battlefield conversation quite yet.

[Giselle Audley]

Giselle cringed when she could smell a mortal coming close to her. If anything she needed a vampire to talk to, not some random mortal who didn't know the existence of vampires. Giselle didn't want this human talking to her. She could only imagine what the girl thought of her already. Giselle just needed time.

"What do you want, mortal? What could you ever do for me except give me dinner? Tell me, what happens when your kind dies? Do you mourn from the loss of a loved one? Does it really matter if any of you die? You're population grows by the second. Would you be upset if you heard about a massacre on television? Would you care about those mortals?" Giselle said darkly.

What did mortals feel when one of their kind was murdered? She never gave much thought into that until now. What would happen to a family if the person who died couldn't support them anymore? It never mattered to her, it wasn't her problem but now it seemed it. She was a walking plague.

[muybueno]

At this woman's daring tangent, Alice backed up a little bit. "Um, okay, that's very The Core of you," Alice mumbled. "Of course I get upset. Wouldn't you?" And what did the woman mean by mortal? There had been a few rumors about vampires, but Alice found them all outrageously ridiculous and turned her nose up at every mention of them. Still, this woman was just a psychopath. She probably thought that she was some kind of immortal being with super-powers. X-Ray Vision, maybe.

"I think we need to get some coffee into your system. Universal cure," Alice responded. This lady had to be drunk; there was no other logical explanation for her mini-rant. Alice found herself wondering if she'd been kicked out of the last bar she was at. She told the bartender to bring over two black coffees. Alice could never resist a hot, steaming cup o' joe. It was too delectable to pass up. Once the mugs arrived, Alice put a bit of sugar into her own and then pushed over the other drink to the lady next to her. "I'm Alice," she introduced. "The coffee's on...him." Her date had put up a tab and had instructed her to put whatever drinks she wanted on it.

[Giselle Audley]

Giselle didn't look up as the girl spoke to her. This mortal obviously knew nothing, it was good to keep it that way then. Giselle may not know much about mortals but she had plenty experiences in which she, "burst a bubble" in a mortal’s world, playing with their minds first, going along with how ridiculous vampire existence was until she showed them what she could do. She'd say something like, "And I suppose I had these fangs implanted," which got a mortal quiet. And then the screaming began.

She knew very well a mortal didn't accept the existence of vampires at first but then they learned. It was painfully amusing to watch how slow they were. They all just fell right into her hand like a royal flush in a poker game. Best to keep this mortal ignorant, but Giselle couldn't help acing the way she was. She was trying to keep vampires a hush hush but she was talking to a mortal after all.

So when her black coffee came Giselle gave the fragile cup a mere squeeze and it burst in her hand. "No thank you," she mumbled. Vampires had great strength and tight skin. When the cup broke, it didn't cut into her hand as it should have, it didn't even leave a scratch. Giselle quickly swiped at a blood tear gathering in her eye, ignorant, ignorant, she kept reminding herself.

"Alice," she quietly acknowledged. "I'm Giselle, use the knowledge of my name wisely if you come to Paris," she said. Giselle took a glance around her, no vampires here. She saw a couple on her way in, two females on the hunt. She paid no mind to them but they saw her and gave her questionable looks. If there happened to be a vampire here Giselle would be sure they wouldn't have dinner near her where she could see them work. She didn't have the power to see one of her kind feed tonight.

[muybueno]

"Oh!" Alice yelped as the coffee exploded and spread all over the counter. Beckoning the bartender over, she gestured to the mess and he rolled his eyes and began to clean. Turning her attention away from the Bartender -- they'd be friends soon enough -- Alice studied the woman before her with the upmost curiosity. Either she was drunk, insane, depressed, or all three. There was definitely something peculiar about her -- it was extremely obvious. She was trying to think of something to say, to lighten up the mood -- but what could be said? It looked like she was crying. She was definitely swiping at her eyes -- and Alice was sure that it wasn't just allergies.

"Paris," Alice mused. She'd been there with her mother, the summer after she graduated her Senior year of high school. "I thought I recognized the accent." She was trying to think of another topic -- anything would do, really. Preventing herself from sitting there awkwardly was key. Brushing a bit of brown hair behind her ear as calmly as possible, she folded her fingers. Thumb-twiddling seemed to be the activity of the hour around this woman. Clearly, there was something wrong. It wasn't just the alchohol. It wasn't that she was overly emotional; she was just indifferent, almost listless.

"Listen -- are you alright?" Alice asked slowly, not sure if she was prepared to hear the answer. If it was something creepy -- she had performed a slightly disturbing speech a few seconds ago -- Alice was not prepared. She was extremely weak-hearted and did not have a strong stomach. Together, they prevented her from hearing anything grotesque. When her friends tried to get her into the gruesome shows like CSI and Bones, she declined profusely. But, this woman seemed to need some help.

