WHEN: 1943 APRIL 12th, afternoon - early evening
WHERE: Windgrace Manor
WHO: Dinah and Hunter
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[10:34] Dinah (dollihead) had taken a few days of 'grieving'...otherwise known as intensely sulking...before she had decided to start trying to lean in to her new look. Her nails were still corrupt-black too, and so she painted those, but there was no disguising the void-dark of her hair now. She was leaning her hand against the edge of her orrery, cigarette in the other as she watched the path of the stars.
Waiting.
It had been far too long since she'd had a Sign.
[10:45] Hunter hopped by the window across from Dinah, sitting himself up on his haunches to wave little fuzzy black paws at Dinah through the glass. It was the only warning she got before he darted around to the front door, sliding underneath through the miniscule gap between the door and the frame. The sprawl of black tendrils and bulges of eyeball scooted across the floor toward her before rising up in a vaguely humanoid shape, slender like he had when she'd last seen him out of bunny form.
When the details of his hair and and face materialized however they weren't the ginger, angular features he'd had when he came through from the other side the first time - they were familiar, mirrored to her own down to the shade of silvery irises. "What's Dinah looking for?" he asked, bending to peek around her shoulder.
[10:48] Dinah (dollihead) saw the little black bunny in the garden and she beamed, lifting her hand and waving in reply. She stubbed out her cigarette and she chuckled, though she didn't look towards the door right away, not until Hunter spoke and she turned. She'd been expecting the bunny, so she had to look upwards from his boots as she did so..
Then she squealed, reaching for him to cup his cheeks in her hands.
"Hunter!! look at you! Sweet boy, you look just like us" she gushed, giggling excitedly as she pushed her fingers through his hair "You even got the eyes right, darling! How clever you are, look at you!"
[10:57] Hunter giggled at Dinah's reaction, beaming at her as she squished his cheeks, the too-malleable flesh smooshing beyond where a normal human's cheekbones might be. When she let go to touch his hair he took some time to RE-form his face, taking care to replicate the shape of her face. He wriggled his nose and stepped back to shake his hair out, letting the shorter waves tumble out into longer locks. "Look. Yours too. Is that close?" He asked, tilting his head sideways to stare at her for a moment. "...wait. You changed your hair. It's BLACK now, Dinah!" He said, stepping forward to look around at her head. His neck stretched and twisted as he swiveled around to examine her whole head of hair, running his fingers through it like she had to his own. "Did you know? Did you see me? Are you copying me?" he asked, the black tendrils beneath his clothing wriggling excitedly.
[11:04] Dinah (dollihead) clasped her hands together beneath her chin, utterly gleeful at his Windgraceness. "you're so close! you look just like us. Ah! I will have to tell the boys. they will be thrilled too!" she paused as he mentioned her hair and she reached up to it, momentarily distracted and embarrassed.
"I accidentally messed around with a talisman that had a demon inside it. It caused me a bit of trouble until I got it back under control, but the hair has stayed.." she smiled awkwardly, reaching to touch his longer hair.
"gracious, look at you. I suppose I am copying you in a way, aren't i? And you're copying us. It suits you." she nodded earnestly. "it... it is very sweet you'd even try to look like us, dear heart."
[11:09] Hunter frowned at her, mimicking a look that she's sure to have seen on Dorian's face once or twice as she mentioned demon troubles. "A demon? What kind? Have the name?" he asked as he walked around her in a circle, touching a lock here and there before stopping in front of her again. Hunter stared at her for a long moment, squinting and SEEING the touches of it lingering on her. "Fit in, pretend human. Lesson one from... day one in this plane," he said with a laugh before clearing his throat. "Where is demon talisman?" he asked as he followed the threads of Aether, craning his neck to look up through the ceiling. "...upstairs? Safe? Unsafe?"
[11:13] Dinah (dollihead) smiled a little wider as he had Dorian's frown and she tittered, nodding at his questions.
