EXT - Beach, day
Dorian had tried a new thing, not avoiding his sister, despite having been waiting for her to return. Upon first getting notice that she was on the airship, he'd been angry. He still was, but he already knew that his desire to see her outweighed that by miles. He'd only stalked and managed not to murder another Niles lookalike in the intervening time. And consumed a great deal of booze. It was the opium that got him to sleep though. While he was awake there was the needling knowledge that she was inaccessible to him. As good as inaccessible, so long as he respected her space. His great challenge. His first instincts hadn't been toward murder. He'd gone riding. He'd beaten a training dummy into splinters. He'd helped unload boats, he'd gone on aetherite dives. At night he'd gone to drink and hear from sailors firsthand, then ultimately to places where he might find someone to take out his frustrations upon.
Eventually, after returning home at some point from making himself busy, she was there. And the moment he saw her he'd greeted her instead of glaring and/or avoiding her, and informed her that he was available.
It had worked out a treat. Because he found himself with her at the beach on a fair enough day. His feelings about anything related to Roesler were bottled up and as far away as he could put them--with some active effort, and though it made him a little quieter, there was enough to talk about so far as words were needed. It was more than enough to get to deep enough water where he could reach for her hand and entangle fingers below the water. He'd update her on something he'd done since they'd last spoken on it, "I had a letter back from the fire brigade captain in Southampton, since he's retired and he'll come teach me what he knows. In exchange for a donation to his old brigade, of course. But it'll be good to hear from someone who knows the best sort of kit for the work. And all the procedures, with years of experience."
Dinah had stayed at the airship for longer than she'd anticipated. With the lure of the Song playing through her mind, even quietened, it had been a bloody affair. She had returned to the ground eventually, still somewhat dazed with the music rolling through her mind so the plan to go to the beach had been well received. If in doubt, if things got loud, she could always swim to the bottom and stay there.
So far, she was happily wading through the water, scooping up shells and watching the water run from them and she smiled towards her beloved twin as he spoke.
"I think you'll be good at it. and if you ever get hurt, I can help patch you back up" she offered, turning a shining shell in her fingers. The sound of the water was helping, though she still seemed a little dazed and dreamy.
"with your flight too, you'd be the best at getting cats out of trees and rescuing people from tall things"
Dorian let himself take a good long look at her, up and down, while she reached for shells. Seeing her in a swimsuit was a modern marvel, compared to the clothes they'd worn when they were truly young as they looked. He grinned at her reply, joking in turn, "Get hurt? That doesn't sound like me. I'm impervious." And as if to prove it, he'd lock this fingers together just at the surface of the water, then bring the heels of his hands and palms together to spray it at her. As if he could win playing with her in an element she was more suited to. He was trying to keep things light as he danced away a few paces from getting the same done to him, looking to her with a broad grin on. Though she seemed faraway, getting sprayed with water on the cheek usually had a way of changing that.
Dinah hadn't noticed the water threat incoming, so when she was shocked out of her immediate daydream with a spritz of cold seawater, she squealed, then took half a step back.. only to squeal again and hop back to where she was
"I hate it when something touches me in the water" she whined, reaching in to brush her leg "I know it's only ever seaweed but it's always so surprising. What if it's a jellyfish?" she reached to hold onto his shoulder, lifting her leg out to try to examine it.
"Can you see anything?" she pouted, waiting until he checked... and then promptly attempted to shove him into the sea when his balance was disrupted.
Dorian fully enjoyed that he'd gotten her attention by splashing her face with water. He even stuck out his tongue at her and wrinkled the bridge of his nose to gloat while raising both fists in the air. And just as fully as he enjoyed his win, when it came to her ruse, he fell for it, hook line and sinker, and bounded back over to look at her leg. As if he was almost delighted for a chance to help assuage her fears. He'd bend to look, giving her the prime chance to tip him over with minimal effort as he was standing on only one leg. He'd fall in over his head with a bit of a splash onto his rear end, but pop up a moment later with his hair sodden and longer for the weight water added to blond curls. He had to swipe his hair out of his eyes, and take a breath the moment he surfaced, but the very next moment he was laughing. And the moment after that he was asking, getting back to standing, "There's nothing wrong with your leg at all, is there? Hahahahaha, this round to you."
