EXT to INT - Windgrace Manor; afternoon
Dorian was by the door waiting for Blake to arrive, having invited his friend to his home, for once. Outside, smoking a cigarette... or something... he'd linger by the door in anticipation of his raven-haired friend's arrival. He'd gotten the staff too arrange some snacks, he'd already done his morning ride and bathed after, and all he had to to now was play good host and have a good time.
Music was drifting through the windows, some blues recording from the New Orleans city state or nearby delta.
Blake Jermyn bounded and scrambled up the way to the Windgrace manor with all the exuberance and gracelessness of a puppy recovering from a vet trip, his homemade mechanical legs clanking, clattering, and losing small parts the whole way. "Buddy!" he called out with an eager wave at the sight of Dorian, quickly reaching down to reattach a toe, "hiiii! How you doin', man? Been meaning to catch up to ya, haven't seen ya since, well, y'know." He imagined the duel must still be a sore subject for the poor guy, but that was precisely what he'd been wishing to both pick his brain and show support about.
Hunter was in customary bunny-guise when he hopped up to the front door, drawn by the commotion and the sounds of music from inside. Today the blues sounded almost jovial, leading the little Eldritch squiddle to believe that perhaps there was cause for celebration. He hopped up onto the porch behind Blake's mechanical feet, peering at them curiously with two bunny eyes plus a couple more that sprouted from his ear-tips to get the best look at some technology that he'd had in a while. "I remember this friend," came the voice from the bun, followed by a giggle and a little tilt of his black-furred head. "With the bananas. In the banana. Big bananas." He hopped over to behind Dorian and mooshed at his own cheeks, stretching them outward. "I could eat bananas now. Do you have bananas, friend?"
Dorian was gladdened enough to see Blake that he stanched the opium/tobacco mixture under a bootheel then quickly raised that hand to wave. He'd call to the foreigner he presumed to be from New South Wales as he called it, "Come, friend, and be welcome, I am... better than anyone stupid as I am has reason to be. It is very good to see you. Heartening, I would say." While he'd held out an arm to greet Blake with a handshake, Hunter made himself known, and in fact spoke. Dorian was certain that Blake would remember the entity from banana time, and even more certain of that when the bunny spoke. "Blake, meet Hunter, Hunter, meet Blake. Hunter is a friend of my sister's and mine, I should say, who has been staying with us." Was all of the exposition he seemed ready to give as he gestured to the door, then went to hold it open for the pair of them. "We are having tea, there should be enough for all three of us, I think." As promised upon crossing the threshold there'd be those things upon the table by the couch as well as tea service and a barcart worth of anything anyone might want to drink or smoke. No one in this house was sweating carcinogens or concerned about toxicity given their regenerative capabilities.
Blake Jermyn grinned at the sight of the little black bunny hopping up the steps, bending down to reach out a hand as the toe popped right back off again from the sudden motion. "Hey lil buddy, I remember yo-... Holy shit you can TALK." Blake's jaw dropped as his pale blue eyes went wide, staring at the tiny rabbit in a whole new light. "That's so COOL!" he squealed in delight as Dorian introduced the little bunny properly, "great to meet ya Hunter, I'm Blake, Dorian and I go way back, he's fuckin' great. And you're not that stupid," he shot right back at Dorian, rolling his eyes, "they say that about everyone who's bad at school, but you got some pretty good ideas in that head of yours."
As soon as he was through the door, Blake immediately made for the bar cart, reaching for the tobacco and-... "Holy shit is that WEED," he gasped, staring in just as much awe as he had when he'd beheld a talking animal for the first time, "I haven't seen this shit in.. I don't even KNOW how long..."
Hunter followed the pair readily into the house but he was fasts on Blake's metallic heels, little nose twitching as he sniffed and sniffed. There was something familiar to the brunette's scent that had been mostly obscured by banana the last time he saw him. "Can talk. English though... silly speak. Lots of .... differences." There were some snorts, perhaps of derision before he hopped up onto the bar to peer at what Blake was going on about. "...plants in the greenhouse. Smell like this, taste like... stale socks. But they make you feel fun." He'd probably previously been told not to ingest all of Drystan's marijuana so.... he did not partake, simply flopping in a semi-dejected sploot as he waited for the pair to get settled. "Should I pretend human, Dorian?" he asked followed quickly by, "...where is Blake from?"
Dorian could only laugh as Blake took the thing in stride like a man with two legs he was sure of. Not many people introduced to talking rabbits could do that, but it seemed his friend was at peace in Callistani Wonderland as he was. And when his one black haired friend was inside extolling on a weed followed soon after by another, he'd laugh again. "Gods be good," he'd exclaim when words were available and then he'd tell Blake, "It is cannabis, and quite nice. Though I prefer the opium, it's in that box there, the gummy stuff?" He pointed out a container, but being a good host he'd answer also, "Be not afraid, Blake for what may transpire in Hunter's company. He is... well..."
He'd move to start packing a plate with little sandwiches, dressed scones tarts and macarons to carry over while turning Hunter's way, "Please, show him, he is a friend of mine. Like you are. Blake is from New South Wales, I think, Hunter, from the strange way he speaks. It was a colony aforetime. But now... well... it is not."
"Begging your pardon, Blake, but you do have rather a distinct parlance." He'd set the laden plate in front of wherever Hunter had parked himself, thinking it was safer to mete out the guy's intake of berry jam and clotted cream and dainties, given he did not know as well as Dinah did what was best for the not-quite-bunny.
Blake Jermyn nodded as Hunter went on. "Yeah, it must be pretty damn different from... What language do rabbits speak, anyway?" His head cocked, curious if this was something all rabbits could do and Hunter was just the first to master the English tongue, before immediately getting distracted by the weed again. "Oh FUCK yes..." Proceeding to roll up the biggest, fattest joint he could, he looked to Dorian right as he fished his zippo out of his pocket. "...Can we smoke in here?"
"This stuff is AWESOME," he went on to Hunter, "best cure for whatever ails ya... Hell of a time finding it here, though. Everyone else usually goes for the coke or the opium or the laudanum or whatever, but the side effects on those mess me up, this shit though? No side effects 'cept for gettin' hungry." He laughed, twirling the joint in his fingers as the question of where he was actually from came up. "Oh, New Amsterdam, actually. One've them new world colonies that turned into its own thing like New South Wales, but they talk, well, they talk like this, and it's up north so it's colder." Not exactly true, but close enough to his favourite city.
"So anyway," he went on, grabbing a whipped-cream covered tart and immediately getting his face all kinds of messy, "Hunter's pretty great, but he good at knowing, y'know, *when* to talk? Because some of the shit I wanted to talk about, probably shouldn't get out much..." He gulped, that bright, sparkling expression dimming just a bit.
Blake Jermyn burst into mystified laughter as Hunter transformed, shaking his head in awe. "Oh, you're a WIZARD! Of course, duh. Must be cool to be able to turn into a rabbit.... Or a human, I guess." Whatever Hunter was, he certainly didn't seem to be human. But hey, at this point, that hardly mattered to him. What mattered was if he was cool or not, and thus far, he was passing the test with flying colours. "Yeah," he explained as he got the go-ahead to spark up, "I made this myself. Used to have 'em back in, New Amsterdam, and I missed having 'em around here, so I made one that's kinda like that, except I put an aether core attuned to fire magic in where the old kind had just like, some kinda liquid that caught on fire easy, see?" He opened the little lighter up, eager to show off his creation.
