A Beautiful Mess (open)

She was not entirely surprised by Amir's warning, but felt suddenly exposed on the sidewalks of the Strip. It was with some relief that they stepped into the quiet of the Gardens. It always surprised her how hedges could cut off sound so completely. The perfume of the flowers assulted her nose and she used her very handy ablities and dampened that sense for the time being.

"Some of them. Lady Erin always kept a garden that bloomed all hours, so we had a number of night plants. This hanging above us is a climbing hydrangea, which blooms with the morning, but releases its fragrance in the evening."

They walked on and the hydrangea turned to white honeysuckle, and the walkway opened into a circular garden on their right. It was a low profile garden with several large statues and benches made of a bleached stone, all looked eerily silver in the moonlight. "Hmm, I don't know most of these. But that silvery filler plant they've used is called lamb's ears. Shall we look around in here or move on?"

Amir listened to Dana with mild interest as she looked around and named what she knew. The fact that certain flowers bloomed in the dark was a point of curiosity, and he made a mental note to read up on it later and see why that was so.

He raised a shoulder ambivalently at Dana's question and moved on, walking slowly, perfectly able to enjoy the gardens while still traveling through them. Mostly done in neutral colors, every here and there was a splash of bright color, surprising against the gentle whites and gray-greens of the majority of the flora.

As they moved into the next area, he noticed a few plants with distinctive flowers on them, a light lavender-blue with a thick yellow center.

"I know these," he said with some surprise. "They're nightshade." There were several varieties of nightshade, he knew, but this one was particular to the American west. It wasn't the prettiest plant ever, but intermixed with the others in this area it gave it a harsh kind of beauty.

And, of course, it was poisonous like all nightshades. Amir noted that thoughtfully.

She offered him a bit of an indulgent smile. "I saw a man drink nightshade tea once." She let the memory of the young upstart with much too much ambition come to the front of her mind, and the result of said drink. It had amazed her that he never once noticed that no one else was drinking the tea. "He was a stupid man to drink before his hostess, and not notice that no one else in the room shared the odd colored tea with him."

A small shrug moved her shoulders. "But then he may have noticed, but by then it was too late."

Amir listened to Dana with interest, his eyes alight at any story that hinted at intrigue. "Why was the tea there to begin with?"

Dana hadn't told him many of the stories she knew; she was so focused on moving herself forwards, usually, she often forgot to look back. Or, at least, didn't do so out loud. It was interesting to hear something of her past for once, so having asked his question he seated himself on a nearby bench and waited for the answer, hoping she would elaborate.

Maybe on any other occasion he'd have been happy to keep her thoughts moving forward too, but tonight he was in a mood to listen.

A small smile curled her lips as she moved to a statue not far from where Amir sat. She wasn't sure she wanted to sit just yet.

"He brought it on himself really." Her fingers trailed along the arm of the woman staring up at the moonlight. "When you open your mouth and say the wrong things in the court of a king, around people who are only pretending to be your confidants you end up dead."

Those trailing fingers landed on the leaf of a vine that was trying desperately to climb the woman's hip. "Or at least you did four centuries ago when kings were ruthless and petty."

She plucked the leaf her fingers had caressed, and brought the fragrant flora to her nose. "Of course you should also keep those wrong things to yourself when the local vampire's eyes and ears are sitting quietly in the background daintily stitching butterflies into a bit of embroidery that is later found beneath your pillow by your oh so jealous wife, who then asks her aunt to kill you, because she doesn't know how to go about it and not get dirty."

Tilting her head to the side, she moved away from her contemplation of the statue and offered Amir another small smile. "So you see he brought it on himself really."

Amir listened to Dana's tone but couldn't discern any particular emotion from it, other than a sense of amusement. He logged her short story away for future reference, murmuring, "Clearly," in agreement with her assessment.

Throughout the ages there had always been kings, queens, politics, and jealousy. And there had always been people behind the scenes, turning the wheels of a machine that most of the little folks never saw. They just saw the puppets in the front, on the stage.

It didn't surprise him that Dana had been a stagehand. She had said as much when they'd first met. Amir, for his part, just didn't participate at all. He tried to limit his interactions with humankind. They could provide entertainment, sure, but when the sun went down they were just food like anyone else, and a king tasted the same as a peasant.

"You did that sort of thing often, then?" His tone was politely interested. Amir was more attentive to Dana's history than to stories about humans, but since the two seemed to intertwine he preferred to hear more.

She gave a small shrug. "I don't know what you consider often. Lady Erin played a large part in who sat on that throne and the people he kept around him. I was a cog in her machine."

A soft sigh lifted her chest and she moved to look up into the branches of a nearby tree. "It was a rare thing that those who needed ousting were killed by another's hand, it was only when it was a better opportunity, or could get rid of more than one person that I set such traps."

