Welcome to Gaia! ::

{{It's okay, Victoria!! I know you haven't been online lately. I assumed you were really busy. I haven't been on for about a week and a half. Congratulations on being Homecoming princess!!! biggrin }}

Lin's eyes sparked with challenge and mirth when Dymetri said that he didn't think she was the type to deny trying new things. That sounded like a challenge! He probably knew that it would sound that way to her and is why he said it. He was so cute and mischievous!

She smirked as she leaned forward and kissed him very slowly for a few moments. Then, she stood up and pulled Dymetri up with her. She started leading him out of the gardens and out along the large open yard around the school. After awhile, they found themselves near the large lake. She had been replaying Dymetri's words in her mind. He always made her feel so special, almost like a treasure. No one had ever made her feel so special and coveted for just being her like he did. She didn't have to do anything and he loved her and wanted her.

And he called her his mate. She was so touched to hear that and started wondering if she and Dymetri might marry in the near future. She would love for that to happen, but she'd keep her desires on that matter to herself for right now. Marriage would probably be a bigger undertaking for Dymetri than it would be for her since she grew up in a culture where marriage at a young age was very common and sought after. However, she never thought she'd find someone that would make her feel this way. She didn't know it was even possible to feel this way.

When they arrived at the edge of the lake, she turned to the side and leaned up against Dymetri's chest, tucking her hands against her chest and smiling up at him.

"You have no idea what you do to me, Dymetri. My mind is also warped, as you say, when I am in your presence and I barely know what is up and what is down. Honestly, the thought of partaking in a mind-altering drug in your presence scares me since my mind is already altered near you. You would also be the only one I would even want to do something like that with. So I am between a rock and a hard place."

She started to smirk slightly. "However, I am by no means adverse to trying new things. In fact, I am a firm believer that you should experience some things to get a true idea of what they are like and also to learn more about yourself. That is why I have brought us here. To try something new. Perhaps we can make your party a lake party. I believe that would be fun. What do you think?"

She then got a very mischievous look on her face and quickly shoved Dymetri into the lake, doing it fast and suddenly so that she could catch him off guard. She had never shoved anyone into a lake before. That was the new experience she had been talking about, why she had brought them there.

She giggled down at him good naturdely and knelt down at the edge of the lake. "How does it feel, my darling? I love you."

Her eyes were filled with mirth and absolute love and adoration for Dymetri.

Alec raised an eyebrow at the bluntness with which he was presented Danni's problems. It seemed like Danni was trying to rush the subject, not really fix it. Alec didn't like that. He needed Danni to be looser if she was ever going to make any progress at all. So Alec decided to n** this problem in the bud before it escalated. "Ya know Danni, it's alright to ask for help. Even Shadow Runner can't do everything. If you could, you certainly wouldn't be here, and you definitely wouldn't be stressing over your mom." Alec leaned forward a bit more, trying to make himself look less intimidating. "You don't have to be strong right now. I don't judge on ideals or personas. I judge actions. And so far, you've proven to me that you're a young woman who has endured more stress than should ever have even existed, and because of that you've had to create a skin thicker than steel to deal with it. You shut down your feelings, your rationalizations, just to deal with what life was throwing your way. You threw away yourself, because your old self wasn't 'strong' enough to handle the stress that was being laid on your shoulders."

Alec looked up at Danni with concerned eyes, like that of a friend looking out for their own. "But your old self isn't weak. In fact, I'd say it's stronger than the nerve dead persona most people put up to deal with stress. The old you, from what I'm told, was a happy-go-lucky young girl who didn't have a care in the world. She knew what she wanted, and she went for it. A persona like that is stronger than any others, because when faced with stress and problems, they choose to fight through it rather than give in and allow their old selves to die out in order to survive. They not only survive through the stress, they thrive through it."

Alec's voice was still soft, still held that concern it had before as he continued. "Yes, I heard about it all. And no, I didn't expect you to keep smiling after everything that happened. You did what you had to do to survive. All I was trying to say is that it's alright to let your guard down every so often. It's alright to be carefree, it's alright to not have to worry. You have people around you that care about you, that want to help. People that are willing to help you sort through the stress so you don't have to worry anymore."

