Dinah was sensible enough today to be out of her box, mostly unmedicated except for the excessive pile of cocaine on the coffee table, the wine beside it. A plate of sliced raw steak on a plate beside all that, which was being lifted carefully, slice by slice, and fed into the snappy little jaws of the Pomeranian on her lap. She was sat on the ground lazing against the back of the armchair, her free hand buried in the fluffy fur of his neck and rubbing his ears.
Drystan Windgrace knocked a couple of times on the door but also spoke through the door "Dinah It's me...." He waited a moment and then opened the door. He was casual, it was after 5pm after all. Jeans, soft suede boots, a silk shirt and vest - he was half shifted (as usual these days) "Hey you...good day?" He lifted a brow and walked over to where she sat, looking at the little evil Pom. "I can't believe you feed him that well." He rolled his eyes a little bit and then leaned down to push his finger into the end of one of the rails on the table, pulling his finger up and pushing it against his gums, sampling her stash. "I could have a pallet of Doggie Chow brought in for him."
Dinah looked up with a fond smile but didn't rise, smiling and nodding. "Good day" she agreed. It worked, after all, greeting and assessment. She grinned, reaching for another slice of steak. "oh, don't be cruel, he has been good today" she let the steak dangle just out of reach for a moment before it was snapped at a few times and chomped down. "besides. if he has doggie chow, i'd not be able to feed him like mummy's grumpy little baby. I'm not putting my fingers in puppy food" she smiled, gesturing to the wine and white. "I'd be mother but I have my lap full, so help yourself darling. Did you have a good day?"
Drystan Windgrace leaned over and grabbed one of the slices and popped it into his mouth before there could be any argument about it. He chewed and gnashed through the steak and spoke through chewing. "Oh fine fine... I'm not cruel to him...I'm just not...*fond* of him. Yappy lil' punk." He finished chewing and swallowed down the meat before taking up an empty glass and pouring from the bottle. "Thank you, love. Yes, I suppose, it was a day like any other, nothing fancy to report on honestly." He took a long drink from the glass before he poured a little more in his glass, and then sat on the floor next to the table. "Everyone's working for end of quarter quotas, the machine rumbles on.." He gestured the cogs of a wheel spinning. He tossed his hair back and picked up the bill she had rolled, and took the one rail he'd tasted already, snuffing a big breath through his nose and then taking the other up the other nostril. Whilst smacking his lips and reaching for the razor to pull two more long lines from the large pile to replace what he'd just taken. "Boring work. I am however looking forward to inking the next batch of acolytes this weekend."
Dinah smiled, settling back comfortably against the armchair. As Drystan snitched a slice of steak, the cotton ball in her arms tried to snarl and growl in her grip, and was about as intimidating as imagined. she picked up another slice, wiggling it above his snout to distract him.
"No one is fond of him but me, isn't that right, my little smoocher? no one but mummy" she smushed a kiss to the back of the pom's head, earning another soft growl through the mouth of steak.
"newbies~? mm. good. let me know if you need anything. I can always fish for a few more if you need some. if nothing else, I need more content for this upcoming week" she smiled, cuddling the pom to her chest like a baby on his back. "are you keeping the designs the same?"
"Yeah.. no one gives a shit about you Pel, no one but her. Remember that!" He took another drink from the glass and shook his head. "I don't think I need anything, but I will always take more. If you want to film a few of them, that's fine, but ..you know, keep me out of the shots." He chewed his lips lightly and nodded affirmatively. "Yes, the Eye on the palm. It's been working fairly well. It doesn't take much effort on my part, and all i have to do is dip into their memory, a little of this a little of that, and it gives them just enough rejuvenation to keep them elated enough about it. None of them have come to realize it's also an excellent way to literally keep my eye on them." He shrugs. "Most of them I don't give two fucks about, but there are a few - you know the kind, false acolytes. They are in it for the health boost and that's it. Usually the ones that pay to enter the Order higher than the rest of the dredges, you know." He played with the razor in his claws and made small designs in the powder. "Thossee....I like to catch being unfaithful to us...Because I can..." He took a deep breath and looked up smiling and exhaling. "..I can play with them." He huffed a laugh.