"I don't have the name. I could likely find it, with research but I've not gone near it since. It's a corruption demon, I assume. Whatever it is, it's very hungry... I suspect if i were not as talented of I am at regeneration, it might have given me a lot more trouble than it did" she gave another smile and she nodded. "well, if you continue to want to use Windgrace as a means to fit in, I will always be glad to let you be one of us. I daresay the boys will agree too" she nodded, gesturing to the ceiling with a pointed, painted finger. "It's up there. In my circle. I left it there, so it's plenty warded, and no one else can get to it. Would you like to see?"
[11:19] Hunter huffed, puffing out his cheeks in a way that was far more akin to his bunny self than any of the siblings. "Hungry. We're always hungry," he said with a grumble. The hair shrank back - it was more manageable when it was short, and Hunter was already turning to head for the stairs. "A Windgrace?" he asked, pausing at the base of the steps. "...at least. Windgrace in face." He puffed up his chest with a deep inhale and nodded. "Yes? Yes. Like to see it. Tried to eat you, right? Should be told."
[11:22] Dinah (dollihead) snickered at the puffed cheeks and she reached out, squidging his cheek again as she walked towards the stairs too. "I don't know how long it's been...untouched. I got it from the pirates, and one of them told me it was cursed" she explained as she headed upstairs. "Windgrace in face is enough" she stopped in front of the book case. She wasn't as strong as her brothers, so it took her a bit more effort to drag it just away from the door enough to make that awful scraping noise, pushing open the door and reaching out with telekinesis to snatch it from where the talisman had been abandoned inside the circle. She held it precariously with her fingertips, lifting it for him to see
[11:26] Hunter frowned at her again as se he went to move the damn book case herself. "You don't HAVE to move it," he protested but she did so anyway, leaving him to stand back and watch as she took the talisman from the room and held it out. There was no fondness in the squiddle for that thing. Dinah felt the tug immediately as his own telekinesis attempted to drag it from her fingers into an ever widening maw splitting that Windgrace-face open into a yawning chasm between two rows of razor-sharp teeth.
[11:29] Dinah (dollihead) chuckled quietly and she waved her free hand dismissively at his protests, but she clamped her hand on it as she felt him try to eat it.
"darling, what are you doing? don't *Eat* the demon" she chided quietly "If it did this to me, what do you imagine it'd do to you if you ate it?" she asked worriedly "...it IS powerful though. very powerful. but i'd not want it to hurt you" she curled the chain of the necklace around her fingers, frowning down at the black skull and the emerald in its' teeth
[11:34] Hunter gnashed his teeth down at empty air and huffed again. "Just for NOW. Could spit it BACK up," he protested but backed down when she grasped it more tightly. He stepped back and crossed his arms, pouting at Dinah as she held the thing. "...Speak to it? Should we? Tell it not to suck and eat and... change hair." He pulled at his own hair, casually removing the mop of Dorian blonde waves to offer it to her as another one just sorta... grew in in its place. "Maybe I can change it back?"
[11:38] Dinah (dollihead) smiled again and she relinquished her grip on the chain, resting it on her palm. "I suppose the eater being eaten is probably...fair...but I would still worry that it would make you ill" she frowned in thought. "I have never spoken to a demon before. have you? do you think it would answer?" she hesitated, offering it towards him "be careful" she warned "if it does anything...stupid and dangerous.. I * will* take it back" she said nervously. She hummed though, considering him changing her hair back and after a moments' thought she shook her head "...there is every possibility that the next time i were...void touched it would change me anyway" she admitted "but thank you, Hunter"
[12:01] Hunter flopped the head of blonde hair onto Dinah's palm to engulf the talisman. The golden tresses wrapped around it like they were still controlled by his brain, still a part of him despite being separated from the main body. He did twitch a little as he touched it, momentarily shuddering as he acclimated to the feeling of being in contact with the thing. "Never spoken? Never? Hm hm. Don't tell it anything important," he warned as he focused on the amulet hidden in his hair. His face split, widening, those teeth making themselves visible as he directed his attention to it. "You've never told it anything important," he said, speaking in many voices, from many places on his body. "Never will."
