A Cozy Little Chat [Log]

[Jade Stone]

The common rooms of the Inn were getting alot of activity lately. Normally Gwendolyn could be found there, and if one happened to step into the common room, which housed the bar, along with the fire place, and those nice comfortable chairs. It would be in a chair near the fire place that she could be found. There was a small fire in the place, not for the heat, for there wasn't a chill, simply because Gwen was somewhat facinated by fire. Curled up in the chair, her legs together and bent at the knee so feet were up next to her butt. Tilted slighty so her back was against the back of the chair and the arm. Her hair was let down loose due to having it in a bun the other night, it always needed a break. Her bright tangerine hued skirt had ruffles, fit her small waist and floated out about the rest when she stood, and was covering her bent knees. Her top was a ruffled top made of a crinkly sort of fabric, in a pale red. The top of her shoulders showed, though the shirt had long sleeves, and it did come to rest just at the waist of the skirt. No glasses adorned her at this time. She was unsure of the time because she had a book in her hand, that she seemed to have her nose burried into. If she lifted the book up one might catch the title, 'All You Need To Know About Super Naturals.' Which was a dangerous read for this girl to have, seeing that the person that wrote this, had never met a super natural being in thier life, how would they know this stuff. Of course, Gwen skipped over the part that said it was a work of the arthurs own mind, and not based on actual facts. There was a small table near her, where a plate of sugar cookies and a glass of tea sat. One of the cookies had been nibbled upon.

This inn was where she was supposed to keep most of her activity. Except the feeding activities, the Three had said if she 'insisted upon hunting' she must not touch any who were connected to this dwelling, since that might lead to her being asked to leave the premesis. She'd just woken up. It was...four o' clock? Something like that? There was still sun, that's as much as Jade took note of when it came to time - sun or no sun. Tonight she was on the prowl for a specific entertainment - Gwendolyn. Blame her last late night conversation with Epiphany for Jade's rekindled interest. The young woman wasn't hard to find, Jade just followed the scent she remembered from that first night. She watched the woman reading for a minute or two before she exited the room. When she came back in a couple minutes later she had a book in hand. Believe it or not, Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Hollow Oak. Armed, Jade entered the room making sure to make sound with her feet so Gwendolyn knew she was coming. She didn't want to look like a sneak. "Hi," she said standing next to a nearby chair. One that was farthest from the fire. "Mind if I join you?" She was dressed all in black. As usual. Black jeans that were kind of tight fitting, and a black t-shirt that had a sassy bunny on it saying, 'I'm cute. You're not. Get over it'.

It was a good place, this inn, at least that's how Gwen felt. The fire wasn't a big one, so that wasn't so bad, was it? Though Gwen wouldn't even realize that Jade was staying back if it was because of said fire. Even though she came in making sure that the foot steps were heard, it still startled Gwendolyn. A small jump, when she spoke, she looked startled just a moment, before she turned to spot Jade. The startled look disapeared and a warm smile replaced it upon her features, the sort of smile that touched the eyes. "Hello!" She was rather glad for people to be around, and she gave a small nod, "Please do, these chairs are rather comfortable." And you could tell on Gwen's face for she wasn't good at hiding anything when she saw the shirts saying. She just let out a laugh. Then because she didn't want Jade to think she was laughing at her, she gave a dimpled grin up to her. "I like your shirt." She did not take the saying personal. Instead she flipped her book so the cover was up, and set it upon her lap as she used her hand to take the tea up from the table and a drink was taken before setting it back down. The tea glass had lemon slices through out it. "How is the Inn treating you Jade?" She did remember that Jade had gotten a room the other night, the biggest one if Pip ended up doing that, she did wonder about the windows if they were open or boarded. She woudln't want all those windows, because she liked to sleep in during the mornings, unless she had something going on.

"Thanks. I'm a big fan of Happy Bunny." Who was the bunny on the shirt. This particular Happy Bunny was red. As soon as Gwendolyn extended the invitation Jade plopped in the chair she'd scouted. Twisting in it to sit sideways, so her back rested against one of the plush arms and her legs could dangle over the other. On her feet were black ballet flats. Jade had a habit of wearing either those or boots. Her blonde hair was hanging loose tonight, framing her face with the choppy, wispy look. She put her own book down on her lap too. The cover was down - not that she was trying to hide the book she grabbed, just how it ended up. A shrug. "Am I supposed to be honest? It's a nice enough place but this isn't what I was planning on doing with my September." Maybe her October. God forbid her November. She didn't want to even think about how long they wanted her to stay here.

"The bunny has a name?" Gwendolyn had never seen Happy Bunny before, not that it should really come as a surprise, yet it might to Jade. She would not reply to the am I suppose to be honest, though she was sure she could be lying or be telling the truth and either way, unless there was a very obvious way of telling her it was a untruth, Gwen would believe it was the truth. "Not what your used to? Perhaps a bit more, laid back?" She figured Jade was the sort that was used to what she had read about in one of her books about city living, easy pickings. "But your here in time, and if you stay long enough to see the gardens change, the leaves turn colors, and the smell of the air, the nature.." Gwendolyn was a lover of the outdoors. Sometimes she felt nature was a good soother of the spirits, when one felt down in the dumps. She looked thoughtful a moment before focusing. "Do you have a set time your going to be staying here?"

"Yup. Happy Bunny. It's supposed to be ironic Or maybe it's not ironic, since he's happy, he's just mean. At least I think it's a he. You know I've never really thought about that, whether the bunny is a he or she." But that had nothing to do with anything. It was Jade rambling just because she was happy to have a conversation with someone who wasn't looking at her like she was a mass murderer or something. Which is exactly how Epiphany looked at her, at least that was Jade's opinon anyway. She'd drop Happy Bunny and move on to answering Gwen's questions. Her bright green eyes looking around the room they were sitting in as if she'd find something here that would help her answer. "Um. I don't think where I'm used to is very laid back." She wanted to sigh, but didn't. "They said not long. Promised that I wouldn't be here long. But it took me a couple days of being here to realize that considering all of them are like...a thousand years old, probably....well when you're a thousand and change, ten years would seem like 'not long' wouldn't it? So I don't know."