[14:45] Dinah feigned a pout, smushing pel's cheeks "how can you be mad at this little face, look at hiiim" she said through her pushed out lower lip. "he's so cuuuuuute" she released the fluffy widdle cheeks, reaching for another slice. "last one, plushie." she hummed, nodding again. "they are on a need to know basis and they don't need to, it's as simple as that" she smiled playfully. "there's always going to be people in it for the benefits. back in the day, it was just wanting to lord it over others. then there was the sex magic and opium phase, now we're back into the lording it phase" she grinned "everything in cycles, mm?" she tittered, feeding the snatchy pom his last slice of steak. "You can play with any of them if you feel like it anyway, they are just bodies. drones until they last long enough to bother learning their names." she tilted her head back, fingers scritching at pel's neck again. "and even then, capability trumps long service"
"Can't blame anyone for wanting to be in it for the sex magic and opium, I mean, c'mon. Those are good times." He grinned widely at her and nudged her leg with the tip of his boot. "Hell, that's half the fun. But yeah, everything is cyclical. hmm." He picked up the bill and inhaled, into a nostril, following the winding design he had made out of the fine white powder. He set the bill down and grabbed his nose, shaking his head a little before taking the glass of wine and draining it. He looked around and scrunched up his brows a little. "What happened to your ..little bar tray? You had some really good Bourbon.." He turned where he sat, popping his head up a bit to look beyond the edges of the couch, and then looked at each of the doors that surrounded them. "Do you get decent engagement from things like the tattooing? Like, other than your scantily clad selfies, what gets the most loooove on the Aethergram? WISE seems to be a hit when I post those really cryptic things that mean nothing? but everyone thinks everything means something more than it is - such power in that, it's astonishing really." He sat back how he had been and took the bottle of wine and turned it this way and that to see how much was left.
"Everything is cyclical eventually. We just dress better these days. thank god bushels went out" she snickered, nudging him back with her heel before she kicked them both up onto the edge of the table. "bar tray is next to the bath. bourbon is probably still on it" she scrunched the white fluffy fur, hugging him to her chest as she leaned in to pick up the rolled bill, following the second powder line. "The selfies always gets the most impressions but the interesting stuff gets the most engagement. especially if you give them something to argue about, or they think they're seeing something they shouldn't" she grinned. "People like to think they're getting something that no one else gets. doesn't matter what it is."
Drystan Windgrace tapped the tip of his nose and nodded as he got up from the floor. "You're right, hmm i wonder what i could make people argue about that would be worth reading.." He stepped to the appropriate door and opened it, peering inside, spotting the bottle in question, he lifted his hand as it came to him, floating across the bathroom. He shut the door and came back to plop himself next to his sister. He started to spin the cap off, and then took the wineglass and sucked what wine was left out the bottom, and then poured the dark amber liquid in. "Mmm fancy pants."
Dinah laughed again, sitting back, snuggling Pel to her chest. "there's nothing at all that people like better than proving their intellectual dominance about something they think they know about" she smirked. "it doesn't matter what it is. There's always someone who thinks they know better" she watched him rise and she tilted her head, grinning and making grabby hands for the second glass, whilst not moving away from the lying position with the pom against her.
"Fancy pants? From you?" she arched a brow with a grin.
Drystan Windgrace filled the last of the wine into her glass and passed it to her, while taking one of her cigarettes from her pack and pinching it between his lips. He paused. and looked feigned hurt. "I'm not fancy? I mean..just look at me!" He held up his wine glass of bourbon and lit the cigarette with a flourish, tossing the lighter back on the table. "I can be very fancy, thankyouverymuch.." He lifted his pinkie finger and took a nice heavy gulp from the glass, and smiled as the heat chased down his throat.
Dinah smiled, taking the glass and drinking half of it in one, setting the rest beside her on the rug. "You are terribly fancy. I dont think I'm excessively fancy tonight at least" she shrugged her shoulders casually, rubbing her fingers between pel's ears.
"Though the 'fancy living' stuff does well on the algorithm too. people are both envious and aspiring to what we have" she said thoughtfully. "it's funny in that way, isn't it?" she smiled again, lifting her head to look towards him.
"What would you do with the sheer, unfettered gaze of the aethernet on you as I have? if our roles were reversed and I was being the smart and business-savvy one?" she teased
Drystan Windgrace took long drags off the smoke and smiled at Di. "People have always envied us, It feels like that has only been cranked up to a million...its so strange to be in this such...I don't know how to even put it. A connected world. Random people that we've no clue about, tune-in..or...whatever you might call it, to your musings and some people choose to ignore what we are really about, and just want the ...money, the status." He shook his head and ashed the cigarette before taking another long drag. "Ha! I don't think I would handle it as well as you do, or...curate it as well. I'd wind up relegated to the adult only sections, very very quickly." He coughed a little "Or someone would come try and arrest me. Honestly, I'd be terrible at what you do. But you're welcome to do the business savvy part if you like, I could vacation, maybe go to Spain, piss Dorian right the fuck off." He laughed hard, "He hasn't seen modern Barcelona! He's so stubborn! the dear he is." He sighed and laughed before taking another
drink.
