This Mask is Not Me

"Whatever you'd like to do Shaye. I'm with you all the way on it, it's been hundreds of ears since I was last in Paris. I haven't even seen the Eiffel Tower yet, and I haven't a clue what this museum your talking about is..." He chuckled, smiling at her and her energy, you sort of lost you energy when you became a vampire, life, no matter how exciting, became a bit of a tiring event. If that was even a good way to explain it.
---
"I know," Iggy purred to Keith, he felt a bit torn, because his family would fight if he left them i the room, but there was no way he could stay without Roxa also staying. He stretched, smiling as Keith thanked him again, "it was nothing Keith, really." He managed to mutter it through the thick doubled up paint mask, and Roxa sighed. "I wish you didn't have to wear that Iggy, it makes me feel like your going to cut someone open for surgery or something," she smiled lightly forcing herself to relax. Keith could be an ass, she wouldn't let it bug her, for Iggy. She smiled as Iggy smiled back up at her, he really was a big kid, despite the form of denial Keith seemed to be in. Iggy was still a kid, he always would be.

Shaye sighed, "The Louvre museum? It's a huge museum that has all the most famous paintings of the world in it. The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Madonna on the Rocks" Shaye said with a small smile.
"It's supposed to be amazing. Outside are two huge glass pyramids" She murmured, shaking her head at him.
"I can't believe you've never heard of it" She said, "I know what we're doing now" She smirked lightly, though she looked fairly amused.

Keith frowned, rolling his eyes.
"Yea Ig, I was glad for the help" He murmured, starting to feel mildly anti-social. He needed to just chill and relax. He knew that with Roxa in the room he'd get in shit if he started listening to his iPod, she didn't approve of his music, and Iggy tended to steal his headphones. He shrugged, he really needed music, pulling his iPod out of his pocket and slipped his headphones in, sighing in relief as Slipknot began to blast in his ears.

"Oh," Vaix gave a nod of understanding, "glass pyramids..that's pretty impressive." He smiled a5 her as she muttered her disbelief of his lack of knowledge. "We're going to the Eiffel Tower and the Museum place today?" He asked it curiously, because he wasn't too too sure if that was what she wanted to do. He was pretty sure it was though.
---
Iggy shrugged, uncomfortable at the many thanks he got from Keith. H looked up at Roxa as she scowled at Keith's music again. "Do you have to listen to that garbage now Keith? You knot's bad for Iggy, and we can all hear it from here...so he probably couldn't hear her, great. She watched Iggy shift wanting to listen too, she took his hand and shook her head. "No Iggy."
"Awe come on!" Iggy cried back to her, "kids my age listen to music ten times worse than slipknot these days!"
"I'll prevent exposure if I can," Roxa muttered.
Iggy rolled his eyes, Roxa was his newborn, but she acted like both his superior and his mother. He didn't mind it most of the time, but he was sure she was preventing his listening because of her feeling a lack of control from the car thing. He grumbled to himself, then with a wave to Kieth, left the room with Roxa tugging him along.

Shaye shook her head.
"We cant do both in one day. You can't see the entire museum in one day. It takes like two weeks or something. So we're gonna pick one to do today" She said, smiling at him.
"Didn't you see that Da'Vinci Code movie?" She asked, "We're going to that Museum" She was sure he had seen it, considering for awhile Roxa had been mildly obseesed with the books and the movies. She sighed, stretching out before cuddling back against him.

Keith rolled his eyes, nodding at Iggy as he left being dragged by Roxa. If she knew what was on Iggy's iPod she'd have a heart attack, though, thankfully Roxa had no idea how to work the iPod he had gotten Iggy, and Iggy had locked it or something. He flopped down on his bed, closing his eyes and letting the loud music pound in his ears. He didn't want to deal with Roxa right now, she drove him insane, literally. Nagging constantly, he was seven hundred and fifty years older then her, though she seemed to treat him like she did Iggy.

