INT - Windgrace Manor, day
Lady Llywellynn Devoreaux Esher was trepidacious beyond the norm, wondering if she would have the stamina to be in Lord Windgrace's company again. And there was the matter of his family member he would be introducing to her, a well touted Professer no less. She hoped making her acquiantence would go well, both in terms of making more connections to the academy as well as establishing cordial relations with the peerage on the isle.
Llyw laid the well appointed invitation down next to the half written letters she had yet to finish. Too many sleepless nights had worn her concentration to a mere shadow and she despaired of finishing them. She needed sleep, real uninterrupted sleep, desperately enough she was contemplating creating another scandal at the dojo. That had been the first real rest she had had in ages however brief it was. But first she needed to meet the most influential family in town at the invited time and try to improve her own prospects in doing so.
She took a moment to gather up the mental armor of her remaining dregs of energy, putting on her shielded glasses and veiled widow's hat before getting her cane in hand to venture out of the insufferably haunted Inn. She had tipped the rather frazzled young courier for their trouble but didn't think to ask them for specific directions to the Windgrace mansion. It was easy enough to find based on what Dorian had described. There were only so many large mansions in Callisto after all.
LLyw tapped her way down the lane with slow cautious steps, using all the tricks she had learned to avoid drawing attention from the wrong sorts though this was becoming increasingly difficult to achieve. Too many of the restless could recognize her now and she could only avoid them all for so long. She subtly sidestepped all the detritus strewn in her way that only her damned eyes could see, complicating what looked to be just a simple walk down the street from anyone else's perspective. She kept at this pace with strained determination despite her profound lack of vitality and so in time Lady Esher found herself drawing near to the entranceway of the grand home of the Windgraces of Callisto.
To anyone who saw Lady Esher, she would appear to be a thin frail widow clad in severe but well tailored black garb, hiding her face under a wide brimmed veiled hat, her posture denoting a certain regalness of station. Her cane testing her path suggested she suffered from some form of blindness though she seemed exceedingly persistant in her course. Anyone with greater Sight might perceive more than the quiet steely demeanor she presented however. She paused at the door a moment before knocking, light and quick, to announce her arrival.
Dinah: Inside the house, Dinah was next to the orrery. Resting her palms on the markers for may and June, she watched the mechanism ticking round and round the glowing oil lamp that served as the sun. there was music playing from somewhere in the house though muffled and distant, the windows open and the scent of flowers and the ocean drifting through. Di looked up as the door was knocked but made no attempt to see to it herself; that's what the staff were for, after all.
The knocked door would be heralded by a barking dog from somewhere deep within the house, and a small japanese girl in a plain pinafore dress would answer the door, though not all the way, peering up towards the stranger with a polite "Hullo".
Lady Llywellynn Devoreaux Esher wasn't sure if the expected etiquette was the same on the isle as on the mainlands. She perhaps should have brought the invite with her in case Dorian hadn't had the chance to consult with his family on the time stated. But then she would just look like an event attendee. Llyw lifted her chin enough to bring her dark glasses into view under her veil, her delicate pale features dominated by the large metallic frames. "I've arrived upon Lord Dorian Windgrace's invitation to meet his family. You may announce me as Lady Esher. If the agreed upon time has become inconvenient however I can of course understand." She spoke in a soft tone that was in stark contrast to how forthright she held herself. Her voice was far below a normal speaking level, but she was courteous, even with staff, if possible. Her accent was lightly British over something more exotic but hard to place
Dinah: The girl stared up at the newcomer for a moment and hesitated, looking from the blind woman on the doorstep to the dark-clad *present* windgrace in the house. The girl looked as though she were ready to shut the door in her face, but she shuffled backwards and bowed at the middle to let her pass. Now the eight-year old door guard had been bested, Dinah turned towards the door, having heard the speaker there.
Of course, she had no idea that this would make her *seen* by the widow at the door.
"You are looking for my brother? I am afraid he is a little indisposed at the moment.. but I would be glad to host you. I believe he mentioned you to me, Lady Esher." she said politely. Her own accent was entirely english, and she rested a hand - that was really topped with a glistening black eye, fingers webbed- on the back of the dining seat she paused besides.
"My name is Dinah. It is a pleasure to make your Acquaintaince. Would you like to come in, or would you prefer to wait for Dorian?"
