To a world of pure imagination... [open, begging.]

[Citrine Bailey]

<sup>Citrine's black cloak tickled the sides of her bare feet as she watched the breath swim from her lips. On nights like this, where even with its efforts, the moon could not penetrate the black clouds, Citrine slipped into one of her long black cloaks and enjoyed being nothing but a shadow in the darkest night. Tonight, she fought herself for hours deciding whether or not she wanted to do what she was about to do.

The black lake would be cold as ice, the best it could be and only because of the beautiful nights such as this. Citrine felt it was finally time to take one of her late night swims, with nothing but darkness, so she couldn't be seen. You see, with the world being what it had become, with small stomachs, anorexia, and lack of self image, clothing wasn't what it used to be. If you wanted to swim, your only option was to go it in the nude, or something moderately close to it. You could buy a scrap of fabric, called a 'bikini' and pay fifty something dollars for it, only to be ogled at for the remainder of the season. Why? Because they had stopped selling suitable swimsuits... forever. And Citrine simply did not have the energy to make her own. Besides, she was better with, well, black cloaks and cotton dresses. Bathing Suits? Stretchy fabric? Far too much of a challenge.

ANYWAYS, the ending result was Citrine sneaking around in nothing but a cloak and a "bikini." At least she found one that was black. Naturally, it took her days. Everywhere she went there were disgusting yellows, and polka dots, or even golds that looked positively atrocious. Then, when she did find black suits, they had stupid little chains, or holes, or... really, what was the deal with fashion these days?

Due to many years of being dead, Citrine had a perfect, nearly blue-gray complexion, and a complete lack of shape. So, wearing a bikini, she merely looked like a little girl, perhaps with one or two curves here and there. Guess that was a good thing, she didn't know.

Stepping toward the end of an old, wooden dock, Citrine took one final glance around, and when the coast was clear, shakily unclasped her cloak. It fell softly and gracefully, leaving her standing there, nearly transparent. She smiled at her reflection. It wasn't too bad. Pulling her red hair out of a pony tale, Citrine dipped her toe into the water. She couldn't see a thing, and it was freezing. Her excitement was unbearable.

With a quick jump, and yelp, she dove into the black ice.</sup>

[Celestial Snape]

The Lake. What was it about The Lake that kept calling to her? Celestial Snape would disappear periodically, then reappear. At The Lake. What was the secret?

Celeste peered longingly into the black depths of The Lake. The water revealed nothing. Indeed, you could not even glimpse one foot under the sky was so dark. But the more she tried to see more of the murky depths of The Lake, the more she couldn't.

She leaned forward. And forward. And Forward. Until her pale cold nose was an inch from the surface. The water was cold. She supposed. Celeste had stopped feeling after the first hour in the water. Even so, she kept going. She had to know the secret. She had to.

Her tattered dress of an indeterminable colour spread out around her like a fan at a dance. Her sleeves billowed, filled with the mind boggling liquid. Slowly, she sank. Her eyes closed in forgetful reverie. The Water up to her ears now. Covering her pearly fangs.

And then, a splash. A yell. A... familiar yell?

Celeste's eyes opened in startled recognition. No. It couldn't be. But why not? They did attend the same institution. So why not?

Celestial turned slowly in The Lake. A series of ripples chased each other away from a single epicenter. Lest she lose her sense of recognition, Celeste jettisoned her slender body to wards to smooth center of the rings.

She waited for her to surface.

[Citrine Bailey]

<sup>The water in which she dove was just as black beneath the surface. Citrine pictured the horrified things that could have surrounded her in the darkness, the creatures, the predators. She grinned, fangs and all, safe in the cold black nest. She was a creature of water, hands adoring every slow, painfully cold move, blood red hair wrapping itself around her like a thick wet blanket. She started to wish she hadn't gone for the generic black bathing suit, and rather swam in a dress, to further challenge herself as she sunk, swallowed by the thick darkness.

Anxiously, she began swimming upward. That was the scary thing about dark waters: no direction. It was a dangerous dive, for you could find yourself swimming toward the sandy bottom, intending to break the surface. Indeed, this was how lives were lost. One would swim, more and more panicked, in the wrong direction, breath shortening, violently jerking into different turns, swimming in a circle, slowly wrapping themselves in the clawed clutches of the water.

It was why Citrine loved it so much. Water, it was more powerful than any other element. It had more control than imaginable. And it had the ability to shorten sanity within seconds, without even touching the brain itself. "When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead".

Her lips were numbing when she felt herself rise from the water. It was hard to tell the difference, though, as the cold outside air was nearly identical to the cold water temperature. The reason Citrine knew, however, that she'd reached the surface, was because she felt a sudden presence. Turning, she caught the eye of an old friend: Celeste.

"Oh.."</sup>

[Celestial Snape]

"Oh"

Oh? "Oh?"

What kind of answer was that? "What kind of answer is that?"

Celestial Snape threw herself into a butterfly stroke, albeit a bad one, to bring herself closer to Citrine.

Her foot slipped on some thin silt. Sinking felt of ribbons on your eyes. Of silk in your throat. Of sun burning your hand. Sinking felt of bright grass on pale sky. Of lonely hearts at rest. Of peace.

_{((sorry it is short and lame. my one and two year old siblings are trying to type.))}

[Citrine Bailey]

"Guess I don't know how to greet you anymore," she said smiling slightly. She blew a cloud of cold air into the night and swam a bit closer to her friend, within 20 feet, to be safe... from what? >_>

"What have you been up to now?" She asked simply, as if her friend never left.

[Celestial Snape]

"I suppose I shouldn't expect you to just run up to me after disappearing so often. I must look a sort of apparition after all those months of separation," Celeste stuttered flustered.

she noticed a sort of stand-offish sort of demeanor in the way Citrine carried herself now. Almost... Cautious.

"I have been traversing the wilds of Scotland looking for... I mean to say, searching for... Err... Ingredients! For a potion I was wanting to make," she covered horribly. "but what about you? What have I missed at this jolly establishment? Is there something the matter?"

[Citrine Bailey]

<sup>Citrine chewed her lip as Celeste responded to her greeting. She didn't exactly mean to seem unenthusiastic to see her friend, merely... unsurprised? When she appeared out of the blue after months, now, Citrine saw it was simply routine. If anything, she was envious. She wished she could disappear, travel, and then come back, and still know somebody when she got here. But nobody would miss her. Nobody would recognize her when she came back. Nobody would stick around long enough to show they wanted to wait for her. That was the life of a vampire. No one can ever get too close.

Celeste learned that early, she knew. For Citrine was there from the very beginning. She had watched her friend turn. Such strange memories... so long ago... so different. She actually felt close to people. She'd lost that feeling by now. With the disappearance of her two closest friends, Celeste and Alucard, both vampires, both understanding. Of course she cared for Ritsuka, but...

It was that silence that followed a reunion of Celeste and Citrine, where they remembered everything, let their minds catch up, before tackling the present, which seemed very suspicious and untrue to Citrine.

"A potion, huh?" She said mockingly. "Sorry, you're not fooling me. You have to come up with something better than that, love." She found herself incredibly bored with the water, and pulled herself up onto the wooden dock. Walking past her cloak, she scooped it up, and sat on the grass at the end.</sup>