INT - Windgrace Manor, day
Pandora had just finished moving her sparse belongings into the guesthouse Drystan arranged be cleared for her and had come to rap gently upon the large wooden doors. Everything she travelled with included a big trunk of clothes and jewels, and the bottle of wine she'd brought along on her previous visit. It was really only as much as she could carry anyway, which had been fortuitous when it was time to abandon ship. Today she donned violet with the telltale Egyptian style pleats, again with as much of her skin free to the sunlight as could be given the haze of the preternatural fog clinging to the isle. From her prior visit it was clear that even if her grandpater wasn't home that someone would be able to take a message at least, the place seemed to be suitably staffed for such a grand residence.
Dinah was at her orrery, watching the planets in their steady rotation. When the door knocked, one of the maids answered her flicked finger gesture towards the door, though at the unfamiliar face at the doorway, She frowned and approached.
to those who didnt know better, the sight of the pale, blind woman with a crab clacking away on her shoulder might have seemed strange, and she cocked her head to one side.
"yes?" she asked curiously.
Pandora was just going to launch into her effusive bout of thanks to the staff in lieu of Drystan when presented with the fair vision of a woman in her heels and emeralds, she fell silent and stared for a mute several moments. She stood stock still apart from the way the gentle breeze stirred her dark hair as she beheld the woman. A few heartbeats later she managed in her richly accented English, "I am sorry to interrupt your leisure, m'lady. It is only I had a thought to thank you all for the lodging." After the warm reception she'd received prior, she presumed her coming was a known quantity and her excitement to meet her kin still made up for the way the fog dampened the late summer weather.
Dinah blinked in some visible confusion, looking over the woman from her hair to her shoes and back again.
"your...lodging?" she asked with interest, making a beckoning gesture for her to come in.
"I wasn't aware we had a lodger. That accent of yours. Where is that from?" she nudged the door with her heel to close it, fully expecting the stranger to follow her at her gesture, else get it closed on her.
"such a lovely colour in this gloom. I do so like purple. Tell me about this 'lodging'"
Pandora could start to presume based on what she'd been told that this fair haired woman was kindred, and also given her speaking as the lady of the house. Pandora just stared in interest and admiration, openly, not to be rude, but because she was incredibly curious, and had to shake herself to speak her reply, "Egypt, I am from a place near to Alexandria. I am... you see... your brother, I imagine Drystan to be... he insisted I move here though I know my time of arrival is strange with no ships coming in. I had another method of travel to bear me from boat to shore. That is not what you asked, though. I took him up on his offering of the guesthouse and it is so lovely. I am Pandora." Though the woman seemed to be blind those pale eyes kept meeting her face, and she'd spoken about the shade of her garment. When the door shut behind her it'd waft some of the greenest sandalwood smell from the dryad.
Dinah canted her head to one side, shrouding most of her face through her pale hair. The little metal crab clacked his claws again.
"Alexandria. I have always seen pictures, and I saw the treasure in the museum. But I have never been" she paused as the woman mentioned her brother and she frowned a little, pursing her lips in thought.
"is this some... artistic endeavour he is pursuing? has he taken to portraiture now, perhaps?" she curled her fingers beneath her chin.
"the guesthouse is only quite recently vacated. My brother used to live in there" she hummed again. "Pandora. Pretty name, but somewhat...buried in implication, I find. I am Dinah windgrace. but you seem to already know that about me. So, miss pandora, please enlighten me as to why my brother decided to give you some of our space, as I presume it isn't about some simple...charity?" there was no real edge in her voice, nothing more than the slightest frustration that she was left out of something.
Pandora's beech coloured cheeks went pink when asked about the artistic endeavor and her being part of it. She gawped for a brief moment then recovering managed, "Dinah Windgrace, it is such a pleasure to meet you. I take it he has not yet found time to tell y-- oh dear me. This puts me in a rather how do you say? awkward situation. I am not sure it is mine to tell, but he said that you were very close. I am... your niece. Your brother knew my grandmother. Now you have kin from Alexandria you must come visit with me, my country is uncommonly beautiful. Nothing like England nor this island. Well, when anyone is able to leave again anyway." She babbled on a wee bit, searching the other woman's expression for what she made of what she'd been told.