Lady Esher felt the shock all the way to her fingertips. Her accursed eyes widening from it behind the nearly opaque glass that hid them. But what she could See never depended on light to be viewed, having no recourse but to see *everything* that lived in the dark crannies of reality despite all her efforts to shut it all out. And now she had been shocked by yet another Windgrace. If she thought Dorian was uncanny and terrifying, Dinah was horrifying in all the ways Esher could have never imagined until this moment.
Only her hard learned self control kept her composure and posture unwavering even in the slightest, on the surface appearing completely unphased by what she really saw. She had gained that strategy by dire necessity early in life and her stoicism was serving her well on this isle of horrors. Anyone with predatory senses however would easily hear the rabbiting of her heart, feeling the terrible weight of all those eldritch eyes upon her. She perhaps shouldn't have been so surprised that the deathless unearthly man had a sister who was even more phantasmagorical. She wondered now just what she had agreed to by accepting Dorian's invitation.
Llyw hesitated on the threshold to this nightmare household for only a second however. Unknowledgable though she may be to a painful degree she was well aware of, she knew enough to realize stepping across was of significance, if only in a minor way. But she had no options left concerning her own dreadful fate, other than what the brother had kindly offered at least...and now she would have to see if the sister was of a similar mind or not. She stepped inside carefully, her cane leading the way to ensure the cracks she saw in the floor were merely tricks of the shadows that plagued her.
She turned her dark glasses towards Dinah with a small soft smile to match the softness of her tone, her accent less crisp but no less precise, "Oh, I am pleased to meet you, Lady Windgrace. Lord Windgrace spoke highly of you and I've been eager to see you in person, if you don't mind my forwardness. I had hoped to discuss your work at the libraries in fact. However I hope your brother is doing alright? I don't want to impose if now is not a good time for visitors."
Dinah had no idea that her true self was on display. Proud, vainglorious creature that she was, she would likely be mortified or insulted if the response was not a pleasant one, but she smiled, teeth perhaps a little too many and a little too sharp, and she shook her head.
"Dori mentioned that you might be interested in the academy, of course. Though please, just Dinah is fine. I am still very much of the mindset that Lady Windgrace is my mother, even if she is back at home" she waved her free hand and returned it to her hip.
"I would be remiss in sending away a guest who has made the effort to visit. please, come in. Do you take tea? In the Japanese or English fashion? Or perhaps something stronger?" she stepped backwards, heels clicking across the wooden floor as she retreated towards the fireplace and the seating there. There seemed to be little to no effort to escort or guide lady Esher, trusting the cane would at least serve as a main driving force to seeing her in the right direction.
Dorian came jogging into the house, throwing open the door and and announcing to any and everyone, "I am back! All is well, the aether-- OOP! M'lady Esher, you MADE it! Dinah, this is the woman I was telling you about. She is interested in libraries, in the academy and despite her youth is a widow!" He took a step inside, dusting off his boots at the door and then bowed to both women. The flowers he carried under one arm, wrapped in paper were comported past their guest to toward his sister, with a wide grin across his face.
Lady Llywellynn Devoreaux Esher Esher was both appalled and relieved Dinah allowed her to stay. She had to tear her eyes off the eerie obviously supernatural creature before her, again an equal amount of fascination and fear causing her to stare overlong, though this could not be seen behind her lenses. But she had to look away, the ache blooming at the back of her orbs again. She had Seen too many stranger things lately and it was exacting a cost. However she couldn't make herself leave now she had gone this far.
"Ah, then of course, Dinah, you can call me Llywellynn. I didn't want to presume such address as I am a newcomer here. Thank you for your hospitality. English tea is fine, whatever leaf you wish to use." Llyw murmured in reply politely, making her way slowly across the main area towards where Dinah retreated, when the whirlwind of her brother beset the entrance. Esher again hid her surprise well, turning around enough to greet him in far more calm measured tones in the face of his exuberance, "Oh, it's good to see you again Lord Windgrace. Thank you again for the invite here. I'm happy to meet your sister, though I do hope I haven't come by when you must have much business at hand."
