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February 18, 2000 |
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World's End...
Nephthys enters the bar, shutting the door in the face of a green-shirted orderly bearing a strait jacket.
Yosannah sits at the bar, glass in hand. She seems to be swirling the cubes around the glass.
Nephthys scans the room as she makes her way barwards, "Little sparse." She comments seating herself on one of the barstools.
Yosannah glances over her shoulder just for a moment. When she spots Nephthys she turns quietly back to her glass.
Nephthys orders a whiskey, neat. The bartender pushes it across the bar and it slides to a stop in front of her, "Hello, Yosannah."
"Hey." Nephthys takes a sip of her drink, "I'm not exactly overjoyed either."
Yosannah stares into her glass, "Then why ya sittin here."
Nephthys smirks, "It's a public place. Why worry, you're the one with the ring."
Yosannah turn squarely to face her, "I don't have anything to worry about. I just don't like you."
Nephthys nurses her drink, remaining nonchalant, "Like that's a surprise."
Yosannah gulps her drink and remains silent. She turns suddenly, "No, actually... It should come as a surprise. I can't remember the last time I disliked someone so."
Ithius emerges from the dusty corner in a fading haze of flickering balefire.
Nephthys shrugs, "I find it interesting how the other woman is always disliked, yet the man is drawn back and everything is kissed better despite the mutual straying."
Ithius plunks at the bar, "Greetings ladies."
Nephthys smiles, "Heya Ithy."
Yosannah raises a brow. It is not obvious whether she even heard Ithius' greeting. "This has nothing to do with somebody *straying* Neph. It has everything with you not respecting my relationship. Period."
Ithius hmms, and glances at the door suddenly.
Nephthys remarks, "You seem to be forgetting that I didn't know about you, Yosannah, until a few days before I heard of the engagement. I was not told of the relationship, if I had been he wouldn't have got a second look."
"I'm not listening to this. I'm not going to be manipulated by the words of someone I don't even know."
Ithius hmms looking between Neph and Yo he scoots down a few chairs and then orders.
Nephthys waves a hand dismissively, "Whatever." She glance to Ithius, "Maybe it's about time I did start manipulating."
Ithius orders a Beef on Wek, Diet Coke, and Sweet Potato fries. The bartender pushes it across the bar and it slides to a stop in front of him.
"Start? See.. that's the point Neph. When I first informed you of the situation .. do you remember what you said? I do. You said you had no intention of ending your visits to him. That's disrespectful to me."
Ithius sips his coke and eats his fries watching between the two women.
Nephthys says, "Oh no, if I was manipulating, there'd be effort behind it. He told me that all he had to do was tie up a few loose ends and that would be all. He did start a relationship with me. Why is something I intend to find out, especially if all he planned to do was use me."
Ithius takes a bite out of his sandwich he chokes on the word USE a bit. Coughing he tries to inconspicuously cover his hacking.
Yosannah laughs, "Use you? Stop playing victim, Neph!" She shakes her head. "What did you think was happening when he shot me? You were there. I remember you looming over my bed. Do you think he did that. Do you think he saved me to tie up a few loose ends?"
Ithius quietly clears his throat or at least tries to, he scoots over another chair and makes another attempt at eating.
Nephthys says, "We were very involved by that point, dear, so stop whining, if he were happy he shouldn't have been venturing elsewhere. All three hold responsibility, not just one, so get over it."
"Get over what?"
"Your bitching. He knew exactly what he was doing just as I did once I started to suspect."
"What?!"
Nephthys says, "I'm assuming that when he was with me he wasn't suffering from temporary amnesia now did he. I'm pretty sure he remembered you and like I said, he's going to get called on it." She adds, "By the time I first heard about you I'd known him for sometime. My love isn't going to just vanish in a night."