She let the brief thought of climbing the tree flit through her mind. She wasn't certain now if she was proud of her past and the work she did for Lady Erin. Her life now was so much more important and full of things that mattered to the entirety of her race and the life she led for the past nine hundred years was so...so petty and shallow.

"I am good at what I do. It might surprise you, but I can blend in with the scenery, causing those around me to forget I'm there, like a side table or an extra chair. It helps when you never speak, and people, humans and others, believe you quite daft and take you for granted."

A soft laugh left her. "It took twenty-seven rounds of hide and go seek for Sebastian to believe that I was neither daft nor a snack."

"I don't know what I consider often either," Amir said with a flash of a smile. He nodded understandingly, though. He, too, was a cog in a much larger machine. The idea wiped the smiled from his face quickly; Mara had planted ideas in his head that he didn't like yet couldn't find too compelling an argument for. He didn't want to think about Subira right now... or the potential fragility of his own continued existence.

He shook his head at Dana, denying any surprise. He'd been around the block enough times to know something about vampiric abilities. He'd known people able to blend with their surroundings like Dana described, and from their own brief game of hide and seek Amir suspected he understood Dana might have some skill at observation as well. They'd never really discussed their own abilities and skills with each other; the topic hadn't come up. It would eventually; Amir needed to know Dana's abilities in order to understand how best to employ them is she really wanted to join the fight, but tonight wasn't business.

"Who was Sebastian? You've mentioned him several times," he asked instead. Dana had said that name before, but she had never associated the name with a role in her life so Amir didn't quite understand how he fit in.

She looked down out of the branches and gave Amir her face, brow drawn together, lip pulled between her teeth. How does one describe Sebastian?

"He was... hmm, well I guess you could call him our port in the storm. We stayed with him during times of war in our country. Most memorably and for the longest amount of time was during the World Wars."

She sighed and tilted her head to one side, she wanted Amir to understand, but he had no idea how to describe her relationship with Sebastian.

"I think you could call him a big brother, at least to me, but he was more to Lady Erin. He was...is, because I'm sure he's still alive, silly and full of mischief. Though he and Lady Erin would sit up late into the morning talking, so I doubt he was only that."

Another shrug lifted her shoulders. "I was not included in those conversations, so I really have no idea what he was like outside of expansive games and ridiculous stories. But he is a good man, and was kind to me, and more importantly left my things alone if he came into my room."

Amir was beginning to get a more comprehensive picture of Dana's life. A little bit, anyhow. What he could piece together sickened him somewhat, and this new revelation didn't help. So... Dana had been created as a companion for Lady Erin. She had been used every now and then to carry out her creator's desires. She had had a playmate and/or protector in the form of this Sebastian, but she was never included in any of the more serious business.

Dana was someone's playtoy.

That idea was repugnant to him. It sounded almost as if Lady Erin had made herself a life-sized, permanent doll that was useful to her. She supplied her with some knowledge and plenty of affection, kept her locked away and naive, and on occasion used her as a foil.

It made him rethink his own position. He had created six, seven if you counted the straying Kiamhaat. But with that one exception he had raised his children to be resourceful, strong, and mostly independent. Where did that leave Mara, though? Why hadn't he pushed her away, made her stand on her own and face Subira when she was younger? Was he no better than Dana's creator?

He didn't let his thoughts cross his expression, keeping them to himself. Dana loved her creator. Amir certainly wasn't going to badmouth her.

He didn't really know what to say to Dana otherwise, though. "So. A friend of the family," he said, with a slightly forced smile.

Amir stood swiftly and crossed the little area they were in, focusing on a climbing vine with white, trumpet-shaped flowers. He waited to see if Dana would catch up with him.


((ooc: Lady Erin's motives -totally- speculation by Amir.))

Dana was familiar enough with Amir to know that his smile was forced. He found something she'd just told him distasteful. It distressed her but she had no idea how to address it.

His sudden movement from one place to another cemented her thoughts and bewildered her. She stood very still for a moment, and watched him. He expected so much from her, she knew this. Her past bothered him, and so did the meekness that she clung to. It was easy to be small and shy. It was easy to blend into the background and not be noticed. She was not here to do what was easy. If she'd wanted to do that, she would have stayed in Ireland.

With a deep breath and none of the confidence she knew Amir wanted her to have she crossed to him. She stood just behind and to his right, not know where else to put herself. It was a respectful place, but also a subservient place. She was not and did not feel subservient to Amir, she was just so very unsure of herself.

