(Nexus I) Angel, Asa, Twist, Mhairi

[Asa]

Continued from Nexus I...

It's impossible to contest the point when the winsome, crop-haired little Kindred ( Lenora ) fades off and away for the second time.

You'd think someone had shown a bit of fang.

Of course it was Twist . He remembered. She'd been intimidating when they'd first met, and that was a decade ago now. If there were more to the exchange than companionable banter he'd suggest that was a choice... but what was wrong with choosing to see who might consider the prize worth the risk?

"Plenty?" Asa feigned a bit of outrage. "And here I thought you'd only known a couple."

Asa turned his attention to the wisp ( Mhairi Ankaa ) as well; studying her outfit, raising a brow slightly as the high slit of her dress split over a thigh and revealed one of her feet. His full attention was like the radiant, golden heat of of the day-star upon a sunflower... and he knew it.

"I would claimed to have known all of your secrets," he greeted her, drawing the word 'all' out slowly and letting his tongue linger on the roof of his mouth to let Twist know that she was no stranger. And yet... Asylum. ...Appletini. Vanessa and... there it was, buried in his memories. "But it seems you have at least one more. Myah, this is Starfire. Starfire... Myah."

He'd come to think of her as the shrike for so long he'd nearly forgotten. Asa reached out as he slid easily through the introductions; bringing his hand up rather than reaching for Starfire, describing the small arc of an orbit. Surely by now she what it meant. What he wanted. Whatever else he might have added was left unsaid as they were joined by the blonde ( Angel ). Luminous and beautiful enough to eclipse the raven haired girl -- but Asa's eyes didn't waver. They'd made a compact. She would be seen.

"Absolutely," Asa agreed. His other hand extended fingers to lace with the Daeva's delicate ones for a brief squeeze. "One might even say those closest to you... become part of your identity."

[Twist]

Her look of chastisement, "An error in word choice." A flicker of a smile gave away that the look was nearly as feigned as his outrage though, "It is because English is not my native tongue."

"Good evening," she murmured in response to Starfire's greeting. Listening to Asa's own greeting, she caught the emphasis in his words but they elicited no flicker of surprise. If anything, her smile only deepened a slight fraction.

"A pleasure to meet you Starfire," Twist's words accompanied with a smile that reached her dark eyes. "This," a hand lifted, but like Asa didn't touch, and traced the shape Starfire's corset made, "is definitely highlighted by your eyes."

The pressure of his skin against hers was returned. "Yes," the single word answer fitting for both their stunning new companion and her Housemate, the softness it was spoken with making the distinction instead.

The head-to-toe look that Twist granted the latest beauty to step onto the rooftop was hindered little not at all by the height difference between them. "Though, I doubt you find yourself often lacking such..." she trailed off, inviting a name to be offered.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

From her periphery she sees ice, and an impression of beauty, starting, believing it for a moment the once Queen of Sorrow, Katrin Byeli whom she had known briefly, and had Sworn to for that first Season, but this Winter had not the Mantle of that Onyx Sovereign, nor L’aire Sasha that followed, but all around her can see the widening of her eyes when she sees the face, the tear.

Mhairi's eyes, firmly, resolutely flick away, cold in a way the first Queen was beautiful. A dismissal and a warning for those who knew her.

Smile growing warm, however, under Asa's heated attentions. One corner raises higher as she's introduced to Myah, "Perhaps two, Asa." she says, shivering as that drawl caresses the name she'd give oh so long ago, an alias, and an identifier. She was of fire and stars.

She doesn't draw closer, no, she turns. Easily showing her back to him, the clasps of the chains, the laces of the corset. Practiced eyes, would see the hidden zipper of her dress. She finishes the rotation, it's slower then the last time she twirled for him, but she has changed more then she knew and that anxious energy wasn't dogging her steps.

"Mhairi," she says, "Mhairi Ankaa," laying another secret bare, then as she come around again to face Asa and Myah, pressing the tips of her fingers to her chains, "They do...and they don't." smile a little impish, teasing another secret.

