RP:A Very KhittiDomiBrand Yulemas

From HollowWiki

Summary: Realizing DomiBrand's likely never celebrated Yule before, she pulls out all the stops. There's presents and food! And, drama galore as usual.


Frostmaw Tavern

Twas the night before Yule and all through the inn, not a creature was stirring...no...wait. What's that? Khitti?! Ugh. Don't you ever sleep? The answer is no, by the way. Or not nearly as often as she should. Before she had retreated elsewhere to take care of some things, Khitti had summoned Francis and used his thick spidersilk to decorate the room. The threads glistened in the hearth light, glittering along the ceiling, over the door frames, and over and below the branches of the decently-sized tree that sat in the corner near the other room. She'd worked so quietly as the dual-minded menfolk slept away the night, and once the decorating was done, when the baubles were upon the tree and more, smaller gifts were laid out on the table for them, she had headed off downstairs. Only now, hours later, did she return. A carrot cake on a glass tray, a chocolate cakelog on a silver one. More was brought up soon after, a two dozen cookies of varying sorts and a few miscellaneous, but tiny fruit pies. But more than just sweets, there was now a platter of cheeses, meats and breads, all kept cool beneath a frosty metal lid. There was tea, and juice, and hot chocolate with cinnamon to drink, and their presents were vastly different this time. Dominic's had been tied with a bluish-green bow; it was a black leather-bound journal with silver edges and new quills and pot of ink to go with it. Brand's, on the other hand, was wrapped in red. A rather large leash had been bought, likely for that spider he'd taken a liking to that was now hanging from the ceiling, patiently awaiting his newly acquired father to get his ass out of bed. Beside it was a hunting license as well to allow Brand to enter the wilds and get proper food for his eight-legged child. Now the sun started to come up. Now Khitti started to realize how tired she really was. She sank into the armchair finally and kicked off her boots. She wondered if it'd be enough. Was it grand enough? Was the presents enough? She hoped they'd never find out that she'd sold all of those nice things of hers to be able to do this. All of those clothes she only just gotten with Pilar. She'd keep that secret for as long as she could, and wondered how they'd both react when they found out. But now...now she started to drift off to sleep in that chair that she'd come to love, silently hoping that they'd find everything at least adequate. Or maybe, just maybe, they could at least pretend to like it, just for her. Hopefully.


Dominic woke to the smell of food and a giant spider above his -- aaaah! Oh. It’s only Francis. Dominic cleared his throat as if that had some magical power to make everyone in the room forget he’d screamed, and rolled out of bed, padding with groggy footsteps to Khitti’s side. Once there, he turned to survey the room, and everything about it that had recently changed. “Khitti…? What’s all this?”


Khitti curled up more tightly in the chair and was almost entirely asleep until Dominic screamed. Okay. Maybe leaving Francis on the ceiling was a bad idea. He liked it there though and who was she to argue with that vaguely adorable face? The spider carefully let himself drop from the ceiling after the raven-haired male made his way to Khitti's side, nuzzling his hand ever so carefully. He seemed to like Dominic just as much as he liked Brand, though with Dominic he was a bit more calm, almost as if he could tell the difference in their personalities. Khitti, meanwhile, had jumped a bit at that scream, and now that she was awake again thanks to it, she peered around the side of the armchair at him, "It's...um...Yule." She twists her lips into a frown, brows scrunching together, "I-I'm sorry if it's too much." Somehow she'd become completely inarticulate again, though she supposed that happened when she was nervous and worrying. Didn't mean she could stop it from happening though, and it didn't help that she looked entirely exhausted, likely only adding to her failing words.


Dominic gave Francis a brief rustle of his spidery … hairs? Is that what they should be called? Yes, that. The spider nuzzled him a few more times and then scuttled off back for a corner of the ceiling. “Yule…? You’re going to have to help me out here, Khitti.” Well, if he and Brand had never been gifted things before, it would of course follow that they’d never seen a Yule celebration, either.


"Oh...right. You guys, uh...you've probably never heard of it," said Khitti, putting two and two together. She pushed herself up out of the chair with a sigh, "It's zhe vinter solstice." She squints a bit at the fireplace, trying to remember exactly Yule was, "It's zhe celebration of zhe changing seasons. Of everything dying as it should so it can be reborn in zhe spring. People have big family gatherings and exchange gifts and decorate trees. Zhey sing and play music and eat sweets 'til zhey practically burst." She slips past him, moving towards the table to grab his gift, then returns to his side. "I know I already got you both something, but it didn't feel right not having something for you on zhe actual holiday." The redhead bit her lip, offering over the journal, quills, and inkpot all tied together neatly with ribbon that was near to the color of the light that had come from his rune stone. "Brand's is on zhe table, for if and vhen he vants it." A pause. "It's my first Yule in so long. I vent to Hildegarde's ball last year, but I didn't stay very long because I chickened out. You know how I am vith all zhose people. Pilar and I vasn't as close last time...and vell..." She didn't feel like getting into the subject of her previous relationship.


“Oh.” Dominic blinked down at the gift she’d placed into his hands. “But I didn’t get you anything… I would have, if I’d known I was supposed to.” He turned back to the spider in the corner. “And Francis, too. And I guess Brand, though that seems a little silly if he’d immediately know what I was getting him.” After a while of contemplative staring, he delicately opened the paper concealing his gift. “Oh! I needed something like this. Thank you.” And he placed a kiss on Khitti’s cheek.


Khitti mustered a faint smile and shook her head, "No, it's okay. I don't need anything." The smile grew a little after he kissed her, "I'm glad you like it." Her line of sight lingered on him for a little bit, that far off and dreamy look in her eyes again. It'd been a long time since that glimmer of hope and love was there; not since before Raiez, at the very least. It's almost like she was happy again finally. So weird. The vampiress shakes her head and turns away from Dominic, taking the few needed steps back towards the table, "Zhere's plenty of food here. I made all zhe sweets and zhe bread myself. Zhe cheese and meat Drargon traded for zhe extra cookies and pies I made." That hand-wringing she does when she's worrying starts up as she stares at the table, brows knitting together, "I can take it back downstairs. I'm sorry. I should've said something. I just vanted it to be a surprise..."


“What? No! I’m very surprised, yes.” Dominic gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, put his notebook, pens and ink onto one of the smaller tables, and circled over to the trays of food. “I do think you overestimate how much the two of us are able to eat, but that’s fine. We have our pick of a lot of things, here. And I’m sure the kitchen can preserve whatever’s left for later, if we can’t.” He took a plate and set about plucking things here and there from off of the trays, sometimes sniffing or taking a bite out of something before putting it onto his plate.


Sighing, Khitti pivots about and sits on the edge of the bed, watching him pick things off of trays, "It vasn't intended to all be eaten now... It vas more to add a bit more decoration to zhe room, I guess. Zhe only zhing zhat needs to be kept cold is zhe meat and cheese and zhe enchantment on zhe lid vill hold for a few more hours." His words had comforted her a little, but not much. She knew she'd screw it up somehow. There was always -something-. And yet, for a little while, she had thought everything was perfect. The vampiress lays back onto the bed, letting her legs and feet dangle over the side. Francis had made his way back to the ceiling for now, and stared back down at her now, making that soft, blurbled whine of his in confusion at her mood. She confounded males of all species, it would seem.


Dominic seemed oblivious to Khitti’s shift of mood, too busy puttering around the table and inspecting all the different things. “I’d ask you what you got for Brand, but of course the second you told me he’d know, too, and I suppose that would spoil the surprise. But I’m sure he won’t wait too long for that.” With his plate full, he plopped down at Khitti’s side and only then seemed to notice her demeanor. “What’s wrong?”


