Dorian had gladly gone on a morning ride with his sister, and said again for the perhaps third time, "I am quite delighted those mushrooms are gone." Keeping Irene calm around Dinah's monstrous mount had been more difficult at first, but by now his big grey girl was growing accustomed to striding along with his larger nightblack self, rack of incredible antlers and all. The horse perhaps sensed there was no woodland creature behind those eyes, but she trusted Dorian. Her rider in return reassured her with pets, cooing between her ears and most of all being certain himself. As long as Di was he was too.
The trip through the forest beyond the city had been uneventful but for sightings of birds, small mammals and swaying grasses, and all nature fresh in her morning glory. This was the perfect way for a ride to go, the perfect start of a day for Dorian. It could lead to more perfect days once the weather let up, and he'd managed to not say a word about it, as though not to give Wolf the satisfaction. So as not to bring to mind the sting of not having gotten Hunter back yet to himself nor his twin. Still Maximilian ran through his thoughts enough to burr the brightness of morning, to dim the early sun's radiance in kind. As they approached the house again, and Dorian handed off Irene to one of the men in the family's employ, he'd remark, "I cannot believe that squirrels ever find the nuts they bury again. It is not as though they make a map."
Dinah hadn't been out for a ride for a long time. Partly, because Brigand had been...indisposed. She had called her mount from the woods and settled herself onto his back easily enough, using no reigns or tack. She hadn't yet told her brother who it was that sat inside the skull.
She was pleased for the mushrooms to be gone, though she hadn't gone as fast as she thought Pel ought to be capable of, but with the fog still...she didn't want to break his legs again.
"Instinct, darling. I suppose they must lose some...that is how we get forests, isnt it?" she looked up towards her twin with a wry smile, hesitating a moment. "Did you like the stag? I would be careful of him, if you encounter him wandering."
Dorian didn't really know what to say about the stag, thus he'd just sort of blinked about it when he saw him and his sister climb atop him. Now, asked, he'd blubber for a moment, "Well I uh... he uhh... well I cannot help but feel like I am in a fairy story with the pair of you which.... there are worse sorts of stories." He'd punctuate with a smile spreading out across his face and blond brows reaching up under the flop of blond curls. Tossing his head to get some hair out of his face for a moment, he rejoined further, "Did you make some pact with him after saving him from some hunter's snare?" Keen blue eyes would study her face while she answered.
Dinah laughed softly and she nodded, reaching for his cheek and curling her fingers in his hair.
"closer than you'd think" she said softly, pressing a kiss to his cheek. She reached for his arm, cuddling herself up to his side.
"You remember Niles. Of course you do. There's a little bit of...mm. how to explain it" she trailed off "...I suppose you might not have noticed the..ah. Skull. Has been missing from my room" she snuggled up to him, even if he smelled of horse, she smelled of angry fae stag.
Dorian was, as ever, receptive to being given attention and affection from his twin, so when she came near, kissed and cuddled him he'd not be able to help that his smile went beaming wide. He didn't even consider that maybe he was getting buttered up, he was far enough gone to enjoyment of it that it was some moments after she mentioned Niles' skull before he started even to think about the dead man. He leaned into her in kind, making sure any space between them was gone. He made a quiet sound of near silent satiety then minutely shook his head, "Ni-yes I remember him." He also had been pretty sure she'd interred the skull somewhere, elsewhere and had taken it as a good sign. He would until he heard otherwise.
With a wee tilt of his head to an angle that perfectly incapsulated inquiry, he finished, "Of course... please do go on." He didn't know what to expect or why his breath felt like it wanted to catch in the way of anticipating dread news.
Dinah rested her cheek against his shoulder, pondering her words.
"I suppose it's only fair to tell you that you were right" she admitted quietly "he was untrustworthy. I tried to speak with him when I was grieving, and he tried to possess me. He would have taken occupation of my body in the absence of one of his own. turns out...that....was something of a habit of his" she hugged onto his arm, the chill of the fog was still all-pervading after all.
