KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
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Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on May 22, 2024 18:31:58 GMT
”Ten years in the Army, that’s impressive.”
Katja smiled faintly at the man, glad that he hadn’t asked why she was no longer in active service. The woman at the library had an hour ago, as if it would somehow make you less capable of finding a book on a shelf. Her curt mention of a medical discharge had seemed to speed the discussion along. There were no positions currently, but they would keep her in mind.
Her brow furrowed a moment later. The resumé she’d handed over as she’d walked into ‘Call me Ted’s’ office was flipped over in his hands like he was looking for something more. ”How about school? What’s your highest level of education?”
She was the one frowning now. Those ten years servicing for this man’s country apparently weren’t enough to handle admin for the real estate office. Either.
”A college degree? If it was down South, it doesn’t matter…”
”No,” Katja managed hoarsely. ”High school only.” She didn’t need to ask if that was enough, he was already sliding her resumé back towards her.
Five minutes later she was back on the sidewalk. Staring into her car, she contemplated quitting her search for the day. She could go back to the … house. Weeks ago there would have been no hesitation. It would have been going home. Now the house seemed to fill with ghosts when she was there alone. The taunting vision of how things had been before that feeling had been shattered. In a few hours Frank would be home, his presence chasing that image back. Maybe she’d be able to talk him into heading to the club with her. Even if he didn’t, she would go. The coming home, slipping into bed she was tempted to burn to ashes, easier when Kit was with her.
Not yet. The stubborn voice in the back of her mind that often sounded too much lie Copacati ground the words out. Quitting had never come easily to her, not even when it might’ve meant setting the shattered pieces of her heart aside. She was a fighter, would fold her fingers around those shards and squeeze them together until they were whole again. Each small problem she solved had to heal it just a little. Getting a job should’ve been the easiest part of that. A way to promise that she there wouldn’t be any more trips for the Order, no thorns of jealousy to work themselves deep enough into Kit to have him seeking some way to get rid of that feeling.
A glance across the square had her sighing. The one place that might have accepted experience over years spent stuck in a lecture hall was the one place she wouldn’t go. Rolling her resumé up, Katja headed for the other end of the square. Leaving Kit adrift, drowning in too much space while she’d been on the road with Bernardo was a far cry from burrowing into every single part of his life. Even when she’d left the house that first time, with the feel of his hands on her skin and the after image of what he’d been doing with that puta warmi seared into her brain, all she had wanted to do was let him draw her back in. Now she had to find a way to do that where she didn’t end up so deep in what each other was doing that they crushed the life out of what she still desperately wanted. A marriage, the future she’d seen with Kit before it had all started to crumble again.
Maybe she could hit Kace up for a job. If anybody would understand, it was him. Reality had to have slammed down just as hard on him as it had on the two of them. It wasn’t like you needed to know about George Washington or Moby D*ck (who had hated the whale enough to call it that, she didn’t know) to serve hamburgers. Again the not yet echoed through her head and Katja kept walking. She could do this by herself, find some independence, and a place noisy enough to keep her mind from drifting back to the moment she had heard the woman moan.
It was a low murmur of sound that enveloped her as she walked into Campbell’s, instead of the heavy thud of music she’d have found at the club. Most of the lunch crowd had probably cleaned out, but there were still people scattered around the bar. They were probably like her – unemployed – although most looked happier about it.
Dark brows furrowed as she slipped onto a stool at the bar. A tall figure, broad shouldered with long dark hair that reminded her painfully of Kit’s, was down at the other end of the bar. Katja smiled as he turned back towards her. ”Hey,” she murmured tiredly. ”Can I have a beer, please?” Her chin lifted towards the taps, setting her resumé on the bar top, Katja propped her forearms against its edge. ”I didn’t realise you were working here. The club wasn’t more your speed?” Kit likely would have hired Raik in a heartbeat – if he didn’t think that blonde who worked in the basement would nibble Raik up and spit what was left out when she was done.
