It had been a while since her birthday. Almost two weeks had passed since her most hated night of the whole year. Halloween always demanded a lot from her already fragile body. And just because it was her birthday didn't make that day any more pleasant.

Though there had been a slightly unexpected surprise for her this year. The small cake, the card, the CDs... Had it been Soi, she'd been able to understand it. Seven would've been less surprising as well. But instead she got it from the last person she'd expected to think about her birthday.

Of course, in Vanya's case, that list of 'last person she'd expected to do anything' was rather long. She couldn't help herself, and seemed to make enemies even when she tried to be friendly. Though this had been someone she had hurt in the past, though still justified in her own mind. Vanya kept clinging to the fact she had given plenty of warnings, and she would not do that unless she was serious about it. And if people could not listen to her warnings, they should not be surprised about the consequences.

Even attempts to make things right always ended up in an argument. Vanya was the first to admit that apologizing or making it up to someone wasn't her strongest point. But she had tried in her own way and failed just about every time. Maybe she was too stubborn, maybe Jessie was too stubborn. Most likely, they were both too stubborn.

And despite all of that, Jessie had given her a birthday present. Jessie had also been the only one to give her a birthday present. And while Vanya would never be able to admit it out loud, it had touched her deeply.

So even though it was a little late, the Seer went looking for the tall blonde girl, to give her at least her thanks for the CDs Jessie had given her.

OOC: Jessie first. One of those attempts to get them back together as friends. Let's hope it's successful this time.



Vanya walked towards the cafeteria after her appointment with the doctor. Things were looking good, the stress of teaching had not yet shown any physical strains or dangers. And still she was lost in thought.

She could not help but mull over what Seven had told her and the things she had picked up probably a thousand times before, but never fully understood until that day the girl came to see her during office hours. Mistakes. They were both mistakes. They were both hunted down by family, although Seven's situation was tougher than hers. Her only 'living' family were her parents, and her parents currently shuffled around as mindless zombies, unless a Slayer had come to the town and killed them.

They were also both in a situation where they could literally drop dead the next day. Seven because her body would fall apart, she because of her heart. And then there was that question about the souls of artificially created humans. Vanya stuck to her point. A soul was a soul was a soul. It should not matter whether it was attached to a biologically created body or an artificially created body. But still, the question refused to leave her mind. It even occupied her so much that Vanya barely paid attention to where she was walking or who was standing in her way. She only noticed the tall blonde girl in her way when her face, quickly followed by the rest of her body, crashed painfully into that of Jessie.

The library was quiet. Not too many girls visited the library during the holidays. Half of them were back to their parents anyway, and a great deal of the other half thought that the three S's were more important. Sports, swimming and sunbathing.

Vanya didn't do either of the three. Sports and swimming for obvious reasons; her heart could not have it. And while sunbathing required little effort from the physically weak necromancer, she simply did not see the use of it if her skin refused to tan, no matter how long she would stay in the sun.

Libraries were then the perfect escape, especially if she wished to escape annoying roommates or 'friendly' classmates. Sure, Soi might miss her. But she let Soi know where she could be find. Vanya was at least pretty sure she had done that.

She sat near a bookcase with a book in her hands, open and trying to read it. Even at this place, thoughts and visions were still buzzing in her mind. Not to mention the number of ghosts buzzing around her. Vanya sighed. She'd certainly kill for a place where she could be left alone for a few minutes...



OOC: Open to all. (Though it might be a good idea not to throw Soi in it, but some other people? XD; To Soi-mun: I will try to catch up with all the open threads, including the one of Soi and Vanya in the Potions lab.)

The day had finally arrived where Vanya was allowed to leave the infirmary. Of course, she would have to come back at least once every day for the next couple of weeks for a check-up, but she no longer had to stay locked up in that room and watch through her window at all the things happening outside. The doctor had been very happy with her progress after she'd started going back to class and thought she might recover even more faster if she was back at her own room.

Still, when she left the infirmary with her few belongings she'd kept in the room, she did not go back to the four-person room she shared with several others, but climbed up the chairs to the third floor. It did not take her long to find out which room belonged to Soi, and she knocked on the door, hoping that the professor was inside.

OOC: Actually meant to be on Friday. I'm bad, I know. Preferably first open to Rei, though she'll arrive at the class soon enough. Class will be... Magical History. Or so. Something everyone has.


