Dinah was playing. It wasn't terribly unusual for her to play, but it was often an easy key-in to her mood. Today was Rachmaninov, flawlessly executed but chaotic and almost feverishly pitched, fingers wild across the keys without a missed step. Except for her hands, Di was sat almost perfectly still at the piano, no music sheets open in front of her to read the notes from, eyes almost bafflingly closed. it was a short piece, at least comparatively, and she stayed still when she was finished, thoughtfully peering at the keys as if the ivory held some sort of secret that she had to try and discern from them.
[13:21] Drystan Windgrace came down the stairs taking them a couple at a time with his leather portfolio clutched in his hand and a pen in the other. He had heard the piano start up while he had been in his room rummaging for something amidst his work. As he stepped in behind Dinah and the Piano, he paused there to listen to the flourish of keys and the straightness of her back. His lips pursed and twitched to the side as he sidestepped and silently stepped towards the desk, covered in papers and maps, behind him the Aethernet device was scrolling away with messages from all sorts that he glanced at but ignored as she came to the end of the piece. He glanced sideways at her as he picked up papers and shuffled things about, speaking softly to her when he did. "You play beautifully as always dearest, I am sure the rhythm will keep my work pace at a fever pitch for the afternoon...." He tucked the pen between his teeth and set the portfolio down, gathering up a map with both hands and holding it up, gazing at the shipping lanes in a mess of blue backdrop.
[13:27] Dinah had remained still at her post, almost as if waiting for someone to flip a switch or drop a penny into her back. She only opened her eyes and blinked when he spoke, turning to smile somewhat dazedly towards him. "I don't normally take requests. I might though. for you." she spread her hands out, palms flat against the keys, but didn't press them. She made a noise in her throat and started afresh, another blisteringly fast start but becoming the 'danse macabre', by Saint-Saƫns.
"today...the music is more...noticeable to me. But I cannot replicate the sounds I can hear. I am not sure that there is anything in this world that can. It's very frustrating" she spoke as she played, an eye opening on the back of her hand swivelling to peek towards his work.
"there are more lanes than I remember." she remarked mildly without missing a beat.
[13:36] Drystan Windgrace lifted a brow and and turned to watch her start up again while she spoke to him. He smiled at her then spat out the pen into his hand and fluffed the paper out a bit and nodded after a few beats of the music was filling the room. He remembered what Dori had confided in him, about how she had changed since the ritual, the distance. He felt it on a different level. Normally her emotions cradled her and he could feel them as well as he could see her plainly, they were always different, but always hers. They felt like her. He had noticed the shift, but since he'd only really seen her more in passing rather than sat in the same room for conversation, or...anything else for that matter, he had not the chance to really feel it out for himself. So put away with work he had been that he hadn't bothered shaving and was now in full beard. "Hmm yes, several more. Ive purchased out a smaller shipping company or two, their ships are set to dock here ASAP so they can be seen to by Risley and to be warded of course.
But not only do we get the boats? We get their lanes. We get their usual port stops, which has expanded our ports of call by at least a dozen bays. So... much more, indeed." He folded the map in half and set it down to turn more fully towards her, leaning half his ass on the desk. "How are you today? I've missed seeing you." He gave her a warm wistful smile, and pushed his thoughts into the realm of good natured pleasantness.
[13:42] Dinah was a strange mix. The emotions, the influences came in fits and starts, swells and eddies like tumultuous seas. Today, the additional influence seemed to be fairly receded, more of 'her' than before, but still distracted. She listened to his words about the shipping lanes, making a thoughtful noise of her own. She slipped from her seat mid-song, the keys still shifting to play even as she approached him to smother her face against his sweater.
"I shall have to tell grandpa" she mumbled against his chest. "Is Risley doing well?" Di lifted her face only when her questions were asked, reaching out to stroke curiously at the beard.
"this suits you" she smiled, not-so-skillfully evading the question about herself as she tucked herself against him as he perched on the desk.
