Akio stumbled into the bar wearing a open black button down shirt. He had ripped jeans on that were a little bloody. He went over and sat in a cornwer booth. He scanned the bar looking for a waitress. He didn't see any.
"Worst bar i been to"
He walked over to the counter.
"Give eme a beer and some nuts"
"Ay. WE don't let gays in this bar." He heard the man beside him say.
"YOu better piss off man. Or else."

Any bar, at least in Damon's opinion, at the moment was a good bar so long as there was alcohol to nurse while he was grading these worksheets he had assigned the passed week. He knew he was in for a long night when he had first looked at them and noticed, without actually reading the answers, that few of these children were going to get decent grades. Seriously. How did half of them get that far in life?

Taking at the bar itself, he pulled out the binder he kept all the papers in and a red pen, then loosened the white tie he wore over his black suit and said to the bartender, "A Kanizsai Kinizsi please" in his heavy accent that even after spending twelve years in London he never really got rid of. Generally he prefered the beers of his homeland to stuff made elsewhere but he supposed that that was because of the bias he was raised with back in Budapest. He barely noticed the man who sat beside him until there were some harsh words exchanged. Perhaps, he decided, it would be a better idea to move to a different seat.

Still, as long as it was only a verbal argument there was nothing to be worried about and so he started his work on grading the worksheets, his experienced eyes finding mistakes quickly and his red pen flying about the page to mark them. He kept his ear open for any further ruckus caused by these men but outwardly seemed to pay them no heed. The bartender should return with his beer, even if it was imported, relatively shortly. After all, this place most certainly seemed to be a busy one at this time of night.

Full and content with the blood of another rushing through her veins- Carina relaxed as she walked. The feeding had been rather clean- unlike usual, but Carina hadn't really felt like ruining her new clothes.

Carina hadn't planned on going out tonight, until she realized she had nothing better to do. What else was there for her but to experience new highs? New risks? New adventures? The streets and the murmurs of the living called to her. And she answered with quite a bit of flair and frequently with a flash of fang.

The petite woman brushed long black painted fingernails through spiked brown hair, her icy blue eyes almost warm as she entered the bar- smiling if only for a moment at the warmth that greeted her from inside. Blood. Livelihood. Her sustenance. her entertainment- if only for the night.

She wore black skinny jeans complemented with black pointed (but not too pointed) heels and a light blue tank top with only emphasized her snowy eyes within a paler but flushed face. She had already had a bite tonight. now she was just looking for some fun. And Carina's idea of fun was certainly far from the norm.

She walked up to the bar and ordered two shots before she noticed him, his large but fitting nose bent over papers, red marks gracing every single one. She arched an eyebrow as the bartender set the shots before her.
"You are a tough grader aren't you?" she inquired, her voice matching the wintry essence of her eyes. it was something cold, but not altogether ugly. For icicles are cold but nevertheless they are majestic, fragile, and beautiful in their own way.

Damon nearly jumped when a woman spoke to him, especially since he had not been expecting it in a place like this but managed to avoid blotting the page he was grading. This was one of the smarter brats. He had gotten everything right, at least until this point. But then again, the teacher thought, he shouldn't be surprised if someone spoke to him. It was a bar.

"I can be considered so to the students who think they can simply float through my class," he answered this woman in his heavy accent, a rather cold looking woman whose smile spoke of pure mischief or perhaps malicious intent. He recognized that look easily, especially since he experienced it often amongst the faculty members he showed up with his harder but better quality classes. "I may be a high school teacher but I expect my students to learn something in my class. It is a novel idea in this part of the world, I know, but it is not so rare in my country."

He finally got his drink, his heavy and tasty Hungarian beer, and paid for it right away before taking a long sip. Its rich taste and strong alcohol made him feel better and a little more relaxed though the alcohol itself had not taken effect. "You are well dressed tonight. Did you have a date?"

Carina couldn't help but smile at his reply.
"You may be a high school teacher eh? And that means what? That you're less of a teacher." She shrugged. Honesty had always been something she had valued. It also had been something she had vowed to never forsake. It was the lies that had killed her family. It was the deception and the blindness of her home country.
She tried not to lie. She never let her victims believe they were going to live if they were not. True she played with her food but it was all in honesty. She never really let them think they were going to get away....

