In Which the Queen of Hearts Meets the Joker of Diamonds

The night is still and cool, a gentle breeze rolling on the dark air. Rain clouds hung heavy in the sky, but no moisture presented itself to the ground. The gardens are peaceful and nearly empty, a good place for thought and reflection.

Which Smiley proceeded to engage in. He stood in the far end of the back garden, his eyes wandering slowly over his surroundings. This was an activity he enjoyed most, being alone, thinking to himself, waiting for events to unfold before him. He was nearly invisible in this darkness, the moon normally lighting up his ghostly white skin in the night, but the rays of the moon fell silent under the thick gray clouds. He enjoyed being undetectable, silent, motionless. Anyone could pass him and he would be under control. His eyes could search them, his breath could caress their bodies and they would have no idea of his presence.

The idea was entrancing to him, and so he waits. Letting his millions of constant thoughts drift and swirl in his mind. Like a man on a boat in a lake of churning thoughts he would fish out memories and observe them behind his flickering lavender eyes.

Moe glanced back at her sleeping husband as she pulled a jacket around herself and padded silently towards the front door.

She needed time to think through things and she felt better thinking while she was outside.

The woman closed the door to the cottage quietly and began to stroll along the edge of the forest, pulling the thin jacket around her. It wasn't to keep her warm, but more for protection. There were vampires around and she didn't want to be caught wearing nothing but a knee length strappy nightgown.

So she had borrowed one of Zeke's jackets to cover herself.

Her bare feet brushed along the cool grass softly as she walked, tucking a strand of hair behind a pointed Elven ear.

Smiley's eyes flicker brightly as he senses the presence of another, the quiet thud of feet tapping against the ground in a light stroll. For a few moments he let himself ponder whether or not he wanted to make his own presence known to this being, their figure becoming clearer to him in the darkness. In one swift motion he slips away from his place beside a tall plant and walks silently toward the figure, making sure he is undetectable.

He slips his hands into his pockets as he stalks behind her, making a mental note that this is a female and by the shape of her ears she is an elf. His breathing is silent and his heartbeat is slow and steady in his chest, a calm overcoming him as he follows this woman.

After a short while of walking behind her he steps beside her so the two walk together and he speaks out in a hushed, almost dream-like tone,
"It doesn't seem cold enough for a jacket."

Moe felt a prickling at the back of her neck.

Someone was watching her.

Her eyes slid shut as she walked and she focused on searching out the area for scents or sounds to try and identify whoever it was.

She couldn't hear or smell anything strange enough to worry her, though, so she relaxed a little, pulling the jacket further around her shoulders.

Her bright green eyes flickered up to Smiles when he stepped up next to her. If he had wanted to cause her harm, he wouldn't have stepped up like that. She felt safe enough around the vampire for now.

"I'm not wearing it because I'm cold," she replied softly, her bell-like voice ringing out into the otherwise silent air. She tucked a strand of her long, wavy hair behind her ear to bring it away from her face.

"Then why wear it at all?" He questioned, letting his eyes flicker over to her every now and then to pick up little details of her appearance. He took note of the melodic hum of her voice and the somewhat cheery air about her. She seemed to him like prey though he felt the presence of a predator inside her...Deep inside her.

He himself is dressed in black, worn-looking dress pants, a loose white dress shirt and a pair of gray suspenders. There are no shoes on his feet and he looks like a corpse risen from his grave, awakened from death to torment the living. He hadn't fed in quiet awhile so the normal rosy hue to his lips, nose, ears, and joints was faded, dulled down into his pasty white skin.

"To keep away prying eyes." It'd keep prying eyes away from her bust, at least. Her long, slightly muscled legs were bare from almost the mid thigh down; the jacket didn't cover much of her legs.

She didn't particularly want other men - or women - staring at her scantily clad body.

She was insecure enough about herself and letting other people ogle her felt... wrong. She was married to Zeke, her body was his and letting others touch or look at it in any way similar to Zeke felt all too wrong to her.

The smile upon his lips stretches out further, a fairly common feeling of amusement rising in his chest at the thought of the woman feeling uneasy around his presence.

"My eyes don't pry Miss," he hums out in such a way that is almost charming for the lips it escapes from, "They only observe and gather information~"

After he speaks this out he turns his eyes to face forward to prove his ability to restrain himself from gaze upon her, for he honestly had no intentions other than to observe and study the woman.

"You may not, bot you aren't the only one living in these grounds."

