Cigarette Butts - Miami Refuge

...That was the first thing Teddy would notice coming into the house. While there still was little furniture, the carpet held the distinct smell of cloves and smoke. It wasn't something she would normally smell in any of Cass' dwellings she'd been in previous-- unless of course it was because Cass was up to her eyeballs in something creative... Well, something creative that might have actually struck some kind od chord with her that was agitating.

But this evening, the smell lingered in the air. And it was worse coming from her room. The door was part way open, Cass' fingers clacking away on the keyboard of her computer and thick paper shuffling. There was a bucket outside of her door filled with ash and the black paper butts of her clove cigarettes, ready to be put outside for trash pick up. And, of course, there was a billow of smoke that came through the crack of the door, too.

It wasn't actually the blond that peeked int he door first, but Diego. And it wasn't Diego that ran inside first, but Ed and Eddie who, while scuffling with each other, managed to move past the bear as Teddy opened the door slightly and peeked inside.
"Cassie?" she sounded curious. Most curious in fact.

The poor German was face with a number of large, blown up pictures tacked to the walls... Lots and lots of them. And all of the printed pictures were not of happy things. Badges lined the walls, each with what they meant and how they were applied to clothing... Not a pleasant thing, to be sure. Especially considering all of the windows of the house all had bars on them.

Cass barely looked up as the ferrets burst into the room, they couldn't hurt anything and the truth was that the interruption was probably sorely needed before she found herself too deep in what she was doing. Diego got a little wave and Cass looked up with a cigarette dangling precariously between her lips. She was in an oxford shirt-- probably Alex's?- and her underwear, hair a mess, no makeup.

"S'up?" She asked as she waited for the last badge to be printed off of her computer-- the Jewish star.

"Uhm...." yeah, that about covered it for the blond a she stared wide eyed at the display while stepping into the room and looking around. It was... not what she'd expected. Not that she'd really had an idea of what to expect. Just, you know, not this.

The ferrets skittered around, Eddie seemingly deciding to use one of Cass' legs for cover while Ed tried to chase him. Diego on the other and simply staggered into the room, trying to keep up with the critters and failing in that they had dexterity, he did not.

Teddy was dressed in sweat pants and a tank top, sneakers still on as she'd just returned from a run.

She looked... stunned.

The Rose stood to tack the star to the wall before shutting down the printer with a tap of a button.

"I should have warned you, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking," she was careful not to step on the critters, pausing to scoop up Diego and deposit him closer to the two. She ruffled her own hair a little, two chains around her neck clinking together melodiously as she rubbed her eyes.

"I'm not sure a warning would've really quite covered it" Teddy sort of muttered as her bright blue eyes finally settled on the Rose, keen senses picking up on the sound of the chains but the blond's eyes focusing on her friend's face rather than on the metal around her neck.
"What is all this?" she asked with a hint of curiousity to her tone of voice. "This got anything to do with the rally the other night?" it would've made sense. Sort of. Sort of in the way that it was a related theme, though it escaped her as to the meaning of posting all of this stuff on the walls of their haven.

"References," she said softly. "I finally have the inspiration for a new project... But I'm sure it will go over a lot of heads or just make people uncomfortable. I'm trying to decide which one to use... or if I should use all of them," Cass explained, sort of, as she marked each picture with what the badges represented in blue marker.

"That rally just... It pissed me off. And rather than argue with assholes on why they are wrong, I need to put that energy somewhere else."

Would there be more rallies in Cass' future? Yeah. Yeah, there would be.

"I was too young to remember this..." the blond said quietly as she reached out to brush her fingers over the surface of one of the printed badges, her gaze slowly tracing the pictures on the wall.
"Did I tell you? My parents were Nazis... They believed in Hitler..." she couldn't actually remember at the moment if she'd told Cassiel about all that stuff. About why she'd come to be in the first place. One of Hitler's little perfect Aryan children...

Cass shook her head gently, "I didn't know, Teddy... I'm sorry. I don't want to bring up painful things to hurt people. But I also don't want to see what happened then happen again."

She shook her head.
"Don't apologize... I'm the product of a program, my parents didn't love each other when they had me but... they were good parents none the less. And they took good care of me and my sisters" she tilted her head slightly to the side and looked over at Cass. "Some things can't be forgotten" you couldn't forget WW2.

"I'm glad they were good to you and your sisters, I am," she nodded. "I don't agree with the tenants of what Nazi's believe... I don't believe in hate. But even those that do have qualities about them that are good... that make them good."

