EXT - Grotto by the shore
Dorian had heard from his (the family's) people that his sister had been out in the water for quite some time, and out of sight. He'd smoked down an entire cigarette in half a block's walk, full of nerves. Trying not to reach out to her with his mind, given she had every right to her privacy. He very often did just that, but she'd been practicing arcane rites that would send him barking mad if he had to do or witness the things she did. He had fretted on the shore as long as he could, but he couldn't wait any longer. It had been some short minutes since he'd pulled off his boots, and stepped out of them. He was currently pulling off his shirt while striding into the water, to toss it, cravat, and waistcoat carelessly to the grotto's shoreline behind him as he started in.
Dinah had not been awake when she had come down to the beach. She didn't remember dressing, nor finding the waters' edge. She had come to back to her senses as she had slipped under the water, wearing some of her more simplistic ritual garb that she wore for her more casual rites if there were ever such a thing. There was a drag-mark in the sand at the shoreline where her skirt had followed her in.
She'd sunk like a stone. Partially voluntarily. she was here because she needed to be, clearly, and she had swum down into the deep where she had been tying the knots into the seaweed. they were still there, only some of them broken away and floated off in the tidal currants.
She kept tying, knotting and working, saltwater stinging her eyes. Maybe the key was to not look? she closed her eyes, trying to remember how to tie the knots in her subconscious. how long had it been? she could feel the pressure on her chest. A cough had her expell a stream of bubbles and she tried to return to the surface but...something in
Dinah: the deep had snagged her, caught on the reef beneath her. She wasn't fearful of death...she wouldn't die, after all..but the thought of being trapped here, knotted into the seaweed where she would keep repeating the cycle of death and regeneration until someone found her...or something ate her.
Dorian felt the ocean soak his trousers, and welcomed that weight for what he had to do. She'd told him where the knots were, the passage to the ocean at large under stones, and that was where he went, out of instinct, maybe. The faint marks she'd left in sand had been his guardrails. The moment he was in to his waist he launched himself further in, and down, calling to her with a silent insistence that she always could rely on growing louder. [I am coming after you. I am with you.] He sent both thoughts at once, though the second was half a wish and half a truth when in conjunction with the other. It was dark down there, and in the airless motion of seawater, instinct, her magic and the bond between them was all he could reach out with apart from his arms.
Dinah could feel Dorian's mind in her own, but when she opened her inner voice to reply, for once there was no voice there. No coherent words, but a hissing, rush of water and radio static. Under the water, She twisted, the inability to communicate far more startling than the non-euclidean knots around her ankles. How had they gotten there? had she tied those? She had no recollection of tying the rubbery seaweed to herself, keeping her weighted down.
Her mouth opened and the last few bubbles escaped. Time to try something else.
No words this time but she sent her brother a *sensation*. the cold, the dark, feeling silenced. More angry than afraid, and a concern that he would get stuck too if he came so deep to the sea floor where she huddled now amongst the reef stones.
Dorian: || It seemed like a second length of self-doubt doubling darkness, after the cave's entrance that had such a bend as to not admit a shred of daylight. Swimming down and down. Dark, cold, sightlessness that left him to use that last lifeline. Her worry, for him, as if he was the one who needed saving. He did not, not yet. He could hold his breath a little while, was sure he could remember where up was. Behind him. Where air was. If he could feel his chest getting ready to burst from pounding heart and want for voice and breath, what must it be like for her? Thinking he saw an upward drifting mass that might be the shade of her hair he steered himself that way. He left a trail of bubbles and disturbed water in his wake. He was too alarmed for her sake to worry about himself or her fear for him.
Dinah could hear her heartbeat now. slow. straining in the dark. The cold suffocation was making her exhausted. Opening her mouth, she looked upwards from the floor of the grotto. It was too dark to see who or what the moving shape in the ocean above her was, but she knew it would be Dorian. Regardless, she opened her arms outstretched around her, knotting her wrists in the seaweed too. if she were to stay down here, she would make it a baptismal.
<"Not in the spaces we know but between them, they walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen ">
THOSE words transmitted to her brother, her voice whispy and choral with the echoes of a hundred voices past and languages unspoken. Unseen... of course.
She closed her eyes again, walling off her mind. Depriving herself of all of her senses now down there in the dark amongst the stones on the bottom of the sea.
