A Million Miles Away *Daniel*

[rayne5]

Vaylia, better known as Estelle, stood on the large hill. The night sky was dotted with the glistening stars. She wondered how many of those stars were other galaxies, most, she expected. Her eyes were accustomed to staring up at the tiny twinkling lights. It was different though, always looking through the humanoid appearance she had taken. But she felt quite comfortable in her usual regal appearance, she was basically in the middle of nowhere. But the alien princess was quite used to solitude, traveling as much as she did. However, she was alright with it, knowing she would be just as lonely back on her home planet.

"I wonder when they will ever discover other life-holding planets." She whispered to herself, the high arrangement of hair blowing slightly in the breeze. She wore a shimmery gold summer dress, similar to the solid gold suit of armor she normally wore at home. This was how she normally looked at home, always making public appearances, as she was due to return within a few years to claim her birthright, being Queen. Although she just wanted to enjoy her life for once.

Behind her, she heard something similar to a snap of a twig. She held her breath, hoping that it was nothing.

[dan]

Danny needed some quiet time. He'd killed four vampaneze just that day and their screams of pain still echoed through his head. He'd managed to leave his 'hunting' gear at home and head towards somewhere peaceful. Not that the lack of gear was a guarantee that he wouldn't kill anything, but it certainly helped to make him feel more in control.

The walk alone helped him to relax as he breathed in fresh air and trudged up the hill. There was no hurry, so no need to flit anywhere.The hill was large enough to have one of the best vantage points in the city, great for spotting where any prey might have gone to.

But that's not why I'm here, he reminded himself, shaking off his natural hunting instincts and continuing to the top.

He stopped suddenly, seeing that he wasn't alone on the hill. There was a woman there, or what looked like a woman. Something about her didn't seem quite... right. Stepping forward cautiously, Danny managed to crack a twig beneath his boot and he winced.

So much for the stealthy hunter.

"Um, hello?" he said, moving closer to her, deciding there was no point in pretending to be stealthy. Besides, the woman may not have been entirely right, but she didn't seem all that dangerous. And she wasn't a vampaneze so what could go wrong?"

[rayne5]

She froze suddenly, realizing that what she had feared was true. She stretched her arms behind her head, slowly morphing back into her humanoid form, tying her hair in a high ponytail to mimic her regal appearance she had just hid. She hated feeling like she had to hide on this planet, being here made her feel ugly, seeing how beautiful the women on this planet were.

She turned and held her arms, rubbing the skin. It wasn't as smooth as the skin she had merely moments ago. She spotted the dark figure not too far from her. "Hello.." She shifted and looked at the ground in a circle, rubbing her arms again. "Am I, in your spot, or something?" She called out, slightly embarrassed. In a sense, she was caught, and she wasn't exactly sure if Earth was prepared to know that aliens really did exist.

She dug her heels into the grass, looking up the stars and sighing, praying that the man didn't notice anything off about her, she didn't want to ruin her stay on Earth.

[dan]

Danny hadn't missed the slight change in shape as the woman turned around, but he made no comment. He'd met a number of creatures who could change shape at will, and most liked to blend in using they're human form.

"Hello... Am I, in your spot, or something?"

He watched her for a long moment before he answered. He'd only glimpsed a silhouette of her previous form, and only had a vampires instincts to go on that the one she was wearing now was different. But it certainly was attractive.

"Not at all," he said, giving her his best 'I'm totally harmless and adorable' smile and moving to stand next to her. "I mean, I like to come here to think, but I hardly own the entire hill."

It occured to him that that was a ridiculous thing to say, but he maintained his confidence. A beautiful woman was easily the bet distraction from murder and mayhem that Danny could think of.

[rayne5]

She tried hard to keep her regal appearance, which wasn't very hard at all, as she seemed to radiate the royal aura. She kept her chin up as she examined the man who came to stand beside her. Vaylia took a step back and ran her eyes over him, taking in the appearance. He didn't seem like the other humans she had encountered, there was something odd about him, but she couldn't say exactly what it was.

She removed her arms from herself and placed one on her hip. She pushed a loose of hair strand away from her eyes and smiled slightly. "That's always nice to know." She bowed her head slightly. "I'm Estelle Talbot." She replied, the name seemed to be second nature now, the catch was that her initials were E.T. but no one seemed to catch on to that. She didn't want to say her real name, it would be too much information.

[dan]

There was something about this woman that struck Danny as... royal. She held herself in a way that he had only really seen the Princes do before. Then again, she might have just had a high opinon of herself. But like, a really really high opinion.

"I'm Estelle Talbot."

Danny smiled and held out his hand for her to shake. "Pleased to meet you, Estelle Talbot," he said genuinely. "The name's Danny Kincaid."

It had turned out to be a good idea to take a walk, Danny decided, smile still wide on his face. The screams were no longer an echo so much as a dull memory. Usually he had to drink a whole bottle of gin to get this kind of result so quickly.

"You're not from around here," he said casually.

[rayne5]

Vayila nodded, taking in the name. She rather enjoyed the last name, it was quite unique, reminded her of a flower, and she didn't even know why. When he made the comment about she not being from here, to say she was surprised wouldn't be enough. She hadn't expected that out of him, how dare he say something like that? Well, it was true, but still. She didn't like to be called out.

She shifted and rubbed her bare shoulder, looking around into the dense trees. "Is it that obvious?" She muttered, looking at him with innocent blue eyes. That was something she always did on her homeplanet when she wanted something. Now she didn't want anything, but it was always amusing to see people's reactions.

"I just like to, travel, you know? Sight-see." That was true, she loved to travel to different planets and see the universe from it's land. That always seemed to fascinate her for some reason.

[dan]

"Is it that obvious?"

