Victorian weenie au

[cagedinflesh]

 Melodica playing in the distance

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[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.

[cagedinflesh]

He nods understanding, then takes the seat. "He is." As if in deep contemplation over whether he should spill it all, he presses his lips together, looking down. "I would not normally say this, only that I too worry for him in the increasing frequency of these trips. The precise location would be anyone's guess...down by the docks, perhaps. Or elsewhere, by now."

[gehennawind]

Occasionally a lie is so dissonant from the rest of a man's speech, jarring and ugly, that Paloma can separate fact from falsehood. But she's young blood and that ability is unreliable. Hyde succeeds in his deception.

"Ah," the only word she thinks to say for ten of his heartbeats. "Elsewhere. The doctor must need distraction. Mr. Hyde, I do trespass here." Hurt makes the rasp more pronounced.

[cagedinflesh]

"I suppose he must. It is a common enough occurrence with him, only no distraction seems enough. Perhaps nothing is quite good enough." He shakes his head, almost sadly. "However, you do not trespass if what you say is true, if you are indeed a friend."

[gehennawind]

Discussion of futility disturbs Paloma on a good night, and she's had many better than this. She lifts her eyes, despondent and disgusted by herself.

"If I am let to be one, no? Very hard when you are not wanted."

[cagedinflesh]

"Why, what ever is the matter?" This is beautiful, Hyde so wishes he could laugh. "As I said, I hope that you will confide in me, Mrs. Vasquez. Perhaps there is some message I may give."

[gehennawind]

Snake. Snakes inside of her belly, snake on a chair asking for trust.

There can be no forgetting or discounting how he sets her teeth on edge. Paloma's kneejerk mistrust of Carlos is an instinct she should have listened to. She maintains her guard. "I cannot possibly be the only friend who has heard nothing from him. That could be a message."

[cagedinflesh]

"No, certainly but for myself and these excursions he has kept well alone." He leans forward to place a hand over hers. "Do you believe that to mean you are somehow lesser? Do not lose hope."

[gehennawind]

Praise be for black mourning gloves. The Toreador in her loves his beauty while wanting to turn away in a nauseating mix.

"Hope. What do you want of me?" She puts the question to him, to let Hyde know she has some awareness of a larger game being played, even if she can't yet see it unveiled.

[cagedinflesh]

"Nothing. Friendship, perhaps? I am new to London, to society, with Dr. Jekyll as my sole friend - and I am kept busy here, too busy to attend any events. It is rather a predicament." Casual as ever. It is largely truth, if warped to fit this particular agenda.

[gehennawind]

True enough to unbalance Paloma and keep her guessing, letting his touch remain. She peers disconcertingly.

"I will not turn you out if that is the case. Although your freshness to society explains a thing or two!"

(As if she's not new, although tutored vigorously ...)

[cagedinflesh]

"Is it so obvious?" No, of course he knows, because that was his intent. Before he wanted anything, that is. Now it's different, now he wants to ruin this and her.

He laughs nervously.

[gehennawind]

"You are much more direct than society men of London, or that is what my husband teaches."

Foolishly, very foolishly, that laugh distracts her from the building tension.