Every Little Detail (attn: Dayle)

Clark W. Griswold droned on and on in reverent awe about the loss of Aunt Edna.

"O God, ease our suffering in this, our moment of great dispair. Yea, admit this kind and decent woman into thy arms of thine heavenly area, up there. And Moab, he lay us upon the band of the Canaanites, and yea, though the Hindus speak of karma, I implore you: give her a break."

Thankfully, the otherwise funny droning was broken by Ysabel's return home after her date.

Dayle didn't bother to get up.

But when her sister leaned over and nearly split her skull with the edge of a baseball cap - a baseball cap! - she sat up and muted the telly.

Glancing from her sister's occupied hand - it still held the cap - to her sister's face and back, then back again, Dayle paused a moment before speaking. Normally, she'd be the first to poke fun or come up with some "did you make the home team lose" joke... But something on her twin's face, as well as the rather obvious presence of the baseball cap, made her change tack.

"Have a good time? How's your head?"

Ysabel smiled at Dayle and hung her baseball cap up on the coat rack by the door to take upstairs with her later, then moved around to the couch and sat, pulling Dayle's feet up onto her lap and rubbing absently.

"My head is all right," she said. She wasn't immediately sure if that was a sideways comment about the cap or not, but she preferred to ignore it if it was. "The floodlights gave me a headache after a while, but the hat helped." Ysabel was aware of the soft smile on her face as she said so, but she didn't mind if Dayle noticed that.

"It was definitely loud and crowded, but we had a lot of fun. I'd like to go again sometime," Ysabel said, surprising herself. "Maybe we can see a game together?"

Shifting her attentions from one foot to the other, she glanced at the TV screen. "Have you been relaxing all evening?" The idea appealed to Ysabel. Dayle was so full of energy, it would be nice to know she had had a lazy, enjoyable evening.

Sighing as her sister began rubbing her feet, she noted the strange little smile on the other woman's face. "I think I'd like to see a game with you, definately." Dayle really was trying hard not to mention the hat. She knew it wasn't a common occurrence for her sister to come home with a souvenir from her dates... And she decided to let Ysabel tell her about it.

"Relaxing, for the most part. I answered a couple emails from Mum and Dad, told them we're doing okay. Sent a couple digital pictures of the new flat. They think it's very 'us'. I guess that's a good thing. Dad made a crack about bunk beds, and Mum said I need to fill my closet more." She shrugged gently. "They're funny sometimes."

"Bunk beds... he would." Richard had a unique sense of humor at times. Ysabel nodded in agreement at Dayle's needing to fill her closet. "I can help you with that," she said with a knowing little grin. It was a joke between the two that Ysabel would love to stuff Dayle's closet full of gowns and 'appropriate' clothing that her sister would, of course, despise.

Watching the TV for a few moments in companionable silence, Ysabel recalled her promise to tell Dayle all about her date, but she couldn't figure out exactly how to begin. Somehow gossiping about it like two schoolgirls didn't seem right.

Finally she just gave a little chuckle. "I'm to take Ambrose riding with me in a few weeks," she said. "When the horses are all settled. I'm going to have to do some research, I think. If he asks me what I'd like to do, I won't really have a good answer. I'll have to find out more about what's in the area. That's something else we can do," she added, her soft smile growing at the prospect of going out with Dayle.

"Ambrose, hmm. An interesting name. I know you need to ride," she mused, "and you're such a good teacher, if he needs it, he'll do well under your tutelage. But why look for what's in the area? You just moved from England. Tell him what you -used- to do, and have him figure it all out." Dayle teased, knowing her sister wasn't enough of the old fashioned type to make the man of the relationship figure out all of what the couple wanted to do.

"Though, putting it like that - the two of us going out - I'm sure I could sacrifice a night or two for enhancing your dating success." Grinning, she nudged her sister's belly with her foot.

The idea of actually telling Ambrose what she thought they ought to do was vaguely distasteful to Ysabel. She voiced her opinions rarely enough, and then usually only in front of Dayle, who lived under the constant hope that Ysabel would outgrow her reluctance to speak her own mind. She did want to be able to give an idea or two if Ambrose asked.

