Like a Fairy Tale, so Grim - Vincent (Flashback)

[Victoria Alden]

The island was beautiful, Victoria had noticed that as soon as they had arrived. She'd observed everything calmly, while Sera and Auriel had skipped around in utter glee. She hadn't wanted to come to the island in the first place, and it's beauty did not change her mind. She'd just wanted to go to Aunt Ina's castle and play with Sir Snuggles. She'd been quite upset with she was told they were going to some island and that she would have to leave her cat behind. She almost refused to take part in the excursion but her mother was having one of her...episodes. Aunt Ina hadn't given her the choice.

Tori walked slowly behind the others. Her long dark hair was pulled back in two tight braids that hung down over her shoulders. She'd braided her hair herself earlier that morning, but they'd been too messy. She'd asked her mother to fix them for her, but the woman was far too busy feeding her birds to even hear her daughter's request. When Doina had arrived with the other children she'd taken the task upon herself and set Victoria up with two perfect braids, chatting away with an unresponsive Madalyn the entire time.

Her pace slowed even further as they walked on. She didn't see why Aunt Ina hadn't just popped them right to their destination rather than making them walk all the way across this stupid green island. She continued to watch the landmarks they passed. There seemed to be settlements in the distance, who lived there she didn't know, but they seemed to like sheep. Maybe it was Polyphemus, the cyclops from Homer's epic the Odyssey. Victoria had just finished reading it, and she was now stuck on Greek mythology, making connections to the subject in anyway she could. The thought that one-eyed giant could be living so close, and in such tiny houses made her giggle.

She continued on, Aunt Ina and the other two children were far ahead of her by now, but she didn't mind. It was quieter now that the others had skipped ahead. Ari and Sera's giggling was now muffled and Tori could think clearly, making up stories in her mind that DIDN'T have to do with giggling over-exuberant fairies. They got quieter and quieter as they travled onwards. Tori didn't question it, she just continued along down the path, taking everything around into curious eyes.

She spotted something in the distance and stopped suddenly. She could only see the tops of the stone walls over the grassy hill, but she was immediately interested. "Aunt Ina?" She called, there was no response. She turned back, expecting to see the woman further down the path, turning to face her and responding. Instead she saw nothing, nothing except the continuation of the path. Unlike most five-year-olds Victoria's reaction was minimal. For a moment she was worried, but her distress lasted for less than a second. She remained on the path for a moment, contemplating her next move. She could either hurry to catch up with Aunt Ina and the others...or leave the path and discover the stone structure that lay beyond the hill.

She stepped off the path quickly, standing still for a moment before continuing to make her way over the grassy knoll. The hill was larger than she had expected, her legs started to burn, and it seemed as if she still had forever to go. She stopped, almost giving up several times, but what could lay on the other side of the hill was too mysterious and exciting to give up on. After what seemed like a year, she reached the top, and could finally see what she had been so determined to discover.

It was beautiful. She walked slowly down the hill, her dark eyes wide in strange amazement. The crumbling stone walls to the ruins were covered in moss. They had to be hundreds of years old, the homes to druids who had inhabited the island long before anyone else. She approached them, her mind full of so many possibilities. She reached out and pressed her hand against the wall, she was tall her for age but it still rose about a foot above her head. It was rough, but firm, little bits of the mortar crumbled off at her touch. She walked through the arched doorway, which still stood and tall despite its age, and leaned against one of the inner-walls. She sighed softly, sliding down into a sitting position, crossing her legs, and staring blankly at the wall opposite her, daydreaming about everything that could have happened there.

Outfit
Young Tori

[shava]

It had been a good morning so far. He had banana pancakes for breakfast and played tag with Ollie and Zapher (He couldn't say the ghosts' real names they were too long) and hadn't been put in a bath yet. Normally when he managed to get outside they often had him in a bath when he returned, but so far he seemed to be golden. Vincent was happily playing in the yard with a shovel, though not from the front windows where his mother could see. Or the ghosts. He was dressed in tan shorts, white shirt, and a pirate vest, but not the hat or the eye patch today. About fifteen new Orleans beaded necklaces were around his neck however in a kind of tangle by now and eight plastic yellow rings on his fingers he was counting as gold. He had managed to get a spade from the shed and was digging a hole to bury a small box (filled with a little boy's treasures like favorite rocks, some cool twigs tied to look like a flag) but it was long work and he wasn't making much progress yet. His mommy had said he had guests coming over to play today, but he hadn't seen them yet.