She grinned at that, "Maybe he is just confused, if he is called Happy Bunny and he's mean. Or maybe being mean makes him happy." She had heard that there were people like that, those that inflicted pain to others because it brought them joy. She had yet to really meet anyone like that, and if she had met them, she didn't realize it. "Maybe the bunny is both?" Meaning it was a he/she. Well, in all fairness weren't most vampires mass murderers of a sort, but Gwen wasn't a judger. Or maybe she just didn't know she should be. That or she would just figure that they did what they did, to survive and that anyone in the same position would do the same. One never did know what would come out of her mouth. "Is it very busy, activity wise?" She did blink, at the age, and then she gave Jade a very solomn nod, "I dare say if they are that old, that indeed a long time to say you or I, would be not very long to them at all." She reached over to pick up a cookie, but before she nibbled she would ask, because she wasn't sure. "Would you like a sugar cookie? I don't know if you like them or not, or if vampires eat real people food too. Not that your not a real person..." She turned beet red, before taking a deep breath. "I'm glad your here." She nodded a bit, hoping she didn't offend her over much and that maybe it wasn't so bad, if she did, because she was glad Jade was around. The honesty would ring in her voice, as it did with everything she spoke of.

They were only murderers if they killed, just like everyone else. Damon had taught Jade well - why would you kill your prey when their body replenishes the blood and you can take advanatage of an increasingly willing meal night after night with no need to dispose a body? Jade was more than happy to follow that lesson. Did she look like the type that wanted to deal with dead bodies? Humans were resusable food sources, moreso than animals. "Sometimes it's busy. I prefer when it's not. The less busy things are, the more chance I have at being able to try and live a life without being bothered." A dark look of displeasure as she remembered the many occasions when things had gotten 'busy'. She didn't say anything else about the objectivity of what was a long time, because she didn't want to think about that anymore. She thought about it enough as it is. "It's okay. I'm not a real person. You don't have to feel bad." God, Damon would be pissed off if he heard her say that. He always was when she started her 'whining' for a long-gone life, as he called it. She held out her hand, to accept the offering of a cookie. "I can eat. It just doesn't do anything. Fix my hunger or give me vitamins or anything else it gives a real person. Why are you glad?"

But Gwen wouldn't know that! Every book she had so far, besides the fact she confused them with zombies, the person that they fed from died. But those were books, and Jade was real life, in her face and space sort of vampire! And no she did not look like it, and disposing of bodies would have to get boring, like really how many different ways could one come up with, before it all had been done? "But it's not busy here...so maybe you can try to live that life while they have you here?" Whomever this they were, she wasn't sure if she liked that they would just make a girl pick up and move, when she started getting comfortable. Gwen could pick up on hints and she blinked looking at her. "But Jade...you are real." She nodded looking at her, In Gwendolyn's eyes seeing Jade in front of her made her very real. She resisted the urge to pinch Jade to remind her she was real. Gwendolyn would actually get up with the plate of cookies, in her free hand, legs extending, as she moved over to Jade. Sure she could of stretched but she wanted to take them to her. She moved over next to Jade, and set the plate of cookies on the table that was between the chairs. "Its easier this way to share." And before Gwen knew she gave Jade a little half hug, just because she wanted to feel that Jade wasn't a ghostie vampire, before she looked at her, cookie still in hand. "See your real otherwise I couldn't of done that." Simple way of thinking. She paused in thought just a moment, "But can you taste it? It it won't hurt you right?" Gwen would of felt horrible offering a cookie if it would hurt the girl. Then she gave a most impish grin, "Because your a real life vampire, and you talk to me...and you actually correct me when I get confused because of all the books instead of being all mean." She pulled a face, before she smiled again. "And I like making new friends." Only Gwen would think two meetings and a offering of a cookie made a friend." She nodded as she moved back over to the chair, her skirt swooshing just a bit. Her feet were bare for she hadn't planned on leaving the inn, and now you could see her toe nails were painted in the same red as her top.

"I was hoping I could do that. I figured that would be the way to make the best of this. But then Epiphany told you what I was, right when I walked in. And she's obviously in no mood to ignore what I am...so I can't. I mean why bother trying, right?" For Jade living the life she wanted to live meant passing as a human. Essentially being a human in the eyes of everyone around her, and just dealing with her vampire stuff on her own time or like how everyone else dealt with a secret. Secretly. Jade was surprised when Gwendolyn gave her that hug sort of thing, she obviously didn't know how she was supposed to respond to it. Looked a little deer in the headlights. Jade felt like anyone else, just cool to the touch. She decided the best way to proceed was to take a cookie, and she cracked it in half. "No, it won't hurt. Apparently it used to hurt, a long time ago, a vampire couldn't eat anything without throwing up. But the oldest vampire, the first, he wanted vampires to evolve so he kept doing things like exposing himself to small bits of sun and eating. When he did those things, all the other vampires felt the effects. Threw up like they'd eaten themselves, got burned like they'd gone outside in the daylight...eventually it happened. Evolution. That was a long time ago though I wasn't alive to know what it was like." There. Gwendolyn got a story about the vampires Jade was decendent from without a single bit of mean from the girl. Story finished, Jade ate some cookie.

