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That phone call had certainly not been what Damien was expecting. In fact, to be honest (and ignoring how much he hated to admit it, even to himself), the young man had sort of... forgotten about his twin brother. That is, yes, he still missed him and thought about him sometimes, but with him so far away and EVERYTHING else that had happened - Dayo, his new 'friends', certainly nothing with Cheyenne! - Gabriel had... drifted back to the corners of his mind. Next to the memories.

But of course, when Damien heard that call from his teacher, he dropped everything in preparation to go visit his twin. A replacement was found for work that day, Dayo was excused from school (much to his joy), and around mid-morning Damien found himself staring up at the mansion. It was certainly a beast of a house, he thought to himself, falling apart and covered in ivy. Could this gloomy place really be the blessed ballet studio Gabriel had bragged to him about before...?

With a frown of doubt on his face, the young man easily reached down and picked up his son, clearly already adjusted to his new body. It helped that much of his new mass was part of his own creation, the summation of many afternoons and evenings moving heavy things from one place to the other. To be honest... He kind of liked it. Though he would rather die than admit to anyone that he found his own body even a semblance of attractive.

"Remember to stay close, Dayo," the demonic boy muttered as they approached the main door. He didn't need his naive little son wandering off in a ginormous house filled with (reportedly) vampires. With no small sense of trepidation, followed persistently by a reminder that it was for Gabriel, Damien raised a clawed hand and knocked solidly on the door. He fidgeted nervously as the sound echoed around the halls inside and the woods around them...

"You must be Damien. ...and a little guest. Wonderful, please, do come in." The charming man that answered the door ushered them in swiftly, and before Damien could determine exactly who this man was, his eyes caught sight of his brother, bigger like he was, but looking so much more forlorn.

"Gabriel!" Without a thought the young man rushed forward, placing Dayo hurriedly on the couch besides his uncle before throwing his arms around his brother, squeezing him firmly. Damien's expression was sunny as he pulled back from the embrace, but he quickly frowned when he saw his twin's feet moving so strangely. "Gabriel... What are you doing?"

Dayo peered his wide blue eyes up at his Mama and nodded, a bright smile crossing his face. The little duck squeaked gently when he was lifted off the ground, kicking his stocking'd feet idly as he nuzzled into his Mama's chest dozily. When the door was opened, he peeked up a bit, but the sight of the even larger and very darkly-coloured man made him hide his little face once more more, wrapping his fluffy wings around himself. Today was the first time in a looong-long time that he got to see Uncle Gabby, and he was certainly excited, but... well, since finding out that he lived in this giant house, with such a scary man... well, it had dampened a little of his excitement; just a little, though.

Mind you, the child certainly felt a bit neglected when he was tossed to the side for a brother's embrace. Only for a moment, though, did his goldfish memory hang on to the pout on his face before he latched onto Gabriel from the side happily, burying his face against the hybrid's side.

Gabriel, by contrast, barely managed to get to his feet before his brother tackled him back onto the couch, causing him to let out the girliest noise that had ever come from him. Regardless, his stickly arms were around those broad shoulders instantly, dark face pressed into the crook of his neck as his ears and headwings tipped back, tail thumping against the couch. It took a moment before he registered the small being buried against his side, and the smile that had already been snapped back onto his face broadened more at the sight of his favourite, adorable little nephew.

Now grinning a bit wildly, he scooped the little sweetheart into his lap and nuzzled against his head, one arm still wrapped around his abnormally broad sibling. By the time the question hit the air, the movement of Gabriel's feet... well, they were still moving (they were always moving), but not quite in the foot positions. "Oh!" he grinned, the syllable alone betraying just how much his voice had dropped, jumping up and going easily through the positions, en pointe as he could with his bound and ballet slippered feet (pointe shoes were far beyond his reach, at the moment).

