The wind on the sea

[Christine Daye]

"....can you change into any shape you wish...? Or are you like the selkies... and you must put on a skin to change? ... it does seem very magical to me... and my people are full of shapechangers... though some have many shapes... while others prefer just one..."

She hums again, then gives him an arch look.

"...yes... I think that four Princes in a year can be considered to be very excessive.... especially considering Oxford where the same Prince has ruled for centuries..."

She looks out across the river.

"I imagine your travelling was very different from mine... you shall have to tell me about it... and yes... given current temperatures here... going to someplace hotter will be a challenge!"

She smiles.

"...oh, not long... I must be back for the Ball... I am commissioned to play and call some of the dances, you see? It would not do to disappoint Prince Dyonisia..."

[Regulus Grey]

He shakes his head, looking at her curiously.

"Just the two shapes I'm afraid, that of a Raven and a Wolf. Of course when I attended the latest Gather I saw a broad array of shapes...bears, giant lizards, wolves. I even saw a huge tiger. Not all Gangrel can transform of course...but it was certainly a broadening of my knowledge. My Sire told me that when I first changed...I would change into a creature that most reflects my soul. I take from that I am suited to belonging with a pack rather than wandering alone."

He nods, eagerly accepting this new information. He smiles gently, subconsciously scratching at his forearm.

"There were many times on my travels that being immune to the worst effects of the weather was greatly benaficial. Attempting to cross the alps would otherwise have no doubt resulted in severe frostbite."

He looks at her quizzically once more.

"Forgive me, but...your people?"

[Christine Daye]

"...I wonder what the shape of my soul is..." she muses. "...probably a nightingale.... or.... "

She smiles to herself then, her free hand touching the base of her throat gently.

"...darkness and light..."

She's distracted for a moment.

"...my people? ... oh.... they are the people of the Goddess... the Tuatha de Dannann..."

They walk past a rose bush in full bloom, its heady scent lingering in the night air, and she winces.

"...no... you have never been in love... have you... almost I envy you..."

[Regulus Grey]

He softly shakes his head.

"The heart that is soonest awakened...is first to be touched by the thorns."

He sighs

"I fear I have never been in love...and I wonder whether I have lost my chance now I am...this..."

He gestures to himself, then digs his nails in hard to the scales of his forearm and scratches hard. He looks sad and a small frown creases his brow. Looking up, he meets her gaze and his forehead relaxes. A expression of peace once more comes over him.

"For you...I could not say. I find it hard to judge the shape of one's soul when I have known them only a short time...I should think a creature that does not look threatening...but has a hidden edge.."

He glances over at the rose bush, noting her wince.

"I saw you singing the other eve...your talent is astounding."

[Christine Daye]

She laughs, but it's gentle, sympathetic.

"....and I am a madwoman.... but I was loved... I am loved... and adored... meet me on the battlefield..."

She looks distant and dreamy for a moment. Then:

"...oh....something that is not threatening... but with a secret edge... hmmm... that is tricky... well... I doubt that I shall find out any time soon... "

She nods her thanks at his compliment.

"...tell me about Siberia..."

[Regulus Grey]

He chuckles softly

"Some say Darwin is mad, but the insights he had brought to the field of Natural Science are astounding. Sometimes I despair of those who's eyes are yet to open..."

He shakes his head.

"Siberia...well..."

He glances over

"Do you wish to hear of its beauty...or the cold edge one doesn't see...or hear about? Or a mix?"

He stops scratching the the scales of his forearm and now walks with hands clasped behind his back. Once more his eyes change and he scans the darkness before reverting them back to their human norm.

[Christine Daye]

"...I have heard of Darwin... possibly the only scientist that I do know of... but I do not understand so much of what he says... but then music is my obsession, not science..."

She shrugs.

"...Siberia... tell me the best and the worst of it... tell me your truths... tell me of the parts that spoke to your soul... tell me whatever you choose... and I shall tell you something of similar value..."

[Regulus Grey]

He nods, a long moment passes as he seems to compose himself and order his thoughts.

"Siberia...Siberia is at once the most beautiful and the most ugly place I have ever been. It was the land that killed me...and gave me new life."

He closes his eyes and breaths for a moment.

"The southern climes of the country are dense deciduous woodland, miles of fur trees stretching in a belt from east to west. In the summer the sun shines through the trees and you could be walking in a land before human beings ever came into existence. But the further north you go...it becomes a flat tundra. Miles of flat ground which the wind howls over without pause..rocky buffs provide the only shelter you can possibly find for miles around."

He clenches his jaw.

"It's hell...and yet sometimes I'd rather be back there. It's an uncomplicated life living in the a tundra."

He bares his teeth, grinning up at the sky.

"Oh the parts that spoke to my soul...that is a difficult question. When the rest of my expedition was dead...I was left alone...I stared into a oncoming snowstorm and felt the wind like knives flaying the skin from my bones...I did manage to find a cave before I froze. But I could feel my skin dying...I could feel myself dying. When the snowstorm ended I managed to break enough wood from the sledges to build a fire...horse meat sustained me for a time..."

He looked down at the ground, then up to her face again.

"Eventually I ran out of horse meat...so I dug and dug...I found marmot holes and managed to flush them out...I didn't have a good knife so I had to break their necks with my bare hands."

He blinks slowly

"After the first week...I was sat on the outcrop outside my cave...my home...and I saw wolves around the ruins of the expedition. I heard them howling...and it was the first time I realised I was trapped...just me against the world..."

He smiles thinly.

"I'm sorry...that wasn't very informative about Siberia I suppose."

[Christine Daye]

She nods encouragingly.

"...how did you survive...? ...and why were you there in the first place...? ...it seems a long way to go for a scholar..."

[Regulus Grey]

A smile twitches at the corners of his mouth

"Since I was a young man studying at Oxford, I've always preferred the practical to being in the library. So I planned an expedition to track and observe different creatures and how they adapted to different extremes of environment. But...I hadn't taken into account the extremity of the winter weather."

He glances away, the smile fading from his lips.

"How I survived is an interesting tale in and of itself...but the abridged version is that I didn't lay down and die. Each moment I was figuring out how to survive the next few seconds. How to keep the fire going...what I was going to eat. Crafting tools to make getting food and wood easier...I was little better than a feral savage when my Sire decided she had seen enough...that I was worthy of being part of the clan."

He glances back to her

"Then I spent five years learning the ways of the clan, how to utilise my inherent powers and how to be faster, stronger and tougher. And the history of the Gangrel...the stories passed down from Sire to Childe since ages past."