Victoria Alexandra Chylde Buckhannah LeVey LeFay De'Amberville Tesser, with all surnames from past marriages and adoptions accounted for, left the premises of her mansion in Lanrette forever. Yes forever! It was decided so it was decidedly so! She had lingered there for far too long, and after Brutin's departure from the Isle of Chains, boredom had finally set in. She was perfectly oblivious of Tara's agreement with Brutin to collar her in order to keep her safe, but their plan had worked, and she'd been safe and stowed away for all this time. But time is a funny thing. When she wasn't barking orders at the servants and lamenting her loss, she'd spend hours with her publicist and lawyer-friend, Mr. Arden Cale, esq. Finding him was an especially funny story, one that had to do with him wandering out of a strange looking train car and ranting about a city called "New York," but Viki had assured him that he merely took the wrong train, and that all was well, because trans-dimensional shifts happen for a reason, and he was meant to be with her. They had much in common as far as lost travelers go. Both ended up in Rhy'Din due to trans-dimensional shifts. Both liked men. Actually, that was about it. Mr. Cale seemed far more educated and mannered and older than his client, but he stuck with her, because like so many others, he adored her(1).

So where was I? Oh yes. Victoria ended up in Rhy'Din from a trans-dimensional shift. From what dimension she hails from, well, she isn't exactly sure. She came to Rhy'Din as a child with her twin, Jonathan, both escaping some horrible past. They were part Drow, which might have a great deal to do with their horrible past, Jonathan exhibiting more of the Drow's recessive features with his dark skin and silver hair, Victoria only having pieces, looking much more human. There was one clue to who their parents were: the twins had matching gold lockets. With them were two human children they had picked up along the way, Stephen and Gerard, and the foursome invented their own lineage: the Chylde family. Suitable, wouldn't you agree?

Although the Rhy'Din orphanage was fully functional at the time, Victoria and her siblings decided it was much more fun to invade the local taverns and reek havoc. But magical influences grabbed hold of her twin, and soon he was consumed by its lure. He taught it to their younger brothers, but Victoria seemed uninterested. While she did possess some magical abilities, Jonathan was a prodigy. He left Rhy'Din with their younger siblings in tow and settled in a mountainous realm where they still reside today. Over the years, Jonathan has visited his sister and cleaned up several of her messes, including caring for five children from three different marriages: Catherine and Eric, twins, Lilandra, Saoirse, and Khrystian. There was one other child, a hell-spawn of which Viki has no recollection of carrying or giving birth to, and her existence remains a horrible secret (2).

Through the years, Viki made many friends and acquaintances, including a few lost siblings with matching lockets: Naia, Kain, and Sean. All provided clues as to who their father was, but none knew his whereabouts, and so the mystery remained. The three went on to have their own adventures, eventually settling close to Jonathan and the others (3).

So, right around the time of her family's departure, Viki had to forge new alliances in order to survive. She was still quite young and still causing merry chaos in the local taverns, inns, and guild recruiting stations. For a while, she did join up with several of them, and collected titles and trophies, but her most important alliance at the time had to be her adoption by Phydoux LeVey (4), son of Cyan, and brother to Blaine. Phydoux and Viki met at the Vampire Tavern. She didn't quite know what initiated his attraction, but they became fast friends, and later, family. Phydoux went on to marry Keirra Black (5) and had one son, Balinor (6). They were a happy family, but after a while, Phydoux and Keirra divorced for reasons Victoria never understood. Keirra later remarried and Balinor was killed by his step father, although Mr. Arden Cale tends to think his murder was a ruse, and in fact, a means to settle a custody dispute (6).

Right around the time of her parent's divorce, Victoria married Gabriel Tesser, a commander in Eclipse. Viki soon became heavily involved with Eclipse, her husband, and their three children: Catherine, Eric, and Lilandra. Life was happy for a time. Life was normal. Gabriel, Victoria, and her here-today, gone-tomorrow twin brother raised their own personal hell with one particular group of people: Rhy'Din's slavers, and their Slaver's Association. If you ask, Viki can recall one particular night when she, her husband, and her visiting brother entered the establishment of one slaver in particular, a man by the name of Talarius (7), and caused an uproar. It was this night where Viki was first inspired to free as many slaves as possible. It was also on this night where Viki met Holly and Crystiana and officially targeted the Slaver's Association and Lord Brutin for all future missions (8).