Of course, being a Moon he could come and go through the doorway whenever he wanted to. He didn't know the butler ghost would immediately tell his mother cause he hadn't made that connection between the ghosts and the house, but he wasn't worried. Mommy could always find him anyway. On an off chance, he stepped through the arch in his bare feet wondering where they were and found himself standing beside a little girl his size. Odd, there weren't any girls on the island except his sister. And she wasn't that big. "Are you my guest? Why are you sitting out here?"

That exhausted most of the social talk he was aware of really.

Worried his mother might catch him out here, he stepped back through the doorway and disappeared from her view in thin air as far as she could see. Standing there he looked back at the mansion, making sure no one was running across the grass to snatch him back inside. After a -- well not a ten count, cause he couldn't count yet, but a few seconds, he turned and stepped back through and looked at her. "You wanna come in?" He stood there leaning on the arch as if he could go right back through it again any moment, unsure what she was there for if not to keep him entertained. That was the purpose of the world, of course.

[Victoria Alden]

Victoria sat there silently, her head resting back against the wall her mind still racing a million miles a minute...if not more. She could see ancient witches preforming a ritual sacrifice of sorts, dryads and nature spirits dancing gracefully, their inhuman features glowing eerily in the moonlight. The thoughts were all so beautiful, so...interesting. Tori was completely lost in herself. She closed her eyes, a small smile spreading across her lips as she imagined. It was so peaceful, everything felt so right but then. A voice.

The small girl's eyes shot open and she attempted to back up, only succeeding in bashing her head against the hard stone. Her eyes closed tightly as she winced in pain, and when she opened them again the fiery-haired little boy was gone. Utter confusion filled her, she leaned forward, still sitting and looked around, wondering were the little boy had gone. He had to exist, she wasn't crazy, not like her mother. Victoria may have been young but she knew crazy, and she was not. She mentally assured herself of this and continued to stare at the empty air in front of her, her hand held against the back of her head which was now throbbing with pain.

He re-appeared and a strange sense of relief flooded the girl. He was real! She hadn't dreamed him up! But now...what the hell was he doing there? Heck. She corrected herself, Aunt Ina didn't like her to use words like 'hell' and 'damn'. Unlike Madalyn, Aunt Ina insisted she use kinder words, such as 'heck' and 'darn' if she was ever to use words like that at all. She didn't understand why she couldn't say those words, wasn't expanding your vocabulary supposed to be a good thing? Why did it have to have restrictions? She refocused on the boy, half expecting him to be gone again, but finding herself quite glad that he was still there.

"What are you?" She asked, completely ignoring his question, her brown eyes wide in amazement. She stared at the little boy, her mouth gaping open in shock and surprise. Her question was...not exactly what should have been asked in a normal situation. 'What are you' isn't really the correct thing to say to someone you've just met, if watching someone appear out of nowhere, disappear back into nowhere, and reappear out of nowhere really counts as a meeting. Maybe he was magic, like her, and this place! Maybe he was a little pixie boy, she leaned forwards a little further trying to see if there were dragonfly wings growing out of his back. There weren't, but that didn't mean they weren't there!

[/blockquote]

[shava]

Like most boys Vincent was too young to know much about manners, though he was learning. Having a ghost nanny teaching etiquette along side a flesh one teaching rules tended to keep them at you all the time it seemed. So even though he was four something told him he hadn't been right, though he wasn't sure quite what he had missed. Maybe because he wasn't used to seeing people on his island to begin with? Possibly. The few girls he met besides his sister were brought by adults and he didn't see any adults around here.

Then again, she wasn't helping remind him with her question.

He did know that no one would be able to step through the arch without a family member guiding them; anyone else would find it a normal arch. That was family magic. So as long as he was at the arch he was safe which made him feel bolder and as a boy that wasn't always good. "What am I? I'm a boy, silly. Aren't you a girl?" His frown came back and he picked his lip, pulling it with two fingers as he thought carefully. What else could she mean?

"Wait,"
he said kneeling suddenly and touching the hem of her dress with one finger with sudden thought. "Are you tangled? Do you need help?" He stretched out his hand, using his free one to push his bright and shiny red hair out of his face as it was getting long. His logic of the connection was too hard for an adult to follow easily but it went something like this.

His mother read him stories. In many of them there were what in the old books were called "Damsels in distress." Being four though he was still lazy with his words and found that too hard to say. And in all the pictures they wore these long dresses which they were always tripping over. Instead he called them "tangled-in-their-dress" which his mother found a scream. Logically then, since they were always rescued by Princes or Wizards in the stories, those people must help them get untangled and stand up.