There were other, less innocent men and women that would look at her and it was those people she was worried about.

Her eyes turned to the dark sky as a breeze passed by them, dancing playfully with her long hair, lifting it from her back.

"It's a beautiful night tonight," she murmured softly. The dark clouds brewed overhead, threatening to start raining at any moment.

She loved the rain.

He hums out a dry laugh, "No. Everyone here is dead Miss, so I am not one living here at all~" Her assumption that others would want to look upon her seemed vain to him. She was judging all who live in this place, branding some as threats and others as mere souls to not be worried about. She was wrong. Smiley was a man to be wary of. He knew this and she should as well... But at this moment he would not want to reveal that to her...Because that means he has the upper hand.

He could use her judgement against her, this woman who played God.

"It's only as lovely as the night before it." he replies, the nights in his mind always ran together, the darkness is easy to merge into new memories.

Her lips curled upwards slightly. "Those are the words of a turned vampire," she murmured softly, eyes flickering to the man.

Pure bloods wouldn't call themselves dead. They had been born and they breathed and bled and slept like any living being. They were very much alive. But some turned vampire's had different opinions. Some believed that because they had been drained to the point of death then reanimated they were dead - just mere corpses that walked the earth.

It amused her because, with the same philosophy, turned Lycan would also be considered dead. And Lycan were a race that people associated with life. A Lycan wasn't a walking corpse.

"Perhaps." If she didn't have the philosophies that she did, she probably wouldn't have found the sight of the clouds breathtakingly beautiful. But Moe enjoyed every day and night as it came. Days didn't blur and each day and night was admired by her.

"That is the case Miss," he replies with a quiet tone to his voice, "But the pulse under one's skin nor the throb in one's chest determines if they're alive. What lays in your brain determines if you are living. And everywhere I go it seems like I'm walking through a graveyard. This place especially~"

Smiley genuinely takes pride in this philosophy he has gain in his lifetime, because it is the closest he feels he will come to his enlightenment. But he will forever be held back by his own human and vampire needs and experiences. If he were to follow his rules he would have killed himself long ago.

"I disagree. People here have a passion for life. They have friends, family, lovers and themselves to live for and with."

She smiled softly, picturing the grinning faces of her family and friends.

"We go through life and we enjoy it; to me, that's living."

Perhaps Smiles had a different philosophy and she could respect that. But she had her own opinions on the subject.

"Passion is an illusion to the eye of a dead man Miss. And we surround ourselves with other dead being to convince ourselves we are alive," He says this all calmly with a general tone to his voice, as if what he says is common knowledge.

"All life is, is a cluster of mirrors and smoke which we wander through. We see what we think is our reflection, what is told is our reflection because we can never truly see ourselves with the smoke clouding our view like it does. We're all stumbling around in out glass coffins, subconsciously looking for an unobtainable exit~" He hums out, a smug little smile on his face.

She hummed softly after the man spoke. "That's an interesting view of life."

Moe pulled the jacket tighter around herself as she stared ahead, the soft grass still ticking her feet as they strolled idly across the lawn.

"Similar to Plato's philosophy of the World of Shadows." She hadn't had formal schooling, but she had always been interested in philosophy so spent a lot of time reading up on it.

The hybrid liked his philosophy. It was interesting.

An interesting philosophy for an interesting man, she mused silently, green eyes flickering up to him.

The sense of calm this woman held bothered him. A woman who believed in passion normally couldn't handle the idea of a live without such... Or at least the woman Smiley had known. But though his generalization was proven false, Smiley kept the soft grin plastered to his lips, a slightly amused look about him.

"You'll find I'm not the common existentialist though Miss," he speaks to her, his voice rolling off his tongue and into the darkness of the night. He pictured it to look like smoke streaming from his mouth, caressing the night air with his verbally expressed thoughts.

"Hmm."

Moe took a few large steps forwards before turning on the balls of her feet, walking backwards so she could stare at Smiles, head cocked to the side as her hands clasped behind her back.

"I never introduced myself, did I?" She smiled brightly at the vampire, eyes sliding closed. "I'm Leon Moe."

She found herself getting along with this man rather easily. He was interesting.

The tall vampire smiles down at her with that trademark smirk, the tips of his fangs poking out and pressing down softly on his pink lips. He continues to stride forward slowly in the dew-kissed grass.

"That's because I didn't care to ask you Ms.Moe~" He hums out, still grinning. His fingers twitch lightly against the fabric of his inner pockets and his messy hair sways around the frame of his face.