[Jade Stone]

Now there was no way that Gwendolyn could deny that, for it was the truth, and she had been warned about Jade right from the git. But she had a feeling it was simply because her and Epiphany had just found out that they had shared a mother, and for some reason Gwen thought that perhaps that made her a easy mark ,but for what she did not know. She was trying to piece the pieces of the puzzle together. "She did indeed, but that didn't change how I saw you." Of course there were others out there that would let something like that change things. "I think, she was just trying to look out for me. I really was rather sheltered until I came to the Inn." She knew she was and she knew there was alot to learn, but she looked forward to the learning exercises. "Does it make you happy when you hide that your a" even though no one was in the room with them, Gwen was trying to be sensitive and dropped her voice, "vampire?" She truely was curious. She would notice the look, the deer in the headlights but she didn't know what to say to fix it, and she couldn't guarentee it wouldn't happen again. She couldn't nor wouldnt make promises that she didn't know if she could keep them. Maybe in time Jade would get used to her, she whom expressed herself, and had a hard time keeping things in. She listened without a blink, okay maybe one or two, but she liked to learn things. "I'm glad that you weren't around then...so you didn't have to feel those things." She nodded as she folded her legs up next to her form again. "And that you can atleast eat the same foods, and just think you don't have to worry about gaining weight from them!" She grinned a bit there, because just the other night she had heard people grumbling about having to watch what they ate for it went directly to thier hips and thighs. And if the food didn't give Jade anything surely she would be able to keep her girlish figure no matter what she ate of human food!

"But it did change how," she countered. "If Epiphany hadn't told you, you would've asked me if I wanted a cookie without even thinking about whether or not I could eat it. And I'd eat it, like I'm doing now, and you'd think nothing about it since it's normal for people to eat things." To suppress her sigh Jade stuffed the rest of the cookie in her mouth, chewing it almost obstinately like eating the cookie was giving the middle finger to the elders. "I think she hates me. When I haven't even done anything." She looked straight at Gwendolyn then. "I haven't. I haven't done anything but know Damon first." She took a second cookie, just because she liked breaking small pieces off of it. "Unless I'm around other vampires. I mean if I'm not around other vampires why should people need to know, right? Why should it matter? I just want a life." She did smile when Gwendolyn said she wouldn't gain weight. It was true, and a cute thing for her to say.

She did think a moment, before she had a reply. Loyalty to Epiphany and trying to befriend Jade was going on in her head. Though she didn't think befriending Jade was a bad thing. "But if she told me you had allergies to food, I would ask the same thing." She grinned just a little bit, because one of the books she read said some people had a allergy to sugar and Gwen would of just up and crumpled up into a ball if that was her! An allergy to sugar, the girl loved her sugar, and if one took a sip of her tea it tasted more like lemonade from all the sugar and lemon she had added to it, with a hint of tea. She was listening, when she said that, and she gave a small nod. "I can't disagree it did seem that you were not her favorite person." Gwendolyn looked in thought a moment, it was pure speculation, for Gwen did not know any of them very well. "Maybe she is jealous because you've known him longer so you could have a stronger bond? And because you are a vampire like he is, and she..isnt?" Like saying Gwen was just taking a stab in the dark, trying to make Jade feel a bit better. She gave a small nod of her head, "Do you think she's told anyone else? Besides me? I don't really count." Why wouldn't Gwen think she counted? "She did just find out that we shared a birth mother." Pip hadn't told Gwen not to mention that, and Jade was her friend now, at least in Gwen's eyes. She paused a moment before she looked to Jade, "I think I'm missing a piece of the puzzle though." She frowned just a moment, though such a facial action did not last long for she was smiling. "But you have a life, you just have to live it, and don't let it live you!" If that made sense to anyone besides Gwen she wouldn't know but she knew what she meant.

"And if I just 'happened' to have telephathy or hypnotic powers for some weird reason she would have still warned you about my voice, my eyes, becareful of your mind or whatever the hell it was she said that night?" said with a little smirk, before she turned her attention back to her second half-eaten cookie. "Stuff like that is why I'm not a real person. I mean, be honest. In that book you're reading is there an entry about humans? Are you interested in reading a book like that about the habits and ways of humans? I've yet to hear someone yell, 'LOOK OUT, IT'S A HUMAN!'." She snorted softly. Had a 'humph' sound. "Yeah. I'm sure she's jealous because of all those things, but all those things happen to also be totally out of my control. Forget the living a life thing, Jade was totally derailed when Gwendolyn mentioned that little fact right before that. They were related. Now there was a real epiphany that Jade was having. She looked down at the cookie to finish it as she mulled over that new tidbit of information.

She did look thoughtful, a small frown forming between her eyes, lower lip bit upon a moment. Before she spoke, giving a small little shrug of her shoulders, "I don't know I haven't met to many people." In her term of people she was putting everyone, dead, undead, elf, human, goddess. All in the same term to her. She had lifted up her cookie to take a bite and chew as she spoke. But she once more did protest she did see Jade as a real person. "Just because the books always have warnings of some sort, doesn't mean your not a real person." She shook her head, "Just a different sort of person." She nodded a bit, "People are all different!" She wouldnt know why she was arguing the fact that Jade was a real person, except that she thought it was imporant that she knew she was a real person. Gwendolyn wasn't into the gossip mags, but if she did happen to get her hands on a In Touch or a National Enquirer you can get your bottom dollar the girl would be reading that with interest. "Do humans do anything interesting? I have read a few books on famous people...but they aren't always as interesting. Maybe if I read one book at a time..." She looked thoughtful before a giggle, "Maybe they should yell that out!" One of the books she had read happened to have a human killer. "I think...I could be wrong cause I haven't met to many, but I think, that with all species, that you have good and bad, and you have to judge individually." She nodded at her words, and for Gwen even if she was sitting next to the devil himself, she wouldn't judge him as bad until she saw reason to. Not that she was comparing Jade to the devil. Jade was interesting. Of course, Pip hadn't told her not to say anything, and it did seem logical reason for why Pip would look out for her a bit more, then the average person right? She only thought it might help Jade understand things. She did not think that the information could mean anything in any other sense.