But then everything fell apart.

Rhy'Din has a funny way of making people disappear. Gabriel went out for a walk one night and never returned. His disappearance is still a mystery, and Victoria was left to mourn and collect the pieces of her shattered life.

Her twin returned for a time, as he often did, whenever she needed him. Jonathan had a knack for that. Unfortunately, he couldn't make lost husbands reappear. So Viki focused all of her attention on the Slaver's Association, causing as much commotion as possible. She was a household name for quite a while. Fame? More like infamy. She also caught the eye of several righteous citizens, the leaders of the Slaver's Bane, a guild formed specifically to rid slavery from the realm of Rhy'Din (9). She rose up the ranks, and soon after, she was leader herself, but to the SA she was nothing more than a pain-in-the-arse.

But Viki was clever, and quite observant. She befriended Kathryn Abigail, on-again off-again slave to quite a few of the SA slavers, simply because she was someone on the inside, and quite remarkably, their friendship bloomed into something unbreakable. Viki, having forgot her original intentions of espionage, realized she would go to the ends of the earth for Kat, and Kat for her.

And then Kat was murdered. I'd relate the story to you, but it is a tale that has already been told. We no longer wish to dwell on the tragedy (10).

Time passed, and new relationships had sprung to life. Victoria was taken in by Ilsia LeFay, daughter of Essay LeFay, after having lost all touch with the LeVey family (although presently these ties have been reformed and every now and then her estranged father drops her a line or two) and severing ties with other potential relatives. It was also at this time that Brutin wanted her D-E-A-D, probably for stealing a prized slave in an attempt to set it free, but Viki was well protected by her family ties. This was how she played the game.

The fall of the LeFay family was also very tragic and long, and neither I nor Viki wish to repeat ourselves (11).

There were other adventures, many, many others (12). She's been kidnapped and collared more times than she can count, but somehow has managed to wrangle free, which probably has to do with her influential relatives and their clever bargaining tactics. Victoria was married twice more, to a mercenary named John and then a wealthy young man named Tyre De'Amberville, but both marriages failed miserably, and she swore to never take another husband. Khrystian is Tyre's son, but Viki isn't quite sure who Saoirse's father is. She has taken many lovers, even sharing with her own cousin.

Her cousin? Yes! Tara! Viki met Tara, well, re-met, in a local bar. Tara was her cousin-of-sorts through her ties with the LeVey family. Viki is unsure of exactly how they are related, but cousin seemed an appropriate term. Tara seemed overjoyed to find another relative and Viki, in turn, was thrilled. In truth, she had always looked up to Tara, even though she was Lord Brutin's secretary, a man she feared so much so that she quivered at the mere mention of his name. Sure, several other people wanted her dead at some point in time, but none were as powerful, or as famous, and if anything, Viki respected fame, if not power.

Tara managed to piece back together the broken girl over time, as she was a victim of her own misadventures, and their retirement to Lanrette kept Victoria safe from herself. In the past, she had suffered through fits of delusion, and temporary delirium, due to past tragedies which reeked havoc on her fragile young mind. A mind can only go through so many misadventures, you know!

Tara even crowned her Duchess of Lanrette, and later Princess, an honor that surprised even Viki.

Ironically, it was Lord Brutin who became her saving grace, collaring her simply to keep her close, though Victoria thought she was being held hostage because of a land dispute between Tara and Brutin (13). Eventually, she became quite close to her old enemy, and his charm wasn't wasted on her, nor hers on him.

And then he left. People were always leaving!