"Sure Shaye, whatever you'd like. I still haven't seen the movie..."
He only vaguely knew what it was about, and the fact Roxa had obsessed over it, so it must be interesting...or spiritual. "Is the museum really that big?" He breathed, it seemed almost impossible to him to have a museum so big it took week to see it all. He needed to see that, how big was the building? They'd probably get lost or something...
---
"I want my ipod," Iggy whined to Roxa softly pulling on her hand and pulling off the paint masks with the other. "Pleaaassseee?"
"Fine," Roxa muttered, "as long as I can listen."
Iggy didn't reply to that, he dashed off go his ipod flicked the lock at the top and sat on the couch, when Roxa joined him and stretched to take his ipod, she frowned when it didn't respond to her touch. "Dam it Iggy, unlock it!" She didn't understand the lock at the top really, and besides that he'd actually gotten a code for his ipod, so if she managed to figure that out, there was no way she'd crack the code. He smiled to her lightly laying still as the low, depressing music rolled in his ears. This current song a little more upbeat from the rest, 'Beautiful People' from Marlyn Manson. That was about as upbeat as it got with his music.

"Yea, it's huge" Shaye said, hopping up.
"Come on, I need to shower, and then we can go" She said, shaking her head and bouncing upstaris. She came down from the shower fifteen minutes later, dressed in a pair of short shorts and a white blouse with short sleeves.
"Ready?" She asked, tugging her flats on. She was bouncing with excitment, wanting to go out and do stuff,

Keith sighed, barely aware of anytihng besides the pounding music in his ears. He laid back, just relaxing as the music managed to get his mind clear of his thoughts. He could hear Roxa and iggy bickering downstairs, he didn't care, he just needed to relax. He sighed, finally getting up and wandering downstairs, music still blasting in his ears as he lookde around the new house curiously.

Vaix laughed, watching her energy with a smile. He enjoyed seeing her so happy, like she usually was. He sat up off the couch, wandering to her side and slipping on his own pair of black high tops. Iggy'd drawn on them, and he'd been pissed at the time, but he'd grown to like that about them now, Iggy was an exceptional drawer. His drawing childish, yet help a certain profession to them that could hardly be explained. But Iggy'd decided to go at his shoes with permanent silver sharpie, and he'd been helpless to stop it once he'd finally noticed. The gallery of drawings looked like a part of the shoe, and often people would ask him where he got them, thinking they could buy the same drawn on pair. He smiled up at Shaye affectionately, then muttered, "lead the way love. I have no clue where I'm going."
---
Roxa growled lightly as Iggy started to fall asleep against her. What was he listening too? Music didn't really effect his emotional mirror like presences did, if anything, music made him feel good, which in turn made him sleepy. So he was listening to something calm..right? You never really could tell. Put a mirror in front of a mirror and you see the truth. So it was depressing music. Roxa moved slowly, gently, pulling an earphone from Iggy's ear and about to slid in in her own before Iggy shifted, whined, and took the earphone away, putting it back in his own ear. He needed both, he didn't like just one. Then you only got one section of the song. He purred softly, looking over as Keith wandered downstairs and looked around the new house. Roxa looked up as Keith came down, she frowned, called to him once, but Keith was either not acknowledging her, or couldn't hear her to the volume of his music. Iggy always had his volume next to zero, he liked it quiet, because when he could hear it, everything else was being quiet too.

Shaye smiled, "We need to just take a taxi downtown" She said, stepping out the front door, after admiring his outfit. She took his hand, stepping outside and looking around. "Hmm" She murmured, looking around in hopes of seeing a taxi.
"There's one" She waved, smiling as it drove over to her. "Hi" She said, sliding into the backseat and making room for Vaix.
"Le Louvre museum sil vous plait?" She asked in french, smiling at Vaix. "Do you know any french?" She asked curiously. "I learned some in school" She said, gasping in suprise as the taxi zoomed off.

Keith glanced up, seeing Roxa waving at him. He pulled his headphone out, looking around as his music continued to blare.
"Hm?" He asked her curiously. Keith wasn't one to hold a grudge, and he was generally stressed after traveling. He looked expectantly at Roxa, wondering what was going on.