[Angel]

A hand moves unbidden, fingertips brushing cheek, as if still trying to wipe away the memory of a tear shed. A tear that will forever be a reminder of loss.

For a moment, Angel is lost in space, galaxies swirling as the Autumn turns.

A finely sculpted hand raises the flute to pouty,parted lips, obscuring the vision, breaking the spell.

Angel's head turns, striking a new pose as crystal, blue eyes dance over the couple straight out of a magazine.

"Angel," the beauty responds to the question unasked, "pleased to make your acquaintance." Eyes flick between the two, remaining on the gentleman a fraction of a second longer, drinking him in.

[Asa]

Asa's eyes did flicker over to Twist and his lips parted... but he didn't say it.

He'd personally heard that excuse for at least one decade. It would surprise him not one bit if there were another nine to go with it and make it a century old. But he's not the sort to talk about one's age.

"Who said it was mine?" He grinned. Maybe he still had a few surprises left for Twist, too. The exchange was brief and his focus was back on the shrike as took her cue and presented herself. "Lovely." He moved then; slow, leaning in with a hand on her waist to bring his lips close to her ear for the faintest of whispers. "Sensible shoes are just as fabulous."

She'd probably never seen the 'lotus feet' or foot-binding practice that had dominated Chinese culture for centuries. And of course sensible didn't preclude a good high heel. That brief moment before he moved back away was enough for her to feel the absence of radiant warmth. There was no heat as his lips neared her ears, or on his breath, and the hand was as cool as an empty glass. He'd noticed, though. Once upon a time she could barely speak or look him in the eyes. And now?

God I hope she isn't a werewolf. That'd be as bad as... fucking a Gangrel.

"And I confess that if you're being here is the first, then what the second might be is a curiosity." Asa stirred his Blood, pushing it out to suffuse his skin to the healthful flush of life. Dry eyes that could have been carved from marble glistened and softened and he took a long, slow inhale. Satisfied that he'd made his point that... Mhairi... wouldn't be cast aside for some new attraction, he turned to the glacial blonde and nodded. "Good evening. I'm Asa."

[Twist]

Twist made a small noise, her look of surprise at his tease no doubt what he had been hoping for. Chuckling she narrowed her eyes at him in promise of talks later, before turning to watchenjoy the display of Starfire.

No, not Starfire it seemed. "Mhairi," she echoed, correcting her address, idly wondering if it was the name Starfire or Asa that had caused StarfireMhairi's reaction.

Because yes. Noticed. Daeva.

"And they don't?" She prompted watching Mhairi trace the chains, her voice curious.

If Angel's poses were struck, Twist's seemed to be as natural as a cat's. They weren't of course, she had started human after all. But it's amazing what decades of practice and the right incentive can do. A pause, and then a decision to stay with what Asa had started. "Myah," she replied to Angel with a smile. Completing the circle of introductions.

Noticing the shift in Asa, she considered restraining. After all, this was Nexus. She didn't have too. There was a part of her that was reveling in the fact that she could be simply herself. And yet, with Blushing came so. Much. More.

Catching the difference in Angel's look (Daeva), if she was upsetjealous it wasn't at all apparent as she turned back to Mhairi. The tip of her tongue wetting lips now full and colored, waiting for her answers with sparkling eyes.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Angel, slighting her as she was slighted. Typical Fairest. Though having the Icebound Duchess' attention away from her, could only be a good thing. She might have been worried over Asa and Myah, but she knew the man wouldn't be one to carelessly give his heart away only to have it broken, and from what she knew of his choice of companions, they wouldn't either, not when they had him.

The Corpse cool lips against the shell of her ear makes her shiver, heat rising in counter to him so close, so cold. Though the words make her gasp, eyes rushing towards him, "But they wouldn't make the same statement."