[14:00] Drystan Windgrace circled his arms around her when she came to him, welcoming the closeness. She muttered against his chest and then lifted face with question. "Yes, yes...he's quite well. He seemed to have no issue with ..ah, ..sliding into his new position as Captain, as well as the other duties at the docks. I think giving him actual responsibility, and trusting him with it has been good for him. Someone other than Niles that is." He leaned into her touch at his cheek and smiled. "Thank you, ...I can't be bothered with it, so I'm glad it suits." He reached a hand up to smooth over the top of her head through her hair and to her shoulder, looking to her face, his face placid save only for the minuscule muscles that tugged in his neck and against his jaw. "Tell me... Is today a good day for you love? I am sorry I haven't made myself..more available. I know you have been healing up and recovering from the rites. I figured, ...Dorian was doing what he does best, and enjoys the most at least.." He chuckled a bit.
[14:06] Dinah thumbed at his beard from his jawline to the point of his chin, as if testing how long it was. She smiled at the news about their slithery friend, and she chuckled. "I nearly killed him once you know. i'm glad I reconsidered" she smiled wistfully. It had seemed like forever ago that she had snuck aboard the pirate ship to pillage whatever shinies had taken her attention and come away with a snakeman, a cursed medallion and her litttle mechanical crab amongst the other loot. She lifted her chin to lean against his petting her hair and she paused at his question.
"it...is harder some days than others" she admitted meekly. "i...killed one of the gardeners. Or.. I don't know. I suppose it wasn't me, but it was. I am hardly an avatar of the divine, but.. some days it's as if I am trying to do something and their hands cover my eyes and ears." she sighed and rested her head against his chest. "...it varies. in strength. or what they want me to do. sometimes it's a few days fine and then it just...explodes, or
I just want to sit in the garden, or everything is making the wrong sound and I want to claw my own eardrums out" Dinah swallowed, looking up towards his face again. "i lose myself sometimes. I attacked dorian"
[14:28] Drystan Windgrace listened intently but remained open and intent on her when she did really talk. She spilled and spoke in plain terms, and he could feel how much she was herself. It only made him press his hand into her shoulders to pull her closer to him. "We have all made mistakes, or..rather, I should say... done things that we may not have done without the blessings of our Gods pressing upon us." He leaned and kissed the top of her head, taking into her blond tresses. "Dorian can handle himself. He has to. I would do the same, keep you safe despite it. We can't hope to fully understand what they want of us, our minds aren't made to fathom such things, but we are the strongest ones, and you...my sweet.." He looked into her eyes when she looked back into his face. "The strongest of all. Niles asked me how I could have let you have done such a thing." he huffed a laugh and shook his head. "I told him that once your mind is made up, all there is for it is to hold on tight and go with it. You will do as you do and the
rest of the world must keep up." He smiled out of the corner of his mouth. "I want you to know, how proud I am of you Dinah. For doing what you did, for handling this blessing as you have, as you will. You are more absorbed by your faith than I am, I seem to only be able to give myself over to one God, but i feel the King's presence always. I feel it in you. Maybe I've room to grow."
[14:32] Dinah lifted her chin to present her forehead for his kiss, and she clutched her fingers into the softness of his sweater and clung herself close.
"There was noone else it could have been but me" she murmured. "YOU are capable of doing the rite without me, but I cannot maintain the portrait without you. Noone else could have done it." she lowered her cheek to his chest again, reaching up to idly toy with his necklace.