Dorian was not the wit his sister was, but he thought he knew a prayer when he heard one. Her words sounded like a prayer to him, some choral litany about the strange gods that gave her such magical insights. When he found her it was her face he saw first. Bleary and underwater, as she went silent. His hand reached for her cheek, but with her eyes closed and no bubbles emanating worried for the worst. He'd follow face to arms, only to find knots of seaweed around one limb, then the other. And her legs too! He started tearing at the stuff to reclaim her from this pasttime. She had warned him about this day, but even her foresight might not be able to help her parse the sound that didn't project as he shouted his panic, his encouragement in words the salt water devoured, took to the air above as popping silent bubbles, as he called her name, caressed her cheek, made ready to tear at her kelp knitting work, "DINAH!"
Dinah remained unresponsive, turned inwards on herself as her mind worked the knots around herself. She still felt as warm as a person could when submerged in such icy water.
for a moment, something compressed her chest in a shudder, as if crushing her sternum inwards. A jerk and a twist, and her limbs splayed outwards in a single brief thrashing.
With a bloom of blood, her ribs opened up in gill-slits, flaring like the blooming underside of a mushroom. steadily, they moved, and the silvery eye embedded in her chest swivelled and twitched, staring at him unblinkingly, the colour pouring out of her body to leave her silvery pale.
Dorian could not wait any longer. Could not remember what arguments his sister made that had stopped him from doing what he thought he should, once the water clouded with blood amidst her contortions. The eye staring at him from her chest stared and he burst back upwards, kicking and pulling himself back to the surface. He took a first, a second and then a third gulp of air before heading back downward, having shaken off the dizzying need for air while in a panic just for a little longer.
When he powered his way down again he knew where to go, did not need to search amid seaweed eyes alight like faded golden twin lamps. He'd start with a leg, and holding her ankle begin tearing away kelp roots from sea floor, or the plant from itself, whatever came first. He was not a serene underwater creature, but made a steady stream of bubbles as he thrashed and exhaled a trail of bubbles at whiles. The extra voices he'd heard last he thought he'd heard her, the silver eye blinking at him, he couldn't be sure if that was even Dinah, but he called to everyone nearby, silently: [Come on, my love. Come back with me. You must!]
Dinah moved.
Only when Dorian had come back down to her, eyes alight as they were, she was upright and shifting in the water as if the ocean were her natural habitat. Fingers spread, a fine webbing of pale, nebulous membrane spanned between her digits. The gills were shifting as easily as if she were breathing on land, and she grinned, dark eyes shining. When she shifted, the knots came away from her limbs as if they hadn't been tied at all and she flitted around him in a nimble little loop of wild exhultation. The mental connection reopened again, though there was still the low, rushing water sound of static between them. Di leaned in close, pressing her lips to his and sharing a mouthful of oxygenated bubbles.
Dorian had been taken off guard by a number of kisses from her. It really only took small ones to to set his heart alight, but this one was a literal breath of air. Confusion was plain in him and astonishment when he realized she was not so much in need of saving. That she was animate and.... changed. He was nowhere near as nimble in the water, and was shaking his head as well as blond hair slowly as her grin registered. He did not have to say what she could feel, which was that he'd been scared. Afraid of being without her. And now he was delighted that she was... well? He was curious, he was excited, he was not breathing down here unlike some people, as the bubbles of his exhalations continued to stream out of pursed lips. The sound of water between them was taken for granted, taken in stride once he could 'hear' her again.
Dinah reached for his hand and whilst trying to lace her fingers with his met the soft membrane of the webbing between them, she leaned forward to give him another deep, aerating kiss. She tugged at him, dragging him deeper into the water still, kicking through the water. She'd pause every now and then to press her lips to his again, wheeling around him in little somersaults and flips.
<"I'm here">
Dorian probably needed the second of the aerating kisses to understand that was what had happened. He was willing to just expend that last of his air in any moment where their lips could be locked. Breathing in her offering of air pressed through her lips under the water, in the dark cold of it was an impossible to understand sensation. But naturally when she pulled him along, he'd come without any sort of fight, kicking his legs, letting her hands close around his instead of trying to tightly grasp where there was now webbing. He'd answer her, "[Me too.]" He left the questions out, the sense of wonder was on his face, and all of that could be asked later when they had need of and access to words again.
Dinah laughed with a scattering of bubbles of her own as he tried to grip her fingers and she opened her hand to show him the webbing there, fingers splayed. Now they were in the weedy depths, she took a deep breath through her new gills and reached her arms above her head. With a minimum of focus she spread her arms out around her and the seaweed shifted, tangling and knotting around them. Loop after ever-shifting, ever changing, maddeningly nonsensical knotwork of living, writing seaweed, still moving in slow, tidal pulses.