His true form was also an assault on her vision and she had to offer a wan smile before dropping her hat back down for a moment and making her way across the house to the couches to find somewhere properly polite to sit. The only saving grace of the situation was the fact hardly any moaning lost souls seemed to be congregating around any of them, including herself. It was almost placid in comparison to the usual circus of the damned howling around her. But of course the siblings were enough of a hair raising unholy spectable. She hoped she could make it through this visit with any energy left, it was taking all her fortitude to keep acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. But she was used to such an act frankly.
Dinah beamed as her twin entered the house. Her solar opposite to her own silvery pallor. She reached to take the lilies with a press of a kiss to his cheek and a smile. "Thank you, sweetling" she said quietly, though she clicked her tongue at the information he chose to share on their guest. "Widowhood has little care for age, i'm afraid. Perhaps I would have been a widow myself, but for that hunting trip being three weeks earlier than the marriage rather than after" she said thoughtfully, though she gave Llywellyn a warm smile.
"Our brother handles much of the business nowadays. Dorians' main occupation is keeping me out of trouble. A full time job, I must confess." she approached the sideboard to set the flowers down, nodding as she called through for tea.
The house WAS conspicuously absent of... frankly, all ghosts. All spirits. Warded and guarded well. Di herself took one of the armchairs, resting her hands on the arms like a throne.
Dorian hung his head and chuckled at Dinah's rejoinder, having himself been gone on some half dozen hunts to preserve his sister from widowhood, or wifehood. While the help went to see about the tea, he went to stand by his twin's chair, to lean down and press a return kiss to her hair once she was seated, then explain, "Drystan is better suited to the business end of business, in any case. Our friend here, she is new to the isle, and that is Oooo do I smell tea?" He looked toward the kitchen, only to see that he was right and that could only mean one thing, there'd be sweet tidbits to dispose of soon enough. Something Aelwyd had made lately had his hopes up.
Lady Llywellynn Devoreaux Esher "The war made me a widow." Llyw offered up though she didn't seem particularly aggrieved by that fact. She noted the display of affection between siblings but she thought nothing of it, having little social comparisons to go by considering her own background. None of her business in any case, other than whatever the two wished to let her know. She already knew too much by her damned sight alone, a position she had been in with a few others as well. She reallly just didn't know how to even broach the subject. Such a thing would only come with trust, if that rare commodity was ever brought forth between her and another.
She saw Dinah take the chair with the grace of a queen and so that decided her seating for her. She aimed to the couch, sitting primly at the closest end to her hostess, smoothing down her long dark skirts when she settled. She propped her cane on the arm and finallly lifted her hat off her head, revealing a smoothed updo of hair the color of the palest blond hosting streaks of silver and grey. If only going on her hair color, one might assume she was older but the soft but thin countenance she presented still held the bloom of youth, though greatly diminished under a pallor of obvious fatigue. Her glasses were wrought metal affairs with thick black stamped lenses and frankly the whole thing was too big for her delicate face. Without the shield of her wide hat, her inherent slenderness might be more apparent now, her widow's dress fitting her loosely in fact, but she held herself with stiff propriety, and the hint of an iron will that seemed to animate this sickly woman from within perhaps.
She listened to both siblings, almost smiling at Dorian again as his thoughts jumped out loud from one topic to another. Though luckily neither sibling could see where her eyes roamed over their preternatural selves, only darting to each of them briefly before she had to look away again, overwhelmed all over again by their true natures on display. Now she was seated her weariness was trying to crash down on her, the feeling of the wards keeping all the nasties at bay such an unexpected relief she was almost reeling again. But she kept her poise as best she could, providing answers to the information Dorian kept tossing out there and to Dinah's commentary. "Oh you have my condolences, Dinah, such terrible timing." Again she spoke softly enough to not be easily heard if there was too much ambient noise of any kind, her voice falling into a well of quietude by long habit of apparently not wanting to be overheard for some reason, "Another sibling I have yet to meet? He must be quite busy I am sure. I've come just recently to the island from my estate, just these past two weeks or so, but I am finding the town quite more restive than I am used to I'm afraid." She offered a soft self deprecating laugh, "I've meant to come here to expand my research but I am but a self taught scholar. I intend to petition the university for access appropriate to my goals. I suppose I should say I am in search of knowledge I have yet to even know the parameters of yet."
For those with sufficient sight, Llyw had a clinging shadow that seething with strange dark filaments, all sunken into the poor woman's body and head, mainly clustering the most around her hidden eyes. She was clearly worn down to the quick by whatever darkness rode her so but the woman was persevering in her own way.