"They live. They get married they have kids and age. Don't you think that's interesting?" Jade was almost thirty. But she was turned when she was sixteen. And even though she'd looked mature for sixteen....she sure as hell didn't look thirty. She wasn't even thirty and already she it was getting to her that she still looked like a girl. No wonder there was a rule about turning humans before they were twenty-five back where she was from. "Why haven't you met too many people?" That was more interesting to Jade than talking more about whether or not she was a real person, or if she was a good person or bad person or anything like that. She wanted to know more about Epiphany's sister Gwendolyn.

Gwen did think that those were good points, but some people, she had heard would much rather not age nor live. Some people were rather vain and did everything they could to stay young looking. "They also die. They do things that you can do, and it kills them." She hoped she had that right, one never knew. No she certainly did not look thirty, but Gwen wasn't one to ask about an age, she knew ladies never told. Or perhaps that was just some whom wished to hide such things. Now here was a question that she could answer, she wouldn't have to worry about putting her foot in her mouth to much, for it was about her. By speaking the truth she couldn't really harm anything. "My birth mother gave me to her friend, Azlin, whom raised me. She kept me away from a lot of things. A lot of her friends, didn't even know I existed." That part was very true, though she was not neglected or left on her own, she had a rather good childhood, just missing out on contact with others her age. But if you never have had it you wouldn't know you were missing it right? "Then when I turned sixteen I met a man, and he swept me away and I lived with im in a small cottage, where there was not to many people in the small village. So I met a few people there, and got to play with the kids." Gwen loved the kids. She missed them, and that might show in her voice. "Well I stayed with him for a long time, then he left me." She didn't want to get into that, it was painful because she didn't even understand it. He told her loved her, then he just left one day and never came back. It was through a grapevine she learned he had married a woman he had known long before he met Gwen. It hurt. Though she realized that it wasn't really love if he could of treated her as thus and just tossed her aside. Even if people said he still cared about her. Ha! She blinked as she had been lost in thought. "I arrived at the inn after meeting my forest friend, he told me about this place, and I have been meeting more people." She nodded a bit. She really was rather sheltered in many aspects.

Jade got quiet when Gwendolyn said humans also died. A few of her friends, her human friends, had died and not because of her. One of them...one of them she'd been very close to. Owen she'd fallen in love with. A mystically talented human, the first she'd ever met, but his magical self hadn't kept him safe in the end. She swallowed thickly, looking at her lap. She was glad for a new reason that she'd asked Gwen why she hadn't met too many people. It meant she didn't have to say something right now, she could just listen. It meant she had time to hold back the tears, look at the floor, and think about what she was going to say. It ended up being just one thing. "Are you happy?" What a loaded question to ask. At least if someone asked Jade that it would be a loaded question. It might be easier for other people to answer.

And maybe a lot of people wouldn't of seen that as a draw back, but she felt she needed to point that out. And she wouldn't of known about Jade's own past, or about her family if they were alive or anything of the sort, or special friends. It was the question that was asked, if she was happy. That was a question that had never been pointed at her before. She had heard other's ask it, and perhaps at a point of time she might of asked someone that herself. Her lips would open as if she was going to speak, then close in thought once more. A slew of emotions would cross the girls features before she would give a reply, the best one she could think of, yet maybe there was more behind it. "You have to be happy with what you have. I am very lucky." She did count herself lucky in having Azlin there for her, knowing if she ever really needed help she'd be there. She was happy she had found some form of family in Epiphany. She did want the friendship of people that weren't related, and it seemed every time she thought she was making a friend, the person just up and disapeared never to be seen again. Did that make her doubt herself, of course it did, but she usually pushed those thoughts away. She lifted the tea up once more to take a sip. It was strange that everyone always assumed people were happy and did not usually look further past that. "I think...." She trailed off because her mind was ping ponging around different thoughts, and senerios. "I think that I am happy." She did not know for sure for she was still in that state of trying to figure everything out.

[Jade Stone]

She noticed that Gwendolyn didn't answer immediately, and she noticed the whole slew of facial expressions too. By the time Jade asked the question, she had pulled her gaze up off the floor and had been looking at the one sitting across from her. She didn't argue with Gwendolyn's luck. There was nothing Jade knew about her that would tell her Gwendolyn wasn't lucky. The first thing she said though, it made Jade furrow her brows, creating wrinkles in her flawless forehead. "Why do we have to be happy with what we have?" She wasn't trying to be argumentative or anything, it was an honest question. Maybe it was related to this second one she asked. "What's something that would make you happier?"

She wasn't one that was used to people watching expressions but even if she was she wasn't one that was good at hiding anything either. Now she could get lead astray by other things. And her mind did often hop around. Gwen had a small smile form, it perhaps was a bit sad, but maybe not. "Not everyone has a roof over thier head, and food to eat, but they can be happy with what they have. Sure they wish for something bigger and better but they make do. Being happy just seems easier then to lament about what ifs and if only's." At least in her mind, but she had spent quite a bit of time alone, in the past. She looked over to Jade, her hazel eyes glittering just a bit. "A real friend. Not one that is related...but a actual friend that doesn't just disapear after one meeting or two." In that way, was she already figuring that Jade would just up and disapear? It would seem par for the course, of course they always said see you later, but to Gwen she seemed to never see them later. Or they would say they would come by and visit the next day, which they never did. It was like the people she befriended, save for Epiphany, were wiped off the realm. She looked over at Jade, her head tilted just a bit. "What would make you happy?" She thought it was a fair question. Though after she asked she did sit up straight and look around, making sure that they were still alone, something told her the walls had ears though.

