QAHNAARIN

for a moment, darinean felt like he'd overstepped a line. one could never be sure with the dawnguard; they were as devoted to their duty as any vigilant of stendarr, but their ways were a lot more BRUTAL. it wouldn't surprise darinean to see them the same in other aspects.

but his shock washed away quickly, and a roll of his eyes followed. brushing a strand of pale, blonde hair behind his ear, his eyes wandered back to the dead vampire at their feet. darinean's face scrunched up as well, however this expression was inspired by DISGUST instead of whatever empathy avenion had left for them.

still, as much as he despised the creatures of the night, darinean was relieved he wasn't wielding an axe or something of the like. " perhaps it's for the best. as you've said, this is no laughing matter. ", darinean replied dryly, with a face as grim as before. but his features softened as he looked back at avenion. as much as he's annoyed with this dawnguard member's attitude, he's thankful he was there when he was. otherwise, the vampire might've been able to use their vile blood magic on darinean. GRATITUDE WAS DUE.

" well... we usually don't go anywhere on our own, too. for good reason, as you can see. were it not for you, i might've been turned into a mindless thrall. " it wasn't an explicit ' thank you ', but it came pretty close to that at least.

there is a reason nivayth had spared xia so many times before. he saw no reason to hurt her, take her apart; she was perfect the way she is. and that is something incredibly hard for nivayth to think, let alone ACCEPT. as a perfectionist, he tended to find flaws in everything. but not her.

were he not wearing a mask, she would see the smile on his lips, the way his cheeks pushed up his bottom eyelids; the GENUINENESS. but he couldn't reveal himself to her, not yet. maybe another night.

" perhaps this can be arranged. you do still have contracts to take care of, no? "

his gaze dropped back to the flames. reaching for the fire with his summoned, nearly transparent replacement, he allowed its claws to glide through the flames. red fire collided with purple ghastly spectres, and his fingers would momentarily disappear, until he distanced his summoned arm from the flames again. he felt NOTHING-- as expected.

a chuckle sounded from the man beside valeria as a response, but he decided to add nothing else and leave it at that; a COMPLIMENT. the woman did have a youthful appearance-- it was something one could flatter only, right?

adelean waited patiently as she helped him push the edges of the wound apart. with enough pressure, she managed to practically tear the hole open a little further with only her hands-- thanks to the tender skin it wasn't a task too hard, even if GRUELING. once he was sure he could reach the prize inside better, he used his nimble fingers to tug at the branches some more-- and then he snapped them between his fingers, breaking the wood and creating enough space for his hand to fit into the hole and reach around the briar heart. it was a gruesome sight; an alchemist sitting next to a corpse with his hand literally buried inside the body's chest and pulling to get SOMETHING out.

" trust me, it is not a life worth living. ",

he said coldly, as he ripped the object of desire with one firm tug from the forsworn's chest. adelean held the briarheart in his hand, triumphant at last, with dark blood sticking to his hand while the heart's THORNS dug into his skin. a smile graced his lips; despite the pain in his palm, all he could feel was satisfaction.

for the moment, cicero was content, twirling the long, red strand of hair around his gloved finger. he even seemed RELAXED, until valeria spoke up again, pointing out that neither was everyone sharing his opinion, nor that they HAD TO in the first place-- something that cicero simply couldn't agree with. he wouldn't dictate anybody around directly, but he'd make sure to let anyone who was going down the WRONG PATH know that the fool of hearts knew best, and they did NOT.

cicero's posture suddenly stiffened and he pulled on his own hair a little bit, as those deep, dark eyes of his wandered back to look directly at the vampire seated across the table in front of him. for the whole time she's been here, she'd been stepping on his toes; whether she did that on purpose or not, he didn't know for sure, but he believed that she was TRYING to push his buttons. she would not get a reaction out of him. cicero knew better than to lash out at a FRIEND of the family, and that the night mother would not be pleased if the keeper stepped out of line to KILL without being commanded to. he considered valeria lucky he held the tenets close to his heart-- unlike other siblings.

" NO. cicero knows astrid is leading the family astray, and everyone is too blinded by her empty promises to see... but cicero does! oh yes. and the listener... the listener will put everything right. "

he gulped, his confidence suddenly replaced by obvious discomfort and CONCERN. cicero let go of his hair and sunk into himself a little bit, as his gaze wandered towards one of the doors leading out of the sanctuary's dining hall.

" as the keeper, cicero has no right to put matters into his own hands. not that he is complaining! no, no! if the night mother only spoke to somebody, ANYBODY worthy of being the listener... astrid's mistakes could be fixed. she could be corrected. "

clasping his hands together in front of his mouth, the jester leans into his fists a little bit, as if to keep himself from saying anything else. while he promised himself valeria would get no emotional reaction out of him, he sure did end up RAMBLING a lot... perhaps it was time to go back to his duties before venting out any more of his issues and letting those fall on the wrong ears.

cicero suddenly got up from his seat, hands planted on the wooden table that kept valeria and him separated, and with his face now exposed he revealed a BIG and incredibly ingenuine smile to his friend.