Dinah cackled a laugh as he toppled, ready to reach for him and sweep him into a salty hug when he stood again. "something did touch me, but nothing stung me" she hung onto him tightly, perhaps for fear of a retributory tossing of her own. "besides. I like it when your hair gets wet. it curls up more" she reached her fingers to coil her fingers around it, smiling up towards his face.
"dorian the fireman. you'll be splendid, beloved. our hero. You can practice when darius gets stuck on the roof again!" she giggled
Dorian was absolutely planning to seek retribution only then he was being hugged close and there was nothing but salt water, see breeze and their skin. Time and the isle and everything fell away for a blissful moment. His heart skittered in that moment before resuming it's rhythmic thud and he'd barely be able to hear what she said for the fact that he was lost in admiring her face while she spoke. The meanings of the words came crashing in the moment after he'd reach to catch a drop of seawater from her chin with a fingertip. For a few heartbeats as and after she'd spoken, he'd just stare at her lips, and fighting the urge to kiss her just then, he shook his head minutely, dragged his gaze up to her eyes, then replied, "I really think he just enjoys being carried in from the roof. And I won't be splendid, I am certainly no hero, but I might be helpful. Tell me something. Tell me anything at all so I don't occupy your lips otherwise."
They were close but could be closer, and he was holding himself back for the sake of being in public. For the time being.
Dinah reached from around his back to rest her fingers on his shoulders, testing the temperature there in case he was going to burn. Both pale as they were, she'd not have it. She watched him as he stared at her, eyes shining, but when he spoke, she laughed again, albeit quieter.
"I suspect he does" she agreed "you are my hero, dor" she chided him gently, but she hummed in consideration of what to tell him. Anything at all.
"sometimes these days I wake up a little confused. I think I am back at cheriton, if only for a moment." she said thoughtfully "And then everything catches up that you are here with me, and we are here together, and everything is right again. Just as it ought to be"
Dorian was warm from sun, but not turning pink yet. At least not until she called him a hero. His lopsided grin at just being happy to be with her went to a line as his heart was touched to hear such words. Touched and seeming to swell in his chest. He shook his head, but rather than arguing about deserving it, he'd just renew his smile until she spoke about being out of sorts sometimes. Not knowing what to say at first, his primary utterance was, "Hn."
He'd reach his hand for her cheek, run the backs of his fingers down the cheekbone as he looked into her eyes. And then after those seconds of consideration, he'd respond, trying but failing at not showing concern, "That only happens to me if I have a vivid dream about home. Or the Resolute. And that isn't terribly often. Still it's always disconcerting. Is it ah... Since the ritual?"
Dinah smiled at his grin, she leaned her cheek into his hand. She nodded at his question but she frowned a little at his words of the Resolute.
"Sometimes I wish i could have seen it too. one day maybe i would liike to travel around on a ship" she looked out towards the sea. "Perhaps without needing to be in the military though. I think I should like sailing" she mused "but i think i prefer being underwater to over it most days" she smiled again, reaching her arms back around him to hug him close.
"it really is lovely here, isnt it?"
Dorian waited until he'd been embraced once more, then he, moved from standing in front of her and obscuring a view far more lovely than himself to standing behind her with his arms looped around her loosely. He'd share with her what he had before regarding his time in the crown's service, "You would have hated the navy. At least being a Ship's Boy. I didn't get quarters, just a hook for a hammock until I made Midshipman. But if we got ourselves a yacht, well... we could sail, and swim, and only see land when we wanted to... ...or we could stay here a while longer, I suppose. I have to admit to caring more about this island now that we've fought for it. Now that we've gotten to be together here, as you said, that does almost make the place something like sacred. And you are right, now that it has been restored, the place almost rivals you for loveliness. You will say if something is wrong, won't you? If it becomes more than being out of sorts when you wake?"
He'd press a kiss to the top of her head and simultaneously squeeze her a little bit to punctuate, putting his chest to her back, before loosing his grip again to settle his clasped hands around her midsection. She wouldn't need to see his face to know that he was probing to see if he should be worried.
Dinah giggled as he moved her, watching the horizon. She leaned her head back against him, hugging his arms tighter to her.