Vanya took a deep breath. For the first time since she'd been carried - or more, levitated - to the infirmary, she wore her school uniform. Today would be her first time back to class. It would be just one lesson, to see if she was ready for it. She'd chosen Magical History, for the simple reason it would have the largest class and thus the most pressure. As Soi had suggested, there were only two ways to deal with it. Either plunge in headfirst or get slowly accustomed to the presences of others. Vanya had chosen for the deep plunge.

She felt slightly odd today. As a matter of fact, she'd felt odd ever since Soi's last visit. Giddy, lightheaded, even cheerful were the first words to come up in her mind to describe this feeling. It was weird. She'd never experienced anything like this at all. And all Soi had done was to show she cared for her.

Vanya shook her head and focused on the matter at hand; she'd have her first class today. No more boredom. With what could be best described as an 'almost-smile', she left her room. There, she came across her first classmate, as well as most hated enemy.

Hino Rei.

Despite the spell cast on her room, Vanya had not been entirely cut off of what happened in the infirmary. She knew about Laurian's injuries, and how Rei hardly left her side. But now, it seemed, Laurian no longer wanted Rei to be at her side. Despite her best intentions to try and be different today, Vanya could not pass this opportunity.

"Are we sitting all alone in here?" she asked, her voice deceptively mild. "I would have thought you'd be at the side of the one person who means most to you. Or... could it be you are no longer welcome? I've been really so out of touch with what happened around here... Did you two break up?"

It was unfair. Vanya stood near the window that gave her a glimpse of the hallway. Somewhat further down the hall lay Laurian. She could not actually see the room, but cracks and holes had appeared in the magic field that was supposed to protect her against the minds of all the students. She could sense it, and occasionally caught glimpses of Laurian's memories in her dreams.

But that didn't bother her as much as something else. Every day, often more than once per day, Rei came to visit the hurt girl. She would talk to the comatose girl, or just sit there and hold hands.

It made her feel jealous.

Not that she wanted Rei to come in her room and hold her hand. Rei could stay as far away from her as possible, if it was up to her. But truth be told, Vanya felt lonely. She was slowly getting better, stronger, but she was still forced to stay in isolation. Professor Fong sometimes came to visit her, but aside from that she was lonely.

She wanted someone to visit her daily as well, who would talk to her or hold her hand.

She wanted someone who loved her.


OOC: I hope it's alright I made the assumption Soi visited her a few times in the past few weeks, but I can always change it. Open to anyone interested. ;) And otherwise it's just an entry showing how lonely and jealous she feels.

OOC: I wanted to have it backdated to 14 February, but... I don't care. Whoever responds to it may decide if it's Valentine's day or not.


Vanya finished her last exercise for Magical History before she put the books away and let herself fall slowly back on the bed. It was silent in the room, thanks to Hermione's spell. No sound from the outside could penetrate her room and although she ought to be grateful for it, she was not.

She felt lonely and the silence only reminded her over and over again how lonely she was. No visitors were allowed, not even her cat could keep her company.

The doctor had told her she could have visitors a few days ago, of course for a very limited time. But who would want to visit her? No one. And the one person that considered her as a friend now hated her after she'd lashed out in anger.

It really made her wonder what the use of living was.

It was in the middle of the night when Vanya woke up from a sharp pain in her chest. Her breathing was laboured and she struggled to get air. Her first instinct was to push the blanket away; it was suffocating her. It did not help to easy her breathing, however, and Vanya realized something was going terribly wrong. Perhaps this was the day the doctor had been talking about. If that was true, she needed to get to the infirmary.

The necromancer struggled to get on her feet, but a lack of energy caused her to fall out of bed. She worked herself up, trying to talk and call out for her flying carpet, but only a faint whisper left her lips and her carpet couldn't hear her.

Vanya managed to get back on her feet and stumbled across the room towards the door. But she couldn't reach the door. Instead, she crashed back on the floor, taking a chair with her.


OOC: Initially open to her roommates. She makes a lot of noise; I'm sure it'll wake them up. After that, it depends on whoever they're gonna get.

OOC: I hope this is alright with Artemis-mun, whoever is playing Artemis at the time this is read. ^^; But yeah, she's back. I forced her to, after the conversation with Jessie kinda took a different turn.


It wasn't the first lesson Latin of the new semester. It wasn't the second either, it was actually the fourth in the second week. For two weeks now, Vanya had been thinking about whether she should return to the Latin class or not. She was torn in two, really. On one hand, she really needed the lessons if she wished to make any progress in her necromantic abilities. On the other hand, there was Professor Artemis, who she absolutely could not stand and who, because Artemis was a vampire, she had to include in her world.

