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Giovanni Appears

Note: rewritten but not triple checked for spelling and grammatical errors. If you see any feel free to comment

When we arrived at our destination I was surprised to find it was an art museum, though it don't look like a museum at all. Rather it itself looked like a piece of art. As white as a cloud in the sky, its top cut off and replaced by a golden framed dome of blue glass. It was mesmerizing. I could only imagine the colored effect inside the building but first I had to climb a mountain of marble steps. They were chunky, long and spaced out up to the hilltop masterpiece. I found myself winded, my corset squeezing all the air from my lung little by little until I was gasping.

I was ready to stop, to take a moment and rest, but a large hand pressed gently to my hip as Dominik came from behind and grasped my hand, lending me support. I sighed with a smile up at his face looming over in the brilliant sunlight. I couldn't see him well but felt his eyes roam my face a moment before guiding me forward.

By the time we made it to the top of  the never ending steps, my arm was ablaze, set fire by the tight grip he had on my hand. The feeling snaked up to the shoulder and across my chest like embarrassment, but I wasn't. In fact, I was blissfully comfortable.

And I was even more taken away when we pushed though the door and entered a stark white building cast in a hint of luminescent blue. It was like what I assumed the ocean looked like. Though I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I hoped it was as beautiful as the museum, as beautiful as the feeling I had swelling in my ribcage. It was overwhelming and pressed at my labored lungs. 

"Is this real?" I hummed over my shoulder to Dominik.

I heard him snicker and even felt him swoop in close, pressing his nose gently into my hair before casting me forward to find out for myself.

They watched me in silence as I wander to the closest wall. The lapping colors wavered beneath my hand, in constant movement, as if it were breathing. The place seemed alive, buzzing with gentle noises in the distance. I lay my body against it as if I could feel its lungs fill with air but quickly laughed at myself for being so silly.

When I turned around they held steady smiles, hands intertwined and whispers spreading like butterflies. I couldn't hear them, though I didn't mind. I was simply content with walking down the deserted hallway, my hand gliding gently along the colors spilling gracefully down from the ceiling. It was like a dream. And it was just as fleeting. Because the farther we went, the louder those once enchanting noises grew until they took the form of voices. I hear the crowd before we turned the corner and saw them. Dozens of hoop skirts and long coattails ensnared my happiness in a trap. I had to swallow the lump in my throat, my eyes trailing back to the pair shadowing  my every step.

"Come, Rozalina!" Kana gasped, a sudden burst of energy surging through her. And without thought or realizing my discomfort, she grabbed hold of my arm and hurled me right into the hoard. She began to drag me away from my fantasy and into endless voices, noise and chattering glasses.

"Careful Kana!" I could hear Dominik, I even looked back as if I would be able to see him, but he was lost in the seas of monsters and all I could hear now was my own breathing echoing in my ears.

We didn't stop pushing through bodies until they opened up for us. We immerged into a small clearing so quickly I nearly couldn't stop my momentum fast enough to avoid a massive marble statue. It seemed to jump out at me, sending a spike of fear to make me yelp.

It was a couple, a pair of seemingly naked dancers. The woman was being dipped, her partners faces buried in her exposed bosom. The only clothes to be found was a sash that connected them by the waist, tied in a dozen protruding knots. It was so realistic, so detailed that for a moment when we had sprung from the crowd I had thought I was running into a pair of giants.

I looked to Kana, her sparkling gaze on my expression of wonder. When she had said she was a sculptor, I wasn't sure what I expected, but this certainly wasn't it. It was beautiful and passionate, far beyond my wildest imaginations.

"This-" I was breathless. "Kana, this is amazing."

Freeing me from her grasp, I walked along the structure, taking in every dip and curve of their sensual bodies. That is, until I saw something more atomically correct than I wanted to.

"How did you manage to make it so smooth." Casting my gaze away from the bulge of marble between his legs, I couldn't help the slight burn of a blush creeping along my cheeks.

"I have my techniques." She winked before singling me a finger of pause. When she addressed the crowds, all fell silent, all eyes in our direction. Slowly I shrunk back out of the spotlight, my hands guiding me back until I hit the wall. "Hello everyone! How are you enjoying my work?"

 A tremendous round of applause echoed throughout the room, people swarming in to pick at her artistic brain. It only took moments for her to be swallowed up by them, the chorus of their howling at a peak. My skin felt tight, touched. And when a gentle hand slithered onto my shoulder, I jumped. It was only moment, a instinctual reaction but when I turned and practically bumped into Dominik, it turned to sedations. My nerves instantly calmed and the crawling feeling of claustrophobia dissipated like sweat. It was steamy, heat radiating from the small space between us. And I wasn't all too sure it was from the crowd. 

It was in the way he moved in closer, his cunning hand sliding onto my hip in a slow and smooth motion, that seemed to send my pulse skyrocketing. It was entirely different that what I had felt a moment ago. This was a good sensation. 

"It's okay, just stay calm. Kana's all about the attention so it might be a little chaotic but just bare with it for a little while. It will die down sooner or later." He examined the crowd rather than the star that danced through my vision.

"Okay." My voice came out low, breathy. It caught him off guard, his eyes dipping to take in my face.

I saw something flash through his soft eyes, quick and hot. It travels to his lips making them restless. They parted and for moment I thought he was going to kiss me. Maybe he would have.

"My dear Nikie!" As cunningly sly as a venomous snake, a slender hand slid past my face to caress Dominik's. It was quick, quicker than he could squat away.

I turned in his arms, pressing back into his chest to keep from being squished between him and this stranger. He was agonizingly close, the stench of his designer cologne stinging my nostrils. I barely had enough room to look at his face clearly. My hands mindlessly grabbed behind me at Dominik's belt, my body shrinking back into him. His arms shot out, pinning the strangers shoulders to keep him form coming any closer but I half expected him to hit the guy. He didn't.

The stranger was tall, lanky, as skinny as a nearly starved child. His sharp chick bones and angular nose were ghostly white, but his hair seemed to shine with a golden gleam. It was like sun bleached wheat. Thick and luscious, it framed his head in a swooshing manner, sweeping atop his head in a wave. It was brilliant and did not belong on someone like him.

The young man peered into my soul with the bluest eyes id every seen. They matched the walls, the sky, a deep bottomless clear spring. Sucking me in, I felt my thoughts drift away, my body stunned by his presence. 

"And who might this be?" He cracked a cruel smile, his hand drifting up to fiddle with the layers of gold chains dangling on his chest. It was bore open, his shirt only half buttoned so that his silky skin could show through. It was so pale, so white, it reminded me of milk.

"Giovanni!" I could feel the thunderous volume of his voice though his chest, radiation through back. It was a mini earthquake and my knees buckled to it.