[HERE'S THE SETTING] + openn.

[Estelle de Cher]

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Admittedly, the castle that was the heart of Transylvania was a very gloomy place.

So few were the days of absolute, golden sunlight; so few, in fact, that one could easily trick another into thinking that the sun’s rays were grey, instead of honey. But on the days where Helios decided to let his true nature be cast upon the country, it truly was a sight to behold; not for too long, though, for it often had the same effect as a too-passionate kiss. Still, it was a lovely place, so thought the Duchesse de Cher, even without the luxury of sunlight. The dark kingdom presented a sort of unconventional beauty that one with an artist’s eye could quite easily detect.

Estelle, though, did not share this quality with Transylvania. Even in her earliest years, parading in the courts of Versailles, she was compared to universal beauties, like Aphrodite and Helen of Troy. This seemed not to inflate the girl’s ego, however, but just make her aware of the hold she had on people and, more importantly, what she could do with it.

The flirtatious vixen, taking a walk around the castle gardens (an action that didn’t usually fit the aforementioned titles) could not help but ponder her life’s journey whenever she preformed this routine. It was as if the fresh air and the surreal, dark beauty sent her to a different time in her short life, as if it had bewitched her with a spell of sentimentality. This forced reminiscence, however, often lead to feelings of gloom and sorrow. When she thought of beauty, she thought of Armand. When she thought of the past, she thought about the past with Armand. It was a vicious and repetitive cycle, always leaving her thinking of her lost love.

Estelle tried to move on, as evident with her lifestyle of detached affection. A place, somewhere in the back of her mind, reasoned that all she needed was the physical love to mend her broken heart, that anything that required the involvement of emotion was dangerous territory. It wasn’t that she resented loving her husband, though; she resent He who had taken what she had regarded so dearly away from her. So, if she felt no attachment, no one would be bothered to take anything away. If he did, however, she just would not care. She also reasoned that she would never find another Armand, anyway, so going out of her way to look was inane. Insane, too.

Even though all of these emotionally challenging matters were playing through in her mind, it showed naught on her face. Instead there laid a cool expression of sophistication, a look that she had gained from growing up in the midst of nobility. She was not in her usual garb, for she figured that she wouldn’t meet any fellow nobles out doors, so she was in a plain white dress—plain compared to the majority of her wardrobe—with eyelet lace and turquoise ribbon and satin slippers that coordinated with the blue. Her hair, instead of being piled atop her head like it normally was, was pulled back into a bun, with light blonde wisps sticking out here and there.

Estelle continued to stroll throughout the garden, still thinking, but also noticing the wilting blooms of flowers that seemed to be overtaking the gardens. She loved autumn for the change it brought, but had always wished that it didn’t have to do it in such a cruel manor.

[Flann Helouyn]

lann ran his cold fingertips along the cool stone of the windowsill. Before sunset he was always the most miserable. Locked inside, watching the sun's rays from behind curtains, or from an open window when the sun is not as strong in the afternoon, slowly slipping down behind the castle's West wall. He released a breath in a bored sigh, then pressed his lips together and turned away from the window.
Although it was completely safe for him to gaze out of the window this time of day, his room facing the East, there was absolutely nothing interesting to look at. The gardens were silent, unmoving.

The young vampire seated himself on the edge of the large bed, then ran a slender hand through his hair. The short, light brown strands stood on end for about two seconds before settling back down on his head. How much longer until sunset? Flann placed his hands on the bed behind him and leaned back, tipping his head back. The ceiling had intricate designs painted on it with a careful hand. But not even the beautiful brushstrokes kept him interested for long, he'd after all spent many days laying in bed, his curtains closed, and his eyes focused on the intricate work not too far above him.

He huffed, almost exasperated, and pushed himself back to his feet. Maybe he would take a walk through the castle, see if any of the royalty would keep him company. At this point, he'd even sit down and have a conversation with a maid or a cook. Flann nodded to himself. Yes, he would go into the castle and find someone to entertain himself with. Swiftly he lifted a coat off a chair sitting by the bed and pulled it on. He then made his way by the window and toward the door.

