Off and Away~! (Haven)

[Lady Dyonisia]

Dyonisia watched Caiaphas with a mixed expression, part fascination, part pinched empathy, endlessly receptive. Apparently she had all the time in the world for some Kindred. While the Ventrue negotiated quiet angry agony, Dyonisia explored his face.

"Retrospection is beautiful - and cruel. There was an old philosophical chestnut, Buridan's Ass. Faced with two identically appealing haystacks - and therefore unable to prefer one to the other - the donkey starves to death. Or was it a pail of water...?" A wave. "Regardless: I am responsible for the decision that I stayed; your argument was sound but I could have ignored it. I cherished your precautions, your stubbornness."

"Oh, this situation is such execrable pap. There was even a little potion of my consciousnesses sat as a lone schoolgirl at a solitary desk, busy fretting about the Elysium to come, this business of joint Keeper, an echo of fear or frustration and all there clamouring in my gut, only for me to ignore it. An illiterate Brujah once said: Reading a book is a dangerous thing. A book can make you find room in yourself for something you never thought you'd understand. Or worse, something you never wanted to understand."

"We are in a state... and not an uncomplicated one."

Where there should have poured reassurance or fierce denial, came only a protracted silence. It was obvious that fear was very readily available for Dyonisia, if only she were willing to turn and face it.

"As with all actions performed because other options have ceased to exist, it is almost a relief." The Toreador watched Caiaphas with the first real hint of exhaustion. "I will be returning for your clan-mate's performance, it is only correct, but I intend to leave this next night. I will provide you a personal contact address for my destination. There is nothing to forgive, but in the way of these things, you have it."

[Caiaphas Redfern]

As she ruminated and spoke Caiaphas spirit returned to a state of calm, the ripples in his aura smoothing and the anger sufficiently submerged that she could no longer sense it. Few others could have had such a calming effect on the man, putting him back - as she remembered that he had often phrased it in the past, slipping into the nautical jargon of his youth - 'on an even keel'.

"Oh yes, my dear, dear, dear...I suppose I am being an ass. But we are in January, so let me also play the role of Janus a while...Come March, I'll likely need to don the mask of Mars!" he added and uttered that dry, mechanic laugh she knew so well, though not without a hint of rue.

He cast a brief apologetic glance at Valentina and folded his hands on his lap, giving the poor chair some respite from the torture it had suffered. "Well, I am glad that if I should see my Lady for the last time in a while, it will be with her dazzling the denizens of this domain, to great applause."

Then he went on in a more fervent tone, one that brooked no refusal: "And I thank-you for your forgiveness - it means much to me. But although we've never engaged in prestation, you and I, being too much in harmony...nevertheless I consider myself in debt to you.

"I want to know if there is anything that you need, anything I can do to repay that debt. Don't deny me that."

[Valentina Audley]

Valentina has settled into a still seat and is listening attentively, content to let the conversation flow around her, gazing thoughtfully at both the elders.

She acknowledges Caiaphas glance with a small fleeting smile. She doesn't seem perturbed at being left out of the conversation, rather she has an air of someone taking mental notes in case of being questioned later.

[Lady Dyonisia]

"Mars... Perhaps you will. Whatever mask you don at the March court, whatever whirlwind life sends your way, you are equal to it. I am not asking you this, I am telling you something you already know."

"It is not a secret: I do not choose weak-of-heart assistants. I needn't pander to another's self-doubt and I all but laid out the welcome mat for you." A smile returned his own, as rueful. "You are more than you credit. An ass?" One giant flash of exasperation. "We share an outrageous exemption, you and I, but were you the ass in the story do you think I would be sat here having this conversation with you? Miss Valentina, do you think me so patient? No! I would be off to collect my beautiful mink stole. I would be far away from this cottage or ignoring the door entirely. I wish this. I wish you."

This new hint like an inkling of depravity. Never mix work and pleasure, darling, it's so uncouth.

"Perhaps I can think on something less intangible, however... if you insist." Her gaze slanted once to Valentina, back again. "I anticipate difficulty with contacting Miss Audley safely. I am aware that my mail has been tampered with. Not an errand - but a request of your company in Taunton. I believe that is where I will lay my proverbial hat."

"If you would, have Miss Audley provide you with what letters she need send me, I trust you with them, you have long-since proven your value for mine privacy - and visit every so often. Don't-" she added quickly. "Be loud with your visit. These times are socially trying; the future is a capricious gravity, or so say the rambling oracles. At times its pull has been light. Now we fall to it as if a trapdoor has opened under our very feet. Be cautious with your own safety. Do not leave Bath if you feel the route unsafe. That is what I would wish. As with times before, it is a man's road and safer for yourself than Miss Audley to traverse. But it is more true that I wish to see you."

[Caiaphas Redfern]

His expression full of intensity, and after a moment's thought his words came a little hoarse: "As you wish it, so shall it be. And if the future's an abyss, then we may just as well leap as fall, driving our swords ahead of us. Both choices end the same way, don't they?...but only one is beautiful."

He rose smoothly to his feet, the movement not so much graceful as somehow inevitable, as if a statue had changed pose. "Mm...If I stay any longer, hear too many more of your soft words, I'll lose the will to leave. So farewell, dear rambling rose. I'll find you in time.

