Where the Heart Is |Tag: Diana! and maybe Nikki?|

[Marius Grey]

'Stunned' was something of an understatement.  One second, his pants where dropping down around his thighs (just because they couldn't go any further without some specific move on his part to remove them) and Diana's hands were moving against him in ways he liked, and then it was like color returned to the rest of the world, and he could hear Nikki and Elke talking.

Oh, God, Elke.

He pushed off of the back of Diana's chair to straighten instantly, not at all thinking about the fact that Diana had done anything to cause that, other than ask, but definitely taking note of his surroundings rather suddenly.  Elke was there, with Nikki (which wasn't much of a surprise, since Marius had seen her with cats before and knew how they reacted to her), but she was there.  Watching him wiggle around in front of some other woman.

Well, it wasn't like he and Elke were really a thing, but that's what they essentially were.  No official couple, but he loved her.  She'd saved him, she was the sweetest woman he'd ever known, and he'd never really felt a whole lot for mortal women since he was mortal himself.  It was just Elke.

So what had happened with Diana?

His pants came up with a slightly shocked, but apologetic look at Diana (who hadn't done anything wrong, as far as he could tell), and it was only after they were buttoned and in a much more pleasant (to him) situation that he glanced around for his shirt.  What else had he been wearing?  His coat.  Putting his shirt on, then looking for his coat, happened to be the plan for distracting himself long enough to figure out what the HELL had happened.  He didn't even want to LOOK at Elke more than that first time, considering the look on her face.  Nikki looked more amused than anything, which meant that Marius wouldn't be hearing the end of this from him anytime soon.

Great.

By the time he had his shirt on and buttoned, he felt a little more like himself, and finally looked up at Elke again.  He felt like a little kid, or more appropriately like a dog who'd been caught doing something wrong, which wasn't something he was used to.  He typically used his own sense, and didn't get into messes like this.  Diana had just...gotten past his usual blocks on the subject?  Good God.

"Ivi talked me into learning," he explained to Elke, his voice even more apologetic than his look towards Diana had been.  "I'm sorry, I never meant to..."

Do anything like this.

At all. 

As for Nikki's question about Eden?  Amazingly, a vampire could manage flushing if he'd fed recently enough, and Marius had.  Just thinking about it set him off, and he shot a less pleasant look towards the bartender.  He couldn't really blame Nikki for getting distracted and not talking him out of it, not knowing how cats reacted to Elke, but the idea of telling Eden about it wasn't so nice. 

Don't you dare.  He really will, you know.

[Jessica Markova]

He'd startled back from her, fumbling with his clothes and - in general - acting like a dog who had just been caught doing something very bad. To be perfectly honest, it was rather annoying. After all, what had been so very wrong? Nothing, nothing at all. Besides that, he was a wolf. Wolves - and dogs - were hers. And this new woman, the one making him so very uncomfortable, smelled of cats.

With a slight sigh she stood up, quite aware that she wasn't all that he was focusing on anymore. What a pity. Of course, it was because of her - she was the one who had tightened her grip on her power again. Not blocked entirely, of course - it was still there - but it was less, and therefore.... Oh well. "I was right," she whispered to Marius, "you are good." A note of sincere appreciation in that sentence. If only he'd been able to finish.... And then she turned to the other two vampires - the bartender and this vampire woman who smelled of cats and had interrupted them. Irritating - oh well. She'd have to convince Marius to finish his dance later, that was all. She smiled at them, seeming just slightly confused, just slightly embarrassed. Acting normal. Not that she had any real reason to, other then the fact that she actually didn't want to start anything much. "Hello?"

[Katya]

"I'm... sure she did," she said, brows raised. Her tone of voice was light, distracted. She nodded a little, making a mental note that she couldn't get mad at Ivi, because Ivi was... Ivi. She relaxed against Nikolas, using the cat guiltily as support for her own shock. She pressed her lips together as she regarded the other vampire. Elke was considered old by the normal standard, but this one was older.

"I see you've met my fledgling," she said, the warmth somehow drained from the normal joviality of her voice. Diana wouldn't know any better, of course, but Marius sure as hell would. She cursed the power she held over felines, because it did her no good in this situation. This was one of the reasons she didn't keep close with other shifters, but Marius had been an exception. Raphael... was a personal thing, and Marius was her one exception.

"Adelaide," she said, introducing herself. Nikolas, at the moment, seemed content to sniff lightly into her hair. It wouldn't have been so bad if she wasn't literally using him to stave her own temper, but as it stood, Nikki would be quite useless for the moment. The cat merely turned black eyes toward Marius and offered some sort of smug grin, as though he were thrilled that Marius was in trouble, leaving him wide open for more attention.

[Jessica Markova]

Shock?

Had Diana known what this stranger was thinking, she probably would have smiled. Well, smiled about that part, anyway.

"I see you've met my fledgling," the other vampire said lightly. Diana arched an elegant brow.