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RAIK DURMAZ
Human
Posts: 124
Age:
36
Occupation:
Bartender
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
You’re as sweet as maple
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 20:00:54 GMT
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Post by RAIK DURMAZ on Jun 11, 2024 19:23:17 GMT
Yet again Raik had been dragged into another one of Remzi’s ‘dope’ ideas. Would he never learn? Remzi’s ideas usually end in chaos and sometimes someone dies. This time Raik had been convinced that opening some kind of kebab shop in Mystic Falls was a good idea. Remzi had pitched the idea perfectly to him, just before ICE knocked on the door looking for Ayla. Remzi magically had some money to put into the business too. Running his own business would be a lot better than bartending. Sometimes he wondered how he’d gone from serving the country to serving barely legal kids in a bar. Their evening together should have just been the pair of them bonding, but someone showed up and started to ask questions about Ayla. Where was she? Was she working? How could they find her? Raik managed to brush them off, but sprinted to the casino immediately afterwards to find Ayla. Remzi was of the opinion it was none of his business. He didn’t give a shit if Ayla was shipped back to Turkey, but the same couldn’t be said about Raik. He couldn’t let her go. He was certainly impaired when he turned up at the casino though. He might have been able to convince Ayla otherwise, but his cover was probably rumbled when he tried to kiss her. Remzi didn’t care about their relationship, so why was Raik trying so damn hard to resist Ayla? His first thought was ‘Fuck Remzi.’ when he made the decision to try and kiss her, but then the sober thoughts hit straight away and he backed off. It wasn’t just about Remzi. It was about Ayla too. He couldn’t put her in such an awkward position. Sometimes when a young person came up to the bar Raik didn’t always I'D them. It depended how busy it was and whether he was in the mood for an argument with some kid. But it was pretty quiet and he knew Olivia was hot on that kind of shit. Just how he and Remzi would have to be hot on food hygiene standards in their food place. He glanced down at the boy's ID before rolling his eyes as he scratched away at the date of birth. Clearly it had been tampered with. “Nice try.” He slid the card back across the bar to the boy before turning back around. The kid didn't even argue it. Once he spun around he clocked Katja sitting at the bar. “Of course.” He grabbed a bottle out the fridge, flicked the cap and placed it on the counter, “The club is too loud. Too many people yelling their orders and everyone is wasted in there.” He was including himself in the last part of the sentence. He’d only stepped foot in the club a few times sober and it was awful. KATJA DE LA CRUZ |
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KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
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Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on Jun 14, 2024 19:17:06 GMT
Katja watched as the boy slipped away from the bar, whatever ID he’d tried to use to buy liquor clutched in his hand. She’d probably only been about his age when she’d had her first drink. Like monks the Order didn’t indulge. There hadn’t been liquor to steal from Copacati, or anybody in the local area who would’ve sold it to her if that was the sort of rebellion she’d wanted. The first time had been around a fire out in the jungle with the men she’d found digging around the place she’d still thought of as home. Sat around a fire with them, a bottle passed off with the joke that it would keep her warm. She hadn’t gotten it then, but now there was some sort of comfort in the warmth that rolled down her throat when she drank and the faint fuzziness that would creep in if she drank enough.
Maybe she should’ve ordered something stronger, but there was a faint chance she’d try a few more places once she left here and she didn’t want to go puffing alcohol fumes in their faces. ”Thanks,” Katja murmured as Raik turned away to get her drink. This wasn’t prestigious like Whitmore, but it seemed as though Raik had managed to settle in here. They’d all managed it – Frank teaching at the college, Kit at the club, although he was capable of so much more than pouring cocktails there, Raik doing the same here. He should’ve been somewhere else too, his time as a medic in the Army worth more than this.
It shouldn’t have felt like those who hadn’t come home alive had found the easiest way out of the Army. Tragedy and violence had cut their lives short, the damage shouldn’t have transferred to those that were left. The scars that had been inflicted on them were worth something, were proof that they’d give almost everything to the job. What did a college degree prove in comparison? That you could sit through an entire class without losing focus or that you could tick the right boxes in an exam? Feeling like something less each time it was thrown in her face, Katja wondered if there was any way to change her situation here.