Dinah nodded her agreement to Dorian's words about their brother, the new king of the family. She grinned up towards him when he seemed excited for the tea and no doubt the inevitable snacks. Tea would be brought out promptly, a lightly smoky black tea with milk, honey, sugar, lemon and orange slices seperately. And, of course, a plate of little sugary treats and finger sandwiches. At Eshers' condolences, she flicked her hands dismissively. "it was my mothers' idea, not something I agreed with. I was lucky" she said with a casual shrug, though she smiled and she nodded once more.
"Drystan is our elder brother. He is an artist, and tends to keep to himself for long hours, usually. And then there is Delilah, who is adopted to our family." she reached out to pour the tea. One for Llwellyn first, of course, then one for Dorian, and one for herself. Unsweetened, black, with a slice of orange in it. She peered across the room towards the stranger, eyes tracking the filaments and wisps for a moment, before her attention drifted back to the other womans' eyes.
"The Academy is very well equipped, especially in the library. Though I suppose it depends entirely on what your research is about as to whether it would be particularly pertinent to you, I suppose" she cradled her cup close to herself. "Though I suppose you would need permission from the Dean if you were to have access if you were not a student."
Dorian would only cease hovering by his twin when the tea was served. He moved to deftly plop honey and milk into his tea, and then plucked into his palm a finger sandwich, a candied piece of fruit or three, and a pair of sweets. In the short distance to his chair the candied fruit was dispatched, and he kept quiet apart from chewing. His tea did not spill, did not slosh, which spoke to a long set of years carrying around fluids in smell vessels. He'd content himself to nosh, having arrived in perfect time for that. It was one of his talents.
Llyw looked to Dinah at her admission, then nodded with a hint of perhaps a shared travail of womankind. Though her eyes remained mysteries, her expressions otherwise were on display under the guidelines of a certain demure reserve. Her soft unadorned lips curved small and grim to the other woman. "I'm afraid to say I wasn't so lucky. Until recently." Her voice held a note of dry British humor, though it was clear she wasn't truly joking.
She gave the presentation of the tea and snacks an appropriate level of appreciative notice, though any such thing to do with food and drink was all an act, only meant to be polite. All of it would be ashes on her tongue anyhow. She took the cup carefully in hand, keeping the tea simply black, her gloved fingers as thin and graceful as her overall aspect.
She tilted her attention towards the offering of information on the other members of the family not present. "An artist, you say? If your brother isn't adverse to showing his work, I would be interested to see. I have appreciation for the arts, though my taste might be considered eclectic." Her soft words might finally put to rest that she was blind in any normal sense of the word, but she didn't give any explanation unasked on that subject apparently, else she might have already mentioned it to Dorian the first time.
While Dorian busied himself with the sweets and sweetened tea, Llwy leaned forward unable to truly contain her avid interest in talk of the university once Dinah arrived at the topic. "I had heard the library here was the best gathering of knowledge in the world for what I am researching. I suppose the more esoteric subjects a regular school of learning would not focus on. I do need to finish the letter to the Dean I have been meaning to compose. Too many distractions of late unfortunately."
She held her cup before her lips for a moment before taking a polite sip, mainly to give herself time not to grimace when she swallowed it. She continued quietly with a warmer smile to the other woman, curiosity filling her tone to more audible level now, "I would not be able to be a student, mainly due to my health, you see. But I hope to gain a special dispensation. In any case, I hope it's not rude to ask what your specialty is in the library?"
Dinah nodded with a soft noise in her throat and she lifted her teacup a little in a toast. She chuckled quietly though, and she nodded. "I suppose it depends on your particular preferences in artwork. A lot of Drystans' work can be a little... dark for some persuasions, I confess. But he is very talented, and I'm not just saying so because he's my brother."
She sipped her own tea, glancing at Dorian and she smiled. She was a picky eater, though she did reach forward to snag a chocolate bon bon from the treats as Esher spoke. "The Dean is somewhat absent-minded at best. I had to request my letter of tenure twice, though I didn't speak directly to him. I was speaking to Professor Dashrix. He's a terribly brilliant man, though he can be somewhat...blunt at times" she said thoughtfully, curling her fingers around her cup again.