The vampiress shook her head, casting a sideglance towards him, "Nothing." She shifted her attention back up to Francis, tilting her head a bit to the side, "You two make it very difficult to keep secrets. I'm surprised I managed to keep it at all vith zhe link. I've been planning zhis for a few days now. I suppose I should go visit Pilar later tonight too and bring her something. I don't even know vhat to get her. Vould she even like it? Vould she even care?" Pilar's head wasn't exactly in the best of places now after her own rescue, and Khitti didn't even know where to start when it came to helping her feel better. "I forgot to get Francis something, but I'm sure he'll enjoy Brand's present too. It's sort of for both of them. You're so much easier to buy for zhan zhat 'gorram brooding loner man". She bit her lip, stifling a grin.


Dominic canted his head, his sight flitting from Khitti to Francis and back again. Something for -both- of them? He tried to piece the clues together, but ultimately found the effort fruitless. “I don’t know about that. He liked the last things you got for him. And I’m sure anything you got for Pilar would mean a lot.”


Crimson brows knitted together as she listened to him, eventually just giving him a shrug, "I guess." She tilted her head back towards Dominic, eyeing him as she plucks something at random off his plate, "Are you sure you like your gift? I can always find you something else." She'd managed to grab a piece of cheese, sniffed at it a bit, and then ultimately popped it into her mouth.


Dominic gave her a light chuckle. “What, you don’t believe me? Of course I like it. I shall write you a novel. Or use it as a diary, perhaps…” His gaze wandered along with his mind as he pondered all the possible uses for the gift. Absentmindedly, he shoved a small piece of meat into his mouth, chewing and chewing until his sight fell back to Francis. “Oh. The gift’s a saddle, I bet. For Francis. Or something like that.” He pictured Brand riding on Francis’ back and having a grand time. But when he pictured himself riding the giant spider… not so much. He imagined clinging for dear life to what passed for the spider’s neck as Francis galloped at full speed along some wall or ceiling somewhere.


Khitti shook her head and laughed, "No. Not zhat. I told him it'd be a little vhile before he can do something like zhat. Close, zhough. But no guessing! He might figure it out and ruin zhe surprise and zhen I'll just have to set it on fire! Poof!" She summons up a tiny fireball that extinguishes almost immediately into a cloud of purple and black smoke. "No gift for Brand if he figures it out before opening it." She sits up finally, scooting back on the bed a bit to sit next to him, her head coming to rest against his shoulder as usual, "You could vrite about Catal. Despite all zhe bad you two endured zhere, it still sounds more exciting zhan my homeland. Dhavislaav vas just a boring tiny village in zhe mountains. Nothing special about zhat." Except, you know, the cult of necromancers that lived underneath of it.


Dominic frowned slightly. “I don’t know. I’m sure there’s several books on Catal already. I know I saw at least one at the mages’ library, and Odhranos once mentioned a few more. Some of them even mentioned Lionel, so they must be fairly recent. What could I possibly contribute that historians and renowned mages or Lionel himself couldn’t?”


"I know about zhe books in the mage library. I even found Lionel reading zhem one day. But..." She tilts her head upwards, looking at him, "...none of it vas vritten by you. None of it's from your perspective. Or Brand's. Or a mixture of both." She slid off the bed, wandering to the table to grab a cookie or two, "I don't vant some boring non-fiction text from a bunch of musty old men zhat vouldn't know a good story if it bit zhem on zhe ass like a giant spider." A grin and a glance is shot up towards Francis before settling back on Dominic again, a big chomp taken out of the chocolate chip cookie she grabbed first. "I vant action and adventure and excitement." Another chomp, and a bit of chewing. "You both have seen plenty of it." Clearly satisfied with her own cookie baking, she goes for another, "But, it vas just a suggestion. You could create your own fairy tale. Orrr...you could research something else and use it for notes. Or, like you said, use it as a journal. I promise not to peek at it if you do."


Dominic shrugged. “I guess. Maybe Brand would want to write about it. I’d rather make up a new story, though. Or do research on something, like you said.” Another few pieces from off of his plate were popped into his mouth; he chewed but spoke again with his mouth still half full. “I’m not sure what that would be, now that the problem with the runestone seems to be solved and done with.”


Khitti shrugged as well as she sunk back down onto the bed, "Brand doesn't seem like zhe author type. And you know how he is vith sharing zhings from zhe past. Not zhat it's a bad zhing. He's allowed to bury zhat away as much as he vants, and zhe same goes for you or I. I'm sure you'll find a use for it, love. It vill keep perfectly fine for quite awhile until you zhink of something. If you decide zhat you might not ever use it, zhen I can always find you something else." She curled up next to him, letting out a soft yawn. It was going to be a long day.


Dominic poked at Khitti’s side. “Are you tired? Maybe you should sleep… and I can watch Francis for you. Or Brand can. I’m pretty sure you’d freak out worse than I did if you woke up to a spider in your face, not immediately realizing it was him.” He pondered a moment, glancing around the room until his line of sight came to rest on the windows. “We’d probably have to take some other way out of the tavern, though. I’m not sure they’d be happy about bringing a giant spider through the dining area. Plus, someone might get scared and hurt him.” On cue, Francis whined, and Dominic reached to give him a reassuring pat.


Curling up closer to him, she snakes an arm around his waist, whining a little too, "But...you just voke up..." She definitely didn't calculate how tired she'd be after all that. Then again, she should've known; decorating was always a weeklong event in the von Schreier household. "He could just go out zhe vindow. He's a giant, leaping spider. I'm sure he'll be fine." Khitti clings a little more tightly to Dominic, "I don't care vhat anyone down zhere zhinks. He's mine. He can do vhat he vants." Pretty sure that Khitti willingly admitting that a spider is hers is some sort of Yuletide miracle.


Dominic leaned down to give Khitti a kiss and then rose from the bed, stuffing what was left on his plate into his face. “You were up all night, weren’t you?” he asked, once he’d swallowed. It was rhetorical. He already knew the answer. “No wonder you’re tired. You can’t always sacrifice of yourself trying to make me happy, you know. You have to take care of yourself, too. What am I going to do with a sleep deprived Khitti all day?” The empty plate was put somewhere off to the side of all of the Yuletide goods and Dominic flopped back onto the bed, nuzzling into Khitti’s side. “You’re tired. Take a nap. I’ll take one with you and you can give Brand his gifts when we all wake up.”


Khitti frowned a bit as he got up and wandered away. She didn't argue, she was too tired to. "Okay," was said when he came back, the vampiress moving up to properly lay her head on the pillows, and taking Dominic with her. "I guess I do have one zhing I vant from you guys..." The frown returned, and she seemed hesitant about it but made it known nevertheless, "Can ve go back to Raiez's cave? It should be safe now zhat she's gone. Ve could always bring Lionel too, just in case." She pauses to bite at her bottom lip a bit, "I just vant Lydia's violin...and maybe zhat oven. You guys might be able to find something useful zhere too, like out of zhe books and veapons, and maybe ve could bring some of it back to Hildegarde for her army." She already looked disappointed, perhaps even ready for an outright 'no', or maybe she was just that exhausted. Who knows.


“Hmm?” Dominic lifted his head up to look at her. “...Sure, I don’t see why not. If we don’t get to it, surely some adventurer will. And I’m sure Brand would argue that it’s our right to plunder it before anyone else can, seeing as we’re the ones that were imprisoned by her -- and the ones that killed her.” They had, perhaps, picked up some culture from that ship they’d spent so much time on. Like the concept of “finder’s keepers.”


"Yeah." Well that went better than expected. With that worry out of her head, she seems to relax a little more, snuggling close to him. She was clearly ready for sleep now, and had almost passed out until she remembered, "You've got to come vith me later... One of you, at least. To go see Pilar. Ve can pick out her gift together before ve head to zhe fort." She seems like she might say more, but her thought was cut off by a rather large yawn and she was soon fast asleep, likely to be that way for the next few hours.