When almost at the door however, Flann went completely still. What was that...scent? His curtains had fluttered just as he'd walked by, a breeze bringing in the scent of the late season flowers, and...

Within the blink of an eye he was standing at the window again, bravely leaning out, smelling the air. There! There it was again. Sharp eyes scanned the gardens below, the bright colours illuminated by the late afternoon sun. Then movement caught his eye and he focused intently on it. It was a woman, dressed in white, and her hair almost as pale as the dress. Yes, the scent had to be coming from her. The smell wasn't that of flowers, but something different, though just as pleasant. If not more so. Flann slowly pulled himself back into the room, rested his arms on the windowsill and then his chin on them. He would wait...wait until the sun set.

{sorry it sucks ): }

[Estelle de Cher]

She sighed, as was her nature when she was fed-up with her own habit of thinking too much.

Estelle knew that without something to occupy her mind, it would always wander and stray to thoughts she’d rather not revisit. Yet everyday, she took these walks when she knew that they were often what distracted her from her own busywork, allowing her to think about other happenings and such. Sometimes the person who frustrated her most was herself.

The duchesse stopped, though, when she spotted a large stone sundial to her right that she somehow failed to notice before. She frowned at her own blindness, and paraded to the dial to check the time. It read about four thirty, which meant two things: that she had been outside for about half an hour, and that the sun would soon be setting. Estelle, always being a fan of nature, smiled when she calculated this and looked toward the sky.

Already, the sun was almost finished with it’s journey, Selene ready to take her place as the night’s guard. As she stared at the pink and oranges of the sky—that almost reminded her of a freshly sliced pomegranate—she had to wonder how she did not realize it before. Was she really that blind-sighted by her own mind? If so, she decided, that needed to stop. What if one were to walk in on her as she was in such a trance? That could certainly be embarrassing.

Once again, she banished mortifying thoughts from her head to watch nature perform one of it’s loveliest miracles. She did not know how such things occurred, but she appreciated them all the same.

{If that's suck, then I like your suck. My suck is awful, though... wait... xD}[/size]

[Flann Helouyn]

mpatiently he watched as the glow slowly changed colour. Gold, orange, red. His mind wasn't completely focused on the seemingly slow sunset however, his hazel eyes were locked on the petite figure that had now come to a standstill by what appeared to be a sundial. Had his eyes been human he would have been unable to see enough detail, would have been unable to identify it as a sundial.

Finally after what seemed like hours, the horizon darkened, and the fiery gold light had left the garden. Everything was now in shadow, and the woman below with her white dress stood out against everything else.

Flann took a deep breath, memorized where she was standing, then quickly made his way out the door and down the hall. He'd made it half-way down the stairs when he realized that he could have just jumped out of the window and landed in the bushes below without any damage. He supposed that he'd been unable to think though his excitement.

The vampire made it to the nearest window, made sure there were no witnesses, then jumped out and into the garden, a safe distance away from the woman he was intending to see. Within seconds he was standing at the foot of the castle, his posture straight, every hair sitting perfectly on his head. He rand a hand over his open coat, feeling the silk if the white shirt peeking out from beneath the jacket, then made his way around a tree and onto a gravel pathway.

Using scent and memory alone, Flann made his way through the unfamiliar gardens, heading directly for the sundial and the young woman who'd so completely tantalized his senses.
He turned the corner and there she was, her scent sending a shock through him, dilating his pupils. Flann took a mere second to compose himself before elegantly making his way over, "That sunset was a beautiful sight..."

Usually Flann was better with the way he worded things, but she had so completely taken him off guard, that it took most of his concentration to keep from pressing his lips to her neck and inhaling more of that scent...

[Estelle de Cher]

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the sun took it’s final, reluctant bow into the horizon, encasing himself in the dark velvet curtains of the night sky. He still clung on, though, as the heavens were not totally black, but a very deep grey-blue that still allowed one to be able to see a good way before him. Estelle remained there, though, hoping to catch a few glimpses of awakening stars before it was time for her to retire inside.

