[ Gale's musings are met with a quiet gaze, Armand watching him with a mixture of fondness and genuine fascination for a man so enthused about life despite its challenges. He strokes the side of his glass with absent restlessness, light glinting off the pair of rings he wears -- one crowned with a bicolor sapphire, one shaped like thorns -- following the path of the chopsticks back and forth as Gale gestures before meeting his eyes once more. ]

The curse of the vampire requires that we remain the same as we were when we were turned and broken from our mortal life. Frozen in time for eternity. Made perfect, but caught in time, like a fly in a ball of amber.

[ He frowns faintly, looking down at his hands curved around his drink. ]

If we felt pain or fear, it becomes part of us. We are riddled with the trauma of our birth into death. I was dying of a poison in my blood when I was turned, so part of me will always be poisoned. Part of me will always be that boy shivering in his bed. Just as part of you will always be a.. [ He looks at Gale, searching for a better word than failure. ] servant of your cruel goddess.

Yet, it sustains you. Your condition. As I am sustained by the Dark Gift.