As night crept over the light of day, he finally felt it safe to come out of his temporary homestead. True that he’d ended up here entirely on accident, but one did what one needed to in order to survive. For Jakobi that was getting out of direct sunlight as fast as possible, and at the time diving into The Virens seemed the best bet. Even at midday, sunlight barely managed to pour through the canopy. Few people found themselves wandering randomly through the dark wood, which meant he’d at least be afforded some security by proxy.

There was a shallow but promising cave that led into a more expansive underground working of tunnels, but he of course had no interest in those: he just wanted somewhere safe to rest the day away. When he awoke it was to the cool dampness of the cave, better accentuated by the drop in temperature as the blocked-out sun began to set. His body’s internal clock always felt when the sun was going down, so when his eyes slowly opened he was relieved to know that he could finally get a move on.

However, there was his thirst to deal with. He slowly pushed his hair back: black as midnight and barely feathering past his chin. The way it fell framed his angular and near feminine features. His eyes, a dull red, glowed faintly through the darkness of the cave, casting shadows along his pale cheekbones and the rose tinted fullness of his lips. His clothing was rumpled from the fitful sleep that normally accompanied him when he was resting in unknown territory. Not that he could do anything about it now, but it motivated him more to get back to civilization. That and the thirst that abruptly made itself known. He hadn’t fed since the previous night, and already he was feeling the chills of withdrawal.

Deep down he knew it was all mental: he’d survive easily for at least three days without blood before things started to take a dangerous turn. Blood for him was likened more to a drug than actual sustenance, and his nose wrinkled in irritation to know that it could be another night before his fangs would sink into a vulnerable neck.

True that this forest had its own share of wildlife, but their blood was nothing in comparison to the life force of a truly sentient being. The trees didn’t help either, what with their red sap tempting him with its visualization being so close to that of the blood he craved. He sighed and pushed up from the cold dirt of the cave, stretching his arms over his head until he felt a satisfying crack: it echoed throughout, being carried easily by the acoustics.

As he came around from the grogginess of first waking up, he walked to the mouth of the cave and leaned against the side; watching as the sunlight filtering through the leaves deepened into a rich orange, and then a blood red. Soon it would be down completely, and at that time he’d be able to get back on the prowl.

Aurelia's dreams as usual were fleeting, quick, and unusually abstract. She'd never been able to truly lucid dream as she'd heard some species could. What she did know is that when she slept, she could still very vividly feel the loving embrace of the sun itself. It was like a warm blanket draped over her, lulling her to sleep. She knew little of how long she had existed, but she knew that she had never been able to resist the lovely embrace. What was truly memorable was the feeling of waking up from this solar slumber. It was always a feeling of rebirth, of optimism, of hope. Her eyes opened, blinking away any last vestiges of sleep. She sighed in satisfaction as she could feel the sun setting. It was truly a wonder. She praised the gods everyday for their allowance of her existence. It was truly a blessing.

Rising from the darkness of the back of the cave, she was immediately assaulted by a feeling of intrusion. Was someone there? Her eyes flicked over to the entrance, and they widened as she saw the figure. It didn't seem to be another nature spirit; it was too ruffled for that. This was a traveler. She took a deep breath, unused to the presence of others. Stepping into the fading light, her skin color quickly lightened to match the rays of the sun, but didn't hesitate to darken again as the sun lowered. "Hello?" She murmured softly, cautiously making sure not to trip over her dress as she stepped forward towards the figure.

It was only a few more moments before he suddenly smelled something. No, not something, someone. His eyebrows rose and he turned to the side in time to see a young woman walk forward from the cave. His lips parted, unable to ignore the fact that she was strikingly lovely. Especially her neck, but for once he was distracted by more than the possibility of a good feeding. As the fading sun hit her, her skin shifted and changed unlike anything he’d seen before. What was she? More importantly, how had she come upon him so easily without him realizing it until she was so close?

He arched an eyebrow, turning so that his back was leaning against the wall with one ankle crossing lazily against the other. His arms rested across his chest and he tilted his head to the side; allowing the silence to linger for a nearly uncomfortable amount of time. Well, he’d been expecting to have to go out and hunt, but maybe fate was playing in his favor and had delivered him something. An easy smirk flitted across his lips as his eyes move along her appraisingly one more time, “Hello indeed,” he said in a voice much softer than the harsh hunger of his eyes.