When he spoke to the demon it was not in English. The words were gutteral, croaking and low and rumbling. More of his eyes appeared the longer he interacted with it, peering at Dinah, peering at the mass of hair. When it spoke back in the same Dinah could understand it, as if it were speaking back into her mind through t
[12:01] Hunter lingering vestiges of its effects on her.
//"Open. Open. Open the Gate. Freedom. Freedom.//"
[12:05] Dinah (dollihead) bowed her head in a nod when Hunter said she'd not spoken with it. "Demons were something...frowned upon in the family. I am something of an outlier in that i believe in the old ones. They followed the rites without knowing what they did, before us" she watched him in rapt fascination, cocking her head to one side as he 'spoke' with it, though she reached out to touch his arm gently as he spoke with the thing.
"Freedom" she echoed. "Comes with a cost. Always does. I am not entirely sure that freeing a demon is a wise option. but.. I am somewhat...loathe to keep any being trapped as a pawn. Hunter, darling, can you tell why it's in there? who put it there?"
[12:19] Hunter leaned into the touch. As she made contact the tendrils that made up his arms unraveled and coiled around her wrist, squeezing tightly. //"Dangerous, demons... limited, don't SEE but... act, powerful,"// he chastised in its language, the many eyes narrowing as he looked on it. Dinah felt a rumble from the thing, a hunger and a pride as it pushed against the walls of its emerald cage. Some of Hunter's hair darkened from the contact as the demon spoke again. //"Hidden. Hiding. Trapped. Waiting. Waiting until Freedom. Until the Gate Opens,"// the demon said, which made a sound like a gurgle and a coo come from Hunter's throat. Flashes of something burned through their minds, of glass shattering and a cacophony of voices inhuman came through the break. Hunter hefted the talisman up and threw it against the wall, letting it dangle there in the confines of his hair.
[12:24] Dinah (dollihead) didn't pull back, but she listened to his words thoughtfully. She watched it as it darkened even some of Hunters' hair, though she cocked her head to one side. As Hunter reacted and through it, and she felt the crack and heard the noises, she pressed a hand to her face and drew her other hand back from Hunters' arm.
"well. now..here is the predicament, demon" she said thoughtfully "as I said. I am loathe to let any creature suffer in a cage if I can help it. but if you attempt to harm any of mine, I will put you in wards so deep in realms so dark that even the great gatekeeper himself will not find you to break you free. do NOT test me" she said sternly. "Are you alright, dear heart? did it hurt you?"
[12:32] Hunter made a face at her and at the thing dangling from the wall like some violently upchucked hairball. At least it wasn't soggy. He tried a couple of times to respond, the words coming out gutteral or rumbling until he swapped to his regular Eldritch tongue - and then to English with a clearing of his throat. "...not hurt. Maybe trying. A little," he answered with an upward blow of air that floofed bangs from his forehead. "...was showing, I think. Explaining." He turned to Dinah, reaching out to put a hand on each of her shoulders. "...at the bridge. I tried to be wings... but people saw, and I couldn't... stay wings. Because of magic - because there is magic, keeping... containing. Like glass," he rambled without really attempting or seeing the need to further explain.
[12:36] Dinah (dollihead) reached forward to carefully push Hunters' hair from his face, with the same delicate reverence that she'd have done the same with her brothers. She turned to stare at the talisman, though she nodded at Hunters' words.
"The covenant" she confirmed. "What restricts the supernatural beings from being openly supernatural in public." she confirmed. "...he wants...to break the covenant? he thinks something is going to break it?" she asked with undisguised interest, turning to peer at the talisman once more.
[12:40] Hunter poked his fingers at the trailing bangs that framed her face, almost like a cat might a bauble. "...covenant. Annoying," he said with another petulant huff. His features melted, skin and hair and human-ness mooshing into a writhing mass. <"Demon is hiding until the covenant is no covenant,"> he answered in her mind. His face reappeared in the middle of the mass, speaking to her from amid the wriggling. "Demon maybe... thinks that Dinah will break it? Dinah and Dorian and Drystan. I can help. Should I help?"