Frostmaw Tavern (hours later)

When Khitti next awoke, she’d find herself alone in the bed. Brand was seated in the armchair in the corner, stance wide, elbows perched mid-thigh. His hands were held out toward Francis, who was seated before him, and wrapped around his fingers were some of Francis’ silvery string. Brand would change the arrangement of the string to a different pattern, and then Francis, with careful claws, would make his own adjustments. They took turns like this until Brand’s cursing broke the silence. “Ah, seven hells. You win again. How do you keep doin’ that?”


Khitti managed to wake up before Brand said anything, a hand having moved to the empty space beside her and rousing her from whatever memory-filled dreams she was having. She let out a heavy sigh, putting her hands on her face, hoping it somehow managed to chase off the remnant of her nightmare. Even the sound of Brand's voice wasn't enough to tell her she wasn't asleep anymore, but she did sit up a bit to see what he was doing, tilting her head as she watched man and spider play that game like a couple of kids. "You know zhat game too, huh?" was said softly so as not to startle the pair; she looked a little sad as she eyed Brand thoughtfully, but she did her best to hide it. The memories and nightmare would soon pass and she'd be back to her weird self again.


“Eh?” Brand stretched to peer around Francis and better see Khitti. “Yeah, I s’pose. Hadn’t realized it was a well known thing. It was something we did to pass time on the Sunderia when there wasn’t work to be done.” Brand clapped his hands together, jumbling the spidery twine in the process and handing it back to Francis under the logic that he’d do… something with it. “You sleep almost as much as that lass from the stories. Princess Aurelia or sommat.”


"I'm surprised I slept at all...", Khitti said offhandedly, frowning to herself as she moved to the edge of the bed, her attention shifting from Brand to the floor. "Sorry." was said a little more loudly, "And, Lydia and I used to play it. It's been so long, I forget vhat it's called." The frown faded a little as she finally looked towards the table where his gift had been placed earlier, "Did you open your present?"


Brand rose, stiffly, out of the chair. Clearly he’d been seated there for quite some time. “Dunno if might’ve called it the same thing all the way in Dhavislaav, but the way I learned it was Nadine’s Netting. For the lady-pirate who snared a siren. And no, I hadn’t.” He crossed over to the table with the tree. “Figured you’d wanna be awake, yeah?”


Khitti sighed, shaking her head, "Yeah. I don't recall at all." She mustered a smile for him as she finally made her way towards the table with the tea stuff, grabbing her usual peppermint in attempt to wake herself up with the smell, giving Francis a pat on the way through. "You can go ahead. You didn't have to vait. Especially if I vas sleeping for too long." She decides not to go the old-fashioned route with the tea-making, instead heating the water in a...well...a Brand-fashion. She's soon pouring the water and dropping the tea leaves in, staring at them absently in silence as they absorbed the water and fell to the bottom.


Brand reached for the package, tossing it lightly from hand to hand as he watched Khitti go about making her tea. A knowing grin took residence on his face at her use of magic; he would have done the same thing, of course. “Didn’t have to,” he said with a shrug. “Did anyway.” The package was opened, its contents spilled upon the bed. The hunting license was briefly inspected before Brand squinted from the collar and leash to Francis and back again. “Where in the seven hells did you find a collar to fit a spider? Do they keep ‘em as pets in Vailkrin? Do I even wanna know?” You could just say ‘thanks’ like a normal person, Brand.


There was a bit of silence between them after his questioning, besides the clinking of her spoon in her cup to stir about the honey she added. "Hm? Oh." She put up that mask of hers again, the one to hide the fact that she was thinking. Well, she was always thinking. For once it had nothing to do with him, or Dominic, or anything else of a domestic nature. She was still quiet though, more than Khitti usually was, but she still smiled when his inquiries registered in her head, "I'm certain anything could be tamed into a pet in Lithrydel. I got lucky, actually. Zhey didn't have it here in Frostmaw, but zhere's a pet store below the mage guild's headquarters. Zhey sell spiders of all sizes zhere, so of course zhey had zhe leashes for it too." She eyed him carefully, sipping at her tea before continuing, "If you don't like it, I can find something else," giving him the same option she gave Dominic. "Zhe license is so you can get him some proper food vhile he's here. I guess Frostmaw's a bit strict on zheir hunting."


“What? No. It’s bloody brilliant.” Brand turned to Francis, collar and leash in hand. “It’s frakkin’ great, yeah?” Francis scuttled up to Brand and looked like he might figure out how to put the thing on himself if Brand didn’t hurry up and do it for him. Brand, of course, acquiesced. “See? You love it, dontcha buddy boy?” ...Since when does Brand call anything ‘buddy boy’? Well, whatever. He’s probably just being weird again.


Khitti grinned a little over her cup at both Brand and Francis' excitement over the gift. It was pretty cute, but don't tell Brand she thought that. Thankfully, it seemed both sets of presents were a success, and Khitti took a little comfort in that. While he was tending to the spider, Khitti slipped past him, moving to sit on him and Dominic's side of the bed, just at the edge. The vampiress drank her tea in silence, her line of sight shifting between the fireplace, to Brand and Francis, then to her teacup. The wounds from the nightmare hadn't healed up yet, reopening every time she slept since she was in that cave.


Brand was oblivious to whatever ruminations were going on in Khitti’s mind. It was Dominic who was the perceptive one, after all. Brand spoke excitedly to Francis for a little longer and then turned to Khitti. “We should take him out an’ see what he can do. You’d come along, of course, wouldn’t you? Seein’ as how technically, he’s yours an’ all.”


The redhead blinked a few times, almost spitting out her tea when she realized he asked her to go with her, "Vhat? Oh. Right now? Uh. Sure." Smooth, Khitti. She'd finish what was left in the cup, then go to the wardrobe to change. Opening it, she remembered that all of her new clothes had been taken back to pay for all of the stuff she bought Dominic and Brand, the vampiress letting out a faint "Oh... Right." She grabbed her coat and his, quickly shutting the door before he could notice anything amiss, tosses his coat to the bed, and goes to grab her boots. "I vould leave him in here, until ve get downstairs, and zhen he could jump out zhe vindow. If he's anything like zhe spiders in Vailkrin, he should be good at leaping."


Brand shrugged, noticing nothing amiss. He’d been too busy opening the window, already thinking the same thing about Francis before Khitti had even suggested it. “It’s gonna be pretty cold in here when we get back, then, ‘less Francis can close the window after himself.” His coat, gloves, and scarf were hurriedly donned as he moved to the door. “S’a problem for Future Brand, I guess.”


"Fine. You go zhe long vay, and -I'll- go out zhe vindow vith him." Throwing on her own coat, she moves to the window, squeezing past Brand. "Francis. Let's go." The spider lets out an excited screech and follows behind her. The vampiress steps onto the windowsill, moving carefully to the side to let Francis dive out into the snow. He lands in a massive snowpile across the path because of course he does. Because he's a doofus dog. Khitti facepalms, then somehow manages to close the window behind her, and jumps down, landing in a bit of a crouched position in the middle of the path and scaring the hell out of a couple of passersby.


Brand just stood there, flabbergasted, watching Francis and then Khitti jump down into the snow. “Come to think of it, we could’ve just let him go first and closed the window after him from the inside…” he muttered to the empty room, before taking off out the door and down the stairs like a normal person. Not that Brand was one of those. But, well, recent events showed that he was a hell of a lot better at playing at one than Khitti.

End Of The Frozen Road

Khitti batted her eyes cutely at the people that she'd managed to frighten, offering a grin and an apology. "Francis! Vhere'd you get off to?" But, Francis didn't seem to hear her. He was much too busy burying himself in the dust-like snow with his foremost legs as if he were trying to bury himself in sand. So, instead, as Brand made his exit from the room, and then soon the inn itself, Khitti hide along the side of the building in an attempt to get behind Brand and scare him when he emerged.


Brand emerged from the tavern without incident, but… something was amiss. It wasn’t so easy to hide a giant spider from view, after all. But surely they must be nearby. Was Khitti playing one of her games again? A weary sigh hung frozen in the air before him as he stood there, waiting for her to make herself known and muttering something about crazy gorram women.


