It wasn't too complicated to explain. In quick summary, Stephen had come back from the federal prison demanding visitation rights to his daughter, and Colton had been forced, by the courts, to hand her over. One minute, he was an adoptive father to a three year old, with a wonderful home and a supporting family and... It went on. He had everything he had wanted. The next minute, he was the one who received the visitation rights to his niece, his family was in discord over which side to side with, and, well, he still had his house, but it was no longer a home. Now, it had become a monotonous routine, and he just couldn't deal with it.

Two years, and you think you'd be able to get over the death of a loved one. Colton, however, was incapable of such a task. Two things made that worse, though. The recent death of his sister and the suicide attempt of Hannah had just made him hurt more. Death really controlled him. He started to say his "death" was going quite well, adding his own sarcastic and unpleasant twist on his recent turning. And with such negative events happening to his life, he, inwardly, became more and more negative.

Colton had spent a moment looking right down at it; his pathetic life-called-death and everything he had to show for himself. So, he was a single, college dropout who worked at a casino, had no real family to rely on anymore, as his mother was senile and his father preoccupied with her, and everyone else he considered family had too much going on. Celeste was gone. Hannah was gone. Jake was long past gone. His life was gone.

Most negative people take that as a hint, and they throw themselves off some cliff, or bridge, or into a knife, or drown themselves in liquor and cigarettes and pills. Colton had tried a cliff (Well, really, it was just an overpass) and, after walking away from that one, he was tired of trying to die. The death phase was going to end, and now, if he had any say in things.

He was going to start to live. Just a little, perhaps, but he was going to do it.

Colton put together a small list of things he wanted to do with every century he had left on this miserable planet. Travel, of course. Maybe try a steady relationship, but, since he really didn't have any luck in that department, he cut his standards down to just getting laid. Getting more drunk than that Czar of Russia ever was. Yea, he could do that.

But, first, Item one on his list: Finish college.

It was 12:30 in the morning, dark as hell outside, but lightly illuminated in the old Ellis Winter Memorial library. Colton sat in a little corner under an old, dim lamp with the biggest book on Biology as he could find. He had dug out Jake's old reading glasses, and sat hunched over page 209. He had tucked his pencil behind his ear, well aware of how incredibly dorky he looked. He wore some of his most laid back clothes and infamous black Converses, fitting into his old high school/college look quite effortlessly.

Boy, was it good to be back.

"Colt, dearie... It's late. And summer! Hunny, you really should get some sleep."

The librarian, and one of the only people alive he allowed to call him 'Colt'. She was peering over his shoulder, reading over the same information on the Mitotic Cell Cycle as he was.

"I know, Ms. Murray."

"... I have to lock the library down soon. You're the only one in here..."

"I know, Ms. Murray."

"Colt, please... The book will be here tomorrow!"

"I KNOW, Ms.-- Oh, wait... Oh... All right. I'll... I'll just leave this... here... and..." Colton continued reading. He knew the cell cycle well. In fact, that's why he wanted to keep reading. It was his favourite part of the genetics unit. That and using Punnett squares to determine the likelihood of an organism receiving one set of genes, or another, and determining, through said data, what the organism would look like.

After being kicked out of the library, Colton sat out on the stairs and waved Ms. Murray off. Item one: Postponed for the night.


((Open to anyone, but a warning to all the despie girls: He's geeky as hell and doesn't know how to flirt, so don't even try it...))

(ooc: that's fine, Tsuka has her own dating complications)

Tsuka Nitta stepped across a dimly lit parking lot. The air was finally beginning to cool and a breeze softly flowing over her shoulders. She wore a long black skirt that touched her ankles which were bound by the straps of her heels. Her shirt was bottoned at the front and made of soft black silk, embroidered at the wrist and collar. She enjoyed the feel of something thin and airy around her shoulders. Her hair was left to cascade around her shoulders, lifting slightly from the breeze.

She had cut her shift from the hospital that night feeling the urge to walk...walk somewhere. As she left her apartment, she had decided that she should start looking for either a contractor or a half decent house. As lonely and huge as a house felt to a woman who lived alone, Tsuka could add nothing to the stingy damp apartment. At least with her own place she could get some stuff out of storage. She also figured she'd drop off some paper work at the hospital. This was her life...boring, but at least she could occupy herself.

