[11:14] Dinah had intended to show off her new 'self improvement' under better, more friendly circumstances. but... Some wounds needed cleaning, or they would fester. Taking the sky on her new wings was easier at least, though it was more effort to flap them, it meant it was far easier to tell that she was coming.
She didn't land right away, hanging in the air, half-assisting herself with telekinesis.
Was she more angry? More hurt? it was difficult to tell. Almost impossible to tell from looking at her, though the fact that her mental walls were up was potentially a sign that all was not well in the camp of the youngest Windgrace.
[11:19] Risley had warned him, as he often did but there was little the serpentine sailor could do to herald Dinah's oncoming mood. Reading emotions was purely Niles' area of expertise and with Dinah's walls up the docto had no real gauge beyond the walls themselves what could be bothering the lady of the manor. Based on most recent conversations he could only assume and Niles much hated doing that when he wasn't at least 95% sure he was correct.
He went out onto the deck to receive her, dismissing those that weren't strictly necessary for the function of the ship. It was about as private as things got without actually absconding to one of the enclosed rooms below deck, or even the receiving room housed in the cabin up top. He was sans spectacles when he looked up at her, not reaching out to connect so much as projecting for her (and anyone nearby with the ability really) to pick up.
<You look absolutely stunning.>
[11:22] Dinah didn't respond to the mentally projected praise where normally she absolutely would have. She let gravity take herself, halting herself midair so she was level with his face for once, drawing a hand back and aiming an indignant slap towards his cheek, at least with the presence of mind to not curl her nails around. She still didn't speak yet, mentally or otherwise, though the muscles worked in her jaw as her sharp teeth gritted together. The many, many black eyes watching him, unblinking, her free hand balled up at her side, bladed tail lashing at the ground behind her.
[11:34] Niles Roesler did not move away or flinch. He seemed ready to accept the strike, even as his eyes flicked to the tail and the blade that sat at the end of it. "The blade will arguably do more damage. A fist may be more satisfying," he advised, upward-knit eyebrows and apology on his features. "Will you tell me what specifically about it all upset you?"
It could have a couple of things, after all. Sleeping wtih Drystan. Hiding Drystan's desire for her. Perhaps it was his dietary habits, or having taken a part of the eldest sibling on his last visit. He gave her some time to ponder before adding, "I think he wants you at least as badly as I do, you know. Perhaps more, if only by virtue of time."
[11:38] Dinah 's teeth kept working together until he'd finished speaking, eyes narrowing. "I considered the blade. I considered coming down here, cutting out your heart and eating it." she said curtly, finally letting herself drop to the floor with an irritated flash of bioluminescence from both hair and wings.
"Did you not think at any time it might have been pertinent knowledge to tell me that you'd fucked my brother? Did you not think that when asking to court me that i wouldn't find out?" she folded her arms across her chest, eyes narrowed. "Not a suggestion, not a whisper of a hint that something might have happened before I would inevitably find out? Do you not think I warranted that, Niles?"
[11:50] Niles Roesler put a hand on his chest, drumming fingers over his sternum. "You still could. Still might, I'm sure," he said with a small sigh. The flash of light in her flesh didn't draw his eyes away from her face, nor did the stare of all the others move his stare from the main two in her head. He was quiet for a time. Even when he answered his voice was soft.
"I should have said something. We, he or I, should have said something. At the time it felt as much a concern for Drystan's privacy as anything else." He looked over the railing at the empty sky. "When you mentioned that intimacy was not a certainty between us I thought perhaps it would not matter to you."
[11:57] Dinah balled up both fists now, her tail lashing against the ground behind her like an angered cat.
"you should have said something. HE had no reason to realize we were anything other than friends until you went to speak to him." she said sharply. "Drystan's privacy? did you really think it wouldn't come out? if not now, then not ever? I should have wondered further why you were so fine with the notion of it not being a certainty. I didn't realize it was because you already had one Windgrace on your bedpost that you'd not miss another" she muttered. A near palpable wave of discontent was pouring from her, fingers clenching and squeezing until her palms were bloody, and retracting to let them heal again, a muddle of anger and hurt and something more deep-seated.