Dorian was not as calm as she, and was still caught in a send of fight and flight enough taht when the seaweed around them began to move, she'd see his shoulders tense and him turning to look, and ultimately gawp as it seemed to take on a life of it's own. He looked from her to the fronds at play in the currents she'd created, complex patterns of her working her will through water, another element conquered by her great ability and enormous quintessence. He was grinning at her, at his realizing there was no need for alarm, that he was witness to her power, and this time, he hadn't even needed to be on the far side of a doorway. He lifted his hand unoccupied with hers to give her a thumbs up of approval. He was a strong swimmer, but not like her. Whenever he loosed bubbles of air the pull of the need to go back to the surface was more emergent, but less buoyant as he bit by bit emptied the borrowed breath into water.
Dinah laughed at his thumbs up and she gave one back in reply, throwing her hands out at her side to untie the knots and replace the weeds back to where they sat. She giggled and leaned in closer, pressing another bubble-kiss towards him. she patted his chest and pointed back towards the surface, kicking off the bottom of the sea and powering herself towards the air she no longer needed. She pulled in a deep breath as soon as she hit the air, immediately sticking her face under the sea again to make sure that Dorian wasn't far behind her.
Dorian would die for her kisses, and in the water, he would live by them. It was a strange sensation, breathing by virtue of her, and all of it, but when she shot off and up he'd follow. He was not as quick as she was by now. She outpaced him to the top by a couple bodylengths. The glimmering lamps of his eyes would give him away for what was likely a fair distance for her eyes. But he paddled up and eventually broke through the air, taking in a great few coughing breaths, and shoving himself onto his back in the sand as soon as it was shallow enough. He heaved with exertion and want of air and excitement, and none of that stopped him from saying, "Did you-- did I see you...?" He had no language for it, he barely had air for language. In the dim of the cavern his eyes still shone
Dinah shook her head like a shaggy dog when she surfaced, turning to grin at him as he followed her onto the land. Water seeped from her gills as she reapplied her glamour, sucking in a deep breath with her lungs and expelling the rest with a huff and a hiss . She turned to face him at his questions, eyes shining, and she giggled, laying back in the surf, uncaring about the salt or the sand. "I think I was dreaming" she said wistfully, reaching her fingers out for his chest. "I think I understand it, finally. the teachings that you couldn't get from a book."
Dorian thought he knew what he wanted to ask, but all the words that came to him were stupid, clumsy. Particularly after she said things that only made the quandaries multiply. He spotted where there had been gills, and remarked, "You breathed in there." It was simple really to state, however unfathomable. The dim luminosity of animating magic receded from his eyes and he just stared, pushing wet hair back from his forehead, and pulling her to rest against him as he tried to keep up with what all had happened. He was still breathing hard and having a hard time reconciling the world down there with what he knew above the waves on dry land.
Dinah took a deep breath and she nodded, staring up at the cavern ceiling. She didn't know what time it was out there. Only in here was the darkness.
"I breathed the water" she nodded, stretching out against the sand. "it was hard. I was struggling to breathe. but. Whilst I was down there, it just..." she paused, struggling to phrase it "magic is the manipulation of the world. I can make us live eternal, and yet, somehow, i could not make myself breathe? because my *body* said i couldn't? I have always had a mastery over it thusfar.. and an acceptance that changing and shifting and mutation was a part of what i had expected to become. I was only drowing because I refused to accept the change~" she murmured softly "it's like a dream, Dori. it really is. The sorts of dreams where you can fly because you *say* you can fly... things only make sense because we are told what sense IS by someone else. so i told myself that me breathing water underwater made more sense"
Dorian gathered himself up around her, staring in mute wonder, now that his breathing was calming, finally. He was laying so that the cold water still lapped at him, at her moving in the incessant way that water had. He was still shaking his head, and grumbled, "Blimey. You-- Blimey Di. I thought gods were born, not made. By by by by--what... believing?" The part of him that was glad he had her back would not easily let her go and in the cool dark he really relished the warmth of cuddling as much as the simple righteousness of having her in his arms.
