Victorian weenie au

[cagedinflesh]

 Melodica playing in the distance

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[gehennawind]

A ... chivalrous gesture.

She's lived in the company of a devil for so long, it's feasible that paranoia could be coloring her perceptions of total strangers. He was taking those steps to offer a seat like any proper-if-improperly-dressed host.

"I, I thank you," Paloma murmurs. Forcing herself to let go of her skirt, she arranges it over the chair and sits. Silence. She doesn't meet his eyes.

"Please forgive my stubborn. If you are his family, you are master in his absence and I trespass."

[cagedinflesh]

"An associate in his research. He is my benefactor." Yes, he is the master of the house in Jekyll's absence. The entire household knows to defer to him, give him his space. "There is no harm done, miss. And yourself?"

[gehennawind]

Because what he claims is not technically speaking a lie, Paloma can't root out the misdirection. The implication he isn't a blood relative startles her into finally peering at him with voluminous eyes framed by dark hat-bent curls.

"Honored to call him a friend, mister ...?"

He never said they weren't related, it occurs to her, but if he won't discuss that possibility it may be offensive to pursue.

[cagedinflesh]

He could nearly laugh out loud. He knows better. He knows what Jekyll thinks, and he knows that she has come here in disguise to meet with him. But he doesn't.

"Hyde. Edward Hyde. Will you have tea, Mrs. Vasquez?" Oh yes, he knows who she is.

[gehennawind]

"Mr. Hyde," she says with abject relief. A name is a start.

But the obvious hits her. Paloma's teeth click audibly, her mouth snaps shut so quick. Both hands twist around each other over her lap. "The-- disadvantage is mine, I see. He has told of me?"

[cagedinflesh]

"But of course, we are very close, closer than brothers. There could be no secrets between us." His smile seems innocent enough, although with everything else about him, maybe not so...

[gehennawind]

Closer than brothers.

No secrets.

If his aim is to distress Paloma, he's wildly successful. She blinks twice and stares directly ahead, well away from his dubious innocence. Stones sink in her gut.

"To tell the truth, I know him for only one day. But I worry, Mr. Hyde. London is full of talk."

[cagedinflesh]

"Nothing of the sort here. Our relationship is not of that nature, and we are gentlemen. He would never gossip, it is intimate, yet professional."

[gehennawind]

Paloma shakes her head with almost exaggerated slowness. Some fear and reflexively violent impulses linger. She must remember a Beast's idea of self-protection is not an idea to diddle with. Not unless she wants to run the world over a second time.

Stiffly, "I meant in regards to Dr. Jekyll vanishing. People care and fret, sir!" No, he cannot have confided of what transpired up the tavern stairwell.

[cagedinflesh]

"He can be rather eccentric. People may talk all they like, to him this research is more important than any other thing in the world. One they would not understand." He says it flippantly, as much as it's something of grave concern to Hyde as well. It's more so flippancy for the gossip and anyone caring at all.

[gehennawind]

Out of respect for his pursuits and devotion to them, Paloma does not argue the point of which question Jekyll's associate has already assured her: the doctor is in prime condition, he said. If only he'd say it again, when she's not so distracted as to forget about listening for a lie.

And there she goes again with paranoia. Aggravated by its futility, she flexes her hands out just to be doing something with them that betrays less in the way of feelings. "Alright. If there is not an understanding, help is what I can give. No less."

[cagedinflesh]

"Help in what, exactly? He already has all the help he needs." The wry little grin on his face might speak for another sort than the help he claims to be giving. Not in science, but other distractions. He's away on the East Side for work, after all. He must be in good hands (or maybe Hyde is giving that kind of help too, you never know, that Jekyll is a deviant).

[gehennawind]

No, she decides sharply. No, it's not paranoid to interpret his rudeness for what it is. A snooty goose is a snooty goose.

"So you say," the little woman announces from her chair. Her eyes seem ripe for plucking out, all fiercely non-threatening and doe-like. They fix eerily onto him. "But if I am honest, you find pleasures in cutting others down. Thank you, Mr. Hyde, but I am not a sapling."

[cagedinflesh]

"Why, if anything I have said has given offense, I cannot understand the reason why, and I do so apologise." He plays at being flabbergasted by the accusation. Him, cruel? That's crazy. Besides, how would he know things like that might possibly hurt her, he doesn't know anything of their affair!