But the way Hunter was talking, it seemed he knew exactly where zippos really came from.
Taking a deep drag from the joint at last, he exhaled slowly, watched the smoke whirl and eddy on the open window's breeze. "Fuuuuuuuck it's been too long... But, uh, yeah, anyway. If you say Hunter's good for it, I trust ya. But the things I wanted to bring up, kinda stuff that even the rest of the fam can't quite know about, ya dig?" His eyes flicked around the manor as he admitted to this, seeking out comings and goings, listening hard for footsteps, counting every exit in the room.
Hunter squinted at the array of treats before stuffing a sandwich whole into his mouth, chewing happily and swallowing with nary a worry about choking. "Mmmmdatura. Datura is favorite," he mentioned as he went to peer at the offerings of that sort. But the GOOD stuff was not typically set out for social occasions, and Hunter flopped back into a chair with a huff. "But ... eating the plant doesn't do it. Has to be ... the way Dinah makes it." He folded over the arms of the armchair he occupied without respect for physics or the normal range of motion of human joints. "Am from other places. Yarr... agll ph'nglui yar. Curves, lines, angles of time. They ran through here, and through Blake's New Amsterdam," he said with a nod as if any of that made sense. Hunter heaved a little sigh. Keeping secrets from the -rest- of the family meant keeping secrets from Dinah and that simply wasn't something he did. So without hesitation his ears disappeared, smoothing over and rendering him more or less deaf to the conversation as he started plucking off and devouring sandwiches.
Dorian nodded, but assured Blake of the truth, "There is always someone abroad here, let me..." He'd come to sit close bringing a bottle with him along with that rocks glass with chipped ice, having no problem with plopping himself down upon the carpet. "There. Has something transpired, friend? Hunter is safe, I trust him like I trust Ser Bounce or mine own hand. He is, well as you see him." Dorian kept no secrets from Dinah either but they were one person in two bodies. Perhaps three, the way the other blond in the room looked, and the guy's voice could bound around his golden noggin. "See, angles, curves, lines, I think he does not mean us the least bit of harm nor subterfuge."
Blake Jermyn once again stared dumbfounded at Hunter as he so casually admitted to getting high as fuck off datura. "Dude, you do the REAL shit, holy fuck... I once knew a guy who took that and he tripped balls for *three whole days*..." The more Hunter spoke, the more Blake was in awe of him. "So, wait, you're from like... Out of spacetime? So you knew-... ah fuck, his ears are gone." Blake sighed. "Oh well, mad props to the guy for knowing how to keep shit from leaking, at least..."
"Anyway, yeah, shit's always transpirin' as you put it, but... I wanted to talk to you about that duel. First off, I don't think it's fair that you caught as much shit for it as ya did. Yeah, you let him get to you, but fuckin', anyone would with the amount of shit that motherfucker pulls, and honestly I'm just impressed you held it together as long and as much as you did. If it were me in your shoes that day? I woulda killed him." He spoke the words shockingly casually, but there was a hardness now, in the set of his face, in the cast of his eyes. "I woulda killed him stone. Cold. Dead."
"But the other thing is," he went on, voice quiet but fervent, leaning in, holding Dorian's gaze in his own, "you remember what you told me? When you first told me you'd set that whole thing up? That the goal there was to *gather intel.* And you know what? you did that with flyin' fuckin' colours, my man. Let's look at what we know: We know now that a direct attack is probably gonna result in more mind games just like he pulled on you before. If we're gonna do this, we gotta do it *quiet.* We gotta do it *subtle.* We gotta play his game and win, right up until the last second when we *really* pop off. We also know more about what actually hurts him, like that sword of yours. You don't, by any chance know what it was made of, do you?"
Hunter took two sandwiches and seemed to... absorb them into the mess of tentacles that were currently acting as his hands. They ate up the deliciousness and put a hum of satisfaction on the Eldritch being's face. He shut his eyes for a moment and seemed to be digesting, gurgling and grinding noises sounding from his arms and from his abdomen at once. He certainly didn't seem to hear them, nor did he seem to notice when he accidentally snagged one of the ashtrays instead of a sandwich and eat -that- instead.
Dorian was used to not understanding some of what many people said. So it was not so difficult with Hunter. In that was his long being counted a dullard helped him because he screened information with a blunt sieve. He was long accustomed to answering only what he knew and though that had amounted to a great deal over some centuries he did not think much of what was riven into his brain matter. Something had to make him humble, as his form certainly did not do so, not his ability to use it lethally, ludically, or lovingly. Dorian listened to Blake and buried his face in his cup as he was given encouragement for his behaviour, for once. It touched his cheeks and ears with pink to hear it. And that meant he probably could not even speak to what the sentiment meant to him. He just watched his lounging pal with a wide smile and silence for a long few heartbeats. A smile that faded quickly as the rest was spoken.
Dorian reached a ring-bedecked hand to wring his curls in frustration and explained, somberly, as he did, "I know. I know I.... Blake, as surely as you know that I am not altogether normal... You know he is not. And though it was not my sword, it was made of something that surely seemed to harm him greatly, did it not? Roesler is Sidhe. One of the fae folk. And no one does well to cross them, everyone in my family keeps telling me." Dorian had buried the lead because even outing that much about Niles made him feel a bit uneasy, there was nothing to be gained from blowing the cover of the veil between the mundane and everything else. Or little, when the covenant he'd been taught, told him otherwise. Secrecy was important, just as Blake himself had averred.
Blake Jermyn stared in awe at Hunter once again, at that... Interesting, way of eating he had. "Damn, he's cool... You've got such a cool family," Blake sighed, his tone turning just a bit wistful, just a bit longing. "Way he laughs kinda sounds like my old man... Fuck, I miss that laugh, even hearing it from someone who ain't him, makes my heart skip a beat..." A heavy sigh, the laughter dying in Blake's own throat.
However, he brightened as it seemed Dorian was taking what he'd said to heart. Good. "Honestly, I kinda think what you did up there was heroic, even if no one else does. Hell, ESPECIALLY if no one else does... Oftentimes, the real heroes in this world are the ones that everyone calls the bad ones, the problem kids, the black sheep... Usually it's because they're the only ones with the brass balls to stand up to people like him, people like... Others, I knew in my life. The real bad apples, they'll wind everyone around their little finger, just like Roesler did to the rest of your family, and then turn everyone against whoever's brave enough to stand up to 'em, hope they can eventually bully 'em into silence by keeping 'em from having any friends or loved ones at all. But it don't make what we do any less heroic, ok? Even if everyone else is callin' you a bad guy, you know, and I know, and if we ever succeed in taking him out, then even if they don't know it, everyone else gonna be grateful he's not messing with 'em from that point forward. Just, keep that in mind, for when the going gets rough."