"I used to imagine stories of what you were up to out there. Fighting pirates, and dancing with mermaids, catching great big fish on a line" she murmured dreamily. "it's our isle now. it's ours. we fought for it. claimed it, in view of the gods" she sighed wistfully, reaching her fingers out through the water again. When he asked if she'd say anything, she made a thoughtful, ponderous noise.
"some days it's better than others. some days i barely feel them at all. but others it's like...a buzzing on the inside of my skull. It itches. Or it's like..music. A song. I can hear the notes of it in everything but I can't replicate them" she returned her salt-soaked fingers to drawing on his skin, little stars and loops and sworls. "today is...the singing. I can hear the song of the hyades. It is the King who holds my hand today, but he seems still, for now. Sometimes though...it roars in my ears until I can hear nothing else. I feel like I lose myself a little more then, but it doesn't feel...different. does that make sense?" she turned to look up towards him "Like putting a frog in a pan of water, i suppose"
Dorian wouldn't ruin her romanticising his time at sea, though much of it had been spent serving the high ranking officers. He'd told stories for years about the card games he'd learned. The dice games. The mad tales veteran sailors had told him. He laughingly admitted, "Hahaha If I had known then what I know now about what really is in the sea, well... I would have been properly terrified. And of more than the Quartermaster." It was easy to talk about those things while he kept considering what she explained she had been going through. After he'd spoken on the navy once more he'd press her to him again, and upon letting loose enough to give her space to move again should she desire to do more than make designs on his skin, he'd respond, "Well, let's try not getting you to boiling, if that's what you mean. And try keeping you with me right here, hm? I am glad you told me what it has been like. Does... does other music help or does that make it worse?" He couldn't help himself, that he was trying to find a solution, that all his thoughts were now bent toward how to support her through this new phase of interconnectedness to their gods.
Dinah smiled again, tilting her head upwards to the sky and letting the sun warm her face, closing her eyes. "the sea is nothing to fear for us. Grandpa will keep us safe if we ever fell overboard, we could call to dagon and be whisked back to shore. or i could give us gills and we could live amongst the sea people a while. but they are not nearly so lovely as you" she hummed. "Risley has one of the boats now, doesnt he? maybe we could have him ferry us out and about one day" she did turn as he loosed her, but only enough to rest her cheek against his shoulder.
"sometimes it does feel like boiling. Like.. someone whispering too close to my ear" she smiled up towards him at his suggested solution. "it helps sometimes. with some of them. other times I can hear....the notes between the notes. or I can't hear it over the other music I can hear. Everything has a song to it now. Even the wind and the sea and sometimes it can become a little...noisy"
Dorian was utterly glad he hadn't let his rankling other feelings get in the way of hearing what he was hearing from her today. With her partial turn and leaning on him he'd reach his hand to find the space between her swimsuit's top and bottom and rest there. He was worried, and it would show in his face as well as in how it dragged his voice lower and slower, "We can sail with the pirate sometime, if you would like that. I wouldn't mind observing his sealegs, as it were. Say-" he'd break in speaking to bend and press a kiss to her temple again, then continue with further quandary, narrowing his eyes as he tried to understand what was still rather opaque to him, "Some of them? You... don't mean some songs, do you?"
Dinah 's smile widened a little as his hands enclosed her and she snuggled herself the best she could against him in the cool water. she nodded her happy agreement to sailing.
"I am glad I saved him. I hadn't intended to. I didn't even realise he was any different to the rest of them" she said thoughtfully "He might enjoy having someone to talk boats with" she giggled, lifting her head as he kissed her to press a kiss in kind against his cheek.
"Some songs. Some gods. Some like music better than others. Some prefer the quiet. Althaeia prefers the quiet. Others...it might depend on the music, I suppose." she murmured, reaching up to drape her arms over his shoulders.
Dorian found it hard to follow her, but that wasn't so unusual when the spoke about the gods. But this was different. It was a first glimpse of true understanding of his sister's circumstances. That she'd come back different. With increasing certainty that he maybe actually couldn't possibly understand, he only replied, "Oh." At first, anyway. Then she was putting her arms over his shoulders and he was closing his arms around her once more while he was trying to find the right question to make all of it make sense. He ended up with, "I don't know the Hyades music, do I? I mean it isn't just found on a record album, is it?"
Dinah sighed happily as he embraced her back, pressing a kiss against his neck. She listened to his question of the Song and she shook her head.