Amir felt Dana's confusion as he walked past her. He was angry; not with her but with her creator. Maybe with himself for being a hypocrite. But try as he might he couldn't compare Mara to Dana. Yes, he'd sheltered Mara, because in her case it had been the right thing to do. otherwise Subira would have crushed her. Dana never had a chance to test herself from the sounds of it; her Lady Erin had dictated every move. The carelessness of Dana's treatment irritated him. Every vampire had to grow, to learn, to become stronger in order to survive.

He turned, his arm striking out with serpent-like speed, sliding around Dana's narrow waist and pulling her close against the hard length of his body. His head dipped down and he studied her closely, intensely, for a moment, his dark eyes glittering down at her.

"You're more than what they made you," he murmured softly, trying to instill something more gentle into his words. He shouldn't let his temper loose on Dana; none of this was her fault. She was here trying to be stronger and that was why he cared for her.

Why it bothered him in particular tonight, though, he wasn't sure. He raised his free hand and traced the outline of Dana's face, illuminated by the moonlight. He stood there, looking at her, the two of them frozen under the sky.

Her only response to his unexpected drawing of her to him, was a soft gasp, that left her lips parted. She was proud of herself as she met his gaze, though something in it frightened her and she had this feeling that it would be good if Lady Erin and Amir never crossed paths.

"And I have so much more to become." Her words were barely more than a whisper, but she knew he heard her. It was not difficult to keep his gaze. To fill her senses with him. Dana opened them all, letting the pungent fragrances of the flowers fill her nose, the sounds of the night creatures filled her ears and he commanded her sight and touch. With them all she memorized him in this moment.

Dana's closeness should be doing something to him, Amir thought, but he was still too angry to feel anything but that. He took a deep breath, and then another. The sounds of people approaching kept him from saying anything more and broke the stillness they'd fallen into. A laugh from just around the corner had him glancing up sharply.

He dropped a swift kiss onto Dana's soft lips and straightened, giving her a more genuine smile. Taking her hand he whispered, "Let's go."

He drew her along with him, the two of them walking quickly and quietly through the carefully cultivated maze of Vesper until the noises dropped away. Amir looked around and found that they were in a blooming jasmine grove. Getting his bearings he figured they were somewhere at the very back of the Gardens. Maybe they wouldn't be bothered here. Human company was down on the bottom of his list for the evening, somewhere between drowning and burning at the stake.

She went with him, her gait a sort of hopping skip as she moved quickly along beside Amir. She did little more than watch the ground before her, as they moved through the maze of the garden. When he finally stopped she looked up and took in their environment. It was a quiet place, far to the back of the gardens.

Turning to him she slipped her arms around his waist and pressed her body to his, seeking comfort but for what, she wasn't sure. "Amir, I do not understand why you are so troubled."

Amir mechanically put his arms around Dana, an instant reaction. He leaned back against her for a moment but at her words, he froze.

Pulling away he peered at her. "Troubled? What do you mean?"

Dana was going to have to be a little more specific... he was troubled on a number of topics. It hadn't been a good last few nights. At the moment he was edgy, restless, and above all, still sore, which only served to make everything else he felt that much keener.

It was difficult to keep her arms around him when he froze up like that. Dana wasn't entirely certain how to proceed with Amir. This, all of this was, like nothing she'd ever experienced. Oh, she'd witnessed relationships, watched them talk themselves into circles and basically destroy the persons involved, and she'd watched them succeed and grow. But she had not personal experience, none.

She'd tried, and Lady Erin had encouraged her to, but the need for absolute perfection in her space, and the resulting loss of control when things were moved, caused any interested party to flee. Amir had simply accepted. He did not touch her things and she did not touch his. They seemed to work well together and around one another's foibles. But this...she had no idea how to handle someone else's dislike for whatever it was about her past that he disliked.

With some trepidation she met his gaze.

"Something about what I said has troubled you, and I do not understand what or why."

Her right shoulder moved in a half shrug. "I realize you are still a bit on edge from what has occurred recently, and perhaps that is what is contributing to your reaction. I honestly do not know. I wish that I had the life experience that made it so that I could simply say hmm, you don't like this and I can see why, comfort you and move on. But I don't and so I am stuck here asking you why you're so very troubled by the stories I told you."

Amir fought to keep his temper in check. Dana wasn't at fault for her own upbringing, although he had to admit he was in no mood to be psycho-analyzed by someone barely half his age. He wasn't known for keeping his opinions silent, however, and if Dana was going to push him after he'd already attempted to remain quiet on the topic, then fine.

He growled his next words out softly, the anger beneath them directed not at Dana, but present anyhow. "I'm not in need of comfort. I appreciate the thought, though." It was caring of her. "And I'm not edgy," he said edgily, deciding to ignore that fact since it suited him to do so.

Amir gave a long sigh and then looked down at Dana once more. If she really wanted to know, he could tell her. She might not like the answer though. Amir had always been a man of strong opinions.