Dinah giggled and she curled herself close to him, resting her head on his shoulder. "the gods are beasts, Dori. Great, powerful things, only divine by their sheer difference to us. Most of them have no concept we even exist" she spread her hands out in explanation with a warm smile. "They are entirely natural in many respects. Mlandoth and Mril Thorion are the world. Light, dark, creation and destruction. they spend eternity cycling around each other but if they ever meet, something is destroyed, and something created. There can only be one with the other, you see" she touched fingertip to fingertip with a flicker of vibrant purpleish energy between them like a static charge. "They would be powerful with or without our worship."
Dorian listened and already knowing he was out of his depth, he just put his chin upon her shoulder when he wrapped himself around her. Even still he tried to clarify, "So you think the aether really is their blood? You said... But how can they not know about us? We are many, we are loud, and we call to them. Do we not beg use of their... favour and power?" He knew so little about the world where she lived, what was in books and beyond it, he could not help feeling like a child asking as he did, with a hushed voice. "Are you really quite well after all that, Dinah? You had been gone for some time."
Dinah curled her arms around his chest, letting their body heats' mix in the coolness of the cove. "I do. Aetherite is magic, a mineral, yes? It would have to be formed of something. I have a mind that it is like amber, like... .crude oil, or fossilized bones to coal. The old ones were here before there were any men, and they came to the young world out of the sky" she said wistfully. "many of them are dead, or gone, under the ground or in the sea... there are supposedly great temples in the ocean devoted to the great dreamer, the priest.." she pondered in thought the best way to explain it. "if an ant wanders onto your picnic blanket, you might not notice the ant. but if a thousand ants gather on your blanket, you would turn your attention onto them. I do not care for *favour*, Dor. I care for *knowledge*, and beings that are so beyond anything that we can think of.." she threw herself backwards into the waves with a giggle.
"did you know there are kinds of shrimp that can see dozens more colours than we
Dinah: can? even a humble shrimp. there are so many more things in this world that we can see, even in the most mundane of sources. I am fine, dorian. I promise. I am more than fine, I am *joyful*. they are imparting their secrets to me, these tests are showing me *worthy*. I just have to detach my mind from the lessons i was taught at being 'human'"
Dorian watched her go, deep in the thoughts she'd conjured up in considerations of them that got tangled up and were impossible for him to sort. He could only follow some of her ideas, in broad strokes. At least with ease. Like what she displayed getting back into the water. His concern had not fully left him, however buried under wonder and confusion, as she could tell, but he had to ask, "I did not know that about colours. Only that I would want to see more of them if I could. I am sure you know... you know better what you do, and the wherefores. I suppose I shall learn some day that rare is the occasion indeed, perhaps impossible-- where you..." His language let him down again at about where he did not want to say anymore, so he'd curl his arms up around his knees and call, "Tell me more. Is that why you wove yourself into the seaweed?"
Dinah made a soft noise of agreement, closing her eyes "I wonder if we'd know what we were looking at if we were to see them? if we were to have the eyes of a shrimp?" she giggled. "I know that bees see differently too, but i don't know how..and snakes, they see heat, don't they? that must be a strange way to view the world, but then again, we see things strangely too by their estimation" she sat up again and cuddled close to him again, pressing a kiss to his shoulder.
"The non-euclidean knots.something that has no finite start or end. becoming a part of those knots felt like i ought to, considering the thread-twisting that we perform to stay alive. Twisting the universe around and tying it up in knotwork." she whispered in thought. "something like the Gordian knot"
Dorian tried to follow, listened even to her whispered words. It was not his to add anything substantive. He knew that he did not have that capacity because so much of what she'd said was beyond him. All he could say, whose inclination had been to tear all her hard work apart from her and the seabed, to free her from it, was, "Hm. You... alright. But..." He had to get at the heart of what was scariest to him apart from her gleefully shedding humanity, whatever that meant, and he explained in whisper, "You went quiet and dark. I... was... I thought I was..." It was a word he could not explain, or rather would not, but it was a hated fearful feeling, being alone. He'd stay curled up, just lingering on the adrenaline side of not shivering.
Dinah hummed again and she shook her head, brushing her lips over his skin. "I wanted to be cut off from everything. All senses, even the sixth. I didn't realize you were coming down after me until you were there. I *did* say you could trust me and the sea, Dori. it's never going to kill me" she giggled, wrapping her arms over his shoulders. "nothing can unless it really, really tries. and the ocean doesn't care enough to try" she gave a wistful sigh, peppering him in kisses. "you always worry so much. so dearly. I am grateful but you worry so much, you will take such risks. you can die easier than i. you should trust my working better by now, dear heart"
Dorian took a long moment to think about what she said, turning to steal a kiss to her cheek when she was close, though afterward he frowned as he came to some set of conclusions for not the first time. He did not mean to do just as she'd asked him not to, and he explained how their purposes were crossed, as if she could ever need him to simplify things for her, "I am not as clever as you are, and I am sorry that I... cannot grasp the impossible like you do. I chased my own fear and foreboding, and bothered you. But tell me this. If a bit of swimming was all that separated us when I was at sea in a storm like an angry god's eye, or in that Turkish prison, I think you might have come for me."