"you'd not know it. The song of the Hyades is...mm. Cassilda's song, of Carcosa" she drew away just a little, taking his hand and walking a little deeper into the water. Not quite enough to submerge unless she tripped.
"Carcosa was the city of magic, where Hastur resided beneath the lake. it was ever expanding, ever absorbing all other things into itself. they say that the spires of carcosa were so great that they were seen behind the moon" she turned to smile up towards him again "Hastur..the king in yellow...absorbed carcosa and thus became a god. Cassilda's song is from there." she paused, tilting her head as if listening, humming the soft, almost sad little tune to herself.
Dorian loved music. Had for all his life. And dancing. Though there was no instrument that could have pleased Charles for his son to play, so he'd contented himself with absorbing it when he could. It was so much easier these days with recordings one could play whenever one wanted. For all the piles of records he'd consumed in all the genres, he'd never come across what she'd spoken of. He followed where she lead, as he always would, and came along beside her, watching her as she explained. As her explication subsided to song, he also paid close attention to that melody, sure he didn't know it. She would be unlikely to fall without him interceding, given he still had her hand in his. Some moments later, when she had a break in her humming and he thought the song maybe done, he'd comment, "It is a sad song. But I like sad songs sometimes. I ah... I tried to see if I could hear it too but--" he shook his head. "Maybe if I listened here." He'd reach over to touch her forehead off to the side where no eyes should be even if she wasn't donning this form, indicating her inward voice and his own.
Dinah turned to look up towards him again as he remarked on the song and she nodded. "Cassilda's song is sung when carcosa has been absorbed. when it's a lost, dead place. There are some scholars that believe it was a good thing, otherwise carcosa might have gone on to absorb everything it came into contact with" she smiled at his suggestion. it should be safe, right? After all, she was filtering it through herself.
Closing her eyes as his fingers touched her brow, she focused on the song, on the words she knew of it, translating the sorrowful tune into something he would be able to parse and comprehend. Her lips moved in time with the 'lyrics' of it, swaying a little on the spot.
"Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen..in Carcosa.
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in lost Carcosa."
Dorian closed his eyes too. Standing there, swaying a little himself because either the song or the ceaseless churn of waves, he listened with every fibre of him, the way one only could at the expense of other senses. Almost perfect listening, like in the womb where they first swayed together blindly. He hadn't realized his hand hadn't entirely left her face but cupped her cheek. He would be a moment or two in coming back to himself. To his body. While he did, he answered to her mind in a bleed of feelings that the song evoked, sorrow and terror at bleak inevitabilities, difficulty conjuring an entire city to destroy. But hot on the heels of that came his corporeal voice, in a thick murmur, "But it was beautiful. Despite all that. Not exactly a number for dancing..."
The easiest thing to do was stop talking and put his arms around her again. The song had unsettled him, and he wasn't quite sure what about it he took issue with.
Dinah jolted slightly as his hands looped around her once more, eyes wide and startled for a moment as she was drawn back from the shores of the lake. She smiled towards him again and she cosied close again. "mmn. it's sad but if it IS true and carcosa's destruction saved the rest of the universe, i am not sure how sad it is, truly." she shrugged a shoulder, shivering just a little. "there is no real way to know, though. Not without asking the king for the truth of it, and I think he might not be too forthcoming. or TOO forthcoming, which might be worse" she bent her bow against his cheek with a smile.
"i hear it a lot, when he sits on my shoulder. And sometimes it gets louder than others. it gets a little overwhelming sometimes. but at least I know all the notes in this tune. I can't even replicate the notes in the song of creation. I don't even think they exist in this world"
Dorian had to concede the point that any one Carcosa was worth saving the universe, and he would have, if he was still thinking about it by the time she finished. Instead he was thinking about Hastur on his sister's proverbial shoulder. About how she shivered. About what overwhelming meant for a brilliant mind and one so learned as the one she possessed. His best response to this and his first one was to pull her nearest once more. A gesture that meant what it was. That he was with her too. Even when Hastur was. Or any god or song. At length he loosed his grip and pulled his face from the side of her head, to speak, "I would generally advise against questioning kings, but that's probably just my training. I can't imagine what that must be like. You are... attuned to things that are rather impossible. I am glad that with all of that going on that you can still enjoy something as simple as coming to the beach with me."
