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[h2][color=#63B8FF]Vera[/color][/h2][/center]

[hr][center][h3]~8AM | MT ARAPILES | CAMP GROUND[/h3][/center][hr]

[color=#63B8FF]"It is as good of place to start as any,"[/color] Vera agreed with a shrug, throwing a glance at Catherine and trying to discreetly catch her eyes. She was fond of the nun. For all their differences. From one thief to another, was a thought she seldom voiced.

Squatting low, Vera ran a hand through the grass below her, grasping dirt between her fingers, as she waited. Some of the magic of traveling was lost in the supernatural way the Reapers were transported to the realm of the living. Vera missed trains. She missed the grimy metro stations. She missed the old Soviet art. She missed the ugliness that had seeped through the cracks. She missed Moscow.

Memories, rarely welcome memories threatened her thoughts. Frowning Vera stood up, fishing out a fresh pack of cigarettes and her battered lighter. She looked around, fingers moving thoughtlessly. [i]Australia[/i]. She had never been to Australia. Too far. Too warm. Too clean. She had always wanted to see a kangaroo. Maybe there would be time, but somehow she doubted it. Covering the flame of her lighter with a hand as she lit the cigarette, Vera studied the other reapers.

A strange mix, but not a bad one. She had known many people in her life like Amelia, adrenaline junkies, degenerate gamblers, and thrill seekers with a death wish. She did not mind. Such people were useful, so long as they were pointed in the right direction. And so long as you were not to close to them when they race out of control. Death had mollified many of her concerns. What was death to a reaper, other than a familiar condition? 

There was something familiar about Ogawa. She did not know him well, but she felt she might understand him. They were the same. She thought she saw it in his eyes. She recognized the gaze, the watchfulness. She appreciated the suits. In life, they might have been cautious enemies, but in death, they were simply reapers.

Lena was a mystery. She was a social creature Vera knew. She had been to several of her work functions. Mixers as the motherly reaper liked to call them. There was a warmth to her that Vera found pleasant. And an excuse to drink was always welcome. Even in death, Vera found vodka loosened her tongue, and made her smile.

The nun amused her. Catherine was not what Vera had expected. The sisters of mercy she had known in her life were older, less pretty, and far less fun. She didn't pry. She didn't bother Catherine about her past. Some questions were best unasked. Some things were best unspoken. Midnight philosophy was a safe topic. Religion an oddly shared interest. Superstition came easy to thieves. Religion was not far from superstition, she had often thought.

The green of the landscape had faded into the burnt colors of fall, the shrubbery matching the color of the rock formation that loomed in the distance. Vera didn't get it. Rocks. Rocks didn't interest her. Climbing big piles of rocks smashed together across the eons didn't appeal to her. She preferred the seaside. She preferred the city. Covering the flame with a hand as she lit the cigarette, Vera relished the fire that burned her lungs. Tabachnaya Fabrika No.1 Leningrad had been a good place. A good time. Not better. Maybe simpler. The sides were clear. The stakes were obvious. Or so she liked to think. The old timers knew better, but she had found few of them in Decibitus.

Pulling on the cigarette and exhaling smoke Vera felt relaxed again. Fond of generosity, she held out the cigarette pack to the other four reapers and offered each a cigarette with a nod. There was no reason to be unkind. There was no reason not to share. They were comrades. Comrades of a sort. Trapped, perhaps by choice, perhaps not. Tied together by the strange gems they carried and common purpose. And death, always Death, Vera could feel the unmistakable hands of Miss Death conducting the symphony from afar.

Turning towards, Catherine, Vera offered a smile,[color=#63B8FF]"Shall we pray before we hunt down this wayward wisp, Sister?"[/color]

[@Yankee][@Lasrever][@King Cosmos][@canaryrose]