She scoffed "people have always envied you, the only reason people envied me for years was because of my proximity to you and dorian" she grinned "half of them barely knew I existed" she smirked. "Adult only makes more money than you could imagine, but yes... it's an interesting thing. a strange thing. It's so baffling to think of. I could put up a picture today and in a few minutes someone across the other side of the world can see it" she wrinkled her nose "Barcelona. I don't even remember the last time I went, truth be told" she admitted. "I'm not sure how well i'd handle it now. I have become rather territorial of this little isle, I think I would be loathe to part with it for long enough to see what a wretched mess has been made of europe" she grinned, sipping her bourbon. "besides. i'd have to get used to being closer to the ground again than up in the clouds like this? not a chance" she tittered
Drystan Windgrace laughed. "You act as if I don't know how much money there is in the adult entertainment industry." He waggled his brows at her and shook his head. "Perhaps staying close to home, ...is best for now. Besides, I can always send back pictures." He crushed out the cigarette and started making a new design with the tip of his claws in the mountain of powder. "I don't have any plans to go anywhere anytime soon, so..perhaps whenever I do. I have work I need to do with the young Kyuu, it would be nice to have that studio back open and their wares. But they aren't anywhere near ready for that level of responsibility yet. Speaking of responsibility. " He cleared his throat and stops his designs in the drugs. "Ash tells me she really doesn't want to attend classes at Khymeia. I told her she didn't have any say in the matter, and I think that made her mad, she's been huffy with me since."
Dinah laughed "trust me, it's exploded these days" she nodded, looking thoughtful, curling her fingers in pel's fur. "Close at home is good for me" she agreed, listening to the rest of the plans, watching the patterns his claws made in the coke.
"...Ash doesn't want to go to school" she said flatly. "Did she say why?" she arched a brow. "it's one of my few rules, darling, you know. I'm hardly madame restrictive with them, but I do want them to go to school" she finished her bourbon, tilting the glass with her fingers.
"I am not in a...regularly reliable state to home tutor. And even if I were so inclined to do so, as much as I do so adore our little visionary and her quirks, if she doesn't socialize with people her own age, she's going to come out strange. I shan't have it, drystan, I shan't"
Drystan Windgrace laughed a little. "Don't worry, she's setup for her classes and she WILL be going. I think She might just be a bit fearful of it? but mostly, she prefers her little creations and her art. I can understand it, relate even, but these children have no idea how good they have it." He shook his head. "I'm somewhat glad they wont ever have to endure anything we ever did but, sometimes...sometimes i feel like giving them a taste of my memories of what life was like for me when we were young - but i don't want to harm them with such memories either. Parenting is not something I am particularly good at i don't think. Dorian does so well with them, but I have a responsibility to Ash. Alec is ..always perfect as can be, and Freddy - well, ...He's Freddy. "
Di frowned in thought "Fearful? she's a windgrace, what does she possibly have to be fearful of from that lot?" she clicked her tongue. "I'm glad, in a way. That she feels...comfortable enough to defy us" she nodded. "WE definitely wouldn't have ever done the same at their age, would we?" she smiled "Dorian is a natural. An absolute natural. Not like..." she paused, looked down into her bourbon glass with a frown.
"We have been blessed with three perfect children. utterly perfect. Blessings. true blessings" she reached for the bottle to refill their glasses.
"Maybe less fearful than just unwillingness and no desire. I try not to delve into her emotions too terribly much. She's so similar to me, I am sometimes worried what she may be truly feeling." He shook his head and reached over and put a hand on Dinah's knee, despite the Pel-pom in her lap. "We do. They are all blessings. They were gifts given to us. To you. We need them. They need us. They are just in the first breath of their lives, and we are still getting used to ..parenting. Granted, some are handling it better than others... But all three of them are lovely. I would do anything for any of them." He squeezed her knee, and let it drag down her shin. "Ash is just ..so fresh in the world and I've only ever been so protective over you and Dorian, even Freddy and Alec.." He stopped himself. He knew he showed Ash favoritism, but how could he not? she was theirs..
Dinah chuckled, burying her face in the fluff. "yes. I try not to do much of that either. if there are ever three people who can be somewhat sure they are immune to me intentionally working through their minds or making them do something just to get them out of my way" she grinned. "they're young, and fresh and sweet. still finding their feet" she agreed, reaching for her glass. "I can see the similarities though. between you and her." she trailed off and then laughed quietly. "Gods. can you imagine if we had tried that with our family? 'mother, father, I dont quite fancy going to lessons'?" she shook her head "I think i'd still be nursing bruises, and you'd be worse"
Drystan Windgrace scoffed. "I did try that, refusing to do what was asked of me when i was sent away, I learned very quickly what that got me. Same with Father, though as I got older he feared me more and would take our arguments and disagreements into a grumble and a bottle in his lab or library." He rolled his eyes a bit. "No no I am very glad they have a different world to grow up in, and that we are so much different than our parents. Me telling Ash the way it is, isn't harsh, she just didn't agree. That's fine - she can disagree all she likes while going to classes." He smiled some. "Maybe she will make friends outside her siblings."
