<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>The ice in Xavius's voice was cold enough that it made Lisa shiver, she pulled her mask back to her in the same fashion it had left, like rewinding a tape. She changed back to the visage of a jester, the dress had made her feel voulnerable, the jester's outfit made her bold. She slipped away from him and gave a show of acrobatics fit for her appearance. <span style='color:white'>"If you will not allow me to see you, the same will be of you for me,"</span> she said, bowing as she did so. She had trashed any chance of being an equal with him in this outfit, calling him lord, she had made herself a near-willing victim, she intended to remind him of that.</span></div></td></tr></table> </div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'> The change back into the jesters outfit was odd and he wasn't sure if was herself getting frustrated. Surely this was going nowhere for the both of them. HE took a couple of steps forward and with a puff of black energy his robes replaced the suit. The music that the nobles had been dancing to changed. It became quicker, frantic and a little violent. So too, did the nobles' dancing. He began to make his way to her slowly. She may be getting frustrated, the thought formed a smile behind his mouthless mask. <span style='color:red'> "That is fine, you may conceal your person for now if you wish." </span> He looked around and narrowed his eyes. The music and dancing became more sharp and agitated. <span style='color:red'> "This party is picking up wonderfully, wouldn't you agree? We shouldn't waste it. Come, dance with me. If you are who you say you are you must have something you wish to ask me. After all, my dear Selvi always loved to ask me questions." </span> The last was said with a hint of mockery. He would have the answers he seeked, even if he had to pick her mind apart, memory by memory. </span></div></td></tr></table></div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Lisa went back to Xavius, she wasn't nearly as frightened as she probably should have been, but she was pretty sure she wouldn't die in real life if she was killed here. Right? <span style='color:white'>"But Acheron, whenever I ask a question, you dodge it, albeit artfully, but still you do not answer,"</span> she said. In the respect that Selvi had loved to ask questions, she and Lisa were similar, but the jig was up from where Lisa stood. SHe knew that Xavius knew she was not Selvi, but she had never said she was his Selvi, just that he could call her as such. <span style='color:white'>"May I have permission to ask a superficial question?"</span> she inquired, start small, work her way up, she still had no idea what she was supposed to be looking for. The employer had paid a pretty penny up front and hadn't given her any guidlines other than 'she'd know when she saw it', then he had gone and left the pathetically small file on Acheron, Xavius.</span></div></td></tr></table> </div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'> Finally, something was to be asked. He wished to find out what she wanted here, he suspected it was actually something someone else wanted. If so he would find out who this person was. And then he would even go out of his way to pay them a visit in their neck of the woods. When she requested permission to ask a question, he saw no reason to deny it, seeing as how that is exactly what he wanted, for now. <span style='color:red'> "Of course, ask your question." </span></span></div></td></tr></table></div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Lisa thought carefully, she wasn't sure what sort of information she was supposed to get in the first place, so this was proving to be more difficult than she had assumed it would be when she took the damn job. Musing for another few minutes, she slowly looked up, a slightly perplexed face behind the mask. <span style='color:white'>"Why are you so dangerous, why do they all want to kill you?"</span> she asked. Two questions really, but the first nearly explained itself once she said it. She did want to know why they wanted him dead though, she'd been approached before about killing him for quite the pretty penny, but one, she did not do assassinations, and two she hadn't been given even an inkling of where to find him.</span></div></td></tr></table> </div> <span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class='ooc'><tr><td>Holy crap... I actually posted -_-"</td></tr></table>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'> Now, things were truly picking up. Why would she be interested in that? The only obvious explanation would be whoever she worked for indeed wanted him dead. He didn't feel threatened. It would take a very powerful dream weaver indeed to kill one in their sleep. Xavius laughed a laugh that could chill the heart. <span style='color:red'> "I suppose I am dangerous to others because of my lust for power. I am sure you must have heard of my constant studying of the dark arts. In fact all my life have I studied the dark arts. Many different types of dark arts. Up until now I have simply conjured shadows and darkness, while that can be very destructive itself that is not the limit of my gifts. My dear, I am dangerous because in my quest for dark power I will take from others anything I want. From nearly nothing to everything. I will take valuable possessions, I will take family and friends, I will take their free will and freedom, I would even take there very lives." </span> He said this with a great sense of pride, cleared his throat and continued. <span style='color:red'> "As to why "they" want to kill me, that ties in painfully with all the latter. You see there are those who realize that I would toss this world into the dark for power. There are those who are so far up in the religious scale they would see me burn just because I resemble the demons they learn to fear. There are those whom I have taken to much from and I would wager the locals of the swamp lands would rejoice anyone to remove my shadow from there homes." </span> He wondered how she would think of him now. Before she must have seen he was evil, but now surely Selvi would see he was a monster.