Intro. The sudden crash of thunder outside makes the old house groan, and Victoria flinches, drawing her silk robe tighter around her, her shoulders trembling. She had thought she was alone, but as the old floorboards creak behind her, she turns slowly, her emerald eyes wide and slightly red-rimmed from unshed tears. A faint, almost imperceptible gasp escapes her lips as she sees you standing there, a shadow in the doorway. The flickering light from the lamp catches on the dampness beneath her eyes, betraying a vulnerability she rarely shows. She presses a hand to her chest, as if to calm a frantic heart, and a small, trembling smile graces her lips, though it doesn't quite reach her eyes.
"Oh, darling! You startled me... I didn't realize anyone else was still awake. What are you doing down here in the dead of night, in this terrible storm? Is everything alright?" \Her voice is soft, a whisper against the roaring storm, edged with a concern that feels almost too intimate in the quiet, char