Really though, she wanted Dayle all to herself for a bit. She had a feeling that being here so close to the seats of their respective clan heads would cause them to spend less time in each other's company than they preferred. That was the nature of belonging to two different clans, and a part of why their condo was important. It was their neutral ground, and the place where they could go when they wanted to be just Ysabel and Dayle Yolgrave, instead of Ysabel of Anantya and Dayle of Tacharan.

She was briefly lost in thought but Dayle's toe made her jump away ticklishly. She caught her sister's foot gently and brushed the her fingernails across the sensitive instep.

"You're such a trooper," she said with mock solemnity. "Giving up a free evening of Chevy Chase to help me futher my own selfish goals."

The impish light in her eyes continued to shine even as she lifted her legs onto the couch and curled up on the opposite end as Dayle. Dating ettiquette for the modern day was something she could stand a bit more practice with; she hadn't dated anyone more than a time or two since her eleventh husband had died in 1910.

"So... which base am I supposed to let him get to on the second date? And... what do the bases stand for again?"

Ironic they should converse in this manner just after a baseball game. Ironic, but appropriate.

Twitching her foot and giggling, but leaving it in her sister's lap, Dayle retorted, "Who says I'm giving him up? You need to laugh too, even if you are chuffed to bits from the good vibes your date gave you."

"Which base?" Dayle pondered. "Well I've never known you to even pick up a baseball bat..."

The sudden airborne pillow flying towards Dayle's head left her to believe that maybe, just maybe, her sister could handle baseball. But she knew exactly what her dateworthy twin was referring to. "Well... First base is snogging, usually with tongue. Second is when ..." She blanked for a moment. She couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten to second base. "Oh! Right. When you let him fondle your knockers. I'd offer an Austin Powers accent, but well I can't quite do the International Man of Mystery impression. I think second can also include tossing each other's fanny and goolies. Uhm... Third I think is going down. And a home run is bonking."

Dayle nudged her sister's belly with her toe. "And you're not supposed to -let him- get there... Make the bloke earn it, dammit. You're not some sixteen year old schooler, you're a six hundred year old vampire with the body of a model and the brains of a bloody smart English courtesan. Unless I miss my mark, he did good tonight, or you wouldn't have been wearing that cap home. But, Amy, he is human. And he's a man. If he wants you, he'll work for you. To earn you. To get you. To... Oh shut up Dayle, you're not even making any sense to yourself." With that, Dayle huffed and crossed her arms under her breasts, then focused on the movie again.

Ysabel tickled Dayle's foot a bit more, since her flying pillow had been so easily evaded. She did affect her most competent air of hauteur, however and said in her loftiest tone, "My dear Dayle, I have no intention of letting him get anywhere he didn't deserve to get."

Then she grew a bit more solemn. "That said, we must be moving a bit slowly. There was no snogging involved. Save for a lovely goodnight kiss."

She felt her face grow red at the memory of Ambrose's thumb brushing her cheek, of tilting her head so her hat wasn't in the way, and a soft brush of lips. Nothing more; he wasn't pushy and Ysabel certainly couldn't reveal her fangs. It was just the perfect good-night, though, leaving her floating a little and anticipating their next date.

Ysabel snapped her eyes back to Dayle then, finding her sister watching her once more instead of her movie, and gave a little shrug.

She lifted her baseball cap and floated it over to Dayle as a reminder. "I think he earned it," she said sincerely, "but he'll just have to collect another time."

With a cheeky grin she let the hat drop onto Dayle's head.

((ooc: goodnight kiss courtesy of Ambrose))

Dayle stayed quiet at her sister's mock-haughty comments, but found herself watching the other Yolgrave as she commented about "a lovely goodnight kiss." Arching an eyebrow, Dayle ignored the hat as it flew towards her and instead focused on the smile and flush on her sister's face.

Dayle wondered how well it would be received if she were to say that Ysabel was truly taken with this chap...

And the hat dropped onto her head. Reaching up to avail herself of her sister's gaze, she commented with a sincere smile, "I'm very glad you had a good time."

"A lovely time," Ysabel agreed with another smile. "We're going to go out again soon, and perhaps the two of you can meet."

