Late Night Conversation

[Epiphany]

Working at the clinic was a new experience for her that felt common, meaning that it could have been something that she had been doing for years. Despite the attitudes of some people Epiphany always enjoyed helping people to feel better, and she could do so without having to any of her 'special talents'. That's one thing working in the clinic helped her to do. It helped her to feel 'normal' and people there only saw her as another nurse on staff, there to help the people. There still was a lot to learn and it kept her on her feet for most of the day. Therefore, when her shift was finally over, she was glad, for once, to make her way to her room. At her door she did the old - fashioned 'shave and a hair cut' routine - knocking on a few choice spots - and it opened to reveal a room that looked very plush and soft. Just inside the door she took off her shoes and walked across the cream colored carpeted floor. This carpet was so soft you'd swear you were not walking on anything at all. The floor was open, much of the furniture low and made to be used like on the ground, though she had bean bags for chairs. Neon colored beanbags and low-tables that had a black and white checkered pattern to them. A few lights hung from ropes, the bulbs in purple glass so they cast an interesting color hue across the otherwise dark room. To the table she took off the lab coat and stretched. Under that she wore a black an green stripped scoop neck shirt and jeans. On the table was that laptop and she stared at it, kneeling in front of the table. "Hmm...." Looking at it she chewed on her lip and slowly started to open it. Of course, since she had been visited in her dream not too long ago, she always left her window open.

An open window could allow admittance to all manner of things. Insects, rocks, birds, stray felines. . .prowlers? So many of those seemed to have a knack for intruding when you least wanted them to. But certain kinds of prowlers, they had a knack for intruding when you most wanted to, or perhaps even at moments when your thoughts lingered on them. Did she inadvertently conjure her prowler tonight, simply by leaving her window open as some sort of unspoken invitation? Perhaps. This visit was not planned. It could be said that he was in the area, and happened to allow himself a glance at the window in question. How long was mist soundlessly curling around the sill before it started to take form and become a man? Long enough to spy on what she chose to put her attention on. The voice came even before he fully came to shape. "I hope I'm not interrupting. I could, after all, come back at another time. If time allows it." By the time he finished speaking, she would be able to see him quiet clearly, solid as the day he was born. Sitting in the windowsill, hands grasping the frame on either side of him, legs stretched out in front of him. There was a smile playing on his lips, a very slight smile. And his bottomless black eyes, those were of course set upon her and looking nowhere else.

The laptop was halfway open and she was trying to get a look at it without having to open it too wide, as if doing so would release some type of wild animal she didn't know how to contain. That's why she didn't notice the smoke, though she felt a small chill. Since she had been leaving the windows open she didn't pay too much attention to it... until she heard the voice. Dream? Reality? At the moment it didn't matter for hearing his voice cause her hand to quickly close down the laptop and color staring to rise into her cheeks. Looking up, that's when she saw him. He looked real enough and she didn't remember falling asleep. ". . .Damon?" She had to get the blush off her face. she wasn't doing anything wrong. Nothing at all. She smiled and got up from the floor. "It's you isn't it? Come in. Come in, come in. I've been dying to see you." ....after that trick with the messenger, but she didn't say that. Simply moved closer to the window. Another thing, she did wear his pendant.

The blood traveling to her cheeks to color them flushed, what a lovely sight. When she turned to face him, she would see that slight shift of his gaze as if he was silently pointing out that he noticed the blush, before those deep black eyes returned to look straight into hers. The turn of his lip it deepened just so, to properly paint his amusement. "Dying. . .I don't know how I feel about that turn of phrase, Angel. Or the fact that you seem intent to cut off my escape route. Are you going to try to trap me in?" A brief devil's smile as he gave a curt nod to the window, indicating what he was referring to in case she didn't know from his words alone. He stood, at least, to allow her to do close it if that was her will, Taking a single step to the side to give her access. "If it wasn't me, would you have means to prove that truth?" She should note his expression if she was wondering if he was serious or not in his question. He absolutely was. It was something he'd wondered about that faithful day when he came to deliver the aforementioned package.

"I could always try." She said slowly as she looked at him. He looked like Damon. He spoke like Damon. Even the bit of his attitude was like Damon but that did not mean it was Damon. With all that was going on, he could be a fake. "To block your way of escape that is. This is my room. " Perhaps that's why she didn't simply run up to him like she wanted too. Taking chances and trying to do what was right. His other question was a bit harder to do. Though she could always try to bluff her way to a truth. "I think I would know you, truthfully, if I saw you." Just as he was looking at her, she was looking back at him, even as she made her way to the window. "There's always a small…something. Wouldn't you agree, that gives people away?"

"Honor is contained within the individual's courage to make the attempt, as they say, regardless of the outcome." Such a smooth turn of phrase, matching with such a silken smile, and both of those things were familiar, were they not? He was very still. It was a trait shared with his dream image, when he'd come to her on the ship to pay her that warning about the unknown figure on the beach. After he stepped away from the window he remained so very still. Arms crossed lightly over his chest. Eyes steady on her. Only his brow moved in reply to her last words, arching faintly. "Though you do have me curious, what small something would 'give me away' as you said." Whether or not he agreed with her, that such a small something existed, he didn't say. He'd reserve his judgment.

She heard what he said and took it into consideration. Epiphany was chewing on her tongue, hopefully an action that he wouldn't see as she wasn't over doing it. It was just a slight chew. "A small something." she said slowly before she looked from him to out of the window, just a small look. "You know, being curious of things isn't always wise. Open curiosity can be quite dangerous you know, that's why they say that ignorance is bliss." She wasn't wanting to tell him of the small something, it could give him away and, speaking of dangerous, it could be just that! One of which was the way he always held her face. Sure, Sean had done similar, but it wasn't the same. There are some touches you can't forget and some looks that can't simply be copied. Still, she took a few steps closer to him and decided to say something. "There are always the basic standard things. Like information, do you remember this and that...but..." she paused. “Those things can always be learned from other sources so that's not any type of test at all. Is it?" She tipped her head to the side, the action exposing more of her own neck. Even the 'small' motion of her pulling her hair back with her hands and letting it fall back down to her shoulders. "You do seem so much like him…" She trailed off, yet took another step closer, placing her hand on the window still.

Her eyes considered the view window; his did not, not even for the smallest of moments. His dark eyes remained only on her, the gaze steady and intense as ever. There were some things that simply could not be mimicked, and any imposter would be hard pressed to match the nature of Damon's gaze, speaking of looks that couldn't be copied. As she approached, just as in the dream he remained still. Arms still remained crossed. There were certain routines Damon had been adopting to make sure he was 'behaving himself'. For what behaving was worth. In deed, at least. As for the sins of the mind, well. Certain indiscretions, no one would ever know, those were between Damon and his thoughts. "My famed uncle would argue otherwise. That it would depend on what the this and that were. . ." he was trying to hard. To not react to that tip of her head, to the manner in which her locks fell across the smooth skin she'd so briefly exposed. . .if she was looking for 'little things' there was a certain way about the way he was tensing his jaw, and his posturing, ever so slightly. The posturing to keep himself stalwart in this effort to behave, and the jaw. . .to resist the urge to grin. He knew where the full transgression was, however. As still as he was the fact that his gaze had dropped to glance at her neck at all told volumes. He knew it, yes, which is why he hastened to add, "Any vampire would have such a weakness, you know. . ."