Gwen was safe in assuming that. Jade had already said she wasn't supposed to be here for longer than 'not very long' however long 'not very long' shaped up to be. "I guess I've always figured that if a person wants something that isn't what they already have, then they aren't really happy." A funny little smirk. She stood up suddenly, going over to the nearest window and sitting on the sill. Staring outside. The sun was in the process of setting. It would still be a couple hours before night, but this was more Jade's time of day then when she'd first come down here. "I don't know. I'm a lot better at knowing what makes me unhappy. I'm also good at thinking I know what'll make me happy, but then once I have it something else pops up and it's the whole grass is greener issue."

Which could mean she leaves tomorrow or it could be years from now as they had talked about. "Or maybe they just think that they want something because once they get it, its not truly what they want." She was victim to that, but weren't they all. When Jade got up, Gwen took a nother bite of the cookie, she was rather slow at eating the tasty morsel today. She shifted as Jade sat on the sill of the window. She couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Do you think anyone is truly deeply happy?" She had her doubts about that, and so she had decided to make her lemonade and enjoy what she had. "Things can always get worse, so why not just be happy with what you have?" It sounded logical to her. A small yawn escaped which was covered with her hand, not that Jade was boring her. She just had been sitting in that chair for way to long. She would extend her legs once more in a stretch. "And if you don't have something how do you know whats missing?"

[color=black]"Yes." Her bright green eyes locked on Gwendolyn. "I think people are. I was, I totally was." She looked out the window again. "I'm trying to be happy with what I have. I keep trying to take nice big steps towards making the best of things and they keep yanking me backwards, god damnit." There was ice in her voice. Nothing like a disgruntled vampire! She walked over to Gwendolyn, quickly walked, and crouched down in front of her. Placing her hands on the arms of Gwendolyn's chair. "I can tell you the answer to that. Because it's not really missing. You either had it and it was stolen from you, or it's right there in front of your face or across the room or on the television screen or on another planet but wherever it is you can see it, and when you see it you can feel it twisting you up inside because you're reminded that you don't have it. That's how you know."

"And now you are not." It wasn't really a question, it was rather obvious that she wasn't happy, or why would she of asked Gwen. Why would Gwen of tried to show her she really was real! Maybe it was the ice in the voice, because before she wasn't feeling very frightened of being alone with Jade. Did she think Jade would hurt her? Her mind was flashing back to what had been said the first night, her body had tensed up, almost as if it was expecting something with the quick movements. But it was a different feeling then when the cage had dropped down upon her, making her feel so helpless. Her hazel gaze was upon Jades own bright green eyes. She had listened to everything that Jade had said, but in true Gwen fashion her reply was not anything to do with the subject at hand. "You have really pretty eyes." Gwen had yet to see the television that was going to be another fun thing to explain to her, why the people were stuck inside a box! She took a deep breath, almost as if trying to sense the air if she should be really scared or not. Oddly she wasn't, just yet. Instead she reached out, brave little fool she was, and touched the side of Jade's head gently. "Is that how you always feel? Like what made you happy was stolen and now you don't think you can ever be happy again?" She slowly let her hand fall back down, it was not the hand that held the cookie, that was still safe and secure except for the bites. And there wasn't cookie crumbs in Jade's hair either. At least not from Gwen.

Jade stood up a bit, leaning forward so that she was closer to Gwendolyn while the woman was looking into her eyes. Once Gwendolyn looked into Jade's eyes it would be a little tricky for her to look away. "Ohhhh?" she said softly while she moved. There was something about how Jade picked her body up, moved it, it was smoother than most people could. "You are getting sleeeeeepy....." Did she know Gwendolyn was nervous? Probably. Predators could sense fear. In how a heartbeat quickened, for example, and the breath. Two things Jade could hear rather well. Rather suddenly she snapped her teeth at the air just in front of Gwendolyn's nose, and then she laughed. Giggled, nearly. "Come on. I look like a sixteen-year-old cheerleader, and you're afraid of me? And you say what she told you didn't change how you think of me!" Psh. That's what she ended that thought with, a nice big 'psh' as she thunked back down in the chair she'd claimed for herself. "There has been a lot that's been stolen from me. A lot."

Of course, if anyone was close to getting in Gwen's face she would feel a bit tense. She wasn't used to confrontation, that was a pitfall of being sheltered, one didn't know how to deal with certain normal situations. Be Jade a vampire or just a sixteen year old human cheerleader it would of been the same! She really would of had a hard time, if she had tried to look away from Jade...but she hadn't. When Jade snapped her teeth infront of Gwens nose she let out a small noise, it seemed to be a ooo but there was laughter in that ooo. Merely because she wasn't thinking vampire she was thinking werewolf! "That's what Leoette does!" She probably shouldn't of said such a thing but it was true. When she laid on the bed with her pet kitty she would snap like that, except sometimes she missed and caught the nose. She looked rather logical when she replied. "Even if you were a sixteen year old cheerleader I think I would respond the same. I....am not used to people so close." She looked off to the side once Jade had released the hold she had on Gwen's eyes. It wasn't something one wanted to admit, that they would be jumpy from a normal sixteen year old girl. She was getting better..it just took time! She hadn't sprouted wings so she wasn't really in fear. Then she spoke up again, "I...I'm sorry you had a lot stolen from you." Not that she thought that Jade wanted her apology, just that she didn't think anyone had told the girl that before, and she felt that someone should.