"He was a sidhe, as he claimed, but he was also a changeling. A doppleganger. The true being behind that face was trapped because of his machinations. Yog-Sothoth delivered him to us. From the pool. And he told me the truth. He isnt faerie"
Dorian ran hot, in body and in temperament. With his arm caught up in hers he didn't want to take it back, even if it meant he couldn't put it around her. Probably for the best since given his inclinations she'd be slung closer to him than propriety allowed them at nearly all times. Even so he could lean in closer to get his little sister more into his personal well of body heat, and listen. His face went from shades of blessed and blissful to a widened then narrow eyed mask of confusion, as he responded, "What? Wait... tell me again, not the part about my being right, though I rather enjoyed hearing that bit. But the part about possessing you and doppelgangery? And who did that?"
Dinah turned herself so she could look up towards him, resting her free hand against his chest.
"you remember the old stories, don't you? Children who were snatched by the faerie and a copy put in their place. Niles wasn't a child, but he was taken. Hidden away, whilst the sidhe walked around wearing his face" she sighed gently. "And he would have done the same to me, had my magic not stopped him. He would have slipped from the skull into my mind and taken over. but... My wards interfered. Small blessing, I suppose, that I have been somewhat paranoid of that since the demon" she gestured to the sky. "The real niles has returned. Yog-sothoth gave him back. But in the meantime, I had this skull...the sidhe, this...fucking pretender. and I was cross with him" she worried at her lip with her teeth.
"I had taken brigand out into the woods. I wanted to go and search grace sullivan's little cave again and he slipped in the fog. broke his legs. he wasn't young, you know that, and he didn't have those magic shoes like irene has, so when he passed, i..." she trailed off. "...used his body. I put the sidhe spirit in there. I bound him to it. To my control. He cannot speak. He cannot cast magic. He cannot lie to anybody anymore. and he must come to me, whenever I call for him, and he shall stay that way. A pet. A steed. Albeit... an intelligent one."
Dorian looked into her face while she spoke up to him from such a close distance, but it would likely be clear from his expression that he was still having a hard time understanding. While part of his mind reeled with a particular bit of information she was continuing to talk about why Brigand had been replaced. and he had to force himself to listen over alarum bells going off in his mind. It took a considerable effort, but at length he quieted immediate questions and concerns to follow along with his brows drawing down again and mouth going from agape to closed. From closed to lower lip sucked on and bitten to stop words from bounding forth to question her before she could finish. He was more than perplexed still when he finished hearing the tale of vengeance, which was not unlike a fairytale, dark though it was like the old stories. "So your new Brigand is this... this pretender... you have taken a fae as a servant... and you... you trust him not to gore you or trample upon you?"
He couldnt bring himself to talk about the other part yet, which was clamouring around his mind threatening to spring forth though against his better judgment. Somehow the main emotion prevailing on his face was worry over incredulity.
Dinah trailed her fingers across his skin, mapping his veins with her fingertips.
"servant is perhaps a strong word, but yes." she agreed "He gave me his true name once. I used it to call him before, so I know it is true. Some parts of me feel a little guilty for using it but he would have stolen my body. After he'd already done it to Niles too." she smiled up towards him.
"if he gores me, or tramples me, or if he hurts me at all, I can just... kill the vessel. Then the spirit will be bound to a hunk of rotting stag flesh and noone but you and I will know he's in there. He'll be stuck there, forever, and he will have no way of ever getting out" she rested her palm against his skin again.
"besides. This way, he can hold out a hope that one day I might put him into a handsome, bipedal body once more. Personally, I find him plenty handsome as he is right now and I have no plans on making him move"
Dorian momentarily felt a cold wash of relief that he was unlikely to ever make an enemy of his sister, raising gooseflesh as she grazed his arm with a dandling caress. He marveled aloud, "It is like what Circe did to Odysseus' men. Only he is a fine looking creature... Blimey, Di." He was not going to say anything about the other thing because he couldn't. He hadn't anything lacking bitterness to say. He inwardly cursed himself for ever thinking he could be rid of the German so easily. A man was only entitled to so much luck and look who he had on his arm.... for now anyway. He'd endeavor to enjoy it as long as he could, and push the other stuff deep down somewhere to get drowned in brandy and whiskey later.
