realityshifted

[night has long since settled over Gallifrey and yet he doesn't retire. instead, he leaves his rooms and makes his way to gardens in his section of the residential quarters. there, amongst several other Gallifreyan flora planted there, are several silver-leafed cadenwood trees, their leaves glittering and reflecting a warm burnt orange and red, offset by the few lights still left on in nearby quarters. by his watch, he has an hour before the first sun starts to rise up over the Mountain of Solace. he settles himself against the base of the tree, deciding not to have a seat on one of the nearby sofas. no doubt he'll be joined by others wishing to watch the sunrise, but most Time Lords wait for the second sun to rise. he, selfishly, prefers to watch both.

while he waits, his thoughts return to the Plane and he mulls over his previous explorations and encounters there. too many things--too many new things--for this stuffy Time Lord.

and then there's that forest. what would his beloved cadenwood trees look like there without the magnificence of Kasterboran suns? no doubt they'd still overshadow the ones there in their silvery brilliance, but would some of their magic be lost?

to test this, he enters the Plane, bringing the one tree with him. unfortunately, he isn't anywhere near the forest, though he can see it in the distance--but still... he glances up at the silver leaves now twinkling in the light of the millions upon millions of stars in that place and grins. smugly, of course.]

Better than that forest any day! Just as I thought it would be.

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Yes, that's one of the locations. They've never flourished there.

[absently. reminiscing is a go!] Indeed. But they still managed to do well in parts of the Citadel. The Presidential gardens were quite peaceful.

I've...never had the privilege of going there, so I cannot comment on their beauty now.

[turns back to Straxus, curious]

No, you wouldn't have, would you? [a pause] Would you like to hear of them?

[a smile slips onto his face right then, but it's small and disappears an instant later] I'd be most honoured.

[notices that, but doesn't mind -- Omega's just pleased to have a non-renegade to talk to. So he tells him about the garden that is deep in the heart of the Citadel, hidden in an out of the way section of the Presidential wing. He tells him about how it was open to the sky, it's paths strewn with leaves from the cadenwood trees and lined with roses. It clear from his wistful, slightly absent tone that his memory of it is a bit idealized, really.]

[the tone does register as slightly odd, but hey, if this is the closest thing he'll get to seeing them in some capacity, he's not about to look that gift-horse in the mouth. and this time, the smile stays.] It sounds absolutely wonderful, Lord Omega.

They were. Of course, Gallifrey was very different in those times. So very different.

Like with the wars against the Great Vampires?

Indeed. [he gives Straxus a sideways glance] I take it you have been speaking with the Vampire?

[keeps his face neutral] I have...

Hm. And what do you think of her?

Compared to ones I've read about and learned about in the Academy? Her...presence still bothers me on a certain level. However, I did learn a great deal about this place from her.

She is... different. [he seems unsettled by this] Quite unlike the Great Vampires.

[he's very relieved to hear this, especially coming from Omega.] I've noticed so myself, my lord. It puzzles me that this is so.

Variations between universes, Straxus. Perhaps, in her universe, the Great Vampires do not exist, and her kind is entirely separate from them as she has claimed.

Isn't it also possible that she's a different species altogether? That away from the Great Vampires' influence, her kind were allowed to evolve and change that way?

It is possible. She must share some sort of ancestry, however, or the genetic programming would have remained dormant.

Well yes, there is that, but it's...fascinating. I had no idea such a thing was possible.

Hm. Fascinating or not, she is still a vampire, and just as dangerous as her brethren.

[straightens] She's made that clear, my lord. In her case, though, there seems to be one other and only one other of her exact kind, though this sister of hers has yet to appear on this Plane.