"Very," he said, a hint of a serious tone as he held her gaze. It was very hard not to say something stupid like "awwwh" and give her whatever she asked, as he looked into her eyes. But Danny managed to maintain his manly dignity by simply winking instead.

She really should look into not being so... different if she wanted to blend in better. Estelle was quite lucky it had been him to stumble across her not some shoot-first-ask-later hunter.

Well, he was one of those, technically, but he had a specific target.

"I just like to, travel, you know? Sight-see."

"Mmmhmm," Danny agreed, looking Estelle up and down before turning his gaze innocently towards the city skyline. "Sight-seeing's great." He grinned. There was something about Estelle's regal nature that brought out the insolence in him.

[rayne5]

She twisted her mouth as he said very, what she couldn't understand was why he was so serious. There really was no reason to be so serious, was there? As far as she could see, there wasn't. But Vayila wasn't about to say anything about it, as it was best to keep her mouth shut about things like that.

She tugged at the sleeve of her summer dress. "Frex, why are nights here so chilled?" She cursed, rubbing her shoulders. In her homeplanet, nights were always pleasantly warm. She missed that very much. Although the people of Earth were so interesting, she wasn't about to give up that for warmer nights.

Once again, she nodded as he made a comment about sight seeing. "It's so thrilling." She sighed dreamily.

[dan]

"Frex, why are nights here so chilled?"

Frex? Danny wondered where in the hell that word would be from, though he supposed it could have been one of those words that covered up for swear words. Like 'shiz' or whatever it was kids were saying these days. Eventually he realised he was being extremely rude and slid off his jacket.

"Here," he said, handing it to her. "I hate to cover up such a pretty frame but best not have you freeze to death."

"It's so thrilling."

"Yeaah, thrilling's a good word," Danny said, not really paying attention. "So, if you're not human," he began, getting straight to the point. "Then what are you?"

[rayne5]

Vayila happily accepted the jacket, and the compliment. She pushed her arms through it and stood tree for a moment, feeling quite swallowed up by the large jacket. "It is greatly appreciated." She smiles, hugging it tight around her chest to feel the warmth that was still captures inside it.

She froze as he called her out again. It was like all the atmosphere had been knocked out of her lungs. No one had asked her something like that. She blinked, trying to find the right words, nearly choking on the breath of air. Why would he even accuse her of something like that? But that's when it hit her, he must have saw her change into this humanoid form. She reached up and rubbed her cheek with the sleeve. "Frex, that's what I get for being so frexing careless." She muttered to herself before squeezing her eyes shut, and then opening them again.

"You'd never believe me if I said it, so I might as well show it." She said with a heavy sigh, slowly changing into the blue form, then the red form, and finally settling on her Regal form, the long hair cascading down her back. She looked up in her now milky blue eyes and sighed. "I'm the Crown Princess of Yaeevin, a planet very far from your own." Her heart dropped, there was no use in staying in Earth now that she had been found out.

[dan]

"It is greatly appreciated."

Danny waved away her thanks. It wasn't like he actually needed the jacket, he didn't really feel the cold. He just liked the way it looked. Plus, it did look odd to onlooking humans to be walking around without a jacket in this temperature.

He watched with surprise as she slipped into three different forms, settling on the third which appeared to be the one he had caught her in earlier.

"I'm the Crown Princess of Yaeevin, a planet very far from your own."

"An alien?" he said with interest, stepping closer to get a better look. "That's new, I'd assumed you were just a shapeshifter or something. But an alien that's... special."

Even in her other forms she was still beautiful, and now that he knew what was so different about her, she didn't feel wrong. Just... otherworldly.

[rayne5]

Vayila laughed, rubbing the smooth, pale skin on her arms. "Of all the things to call me, special is not one of them. I'm rather normal, if you think about it. There are thousands, if not millions, of other beings out in the universe, and Earth is not the only planet that doesn't know." She said with a sigh, holding up a slender arm and pointing to a distant, twinkling star. "That one there, it's a planet, I'm almost certain." She said before folding back her infer and tugging the man's jacket closer around her. She looked down at the grass, feeling the large mass of hair flopping to the side, trying to go over her shoulder into her face.

"But you can't tell anyone about me, please." She pleaded, looking at him with sad, pleading eyes. "My name's not Estelle Talbot, either." She muttered, puffing out her lips and crossing her arms. Although she expected that he had caught onto that by now. Estelle wasn't even a word on her home planet.

[dan]

Danny shrugged as she explained that there were actually more lifeforms out there than earth gave credit for. "Yes, but I've never met an alien before, so to me, you're special."

Truthfully he'd never been one to think about alien's much. Sure, he supposed they were out there, why not? But why would they come here? And anyways, he usually had too many other things to deal with to think ponder about whether or not life was out there.

And now he didn't need to.

"But you can't tell anyone about me, please."

"Oh but all my government scientist buddies would love to get a look at you!" he exclaimed before bursting into to laughter at his own terrible joke. "Relax, doll, I'm a vampire, no body I tell is a) going to give a crap or b) going to remember when they're dead."

"My name's not Estelle Talbot, either."

"I guessed as much," he said with a smile. "So what is your name then, princess?"

[rayne5]

Vayila chuckled lightly, tugging on a long strand of reddish hair. It wasn't as funny as he thought it was, as she had been in situations like that, but that's when she called backup, and had the highest class of guards come in to wipe their memory. Luckily that never happened very often, but there wasn't much of a hearty laugh from her on a subject like that.

She met his glance and shrugged. "You wouldn't even know it's a name, it's native to my planet, much like Estelle is to Earth." She replied fluidly, elegantly sitting on the grass and covering up most of her oddly colored skin. She felt slightly uncomfortable, much like she had nothing left, bare. Vayila didn't really care that he was a vampire, if it got out of hand, her ship was only a button press away.