"Leolette?" She almost didn't want to ask. Which is probably why she moved on so quickly. Rolling over onto her stomach in the chair, which twisted her body into a kind of awkward position. But it was a lot less awkward when you had preternaturally strong muscles like did. "Not used to people so close? You've never kissed someone, hugged them or....?" She let her sentence trail off with a suggestive purse of her lips and a sly little wink. As if that wasn't enough, she would drop quite the bomb on Gwen maybe by adding, "You know Gwen, you remind me a lot of me. The me of way back when anyway. Maybe that's why I like you so much. I think you'd make a great vampire." She gave the young woman a serene little smile. At least she wasn't flashing fangs with that smile, her sharp teeth were more often than not concealed.

[Jade Stone]

She wasn't going to go into a long explanation. Of course, she could, she could give her the whole story of the search and the friends whom disaperaed right afterwards...but she wouldnt. "Don't tell anyone..tis my white kitty...I keep her in my room." Of course, she did not know the policy if she was allowed a pet or not, so she kept her hidden in her room. And then they were moving on, of course, it did seem Jade was able to move in quick way which was neat in its own way. "Not really." She paused, "I have been kissed...once or twice. And I have hugged family...and I kinda hugged you...but no ones actually hugged me first." If that made sense, it wasn't like Gwen was a vicious little beastie! She looked at that look and blushed clear to her toes her head shaking in the negative. Now that wasn't all her fault she had lived with a guy for a long time, he just..never made a move...wanted to keep her all pure. So here she was a innocent little flower. She then moved in the chair, it took a bit more effort, because she was careful not to knock anything over, so that her arms were resting on the chairs arm closest to Jade, her head postioned on her hands, her belly against the chairs seat and her legs, bent at the knees sticking feet in the air. "I do?" That was a surprise, but maybe not to bad of one? She liked Jade, well the parts of Jade that she knew. "If I remind you of you, and you don't seem to like being a vampire how would I make a great one?" Gwen logic came bearing up once more. Although the serene smile might worry her more then the words! She was rather intrigued by Jade now. As she kept her gaze on her, not for fear of what she would do, but she was the sort that paid attention with her whole body, eyes included.

She quirked a brow. "Don't tell anyone?" Jade was not putting two and two together. Probably because she'd never had pets, so she didn't think about how some places weren't fond of them. Gwendolyn was mimicking her position. That was cute. It made Jade smile. This sort of felt like a slumber party all the sudden. It had been a while since Jade had a girl to hang around. The ones in Saint Louis...the vampires older than she were all kind of way too serious, besides Sean's sister. But Sidney and Jade were friendly, yeah, but in a kind of distant way. Now that they were settled like they were mirroring each other there was just the table in their way. Jade would take care of that. Her eyes dropped to the table, and that was all that was needed. Its base scraped against the floor without Jade laying a single actual finger on it. There were a whole lot of powers Jade wasn't so great at using, but telepathy she was actually really skilled at. Once the table was out of their line of sight, it stopped moving and Jade's eyes looked back at Gwendolyn. "You do." She said it quietly, fingers curling over the arm of the plush chair as she gave Gwen a sweet smile. "And easy. Because you're a lot like I am, which means you'd have all the advantages I had before I was turned which only got stronger after I became this way, but you've learned something I haven't learned. How to be happy with what you have. Being a vampire would just be another thing you'd take in stride, wouldn't it Gwen? Because at least you'd have a roof over your head and food and so many other new things too...."

She gave a nod of her head, as she kept that whispered tone. "I don't know if they allow pets here...and after I searched for Leoette, I wouldn't wish someone to take her away." It was much like a child with her first pet. Though that was no the case, for she grew up with a white tiger that watched over her and three mini dragons, but we won't get into that right now. It was because Jade had looked so comfortable, that she had to try it herself, and it was rather comfortable. Gwendolyn wouldn't even know what a slumber party was if Jade did mention it. Now her head lifted a bit and she clapped. Yes she did she clapped for Jades moving of the table. "That was neat." Perhaps she shouldn't of been so happy to see that, but she hadn't seen such things in such a long time, it felt normal to her. Not that she was moving things on her own with her mind, she did not have that capabiltiy. She was studying Jade as she spoke, of course, she liked hearing that she reminded Jade of herself before the change. There really wasn't much harm in that was there? Her right hand took full support of her head, as her left hand moved so that her pointer finger could press against the middle of her face, just under her lips, above her chin. "But you could learn that if you wanted too." She nodded a bit careful not to hurt herself. Her voice was still low it seemed that she wasn't going to get louder any time soon. "But isn't it scary? All the changes?" Not that she was wanting more changes to happen to her with the changes she already had going on. It was just a simple question, she was the sort that thought if you have a question the only way your going to get the correct answer is if you ask it. If you don't ask it you won't know. And you could be assuming something completely wrong.

"Ohh. Well that's cute." You know, kind of like babies are cute and skirts were cute and stuff like that. There was no real invested depth in the comment, animals weren't a love of hers. "I could move you the same way." She grinned at Gwendolyn. From the way Jade said it, and how she was smiling, it kind of looked like flirting. Jade couldn't help that. Even when she wasn't flirting with a person it came off that way, even when it was a girl and she'd never been into girls. "Well sure. I could learn if you taught me. And I could teach you to be a vampire. And being a vampire isn't scary when you have someone there teaching you about it. Or just being their with you so you're not the only one. There are other vampires around here aren't there?" Jade hadn't gone hunting to see. Maybe she should. She could use a fellow vampire to attach herself to for companionship. Or maybe not...that might make the passing as a human thing dificult, if she was actually going to try that.

