only if for a night , TARYN

Thank goodness for the night, because Lena thought she was going crazy over all the questions everyone she cared about seemed to be asking her, because she did not want to answer them. They were irritating, annoying, killing her to the point where she wanted to plunge herself into a coma. Worst of all, the night actually offered not much of an escape at all, because if the daytime wasn't haunting her, she was still plagued by her own nightmares that she had no control over.

The cafe was closed, but it doesn't mean that it was locked. Lena was lucky she could pick locks so she could get it and bunk on one of the tables. Perhaps being away from anywhere too familiar that held any terrible memories for her was the solution for her nightmares. She stared up at the ceiling, and her eyes were dropping any moment now.

Taryn silently slipped into the Kofyeĭnya, finding the door unlocked. This was somewhat disappointing-she'd been prepared to pick the lock, and needed some spice in her life. However, she had sedated her need for action with her need for coffee. Lithium, you could call it. Taryn paused, the door knob clenched in her hand, contemplating whether or not she should try lithium. She slipped in the coffee shoppe, putting the thought away for later.

Taryn flicked on one light-it was low enough so that it was still dark to any outsiders, although who would be out at this ungodly hour she didn't know. She crept back into the kitchen and prepared everything, putting it on the coffee machine. After that, all she could do was wait for it to finish. She grabbed some French vanilla Coffee Mate, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup-she felt like overdoing the coffee tonight. Taryn only relaxed when the smell of coffee filled the air. Smiling bitterly, she began singing, the words jumbling together in a mix of Evanescence, Paramore, and Nightwish-her three favorite Muggle bands.

Never did she notice the girl sprawled on the table.

Sometimes, trains of thought seem to pass by Lena without passing through her rational part of the brain. Even though this was supposed to be a lonely night, maybe she wasn't alone at all. This was proven when she heard someone pouring a cup of something and something else was torn open - perhaps a packet of coffee or maybe a teabag. However, Lena being the stubborn one, she attributed those noises to her own imagination. Even when a young, dirty voice sang songs from scrambled songs, she thought it was her own thoughts playing with her.

Lena shut her eyes and thought of flying reindeer flying across Lapland. Images of those graceful creatures calmed her to no end when stress was driving her mad. She opened her eyes, those images still buzzing through her head. Soon enough, two animal like figures appeared in front of her, bearing large antlers which reminded her of branches that were on large, twisting, turning trees. Those animals were not real, she knew, but they were calming. She smiled as she imagined them fly across the shop, and they followed her mental instructions, leaving a trail of snow behind them as they flew.

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(ooc: nightwish say whut?! )

Taryn held the warm cup up to her lips and drank some, promptly burning her mouth. She stuck her tongue out and splashed water in her mouth, knowing that her tongue would be numb for the next couple of weeks, even with this remeady. She set the cup down and leaned back against the counter, looking out on the dark stores. She eyed up the stereo in the corner-it was, after all, a Muggle store. A smirk appearing on her face, Taryn slipped her hand into the small satchel she carried and pulled out a CD of mixed songs-mostly Evanescence and Nightwish, but her songs. She put in the CD and cranked the volume down, still loud enough to be heard. The opening notes of "Nemo" still came out too loud, and she turned the stereo down even more.

<p>Humming along, Taryn sipped the coffee and found it cooler this time. However, she tasted it not, as her tongue was still numb from being burnt. Her hazel eyes flashed around the shoppe suddenly, unable to shake the feeling she was not alone. Tayrn was paranoid, yes, but she could feel a presence. Looking around, she saw a shadow on a table. A human shadow. Taryn tensed.

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((OOC: Nightwish for the win! Although I admit I liked Tarja's voice better than Anette's...))

The familiar notes of Nemo echoed in the quietness of the cafe. Lena tried her best to not open her mouth and let herself sing, because it was obvious now that someone else was in the cafe and there was no way in hell she was going to let herself get caught and get interrogated or anything like that. The only movement she seemed to have made was her eyes simply blinking, and those were because if she didn't dirt would be caught in them and she would be forced to stand up and walk to the nearest sink to wash them away from her face, and she definitely did not feel like walking.

The blonde pondered in her head of hers to see if she should say a single word in response to see if the person, or shadow, that was in this cafe was friendly. Something told her it was both friendly and unfriendly, which sounded rather odd to both her mind and her ears. She decided to stay quiet, letting the... person say the first words.

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(ooc: sue me, but i like anette.)

Taryn kept her eyes out on the cafe. She set the glass down, crossing her fingers that the figure would make the first move. She stood, almost completely still, through the duration of "Nemo", and then, "The Siren". Only when her personal favorite song, "Lithium", started playing did Taryn stir. She knew now that the person wouldn't move.

<p>Taryn stepped around the counter, then backtracked slightly and left behind her dagger. Best not to repeat the whole Anna scenario. She held her hands loosely at her side, her hazel eyes wide. Taryn almost whispered, roughly, "Hello?", then, clearing her throat, said louder, "Is anyone there? Okay, that's stupid, because there's someone out there but...umm, hi," Taryn finished awkwardly, leaning back against the counter.