[gehennawind]

Lie!

Paloma shoots upright rather nimbly-- too nimbly, but maybe he blinked and missed some of the action? Regardless, her temper is beginning to flare hotter than is wise for a fledgling vampire. If he's got a face as squirmingly repulsive as it is innocent and pretty, she radiates a fair amount of menace herself.

Even if she's angry at him for reasons beyond buried and extremely deniable hurt. "Apology not accepted until you mean it, Mr. Hyde! You have been very ungracious. Most important, it is not good of you to reject help on his behalf! To reject care for him!"

[cagedinflesh]

"That is the entire point, I am the one keeping an eye on him, it is my right to seek, administer and reject care, a right given me by the man himself. You come in here, a private study housing delicate work, disguised, and simply will not leave until such a time as Dr. Jekyll returns - and what am I to think, Hm?" There are so many things Hyde could say to her, so many tactics to use. But he simply doesn't feel fear, not until his life or freedom are threatened. If anything that menace is adorable.

[gehennawind]

Calm. Calm. Peaceful lakes and long, thin boats swathing through the water, smooth and graceful. Remember she is more than the sum of a Beast.

Down go her hackles. Slow, even breaths. Her glare would be bone-melting to most, but not to Hyde, it seems. Is that a blessing? "Your right is to think what it pleases you to think, and speak for yourself. As you have, and lewdly!"

[cagedinflesh]

"That is quite the accusation. And certainly from a married woman sneaking around in such a way." Please tell him how he's been lewd, he hasn't been lewd! (He's been very lewd)

"But I do not intend to be judgemental. Dr. Jekyll has trusted me with himself, and so I hope you too might. Likewise, if you are his...friend, I might also treat you thus."

[gehennawind]

The man believes she's a toy.

He acts as though she is, like Paloma cannot hear the implication-- but she wonders how much of that is her guilt manifest. Most upsetting are the dollops of truth he intersperses between his attacks.

But right now she can't do anything but freeze. "Friendship is precious enough to me that I am here, sneaking around. What do you ask I trust you with?"

[cagedinflesh]

He certainly does. In his eyes, she has proven herself to be. Already in that little rendezvous, but now in coming back here to seek him out. Hyde simply can't believe it's only to check on his health, his own mind doesn't work that way.

"Why, anything and everything, of course. We might be friends as well. After all, if I can trust you, perhaps I would be able to give a more detailed account. Otherwise I could not betray his confidance."

[gehennawind]

She's filled by a terrible urge to press his neck against the lab table until it cracks satisfactorily. His alleged relationship to Jekyll keeps her from coiling around his mind and molding it to something gentler; lips tight from suppressed rage, Paloma shows him the round curve of a cheek.

"How may you trust me? Say it clear, please. No more dances." Anything and everything is NOT acceptable!

[cagedinflesh]

As a Servant, he would love that. As it stands, he can't afford any major injuries. "Hm. That is a rather more complicated answer. I suppose I wouldn't know the requirements until they are seen. Perhaps simply to be given your trust. Or a word of truth, your intentions?"

[gehennawind]

How is it complicated, she wants to snarl. How is it complicated when filthy implications drip from his tongue like thick vinegar.

Paloma refuses to be a rabbit led by a hint of carrot on his stick, refuses to look at his face. The chemistry set is far less upsetting. "The truth. My intention is an apology. I fear I have done a thing to cause harm." Her mouth twists. "And, also, for his wellness."

[cagedinflesh]

"I see. Was that so terribly difficult?" He smiles, as if it's sincere. "Now then, will you have tea? What would you know?"

He pulls up an extra chair, ready to call for a servant to bring them tea, or anything else she may want.

[gehennawind]

She counts her blessings that he hasn't insisted on being told the nature of her crime. Paloma could never, for both their sakes.

At last she bears to turn back to Hyde, but all focus centers on his hands, studying them. Despite a good effort the tension is visible in the tautness of her throat. "I would, but cannot. Drink tea. My illness, unfortunately." A 'sorry' and a 'thank you' wouldn't go amiss, but she'd rather eat the niceties.

"Is he really at the East Side? Where?" Lie to me again.