Another sigh as Dorian spoke in hushed, cautious tones of his true nature. "Yeah. Yeah I kinda gathered that... But y'know what? They told me not to get too close to 'em either, said that was just as dangerous. But I did it anyway, and for a little while there, Mr. B was one've the best damn things that ever happened to me, 'least until Roesler got him, too. Sure, maybe it's bold, maybe it's even a little stupid. But... You miss all the shots you don't take. So maybe it's a bad idea, but I gotta keep tryin', even if it gets me into trouble, just in case I still succeed." The more he spoke the more his eyes lit with the fire of cold conviction, pure determination. "But anyway, yeah. It's metal. Some kind of metal. Taken to keeping a bunch of different kinds of screws and bolts on me, 'cuz ONE of 'em's gonna work if he catches me off guard." A wicked little smile spread across his face at that.
Hunter made an awful lot of crunchy noises as he digested that ashtray. It left a foul taste in his mouth and a not so happy feeling in his insides though, she he scrunched his face up and sat up, looking from Blake to Dorian. He waved a tentacle at his ears as if to motion he still hadn't overheard before making his way to the fireplace and stretching himself over the front barrier, proceeding to cough up a cloud of ash and undigested cigarette butts. At least he had a vague idea of where burned remnants went. After he'd cleared the grit from his throat he flopped back onto the carpet, cackling to himself as if thoroughly amused by the ordeal.
Dorian chugged down the rest of his beverage while Blake went on, looking straight-faced at him making no effort to hide the rage that Roesler yet could stoke given enough thought. He'd be poised to reply, but then Hunter was having a little trouble. Dorian topped off his glass and offered the bottle to Hunter, "Have a sip? Has Dinah given you any scotch yet? She hates it, so I doubt it."
Whether or not it was taken, the native to this plane Windgrace-face would remark, "He is wonderful, if that is what you mean by cool? Ahm.... iron. It's that simple. And I think we do bide our time, truly. And thank you, my friend. I appreciate your regard over the affair. No one has made a villain of me, but, I was rather beastly, was I not? Rules of engagement and all... No matter. Are you faring well, by the by, it looks like you almost have the hang of your new legs. Hunter, have you seen his legs?"
Blake Jermyn coughed alongside Hunter as he spat into the fireplace, staring at him with blatant concern. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew a tiny, portable fold-out chalkboard, and a nubby piece of chalk. Quickly, he scrawled *You good, buddy?* on it, though when he held it up to Hunter to read, this wasn't the only message there. Far in the upper left corner of the chalkboard was a message Blake couldn't yet bring himself to erase, a message written in a hand Hunter might recognize. *Yer too fuckin sweet,* it read.
"Yeah, cool's another way of saying, awesome, great, fantastic, wonderful," Blake clarified for poor Dorian's sake, polluting his vocabulary further, "but, iron is it? Good to know, my man. I'll swap all of these out for the iron screws, know that I'll hit 'em where it hurts when the time comes." A flash of wickedness in his smile, which swiftly melted away again as he held Dorian in an earnest gaze. "I mean it, though. Beastly, that's exactly it. He's the one playing all these, complex mind games, so when you react to injustice like anyone ought to, you're the one they call beastly, or whatever else. Happens every time, like fuckin' clockwork," he spat, gaze turning dark and cloudy as it shifted to the fire. "Why the only thing you can *really* do is kill 'em quick and quiet, and make it look like an accident..." This last part was spoken hardly above a breathless whisper.
"But anyway, yeah, made these bad boys myself," he said, shifting in a flash as Dorian called Hunter over to look at his legs, his bright sunny smile instantly back in place again as if it had never vanished, as if he'd never thought anything that wasn't happy in his life before, even if the very moment before showed that to be false. "Needed a new set ever since my knees grew back in, so, y'know, anything worth doing's worth doing yourself."
Hunter had mostly caught his breath by the time Dorian offered the bottle. He blinked at it anyway, nodding and taking a long swig - only to start coughing and sputtering again as he clearly hadn't expected it to burn, or taste quite like that. Clearly, Dinah had not given him scotch. And his memories of alcohol were vastly distant. He still nodded and BELCHED and tapped his lips. Dinah HAD taught him manners at least, so he spoke a too-loud "EXCUSE ME" on account of not being able to hear before handing the bottle back to Dorian and squinting at the chalkboard.
The two silver eyes were on Blake's message but all the others that sprawled up and down Hunter's arms PINNED to the tiny scrawl in the corner. Pupils dilated in mismatched paces until all eyes were very nearly black and Hunter was leaping to his feet and then leaping onto BLAKE. He was quite suddenly and quite invasively sniffing him, nose to skin, over his hair and his face and his neck and his torso, trying to catch even a hint of a more familiar scent - and considering Blake's parentage, it was likely he picked it up even through the marijuana. The Sight helped. The fact that he saw, back and forth and present and beyond, and through the contact so did Blake.
And Hunter was -screeching-, his ears coming back out of his head with little POPs. The squiddle was happy and giddy and excited as he shook Blake by the shoulders and proclaimed, "He knows! He knows! He is - " he sputtered out then turned to Dorian. " - of the gnaiih. Gnaiih yar. Part of him. Part of *FATHER*. Do you understand, Dorian?"
Dorian shot up to his feet and pointed at Blake's knees, wide eyed, almost accusingly. It was a strange thing because at the same moment so too had Hunter pounced. Dorian thought it might be because of him that Hunter pounced him, but he also spoke in a voice too loud, "BLIMEY, YOU HAVE KNEES! It's alright Hunter, I just.... he grew his legs back, like you can, you know have many arms or none, normally we cannot but look!"
He probably should have moved to pull Hunter off of Blake better, but he was a bit awestruck for that.
Blake Jermyn couldn't help a little giggle as Hunter let out an absolutely IMPRESSIVE burp, golfclapping along even if Hunter couldn't hear. However, all sound vanished in a puff of breath as Hunter bounded straight onto his abdomen, eyes going wide as he coughed and wheezed for breath, both from the wind knocking out of him and from the sheer shock of what had just occurred.
As soon as he managed to draw in breath again, he managed in a squeaking, cracking tone that was nowhere near the shocked shout it should have been, "I have a fucking BROTHER?!" He blinked at Dorian's amazement, reflecting his own for a moment, before once again he managed to wheeze "forget KNEES, I have a BROTHER!" One hand raised to gesture wildly at Hunter, as if he could somehow point out the completely nonexistent family resemblance, what with Blake looking like himself, and Hunter looking half eldritch abomination and half Windgrace.
Dinah seemed to just *know* when the squiddle was screeching. Unfurling herself out of midair like a scattering of roaches, Dinah was holding a tarot card in her fingers as if that would explain where she was just suddenly *there*.