Katja slanted him a smile, one dark brow rising. ”That’s meant to be the appeal, no? A few hours destroying your hearing, getting too drunk to care that you can’t hear a word anybody says.” It was a chance at oblivion for a while and there’d been times when Kit had taken it. Going back now felt as though she was just there to keep an eye on him, an imposition that didn’t do much to ease the knot in her gut anyway. He’d sworn never and she was determined to wrap her hands around that promise and hold onto it tight.
She picked up the beer and took a long sip. Her thumb tapped lightly against the cold bottle as she set it down. Raik and Kit were way overqualified for the work they were both doing, but they seemed satisfied enough with their decision. ”Is it that different here to there? Drunk people, orders after orders?” Katja asked. She raked her teeth over her lower lip, studying Raik like he’d have the answers to this whole work thing. ”You'd have been working together with Kit if you were there.” As though that would have been the deciding factor. It hadn’t worked out with Kace working there, Kit had been trying to protect him from the dangers that he was willing to face like they would somehow give him absolution for what the crimes he’d supposedly committed. In all likelihood he’d have done the same for Raik, or her, if she’d gone begging. She wouldn’t do it, even if it meant sitting in a house full of the echoes of their mistakes for an eternity.
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RAIK DURMAZ
Human
Posts: 124
Age:
36
Occupation:
Bartender
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
You’re as sweet as maple
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 20:00:54 GMT
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Post by RAIK DURMAZ on Jul 2, 2024 16:52:43 GMT
There was an enormous amount of guilt balanced on Raik’s shoulders when he received his first post with the military. Firstly, he had to cope with his mom crying, telling everyone her first born son was going to get shot the moment he stepped onto the field. She’d tried to beg Raik to reconsider his career choice, but he wasn’t budging. However, it wasn’t just his parents he was leaving behind, he was leaving Remzi too. His brother shook it off, pretending everything was chill, but Raik could read Remzi so easily. It wasn’t chill. He was upset his best friend was leaving him. It wasn’t just a few days either, it was months. The longest they’d spent apart. Then there was the risk Raik might never come home. That hung over the pair of them. It wasn’t just finding a daylight ring that led them both to Mystic Falls, it was everything before that. Sometimes Raik would follow the chain of events. It could be argued it all stemmed from his choice to join the military. If he never joined he and Remzi would never have left Detroit to travel across America. If they never left then Remzi would never have become a vampire and Raik would have never died. It was a loose string of events, but it showed that Remzi was wholly at fault for everything. It was easy to look at them both and think Remzi was holding Raik back from something. At the least bartending welcomed a slow and steady shift, compared to being a medic out during combat. The most stressful thing was when the bar was four people deep and they were short staffed, but that always rolled off Raik’s back. “For the customers yeah, but it’s no fun when you’re working.” When he was with Ayla in the club though the loud music meant he had the opportunity to lean in closer towards her to speak to her. The softness of her voice would ring through his ears, her body so close he could smell whatever perfume she was wearing, her hair brushing lightly against his skin. It would bring him goosebumps. Campbells bar rarely attracted the loud and rowdy drunks. They would usually take that sort of behaviour to the club after sinking a few drinks in the bar. “It’s easier to deal with drunk people here. After a certain hour all those drunk idiots drag themselves to the club leavin’ behind the sophisticated customers.” It was a different clientele. His lips twisted into a smile at the mention of Kit, “True. I’m sure he’d keep me sane over there.” Raik took his hat off to Kit for running things over at the club. Managing somewhere like that couldn’t be easy, especially with what happened downstairs. “How’re you anyway?”KATJA DE LA CRUZ |
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KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
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Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on Jul 3, 2024 17:31:14 GMT
Had reality struck Bernardo as he had driven out of Mystic Falls the same way it had her? She’d never told him what had happened that night, but her return to the apartment after months of spending almost every night in Kit’s bed had to have made it clear that something had happened. There’d been no calls since, no summons home. Katja wasn’t sure if she’d have gone this time if the invitation had come. She likely would have done the day after her heart had shattered in her chest. Walking away from the best thing in her life would have crushed what was left of her heart after Kit’s fist had closed around it the same way it had her arm. Trying to hold her there to make his apologies when she hadn’t wanted to hear a single excuse. No. For all that had gone wrong in Mystic Falls, so much more had gone right, she couldn’t walk away now.