[12:45] Dinah (dollihead) made a thoughtful noise in her throat, leaning her head in towards his hand so her hair dangled more appealingly. She nodded in silent agreement. The covenant WAS annoying.
"I *will* break it?" she echoed, glancing away from the middle distant, thoughtful stare to lock 'eyes' with the talisman again.
"I have been called a queen here, i have been told I have servants. I have been called by gods, and called them and had them answer me. This island is powerful, and there is something in the heart of it. The red place. And then there is my card... the second card... the ziggurat and bones and throne" she turned her hand over, reaching to touch the emerald in the middle of the talisman.
"....and emerald is my stone. And this has come to me. What do you think, Hunter? Is this...a sign? Or am I reaching for grandeur?"
[12:57] Hunter jerked as Dinah went to reach for the emerald, like he was going to warn her or ward her off of touching it - but touch it she did, and in that moment a flash of a vision came to her. She saw buildings, tall and imposing, laced with glowing lines of brass and Aetherite crystal intermingled. She saw marble as white as bone, polished and pristine beneath her feet as she walked between columns in an elegant hallway. She came to a balcony and looked out over a metropolis of such structures, enshrouded in a halo-haze of illumination given off by the power sources that lit the city. There were shadows beyond the glow of colorful light, movements of creatures in the dark, unhindered and freely roaming - her mind's eye zoomed to them, into the heart of gnashing maws and rending flesh before snapping suddenly back to the 'present' as Hunter practically bowled her over onto the floor.
[13:01] Dinah (dollihead) Saw. The future that might be, the glittering structures and the future that *could*. She had sucked in a sharp gasp as the vision had gotten closer to the snarling maws, and then Hunter was knocking her back. She was easily toppled, bumping hard to the ground as unprepared as she'd been with another gasp and she cradled her hand as if the talisman had bitten her, remaining where she had fallen.
"Hunter?" she pushed herself up onto her elbow, wincing a little. she'd not bruise, she never did, but it was still sore. "did you see it too?"
[13:15] Hunter remained braced atop her, frowning down at her as she cradled her hand. He had no sense of what was proper or not so the position they were in did not bother him. He seemed much more concerned with the effect the contact had left on her and any lingering harm. "Saw. But your hand. Is it hurt? Need a new one?" he asked as a fresh one spouted off of his wrist. There was a small pause as he considered the vision... and Dinah. "Is that what you want? What you saw. I always see. Something... like that and not like that. Time shifts."
[13:20] Dinah (dollihead) turned her hand this way and that, making sure it wasn't hurt. She examined her skin, though she shook her head.
"it's not hurt. it's just...surprising, I suppose" she patted him lightly "help me up?" she shifted, trying to stand as she considered the vision.
"It looked beautiful. And I think... it would be..." she trailed off as she considered her words. "*I* would be fine. drystan would be. I would worry about dorian in a place like that. it seems more...risky. violent. I would like to live somewhere that people do not have to *hide* what they are but...it would be dangerous to be there. chaotic." she spoke her thoughts aloud, disordered as they were. "He would be strong enough to fight if necessary but he would worry i suspect."
[13:24] Hunter put his hands on her waist and simply... straightened up to a standing position, heedless of anything like balance or proper body mechanics. "He would like it. I think. Gnaiih ... gnaiih yar. The one your doctor keeps. He likes... when the world is that way." Hunter took a step back and sat himself on the ground, puddling back into a squiddly mass to grumble and hum. "This place is too. Neat. Cause of the covenant."