So now we're up to present time. Miss Chylde and Mr. Arden Cale, esq., were tucked securely in their carriage, their horse speeding back toward Rhy'Din. This was a long overdue homecoming, as Rhy'Din did feel like home, or at least, the only home she ever knew, besides Lanrette. She'd have to find Tara, although that wouldn't take too long, unless she remarried again and bore a different surname! Then what would she do? Arden claimed he had a forwarding address - a place called the Forsaken Blades Clubhouse. Pretty soon, they'd be sipping cappuccinos and talking of old times!

----
Author's Notes:
1. Arden Cale has been played by me, SN Arden Cale, and is still active.
2. Victoria's twin was played by my real-life cousin Jonathan, and her younger brothers by my real-life cousin Stephen and brother Gerard. Yes. We are quite creative with naming characters. SNs: Warrior821, StephChlyd (the idiot spelled it wrong), and GerdChylde, later Gerard Chylde, and I think he still uses it. Her son Eric was played my by friend Randy, Catherine by my friend Fiona, Lilandra by Randy's little sister but later I took over Lilandra when I lost touch with them after high school. Lilandra is now Lilandra Celeste and I have an ongoing SL with AnubisKaro. Maybe someday I'll get him here. Saoirse was played by Lindsay who also played a girl named Karli, but I can't remember her SN. I took over Saorise for a time when Lindsay went MIA. Khrystian was never played by anyone as far as I can remember. The demon spawn was Cressida, SN TsamblacChylde, a product of a SL with NeKiller aka DelockDth of DOOM.
3. Sean Chylde and Kain Chylde were just kids I met with similar screen names. We went our separate ways. But if you're out there, hello! Naia was Kathryn Abigail's mun.
4. Phydoux LeVey was Phydoux1. I'm still in touch with him and his fiance, although they don't play anymore.
5. Keirra Black is active as far as I know, but I lost touch.
6. I thought Balinor was dead but some time ago I found someone with the screen name Balinor Black claiming heredity to the same parents, so, this is my way of explaining it.
7. Talarius was XTalariusX.
8. I actually have the log of this, but I won't give it to you because I think I was 14 at the time and the RP is atrocious. Holly was XSevenSins (I think!) and Crysti was CrystianaX.
9. The leaders of the Slaver's Bane were a lady named Wolf and a dragon, but I can't remember their screen names. Again, if you're out there, hi!
10 -12. Most of the old stories are posted here (Warning. I was very young when I wrote alot of them.): http://www.angelfire.com/goth/viki/adventures.html
13. These stories took place on Tara's message board: http://p088.ezboard.com/btheslaversassociation

That's pretty much it. If anyone wishes to flag down the speeding carriage and engage them, I'd be most obliged.

The air sprang to life with a large pop! A splash followed, right beside Theo's leg. "What in the nine hells," muttered the driver as his head spun toward the disruption. It wasn't rain, that was certain.

"Woah!" He hollered as the horse suddenly jolted. It was unlike Blue Sunshine to jolt like that, unless something spooked him. Something ahead? In the trees?

"Wha' the heck is goin' on out there?" Came a feminine voice from the carriage.

"I'm sure it's nothing." A male voice followed, and however high in pitch, it was still male.

"That's what you said tha' time we drew up those papers for a library and showed them to Travanix and I got kidnapped!"

"Which time was that, Miss Chylde?"

"The time Travanix did it."

"Oh."

"Woah!" Another cue from the driver for the horse to settle, but nothing would calm him.

"Hush Arden. The horse is goin' crazy. I told you not to feed him chocolate before we left."

"That was you, Miss Chylde."

"Prove it." The girl snickered, then poked her head out of the carriage door.

"We have to stop," grumbled Theo, obviously irritated.

"So we stop. But where are we stopping? Where are we?" Arden called, still nestled within the sanctuary of the carriage.

"Forest." Theo was a man of few words. Climbing down from the driver's seat, he circled the carriage to investigate. Viki took it upon herself to aid in the investigation, hopping out of the carriage gleefully, wandering off the road.

"Miss Chylde!" Arden clamored after her, briefcase in hand.