"Your Lady Erin is irresponsible," he said without mincing words. "She created you out of selfish motives and kept you locked away to suit her whims and her purposes. While it might have been a happy existence for you at the time, in the long run it did you no good and causes you trouble now."

He wasn't about to apologize to Dana for his take on the situation; he never did that. Amir felt how he felt and Dana had asked him for honesty. "That sort of careless turning is exactly the sort of thing that makes us weak," he said, gesturing vaguely off to the side so that Dana would understand he didn't mean her in particular but the situation in general.

"You wouldn't get a pet dog and then not feed it, bathe it, or give it toys. In much the same way, you do not create a vampire and then not nurture her and encourage her growth and strength and independence."

His voice didn't get louder with intensity; it just got softer. "All the reading, all the learning in the universe, can't prepare you for life in our world."

Amir scowled as he considered exactly what he was getting at. "What happened last night," he said, "could have killed you."

And Amir didn't like that idea at all.

Did she hate herself? Really? Because in the last two nights she had chosen to bang herself against a brick wall and keep going back for more. Why? Dana was beginning to suspect she didn't want to know the answer to that.

Tears sprang to her eyes, weak stupid tears and she did everything she knew to keep the damned little betrayers firmly behind her lashes. He was not wrong, but he wasn't necessarily right. She'd not have ever known any better had she not left Lady Erin. It was her own two feet she chose to stand on now, and sadly like a child she was quite able to fall...often.

It was painful, to her pride and at the moment her body. Her stomach ached, and her head spun a bit, her eyes burned with unshed tears, and her toes had curled so much in her sandals the little of leather between her largest toe and the second one was beginning to bite her skin.

It was hard to swallow against the lump in her throat, but she managed. She also managed to wet her lips with her parched tongue.

"I know I am not your ideal of a vampire my age. I know that I am weak and small, and unwise. I chose to stay with Lady Erin for so long. I could have left sooner. I was just so scared of what lay beyond the safe stone walls of our home."

Talking made it impossible for the tears to remain where she wished them, and one slid down her cheek.

"I left because I was so tired of being scared of myself. I know the world beyond the gray stone is full of things that will eat me alive. But I have learned something in the last two days."

Dana blinked, sending another wave of salty water down her cheeks. "I am so much more that that. There is something so much bigger than my selfish need to get out and see the world. I can be so much more than the box I put myself in."

She swallowed again, the next words seeming to get stuck in her throat. "I learned that you are not immortal, just really really hard to kill. And that I am better off hovering as a small cloud of mist in the shadows of the trees than to going up against the monsters I saw last night."

A soft sigh fluttered her chest. She wasn't sure she should say the next words on her tongue, but then she had already battered herself why not another full on crash? "I could not have been killed, I was never seen."

Amir found Dana's reaction puzzling and slightly upsetting. Had he not communicated himself to her appropriately? He thought he'd made it perfectly clear that his frustrations were not with her. Since the matter apparently needed clarification he attempted to do just that, his tones quiet and measured, but intense.

"I am not worried about my ideals. I'm not upset with you. I'm upset for you, and there's a distinct difference," he said pointedly. "You are not the cause. You are not weak, nor are you unwise. To the contrary; you are strong enough to have come this far, and you were wise to come to your Clan seat here in Nachton."

Amir placed his hands gently on Dana's shoulders. "Don't you see Dana? You were afraid because of what your creator did. Because of how she treated you. Taking the measure to leave her side was an act of bravery and strength, and she should have encouraged you to do it long ago instead of letting you stay safe and secure in your world."

And there was the difference he'd been seeking before, between Mara and Dana. Between himself and Dana's Lady Erin. He'd protected Mara, yes, sheltered her when she'd needed it and guided her, but never had he kept her ignorant. He'd introduced her to the world and put her out in it to learn her way and develop her own skills. If he was a port in a storm for her, then he was all right with that; as the years had grown she'd returned the favor when it had been needed. That was the relationship that could have, and should have, blossomed between Dana and her own creator.

Dana's next words were an unpleasant reminder of topics he was trying not to think hard upon.

"No," he agreed, "I'm not immortal. As my ankle and elbow keep reminding me. I can do what I did last night because that's what I've been trained for, and it's what I do best. I can't fight legal battles like Bao. I can't go about completely unseen and find ways of gathering information like Mara can. We play to our strengths."

Amir did smile, however, at Dana's mention of being mist. "That," he said, his voice rich with approval, "was exactly what you should have done. There was nothing you could have done to add to the situation, but had it gone bad one of us would have been left alive to report to the Clan everything that had happened."

It was one less worry, too. "Bao and Mara have to be very careful now," he said. "They were both seen. Mara can hide herself, but Bao can't. It's good to know that one of you had the good sense to stay hidden."