Dinah smirked, nodding "you were all forceful in that regard. I was far less so. these days.. I am not quite sure how that would go" she smiled impishly "A very different story nowadays" dinah sighed, rubbing Pel's ears in her fingers.
"A very different world." she agreed. "for the better. exactly" she said thoughtfully. "She will be going to classes. even if she doesn't like it. she'll be great, as soon as she figures out the rhythm of it. besides, it will be good for her" she smiled "Even master creators like yourself can't create and create without consuming to balance it. to feed it. Ideas don't come from just...nowhere at all"
Drystan Windgrace had been playing with his bottom lip with his other hand, pinching and rolling it as he listened. He stopped though and flicked his eyes at his sister's lovely face. He let go of his lip to instead smooth out his beard. "I certainly can't. I've tried to divine inspiration before, ...its a bit more messy than a simple quid pro quo. I have...to feed all of my compulsions. I always have." He stared off into space for a while while he rocked himself slowly forwards and back. "It's past time to give tribute. I've pushed it from my mind for too long." He stopped his movement and swallowed, looking over at Di, smiling and straightening out his shoulders. "But I will take care of that. No worries. Perhaps I'll give your husband a call, he's always in for that sort of a good time."
Dinah laughed softly. "Divine inspiration comes at it's own whim, i find. it's only their whim, and their inspiration, and god help you if you don't put the right brushstroke down where they want. at least, that's how it is for me. it's like... one of those shrill security alarms shrieking inside my head until I get it right" she clicked her tongue as he mentioned Niles, returning to petting Pel. "oh, of that I have no doubt" she said softly "you always find your inspiration. Luckily for you, it tends to come from sources you tend to enjoy"
Drystan Windgrace nodded to her, "I know it is much different for you, now. But I think I can relate to the shrill alarm..in a way." He looked down and his voice lowered, "When I don't do his will, when I try to ignore it for too long, it's...like a silent scream, at all octaves, all at once. There are words in the scream but i never hear them, I just know them... eventually I can't ...I have to give in, wash myself of the sin of trying to ignore it, Give him everything he wants of me.." He cleared his throat and looked up, plastering a smile on his face. "We each have our own relationships with our patrons and the Gods that we've given to." He paused for a moment and smirked. "I just enjoy a great deal of things, that's all."
Dinah adjusted her hug on Pel so he was snuggled against her again, smiling faintly "Silent scream. I suppose that's true. accurate, yes" she said thoughtfully, her gaze drifting a little. "i think...for me most of the time it is closer described as....if you scratch yourself in your sleep. your mind knows what needs to be done and your hands move in their own accordance" she exhaled slowly, then leaning in closer to the cocaine again.
"at this point i'm not sure mine is as much a relationship as yours as them just kicking the back of my seat until I turn around and crash the car into something"
Drystan Windgrace watched her delicate features as she explained and then took to the powder. "I know I don't need to ask, I already know the answer. You'd do it again if you had the chance." He half smiled and took up the wineglass and the bourbon and finished it off, setting the glass down carefully on the table. "But I do wish you had some..personal connection, something more than it being burdensome. Though, I am sure it is not always that way, they gave you children, and ...who knows what else is to come. We can't fathom to know the why's of what they decide for us. We accept the blessings, and we give glory to the fact that we can be noticed, and not annihilated. Noticed just enough to have built what we have, to guide the wayward to our path, to show them there is nothing to fear in death, but if you choose to live - you must LIVE...They give us that perspective."
Dinah laughed softly and nodded. "It had to be me" she agreed. "*you* are needed, and everyone else would have messed it up" she muttered, smiling. "My connection is very personal, thank you very much. Burdens and expectation is... it's a part of their attention" she smiled playfully. "their attention is like...." she trailed off, unable to articulate it. "it's... incomparable, as you'd imagine. Every time they speak through me, it's like taking the amrit all over again. count yourself lucky you never had that." she smiled slightly "*that* was an unpleasant trip." she sighed, running her fingers around the edge of her glass. "I wonder if Hinterwood is still alive. I'd love to meet up with him again. but he was half-gone when I knew him and that's when I was...what. Seventeen?"
Drystan Windgrace lifted his brows slowly as he listened. "I am just fine with the level of attention I get as it is. Though of course, I will take whatever is given.." He let out a bit of a huff. "Oh...Hinterwood? A name I haven't heard in an age. Unless he too figured out something akin to what we have, I ...I don't know that he'd have made it this far - ...then again if he has, he's not going to go anywhere..." He tilted his head, "Depending on his condition..." He shook his head at the thoughts. "No...probably best to let him rest wherever he might be. He deserves that." He started to drag his claws through the design he had been making out of the white mountain again, swirls and waves and such. "Not to say you aren't a lovely spring chicken darling." He pulled his lips into his mouth and bit down trying to hide his smile.