Dinah smiled in thought as he frowned, and she reached forward to brush her fingers through his curls. "you are clever. you don't need to be *book* smart to understand the faith, Dorian" she said wistfully. "it's difficult to explain otherwise but... it's not a case of impossible. or.. i suppose it is, but you have to just...be willing to accept everything in the universe as a possible truth." she said thoughtfully. "like flying. you are made of dense flesh and bone, and yet you can fly, and yet you can make yourself lift from the ground. like a person-sized bumblebee" she giggled, kissing his shoulders. "by science and logic, *bumblebees* are impossible." she closed her eyes, looking thoughtful "...i think i could more likely raise a storm than stop one these days. but i would come for you."
Dorian uncurled himself a little bit to lean into the hand that combed its way though his hair, closing his eyes and listening to the calm of her voice, the certainty in it. He'd answer one thing quickly, "That was just a long time weight lifted from my heart, is all. The first time in a long time that I felt like... a god among men." That was what his faith in his sister did for him, and his worship of her allowed, in the most exalted moments. He knew even as he said the first part that it was insane, but it was all he could figure that night. He'd scarcely stretched those wings again since then. He had not gone headlong into that discovery as Di did with her abilities. Not knowing what to think of it because his mother and father had not told him, and his sister had not told him well there was no frame of reference, just a laggard's certainty that if he really needed it, he'd figure it out. Until then he was best off practicing his saber skills, his dance moves. And listening to his sister. After a moment of quiet thought again he'd look over at her, to see if her face was as pleased and serene as it had been since she'd gotten out of the water. He had to lean rather close but had no compunction about it "So everything in the universe is a possible truth?"
Dinah laughed, resting her hand against his cheek. "you ARE a god amongst men, dori. You know what is out there... you've *Seen* things no other mortal has ever seen." she pressed another kiss to his cheek. A dreamy, amused smile touched her lips and she nodded. "mm. Everything in the world is. death is not a concrete guarantee that you will stay dead. Lead can be turned to gold. people can fly, my bumblebee, and we can be immortal" she curled one of his golden locks around her fingers. "Everything is possible, if you're clever, and careful, and *Creative*, and you're willing to think of the different ways to do things" she rested her brow against his, perfectly calm if a little absentminded
Dorian was not as creative as she was, and not as clever. The impossible things he wanted in the universe had become somewhat less impossible in Callisto. But he'd still think about her advice: clever, careful and creative. He would chew on the way to use those things to continue to get what he wanted from his life. Very simple things that were not as hard as sewing time together to cheat death. He'd start by putting his arms around her and tipping up his chin to kiss not her lips, but the end of her nose. Then with his damp brow upon hers again he'd murmur, "Tell me more about it. About how to recreate the world into my vision. Does it start with getting something to eat together and then end with us shaking off the rest of this cold and damp under a blanket together?"
Dinah giggled at the kiss to her lips and she wriggled her nose, cuddling him close. She smiled, closing her eyes with an amused smile. "you need to find your vision first. find how you want the world to be and just...make it happen. if there is an obstacle...crush it" she pondered his questions with a feigned, deep introspection. "I think it must absolutely start with getting something to eat. something hot, possibly involving toast. And hot tea, and a blanket next to the fireplace." she picked herself up, reaching for his hand with a smile. "perhaps we can put some whiskey in the tea? and a slice of orange. And I want some tomatoes, I think."
Dorian took her hand and popped up to his feet with only the lightest of tugs to hers as he did. He'd pull her toward where he'd left his boots, shirt, cravat and vest then once he had them in hand offer her the button up, given she was wearing so little. Even if he utterly understood the painful truth that Dinah did not need him to protect her, today for the first time, he'd likely not easily stop himself. Nor admit that his truer fight was to keep himself relevant to a goddess who surpassed him in every way. He'd ask an actual question of her that was related to the topic, though not of food, since that was going to be assured by hands better in the kitchen than his own as soon as the pair of them got within shouting distance for the help, "But are we not borrowing from their power, those we know are old, deep powerful ones who are bleeding their magic into the world like so many gems from the sea floor?"