Noise wasn’t something new, but lately it had become what she’d craved. Working at the club would’ve given her that, undoubtedly the same way it had Kit. Too busy to leave you time to think, too much noise for the voices to start swirling around in your head. It hadn’t been enough to keep Kit from slipping while she’d been gone that first time, but for years it seemed to have been helping. At the very least that was what he believed he deserved when it came to rebuilding his life, as though he hadn’t already paid enough for the tragedies he’d suffered through, as though he were to blame for any of them. An office would be tame in comparison to everything that went on there, but maybe, Katja thought with a huff, that would be her penance for what her absence had cost her.
The corner of her mouth lifted a little higher before it dropped. Her shoulders rose and fell in an echo of her expression. ”Not that different to being on deployment, no? With a little less alcohol maybe.” If the noise grew that loud when you were halfway across the world then you weren’t about to have a good time, not unless you were already a little rattled in the head. She’d spent enough time on the other side of the bar at the club to have seen what it was like working on the other side of it. Maybe she could have done it, if it wasn’t for wanting to give Kit his space.
Pale eyes swept over the reflection of the bar in the mirrors behind the shelves of liquor. Campbell’s was quiet for now. Most people hadn’t finished for the day yet, rushing out of their offices to drink away days that had likely been painfully boring. A light chuckle rolled out of her. She picked up her bottle again, gesturing back over her shoulder in the direction of the club. By now they were probably setting up for the night, Kit ordering the bartenders around the same way he’d once given orders to his team. ”Make it somebody else’s problem, hmm? At least they have security there.” Maybe she could have done that instead, what she was capable of hidden in a figure have the size of the men she’d seen working the door at the club. As tall and broad as he was, Raik probably could’ve done the same.
She saw the way his face lit up at the mention of Kit. There were so many who cared for him in this town, men who would have given their lives for him the same way she would. ”He’s good at that,” she said lightly. She had tried to do the same for him when the PTSD struck and Kit’s world shattered. No matter how hard she’d wanted to run from him after he’d shattered her heart, she couldn’t walk away and leave him to that. Katja lifted her bottle at Raik’s question, her smile wan when she lowered it again. ”I’ve been better. Have you talked to Kit lately?” She wasn’t sure how much he would’ve told anyone else about what had happened between them, if he hadn’t mentioned it then she wasn’t about to air his dirty laundry. ”I lost my job,” she said lightly after a moment. ”If you can call working for your mother that. People around here don’t seem in a hurry to hire. You know of any openings?” Maybe she’d just hear the same thing again, but surely she’d have to get lucky at some point.
