Reginald
Eliza's body stiffened with nervousness as Noctis approached her from across the room. Her left hand instinctively going to her chest almost clutching her jewelry with shock as he reached out his strong arm and presented her with his hands in a noble fashion. She looked him up and down, wondering to herself if she were hallucinating the sight before her. Without even realizing it Eliza held out her delicate hand, her soft palms landing softly into his, her entire body shuddered with delight from his warm touch as their skin met. 

Eliza's body was flooded with warm radiating from Noctis' lips as he gently kissed the back of her porcelain hand. If her undead body allowed her to she would have a flushed face but thankfully her condition concealed her. Eliza couldn't believe herself and her thoughts as she examined Noctis' kissing her hand, how his silky raven hair seemed to bounce as he lowered his head- or how his skin seemed to glow without any light present, he was beautiful. She couldn't help but be reminded of their encounter in the forest, how angry he had made her. Eliza was like a statue of dark elegance clad in shadowy fabric and glistening metal that gently clung onto her skin. She was an ethereal beauty that was almost too good to be true, and it was- she was a skeletal parasite housed within a porcelain doll. Something Eliza hated about herself, something Noctis had witnessed without any judgement. She felt a warmth within her chest suddenly, an unfamiliar feeling she quickly disregarded as the work of Noctis' intense body temperature. Her mind stirred before she was reminded of his words...

*I want you*

She blinked rapidly clearing her racing mind, were those his words or hers. Regardless of her layered opinions on the handsome demi-god her hedonistic nature couldn't resist a dance with a dashing man.
Barry
Noctis was lost to a magic more ancient than any of the gods themselves now as his fingers curled against hers and pulled her closer, closer. His other hand moved and found her hip and gingerly pulled her nearly against him. Her skin was cold, colder than ice and yet like a live electrical wire the sensation of it sent signals dancing through his nerve endings to make his fingertips tingle and his chest feel full of lead and light as a feather all at once. Those plush blood red lips were so close now and yet his eyes only had room for her own. 

There weren't words to be spoken, no conscious thought. Noctis had lived eight **Hundred** Years waiting to feel the sensation he was feeling now and had no idea he was feeling it. Yet his ancient, weary soul did and it shut down his mind, shut down his blackened heart and it took control. There was no music that played and yet there *Was*. The child of masculo, Lord of Beauty, one of the fathers of the world- had finally found someone to complete the song that always resonated around him. Wind magic flared to life, divine magic seemed to him through the ship- and yet only the two in the room would ever experience this moment. The wind lifted them up so that they floated and yet still their feet found purchase against the solid air as they drifted through the cabin. 

The soul, a strange thing, a magical thing- it exists before and after the body is gone and yet hardly ever does it move. It just waits, waiting to resonate and finish the concert it would be apart of till the end of time. It took control of what little of Noctis' magic had recovered and flooded the room with illusions. They danced there in the snow upon the highest peak of Forstead where still his mother lay buried- perfectly preserved by the divine magic of Masculo. They danced above that peak in this illusory world and there was no one else but them. His fingers curled tighter in the dress at her hip and drew her closer until their bodies touched and yet he

Led the dance on. Twirling her around to watch her graceful form spin, pulling her back and dipping her low, his hot breath a kiss of fire upon her exposed neck before she was brought up. 

A child of light and life that had been born into a world of wonder and forced into fighting against the shadows of the night. 

A child of dark and death that had been born into a loving home and forced to *Become* The shadows of the night. 

This should not be and yet it was, it was all that there was to Noctis. Plans, schemes, battles to be fought, fate to follow and destinies to chase and for *Once* In his life none of it mattered. He was not a demigod, a warrior or a monster... He was just Noctis Camille and Eliza Tenebrian was just a woman, not a creature, not a blood sucker, not a monster, just two people dancing. 

This was their dance, this was an unspoken moment, her beautiful face inches from his, his grey eyes once again touched by the most beautiful streaks of powerful amber. 

"Eliza.." He whispered, his lips so close and then... As if the words had broken the spell, he blinked and the magic faded and with a start his hands bounded away from her as if she'd been burning hot and seared his flesh. He stood there gaping for only a moment before his body reset itself and he cleared his throat. 

"I... I needed a good dance." He said simply, as if all they'd done was have an exchange of services. It was better this way, that was all it had been- that was all it was to her. That was all it had been to Emi. He'd never had that moment with Emi and she'd nearly destroyed him. Noctis realized with dread that it meant that Eliza could **Annihilate** Him and he felt true terror.
Reginald
At first Eliza's body language was tense and anxious as Noctis pulled her closer. Her muscles relaxing as his fingers interlocked with his, as his other hand danced down the side of her body before resting itself carefully upon her hip. She could not help but revel in the warmth emitted from Noctis' touch, how it seeped into her flesh and seemingly revived her undead cells. It was as if his touch revived her, like his warmth gave her a glimpse of what *Life* Felt like- and it was invigorating. Time felt as if it slowed down as she looked up at him with a softened gaze, her ruby eyes gazing deep into his silver ones as they began their dance. 

Eliza then heard the soft whisper of a song, one that she could feel vibrating with her blood- her soul. If not for Noctis' firm grasp on her hip she would have stumbled as wind magic lifted them into the air. To her suprised it felt no different than dancing upon solid ground. Eliza followed Noctis' lead as they danced, the sheer fabric of her dress slithering behind her like a satin snake as the two drifted through the cabin. Eliza barely noticed the change of scenery brought upon by the magic of Masculo until Noctis pulled her closer until their bodies pressed against each others. For a moment she stared at his face, admiring his sculpted features from a more intimate distance. 