“Where did you come from?” If he still had a heartbeat it’d be racing right about now from anticipation. Her scent was intoxicating, especially with his hunger so strong, but so far, he was managing to keep that from being obvious on his features. Though, his eyes did glow brighter as he spoke again, “I’m pretty sure I would have remembered coming across someone like you when I’d found this place earlier.”

The first thing that the nymph was struck by was the intensity of the man's eyes. They were some shade of red. She had never seen anything like it before. She decided that she liked it. Red reminded Aurelia of the sunset. It was pleasant. She looked him over some more. This was certainly not a nature spirit, she knew now for sure. There was no…sense of nature coming from this man. In fact, she could hardly sense much of anything at all. She ignored it though. Surely it was just her senses failing her. This was likely just some sort of human. Perhaps they'd changed since she last saw one. She'd heard whispers of areas where the human and human-like creatures would congregate, but she'd never visited any place like that before. She supposed that she likely could though. The light sustained her, not the forest like many of her fellow nymphs. 

"I came from here!" Aurelia replied simply, blinking at the man, "Where else would I come from? Do humans not know of nymphs anymore?" She had decided that this must be a human of some kind, and crossed her arms, being somewhat playfully cross with the stranger. She wondered why he was waking up so late though. Normally all the human creatures were asleep when she wandered the forest. She looked at his eyes again, wondering if they really were brighter or if her mind was just playing tricks on her. She really did enjoy the new human trait of red eyes. She wondered if others had orange or yellow eyes. Those would be beautiful as well. She was biased though. Aurelia would defend the colors of the sun-stained sky for as long as she had to. They were part of the time of day that gave rise to her every day after all.

His eyebrows furrowed, his expression growing more puzzled from her exclamation. Here? As in from the cave? Did she live here? True that it led down into an intricate tunnel system, but rumors spoke about dark witches that inhabited those trails. He wasn’t one to judge based on appearance, but nothing about her seemed akin to what came to mind when one envisioned a dark witch. And then she revealed that she was a nymph.

He slowly nodded, his features settling back out as a smile replaced the smirk. He’d tasted nymph and it was like consuming nature itself. Though he wasn’t able to tell just what type she was. She smelled of damp and dirt, but that was all superficial from being in the cave. His eyes glinted, she thought he was a human, well that would just make all of this easier. Well, until the time to bite came. He shook his head, “No, nymphs haven’t been forgotten,” he said, pushing away from the wall and approaching her slowly.

“Though I have to admit, I’ve never seen one like you before,” again his eyes trailed her, trying to figure out what her realm was. He slowly circled her, nodding to himself as he did so when he saw things he liked and wavering his head back in forth when he took in areas for improvement. As he did this he made sure not to leave the shelter of the cave; the sun was setting but it wasn’t completely down. He stopped in front of her, his eyebrows raising in question,

“Tell me, what type are you? What should I call you?” His voice came out in a silken tone, it was good that for now she thought he was something as weak as a human. He’d been one at some point, but that was so long ago it barely held any standing with him now.

Aurelia smiled as the man replied. She was glad that they weren't forgotten. She'd hate to have to go to the trouble of explaining what nymphs were, especially as she didn't even know what her purpose was. She knew other nymphs protected various parts of nature, but how would one protect the sunset? Anything that could affect something as large as that would likely be beyond her level. All she knew was that she was connected with the light of the world to her very core, and that was usually good enough for her. The man was certainly larger than her, that was for sure. she couldn't exactly place why, but something didn't feel right about him. She felt a bit wary but she shoved the feeling away. Humans were no harm to her. They could try, for sure, but she wasn't an easy catch for something as weak as a human. 

"Well…" Aurelia mused, "I'm not really your typical nature nymph. I'm what you humans call a sunset nymph. I am connected to the light of this world, rather than some plain old tree or river." That little feeling of nervousness was still hanging around in the back of her mind, and as he seemed to inspect her she found herself unconsciously playing with the fabric of her lightly colored dress with a hand. It was wonderfully pleasant to wear, and like her, it seemed to be entirely new every time she rose up. Regardless, she forced herself to stop, feeling a bit childish. She knew little of human customs, but she didn't remember this one. It wasn't a favorite of hers. "I'm…Aurelia…" She murmured, "What are you called?"

A sunset nymph? He’d never heard of one and wondered briefly just how many different kinds there were if there was one for something as specific as a sunset. What exactly did that entail, he wondered. Connected to the light, the light of the sun no less. Would it even be safe for him drink from her? Well, he was always up for trying new things, and besides, looking at her was doing no harm to him, so that had to be a good start. Right? Only time would tell.