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RAIK DURMAZ
Human
Posts: 124
Age:
36
Occupation:
Bartender
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
You’re as sweet as maple
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 20:00:54 GMT
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Post by RAIK DURMAZ on Jul 25, 2024 22:13:17 GMT
Was he completely out of his mind to forgive Remzi for killing Katie? The pain of losing her was always going to be there. A dull aching pain in his heart knowing she met a brutal ending because of Remzi. Yet Raik still found it within his heart to forgive Remzi. He was sorry for what happened. It wasn’t one of those bullshit apologies he sometimes gave to people. Like when their mom dragged Remzi around to a neighbours house to say sorry to the little boy he’d pushed off the swing in the playground earlier that day. Raik could have wasted another six months being pissed at his brother, but what was the point? He was always going to forgive him in the end. It was within his nature to do so. He was a man who showed kindness to those who didn’t always deserve it. His mom said it would backfire one day and maybe it had with Remzi. The carnage of the club was a complete type of carnage to being in the field. For starters, no one was on the verge of death in the club (well maybe downstairs but that was a different story). “I’m gettin’ too old for that kind of lifestyle… although you would probably find me there most weekends.” Boredom drove him back there most of the time. If he wasn’t in the club what was he doing? Sitting in his apartment alone. There was something about the security at the club that was a little off putting. Raik could never figure out if they were human or not. They took their job very seriously, checking almost everyone's ID and having a look in everyone’s bags. But one sniff of trouble and they were there. “Some of those security guards are huge.” The type who would drag you out of the club with ease. Kit was the one who shook some sense into Raik after finding him trashed in the bathroom cubicle. Whatever shit Raik was going through it wasn’t worth ruining his life by flying off the handle. If it wasn’t for Kit Raik probably would have called Ayla that night and confessed his love to her. Slurred words would have come flowing out of his mouth with zero filter. Kit was the one who stopped him from doing it. “He’s a good man.” Raik was the lucky one, coming away from the military with minimal mental scars, but that shit took a toil on Kit. He shook his head, “Not really.” A few exchanges of text messages here and there, but he hadn’t seen Kit down at the club for a while. “Oh damn. I’m sorry about that.” Being out of work in Mystic Falls wasn’t a walk in the park. Finding a job was tough. “I can speak to the owner here. See if there’s any jobs. I know a friend who works at the casino too, I can check there.” It would be the perfect excuse to see Ayla too, not that they needed one anymore. He was comfortable enough just calling her to ask if she wanted to hang out. She always said yes. KATJA DE LA CRUZ |
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KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
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Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on Jul 29, 2024 18:40:52 GMT
The club was not her scene. She had left Lima before she was old enough to slip out of the Order’s headquarters to party on the streets in Barranco or Miraflores. There were stories of the clubs there, places where the party didn’t start until midnight. Ayahuasca, each of the rooms of the gutted-out mansion another opportunity to drink, to eat, to party. El Dragón, the name perhaps too on the nose, brimming with live music. Places she had never been to because home had become the bases. A group of men, the occasional sprinkling of women, gathered around the tents, drinking warm beer and the occasional bottle of contraband liquor. Laughter filling the air, drifting on waves of comradery with people in the same ship you were.
From a stool at the bar, Katja had watched Mystic Falls’ young people party. She didn’t have much in common with them, and not just because she was a decade older than most of them. By their age she’d already lost her father and had flown half a world away to avoid her mother. A decade in the army, a year in a cage. How much of that could they understand? How much of what Raik had gone through could they even picture. Serving added years to you that wouldn’t match to what was on your birth certificate (if you even had one).
Katja made a low sound of agreement in her throat, her smile turning into a faint chuckle. ”When there’s not much else to do,” she murmured. When she’d gone there for Kit. It was no wonder she hadn’t crossed paths with Raik there though, the nights she’d spent at the bar outweighed for months on end by the destruction of their relationship. It had been better, easier, to leave the place alone. Living the monk’s existence of the Order instead, ignoring temptations and the cracks in her heart. Bernardo must have known what had happened, but he’d stayed silent about it all. Maybe he was filling Copacati’s ears with it all now, that was happening thousands of miles away though.
”Considering the trouble they have there, they’d have to be.” Katja’s accented words held a trace of humour. If she had talked Kit’s boss into hiring her to work the door the customers would’ve taken one look at her and laughed. Nobody expected anything from a fragile looking women, sure as hell not that she could burn them down to the bone with a single touch.
Sipping from the bottle, Katja tried to see a path through life in Mystic Falls that wouldn’t weave hers too tightly with Kit’s. They weren’t there yet. Taking things easy, slowly, meant that they needed that distance and for as long as Kit needed it, she intended on giving it to him. Her smile was soft as Raik called him a good man, her throat aching as she nodded. ”Si, he is. Better than he gives himself credit for.” He carried so much guilt, enough to drive him to his knees at times.