Epiphany tried not to smile too much, though she was smiling some. It was even turning sly and mischievous in it's own way. Just a hint of it. She saw how he was trying hard not to make any movements at all, the most he had moved was when he came off of the windowsill, not he was as still as the table itself. Or nearly. She stepped closer to him. "You know, many people debate the things I say, and they say that it doesn't make any sense, and many other things. But.. that's one of the things you like about me isn't it?" Drawing in a breath she held it and took her hand from the windowsill. She couldn't look in his eyes for long or else she would loose the nerve that she had. Just like in the dream she reached her hand up to brush it against his face, slowly. "And you're not like any other Vampire looking at me. Others would see me only as food." She was watching her fingers but now she looked up to his face and to his eyes once again. "You've stopped seeing me as food a long time ago. Haven't you. Damon." That was spoken almost as pure fact. It was true that once upon a time she had been thought of as food and, even though he did drink from her when the opportunity was there she hardly thought that she was simply food for him. Not anymore.

[Epiphany]

"Curiosity. Curiosity in spite of fear, or. . .better judgment, perhaps. That's what I enjoyed about you when we first met in the cemetery." He remembered them having an exchange very close to that before, and he knew his answer had been the same. There was a marked difference in her behavior compared to the other women who frequented the Alliance at the time. And those differences happened to be similarities to one who at the time he thought he had lost. But he would not think of Jade, not right now as that was the last thing he wanted Epiphany to see flicker in his eyes. Damon was not at all pleased that the two had met, that was for certain. Instead, just as it had when they'd had these similiar words before his lip curled into a slight beastly little smile. It seemed thus far their actions would remain parallel to the dream, as Damon allowed her to touch his face - smooth, cool, as it always was - without making movement on his part. His reply to her was dry, a droll look and tone, at least at first. "Vampires? Looking at other creatures as food? And here I thought such a thing had gone out of style and my kind are all vegans now. . ." Perhaps he was thinking of one vampire in particular when his lip curled so. But then, to be fair to Epiphany, he graced her an answer truer to the one she was expecting, or hoping for. "You know of my past dreams and devices, I've never kept those a secret."

The hint about the Vegan vampires was no lost on her for she knew who he was referring too. With the inhabitants at the Inn that statement was probably more true that he realized. "I remember, a time when I was food. Or a simple play thing," Right now she couldn't look at him, therefore she looked at her hand on his face instead. Her voice was soft when she spoke again, almost as soft and distant as the time she was remembering. "But that was such a long time ago. Just like it's been so long since I've had a chance to touch you. . . " Her words trailed off, hand staying on his face while her thumb moved out and chanced to brush over his lips. "I don't know anyone else with the same restraint as you do. Who does the things that you do." Sliding her thumb back to his cheek she now looked back into his eyes. "Dreams and Vices? Like how you can stand this close to me and hold that pose? Retain that air of discipline? You're not afraid I'm going to vanish if you touch me, do you?" she paused and bite her bottom lip. "That's how I know it's you."

He couldn't resist what he was about to say. It was a comment that came like clockwork, a difference he always had to point out between then each time such an opportunity arose. "Long time ago, short time ago. . .the passage of time is a relative thing." He would not be surprised if she slapped him for pointing out the difference in their lifetimes yet again. But as she'd just characterized him, he was a man of incalcuable restraint. The most amazing bit of restraint in this particular moment, perhaps, was that his mouth did not move again until her finger strayed away from his lips. Nor did he take in any breath through his nose, he was not about to entertain her scent when she was in such close proximity only moments after she'd 'flashed' her neck at him as her test to see if it truly was him. "Surely I can't be the only one with any discipline around here, where you used to reside . . ." he would leave that statement unfinished. Instead his bottomless black eyes would meet hers, steady and intense. A brief flash of a smile then, the briefest glimpse of those two keenly sharp teeth, and he coupled it with the faint suggestion of a shrug. "I'm not afraid you'll vanish. No."

Of course she had shown her neck for that exact reason, and because it was fun for her to have done so. It was something she didn't do for others - not on purpose anyway - and she knew how he felt about it. Yes, it had been for him and he was fortunate that was the only thing she did. "You know... you have a few things coming to you." Saying her own part with a grin. He was trying to push her buttons, especially with the time comment. Her hand was still on his face. Discipline. Self Control. She had it - at times - though often it was shaky. "One of them being for the dream..." She patted her hand agaisnt his cheek. It wasn't a slap, but it wasn't a friendly tap either. "And one for keep referring to the time difference between us." for that she gave him a swift kick in the shin. There went her control, even her han came down from his face as she tried her best not to pout, or scowl. "I know that there's this huge, greater than huge gap of age between us," using her hands to illustrate the point by opening her arms wide. "And that you know all these things that I can't even begin to phatom, but that doesn't make a lick of difference do you understand me! It doesn't so you should stop using it as button and pushing it every time you get the opportunity too because.. because.." the steam was ending. "Well I don't know the because.. Just Because."

See? The savory of the sauce was 80% preparation, or a hundred similar sayings. He knew he wasn't going to get away with that without her exacting some sort of revenge. And the first of her words, he would not be as old and steadfast in resolve as he was if he couldn't hear words like that and see them as a warning. Which is why, still as his body was, he made damn sure every muscle did the opposite of what insinct told a body to do when there was a warning - tighten. When blows were landed, the impact upon the body was far more severe upon a tight, tense body. The pat to the cheek, that was easily weathered, his face barely budged at all. The kick to the shin, however, well that was just "Delightful," spoken in an slight exhale before the brief flicker of tension in his expression changed to a rather amused little smile. The cat smiling at the canary, the sort of smile that deserved a slap all on its own. "I would argue it makes a rather extraordinary lick of difference, Epiphany," he said with that wan little smile still gracing his wolfishly handsome mouth, "and if you were to think upon the days we each took those potions to experience how the other half of us lived, I think you'd agree with me." He was surprised she hadn't mentioned the manner of his departure. The letter. But he was not about to bring that up, lest she punch him in the jewels next.

Epiphany didn't want to think on that exit letter.. it was better to think of what came from that letter than the words accompanied with it. He would argue, wouldn't he? Find something to say against what she had said. She fixed him with a partial glare before she smiled and took a step back. There was a partial apology on her tongue for the kick but, right now, it wasn't voiced. "There's a much more pleasant memory associated with the potions that I'd rather think about." She turned to the side. "Wouldn't you agree on that point?" A sly grin and she moved to the table. Leaning her back against it she placed her hands on the table and pushed down, hoping on top of it and swinging her feet back and forth. "You've always been conscious of the fact that I'm... not like you." She meant immortal. He know. "Is that why you are staying so reserved? Because, somehow relaxing,, even a little would... be detrimental to your mission? That it would endanger me in some fashion?" she frowned and looked down to her knees. "You did say that I wouldn't see you and maybe this is just another way of staying true to those words. Or perhaps I fell asleep again while staying to unlock the secrets of that.. that laptop." Good thing it was closed. "Because if you don't act other wise, it will be like you were never here anyway."