Gwendolyn was soft on animals, not in any weird ways, just it was her thing so to speak. Though she wouldnt go on about Leoette like a mother would about her baby. Gwendolyn blinked a moment, "Leoette doesn't move me. Shes to little for that." She spoke with a very straight face for really the kitty was still very tiny, and Gwen was often scared that she might step on her. She liked to rub against ones ankles. That finger that was pressing against her face moved up to press against her lower lip before removing itself as she spoke. "What if I dont know how I taught myself?" It was a thought, she simply was. Then she nodded a bit, "I don't know any that stay here." Then it dawned on her she had met another vampire, "I met Damon the other night...when Pip was teaching me A Shave and a Haircut." She grinned, "He told me how to make cheap tap shoes." That was what they were called she thought, because his way sounded rather cheap if one had the things laying around. And she only knew Damon was a vampire because of the conversation the night that she had met Jade when Damon had come up. Gwen wasn't one to go spreading around tales of Jade being a vampire, so she wouldn't have to worry on that.

"Well you were trying to teach me earlier weren't you? I mean, the stuff you were saying about happiness sounded a lot like advice to me..." A little shrug of her shoulders. And then, her lips pursed slightly at the mention of Damon. "Well he doesn't count. He doesn't live here, he only comes around for her..." Epiphany, of course. But Jade was smart, Epiphany was Gwendolyn's sister so she knew better than to say anything ill of her, at least not without good reason or purer intent or something. "But he's a perfect example. Damon taught me a lot about being a vampire." Jade left out the fact that Damon taught her to hunt and had disuaded her from drinking bottled blood. She figured the whole hunting thing would turn Gwendolyn off from being a vampire, at least until Gwendolyn experienced how nice hunting could be.

"Maybe I was just trying to teach myself?" It sounded odd but it could be true, maybe by saying what she thought, she hoped it would sink into her how she could very well be happy, even with what others would think was missing in her life. "But he's the only other vampire I have met." That she knew of. And she wouldn't of known if she hadn't been told. "But your friends with him too aren't you? And if he's here for Pip, wouldn't he visit with you too?" Of course, that whole jealousy thing was rather new too, so she was trying to grasp the whole thing. It would of been a mood killer, Gwen was rather easy going, until it came to her family. There was a rod of steel in the girl that showed itself when it was needed. "He does seem rather nice." She gave a nod of her head, before she paused, "Though I am not quite sure its the thing for me." She wanted to share with Jade about the wings, but she still didn't understand them herself, so how could she? Changes happened all the time, and she was doing her best to adjust to her new changes that she still had to sit down and talk with Pip about.

Funny how the way people said things made you think about them deeper than you had recently. Gwen's question about she and Damon being friends made Jade pause because...well, her and Damon's relationship was kind of complicated. It was a lot different than how they'd started out. She'd skip the friend issue now and reply with a shrug, "We see each other sometimes, yeah. We went hunting the other night." When she said 'hunting' she felt the word echo inside of her. Lingering. She didn't need to look towards the window to know that it was just about nighttime now. She'd get hungry soon. "Aw! What's not for you? You seem to roll with the punches. I mean look at me. I didn't ask to be like this, someone forced it on me, and I do alright. I do alright even without your easy going attitude. Like you said, there's advantages I have that other people don't. I know that."

It did happen, and it seemed to be happening alot this evening between the two. She would give a small nod. "There fore you have a vampire friend to go hunting with. And a Gwen friend to just be Jade with?" She kind of just threw that in there. And she didn't want to ask about what type of hunting, because she figured it had something to do with food, isn't that what people did, hunt for food. Unless your in the Inn and you had it brought to you at the bar. She gave a small nod, "I do my best." Her face scrunched up as she looked towards Jade, "But you know that it takes time sometimes to be ble to the roll with the punches." She took a small breath, "And with the new changes like finding I have a sister, is taking a bit of time to get used too." She wasn't used to having to actually worry about someone other then herself. Her foster mother was quite capable of taking care of herself, before she blinked, "Oh dear, Az would not be very happy at all." She shook her head, "She'd be disapointed in me." It wasnt that Gwen thought Az had something personal against all vampires but she did remember hearing her curse about one, not Damon or Arcadia in the past. Though Gwen didnt know Arcadia was a vampire, but it wasn't one of those two.

"My parents were pissed. Especially my mother, she was just plain ticked off and she went kind of Stepford for a while, pretending that nothing was different and making me eat three meals a day which is a lot when you're like this, and god forbid I did anything that even remotely was vampire like she would pitch a fit and try to ground me....my dad, he was different though. He's a shrink. So he got all 'clinically fascinated' and wanted to do all these interviews with me to see how the change affected my psyche...I swear he'd publish a book if my mother would let him...and Damon, I don't see Damon much. And that's probably a good thing." Yes. She could be sure about that much, when her and Damon were in the same room since he'd met Epiphany...it didn't go so well. And fighting between vampires, it was often more than just words. But then Jade studied Gwendolyn for a moment, thinking about something the woman had said in particular. "Changes?" She asked finally. She'd noticed it was plural.

She would listen to her, nodding as she spoke. She of course could see the mom acting as if nothing was different when it was a big change. Nor would she fully understand the way a father would make his daughter a case study so to speak. "But your mother doesn't want anyone to know right?" She had heard about people like that, burry the head in the sand and those that were more not wanting things being said outloud. It would make it real. She was curious, "Did Damon change you?" Just a strange thought that caused her to debate it. It would seem that something more was there, and fighting was never good in Gwens little book. But that was another thing for another time, perhaps. She would not of noticed she had made it plural. But when questioned she still had that honest thing going, and she didn't know how not to tell the truth. Something she would learn one day. "Well I have a sister now. And..the other day...I sprouted Wings." Her eyes got all wide, "They hurt when they came out. And I still don't know what made them go away." She didn't know what any of it meant. And if she couldn't talk to Jade who could she talk to? Maybe this was why Pip made Gwen learn that dance with her on the bar top the other day. If one asked a question she just replied. No femine wiles here of learning how to hide things.