"sometimes it doesnt feel like a blessing" she admitted, voice weary. "I think.. sometimes if I indulge them. go ahead with what they need...it gets easier, but then sometimes they just spring up on me and make me rabid regardless. it's exhausting. how did you manage it?" she turned her gaze to the shipping manifests, one hand reaching out to skim the paper. "he told me he loves me, you know" she gave an upnod of her head "Niles, I mean. I am still not quite sure what to think about that"
[14:50] Drystan Windgrace pet her and smoothed his hands along her back and shoulder, just holding her close. "You sacrificed for all three of us, and for this whole island and this planet's worth of people. I don't know that blessings are supposed to always feel good." He surmised and then took a deep breath. He looked over at the map. "I just....set out with the decision that things need to grow, and that is that. The first take over was easy. They were near bankruptcy and were looking for a way out. It was low hanging fruit, the second, I spied in the papers from England, advertising to a couple of ports off Spain and one all the way in the Floridas. I wanted them, so.... I got a hold of the owner and ....implored him to sell to me. Wasn't as easy as the gift of the first, but, when i set my mind to it, he seemed to see things my way." He shrugged. The notice of Niles proclaiming his love for her didnt rattle him or surprise him really. "WHat do you mean you don't know what to think of it? I find it a quite easy thing to
imagine, falling in love with you. Did you not think him capable?" He mused.
[14:57] Dinah clicked her tongue and she shook her head again, the hand that had been playing at the papers reaching to curl around his back. "I didn't do it for them. I did it for us. For all of us. And because Maxiimilian wanted it done, so I would stop it. it wasn't time" she peered down at the papers again.
"Tell me when you want them warded. I shall. I will give Grandpa another present and have them blessed of Dagon too. he is one of the few that doesn't own a part of me yet, but I have enacted the first rite of sponsorship" she stood on her tiptoes, pressing a kiss to his adam's apple before lowering herself.
"I haven't ever had anyone outside of blood tell me they love me before. I'd only have believed it from you and dorian if they had, regardless. certainly never from mother or papa" a quick, awkward smile landed on her lips for a moment. "I hadn't expected he would. he mentioned it before, and I hadn't...really noticed then, and then it popped right back into my mind like a burst balloon afterwards
and I had to make certain that he had Actually said it and my mind wasn't addled and constructing things of nothing." the hand that wasn't around his back reached up to absently rub at her own throat. "I practically dashed up there to check i hadn't. I supposed it might have been something...not serious. Like 'oh, I love cheesecake', it doesn't mean that I actually do..." she rambled. "...he's going to know about this, he's going to bloody sense it, I can practically Feel him smirking from here" she muttered with a rueful laugh, shaking her head.
[15:10] Drystan Windgrace smirked as she talked of him, relishing in the feelings emanating from her and echoing them back absently. "You are far more than just a cheesecake Dinah. Though...cheesecake is ...*so* good." He made a face of pure blissful pleasure at the thought of devouring a whole cheesecake to himself, and wondered if he might just do that very thing, ..but later. that was something one did by themselves to really savor it. He ended up with a widened smile on his face as she laughed. "He's not as strong psychically as he used to be...and I am more and more by the day. If you don't want him to know, you can do that..." He dangled that possibility and then leaned back a bit. "Could you even imagine the poor man with the two of us in his head? Or anyone for that matter, A mere mortal might have an aneurysm." He had been joking but now his mind was spinning in several directions at once. "You know... that could be actually quite useful. If I get a belligerent fuck that is trying to do business and strong-arm.. " He
rolled his eyes a bit. "If I couldn't convince him, the two of us.. well we certainly could do just about anything we wanted. Just...bigger, and more than we already do."
[15:19] Dinah (dollihead)Dinah (dollihead) pulled a face but she smiled, shaking her head "I had not expected it at all." she pondered Drystan's assessment and she shook her head "not strong, but faster. Still physically stronger than me, but i suppose your shipping manifests are physically stronger than me so that is hardly much of an achievement" she paused, mulling over his words in thought and she shook her head.
"perhaps you could keep something like that from him, but not me." she folded all of the fingers at her neck but two, tapping at the skin where the vein lay beneath. "we ah.... share. blood. and it means we are linked in many respects. it's a terribly strange sensation, but not an unwelcome one. it helps quieten Their songs sometimes, when it is worst" she admitted. "do NOT tell dorian, for the love of all the gods. he's more than enough excuses to punch him perforated already" Removing her hand from her own throat and the other from behind his back, she rested them against his chest.