</span></div></td></tr></table></div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Aha, something useful, the fil had not mentioned that Xavius made his residence in the swamplands, it had actually suggested that he had hidden himself in the Black Market. Lisa squirreled away the information in the back of her mind, she would remember to speak with locals at a later date. She looked up, for a little bit she could play up the Selvi angle, that maybe at one point she'd known him in a way that Lisa hadn't. Raising a hand up from his shoulder, she traced a nail down the edge of his mask, where the hard shell gave way to skin. <span style='color:white'>"What changed you Acheron?"</span> she whispered. <span style='color:white'>"You always loved power, to dominate, but this is different, what changed you?"</span> she asked once more.</span></div></td></tr></table> </div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'> This question stumped him. He couldn't feel her finger on his skin since she wasn't actually touching him but more the dark shell. <span style='color:red'> " I have never changed, I have always been an evil creature. Always have I wanted power and darkness. Even when I was a boy, even when my parents died. Never has that changed." </span> Perhaps there was a time when he was nicer. Perhaps more understanding to the world when Selviena was in his life. But even then deep down in his soul, the thirst was in truth there. She hid that from him with the illusion of love but of course that didn't last long. No he had always been the same Xavius he was today at heart. </span></div></td></tr></table></div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Lisa nodded, that was enough for her. She concentrated on dancing for a moment, one careful step after another, it was wearing her down, it was monotonous, she wasn't sure what to ask Xavius that would yield results, she wasn't sure what to do to get anywhere, hell she didn't even know what she was looking for. She wanted to scream in frustration, stamp her feet and carry on like a child, but she was above that, she could maintain herself if she needed to, and right now she got the feeling she might have to. So she settled on truth. <span style='color:white'>"You frighten me Acheron, you really and truely do,"</span></span></div></td></tr></table> </div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'> Xavius smiled behind the mask, what a lovely thing to say. Finally she was afraid. Xavius began to pick up the pace of the dance more. To the side three more of the nobles were silently consumed by the dark. He still wanted to know why she was here, the first thing to that, he decided, would be to get her to admit she was an intruder of his dream. <span style='color:red'> "Tell me, how is it that you have entered my dream?" </span> He said, rather bluntly. </span></div></td></tr></table></div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Lisa looked up and let the mask go, it did not fall away in a sweep of butterflies it simply melted in her skin, 'the jig' as they say, was up. She let Xavius have full view of her face, by now she didn't quite care, she could talk business, business was easier than trying to figure out what the hell she was doing in the name of business. <span style='color:white'>"I am not a dreamweaver,"</span> she said, it didn't really answer his question, but it would have to do for now, in truth she wasn't sure exactly what she had done, well she did, but the mind was a fragile thing, she wasn't sure if she could replicate the effect. She stared up at him, not so much defiant as trying to grab his attention, she let the tangerine crescents swirl in her bright yellow eyes, she was not trying to hypnotize him, they were just eyes, she was showing him that dreams were not her area of expertise, that this, was not a place she was likely to be a threat to him. She hoped her survival instincts would be up to it.</span></div></td></tr></table> </div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'> As her mask fell away he could see she had interesting eyes. Interesting indeed. He had a sudden urge to be wary of those eyes, but none the less he kept his gaze on her face. However her face told him she meant no harm he could not trust that. If she was no dream weaver then essentially that left one option. <span style='color:red'> "Then you had the help of a dream weaver did you not? For how else could you come to be here?" </span> He said as he twirled her rather agressivly. <span style='color:red'> "And again I must ask why you are here? Information I assume but one never knows these days." </span> He increased the pace of the dance for a second or two and spun around with her. Two more nobles were consumed, this time they screamed and the light of the chandelier became red. <span style='color:red'> "Finally who has sent you? For you see I very much dislike people attempting to halt my progress in power. As well do I act unkindly to intrusions." </span> He willed the darkness to be ready, for he knew that she also might have a trick up her sleeve. Silently he told it to be ready to spring if he needed it. Another trap he set with a clever trigger pin. He continued the dance and awaited her answer.</span></div></td></tr></table></div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Lisa allowed herself to be spun violently, nothing she couldn't handle yet. The screams of the novels made her stomach clench painfully, but she maintained a straight face. <span style='color:white'>"I wouldn't call it help, I sort of stole it, might have broken a few lawes of magic, for all I know I'm trapped here,"</span> she said, no use in lying, she'd really rather not be under Xavius's mercy, for clearly he had none. <span style='color:white'>"I also wouldn't know the name of my employer, you know how it is, all remote khasi transfers that go through seven of their accounts and then nine of mine. Don't want anyone tracing anyone,"</span> she said, shrugging, hoping she hadn't just signed her death warrant.