"Oh, he's yours, then?" She smiled a little, then looked over at Marius warmly. Marius, who'd reacted slightly to the others words - only there was nothing wrong with the words. The tone, perhaps? Diana hadn't sensed anything in that either, but one never knew.... Diana gave a slight, internal frown and let her grip on her power loosen a little again. Nothing much, nothing even noticeable to anyone but Marius - not much even for him, just enough to catch his attention.

Because really.

She was a cat person.

Notwithstanding this, Diana turned back as the other introduced herself and smiled slightly in return. "A pleasure to meet you, I'm sure. I'm Diana."

~*~*~

Slight powerplay done with permission.

[Marius Grey]

He may have flushed even further when Diana told him that he was good, mostly because just thinking about the situation made him feel like an idiot.  What had he been thinking?!  He never did things like that in public!  Ivi had taken forever to talk him into learning from her, and that was in private.  He'd sworn even when she showed him that he'd never do anything with it outside of when she was showing him.  He'd agreed to get her off of his case, and because he liked her.  She was...odd, but a good person.  She just had her issues, and he could understand why.

He stiffened ever so slightly when he heard the way Elke mentioned him as her fledgling, not sure exactly who she was mad or upset with, but he was guessing it was him.  He shouldn't have done that, so why had he?  Good God.

He'd actually, despite her tone, been edging a little closer to Elke almost subconsciously, though he was definitely putting out some effort not to get irritated or a little jealous with Nikki's reaction.  Most of Elke's cats didn't get quite so smug.  Of course, Marius didn't usually do stupid things in front of them that upset Elke, either.  This was just a ba---

What?  Diana?  Had she said something to him?

He blinked at her, trying to remember.  She had his attention, though he couldn't remember that she'd addressed him.  She'd spoken to Elke, certainly, but him?

Diana?

"I...didn't even know your name," he told her suddenly, realizing it.  It made him feel even worse, actually.  He'd never been the sort to do something like that.  Shouldn't he tell her his name?  Wasn't it wrong not to?  He was torn, since this whole situation felt like he was butting into a conversation between parents or something.  Would Elke be more upset if he told Diana his name?  Would it upset Diana if he didn't?

This was going to drive him crazy.

[Katya]

She laughed a little - Ivi, of course. Ivi had tried to convince her to learn to dance inappropriately, and Elke hadn't crumbled to the adorably Dingo's wishes quite so easily, though her pout was hard to resist. Elke could see how she could have conned Marius into it, but still - dancing for a woman whose name he did not even know?

(Marius, really? What's gotten in to you?) she asked silently, directly to him to lessen interference from Nikki and Diana both.

To Diana, she smiled blithely. "Mine, yes, something like that. It seems like you're more of a dog person than I am, though. My sister has a similar power, except with Serpiente. We'd been wondering if we'd ever meet anyone whose reach extended to the rest of the animal kingdom." Elke was genuinely interested, if not a little too polite, but that was simply her nature. She was the quiet, jovial sibling, while Sigried was the one most likely to cause a scene.

It was for the best.

[Jessica Markova]

"I..." Diana started, and then stopped as though confused. "I admit, I do love dogs, but what has that to do with anything? And anyway, why on earth would I consider your fledgling a dog - he is a wolf, true, but so am I. Would that not be slightly hypocritical?" She paused. "I'm sorry, but that was what you were saying, was it not?" Sure, make Elke look like the bad guy here.

Ha ha, Diana. Ha ha. Elke might be being polite, but Diana didn't want Marius thinking that he liked her because she was using some sort of power to charm him. Even if she was. But when in doubt, deny everything and she was a nice, kind, wonderful lady who wouldn't lie, now would she? She let her power slip another hair, still undetectable. Of course she wouldn't.

Hah. And again, hah.

Diana blinked innocently - anyone could tell you that a vampire even as old as she felt like at the moment was hardly innocent, but not everyone could tell you that she wasn't innocent in this - and this stranger didn't know her any more than Diana knew Elke.

Diana smiled a little. "There doesn't seem to be many vampires who were once wolf shifters around, does there? I don't believe I had met another until tonight." Which was a lie, but it WAS true that she'd hardly met any, and she'd been around for twenty five hundred years. She turned to Marius. "I didn't think that you have either, have you?" Her smile grew slightly softer. "It was... nice."

[Katya]

"No. It wasn't," Elke said, unwilling to play into the game. It was hard to make Elke look like the bad guy, regardless of what power anyone held. Her nature simply didn't go that way; it would have been like taking a green card and telling someone who could plainly see colour that it was red - it didn't compute.

"Do have a care towards the company you keep, Marius," she said directly to her fledgling. She wasn't interested in this conversation anymore. Instead of asking Nikolas to walk her to the door, as had been her original intention, she simply pushed away from the counter and passed the current company, a coil of angry power in her wake. Elke may have been serenity and calm blue oceans normally, but her energy had a flavour of angry spice all its own when provoked. She was not young; perhaps not as old as Diana, but certainly not weak.

