INT - Windgrace Manor, day
Dorian was just home from riding and out of respect for his so recently mourning siblings he'd cease the jaunty jazz tune he was whistling as he stepped through the threshold. His gloves were already in his clean pocket and apart from Irene's sweat and hair on him was also a bunch of bunny fluff from the rabbits he manhandled before coming inside. His jacket pocket featured a little bit of dirt from the dandelions he'd dug to bring the rabbits and recently delivered. He fully intended to raid the kitchen then bathe before changing into cleaner clothes, unless there was someone around for him to bug. Walking in without trepidation, he'd sling grey eyes around the room to see who else was abroad.
Drystan paced the length of the living and dining area, reading though an old book. He didn't look up when Dorian came through the door, in fact he kept his pacing and turned to make his way back towards the living room as he read. He wasn't avoiding Dorian, but he had given him wide berth so as to not trigger some sort of disagreement or anything else really. However when he paced back towards the foyer, he did lift his voice and offer, "Afternoon.." keeping his eyes down as the page turned for him.
Dorian didn't stop cold when he saw his brother, but he did draw to a stop some few paces away from where the end of his brother's path met, seemingly aiming to meet up there. Making that evident, he'd answer in a cheery chirrup, "Afternoon, you uh... you need me to keep quiet or is there maybe a good stopping place?"
Even when he read the deep arcana of renaissance poetry, he didn't do so as often as his siblings spent reading all manner of books. Seeking out his brother's face, he'd wear a venturesome openness all around the eyes and brow, but nothing combative around the shoulders or in his posture.
Drystan lifted his head and then let his eyes drag up to meet Dorian's. "Hm? Oh..no..you're fine." He moved one of the long bookmarks and then left the book to hover over the dining table, a long heavy chain clattering a bit against the tabletop. He turned and folded his arms across his chest, "I need not ask what you've been up to.." He looked him brow to toe and uncrossed his arms and shrugged, "I was just.. memorizing, ..or trying to memorize a few things. Exciting." He was fairly monotone, but not sorrowful, or angry or any of that, he just - was. He'd boxed up a great many things since they'd last seen one another face to face, and even more in recent days. But none of that was betrayed by his face or disposition.
Dinah could always tell when her brothers were around, even when they were being quiet. She wasn't poking herself full of holes or dripping in jewelry today, but she had picked out one of her more colourful dresses. opening her room she peeked over the railing to listen for a moment, and when she was satisfied that there'd not be any immediate confrontation she hopped up onto the railing itself and bounced over it, catching herself on a pillow of telekinetic air before she hit the ground.
"good afternoon, darlings" she approached them both, dorian first to press a kiss to his cheek and then standing on her tippy-toes to get drystan too.
Dorian gave his brother a little smile while he scruffled his hair where it was brushier on the back of his head, and looking up into the sunflower fields of his brother's eyes, he'd manage, "For what it's worth uh-- I think you look well." Just about then, Dinah was bouncing down and he'd turn to look at his sister's rapid descent and graceful recovery with a snuff of laughter escaping. After he'd received his kiss he was beaming, and nothing was or could be wrong in the world, "Good afternoon." Though his sister was distracting to look at, for a number of reasons, he pulled his eyes from her and grinned to Drystan, inquiring, "You two think these spores are ever going to disperse? Should we try to burn them? Irene stays clear of them, bless her."
Drystan lifted his left hand to place his fingertips on her back when Dinah tippy toed to kiss his cheek, leaning down some so that she could reach easier, and so that he could turn his head to the side and kiss her temple while he let his fingertips drop down her back slowly. "Afternoon, dear." He let his fingertips linger just a moment, and then dropped his hand away to pull both behind his back and clasp them. "Thank you, I'm doing better, take each moment as it comes, as they say, or something like that?" He shrugged and blew it off, replying to his brother. "If they are tied to the fog, yes. If not, and its something else? I haven't a clue. It's fae stuff as far as I'm concerned. They should figure it out. If biology or fungus was Eli's school of interest, he'd have solved this by now, one of them has to know how to do something about them." Again he shrugged and started to chew lightly on the inside of his cheek. "I can see them, they glow a bit to me, as does the spore clouds. I can usually maintain a good force of air around me to push particulates and that manner of thing away. But I'm also not out traipsing about much lately."
Dinah lingered at Drystan's arm, reaching her hand up to his bicep with something of an impish, conspiratorial smile on her face. "Are you used to them yet?" she asked quietly, turning her smile onto Dorian too at his question of the mushrooms with a shake of her head.