“Aurelia,” he spoke her name softly, slowly, letting it linger on the tip of his tongue; tasting it this way before he’d feel the warmth of her blood. His tongue ran over the edges of his teeth, though he kept his lips closed. His canines were itching to elongate, to sink into the soft vulnerable flesh of her neck; his hands yearned to feel the slope of her body as they all did when first bitten. But he was getting ahead of himself.

“My name’s Jakobi,” he answered her with a disarming smile. “In all my years I’ve never heard of a sunset nymph before. Color me intrigued,” he said, raising his eyebrows once. He stepped closer to her, but kept a safe enough distance to not seem like an immediate threat. “So is that to say that you’re more active at night than during the day?” he inquired with genuine curiosity. He outstretched one hand, extending his fingers to take a lock of her lengthy hair while still keeping that distance.

The sun was dipping lower now, soon it would be completely gone and he’d be able to move freely. When that time came he wasn’t sure which he’d prefer: the pounce, or letting it play out slowly. He was known to play with his food, especially when the meal was as lovely as her.

"Jakobi…" The nymph echoed. The name was amazingly foreign upon her tongue. It was something new, and yet she felt as if she'd certainly heard names such as these before. She'd been around a long time. Surely there had been another human with a similar name prior to now. She blinked as he stepped closer to her. What was this human trying to do? He certainly seemed very pleasant, but she had just met him. Usually humans were at least a little freaked out by her presence, likely due to her special skin pigmentation. Aurelia nodded as he asked his question, replying, "I wake up to the sunset every night and fall asleep to the sunrise every morning. I usually just wander nature under the light of the moon, then slip into a cave around sun-up." She flinched as he grasped a lock of her hair, confused. This certainly wasn't a situation she was used to. She didn't pull herself away from Jakobi though, naively curious as to what he was attempting to do. Her hair happened to be one of the other parts of her that was "reborn" every day, always smooth and basically impossible to cut. Thankfully though, her hair had never grown past where it rested by the small of her back. She'd hate to have to deal with this hair if it never stopped growing.

She flinched when he took the look of her hair and he instinctively shushed her softly. He kept the lock of hair between them, a temporary tether, and let it drape to its full length as he moved it between his fingers. The strands were so soft, comparable only to a newborn’s. He slowly twirled the lock around his fingers though his eyes never moved from hers. There was a brief connection of kinship: she was restricted to the night, just like he was. The similarities were startling, but not enough to keep him from wanting to taste her.

“Trapped in the night to wander? That has to be a dreary existence, doesn’t it? Aren’t you ever worried about the types of people and creatures that walk around in the dark?” he asked with a quizzical arch of an eyebrow. He tested the waters and brought himself closer to her by just another step. Only then did he drop his eyes to the ethereal hair held between his fingers. It was a deep brown, starkly contrasted against his marble pale skin. He wanted to bring it to his nose, to inhale her even though it would only tease him: to have her taste so close yet so bitingly far.

His eyes opened again and he quickly moved them to hers, though his head stayed tilted down, “I think it’s funny: you dart to a cave for shelter, and that’s exactly what I did yesterday at dawn’s break. Do you find it cruel to be a creature meant for the sunset, while never being able to bask under the fullness of that same sun’s light?” His head tilted to the side and he allowed his eyes to trace down the curve of her cheek to the fullness of her lips, the line of her neck, the hollow of her throat.

It was odd, Aurelia almost felt as if Jakobi shushing her had some sort of…force behind it…Was there something persuasive there? It had to be just him. Humans weren't inherently magical unless they wore those wacky robes. What were they called….Wizards! That was it. Regardless, she could feel herself calming down. Jakobi meant her no harm. He was just a lovely, nice traveler. She was almost shivering as he stepped closer. He seemed to hold a lot of power for such a simple species. "No…" She breathed dreamily, almost as if in a trance, "The light is always with me, even as I sleep. I am no human; I cannot hide from the embrace of the sun…" She quickly added, smiling, "No creature of these woods would dare attack a nymph such as I. If I need to I can be quite quick and agile."

She looked up at him, again staring into his eyes. They weren't looking at her eyes, but she could still almost feel his gaze upon her. "I…" Aurelia stammered, faltering, "Wait, um…" She was beginning to feel a bit more lucid again when the question came to her mind. "Why do you need to come here to sleep at daybreak? Aren't humans day-walkers?" That little prickle of wariness was beginning to creep back in, and she took a small step back, uncertain.