“That sunset was a beautiful sight...” remarked a voice foreign to her ears, making her jump a little. Estelle turned to the man that had just spoke, a smile forming on her lips as she gave him a quick once-over that was usually undetectable to humans eyes; it was a sort of talent she had picked up a while ago that before her arrival in Transylvania wasn’t used often. The fact that he was a stranger to her, the type of person that knew practically everybody there was to know (and he was the type of person to know, she could tell), was a bit confusing, maybe unnerving, but she reasoned that she hadn’t been in court for very long, so the unacquaintance was excusable.

He was a tall figure; brunet hair, dark eyes—though that could have been just the lighting. There was a certain air of elegant arrogance, by the way he stood, but also as if he were anticipating, or maybe hoping for something. Estelle could not detect what that was, however, since she was not a mind-reader, just a body-reader. She also could not tell if his remark was small-talk, or an actual appreciation of the sunset, but she was delighted by his remark nonetheless. She wouldn’t let him know that, though.

“I suppose it was,” she responded, “if such a thing appeals to a person.”

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don't mind me. i'm totally going to be experimenting with my post codes for a while xD

[Flann Helouyn]

he smell of her was unbelievably distracting. Flann had to put a halt to his breathing in order to keep from going through with his impulses. His fingers itched to touch her. The young king forced himself to gather his bearings and ignore his instincts for the time being.

"It was quite appealing...for the time i spent looking at it."

A smirk played about his lips as he moved his eyes from her petite figure to the western sky, where that hateful ball of fire had disappeared. A soft sigh escaped his lips. He'd heard many speak of spending happy days in the sunshine, feeling the light warm their skin. Flann had never once experienced that, he'd been banished to the shadows since a very early age. His brow pulled together as that thought brought along with it thoughts of his long lost "friend", the man who made him what he was, and let his mother die. His fists clenched, nails pressing into his palms. The small pain brought him back to the present and he almost instantly wiped the expression from his face and eyes. He turned back to the girl,

"What is a beautiful young woman such as yourself doing walking alone in these gardens after sunset?"

The girl seemed familiar, almost comfortable with everything around her. Though Flann was never a very good judge of character, she seemed like she'd been here a few times. Then how had he never encountered her before? Flann had his own mansion, further into the countryside, but he spent very much time at the Transylvanian castle also.

{It's icky ): but i promised you a post...so i squeezed it out of my museless mind XD}

[Estelle de Cher]

CHARMING. That was a word that came straight to mind as Estelle listened to the man before her speak. Although, she could not help but notice he was a bit agitated. She studied him a few seconds long in an attempt to figure out what it was, but she couldn’t even come up with a theory. Sometimes, Estelle was quite naïve when it came to supernatural matters. She hadn’t much dealings with “unnatural” beings, even if she had a few friends that were so. It wasn’t something she often discussed with them, though, and it was quite possible that she had even blocked such things out of her mind—not out of fear, but innocent ignorance.

That isn’t to say that the vampire or the shifter was something exclusive to Transylvania; it’s just that back home in France, Estelle was sheltered from most people. Her friends were hand-picked for her and she always had a governess along with her up until she was wed; this really irked her, but she always passed it off as overprotectiveness. Considering the times, though, the fact that her father was a bit paranoid is understandable, even if only for his bastard child.

Presently, the man before her was an enigma, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in some very nice packaging. Perhaps it was a quick judgement, but that was a known fault of Estelle’s. In her defense, though, her quick judgments were usually accurate.

“What is a beautiful young woman such as yourself doing walking alone in these gardens after sunset?” he said, continuing the conversation.

“I do believe compliments are supposed to come after we introduce ourselves,” she responded coyly. “I am the Duchesse de Cher, but most know me as simply Estelle.” She paused for half of a second and added, “As for my reason for being out here, I was just about to head indoors from my daily walk....” She frowned inwardly at her own blunder; one is never supposed to let interests know that one does anything routine. Well, there went one of her angles.

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[Flann Helouyn]

lann was very near to cursing aloud. He'd stopped his breathing, and her scent was no longer a temptation, but now his other senses took over. His eyes fixated for a few moments on her throat, watching the slight pulse move beneath her skin. Human eyes would be unable to catch it, but he saw it with unbelievable clarity. Flann quickly tore his gaze away and looked down at his shirt, wiping something invisible from it's surface.