She walked to the back of the club, and vanished from site, snapping the bond she'd had on Nikki rather abruptly - enough that the man shook his head a little, his black eyes playing between colours for a moment before returning to normal.

Nikolas had moved to follow her until the proverbial string broke between them, and he pulled back, recoiling as if he'd been slapped. The hell? He shook the fog off of his brain and gave a brief nod towards Marius. "You might want to get back on the door soon," he said, a little irritated that Elke had left. He couldn't help but attribute it to the current situation as it stood, but he didn't have any proof, and that wouldn't work.

The graceful cat leaped over the counter top and began to fetch drinks for customers with his normal precision and grace, still a little moody as to Elke's sudden departure.

[Jessica Markova]

The problem with that was that Diana probably would be able to convince Marius that red was green, that the sky was yellow with purple polka dots, and they were all living upside down if she decided that she wanted to. She wouldn't waste her time with such foolish things, but if she really wanted to she probably could. Not that it really mattered - Elke was gone and Diana didn't have any real interest in making her look like a villain anyway.

"Oh no," Diana sighed, "I think I offended her." She looked very downcast at the thought, sighing a little as her mouth twisted unhappily. "I'm sorry," she said, turning to Marius. "... Marius?" Diana shook her head a little. "I can't believe I didn't know your name either. I'm sorry. I...." Diana's voice trailed off and she shut her mouth without finishing whatever she'd been starting to say.

She slid back into her former seat at the bar and looked at her hands, which were in her lap.

Let's see what Marius would do.

[Marius Grey]

He would have answered Elke's mental question if he'd had an answer, but he didn't.  All she'd get was a wave of confusion out of him, because he had no clue what had caused him to behave in that fashion.  He frowned as Elke called Diana 'more of a dog person', but surprisingly not because of the 'dog' comment.  It was the mention of Sigried and Serpiente that followed that had prompted the frown, since he'd seen Elke's sister at work quite a few times over the years.  Elke never treated her cats that way, but Sigried completely charmed snakes and manipulated them into whatever she wanted.  They never even knew what she was doing to them, and were powerless to refuse.

Had Diana been doing that to h---

Hello!

He blinked suddenly and tried shaking out the fog in his head rather suddenly, realizing he'd lost his train of thought.  He didn't know that Diana suddenly had his attention back because she'd loosened her grip on that charming power of hers, but the fact of the matter was that she did.  That didn't mean that he hadn't understood what Elke was saying, or that he wouldn't think about it once Diana was gone and his mind was his own, but his thoughts were sidetracked for the time being.  Really, that wasn't good, since Elke was obviously upset.  He was going to have to do some serious work to fix this with her later, and hopefully figure out what the hell had gotten him so messed up, so that it wouldn't happen again.  He didn't get it.

He nodded at Elke telling him to have a care towards the company he kept, fully intending to, though he had to wonder if she was really talking about Diana.  His temporarily lost thoughts about her power aside, he liked her, and she didn't see bad at all.  This was going to have to be something they talked over, so that he didn't remain so confused.  At least he didn't seem to be the only one confused.  Nikki shook off Elke's charming influence, even though she hadn't really done anything to him, and the first thing he did was tell Marius to get back on the door.  "This was supposed to be my night off," he remarked, almost wistfully.  That was what he got for taking nights off.  He needed to just give in and work every night, and he'd avoid trouble.  Well, until Eden decided to drop by and say that he saw the lap dance he'd given Diana. 

That was inevitable.

Diana.  She was suddenly speaking, and he looked to her as she did, following her back to the bar.  His clothes were still messy and haphazard, which prompted him to actually straighten them for something to do with his hands, but that didn't mean she had his attention any less.  Why was she apologizing?  She hadn't done anything wrong!

"No, don't worry about it.  I'm the one who should be apologizing.  I don't usually do things like that.  I really don't know what I was thinking.  I'm sorry, it won't happen again," he promised, though he was definitely confused on the issue.  Considering the fog surrounding much of that event, he didn't quite remember that he'd been unsure of doing it right up until she'd upped her power, and he didn't know that he'd cave as soon as she did it again.  He wasn't likely to be doing it of his own choice, though.

[Jessica Markova]

"No, I upset her - and I asked first if you'd dance," she said, still with that expression, heavy and depressed. Idiotic cat woman - or whatever she was, a vampire who apparently had a power over cats or some such thing. That was what Diana had gathered from what she'd said, in any case, and there had been something about her that just made Diana dislike her.

Of course, she could also always just blame that on the other vampire coming along and ruining what had been going along as a lovely time....

Hmph.

Thinking of it, however, made her curious. She looked up at Marius. "I'm sorry, but do you know what she meant when she called me more of a dog person, and talked about her sister? The dog person I suppose I can understand, but... I don't know, it still seems odd to me to make that generalization simply because you are - or were - a wolf shifter and... well, I would like to get to know you better, but I don't quite understand the rest of what she said. What in the world does the rest of the animal kingdom and snakes have to do with wolves? Or dogs, for that matter."