Welcome to Gaia! ::

”Grace, hey Graaaceee!” Dominic called out, he wasn’t sure, but in the distance, he thought he saw a speckle of color in the water. He jogged to the shore, a black metal object refracting the light of the moon up above as he neared her. She’d probably be able to see it for what it was, though, no matter how hard he tried to hide the old school polaroid camera in his heavy hands. ”Say cheese,” Dominic’s cocky smirk fluxed as he halted in his step and quickly rose the lens to his eyes and snapped a bright flash of the camera, taking her picture. To be honest, he wasn’t even sure if it would work, since she was a vampire. He’d always heard about the being not having reflections in mirrors, but those were stories that had been told to children. Who knew how much truth or lie there was to it.

”You haven’t been waiting too long, have you?” He wondered curiously as he bit his lip, fumbled with the camera and tilted his head, analzying the damn thing at every corner. It should have spat out the picture already, shouldn’t it? He shook it, violently too, but it hadn’t seem to done anything useful. He blinked, and then out shot the white photograph. Now his hasty fingers were coiled around it tight, whipping the page back and forth, greedy and impatient. ”Do you think it’ll work?” It hadn’t even registered to him what would happen if she hadn’t wanted her picture taken. But c’mon, they’d been dating for so long, and he didn’t have a single picture to show for it--

Wow, that sounded really... bloody pathetic of him. What kind of a man was he, anyway? He huffed at himself and shook the thought away. Whatever, it doesn’t matter, he thought. I still want the damn picture. But it was taking too long to blossom it’s colors.

The worming smile on his lips faded as she snatched the photograph out of his hands just as the colors began to bleed in. ”Hey!” He snapped, a small grin on his features as he twisted around and ducked his head down to rest against the top of her shoulder, overlooking the picture with a small chuckle. ”Hey, you better not,” he warned her, when she teased him about ripping it up. He didn’t have very many, and dammit, he’d take a hundred all at once just to prove a point if she did rip it to shreds. ”See, look,” he jabbed with a heavy finger. ”You look great.” The kiss on his cheek was on the same cheek that’d been red for a few days. But it was hardly noticable anymore, the stinging had only lasted the first few hours.

He was just surprised at how long the handprint had seemed to stay.

A soft smile fluttered on her lips as she handed the picture back, and careful fingers wielded it, summoning a small book to his hands. He glanced up as Grace begin to twirl in circles, and he laughed. ”Grace you’re gonna--” he laughed as she plopped in the sand. ”--fall.” But it didn’t really matter anymore, did it? She’d already lurched to her feet by the time he knelt down and sat cross legged, opening the photograph album past the first few filled up pages and struggled to slip the picture into the inscribed corners. ”C’moon,” Dom groaned, his tongue hanging out of his mouth in concentration. ”There.”

When crystal eyes finally swam up, Grace had just tossed her skirt into a small heap in the sand, and a goofy smile wormed on his lips. He laughed nervously, out of pure instinct, as his vision traced her bare flesh. ”Mmmm, okay,” Dom’s smile deepened as he pushed himself up to his feet, shook the sand away and tore his shirt above his head, wiggling his shoulders and arms out until the fabric drifted to his feet. Slow, tentative, antagonizingly slow steps had drifted him along the sandy shores until he reached Grace. Even slower, his arm seemed to envelope around her in a tight hug-- until all at once, he used every ounce of force he had, and--


SPLASH!!

Arms wrapped tight around her waist to drag her into the body of water without even a sound of warning. The cold water surrounding them in its depths as they plunged under the rippling waves and he grinned underwater, wondering if she’d still be able to see him. Because he could barely see her, and that was only because of the vibrancy color of her hair.

Hundreds of bubbles exploding like burning stars, cascading and swirling all around them as they plunged into the black deaths and cold sting of needles ripped into his flesh. Submerged, the icy waters cradled them in the belly of the trenchant, birthing a life unexplored. Dominic grinned, holding his breath tightly between his teeth as he steadied himself under the water, squinted eyes struggling to see. In the deep blue, her porcelain skin glowed as she closed in around him, arms curled around his neck and the flash of color of her hair blinded him while her lips gently perused his flesh. Before he knew it, they were tossed back to the spray of the sea foam glittering on the surface of the lake and he stole a deep breath to keep from passing out. He blinked, trying to rinse the water from his eyes only to have a thousand droplets splatter in his face from her tossed hair. ”Aplffhm,” Dom exclaimed in surprise and shook the water from his face.

”Huh--hey!” He recoiled, his arms guarded his eyes as he sharply turned away from the whip of water. But his laughter rung out in the darkness. He squinted his eyes, trying to see with the bare grace of light from the moon as he tore through the water, pushed his legs and struggled to break through the waves to chase her. Until he dropped down, dived beneath the black surface and stealthily meandered closer (or at least as steathily as possible with the waves kicking up from his feet so close to the surface.)

And then he disappeared, even the ripples of his motions had stilled upon the eerie surface of the water. But he had to breathe, so he couldn’t have gone too far. The blue was so deep, and the moon had faded behind scattered clouds, he couldn’t find her, or at least, he couldn’t be sure. His head broke through the water somewhere from behind, crashing through the reflective surface and whipping the water out of his hair, back and forth, before roaring into Grace. Hopefully, to snatch his arms around her waist and lift her high in the air, throwing her through the sky and to splash somewhere else in the lake. As long as she didn’t slide out of his reach at the last moment.

Her relentless squealing was deafened by his hearty laugh; it wouldn’t have helped her anyway, but if he’d heard it, he might’ve been tempted to tease her more than he’d had. But the splash of the water caught his eyes and he wiped them clear to direct his gaze back on the dark surface of the lake. ”.....Grace?” He blinked, his arms and legs kicking against the water to keep his head above the surface. He hadn’t realized it, but the cold was chilling him to the bones. The water stilled with the exception of the ripples cascading away from him. He swam forward, almost positively paranoid that she was going to drag him under if he stayed in one spot long enough. But then he realized she could probably see him, so he kept swimming, and his rationalization struck him and he stopped. She was just trying to scare him. Right? She doesn’t need to breathe, does she? ”Graaace! C’mon! This isn’t funny anymore.” He complained.

But it hadn’t seemed to help. Could she even hear him? He’d gotten so cocky lately, knowing that, no matter what, she’d always hear him, see him, she’d always find him. But he couldn’t do a single damn thing of those, could he? ”Grace! I know you can hear me!! ...Right?” He blinked. ”Ugh, well I guess you can’t really answer me, can you?” He thought redundantly as he circled in place, his eyes searching vigilantly through the water until a small ripple of color piqued his curiosity for a split second until her head burst through the surface. ”Bloody--! Graceeee!” He panicked at first, whipped his head back and forth to splatter the droplets away in a flurry and focus his eyes on Grace. ”--the hell, Grace! No one said you could do that!” He blinked, serious at first, but then his laughter broke the silence and dimples shined in his cheeks. ”C’moon, mate, I’m cold.” He’d ignored it, but waiting for so long, his teeth had begun to chatter no matter how hard he tried to fight it. He took her hand in his gingerly, gently leading back to the shore where the mush of the sand finally met his toes and he could struggle with a walk back up to the bank.