She didn't seem to notice the commotion, instead bee-lining straight for the kitchen, but... when Blake said he had a brother, she paused, looking between the men with a quizzical expression
Hunter did not so much scoot as skitter on odd movements of his not-legs until he was sitting at one end of the couch and could peer down at Blake's knees. Black squiddle tendrils poked at them, driven by Dorian's amazement, inspecting the joints before Hunter nodded and nodded. "Has KNEES," he repeated and hopped to his feet, patting his own. "KNEES." And then patting Dorian's. "KNEES!" Perhaps he had taken in some of the cloud of weed and gotten something of a contact high from Blake, but for Hunter: a unique brand of excited. The tendrils practically vibrated with enthusiasm. And when Dinah appeared with an unceremonious flutter he turned his silvery eyes toward her and pointed, wriggling appendages poking in the air in Dorian's direction and in Blake's and at himself. "Brother, brother," he chimed in as if that made any kind of sense.
Dorian was pointing at the knees yet and looking between the pair of them, clearly at a few losses of comprehension. Which he admitted, "I do not think I understand, Hunter, no... no... hn? What do you mean... Father, surely your father is.... not from New Amsterdam.... right?"
Then Dinah was there and she looked puzzled too and in grand English fashion he'd suggest to his sister, "Tea service is on the sideboard there and we have not even eaten all of the tarts." Affecting normalcy and calm were how one carried on in the Greatness of Britain. And Dinah was going to end up playing life-ring to her twin who drifted her way to get his kiss.
Blake Jermyn jolted as there was one more person in the room, one that he never once heard enter the room. For a moment all he saw from the corner of his eyes was the vague figure of a woman with dark, dark hair and pale, pale skin, and he froze as his heart skipped a beat, clutching to Hunter with a white-knuckled grip. But then he blinked, eyes focusing on her, and saw that it was only Dinah, Dinah with a brand new dye job. "H-hey Dinah," he said with a shaky smile, a faintly wavering wave, "nice hair..."
A slightly awkward, sheepish glance was then shifted from Dinah, to Hunter, to Dorian in turn. "So uh... It's... Reeeeeally fuckin' complicated. I can explain but like... Don't tell anyone, ok?" His face was getting redder and redder as he spoke. "If anyone will be able to understand, it's you guys..." Deep breath. Here goes.
"Soooo, uhhhh... My old man? The one I told ya about? He's... *actually* my old man," Blake finally admitted, red as a beet, not quite able to look anyone in the eye. "As in, my father. But before you say ANYTHING, we didn't know when we met, ok? We got separated, when I was too little to remember anythin'. By the time we found out it was kinda... Too late, we both loved each other to death so we thought, maybe we just don't tell anyone, maybe we just count our lucky stars that I didn't take after him in looks and just, play it off like we're two regular guys who like each other a whole lot. But anyway, all that aside, he kinda, has a weird relationship with time, and apparently he had another kid in the future or somethin'? I dunno, shit's weird as fuck but if what Hunter here is, beaming into my head with psychic visions is correct, we're definitely brothers and I definitely need to smoke a WHOLE lot more of this weed." He'd been taking occasional hits from the joint the entire time they'd been speaking, but now he smoked it down to its very end.
Dinah chuckled softly in her throat at Dorian's' approach and she pressed a kiss to his cheek, resting a hand against his arm. "I'm proud of you darling" she praised at his words that he hadn't, in fact, eaten all the tarts yet. "...and the drugs seem to have been quite the hit?" she gave Blake a smile, though she tilted her head in contemplation as Blake explained. Silvery eyes ticked between him and Hunter, and she drifted away from Dorian's arm towards the two.
"If you *are* of elder blood, I ought to be ashamed of myself for not seeing it before now. Come, dear boy, let me look at you" she opened her hands towards Blake. "let me See you properly." she hummed, but she looked towards Hunter too.
"If there is truth to it, though, more proof to what I said though, don't you think darling? This island... this island is *fated* i am certain" She gave Blake a flat look "...I am quite certain that you are not going to get judged for your...old man.... in this house, Blake Jermyn."
Hunter patted his cheeks to try and shake some clarity back into his brain. What Blake was saying was only making marginal amounts of sense to the squiddle, considering he barely understood the concepts of propriety and appropriateness let alone the things that broke them. "Old... old man, he is old. Gnaiih yar... he is from everywhere. But the body. The body -- the body is from... " he tilted his head back and forth and scrunched his nose up. "...when I was made, they summoned him,. Mgepuln orr'e unbound llll bthnk. Unbound by the body. Like black smoke. To take, to fill the bthnknythgof'n they prepared for him. The Blake - I think. I think the Blake... was born a different way. But still. His blood." He huffed out through his nostrils and looked up to the twins. "The body looks like the face. My first face. Before this one. Remember?"
Dorian beamed at Di's kiss and praise and holding her hand upon his arm with his other hand he listened to Blake with an absolute lack of judgment, despite there being a large showing of surprise yet in raised brows. Going to retrieve his glass and the bottle he'd loaned to Hunter when she moved past him to Blake. Then she said what she did to his chum, and he'd grin a big unshaven grin's 3:00 shadow at everyone in the room. He did not have any real idea what was going on with much of what was being said, but he could tell it was family reunion. And he kept quiet, just moving to the kitchen instead with his glass.
When he emerged some moments later, he had in hand a bottle of proper champagne, and was waggling his brows to anyone who'd agree it seemed like time. He'd speak up when he had something to add that was more material than Blimey.
Blake Jermyn offered Dinah a slightly nervous look as she came closer, feeling suddenly far too exposed. "I, uh..." What COULD she see in him? He hadn't the faintest clue, he'd always thought he came across as just, a regular person like anyone else. Had always been so careful to hide what he'd been able to do, thinking he could blend in with the rest of humanity if he'd just kept his head down enough. Luckily, Hunter proved enough of a welcome distraction to the ever-present urge to escape whenever things got complicated like this, to flee sparrow-quick through the open window and into the woods beyond.
"Summoned? Unbound? Yeah, no, in my case it was nothing like that, nothing so cool, sounds like you had a lot better of a time of it," he admitted to Hunter, smiling a bit sadly. "But, uh, yeah. Same guy. Same blood. Same, big ol' gangly ginger with the smile up to here..." He pointed towards his left ear. "Kinda wish I coulda seen that first face, even if ya look plenty good now." He also gave a grateful glance to Dorian as he brought out the champagne, quite agreeing with his silent assessment. "Sorry to like, dump all this weird on ya, man. Didn't think I'd be getting into my fucked up family tree today..."
Dinah followed Hunters' words with a nod even as she studied blake in that unblinking silver stare. She made a noise in her throat, tilting her hand towards Hunter.
"if it is easier, speak your native tongue, hunter darling. I can understand it" she said softly. She hummed again as Hunter explained his 'old' face,
She lifted her hand, playing it in the air akin to plucking at strings of a marionette, focusing on something not quite where Blake sat, but somewhere in the middle of the couch cushion behind him.
"Aha. There you are. I See you." she cooed, lowering her hands and taking a few steps back with a blink. She beamed at Dorian and she smiled, pressing another kiss to his opposite cheek. Today was definitely an alcohol sort of day.
"Weird is to be expected on this island, dear boy. Do have a mind who you are talking to. I am quite sure we can handle your strangeness" she took a few steps backwards once more.
