[CLOSED] Villa Villemont and Miquel

As her first night had been a bit intense, Sarai realised that getting her own place and working towards some sense of privacy was going to be a major concern.
She had left the Peron family behind, and moved on to find a new place. The thing that lingered on her mind was, how? How would she do this? She had some money, very little though, and just buying any old place could take time.

She looked around the triplet villages, and settling for the middle one; El Tarter. It wasn't the biggest, but she knew there was another Malkavian in Soldeau, so picking the very same one seemed foolish. Besides, the added production in El Tarter interested her, after all she had plans to learn more about such things. So she got there by late evening, people were settling in, most going to sleep, and she would be hard pressed to have a normal conversation at this point. She was going to have to cheat. But she wanted to know her target before she tried anything.

The village, such as it is, is rather tiny, enough to support a kindred sure, but, it's also clumped together, she wants a bit more privacy. That's when she notices up the hill a cottage. Overlooking the village entire from the north. Curious she trekked up there, to find out more. The house was dormant, lights out, and quiet. On the front she could make out a plaque, it was so dark now, and away from the rest of the village that she could barely read, she traced it with her fingers.

"Family Villemont." it read. A whole family in there? The sign was worn though, rust covered the edges, and she could suspect that it was several years old. She couldn't know what would be inside, but she had made up her mind; this place was perfect!

The roof was low, with shale stone tiling, solid enough that it could support a person, the walls sturdy and thick, stone made too, with almost no windows. It was old and isolated.

She wasted no more time, she needed luck on her side in this. So she sat down, and began drawing another rune. It would require more of her, and there was a risk associated with it, but she needed to take a chance every now and then or she'd get nowhere. She sits down in the dark, unable to see much, though she doesn't really have to, she can sense the rune, the image of it, in her mind, and she's done this enough to work in the dark, it'll just take longer.

In time, she's done. The rune will grant her luck, she forces it to act beyond her capabilities, she needs more than simple luck, she needs something drastic, and she can't let it be a one shot either, she needs to seal the deal... maybe a day or so?

The casting completed, she stands up shaky, she feels her mind reeling from the effort, it will take some time to recover from this. Now, all she needs to do, is to push a confrontation. She'll either be really unlucky or lucky the coming day.

What if she's unlucky? She hesitates as her steps start towards the door, just barely does she manage to push down the fear and bang on the door. The sort of pounding you don't just sleep away. She can hear something moving inside, and soon the door opens. An older man speaks Catalan to her. Great.

"Pardon, sir, I've walked far and I simply need to seek refuge, I'm a lone woman and pose no harm, and I ask that you take me in and have some mercy on me." she says, the words roll out, habitually almost, she knows just how to say it. hoping that he even understand her french.

He doesn't. Her heart falls as she supposes this means a full day of bad luck ahead of her, and what will this old man do now, with her at his door. She starts to turn away, better to get out of here before he decides to get violent or something. But he grips her hand, and smiles. She's confused, honestly confused. Non-malkavian confused. He gives his name "Miquel", and ask for hers as he guides her inside. She gives it.

She lets him guide her inside, and close the door. She looks around, and he lights a candle, the light dances on the bare walls. There's not much in here. The old man moves over to a sofa, and gestures for her to sit... Wait, did the casting work perhaps? He might not speak her language, but he's taking her in!

Sarai takes the offered seat, and the old man starts to chatter away, about what she can't know for sure, but she still needs to make sure she can sleep safely here, how on earth will she explain that with this kind of language barrier?!

There's one way, but this man is old, he might not be interested in a woman like that anymore, and besides, it will not mean he knows to not let the sun get to her.

That's when she notices, there's only two windows in the house, one is boarded up, having been damaged in a storm or something. The one window is in this end, if she were to sleep over in the other end. Yes that'd work.

The man quiets down, he understands by now that there's no understanding between them at all, so he starts to gesture, and she back to him. She manages to make herself understood well enough, sleep, here, not window.

The man is perplexed at first, but they keep talking, he probably wonders how she got there, and she explains that she sought her way to the Pyrenees to live here, away from dangerous men. It's more information than she had to share, but, it does give a good background story to call for aid on.

The man starts talking, he starts talking about something, repeatedly. She tries to explain. Bad men, men with bad power. This makes the man even more excited somehow. And he gets up and goes to fetch something. An old picture, a sketch of a woman, a young woman. His mother? Yes he nods, "mama" is universal enough.

He blabbers on, and she eventually understands, his mother too, sought refuge from evil men. But there was more to is she just can't make out just yet. But this has apparently been the tipping point she needed, he will help her, the way he hoped someone had helped his mother.

----- interlude-----

Sarai and the old man get along swell, the mother, whom she only has seen a pretty basic portrait of, is still the topic of conversation. He tells of Brujah, and she nearly starts to worry that he knows not of witches but of vampires, but, as it happens, it's a Catalan term for witches. not just witches either, the really bad ones.

She wonders, what category she would fall in, is she a Brujah too? She certainly would qualify for evil, according to some. But, what about his mother then? she was different? He also pronounces it a bit differently, "Bruixeria".

"Maman, Brujah?" she shakes her head insistently. The old man agrees, and does the devil horns with his fingers: "Bruixeria!" he remarks more forcefully. The devil? It'd make sense, he gets a lot of credit for witches, so Bruixeria are witches who trade with the devil somehow.