Her head dipped as he admitted he hadn’t talked to Kit. Not that Kit probably would’ve said anything about what had happened anyway. It just made it a little easier to speak to Raik now, without having to talk about the woman, the fallout of her leaving town for a time. ”Thank you,” she said lightly before Raik stoked hope in the pit of her stomach. ”You think she’d take me on?” Her gaze twitched over the space behind the bar, then up to Raik again. ”I can serve drinks. Anything I can’t put together, I can learn. I’m fast at picking things up. It would be appreciated.” Her brows drew together faintly as she scratched a nail over her bottle again. ”Did you have trouble making the change?” Katja asked quietly. ”Going from what we were to this?” It wasn’t like she’d ever known work like this, a small town life. She’d gone from the village to Lima, a bustling city, to the Army where quiet was the last thing anybody ever expected.
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RAIK DURMAZ
Human
Posts: 124
Age:
36
Occupation:
Bartender
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
You’re as sweet as maple
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 20:00:54 GMT
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Post by RAIK DURMAZ on Aug 26, 2024 20:17:48 GMT
The partying scene in Mystic Falls was nothing compared to Detroit though. Most people burned through their desire to party in their early twenties. By the time they hit thirty they were ready to slow down. One night out would result in three days recovery after that. Raik never had that though. His younger years weren't filled with endless partying and drinking. He wasn’t Remzi. Raik had itched that desire in LA and Vegas though. Remzi made sure of that. Raik’s lips twisted into a smile as he nodded, “There ain’t a lot to do here.” If things were normal in town it would have been the perfect place to settle. It had that tight knit community feeling about it. He wouldn’t go as far as saying people looked out for one another though. They portrayed the town to be like that, but behind closed doors it was every man for themselves. Regardless of what Mystic was or could be, Raik wasn’t going to settle there. The place was filled with too many haunting memories. Every time he spotted the hotel his stomach dropped. He was living side by side with the two people who killed him. They walked the streets as free people instead of paying for their crimes. How could they be found guilty of murder when Raik was still alive? Leah made sure his death was never registered, dragging his body away to sit in a damn freezer for months while they found a way to fix the problems they’d caused. It was interesting to see the amount of bouncers who worked at the club. They acted like they were guarding some top end club in the middle of New York, not a small town nightclub which was mainly filled with students. It still didn’t stop the trouble from being drawn in though and he didn’t even want to know what was going on downstairs. “It’s usually just kids havin’ too much to drink.” They didn’t know their levels. Knock back one too many beers and next minute thinking they were Rocky. Raik couldn’t even start to imagine what hell Kit went through after what happened with Kace. It was the type of trauma that would permanently mark you. He nodded along, agreeing with Katja, “The man is too hard on himself sometimes.” Raik had been there too. After Remzi ‘died Raik spent months telling himself he could have stopped it from happening. Course Remzi didn’t give a shit that he was dead. He loved being a vampire, but never took a moment to think about how it was affecting Raik. He let out a low hum at Katja’s question, “I’ve heard she is lookin’ for people to hire so I don’t see why not.” Especially when Raik gave Olivia a glowing reference for Katja. She would be much better than some of the idiots recently employed. Her question caught him a little off guard. It took him a few seconds to mull over his answer. “If you want me to be honest. Yeah it was hard. Out there it felt I was doing something meaningful. My work mattered. Whereas here I don’t feel that.” There were days where his old life felt like nothing but a dream, “But at least here I’m not riskin’ my life everyday.” His lips curved into a small smile, one that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “How about you?” KATJA DE LA CRUZ |
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KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
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Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on Sept 10, 2024 21:18:56 GMT
Lima should have given her freedom, but by the time she’d hit her teens, it had felt like the opposite. Protective over her daughter in a way she rarely showed, Copacati had laid down so many rules. All she had wanted to do was find her own way, to fly free in every meaning of the word. Instead she was tethered to the Order’s headquarters, expected to one day join them the same way so many others had. The child that had run free in the jungle for years until the hunters had destroyed her life there was still in her though, desperate to be set free. It was only after that she had discovered the fun in the world again. Military men were locked up (or was it down?) in many ways, but they could find liquor and a good time even in the middle of a desert.