The vampiress caught that bit of muttering of his, frowned, then decided not to go ahead with her idea. She wandered out from her hiding spot, doing her own muttering about jerks that have no sense of humor and don't know how to have fun. She doesn't even say anything to him, instead moving to Francis and leaning over him. "Hey, you. Are you hungry?" The spider peeks his head out of the snow sheepishly, peering up at his mother. "Do you vant to go hunting vith me and zhe big jerk over zhere?" He shook his butt a bit as he often did, more of the snow shaking off of him.


Brand spotted her soon enough, and moved languidly until he stood at Khitti’s side. He was seemingly not at all bothered by her muttering, though surely he must have heard it. “The more… untamed area to the west of here, yeah?” He took hold of Francis’ leash as the spider finally rid himself of the last of the snow. “You think he can eat stuff that’s not from the Shadow Plane?”


"Guess ve're gonna find out, aren't ve?" Her tone wasn't entirely pleasant, but neither was it outright malicious. With a sigh, she nods, motioning towards where the hunting grounds are at, "Yeah...it's zhis vay." She pulled that dark hood of hers up over her head in an attempt to keep the snow out of her hair, and led the way westward as she did so.

Between The Trees

Francis skittered ahead, chirping and crowing oddly at every little thing, and continually straining at the leash. Everything had to be investigated, from the trunks of trees to the handful of passersby that ranged from wary to petrified by the spider’s presence. Francis didn’t seem to mind, though. He was just happy to be exposed to so many new things. Brand gave an apologetic wave and smile to the poor victims of Francis’ exploration before being tugged off again, and so it was that they made their long, meandering way toward the hunting grounds and the roads and buildings and people gave way to snow-heavy trees and uneven terrain.


Khitti didn't seem to mind the difference in environment at all. In fact, amongst the trees, out in the open, she appeared to be quite in her element, almost elf-like in her movements. She ran ahead of Brand and Francis, darting about between the trees, resisting the urge to run and run, to never stop, and to not look back. Brand really seemed to underestimate that day how much Khitti knew about running, whether it was in the figurative or literal sense. It had been so very long since she was last in a proper forest that she almost forgot why she was out here in the first place. It was so freeing and so very much the opposite of being stuck in a cave for months.


Brand could hear her running about, though he made no special effort to keep up with her. She could easily outpace him, if she wanted to. “Don’t go too far now, eh, peach? With your luck, you’ll find trouble before Francis and I do.” Francis whined as if he understood, and tugged a little harder to hurry them along Khitti’s path.


"So?" Her voice echoed about, "I survived vhat...over ten years vithout problems? Forests and zheir inhabitants I can handle." There was a bit of rustling behind Brand and Francis, likely Khitti again, though with the way her voice carried, one couldn't be too sure. "Raiez vas...bad luck. I never should've vent after her. But, out here...? Zhis is home." The rustling behind man and spider started up again, but Khitti ran past them up front. She'd heard it though, kept her focus on their surroundings. "So...vhen do you vant me to tell you zhat ve're being followed, hm?"


Brand frowned, but kept his pace steady so as to not alert whatever was nearby. “Immediately would’ve been nice. I’d thought that was you.” Slowly, he removed a glove and crafted a flame between his fingers. Francis could likely handle whatever came their way, but it couldn’t hurt to be prepared.


"Don't. Let him off his leash. And don't stop valking 'til you get to me. Keep taking it slow and steady and zhose volves von't rip you to shreds." She almost sounded like she might be grinning with the way her tone was. Khitti stopped a good twenty feet or so ahead of Brand, standing there in the open where he could see her. "Zhey're pretty good at hiding, but I can smell wet, mangy mutts from a mile away out here. Zhey don't have zhe cover of woodburning stoves and such in zhe forest."


The flames vanished, and Brand clicked the leash off of Francis’ collar, giving the spider a quick rub on the head before pressing forward to meet Khitti. “You’re the one that didn’t know if he could fight,” Brand grumbled. “You really wanna take the chance he doesn’t?”


Khitti leaned over against Brand, nudging him with her shoulder, "He's -our- kid. You don't zhink he can fight?" She let out a thoughtful 'hm', tilting her head somewhat as she watched Francis stand there, waiting. "Francis?" The spider perked up, fixing all of it's eyes on Khitti, "You're still hungry, yeah? You know vhat's vatching us?" Francis let out a low hiss. "Vell? Go get zhem, you silly zhing." But, oddly enough, no wolves showed up from behind Francis. One did, however, lunge at Khitti while the other two stayed back and took stock of the situation. She knew it was coming and was quick to shove Brand away from her. Francis took no time in closing the gap between him and the wolf, pouncing on it and biting it with those horrid mandibles.


Brand canted his head from where he’d been pushed, watching with a pensive hand to his chin. He’d never quite watched a spider of any size feed before. This was… gruesome. Soon enough, the other wolves joined in, seeking to bring down Francis between the three of them. Francis took down the second as easily as the first; the third got a grip on one of Francis’ legs before Brand shot his trademark flame at the creature’s back. It yelped and released the great spider, clearly realizing it was outmatched, and tried to scamper away. It didn’t get far before Francis leapt upon it, and it suffered the fate of its brothers. “Well,” said Brand, still stroking at his stubble with the hand not holding flame on standby. “That’s certainly… somethin’.” Francis chirped and tore into the fresh carcasses, seemingly not at all bothered by the bite on his leg.


The vampiress shuddered a bit at the feeding frenzy her dear 'child' was having in front of her. She actually almost looked like throw up as Francis dug into his meal. She'd just about turned to do so until she smelled something off. It smelled like...those acid balls she used to conjure. She edged closer towards the dead wolves and the spider, brows knitting together as she saw where the smell came from: the same sort of acid that had come from Khitti's magic before now seeped from Francis' mouth, slobbering all over the corpse as he ripped the meat away from the bone. "B-Brand...?" She waved a hand behind her, trying to get him to come to her, "Zhis is...um...new. Ve can't let it get on zhe ground or zhe trees or anything else if zhat's vhat I zhink it is. And don't you go touching it either."


“Hmm?” Brand’s flame extinguished as he kneeled before Francis, squinting until he caught sight of the acid Khitti was talking about. “Oh. That’s a problem.” It was some time of watching Francis eat -- Brand seemed not at all perturbed, in contrast to Khitti -- before he turned to look at her. “Well, no, maybe not. You could open up your portals an’ send it back to where it came from, yeah?”


"I mean, yeah, Francis can go back and he'd likely take his kills vith him, but if zhis touches zhings here, I don't know vhat it'll do." Khitti casts a side-eyed glance towards the ground, "You didn't see vhat I did to zhe trees in Vailkrin. It, uh, blends in a bit more zhere zhan it does here. Likely no one noticed a corrupted tree in zhat dark forest." She lets out an awkward cough, then casts her concerned gaze towards the arachnid, "Francis? You're gonna have to take your food to go, okay?" Francis stopped eating for a moment and let out a blurbled whine. "Momma's gotta figure out how to keep you from destroying zhe entire forest vith your spit, love." She totally just admitted to being his mother. The vampiress summons up that portal for him to leave, the other two carcasses picked up and tossed into it. "Come on, before someone else gets zhem." As if he could actually understand her, Francis let out a growl, grabbed the first course of his meal, and then dove into the portal. "Be a good boy! We love you!" Spinning around to face Brand, she blinks a few times, "You didn't hear me say zhat."


Brand blinked right on back at her, his face a mask of ignorance. “Didn’t hear you say what?” he responded, and kicked the toe of his boot into the snow. A clump of it went flying and landed where Francis had been but a moment before. “I dunno, can you not just portal his acid away? It seems the obvious solution.”