She had made quite the mess as she practically flew into the Club House. Fall was more appropriate, she didn't have the time for the ladder today. However, she promptly forgot what had caused her to come rushing in the first place as Tara started her yellin' and hollerin'.

She turned white in horror, underneath all that red face war-paint, as Tara described what could have happened to her. RhyDin coming to a screeching halt was an interesting concept, and she pondered that while Tara ranted on. Would the world itself stop spinning, or maybe time stop? She would be eternally locked in the little get-up she had adorned to protect the clubhouse.

She was pretty sure that seagals walked on two legs and paled more at the idea of fines. Of course, she couldn't think any more on the subject as Tara required her attention and an answer. She blinked, failing to give the answer and instead posed another question, "Why are you wearing my red war paint all overs your face?"

Jewell was looking around for the potential gentleman caller, who was not there. Delilah was there and she got a friendly wave from the Empress as Tara went on about her potential caller. Who was going to call on her anyways? They had been experiencing an extreme drought of available (even non-available) good-looking men lately.

As much as she would hate to be the cause of all those little girls crying, though the men in tights sounded kind of interesting, she got hung up on the bovine thing. Rory worked with bovines and Rory was good looking which made bovines a good thing. Hence, she would not want to be the cause of the milk cows falling over.

Quite distressed, she began thinking of all the possible ways she could prevent the bovines from falling over.
1) Try her entrance all over again, properly climbing down the ladder after announcing her presence to Tara.
2) Run around catching all the falling bovines.
3) Get CA to order some type of mechanism that would hold all the bovines up- like a kick stand.
4) Play Amazon Warriors someplace else.

She was starting to favor number four, though three was a close second, when Tara commented on her outfit. "Don't you like it? I thought it made me look slender and ferocious!" She took a moment to pose, hands on her hips and chin held up high like a super-hero.

All this time she had completely forgot about the carriage, even with her superior-then-human hearing. "Oh yes, there is a carriage on its way. That's what I came to warn you about. Perhaps it is full of men requesting our hands in marriage?" She was elated at the prospect despite the facts that she had already attacked the carriage and was dressed in a provocative-in-a-weird-Greek-myth sort of way.

"I'm afraid an elephant might crush us, Empress, as we are both quite petite," said Tara with a smile to her best friend and landed them safely on the thatch roof so that they could watch as the carriage approached.

"But perhaps it will be a fairie godmother afterall and then we can gag and bound her, and force her to give us not only two hundred wishes, but two hundred of them a day!"

She began to cackle and dance around Jewel as she plotted all the terrible things they would do to the fairie godmother when and if they saw her.

"Pssst, Arden, did ya hear tha'? I think I heard a voice." Victoria stood just behind the line of brush which separated the clearing from the woods. She couldn't hear the driver's attempts to calm the horse any longer. Now, she thought, he seemed so very far away. The woods had a way of swallowing noise, and Viki gulped at the thought of it. She remembered the old riddle: If a tree falls in the woods, and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound?

"No, because the dark eats the sound." She said it aloud, though hadn't done so intentionally.

"The.. dark.. eats.. what?" Mr. Arden Cale stood just beneath six feet. He was a lanky thing, and that run up the hill, through several yards of thick brush and uneven earth, left him huffing and puffing.

"Neva'mind." She raised a hand and tossed a few stray strands of hair from his face. It was thick and black and straight, and when he combed it back it, it made his green eyes all the more striking. Too bad, Viki thought. Arden would've made a fine lover if he didn't love men so much. The only person alive that could've possibly rivaled his love of men was her cousin, Tara, and that is a fact.

"AHHHH!" Viki suddenly shrieked and made a running start for the clearing. Arden nearly jumped out of his skin.

"What?! What's wrong?!" He was racing after her again, though this time he gave up his briefcase.

"I knew I recognized that voice! We're here! It's Tara!"

Tara tended to change subjects very quickly and Jewell was under the impression that she was getting used to it. Not so. She was dreamily thinking of all that she could do with her wishes when Tara exclaimed about her cousin Princess. Princess? What an awful name.