"I can definitely confirm it. there is elder blood in you, Blake. I must confess I am utterly jealous"
Hunter had sidled up behind the couch Blake sat on. He plunked his hands down on Blake's shoulders as a gesture of comfort, the digits that served as fingers seeming to knead at the muscles there as a cat might a blanket or familiar lap. "Ahf' ymg' mgepah uaaah (what was your creation like) Blake?" he asked, taking Dinah up on the chance to speak the tongue most familiar to him. "Ahf' mgepah bthnknythgof'n (who was the womb)?" There was no vision, no psychic transfer this time at the contact - it was brief, a little knead before Hunter was pulling back as Dinah corroborated his proclamation of relation. "Elder. Elder," Hunter ruminated before tilting his head up. "H' ah mgephai ph'nglui yogagl (he is still in the sky)," he said and turned to the twins. "With the doctor. Slumbering. Locked. C' mgsyha'h l' mgepbug h' mgr'luh (we never went to see him)." Hunted put his head in his hands, rubbing furiously. It seemed at first like a gesture of agitation before he began pinching and pulling, adjusting until his features aligned with the face he'd discussed, so he could turn and show it to Blake proudly. "Gnaiih yar."
Dorian would, while he was up, move to turn the record to something more lively. He'd put on one of Dinah's favorite instrumental pieces over the steady strumming and wailing of primitive blues he often favored. Blake was agreeing about the the bubbly so he'd move to get a handful of flutes for everyone, begin handing them around once DInah was done assessing the other raven haired person in the room. He'd wait til then to answer Blake, "My sister forgets that she looks like a devastatingly beautiful maiden, and not the goddess and professor she is. And it is no trouble, none whatever. Quite the opposite. I think I am gladder than ever to have had you over. It is as she said, all of this was meant to be, I think."
He looked at Dinah and stuck the tip of his tongue out at her, and thought at her, <See, my friend is special too>.
He would hand a flute to Hunter last, and he encouraged the now very different looking person to take it Before freeing the cork from the wire and foil that covered it and then thumbing it out with that magnificent pop. A testament to his steady hands was in how it had not bubbled over. Dinah would get the first pour, then Blake, then Hunter, then himself. He was fairly insistent on this turning into a little celebration of the strange set of circumstances that had arisen to make a knot in such a beautiful pattern for him to see this day. "Cheers," also accompanied each pour before he moved to stand beside Dinah again, pouring himself one and setting the bottle down near ginger Hunter in case he really liked the stuff, or so it'd be in Blake's reach as well.
Blake Jermyn couldn't help leaning back a bit as Dinah leaned closer, weaving those strange patterns in the air, staring at him at him *through* him, murmuring softly to, he wasn't even sure what. But then she stepped back again and he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. immediately reaching for the weed again to spark up another smoke. "So, uhhhh..." he began, wanting to know what the prognosis was and not quite sure how to ask. Until Dinah spoke again, and he couldn't help but laugh, waving one hand. "Oh, dude, no no no. You don't want my life, believe me. Even if it does come with, weird magic and cool powers and stuff. You got nothin' to be jealous of, no one should want my life...."
Hunter's hands on Blake's shoulders let loose yet more tension he'd not realized that he was holding in, even as his head cocked at the strange tongue he couldn't hope to understand. "What doctor? Who's slumbering?" he asked, brows knitting together as he couldn't quite follow between the two languages, before Hunter's face began to shift in his hands, and when he released it, there was no doubt left in his mind that he was staring at his own kin. "Fuck-..." Unable to help himself, this time it was Blake launching himself at Hunter, wrapping his arms around the other man and hugging him as tight as he could, tears springing to the corners of his eyes.
But right, the champagne. He blinked off the rush of sentiment as best he could, even as he still kept one arm wrapped around Hunter, and reached for the flute as Dorian handed it to him. "Hah, yeah, guess so... I mean, if I'm gonna tell anyone all of this, you guys are probably my best bet. To, uh, fate, or family, or something like that," he said as he raised the champagne glass for a toast.
Dinah happily translated Hunters' speech, only needing a moment or two to consider each translation before it was spoken in english in the closest approximation. She hummed again at Hunters' words though.
"We were invited to go and see him though. We could always make good on that invitation" she pointed out, though she turned towards Dorian and laughed at the thought he sent her.
"yes, beloved. you found yourself an Elder blood friend too, and you did so without even needing to open any portals. I told you, you are more capable at the Art than you give yourself credit for" she said tenderly as she took the champagne flute from him "thank you, Dori"
She looked back towards Hunter and Blake with a fond smile and she chuckled. "the elder blood is vrey different to mortal blood, dear. Your magic isn't ''weird'. it is the most natural thing in the world... I have my theories that aetherite is the fossilized blood of the old ones, and that is why it is so powerful." she stopped herself, pondering Blake.
"Fate is an odd concept. there ARE things that will be, but the paths to get to them are....muddled and misty. Just ask dear Hunter there how many paths there might be" she idly ran a finger around her glass. "But to family. Always"
Hunter took the glass gratefully from Dorian, grinning widely at him with that shark-toothed grin, so alien now on the face that no longer resembled the twins. The grin fit better on it though, thanks to the angular jaw and the cheekbones and the ridiculous things that were his ears. "Thank you Dorian," he said as he accepted the champagne. It was a good thing he had telekinesis though, or the flute and drink would've shattered on the floor when Blake all but tackled him. He stayed standing, bending a little at the midsection before righting himself - all wriggles and malleable tissue as opposed to the lanky bony limbs he was attempting to portray. "HE slumbers," he explained, the champagne glass and its contents altogether drifting to Hunter's hand, only to get consumed wholly by it, glass and all. "Cheers," Hunter said belatedly, catching Dorian's eye. He did not go for the bottle despite the generous offer though, too distracted by the opportunity to pay the old man a visit. "We visit... will your brother - a
Hunter my.... brother, come too?" he asked, cocking his head. One wriggly arm was wrapped around Blake, pointing a tendril at Dorian.
Dorian: "To family!" Dorian gulped down the champagne in one go. And it was the good stuff, the fruity flavoured real stuff carted over from a war torn continent from a time before this most recent war. Most potables did not last in their bottles so long, and this would not last much longer. "So let me make sure I understand, Blake and Hunter are brothers. You and I, Di, found friends separately, who happened to be brothers? Though... if you think about it, really think about it, Blake came to us... This is...."
He shook his blond head, and trailed off, but managed after a beat or two, "Meant to be. Fantastic? Perfect. I am on the path too, Dinah!" He did not understand about visiting or all of that, but he did understand that Blake and Hunter both had talked about being lonesome for family, and look at them. He got a little misty due to a feeling in his eye, but it did not leak, because he stiffened his upper lip. "Have more, everyone, the stuff is no good after a few minutes."
Blake Jermyn once again fell silent, staring with wide eyes. When he finally found his voice again, it was in a tiny, awed murmur. "You mean... He's alive? My old man's alive? I thought... He couldn't be..." More tears trickled down his face, this time of pure, relieved joy. "Asleep, but alive... Well, he was never much good at sleepin' anyway, maybe he'll get some rest in." A small, sad laugh as he wiped at his eyes, beaming radiant with more hope than he'd felt in months.