This all took place in a matter of seconds. Flann regained his composure and brought his gaze back to the girl. He had to control himself, he was already acting suspicious, probably making the girl nervous. He forced his expression to appear content and at ease,

"Forgive me, I could not help myself." He gave her a charming smile, a slight twinkle in his eye. Flann listened as she introduced herself, his smile turning more genuine, "Estelle..." The vampire let the name roll off his tongue, as if he were trying to taste it. "Beautiful name." He reached forward, asking for her hand, "I am King Helouyn.", he introduced himself, an amused look upon his permanently young features.

It took much self control for Flann to keep from lifting his chin up proudly. Having grown up as royalty has left him with fair share of vanity. He didn't consider it a flaw, but he found that showing vanity in combination with his high status tended to scare people away. And though he knew he deserved respect, he did still want to keep people around him.

This brought him to thinking of his last trip to his homeland. Most of his advisers had insisted that Flann were to find a wife. He needed an heir, to take over as he had for his father when he died. Flann felt a slight pang of disdain. He had all of eternity ahead of him, had plenty of time to find a wife. However, he had to continue his facade, he had to continue acting as human as possible. So, should he find a human girl he found to be attractive and marry her within weeks? Or was he to wait for true love?

The young king's head was starting to hurt from mixed effort of keeping himself in check in front of Estelle, and contemplating what to do about his love life...

[Estelle de Cher]

ESTELLE’S eyebrows raised slightly at the title the man opposite of her held; needless to say, she hadn’t expected that a king would be right here, talking to her. Maybe someone who had held a title equal or lesser than her own, but a monarch? It wasn’t so out of the ordinary, she supposed, that a king would be visiting another king’s court! She mentally kicked herself at her own pretentiousness; she would deal with her flightiness later. But at least, Estelle reasoned, she hadn’t thrown herself all over him. That could have been more than a bit disastrous—especially if there was a queen involved in the formula.

Estelle studied King Helouyn a second more, only to become even more frustrated with herself. It was quite evident by the way he carried himself that he wasn’t an ordinary courtier. He held that certain stance that was naturally bred in high royals: her father stood the same way, as did the Dauphin and all of her other half sisters and bothers. She really should have known. The duchesse decided, however, that she would play it off and try not to show any of the previous distress upon her face. The last thing she needed to committed was another faux pas.

The only thing that was left for her to do was pull off the addition of this knowledge in the least awkward way possible.

“So, it is His Majesty King Helouyn, then?” she said in her most detached noble voice as she curtsied. “It is my pleasure to meet His acquaintance.” Not bad, but she could have done better if she was given half a minute more to respond. She didn’t want to seem flaky, though, by taking so long to continue.

It was then that she realized that she hadn’t the slightest idea of the kingdom her ruled over. This meeting just wasn’t going well for her.

“How does His Majesty prefer His homeland to Transylvania?” Estelle questioned craftily, hoping he would drop the name of said country.

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[Flann Helouyn]

he was absolutely stunning! While he'd paused, letting her speak, Flann had found himself drawn into the every detail of her face; her rosy lips, porcelain cheeks. Flann swallowed and tried distracting himself, in stead studying the details of her gown. Before his eyes could slide up again, settling on her neck, Estelle finished speaking and he brought his eyes to her's.
Her manner toward him had changed noticeably, and Flann felt his heart sink a little in disappointment. Maybe he should have kept his status a secret for the time being. But he'd remembered the last time he'd done so with a lady, she'd been angry and frightened enough to leave the town he'd been visiting.

Well, nothing could be done now except make the best of the situation. Flann remembered that she'd mentioned she was making her way to the castle from her walk. His lips curved again, "It is a pleasure to meet you." Flann felt his hunger grow and mentally cursed himself. He shouldn't have allowed himself so near to a fragile young woman while so hungry; he should have fed before. But her scent had called to him, he couldn't have taken the chance to hunt and have her slip away...

"May I escort you back to the castle, Duchesse de Cher?"

He offered his arm to her, positive that she would accept his offer. Were she to decline, Flann's ego would take a serious blow. After all, it was rare for any woman to resist his fortune, or his charm. He gave her a friendly smile, skillfully keeping his fangs from peeking past his lips.