As the two continued their dance Eliza kept her gaze fixed upon Noctis' gaze as they frolicked in the clouds of the mountains. She spun gracefully when he twirled her, the long fabric on her sleeves and waist dancing in the wind as she twirled. Small pieces of her flesh seemed to spin around her as she twirled, revealing small peeks of bone as she spun in a beautiful but sparse vortex of vermillion before the droplets clung back to her body as he pulled her back in, dipping her gracefully in his arms. His hot breath poured out of his mouth onto her cold neck for a split moment before he pulled her back to her feet with ease.

The pairs faces were now closer than ever before, their lips so close Eliza could practically feel the warmth emitting from them on her own. Her entire body *Literally* Almost melted as he spoke her name gently to her, her bloody lips parting for a moment as he leaned closer, she nearly spoke before he let go of her, as if she were burning him at the touch. She jumped as he backed away from her and paused, her startled gaze studying him as he stood aimlessly before resuming their dance. A soft smile creeping onto her face for a moment before she quickly ushered it away.

"As did I, you aren't an absolutely horrible dancer Noctis." 

She spoke with a phony sense of modesty when in reality her entire body was ready to evaporate and her soul was on fire. The hand resting atop his shoulder tightening its grip, her nails gently proving his muscler back before she looked at him once again. Her usual cold and sharp gaze now replaced with a soft one as she stares into his surging silver eyes.
Barry
As they swayed gently through the cabin, he didn't even notice that his thumb was stroking small circles on the back of her hand as they spoke. Sighing, he decided to do something that could alter everything and yet- she knew what he was. He might not tell her outright, not yet, part of him felt Wisteria should know first or at least, at the same time. Maybe it was better if neither knew, maybe everyone should. It was impossible to figure out but... 

"Well I should be, I worked for the Eternal Empire as a spy for hundreds of years. You get quite good at dancing when you get that much practice." His voice was no longer that starving and desperate rasp it had been, full of a tender caress, it was back to being controlled and melodic as they moved to the sound of the ship rocking on the river water. 

"I'm no stranger to the courts." Still his thumb stroked burning circles into her skin and his fingers danced a tune against her hip, but something had been forged between them that this light touch was barely in his thought and yet felt as necessary as breathing did. "Why did you save the little one, the sick girl? What about her drew you to her?" He asked, his once again demigod like eyes soft and quizzical, not cold and hard as they usually were. His interest seemed genuine. 

In the back of his mind a caged beast still reeled, drunk off her scent and her visage and the sensation of her skin. Even her bone was beautiful to him, she was a work of art that could expose herself to even her very structure and yet she was strong- she was a scream of defiance at what could be.
Reginald
Eliza's skin seemed to warm up to match Noctis' as he traced spirals into the back of her hand gently. She had hardly noticed his gentle caresses as the drifted through the cabin as her dress danced in the breeze like a train of shadows behind her. Her eyes were fixed onto his, on his cheeks and his nose as she uncharacteristically yearned to learn how they felt under her fingertips. 

She snapped out of her delusional fantasy as he spoke to her, as he mentioned her precious daughter Alvyra. Her expression quickly shifting as she shut her eyes pensively with a quaint bittersweet smile on her face.

"Her name is Alvyra. She's one of my many girls but she holds a special place in my heart, not only is she my youngest but my most ambitious- most talented... Most damaged."

Eliza let out a heavy, painful sigh as she resumed her speech, her voice kind and soft, filled with heavy love for her child.

"She grew up in an orphanage in Vaelic city. She was sick with a hereditary blood disease that caused her to be frail and weak her whole life. Her orphanage wasn't very *Ethical*, she often went to bed hungry and cold- starving and alone in a world that didn't want her when all she wanted was to *Live*."

Eliza's voice grew softer and weaker as she spoke, each syllable filled with more pain and empathy than the last. 

"I had Bris, the Tenebrian familiar since the dawn of our bloodline watch over her as she grew. Keeping her fed and warm- keeping her alive, but the poor thing never got a chance to live. She died in a field of lilies alone due to her illness, Bris alerted me and I was able to save her before she was gone for too long... Since the moment she was never happier, it's like it's her first chance at life as she learns everything for the first time."

Eliza chuckled to herself for a moment as she recalled Alvyra's adorable attitude, her savage nature, her ambition.

"She's troubled... Too brutal for her own good. The locals have even nicknamed her *She who mauls*. She gets herself into too much trouble than she can handle, risks the safety of our entire family... But she's just a child and she's worth it."

Eliza shook her head gracefully, collecting herself as her emotions began to bubble to the surface as she finished talking.

"I got carried away there i'm sorry, she's just a really special girl- she didn't deserve what life threw at her."
Barry
"She sounds special." He said suddenly, ignoring her apology. It was a preposterous apology. "They say that in the dawn of the world, there was a human girl who was thrown to the wolves to distract them as a babe. She snarled and gnashed her teeth at them, and the wolves saw that she was one of their own. So they took her to their land within the mountains teeth and there she was raised with the Fey and the Beasts. She was the Fangless Cub, and she hates that as she grew. So she made her own fang- she fashioned herself a sword from a felled beasts tooth. The first sword. Thus was born the First Sword Saint of Aeterna." He said, chuckling. 

"Your daughter is creating her own fangs. Just don't forget that as much as you can love and spoil, as a mother it's also your job to right her wrongs. You've suffered, I've suffered, she's suffered- but wrongs are still wrongs. You're here beacon, shine for her." He said, his voice gentle and not demeaning or lecturing. His grey eyes watched her for a moment more before he blinked and sighed. 

"Well she's lucky to have you either way. It's.. It's getting early. You should depart soon if you plan to head to the Far Spirit Wood." He said and let her go, ending the dance. Stepping backwards a foot, creating distance that made his heart feel like it was being ripped, he clasped his hands behind his back. 

"Travel safely Eliza. We have unfinished business you and I."