"Practicing, of course~ Diligence is what makes a ballerina, right? That's all that I do anymore, besides," he grumbled, casting his deep red gaze poutily toward his slave driver teacher. "It's not like Elias lets me do anything else. Well, I mean, it's not his fault, because I want to do it perfectly after all, and he's only helping me, so I--"

His joyful rant was cut off by the sound of knocking at the door, and he glanced, perplexed, at his teacher. Whatever the reaction, his racing mind led him to the only possible person who could have arrived along with his brother (though he knew the combination would be toxic), and his headwings slowly rose from rainbow-streaked hair, eyes wide and smile broad. He was at the door faster than could be clocked, yanking it open and grabbing the young woman outside by the wrist, pulling her in with a grace he'd never shown before. Smooth as the gentleman he aspired to be, he dipped her as far as his minimal muscle structure allowed, pressing a kiss to her lips and thanking a higher power a moment later that she had been Ilyrosa - on his own assumption that it was, he probably would have grabbed a delivery boy before realizing his mistake.

"I... I..." He felt a blush immediately consume his face as he realized that he hadn't thought up anything witty or charming to accompany this grand gesture, and instead set his beautiful girlfriend upright again, keeping his mouth shut as he chose to blush quietly instead. Finally, he got up the nerve to take her hand and press a kiss to the back of it -"A pleasure to see you again, Ilyrosa."- and use it to lead her into the living room as he explained what was going on.

"I've been busy -you probably figured, huh?- with ballet lessons and practicing -oh my God, I'm always practicing- so I haven't even seen my Dad since I left. Or my brother, or you, or any of my other friends or relatives or anything. It really sucks, but Elias invited you over and that made it so much better! Honestly, if he didn't do that, I would probably have driven myself crazy just practicing and practicing! Huh... wasn't there a movie that came out that was about that? Swan... Something Swan, I don't remember, really," he ranted, heart thumping in his chest, every nerve in his body on fire for the minimal contact between the palm of Ilyrosa's hand and his.

"And here we are~ For introductions..." he stated happily, moving to the middle of the room and gesturing to each person in turn. "This is Ilyrosa, the-the most beautiful girlfriend in th-the whole world. And Elias, my cr- ahem my ballet teacher. Damien, my twin brother. And, last-but-not-least~" Gabriel crossed the room, scooping up the little crossdresser, who squealed, stretching his wings and pointing his toes as he clung to his favourite relative. Smiling brightly at the adorable little ballerina-in-training, he was quick to bundle the toddler in the crook of his arm, 'fatherhood' written all over him in red sharpie (even if the boy was his nephew). "Is my adorable little nephew, Dayo."

A hello or some sort of greeting was something Ilyrosa expected. Being pulled inside and kissed by a boyfriend she hadn't seen in months was far from it. By the time she even contemplated slapping him for leaving her in the dark for so long, she was upright and Gabriel was already going on and on about something. A furious blush raced across her face and the teen stood where she had been left near the couch, unable to comprehend much other than that he was taller and quite clearly overjoyed at seeing her.

And he was a ballerina. REALLY? He ran off for ballet lessons at some creepy old house and refused to contact her at all so he could run around in a tutu?! Oh, she was pissed. Really ******** pissed now. Why couldn't he have been put into a mental hospital or... or something? Hell, he was more of a girl than she was now! At least he wasn't wearing pink, then she'd probably walk right out the door. ******** feelings, it wasn't worth it. Of course, in her mini rant, the little speech Gabriel gave was nearly completely missed. At least she caught 'nephew' and 'Dayo' and got some sort of idea who the kid was he now held in his arms. That meant hitting him was out of the question for a few minutes. Great.

"Huh? Oh... Hello Damien. I've been better. You?" The sheer irritation she felt towards him was just barely reigned in and masked with a semi pleasant smile and tone. How she longed to reach out and hit him square in the face or at least get him as grumpy as she felt. Unfortunately, Gabriel was around as was a little child by the looks of him and she didn't dare pick a fight with witnesses. If her previous near jailing was anything to go by, it was to pick fights where there wasn't cameras or watchers. Deciding to punch his lights out for simply existing later, Ily resigned herself with glaring daggers at him underneath a mildly polite, if not pleasant, smile.

"Listen, Gabriel, I don't want to... interrupt this sort of family get together, so perhaps I should come visit another day." Never mind the already forming tension between her and Damien or that if her father realized she was out she'd be dead for sure. Why did people think it a good idea to put two children of wrath in the same room who both wanted the attention of the same person? Didn't even sound like a good idea in her head or in any sort of theory. But, if she just HAD to stay, Ily hoped Gabe's brother would keep his over sized mouth shut. One word, and her fist was breaking that stupid face of his.