Her head shakes, how could she explain...? "It's both. I have two faces, this one, and one underneath. Hidden from all but those who can see the truth." comes a quiet confession, "I...could show you." she offers, Fear wrapping around her. She would need all the speed of a Runsrsweif to hit the Trod and barrel into her Hollow. Mhairi would be empty, not even a lonely mote of Fearful glamour wrapped under her skin. She'd need her Fear Fruit, she would have to terrorize several dreamers....but she could show them.

Her pondering plans are interrupted as she witnesses them change.

Seeing the difference is striking, of them both. She hadn't quite known what was off, the pair reminding her of Gravewrights, or other Corpse kiths though she knew they were not, there was no Mask to pierce, no Mien to witness. Seeing life blossom within them, a vibrancy that hadn't been there, hadn't been noticed as missing until it was there.

"You're dead then? Or do you only appear dead?" she asks, the Autumn rising in her, "I've known some who've appeared dead, glamouring themselves to appear living when they wanted too." Gravewrights of course, Hardening their Mask.

[Angel]

The cold from the couple did not come from ice it seemed, but from a lack, made more evident by its sudden existence.

A Fairest can only watch in quiet awe for a moment.

Eyes returning to Mhairi as she offers to show her other face.

Angel breathes, having forgotten the need in the moments that had past.

The sculpture observes the dance, makes notes, ponders secrets.

"Change seems a common theme among us."

[Asa]

Curiosity took so long to fade -- long enough that it was one of the last things left. It brought color to an ever increasingly bland world where all the hues and contrasts of mystery had faded over time into the patina of banality. But that same time brought wisdom. Mysteries exposed weren't always as sweet as the curiosity itself.

Never ask a question that you don't want to know the answer to.

What if Mhairi were covered in hair? Or... fish scales? Maybe she was a tree. Or an insect. These would be answers that he did not want, and he'd never see her the same again. Asa was fully aware of how shallow that might make him... but didn't he have eternity to be particular?

"I'd quite like to see that," he answered with a smile. It was a degree of trust; returned, understanding that surely the shrike knew from Asylum. Wasn't she taking a risk as well in how he might react to the revelation? It was the pause, though. The pause in the midst of quiet words. Boundaries and comfort zones weren't confined to silk blindfolds and leather collars. Look how far she'd come. He glanced between Twist and Angel. "Wouldn't you?"

Then of course there was his own revelation, and Twist's. Oh, the Dragon would debate the question. Dead -- or Changed? Was 'alive' so narrowly defined as a collection of vascular systems in constant operation? Surely Change and Stagnation had to mean something.

Or maybe she just wanted to know if she'd been intimate with a corpse.

"According to fiction," Asa agreed. His smile widened and tongue slid over the tips of his fangs to highlight the ivory daggers. "But we don't sparkle."

...without a lot of stripper glitter.

[Twist]

"Two faces?" Twist breathed, her interest clearly peaked. Because in a rarity, she did not think that this was a translation error. It was with an effort that she didn't lean forward, dark eyes searching for Mhairi's second face. No, instead she hears and heeds the warning in the quiet voice, the slight pause, so at odds with the woman's steady bearing, and focuses instead on Mhairi's eyes. Which, was not as difficult as it could have been. They truly were mesmerizing.

"Yes," she says softly, answering Asa's question with a smile to match the one she heard in his voice, "I would."

"Change?" Again an echoed question, but this one less awe and more oh? Lifting an eyebrow, she looked to Angel, "How so?" she prompted.

As the questions turned toward her and Asa though, it was her turn to pause, hesitating. She was better with words now, but she still tended to be blunt. And this did not seem like a good time for blunt. Not when she wanted to see Mhairi's second face. And thank the Goddess, Asa stepped in. Because he was still better with words. Even if it wasn't his first language either.

She said she knew some who appeared dead. But she also hadn't said if she was friends with them or not.

"Does it bother you?" she asked, making her voice light, interested to know but not on the edge of taking offense if the answer wasn't pleasant.

Because if she wasn't going to get to see Mhairi's second face, she would rather know now that be disappointed later on.