So much to respond to. It allowed him to pick and choose, if she let him get away with it. Sometimes she did, and other times. . .well he would see how this particular instance would go in good time. "Yes, now that you mention it, I do rather fondly remember your cooking." Beast. He knew, she'd be able to tell just by looking at him, what a cruel little tease he'd just laid upon her. But that was Damon tonight, perhaps playing this part was necessary to his 'mission' as she'd called it. "Mission or no, Epiphany, being with me different as we are does put you in danger and that's something we've both known all along. Blocked from its proper light, what once was a healthy flower does wilt unless unlike jasmine it was born to bloom at night." How poetic. He didn't meant it to be, that was just his habit of speaking. No, he was aiming more for seriousness, which is why his eyes were fixed on her so when he said that to her rather firmly. And then, he offered to her another slight shrug. She had step stepped away, so now his hands slid into each of his pockets. "You're not sleeping. That doesn't mean that come tomorrow you'll still know that, I do have my wiles." He wouldn't press that altered preception of this meeting into her thoughts before he left. . .would he?

She was missing something, and the fact that she knew she was missing something made her know that she was missing something. It was in the end of what he said, that was the part that stuck to her and bounced back and forth in her mind. It almost sounded like she wasn't going to remember that they had this meeting. Her hands were still on the edge of the table and now they only gripped the table tighter as she was working to not be frustrated, but it was hard. So hard to do when she was trying to stay disciplined and not do the many things she had in her mind to do, and what her body wanted to do. She could go one or two ways and thinking of it caused her to squeeze her eyes closed for a moment as she sighed. "No.. I'm not sleeping. Not much." then she remembered something. The thought came to her because she had tipped her head down and saw the pendant. It was to protect her dreams, that's what the letter had said. Did that mean that, if she wanted to see him, she would have to sleep? Like as before that was the only way she would be able to see him? Maybe that is why she ha closed her eyes to him now. "I don't want to see you only in my dreams. I dreamt of you so many times and, if I'm going to be able to see you , and not be able to ... to touch you, then you might as well stay a memory." she wouldn't sigh. She wouldn't sigh. "I know its hard for you, and it's hard for me too. I just don't....I can't sleep if it will only make me sad. I love seeing you but to have you touch me and not act like something would..." she was at a loss for the correct word she wanted to say. She saw the words, in actions, in her head, but putting them to words was proving difficult. "Our interactions are like strangers, and I know you only do it to protect me."

So many choices he could make, based on her actions and words. So many directions. And the fact of the matter was . . .he did not plan to grace her window tonight. This occasion was granted by serendipity. So there was no 'mission' he needed to accompish, no message, no package he had to deliver. As for his current private matters, he knew full well what state they were in and what a meeting like this would do. The only variable, then, was what this meeting between them would mean to her. He knew what he should do, hurt her as it might. But he didn't do it. Why? He would worry about that later. In their meetings, Damon was never concerned with himself, always concerned only about her. "You're not dreaming," he'd offer quite simply, in the simplest way a truth could be spoken. "And clearly, angel, it's been a long time since you've seen me interact with strangers." A brief devil's smile.

So, she wasn't dreaming. That was the reason she had closed her eyes and had kept them closed - she was thinking that, if it was a dream, she could either make it better, or she would open her eyes and awaken to a different reality. His words brought about that different reality. She wasn't dreaming, he was really there in the flesh. He had come to see her. Her eyes squeezed tighter and her hands pressed down harder upon the table. "Damon . . ." the next bit might be a bit of a shock, or take him by surprise. Or, maybe it wouldn't There were some things that he was use too. Epiphany was an emotional person at times and after working a 12-hour shift in the clinic after spending the time before that working long and hard at the construction site, Epiphany wasn't exactly on the up-and-up when it came to being poised and in control. This was a consequence of lack of sleep. Without sleep, the body tended to be more emotional. He had already seen one type of outburst when she kicked him. This time she pushed off from the table, feet hit the floor and a few seconds later she was on him, both hands balled into fist and pressed up against his chest as she leaned against him. You would think her eyes would be open, but they weren't, and her head was lowered against him, her hair falling about her shoulders. "If this isn't a dream, and we're not strangers, why don't you hold me?" There was not much control in her voice either, it had the edge of breaking. Very thinly held together. "Just a little. Only a little."

"You've answered your own questions, angel." He was so calm, so immovably calm. Perhaps because he was not surprised. While it was yet to be mentioned from either one of them, what was hanging over this was that he had departed over a year ago and left only written words in his wake to provide explanation. When he considered that alone, how could he be surprised to see such emotions coming from her now? Quite frankly he was amazed that all he'd gotten so far was a kick to the shin and these would be wept tears, as that was the potential he was sensing from her. And she had every reason to ask those questions of him, too, when he pressed against him so and only felt a stolid pressure like that of a firmly rooted tree pressing back. He did not touch his fingers to her, nor his hands, or his arms. "Because this is not a dream, and we are not strangers. If I were to hold you now, just a little, what gates would that open, and when nothing traveled through said gates. . .?" he would leave that for her to answer. And what he left unspoken, at least thus far, was the fact that if Jade had been able to keep Sean away from here on their search for Damon, well. . .Epiphany wouldn't even be seeing Damon right now. He was here to protect her, in so many words. To make sure she was protected.

[Epiphany]

Epiphany was acting like a stubborn child, at least in her mind, and only hearing the things she wanted to hear. She tried to only hear some things, but others got through and swirled around in her head. Words mixing with each other and making their own type of twisted sense. Her words were softly spoken as her head was against his chest. "Then I wish to sleep forever . . ." Coming from her mouth, those words could very well be true. She felt nothing but could and empty, feeling a knot well up in her throat. The coldness could very well be coming from Damon, but this was a different type of cold. "I've tried to forget you. I've tried to hate you, I tried to even forget that you existed." maybe she didn't try hard enough on that last one, because she kept things that reminded him around. Still. "I've tried. And it hurt to try." There went those tears. Quietly falling from her eyes. "I'm so mad at you. I'm so mad at myself. I hate this. I hate all of this!" Her fist pounded against his chest only once before she turned her back to him. She did't move away aside from that. Simply had her back to him and the heel of her hands were pressed against her eyes. "When I saw you in the dream I could except it as a dream. Those.. it's a dream. And seeing Sean and Jade earlier," Jade, she had seen Jade. Even if she had not seen Sean, would she had known that was her? Thinking of it now only made her growl a bit in frustration. "Why do I always make things so hard and so complicated? I could turn around and wail at for all this grief that I have pent up inside and it wouldn't change a thing would it?" That wasn't meant to be answered. Her hands came down from her eyes and she shuddered as she drew in a breath. Effort taking to not give off any verbal sounds of her tears. She didn't like for people to see her cry. "Because you just stand there and by doing so it's giving me just what I deserve to get from you. I didn't even deserve to see the two of them, or to know that you were around or anything like that. After all that I did, I suppose I should be lucky that I even remember who you are. You could have made me forget all about you." He'd see her arm come up as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Head turned to look out the window, yet she wasn't looking at him. "But I can't stay mad at you, and I can't wanting to see you and hold you and feel your touch." Left hand came up and her fingers pressed against the side of her neck. "And your kiss. No matter how much I get angry and want to tear things apart over the ruin that I caused, I can't stay made at you because . . .I still love love you, and that makes it easy for me to forget my anger towards you." that was easier to say when she wasn't looking at him. like now.