"This and more I promise."

[Lady Dyonisia]

Even though she must have expected the answer, Dyonisia's expression faltered a bit. Perhaps it was the comment on beauty - ever a Toreador she remained, but the angle for one so Ventrue was a shock each time and it threatened to - or the reality of the situation finally asserting itself by degrees upon her; beyond her hysterics, denial was less readily available. Perhaps it was only his intensity, the deep gravity of his emotion, that left her negligible thought-ghost scrambling to regather the threads of the negligibly real world.

They each bid their farewells and for what felt like a long, long time Dyonisia sat watching the spot he'd vacated.

She then cleared her throat and turned to Valentina, petting the folds of her dress as she rose.

"How is it possible for everything to fall away so fast?" she wondered aloud. The dazed look cleared, a frown snapping into place. "No, don't answer that."

[Valentina Audley]

Valentina relaxed into her seat after Caiaphas' departure. Used to Dyonisia's ways she'd sat quietly, thinking until Dyonisia broke the silence.

"As if I would darling." The comment is without rancour.

"Tell me darling, is he always so? I find myself perplexed by his moods and manners..."

[Lady Dyonisia]

"Oh, he is," came again the hint of exasperation - tinged with fondness. "I should think Mr. Redfern an open book were it not for those pages that are terribly obscured. I wouldn't make the mistake of assuming him the doormat, mind. Let such an honour be given to the rest of the court, or at the least half of them, but not he."

"Beyond any other reason, Mr. Redfern's moods are why I chose him. So many candidates knew the Status system inside and out, how could they not? In performance I demand only the absolute heights of the system. It was his nature, his very nature and no less, that was appealing beyond this. He keeps you on your toes."

Dyonisia settled more naturally on the sofa, her tone dipping into something less proper and more storied. Clearly, she liked the sound of her own voice - would at points punctuate her tale with a wave, a sigh, a throaty laugh or frown as the story flourished and she became quite at ease with Valentina. Finally, a genuine new timbre changed the melodrama of her voice.

"Mr. Redfern had always been... more somehow. More passion, more intensity, certainly a great deal more intelligence. He loves more deeply (look at that doted-upon Childe of his!) and hates with more ferocity than anyone I have ever known. It would frighten someone lesser-" her nose gave a definite tilt, chin raised in a superior sniff, "but of course I am no lesser. Having Mr. Redfern in the court has been an endless succession of dizzying highs and abysmal lows... largely the former for myself."

"He can be the biting chill in the dead of winter, a raging blizzard threatening to consume the body and soul. And then without warning, that intensity can shift to radiant sunlight, warming you in a way that makes you feel as if the storms would never come again."

The realization that, should she have taken it further than professional association or mild friendship, his presence in her life promised nothing less than salvation or destruction had been too much for Dyonisia to handle. Not only because it could be so easily used against her, but because she couldn't count on Caiaphas to accept her offer. A cautious creature, pride would always remain Dyonisia's most limiting flaw.

Well, when in Rome.

"What think you of Mr. Redfern? Did you shake his hand? Curses no... You didn't. I apologise, I should have thought. My grief was such that... But what do you think?"

[Valentina Audley]

Valentina taps her chin with the tip of a finger absentmindedly as she replies.

"Well I certainly don't think him a doormat. He's too intense for that, when he lets his guard down."

She tilts her head thoughtfully.

"That said, he clearly trusts you greatly. To speak so freely in front of me when you are leaving soon and I... Well, surely it's clear that socially I shall have to look for a new patron of sorts? There are those that would, like as not, be very interested in your goings on and were I so inclined I'm sure information would smooth my way."

"I have not the pleasure of his Childe's acquaintance. Perhaps I should remedy that, next elysium? To satisfy my curiosity if nothing else."

She smiles at Dyonisia, arching an eyebrow.

"You must forgive me saying so darling, but an he does make a visit to your new abode, were I you I should avail myself to his company for a while. He is... eager to be of service I think."

The delicate phrasing is accompanied by an arch smile. After a moment she looks down, to smooth an imaginary wrinkle from her skirt.

"Would you rather the Lilac code or the Rose code? When I write?"

[Lady Dyonisia]

"The Rose," murmured Dyonisia. "Always and always and always the Rose."

"it is intriguing. Now that you say it, I see how reluctant I am to take shameless advantage of potential service, offered though it is; were he any other man I am sure that hesitation would be the last thing on my mind." The musing tone changed to something more casual. "Rumination aside, you are quite correct. It is in our mutual interest to make a thoroughfare of good information's passage. With renewed distance I shan't be so updated on the comings and goings of this court, not least because I will need my focus in the new. As for his Childe - yes - I should think that wise. Do not speak directly to Mr. Knox yourself, not without Mr. Redfern's permission. I doubt you do not know this," Dyonisia laughed. "But on the off-chance: the Ventrue take their possessions very seriously and guard them even more wholly than the Toreador. Well, more than some of us."

Finally, lightly, "Do you think so? On Mr. Redfern trusting me so great an amount?"

Dyonisia led them back upstairs to the bedroom and finished gathering her belongings, shadowed by the Ghoul.