New Neighbor

The box wasn't so heavy when she'd dragged it out of the car, but carrying it up the flights of stairs to her new almost-home was proving tiresome.

So tiresome that, coupled with the fact that she'd gotten caught in the sun for just a second - giving her a bit of an overly roasted sunburnt look - she nearly tripped over the woman standing at her door knocking furiously.

She leaned the box on the railing next to her, then wiped her hands on her mid-thigh denim shorts.

With a smile, she pleasantly introduced herself. "Hi! I'm Connie. I'm trying to move in here. I hope the workers aren't bothering you, I know they keep odd hours. Then again, so do I..." She stuck out her hand, neatly manicured, only slightly dirty from carrying the box. She was partially glad her accent hadn't stuck out the way it had with the contractor, but then, she was kind of tired...

Startled by the comments behind her, Nyra jumped and stopped knocking. "Nice to meet you Connie. I'm Nyra, I am renting the unit next to you."

Nyra shook Connie's hand gently but not limply, she noticed the large box and asked "Can I help you with that? Moving in can be so difficult."

She decided to broach the topic of the skylight after the poor woman was able to put the box down inside her unit. Stepping back on the landing more towards her door she gave Connie room to get to her door, through all the construction happening.

Connie was a bit surprised; the woman had a pretty strong grip - for a human. Her palm and fingers were uniquely soft; much like an artist she'd known decades ago. "Unfortunately, it's a hardship I'm quite used to... Moving around every couple years you kind of get used to it. It's a pleasure to meet you, Nyra."

She released Nyra's hand and caught the box as it started to lean precariously. "I also take more with me from place to place than I probably should, but then, sometimes there's things you just can't leave behin', ya know? Come on in."

The box measured twelve by twelve by nine; she moved past Nyra with a thankful smile, and was pleasantly surprised by the progress the men were making. "Like the books. Bit of a collector. Trashy romances. You'd be surprised how much it hasn't changed over the years."


She set the box on a pile of similar containers near the kitchen, then turned to her guest. "Drink? Beer, water, milk, tea, apple or tomato juice? I'm a bit of a beverage lover." Connie had to restrain herself from staring; the somewhat shorter Nyra possessed luscious curves that tickled two completely different and yet somewhat related fancies - not only was she an attractive and sensual woman (and probably didn't realize or flaunt it), but the hemomaniac in her detected a strong pulse, sensed the heat coming off her new neighbor. Yes, this is a very interesting development and Connie knew she would be in for a unique time.

She glanced around. "Of course, I could also help you with the groceries I noticed you left near the stairs, and I imagine it's a might less noisy in your place."

Connie's eyes suddenly widened in embarassment. Her accent came out; that touch of southern twang plucked at her words as she apologized, "Not that I would be so presumptuous as to invite myself to your place, but..." She stopped, blushing.

"You don't happen to see the crowbar one of the gents left layin' round here? I need it to get my leg out of my mouth."

Nyra followed the taller woman inside 26A marveling at how dexterious she was. If that had been herself the box would have landed on her toe, her new neighbor and the ground, repeatedly already.

"Books are lovely but since I am only here a month I figured I could use the library here." Her eyes widening at the mound of boxes already piled up.

"Thank you so much for the offer, I am fine though like you said, I do need to get my groceries inside." Nyra took a moment to look around.

"Oh no worries! I would say from the looks of things you might just be better off coming on over. I could whip you up some dinner if you are hungry?" A pleasant smile was firmly in place as she made the offer.

Dinner would be the perfect time to gently bring up the disfigurement of the beautiful skylight. Of course because her lease is temporary she doubted her opinion would carry much weight.

Connie smiled graciously. "I could eat. Hotel food kind of gets old after a while, and there's really no substitute for a good home cooked meal. There's more love put into it, ya know?"

Smiling still, she said, "Your invitation is most gracious." She flushed again.

"Excellent! I love to cook so lets go over to my place and get started before midnight" Nyra said laughingly.

Walking to the door she noted the screens over all the large windows. That was odd but if Connie was a night owl then it was probably what she needed. Though perhaps a different abode would have sufficed, but to each their own.

She skirted the ladder, with the workman still hanging brackets on the ceiling, and unlocked her door. Her bags were quite sturdy and had not let any of her groceries escape like those silly plastic bags were wont to do. Rolling the door aside she turned to Connie "Please come on in and make yourself at home."

Knowing her neighbor would need time to lock her own door she made her way into her kitchen and began unloading the canvas bags.

Connie wondered if Nyra was as much a morning person as she seemed to be, especially with the "before midnight" crack.

As she entered her neighbor's abode, she noticed all the windows were wide open, but thankfully, the sun was not a threat to her, being so late in the day.

Her eyes danced around the room. She spied the art scattered around the loft.