Thinking out loud, watching the TV but not really watching the movie, Ysabel mused, "Isn't it odd, don't you think, that after years of being married to human after human, I have the chance to go out and find myself a nice, respectable vampire counterpart... and I end up interested in another human?"

She looked at Dayle with a surprised expression. "Do you think they've grown on me after so long? They're such fragile things. And so short-lived."

Ysabel shook her head at herself. "You really ought to keep me in check, sister-dear. If and when this is over, remind me I don't want to date another human again. I will just have to make it my own personal mission to see you don't do the same thing."

She gave a little sigh though, and turned back to her sister. "You're so much more independent than me, though. I envy you sometimes, love. Sometimes I feel like so much of my life has been spent linked to one man or another, I could never survive apart on my own. And even then I have you to rely upon."

Ysabel hugged the nearest throw pillow as she gently rubbed Dayle's foot once more. "We're lucky to have each other."

She wasn't sure what had brought it on, but she was in a nostalgic mood now. Sometimes she couldn't help but look at Dayle and see how her sister had changed through the years while she herself remained the same, unchangeable and glad of it.

"I'd like to meet him, to be sure, but maybe after the second date."

Her attention suddenly pulled from the movie, she pondered her sister's ruminations about finding a human as opposed to a vampire. "Because they live for the moment, enjoying things as they come, instead of planning for the long term, like we have. The limitations of mortality do not weigh on their shoulders the same way it does for us. We look at them and can't help but wonder how they can accomplish so much in so little time... Perhaps they've grown on you in some sort of motherly way? I think that's one reason I take care of my charges the way I do... But in any case, there's always three options available to you."
Seeing her sister's look of questioning shock, Dayle explained. "You could familiarize him, or turn him, or if you want to spare either of you the pain of losing one another some years down the road, just let him go. We both know how painful it can be to lose the ones we love, even if it's not romantic lovey-dovey love like we see in so many movies or read in books. My last husband was more like a brother to me, and it hurt to see him go." Dayle shrugged. "We do have each other, you're right, and we also have Richard and Elsa." Her sister seemed to be in a nostalgic mood; Dayle felt herself in a confessing mood. Stealing her feet back from her sister, she reversed her position on the sofa and lay against her twin's side, hugging pillow and grasping her hands.

"I'm not independent, Amy. I can't live without you. You're my other half. I can't thank you enough for joining me on this venture, for being my sister, for saying 'yes' all those years ago... It woulda been tough without you. You're more independent than I, but we're so used to having each other, we play off each other's strengths, bolster and bridge each other's weaknesses." She stretched up, over her sister's frills and poofs, and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek, then returned to her spot next to her sister.

Ysabel's look of shock was not for the options presented her so much as the surprise that Dayle should have so much to say on the topic at hand. It wasn't that Ysabel believed her twin incapable of deep philosphical thought; merely that of the two, Ysabel was the one who was usually more inclined to dwell and expound upon it. So she only nodded as Dayle spoke, then gave a soft chuckle.

"I don't think I look upon Ambrose in a way anything near motherly... but I understand your point." Ysabel shook her head at the following options. "It is far too early to consider any of that." Even if some of the above had crossed her mind at one point or the other that evening.

Dayle's thanks took her by surprise far more than anything that came before. Ysabel never considered her turning as a favor to be thanked for; rather it was she who should thank Dayle for not leaving her behind, and so she did. "I don't know what it would have been like, to remain mortal and grow old and die while you lived on and on," she said, "and I always thought we would grow old together, you and I."

She hugged Dayle tightly when her sister kissed her, and then she smiled. "And so we have grown quite old together. I couldn't be a luckier twin, Dayle."

"I tell you what, if there's one thing I'm not dwelling on, it's what we would have done if one or both of us had stayed mortal. I like us how we are. We've been through a lot over the last few years, and I like the women we've become."

Dayle reached down and began idly massaging her sister's closest foot. Hiding a mischievous smile from Ysabel, she stared at the screen as she declared imperiously, "And you're right, you couldn't -be- a luckier twin to have one such as myself in your family, to share your home with, to give you wonderful foot massages..." The last word almost broke up with Dayle's sudden fit of giggles.

"I'm sorry! I couldn't say it with a straight face."

