Never Lonely Here|open|

[Jocelyn[Spirit]]

A hand brushed the old faded wood on the largest totem poles, tracing the carvings of the wood and the patterns. It made its way around the pole, then moved on to the next one. It paused on one, palm rested on the worn figure of a badger. A breeze kicked up and brought whispers to Vicky's ears. She tilted her head and tried to catch the murmurs of the old Indians. She moved to the center of the totem poles, and dropped her body to the ground, crossing her legs in the pretzel formation. She placed her hands on her knees and closed her eyes. She focused on the badger talisman and tried to call it. She didn't know what would happen, but she gave it a try anyways.

Vicky had had a trying week, and god knows she needed to rest and relax. To get away from all the chaos, clear her mind and body. And what better way to do that with the help of the spirits. She sat still, crossed legged, hands on knees and eyes closed, waiting for something. Anything. The breeze rustled by again, bringing a new wave of hushed voices. She thought she could make out a few of the words.

Our sanctuary. Respect..Peace..
She thought one said. She focused on another one, more firm and rushed.
Leave! Get ... out!
Her eyes shot open and she sent a glare at the invisible entity. She was trying to relax in peace, she calmed herself and sent vibes of peace out towards the spirits. The voices hushed. Birds seemed to fly away or be still. Insects stopped their fluttering and buzzing. Vicky drifted off to a place unknown.

[Aras|Ofelia]

Someone else was here. The lynx was on alert, head and ears raised, and the wind brought whispers--whispers that she wasn't the only one among the weathered wooden poles. Katya knew she would never be alone in the burial grounds; the spirits of the dead wandered the area, their voices floating in the air and into the mind of the occasional visitor.

But the ghosts weren't what had caught her attention. Someone else was here--someone living and breathing and alive but staying unnaturally still. Whoever it was hadn't made a sound for the past few minutes. Katya wasn't even sure whether this person had noticed her presence. There had been no indication of such, and the grounds were just crowded enough with totem poles and foliage that from where she was standing, Katya could not see anyone else.

She walked forward, footsteps soft on the newly-grown grass. It wasn't long before she caught sight of a woman, sitting cross-legged, in some sort of meditative trance. She didn't look like she was at peace, exactly, but perhaps that was what she was trying to achieve.

Katya stopped. She wasn't sure whether she should greet this woman. Common courtesy dictated that she should, but the woman might take interruption unkindly.

[Jocelyn[Spirit]]

The breeze kicked up again and it blew her long blonde hair, the black streaks of dye weaving in and out of the blonde. She took a deep breath, and held it for a second or two before slowly exhaling. Something in her stirred. She hushed her talisman, but it continued to stir. Something was out there. Vicky gave a mental eye roll and tried to ignore it. Whatever her talisman had sensed, well, it could wait.

The leaves rustled in the trees and a whisper touched her ear. She pulled her mind out of the meditation, but remained still and kept her eyes closed. The only difference in her now was that she was alert. Something was out there. It was quiet, that was for sure. Maybe just a squirrel, or maybe it was a person. No, too quiet for a human. Now that she was not in a 'peaceful' place she was growing a little irritated. The presence was distracting her and she might as well know who, or what it was.

You might as well come out and say hi. I can't focus with you sneaking around.
She said, finally opening her eyes and looking around her. Although she remained seated in her pretzel form, hands on her knees, her body still tense in case she needed to react quickly. She hoped not however, she had come here to relax, and that was what she was going to do. With company, or alone.

[Aras|Ofelia]

The breeze picked up again, lifting the meditating woman's long blond hair to drift about her head in a rather messy and asymmetrical halo of sorts. Since Katya stood downwind of her, the gust also brought with it the heavy scent of cosmetics. The lynx wrinkled its nose. Katya's expression remained typically neutral.

"You might as well come out and say hi. I can't focus with you sneaking around," the woman grumbled impatiently, eyes snapping open.

Stepping into view, Katya inclined her head slightly in the woman's direction. Now that each was in the other's direct line of sight, Katya take a closer look. As the wind had informed her, the woman wore quite a bit of makeup. Dark lashes stood out on her pale skin, framing her steely blue eyes. She made no effort to hide her irritation.

"Good morning," Katya said evenly. "My apologies; I didn't mean to interrupt."

[Jocelyn[Spirit]]

Vicky waited for the figue to come out in view. And she finally saw movement in the corner of her eye. She turned her head just enough to see who it was. She saw a young woman walk out from behind the bushes and totem poles. Vicky uncrossed her legs and stretched them out straight and flat, moving her hands to rest against the ground behind her bum. She leaned back and tilted her head to look at the stranger.