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((OOC: I don't dislike Anette, I just liked Tarja better ))

When Lena could hear words, her images of the reindeer flying through the cafe walls disappeared, and she could immediately feel a pang of disappointment in her heart. She wanted to scream for them to come back, but no, she told herself. She wasn't going to let herself be tempted to give herself away in the dark unless she had to.

She could feel herself not breath, do nothing. She tried to identify the voice: female, young - perhaps younger than her - from a rough childhood, perhaps? In her addled mind, as the song was playing, her heart was racing like a car would in its final stretch of a grand prix, her teeth tightly gripping onto her tongue to refrain herself from talking, and her skin crawling with fear. Her eyes were staring as if in shock at the ceiling. Eventually, she did have to breathe, but she tried to make it as soundless as she could.

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(ooc: oh, right. xD)

Taryn almost doubled back to grab her dagger, but she grit her teeth and walked forward a few more steps. It was obvious the person would not respond to her. She would have to go to her, to see for herself. She took a deep breath, willing herself not to start cussing at the top of her lungs.

The Uchitel called out one last time, "Hello?", knowing now it was pretty pointless. No one was going to answer; she would have to approach, something Taryn was not fond of. The sixteen year old was silent, listening for whispers, for breathing. The faint gasp of air was quiet; she'd held her breath a little too long, making the noise louder than she'd intended it to be. Taryn had long since learned that to make less noise, holding your breath wasn't the answer. "You know, you make less noise if you just breathe quietly and evenly. Holding your breath makes it come out in a gasp when you next breathe."

"I know about pressure and how it affects how sound is released," Lena replied, letting her voice get no louder than a whisper. It was a careful precaution to make, because she knew from years of training (and paranoia, she might add) that for one, it was dangerous for her to let an unknown person recognize her voice; it might be lethal in the future, especially if she ended up doing something awfully illegal. May Merlin help her that this was no snitch.

However, she knew that the answer to her question had already been answered. Snitches do not go into cafes in the middle of the night drinking coffee - she could tell by the smells wafting around the room - and talk to 'invisible shadows' in the night. She also considered the fact that that was what some snitches do: they scope out illegal activities and pretend they know nothing and are really into the business - such as breaking into cafes in the middle of the night - and they tell the police on what is going on around town, and from experience that is how most criminals get caught. "What are you doing here in such a starry night like this?" she asked again.

"Well, that's good for people sleeping in coffee shoppes," Taryn said back. She couldn't place the voice; only that it was female. She considered going and turning up the lights-and risking getting caught. What if the shadow bolted before she could see it? So Taryn stayed where she was.

Taryn laughed, slightly hollow. "What about you? I'm obviously getting coffee; it seems as though you're sleeping." She slipped out onto the floor and sat herself on the edge of a table. "I just needed a little buzz. Morphine, you could call it. Lithium. Something that makes you distractable." Emphasizing her point, Taryn let her eyes wander a little. Honestly, she didn't know what she was doing here. Getting coffee, but what else?

The Uchitel narrowed her eyes, thankful that the girl, who was probably younger than she was, couldn't see it in the dark. "I am not sleeping," she replied, "I'm merely awake, lying down on a table." She pressed her lips, so hat she wouldn't be tempted to say any more; she had given too much away already.

Lena raised an eyebrow. "You take crack without smoking it?" the Uchitel asked, though she knew this was probably a misinterpretation of what the girl had said. She had only guessed so because of what Haze had said at the party about looking for her crack and not being able to find it. "Why on earth would you want to make yourself distractable anyway?" asked Lena once more. She didn't want to be distractable, because being distractable was a weakness, and weaknesses are to be avoided.

"My mistake," she laughed hollowly. "Sorry." Taryn walked out to where the table was. She could make out vague shadows, now that her eyes adjusted. The Uchitel sat on the table next to the stranger, crossing her ankles.

"That's not exactly what I meant," the sixteen year old sighed. "Pain killer equals coffee. To me, being distracted is a strength." After that, Taryn fell silent on that specific matter. She wouldn't give away more than that, not yet. Should the girl become suspicious, maybe she'd give up the bit of her sister and Rae. "Or, moreso, forgetting." There. For now, Taryn left it at that.

Lena sighed when she felt the table shake a bit when the other girl sat on it, and she tried her best not to tremble. Not out of nervousness, but because the table was so damned shaky. She slowly sat up, shaking her head in a futile attempt to shake herself from the stiff back she was getting.

"Do you have some sort of crazy logic problem or something?" Lena asked, her tone almost like one of the cliched mean girls she saw on Muggle television shows, "because distraction can cost you your life." She chuckled emptily. "There's something better than coffee," she snapped, "and it's called the Draught of Living Death. Ever heard of it?"

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(ooc: imma pretend you posted as taryn.)