Dinah smiled almost dreamily. "If he turned his mind to it, he would. or, he was capable of figuring out another means to avoid death if he wanted." she rubbed pel's ears in her fingers. "he was one of the most fascinating men i've ever met. Some...half feral, utterly demented academic. That look in his eyes, I'd love to know how much he knew. I couldn't even be cross with him that he ditched out on me after the amrit." she chuckled softly. "anyone else and i'd have hunted him down and set fire to his ribcage" she sighed softly. "What i'd give to ask him questions now with the knowledge of what I know now. If nothing else, i'd want to know how to make the amrit he made. nothing has ever made me feel so...utterly tiny and sick, but it opened my eyes to everything." she grinned.
"you know as well as I do that I am most certainly not a spring chicken, but I shan't protest the flattery, love"
Niles Roesler There was only so much time that Niles could spend 'making accommodations' for his various staff in the wake of repurposing the airship. Inevitably gracing the WISE tower with a more permanent presence was going to be a necessity and such things required touching base with the parties involved. It would have been easy enough - if her mood hadn't driven her to ward him out - to teleport to her rooms but Niles took himself to the lobby instead, opting to take the elevator up so that either the receptionist or the ding of the elevator's arrival could warn the two inside of the incoming intrusion.
Drystan Windgrace let his gaze move over to her as she spoke of him and her wishes. He took note, but stored it away for later thought. He took the rolled bill and tossed his hair from his face before leaning in and tracing those swirls of a design he had made, finishing up, grabbing at his nose and snuffling it, before smoothing out his beard. He grabbed the bourbon and poured more into the wine glass, and then motioned to Dinah's glass, /More?/ He licked at his lips and took a drink before she could answer, washing back the drug from the back of his throat. He then grabbed for another of her cigarettes and popped it into his mouth - but before he could find the lighter and light it, the elevator outside the greeting room dinged. Immediately his mind reached out to the individual in the cabin, and he smiled once he had. "Well well well, speak of the devil, or...the devilish..." The cigarette bobbed in his lips as he spoke, finally lighting the tip and taking a long drag from it.
Dinah would know even without the ding who approached, and her eyes narrowed just a touch. She leaned forward, taking one of the swirls from the pattern Drystan had created with the cocaine too. She nodded at drystan's gesture to refill her glass.
She settled back against the armchair again, her arm tightening around Pel as she snuggled him to her chest. Her eyes flicked briefly to the leftover steak plate, then back towards the door again.
"we were talking about Hinterwood" she clicked her tongue.
Niles Roesler felt the touch of Drystan's mind as the other man reached to identify him. There was acknowledgement from the vampire as he made his way into the room as well as a more guarded exterior toward any further intrusion into his thoughts. He was smiling however, as he typically was, when he creaked open the door to Dinah's living quarters proper. "Goodness, I've interrupted quite the party," he said with a nod to the drunks and the booze.
Even with his shields up it was difficult not to have a little of Dinah's intoxications filter through the bond, putting a little more of a drawl to his speech and a languid movement to his strides as he approached the pair. A single narrowed stare was directed at the Pomeranian who, in light of their present company, took the opportunity to nuzzle his face into Dinah's bosom and wag his tail with evident glee. "Is there an occasion? Or simply enjoying an afternoon away from the struggles of modern bureaucracy?"
Drystan Windgrace widened his eyes at the flow of emotions whipping around now, and he put both hands up after filling her glass and setting down the bottle. "Apologies dear..." He twisted himself on the floor so he could turn and see Niles as he came in, giving him a smile, despite the chill in the air. "Never an interruption, you know that.." He shrugged and rolled his shoulders. "It's a Friday, we made that reason enough." He turned his head to look at Dinah. "Do you two need some alone time? or ...is me being here making it tolerable for you both?" He looked between them. Might as well point out the obvious. Whatever they had between them was their business, and he was good with both he and her - he should not feel the awkwardness. He brushed it aside, "Niles - How have you been? I was just speaking of you..I need a night out, something you can facilitate."
Dinah burrowed her head down into pel's fur, eyes narrowing a touch, before she glanced at what was left on the table. The steak plate rattled a little, as if she were contemplating launching it at his head. She remained silent, petulant and soured, the hand that wasn't petting the pomeranian reaching to pick up her glass and drain it.