All that emotion running from her like a fountain overflowing. That was most likely why he chose to begin with such a logic answer. "Well, Epiphany, I don't know about that. An occasion, yes, A short period of time, perhaps. But beyond that. . .your mind would start fighting back a lot harder, because a domino effect would be set into motion - not remembering me you would start to not remember other things that you know you should remember, and then it all starts coming undone. Even a beast such as myself can only toy so much with the mind when Time has a hand in all things." Yes, there it was again, time. It was a short speech from him, there was no doubt about that. And there was reason for it beyond the words alone. How he said those words, that was at least as important or perhaps slightly moreso. The calm was there. The lulling, silken laze of his voice wrapping around her like a blanket. Only after he did that would he touch upon the more emotional things that she said. And yes, here is where it was truly frustrating to face Damon. As she said herself, his willpower to be collected and poised no matter what the moment could be infuriating, depending on the moment. "I don't think any of this is about what I or anyone else feels you deserve, Epiphany. There's no punishment here." A pause, and then he added, "and you should never let love diminish your anger. That's precisely the sort of thing beasts like myself use to take advantage of people." Why he was telling her that. . .well there were things that went bump in the night wherever one went.

Frustrated? Somewhat? Angry? Moreso and that's what she was right now and all because he had done something she had already mentioned that he shouldn't do. He talked about time, and he was being so logical about it that it was going to drive her insane. "Must you also be so god damn logical about everything!" Yes, she swore, and she turned back around to face him to. "Fuck. What the Hell. Do you want me to get mad at you? Do you really want me to get mad at you and let all the locked away feelings of anger just explode to the surface?" Her fist were balled at her sides and she seemed very tense. "If I get made at you, I'm going to forget who you are. I'm going to forget who I am. None of that is going to matter and the top thing on my mind to do would be thinking of the fastest and most effective way to kill you. Do you want that? Do you want me to start thinking in that direction?" Calm Epiphany, calm down. If she didn't start to calm down more she would start to see him as a vampire and her as a vessel of light who's job it was to destroy creatures like him. "If it were anyone else besides you I won't care about holding my anger in check, or even forgetting about it." she looked at him straight as she spoke, standing still, though she could feel her heart beating faster due to adrenaline. Even felt a flash in her eyes. "If it wasn't you, I wouldn't bother putting down my defenses or every trying to be expressive and truthful because none of that would matter. I wouldn't care. But all you seem capable of doing is returning the things I tell you with a bout of your logic and beastly patience and wiles and ways." A deep breath as her hands started to come up, her teeth were clenched together. Damn. She lost her temper. There was no way of undoing that now.

Hm. Slowly Damon's brow arched with great interest. This certainly was not something he had seen from her before. Which meant, in the most simplistic terms, that something had changed between now and when they had seen each other last. That was good, was it not? That had been the major reason he had made his departure, after all, that he was enabling her to keep on a cycle which prevented change. So his absence had lead to something, even if it ended in her killing him with the might of all that was good and holy. Well, one good turn deserved another. "Okay," All that poise was dropped in an instance. Hit the floor faster than a block of concrete dropping from above. To the point where it was amazing how he could drop all masks, reserves, facades and so one so quickly and just. . .be a man, so to speak. Let the beast rest. Even his voice, just a voice. Casual, nearly 'modern'. "Your window was open. I thought I'd drop by. I'm not on a mission, I bear no message, I have no packages, I didn't plan on any games. I'm an asshole for suggesting that before I left I was going to make you forget this, or skew your mind into thinking that it would be just a dream. Because I wasn't planning on it, though if you're going to kill me I might have to reevaluate." A joke. Dangerous to joke with an angry person, which is why the nature of his smile was boyish, like he knew he might be sticking his hand in a candle.

[Epiphany]

Internally she was beating herself up, or she would if another part of herself hadn't tied that part of her up and stuck it in a corner and told it to be quiet. Sometimes, sometimes you had to let it out. "You don't want me to forget you, but you want come around me, tease me with your presence and make it so you were never here. I'm not that little girl anymore, Damon." She crossed her arms over her chest and took a singular step forward. "I'm not that young girl who didn't know what she was doing and made a mess of things to the point of pushing you away. I've grown up. I've grown up can't you see that?" It probably was hard to see given the way she had just thrown a fit. "You gave me that damn wake up call and I took it. I took it hard." She sighed. "I know what I'm doing now, I've made choices and decisions but in all of that I still want you. You don't have to go to me with anything special, you don't have to play your games, why can't you just be you? And if it takes me running you through and holding you within last stretches of your un-dead life, them that's what I'll do." Epiphany shook her head. "I just want you. And I'm willing to accept that there are some things you can't do, or don't want to do, because it will cause some massive effect that would be wrong but, since when are you afraid of taking risk? Are you not taking one already as it is? You won't even say my name."

"I'm not teasing!" Look at that, he even paired that flabbergasted tone with the 'hands up' gesture to assert his innocence. After that gesture completed its task he folded his arms loosely across his chest, head bowing a bit as he watched her continue on. Yes, she had certainly done some rather familiar things during their meeting tonight that might be put on the scales against her changing, but that's not what this was about. He was not Ma'at, come here to weigh her soul against a feather. "Do we really have to get into who I am, tonight, now?" He sounded tired. Rare for him, to sound tired. She wasn't the only one doing a lot of not sleeping as of late. "And there's a difference between risks and calculated risks, and I am the first to admit that I do nothing without calculation, it's simply in my blood. In my ancestral blood, in my predatorial blood, in my heart's blood, all of it. But yes. I am taking one now. And I have too said your name, Epiphany," he rocked forward just a bit as he punctuated each syllable of her name pointedly, fixing her with quite a look just then. "But if you really want to get down to it with me when I'm just being me I have a really hard time believing that after the growing up you've done and the choices you've made for yourself, you still believe that I'm the right addition to your life's decor. Don't you think I'd clash with all the hosannas and heavily light you've got around your temple?" Yes, Damon when he was 'just himself' could be as much a bastard as when he was beastly.

Huff. That's what she did. Epiphany huffed, and it was one of those type of huffs a person did that caused them to shot their arms down at their sides and raise up on their toes. That frustrated and angry expression written all over her face. What a pair the two of them made at the moment with their facades gone and acting the way that they did. He came forward a bit and she took another step towards him, she was pretty darn close right now, especially since she could reach out and touch him. Which she did. Epiphany poked him right on the chest above his folded arms. "Now you listen to me mister Damon Fauci," Her words had bite in them. He was slightly taller than she was, but while her finger was against him she stepped closer and looked up at him, a mixture of expressions on her face including anger. "And you listen good, make sure you hear me. "Once upon a time you told me that things like that didn't matter. If you say anything about our difference in years again I swear to god I'm to crack your jaw." did she mean it? Was he willing to test it? " Light and Dark, that's what we are right? Things like that are not suppose to mix but we did, we have, and we still are. To hell with all the rules of who can't and can't be together or what the status quo is in relation to everyone else and what's normal." Her tone was very level and slightly cold. "I'm not normal and neither are you. And if I say that I love you and want you to be in my world then that's something you're going to have to accept." Or do something about it, but she wasn't going to say that.