A small laugh as Dinah clarified her thoughts on fate. "Yeah, I never put much faith in fate either, Figured my fate was never gonna be good, so anything good in my life was whatever I could grab with my own two hands." A shrug. "But then I stumble into shit like this, like a whole family I never even knew I had, and I think, y'know, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there are good things in life that're actually meant for me. Maybe it's this elder blood that's apparently in my veins. But, yeah, to family. Used to think there wasn't anything to the idea of family, just an excuse to keep ya comin' back to the wrong kinda people, but damn, I've never been happier to get proven wrong." So saying, he nearly downed the whole flute in one gulp, happy to let the buzz of it lift him to even greater heights.
Though when it came to the notion of visiting, his smile flickered a bit, filled with second thoughts. "Uh, that might not be the best idea, ol Doc over there's not exactly, fond of me," he admitted, gaze flickering away from the others, "but... If you do go, will you let me know when so I can give y'all something to bring him? Even if he's asleep,he might enjoy some flowers on his pillow or somethin', I dunno..." He couldn't help a small flicker of smile.
Dinah winced a little as Hunter consumed the whole glass, though she drank a mouthful of her own champagne.
"I am not sure *that* would be advised, darling" she said thoughtfully at hunters suggestion that Dorian and Blake joined them. "At least, not without asking first. It would be terribly rude to visit with unannounced entourage." she pointed out "And the boys are not terribly fond of the Host in question" she turned her smile onto Dorian and she reached her free hand to touch beneath his chin,.
"I told you, dearest heart. You are on the path, you do not *need* the books to walk it" she knocked back the rest of her glass and looked to refill it. There was never an excuse NOT to drink. She nodded though towards Blake, taking a deep breath and another drink as she considered his words.
"From what Niles said, the host body is unstable. Sleeping is best for him. However.." she took a brief few steps into the kitchen and picked up a paring knife. She lifted her hand, slashed her palm open from pinkie to thumb, and flexed her hand. When she swiped away the blood, there was no injury to be seen at all.
"My healing is prodigious. Even amongst my family. The doctor and I are going to try and see if infusing him with my blood will help. Although it might mean he ends up looking....a little like me. *without* my 'face' on" she said tactfully.
Hunter hung himself over Blake's shoulders like a bearskin cloak, his neck easily extending so his chin sat atop the black-haired boy's head. From there, Blake could hear all the grinding and crunching of Hunter's body trying to process the glass he'd consumed - and then trying to unprocess it, as he'd caught Dinah's expression at him consuming it. After some struggling the champagne fluid pushed itself out of his hand in mostly its proper shape, broken glass pieces held together by the thinnest layer of black ichor. It drifted to the table where it sat itself as Hunter adopted a sheepish smile, simply nodding as he listened, his focus sharpening a little when Dinah slit her hand. His pupils blew wide at the sight and smell of blood, an audible grumble grumble sounding from his abdomen. "....call me? Call me when," he said to Dinah, stepping back from Blake to shrink down into his wriggling mass of black. "Am hungry. Need hunt," he said, schlorping over to a window to stare out at it - before promptly darting out into the garden after something that had gone by, the brief image of a serpent flashing through their collective minds as if to explain what it was he was chasing.
Dorian was so touched by what Blake said that he kinda wanted to go embrace the man, but he did not, instead he would pour Dinah another, and sling his arm around her waist. He pressed his lips together tight about Roesler and made eyes at Blake, eyes that said they should talk about that at a different time. More talk about what they had before, more plans. And now they both knew what those plans would be made of. His sister would feel him snap to tension as Roesler came up, but then try to pretend that did not exist, moving past the hackles.
He'd give Hunter a lazy salute as he departed but otherwise keep his tongue still as he once more had little to say to enrich the moment while others did.
Blake Jermyn was happily pouring himself another glass when Dinah began to describe his beloved's state of health, making him freeze, the flute shaking in his hand. "Un...Stable?" Fuck. FUCK. Just as soon as hope had appeared, shadowy jaws snatched it away agian, leaving him once more in the terrifying dark. "I... Really hope that works, yeah. I don't care what he looks like, I just, want him to be ok... He already thinks he looks kinda, scary, or weird, but I just keep trying to tell him that all I see is beautiful..." A bashful smile at the memory, but then he paused, eyes narrowing in thought. "Say... Do ya think that would work with me, too? I mean, I already am a bit better off than most people, considering the whole, 'knees' thing, but... Faster is better. Stronger is better. Just in case I, get caught with my guard down. There's all kinds of dangerous things on this island, after all," he pointed out, face carefully amiable.
He happily leaned back against Hunter, even as he felt that strange grinding of glass--just happy to be close to family once more. But even as he made to depart, he was still smiling, invigorated by even that much contact, even the knowledge that he still had some family out there who remembered him, who loved him. "Alright, see ya round... Bro," he said, as Hunter skittered off into the wild, grinning wide. A subtle wink was offered to Dorian as their eyes met at the mention of Roesler's name, as if to silently say, that's right. Lay low. Then he smiled, a smile that seemed both innocent to those outside the two of them, and a quiet signal of his pride in Dorian's ability to stick to that plan as well as he was, not let the mention of the man get the better of him. There was still hope, there was always hope, and more and more of it for him every moment.
Dinah had lifted her hand out towards Hunter but as he went to hunt snakes in the garden, she smiled. "A far better idea, darling. Keep them away from our bunnies" she wiggled her fingers in a wave. Leaning against Dorians' side, she glanced up towards him as he tensed and she chuckled, shaking her head, reaching out as if to pat him, then remembered her hands were bloody, and she stopped herself, and she turned her eyes back towards Blake.
"elder souls are not oft designed for inferior human bodies." she explained "And those who are of Yog-sothoth are...mm. how best to put it. Either outside of time, or heavily afflicted by it" she canted her head to one side and she pondered his question.
"I can't see why it wouldn't work with you. Either that or your body will violently reject it or mutate you into a hideous creature, but I suppose if that is a risk you would be willing to take. You could try it" she shrugged a casual shoulder. "I doubt your healing would becomes as fast as mine... even darling Dorian’s is not as fast as mine...but it would be a start, mm?"
Dorian took Dinah's bloody hand and closed his with it, as if to show her he did not mind the blood, when the same was inside of him. Once upon a time they'd shared that too. He was able to clarify what he thought Blake's intention was, "Dearest, I think that he means he could offer his lifeblood to his own sire. Not that he could take yours... am I right Blake?"
He'd no shame about being close to Dinah with Jermyn there, with Hunter there, nearly nowhere anymore with Charles Windgrace gone. A father he mourned despite the man being a real motherfucker. In more than one sense.
Blake Jermyn squinted as he tried to keep up with what Dinah was saying. "So, am I of Yog-Sowhat? Is he? I guess if he is, I must be too..." He scratched his head, his brows knitting with thought. "Does that mean my body's gonna stop working too? Shit..." Blake had often taken his own body and health for granted, in that way that young people do when they think that death and ill health is something that happens to others, that in all their wild energy they must be something like immortal. But knowing that Deadman had fallen so ill due to whatever strangeness was in him, strangeness that Dinah had spotted in Blake himself, too, well...