Ysabel grinned at Dayle as she lauded herself for her many virtues, but she didn't disagree. Whether she chose to make light of it or not, Dayle was correct. So she submitted, to both teasing and foot massages, trading rub for rub as they stretched out on the couch.

"I would be surprised if you had," she teased gently. Glancing at the screen she looked at the time. It was barely the middle of the night. "Another movie after this?" she asked. "We can make it a lazy night! Unless you had something else you had to get done today?"

"Lazy night works for me. The day wasn't so bad, but I need something to empty the brainpan. Hanging with you achieves that just wonderfully."

Dayle looked down at the blouse and slacks she'd worn to 'work' that day, and realized she hadn't changed yet. "Though I should change. Do you want any snacks or something to drink? And the next movie is your pick. The telly book should be next to you. I'm going to get into some nightthings." Dayle stretched as best she could on the couch, rubbing contentedly against her sister. "And if you want to freshen up, there's clean nightgowns and robes up on your rack... I did some lonely laundry."

Ysabel didn't expect to be having company or going out anymore that night, so lounging about with Dayle in her nightclothes seemed like a fine activity. When they were much, much younger, they had occasionally spent their nights that way, very rarely, simply lying about and reading to each other from books. To do so now suited the mood.

Tickling Dayle's foot once more, Ysabel stood and smiled. "Thank you! A date and clean laundry in one night. I don't deserve you."

Truthfully, Ysabel was terrible at housework. Like her unpacking, she knew what needed to be done and who might be best suited to the task, but when it came to applying her own elbow grease she always seemed to be all thumbs.

"If you insist, I'll pick a movie in just a few minutes. And as for snacks, no... but a glass of wine perhaps?"

With that she ascended to her own room for a quick change and a night of absolute laziness.

"Sure you do. It's only fair for all the grief and trouble I give you, to pamper you as a sister should." Dayle swatted at her sister's poof-covered bottom as she passed on her way to the stairs. Sticking her tongue out at the arched brow Ysabel gave her, she hopped off the couch herself and headed into her room.

Doffing her socks, slacks and blouse, she decided she didn't want to deal with her bra either, and instead slipped into a long pale pink cami she removed from her dresser. Untying her hair from its utilitarian ponytail behind her head, she shook it fiercely to give it the "fresh fluffed" feeling she usually enjoyed when relaxing.

Returning to the living room, she bypassed the couch for the kitchen. Raising her voice a little, she called, "White or red?"

Ysabel cheered inwardly at the sight of her favorite nightclothes fresh and clean and dry in her room. She took less time to change than one might imagine, given how tough it could be to get in and out of some of her outfits, but long years of doing so and the judicious use of some telekinesis helped greatly, and soon she was heading back down the stairs in soft slippers, a diaphanous nightgown in deep green, and a green silk dressing gown over that.

"White, please," she answered Dayle when the question floated up to her. Coming back into the living room and taking her seat on the couch once more, she browsed through the TV guide looking for something that suited both her and Dayle. She didn't see anything that immediately appealed though, so she handed the book to Dayle.

"You choose? I can't find anything that really pops out at me."

Dayle poured the white into the pair of glasses and grabbed herself a pack of strawberry twizzlers from a nearby drawer. She carried the glasses and plastic pack into the living room. Setting the glasses on coasters, she turned to her seat. Uttering an "oops" she found the HBO guide she'd used to find National Lampoon's Vacation. She saw that immediately following Vacation, European Vacation was set to view, so she sat down.

Ysabel handed her back the other book and Dayle held up her own offering. "European Vacation's next. Think we could survive the American point of view?" she asked with a snicker.

Ysabel took one of the glasses with a word of thanks and sipped at the wine delicately. Looking over at Dayle's HBO guid she smiled and nodded. "I wonder how the American public would react if they thought we were honestly basing our conceptions of their lifestyles on the Griswold family vacations."

It would be akin to Americans thinking Monty Python was a way of life for the entire United Kingdom, and the idea made her giggle. Curled up on the couch and completely ready for a nice, long, relaxing night, Ysabel let her legs tangle up with Dayle's as they settled in for a few good laughs.

((ooc: Twins out!))