Something she would probably know well herself was that one could trip down to the barest form of who they were and still there would be some behaviors that would not change in the slightest. He could not resist his first words back to her. It was her phrasing just then, far too delectable to pass up. "Marchese Fauci, bella, if you insist on addressing me formally." That's right, with noble blood like his signore simply would not cut it. And there was an encore of that very slappable smile from a man who knew saying something like that was asking for such a sting to be left on his cheek. Perhaps. . .it did him well to see her angry. Baring and pounding her breast, so to speak. Anger was a very vulnerable emotion, and the Epiphany he had left with a letter had been very reluctant to experience vulnerability of any kind. But then, he would behave himself and give her his answer, quite casually. "It doesn't matter to me, no. Because I'm from the side where it doesn't have to matter. Shadows creep out, they wrap their dark mits around another bit of light, a bit more, a bit more as the days go on, no sweat off the back of the dark side, right? It's your side, your choice, that I'm honestly surprised with. Beyond the science of it, talking spiritually, I've never known the Light to bend. Or to allow its flock to bend." He was going to add, 'and I'm trying to look out for you' but he thought better of it. While he was trying to make sure she didn't end up getting punished for her courtship choices, he doubted she wanted to hear that he was still thinking about this through 'what was best for her' rather than what was ticking on his end.

Maybe she wouldn't slap him. Her hands were at a good spot to deliver a quick jab to the stomach. She could even do it hard enough to make him double over or something. She could do that right? There was a 40-60 chance that she could. Marchese Fauci. That was something she knew she'd smile and giggle about later due to all the wonders it put into her mind, when she was in a more stabilized mindset that is. The other thing that he had said, he was saying - if only slightly - that she was going against the will of the higher power. Which she was but, "I do have a human side," came her retort. Yes, that was her answer for doing the things she wanted to do. "If I didn't you'd be dead already." Now it was getting harder not to scowl, it was there; it's what she wanted to do. Thinking on it, did that make her a Fallen? She certainly hoped not! She knew that her decisions might bank on, or push that edge, but it wasn't a line she was willfully wanting to cross for she was unsure of what would happen if she did. "I only want one thing. One thing and that thing is so simple and so complex that's libel to make my head explode. Say what you want, or don't say anything at all since you seem all the better at doing that." Yes, she was being vulnerable. It was sort of new ground for her. Letting people see that they were getting to her, not hiding it behind a smile and a laugh or some other sort of action. Simply being her and showing the take-it-or-leave-it side. Somethings were too serious to be taken for pretend. "I'll give you something else that you can toss your logic up against." Since they were so close, Epiphany did the 'logical' thing that came to her mind: her hand went to close around his shirt and she kissed him. She didn't hold it for long, continuing her look into those endless eyes of his as she released him, and the force behind that kiss told that she was still on the upside of anger.

[Epiphany]

Well, at least he did have some response, and that was enough for her to let go a bit of the anger, even if it was only a percent or two. It had been a long time since she had kissed him. He was too concerned - she had picked up that much - but it felt more more like he was overly cautious. With how Damon was, that was something she wouldn't disregard. It was what he said would would be another point for her to bring that anger back up. That, 'point of order' that he didn't want to discuss. Why didn't he want to entertain the thought? What was so wrong about those thoughts that he didn't want to think about it? While she thought, she had maintained eye contact, and that could be the reason why her thoughts were drifting in her mind. All this time she had purposefully not gotten too close while looking at his eyes because when she did she always stared and her mind started to drift and she felt like her thoughts were not her own but someone elses. Not to mention that she lost some control of her actions. Right now that wasn't entirely the case and she had that slightly bit of anger to thank for that. "Why? Are you afraid that it's something I don't want to hear? Is it another dose of reality that you have waiting for me?"

Even Damon had his moments were he didn't feel like being one thing or the other and just wanted to be what was easies at any given time. This was one of those moments, which is why that rare flicker of exhaustion crossed his features. But rather than slip back into what was simple, he was going to put forth the effort to simply 'be himself' because it was only right to return the favor, especially when she'd asked for this particular favor specifically. "No," he tried to keep his tone patient while he said that, though she'd hear an edge if she was listening closely, "If it was something I was afraid you wouldn't want to hear, I wouldn't say it. It's been my choice because of the way I see things, Epiphany. I know who I am, what I am, what my motives are or more precisely what I'm motivated by. . .I was trying to be unselfish." He was actually having difficulty explaining himself, which was nearly unheard of. Part of his inability to articulate this was the simple fact that he'd never let even this thoughts try to articulate in his mind.

"Your the Beast who enters the bedroom windows at night of girls. Moving to their beside and giving them the long kiss of sleep." it would only be like her to put it that way. Poetic or in a story mode. This was Epiphany. No matter how much she had grown, she still liked stories and she liked to think of some things that way. She frowned for a moment. "I don't mind you being selfish. We're all entitled to get the things we want every now and then." She was defiantly on the track of getting the things she wanted after so long of thinking of other people and their needs. It was hard to do, but she tried and that was the point. She flattened her palm against his chest and took her eyes from his, breaking that contact to look at her hand. His shirt was slightly wrinkled where she had grabbed him and held the fabric in the confines of his fist. Strangley, she was thinking of doing it again! "Sometimes we have to be selfish." Her fingers did curl around that part of his shirt again and she took a step back, giving a tug to his shirt. Maybe she could get him to explore it. "What's your motivation? I know what mine is." She took another backwards step and aother slight tug. She had some give left, though now she was an arms lenght away.

He'd give her the first step, allowing himself to be pulled that short distance forward at her whim. With the second, however, she'd find him as hard to move as a boulder - an eerie talent of his kind, that when he was willing Damon proved to be lighter than a feather, yet when he was unwilling and his vampiric strength was released he was immovable as stone. "I don't know if I'm willing to do that." He'd nearly said capable, but couldn't, because as much of a beast as Damon was also unfalteringly honest. And he knew he was perfectly capable of doing what she asked. Thus it was willingness that he had no choice but to speak. "Ask myself what my motivation is. That's. . .that's cracking open Pandora's box." His arms were still crossed over his chest, he wasn't moving them. "After all, while I may be what you described, playing that role only takes up two, four hours of my night if I wish to hunt a second meal. And that's just what I do for simple survival, Epiphany. Imagine what I do with all those hours for the rest of my nights when I'm not at your side."

The first step was almost expected and so, when he gave it, she expected the second step to follow as well. When it wasn't, and he had become that statue, it caused her to almost trip, and she would have if she hadn't been holding on to his shirt. As it was, his sudden stop only made her arm jerk. "And while I'm fine with opening the box and swallowing the key, you're not. That's what's you mean to say?" Was there a small hint of annoyance in her voice? Only a little. "Come on. we all are driven by something, those of us who are not might as well be dead." Yes, how wonderful that sounded. He, literally, was dead, it was just hard for her to think of him that way when they had so much interaction with each other. A deep sigh. She seemed tired, possibly worn by the anger and battle of wits she had not been prepared to play. "I can't begin to imagine what you do with your time. You know what I do with mine. I stay busy. It's sad to say that I thought Vampires ate and slept." she paused. "Well.. that was before. Now I know that they have parties, go to school, get tattoes and everything that other people do in the day, but at night. Is that what you do Damon?" Tipping her head to the side, fingers still wrapped around his shirt as she stepped closer. "I wonder if that's what you do at night. Go off and have some wild nighttime routine"

"Alright. Listen." How plain and modern of him to say. But that was his aim. To 'get down to business', so to speak. "You just told me if I pushed you to the point of greater anger that you wouldn't know who you were or what you were doing and that your greatest motivation would be ending my life. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you didn't think that was a wise course of action. Can't I have the same view, which justifies why I'm a little less eager to open the box and swallow the key? Maybe it's the part of me that doesn't want the wrong things pushed out of your safety is what drives me not to ask. Maybe I know the answer already, I've just chosen to make a nice hobby of blocking it out. I care about you deeply, to the point where I'm not entertaining certain notions out of concern of what entertaining those notions could do to you. Isn't that what love is?" He asked that with something close to frustration, and one arm pulled free of his chest so he could make an 'erasing' motion with his hand. "Don't answer that. I wouldn't say I'm the sort who has a wild nighttime routine. But I'm also not the sort to lock myself in towers and waste away scorning what I am," again a reference to one vampire in particular. "I've taken to finding places to play the piano, for a little while. When the mood strikes me. That's how I encountered Seth, in fact. The club I walked into, I had no idea it was his."