[12:03] Niles Roesler peeked down at the mark she left in the wood. "Didn't he?" he asked with a shake of his head. "I'm not particularly discreet about my fondness for you. I realize I'm not the most antisocial of people Dinah but I'm not much in the habit of sending handmade gifts. Or inviting people openly to my more private spaces. It was before us, you know. Before anything more than casual acquaintance anyway." He sucked on his lower lip and lifted a hand. "...but you are right. I should have said something." When he saw the blood on her hands he stepped forward, one of his own reaching out to catch her wrist. "If you're going to make something bleed it may as well be me. I doubt I can convince you you aren't simply another Windgrace notch on my bedpost but you can at least let out some frustration."
[12:11] Dinah shook her head in bitter muteness at his question. Eyes narrowed still. "he did not." she didn't pull back as he reached to grab one hand, but the other lashed out. This one DID have her claws curled around, though at least she was now not at an elevated position it would likely not catch him across the face if he didn't manage to avoid it.
"All my life I have been the second choice. for everything. I thought at least once someone preferred me to the others for at least something without needing it to be for my money, or for my magic, and I am still the second choice" she snapped sharply. "I thought at least one person that I wasn't related to might actually like me best. Do you know how much of an idiot I feel right now? do you have any idea what that feels like?"
[12:15] Niles Roesler felt the gouge of claws across his chest, spilling blood and tearing cloth and flesh alike. He bled black-tainted dark red but he held up a hand to stave off any reactions from the crew that still remained doing their duties in the fringes of the deck and the bridge cabin. His grip remained on her wrist, his own fingers curling toward the pulsepoint over her radial artery. "...Dinah whatever makes you think you're the second choice?" he asked sincerely.
[12:21] Dinah twisted her trapped hand now the other one had lowered, her tail raising up over back like a scorpion. "Let me go" she growled, leaning her weight away from him but not actively trying to wrench away.
"Perhaps it is something to do with the fact that before there had been any sort of consideration of an us you had already fucked my brother and telling me was an afterthought" she hissed between her teeth, twisting her wrist again.
[12:26] Niles Roesler eyed the blade on her tail almost in defiance. "The tryst with your brother was a one-time act of physical attraction and nothing at all to do with emotional fancy. YOU are not someone that I could even hope to casually interact with in that fashion or I might have tried as early as your first visit to the Cabaret," he answered insistently. "I should have told you. But I am selfish, and it was a strong possibility that telling you would erase my already slim chances of being able to be with you."
[12:37] Dinah stiffened again and the tail-blade drew back and upwards, just a little, as if a greater poise to scythe down at any point.
"you really thought it wouldn't come out? did you think that if it came out a year from now that would have made it better?" the many eyes narrowed again. "Selfishness I can understand better." she said sorely "It would have come out. There are no secrets between any of us. there never is. there never would be. consider yourself blessed, I suppose, that it did come out now. I am not a child, Niles. others in relationships are something that was always an open secret even when I was mortal." She gritted her teeth again and forced out a deep breath between her teeth.
[12:43] Niles Roesler looked at her for a moment. Finally he released her wrist, raising that hand again as his shoulders lifted in a minute shrug. "...no, no I suppose it would have come out. Though part of me did think that hearing it from family would be better than hearing it from me. There... is a difference, to some people," he said with a tilt of his head, his hand going to test the depth of the wounds in his chest with a slight wince. "...and considering the heavy importance of family to you, I thought perhaps I had a better chance of not losing you if you could think of me as a frivolity you and your brother were both enjoying."
[12:50] Dinah drew her hand back to her chest and wrapped her other hand around it. There'd been no pressure there, not really, but she was definitely unused to any sort of manhandling. The tail did lower, at least a little.
"I wonder how you would feel if the roles had been reversed." she muttered. "There is a difference between hearing something from family but with no warning at all?" she glanced at the clawed marks at his chest and opened her hand, looking down at her blooded claws. Was that her blood? or his? "A frivolity" she echoed flatly. "Do you think this a frivolity, niles? Do you think that there would have been half as much of this tolerated if you were just some... novelty? Do you think I would have bothered picking you up the first time dorian pummeled you, let alone entertained the idea of having a suitor at all, let alone one that my brother has actively tried to murder?" she sighed in frustration.
[13:12] Niles Roesler was healing, if slowly. He wasn't as quick at regenerating as she was and certainly was not taking any extra efforts to mend the wound. His eyes lowered to her hand, bloodied likely with a mix of both of them. "Me? No, hardly. But you? I wouldn't dare to assume. Perhaps I'm a useful frivolity." He sighed. "...it was a mistake not to tell you, clearly. I am sorry. And I'm sorry for the hurt it's caused. But you are second in any estimation, Dinah."
