This is written merely at some point, no particular part of any timeline, I suppose it would have to follow the introduction of Myrnin as a Player in the game.

I of course own no rights or privileges to Rachel Caine's world and make no profit off my free-time exercises in creativity. All characters within are hers and hers alone. I hope you enjoy.

Gifted Maverick:

Anxiety pounding through my skull, my bones feeling like they were too large to be contained within my skin, my skin too tight upon my body, everything was falling apart. Where was my Claire, my assistant, my guide in the dark? I rose, glorious in my deadly swiftness, pushing books off the table, a tray of crucibles and test tubes falling from the table to the littered floor. A burst of anger at the viscious cacophony of sound as they shattered on the stone floor of my laboratory. Why wasn't Claire here working with me? Amelie gave her to me! I needed my light in the dark to help me find the cure, the pressure of the years pushing down on my thin skin, threatening my very existence and teasing Death that he could have me. Unacceptable. I was no backwards dullwit, I was the Glorious Myrnin – nothing could prevent my success over any obstacle. Had I not survived for centuries, won the honour and acclaim of my entire species, made discoveries worth fortunes? Of course I had.

A wretched sob slipped between my clenched teeth and I sank to the cold stone, my back to the overturned stool I'd been sitting upon moments before. What was happening now? Where were the ideas that had always run to my mind like lemmings to the proverbial sea? Why was fate choosing this most intimate and cruel form of punishment. Me, revered for my mind above all else, now losing it. Unacceptable. There could be no rest, no respite, this war within my own body could not be lost.

Wrenching myself from the pitiful heap on the floor, anger again energizing me where only despair had ruled moments before I ran to the portal behind the laboratory door and mentally 'dialed' Claire's number.

I'd of course been here many times before. Watching what she did when she was not with me. Usually, in a more calm state of mind, answering my curiousity about what humans found the fill the short hours of their brief existence. To try to understand what made Claire so special, why her inner light was so radiant to me. Not just to me…no, Claire had spurred the curiousity and interest of all who met her. Amelie, not one easily impressed after her centuries of existence. The humans around her, all either rallied to her, or were forced away by their own jealousy of her. And me, had anyone asked I'd have said I was the most jaded of all. Secure in my own place in my society and comfortable with both my inner demon and it's needs. Really, she didn't seem too remarkable. Sure she was smart, but I'd met many other smart people in my lifetime. She was attractive, in a delicate waifish way, but no sexual goddess to turn heads and inspire worship. Yet, here I was, bemoaning my own limitations and fears and turning to her like the guiding star in the black night of my pitiful decline.

Anxiety fueling my steps in the dark and quiet house I rushed soundlessly up the stairs, the house sending out a tangible warning tingle against my skin. The Glass house forced to tolerate my presence as Amelie had keyed me into its system decades before. I followed her sweet scent, lilac shampoo and citrus body wash, down the hall to her room and slipped inside the door. I paused a short moment before approaching to look at her in her innocent slumber. Her dark hair thrown across the pillow, purple and blue striped sheets twisted around her legs, one arm thrown off the bed. Reaching out I placed one hand across her mouth to silence the scream that was sure to come and scooped her into my arms and started out of the room and back to my lab. She really was nothing more than light to me, her body weighed nothing, but the shine of her blanketed me, soothing the tension in my skin, slightly easing the headache pounding behind my eyes. I crooned into her hair, "Hush little baby, don't you cry" while I cuddled her warm brilliance into my chest and soundlessly carried her back down the stairs to the portal. Barely even noticing her fluttering heart and tense muscles trying to wrest herself out of my grasp. "Daddy loves you and so do I".