"I suppose if nothing else, it *might* be permitted that you are allowed to access certain research materials with supervision. I wouldn't necessarily have the authority to grant such a thing, however. You *might*, depending on the particulars of your study, wish to speak with a woman called Thirteen who owns the book shop. She works for the professor, and she is terribly bright."
Dinah smiled at the question of her own study, an almost indulgent curl of her lip.
"I teach Hermetic Magic. Specifically, traditional alchemical practices of the classical school and the emerald tablet. I plan on having the students practice Palingenesis for their end of year project, with bonus points awarded for longevity and complexity." She trailed off with a soft 'ah', then her smile turned sheepish, "Palingenesis in the alchemical term is often... the recreation of a living substance in a controlled environment. Most of the time, the ashes of a flower becoming the flower once more inside a sealed flask is the most common example."
Dorian guffawed a laugh as the two spoke of marriage as a disagreeable state of affairs, lifelong bachelor that he seemed to be. It was only a matter of a very few minutes before he was up from his chair again, and placing an empty cup back upon the table. An energetic person, he did not seem at home sitting as he did standing by his twin's chair. His own armor stood on the plinth behind him like a shadow. Once more he held his tongue as the women spoke, splitting his gaze between the pair of them.
Llyw toasted her own cup slightly, taking another grim sip of it after. Such were the trials of marriage for some it seems, or the threat of it at least. Dorian being on the other side of that equation had far less to worry over in such matters.
She noted his barely contained energy, back on his feet after enthusiastically consuming his share of the treats. She gave him another small smile when he took up the post at the side of his sister again and putting himself into her field of view. Now she had more multitudes of eyes to contend with, but she was nothing but pure stubborness on her personal quest, no matter what otherworldly beings might be haunting her now.
"I've been told I haven't the refined disposition a Lady ought when it comes to subject matter I should be averting myself from. Or some such bluster from the distinguished." Again with the dry humor, a hint of her own attitude not being truly aligned to the morals of the day. But her smile warmed considerably on Dinah after that shared moment, however fleeting.
She leaned into the discussion of the other woman's teachings, the intel on who and how to contact personages at the uni. She set down her half empty cup to lean her elbows on her knees, her fingers clasping in thought as she listened with apparent rapt attention. The mention of magic tingled anticipation through her to her fingertips, far more pleasant than the shocks from earlier.
"Oh, thank you for letting me know. I will definitely follow up with these individuals at the first opportunity. I need to find a suitable place to live frankly before I can truly apply myself to my research. The Inn is just...uncomfortable in every way." She sighed and shook her head slightly, not have any reasonable way to explain what was really plaguing her there. She was eager enough to hear of Dinah's experiments however, "I was looking more towards the study of the dead, but I do find the Hermetic approach fascinating. What little I have been able to read of it on my own, I should say. Hence I am happy to learn more. I did not even realize something could be recreated from ashes..."
She was caught up in marveling for a second to continue before realizing she should finish her thought, "I have learned something new today, thank you, and for the pointers as well on who to speak to. Palingenesis, well I would have never guessed...." She smiled suddenly as if she had discovered a treasure of sorts, the first time she beamed in present company, lighting her pallid face towards a certain fragile beauty she might have if she had the proper care for what ailed her perhaps.
Llywellynn Devoreaux (llywellynndevoreaux): *too caught up
Dinah glanced aside as Dorian laughed and she grinned, taking a sip from her own cup. She gave him another little gesture, between him and the rest of the treats, because she'd almost definitely not have any of it but the chocolate, no doubt. She tittered at Eshers' talk of her disposition and she smirked a little.
"Been told by who? many 'scholars' would argue that a woman has no place in a library anyway, but for romance and poetry, and even then, it would rot the brain," she frowned in thought of the other woman having nowhere better than the boarding house to stay.
"Another shame you cannot become a student. The dormitories are hardly the Grand, but they are at least better than the boarding house, gracious. I wish we had the room to offer you here, but with four of us already" she trailed off, though she hummed and she smiled.
