WHEN: 1944 APRIL 27, morningish
WHERE: Windgrace Manor exterior
WHO: Dinah Windgrace, Naoki Sato
--
[08:33] Naoki Sato was glamoured but the smell of fresh blood lingered around the yokai. A paper bag was clutched in one hand vaguely the shape of a bottle and a little leathery looking satchel attached to one of the straps in his probably too-tight for the era pants. They were a Kyuu design from when the kitsune liked to offer him and Thirteen less than traditional garments and one that the Professor didn't seem to complain about.
Sato was not the type to give notice when he dropped by for informal sorts of things. He simply appeared somewhere on the walking path to Windgrace manor and made his way up to the main house, ignoring any hailings or questions from staff in the gardens or yard until someone actually got in his way. "I'm looking for Dorian," he said flatly when that finally occurred but gave no inclination as to why.
[08:37] Dinah (dollihead) was up early. Mostly in her right mind, though with the tickles of presence behind her eyes, she was thoughtfully staring out towards the opening to the Pit where the temple, and subsequently their father, lay. Part of her was over-excitable to tell her decomposing patriarch all the news she had to share; and there was a lot of it. But she had to phrase it properly for maximum effect. she had to make it perfect.
She'd seen someone coming across the lawn when he crossed the line of her view, but she hadn't realised it was Sato until she heard his voice. She blinked in some surprise, canted her head to watch him for a moment or two, then lifted herself over the edge. Stairs were for people that cared.
"he is out with Irene" she smoothed her skirt down as she landed primly on the grass. "he tends to be, this early."
[08:41] Naoki Sato tilted his head when Dinah flung herself off the railing and watched the descent until she landed in the grass. It was only when she mentioned Dorian's current business that he turned to face her, a little crease in his lips and a slight furrow in his brow. "Irene," he repeated. "A woman?" Dorian hadn't mentioned his horse or his morning rides, after all.
A step or two closer and Sato lifted the paper-wrapped bottle. "This is the drink he smelled of when we met in Seiki," he explained without actually handing the thing over. "It was a while ago now but if he had that much of it he must like it."
[08:45] Dinah (dollihead) wrinkled her nose when Sato asked if Irene was a woman and she shook her head. "His horse" she corrected. "he takes her out at least once per day, and nearly always early. If he can help it at least" And he wasn't looking after some of the various family shenanigans.
The paper wrapped bottle was given a curious glance and she reached up to rub one of her hands through her hair. The mention of him at the seiki had the brief images that Niles had shared flitting through her mind and she nodded thoughtfully.
"He likes a lot of different alcohol. He has to drink more than most, otherwise it just shan't touch him. We are all very alike in that respect" she gestured her fingers towards the house. "would you like to come in and wait to give it to him? Assuming of course that it is for him, if you have taken the care to pick something he might like?"
[08:51] Naoki Sato took in the expression on her face with a little tweak of his lips. Surface thoughts readily connected the response to the obvious thought that Dorian must not be into women, a conclusion that seemed to cause some further contemplation in the yokai. "I see," is all he said aloud.
When Dinah mentioned other types of liquor Sato's shoulders lifted in a bit of a shrug. "This was the strongest smell that night. If he keeps sending gifts, I'll figure out the others." He half-turned to glance about the treeline, a focused look on his face as his senses and abilities sought to track the man's scent and locate the pulse of a person on a morning ride as opposed to those working around the manor exterior. "I can just find him," he replied when Dinah offered to take him inside.
[08:55] Dinah (dollihead) 's expression remained thoughtful, though she wasn't actively skimming his mind, just yet at least, to determine what the quirk of his lips might have meant. Instead, she nodded again at the notion of it being the most pernicious of the scents attributed to her brother in the seiki.
"I suppose it should be a good thing that he'd at least cleaned up from the ride then, or would you have found him another horse?" she smiled slightly but then the next remark had her pause.