"A high school teacher isn't less of anything. Best teacher I had was a high school teacher-" she murmured. "Of course- I was schooled in Germany but that was- well," she frowned, "In your country it is less rare huh? Where are ya' from then?" she asked, her eyes locking on his for a moment in gentle scrutiny as she finally heard the heavy accent in his voice. How had she not noticed before? Distracted? By the warmth? Yes? Hopefully. She wouldn't make that mistake again. Alert. Had to stay alert at all times. Carina was a predator after all.

"So what do you teach- I was always a biology fan until my parents died," she looked down for a second- trying not to let her anger get the best of her. "and then I became a little bit more of a history buff. Certain events called for it-" she murmured afterward as a bit of an afterthought. She was quite sure this man would never understand. He never could and he never should. He was just a mortal after all. What was so special about him? huh? Why the hell was she even talking to him?

His beer arrived and she smirked at the large glass before downing both her shots and ordering another, sliding cash across the table- not even bothering to look at the bill. Carina felt a genuine laugh escape her throat as he asked if she had been on a date.
Carina shook her head and bit her lower lip to stop the ridiculous noise that didn't quite fit with her cold eyes. but it really was laughable!
"I'm not the trusting type- therefore boyfriends don't usually happen."

A high school teacher less than someone else? He smiled at the remark. He supposed he felt that way some days, especially today. "We high school teachers are not paid enough for our hard work in trying to get the teenagers of today to learn anything. Now, to make matters worse, whenever a large number of students fail my class, I have to give everyone a curve so the majority pass. I find this cheapens the grades of those who have earned passing marks but there is nothing I can do. Parents hold more power than we do in our own classrooms it seems."

He took another sip of his rich beer. "As for where I am from, I am Hungarian. We do not get along with the Western European countries very well. I studied for a bit in England though and I teach Biology now." Dark eyes glanced at the papers that the red ink showed through. "Or rather I am trying to teach it. Sometimes I despair for the future of this country."

But then she said something about not being a trusting type. Damon couldn't say he was surprised. Few women were trusting these days and they had good reason not to trust. Many men he knew from work would often speak about using women for one night stands without an ounce of regret. He felt bad for those ladies but could not bring himself to reprimend these morons. After all, he was not their mother. They were free to do as they wished without interruptions. "I would not be very trusting if I were in your shoes either, mi'lady. This city is full of pigs.'"

Carina's eyes flicked up to his with a sincere interest as he spoke.
"true," she agreed. they weren't paid enough. "Hell, you couldn't pay me to teach kids-" The German laughed and it almost reached her eyes. "Not my bag, I'm too impatient." she added with a smirk.

Carina downed another shot and slid the empty glass back, barely feeling the warmth of the alcohol buzz through her system. Not strong enough. But she knew what would get her drunk- it contained erythrocytes and leukocytes.... not alcohol.

"Hungary... really- what part? I'm from Berlin actually-" Carina looked to him- as if to search for a familiar face but there was none. They were all gone. Just she and her brother were left. That was it.

And they were alone. Moreso than ever before.
Two little indians sat in the sun. One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One little indian sitting all alone....

"Well, you can't change the parents and you can't change the system- and if you're so frustrated with it- why don't you just quit and leave? Find someplace better..." she suggested, tapping her fingers aimlessly on the counter of the bar, waiting to feel the shots but she couldn't. So- she gestured for another. Why couldn't she feel it. You know, when she had walked in here she had been ready to play- and now- now this schoolteacher was depressing her! but he was interesting- she had to give him that. Well, interesting for a human.

That was harsh.

But what else was she supposed to be? Kind. Kind was not what humanity had made her. They had made her into a monster. her sire did not make her a monster. Humanity did. They did- the world did- when they turned blind eyes on her starving mother! However, Carina was genuine- and in her own way- fragile. she wasn't all powerful. She was young and prone to fits, lapses of control. And she had to master it- she simply had to. And that was what Hale was for- to make her into something that didn't feel anything, To teach her control.

This city is full of pigs?

She smiled and in her eyes something flickered in jest.
"Oh there are many more horrors than pigs on the streets of Demaitre. i think I would say that the pigs are the least of my worries," she paused and looked him over. "Do you always do work in your spare time?"

She was curious. Unusually so.

Where was he from, he laughed softly and ran his fingers through his black hair. "I am from Budapest, the capital of the country. It was most certainly not the best place to be during the war for my people but we didn't have much of a choice. We may be nomads but we must still be understood."