"Not while the fog is around. it's too damp. the trouble isn't the parts of the mushroom we can see, mushroom as the fungus itself will be through the soil where we can't get to it. We need the heat to burn them out again, I think" she said thoughtfully, tapping a painted nail against her lip. "Provided, of course, it adheres to how mushrooms usually behave"
She reached, one hand each, to take one of their hands, nodding in agreement to Drystan's words as she twined her fingers in theirs.
"you watch, no doubt we'll have to fix that too. We ought to start charging these people taxes out there for how much we help this island" she complained, and pursed her lips in a faint pout. "why would anyone even want to go out in that? it's damp and miserable. I will start going on the morning rides again, if I can coax Brigand to actually want to go out in it. it's beastly. he's far more burly than Irene, I think he finds it harder to avoid them but thankfully he's not turned into some..monstrous fungus-horse just yet" she smiled faintly up between the two
"though, speaking of mushrooms. I might try and walk the dreamlands at some point. If i do, do you suppose the dream-fungus would grow in the temple? that stuff can be very...interesting"
Dorian figured his sister would keep clear of him once she saw that he was covered in outside traces and fur. Afterall she looked pristine. When his brother answered about the fae and the fog, he'd mirror the perceived attitude and grumble. Afterall of the fae he'd known, he'd liked absolutely half of them. His hand would be taken easily and looking between them, he'd remark, "I have found I have a distaste for mushrooms of all sorts these days thanks to these bedeviling things. You know I think it's the shoes you gave me for her. But we'll see if we can coax your Brigand out." He stopped just shy of extolling on his horse's shoes as there was yet fae talk, and on that front he'd offer, "It is our duty to take care of this isle, because this isle is ours, right? Or it will be again, soon."
Drystan opened his mouth and quirked his head a bit and looked at Di sidelong and murmured, "Not yet.." He turned and straightened his back and squared his shoulders nodding along with her wisdom. Then she was reaching out and he twined his fingers with hers, though he wasn't about to to grab Dorian's hand and start a ring around the rosie. "Where are we on getting the materials we need to go after this SUllivan cunt? Speaking of ridding the island of fog.." He laughed a little and shook his head. "They will all remember our name when the Chaos begins and we are one step into breaking the covenant." He looked at his brother lifting his chin some. "It's always been partially ours, Our ancestors pulled the land from the very sea. There would be no here without the Windgraces. While that isn't ever present on peoples minds, they will be reminded of all the things we have done in recent times to assist this place in dealing with supernatural catastrophe. Those that seek us out will be true to us. I've seen it." He looks from Dorian to Dinah. "The vision through the gate, the untold power just waiting to be taken hold of. Power comes from the belief of the people in our ability to guide them in such troubling times. The more that join under us, our weathered wing? The more that power grows." His eyes were a little wild but he held his shit together. He could go on and on about the flashes of images he'd seen, but there was nothing that told him proof positive that it would come to pass. It was just more than a wild hunch.
Dinah nodded with a faint smile when Dorian mentioned the horseshoes "I suppose it's a good thing i did pillage those pirates, all things considered. If i hadn't, i'd not have had little Helios on hand and irene would be at risk of the mushrooms" she snorted a huff when he spoke of their duty to the isle.
"According to some, it's their duty but we can see how well that is going. I still need to arrange a meeting with that 'matriarch' of theirs on account of the nonsense with the book" she muttered sulkily "When i'm in the mood to deal with more of that nonsense, anyway"
She grinned up at Drystan and she laughed, nodding with a little "Me neither, giving his hand a squeeze until he mentioned Sullivan.
"we shan't need anything to go after her, will we? except maybe some good strong rope and a creme brulee torch. I told Berkshire what we needed for the ritual to stop the fog. I'll need both of you for that, and more besides...but I've not had anything delivered yet. Patience, I suppose, is apparently a virtue" she beamed up at Drystan as he spoke of his visions, giving his hand a firmer squeeze to help keep him grounded.
"I trust your vision of the future, darling. I am only really any good at seeing the now" she agreed. "when we get the money and the food flowing again they'll be more thankful still. in ancient times there would have been offerings and tribute for such a thing but i suppose now we will have to make do with thanks and handshakes"
Dorian: || While listening to his brother, his face would slacken a bit as one might do in the presence of the divine. He often heard Di talk like this but hearing it from Drystan, it was different. But not altogether different. Di told him things about the mysteries of the gods and their ways, but not things to come. All he could possibly manage in response to his brother's prophesying, if that was what it was, was, "Blimey."
Luckily Dinah made up for his shortfall in words, and he'd tack on after she finished, "So we are very close, aren't we? To clearing some of this dreadful stuff up. So we can get back to usual. I swear I do not have anyplace I would rather be, but just knowing I can't go it is.... is it starting to get to either of you? I miss swimming, sailing." It was easier to own to frailties with a solution coming to them in the not too distant future, from the sound of it.