"Alright, yeah, I'll try it," he said, unafraid of those consequences, or perhaps more afraid of the consequences of doing nothing. "I think being a hideous creature would be kinda awesome, to be honest with ya." A little laugh. "Besides, any improvement's better than nothing...." He blinked awkwardly at Dorian as the poor fellow thought that surely, he'd thought better than that.
"...Well, that's a thing to try too, I guess," he said with a laugh, "though I dunno if my blood's really like, powerful or anything. Only just learned it wasn't really human," he pointed out. "Hell, maybe try both. Maybe filter blood through enough of us, and we'll get something to fuel the old man for a good long time." He shrugged, giggling.
Dinah smiled and let her cheek rest against Dorian's shoulder, pushing out a pout at his correction of her thoughts. She nodded her head at Blakes' words.
"Yog-sothoth is the Gate. He is the master of all dimensions, lord of the void. King of the vastness of infinite space. The oldest, the all in one. Yog-sothoth Nafl'ftagn" she said with tender reverence, drawing a strange, star shaped symbol in her blood on the back of Dorians' hand. She stood up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to Dorian's cheek and she stepped towards Blake, offering her hand.
"You might becomes unstable but I suspect if you were going to, you would have seen signs already. you might be lucky. you might just go mad" she smiled cheerfully, offering her hand.
"...take my hand if you'd like to try it. It's going to hurt, though. I shan't lie to you. Once we are joined... do *not* try to pull your hand back until I say so." Dinah flashed him a beaming, friendly smile "it will pull your circulatory system out through your palm."
Dorian stood corrected and with a bloody hand, to watch this strangeness ensue. He poured himself a heaping glass more of champagne and drank it down, preparing to watch the pair of them. He did look at the symbol drawn on his hand, kissed it because it was Dinah's and then stood ready to guard them both. That was usually his job when magic was being done. Or any time that it was not lifting, by self-appointment.
Blake Jermyn nodded along, still wearing that focused look, his brows drawn together. "The gate, king of infinite space.... Yeah, that sounds kinda like what's goin' on with the old man, and, me too I guess. Y'know, I heard that name before, but I thought they were just, legends, I guess. Campfire tales. Never thought it was, in me, the whole time..." He shook his head, absolutely marveling. "...Maybe I shoulda paid attention to those stories a bit more."
But as Dinah stepped forward, he gulped. One last frantic rabbit urge to flee out the open window behind him, preserve whatever mortality, whatever humanity he had left. But then he just squared his shoulders, took a deep breath, and nodded, the steely determination coming back to his eyes. He'd survived unimaginable horrors, things that would give most people nightmares just to hear about, clawing his way through it all with the pure will to live, live, *live.* So when this offer came, the choice between something frightening and dangerous but which had the chance
Blake Jermyn keep him on this planet for good, or to pass it up and possibly leave his body to disintegrate from the effort of trying to contain his fierce and wild soul, well, there was simply no choice at all, really.
"Alright. Let's do this." So saying, he reached out his hand to take hers.
Dinah finished her second glass and set the champagne flute down, giving Blake a rueful smile.
"The old ones came to this world out of the sky in the days before there were any men. When we were created, we formed a cult, and that worship has never ended. They teach us secrets even from beyond their disappearances and deaths" she said with *absolute* conviction. "Dorian and I walk the path. Our brother too. Many in this city have seen the signs, they know the power of the ancient ones. 'Not in the spaces we know but between them, they walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen " she recited the prayer before clasping her hands around Blakes.
Her hands were smaller than his, and cooler, though immediately it felt as though her skin was...prickling. Itching like a healing scab. The pain came sharply like a spike through their hands, though Di didn't wince. She was used to the pains of the various mutilations her worship needed. Hand to hand, they were adhered together, and faint greyish blue veins bloomed around her wrist. She turned, giving Dorian a smile.
"Hunter came to this world with my blood, you know. I opened the door for the stars. Do you suppose this makes them our brothers too, sharing my blood like this?"
Dorian watched the whole thing taking place and set down a newly emptied flute of his own, on it's third time full. He topped off Blake with what remained presuming the man would need it when this was said and done. He'd come to stand nearer the pair of them in case anyone (probably Blake) needed help standing. Dinah was used to these things so much that she was speaking to him and when she did, he replied, "I think it makes them cousins at least."
He was alright with this much more than with heart-eating and not even jealous this time. Not much anyway. And that could all be transferred to a place it belonged, upon the shoulders of a slender Sidhe not present.
Blake Jermyn nodded as he listened, committing all of this to memory. "So they're like, missing? Or dead? Yeah, I always thought if there was a god, he'd do something about, y'know, everything, but a god who ain't around anymore makes a whole lot more sense..." He took the time to consider those words, consider his worldview now with this new information.
At least, until the pain started.
His teeth grit, his body stiffened, but he didn't make a sound, didn't pull away, instead he just held strong as the pain worked its way up and through his arm, Dinah's blood mixing with his own, leaving him even more altered and eldritch. Dorian got a shaky thumbs-up with his free hand as he poured him more champagne, a somewhat pained smile along with it. "Going great... So far..." he managed, watching black veins spiral up through his pale skin. "Blood cousins... Hah, I like it..." Even now, he was continually amazed at how his family had grown, starting from nothing and becoming so, so much more.
Dinah watched the veins creeping up her wrist towards her forearm, idly amused that blake was nearly as pale as she was. They looked like kin with his dark hair too. She grinned at Dorians' assertion that they were at least cousins and she laughed "...did Hunters' face surprise you too?" she asked him playfully before looking back towards blake.
"Why do you assume that Gods would do anything about the world?" she asked curiously. "Do *you* know what goes on in an ants nest? And if you were to break into an ants nest to discover what their lives entailed, it would be ruinous for them. The old gods are gods in that they are powerful but our lives are *mostly* beyond their notice." she explained, flexing her fingers. "they are not good. they are not evil. They are chaos, or power, or freedom. Concepts that are too grand for definition."
Dorian was quiet as he learned some things about the gods or heard them again. He'd explain about Hunter's face, "He showed me and it surprised me and he looked like both of us! Didn't he? I told him it was a good go when I played cricket with him yesterday. Wait... does that make Blake and Hunter something like... demigods, like Hercules and Achilles? If their father is some sort of Elder?"
Blake could be sure that when the time came, or if that he'd have a steady shoulder to lean on with the other twin facing him so near, the blond one who did not have a hold on the young man's hand.
Blake Jermyn continued to grit his teeth as the veins crept ever higher, still smiling that same, pained smile. Just, think about what Dinah was saying, he thought to himself, not about the burning in your arm... "Uh, yeah... I get what you're saying... Only god I was ever taught about before was the Christian one, who's supposed to be like, all knowing and all loving and knows exactly what you had for breakfast or when you look at girls, and that just... Didn't seem very believable to me, y'know? Like, if he's supposed to know everything, and he's supposed to love me that much, then why didn't he DO anything when-... Y'know, when bad stuff happened?" A sigh, a shake of his head, his grip tightening just a bit in her palm. "Gods that look at us and see a bunch of teeny tiny ants that they wouldn't have any idea how to help out even if they wanted to, even if they thought about us at all, well... Sounds a whole lot more realistic to me. Not knockin' Christians, of course. Unless they're assholes." A laugh, before he winced as the blood crept in further.