"I wasn't aware he'd been sending you gifts" her voice was slightly softer, but also a touch strained, a little edge there though not necessarily directed specifically at the yokai in front of her.
"Are you sure? He will be horseback, he might be a while and he might be somewhat difficult to catch up with. Not without scaring Irene, at any rate.."
[09:02] Naoki Sato shook his head. "We met at night. Unless he rides the horse then too the smell would have had time to weaken." He turned back from his perusal of the woods to study her face again at the change in her tone of voice. "Two, so far. It's a... new habit. He wants to be a good friend. I'm trying to reciprocate."
One hand undid the satchel from his belt strap and tucked it into his palm. He rolled his shoulders a little, then his ankles as if preparing himself for something of a sprint. "I can be fast," he said simply when presented the problem of catching up with a man on horseback. The issue of spooking the horse however gave him a beat of hesitation. After a moment he sighed. "Fine. I can wait." Sato looked through the windows on the ground level before gazing up at the second floor. "Are there servants in the house too?" He disliked the idea of dealing with numbers of people.
[09:06] Dinah (dollihead) hummed in contemplation when he said that they'd met at night and she nodded. "By the koi pond" it wasn't asked as a question, but more of a statement, and she pricked her lower lip between her teeth.
"He hadn't mentioned giving you gifts at all. I suppose it is quite like him to give gifts" she approached the pillar of the porch and reached out to scrape her fingertips against it, and she looked back towards him again.
"There are servants all over. Except below. There are no servants allowed down there. Inside there are kitchen maids, house maids, butlers..." she gestured the hand that had been at the pillar "And the gardeners out here, though less of them, I suppose"
[09:09] Naoki Sato nodded. "Does he need to mention something like that?" he asked, not defensive but merely curious. He didn't back away when she approached though he did glance at the pillar when her fingers ran over it. "I can wait in his room if it's crowded," he said as if that were a perfectly normal thing to suggest. "Or near the stables where he'll return the horse."
[09:13] Dinah (dollihead) tilted her head and she studied Sato in thought.
"Need to? No. But we are twins. We are two-halves of the same soul. We do not keep secrets from each other unless the other requests they do not" At least, for the most part. What happened in the sky stayed in the sky.
"In his room? No. No I do not think that would be appropriate. if he is not expecting you? Dorian does not like people in his room." her voice was a little clipped at that, but she eased herself back. she was overthinking. she had to be.
"your..nature. Your scent. would that startle the horses?" she studied him "he will return there before here, but if you are to upset the horses it might be ill advised"
[09:20] Naoki Sato stared as she spoke of the nature of her and her brother's relationship. "It's not a secret," he said with a shrug. "But it's his business to talk about it if he wants to." Dinah mentioned her brother's room and Sato cocked his head. "He's been in my... house," he said, pausing as he searched for the word. "He might not mind. But fine. I didn't tell him I was coming."
He turned to study the rest of the house again. The scent of the horses, the animal beat of their hearts came from the direction of the stables and he stared that way in contemplation. "It probably would. I could calm them. Slow the heart rates."
[09:25] Dinah (dollihead) could feel the prickle rising in the back of her skull, the idle whispers becoming that little bit louder. she rubbed her temples with the tip of her fingers.
"I will ask him." she said curtly, though when Sato mentioned that dorian had been to his house, and the hesitation before that word, she smiled.
"well, he HAS been a busy little bee, hasnt he? He didnt mention that either. curious" she sniffed, looking out towards the stables.
"Well, at the end of it, it is your choice if you choose to wait or otherwise, or where. His room isn't appropriate but we have an entire house attached to his bedroom, the gardens and potentially the stables too. Would slowing their heart rates damage them at all?"
[09:31] Naoki Sato frowned at her. "That house is private," he said as she sniffed. "No one goes there without a good reason." The tension rising in Dinah wasn't entirely lost on him in the sense that he could track the rise in her heart rate and the pressure in her veins but he didn't remark on it besides a little sideways tilt of his head toward one shoulder and the other, making little pops in the cartilage between his vertebrae.
