Triangles

Initial setting: Gormenghast, a castle in a storm.

Constantine walks through the mirror, glancing around, eyes shadowed.

Diony runs a hand through her hair, following silently.

Constantine walks slowly to a wall of the large, stone room, turns, leans against it. Almost absentmindedly, he shifts the bokken in his belt, and blinks.

Diony frowns. "Something new wrong?"

Constantine says "I forgot to return this to Tanith."
Constantine hesitates. "I don't know how family this is, for you. She's the person I talked to, when I felt that way."
Constantine says "But you know the answer I wound up with, neh?"

Diony shrugs. "Talking's better than punching walls."
Diony says "And I'm running out of walls, anyway. Someone's got to be strong."

Constantine says "I spar a lot."
Constantine shrugs, slightly, concentrates.

Diony paces, helpfully.

Constantine Trumps Tanith. They talk.

Tanith, somewhere else, looks surprised. "Hi."

Constantine grins, a bit. "I forgot to give you your bokken back."

Tanith says "Oh. Yes. I'd like it back."

Constantine says "Mmm. I thought you might. Are you upset with Diony?"

Tanith says "No, I don't think so." She pauses, and says seriously, "But there's a family between us."

Constantine says, pensively, "Between us too. It doesn't matter yet."

Tanith says "We can get her in trouble. She's explained this to me."

Constantine sighs. "Yeah. To me too. She's unhappy about that, about changing. It's odd, neh?"

Tanith says "Why?"
Tanith shakes her head, a bit of pain touching her face. "I can't do this long."

Constantine grins, wryly. "I'm not the only person to talk to about being in Aspnes, problems with it. One of the better ones, maybe. But it's bad, if she does too much."
Constantine says "Trump?"

Tanith nods. "It's a bad idea."
Tanith says "'m somewhere safe. Come through?"

Constantine looks up from his Trump, says tentatively, "Mind Tanith's company, right now?"

Diony says "Nah."
Diony grins. "Not .that. family."

Tanith draws back a little, distance creeping in around the edges.

Constantine says, to Tanith, "Diony alright?"

Tanith looks back, startled. "Um, sure."

Constantine offers his hand to Diony.
Constantine reaches out to Tanith.

Diony blinks, takes the hand.

Tanith looks away, taking Constantine's hand.

Constantine takes Tanith's hand, comes through, with Diony.
Constantine looks around, eyes a bit wary. "Arcadia?"

Silver Glade
A silver glow fills this place; there's no one spot from which it radiates, no obtrusive point of light to draw the eye. One can see, here, but dimly, and the stars shine very bright. A million million points of crystal, they are, dotting the heavens like a bowl of misplaced gems. The ground is grassy, covered in silver roses, which are covered in dew.

Tanith
She seems young, tired, her slanting violet eyes, now somehow inhuman, too large for her face. She's thin, fragile bones showing clearly, and her hair, boyishly short, is intensely blue, eyebrows and lashes matching. A pink mark, like a handshaped sunburn, covers her throat. A thin black tanktop and stretch pants are a little loose on her tall form, though she is regaining long, smooth muscles. The black is stark against the pallor of her skin, the only brightness a fine silver chain that vanishes down her top. A dagger for demons, nearly a short sword for her, is thrust into the belt, hilt and sheath darker even than her clothes. Her movements are reserved, withdrawn, with a ghostly grace.

Tanith is seated in the grass, unmindful of the wet. She lets her hand drop back to her lap and nods.

Constantine nods, settling down at what could be the second point of a triangle.

Diony shrugs, and folds herself into the free spot.

Tanith says "Hi."

Constantine frees the bokken from his belt, and passes it to Tanith.

Diony says, wearily, "Hi."

Constantine says "Hi."

Tanith accepts it, setting it across her knees.

Constantine says "I'm tired."

Tanith raises her eyes to the stars. "So'm I."

Diony says "Yes."

Constantine says "Let's call a time out, tonight."

Tanith says "What do you mean?"

Constantine shapes a globe in the air.
Constantine says "This is Arcadia. It's right, for that. A place outside the rest of it."

Tanith says "I guess."