"Would you like for me to produce a piano for you? I seem to recall that we can produce wonderful sounding music together." She said those words rather plainly and matter of fact, even if she did chance a wink at the end. He had released one hand and so she went to try and capture it - it would make a better holding point than his shirt. Surely he didn't want her to keep pulling on it or else she may actually tear it. Meaning she was going to start pulling again. Soon. Epiphany was being truthful in her statement, she could 'produce' a piano, there, in the room, if that's what he wanted. Call it a trick of the room, or of an element of the room. Just as he wanted, she wasn't going to answer his first statement, but that didn't mean that she wasn't thinking on it. Maybe he was saying that their differences were too many that now that they simply got in the way. Epiphany went for another tug. "Do any of those things require you to stay within five feet of the window? Come. Please?" Adding please, it was even sincere. Those other things she wanted to say , they were all just resting on her tongue but damn if she didn't also look ready to buckle down and start a tug of war with the immovable Vampire.

"Yes. Produce me a piano." There, he had made a decision for her. There were many reasons he'd made that particular decision, as impulsive and suddenly as it seemed to come from him. It was a calculated risk. At the very least, sitting down and playing upon the keys would help him, allow him to articulate things first through the manner in which he struck his notes and chords before he had to put anything to words. And then, he heaved a nice big sigh. Breath he didn't need to live, but he damn well needed it then to express exactly what he was feeling at the moment. Because he was about to cave in. For a litle while, at least. This was not a night, it appeared, where he had to tend to other business before sunrise. When she took her hand, he was said suddenly and firmly. "I cannot fall alseep while I'm here, not even for a moment," he said that suddenly, firmly. With a look at her that suggested what he said was a matter of life or death. So. the next question obviously was, where was she tugging him since he was complying for the time being?

No sleep. He made that clear enough. "I'll keep you busy." It didn't matter if she was tired or not, she wouldn't let him fall asleep. Since he was willing to walk, and he had given a request, she would o her best to help it come to view. "Maybe I can give you strenght." Though, right now, she didn't say how she would give strength or what she meant. Maybe if he asked she would tell. Getting him to leave the window was one goal accomplished. Now, a piano. She lead him towards the other end of the room where there was the fireplace. She turned her dusky eyes in that direction and focused on the area. Piano. Grand piano. that's the only type she had ever seen him play. Grand Piano. Black piano, with golden feet and keys made of ivory. Cords tight and made of spun brass. As she thought about the details the piano started to form, it appeared to come out of the wall and rise up from the floor, building from the ground up. The colors from the wall and floor, those colors dropping, being washed away by the colors she imagined the piano to have. Bench with a slight cushion held with silver studs. It was all there and that is where she was taking him. It wasn't a long walk. "I won't let you fall asleep." When she had been with him in times past, she had gotten use to not sleeping at night, just like a vampire.

[Epiphany]

He had his own interpretation of what she meant by 'give him strength'. A certain memory came to mind, in fact, of a bottle, which had been filled at painful cost. As that was his assumption it was precisely why he didn't ask. His only response was a faint quirk of his dark brow, as his dark eyes set upon her. The piano, however, it provided a good excuse to not answer the question, as just as Epiphany promised there was one growing out of the woodwork quite literally so. It was enough to cause the quirked brow to rise a bit higher. He didn't want to know how she managed to come across such power, for multiple reasons. With the irritant spirit still stalking his dreams and doing its best to discover Damon's secrets, should he dream of Epiphany in the coming days there were some things he wanted to make sure Noel absolutely did not know. What she was. How much power she had. How much she meant to him. Their past relationship. And so on. All reasons he shouldn't be here, but here he was. "What a talented wishing well," was all he said of the piano's appearance. Once he was in proximity, his weight dropped down heavily on the bench, and he touched his fingers lightly upon the keys. Just a whisper of touch, not enough to draw sound. "Hm." There was no explanation for that sound, only this a few beats later, "When I can't trust myself to not fall asleep, I'll leave here."

At least he liked the piano, that was good. It might not have been a perfect replica of a marvelous grand piano, but it was good enough to be a good copy. If Epiphany knew a lot about something, seen it a lot and the like, the better chance she had at creating it. That's just how this type of 'magic' worked. Much of this was new, and much of it Damon had been privy to in times past, the only difference was that he never saw something being formed. Back then she wouldn't have been able to create while moving but, as she got older and developed, so did her talents. "I won't keep you longer than you can stay." Of course she let him go when he moved to sit at the piano, she chose to stand on the side of it for now and simply watch him as she rested her arm on the lid. "Don't worry about the sound," she smiled as she said that and looked around the room. "You could yell out and scream bloody murder and no one will hear you outside that door. Or outside that window if you didn't want them too." Just cause the sound wouldn't travel through didn't mean that they couldn't be seen or that anything else couldn’t travel through the window. How else did the air get in? "The Door makes sure of that." Was the Inn beyond her door? Maybe. Maybe not.

Ah. The door." From the way he said that, he certainly knew what door she was talking about. It was not at all odd to Damon that a door he had the pleasure of meeting back at the Alliance was at this Inn now. Humankind had moved the location of bridges and buildings, when they were so inclined. In comparison, a door was a rather small order. Despite her assurance that no sound would travel out of the room, Damon started moving his long pale fingers over the keys in a manner which would strike them softly, his foot pressed on the pedal that would create the same effect. He wanted to make certain she could hear him over what he played, even if at the moment it was nothing more than a languid yet complicated interpretation of scales. Thanks to his lush, life-altering history with his instrument, Damon had precious little need to look down at the keys as his fingers moved. And so Epiphany was graced with his gaze, and as his eyes settled on hers he asked, "Is this room so impenetrable that there would never be any need for those outside of it to hear a cry for help?"

