Welcome to Gaia! ::

Alsvid grew weak when he heard Alexander speaking to him. "I shall trust you, just know that I love her and I want her to be perfectly safe." Alsvid maintained eye contact with Skyler so as not to seem suspicious. "I only know of the rumours that there is a cruznick I don't even know if the beast is male or female. However, the hunter is an obvious one," Alsvid conjured a mental image of the man he had seen earlier and hoped that Alexander could see it.

"It is an honour to talk to an ancient such as yourself, but please keep your word and leave my love out of this." Alsvid continued his dance. After he refered to Skyler as his love he leaned forward and gave her a long, passionate kiss.

Namine was looking around the room making sure to keep her eyes from being seen. Victor was out there somewhere and most likely longing to end her life. A dull ache was present in her chest but there was nothing she could do about it. Her naivete had cost her a lot already..she figured she had nothing else to lose. Therefore, she wanted to find Ayla. She wanted to warn her against her kind who roamed these halls and warn her about herself. She didn't want Ayla to be caught in problems of her making.

Namine could not see Ayla. She thought about the last place they sat but that was too close to the crowd. Right now she wanted to avoid the crowd in case her nemesis were waiting to ambush her. She felt strange as if what had occured between them was a dream. It couldn't be helped now. Victor was out for blood and so she would have to steel herself to kill the love that betrayed her. House De L' Cor would be known not only for it's Kruznik leader but it would also be known for slaying the legendary Victor Francis Graham. She stepped further into the room making sure to keep to the walls. Ayla where are you? she thought.

Raoul blinked at the long word and then glanced down at his companion's twitching hands, an eyebrow raised in understanding. He'd walked more than a century on earth as a vampire, and twenty five more as a human, almost all of which had been spent at his father's side in preparation for his higher calling as a physician. He pulled a wry smile and downed his glass, slowly filling it up before replying, "I do." He looked away, eyes flicking down to glare meaningfully at the single ruby encrusted ring adorning his right hand. It was the same shape as the symbol over his heart, an unabashed declaration of what he was ans from whence he came. Casa di Corvo.

He sighed and folded his hands. "I am a vampire." It was a little melodramatic no doubt and likely completely out of context with the gravity of the boy's revelation but it was also the only thing that came to Raoul's mind. " I am...well it is relative; compared to some I'm only a babe and to others, I've walked more than my fair share." An ironic chuckle followed those words and he looked back up at Poinsettia, inquring with a small voice, "How bad does it get?"

Now it's holding things and walking...eventually you may even lose the ability to speak, Raoul felt his eye narrow at that thought, And then I wonder, what will happen to that beautiful fire in your eyes? Will they lose their luster or perhaps the silence will only make them glow brighter. "Does it matter?" Raoul muttered softly, taking one of Poinsettia's hands in his. Perhaps perfection did come with a clause after all.

"Before I died I used to stutter a lot. Sometimes it got so bad that I'd end up gnashing my teeth from the sheer frustration of it all. It made me appreciate the beauty of words without words but it also frustrated everyone around me because they could never get an answer out of me." He smiled conspiratorially and shook his head, "The way I saw it, speaking came at a great price for me and it was one they had to be willing to pay." Fortunately it was also a habit that carried on long after his death; Raoul couldn't remember when last he'd been so talkative. "What about your parents, do you have any family?"

Raoul glanced at the glass and casually nudged it closer to his companion as if bouncing drinks were part of every day life. He sipped from his glass and then shrugged, "Ah while I was alive I was my father's only living child and the line essentially died with him. My mother died a few minutes after I was born," he added as an afterthought and leaned forward, letting his hands hang over his knees as he stared at the marble floor. "My other family, well they tend to be selective when it comes to new additions." Not to mention eat their own young, he added silently, thinking about his erstwhile sire. Fortunately self preservation was another strong instinct carried on during his turning, else he wouldn't even be sitting in the hall.

Raoul smiled and and nodded, getting to his feet and turned to Poinsettia with a courtly bow, "I would live to dance, especially with you." He took his companion' hand and pressed a kiss to the knuckle before covering it with his other hand. "Shall we?"
((I gotta go...byes.))

Victor was unable to determine how much time had passed since he had entered this realm of unknown and intrigue labyrinth of mirrors and deceit. However, he had begun to make progress. By taking his blade and leaving a recognizable cut on each of the rooms he had visited, he began to be able to see where he had been and where his best direction was.
He dashed around sharp corners, ignoring his own reflection that surrounded him at every turn, ignoring even more fervently the ghostly appearance of Namine and ultimately more disturbing image of Caitlynn.
The first time that figure had manifested itself in the mirrors, Victor was slumped down in despair, feeling utterly defeated until he noticed her and began to stare her right in her crystal blue eyes and feeling his own begin to mist up. The phantasm merely offered a gentle smile as she put her hand up on the other side of the mirror, her expression communicating everything to him as she seemed to speak with him from her figurative heart.
"Do not blame yourself for what happened to me, love. Too long have you carried this burden. Victor, you did what you had to do and I never blamed you, not once."
"But I... I failed you."
"No, you have never done anything but honor my memory to the utmost of your ability. Until now, when you sit here wallowing in hopelessness. That is not the Victor Francis Graham I knew. If you wanted something, you took it. If you had an obstacle in your path, you overcame it. If there was someone you loved, you gave them your heart."
"I will never forget you, my sweet Caitlynn..."
"I would not have it any other way. Share that love that you had shown to me so long ago with another. Give another that joy that is incomparable to anything else that we can possibly experience in this life...
Do you love her?
Victor's eyes went wide at the blunt question.
"Do you? Do you care for her as you did for me?"
"I... I believed so... But she betrayed me, she destroyed my trust."
"Is that what you truly think? Try to remember. If she could've betrayed you at any point, then why not when you were vulnerable? Why not when you could not defend yourself?"
Victor looked down for a moment, replaying the events of the night in his mind. Caitlynn was right. If Namine had wanted to kill him or even turn him, she could have done it while he slept, after their lovemaking. He would have been defenseless and yet she didn't.
"But then why did she send those ruffians from her House...," he thought aloud, but the image of Caitlynn had dissappeared.

With renewed resolve, Victor was now nearing the end of the labyrinth, the breeze of the night air seemed to carry through the walls to his current position.
"This place... is a manifestation of my thoughts and feelings that I have kept sealed away. Namine's magical outburst must have forced me into a temporal pocket where both the mental and physical psyches meet... Heh, I should really keep this place more tidy for just such occasions."
With a hollow laugh at his own joke, Victor darted off, heading towards the cool breeze that flowed through, hinting to the exit from this, his own mental and emotional trappings.

Raoul took great care with his companion, making sure not to tax the latter more than necessary as they took their place among many on the dance floor, dance after dace, song after song...he lost all notion of time as they glided around the crowd, never touching any other person even though their proximities should have ensured so. No one noticed that ever little skip of their fox trot actually took them feet higher into the air than it normally should, or that they seemed to appear in different sections of the hall much faster than the eye could follow.

The only thing he was conscious of was the fiery blue in Poinsettia's eyes, and the unbelievable lightness that filled every follicle, every iota of his being. Raoul certainly wasn't thinking when he acted; the motivation came from nowhere and everywhere all at once and it just fel right. He dipped his head and pressed his lips to Poinsettia's in the beginnings of a kiss, jerking back up almost immediately, an unusual flash of color on his face with his hasty apology, "Forgive me..."
((I did a school report on SCA and other neurological conditions))