"No, never an interruption when one deigns to grace us with his company, is it?" she said silkily, glancing towards her brother. "No, darling. it's fine" she said with a faint smile. "he's just been fucking the help. again." she rubbed her fingertips between the pom's ears.
Niles Roesler let out a little sigh at the tension in the room. He eased his lanky self down to a seat on the floor and adjusted the glasses on his face despite not needing them to see. "I'm sure interruption is a ah... generous term, considering our dear Dinah's current mood," he replied with a tilt of his head and a glance at the youngest Windgrace. Tickled by the distaste between the two the yippy little dog in Dinah's arms growled as ferociously as a fluff of cotton fur could. "I'd be more than happy to arrange a night out. Early fall comes with a whole slew of shifts in the air, something best enjoyed when out among the crowds."
The vampire glanced over as the plate rattled on the table. "Animals are bothered by major shifts in routine, Liebchen. Keeping them pacified and malleable keeps them servile," he reasoned. "Not all of us have the foresight or expertise with pacts and hermetics to bind people quite like you've managed."
Drystan Windgrace flicked his attention from his sister to Niles and back again, like watching tennis, but faaaaar more interesting, at least he thought. He gave Niles a smile as he sat down, and reached over, patting his knee. "Oh, no.. I need something like... having someone on hand that is disposable and that no one will miss... that sort of night out. It's been a bit too long." He had no words about fucking the help. He was guilty of the same often enough. So he kept his thoughts quiet as well as his mouth, instead leaning back over the table and pick up the razor, pulling lines out of the mountain. Eventually he moved to using his claws, again playing with the powder and making designs out of it. Some lines formed on their own, and connected to what he was pushing around, and others formed and swirled in other directions, drawing themselves out closer to his sister. "We'll get it settled, but ...maybe some mixing and people watching could be good as a first course." He mumbled a bit, so as to not disturb the powder.
Finally he leaned back and cleared his throat again, before reaching for his drink, glugging a few chokes back.
Dinah rubbed Pels' ears again, looking down towards the fluff. her eyes narrowed a little.
"Ah, so not just the help now, but the beasts, too" she arched a brow "*some of us* don't need to fuck the help to keep them in line, Niles. Some of them just keep staff around that know full well that if they dont do what I want, when I want it, i'll pull their fucking nerves out of their skin and crochet them a new sweater with them still attached" she lifted her glass. "How fortuitous it is that yours respond so nicely with you just fucking them. it must save so much time, and isnt a beneficial arrangement for you at all" she smiled sweetly, leaning in closer to take the offered pattern with a toss of her golden hair at her brother, reaching for the bourbon again to top up the glasses
Niles Roesler hummed. "For you, Drystan... well there's no better way to find your mark than getting to know the crowd. I'm sure though that someone could easily be plucked up for you though. Thirst is easy, as are its customers. And gods know the staff at La Lune keep a close enough eye on the people that come through."He wrinkled his nose at Dinah's continued protests. "Not all of the help can produce gold and gemstones on a whim, can they?" he replied. There was no bitterness in his tone, the voice even and amicable despite the sharpness in Dinah's own speech. "Would it help if you could pull some nerves out to crochet a sweater, Liebchen? It seems the both of you could use an evening to let loose some pent-up tension." He raised a hand, waving it in the vague direction of the city.
Drystan Windgrace mimicked Niles hand movement towards the city, "Thank you, I will look forward to whatever we can cook up, so to speak." He nodded to Dinah in thanks for the refill, and took a sip from it. "Ah, ...my tensions are my own, but ... I can't see how it would hurt anything to have a nice night out. You could get some content out of it dearest." He waggled his hand in her direction before picking up the rolled bill and then making the design disappear, the drug finally making his heart to pump faster and the top of his head seem light. The numbness came and went pretty quickly, but that was what the bourbon was for. He wrinkled his brow and looked over to Niles, "I'm so sorry, would you care for a drink?" He reached over to an empty wine glass, then stroked his thumb against the razor that was laying on the table, fresh blood squirming and working its way into the glass to fill it halfway, before he held it out towards him. "My manners are a bit off it seems." He looked over at Dinah, and sighed, tucking his
mouth to one side. "Thankfully, we have a quite loyal staff on board, and if they are disloyal, they no longer exist. The most trouble comes from the acolytes to be fair. the ones that we actually pay seem to be quite content. " Gods help him, he was trying to stay neutral.
Dinah arched her brow at Nile's words "are we really so hard up for cash that you need to stoop to animals, niles?" she leaned back against the armchair. "No. no it would not help, niles." she said flatly. "the only pent up tension is because my husband is banging the menagerie"
She made a begrudging noise when Drystan mentioned that a night out would be good content. that much was true, though it made her sullen to admit it in the little nod, and she huffed a breath.
"Because our staff knows better." she agreed in a mutter, tilting her glass this way and that.