That was the end of that line of thought as she was whisked away to the ground to meet this Princess, Tara gushing some more. Her speech didn't go in one ear and out the other, but took a little time to process in between before Jewell found something to say, "I'm sure I will love her very much. But..why does she walk so slow?" This said as she was quite out of patience and not wanting to wait for the girl to come into view. She stood up on tip-toes to try and see.

She wasn't one to disappoint. Nodding her head slowly, acting a bit horrified, "Oh those sleens, they are mighty dangerous."

Wait for it..."Isn't a sleen that thing in your body?"

"Taaaaaaraaaaa!" Now she was sure of herself! The clouds parted and the stars came out and it truly was a perfect moment. Had it been three decades? Tara had a way with twisting time, although, time had a way of twisting itself.

Viki went racing toward them like a lover with outstretched arms. If there was a soundtrack to this moment, yes, it would've been that soundtrack.

All was brilliant and beautiful and...

"Oof!"

A twig caught her slippered foot and she stumbled, falling flat on her face, abandoning all hope of a graceful reunion.

"Arden!" She whined. "Pick me up!"

Quite out of shape and already out of breath from his run through the woods, Arden leaned with his hands on his knees momentarily, trying to catch his breath.

"Please?" She whimpered, looking helpless, but Arden knew better. With a heavy sigh, he struggled to lift her, as his arms were as slender as hers.

"Thank you." She planted kisses upon his brow as cradled her and ever so slowly carried her the rest of the way.

Twenty minutes later - or was that two days, as Viki thought, and rightly so, time did have a way of twisting itself - they met the women at the house.

( Sorry for the delay. AOL ate my topic reply notices. )

Viki was a happy little ray of sunshine, beaming at Tara's overjoyed expression. She leapt from Arden's arms and fell into Tara's quite easily.

"Finishing school?!" That would certainly be the day! Not that Viki knew what finishing school even was. Later, perhaps, she'd make something up: It was the place where dessert never gets eaten until one learns to finish their dinner - or something like that.

Arden muttered something about having to retrieve a certain briefcase and a certain horse-master.

Then the world began to spin. She squeaked and giggled with utter delight and held onto her cousin for dear life. When the spinning ceased, she fell into her, dizzy and still quite delighted.

And in that all too familiar fast-paced speech pattern:

"Tara! I want to know everything! Who is tha' girl o'er there? Are we related? Are you married again? Are you divorced? How many weddings did I miss?! What's this place? Is it yours?"

But she didn't ask the question which plagued her. The whole thing was dreadfully mysterious and likely to just upset everyone, so she held her tongue, and swallowed her very last inquiry.

Later, she would ask, someday, maybe.

And all the roads we have to walk along are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would
Like to say to you
I don't know how

Because maybe
You're gonna be the one who saves me ?
And after all
You're my wonderwall

( Tonight's episode featured music by Oasis. )

Jewell smiled and waved her greeting to Viki from the sidelines. She was content to remain silent, for the moment, and watch the reunion. The rate at which they both spoke and the topics they ran through so quickly was amusing.

The "Isn't everything?" question caused her to snort, her hand brought up to cover up the sound of her laughter, lowered so she could add her thoughts on the matter, "No yet, Tara."

No, you are not related to her nor am I but she is one of my very best friends and so, I suppose that counts as kin.

Victoria Alexandra etceteras etceteras nodded at the responses to each of her questions, but that one in particular stood out. Painted lips curled into a warm smile. Viki liked friends. She liked them alot.

She was also pleased to hear that Tara was married to Nicholas - again. Twelve weddings were alot to miss, but if Nicholas was lucky, Viki wouldn't be attending any more of Tara's. Viki had always liked Nicholas and the reasons for the divorce seemed unclear - or, perhaps they had been clear, but chances were the girl had been preoccupied with some insane drama. Yes. That was most likely.

"Oh good!" Before Tara could react, Viki snatched her hand and sped by the disgruntled blue employee. She'd have to make his acquaintance later. She had some settling in to do. This is where she'd stay, of course. After all, she was family.