Vaix climbed in the taxi with Shaye, looking at her curiously as she spoke of his knowing french. "Only a very small elementary school amount," he admitted with a shrug and a smile. "I figure I'll pick more up living here though. In my time learning a language other than English was odd." That much was true, in his time the English had been set in a mindset of being superior in language, culture, wealth, and overall everything else. He didn't agree with it anymore of course, though in his earlier days he'd been grown to know nothing different.
---
Roxa smiled as she got Keith's attention finally. "Hey Keith? Iggy tells you everything right? What music does he listen too? Is it bad for his age group?" She didn't catch the roll of Iggy's eyes, seeing as how his music wasn't age appropriate for anyone really. It was all disturbing, the type of music a vampire would be expected to listen too.

Shaye smirked, "Don't worry, I don't know a lot of french either" She said with a small shrug. She glanced up, watching sights fly by, a small smile on her face.
"Look" She tugged on his arm, "Have you ever been to Paris before?" She asked him, smiling hugely. She was really enjoying herself.

Keith arched an eyebrow at Roxa.
"If anything, Iggy listens to music that's for a younger age group. It's perfectly fine for someone his age" He said with a casual shrug.
He wondered why Roxa was asking him, it wasn't like she approved of his 'parenting' ability or anything. He sighed, "It's fine Roxa, I've listened to some of it, I don't like it, it's not my type of my music, but it's appropriate according to the music store guy" He was basically bullshitting, but Keith was an expert at lying, and Roxa took whatever he said at face value. So hopefully she'd back of Iggy with his approval of the music.
"You probably wouldn't like it, but that's cause it's not classical, but for this day and age, it's child, er, young teen appropriate"

Vaix smiled, leaning to her window as she requested his looking. "Yeah nice. I've been to Paris...not when it was like this though. It's all new, so basically no. I haven't been to this Paris." He caught the confusion in the taxi drivers eye, but it was as concealed as he could tell Shaye he'd been here in the time of horse drawn carriages and log house cabins. He smiled softly, "really pretty town though, I think we'll really enjoy living here..."
---
Roxa beamed at Keith's explanation. "Really? That's great." She wasn't about to challenge it, because it was what she wanted to hear. Iggy acting his age. She wrapped her arms around Iggy and gave him a quick hug. "You're so good, you know that?" She missed the confusion in his eye, and the glance he gave Keith, followed by a smile of thanks as he caught on within seconds. Where would he be without Keith? Sitting in front of a television watching Barney probably. He frowned at the idea.

Shaye smiled, settling against Vaix and staring out the window.
"I really think we'll like living here as well" She murmured, sighing as the man pulled up to the museum.
"See, here we are" She said, tossing some Euros at the taxi driver and slipping from the cab.
"Thank god it's not tourist seaons, apparently you can stand in line for hours just to get inside" She murmured, taking his hand and walking towards the short line outside the huge museum.
"Did you bring a camera?" Shaye asked, they couldn't take pictures inside, but outside they could.

Keith sighed, "Mhm Roxa" He said with a small shrug, shaking his head and sighing. He flopped down on the couch opposite them, putting his other headphone in and closing his eyes. He rather enjoyed being with the family when there was no drama involved. Stretching out, he kicked his legs over the armchair, sighing contently and shaking his head. He was far to tall for the couch, so when he stretched out he took all the room and then more.

Vaix smiled, watching in awe as they pulled up to one of the largest buildings he'd seen in ages. He slipped from the car, but had little time to stare before Shaye took his hand and pulled him towards the line. He blinked at the camera comment, "camera? No. But I brought my cell, and that takes pictures we can load into a computer." He pulled out his cell, accessing the camera option and standing back to take a couple pictures of the vast building's outsides. It was amazing, just the outsides alone was amazing, let alone what he expected to see on the inside. He smiled to Shaye, letting her lead the whole thing.
---
Roxa smiled as Keith stretched out and flaunted how tall he was by laying town. Iggy looked sleepy, drugged down a mellow state of mind, which was nice. She kissed the top of his head gently, and fluffed his soft blind hair. The room had gotten so quiet, other than Keith's pounding music...she felt excluded with the whole music ordeal. She hadn't bought and ipod yet, she hadn't felt a need too.