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on." Blake's eyes went wide as Dorian went on. "You think *I'm* a demigod? That's... That's fuckin' crazy, man... Hunter, i could believe it, dude just ate glass right in front of me without a blink, but I dunno... Kinda hard to believe I'm anything but just another asshole on this earth." A small laugh, a shake of his head. "I mean maybe I heal super fast and can do things with my mind and apparently aren't dying or mutating from magic healing blood, but I'm still just, that one Blake kid from down the street, ya know?" He seemed oblivious to the fact that he'd just described something entirely like a mythical demigod and not a normal guy.
Dinah pondered Dorians' question and she shrugged with a hum "I'm not sure. I am not certain what being of elder blood confers upon a person. but from a technical standpoint. I suppose it makes sense. Although I believe if we were using a greek analogy, the old ones would be closer to titans than the gods" she explained thoughtfully. She smiled back towards Blake and she chuckled.
"Don't get me wrong, there *are* the old gods that know what you ate for breakfast and when you look at girls, but they don't *care*. Things like social laws are beyond their caring. Why should they care what we do? Why should they try to make us behave as they'd like? The old ones *will* return one day, they will wake once more, and their coming will bring the world to chaos. Those who embrace that chaos will fare far better when they come" she gave his hand a little squeeze and she grinned.
"you can downplay yourself as much as you like, dear, Do you think that mythical demigods ever thought themselves special?" she cocked her head to look up towards him with interest "You do not feel special and magical because you were *born* to magic. When the fish wants to see the ocean he does not realize that the water he swims in already *is* the ocean."
Dorian was not dissuaded by either of their answers about Blake's demi-godhood, but he was moved to jest, "More of a demi-titan then. Did I never tell you Dinah that this one shook the whole okiya when we went there the first time? He thought I did not notice, I think, but he couldn't know that I had seen it before."
He'd tack onto his sister's remarks something else too, "She is wise as she is knowledgeable and intelligent, is she not?" His sister was a font of information, of blood, of insight... He was alright with sharing her just now, mostly because for once they had cousins who weren't complete tits. And not in the good way, like he liked, round front of his sister, that is.
Blake Jermyn nodded at that, considering even as he shuddered, the blood having reached his shoulder, digging deep into his chest. "Y'know, I think I like these gods, sound a whole lot cooler than what I was taught before," he said with a little laugh, which swiftly turned into a cough, his metal legs growing unsteady beneath him.
He couldn't help blushing as she went on, bashfully looking away. "Jeez... You're good for a guy's ego, ya know that? I guess I can see what you're saying, though no one else really saw much in me growin' up, they all just kinda thought I was trash, or a problem, and definitely not magic..." He only blushed further when Dorian brought up his little slip up in the okiya, face red as a beet. "Jeez... I just rattled a couple plates... Got pissed off and let it get the best of me... Ok, maybe that's a *little* special," he admitted with a grin. "You're damn right she is," he said as Dorian went on, "got yourself a hell of a gal. I'm lucky I got to know both of ya as well as I did, huh?" Though shook faintly from pain, the joy in his words, in his face, was genuine.
Dinah glanced down at their hands and the prickling burst back across their palms. She drew her hand back, pink marks left across Blakes' hand, and an artery slithering back into her skin that healed over as she shook the numbness from her fingers. She turned to look up towards Dorian, reaching for his hand now, albeit with less blood. She rested her cheek against Dorian and she grinned towards Blake with a quiet laugh.
"I am not prone to flattery, Blake" she said helpfully, though she stepped away from Dorian's chest, hands looping behind herself to peer up towards his face to make sure he'd not pass out.
"There is one of our gods, The King in yellow. He is called Hastur, and is one of the most powerful, most dangerous of the old ones, because he is still *awake* and he wanders the world, and where he walks, ruin follows. And despite his power, despite his crown, The king in yellow wears rags. Power is power. Blood is blood. It makes no odds how you are raised."
Dorian: When Dinah came back to him, Dorian held her near by slinging an arm around behind her, but also reached his hand out to shake Blake's. Holding her close as close, he'd murmur Blake's way, a bit more plainaly thatn his twin had put it, "You are not a problem, you probably had to go through trials to become who you are now. Think if you will on what you had just survived when you met me? My sister does not share her blood nor wisdom lightly. You are family now, I think."
He had a thousand questions and more for his sister but he'd save them for now, for when they were alone together.
Blake Jermyn breathed a heavy sigh of relief as at last their hands parted, though he still felt the new blood in his heart, pumping through his veins... Hopefully that whole, rejecting it and mutating thing wouldn't pop up later. "King in yellow... I heard of that one!" His eyes went bright with a spark of recognition. "Heard that if you say his name three times, he shows up and like, ruins your day or something. I could get behind him as a god. King in rags, I like that." He smiled at the thought of it, that he could be something so great and terrible, just disguised in rags.
He couldn't help beaming at Dorian as well. "Thanks, man... Ya got that right. I've been through some shit in my life, to be sure. But I got through it, never gave up even once, and now I'm here, with you guys. My... Family." The word still almost seemed alien on his tongue, but despite its strange shape, it tasted sweet. He took a moment to reflect on that, bask in the atmosphere of yet another place he could really, truly call home. But then looked out the window, towards the setting sun, and sighed. "I guess I should probably head out now, though. Got some shit to do tonight, friends to see, odd jobs to handle, you know how it is. But you two have a great rest of your night, ok? I guess we'll need to keep in touch more now," he said with a wink and a little wave, before finally just crawling out through that open window and into the night beyond.
Dinah gave an impish grin as Dorian translated her words and she gave his hand a squeeze. she hummed again and nodded up towards Dori, though she laughed softly at Blake saying that he could get behind the idea of the king in yellow as a god.
"Look for the yellow sign. You might see it easily now, now my blood is in you. it looks like...this" she dabbed her blood on the pale skin of her forearm, drawing the strange three-armed shape that looked almost like conjoined question marks.
"Look for the yellow sign. And be careful when you sleep. you might have....odd dreams tonight." she prewarned him, settling herself down onto the sofa. She wasn't exactly weary from the blood exchange, but it was always best to be careful. "Come back whenever you please, yes? I think Hunter would like that too"
Dorian could only laugh once more as Blake exited much the same as his brother had. The reverse of how he often came in through the windows himself. Another tiny sign about paths being right ones in his mind. He'd call after him, "Soon! Now that you know you can find Hunter here...." That open ended invitation would have to do. That and the hope that his voice carried welcoming warmth as well as Di had.
When the man had gone he'd pull Dinah just so that he could plant a lingering kiss upon her forehead. Then he'd give her a welcoming barrage of gladness that they were together, that they'd seen something miraculous happen. That Blake and Hunter who'd both wanted family had found it through the pair of them. He'd never felt more sure that he was part of the same big truth his sister was, and that was saying a great deal. It was an easier way to communicate, and how could he put any sorts of words to all they'd done in the span of a short single afternoon?