[13:29] Dinah (dollihead) giggled as he straightened up and she righted herself, brushing her hands down her hips. "i thought that. All of them would. The trouble would come with the Two. Creation and destruction would be swayed, i worry, in favour of destruction, that is a very big something being broken." she paused, giving him an amused look "Don't let Dorian catch you calling him 'my' doctor. Did you not see how badly he beat the man?" she snickered, reaching down to try to scrape up the squiddle into her arms. "I don't know why the Covenant can even be endured here. Everyone knows that there are dark things here. you must be a special kind of stupid to not suspect otherworldly influence in the madness of this place, how do they not *see* it? The mundanes must truly be blind"
[13:39] Hunter made himself a little more solid as she scooped him into her arms but he didn't form the bunny he typically inhabited. "Balanced. Give and take. When destroyed things... are remade. Spring. Spring after winter." He made a grumbling growl as she spoke of Roesler. "Not beat. Split. Like... a banana," he said after a pause to contemplate the proper term. He made a big slurping lick of whatever might pass for lips under the main large eyeball in his mass of self. "He is your doctor. Will be your doctor. Dorian not happy. Will not be. I see. Not everyone sees." He gurgled when Dinah called it blindness, chuckling a little as his voice quivered the mass. "Blind. Dinah, you're right."
[13:43] Dinah (dollihead) ran her fingers over the top of the squiddle's shape, turning to ponder the still-hanging talisman. "spring and winter.. good reminder, darling. I had meant to put a little bit more onto that seed of Yidhra in the city. The moon is right for it" she agreed, though she paused and peered down towards the big eyeball.
"...what do you *mean* he will be my doctor? what do you see, darling?" she asked with interest, resting her hand atop the squishy mass. "they *must* be blind. Wilfully so. It must take a particular kind of person when they see such signs in their world and they just turn away and accept it as it is instead of wondering why." she mused. "...the annoying thing is that children accept all of the strangeness without question. and theyre told that it ISNT strange and scary and that it is all perfectly normal and it *isnt*. It's safer to know. I always wondered why they lie"
[13:52] Hunter || The blonde lengths that kept the talisman aloft had turned black quickly but they held, keeping it in a little sling against the wall. It whispered to her when she looked at it, promises of her kingdom, promises of freedom. Hunter moved an eyeball around and out from underneath her resting head to look up at her. "I see. You see too. Not yet. Soon, soon. Can't tell too much." Hunter swelled up a bit before sighing. "The things... it would shift things." He formed his face again - or rather his borrowed face, a moosh of hers and Dorian's. "Don't ask the children. They'd tell you. They always tell everything," he chided as if honestly very concerned she would.
[13:58] Dinah (dollihead) glanced at the pendant and she sighed again, resisting reaching for it again. she'd have to move it later, at least, but for now she was petting Hunter. "Too soon? well. I'll try to be patient, but I am not very good at it" she admitted. "...Gods help me, dorian doesnt need any more excuse to mislike the man." she smiled at the mooshface in her arms, though she lifted him up so he was eye level.
"This is what we should look like, isn't it? If me and dorian were one person as we were meant to be. This is what our face would be" she returned to hugging him again "i had considered that before, you know. Finding a spell to merge us. but i like how we are now"
[14:04] Hunter schloorped himself on over to obscure her view of the pendant, wagging that stretch of his body back and forth like a dissuading finger. "Dinah. It could try eating. Very hungry. Careful," he said, settling back into a contented blob in her arms until he was moved. He grinned at her. That grin was distinctly Hunter's - or perhaps his true father's - and it stretched the face he'd adapted to match their own awkwardly across the cheeks. "More fun in two, sometimes. Can... interact. Ways you couldn't with one. Fun ways, probably." He cooed and shifted himself again, weight slowly forming and straining against Dinah's arms until she had a human-sized Hunter "Windgrace" with an arm slung over each of her hands. "Will Dorian change his hair? I will have to go black too."
[14:10] Dinah (dollihead) made a displeased sound in her voice "it might. But if it doesn't want to get dropped into the depths, it ought to behave. I am more prepared for it now. I was only prewarned about it being cursed, not that it was a demon" she laughed at his words and she nodded.
"that much is true. Some things are definitely better as two" she agreed, letting her arms further apart until he was settled better and she hummed in thought.
"Dorian probably wont change his hair. he did offer, though, but his hair is better blonde, I think. I'd not want him to try following me into this corruption. besides, he is naturally gold. he'd look strange with black hair" she mused "you can change yours as you please, can't you? so I suppose if we did end up changing, you could still follow suit"