Rather abruptly, the soft breeze picked up momentarily and tore the twelve pages of paperwork from her hand. Cursing loudly in japanese she rushed to chase the pages scattering along the concrete. As she continued, her colourful language became a mixture of both japanese and english. She could not allow these papers to get lost or wrecked. They had names, dates, all kinds of confidential scribbling that Tsuka knew she could lose her license for.

'Bloody hell,' she though, 'I'm not ready to move again.' Fortunately she was able to catch seven as the wind died momentarily. When the wind began to push again, she saw that the remainder of her pages appeared to be flying against a building, the library she believed. She was nearly hit by a car pulling out but continued scurried toward the building, slightly embarassed that there was still someone on the steps capable of watching her antics.

It seemed like everyone had their problems tonight. Colton had started off after the librarian, thinking about his Celeste. Yes, his. Stephen had no right... It wasn't fair, he told himself again and again. And, of course it wasn't. Welcome to Law 101: Nothing in life is fair. Colton had given up so much to be able to take care of his sister's kid. He gave up the job he wanted, and settled for working night shifts at Ace High. He gave up running the Nehim Coven. He gave up fun for that girl, and now, he had everything he didn't want, and nothing he did want. It was ironic, in a way. But mostly just depressing.

Before he could allow himself to get depressed over his current situation, a paper flew out of nowhere and smacked him in the face, trying to flee with the newly sprouted gust of wind. Colton grabbed the papaer and glanced it over quickly. Trash or treasure? It was a medical record for someone named Howie. He needed two shot vaccinations on his next appointment, and... Colton looked towards the sounds of some forign language and footsteps. Some girl, frantically trying to collect the papers she had dropped.

"Here..." Colton offered her Howie's record when she passed. "You need help getting the rest?" They were blowing away quickly, dancing in and out of puddles, and, by the time she collected all of them, there was a good chance half of those still blowing around would be ruined. And Colton could only assume they were important. Like Howie's.

He didn't wait for an answer, but started after one of them. Most had been trapped against the side of the building, but a couple had decided that they really wanted to make a hastle for everyone. Colton grabbed one of the loose ones, before it had a chance to get further, and tried to find any others. She had medical records, meaning she was a doctor. It'd be bad if that record got away from her. Even he knew that.

The other paper had gotten itself stuck in a puddle. Great. Colton picked it up carefully, and brought them back to Tsuka. "I think you can just copy all the information back onto a new paper... It's still legible..." Colton carefully held out the dripping paper, with an expression of saddness on his face. Poor paper. More like, poor her. Hopefully it was legal to do such.


((Ack, sorry about the wait... Been swimming for competition for the las three days,))

Tsuka had wanted to rip the pages from the man's hands, given her present mood. Though she knew that the man was being both polite and kind, not to mention that the wet pages would rip if stressed in any way. The man had also been a great help to her.

The doctor smiled, "Thank you, no. It would be illegal to copy some of these..." Despite being grateful, she grasped the pages quickly, though carefully and held them tight. It was really none of his business these names..."Thank you...thank you...ummm..what's your name?" Tsuka peered at his features in a few discrete glances taken a measure of personality and emotions as was portrayed on the face. She was trained to serve after all...long ago...but what had been taught had been necessary and what was necessary became instinct and instinct never left you. The doctor thought she saw the crinkle in his eyes of stress and she became curious.

This didn't mean that she leered suggestively at any man however...but she came to discern quite quickly what could please a man and usually women in the smallest of ways. She was not servant to anyone now. Tsuka had said many prayers in the hope to never to have a mother-in law, though she had also prayed to bear sons to a samurai family. Unfortunately courtesans rarely had their contracts bought to become consorts let alone wives and peasants, first class courtesan or no, rarely became part of a samurai household. Tsuka would never bear sons, nor a daughter of her own...but she had long since placed that dream in a chest...rarely daring to look at it. The woman had been given so much in return. She had power, she had gained status and now she was in control of her own body, her own future...almost.