Dinah stared at the news. Stock-still and staring, one hand snatched up to catch Pan's chin in her fingers, careful not to catch her with her long nails. She tilted her, this way and that, examining her closely.
"A granddaughter. That would imply he had a child at some point. And you have sought him out here?" a wry smile pulled at her lips. "..you picked an...interesting time to do so." she released her hand, studying her raptly.
"We are blood, then?" she said softly, striding away from her to snatch up a bottle from the bureau and two glasses, pouring out both of the wine and knocking one of them back, then pouring a second, bringing the other and offering it out to the stranger that shared her blood on the doorstep.
"has he...told you much of us? of the family?"
Pandora did not pull away from being chin grabbed. She even smiled a bit wider at the strangeness of having a great aunt who looked the same age as herself. She had thick enough skin to handle a Windgrace thinking she might be after wealth and fame, and would explain with half a laugh in her voice, "We are blood. You are extraordinarily lovely, both of you. I had not expected that. All I knew--" she'd go on explaining while the wine was being poured, trailing a few steps after in her flat bejeweled slippers, "Well I had been told that he was a sorcerer. That is all I knew really before I came here. Now I know that he said you all were gifted as I am to be more than ordinary." When presented with a cup of wine she'd reach a little brown branch of an arm to take it, then she would try to knock it back as Di had done but end up coughing a little bit. She was accustomed to nursing drinks back home and a life of relative sobriety by her hostess' standards.
Water rose and stood in amber eyes while she did this.
Dinah cackled a laugh as Pan tried to keep up with her drinking and she smirked over her glass. "you'll only hurt yourself if you try that, dear. I have had a lot of practice." she made a soft click in her throat at the compliment and she hummed.
"Sorcerer is... accurate in some respects. we both are, he and i. My twin, less so. You will meet him, no doubt. Especially if you are to live in the garden house." she beckoned for her to follow her again as she led her into the house.
"The rabbits in the garden are dorians. There is a black one you might see around...possibly not looking much like a rabbit. He is named Hunter. If he gives you any trouble..and he might.. Merely tell him that you are family too and he will relent." she took a seat and stretched her arms above her head, one at a time.
"there is a white cat in the house that sometimes turns into a naked man with cat ears. We call him Darius, but you can give him a name of your own, if you wish. he likes collecting names. We will have to pass on any dietary preferences to Mr. Song.. lance. He is the house butler. With him at all times is Baihe, the snake around his throat. She isn't a pet, and she can understand you as well as I" she sipped her drink. "what else, what else..."
Pandora followed behind Dinah trying to keep up with all of the new information while regaining her access to free air again, finishing her coughing fit finally enough to walk. Due to the photosynthesis she was always naturally undertaking, fresh sweet air moved with her past the perfume oil she wore. She did not hesitate to let her alternate delight and wonder play out across her features while she was listening. She took up a seat opposite her Auntie whom she'd not dare call great-aunt by virtue of some native warning in her and sat primly, like someone accustomed to being observed. It did not take a detective to tell that Dinah took pride in her appearance. "Thank you for telling me of these things. He mentioned the gardens are yours, the whole house and grounds are really rather lovely. This is strange, yes? I am older than I look, but nothing in my years prepared me for this, meeting kindred this way. Your household sounds rather colourful, if you do not mind my saying so."
Dinah curled her feet up beneath herself, resting her wine on the arm of the chair. the crab on her shoulder scuttled down to rest on her knee, pinching at the edge of her skirt.
"older than you look..." she echoed. "...did you inherit that much from the windgraces? The entire family line is 'colourful' to say the least, yes" she agreed. "The gardens are far nicer when those blasted mushrooms aren't growing everywhere. wretched things. avoid those too" she hummed in thought "Ah! that's right. Sometimes there will be a blue haired young man that reads on the balcony. his name is eli. he doesnt speak audibly, usually. Are you comfortable with telepathy?"
Little shrouding here, it seemed, if she was kin, she'd need to find out sooner rather than later.