Jade shrugged. "I'm not home anymore so it's not like it matters. I'm sure she hasn't told anyone. Where I'm from...I mean, most people don't believe vampires exist where I'm from. Or they might say they believe it, but then if you showed them that you actually were all the sudden they wouldn't believe it. Or realize that they really hadn't believe it until that second, you know?" And when Gwendolyn asked if Damon was the one who turned her, Jade started to laugh. "No," she said firmly, still laughing as she shook her head. "No, Damon had nothing to do with it. We met in Saint Louis, a few years after." If Damon had turned her, he and Jade's relationship would be a lot different. Of course, then Gwendolyn said she's sprouted wings and that made Jade's eyes widen some. She kept the rest of her shock on the down-low though, not showing it on the outside. Epiphany's sister sprouted wings, what did that say about Epiphany? "Wings?" She echoed. She sounded fascinated. She looked fascinated. She even scootched up in her chair so that she could lean forward a bit more, closer to Gwen. ""What kind of wings? And you don't know why or how....?"

She smiled to Jade, "That's true but do you ever visit?" In Gwens mind it made sense, that if one never seemed to age, and people saw you as they aged they might catch on. But that didn't mean she couldn't see her parents on the down low,right? She wouldn't know what was so funny! She nodded though, "Oh...I thought maybe that he had." It would of made sense with the jealousy thing. She did notice the eyes widening but thats what she thought about the first time she did it. Well the only time. She nodded a moment, "When the cage came down on me, I was really really scared...and they just...sprouted." That was her take on it at least. And it was half sister, but she wouldn't know what half, she didn't know if Pip had sprouted wings before or if she got that from her father. She gave a small nod of her head, "Big feathery wings, they even covered me up from the rain." Of course, Gwen wouldn't realize you shouldn't tell people these things cause they could be used against one. "I don't know why or how or anything they just...appeared. Well with some pain but they still just appeared they never had before. I don't know where I get them from." She frowned, "I need to ask Pip if she has wings...to see if they are from our mother or whomever my father was." She frowned a bit, "I heard my mother...wasn't very...um..faithful?" She didn't know what else to say about a woman that popped out babies so rapidly with different fathers.

In reply to Gwen's question about visiting her parents, Jade shrugged. Honestly her parents were her parents and all, but she didn't feel the same connection to them that she used to. It felt like they were a part of another world, one she wasn't part of anymore. Humans got married and had kids and families they spent time with, not vampires. "The...cage?" Wow. Gwendolyn had more in common with Jade that the vampire expected. She'd assumed Gwendolyn being so sheltered had never gotten caged up before. Jade had. A number of times. It was just her bad luck. "And they went away?" Well obviously Jade, she didn't have the wings right now. "Could you make them come back? If you have wings you can fly, right? I mean, flying is pretty wicked awesome." Jade grinned then. She could fly! A favorite ability of hers. "We could go flying together!" Did she mean right now? Hopefully she didn't mean right now....she couldn't. She had to go hunting in a little while!

Well, she could skip that questions, Gwen didn't think about what it would be like if she kept aging and Az whom seemed to never of changed had quit appearing in her life. It wasn't something she could even imagine. She nodded, "I went out the other day to explore and I met this man. He pointed out how my bandage on my foot was getting wet, so I went to go back to the Inn...and a cage fell on me! And the wings popped out, and he left me there!" She was still shocked by it! She nodded, "They went away." She couldn't explain that to Jade because she couldn't explain it to herself. "I don't know if I can make them or not. I haven't tried. It only happened when I was scared." She sighed a bit, her head tilted, "I don't know if they can come out when Im not scared." She was rather thoughtful as she thought about it. "But if they do come out, do you think that wait if you fly, maybe we could go flying sometime? Once I figure my wings out?" It was going to take time, and she had a thing about just jumping off a cliff and hoping that they popped out. I mean after the last cliff she fell off of by stepping in a painting...it was going to take the girl a bit of time. She let out another yawn, her hand lifting to cover her mouth. "Pardon me. They just sneak up on me." The yawns that was. Gwen couldn't think back when she spent such a interesting day with someone, just talking.

"It's a date." The flying. There was no doubt in Jade's mind. It'd be awesome to have a friend to fly with here. She flew alone, but camping out in the tip top of a tree canopy was a lot more fun when you had a buddy. Jade reached forward and swated in a light tap at Gwen's upper arm. "So you have to hurry. I need a flying buddy." She grinned. Just like Gwen's view of Jade had switched up a little bit - even with Gwen not thinking it had shifted - the same happened to Jade's view of Gwen now that she knew the woman had wings. She was totally fascinated. She'd have to learn more. But not right now. Because then Jade sat up on her knees, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture. "It's ok. I should go anyway. It's after sundown, I need to go eat."

She gave a nod, with a smile curling up her lips again, she liked the thought of having a friend. Especially once she learned how to do something. And she would be able to learn about camping out in the tip top of a tree canopy. She smiled, "I will have to find someone to help me figure it all out!" She actually sounded a bit excited about the learning of it now, instead of fretting over it. Perhaps Jade had not meant to ease Gwen's mind about the wings, but that was exactly what she did. She would sit up as well. "Have a good night Jade. Happy hunting." Perhaps one didn't normally say that, but Gwen figured it was the nice thing to say to her new friend. Being polite was one thing that she was for about 98 percent of the time. She stretched as she stood up. "And I should go feed Leoette."

"You do. Let me know if I can help. I'm in room 301." The biggest rented 'room' in the whole darn place, all that space and she didn't know what to do with it that's for sure. It and it's large windows. "You have a good night too Gwen. Enjoy your book." Jade bent down and picked up hers, intending to replace it where she found it. She might read it later just for old time's sake, but she didn't need to be carrying around a Nancy Drew book with her while she was hunting. She gave Gwendolyn a smile, Tapping the woman's back with her hand on her way out. She headed off to go replace the book, and then she went out do to her hunting just after.

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