[13:18] Dinah folded her arms tighter across her chest and she huffed out another frustrated breath. She walked closer to the edge of the ship too and looked down towards the ground, towards the mist.
"I do not want this to happen again, niles." she said quietly, still somewhat sullen but at least subdued for now. "I don't want to feel like the last one let in on a joke. I don't care about them. Do whatever you want with them, as long as it's not rubbed in my face" she waved her hand out towards the city "but my family is different. I would not stop you pursuing anything with drystan. but I would like to think i'd have a right to know." she rested her palms against her stomach, leaving tacky, blackened bloodprints across her pale skin.
[13:24] Niles Roesler followed her to the railing. He leaned against it, elbows on the wood as he peered at the city below. "I'm quite sure the vast majority would pale in comparison to even a kiss," he mused with a tilt of his head and a sideways glance. "You have the right to know. Of course you do. I'm sure he said as much but we would refrain, you now... if you would prefer we not go down that path. You are important Dinah, as are your preferences, your wants, your needs. I've only refrained from attempting to do more than kiss you out of a respect for what I perceived as a preference not to do those things... ah, outside the family."
[13:32] Dinah let out a soft 'tch' between her teeth, tail flicking. "flattery can't help you today, doctor" she muttered, still looking out over the mist, lifting a bloody hand to flip dismissively.
"I might be a jealous, potentially violent creature but..." she paused, considering how to phrase it. "I do not want to be toyed with. Or set aside. I will be nobodies toy, or pet, or plaything. The greatest gift that dorian ever gave me was protecting me from the cretins that wanted to use me as a trophy or a commodity throughout my youth." she ran her hand across her face. "I wouldn't know about such preferences. truthfully, any sort of sex at all beyond intimate petting has been a very recent development" she rested her hand on the rail, pointing a finger out towards the mist.
"...there's something else you ought to know. Something that necessitated me coming up here beyond slapping you instead of screeching at you from home. that is here, likely targeting us. Someone called the Nameless mist. And it's likely
that it is going to try and target anything affiliated with us, if our suspicions that it is targeted directly at us are true"
[13:38] Niles Roesler chuckled quietly. "Well you deserve it anyhow, regardless of whether or not it helps my case. The compliment, not being made to felt like a toy. That is not the intention." He turned out toward the mist and narrowed his eyes at it, the writhe of tendrils beneath his skin, around his eyes visible a little as he attempted to reach, to confer, to see beyond his own ability. "If it was summoned then someone... at some point in time performed a ritual to invoke that power. I could try to reach back, through him. To see if I could watch. Though without much of an anchor coming back may be an issue."
[13:44] Dinah sighed again and she turned to peer up towards his face. "I told drystan the same. you two can do as you please. I know he wouldn't ever set me aside. I want no more secrets, Niles." she spoke softer than she had been, though her emotions were still difficult to discern with the dark of her eyes. She shook her head as she turned to look out across the mist again.
"it's going to be too big for that. Too old, too powerful. The mist was before Yog-sothoth. it does not usually come to this realm. I saw a spell when I SAW the caster, but I cannot be sure if that was the spell for bringing that thing about, or if it were the manipulation of the Deep ones. but we have a name now. We are going to search for her. I thought it at least fair to warn you, if it might not be too discerning in what it targets, as long as it hurts us"
[13:56] Niles Roesler met her stare steadily. He looked cowed if anything, subdued and withdrawn, the sheepishness of someone who'd realized things were tenuous. He did not attempt to reach for her mind nor was he being particularly open with his own. "I'm very grateful for the warning," he said quietly. "I'll do what I can in the endeavor of preventing further harm - whether collateral or direct. As for secrets..." he sucked in another breath and gestured at the ship. "I keep the crew fed during shortages and the like with the meat from a regenerating supernatural," he said after a breath. "I have ripped apart the body of the shard as often as he has ripped apart mine in our years of coming to an understanding. I had former lovers in my tenure as true Sidhe... at least one of whom is still alive, though I'm quite certain anything that could linger there is as dead as my claim to Seelie royalty." He took a step closer to her again, one hand reaching to her to circle slender fingers around her wrist again. "And... perhaps this
has been more a secret than I intended but I do want you. More than a kiss. More than comforting embraces."