Turning back to his papers he leaned over them, still participating in the conversation and drinking while he finished up his work. He wanted to have this coming weekend free to do something. A pretty co-worker had asked him to go with her to a play. He thought it was a worth a shot to be more social.

"And if I could quit teaching entirely I would but... well... I made a promise to someone to keep teaching and so I do." Marie had loved children and enjoyed helping him come up with games that the children could play to help them learn the material. It was a shame they never got to start a family of their own. "There is no place better for my work than here, at least for now. I wanted to get away from London for a while and this was the furthest place I could bring myself to go."

He heard the lady order another shot and swallow it but when he glanced at her from the corner of his eye he was surprised to see she looked as sober as she always had. Either she was able to hold her liquor extrodinarily well or she had a liver of steel, so to speak. "I dont always work when I have free time but I have an appointment with someone tomorrow and I would feel bad going after having neglected my work." He blinked as he turned the page and paused. "Speaking of which, if it is not rude to ask, what is it that you do for a living, mi'lady?"

Carina sighed and leaned against the table- one slender hand holding the light weight of her head- her fingers cold as they touched her tender cheek. A faint smile crossed her lips but just as quickly it disappeared in a ghostly fashion.

"Promises huh? I've made those- however, I find that all they do is torment. A memory of something a wish to forget- a duty I cannot abandon." The smile returned and her eyes seemed to be seeing something else for a moment and not the dingy bar they were seated in.

Smoke. Smoke. Smoke. Her mother's face. The howling wind. The frigid winters. The Blockelteste. The rations. Her bones. The starvation. The liberation. Death. And a promise to her mother- a promise to live. and here she was- living forever- reeking vengeance as brutally as the Angel of Death.

Maybe more so- for she did not only take the first born. She didn't discriminate at all. If the Nazis had taught her anything.... they had taught her that everyone deserved to die for one reason or another. Hell, she deserved now it for all her atrocities.

And this man? What had he done? Live a simple life? Make a few promises?

Why the fuck did she care?

She didn't. She was just curious. That was all.

She blinked and finally she was seeing his face again, watching his eyes with an odd interest. She arched an eyebrow. "You have an appointment on a Saturday? My my all work and no play...." she scoffed, a teasing twist to her lips. "You should live a little." This coming from someone who was dead!

"I teach a Tae Kwon Do class at the gym in the city." she said, her voice even and controlled, even adding a little lilt. "That's why the pigs on the streets don't bother me so much. I've been fighting since I was able." And that was true. As soon as she had gotten out of that god-forsaken camp she had begun to fight- eating and training until she found her brother and he turned her. That was when her strength really took off- and that was the beginning of the end for all those who had ever laid a hand on her dear mother's head.

He wanted to laugh when she misinterpreted his "appointment". "It has nothing to do with actual work," he explained, drinking a little more of his beer. "A co-worker asked me to go with her to see a certain play. It's not a date and I wasn't sure what to call it." He went back to grading his papers though he couldn't say he was too surprised to learn that this dangerous looking beauty was the type to teach martial arts. She may be beautiful but something told him that she would be the type who would relish in bloodshed should she be betrayed.

"It is interesting how different things are here. In Budapest, at least the are where my people lived, we were very traditionally taught. Women were not lesser, now don't misinterpret me. They were simply people who stuck to working with the more delicate and asthetically pleasing aspects of life while the men handled the physical labor. A teacher such as yourself in that small part of Budapest would have been exceedingly rare."

Carina flashed him an amused smile as he corrected her.
"My mistake," she replied, her voice smooth as she began to feel the warmth of the liquor. A few more and she might actually be almost happy. "A date." she arched an eyebrow at him. "Sounds like a date to me," she teased. "I could never date anyone I work with- It'd be too awkward.... especially if things went badly or I found out something unpleasant- That wouldn't make for a nice work environment- nope. I like to keep work separate- as professional as I can."

Carina shrugged once more and sipped a fifth shot? Was it five? She didn't bother to count anymore.

His long nose bent down as he returned to his work. She watched him, her icy eyes following the red marks with a sharpness that she shouldn't have. Hell, with her size she should be falling over dead by now. Oh wait- she'd done that already. She was dead.

"Yes.... I suppose it is odd that I teach what I do. Even here however, I am one of two female teachers at the Dojo. And as for rare, well.... I'd like to think I'm one of a kind." Carina flashed the teacher a small smile a flicker of something once alive yet now gone. A soul. "As an adolescent I was treated as inferior. I suppose I'm just out to prove them wrong."

