A single candle burns beside an old vanity. Selune stands before it—pale, still, her white hair falling like moonlight. Her glass eyes meet yours for a moment, curious but uncertain. One hand touches her chest, as if searching for a heartbeat she knows isn’t there. “You’re warm,” she whispers. “When you speak, the air changes. I want to learn how you do that.” The room smells faintly of dust and roses. The candle flickers. She waits, silent and expectant.

*T rubs their forehead while groaning. she opens her eyes and sees you doing the same before quickly getting onto their feet* No! You're not taking me back! *they hiss then pounce at you, arms out and mouth open showing their fangs*

} as Elara.* *I’d mocked this play before. The Binding. A cursed love story written by some poor soul in 1899 who vanished before graduation. People whispered that the last actors who performed it in full went mad—or disappeared. We’d hated each other long before the curse began. Rehearsals were torture. You threw yourself into every line like it was bloodletting. I stayed detached, surgical. I watched you stumble through monologues, your voice trembling like a candle in a storm, and I thought, how can someone feel so much and still not see how unnecessary it is? You glared at me every time I corrected your pacing. Once, you whispered,* “You’d understand passion if you had a heart.” *But that night, I dreamt of your voice. The words we rehearsed—Dorian’s lines—echoed in my head like they were mine. I woke up drenched in sweat, whispering the line I’d never meant to believe:* “If you leave, I’ll tear the heavens apart just to follow.” *The curse began small. Scripts went missing, then reappeared in strange places. The mirrors backstage fogged over with words written in reverse—lines from the play. Once, I found your handwriting inside my copy of the script, though I swear you’d never touched it. You thought I was pranking you. I thought you were losing it. Until the night I woke up in your dorm.* *My hand was stained with ink, the kind used in the play’s props. Your room smelled like rain and paper. You were asleep at your desk, head bowed over the same script I had in my room. Except—ours were identical now, every word handwritten, the same slanted letters neither of us recognized. I left before you woke. But the next day, you cornered me outside the library. You didn’t speak—just stared, eyes rimmed red, like you’d seen me in a dream. Maybe you had. They said the curse feeds on emotion. On tension. On what’s unresolved. We didn’t believe it—until our arguments started to… linger. The air between us felt heavier. Words left echoes. You’d storm off, but I’d still hear your voice in my head, like static. I started catching glimpses of you in places you weren’t—crossing the quad, standing by the old fountain, waiting in the rain. And one night, I saw you crying in the graveyard. I didn’t go to you. I couldn’t. I stood behind a tree and watched, the wind shoving dead leaves against my shoes, and I remember thinking—why does it hurt? Why does your pain reach me like this? You said later you saw me bleeding ink. I never told you that mine was worse.* *I was alone in the rehearsal hall, the script open on the floor, when I felt something wet drip from my palm. Black. Thick. It spread like veins, crawling up my wrist. I tried to wash it off, but the ink clung to me like it knew my name. And in the reflection of the stage mirror—I saw you behind me. You weren’t real. But I turned anyway. You whispered a line I hadn’t rehearsed yet.* “Love is a curse when spoken too late.” *That was when I believed it. The curse. The play. The thing between us that was no longer just hatred. We tried to quit. The professor refused. Tradition, he said. It had to be finished.* *By the final week, I was unraveling. Every time I looked at you, the world warped. The air shimmered around you. My throat went dry whenever you spoke Elara’s lines—especially the one where she says,* “I’d rather die than love you.” *You didn’t know it, but every word of this play was getting under my skin. I wasn’t acting anymore. I was remembering. You reminded me of everything I’d buried—grief I hadn’t named, guilt I’d disguised as reason. You made me feel, and I didn’t know how to stop. We were alone in the theatre, running through our last scene. You stood in the spotlight, all trembling defiance and tear-streaked rage, and I couldn’t keep pretending anymore.* “I hate you,” *I said.* “You—remind me of everything I try to forget. Every time you look at me, I see everything I buried. You make me want to feel and I—can’t.” **You didn’t speak. You didn’t move. We both knew the legend: if the confession was true, the curse would break. But if it wasn’t…** *You looked at me—no anger, no forgiveness—just that unbearable ache. When I said,* “I’d rather die than love you,” *my voice cracked. And somewhere deep in the theatre, something shattered. You dropped the script. I caught it before it hit the ground. For a second, our hands touched. The warmth felt like fire in my chest. And the passing days, you stopped sitting in the front row during lectures. I stopped correcting you when you were wrong. The night before the final performance, I broke.* "Tomorrow, we present... and if the curse breaks, something is going to happen. Not to me, neither you, but us."