Dinah gave him a grateful smile and tugged on his shirt, drowned in the oversized shape over her wet, scraggly silk. She tittered, shaking her head at his question as she offered out a hand towards him.
"No. We are just...learning to see like shrimp, or fly like bumblebees." she pressed a kiss to the back of each of his fingers in turn. "we learn the secrets to manipulate the world around us, as they do by their natural state. Like spiders make web. It's complicated, but... when you start learning how to do it, it's far easier to keep going when you know how to start" she turned to smile up towards him "I prefer to think of it as..how people must have learned to swim by watching creatures do it.. we are just the first to learn how compared to the others."
Dorian did not think it could be as simple as she said. Perhaps his thinking it was simple was a mark of how much he didn't know that he did not know. He had taken her hand and put it upon his arm like they were walking into a ball, not like he was shirtless in clingy trousers after a swim, carrying some clothes after watching his sister sprout gills. The mundanity of acting in an accustomed role was comforting. When she turned to smile at him in one of the dim bends, when he stopped feeling the press of her warm lips on his fingers, he'd enact one of his visions. Something he'd not be able to freely do again until they were behind closed doors, now that she was so widely known across this island as his sister and not his woman.
That something was to take the proffered hand, and whirl her like it was a dance move, careful with the hand that held his boots and unworn clothes. This was mostly to get her just in front of him again that he could lean down and place another kiss upon her lips. He was not going to break for air first, either. Even if he didn't have gills. This challenge was easier for him than trying to understand how to conceive of the old ones she spoke of who did not care about them, though they bled the very aether that was keeping the family wealth expanding and lifelines extending past most mortal's bounds.
Dinah didn't resist as he twirled her so easily, the wet silk and his shirt slapping against her as she added to the dance moves he encouraged. She stood on her tiptoes on the sand, meeting his kiss eagerly with her hand rested against his chest. She didn't pull back right away, happy to tenderly press to him and deepen their embrace for a long few moments. As soon as they left the cave there would be *normality*, at least to a particular degree of it, and societal obligations. At least, until she started to put her own little strange dreams in motion. "...we might need a lock on my door, if i am to sleepwalk into the sea" she added in a murmur, amusement on her face "unless you are certain you could catch me each time"
Dorian was all blissy and delighted and ready to start putting the fact that he was not needed behind him, and counting himself lucky the goddess chose him, only the fullness of what she said came to him and he'd have to blurt out, pleading with her by tone more than content, "Wait, wait Dinah, you mean you sleep walked down here? It is one thing to go down there on purpose, my love, my soul, but, you... yes. We shall lock it or I shall sleep leaning on your door." He was not surprised he'd missed that detail given the whole extraordinary nature of the entire trek thus far.
Dinah gave a thoughtful noise in her throat and she smiled, nodding up towards him "I came down here sleepwalking, i think" she murmured, though she turned, giving him a grin "you absolutely shall not sleep on the floor by my door. think of your poor back! I shan't abide it. We'll have the attic cleared, so your door will be right next to mine" she smiled impishly, giving his hand a squeeze again "...far less eyebrows raised if you leave one door late at night to find another" she added in a playful whisper, dancing towards the cave entrance with a laugh.
Dorian: "Very well, then. Just... worry not for my back. Unless I am beside you, I hardly sleep anyway." He needed exhaustion and booze when he did not have Dinah. That and the rocking motion was all that saved him when he was at sea. In Callisto, well, he'd been making his way through some books and straw dummies. He'd jog to try and catch up, after letting her get some paces ahead, and speak something else for his bruise ego's sake, "I am not that easy to kill, you know."
Dinah frowned in thought at his words. she really ought to try and stop that, but she grinned up towards him and she nodded. "you're not allowed to die at all, so we don't need to worry about how easy to kill you are" she teased, giving him another press of a kiss. "just no sleeping at the door. that's just going to be in the way. what if i need the bathroom? i'd have to step over you" she teased.
Dorian chuckled at not being allowed to die. He'd had moments of doubt about that throughout the years. Battlefronts, foreign prison, his father's angry threats on the really bad days. But mostly his strength if not his persistence had won out so far. Since he realized the practicalities of not sleeping by his sister's door were valid concerns for her, he'd relent, "Fine, not by the door. I don't mind that attic idea, I can always go upstairs and then climb into your window later."