Even when he stopped pulling them together, he was unwilling to entirely let her go, unless she opted to pull away. So she'd be encircled by his arms in an unshy embrace. He'd add, his breath catching, "Do you see that down there, what is it?" His eyes swiveled to look at the water down near her feet.
Dinah held herself close to him, humming a pleased noise against his chest and smiled. The gesture was appreciated, noted and observed for what he'd intended, and she laughed quietly.
"Questioning kings doesnt go well, no. Generally we try to avoid that. it's not english" she said playfully, reaching up to curl her fingers in his hair. "I don't think i'll ever not be happy to come to the beach with you, Dor. Sometimes I might be a little less....capable of doing so, if it is a particularly bad day, but i will always want to" she beamed up towards him, the smile faltering as she looked down into the water. "What is it? where?" she hugged herself a little closer, one touchy seaweed away from vaulting herself up onto his shoulder.
Dorian had laughed his agreement about it not being English. And he was so glad to hear that she was happy to be with him that he almost felt bad for his ruse. At any rate, her clinging closer was appreciated and he'd only tell on himself by laughing. He laughed and laughed, and waited to be swatted at. He wouldn't even try to fend her off, and would only put up token resistance at her moving away entirely. Through the laughing he admitted, "See... ahahahaha there she is.... ahahaha the girl you were when we haha--first put our feet in the water."
Dinah stared at him as he laughed, looking back into the water as if she'd missed some particularly sneaky sea creature. when she didn't see anything, and he admitted that she was to be looking at herself, she huffed but laughed, lifting her hands , hauling up a sizable glob of swirling water gathered into a sphere with her mind. Lifting it above them, she didn't even mind that she was going to get drenched too as she dropped the whole thing on top of them with a splash.
Dorian was still laughing when the water rose in threat. He knew what was about to happen and he was taking her with him. When the Di-made wave subsided he'd relinquish half his grip on her to shove his hair out of his eyes, and resume laughing. It had been worth it. He commented in dry tone against the backdrop of trailing laughter and being drenched, "That was refreshing. I think I was about to go pink. But seriously--" he'd link his arm with hers and finish, "--who needs yachts and mermaids when they have you?"
Dinah spluttered saltwater as it splashed over them, swiping her now-bedraggled hair out of her face. she grinned up towards him, taking his arm but sneaking her hand down to his to hold that instead.
"I would make quite a poor mermaid. maybe one day I might make myself a mermaid tail." she glanced up towards the sky again and she nodded. "if you're going to go pink, we ought to put some sunscreen on. or find a drink. We don't want you looking like a lobster darling. however would we be able to tell if we make something that flusters you then?" she teased, pulling him towards the shore
Dorian was pulled along after her, smiling a secret smile of triumph. Even if she had distracting gods-sent music in her head, and Hastur on her shoulder, he'd managed to get through to her and keep her with him in a stretching span of moments. He'd worry about some of the more troubling implications of what she'd revealed when he wasn't in her immediate company. For now, he was looking forward to sunscreen application, or maybe drinks, and eventually maybe even certain ways of getting his face pink that didn't have to do with being flustered. "Ha! I think it is that time I can feel the heat rising off of my shoulders. I meant to bring something to drink with us, but I started thinking about you in a swimsuit, and that was rather distracting, you know? At that point I just wanted to be here."
Dinah squinted up towards the sky again, squeezing the water from her hair with her free hand. "this is going to scorch us something fierce. we might have to hide under the parasol for a while. why do we never remember to bring anything to drink?" she feigned a whine, but she nodded again. The song was tampered down a little, quietened for now. perhaps sharing the song had helped.
"we'll marinate you properly first." she lifted her arm to check her skin "..then me. once my hair is a little more dry. Thank you for this, Dori. I love coming to the water with you"
Dorian could clown and distract and lounge with her all day. And would. He raised his voice in agreement, enjoying the weird feeling of sinking and walking against water pulling away from them, though not nearly as much as he was enjoying just being with her, "I think I would like to dry out a little bit before getting back in. Next time, next time we will bring drinks. Or at least bring someone to fetch us drinks. I have missed this too. It was half the point of moving to an island like this wasn't it?" Of course it wasn't, but it sure was an excellent perk.