Drystan squeezed back at Dinah's hand and nodded quietly. "Hunter wants to join us when we go after her." He mentioned and then bobbed his head to the thanks and handshakes, "No, they'll give more. Eventually." He looked over at Dorian's exclamation and the side of his mouth turned upwards. "Some things i feel more ...willing to accept than others, but there are things i can feel in my gut, in my core." He shrugged some and took a step towards Dinah, picking her hand up and kissing the back of it, "I'm far more terrestrial, especially since we came here, but I do miss just all the people, and bustle. I want to see our ships running, i know they carry on in the rest of the world, should it still exist once the fog is cleared, but seeing to it that Callisto has access to anything it might need feels paramount. I'll stretch my legs soon enough."
Dinah beamed up at Dorian when he 'blimey'd, grinning wider and giving his hand a squeeze. "isnt he grand?" she mock-whispered with a smile, though his remark of if the fog was getting to her, she nodded again.
"The scarcity, mostly. If i wanted to live in desperation and squalor, i'd move back to london" she groused "and I miss the sea. I always loved going to watch the sea but now I feel watched there at all times, i do not like not feeling safe in such a holy place."
she grinned up towards Drystan when he said that Hunter wanted to join them and she laughed, nodding almost excitedly. "splendid. he's been due a hunt. we might just have to calm him down if he gets a little enthusiastic. Sometimes he gets awfully bitey." she sidled into Drystan as he kissed her hand, resting her head against his arm for a moment and she nodded again.
"the fact that this is targeted against us, they made a fatal mistake. We three are still together. Whatever they want to try, they will not succeed because we three are insurmountable when we are together"
Dorian seemingly willfully missed whatever the two were talking about among themselves, not understanding it, and turning ultimately to the topics he did comprehend. Some of that was responding to his brother's revelation about what he meant and how he came by the information, "That's extraordinary, really." Though the other two were being all cuddly, he'd known that was to be his fate ever since he'd walked in all horsified. he took it in stride, keeping his fingers loosely twined with his sisters, mostly fondly looking at the pair of them. He kept his lusty sentiments to himself, apart from agreeing with gusto, "We are something to be reckoned with. And with Hunter, I would hate to stand against us."
Drystan untangled his fingers from Dinah and glanced over at the large book still hovering over the table. "Yes, agreed. Now...I've got more reading to do, memorization, new spells..well, very old spells, new for me spells." He rolled his eyes and waved his hand and the book came to hm to hover over his hand. "Please for the love of our nasal cavities, bathe Dorian. Dear sister," He glanced at her. "I'll see you... see you both later, at dinner?" He started to head for the stairs. "I heard some talk of dumplings...." He smiled at them both fondly, and started to trudge up the stairs, looking back to the book and the arcane words and diagrams it presented.
Dinah nodded in agreement with dorian. Extraordinary. All of them were, in their individual fashions. She grinned at her twins' words though and she nodded.
"Hunter when he really goes for something is bloody terrifying. I don't know if you've seen it yet, darling, he can be frightening when he wants to be. it's easy to forget when I treat him like my little snugglepuffer, but he's a beast from beyond the stars who came through feeding on blood"
She smiled up towards their elder brother as he disentangled her hand and she stood on her toes to press another kiss to his cheek, nodding. "...i'll be at dinner. I still have next to no appetite but i'll be there" she'd pick at it, at least. As he and his tome went back upstairs, she turned to smile at her twin
"it's good to see you getting along. I always adore seeing you both together."
Dorian chuckled and hung his head as he was called out for smelling like a farm animal. As his brother moved away, he shouted after him, "Remind me to show you the armillary!" Fingers yet twined with Di's, he'd step away, bringing her arm along shortly before letting go, and walking backward toward the kitchen. "Of course we are getting along. Why wouldn't we be?" Though that question had a thousand answers and none, he posed it carefreely as if only the latter were true. His brother hadn't been as imperious, wholly, this time as when they'd last quarreled. "I am going to bathe, just as soon as I put something into my belly. I am starving. Are there any of those little apples left, I wonder..." He was already thinking of eating a pair of them and hoped his search would turn something up.
Dinah pursed her lips in amusement as dorian hung his head and she nodded "you do smell somewhat...ireney" she agreed, but then he was retreating towards the kitchen and she nodded. "Come and find me when you've done. I've something to show you" she put a finger to her lips with amusement, turning to look back upwards from where she'd dropped from earlier and just...hurled herself back up towards the ceilings. Stairs were for peasants.
Dorian was delighted to have a post bath objective, which meant he'd likely show up in house clothes, not bothering to dress yet for dinner as to make his way most directly to her room. Once there, well, she'd have at least a moderately difficult time getting her twin OUT of her room, absent kicking him out.