Ethereal World Continuation

[Ophelia Van Koehn]

"My house, it's much closer." She said taking hold of his hand and standing. She could tell he was cold. We better hurry, I'd hate for you to catch a cold or worse. With that, Ophelia held his hand and led him through the dark of the woods. Stepping over branches and roots that might get in their way. A few branches caught her velvet dress and pulled it slightly. Ophelia pursed her lips in annoyance and shooed it away and continued on, seeing the light of the cottage through the trees ahead of them.

"Well, now that I think about it, that was rather ironic." She randomly said. She was refering about the fact that she was sitting under a willow tree. Ophelia in the willow tree. The Ophelia she was named after was the Shakesperian character in the play Hamlet. Ophelia was a girl who was in love with the main character, but he didn't express his love to her. So she either committed suicide or was pushed off her pearch in a willow tree and plummeted into the river below it. Ophelia smiled as they reached the clearing where her cottage sat. The pourch light was on and Bianca, the tabby-siamese mix was sitting at the window at the corner of the house. "Here we are." It was rather small, but quaint. Painted white with a thatched roof and small victorian details on the shingles. It suited Ophelia rather well, or at least she liked to think so.

[Galient Latrec Irigatore]

Galient stepped into the cottage, after whiping off his shoes of course, and his hand hadn't stopped tingling the whole way over. He breathed in the home air. He hadn't been welcome, welcome being the intrusive word, in a house since a year after his family's death. He smelled the warm air and it made him feel open to everything. It was dark in the home, she hadn't turned on lights, but he could see that it was a relatively clean home. Nice and tidy, his father would say. He entranced the house, reluctantly letting go of her hand, and saw her cat. He smiled and pet the cat, "What's its name?" He asked quaintly. He didn't wait for Ophelia to respond. The cat meowed happily and Galient removed his hand and walked back to Ophelia.

"It's very nice. I wish I had a home of my own, although I'm sure it would look a lot more crowded than yours." He laughed nervously and blinked slowly, "You said something was ironic. What was it, Ophelia?" There it was again, that tingling when he said her name. His smile was still on, though not as plastered as it was. It was more admiring than friendly. It was a crooked smile nonetheless, but he felt that was his most charmful smile.

[Ophelia Van Koehn]

As she entered, she snapped on the light. The sliding glass door they had passed through led to the living room and kitchen combo. It had a red velvet couch on one side of the room with a rocking chair next to it. The coffee table was a nice cherry wood and a small tv was placed on top of the cabinet on the opposite side of the room. All around the room there were little trinkets one might find in an antique shop.

Ophelia removed her charcoal cloak and hung it on the coat rack next to the door. The cat in the window leaped down from her post and greeted them with a meow. She wound around Ophelia's legs, peering up at her with big blue eyes. "Her name's Bianca" She smiled, responding to Galient's question. "She's such a sweet heart. Oh, you can make yourself at home, do you want something to warm yourself up? Tea or something?" Ophelia never got out of the habbit of drinking tea. She had several kinds, even though she had to put blood in them everytime she drank some. As she walked into the kitchen, she answered his second question. "I thought it was ironic that I was sitting under a willow tree. Since my name is Ophelia and all, it reminded me of the play, Hamlet." She smiled as he said her name again and peeked back into the living room to return his smile.

[Galient Latrec Irigatore]

He glanced around the front room, and as he shut the door, he found a small, red couch and sat down quietly. When she looked around the corner to smile at him he laughed once. "I like, um..." He hadn't had tea for so long, he had forgotten the different flavors and varieties, "Green tea, please." I hope that's what it was called, he thought to himself nervously. He looked about the room, his eyes jumping from each item of furniture to the next. The rocking chair next to him was made of a beautiful cherry wood, as was the cabinet with the television. He'd used to think that television was an essential until he learned how to live without it. Now he hardly ever watched it, he prefered the sounds of nature and the light of the moon and stars.

He quickly remembered the play of Hamlet after she answered his question, he wanted to recite something, and so, with the new and improved Galient, he did, "To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer, The slings and arrows of outrageuos fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles--" He had forgotten the rest. He tried to remember, but sighed in failure of memory.

He could smell the blood throughout the house. He jumped at the scent, it was strong. Warm. He panicked and started to fidget. No vampire would be so ignorant as to feed in front a hunter, so what was Ophelia doing in the kitchen that smelled so strongly of blood?

[Ophelia Van Koehn]

"Alright!" She exclaimed returning to the kitchen. Ophelia pulled two mugs out from a wall-mounted cuboard and filled them with hot water from the fauset. She pulled two pouches of green tea from a drawer and slipped them into the mugs. Then Ophelia opened the refrigerator to the medical blood pack filled shelves. Unfortunatly, it immeted the scent of blood everywhere. This was her stash. What kept her from feeding on humans. She grabbed a pack from the fridge. She ripped open the IV tube and poured a little bit into her own mug and shoved it back into the fridge, shutting it, dispelling the scent from the house.

Ophelia giggled as she carried the mugs back into the living room as he recited his piece. "Good job. Ever think about going into acting yourself?" She said it half jokingly half serious and handed him his mug, "Here." Ophelia sat down next to him as Bianca crawled onto the armrest next to her and meowed again. Ophelia started to sip at her tea when Bianca started batting at her hair. Ophelia glanced down at the coffee-color ball of fluff and mumbled in her general direction "Don't start with me..."