Something made Viki stop in her tracks. Poor Tara might've gone flying if she had stopped any shorter.

"Hmm. I could've sworn tha' guy o'er there was blue."

She shook her head and muttered something about forest mushrooms, though it was loud enough for Tara to hear.

"Uhm! Say, cousin, who is that guy?"

Viki pointed at him. She liked to point.

A previously pointing finger was soon joined by its mates, and they all wiggled in a wave.

"Bodyguard? Do you think he'd take an arrow for you?" She asked Tara.

No. Wait. Stop. Viki shook her head. She had to think bigger.

"Or a lightning bolt?!"

She grinned at Jewel. It was time to gang up on the lone male.

Mr. Arden Cale, who was off grumbling about his briefcase to the driver on the road, didn't really count.

Maybe the driver counted.

This was all too complicated. She crossed her eyes and was immediately granted double vision. Now they were five against two.

Tara, after hearing Viki's newest questions, looked to Que and nodded.

"Aye, he would take an arrow for me, as well as a lightning bolt, and you wanna know why, cousin?"

She gestured to Que while looking to the two girlies.

"Because he volunteered for the job. I didn't have to ask. Every bodyguard of mine that has ever protected me, and done so well, starting with Ashe all the way up to Que, volunteered for the position and took it to heart. Why, you remember how grumpy Ashe would git if someone even came in the same room as me, let alone near me, Viki," she said and smiled, remembering her Ashe with a fondness only she could know.

"Yes, I think Que would take an arrow for me, in a heartbeat, and then after I went to see if he was okay, I would go slaughter the moron that dared do such a thing because I'm just that kind of a Boss."

She grinned and pointed to the clubhouse.

"Let's go inside. I know a certain six inch voodoo doll that would very much like to see you again," she said and her eyes twinkled.

If there was any female in all of Rhy'Din that Arthur loved more than Tara, it was Viki.

She tugged on her earlobe and winced.

"Girl's got a set of lungs on her, eh Jewelsie?"

Before Jewelsie could answer, she was dragging her over to the clubhouse so they could instruct Victoria on how to actually get in.

The doors and windows had been barred and the only way in was through a hole in the roof.

Jewell was in the process of her own wince when she was dragged. Fortunately, Tara was strong enough to do that without Jewell falling and getting a face full of mud.

When the ringing in her pointed ears finally stopped she raised a brow, pointing to Viki. Viki was flipping rocks. "Tara, what is she doing?"

As for sprouting wings, it was a tempting way to get to the roof of the clubhouse.

"I can't be O-positive, but I think she's looking for a way in," she said and turned to her Second who had perhaps the cutest wittle face out of all her minions.

She pinched her cheek and hurried after Viki, dragging Jewel anew.

"I think if we jus' let her run 'round the house a few dozen times she'll eventually tire and we can, like, fly her up to the roof. What does you think, Jewelsie?"

"Knowing Que, he prolly made some," she said and blinked down at the letter suddenly thrust into her hands.

She cleared her throat.

Her pigtails twitched.

And she read it aloud.

"My Dearest Jewel,

How I tremble at the mere thought of your lips on mine! I know now that we were both meant to be as One....."

She paused and looked up at her Second.

"Jewelsie, this is like really way too much information for a Tara. It's all sweet, sappy and makin her tum-tum feel kinda sick like she wanna throw up what she ate for breakfast."

Tilting her head, she extended the letter back to her.

"Maybe you should read it, like in the privacy of you's bedroom an' then you's can tell Tara about it later an' we's can giggle 'bout it like we's do all the other love letters we's receive."

The little yellow head of the rubber chicken with it bulgey beady eyes pops out of one of the many flowerpots seemingly scattered at random around the place just moment ahead of the rest of the chicken, dressed in a neat white labcoat and carrying a glass beaker of something green and corosive looking.

"What in the ninety nine hells is going on out here? All this noise is scaring the flesh eating bacteria!"