Shaye laughed, "Take one of me?" She asked, posing teasingly in front of the huge pyramid, a small smile on her face.
"Please?" She threw her arms above her head and jutted her hip out. "How's this?" She asked, smiling teasingly at him. It was all in good fun, and Shaye loved taking pictures, she had an awesome camera, but she had forgotten it at home. She noticed a few american tourists, some guys back packing also snapping pictures of her, as she posed. Not that she minded, she was clothed right now.

Keith yawned, looking at his iPod.
"Damn" He grumbled, seeing the battery dying button flashing. He sighed, shaking his head and frowning. He pulled his headphones out and turned off the device, letting it sit uselessly on his chest. He looked at Roxa, everyone was so chill right now, which was nice. He rubbed his eyes and looked around for a blanket, though Iggy and Roxa were sitting on the only one downstairs.
"Rats"

Vaix laughed, snapping pictures of her as she posed for him, "Great." He laughed lightly and shook his head in amusement, "You'd be a great model, you know that? Look at everyone else taking your picture, you're already a star... Okay me too." With that he bounced to Shaye's side, lapping his arm around her and snapping the shot, one of him with a regular smile, the other him teasingly licking her cheek. It was great, the expression the camera captured made him laugh teasingly at Shaye.
---
"Rats what? Ipod lost it's battery?" Roxa guessed with a smile, though as she saw Keith's gaze she smiled warmly, "just ask if you need something Keith." She stood up, and Iggy looked up at her with a 'please don't move me, I'm comfortable' face. She giggled, wrapping her arms around him and lifting him easily, taking the blanket and tossing it to Keith. then placing Iggy back on the couch, ad taking a seat herself. She smiled warmly at Keith in a family like way.

Shaye laughed, "Yay" She teased, letting him snap pictures. She grimaced as he licked her, shaking her head.
"Vaix, ewww. I'll get you for that later" She teased, though her green eyes warned that he would not like her retribution.
"You think?" She asked, meaning his model comment. "It might be fun" She shrugged, taking his hand, ignoring the chours of groans as the tourists protested her and Vaix leaving. She laughed, taking Vaix's arm and wrapping it around her shoulder. She sighed, cuddling against him, standing impatiently in line.

Keith sighed, "Yea" He grumbled, shaking his head and smiling as Roxa passed him the blanket.
"Thanks Mom" He teased, though he returned her nice smile. He covered himself in the blanket, curling up a bit so he actually fit on the couch. He was lying on his side, facing Roxa and Iggy, jerking the blanket tiredly over his shoulders.

Vaix grinned knowing she'd get him back good, but he'd done it for the sake of the picture, he didn't want to play the slobber game again with the slobber queen. He nodded at her comment on being a model. "Absolutely Shaye, you'd have a booming career as a model, I've never seen anyone even compare to your beauty, leaving out your internal beauty of course." That much was true, there was a vast different between internal and external beauty, it was easy to get a very pretty, vain and selfish girl, and also very easy to get an ugly, selfless and kindhearted girl. He had the best, pretty and kind. He kissed Shaye's cheek fondly, standing eagerly in line with her.
---
Roxa rolled her eyes, "Not your mom, thank you very much." She did relax however when she watched him smile in return and curl up on the couch, Keith had been sleeping a lot, which was a bit unlike him, she wondered if it was because Shaye wasn't around to keep him on his feet anymore.

