Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rowena's heart sank when she heard the knock on the door. Her father was on his way home from Washington to "take care of" what had happened between her and her teacher. She feared the worst. She was a disgrace to her father... Not at all the calculating intelligent son he had wanted.

Her teacher had retired to his room to recover until her father arrived, so Rowena got up to answer the door. She paused in front of the door a moment, dreading the man on the other side. Chocking back tears she moved her hand to the knob and turned, face down, trying to look as humble as possible before the man who would most certainly be very disappointed in her and have some choice words to say...

The door swung open and she kept her face down, but something was different. The shoes weren't quite right. Rowena looked up to see Austin, the nice but a little naive rich boy from school, standing in her doorway. She blushed, a little embarrassed by her appearance. This was a completely different situation! She was in a robe in front of the general public! Coughing, she decided to play sick; it was what people at school would have thought anyway, "Hi, Austin. Sorry for the appearance. I'm sure you know I've been a little under the weather lately. Would you like to come in?"

"I'm feeling mostly better. It's such a shame that I'll have to miss prom... I really wanted to go, but I because I'm not at DUHS anymore and I don't have a date I won't be able to make it..." Rowena flopped down onto a couch in her expansive great room. "But you have to tell me all about it, what have I missed at DUHS? I'm so out of the loop..." Rowena was genuinely interested in the happenings at DUHS, she hadn't had any contact with the external world besides her father since Lama Akar had arrived, and she wasn't allowed outside the property as part of her punishment. It had been a long and boring month, and Rowena was happy to have any contact with the people she went to school with.

Rowena's heart raced and a smile spread across her face, "Go to prom with you? I'd love to go! I was so worried I wouldn't get to go and-- Thank you, Austin. I really appreciate it." Her mind joined her heart and raced along with it, thinking of the dresses she would get to try on and wear and taking pictures and getting a limo and arriving and taking everyone's breath away with surprise. She was wicked with giddiness.

And then her heart sank. She'd have to ask her father. "Unfortunately, I'll have to ask my father's permission. If he does not think I am well enough to go I won't be allowed out of the house. I think I'll be able to convince him though. He's actually coming home today... I'll let you know what he says tomorrow?" Rowena slumped a little. This was disappointing, certainly, especially since he was coming home to scold her for almost killing her teacher.... Yeah, this might be a problem.

He gave me his number?? Crap... "Can you actually hold on a second, Austin? I...ummm....got a new phone too and might not have your number anymore. I just need to run to my room to get it." Rowena ran down the hall to her bedroom and looked around for her cell phone... She'd hidden it somewhere Lama Akar wouldn't find it, was it still under her mattress? After a few minutes of frantic searching she returned to the front door victorious, flipping it open and scrolling through her contacts as she walked up to Austin. Oh, thank god... I didn't delete that one... "Yep, I still have your number. I'll give you a call tomorrow, and then we can start making plans." Rowena hugged Austin tightly around the neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek, I'll have him whipped soon enough... "Travel safe home, and thank you for offering to take me to prom..."

Rowena leaned against the closed door behind her and exhaled deeply. Someone had invited her to prom - that was step one. Now she just had to convince her father that even though she'd almost just killed his trusted teacher he should let her go. Right, Rowena thought, Well, he'll be home soon so I need to change and think of a plan ASAP. With a renewed sense of purpose, Rowena marched to her room and put on her favorite white dress and tights; if she behaved in a strong manner maybe her father would think less of what she'd done. As she turned the corner of the hall to head to the great room, she was shocked by her father's presence there. He was facing away from her, watching the television.

"I watched the security feed. You can go." He didn't even turn around.

Rowena's jaw hit the floor. That was...far easier than expected. Rowena collected herself as quickly as possible, "Thank you, sir!"

Her father turned around to face her, "You performed well at your training. I wondered how long you would take Lama Akar's oogy-boogy trainings before you would get back at him. You certainly did a good job, that man has been cowering in his room for how long? You are certainly ready to go about controlling your peers once more, and I think that the prom is a good time to go about practicing this."

"Thank you, Sir, but what are you going to do about Lama Akar?"

"Oh, don't worry. I'll have him taken care of. No one will ever hear about your relations with him. Now, we have to find you a dress." Rowena watched her father fiddle in his wallet, "Here, take this and ask the butler to drive you to the boutique. Pick out whichever dress you want. You'll want to make a good impression at the prom." He handed her his gold card.

Rowena sighed. This was too easy. "Thank you, sir." Rowena was surprisingly reluctant to take the card. She had worked herself up so much when all along he'd been playing her and she'd done exactly what he wanted.

Oh well, at least I get to go to prom!

<



The smell of coffee filled her nose as a few sunbeams wandered into the room and lay themselves across her bed. Tehra opened her teal eyes, rolling over with a bit of a groan. She didn't particularly want to wake up, but she knew she needed to. It had been a week since prom, and it was now Saturday morning. Prom had ended in the oddest fashion imagineable, and Tehra was trying to put it from her mind. Tommy had disappeared, and he was the only one that knew of her secret- so at least she didn't have to worry about that. She sighed to herself as she finally sat up, looking at the clock by her bed. It was a little after nine in the morning, and it was time to start the day.

Tehra got out of bed and went over to her closet, dragging out her outfit for the day. She straighted out her wild curls and drew in a breath as she looked at her reflection. She had been staying off the streets for the past week, knowing that all those weird kids of Delmor were likely running amok. Tehra had been laying low, until she got a mask. She didn't particularly want a mask- but she needed one. Besides... Tehra had seen many odd things since prom. She wasn't needed that badly, she had needed some time off.

Tehra walked into the kitchen, knwoing exactly what was waiting for her there- Damien with his daily pot of coffee. "You seem to be a bit of an addict to that Damien...." Tehra said with a yawn, sitting down at the table.



"Yes yes, I know.... but would you really want me without my coffee?" He said with a laugh, his long black hair pulled back for the moment. He took a long gulp of coffee, crimson eyes meeting Tehra's across the table. "Tehra... we need to talk..."

Tehra looked up from her magazine, not liking the tone in her mentor's voice. "What about?" She asked, already knowing what it was he wanted.

"You need to get back out there. It's been a week, and I don't think crime is slowing down.... I understand you sense that there is a lot of strangeness in this town- and you need to investigate that... I didn't give you so much power for it to go to waste..." He said kindly, but sternly.

"Damien I know, I know... I just.... I love sleeping.. I mean I want to take care of this stuff and all that mess in Darkside, but I just.... I don't know...." Tehra said with a sigh, looking down at the small breakfast pastry before her. "I guess I'll go back out tonight."

"Sounds good to me Tehra... how would you feel about going out today? You've been in the house all week.. I'm sure your friends are starting to worry.... you need some sun..." Damien said with a laugh, looking over at her.

"Yeah.... you are rigth... we should go somewhere fun- it's a pretty day..." Tehra said, trying to think of places.