"Anyone that gives you difficulty, I could make them yap like a little puppydog at your feet if you wanted it. Minds are easily molded. Even if you wanted to be diplomatic...I can see their lies, watch through the back of their mind, and have him eat his own fingers if you fancied. Quite what the ethics of doing business like that would be, that isn't my forte~"
[15:30] Drystan Windgrace considered her words on his ability to keep things from Niles, but kept his thoughts on it locked away, where they belonged. His brows lifted a bit when she mentioned the blood tie. "I...you...hm." He swallowed and put his hands on her shoulders. "You have the free will to do as you please, but...just be careful with that ...blood binding business." A wave of concern washed over him as memories flash flooded his memory before they were washed back up behind the levy. "You aren't to become his ghoul, girlfriend, ...whatever more than that...fine but there are a few dangers that lie in the path of you blood binding. And as I think of it, perhaps not just for you and his ..." He sighed, " vampirism. Your blood is quite strong, and while he has exposure to Yog, ...you are quite a different thing." He knit his brows and shook his head. "I am sure you will be fine...and if he happens to catch some glimpse of me giving you warning and being overbearingly a big brother, good! He would understand." There had been
blood with Niles, but never anything so formal as a regular feeding or intent beyond passions. He'd had his experiences with vampires before and it was the singular thing that made him wary of the "new" Niles. He couldn't help himself.
[15:37] Dinah tilted her head to study him as he gave her his warning, though she pulled a little face when he said she wasn't to become his ghoul. "i am not fond of that terminology" she agreed to that front, but she rested her palms atop his on her shoulders.
"I am stronger for it, love. I have only the starting flickers of your talent for bloodworks, but I am learning. and as I said..it helps. quite a touch more than chemical substances do. I am not some...lackey" she tilted her head to press a kiss against each of his wrists in turn.
"you are right though that I am quite different to most. different in many regards to..." she sighed "practically everyone. and everything, I think" she smiled and squeezed his hands. "it will be fine, beloved. if nothing else, after what we did...i am not sure anyone would think to wrong us in any capacity. Not after Wolf."
[15:50] Drystan Windgrace took a deep breath in and held it a moment before relaxing upon exhale. "It is what they are called, but...If it's only giving you the ability to deal with blood, to feel and use it like we do...I am quite alright with that idea. And I am not so dumb as to go gossiping to Dori about any of this. You know me much better than that." He gave her a little look. "I wouldn't want to upset him anymore than you would." He nodded then and pulled back from her and held her at arms length, brushing her shoulders, fixing her hair, and generally doting upon her and primping her. "Dinah, my dear, no one will ever fuck with me, with us, our family, like that ever again." He gave her a knowing and reassured smile. "All Wolf did was make us stronger, the fool. And here we are..." He waved a hand at her. "Looking as glorious as all this, and doing swimmingly well business-wise, if i may say so myself... Only way is up." He stepped back to her and gathered her up wrapping his arms all around her and pushing into her lips
with a big deep kiss, filled with promise of a grand future and good things. Not worries about how the Gods use his beloved one, those worries were far away. He drank her in and effused his love and confidence into her.
[15:57] Dinah reached for his cheek, smiling gently. "I can sense him, he can sense me. emotions, proximity. things like that. And I have the beginning sparks of bloodmagic like you but...still a million miles from anything you can do. is it supposed to be worse than that?" she tipped her own head to squish her cheek against the hand on her shoulder.
"I didn't think you'd gossip, beloved." she smiled as he preened at her and she giggled, nodding an emphatic affirmative when he said that noone would hurt them again.
"most people don't understand it... they think that because they are effectively solitary, then everyone must be. Only out for themselves, even in a family. we are different. always have been" she agreed "the only way is up" she echoed, smiling towards his paperwork again and turning back to him to ease against him and his kiss, twisting her hands behind his shoulders, eager and enthusiastic, peppering his bearded cheeks in kisses when they parted enough for her to do so