"Umm..my name's Tsuka...Tsuka Nitta." She could feel that the man in front of her was a vampire. This usually put her on guard causing her to bristle, but the vampire also seemed much younger than herself, which usually made her assert authority in casual, quiet ways. For some reason she did neither. She was cautious, yes, but nothing different than the usual. She discovered she wouldn't mind the encounter to last longer than the usual five minutes it took to greet another person and be off. Despite this peculiar happening, she reasoned with herself that it was going to be a boring night even IF she managed to meet with a contractor of some kind. The only other item on her list was to prowl around for empty houses that fit to her tastes. Very rare to find such things...even if she bought a house it likely needed to be refurnished and all. What was a brief meeting going to do to her night other than add something new in her life?

Tsuka smiled again, showing the faintest glimmer of teeth and held out her hand in a small, efficient movement. She reflected that shaking hands was a rather peculiar habit that belonged to those of European descent and how long it had taken her to become comfortable with the odd justting of hands flying towards her or initiating the custom with her own hands. So ungraceful sometimes. She felt like she should be holding some kind of fan, making the gesture as if partaking in some kind of dance. The woman smiled a little more as she listened to her own ridiculous thoughts weaving past.

Colton was just as quick to let them go. Of course they were none of his business; he was the curious type, especially when it came to things he wasn't supposed to look at in any great detail. He nodded at her comment about legality. He really didn't know much about the legalities of being employed in the medical field. He knew his sciences as to be employed in the teaching field. Besides, there was really nothing for him to say. Apologizing would seem like he had done a fault here, when he had just tried to help... But saying nothing just made him seem dispondent. So he nodded.

"Oh, I'm Colton..." He was about to leave it at that, but when she shared her last name, he awkwardly blurted out his. "Colton Holstien... Er. Sorry about your papers." There he went, apologizing. The awkwardness of the previous silence just proved too difficult for Colton to ignore. He's fickle like that.

His personality, seeming timid and confused, clashed greatly with his body posture. While she should have the authority here, being the eldest of the pair, he held himself in a manner that was near fearless. She didn't scare him. In fact, nothing in the area did. But, no, he looked comfortable, like this was his usual posture. Like he was usually this fearless. While some may pass that off as the fact that he was still very near a teenager in age, and thinking that he would never die, someone so keene as a doctor would be able to see that that was not the case. He was comfortable with random strangers. He could sense her as a vampire, and he could sense her age. And still, he did not seem worried.

When she offered her hand, Colton blinked. Seemed someone else was unaccustomed to such a tradition. But Colton, ever a gentleman, took it firmly and shook. "Nice to meet you, Dr. Nitta." He smiled back, chosing an informal name over a friendly one. Besides, certain people liked to have their title always spoken. It showed what they had achieved in life. Knights prefered 'Sir.' Doctors prefered their equivilant. It also showed he was conscious of her achievement, and in an almost longing way.

If he were in her shoes, he'd change his entire name to doctor. Like she had her dreams, his was to get a doctorate in something science. And, like hers, his dream was out of reach, hidden in a little chest he dared not open. But he longed, it was true. He longed to finish everything he had started with school, to achieve his goal. Perhaps, one day, they'd both have what they wanted, in some round about fashion that neither of them would ever expect.

She smiled, she wasn't so sure why, but she smiled. As a matter of fact, she wanted to laugh out loud. She was proud of her young kin and his respect for others. No one had ever made a point of addressing her with respect outside her stone walls of bleached white. No one would care. She loved the look in his eyes, the innocence that one sees in another, wheter they were truly innocent or not, that was not truly lost until one had reached their first century of immortality. Though she believed there was also a look that said not all his experiences were so child-like as she would imagine. Had not her eyes looked as dark as a mortal, or even as a young vampire without guidance?

Flicking her eyes in his direction, she admired his posture, his facial features. He was pleasing to the eye, but her attraction was still drawn to the polite way he referred to her. She was touched. She was pleased.

Giving a bow, much more comfortable to her, she began to speak. "Please, you do me honour with your mannerisms. Because of this, I ask the you call me by more familiar terms. Please, I am Tsuka...and thank you again for rescuing my papers." She paused unsure of what to say but unwilling to leave the conversation. "Mr. Holstein, with all respect, what brings you out here this night?"

She felt foolish for delving into personal matters, but at the moment, the night was one of few things which she shared with her kin.