So once it would have been,--'tis so no more; / I have submitted to a new control:

[hisheartsdesire]

WHO: Sabriel and Toby. Later, Kanaya and Toby.
WHERE: Somewhere in Heropa.
WHEN: Sometime when they're available after the swear-in and/or hallucinations.
WHAT: Sabriel thinks it's time to neuter a vampire. Kanaya wants to talk about NPC-Natalie
WARNINGS: Charter magic to bind a vampire into submission. Also, vampires talking about vampires? Will update as necessary.

Having soothed things over with Dorian, Tobias hasn't had any need or desire to feed on any natives. He's been especially careful since siring Natalie and meeting Demona, keeping Natalie hidden at Dorian's place as not to alarm his own housemates. If he could take care of her—properly—then maybe he could prove himself to Kanaya. At least, that's what he'd thought.

But then the swear-in happened, and while Tobias had arrived late, it wasn't late enough to miss out on the presentation of slander and lies. And what they'd said about Kanaya raising a vampire army? He knew that traced back to him, and wanted to talk to Kanaya about it, but he doesn't know how to broach something like that. Besides, he's been worried about Kanaya perhaps beating him up again despite all efforts to fix things.

Not to say the whole thing had slipped his mind, but Tobias has been sufficiently distracted as of late. So for him, it's just another evening stroll through Heropa. He figures he'll make his way out to Maurtia Falls to retrieve Natalie, maybe have her feed on Drew instead of Dorian or Abduxel. Especially Dorian, but that's something personal.

Comments

[hisheartsdesire]

"All right—I'm sorry, Miz Maryam," Tobias says in a quiet aside, trying not to hiss at her in annoyance. It's a difficult enough ordeal that the two are hardly on good terms with one another.

Naturally, he feels completely awful after Dorian's outburst and winds up apologizing. Where did everything go so wrong, and how?

And, great, now Dorian's explaining himself as if he's the one to blame for this fiasco. Tobias swallows; it's barely audible. Quickly, he tries to wrap things up before finally ending the call with a small, quiet, and tired chuckle, followed by, "Of course, I'll stay afterward. See you soon, Dorian."

[glowsferatu]

As he continues to talk, she impatiently scans the alley, not for anything in particular, but just for something to do. There's no one around to eavesdrop on them, she knows that already, she can read it in Space, but having someone to at least idly follow would at least pass the time.

She lets out a sigh of relief when he disconnects the calls. "Finally. I imagine we'll be going wherever he is, then?" That might've been a better use of her time, when she was inventorying her threads. Dorian's she can recognize, she's encountered him enough as Faust that she made sure she'd know it if she came across it again. The distance makes it harder to pick out from here, he doesn't seem to be anywhere in Heropa. Somewhere farther north, nearer to her own residence in Maurtia Falls.

[hisheartsdesire]

"Yeah—his apartment in Maurtia Falls. Natalie's been staying in the guest room," he answers, but Kanaya's probably figured as much. "She's fed off other immortals—with their clear and informed consent, of course."

And she does that without the sort of charter magic leash that Sabriel put on Toby after the fact. It still grates on his nerves when he thinks about it, if only because Natalie was the last one he'd sired, but with what happened at the swear-in? In fact, Tobias is surprised that Sabriel hadn't confronted him earlier.

"So, um. Going about it through your portal?"

[glowsferatu]

"It isn't Dorian's consent to her biting him I'm concerned with. It's her consent to his ancient beast awakening from its slumber to prod into her thigh as she does."

Toby's a vampire, he's dating Dorian, there's no way he doesn't know about his fetishes. And if Kanaya knows too, she finds it very unlikely that Natalie doesn't. Sure, he's a convenient meal, but she could never imagine setting him up with a vulnerable fledgling.

"Not the whole way," she finally answers his question, as she starts to weave her threads. "We'll be stopping through the Porter base, it's quicker that way." By the time she's finished talking, the portal's already open, the base laid before them. She motions Toby to go first.

[hisheartsdesire]

Tobias knows, too, about Dorian's fetishes and his conquests. He knows some stories are rumours and others are unlikely truths; he knows Dorian has charmed his way into many situations, and destroyed people on his way out. But Dorian broke off all his intimate relationships just to be with Toby, and so Tobias cannot suffer the ancient beast comment for long.

He listens to her response, seething all the while before answering, "Fine." Before going through the portal, he adds, "And despite what he's done in the past, Dorian wouldn't do something like that. Not since I arrived. You don't know my Dorian Gray."

[glowsferatu]

"I'm sure I don't," she responds, following after him. "But I have to wonder if anyone does, other than you."

It's an inevitable truth, someone is never quite the same person around the one they love. Dorian, as Tobias knows him, is bound to be different from Dorian as Kanaya knows him, she's not been exposed to the positive qualities that he must be attracted to. She does know the petty, bitchy criminal, the unprincipled hedonist who doesn't care about anyone but himself.

She doesn't know him well, but there's nothing she would put beyond him, certainly not dishonesty with Tobias. There are very few things she'd put beyond him.

She lets her threads go, slipping back through her fingers, and the portal shuts behind them.