So heroes or princes helped women stand up. Logic. Problem was, he was a pirate which probably meant he helped woman get tangled in the first place to capture them. Though if anyone tried that with his sister they were in trouble anyway and he was backing away carefully; she was dangerous. Plus, you weren't supposed to hit girls and how else did you tangle their dress up? Still pinching his lip with his fingers in great concentration, he heard his voice called from behind him.

He immediately sniffed under his arm to make sure he wasn't dirty.

Seeing that was good, he turned and disappeared back into the arch again and turned towards the manor where his mother was coming from. As always she seemed confident, sure, and straight forward. "See anyone Vin? He nodded and pointed back to the archway. "Tangled. She's a girl. ...I think." His mother's face was clearly thinking through that one a moment as she got closer. He took his mommy's hand and brought her through the arch and pointed at her. "Right here."

His mother (dressed in simple short dress with green and gold) standing half in and half out of the archway squatted down and said "You're Victoria?" At the girl's reaction she nodded seeming relieved and said "I told her you were fine. We were all going to explore the beach, but you two have already met." Putting a hand on his butt and pushing him forward she said "This is Vincent, Victoria. Why don't you two play here if you want or go inside. If you come out of the ruins come to us down at the waves and I'll go tell your Aunt you're okay before she freaks. All right?"

She ruffled Victoria's hair with that adult affection touch and then stood and told Vincent "Stay here or in the house, Vin, I'll be watching. Say yes." He nodded looking up at her with a grin "Yes, Mommy." She grinned at him, stepped back in and got the spade which he wasn't supposed to have, then came out again all the way, holding the spade by the rough blade end. And with that she walked off through the ruins headed towards the beach. Vincent stood there wondering what to say or do with his hands suddenly in his shorts pockets and looked at her. "Hi."

[Victoria Alden]

He was young, in mind and body. She watched how he fidgeted, unable to stand still for too long. She was still puzzled by the whole experience, the little red boy popping in a and out of existence. Her head, which was already in a fair amount of pain, began to throb even harder than before as she tried to wrap her mind around the whole…here now gone now thing. She knew people did that…but they were big, adults, and there was a noise! That loud firecracker sound that drove her mad! With him there was no noise he would just be gone.

"O-Of course I'm a girl!" She stammered slightly, become a little frustrated with his inability to understand what she had asked. She stuck her lips out in a perfectly pink pout as she tried to think of what she could say next. She wanted to yell, tell him what a stupid little boy he was, that he was an idiot. But Aunt Ina said she had to be nice. She didn't understand how telling people the truth was mean, Aunt Ina also told her not to lie, but when she told people the truth, they tended to become more than a little upset.

Tori opened her mouth to speak, but his voice stopped her. She paused, her mouth still partially open, watching him carefully as he knelt down beside her. Part of her want to reach out and touch his hair. It was so bright…so…intense. She was drawn to it like a moth to a flame, but she was petrified. His question confused her even more than his constant comings and goings. She looked down at her dress, which fell in a nice orderly fashion over her lap and then back up at him.

Before she could ask him what exactly he meant, or call him crazy. He was gone again. Now she was becoming frustrated, how was she going to figure out who and what he was if he kept on poofing like that? She was just about to get up and try to go find Aunt Ina when he reappeared, this time with an older woman. She had the same orangey-red hair he did..but she was a lot taller. Tori stared up at the woman, sucking in her bottom lip nervously. She nodded quickly as the woman spoke, remaining silent. Something about the woman made her stomach hurt. It was probably the fact that she was a stranger and knew her name…maybe more. The fact that she seemingly knew Aunt Ina didn't make her feel any better.

She cringed slightly as the woman touched her, a fresh bullet of pain rocketing through her skull. She chewed silently on the inside of her cheek, watching as the red woman spoke to the little boy, Vincent, his name was Vincent. She watched as the woman walked away, making sure she was a good ways away before made her next move. She ignored Vincent's greeting completely, standing up and brushing the dirt off the back of her dress. "So," She said, staring down at him intently "You're a wizard?"

[shava]

So far she wasn't very impressive for a girl. His sister was loud and energetic and always teasing him. So far this girl was just a girl and not very inventive in her questions. Of course he was a boy, duh! Who would want to be a girl? Well clearly some girls wanted to be girls he was sure, like his mother. But she was different; mothers were... well he didn't know. He looked at her eyes carefully as if not so sure. "Well I didn't know, you could be a boy wearing a dress. Some do that." He gave her a questioning look and decided she seemed to be telling the truth. "Well....okay, if you're sure."