Constantine shrugs. "For me."

Diony says "It's not outside. It's inside."

Constantine grins, wry. "Bad idea, then."

Tanith says "No, it's okay."

Constantine says "Sometimes I want to step back, is all; not run away from the problems."
Constantine says "Think about them without feeling so damned urgent."
Constantine shrugs, again. "Take a time out."

Tanith starts to say something, and stops, looking down at the sword in her lap.

Diony grins. "Running away's a personal specialty. Good idea, though."

Constantine looks over at Tanith.

Tanith turns it over in her hands, expression somewhat distant.
Tanith looks up at Constantine. "I'm glad you brought it back. It was new."

Constantine says, neutral, "No, I'm cheating, or trying to."

Tanith stands smoothly and walks a few paces away. "Cheating?"

Constantine says "Miss my family."
Constantine says "I miss you."
Constantine says "But if I try too hard I'll hurt both of you."

Tanith slips smoothly into stance, sword held across her body. "Here is always time in, for me."

Constantine says "Time with you's the only time out I ever really found."

Diony shifts her weight.

Constantine glances back over at Diony, moving silent.

Tanith glances at Diony, then stands normally, the bokken point down.

Constantine says "You, I don't tell some of what I think."

Diony shrugs. "I can leave. I have my flowers and Arawn's walls."

Tanith tells Diony, "I don't know what you are. It makes me treat you very strangely."

Diony grins, nearly. "I think it's mutual, Tanith."
Diony says "I'm a dancer and a hunter turned into a diplomat due to bonds with people I barely know. It's ultimately simple."

Tanith says "I'm not going to try to hurt you. But I'm not going to stop being me."

Constantine drops back on his back, reclining, turning to his side to watch both of you, still bulk in the grass.

Diony says "Tanith, I would never want you to."

Tanith settles back to the ground, the triangle now acute.

Diony stretches her hands, frowning. "Look, when I'm in public, I'm -- Spence made me the rep to Council. I've got this blade-edge to walk. I'm .not. Aspnes' voice. But people think I am."

Tanith says "What I said may contradict."

Diony snorts. "Already been called Lady Aspnes more than once."

Tanith says "And I can hurt you just by talking to you, in front of the right people."
Tanith says "The wrong people."
Tanith says "Should I ignore you?"

Diony says "Wish I knew. Which do I need more, friends or politics?"
Diony examines a rose. "That -ought- to be an easy question."

Tanith says "Or family?"
Tanith says "That's why it's not."

Diony says "This is not a family. This is an insane asylum which is under the delusion that being linked by blood creates a duty."
Diony shakes her head. "Wish I could believe that."

Tanith says "Aren't all families like that, at least a little?"
Tanith says "Mine is."

Constantine says "Aspnes is an extreme."

Tanith says "I know."

Diony sighs. "I left, originally, because of family. I wasn't willing to lose myself for Uoknor. I was a kid. But this?"
Diony nods. "Extreme something."

Constantine says "It is a family, though."
Constantine says "And you only get the one."

Tanith looks down and sighs.
Tanith toys with the bokken.

Diony says "I could go to Lane. Iera and I get on. I could go home."

Constantine looks over at Tanith, expression softly troubled.

Tanith says, looking down, "You're right, about the asylum."

Diony shakes her head. "I'd be right if they were wrong. But they're not."

Tanith says "About what?"

Diony says "Family matters, even if I don't want it to. Just because they're all...all the way they are, that doesn't mean I can walk away."

Tanith shrugs. "Go nuts with them."

Constantine says "You can. Walk away, I mean."

Diony shrugs back. "Someone's got to be strong. This century, it's me. Maybe by then Arawn will be willing to take a turn."

Tanith holds up a hand. "I'm sorry. I'm biased."

Constantine says "So am I. So are we all."

Diony says "Be biased. I am."

Constantine says "Twisted thing is that I agree with both of you."

Tanith says "I think they're insane."
Tanith says "I think they break people."
Tanith says "They hold too close."
Tanith says "That's not family. That's prison."

Diony looks at Constantine. "You know I can't."

Tanith shrugs. "But keep in mind, I maybe never see mine again. I'm biased."