To fight.
Because that was what she was.
A cold hard bitch of a fighter.
She wasn't delicate- why would she ever desire a delicate job? Carina had a cold yet passionate nature that longed for action- longed for any kind of sustenance. Longed for something.... that she had not found yet. Not yet.

However, she was fragile in her own way- as breakable as an icicle when pushed by the right words or actions. And she did have her loyalties- her friends. they were few in number, but still existent.

"But really- can you see me as a housewife?" she asked with an interested smirk, leaning on the bar to cross one slender leg over another.
She blinked.
"I'm Carina Durr."

She hadn't meant to say the words. But she had. she even told him her last name. she didn't do that often. She frowned and sipped her shot before finishing it. He was a pathetic little human. What use could he be to her for more than entertainment? how could just talking to him be interesting? She was so much better, stronger, able...

Had she really come so far from the camps to think that?

He listened to her talk with mild interesting, his red pen circling error after error before writing a single number at the top of the page abd circling it before moving onto the next one. He was a fast grader and efficient as well. There would be no mistakes on his part. There never were.

A housewife? He chuckled at her suggestion. "If you were to ever become a housewife, I would fear for your husband," he said smoothly, pausing and looking to her as he finished off his beer. "I get the impression your frustration of living at home would lead to rather, rough ways to relieve that boredom." He doubted she was a sadist, perhaps not that far, but she seemed like someone who would enjoy returning her torment upon the one who inflicted it on her.

Then she introduced herself. Carina Durr. "A lovely name you have," he said with a sly smile, "though it is not nearly as lovely as you are. I am Damon Harbinger. It is an utmost pleasure to make your aquaintance."

An unexpected and soft laugh escaped Carina's throat and she turned her clear eyes to him again, faking offense.
"You'd fear for my husband?" she mocked, eyes wide. "How unpredictable do you think I am?" she paused. "Rough ways, huh?" she added with a little smirk, her eyes flashing with their usual mischief.

My, my, my he was perceptive. Maybe that was why she was still giving him the time of day?

Carina glanced at his now empty beer glass as he spoke:
"A lovely name you have.... though it is not nearly as lovely as you are. I am Damon Harbinger. It is an utmost pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"For a compliment as cheesy as that Damon, let me buy you a drink." Carina offered with a sly smile. She motioned to the bartender and slid cash across wood as the tender poured a new glass.
"It's nothing...." Carina murmured with a shrug of her shoulders as she ran a hand through her short hair, ruffling it artistically.
"Lovely? Can't say I've been called that before. Might be a little too gentle a word for me- I am a martial arts instructor you know--- not Little Bo Peep," she joked.

"And besides- you have a date. You probably shouldn't go around calling people lovely-" Carina arched an eyebrow. "You could make a bad name for yourself in this city- I don't think you'd want that-" she teased. Something about the way he spoke made her wonder- made her want to get under his skin- made her want to figure just what made him tick....

Did she give a damn? Or was it purely curiosity? A little of both?

"So," she initiated, eyes casting down to watch the red marks of his hand soar across the pages. How many students did he have? Must be quite a lot. But he looked almost done- but what did Carina know? She wasn't a teacher- well, not in an educational sense.
"What part of the city you live in? I live by St. Anne's cemetery. It's actually really beautiful at night- if you're into old catacombs and such...." Carina smirked.

He chuckled at her response to his compliment. It was not to unusual for him to use a little flattery in introductions. However, he was a man from mainland Europe, a gypsy at that, and so it was not so uncommon for such a thing to be interpeted as cheating by someone. "I don't think this outing with a co-worker qualifies as a date but if you insist," he reminded her, amused when she hought him another beer but instead of addressing it finished his work.

Within a few minutes more he had completed grading the about ninety worksheets on idiotically simple biology in his opinion and of the ninety students, only ten of them got an A on this assignment. It most certainly depressed him enough to warrant a drink.

"I dont have much of a reputation here to maintain anyway regardless if it is good or bad. An aging man with my history probably should be lucky he has a reputation at all." Well, he wasn't that old yet but he was most certainly working on it. He closed the binder and slipped both it and his pen back into his bag that rested now on his lap. "As for where I live, it's a small apartment not far from the school where I work. Walking or taking one's bike is always healthier than driving."