Niles Roesler took the glass that Drystan offered with a dip of his head and a lift of a toast. He didn't drink though, not with all of the Dinah-distaste thick in the air. "No need to apologize at all, at least on your part," he said with a sorry little sigh. "We are not hard up, Dinah which means you could have any trinket in the world at your request. But what you deserve is something so unique it doesn't yet exist. One Qilin is hardly a menagerie. What it IS is a creature that can create for you something the rest of the world cannot." The doctor sighed again, swirling the glass of blood Drystan had given him. It climbed the inner curves of the glass before settling again, still untouched for the time being.
Drystan Windgrace pulled one last cigarette from her pack and lit it, blowing the smoke upwards into a haze above the trio. "And you wonder why I've never married, hm?" He blew Dinah a little kiss after taking another drag. "I fear I am no help for the issue at hand, and I know better than to pick a side, so I'll take my own side, I suppose." He looked at the smoke and then tapped the ashes carefully into the ashtray. After that, he turned away from the pile on the table and just held his glass, sipping now and then. "My side has nothing to add that would help anyone other than myself. Sorry, bit selfish...I want you both in higher spirits and past these things that are so very temporary." He took a long thoughtful drag and made little o's into the air before blowing the rest through the phantoms floating in the air.
Dinah ran her fingers through the white fluff against her chest "of course. this is just because of what I deserve, of course. how silly of me" she tilted her silvery gaze to Drystan, giving a little huff and standing, a little wobbly on her feet, but keeping Pel clutched to her.
"at least the staff you fuck dont bleat, drystan" she stepped up onto the armchair and then over the back of it, stalking towards her room.
Niles Roesler chuckled at both siblings. "No? Could you never imagine someone so obsessed with the whole of you that they would lay such claim to you body and soul?" he countered, nodding at Dinah. "I don't think I could marry a woman less jealous. It's intoxicating," he said, loudly enough that Dinah could be sure to hear. It elicited another growl from the Pomeranian that only made the vampire's smile widen. "Temporary they will be," he said in quieter tones. "I'll sort it out soon enough. It's certainly not the first time I've angered her and I'm sure it won't be the last. I'm a trying man to be married to, Drystan." He raised his glass to the man again, again not yet taking a sip.
Dinah lifted her hand without the pom in it, flicking her middle finger at the vampire over her shoulder. The steak plate rattled.. but it was one of the glass lampshades from the sconces by the door that flew off at his back as she slammed the door behind her.
Drystan Windgrace had watched his sister climb the chair and huff off towards her room, his mouth left open at her bleating remark, and he blinked at she turned to look at Niles when he dropped his voice, and had sort of leaned in to listen, but still had his jaw hung agog as Dinah paused and flipped Niles off, and the lampshade went sailing at his back. He watched in a weird slow motion as it happened, and he knew he could reach out and probably grab it, or stop it somehow, but fuck THAT. He was not going to piss her off, he'd have to take the hit. Instead he pulled his arm up to shield his face. "Fucking hells Dinah!" But the door was shut, and so was any and all communicating with her. She had sealed herself in quite nicely.
Niles Roesler had grown proficient enough with his own psychic abilities, both mental and physical manifestations thereof to catch the thing but he didn't bother. It collided with his back and shattered, the force of it jolting him forward a little but otherwise leaving him no worse for wear. Strictly speaking, he was much more durable as a vampire than his fae counterpart had been. "See? Intoxicating," he said again, smiling and shaking his head.
Veins darkened from his temples to the rest of his face as he focused on the lampshade. The little pieces of glass collected themselves and came together in his hand, some of them poking to break the skin so he could collect them all into a single orb of blood with the glass contained within. "Drystan, the woman has tossed me through her windows. As far as I'm concerned, a tossed sconce may as well be foreplay." Niles tucked the little red orb into a pocket and patted it before finally taking a slow sip of the glass. He shut his eyes, parsing the various flavors of drug and booze cocktail that affected Drystan's blood. "It is a wonder you two haven't attracted more supernaturals with sanguinary habits," he mused. "That is such a wonderful way to imbibe."
Drystan Windgrace dusted off whatever might have been on his arm from the shattering, lifting his brows and tilting his head. "Fair...that is fair. She does have a ...way about her." He scoffed and huffed a little laugh looking over at Niles. "I suppose I never have really told you why that is so...particularly with vampires." He scratched at his cheek and took a drink. "You're the only vampire I would ever mingle with these days, I've not got a high opinion of them. I've only encountered one other being that I allowed to feast off me, but they knew when to stop." He shook his head. "I suppose that little shitbag Pel counts as one as well, but I don't like it, no sir, I do not." He waved his hand in the air. "I got tangled up with a nest of bitey ones, they were useful for a while but they got greedy. I was in a bit of a pickle...took me quite a while to get myself out of that, and their clutches. No one can just sample, they have to take take take!" he said about no one in particular. "I love to give, to have it taken, but there is a point where you take pause, you know?" He shook his head and made a soured face as he talked, then took a big drink out of his own glass.