"Oh. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And I honestly don't know. I don't zhink it vorks like zhat. I don't know how much you've dealt vith zhings like acid, but it starts out like zhat, and corrodes vhatever living zhings it touches and zhen shifts into a sort of plague? I don't know. I never really inspected zhings vhen I used zhem on living creatures. It vas zhe spiders in Vailkrin. I didn't really want to take any chances, much like I don't know. Maybe I'll try to figure it out vhen I'm not such a novice vith all of zhis. If zhat ever happens." She sighs and peers down at the ground, making sure the spider hadn't slobbered all over the place. "If I vas going to have magic at all, vhy couldn't it be zhe normal sort...? For now let's just make sure he doesn't go crazy vhile he's eating. Especially if I'm not vith you to send him home."


“Right.” Brand twisted his lips in unhappy thought and stared at the area recently vacated by their spider friend. “Better safe than sorry, I s’pose. Wouldn’t want that acid seepin’ into the earth an’ opening a new gate to all seven hells. We barely managed to slay a dragon; I don’t think anythin’ there is gonna be good news for Lithrydel.” He shrugged and began to trudge back in the direction of Frostmaw proper. “Best we get back, I guess, ‘less you fancy fightin’ more wolves off without him.”


Khitti frowned too, watching him as he wandered away. "I can bring him back once he's finished..." But, she just sighed and slowly followed along behind Brand. Maybe her gift wasn't so great after all. And, maybe she wanted to stay out here longer. Didn't matter though. Brand couldn't stay out here for as long as she wanted, just couldn't happen with the cold. She didn't look very happy at all on the way back, a pensive look plastered on her face like always.


As generally oblivious as Brand was, he -had- taken note of Khitti’s silence. It wasn’t long before he was sneaking sidelong glances her way in between monitoring the terrain ahead. “You got somethin’ you wanna share, peach?” he asked eventually, coming to a stop just ahead of her. He stared her down with an unreadable expression and gloved hands hidden away in his pockets. If she maintained her path, she’d bump right into him.


"Not particularly," she said dispiritedly, coming to a halt in front of him. After a bit of hesitation, she peers up at him from beneath her hood, reddish brows knitted together and raised somewhat as a look of slight confusion and concern plastered itself onto her face thanks to his own expression. She pressed her lips together, the line they made eventually curving downward into a frown as she sidesteps around Brand, continuing the path through the forest towards home.

Middle Of Town

Brand absentmindedly lifted his hat and ran a hand through his hair as he watched Khitti pass him by. The hat soon returned to its resting place and Brand hastened his pace to catch up to the vampiress, at the same time producing a flask from an inner coat pocket and taking a few quick swigs from it. What? Had that been there the whole time, even when Khitti had removed his coat from the closet? Don’t ask Brand. He’d never tell. In fact, the flask returned to hiding before Brand’s steps could fall in sync with Khitti’s. “You’re doin’ that thing, y’know,” he said to her, nudging her with his shoulder slightly. “That thing you get all pissy at me for. Spider got your tongue?”


Khitti let out a sigh, rolling her eyes beneath her hood. "Does it really surprise you? Ve're a little alike, if you hadn't noticed." She tried not to think about how much alike they actually were; both Dominic and Brand's personalities managed to mirror her own quite a bit at times. Sometimes it was a little unnerving. "I just feel like zhings could've gone better today. Zhat's vhat I get for doing something last minute, I guess. Probably should've just let it be like any other day. Shouldn't have made such a fuss about it." Without really giving it much thought, she leans her head against his arm as they walk, her attention fixed on the snow in front of them.


“What, the Yule thing?” Brand let out a ‘hmm’ and paused for thought. “Likely wouldn’t’ve known if you’d done nothin’, truth be told. Can see you had good intentions, but you sacrifice yourself too much as it is. Didn’t need to sell your new clothes, too.” He said it so nonchalantly, as if it shouldn’t be at all surprising that he knew. He didn’t even look at her to gauge her reaction. “You give too much, an’ you’ll have nothin’ of yourself left when you really need it.”


The ever-present frown on Khitti's face only worsens as he mentions the clothes. When the hell did he find out? When she was asleep? When she went out the window with Francis. Didn't matter much now, she thought to herself. "...I just vant to make you two happy..." She sounded quite dejected about it, and didn't bother to look up at him either, knowing she'd probably get that usual look from him when she said things like that. Maybe she wouldn't celebrate holidays anymore. It's not like they knew about them, not like it'd make a difference one way or the other.


Brand sighed. “Mm. And you’ll never manage it if you sabotage your own happiness in the process, kiwi. If you’re too gorram stubborn to learn from your own mistakes, at least don’t so boldly repeat Viera’s.” The forest began to give way to faint paths and then roads, and Brand turned for Frostmaw’s shops rather than for the tavern. “C’mon now, better show me where you sold your things at.”


Well, that was probably the wrong thing for Brand to say. She stops, that frown taking an irritated turn as she lifts her line of sight to him. "Don't compare me to her. Don't ever say zhat I'm anything like her. Or act like her. Vhatever. I zhink after all zhis time you're still bewitched by her. See her as some great and awe-inspiring goddess sometimes. She's not, Brand. She chose zhem over you. She betrayed you and zhen she tried to kill you." Her pale features shifted to that stone-faced expression both of them tended to wear when they were upset. "She's an awful person and despite all my faults, I am nowhere near like her. I vould never do zhat. Ever. So don't. Just don't." She didn't give in to his request of showing him the shop her belongings were at, instead continuing along the path towards home as she stormed past him.


Brand stood where Khitti had left him, a silent laugh contorting his features. She’d heard -one- story and she thought she understood? “Damn near as moody, too,” he shouted after her, wasting no time in defying her. It wasn’t even true. Viera had been a golem compared to Khitti, almost unsettling in the way she’d carried or hid her emotions. With Khitti, everything seemed to linger on the surface, or only just beneath it. And now, he predicted more anger, but it was the quickest way he saw to be able to knock some sense into her noggin. Anger was easier than sadness, more malleable. Anger at him wouldn’t leave her room for that keen focus on her own imagined inadequacies.


Khitti stopped for only a moment after he said that, but didn't turn around and didn't say anything. Was she really like Viera? Perhaps that's why Brand had any sort of feelings for her in the first place. It made sense in Khitti's head, at least, and part of her wondered if she should break off -whatever- it was that they were to one another. She didn't even know what to call it. It was definitely different from her and Dominic's relationship, even though she wished it wasn't. She continued on after her pause, but instead of taking the path and heading southeast to the inn, instead she went northwards towards the fort and that giant fountain, and once reaching them, she continued east. Where the hell was she going?


Well… fine. Be that way. Brand trekked along behind her, not bothering to be secretive about it -- vampiric ears would likely make him out anyway. She could damn well tell him to frak off, if that was what she really wanted. He would at least keep his distance, however -- close enough to hear her shout, if the winds favored them, but no closer.

Animal Allies Pet Shop

Khitti definitely didn't tell him to frak off, but neither did she make conversation again with him. She was quite off in her own thoughts now as she approached the only pet shop of the city, one hand used to open the door for herself, and then she even held it open for him once she stepped inside. Still nothing was said, her back to him, and if he chose not to come in with her, then she'd let the door close behind her moments after the gesture of politeness was made. The redhead was greeted by the shopkeeper, the hood pulled from her head to allow Khitti to look around better. She let out a soft 'hm' as she looked at the different cages, all in varying sizes, and all with drastically different creatures in them.


Brand would indeed follow Khitti, quickly removing his gloves and his hat as they came in from the cold. He’d never been here before, but it of course didn’t take him long to see this wasn’t a clothing shop. “Kiwi, what in all seven hells are we doin’ here?” Brand asked, clearly exasperated. This was, so far, not at all going the way he’d anticipated.


"...Pilar needs a present..." is all she'd say. Clearly, she still wasn't focused on her own needs or wants, instead choosing to find a gift for her sister. It was a much needed distraction from the thoughts that ran rampant in her mind. It didn't help as much as she'd like though, for once she happened to find Pilar's gift, she asked Brand quietly, "Am I really like her?" The vampiress puts two fingers into the cave of a white owl, the bird cautiously leaning forward to nuzzle Khitti. "I zhink you'll do, von't you, little one?"