Shaye smiled, "Well, maybe I'll send my portfolio to an agency" She said, shrugging lightly. "Are you okay with that?" She didn't want him to resent her working in that particular industry, though Vaix could get a job in the industry effortlessly as well. He was incredibly good looking, and any male model would sell their soul to look half as good as Vaix, at least in her opinion. She sighed, cuddling against his side, waiting for him to respond. She wouldn't mind, plus they'd have their own income that way, instead of Keith's money. Though she knew Vaix had money as well, she just lived off of Keith's. She glanced up, seeing that they were at the ticket booth. She handed her credit card over, holding out her wrist for the bracelet indicating that she had paid to get in. She nudged Vaix, as the woman waited for his wrist.

Keith sighed, "No, not my mom. You're a lot nicer then my mom" He said, smirking. He wasn't sleeping, just relaxing. Though he had been sleeping more, he had been feeling off lately, though he wasn't sure why. Maybe he was getting sick, if vampires could get sick. He had heard that they could, so maybe he was.

Vaix gave his wrist as he was requested, watching the lady observe it briefly, then nod and gesture for them to move along. He took Shaye's hand and went on their way. "I'm fine with it Shaye, whatever you'd like to do. Just please be a one town model, we finally have our own place, and it would be a hassle to move around all the time so soon." He didn't want to mention how careful you had to be with the whole vampire and fame mix, that would make him sound uneasy about the idea, then Shaye might not want to apply anymore and he'd feel guilty. Besides, he was sure Shaye knew about the dangers of being a famous person, and a vampire in one.
---
Roxa smiled sympathetically, "I can't really relate to that, my mom was kind until the end of her days..." which sadly Roxa had been there to witness, with all her family members actually. She'd stayed still in time, while the all aged away. Non of them wanted to become vampires, and there was no way she was pushing that on them. But by the times she'd wanted too, it had been too late, they were far to old to join immortality.

Shaye smiled, "I'll definately think about it. I would stay in Paris though, well, to live. I'm sure I'd have to fly sometimes" She said, taking his hand and lacing her fingers with his.
"Shall we go gaze in awe at Art that's probably younger then you?" She teased, poking his stomach lightly. She knew how old Vaix was, and it didn't faze her, though she knew he worried about it occasionally. She stretched her arms above her head for a moment before dropping ehr hand down to take his hand again. Stepping inside the museum, she was instantly struck at how quiet it was, everyone spoke in hushed voices, the halls were dimly lit, and the rooms with the art were lit differently, with special bulbs.
"Woah" Shaye breathed.

Keith shrugged, "I'm glad you had a good family Roxa. My family wasn't so great, and if you ask Vaix, his wasn't either. Shaye, well, don't even ask" He winced, poor Shaye, she probably had it worse then all of them, except for Vaix on some accounts. His mom had been pretty strange, using crosses to lock him in a room just to defend Iggy. Not that Keith agreed with Vaix's mad desire to kill his brother, but taking a side with your children never seemed fair. That was what probably led to Vaix's hate for his younger brother.

Vaix nodded to the travelling thing, taking her hand and walking towards the door, only to stop again at her old comment. He gave her a raised brow sort of look, then smiled and muttered, "Yes we shall. You can listen to me babble about how we did things in my day." He grinned and rolled his eyes, patting her shoulder as she stretched, then once again took his hand. He entered the room in just as much awe as Shaye had. It was spectacular, as expected from the outside, he gave her hand a light squeeze, and began walking forward to the first painting hanging upon the wall.
---
Roxa nodded running her fingers through Iggy's hair as he began to doze off leaning against her. "I'm not trying to compare families Keith. I know how terrible everyone else's were, and I wish I could relate, but I can't. All I can do is try to keep my current family safe so we can be happy now." And that statement was the answer to all of Roxa's 'bitchy' behaviour, it was why Iggy never got to mad with her, and it was why Roxa was terrified for letting poor frail Iggy drive a death trap.

Shaye's eyes grew wide and she chuckled quietly.
"Well, I mean as long as you don't go on rants about 'your day' I suppose I can survive" She teased dramatically. She paused, admiring the painting.
"You know, I'm normally not an art person, but this is incredible" It was a Da'Vinci, so she was able to appreciate it more then no-name art. Plus there was soemthng about seeing a Da'Vinci in person that made it more beautiful. She leaned against Vaix's side, smiling contently.