[Giselle Audley]

Giselle drummed her fingers on the bar top impatiently, "Does it look like I'm alright?!" she snapped. Way to state the obvious, mortal, she thought. Well what did they know anyway? Ignorant fools the lot of them. If Giselle was sitting at a bar breaking mugs, hunched over, drinking until she couldn't tell left from right and in terrible shape, would she be here to party with a few friends tossing confetti? NO. She was most certainly not alright.

"I don't know what's fact anymore. How would that make you feel? What if you found out that one of your... oh what do you mortals call them... one of your parentals was a psycho alien from outer space bent on destroying the Earth and yet he loved your human... mother? Is that what you call them? You'd be pretty confused, right? Wouldn’t you wonder if you were an alien too and where did you come from and why you’re here and what you must do?" yes, that is how I’m feeling right now. No, I'm not alright," she thundered. Giselle proceeded to smack the bar with her fist, satisfied that she heard an internal crack.

[muybueno]

A lot of things had happened in Alice's life that were unexplainable. The fact that she had been obsessed with N*Sync and Spice Girls? Not explainable. Her adoration for Janet Evanovich novels? Peculiar. How she loved to study? Unaccountable. Nevertheless, none of these things were paranormal. They were just oddities that Alice couldn't define. This French woman was definitely not human; she had characteristics that Alice just couldn't comprehend. She spoke of aliens and of other things that were seemignly nonrational.

To every sentence that this French uttered, Alice didn't know how to respond -- actually, she didn't even know how to react. This woman was a visionary, she was abstruse, and she was definitely the strangest person that Alice had ev er met. She was more aberrant than her small-town neighbors, by far. The problem was -- what should Alice do? How should she react to these unconventional rants?

"Let me get this straight," Alice began, slowly. This woman had to be drunk. Yes, that was it; it was the only logical explanation that Alice could come up with. Fortunately, Alice knew how to treat drunks. She was a college student near New Orleans. It was inevitable that she'd have a run-in with one drunkard or another. "Your father is an alien who has deemed himself worthy to penetrate and destroy our humble abode, and yet he loves your very human mother?" Even though it was extremely difficult, Alice kept a straight face.

[Giselle Audley]

“I AM NOT DRUNK, I AM COMPLETELY SOBER. YOU FOOLISH MORTAL! I AM A VAMPIRE! ARE YOU SMART? DO YOU USE YOUR SENSES? THE ALIEN THING WAS A METAPHOR! SOMETIMES YOUR KIND CAN BE SO DENSE!” Giselle screeched. “I CAN SEE YOU TRYING TO SMILE! YOU IDIOT! HOW DO YOU THINK ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE PUNCTURE MARKS IN THEIR NECKS AND HAVE NO BLOOD DIED? DID THEY FALL ON A BARBECUE FORK? NO! US VAMPIRES HAVE BEEN LIVING SINCE FOREVER AND WE HAVE BEEN THE CAUSE OF DEATHS WORLDLY!” Giselle bellowed.

“GO BACK TO YOUR DRINKING PEOPLE, THERE’S NOTHING TO SEE HERE!” Giselle shrieked at all the stares she was getting. It aggravated her so much, these stupid stupid people! Do they think it’s all just a happy coincidence? Do they really think they live in a world where there are no monsters hiding under their beds? Giselle came here for answers and to try to clear her head but she was getting squat nothing!

[muybueno]

As the redhead started screaming, Alice's pale blue eyes went wide. Although she would've found the conversation humorous had she been in better company, this time she did not laugh. As a matter of a fact, she was terrified. Deep in her gut, she had a feeling that this woman could seriously hurt her. While she still didn't believe what this woman was saying -- she had to be drunk, because there were no such thing as vampires -- she didn't think that the woman was sane in the least, so Giselle could handle a murder or a serious injury.

"Maybe I should go..." Alice said wearily, sliding off of the bar stool and backing away slowly. At least if Giselle attempted to murder her, there would be witnesses who would hopefully try to help her, even in their drunken stupor. "This is getting a bit to Twilight Zone-y for me." She didn't want to make any sudden movements, just in case. She had been feeling very energetic and strong lately, but she didn't think that she could take Giselle. She had lost her mind.

[Giselle Audley]

Giselle let the mortal go. There was nothing she could do. Giselle wanted answers but she found nothing. She would continue to find nothing and there would always be nothing. It was stupid to come to America, well, it was an accident but it was stupid to leave, she had to go back home to Paris and deal with it herself, not by scaring a bunch of mortals. Wait.... she liked to scare mortals, she like to drink thier blood. No. Yes! Yes, she did. Blood was all that mattered. No, not since the apartment, but if she didn't drink blood she would become weak! She had to drink blood but no, it was wrong to take a life, no it was normal, that's how she did feed, she took lives.

Giselle was so confused. She sat down on the stool and slammed her head into the wooden bar top. She wanted to go home. Maybe with rest and a good think on things she would feel better. All she knew was that she was never going to be the same again, but she usually bounced back didn't she? Yes, of course she did.

Giselle just need time.