Pandora held her cup in her lap and kept her gaze firmly upon Dinah, like she was gazing on one of the wonders of the world. The hand that was not holding her wine cup would reach up to graze her beauty mark not too far from the placement of the one she saw on the face opposite her. "I arrived before these mushroom did, and they are rather strange. Unnatural, like the fog. No, I think have no traits of Grandfather, but that I rather take after my father's people. We are what the Greeks called Δρυάδες, em... dryad I think is your word. Well I thought this, but perhaps with some of your blood in me..." She'd shrug up her shoulders as if to suggest that she could not say definitively. "I can work my power over weather, use it to travel. Telepathy? No, I know not how to do this." It was not often that she spoke of what she was capable of but it was inviting to share with her new kin, whom she couldn't help wanting to impress at least a little.
She sipped gently from what remained in her cup, having learned her lesson about trying to chug away.
Dinah paused and sat up, gripping her glass to make sure it'd not spilled.
"...dryad. did you say dryad? as in...a tree spirit?" she asked with interest "I have only ever met one dryad before. A lovely lad. He helped me when I was under a procedure. He could make this...sort of...sedative effect. very useful. Very sweet. he is a member of the doctor's cre- AH. yes. I ought to tell you about him too" she sipped her wine "There might be, sometimes, a very tall german gentleman in the house. That would be Dr Roesler. he is my suitor, and there tends to be some...friction between he and dorian. if it looks like they might butt heads at all, you might do well to make yourself scarce." she warned tactfully. "regardless, if you let Eli know that he might talk to your mind, he can still hear you if you speak, but he does not. Not often. Very sweet boy, very intelligent."
Pandora nodded and smiled joyously when it seemed Dinah understood what she was, sending curtains of dark curls fluttering like the rustle of wind through soft leaves. "Yes I am a dryad. Your suitor and your brother do not get on." She'd punctuate with a cluck of her tongue, then went on. "I am sorry about this, it must pain you. I shall do my best to be ever kind to your doctor and my uncle. I can ease pain a little, from here," she pointed to her temple, indicating her mind, and revealed, "I can speak to growing things." She did not tell all she could do, not to be withholding but because she was too excited to keep talking about her new family. "I look very forwawrd to meeting everyone. You are a magus... em... sorceress?"
Dinah hummed again and she sipped her wine "Do you have a tree? one specific tree? all the stories I remember as a child, the dryad was tied to one tree, and if it were cut down, she would die" she said thoughtfully "Which of course, inevitably happened in those sorts of stories. Terribly sad, the tales back then" she lifted her hand to grab the wine bottle from near the door where it remained, filling her own glass and floating it across to top off Pan's too.
"Niles is a gentleman. at least to me, and frankly, that's all that matters to me. If someone is good to me and mine. And that, darling, qualifies you too." she toasted her glass. "We have a few plants safe from the mushrooms on the balcony. Mostly the plants we grow for reagent purposes, or their narcotic effects, but if you want anything for the garden, when the ports are open, you shall have it. Same with clothes, jewels, anything you please. Windgraces do not do without, and they get whatever they want" she said with a nod.
"The family term is magus. I am responsible for the majority of the magics of the household. Though your grand-.. Drystan, he is just as capable as i. Dorian lacks the love of the craft but he is the strongest man you will ever meet."
Pandora took another sip of her wine and managed to swallow it like an adult again, while she listened. Out of sheer wonderment over the telekinesis she took a top up. She was plainly impressed over these magical people she found herself among who could do such fantastic things. She would go on to straighten out myth from fact as she knew it, rather than asking all the questions she wanted first, fair was fair and ever fairer when it meant getting to know family, "No it is not like those stories. I am the tree. I have planted trees. We have a sacred grove, it is where our temple is, where we first awakened and began to shepherd the people to use the waters of the sacred spring. My father, Hezepfra, is protecting it all now that I am travelling."
When she'd been assured she'd never want for anything, her pride made her say, "I did not find you to avail myself of your wealth, I have more than I need, really. If I had known I would find myself an aunt with such a figure, I would have brought you clothes from home. Our cotton and other fabrics are special. Like Paris, yes? Like your magic. You make it look all so easy. How fortunate I am to have found family so skilled!"
Dinah laughed and clapped her hands together at being corrected about the story. "you ARE the tree. what sort of tree? do we need to water you? I certainly hope not, that would be very strange." she chuckled "Well, in the interest of truths in such a light, I certainly do not resemble a human anymore. I certainly hope you are not easy to scare, dear. there are quite a few things that most would consider horrors here, myself amongst them." she clicked her tongue in chiding, taking another drink.