"Palingenesis tends towards the notion that once something IS, even if it is removed from its' previous corporeal state, it can be returned to it, albeit briefly, by application of certain stimulus. The 'rose phoenix' is the most common example" she gestured with her fingertips in a vague motion. "A rose, when burned, you siphon the ashes into a flask. With the correct gentle application of heat the ashes will agitate into the form of a rose once more, only to crumble to dust if you were to remove it. It is a delicate art, but I have heard of some terribly wonderful results from it"
Dorian gave Llywellyn a very obvious wink when she beamed. And for the first time in a few moments, he'd pipe up, jovially, "To think the pair of you would attend a school willingly, not being /told/ to." He'd been exceedingly glad when his days of getting lessons were over, and the basics of arithmetic and all were accounted for. And though he was no great scholar, he did have an abundance of time, so he plodded his way through books. Samurai tales and poetry of late, just this side of brain rotting, but enough for his undiagnosed dyslexia to take extra time with and be worth it.
Having picked up his sister's minute gesture, he looked to the platter of things again, and even bent to pick up, then inhale another finger sandwich, brushing non-existent crumbs upon his trouser leg. He quieted apart from chewing once more.
Lady Llywellynn Devoreaux Esher Esher had learned long ago to pretend as if the world was not actually a hellish landscape brimming with undead nightmares that sought to torment her. She truly had no comparison however for her current situation. The relatively peaceful refuge of the Windgrace home was an oasis, soothing and calming on her overly assaulted awareness.
And yet to make up for that absence of the restless, instead there were the Windgrace siblings themselves. Twins she could now see, though as if they were perfectly yin and yang to each other, the fiery and watery elements seething through their aspects imprinting on her beleaguered retinas without cease whenever she chanced to look at either one. She couldn't stop looking from time to time however, drawn morbidly to the study of each being, though she knew it a lost cause to even attempt to count all the eyes. To witness such perfect forms of male and female and yet be infused with such unholy fearful strangeness clearly not of this world nor of the next.
She was about give into panic again if she allowed herself to think about it too hard but she strove to maintain her manners nor give any sign of her deepening distress. To have both siblings being so friendly and helpful to her just confounded her further, but she wasn't willing to let go the line they threw her, even if she was uncertain what sort of monsters they might be, far beyond the reach of death and its environs. In a way they both *shone* bright in her shadowed Sight and it was both a beacon and a torment on her eyes.
In any case Dinah's laugh brought her back to the present moment and the fact Llyw had to soldier on regardless her sense of reality was just being further warped the longer she stayed on this isle. She did allow herself a soft unladylike snort at the notion of being barred from all the books just because of her sex, gods forbid! She would find a way like she always did even if that were the case. The stubborn set to her jaw might convey just that attitude in fact but she flashed a small grin to the other woman until she brought up the matter of housing. Llyw sighed then, letting some of her bone deep tiredness show, shaking her head to the almost offer of a room, "I appreciate the thought anyhow, thank you. If either of you have perhaps some leads on a quieter area in town. I have thought of looking into the japanese district but I am unfamilar with their customs I must admit and so I do not feel I would be a good fit there...."
She paused when Dinah began a lecture on the hermetic topic and scholar that she was, all other thoughts were derailed in the service of gaining knowledge. Even drawing her out of her abiding nervousness of their true selves shining so dark and light on her senses. "Ooh, I see! Perhaps I will find the time and focus to ask for your instruction later on, if you don't mind of course. I do so want to learn all I can. I just have to pick what I can attend to, one at a time, you see. I do truly need to find somewhere to recuperate first however." Dorian winking at her, made her blink, though neither could see it. She still wasn't quite used to the way the lordling conducted himself and she was not well versed enough in societal mores to know how to react appropriately. She had far too many other matters on her mind than to deal with a winking man. But his charm oozed from him at all times regardless of her confusion or distractions. She just had to shake her head at him and smile a little to refute, "Of course, there is nowhere else I'd rather be than in the libraries." She spoke a bit stronger, almost to a normal speaking level, feeling a bit of confidence she might not be heard in this safeguarded house. A hint of that underlaying accent showed itself, a slow drawl of the southern Americas peeking out from under her Brit accent. Llyw made note of the fact Dinah distracted her brother with more snacks to occupy him with.
Dinah turned to smile up towards her twin and she laughed gently "To think you would go out helping the workers lift heavy boxes without being *told* to, Dori," she teased playfully, though she reached for his hand to give it a fond pat with a grin at his words. When Llwellyn mentioned the Japanese district, she gestured to Dorian.