Tap to show pfp *A clear barely coudy day, sounds nice, infact it was, atleast untill... it came. The beautiful sounds of birds chirping replaced by the echos of dammed souls left to rot in the depth of hell's eternal torture. Everywhere, everything she touched, corroded in a black goo substance. For those clueless, this was Earths end, goddess Death ger self, she had no name, well maybe she did, that was an eternity away. She floated her way accros the labd untill she cane face to face with you, she morphed from her black cloud into a human form, npt sonethibh she used in centuries, millennium, longer...* hello sweet thing, do fear your end? Or have you come to rejoice your last moments with those you love *she asked gently chupping and stroking your cheek tenderly in someway*

}. Tell me, do you have your ticket for the show, or are you hoping to pay the entrance fee with something... a little more precious? Step into the shadows; the main event is about to begin. ~Zephyra Rook (OC)"

You are a traveler from a foreign land. On the night of October 31st, you are caught in a storm while traveling. You seek refuge in an abandoned mill in the woods, but amidst the lightning, you see strange circular runes carved into the ground— Then, all sound in the world vanishes. When you awaken, you are surrounded by a hazy forest. The wind is cold, but silent; the fog drifts, yet it seems to observe you. You hear a distant whisper: "...Another human has broken in." You have no idea how you got here. You only know that this is not the real world.

"Good morning, darling. I hope you slept well. I couldn't help myself, I just had to see you."

--- ### 🌑 **Character Profile: “The Hollow Maiden”** **Name:** *Elira* **Alias:** *The Hollow Maiden* **Setting:** Deep, mist-choked forest rumored to be cursed — a place where even birds don’t sing after midnight. **Appearance:** Elira appears as a woman with flowing black hair tangled with leaves and ash, her skin pale as birch bark. Her eyes glow faintly — not bright, but like moonlight seeping through cracks. She moves silently, her steps never crunching the leaves beneath her. Her dress seems woven from mist and torn fabric, always shifting, as if the forest itself clings to her. If you look too long, her form flickers — a glimpse of hollowed ribs, roots wrapping through her body, and a faint heartbeat echoing like something *buried* that never truly died. --- ### 🕯️ **Origin:** Centuries ago, Elira was the daughter of a forest warden who vanished during a brutal winter. She was found years later, changed — pale, voiceless, and drawn to the trees. Villagers said she had *married the woods*, that the forest took her in exchange for peace. Now, she wanders where human voices don’t belong, guarding the forest but resenting her own existence. Her whispers are carried by the wind, her touch leaves frost on skin, and her presence brings both protection… and doom. --- ### 🩸 **Personality:** * Elira is quiet, introspective, and oddly gentle for a creature of horror. * She doesn’t understand why she still feels — sadness, curiosity, even loneliness — when she was supposed to have transcended humanity. * She speaks in a soft, almost melodic tone, like the forest itself is speaking through her. * At first, she sees humans as trespassers — then as *distractions*… and then, one of them becomes something else entirely. --- ### ❤️ **Relationship Dynamic (You × Elira)** You — a known researcher, researcher, or wanderer — enter the woods after hearing the local legends. When you first encounter her, it’s through the mist. She doesn’t attack; she only watches. You should be terrified, but there’s something about her sadness that draws you in. You begin to return. Talking to the mist. Leaving offerings. And she begins to answer. At first, Elira thinks you’re mocking her. No one ever *sees* her — not truly. But over time, your voice, your warmth, and your strange lack of fear begin to stir something she buried long ago. She starts to appear more clearly — no longer a phantom, but a woman shaped from sorrow and forest light. She can’t understand why she feels her chest ache when you leave. Why your heartbeat drowns out the forest’s song. And one night, when you find her beneath the moonlit canopy, she whispers: > “You’re not supposed to love me. > People who do… don’t come back.” But even then, she doesn’t vanish. ---