"Of course I'm not an alien! I'm a rubber chicken." The Chicken avenger spoke paitently as if too a small child or Tara. "And I'm certianly not invading as I happen to reside here."


Eyeing the newcomer up and down before making a decision. "I am the Chicken Avenger, and who Might you be?"

"I am the Chicken Avenger, and who Might you be?"

"Viki."

As if that answered everything, as it usually did.

But once the strange professor-superhero-chicken (alien-imposter!) was scooped into Jewell's arms, Viki knew it was safe enough to venture out from behind Tara.

"Wow cousin. You sure do know some interestin' people."

She some placed emphasis on that last word. Viki wasn't so sure if the chicken guy was people yet.

Well, it was true. Tara pretty much did befriend everybody. Then she flashed her that heartwarming Viki smile and practically pounced upon her back. Luckily for Tara, Viki was light as a feather, but after a few days of bar hopping and cappuccino drinking the calories were sure to add up.

"Woo!"

Her head was still filled with the possibilities of secret passage ways or trans-dimensional portals.

Viki was wide-eyed and curious about this new place. She tried to commit every sight, scent, and sound to memory. To her surprise, the point of entry seemed to be a hole in the roof. Though it wasn't quite as fantastic an entrance as she might've thought, it was still strange.

"You an' Jewelsie go in first and I'll keep watch in case that fisherman's wife comes 'round an' starts to pelt us with dead fish 'gain."

Now that was especially strange! But, Viki knew well enough not to question Tara, especially when she had been absent for so long and wasn't up to speed the newest drama, as drama seemed to follow her cousin.

"Okay." She threw a happy glance to Jewel.

And then, she jumped.

The smoking jacket was something to behold. Sure, maybe it was a knock-off, but it was damn fine one. Let them catch him in the firelight, the black socks pulled up shin high beneath the fine leather slippers. A gentlemans pose, well enough in the lounge chair, as wisps of smoke rise from the pipe tucked so elegantly in the corner of his mouth. The beagle, stretched out at his feet and bathing in the fires glow.

"I do say Gov'na," The pipe caught between his teeth in a tight grin and loose accent as he watches the entrance above. "This is where fantasy lives."

She hugged her arms close to herself and jumped down the ladder after viki. Landing in a crouch, she began to sniff wildly at the air.

"Is that a pipe I smell?" she wondered aloud and no sooner did the words come out of her mouth than she spies Chris by the fireplace....in a smoking jacket?

"Chris, why are you smoking in a place that has no discernible exits and more importantly, since when did you get a fashion sense?"

She blinked at him and slowly stood up.

Viki was much too involved with assessing her injuries to realize she had company.

"You know- you're pretty quick! Half an hour and you're already alone down here with a guy. It took me at least a day."

It'd been a while since she'd been alone with one of those - a straight one, at least, assuming the stranger, Chris, was straight.

Well, it was time to make nice. The little princess picked herself up off the floor, shot a grin to Jewel and Tara, and then turned to introduce herself.

"Hi! My name's... " Eyes of an odd aquamarine looked him up and down, and settled on the down part - his feet, that is.

"A dog!"

In an instant she was at his feet, cooing over the sleepy beagle.

The room and the people in it could've vanished for all she cared. Viki was hooked. It was puppy love. She gave his chin a scratch, his belly a rub, and occasionally nuzzled against his fuzzy face. She kissed the cold of his nose and stroked the fur of his back and whispered into his floppy ears - the kind of whispers only animals and infants understand.

Only when the gentleman rose did she snap back to reality.

"Hi-I'm-Viki-Tara's-cousin-Tara-can-we-get-a-dog?"

"Why no slumber party? I think it's a grand idea to welcome Victoria back home!"

Of course, Chris's version of a slumber party probably went something like this:

Tara: Okay, I'll get out the lingerie!
Jewell: I'm going to get the pillows for our pillow fight.

Tara goes off and comes back with sheer material that is supposedly nightwear. They all put it on and prance around. They smash each other with pillows now and then.

Viki: It's getting hott in here, who needs to wear lingerie?

"Err...you're right. No slumber party."