“...What?” Brand gave her no answer, only paused in his trailing her long enough to rub at the skin beneath his eyes and look very, very tired. “Seven hells, woman. Get your gorram present and let’s go. Where’d you take your stuff to? Focus.” A surly gaze was gifted to the shopkeeper, though they’d done him no wrong. “Surprised there’s even anythin’ open if it’s really a gorram holiday.” He was starting to doubt. Maybe this ‘Yule’ was just another one of her excuses to bend over backwards for anyone who wasn’t herself.


Khitti shot an angry glare in Brand's direction and said nothing in return. The owl's cage was snatched up carefully and taken to the counter, and the shopkeeper given not only the gold needed to pay for the pet, but an apology because of Brand as well. Still nothing was said of the things she'd sold off, the redhead headed out the door again in silence, taking the path to the south that looped back around to the inn, the woman likely stewing in her own anger again. He was seriously being a jerk today.

Frozen Road

Brand accompanied her at her side this time, equally silent until they were approaching the city square. If her things were anywhere, surely they’d be here somewhere, right? It was here that he halted, arms spread wide in a show of utter frustration. “Well?”


"Vell vhat?! Vhat zhe hell are you going on about now?" She was likely just as frustrated as him, but she did her best to keep her voice low so as not to stress out the bird she carried. "If it's about my damned clothes, it doesn't matter! Zhey're stupid, unimportant pieces of fabric zhat mean nothing! I can get something else some other time vhen I can actually afford it, whenever zhe hell zhat is." She lets out a soft growl and continues on towards the inn, muttering to herself about him.


Brand wouldn’t follow her any longer. If she wanted to do this the hard way… fine. He’d about had enough of her for the time being anyway. A lifetime, maybe. Ugh. He instead set about investigating all nearby shop windows, determined to find one that might contain what he was looking for. Frostmaw wasn’t -that- big. Then again, that assumed it was even here that she’d sold her things, and not somewhere further…

Frostmaw Tavern

The feeling was definitely mutual on Khitti's end; one more minute with Brand and she was likely to set him on fire. No. The fire would be too good for him. As she entered the inn, and soon after their room, she set the bird on dresser and faceplanted on the foot of the bed. "Someone please tell me again vhy I give a damn about him...?" was asked to the empty room, a sigh given to herself in response. She suddenly wished she hadn't gone to sleep earlier, that she had spent more time with Dominic, and now she started to feel bad because she hadn't. Maybe all of this could've been avoided. It could've been if she'd just forgotten the stupid holiday in the first place. The vampiress turned her head, staring at the tree she decorated for the occasion, and suddenly that anger returned again. She pushed herself off the bed, wandered to the tree and pushed it over with an irritated shriek, the rest of the decorations in the room meeting the same sort of fate.


From the moment he’d gotten the idea stuck in his head there could be no other outcome -- Brand had to find those clothes of hers, or spend the rest of the day trying. It would be quite some time before Brand returned again. Two hours, maybe three. The sun was starting to fall behind the crags to the far west when he stumbled into the tavern, bearing a handful of bags and a stench of alcohol strong enough to draw the attention of some wrinkled dwarf with fading red hair that was standing just within the door. The place was beyond packed. “ ‘Ey, norm’ly a lad would -leave- stinkin’ like yerself, not be makin’ their way ‘ere!” He paused to guffaw and Brand dimly noted he was not one of the usual patrons. “What brings ye to this state durin’ Yule, some great tale o’ woe?” ...Nope, definitely not a regular. Most of those knew to give Brand a wide berth by now, and they -definitely- knew better than to ask him nosy questions while blocking his path. “Tale? Yeah, I got a tale. Headstrong gorram women full of ire an’ nonsense,” Brand shot back, his stare drawing a laborious path from the door upstairs to between the eyes of the dwarf, “...an’ one -particular- fellow who’s gonna face a whole lot worse than that if he keeps standin’ between me and one of them.” The dwarf got the hint and absconded, leaving Brand to weave through the rest of the crowd and teeter his way up the stairs.


By the time Brand returned drunk and disorderly and carrying women's clothing, the room was in shambles. Nothing looked like it'd been stolen, but the decorations had been torn away from the ceiling and left to rot on the floor, and the poor tree was knocked over, pine needles littering the floor beneath the window. Even the food had been assaulted, the platters of pies, meats and cheeses, and the carrot cake had been thrown into the fire; it's a wonder that the plate of cookies made it out alive. There was no Khitti present, but the room to the other door was shut, and one could hazard a guess that she was probably on the other side of it. She was, in fact, and she was in the tub; no water filled it and nor was she without clothing, but there she sat in it nevertheless, her legs drawn up under her chin and her arms wrapped around them. Her anger had long since given away to that sadness that Brand detested and she was quite convinced that she didn't want to see the blonde male or the other room for a very long time.


Brand surveyed the damage and rolled his eyes, not that anyone was in the room to see it. So frakkin’ dramatic. Typical Khitti. The bags were set down near the front door before he ever so quietly tried the door to the side room -- yep, locked. Fine, then. Brand staggered over to the tree and righted it, then cleared whatever debris had been strewn onto the bed and made it anew, each sheet pulled taut across its length. From the bags were pulled each of the outfits Khitti had sold to pay for all the Yule things, and Brand folded these with some difficulty before placing them on the bed. Two new dresses joined them -- one of swirling black and red, with a black sash and black lace sleeves, and another of dark blues and purples, with silver details along the bodice and a cut similar to the dress she’d worn for the coronation. And now, he deliberated -- should he leave a note? She hadn’t emerged from the side room in all this time even though she’d surely heard him enter. That likely meant she wasn’t going to. Brand swayed, and pondered.


Of course, Khitti had heard him. When he tried the door, she'd stared at it, wondering if he'd try to break it down--it had seemed like a Brand thing to do. But, he didn't, and then things seemed to get a bit quiet in there besides a bit of rustling. Did he leave again? She hadn't heard the door open and close, but maybe he'd been quiet about it. She hesitates for what seems like forever, then climbs out of the tub, bare feet padding softly against the tile. The lock clicks and she opens the door just enough to peek outside. The smell of alcohol wafted into the other room, bringing a frown to Khitti's lips almost immediately, and she was left to wonder how many times he'd gotten drunk because of her. It -had- to be...why else would he be now? The door opens a little more, but she still doesn't emerge from the room entirely, dark eyes watching as he swayed and thought to himself, then roaming over to the bed where the clothing sat.


Had Brand been sober, he surely would have registered that clicking of the lock, or felt Khitti’s presence or her eyes on him. But here he didn’t, not right away. He fidgeted with the arrangement of the dresses, trying to decide the most aesthetically pleasing way to lay them out. Out from his pocket emerged the flask again, and another few swigs were taken as he surveyed his handiwork. He crossed to the end table where a bottle of whiskey still sat, somehow missed by Khitti’s earlier rampage -- oh. It was empty. Maybe that was why. And his flask was nearly depleted too, after the last several hours. Brand sighed and lurched away again, intending on braving the crowds downstairs to retrieve more alcohol -- or maybe just to leave again, no note for Khitti -- and there she was, just barely visible beyond the side door. Brand froze and blinked back at her, but did not speak.


Khitti didn't say anything, but she did look sad. Why did she look that way now? He'd probably never figure it out, though that's if he even cared or was coherent enough to have that long of a thought process. After a bit of that awkward staring between the two, and the silence that filled the room, she finally stepped out of the other room and moved towards the bed, asking quietly, "...Vhy...?" She surveyed the clothing that he'd repurchased for her, her line of sight stopping when it happened upon the new outfits. Her frown worsened, but she put a hand out to lightly touch the lace sleeves on the first dress, "Vhy couldn't you just leave it be? I vas fine vith it."