Constantine says "Can't is slippery."
Constantine says "I walked. It cost me."

Diony says "I might break if I stay. I know I'd break if I go."
Diony shrugs. "Always nice to have choices."

Tanith says, voice soft, "And you keep on paying."

Diony says "What they did wasn't fair. But we're paying, too."

Tanith says "Everybody is. Is anybody actually getting anything for it?"

Constantine says, absently, "I broke. Reforged. Yes, Tanith."
Constantine says "They're getting a home."

Tanith waves a hand around expansively. "What's wrong with this, Constantine? It's very beautiful, and there are never. Regrets."

Constantine says, softly, "Ask me to stay here forever, Tanith."

Tanith says flatly, "You wouldn't live forever."

Constantine says "Not going to anywhere."

Tanith stands, paces. "Less, I think."
Tanith says "Diony."
Tanith says "What do you turn into, with them?"

Constantine says, not to Tanith in particular, "But it answers the question."

Diony says "I can't dance. There's nothing in me that sings of freedom anymore."
Diony says "I have to watch people I love be hurt, and hurt, and hurt, and I can't do anything to help them. And they trust me, to make things right, and I don't know .how.!"

Constantine reaches out a hand to nothing in particular, in concentration.

Tanith stops her pacing, a flash of pain. "Is it worth the price?"
Tanith paces more, turns back, in an arc.

Constantine brings back a sketchpad in a sparkle of rainbows, fleeting color in the silver glow.

Diony says "Is .what. worth the price? What am I getting? I don't get it, Tanith, I don't. Why is it that every morning I'm waking up to think that getting through another day .matters.?"

Tanith says "Why are you staying, then?"
Tanith says "I don't understand."

Diony says, gentler now, "They trust me to make things right, and something in me says I have to try. It doesn't make sense, but I don't think it can."

Tanith glances at Constantine, pupils briefly green-gold, then turns her eyes back to Diony, her pacing stopped.

Constantine looks down at the sketchpad.
Constantine says "What can I say?"

Tanith says "Maybe it kills you."
Tanith says "Or just kills your soul."
Tanith says "Trying is good, but if you ever forget how to dance..."
Tanith says "Then you might as well stay."

Diony sighs, shakily. "Kills me, kills them. I don't know. Most times I don't feel this way, really, it's just this Council."
Diony winces, at that.

Constantine flips open the cover of the sketchpad, to an empty page, takes a charcoal stick.

Diony says "Hells. I'll teach them how to dance. It's about time they learned."

Constantine says, as he starts drawing, "You won't. It's a threat."

Tanith grins, and drops to a crouch. "Exactly."
Tanith says "You can try."

Constantine strokes firm lines, bearing down hard.

Tanith touches a hand to the ground. "Just..."
Tanith says "Watch. Know when the trying doesn't help anymore."

Constantine says, lower lip caught between his teeth, "Tanith dances."

Diony says "It's a threat. It's what I have to work with."

Tanith says "Take them on your own terms."
Tanith says "If you go out, go out as yourself."
Tanith says "Maybe you can shake them up."

Constantine shakes his head, never stopping, broad gestures mapped out in charcoal on the page. "Faces wound them, at least. Aspnes ought to go recluse again. So much safer, for everyone. But they won't, and you have to help; it's what we do."
Constantine uses the side of his hand to smudge, intent.

Diony says "What do you mean, faces wound them?"

Tanith turns her head, and says softly, "Who're you calling we?"

Constantine looks over at Tanith, first.
Constantine says "It's all so familiar I could scream my rage that they found another."
Constantine says "How could I not feel sympathy, attunement?"

Constantine turns to Diony.
Constantine says "The outside is a threat, always; we fear that which understands that which we fear."
Constantine blocks out three more strong lines, a partial frame.

Diony says, carefully, "That's why I'm the filter."

Constantine rips off the page, neatly.
Constantine says "Their last filter fell in love with the things he was protecting them from."

Tanith starts at the sound.

Diony says "I'm not certain if that's better or worse than falling in love with the things one's protecting."