"You know, I had guessed you were an artist from the amazing softness of your hand... I see now I was right."

She followed Nyra into the kitchen, but kept a bit of distance. "You sure you don't need any help? I'm a fair hand in the kitchen, too, but then, each woman has her own organizational style."

It was light in the apartment but since the windows faced mostly East the last few faint rays of sun were almost as bright as moonlight.

"Everyone always says that about my hands. I guess that turpentine really keeps them soft." she giggled. "You can definately help by telling me if you have any food allergies or specific dietary needs?"

On the counter was a growing pile of fresh veggies and fruits.

Connie was caught short by Nyra's request. Dietary needs? "Sure, I'd like a pint or two... withdrawn directly from your neck..."

But she held her tongue, and instead affected a pretty bad English accent. "I'm bloody well easy to please," she claimed, then giggled. In her "normal" voice she continued, "No, no special dietary 'needs.' Thank you for asking, though."

Giggling Nyra started the meal. "You never can tell now adays. Personally I dont eat any animal by-products so tonight its Lemon Tofu with Brocoli over Brown Rice Fussili."

She got to her task of chopping onions, zesting lemons before juicing them, putting pasta on, making cute little brocolli florettes. Once the veggies were read and the pasta boiling she cubed some tofu and tossed it into a pan with the onion and 1/3 of the zest and juice to saute.

"Please feel free to look around, only the canvases on the easel are a bit tacky still but everything else should be safe to look through." She waved vaguely at a stack of several paintings leaning against a wall.

"I'll make sure to be careful," Connie promised.

She walked over to the piles of paintings against the walls, stacked neatly. They mostly seemed to be grouped thematically.

Sunrises filed the first "pile." Over a bay, over a mountain, over Nachton itself. A brook with lots of trees with the sunlight filtering in in strips of golden color. A sunset over a tire swing. A darkened shack with the first purple and gold lights of the sun arising and a small rooster in the dirt yard.

Sunsets filled the next; ships in the bay - tankers, shippers, and a falling sun deep between the skyscrapers of the city. A bridge with the sun dipping below the road level. A sandy beach with both the moon and the sun prominent. A view from someone's porch, with the sun setting, in the distance the flash of lightning could be seen.

The back of the sunset stack held somewhat darker-themed pieces. A dead tree standing stark in the sunlight that was not gold but had more of a sickly green tint. A trellis of flowers with another sickly sun, flower petals on the ground.

Connie turned and caught Nyra's attention, then walked back to the kitchen as the other woman worked. "You're not Nyra McGurn, who has dozens of bright sunny paintings in the Art Museum, are you?" She looked her hostess up and down. "You are! Such an honor, really. I'm living next door to the city's most famous landscape artist! I'd ask for your autograph, but it just wouldn't be kosher, now would it. And besides, I'd rather have your friendship to remember you by, than your signature."

Connie smiled widely at Nyra. She lived next door to one of the cities foremost and famous vampire-themed artists, and she didn't even realize who the majority of her clientele were. She was just too pure, too innocent to realize it. Her mind was torn - though she did occasionally enjoy dampening a little innocence now and again, would that destroy her artistic vision? She wasn't sure she wanted to find out. She did already seem to have a decent grasp of the darker sides of vampire tastes, though...

That didn't stop her from thinking about how good Nyra was with her hands...

Nyra looked up from the saute pan shocked. "The Art Museum? The gallery that is hosting my show mentioned they were going to lend out some of my work that they were storing to an associate. But I had not realized it was the Arch Museum of Art. Wow."

Resting her head in her hand that was propped up by her elbow on the counter, Nyra was stunned. The museum was showing her paintings. She had been there the other day and hadn't seen them. She wondered where they were hanging.

"I knew Nachton liked my work. I mean the Gallery contacted me for a showing, that almost never happens! Wow." another stunned silence before she returned her attention to the stove.

"Dinner is almost done. Unfortunately I only have the two stools here at the island or the beanbag chairs."

"Beanbag chairs are peachy, unless you wanna sit at the island."

Connie couldn't understand the artist's modesty. Her work was beautiful. Looking at some of the sunrises she knew why they were highly sought after by the vampires... The color, the texture, the landscaping, the whole presentation was almost custom-tailored to put those who can't experience the sun a little less in the dark.

She also realized she didn't know what a beanbag chair was until she looked around and saw two multi-colored, patterned, bag chairs to one side. Walking over to them, she picked them up. "Anywhere preferable?"

"Anywhere is fine. Either next to the windows so we can look out or near the paintings if you want to discuss them further. Of course they are portable so it doesnt matter where anyone wants to sit." she giggled. Oh how she loved beanbags!

Scooping healthy portions of the finished Lemon Tofu with Brocolli over Pasta onto plates she garnished with little strips of zest. Some forks and two clean if wrinkled cloth napkins later she was ready to serve.