The decision was finally made when it became obvious she had hit a dead end and could not continue because her knowledge in Latin wasn't good enough. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed the lessons provided at school to master this obstacle.

And so it was that, despite being ten minutes late, she entered the Latin class as if nothing had happened before at all.

OOC: Taking place some time after the PE lesson. Not immediately, Vanya isn't above enjoying the sudden worth for a little while longer, but... sometime. In the evening, if you want. Oh, and Soi Fong only!

It had been several hours after the PE lesson and Vanya sat curled up in her room with some tea, a book... and Professor Fong's coat. She'd been like that ever since the lessons stopped for the day. It felt so good to be warm again. Her own body lacked the ability to stay warm without help. Summers were okay, but autumns and especially winters had always been a disaster for the girl.

But Vanya figured it was time to give Soi Fong her coat back. She knew she wasn't meant to keep it and she had already 'stolen' it for a few hours after she quickly slipped away after PE on her flying carpet.

She sighed, but got up to sit on her carpet, her kitten with her, and drifted upstairs to the third floor, where all professors had their rooms. She hadn't been there in a long time... and passing a certain door caused her to feel a painful stab in the heart. Painful memories of being rejected, even if it had been in a gentle way. Vanya quickly flew on, forcing herself to forget about it. She had little trouble finding the new professor's room and knocked politely on it before she entered.

Vanya sat on her bed in the room she'd been assigned to. Her heart had gotten strong enough that she no longer had to stay in the infirmary. Now she never made a very cheerful roommate, but ever since she'd returned from the infirmary, she had isolated herself. She didn't talk to anyone - something Ginny must be grateful of, since she didn't make any bitchy comments either - she refused to interact in any way with anyone... all that matter to her was her kitten. The kitten she'd gotten from the two most gushy people in the school, the two people she absolutely couldn't stand for longer than five seconds without feeling nauseous. It was something she preferred to forget, especially since she knew it was the kitten that had given her the strength to keep on living a short while longer.

Long enough, at least, that she was forced to face yet another birthday. Not that Vanya really minded birthdays, she just hated the day on which her birthday fell. The 31st of October. How perfect for a necromancer, since it was the only day in the year that the invisible wall between the world of the living and the world of the dead was as thin as it could get. And of course this school had to organize a party to celebrate the fact that more ghosts and other dead stuff leaked into this world for 24 hours.

She wouldn't go. She never liked parties, she didn't feel like socializing and Vanya definitely didn't want to attend anything organized by the bitch of the school: Rei. If she would go, she'd go because she wanted to screw it up. Cause some panic maybe. Raise a zombie or two. It had fun effects last time, even though it had been all a simulation.

"You and I," she said softly in her own language to the kitten, "we'll stay just here on this bed, won't we? Nice, warm and comfortable. And quiet. No people to annoy you." Vanya smiled a bit sad. Staying up in her room also meant not seeing any people that brought back painful memories, and maybe that above all other reasons was why she should not go.


OOC: Random ranting, but I really need to try to get back into the game. Still open if you want to respond. But she won't say much.

That night when Vanya had gone over to Rei's room had been the best night the Seer had had so far. It didn't really stop at that one night, but had it not been for that night, she would never have grown this close to Rei.

And it was as if that night had opened a door to a whole new world for Vanya. Everything seemed brighter, sounds seemed clearer... hell, even her mood seemed to have brightened up lately and people could catch her with a smile more and more often.

They had kept most of their activities in the evenings, though. Neither of them wanted to move too fast in this new thing they had together. Vanya surmised that Rei still needed time to recover from the painful moments with Laurian and she, well... She'd tried to be with someone before and that had nearly crushed her spirits. She was too afraid that if she gave her heart now, it would only get trampled on again.

Despite all the reservations, however, Vanya had reached that point where she wanted more than kisses and cuddles. She knew she didn't have a long life to live and if possible, she wanted certain things to get done before it was her time. And she would try to get one of those things done tonight.

Most of the girls had gone to bed, which was a good thing, because Vanya felt a bit uncomfortable in the flimsy nightgown she wore. It was also very cold, which did make her nipples stand up in a rather sexy way... But Vanya just kept in mind that she'd be soon with Rei, who hopefully wouldn't mind it to warm her up a little.