Wherever Brand had intended on going, Khitti had thoroughly intercepted him. He rid himself of all his winter garb and slouched into the armchair instead, peering at Khitti with a hand propping up his exhausted-looking expression. “I wasn’t. Kid wouldn’t be either -- you can ask him yourself later if you want.” His line of sight drifted from the vampiress to her new and returned clothes and then out the window. “But I suspect you already knew that, or you wouldn’t’ve tried to hide what you’d done in the first place.” His gaze returned, piercing through her. “You wanna explain to me why you’re so frakkin’ hellbent on givin’ up everything you have for everyone else? Might not be the same degree as throwin’ yourself at a dragon, but it’s still the same damn thing.”


Dark green eyes continue to stare at the red and black dress as she stands there in silence, listening to him, soon to move on to inspect the other new one. She felt that gaze of his, she didn't even need to look at him to confirm it. It was always harsh and cold, in typical Brand fashion, and even now still made her visibly cringe despite having been looked at in such a way on multiple occasions. She let his words linger on the air for a bit, choosing her words carefully so as not to invoke anymore of that anger that he always seemed to have a steady supply of. "It doesn't matter vhat I tell you. It never matters. You'd just soon as call me a damned idiot and berate me for twenty minutes regardless of vhat I say." Well, that still wasn't entirely a good way to phrase things, but at least it was honest. "I can never properly convey to you vhat's in my head because you're so stuck in your own ideals zhat you either can't understand or von't regardless of vhat I say or how I say it." The hand that had touched the clothing lifts to wipe the tears away that suddenly started to form in her eyes, getting rid of them as quickly as possible and hoping that there wasn't more to follow. "It's just better off zhat I say nothing and not risk you being mad at me again."


The hand holding Brand’s face up flew outward in exasperation before returning to its prior place. “For frak’s sake, kiwi, if I’m gonna berate you for anything it’ll be for makin’ me go on a gorram trek all ‘round Frostmaw to find your things. S’not much of a jaunt out in that cold for a human, y’know. An’ then I come back here an’ you won’t even explain why in hell any of it was necessary in the first place.” Well, no, she had, sort of. Brand rose from the chair and towered over her, ultimately backing her into a wall if she elected to retreat. “You want us to be happy? Y’think either of us need -things- to make us happy, the life we’ve lived? Y’think we need things -so badly- that you have to sell yours for the gold to make it happen?” A particularly strong teeter sent Brand taking a step backwards to find his balance again, giving the vampiress room to breathe. Figuratively, anyway. “Frak, peach, you could’ve given either of us a gorram rock and we’d be happy if it came from you.”


He was doing it again, that neverending chiding about everything she did and said and thought, even when he didn't think he was. He -was- drunk, but she'd long since tired of that excuse. She didn't look at him, and she certainly did back away, right into that wall. He made her feel so small, so insignificant when he did that, when he loomed over her; it was as if she were a bug he could crush under his heel. She took everything he said in stride, her eyes on the floor between them, crimson brows knitted together, her lips pressed tightly together to form a thin line. Could she even explain now, after all of those things he'd said? It was maddening, and she started to wonder why she spoke at all around him. She said nothing, no witty retort, no bout of anger; instead, as he backed away a little, her back slowly slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor. She honestly didn't even know -what- to say.


Brand observed her downward slide with a sigh and soon enough joined her, facing her with his back against the bed. Her defeated posture gave him a sense he needed to atone, although what the frell for was beyond him. “I jus’ don’t understand you sometimes,” he tried, instead. “Whatever value you place in the kid… in me… you oughta be lookin’ out for yourself, first. Everyone else comes an’ goes, or could be torn away in a blink.”


"Zhat's it. Zhat is exactly it, Brand." She sighed softly, her voice low as she puts her face in her hands. "You could literally be taken away from me at any moment. I don't care--about my stuff, about me--I don't." Before he can say anything, one of her hands lifts from her face and is held rds him, as if to say 'stop'. "And don't say anything. I already know. 'It's gorram stupid to zhink like zhat'. Just...please don't. I can't make you understand vhat's going on in my head--hell, I don't even know vhat's going on in my head right now--and I'm not about to start because it's going to take a god damned eternity. I may have zhat long, but you don't."


Brand actually heeded her for once. She held that hand up and he didn’t speak, not for a long time after he was sure she was finished. Maybe it was the alcohol? If so, Khitti would probably want to get him nice and boozed up again in the future. But really, he was processing. She refused to hear him, refused to recognize that she should pay at least -some- mind to herself. She couldn’t just give of herself always, certainly not to the degree that she did. But if he hadn’t hit upon it yet, he doubted there was some magical combination of words that would succeed where he had so far failed. Brand’s gaze wandered from her, to the dresser, to the ceiling, where it held steady.


"You can't understand, you just can't...", she said after awhile. "You can't because you've never had a family. It's always just been you and him. Just zhe two of you against zhe vorld." She shook her head and sighed, leaning back against the wall, her line of sight fixating on him, "I had zhem for fourteen years, and I took zhem for granted. I vas a spoiled, selfish child...I treated Lydia like hell." She started to get angry again as she spoke, but it wasn't directed at him at all, "You can't understand because you didn't have it. It didn't slip zhrough your fingers. It vasn't your fault." There was no sort of bragging tone to her words, and she soon looked away from him, pushing herself up off the floor. Gods, she wished -she- was the one drunk now, but that had certainly ended...oddly...last time she was and likely wasn't a good idea now. "I can't allow myself to get like zhat again. Not vhen I'm reminded of it every single night. I see zhem, zheir undead bodies shambling about our house, Lydia's gnashing, gnawing black teeth snapping at my face." She moves to stand in front of Brand, staring down at him with those big sad eyes of hers, "I von't do it again. I von't. I -can't-. I refuse to be like zhat again.


Brand shrugged at her, his eyes not quite in focus on her face. “So don’t. But don’t go to this other extreme where you throw yourself and everythin’ you gorram have away for people that might not even appreciate it, in the end. There’s a difference between selfishness an’ self-worth, peach, and you’ve made it -quite- clear you’ve very little of the latter.” He was giving her that look again, that look that could make a person feel like he saw straight through to their insides. “An’ what -about- Lydia, then, hmm? The real Lydia, not the nightmare. What about all the effort she put into gettin’ you rescued -- even after you almost threw it away to try to fight Raiez on your lonesome?” Brand rose too, gesturing to the dresses once he’d gained his footing. “Y’don’t think maybe she’d want you to value your own happiness? Have some nice things you couldn’t afford as a kid? -Live- a little instead of always tryin’ to set yourself on fire to keep everyone else warm?”


"Stop. Stop looking at me like zhat. Like you know best." It was clear that the stare made her uncomfortable. "And quit zhrowing Raiez and zhe cave in my face. Are you going to hold zhat over my head forever?" The answer to that was probably yes. She sighs heavily, carefully grabbing the black dress up off the bed without another word to him. She doesn't bother going behind the changing screen because, well, he'd already seen her without her clothes before; besides that, she didn't really feel like putting much effort into it at all. She does turn around, however, before removing that favorite dress of hers, and slipping into the one he'd gotten her. She tries to reach behind her back, to mess with the clasps, but ultimately fails. Short arms are a pain. Hesitating for a moment, she sighs again, then peers over her shoulder at him, "Can you...?"


Brand scoffed a bit at her. “It hasn’t even been that frakkin’ long!” He pivoted to watch her as she turned away, a satisfied smirk on his face. “Your concept of eternity’s a bit off, ‘specially for a vampire.” He was soon enough at her back once she’d asked for help, pinning the clasps shut and then turning them both, his hands at her waist, until they’d be able to catch her in the mirror. “There. See?” His lips were at her ear, and his eyes met hers in the reflection. “A pretty peach deserves a pretty dress.” ...Okay Brand, shush your drunken face before you embarrass yourself. “An’ the style suits you. Was that really so awful?”