Katja chuckled lightly, the sound all too brief. She hadn’t explored as much here as she probably should’ve done, ending up building her life here on a single piece of bedrock – Kit – and now that bedrock was cracked. ”You’re not into galas and carnavalkuna … carnivals?” Peruvians knew how to party, but here it seemed as though the town celebrated something everything single week. She had seen Theo, Freyja and their family revel in the community, Frank too, but something had always seemed to hold her at a distance from it that she should’ve started to close long before now.
What was it that Frank would mutter? I’m too old for this? Unlike him, or Kit, and Goddess her heart ached over it, she would live for centuries, one day ending up as old as Copacati and perhaps as cold inside, the fire no longer burning in her heart. Katja made a low sound of agreement in her throat, not really seeing Raik’s face as the frown settled in on hers. Kids who got drunk and went home with the bartender when he offered, girls who didn’t know what they had gotten themselves into. Although age hadn’t exactly given her any more answers until it had been too late.
Forgiveness had started to filter in almost as soon as reality had. The betrayal had left its scars, but as Kit had stood in front of her asking if she would even want to marry him anymore, she had known that she couldn’t blame him for that anymore than him drinking himself numb, or taking something to chase the memories of what had happened with Kace away. Katja’s smile was sad, then it faded away altogether as she lifted her glass. ”Always too hard on himself, but he’s going to hear it often enough to believe it one day.” Because she wasn’t running away at the first bump in the road for the two of them.
Kit wouldn’t have asked her to take on a job like this for him, wouldn’t have wanted her to put aside the work he’d called important. He would’ve let her walk away, believing he deserved the loneliness and heart ache. She’d stayed put because she wanted to be here, to be there for him the next time he stumbled. This job would be close enough for that and she liked to think she could probably handle it. The corner of her mouth hitched faintly, amusement working its way back in. ”Including people with no experience?” she asked. ”I don’t think grabbing some beers out of a cooler counts.” But she could learn this faster than she could accounting or whatever it was they did on their computers in the offices she’d visited.
”Please,” Katja murmured as Raik asked if she wanted him to be honest. Sugary half-truths only would’ve left her feeling like she was somehow lacking something everybody else here seemed to have. Understanding slipped over her face, her head bobbing lightly as she agreed. There it felt as though she was doing something that might help others save lives. Working with Bernardo here should have been the same, but each time it felt like they only arrived to find death instead. It was easy for hope to slowly burn away under those circumstances.
”The same,” Katja admitted with a little catch in her throat. ”I thought I had something to do that, to help for a while, but the price was too high. I’m glad to be safe, and maybe to have this job, but something satisfying? That would be the cherry on the cake.” Nudging the bottle away from herself, she dug into her purse for a pen and scrawled her number on a napkin. ”For if she says yes. Or you can call Frank’s place.” Not Kit’s number, she wanted to wait until this was certain for that conversation.