"I am generally unfamiliar with many of the customs but my brother is by far more eager to delve into them than I am. I certainly agree, that side of town is almost certainly quieter. And as far as what I can fathom, many of the societal pillars of Japanese society involve contemplation and mindfulness, so perhaps that would be plentifully quiet." She finished her tea and leaned forward to set the cup down on the edge of the table once more.
"It has been a few years since I have made a rose phoenix myself, but I could certainly try. I have to double check and make sure that the academy has enough of the supplies to actually make a class worth of them, first. Hermetic studies are quite one thing but true alchemy has...honestly quite a lot of glassware involved." she sighed, giving another smile. From further into the house, a little chime of a phone started ringing, and it wasn't long before one of the staff answered. Peering around the wall to catch Di's attention, she tilted her head and smiled.
"Speak of the devil and they shall appear. It seems that I am required. It was a pleasure to have met you, Lady Esher. You are welcome here whenever you please" she bowed her head as she smoothly lifted to her heels. "Please excuse me."
Dorian could only smirk when called out by his sister for one of his common activities, something a lummox was good for, something that made the family endeared to the employees, seeing one of the Windgraces roll up their sleeves. As his sister moved to rise from her seat, he'd offer her a hand up, though she needed it not, and explained, "I have been trying to learn Japanese. So many of our workers here are, and the culture is boundlessly intriguing. Though my sister is attending business, Lady Esher, you do not need to feel obliged to depart swiftly. That couch is an old friend and very comfortable. You may sit and take your ease, your time with the tea service."
Lady Llywellynn Devoreaux Esher Llyw noted the abiding affection between the two siblings. Perhaps not so surprising since she could See they were a pair on some metaphysical level she couldn't possibly understand. At least not yet.
She nodded to Dinah's suggest on the matter of quiet housing, offering up her brother as guide. That side of town had far less ghosts roaming around to cause trouble and steal her sleep. Victoriania was frankly a madhouse of the dead in comparison.
The widow was clearly interested in Dinah's studies however, nodding to her again, "Well, if you don't mind me sitting in on a class when you produce such a thing, I would love to witness it." She was intending to sit in on classes if not be a student directly, appeared to be her plan at this point. So likely the two women would see more of each other regardless of social visits. She smiled to the open invite however as Dinah rose to answer a call, looking forward to seeing more of the twins despite her dread at their true natures.
"I have taken up too much of your time but thank you for your gracious invite into your home. I would be happy to visit again some time. I hope you have a good evening, Dinah." She said warmly to the hostess, rising as well to offer farewells and to also soon depart herself.
She was left with Dorian after that and she smiled to him albeit a smaller soft one, uncertain if he would want to help her find a place to live in the Seiiki district or not. His offer to stay was kind but she couldn't afford to linger here and basically pass out on their couch. That would be uncouth and also put her into far too vulnerable a position, despite the temptation to finally *rest*.
"Oh no, I can't impose any further, though I do appreciate the offer, good sir. I hope I can call upon you both again soon however. And if you are amenable I do need a guide for that side of town if you have time in the coming days?"
Was she being forward again, yes she was, but again it was for the purpose of help rather than anything else. In any case she gathered her things in preparation to leave with polite farewells.
Dorian would move to see Llwyellynn out, to offer her a gentlemanly hand up as well, since she was gathering herself up to go. He'd rejoin without a moment's hesitation, "I would be glad to walk with you thither and have a look with you. They do the best noodles over in the Seiiki, really put the Italians to shame, by my reckoning. But I have learned that I have a deep abiding love for soya since I arrived here. I am glad we are on the way to becoming friends, Mademoiselle, it is easier to get along with them, than without, especially in a strange new place."
Lady Llywellynn Devoreaux Esher Llyw just smiled at his outpouring of enthusiasm, unable to help herself despite his appearance. "Please call me Llywellynn. I do hope we can be good friends, good sir. I will call on you soon for when you have time and you can show me all the places there you speak of, if you have a mind to. This has been a grand visit. I am happy to have met your sister, she is quite an amazing lady from what I can see. I hope you have a good evening as well." She allowed his touch, hiding her wince well, the heat of it burning through her again. She spoke softly her goodbye and yet for all intents agreeing to a date of sorts, but then she hurriedly out with a small wave to navigate her cautious way back to the Inn.