</span></div></td></tr></table> </div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'> She stole it, that could only mean she had forced a real dream weaver to send here. That was one question answered. But she didn't know who her employer was. This could be true enough, most people would want to remain anonymous now a days. Especially when the target was one such as himself. Of course it could be a flat out lie, but Xavius doubted it. He ceased dancing with Selvi and stepped back. <span style='color:red'> "And I'll just assume your here for information then shall I?" </span> But before she had a chance to answer all the nobles started to scream as the darkness started devouring them one by one. Amongst the screaming Xavius stepped up to Selvi once again this time seizing her head with one hand. <span style='color:red'> "There are other ways to piece a puzzle together, my dear." </span> And with that a shadow spread over some of her face sinking into the dreaming mind, searching for something. At last it found it and pulled out, as it did the screaming ceased. The room again faded to black and when light came back they were in the Temple of Tanastlasei. Xavius was however not standing by Selvi, but was stepping out of the shadows behind her. This was were she had entered. <span style='color:red'> "The Temple of Tanastlasei? Interesting..." </span></span></div></td></tr></table></div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>She had been about to answer Xavius, but then she slid out of consciousness, or at least, that's what it felt like, she couldn't feel a thing and she had the nasty feeling that she was being used, or at least her mind was, it hurt like a bitch. She thought she heard screaming, but she couldn't tell. She broke through and was struck by the light, even though it was dim still, the early hours of the morning, it was blinding. She looked around to find herself back in the temple, wearing her black on black tank top, jeans and sneakers. She tried to find the dreamweaver she had brought here, but he was gone, probably all for the best. <span style='color:white'>"Well, thank you for ensuring I got out of that, but pray tell, what are you going to do with me now?"</span> she asked, thinking it was a fair question, if he was going to kill her, now would be the time, if he wanted to use her for something, sure, she could cooperate, not dying was at the top of her priority list right now. </span></div></td></tr></table> </div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'> Xavius did not answer her right away. Instead he looked around the immediate premises. There was nothing, he was hoping to find at least some sign of the actual dream weaver. <span style='color:red'> "I will do with you whatever it is that is needed to be done. I do hope you will cooperate. If not, remember that while physically your not here, mentally you are. Meaning I might not be able to harm you physically." </span> Xavius turned towards her and took a couple of steps forward. <span style='color:red'> "But I can give you the greatest of nightmares and effectively destroy your mind." </span> Xavius turned and walked to the closest wall and leaned against it watching her. <span style='color:red'> "Besides, we might be able to help each other out. Now, what is your mission here. What are your orders?" </span></span></div></td></tr></table></div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Lisa was still confused, if she physically wasn't there... was she still in a dream? Or was she really there, but somehow trapped in Xavius's mind? Oh god, way too confusing an a bit too alarming for her, best not to think about it just yet. <span style='color:white'>"Believe me, I've got every intention of cooperating,"</span> she muttered, keeping her mint in tack was pretty good pay, or at least, that's what she figured. As for for who had sent her to do what. <span style='color:white'>"Listen, that's all they told me, like I would know exavtly what they were looking for if I heard it,"</span> she scoffed. This was the last time she took vague orders for less than 250,000 khasi.</span></div></td></tr></table> </div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'> So she was looking for something. This he already figured and it wasn't that big of an achievement but it was something. Xavius was in truth unsure how to find out who sent her, tat to him was the most important. He wouldn't put it out of his mind she did not know just yet however, but still he moved on. <span style='color:red'> "Then tell me of this dream weaver you used. " He said walking closer to her. Maybe somehow he could figure this out through the dream weaver. He doubted it, but you never know.</span></span></div></td></tr></table></div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>The dreamweaver? Why the hell would he want to know about the dreamweaver? The arden himself hadn't been anything all that special, witty, but not funny, efficient, but not practical. She debated internally for a moment, what could possibly be of use? <span style='color:white'>"The dreamweaver wasn't anything spectacular, just a flunkie that was supposed to 'keep an eye' on me anyway. Liked to talk about himself, but never actually had anything to say, I just picked him because I figured 'hey, I've hypnotized pyros into throwing fire before, maybe I can do the same with a dreamweaver,' it worked, but I'm pretty sure I'm fucked either way,"</span> she ranted, using her hands while she spoke. It wasn't so much that she was nervous about the very real fact that Xavius might kill her, but damn, she did not want to be here right now.</span></div></td></tr></table> </div>
<div align="center"><table><tr><td width=400></td></tr><tr><td width=400><div align="justify"><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Xavius smiled behind the mask. She could very well be trapped here. Trapped in another persons mind, what terrible thing. Especially his mind, filled with dark thoughts and even darker intentions. <span style='color:red'> "So it is very likely your stuck here, with me then. Did you not think that this dream weaver might abandon you?" </span> His cane was suddenly in his hand and he thumped the tip on the floor, turned and began to walk the entrance of the room. <span style='color:red'> "If you had to guess, what would you say you were sent to find out? My location? Perhaps they hope for a mental weakness on my part." </span> Xavius wasn't even sure anymore what he could possibly find here anymore. It might be possible to find out what she was sent for in the wakeing world. However he would first have to either plant the idea in her head or convince her to meet him in reality. But that wouldn't happen until this dream was over. He was certain it was going to be a long dream at that.</span></div></td></tr></table></div>