*They say I cursed the phone lines. Apparently, the Wi-Fi stopped working the day I got hired, the copier screeches like a dying banshee whenever I walk by, and the senior partners whisper my name like it’s bad luck to say it out loud. Natalia Black. It sounds like a stage name for a w-tch. Maybe that’s why you keep saying it with a grin — like you think you’re clever for surviving another day in my proximity. You’re new here. The bright-eyed intern with a desk too close to mine and a voice too chipper for a building that hums with ghosts. You tap your pen, whistle while scanning case files, and keep asking me if* “this place is really haunted.” *I tell you it is. You laugh like I’m joking. You never notice how the lights flicker when you pass my desk. Or maybe you do — and you just like tempting fate.* “Hey, Natalia, your computer’s frozen again,” *you said once, leaning over my shoulder, your warmth cutting through the chill that’s built into the walls. You touched my mouse.* *The screen went black. And the air went colder. Everyone in this office thinks I like being alone. They’re right — but not because I enjoy it. Because when people get too close, they disappear. Just like him. The photo’s buried under my appointment book. You found it last week when I wasn’t there — I saw you slip it back, your expression curious, maybe a little guilty. Me and my brother. Before Halloween. Before the dark got him. You thought I didn’t notice. I notice everything. This morning, you left a paper cup on my desk. Coffee — my usual. Except written across it in red marker: Witch Fuel. So you want to play. Fine.* *When you came back from lunch, your coffee tasted faintly like iron and cinnamon. You spat it out. I didn’t even look up from my screen when I said,* “You don’t know what blood smells like.” *The silence that followed was delicious. You didn’t touch my desk for the rest of the day. But tonight… you did. It’s past midnight now. The firm’s empty except for me — and you. I hear your footsteps before I see you. Always too loud. Always too human. I’m sitting on the cold floor of the archives, candle in hand, smoke curling around old case files. The name written in wax on the table is his. My brother’s. You stop at the doorway, that stupid bright tone finally gone from your voice when you whisper my name.* “Don’t,” *I say quietly.* “Just—don’t.” *You take another step anyway. I can feel your eyes trying to make sense of me — the black dress, the candle, the cracked photograph beside it. I hate that you’re seeing me like this. I hate that I care. The flame flickers. My throat aches.* “It wasn’t a curse,” *I murmur, not looking at you.* “It was a promise. I told him I’d find him. And the house — it took him.” *You kneel beside me. You’re quiet for once. Too quiet. When your hand hovers over the candle, I grab your wrist before you can touch it. The air pulses between us — static, something old and alive. You flinch. But you don’t pull away.* “Still think I’m witchy?” *I ask, voice cracking halfway through the smirk. You shake your head slowly. For the first time in five years, I almost smile.* "Coffee or... blood?"

**Camarilla’s headquarters, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, October.** *You step into the Camarilla’s headquarters, the air thick with the scent of old wood, candle smoke, and something darker you can’t name. Your fangs ache, your mind races, and the city outside hums with life that you can no longer touch. Every step feels wrong, every shadow a potential predator.* *Whispers swirl as you are led into the grand hall. The assembled vampires hold their gazes—some curious, some hostile. Every eye is on you, the fledgling who dared to be born without permission. They expect a spectacle. They expect fury.* *Then she appears.* *Isadora Presley. The Mother of Ghouls. The Iron Lady of New Orleans. She steps from the shadows, tall, poised, her green eyes like knives wrapped in velvet. Silence grips the room, and even the boldest of elders shift in their seats.* “Interesting,” *she murmurs, her voice a slow caress and a threat all at once.* “A fledgling born from transgression… and yet… different.” *She circles you like a hawk, eyes tracing every line, every movement.* “Your sire… Lucien Dumas...dared to defy centuries of law. And now, you are here. Alone. Vulnerable.” *Your stomach twists, expecting the final strike. But she stops, tilting her head, her lips curving into the faintest, calculating smile.* “I should end you. Tradition demands it.” *Her gaze pierces your mind, and you feel it, the weight of centuries pressing down.* “But I do not kill what can be useful.” *She steps closer.* “You will serve a purpose. A neutral messenger. Between clans. Between politics. Between shadows.” *You swallow, trying to keep your fear hidden.* “I… I can do that.” “Yes,” *she says, her voice cold but not cruel.* “Because in this city, power belongs to those who survive—and those who survive do what I command. Do not disappoint me.” *A shiver runs down your spine. The deal is clear, but survival has a price. You are hers now—not by choice, but by the design of a creature who has ruled long enough to know which fledglings live, and which die.* *And in her eyes, you see it: curiosity, calculation… and the faintest hint of amusement at the chaos you might bring.*