"I don't think you should feel guilty, he sounds like he could use a few years of rehabilitation. Irene calmed down after a bit... I think she won't mind as long as he isn't stabling with her. I am sorry about your Brigand, by the way. He was the very devil, but he was your devil." He focused on the mislike he had for the creature who had tried to take his sister from him. A battle he hadn't even known about.
Dinah cosied up to dorian's side a little closer, tucking herself beneath his arm.
"similar, yes. I thought that riding a pig would be far more unpleasant though. Brigand was big, but Pel came out far larger. He ought to thank me for making him look as grand as he does" she glanced up towards him, studying him as she read the lines in his aura, and she kissed his cheek again.
"exactly my thought too. and no, he won't be stabled at all. I told him he could roam, but he will come to me whenever I have a need of him. can you imagine trying to explain that to the stablehands anyway?" she paused at his condolences for her horse and she sighed, cheek against his chest.
"he was a cantankerous, foul-tempered, ill trained beast but I adored him. I suppose it is only fitting that i found a means to make sure he stayed in some manner beyond taking a part of him as a momento. just one more thing that maximilian has taken from us" she mourned quietly. "but you needn't worry about Pel, darling. Just promise you wont punch him. I cannot say that he shan't try to do the like to you, but I shall correct him quickly if he acts out."
Dorian puffed up his chest, an easy thing to do, having gotten another kiss, and slipped an arm around behind her. So many centuries and far too little of this. He couldn't upset it by raising questions about Niles. He riposted, "Maximilian Wolf is probably already regretting having crossed us. Or he would be, had he a pair of shreds of sanity to rub together. And Hunter would be--" he pressed his lips together into a whitening line. Every day he was gone was a fresh tragedy. And Maximilian won just a little because of the ire and sorrow raised in any Windgrace who felt and saw the agonies the eldritch spawn had been made to suffer. Dorian had been useless in it doing aught about it, other than trying to take his sister's mind off of that terrible situation for brief stretches of respite.
He recovered with talking about trying to stable the creature he now knew to call Pel, "I cannot imagine trying to explain your mount, no. I think he'd unsettle every creature in that stable. It sounds like you traded one ill-tempered spirit for another into the body though... so it must feel like home for him. Does this all mean that.... the one I mistrusted was this... Pel? When I fought him he was very much a fairy... Bloody hell, I am surprised he didn't try to put a hole through me!"
Dinah nodded in thought and she smiled wryly "he will be, far more than he is. and when we get him, and i've embroidered his own nerves through his face, then I will tear out his soul and put it in a snowglobe. something i can shake whenever I get displeased" she snuggled close against him, but she hummed, nodding up towards him again.
"Pel... I am not entirely sure how much of who we met was him. how much of him was the original. theyre very different people. and this one is certainly not Fae" she agreed, but her smile faltered a little. "I have no idea why he was so...intrigued with us. Though I daresay...things will be similar with the new...old...one too. That one at least is far less...tricksy" she wrinkled her nose a little, looking towards the woods.
"Either way. Niles has all of the memories now. Combined. he is still taking care of the Shard." she looked up towards him "...darling, do not punch a hole in this one. Please?"
Dorian again felt relief that Dinah was not his foe, because the things she thought of were far more elaborate then he could dream of in a thousand years. He'd reach to tug at one of her little capped sleeves playfully as he remarked, looking at it while he did so rather than into her eyes, "Glad to have you on my side. In more ways than one. As for your friend Niles and your mount Pel, I shall leave them to you for if they err you would do worse to them than I ever could." He knew it was the right thing to say, and he tried very hard to mean it. But some things about the situation rankled him in ways he did not care to admit, even if she could read it in him. He was fairly sure he pushed it all too far below the surface even for himself to think about. The unasked questions eventually might get the better of him and see him to worrisome sneaking and actions again, but he sorely hoped he would never have to tread that path again. Never want to.