Constantine says "I'm only certain of results."
Constantine hands Diony the page.

Tanith settles, carefully, to sitting, though she is not still.

Diony inspects it, slowly.

Tanith moves closer until the triangle is equal again. "May I see, after?"

Diony nods.

Tanith regards Constantine, at touching distance now, then returns her attention to Diony.

Sketch
A dancer, alone, the lines of the charcoal heavy and blunt and still somehow conveying delicacy. No. Not conveying; embodying lightness, shaping grace and fluidity in their stillness. And above her, there is openness, and below her, there is solid weighted ground, but without the ground she'd have no place to leap from, and no place to return to after flight. Behind one ear is tucked the whitest rose.

Diony shows Tanith, finally, face very still.

Tanith takes it by the edges, head bent.
Tanith raises her face to Diony, eyes clear and pale, and offers it back without a word.

Diony takes it, carefully.

Tanith watches her take it, equally carefully.

Constantine is silent, much of the tension in him gone.

Diony closes her eyes, and takes a slow breath. "I am so much like you, then?" It is not, precisely, a question.

Tanith touches Constantine's shoulder with the backs of her fingers, gently, quickly, to his wrist, then spins away, rising.

Constantine says, simply, "Yes."
Constantine looks up at Tanith, a question in his eyes.

Diony opens her eyes, almost hesitant.

Tanith is arrested motion, not far off, looking down at Constantine.

Constantine spins up, a matching spiral, coming to rest to match Tanith. His eyes are calm.

Tanith's eyes go wide, and she raises her wooden sword.

Constantine shakes his head, and falls easily back into his place in the triangle.

Diony watches, quiet and still.

Tanith settles down, deliberately assymetrical, closer to Diony, one knee up, one down. She lays her sword diagonally across her legs, hands trembling.

Diony turns her head a fraction, laying the drawing across her knees, and looks at Tanith.

Constantine turns his face away.

Tanith takes a breath, then another. She shakes her head, her eyes going calm.

Diony offers a hand, palm up.

Tanith starts abruptly, then crosses Diony's palm with her own.
Tanith looks at her eyes, and untenses.

Constantine glances around, at the expanse of roses.

Diony lets herself relax as well, meeting Tanith's gaze.

Constantine says carefully, not looking, trace of something in his voice, "What happened?"

Tanith finds her voice. "Something dangerous."

Diony speaks softly. "Something very dangerous."

Constantine takes a breath.
Constantine says "Get me out of here."
Constantine says "Language for an antidote, and I draw deep at the shallowest of times. Tanith knows."

Tanith shudders, and stands, thrusting the bokken into her belt.
Tanith says "Where?"

Constantine says "Someplace ordered, and let me sleep. Haven's good for that right now and so is Amber."

Diony stands as well, paper held carefully. "I ought to go back home."

Constantine stands, carefully, scratching at the small of his back.

Tanith says, carefully, "Take care, friend Diony." She offers a hand to Constantine, hesitantly.

Diony says "And you, Tanith. My thanks to the both of you."

Constantine says "My thanks to you."
Constantine takes Tanith's hand, very careful.

Diony grins. "It seems much more possible, without fear. Sleep well."

Tanith takes a breath.
Tanith smiles at Diony.

Constantine smiles, quiet.
Constantine says "It's possible, as long as you don't forget the other possibilities."
Constantine looks around, again, eyes hooded. "Always something to lose yourself in, somewhere, neh?"

Tanith says "Do you have the right trumps, Constantine?"

Constantine says "Yeah. The Castle. You don't need to come with me, if you don't want; I've got myself."

Diony nods.

Tanith closes her free hand, shaking her head very slightly. "I want to see you safe."

Constantine says "Alright. I think we'll wait on you, Diony, to see you safe from here as well."

Tanith nods gravely.

Diony laughs. "I'm hardly in any danger from the roses, but the thought is appreciated."
Diony swings her bag around, opens it, and fishes for a card.
Diony studies the card in her hand.

Tanith br'nej -- the section of history this log takes place in.

Log: Triangles / Gretchen / Flick / Created March 23, 1994
Last modified: April 23, 1997 / gretchen@flick.com