Khitti made that pouty-angry face of hers to spite him, adding a "yes" along with it. "Shut up..." It wasn't said in irritation though, the vampiress quiet again, and focused on him. One day, if Brand paid close enough attention, he'd discover that usually when Khitti told him to shut up in such a tone, what she meant was 'I love you', if only in her own sarcastic way. He'd probably be utterly disgusted by it though because it's Brand and he hates her. Totally. Yes. After staring at him a bit longer in the mirror, she leans back against him, her head tilted back and to the side a little so she could kiss his cheek, "I'm sorry."


Brand broke into one of those cocky grins of his. ‘I’m sorry’ had a funny way of translating into ‘you were right’ in his brain. “Does that mean you’ll give up on some of that damned hardheadedness?” One knuckle rapped lightly on her skull. “C’mon. Try the other.” He released her from his grasp and moved to hang up the clothes that had been sold and rebought, stepping around the mess Khitti had made hours earlier. “Guess I’ll have to help you clean this later. Tavern keeper’s already not gonna be pleased with the damage we’ve done to the room.” He said ‘we’, but… really, it was pretty much all Khitti. Not just the current wreckage, but the burnt spot on the wall, too.


"Vhat? No. Of course not. I love pissing you off, you know." She manages to unhook the clasps of her dress, lets it fall to the ground, and steps out of it, handing it over to Brand to add to the wardrobe. "No, I'll take care of it later. It's not your mess." She frowned a little, carefully taking up the blue and purple dress up off the bed, "I need to learn to control my anger. I'm surprised I haven't gotten us kicked out yet." The other dress was put on finally, leaving the back undone for him to take care of again. "I've been zhinking..." Thinking? Of course, she's always thinking. "Vould zhe two of you vant to maybe live somewhere else other zhan here one day...? Obviously zhat's going to take money, and I'll have to figure zhat job situation out vith Hilde, but..." She steps over to the mirror, running her fingers through her hair, and bringing it around to drape over her left shoulder. "It could be outside zhe city, away from everyone. Vouldn't have to vorry about Drargon getting on our case if I manage to break or--", she briefly glances towards that scorch mark, "--burn zhings."


“Our own space? Hmm, well that’d be a first.” Brand looked contemplative as the shoulders of the previous dress were threaded onto the hanger and tucked away. “I’ve got nothin’ against it, I s’pose. S’not so important where I live, though I could do without the mob downstairs. An’ Francis wouldn’t have to hide.” The wardrobe was closed, and he moved to pin up the back of the second dress. “You got somewhere specific in mind?”


"Not really, no. I vasn't sure how you two felt about it. I'm sure zhere's some houses about, zhough. Not everyone made it back from zhat var, you know." It was a grim thought, but it was the truth. "No point in letting zhem rot and go to vaste vhen ve could make it our own. Depending on how big it is, zhere could be a library and a training room. I could even start a garden like zhe one by zhe fort." Now that she said it out loud, it sounded like a pipe dream. She sighed at the thought, then spun about to face him, giving a bit of a shrug, "Vell...?"


“ ‘Vell’ at the dress, or the house?” Brand inquired, taking a half step backwards to better look her over. “We can look into it, an’ ask Hildegarde, sure. And ‘yes’ to the dress, though now that I see it on you I realize it’s a bit much for everyday wear. Are there many more of those balls here like for the coronation, y’think?”


"To both, I guess." She scrunched up her nose, shrugging again, "And, I don't know. I don't exactly keep up on zhe goings on in high society, you know. Zhey're not exactly my people any more zhan zhey're yours." Khitti contemplated on something for a moment, the gears obviously turning in her head before she holds out a hand to him, eyeing the blonde carefully. "Come here." She gave no indication whatsoever at her intentions, merely giving him that emotionless, stone-faced look.


Brand raised an eyebrow at her. He was pretty sure where this was going. It was Khitti, after all. “I’ll trip on you if you make us dance, after all I’ve had to drink,” he grumbled, but approached her anyway. There was a fair amount of hesitation before he took her hand and held it aloft.


Khitti was more predictable than she thought she was, and the grin that suddenly appeared was evidence enough to prove that he was right. "You're always drunk. I'm getting used to it, zhough. If you fall, I'll just have to scoop you up into my arms and carry you off to bed. But, zhis dress might not get use if you don't dance vith me. Who knows vhen Hildegarde vill zhrow another ball. She's a bit preoccupied vith Larket at zhe moment." The redhead entwined her fingers with his, put his other hand on her hip, and fell into step with the waltz that she danced with Dominic. She takes it slow, for his sake, her attention fixed on his face, a frown forming on her own, "I'm sorry zhat I'm so intolerable zhat it drives you to drink as much as you do." She still assumed it was because of her, of course, perhaps she wasn't so different now than she had been when she was a kid. She was a bit of a pain.


Slow, Brand could manage. He handled his alcohol decently enough, after all. Practice makes perfect. There was some faltering and teetering here and there, but he never outright tripped on her as he’d claimed he would. “True enough,” he said about Hildegarde, not meeting Khitti’s gaze but instead focusing somewhere closer to her collarbones. The drinking comment was met with a troubled twist of his lips. “That’s not it,” he insisted, though he didn’t volunteer a clarification as to what it -was-, if not that. “Y’really think it’s always?”


"I figured it vas. I'm not exactly zhe easiest person to get along vith." Neither was he, though. When she noticed he wouldn't look at her, she too shifted her attention elsewhere, brows furrowing somewhat. "And, since I got back, barely a day goes by vhere you don't have a glass around me." The frown worsened as she paused, "I'm sorry I'm so awful. No matter how much I try, I'm still zhe same person I vas long ago. Always quick to get angry. Always vanting to fight. I can never just go vith zhe flow of zhings. I always have to be different. Can't just be like everyone else." She elected to spin herself when the dance called for it to save him the energy and keep him from losing balance, though the movements were somewhat half-hearted. She hoped he wouldn't get mad at her for the things she said; they weren't exactly nice to herself and he already yelled at her once for doing something along those lines today.


“Stop,” Brand demanded, and halted their dance. “Stop blamin’ yourself for every gorram thing. Stop assumin’ everything comes back to somethin’ you did, or didn’t do. Not everything’s gotta be about you, an’ I mean that in the nicest possible way.” Brand? Nice? Nuh uh. “I drink cuz I want to, alright? If it’s ever got anythin’ to do with you, it could just as easily be anyone else. Or any -thing- else. Or for no other reason than it bein’ there. Cuz I feel like it. Same reason I do anythin’ else. Got it?”


Khitti listened to him quietly, nodding once he'd finished speaking; it could've been worse, the things he said, it could've been harsher and meaner, but it wasn't. "Alright." The answer was simple enough, and held no protest to it. She was tired again, though it was mentally instead of physically this time around. All of that fighting they'd done all day, well, it was definitely enough to wear anyone out. She wasn't sure if he'd want to continue or not, so she peered up at him with a questioning gaze, her hands loosening their grip on him in case if he was done entirely, the vampiress prepared to step away from him.


Brand had expected to face more of an argument from her on that point. When it didn’t come, some amount of tension he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying released itself from his posture. Brand’s grip on Khitti tightened, to confirm he wasn’t quite ready to pull away yet. She really was something in that dress -- or out of it, he thought with a glimmer of a smirk. Their dancing would continue a while longer before he’d spin her and then, with a tilt, they both ended up on the bed.


Khitti blinked a few times as they landed on the bed, but then she was soon focused on him again. "Ve're doomed to always fight, aren't ve...?” The question was rhetorical, of course, for she already knew the answer to it. How could two people be so similar and yet so entirely different at the same time? It was maddening to think about. She didn't dwell on it long though, she knew what his intentions were now. It was one of the only things they managed to see eye to eye on at times, and she let him know to follow through with those plans with a kiss that she'd desperately needed for the last few hours when he wasn't by her side.