So mommy knew her and she was okay so she must be one of the guests. In his mind, anyone falling in his size range must be a playmate, the same reason why the ghosts were always fun to play tag with. If his mother said someone was okay then he pretty much trusted them to be okay then, not being old enough yet to really understand the differences. She seemed to have other ideas on her mind though. "When I get bigger. Mommy says you can't be a wizard till your finish school." Okay, well she would be a witch, not a wizard. Only boys could be wizards. Didn't she know that? Maybe her mommy hadn't told her that. Vin knew his mother would tell him anything he asked.

But she was cool like that.

Enough of that. "You wanna to come in? We can play tag or hide or pirates." When none of these seemed to do the trick he furrowed his brow thinking of what other things his cousins loved to do here. Mommy didn't have any sheet on the line so that blew up the idea of desert wanderers. His dad had been quite upset about the attic being used as a pirate fort once so he had to avoid that. "I could show you the Queen room I guess. Um, we have ghosts..." Probably not a girl thing, he mused, not knowing anything about her.

[Victoria Alden]

Chewing mindlessly on her lower lip Victoria stared at the boy. She wasn't one of those children who enjoyed to meet new people, she would rather stay home and read or play dress up with Ari and Sera, who were as close as she would ever get to having siblings. This being said, she hadn't exactly enjoyed meeting Vincent or his mother. She'd been content in her little world, full of wonder and excitement, and now she was standing face to face with a small boy who's immaturity annoyed her to no end. "Of course." She said, her vision becoming more focused as he spoke.

She didn't really know what else to say, when she was with Ari and Sera they did all the talking, until they actually started their game. Then she had to talk, because Ari always made her be the princess and princesses never shut up. But that was just playing the part, something she, and most children, could do easily. Sometimes, when she had to meet people she pretended she was someone else, it was easier that way. She didn't like to talk to people, especially not strangers, but if she was someone else she could do and say many more things than she normally would.

She brought her hands together in front of her chest, nervously pulling on her fingers and picking at her nails, which had been chewed almost out of existence. "Uh…" she paused, still a little confused about the magic door that she couldn't see. Looking at the boy, than quickly at the seemingly empty air behind him she shrugged. "That coiuld be nice." She said taking a few small steps towards him. She was still incredibly uncomfortable, but everything he said seemed so exciting! She couldn't contain herself any longer and the questions exploded out of her, one right after the other.

"The Queen room? What's that? Is it a room for queens? Does that mean I have to be a queen? Because I'd much rather be a monster if that's alright. GHOSTS? What are they like? I've never seen a ghost before! Are they as pale as the books say? Can you walk right through them? Can they talk?" She stopped suddenly, taking a deep breath in as if the reload her guns for the next round.

[shava]

Seeing her tempted, Vin held out one hand and said "Here, only family can take you in," and took her hand before she could resist or realize what he was doing and pulled her through. As they stepped through the field around the manor house appeared, the house as well. He dropped her hand after they were through and kicked the dirt hole he had been working on "She took the spade. Darn." Hearing her voice made him think about what she asked.

"Oh sure! Ghosts? Come on, I'll show you them." As he walked towards the manor house with it's green vines running up the front he said "Queen room looks like queen lived there. Some old grandma." He walked a bit farther before he continued, looking up at her. He didn't think she could be an old queen, she was a girl. "Nah, you don't have the hair to be a queen. They have like feet of it piled up on top and little buildings in them."

Vin had studied the pictures in the room very carefully and knew not everyone had queen hair.

As he walked up to the door it swung open and he said "Hi Abraham!" Stepping inside the old worn hall he waved at the pale ghost and said "Hey Abraham? Where are Donni and Merry?'" The voice came back very thin as always, as if the owner was speaking through a window or something. "They are upstairs in your great great great great- -" He interrupted in such a way that the ghost (plainly used to it) just waved a hand as he stopped speaking. "Can you just show us? I wanna show her real ghosts."

"Right that way master Vincent..." Vincent reached back and took her hand saying "Come on and I'll show you some our size." he led the way as if it never occurred to him she might resist. And it didn't; she had expressed interest so he was going to show her some. He went up the old steps as the other hallways visibly disappeared and he followed the only open path. Since she was a visitor, she had seen no stairs until the ghost motioned and to her there were no other ways, just stairs up with a hall on the second landing leading away.