[14:06] Dinah nodded, glancing to the mist "you are above it. at least, what it is sent thusfar. but do not be surprised if it moves. particularly if we have identified the caster. When we find her." she murmured. there was an edge in that, though not directed at him at least. she listened to the rest of the secrets, though she did cock an eyebrow..or at least, one set of eyes.. when he spoke of tearing apart the shard. "...you do have the wigglies" she nodded as he spoke about the rest, the slightest furrow of her brow when he mentioned 'royalty'. But then he was reaching for her wrist again, and she didn't wrench her hand away this time, nor did the blade-tail lift defensively as it had before.
"I am quite sure the entire city thinks me an idiot or naive when I so confidently assert that you have always been nothing but a gentleman with me." she murmured. "after drystan told me, part of me wondered if your suggested courtship of me and liason of him were some attempt at obfuscating your preferences" she
glanced down to his hand at her wrist. "and yet..you still accepted that there would be no guarantee?"
[14:13] Niles Roesler hummed. "Above it for now. And I could always move the ship. With the shard aboard perhaps the Mist could be called, drawn to it, to HIM, away from the harbor.... they are related. Perhaps it would like to reconnect with progeny. The mention of 'wriggles' pulled another chuckle from him. "Like nerves. Alive with, instead of mere neural conductivity, connections of time and space. Woven consciousness. Parts of him that have consumed and replace my own." He brushed his thumb over the inside of her wrist but kept his gaze on her face. "My preferences aren't so mundane as man or woman. Nor do I particularly care what people perceive about me and my tastes in companion. I want you. Fervently. But that does not mean I'll not accept boundaries if you have no desire for more physical intimacy. Drystan made his desires clear and so I moved forward with that knowledge. You - whether it is a matter of needing more time or simply being more comfortable with this - " he raised his other hand, the thumb brushing over
her lips. " - and this and nothing more, I will not force the matter. But out of respect for you, not out of a lack of desire."
[14:21] Dinah made a thoughtful noise and she shook her head "if the madman's words are true, it's here to hurt us. besides. The mist and the shard are related, if the books are to be believed." she flexed her fingers of the wrist he held, listening to his words thoughtfully. As his hand lifted to her face, to her mouth, she parted her lips and skimmed her teeth across it for a moment before dipping her chin again.
"I am still cross with you" she said quietly. "And hurt. mostly hurt. but i..." she trailed off again. Without the silvery cast to her skin anymore with it being channeled into the darkness of her wings, tail and the freckles across her face, it left little chance to conceal the faint blush that crawled across her face.
"we'll see" she turned her back to the railing of the airship, hoisting herself up to perch on the edge of it, spreading her wings and giving them a few flutters to warm them again. "I suppose I ought to consider this a victory that I didn't accidentally murder you. Or intentionally"
[14:23] Niles Roesler let his hand fall away. It hovered slightly at the small of her back as she perched up on the railing, just barely touching at the pallid skin. "Perhaps more cross less hurt next time, and we might finally help you overcome the fear that attempting to murder me will drive me away," he said in a gentle jest.
[14:26] Dinah managed a soft laugh and the tail came forward, pressing the point against the middle of his sternum.
"it's not too late yet. though i'm still unconvinced you aren't a complete madman. Goodnight, Niles. be safe" she drew her tail back and wound it around her middle, toppling herself backwards over the edge and just letting herself fall.
[14:31] Niles Roesler was mostly confident she was being dramatic until she disappeared below the clouds. Then he sighed... and soon the still-glamoured doctor was hopping the railing after her, plummeting with in a slim pencil-dive in an effort to catch up. He gave her no warning, mentally... merely keeping his eyes on the plummeting form.
[14:35] Dinah had got her freefall under control, she wagered. she might not be good enough to carry herself telekinetically, but she was quite good at catching herself. She hadn't been expecting an airborne pursuer, and so when she reached a height that she deemed would be a safer stopping point she curled herself into at tight ball, tucking her wings so they'd not be buffeted by the sudden stop, and caught, unfurling herself midair and thrumming her wings into activity.
[14:42] Niles Roesler was quite out of sheer luck able to divert himself to the side of the Dinah ball. He dropped past her, the little laugh just audible as he disappeared into the treetop canopy of the woods. He probably caught himself. He'd done so in worse shape after Dorian's punch, after all.