((I totally missed Niles response here, but he speaks on how that nest is likely burned out by now due to their behavior))
Drystan Windgrace smirked and shook his head a bit. "Oh Niles, I know so. I made sure of it." He smiled at him, nodding. "I've learned my lesson, I'm much more, ..selective these days." He lifted his glass and drank off the last of it, and set his glass down on the table as well. "Though I must say I do enjoy when you lose your restraint, quite a bit of fun." He chuckled as he twisted himself around and got to his feet, wavering in place for a moment before finding gravity, and shook his hair from his face. "Probably best to be out of her inner sanctum when she's in a mood.. You're welcome to join me though, the night is young...not that I've anywhere to go. Just a different floor. That's a good start."
Niles Roesler raised a toast to that. "I shouldn't have expected any less," he said. His glass was not yet empty but he set it down on the table regardless, another act of brief telekinesis so his hands were free for his own sit-to-stand. "Part of overcoming one's hungers is being vividly aware that they exist. I don't deny them. I just ensure when they're fully brought to bear that their intended ah... prey, has come of their own accord." His eyes lingered on the door to Dinah's bedroom before he turned and nodded. "We should give her her space, yes. Though she'll need to come out of hiding eventually." He gestured toward the elevator. "After you."
Drystan Windgrace looked over at her door. "She will. She just needs some time." He sighed lightly and looked over at him and smirked a little. "That much is true, hence my request for your help in a fun night out, that I can ...end in a matter I see fitting for my particular needs." He smiled and nodded at him, letting it crinkle at the corners of his eyes, "Why thank you." He made his way over to the door and opened it, seeing himself through and when he got to the elevator he pushed the keypad to call for the car.
Drystan Windgrace stepped into the car and turned, waiting for Niles to enter as well before punching the pad that would take them up to the penthouse office. He leaned back, resting his back against the metal of the elevator. "I don't think I want the eyes that are at La Lune to be on me, Thirsty is probably more the feeling. Plus, it grants the ease of finding someone suitable to play with and use and then dispose of easily enough." He motioned with his hand as he spoke and the car silently pulled them skywards
Niles Roesler let out a laugh. "La Lune's eyes are mine and Dinah's, technically. Regardless of your sister's feelings about my choices in staff, they are loyal and discreet," he assured the man. "It would be just as easy as Thirst I'm sure but less directly under my power. As far as I am aware, the owner of that establishment would be just as likely to turn a blind eye to whatever goes on." As the car moved upwards Niles rotated his neck and rolled his shoulders, shaking off the last remnants of ache from being hit with one of the bits of decor.
Drystan Windgrace laughed with him and shook his head, "Okay yes, you're right. I'm just...I'm so much more used to just hunting someone down on my own, but these days there are cameras everywhere, and it's just a bit less...not messy, cause it is, but as untangled as possible. Less of a headache and just far more fun that way." He reached over and dusted off his shoulder, though there wasn't anything really there but hints of the shattering. The elevator came to a stop and the doors yawned open in front of them and emptied into the office. He turned and headed out, stepping in towards the comfortable seats in the middle. "Anything I can get for you? Or, maybe for myself, for you to enjoy through my filter?" He popped a brow up at him as he looked back over his shoulder, grinning at him. His hand waved and the coffee table revealed itself to be covered in all sorts of jars and boxes of trinkets and herbs, it looked like he had been tinkering with something at some point prior and just covered it with a simple masking
spell, just in case.
Niles Roesler raised both hands as he stepped out of the elevator. "The information age," he said with a shake of his head. "Eyes and ears projecting to screens in the hands of the masses. It's a wonder any secrets exist at all," he marveled. Following Drystan to the seating he perched himself on the arm of one of them and hummed. "I'll have to refrain from anything too intoxicating beyond the sip I've had, unfortunately," he said and tapped at his temple. "In case one of the many fighting over your sister's soul decides to take advantage of her mood."
He did however meet Drystan's grin with a sly smile of his own. "Was someone looking forward to being fed upon this evening?" he teased, his eyes not wavering from the man as he revealed the true nature of his coffee table. "And so quickly after that show of your sister's jealousy. Tsk, tsk." Stepping from the seating he approached Drystan and put a hand on his shoulder. "I think even this office is too near and dear to risk something like that. But if you really want to bleed for the evening, perhaps we can head to town and you can see for yourself which establishment you'd rather choose for your hunting grounds."