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RAIK DURMAZ
Human
Posts: 124
Age:
36
Occupation:
Bartender
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
You’re as sweet as maple
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 20:00:54 GMT
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Post by RAIK DURMAZ on Sept 24, 2024 14:55:43 GMT
They could’ve been dead if they’d continued the tour. Death was literally within touching distance for some of them. No wonder his mom freaked out when he told her he wanted to join the military. Every day, they faced the real prospect of dying. One stray bullet, one untriggered landmine—that’s all it took. Mystic Falls had those strange small-town traditions you’d never see in a city, like the Founder’s Day party or summer galas. Just an excuse for rich assholes to dress up and flaunt their wealth. Raik didn’t fit in, and Remzi definitely didn’t. The whole thing felt forced to him—“Nah, not really. Those galas are just full of people who’ve known each other since birth.” There was the Christmas party that Ayla was desperate to attend, but the location made it impossible. She was asking Raik to step back into the place where he had been killed. Once they left town, Raik sat Ayla down and explained why neither he nor Remzi wanted to take her there. Truthfully, Remzi probably couldn’t be bothered to take Ayla out anyway—they’d never even been on a date. It was Raik taking her out for drinks and dinner. Come to think of it, Raik had never seen Remzi take anyone on a date. Who knows what Olivia thought when she saw Raik’s resume—ex-military, now applying to be a bartender? It was definitely a sharp change in career path. “It’s not hard to pick up. There’s a cheat sheet back here for the fancy cocktails.” He had no idea how to make some of them without it. “Some of the kids working here, it’s their first job.” Just a few weeks ago, he’d seen someone put basil in a mojito. The kids coming into the bar had no clue that the man serving them had once fought to protect their country. Sometimes, it felt like all of that had never happened, like it was just some fever dream. “We can’t have everything… or so they say.” He took the napkin. “I’ll talk to her later and let you know.”KATJA DE LA CRUZ - wrap here? wrap with yours? |
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KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
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Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on Oct 6, 2024 18:58:12 GMT
This hadn’t been the life she had imagined she’d have. Not even after she’d gone with the men from the jungle. A few more decades of working with the military before she moved on maybe, but Katja had never pictured a sleepy little town as her final destination. On the surface it seemed like the sort of place that would have bored her senseless in days, but she had found something here that could keep her occupied for a lifetime. Would she end up some grand old lady (probably not given that she wouldn’t age the way those around her did, including Kit) holding court at those events? Probably not and the thought of it all coming to an end made Katja’s throat ache.
”Not so fun as an outsider,” Katja said dryly, the thought stinking in her mind like a thorn. That might be Theo and Freyja’s life eventually, but not hers. If things managed to heal the way she hoped they would then her life, for as long as his lasted, would be tied to a person not a place. For now Mystic Falls was home though and that meant she had to find some way that she could stay here.
She watched Raik, her gaze ticking from the bar he stood behind, to the ranks of bottles – most of which she recognised at least – to his hands, the ones that were probably just as capable of mixing up drinks as they had been patching up wounds. It might not have been the best fit for her, she certainly wouldn’t need any of the skills that had kept her employed in the army here, but it was work and she’d have someone working at her side who understood.
Katja slanted him a smile before she snorted out a laugh. Maybe there was something pathetic about being on a level with kids who’d probably only just graduated from school, but her pride over it would burn out eventually. ”Sounds like I could handle it. At least I know how to follow orders,” she said lightly. She could always ask Raik questions, or end up talking bar in bed with Kit. Surely he would understand her need to work too, to try and stand on her own two feet here and stop adding more weight when he was trying to stand up on his own. She would always be there when he needed to reach for her, but she wouldn’t be the anchor dragging him down deeper than he could handle going.
Having Raik as an ear to listen had been more help than he probably realised. That quiet wisdom reassuring her that she wasn’t the only one who’d been struggling with the change. They’d all felt it, some of them managing to come around to it before the others, some settling in a way others couldn’t. Katja smiled almost sadly at him. ”But we can try for it, hmm?” she said lightly, knowing that she couldn’t give up on any of this yet. The cracks that remained in her heart would heal in time, maybe others would arrive, but for now she just had to carry them with her and keep trying. ”Thank you,”{/b] Katja said, her voice full of gradtitude. ”It’s appreciated. I’ll … speak to you later.” And fingers crossed it would be good news. She stood, dipping into her purse for the twenty dollar bill she then slid across the bar to Raik. For the first time that day, she felt real hope in her chest as she walked out of a business and headed for her car.
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hope to see you in the discord! 