"Windgrace wealth is for those of windgrace blood. you have it, so it is just as much your wealth as ours. Tomorrow we shalll have a letter sent to the bank and we shall make arrangements. To Kyuu, too. He has the tailors shop. They will need your measurements, but they will make anything you wish for" she smiled wryly. "when the ports are open, we shall have some of the fabrics imported and you can give them instruction. Are you accustomed to having servants? Because we have them here." she DID tense a little at the mention of Paris, swallowing the rest of the wine in her glass and leaning forward to set it on the table.
"skill is through practice, darling. Natural talent only carries a person so far. And when you have performed an action a thousand times, it becomes easier"
Pandora took another dainty sip while listening, and almost choked again from amusement. When she'd safely swallowed, she explained, "You sound like my tutor, skill is practice. The days I had to spend when I was little walking with a jar of water upon my head for posture... I had always grown into a palm when I was home, here it is something different. one of the trees in the forest here, I know not the name of it in English. No you have watered me plenty. I must say I miss the sunlight the way it was before I came here. The air is thick and strange with this fog and these how do you say, mushrooms. May I ask has it been a long courtship? I know you are no horror, you are my aunt! Anyone with eyes can see how lovely you are. But I also know that you are not so young as you look. You must have time to really get to know a person, yes?" By Pandora's estimation people who lived quite so long as her Grandfather and his siblings must have lengthy romances. She did not seem to notice that she'd sparked disquiet with regard to France.
Dinah nodded and she rested back against the sofa. "it's a common expression because it's true dear. Practice in all things makes it easier, whether it's walking with a pot on your head, or calling a bottle of wine from across the room" she hummed. "the plants here are different than I am used to too, in truth. I am far more used to the plant life back at home." she paused, seeming to connect the dots. "...are you the one that stopped by Cheriton? Spoke with mother?"
The question of the courtship had her laugh and she shook her head. "Gracious no. Not yet. Though Dorian has already tried to kill him once. we shall see how it proceeds." she quirked a smile at being told she wasn't a horror and she slipped off her heels, standing up once more and brushing her fingers down her sides.
"I shall let you be the judge, dear. but if you scream, I will have to quieten you" she said softly, letting the glamour slip. It started at her head, rolling away from her as if water had been poured on her from above as she unfurled the fluttering of wings, the many, many eyes blinking in unison as she once more reached for Helios to run up her arm between the jagged crystals.
"...of course, I still cannot see, even with so many. That is what Helios here is for. He is my eyes"
Pandora nodded about being the one who has stopped by their old homestead, and was in the midst of explaining, "I was that one. The Lady Angelica, gods, she did not tell me much at all. She seemed very amused by m--"
As Dinah shifted forms Pandora fell silent and her mouth opened and she could only stare. "..." Dumbstruck, dumbfounded, plain dumb. Brown eyes roved to all the eyes to the shape of the 'hair' to the flittering wings and then traveled over the skin to look at shining crystals and mottled patches of corrupted colour. Ultimately she'd manage to say something, "I... I... wondered how you could see what I wore, I understand the crab now. You... are like no one, nothing I have ever seen except... well woman and creature in one I have only seen gods like this. The old gods." She meant Isis, Osiris, Hathor, Sekhmet, that set. "She said when I came here I would see things I could not imagine... the goddess who sent me looking for you all..." Now she'd tilt her cup back for a hefty sip for a different reason, closing her eyes as she swallowed then opening them wide again to take in that woman's strange true form.
Dinah: "She likely thought you were a harlot. Or perhaps an opportunist. when you first wrote, our father had vanished at sea and control had passed along to Drystan" Her voice sounded only slightly different in this shape. a touch more whispery, She watched the reaction closely, just in case she were about to screech, but when no loud sound assaulted her ears, she laughed softly.
"you sound like dorian. I am no god. This.." she reached her hand up to trail a claw along the corruption on her skin "Are the marks I bear for ensuring our longevity. there are things in the world that go against the natural order, and much of my work takes me along that path. The crystals, the wings, and these.." she flicked her fingers up to the strange, wing like protrusions around her face "Are my own additions, however." she once more curled herself into her seat, the whipcord tail winding itself around her to settle the blade across her lap.