Dinah grinned as he tugged at her sleeve, what little use they were against the fog, and she peppered his neck in kisses.
"you will never not have me at your side, darling." she said softly, giving his hand a squeeze. "Never, ever. I just..wanted to tell you about Pel. As I said, you were right not to trust him, though it gives me no pleasure to admit to being wrong on that front, I suppose it is at least a small mercy to know that everyone was deceived too." she giggled. "plus, if Pel does wrong us, at least there is enough of him that we could just...eat him. Or you could hunt him. I would prefer that it didnt come to that of course. Maybe he'll even come to like being a stag better than what he was before. Even if I couldn't quite get him to look...*normal*" she snuggled against his chest again. "...plus it does mean you shan't have that skull peering at you when you visit my room. that has to be a bonus, yes?"
Dorian was very pliable after being peppered in kisses, and snuggled, and his grin returned from the horizon of confusion and alarm it had crossed to. He'd lean down to bury his stubbly face into the top of her head where illusory blond hair was nestlesome. As ever he could be relied upon to take those moments and hold fast to them, never taking a single one for granted after so terribly long being deprived of free receipt of such affections. He didn't want to think about eating false Niles, named Pel, or really much about the intelligence hiding behind his big new eyes. He wanted to think about carrying his sister upstairs and getting a little messier before bathing. When he lifted his face from kissing the top of her head, he'd murmur, "I must agree, yes, it will be better without him watching us. Shall we go see how much better? Go see right now, I mean?" He was still a little confused about the whole thing, but it was not the first time he needed to move past something to try to dwell on it later for greater understanding.
Dinah made a soft noise at the feeling of him nuzzling the top of her head, even if her hair in her true form wasn't as soft as she glamoured it. she grinned, pawing at his shirt a little.
"right now~?" she made a show of pondering it, making a thoughtful noise in her throat "I'd say it would definitely prove necessary to test it, don't you think?" she whispered against his neck. "even if you do smell like horse...perhaps we should take a bath first instead?" she reached her fingers up to comb through his hair. "with the mushrooms gone, I can finally feel clean again. it felt like there was so much...spore in the air, it felt horrid coming outside. we shall take our mornings together again"
Dorian "hmmmmmed" for a long moment when she talked about bathing first, after her display of pondering. He almost could have bet she'd say that bit about bathing first, but one couldn't blame a brother for trying. He was only more eager to do things his way when she whispered to his skin and combed through his hair. She only distracted him from resolving to pick her up and carry her inside when she declared the morning rides were back on order. His grin broadened out again and he grinned gladness over this boon of her time which so improved his days. "Well if you are to join me in the mornings again, I suppose I must stay on my best behaviour. Well... maybe not best..." He'd wink obviously upon having said so, holding one eye closed as he broadcast what was meant to be a sly face.
Dinah laughed against his collarbone and she grinned, giving his curls a little squeeze. "I dont think I would ever want you on your best behaviour darling." she whispered, a tease in her voice. "but we will be riding again in the mornings. if Irene can tolerate Pel" she giggled, hopping herself up against his chest with the expectation of him catching her.
"you are perfect, darling. Perfect. and I love you." she mumbled against his cheek, pressing her brow against his.
Dorian's face turned bright pink and he couldn't resist any further, he bent to hook his arms under the place where he knew wings resided and behind the crooks of her knees respectively to carry her inside. At the same moment she leapt! It was twin synchronicity. He was, in that close of proximity to learning that Niles was alive, yet blissful, because of the mage he was carrying into the house. She really did know her magical stuff. As he started walking her inside, he murred, with a playful grin taking over the bliss, "I don't mind hearing it one more time. That and about how right I was, I hear it so rarely you know."