"I'd probably trouble the servants too," he concluded and went to sit himself on the edge of the porch next to one of the pillars. Not being on the stairs he was at least out of the way of the door. "Slowing their pulse might make them dizzy but it would pass. I wouldn't do it in a way that would damage them long-term." Setting the bottle next to where he was seated he retied the satchel to his belt and settled his hands in his lap.
[09:37] Dinah (dollihead) canted a brow, tilting her head "isnt that the same with everyone's house? it's not as if you can walk into someone else's house without invitation. it tends to be somewhat frowned upon" she heard, practically felt the cracking of his spine and she followed up onto the porch.
"the staff in our house are well compensated to turn a blind eye to things that might trouble them. We have Hunter staying with us most often..we are used to 'troubling' in this house" she watched him from near to the door as he took up his position like a little porch gargoyle.
"He might be a while yet, you know. Especially if he doesn't know you are coming"
[09:47] Naoki Sato glanced at the tenders to the manor gardens and shrugged. "They'd bother me too," he pointed out with a little kick of his sandaled heal back against the stonework. "I'm fine here. If he takes too long I'll just come back another time or he can meet me again."
Mention of Hunter did put a deeper frown on his face. He looked down at the grass, staring more through it than at it directly. "Has he been keeping down below? Hunter I mean?" he asked with a nod in the direction of the tunnel entrance. "He hasn't said much- nothing coherent since that time, since taking him back from his captor. But I can feel restlessness."
Dinah likely felt it too, to some degree. Hunter had been a pacing, disquiet little thing as he squiddled around in the tunnels beneath the house. He kept to the chamber of the pool, comforted by its presence, but said very little telepathically or aloud to the family when they ventured down.
[09:51] Dinah (dollihead) frowned and sighed, looking out towards the pit again. At least that she could..almost.. soften on.
"no. He stays near to the pool. He doesn't speak much" it hurt her heart. She had considered trying to help, would spend plenty of time down there for her blood offerings but...
"I am not sure how to help. I hope...that the promise of security. proper security.. and time will help him. My poor sweet boy" she twisted her fingers together, wringing them in front of her. "I wish I could have found him earlier. could do...something. Anything."
[09:56] Naoki Sato nodded. Despite the relative impassivity on his face there was concern there for the Eldritch spawn when they spoke of him. He couldn't speak to Hunter's own recovery time, too unfamiliar with how he different from his father when it came to trauma. "You did something. And he's safe," Sato said in what could amount to as close to a comforting word or two that the yokai could muster.
Concern for another creature in the presence of others was something he was ill-fitted to deal with. Sato got to his feet and shook his head, stooping to pick up the bottle again. "I'll. Try to see him sometime," he said haltingly. A little sigh and he started walking away from the porch. "Just tell Dorian to meet me at my place in Seiiki. Besides these things, I'm ready to show him what we discussed before."
[10:00] Dinah (dollihead) stepped up between the pillars, resting a hand on each of them besides her.
"He's safe. and he will stay safe. and I will burn the island to dust before anything or anyONE hurts him again." she took a deep breath before the flickers of darkness coiled and squirmed in her mind a little more, She reached her hand to clutch over her face, steadying her breathing.
"I will tell him you stopped by" her voice was muffled by her palm before she drew it back and nodded. There would definitely be questions for her twin.
"hopefully he will know what you are talking about. but I shall tell him"
[10:03] Naoki Sato had no real sense of what was troubling her. His own connections were singularly affiliated and the threads of similarity were dulled by other forces that morning. "He'll stay safe," he echoed instead of attempting to delve further. A few more steps and he paused again. "Dorian will know what I'm talking about. It's for his..." another lengthy little search for the proper word. "...sword." Sato continued on to take his leave, tossing over his shoulder - "I'll bring Hunter something to eat."