Self conciously she commented to Connie "I always eat with my plate on my lap. Goodness know I have more than enough lap to accomodate a plate." she laughed at herself.

"No need to explain, dear, I completely understand. I usually work out pretty regularly, but with the movin' and all, I'm fixin' to be almost three weeks behind my routine by the time all's said and done." She dropped one of the large bag chairs and placed a friendly hand on Nyra's shoulder as she moved through the apartment. "And I bet all the boys're achin' ta get the honors of sittin' in that lovely lap of yers, too."

Connie carried the beanbags around with Nyra, then finally sat them somewhere closer to the windows but still within a few steps of the paintings.

"Speaking of movin' in, I hope again the contractors aren't a detriment to your creativity or comfort at home."

Nyra cringed at the mention of a routine. She strictly forbade herself to exercies over normal everyday activities. If the energy she expended on her work did not build up enough sweat she wasn't going to try something else. Keeping her mouth closed on that topic she sat down on the chair near the windows and handed the other plate to Connie.

"I was not thrilled to see the screen put over the skylight in the stairwell but as I am just renting temporarily I dont see how my opinion would impact anyone's decision." Recalling her first reaction made her highly embarassed.

"I am sure it will be ok."

"Of course it'll be alright! I'm also havin' light sensors installed, so it'll only close at certain times. Why are you only plannin' to stay a month?"

Connie was sincerely interested, especially since the girl was proving to be a rather unique individual. Connie guessed she didn't have or didn't set aside much time for exercise, and that was fine, but then, Connie had been very active as a younger woman. "With such obvious talent, and even more importantly, demand for your work, I'd think it'd be hard to tear yourself away. Well unless you have family back home, then I could understan'. Family's... hard to forget a lot of the time."

"Family and the fact that living alone as a scatterbrained artist means some days I forget to eat and some days I forget to dress. The really bad days are the ones that I forget both!" she laughed at herself.

She concentrated on her plate of food briefly. Savoring the first bite that burst with lemon on her tongue. The tofu was sauted to a golden brown tone with just a hint of onion and broth. Crisp brocolli and soft pasta mixed among the cubes glistening with a touch of butter. Closing her eyes she gave a small sigh in pleasure at the flavors on her tongue.

"Honestly" she started once she had finished a few bites. "I had not really realized how much demand was in Nachton for my art. My broker normally deals with all that, keeping track of who has what and when it was bought. I dont pay all that much attention to it. I was quite shocked when the Gallery on Third Avenue contacted me for a showing."

Taking another savory bite she added, once her mouth was empty of course, "Very pleasantly surprised, but still it was quite a shock to me."

The "Lemon Tofu with Brocoli over Brown Rice Fussili" was quite different. Connie searched her memory for the last time she'd eaten a meal without meat of some sort, and was shocked to realize it had been quite some time. Decades, she guesstimated.

After a few forkfulls of tofu cubes and broccolli, she pointed her fork repeatedly at her plate, resting carefully in her hand before her chest. "This is just amazin'. I'll have to get the recipe from you, unless it's a family secret. And you shouldn't be surprised, It's good work. Understated, of course, but there ya go. Then again, it's my experience with folks of a creative bent that they just can't quite grasp how good they are, because their own work is quite often never good enough for them, no matter what others say."

She took a few more forksful of the wonderful food - particularly enjoying the sweet-tartness of the broccolli-lemon duo - and continued, "What's wrong with goin about the house nekkid? I do it on weekends, although with such a lovely neighbor, I'd be more inclined to pick up a robe, especially if she were to visit unannounced-like. That is unless you don't mind being in the presence of a nekkid woman."

"Most people dont even realize there is a whole world of food available without meat. Its all just as tasty, savory or sweet as its animal laden counterparts. And you would be horrified to know how they treat the poor things in factory farms, its deplorable... Oh, I am sorry. I do tend to get up on my soap box about that."

Nyra shoved more food in her mouth, embarassed at being so outspoken to a new neighbor. She hoped she had not given her a bad impression.

"Thank you for the boost of confidence. I live in the shadows of my mother's art as well as my grandmother's. They are always so humble but they have art hanging in famous museums. I have always hoped to live up to their standards of fame and humbleness." thinking a moment she continued thoughtfully "It is almost never as good as the idea in my head. I have learned long ago to be happy with getting it out as closely as possible."

Laughing at the nudity was natural. "Please, your speaking to a third generation artist! I have do so many human anatomy classes as well as sitting in on one of their work. Not much is shocking now."

"But the stories of how easy artists are must all be fiction. I cant ever seem to find anyone willing to live with my ecentricies for longer than a month so I just do without." shrugging "Though if you wander over here nude you just may get put onto canvas!" Nyra waggled her finger at Connie teasingly.

"Dessert? I have some fruit and an amazing dip that is a family secret!"