"Well, no it's...." she paused as she thought about it, the right words for the situation. "It's dependent on me. My control. What I would like to have happen for the most part. Sometimes I simply don't care if people know what's going on or not." She had a rather lazy stance against the piano and that he was looking at her wasn't helping in the slightest. "I simply won't care and those that are outside the door will hear the muffled sounds as if it were any old heavy door they were listening through." that was a good explanation, but what to do about the standing? The only solution was to sit on the piano or sit next to him on the bench. If she sat next to him, she could restrict his movements and therefore she placed her hands on the lid and pushed. A small jump and she was atop the lid, pulling her legs under her and laying on her stomach, head propped up in the palm of her hands. She was still decent for the shirts neck was not that low, but this did cause the chain of his pendant to be seen. "When I sleep, if I do, or I 'm not doing anything too important, it doesn't matter. Sometimes I like my privacy. The thought of being alone with, well. my thoughts. Maybe you'd like it too. "

Wasn't it a wonderful thing that the concept of 'being decent' depended on the company you were keeping? In some situations, bearing an ankle could be enough to draw scorn or punishment. Here, to be 'indecent' was to show her neck. "A good system, if you're prepared for whatever comes your way and nothing takes you by surprise," said with a faint twist of his red tinted lip, nearly a smirk. He wasn't trying to cause her unease, it was simply how his mind worked. The tactical, over-prepared mind of a predator. "Maybe I'd like it too. . ." he echoed that with a slight lean back, his head bowing back so that his gaze was now fixed high upon the wall across from him, looking at nothing in particular. A musing gaze. A loaded statement, she could have meant many things by that. In the spirit of 'just being himself' he would answer it in this way, "I'm alone with my thoughts quite often. And could in a crowded room filled with a sea of people be in effect alone, as not a single one of them would know I was there. I know they're there, of course, but as I'm confident that they don't know of me, to me it's in effect being alone. For the only one who knows I'm there is my thought." Still softly, Damon's playing strayed from his interpretation of scales to something more musical in nature. Slow tempo, not quite sad, not quite minor key, but with whispers of it in the progression of the notes. The impromptu composition would, as he played it, be the sort that caused a feeling of lingering. Like the chill of a cold spring rain, or an unsetting dream which the dreamer can't quite remember.

"Like when you came to deliver the package." It was said quiet simply for it was true. That day he had chosen to remain unknown, and so he was. Unknown. That could be alone. Epiphany grew quiet then, listening to the music that he was playing. She never did learn to play, the best she could do was a single finger tapping out of 'Mary had a little lamb' and even that was mediocre. She would leave the playing to the talented people. "You know what happens when I'm alone with my thoughts?" Hands came down from her face to hold on to the top of the lid, the area above the keys, and she pulled herself forward, sliding on the top. Epiphany's head was tipped to the side, she wasn't exposing herself on purpose, it was an action she did without thinking much about it. "I start to think on many differet things, and then my imagination gets involved, and when that happens, I can never be too sure of what's going to happen next. Yet....often times I simply find myself alone and I'm trying to break that habit. I did that too much at the Alliance and it wasn't healthy. Did it cause it's what I was use to doing." She was looking into those dark eyes of his as she spoke. "As I told you before, you don't have to always be alone."

"Like then, yes. I'll let you ponder at another time on all the other occasions I may have possibly been watching you when you were none the wiser. . ." Damon gave her a brief, beastly little smile then, one which was not telling enough to say whether he was speaking a truth, or merely trying to nudge her into a bit of paranoia. He paused then, at least in his words, and simply let the melody continue. His foot taken off the pedal at just the right moment, it made the music sound like it just released a breath that it had been holding in all this time. A catharsis, the Greeks had so aptly called it. After that breath, he picked up the tempo, the dexterity of his fingers plucking at keys with precision and poise. But make no mistake - even with that breath, and the increase in tempo, this was still a lingering melody. A musical echo, so to speak, of a memory. If there was a specific memory in mind - and there was a very good possibility that there was - the music that came from him would keep that hidden for now. When Damon spoke again, he did not have to do his vampiric trick of placing his voice directly into her ear, as she'd pulled herself up closer to him. He knew she would hear him just fine. "I'm three hundred and seventeen years old, Epiphany. The more the years pass, the harder it is to find someone who is actually worth giving some of my time and company. Considering I arguably have infinite time, that's not saying much, now is it? And no, before you even ask, I am not speaking of you when I say that."

He had better not, and it was a good thing that her earlier temper was subsiding for she might have taken it the wrong way, even with the tag line at the end. The music, it had to be the music. It was said that music soothed the savage beast, which was quite ironic in this case as he was the beast who was making the music. Then again, he did say that playing had been helping him, so it worked both ways. When she considered how old he was it caused a slight frown to crease her lips and it made her think about time and distance and how terribly lonely it must be to go for that many years and be, well, alone. Surely he wasn't alone for the total sum of those years but.. still. Epiphany almost sighed but she masked it by slightly pushing back and then rolling over on her back, pulling her hair under her. If she had laid on her side she could see him without turning her head, but right now she only looked up at the ceiling and the wooden beams that where there. Epiphany liked to get comfortable. "I can't even imagine a hundred years. It seems so far away to me. So when you say three hundred, that's an eternity. Then I think about all the things that could happen in that time, and how it all could make a person feel. " Now who was talking about time. "It's not a very comforting thought." She pulled in a deep breath and held it, her hands folded across her chest dug out the blood red pendant and she cupped it in her hands. "I think about you a lot in the times I let my self be still. " And the music. This was settling around her she was sure she would remember it for a while.

"You'd be surprised how quickly even that much time can pass. The transformation from being human one day to a vampire the next, that alone...all its difficulties and gifts and the thirst and the hunt, those four things alone will happily occupy nearly any vampiric creature long enough that decades suddenly fly by. Now, when a vampire has aged beyond that, it all becomes a question of how they spend their time. If one chooses to spend it, oh, say...locked in a tower with no vocation, no ambition and barely any connections to the world, then I imagine one feels the passage of a single year as painfully as a mortal feels a terrible ache in their body. Excruciating." Here is where the music would begin its transition. Suddenly as Epiphany lay there the possibly of her thinking 'have i heard this music before?' would increase. The question wouldn't be answered outright, it wasn't yet absolutely recognizable. But soon. "Now I, on the other hand, have stumbled upon a myriad of ways to pass my time, whether it be pleasure or business, in the company of my kind or mortal, or alone." As his fingers pulled music from the keys with the ease of a potter working clay, Damon paused. Finally, after listening to his own notes and mulling over whether or not he wanted to speak to her other comment, he said finally, "I've thought of you too." Simply put, without the froth of his mask or beastly self. He'd said it plainly on purpose.

It was there. She could almost place were she heard it before. It's not like she spent a lot of time listening to music, just sometimes, and when she did, it held memories. This was another memory in the making. As she laid there something she thought about was how this would look on canvas. He should know her well enough that she often sketched out, or wrote into story, certain aspects of her life that she wanted to remember. It was just her way. This would make a lovely scene, of course she was dressed wrong, but that could be fixed. In her stories everything had to be right. That's how it goes. Epiphany let her eyes close only for a moment when she heard him say that he had been thinking about her. It made her smile, even if he might not have been able to see all of it. "Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to know you in your early days. And I remember that time when you taught me what it was like to be a vampire. I remember our exchanges, what it was like to feel that need to pierce the skin, to hear the heart and feel the warm blood slip down my throat. " it sounded very storybook, and yet real . Maybe it was how it was said. "I don't think I can ever forget that. You mentioned the window earlier. It's always open for you in the hopes that I'll see you. Even if you have been spying on me while I wasn't aware." He would, wouldn't he. Thinking about him, her hand went to her neck, a few fingers gracing the side before they returned to the pendant.