You may not have meant it, but it doesn't erase the fact that you were, indeed, distracting. And you would be?

Vicky asked the girl. She eyed her up and down trying to take a read on her. Who was she, what was she? But then she stopped herself. She didn't need to be 'on call' all the time. She didn't feel like spying and trying to figure out what talisman she had, and then catching her and then carting her to the mansion. That took a lot of energy and effort. Which she lacked at the moment. So she just sat there, taking everything in.

I'm Vicky.
She said still eyeing the girl. She licked her lips not knowing what else to say. She had always not been very good at the socail scene. Oh well. Again, too much effort.

[Aras|Ofelia]

The woman extended her legs and leaned back on her hands, her posture completely nonthreatening. She did not accept the apology with much grace, or perhaps she did not accept it at all. However, excepting her blunt words and the twinge of irritation that flashed in her eyes, the woman was not acting aggressively towards her. This was something of a relief. Aggressiveness put the lynx on guard, and Katya found it rather difficult to enjoy herself when her talisman--and therefore she--was on edge.

Vicky. The name and the face were vaguely familiar, but this came as no surprise to Katya. The town was small enough that nearly everyone had been to the clinic at some point in their lives. The chances that she'd seen her there were fairly high.

"Yekaterina Pushkarova." Maybe Vicky would recognize the surname; maybe she wouldn't. Katya bent slightly and extended a hand for the woman to shake.

[Jocelyn[Spirit]]

Vicky flicked her hair out of her face and raised an eyebrow at the girls name. Not only was it long, and to her, seemed russian, but the last name sounded familiar. She leaned forward and crossed her legs again in the pretzel formation.
Pushkarova..? I think I've heard that before.
The way she made her tone of voice, she hinted that she wanted Yekaterina to say where from.

When she extended her hand, Vicky hesitated, always the one to not like physical contact. Unless it was to beat someone up. She finally lifted her hand and gave a quick hard shake.
So, do you like, have a nick name? That one is a kind of a mouthful.
To be blunt, she just wanted to shorten, kat maybe. But having to say that would just simply annoy her. Yes, she got irritated very easily.

Vicky's talisman brustled once again, it liked confrontation, and it didn't like other people. Especially strangers. Vicky hushed it, giving it as mental slap. She was just too tired to do anything or to care.
So what are you doing all the way out here?

[Aras|Ofelia]

A nod. "I work at the clinic. Dr. Pushkarov is my father." Perhaps few people in Noatak knew her name, but almost everyone--especially among the shifter population--had heard of Dr. Pushkarov. He treated everyone alike, regardless of allegiance; though he was obviously neutral, neither Hunter nor Innocent had yet confronted him on that account.

The handshake was stiff and awkward. Katya half-expected Vicky to use the hand to pull herself to her feet. The blonde didn't, however, and just sat there, still scrutinizing her as she had been for the past couple of minutes. The staring made her talisman a bit agitated, but Katya bore it with her usual calm patience.

"So, do you like, have a nick name? That one is a kind of a mouthful."

The corners of her lips turned upwards in a small smile. Vicky's reaction was hardly unexpected--rather typical, in fact. "I go by Katya," she said. And Katenka, too, but only her father addressed her that way.

When asked why she was here, her smile faded so she once again assumed her neutral expression. "Just taking a walk." The weather was pleasant and she'd been given the morning off. The burial grounds were quiet--in the physical sense, at least. "You?"

[Fulong|Clara]

By all rights, Onji had no reason to feel at home in the burial grounds. Even speaking from a purely logical standpoint, as someone who had never really cared about the spirits, she had no right to be visiting. She was fairly sure she'd killed at least one descendant of the people buried here, and even if she hadn't, she'd probably killed enough unrelated people to count. Especially if you counted the collateral damage. And if you did factor in the possibility of vengeful spirits...well, that was another barrel of fun entirely.

But that didn't change the fact that Onji liked it here. It was quiet and reassuring and for some entirely inexplicable reason, the spirits that should have been howling at her stayed quiet. She took the silence for a welcome, and as she stepped past the first totem pole, she could even feel the binturong settling down.

It pricked its ears slightly at the sound of faint voices and nudged Onji; obligingly, she drew closer to the center of the grounds. There were two people there, apparently having a quiet, if not overly friendly, chat. Well, that was a pleasant change and no mistake.

She made no attempt to hide her approach; there was no point when her nose was still stuffed up and she was sniffling every other step. Besides, she could do with a chat. Just because it was Bian Ly's job to acquire contacts didn't mean she couldn't make a few of her own.