"I worship old gods too. Older than the ones you are thinking of. Gods that came to this world out of the sky, before there were any men at all. As I said, little dryad. There are dark things here. It will not be a...comfortable place for you if you have a low tolerance of such things. I do not mean to attempt to scare you away. Merely to let you know. If you are our kin, I would not have you consider us as fiends to you at least"
Pandora could not stop looking at the rather inhuman appearance of her aunt, but she did not seem skittish about it, nor uncomfortable, just bowled over. Where she came from she was among the strange things around and those she spent her time with were like her. "What do you mean you added these things, you can alter your own appearance at will? All I become is a tree. Not a winged jeweled entity... not fiend. I feel my eyes have opened today not that I have anymore than two unlike you all..."
She was at a loss but curiosity won out over wonderment over what her aunt's true form was. She could not tell what was cost of doing magic business apart from the whole overall effect which was awe-striking.
Dinah picked underneath her claws with the bladed tip of her tail, a toothy smile on her face. She laughed gently.
"Well. The crystals I made with a combination of flesh craft and alchemy. The rest, just fleshcraft. The manipulation of one's body parts into something completely different. Like sculpting with clay, only with organs and sinew." she quirked a brow at the 'all' when referencing eyes and she smiled.
"Drystan had his 'open' did he? That one is from the influence of the gods too. and me, a little. Dorian, you might be pleased to know, only has two also. Too many eyes is a common theme of the house but gratefully not a prerequisite, you might be pleased to know"
Pandora nodded abundantly about Drystan's third eye being opened, having dipped her head forward to take in more of the details. She did not have so much practice with magi to know what to expect but Dinah's appearance and Drystan's was attributed to their magical works now in her mind. Though she'd mainly been stupefied, hearing the same voice nearly come from this shape, watching her behave so naturally, she was brought around to being able to speak again. "I did not know people did this, it is new to me. As you are! As your sort of magic is... I had never left home until I went looking for him. I thought I had seen much in my long years, but nothing like this. I am honoured to be part of such a family. Even if I only have the two. May I ask how you walk on such heels? Those are very tall! Did you have to practice long to learn that skill?"
Dinah chuckled and she nodded again, her tail whipping in her lap like a restless cat.
"people do all manner of things with magic, when they are so inclined. Most of the time though, it remains hidden. Forced to be. Soon, however, that shall not be a problem" she said airily, but she glanced down to her 'heels' at the question.
"Again, dear, practice. Heels have been considered a vital part of a wardrobe arsenal for years. I learned in my mortal frame and then when I became more like this..." she gestured to herself "I chose to echo that so I was able to match the same gait with better ease. it's more comfortable to me. you do not wear heels?"
Pandora shook her head to the question of heels, after looking mystified about the ominous remarks about the future. She illuminated her stance further with a laugh still ringing in her voice, "I walk on a fair amount of sand normally. It is not em... useful? feeling good on sand to have shoes that are not flat. I was admiring that you walked so easily in them from the moment we met."
She moved her mouth a moment after she finished speaking which might indicate she nearly said something else, but thought better of it.
Dinah flippantly flicked her hand again in another diismissive gesture "Then we shall get you some heels too. easily obtained. Though the best ones are imported and those are, sadly, port-locked. We'll arrange it" she said casually "it's all in relearning how your foot falls when you stand" she did so again, raising to her feet again, helping herself stand with the curl of her tail.
"Well. Pandora. it has been a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to you being a part of our family. if you need anything at all, you need only ask. Make sure to take enough firewood out to the guest house when you return. it will get very cold when it becomes dark with the fog and it clings something terribly"
Pandora drank down the little left in her cup, and then leaving the cup on the table, stood just after her aunt did, hiccoughing. She did not have the Windgrace tolerance. She was also chuckling, "If you will -hic- pardon me Dinah Windgrace -hic- aunt of mine -hic- I was wishingtocatchwhat is left of the -hic- sunlight before nightfall. -hic- That is normally enough to keep me warm, but here.... with this... hic.... hahahahahaha. -hic- It was my great pleasure to meet you. -hic- Thank you for everything."
That said she scurried on her very flat shoes to the door, laughing with embarrassment over her hiccuping reaction to the very nice wine.