& forever young

“Somehow I doubt a night out with you would end up as boring,” Alice retorts, though she can’t help smiling. “On the other hand, it would still be a night free of the Camarilla and the Anarchs and everyone else clamoring for my attention.” She rolls her eyes. “How on earth did anyone get anything done before Fish Embraced me and they could dump it all on my relatively-ignorant shoulders?”

The mention of her “handsome gentleman friend” sends blood rushing to her cheeks, directed there by a traitorous subconscious – Alice sternly puts it back in its place. “Victor…probably would appreciate a chance to get out and about,” she admits, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. “We don’t get a chance to see each other all that often because of my responsibilities.”

“Oh?” Claudia cocked her head to the side. “That, I’m afraid I can’t say. It's a rare occurrence, running into others of our kind.” She frowned, thinking of her loneliness and need for companionship outside of her guardian as well as her sour (acrid or even poisonous seemed a better word) experiences when she first sought them out with Louis many years ago.

“Why don’t we have one then, hm? I could ask Madeleine to take care of things, and we could go out around town. Please?” Claudia locked the other vampire into a hug, at once seeming every bit a child as she appeared.

Claudia held her bouquet of lilies tightly as she tread through the forest with the strange woman. Whether she was a potential friend, predator, or prey, she couldn’t tell; all she knew was that she too wasn’t altogether human. Thankfully, there wasn’t a long way to go from where they were. 

Kili paused at the question, staring at the girl intently before shaking himself out of his thoughts and remembering his manners. It would most certainly be wrong to leave a young child out in the cold instead of inviting her to be warmed, as she herself had noted.

“Yes, of course.” He stepped aside so she could enter his home, sticking his head back outside after she did to check again for anyone that could have been with her. But as he turned to look at her in the light, he did have a vague sense of familiarity of the girl. He had most certainly seen her before; it was hard to forget her striking features. Porcelain skin. Those eyes, young but yet so old. So much wisdom in them.

“I apologize, I did not recognize you before but in the light…we met in the market a few days ago. You were with your mother. Is she here with you now?” He peeked out the door one last time before shutting it.

Claudia moved into the shelter of the room, the silk of her cloak and skirts rustling and her feet barely seeming to touch the ground. 

“My mother is dead,” she stated in answer to his question. For a short while, she stood still as one of her discarded dolls, eyes glued to the wallpaper in a sort of catatonia. She was thankful there were no tears to trickle down her eyes and make her appear more vulnerable, but she felt it all the same.