[Galient Latrec Irigatore]

The blood scent was stronger as she sat down next to him. He glanced down at her cup as he sipped his own. There was definently blood in the cup, he thought, It must be mixed with the tea. Strange, he mumbled in his head. He smiled at Bianca as he answered Ophelia's, soundly sarcastic, question, "I have actually. That was a job choice when I was younger. I took this up though because...well, you know." He said calmly and sipped his tea again. He laughed to himself and asked her a sarcastic question in return, "Have you ever thought about being a musician?" He asked in a weird way. He knew that she WAS a musician, but he felt like acting silly. "Excuse that," He said, still smiling, "But...I can't help but wonder," He drank a gulp of the tea and set it down on his knee as he pet Bianca, "Have you had any recent concerts? I'm sure if you have, it must've been difficult." He looked at Ophelia as he balanced the tea on one leg and pet Bianca with his free hand.

He thought it funny, well not funny in a way, but...'ironic' in quote of Ophelia, that she had been drowned. He thought about the man she said had pulled her out of the river. He had said that she looked like an Ophelia, and so she went along with the name. It wasn't odd, a lot of vampires did so, to try and start a new life with no strings attached, but he couldn't help but think that maybe she was holding onto the name to hold onto her past.

He shrugged off the thought and waited patiently for Ophelia to answer the appealing question Galient had asked.

[Ophelia Van Koehn]

"I think you'd be rather good in all seriousness." She said before taking another swig of her bloody green tea. Bianca purred as he petted her and closed her blue eyes contently. A smile was glued to her lips at this point. Ophelia nodded and answered "I've had a few actually." Setting her mug on the coffee table. "The biggest one I've had was when I opened for Emilie Autumn at a club in New York. It was amazing, Emilie even helped me out when I couldn't play my violin and sing at the same time...it really is quite impossible. It was a pretty amazing show." She glanced over to the amp and electric violin in the opposite corner of the room.

"I was planning on trying to get a gig at one of the clubs or bars here, but I don't know how kindly they'd take to such an odd genre." Ophelia picked up her mug again and finished it off. "What about you, do you play any instruments?" She was rather curious, he seemed like a guitar or bass kind of guy, but she thought it inpolite to assume. Bianca swatted at her hair again. Ophelia shot her an annoyed look and pulled her hair into a pony tail and draped it over her right shoulder, where Bianca couldn't reach.

[Galient Latrec Irigatore]

"Thank you." He said to her compliment to his morbid acting. He sighed a laugh, and at this point, he couldn't stop smiling. He finished off of his tea. He nodded as she talked about Emillie. He'd heard of her, but had never sampled her music. He was more of a acoustic rock kind of guy, so when she asked if he played an instrument, he was happy to oblige a response. "Yes, in fact, I play guitar. I play rather well, although my vocals are much better." He stopped, he didn't want to brag and he felt like he was. "I'm not so good that I write my own songs, but I try. I always wanted to be famous. Hell, who didn't when they were a kid? But, I think I could kick every one of the paparazzi's asses." He laughed humbly.

He turned his head toward Ophelia and their faces were only inches apart when he did. By reflex, he snapped his head back. He felt that that was too close, even for friends. He'd never been in a relationship, a real one with kissing. He was anxious and curious, sure, but he didn't know what to do. If he had tried uponhis journeys, he would have to leave the city anyway, which meant that he would have to leave the woman. So it seemed useless. Maybe he would stay in Dawson. Maybe...just maybe....

He noticed his pulse had gone up and he checked it on his neck. He could feel it under his thin, pale skin. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. He'd only had panic attacks when he was a child. He remembered how to treat them, but why were they happening? Nothing too drastic had happened...except for his face getting too close to Ophelia's....

[Ophelia Van Koehn]

I knew it, she thought smiling. "That's alright, at least you have musical talent at all." It was true, she didn't know one person in the world who could live without music. "I hate to brag, but I was playing the violin, the piano...or I guess the harpsicord, and singing since I was a rather small child. I started playing for parties when I was about 12 or 13 I think." She smiled as she thought of her first party she played at.

When she turned back to him to find his face drastically close to her's. She blushed again and leaned back against the couch when he snapped back. Well...that was...close. She started windding her hair around her fingers, sitting there rather awkwardly. "Um..." she started, "I'm going to go get changed, I'll be right back." Ophelia rose gracefully from her spot on the couch and rushed out of the room down the hall and up the stairs to her bedroom. That was far too close, she thought as she reached her room. I don't think he would really want that from a vampire. Maybe he did it unententionally. Maybe. She was still blushing like mad. This is strange, I haven't blushed in a century, what's wrong with me?

[Galient Latrec Irigatore]

Galient didn't bother watching Ophelia go to her room. He was too busy trying to control his pulse. After a few seconds, it calmed to a slow, dull race. What was wrong that I had so drastically panicked when Ophelia was close to me? he asked himself internily. Bianca was staring at him accusingly, "Don't look at me like that!" He whispered to the fur-ball. He started to stare at the outside, beyond her glass door. All he saw was fog covering the glass, but it was good enough for him to get his mind off of what had just occured.

He stroked his pale, frigid hand through his hair. Nothing could be more awkward then this, he told himself. Bianca had stopped staring at him. "Smart cat." He laughed silently. He started to think of different songs, to take his mind off of the situation. He started to sing:

"Never knew... I could feel like this
It's like I've never seen the sky before...
Want to vanish inside your kiss...
Everday I love you more and more...
Listen to my heart... Can you hear it sing?
Telling me to give you everything...
Seasons may change...
Winter to spring... But I love you... Until the end
Of... Time...
Come... What.. May...
Come.. What... May... I will love you 'til my dying... day..."