Keith sighed, "But, sometimes protecting your family to the extreme can drive them away" He reminded her. "You have to let your family make choices that you don't agree with and hope that your influence has taught them well enough to manage on their own" He shrugged. "Plus, no offence Roxa, but I've never been happy" Keith hadn't been properly happy since Lina's death, over five hundred years ago.

Vaix smiled, "sure thing Shaye." He wasn't about to on talking about his life before hand, that was an old person thing to do, and Vaix, no matter how old he got, was still a young adult. He looked at the Da'Vinci painting curiously nodding at Shaye's comment on it. He was tempted to touch it, because the paint looked textured, but he'd probably get in trouble if he did that, besides, most were secured from anyone touching them in the first place. It was a thing with him, if the painting was awing, and had bumps of paint, he wanted to touch it, even if doing so served no purpose. Of course, the paint would wear away if they let everybody touch the priceless paintings. He wrapped an arm around Shaye's waist as she leaned against him, he kissed the top pf her head lightly, looking briefly at the plak under the painting giving the artist, and the name.
---
Roxa blinked, shrugging a bit sourly as Keith replied on her comment. She knew that, it went both ways, but she was to scared to just let Iggy go. It was a step she wasn't ready to take yet. She frowned at Keith's last comment, she knew the reasoning behind it, but she'd never truly understand until she had a soul mate herself. She figured Vaix understood Keith's pain now, but her and Iggy could only imagen...or maybe that was just her, because Iggy was emotionally active all the time. She continued to play with Iggy's soft blond hair, smiling gently as he sighed contently. "I don't think I'm driving Iggy away..."

Shaye smiled, cuddling closer to Vaix as he leaned against her. She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment, just enjoying the attention. She arched her back, before wriggling free from his arms and taking his hand.
"Shall we move on?" She asked, people were begining to bunch up behind them, indicating it was time to go admire another piece of work. She wanted to see the Mona Lisa and a few of the other Da'Vinci master pieces, but she figured there were plent of other artists, like van Gogh to check out as well. She laced her fingers with his, "What directions shall we go? Left or right?" She figured the'd wander around for awhile and then head back home, or out to get something to eat. Vaix hadn't eaten for awhile, and she was starting to get a bit hungry.

Keith shrugged, "Not yet, but if you continue to try and stop him from doing everything you think is dangerous he'll rebel like any normal teenager" He said with a small shrug.
"So, give in sometimes, pick your battles" He suggested, rubbing his eyes and sighing. "Say, you give in on the car let him drive without giving him a hard time, he'll appreciate that. But then, next time he wants to do something you can't stand, you put your foot down. It's a matter of choosing what's more important to you"

"I think we shall," Vaix muttered in response to Shaye, taking her hand and stopping at the two ended hallway, he bit his bottom lip thoughtfully one which way to go, then at Shaye's question he muttered, "err...left I guess. I'm not sure really." They went left. He figured it was better to not strain too much on the matter, just go with it. He wasn't really too aware that he was hungry, even if he hadn't eaten in weeks, which wasn't exactly healthy for a vampire his age. But he hadn't noticed, he'd been having to much of a good time with Shaye to really care. No doubt if it was mentioned, however, he'd realized how hungry he was pretty quick. He stopped at a brightly coloured picture that had caught his eye, one of Van Gogh's by the looks of it. That odd one with the brightly coloured tree. He blinked curiously.
---
Roxa shrugged a bit, "I did give in to the car, I said I'd let you teach him to drive, I didn't agree to let you take him out once, buy him an expensive car, and illegal drivers licence, and say he was road ready." She sighed a bit, wondering if maybe she was too protective, but she was just scared for him, Iggy could easily get hurt in a crash, and she was afraid it would be because of her lack of care to his limitations. She sighed, kissing the top of Iggy's head gently, listening to him breath slowly and listen to music while he slept.