His mother, he tries to explain, some of the words he use now works to simplify the conversation, means something else, "fetilleria" he mentions, a woman who is not a bruixeria.

Sarai knows luck is obviously on her side, so she decides to chance it, if this man knows about witchcraft, it's a great way for her to explain a lot of things.

"Fetilleria" she says confidently and taps on her chest. "I'm a fetilleria." The old man nods, he knows these things, and he pats his own heart, and while she doesn't know what he says, she's quite sure it's something like: "I had a feeling you were."

She nods, they know enough now, and she needs to make a move in here before it's too late. She tries to signal to him that her luggage is still in Canillo, she needs to fetch them and come back if possible. the old man has taken a shine to her so he agrees, he's lonely here anyway, and for some reason he seems to trust her. What terrible instincts he has! As she walks away though, she finds herself worrying about the old man in turn. Not a feeling she's used to, as if, well the things they share is precious, and his life is a very fragile hold on to this thing, this being a witch. By the time she's gone back to pick up her things, she realizes that the rune has worked on her too, good fortune means keeping him safe, well then she isn't going to mess with a good thing.

The luggage is heavy and she wonders just how much she can carry without ruining the "fragile woman" concept she has sold him tonight. She can't get everything perfect, so she pumps herself with blood, and carries the damn bags the whole way back.

After returning, the old man is fast asleep, she understand he's tired and needs his rest so she moves about carefully, stacks her items in a row, and goes to check on the window that's been boarded up, she should make sure that it remains locked, she looks around to find the items he's worked with, and thankfully no hammering is needed to do the work necessary. Then she simply hangs a big blanket over the corner where they decided she could rest, and she puts out her bedroll, such as it is. she lifts the sofa over there too, to have something more to sleep on.

It's all very quick, unexpected and not quite perfect, but she's off to a good start. It's a smug smile on her face as she falls asleep, thinking the world hasn't seen all that this fetilleria can do, just you wait.

The night dusks, Sarai took a bit of a chance, but she should still have a couple of hours of luck on her side. As she gets up, she finds the house empty, she's panicked a bit, because she doesn't know if this means the old man went to get help (because of the corpse) or if he thinks she's a vampire, or maybe he just went to the outhouse.

She hurries to the window and looks outside, seeing nothing, it's a restricted view of course, from the small end of the building.

Since she needs to settle her affairs, she goes out to look for him. Outdoors it's a little bit alive with the spring crashing into everything, a smell of mountain flowers greet her, and she notices a little boquet of flower, probably handpicked by the old man, sits by the front door.

Well that's not something you do for a vampire, unless they are warding flowers... she ponders and goes to touch them carefully.

Nope just flowers.

She smiles and looks around once again: "Miquel? Are you here?" she calls out and sees a figure sitting on a cairn further away, overlooking the village. A little bit puzzled, she walks closer, and she sees him waving her to come closer. He seems calm, at ease, so she too becomes relaxed.

He speaks a few words of Catalan, pointing to the village, something about the roads there she thinks, he smiles at her and she thinks he has been keeping a lookout for some reason.

Oh right, he thinks she is being pursued by bruixerias. How long has he been here? She wonders to herself and touches his back admiringly, the old man takes out a flask, offering. She doesn't know if it is alcohol or anything else, but it matters not unless it's part blood. She waves it away, and he takes a sip.

It wasn't alcohol, maybe spring water? He'd know these hills like no one else, so that makes sense.

"Thank you for keeping an eye out." she says, a little bit hurried on by the ticking clock in her head. He nods, maybe his language skills are a bit better than hers? He takes her hands and looks at her, meaningfully, and talks, a lot about things she can't understand, but she does get that this is important to him, so she listens. He takes out a bound twig, well it's more beautiful than that, it looks symbolic, it can't possibly have any practical use, save swatting flies ineffectively.

He holds it out for her to take, and she takes it, knowing that this is a test of some kind. But unfortunately, she knows not what this means, or what it should prompt her to do.

the old man looks a little disappointed but takes it away, he speaks some more, his mother probably made it, could it be magical? She doesn't sense anything from it, but then, she has no inherent ability to do so, she should have learned Auspex, but hiding is more effective for surviving, and ambushes.

"Look, I was hoping I could stay, but there's a few things about me, you need to understand, I walk the night, mainly and I need you to just wait with an explanation until I can speak to you properly.

The old man looks puzzled at her. he points out to the valley, no. He point to the night sky. Oh he does understand! She nods, realizing that, right now she's on her last thread of time, and she should make the most of it.

So she sits down next to him, and performs another rune carving, something simple, as she can't try anything too far out at this point. She can't think about his reaction, he needs to see this, he needs to understand her power.

So she uses her blood, he is visibly worried at first, but she's not too dramatic about it, rather she takes it easy, meeting his eyes, to let him know she's in control and draws the rune on the top of his hand. He almost refuses, but in the end, his curiosity wins out, and she takes a step back.

He can't know what it means, even if he has a better grasp of language than her. He looks at her, wondering what it means probably, she nods and smiles.

He climbs down from the cairn and it's a dour process with his old body, it seems to have done something though, as she sees him smiling and holding out his hands, there's a lot of talk and she doesn't quite get it, but she thinks he understood. Probably.

He walks back inside, and she follows.