It had been a little more than two weeks since Kate and Liz decided to drop a little kitten in her lap. A stray kitten. One that needed someone to take care of it. They had thought the company of a kitten would help her to get better.

Unfortunately for Vanya, they were correct. The little black kitten with its little white socks and greenish-golden eyes had returned that spark of interest in life. The doctor had watched with amazement how Vanya slowly - very slowly - became stronger. Whenever he asked her about it, however, she didn't respond. She just ignored him.

When she was allowed to go to classes two and half weeks later, her classmates soon found out it wasn't only the doctor she ignored. Everyone was ignored. It was as if Vanya's mind had left the world of the living and now concentrated on the world of the dead only, leaving her body behind to carry her around.


OOC: More like a status-update, but feel free to try and have a conversation with her. =P

"Rei?"

Vanya stood in front of Rei's door. It was late in the evening, nearly two weeks after the horrible news had been delivered about Laurian's death. There had been quite a few people who felt upset about it; people who had been close to the tall, quiet girl or students who admired her as professor assistant. But there was one girl in particular that Vanya had been worried about.

She never got to know exactly what happened when Laurian had taken her over or how deeply Rei's guilt ran, but she'd made sure to keep a constant eye on her friend. At the moment, however, she didn't knock on Rei's door to see if the younger Seer was alright. This time it was Vanya who felt a bit lonely and needed the warmth and comfort from her friend. Nothing bad had happened, but she needed it all the same.

"Rei, can I come in? Or... were you about to go to bed?" Vanya's voice reflected hesitation, almost fear that she might have disturbed Rei. "I can come back another time if you wanted to sleep..."

It happened several weeks after Laurian's unexpected visit to Rei - and the painful meeting in which the young priestess had to tell her lover they would no longer continue the relationship. Ever since then, Vanya had tried to do her best to keep Rei from brooding over that encounter, knowing that once she was left alone, that would be exactly the thing for Rei to do. She wasn't really one for company, but she liked Rei and Vanya noticed that after a while she had grown accostumed to Rei's presence - even up to a point where she could feel an obscure pain whenever she was alone.

That afternoon they both sat on the grassfields that were so abundantly present at the school. They sat there, talking quietly about various things and occasionally letting a comfortable silence fall between them. And it was during one of those silences that something up in the air caught Vanya's attention.

Ever since the war had started, the number of planes flying over St. Catherine's had decreased enormously. Most of the normal flights were no longer continued and most planes of the army had by long left. It was therefore odd - and probably the reason it caught her attention - when she spotted an airplane flying through the air. And it had every intention to land near the school or on the school grounds.

"Rei?" Vanya said, laying a light hand on her friend's arm and nodding up at the air. "Isn't that one of those funny airplanes from that Order Laurian's from? I haven't seen many of them, but it seems to be different than a normal plane."

OOC: I'm sure Ginny will be pleased. She'll have the room for herself until Vanya's decided to be no longer suicidal or until Era shows up. Both can be rather unpredictable, though. ^^; Oh, and well... just letting you know how hard Rei's comment really hit her. So if you want to reply, you're free to do so. ^^ But it's not necessary.



It was no secret how Vanya always acted uncaring and cold towards others. Though as uncaring she often seemed to be, there were still things that could hit her hard; things could could cause pain on the verge of physical agony. Haruka's rejection - as gentle as she'd tried to bring - had been one of those moments.

Rei's comment in which she revealed Vanya's closely guarded secret had been also one of those moments.

And she could pretend it wasn't true, sneer for all she was worth it and bitch until she made rocks cringe. After all, it was only her word against Rei's and memories could be easily altered to a point where it would even confuse the Seers.

But she didn't have the strength for it anymore. She'd sought refuge almost every day after the rejection for some private crying and spent the rest of her time being as bitchy as possible, just to keep people away from her. It had drained her energy. And that one blast, that one comment... she couldn't shrug it off.

She'd cried at first. She'd grown proficient in crying that it didn't even upset her all too much, but Vanya abandoned that all this time. It had been finally her flying carpet who had taken her from the roof down to the infirmary after her heart nearly gave away. Not that she'd wanted to be rescued; after almost 18 years of constant battle to stay alive, Vanya had hit that deep spot of despair where life no longer had a meaning and where she could only long for death.

The crying had done more damage to her heart than Vanya had realized - or even cared about - and the doctor had kept her in infirmary, locked up in a special room as well after he had found out that if crying did not help, the girl was quite willing to take other measures to stop this suffocating agony inside her...