It was then that Alec got up from his chair and walked over to the desk. He knelt down so that he was eye level with Danni, and looking her in the eyes, he did his utter best to convey his hurt that she hurt so through his own, and through his words. "I may not know your whole story, or the pains you've gone through, and I don't think I ever will. But I do know this. You are Danni. A young woman. A woman with hopes and dreams. An independent woman. Not Shadow Runner. Not Isadora. Just Danni. The woman you really are."

Alec smiled as he saw the mist form in Danni's eyes. He chuckled good naturedly as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a clean handkerchief. He set it down casually on the desk, then turned around so he couldn't see what Danni was doing behind him. "I'm just going to plug my ears for a second. I think I got something stuck in them anyway, I can't hear anything so good. Feel free to do what you want in the meantime." Alec then plugged his ears, and made a half-hearted attempt to make it look like he was cleaning them out. Just enough to give Danni the hint.

"True that." Alec then unplugged his ears and walked back to the desk, pulling one of the student's chairs with him. He sat on the desk bit, careful to balance his weight so he didn't fall off or break the wood. Alec looked over a Danni again, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he began to address the problems she had listed to him before. "So, I'm just going to take a stab at one of these and get your mother out of the way first. Now, I've never met her, so I can't be sure what kind of person she is. But I HAVE met your sister. And from what I gather, your mom made her into a perfect little reflection of herself, right?"

Alec shrugged at this as a new thought entered his mind. Something he hadn't thought about in a while. "You know, I confronted your sister about you once before. Remember the first day of classes, when she was being an utter witch? I tore her a new one, maybe a few more at that. I made her write up an essay listing 30 things she liked about you, 4 point font I think, single spaced. I made it some ridiculous number of pages long, I don't remember how much exactly. Here's the kicker. It counts for 50% of her grade. If she doesn't do it, she fails." Alec stroked his chin in thought for a moment before continuing. "Come to think of it, she hasn't turned that in to me yet. By my watch it's a few days overdue."

Alec smiled when Danni started laughing. He was glad to see her like this, even if it wasn't exactly a great circumstance. But anything was better than nothing.

Alec thought that it would be better if Danni knew some of his reasoning behind his madness though, so he continued explaining. "Well, as entertaining as it was to watch a prideful woman like her crumble, there was a reason to it. I knew she would never let her grades suffer like that, so I knew she'd do it. And because of that, she's gonna have to think long and hard about you as a person, not as some outsider her mom brainwashed to hate." Alec looked over at Danni directly when he said his next piece of information, to try and help reassure that he was telling the truth. "And call me crazy, but she seemed like she might actually have a soul worth saving somewhere in her."

Alec couldn't argue with that logic, so he simply chuckled at it. "You're right, every soul is worth saving."

But they were getting off topic, and Alec didn't want to get off track with little things before they sorted out what Danni was fretting over. So his smile became smaller as he returned to the subject of business. "But anyway, as I was saying before. From your sister's personality, I can tell your mother is a very prideful person. Stuck in tradition. She was probably raised that way, as was her mom, and her mom before that. It's just what was done. And because of her 'schooling', she got it into her head that there was a certain way to life. And any deviation from that was a sin, and had to be killed off immediately. Because if her life wasn't perfect, then by default SHE wasn't perfect. She couldn't have that, at any cost."

Alec looked Danni straight in the eye as he said his next words carefully. "Now Danni, I want you to try and remember. Was there any point in your life when your mother was actually a mother to you? When she did something for you simply because she wanted to, to help you, and not for some future purpose that wold benefit her in the end? Because if you can't, then she isn't your mother. A mother by definition is a nurturing, loving individual that would do anything for their child's well being and happiness. If she couldn't fulfill that most basic principle, then she is not your mother. And if she's not your mother, then why in the name of Creation should you give a rat's a** about what she thinks? Your own opinion is the one that matters, no one else."

Alec smirked a bit before he said his last words on the subject. "If you have to think of her as anything, think of her as your 'birthing unit'. Just a piece of bio-chemistry that was utilized to bring you into this world. And quite frankly she got the raw end of the deal, seeing as she's the one who had to go through the labor pains."