[Epiphany]

His early days. A single chuckle, that sounded much like 'hm', jerked his body in a slight shrug. It was amusement, the sound, encased in a more weighty, pensive emotion. Damon did not answer her right away, perhaps for that reason. His fingers answered her instead, the piece he played once again clarifying itself through the transition to sound so so very familiar now, the sort of familiarity that was right on the tip of the tongue and if you could just push your mind forward a small distance more, there your answer would be. He struck the keys with dominance now, pulling music from the strings as if he was drawing the life and passion out of the instrument she'd created for him - how suitable that his playing had that feel to it, when he was a vampire. "If we had crossed paths in my early days, Epiphany, I think you would be dead by now. Or something that was barely a whisper of your current self. Most likely the former, however. Not to be morbid." A brief curl of his lips into a smile that lacked its usual wolfishness, and held something more disconsolate. He was tired, yes. Very tired. Even for him sleep could not be completely avoided. "Do your spend your days focused on the potential that you'll see me in the window, or is it open while you move forward to other opportunities?" Even though in her current position they could not meet eyes to eyes, she would feel his gaze intensely focused on the back of her head.

Other opportunities? That was an interesting statement and she couldn't help but wonder what the other opportunities were that he was referring too. Feeling his gaze beating on the back of her head didn't help either. As for his earlier comment, she figured as much, that if she had met him when he was a young vampire, she'd be dead. When she took that potion and was a vampire that blood lust was so high, she could have killed a few people as well. Especially if they presented themselves as a willing meal. "Not morbid at all." A passing thought came to her mind that she should have put a cushion on top of the piano if she were going to lay on it. The floor was soft, very soft, and this piano was hard. Maybe she could put some of the floor on the piano. . .. It was the music. The music that was causing her mind to wander as she tried to grasp at what the memory. It was there. Even if it wasn't, this was a lovely tune and she could listen to it all night. It also produced a small groan from her throat and she rolled over on her stomach so she could face him again. This time he folded her hands under her head and laid flat o her stomach, head turned to one side as she watched him. She was watching him very intently for a moment, trying to hold it there though it dropped to his hands on the keys. "Would you rather I resend my invitation for you to come and go from my room as you please?" not that she ever would. As she finished she looked back to him. "You do know that you can come by, even if I'm not here. That's why it's open,"

"That's not what I'm saying," answered calmly, with a hint of that silken tone that nearly everyone but her heard as the truth of Damon's voice. And it was the truth - every individual had multiple truths, after all, like the layers of an onion. The simple fact was that the only truth Damon allowed anyone a glimpse of was the truth of him as the gentleman beast, for that is all that nearly all those who encountered Damon ever needed to know. As he'd said to Epiphany earlier, there were precious few that he encountered who were deserving of any considerable amount of his time. He slowed the tempo in the piece he played to a pace that was almost unnatural for it, as if the piano had turned sluggish and in as great a need of sleep as he was. It was a purposeful choice on his part, as his eyes met hers once again now that she was once more on her stomach. "I know the effect my kind can have on those they touch, Epiphany, especially those who have been touched as deeply as I have you. It can create a yearning for encores of what was, and make it difficult to see what the opportunities of what can be. An illusion of the moon in the sky, even though its the sun shining overhead." By the time he finished his words, he played the piece of music precisely as it was played once before. In a ballroom. At a castle. On an occasion where that piece of music had just been the beginning of a rather memorable evening.

He had to play that particular piece of music, didn't he? Yes, that was the piece he played and now that she knew the truth of what it was, it was hard not to think on it, especially when she was this close to him. She was feeling.. slightly put off, or pushed away and it started to create a knot in her stomach, Sean's words once again echoing through her head. Send him away, it said. You have to send him away. All her life she had been a stubborn child to some degree and the stubborn part of her was telling her to ignore that voice in her head and simply listen to the music and remember the memory. "A yearning. Of course. But there are other forms of yearning as well and they have nothing to do with whether or not a person has been touched by a vampire." Reaching her left hand out she let it hang down by the keys, not in his way of course, but off to the side, barely touching those pieces of ivory. Damon also knew that she like stories, one time he had even told her that he didn't want to be a mere player in her storybook fantasies. "Hearing this music you're playing makes me remember and desire to revisit that time again. It is a lovely memory and I'm happy to remember it." Not looking at him. She would work on that. "I can only think that it's a pleasant one for you as well, since it is what you are playing." Opportunities. Yeah, there were other opportunities but none of them ever seemed the same. "You know that I would feel this way about you whether you were a Vampire or not. With that said... let me give you some energy to survive the night?"

"Yes," a nod from him as he continued with the piece. Now that he played it as it had once been played, his fingers moved over the keys with exceptional confidence and speed. While he could play any piece that had been composed, and only needed to listen to the piece once in order to know how to play it, most of the time he played original compositions that came from whatever state of mind he was in. It was the most Damon showed of himself to others, through playing the piano, and most who heard his music heard it only as music. He had been an amazing virtuoso when he was a mortal man. . .and once his maestro had pressed immortal blood upon him he was unsurpassed. Perhaps she would be able to tell, through the language of his body and the way he communed with the piano, that it was a memory he did find enjoyment in. He didn't say that, however. "There certainly are." Other forms of yearning. "A vampire is who I am, however. Even that potion couldn't erase three centuries of being the creature that I am. But that. . ." a pause as he played the last bars of the music, foot easily switching from pedal to pedal and fingers rolling over and striking keys, and then played the last chord and the three single notes that followed. Now that the piece was done, he could finish. Dropping his hands from the keys to rest upon the bench, he said, "is neither here nor there. I need to sleep, Epiphany. It's not safe right now for you to give me any sort of energy, not yet. Perhaps soon, as this situation should soon be nearing its proper conclusion." If he had his way, at least. Which he always did.

Soon. She could deal with soon, even if that seemed to be a very long way from where they were now. He had played and she had watched him. While she didn't know about playing music, she knew about art and art was a form of expression. When she did her paintings, or etchings, each of them had emotion behind it that came through in the drawings. When he played, he was making art and his mood showed through. This is what she liked to see and one of the reasons why she could watch him play the piano all night if it was something he chose to do. There were few rare times when she got to see the emotional side of him, and those times mostly centered around when they were alone. She pulled in her lips and walked her fingers along the keys before she pulled her hand up. "You should prepare yourself though. For Soon." Adding that with a smile. "Because.. you might find that it's a bit stronger than it was before." It wouldn't hurt to warn him would it? Thinking about the possibility of soon started her heart racing and she forced herself to keep it at a normal pace - even if it was slightly elevated. Epiphany tried to cover that with a slight chuckle. "I know you said you would leave once you grew tired. I won't try to convince you to stay." She thought about leaving the top of the piano but only got as far as pushing herself up on her elbows as she watched him still. "Keep yourself safe, Damon. Yes? Promise me?" Her voice was full of concern laced with worry. Though she tired not to show it much, she did worry about him.

"I've always admired strength." The corner of his lip curled into the suggestion of his beastly smile, though said smile did not overtake his wolfish mouth completely. Knowing now that their exchange would not include her trying to persuade him into staying, Damon pushed the piano bench back and smoothly stood. As he did, his hand slipped under to cup her chin, that familiar gesture that she was certain no other could duplicate. Long cool fingers pressed against her warmth for a lingering length of time, as he looked pointedly into her eyes. "An easy promise. Epiphany." That last word slightly accentuated so that she would remember that he'd spent time here during which he'd said her name. The beastly little smirk spread, but he said no more. What she would feel against her face next was mist, as Damon pulled his body effortlessly into that form, and in that form left through that open window.

-fin

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