"Few people are ever two dimensional" the blond said, drawing her breath and holding it for a moment before turning to smile at Cass. She obviously wasn't upset, just.. surprised really. Then again, who wouldn't have been? "Can I help?"

She nodded to Teddy, "Of course you can. Of course." Cass moved from the computer long enough to pull on a pair of shorts that looked like they hadn't been laundered recently. And then she lit another smoke.

"It's just a matter of figuring out where to start. I think... I think this is going to unintentionally offend a lot of people. So I don't think it's one I will show," but that was the story of her life there. Do a project, don't show it, really.

She probably didn't expect it, which was probably partially which Teddy did it. The blond suddenly reaching out and snatching the cigarette from the brunette and placing it to her own lips.

The blond didn't often smoke, but she did on occasion. Seemed this was one of those occasions.

"It will offend. But, these are things that will always offend because of their history. And some forget all too easily the horrors that can come when people grow desperate and depressed and allow themselves to be ruled by the ideals of someone who promise them prosperity and happiness" because let's face it, Germany had been doing shit every since the first World War. So, when a stronger leader emerged... well..

That was fine, Cass had stocked up, actually. So she simply lit another cigarette and stood with her arms crossed, staring at the badges on the wall.

"How many people in America would fit into these categories, Teddy? Honestly, how many? Eradicate a billion live to make the next 100 billion lives better? I don't believe that. How can people like Himmler and Victor Morton even have a soul any longer?"

"Who say they do?" Teddy said with a slight tilt of her head as she kind of just flopped down on the bed, pulling her legs into a lotus position. "Who say they're not just hollow husks that simply function on the memory of what was? You don't need a soul to exist. But you do need one to feel"

"If they cannot feel, why do the believe so strongly in a master race, though? I just don't understand. I don't get it. Did you know that 5% of the world's population today share DNA with Ghengis Khan? And that all humans on the planet can be traced back to Africa? What does that tell people? Your skin tone and hair and eye color are all dependent on the bodies amount of melanin? We're all the same... And I don't understand the issue of religion, either. Nazi's hate Jews because of capitalism, because it didn't fit with their ideals of National Socialism. I'm sorry, but what they want and how they think they can achieve it is morally retarded."

"You don't need to apologize to me, I agree. Thing is. The hatred... it's so wide spread. You know that that Prime Minister of Israel, dunno if it's the current one or not, at one point said he supported ethnic cleansing? It's so ingrained in some people they don't seem to realize what they're saying..." not that it was an excuse, but it was hard to really accept that someone could say those sort of things and actually believe in them.
"My people did some horrible things..." yes, her people. She was very much a part of it in her eyes. "That the ideals of that time still lives on..." Teddy shook her head.

"Myanmar, Bosnia, Iraq, Palestine, the poorest regions of Africa... All of these places in the last 20 years have dealt with or are dealing with ethnic cleansing and genocide. Is it nature's way of keeping down the population? I don't know... What wires a person to be this way? Your people believed, but Germany has changed it's tune. Why someone would raise their children that way in this day in age..."

She turned to look at Teddy with a bit of sadness. "2 kindred we know of so far would perpetuate the plans of these groups. A 3rd will, if she finds out."

The only thing Teddy really cared about in all of this? And let's face it, it was not about some people getting a tad bit upset, it was Medwyn. He... he'd fought for the Nazis, but she knew why.. it wasn't the same reason why say, someone like Himmler, had fought for them.
"Who says they'll find out in time to stop anything?"

Cass shook her head. She wasn't sure of anything. Except...

"We have to keep this from Medwyn. If he catches of wind of this or, God forbid these people do anything harmful to anyone like a child, he'll flip his shit."

"If they do anything harmful to anyone like a child, I'll flip my shit" the usually quiet blond said, well, quietly. "Medwyn's not gonna get caught up in this..." she would seriously hurt anyone who got him caught up in any of this.
Fucking neo-nazis...
Fucking Himmler...
Himmler! For crying out loud... Medwyn would... oh God...

"I will, too... But Medwyn is Brujah... Brujah have tempers that ours don't even come close to. And this hits home for him," she shook her head again and sank down onto the bed with a sigh.

"What the fuck is with this area?"

She couldn't help but crack a small smile as she looked at Cassiel in a sideways glance. A soft stream of smoke escaping her lips.

"Nexus?"

Cass chuckled, smoke coming out of her nose as she tapped her cigarette against the side of the ashtray. "Yeah, Nexus. I've been saying that for 14 months now. I guess that's not going to change."