Yosannah shakes her head as Nephthys talk. She holds up her hand as if to halt her from speaking, "Call him on it then. Neph. We weren't together then, that's my point. I went back to him after I got shot. I have no reason not to trust him. And I certainly am not going to be held responsible for what he did or did not do to you. That's just bullshit."
Nephthys says, "I don't expect you to, I tend to see to my own, though I would like to know why he bothered to come get me when he was carrying you around. I'll have to remember to give fewer rides to Shad Gen. As for respect for you, I have no respect for those that dislike me."
"That's a circular argument."
Nephthys shrugs, "That's life."
"It's stupidity."
"I could ask you the same as you weren't seeing him when he started seeing me."
"Ask me the same what?"
Nephthys says, "Why didn't you stay the hell away and respect me, etc and so on. He was no longer with you."
"Because, according to my Fiance, there is, never was, never will be you." Yo smiles. Almost mockingly.
Nephthys smirks, "Cute, typical man, talks out of both sides of his face.
Ithius chews the last bit of his sandwich looks at Neph rolls his eyes a little and then goes to eating his fries again.
"You don't know him like I do. I trust him. Like I said, I'm not going to listen a woman I don't even know."
Nephthys says, "That's nice and I'm not going to wander around naive."
Yosannah makes eye contact with the bartender and points to the empty spot before her on the bar. He hurries for a glass. "Good. That's nice to hear."
Nephthys ignores the woman and turns her attention to her drink.
The bartender fills a shotglass and moves to turn away. Yo reaches for his arm and points at the empty barspace next to the shotglass. He fills another. Yosannah climbed off her stool and moves over to where Ithius is sitting. She nudges him with a smile. She whispers "Wanna join me? We can grab a table over here."
Aeris appears suddenly.
Ithius blinks and looks up at Yosannah, he shrugs and nods, saying something inaudible back, "Sure.. I suppose so.. I still have my drink."
Aeris tucks a card into her vest as her gaze considers the room.
Yosannah chuckles and whispers a little too loudly, "Well, now you've got another. Come on."
Nephthys ignores the pair and pulls out a sketchbook.
Aeris' feet shift and carry her towards the balcony stairs.
Ithius hmms at Neph and stands up slowly.
Nephthys pointedly ignores Ithius.
At their booth Ithius says "It's been a while since I've seen Neph in this foul of a mood."
Yosannah's smile turns into a frown. "Oh. You're good friends?"
Ithius says "I've known her since she left shadow. I hold nothing against you or her, I don't claim to know or understand what is going on." He sips his drink, "Congratulations on your engagement at least."
The server brings to Aeris' table a bottle of dark wine and two glasses.
Yosannah smiles, " Thanks. My fiance and I have a long history. We separated for a while when I was... When he was.. Well. I guess there was some involvement with he and her until we got back together."
Ithius nods, "I can tell from what I heard.. I can see why she's mostly nonplused. She's been burned before."
"oh?"
Ithius nods, "She has had bad fortune with men it seems. But I digress, what are you up to? do you still have that.. problem?"
At their booth Yosannah smiles and points at her eyes, "I would say so. Though, I think I have control over it again. For now."
Ithius hmms, "tis better than being Apollyon I would say.. how about lady Kitsune?" Ithius seems more concerned about the later.
Nephthys tilts her head and looks up to see who's in the balcony.
Yo smiles and rolls her eyes, "Lady? That creature is anything but a lady. Knocked the shit out of me if you must know."
"I know what she is.. sometimes she has control sometimes she doesn't."
Yosannah shakes her head, "Quite honestly, I don't see much of the old Kitsune in her."
Ithius ummms, "She's changed her attire a lot."
Yo laughs, "That she has."
"Certainly drew attention, but she was babbling about house Rathorne." Ithius waves toward Andreas idly.
Yo frowns and bites her lip, "You've talked to her?"
Nephthys glances at Ithius and then turns to Andreas.
At their booth, Ithius nods, "it was a certain while, I can't tell you because I'm not sure when, as shadows tend to shift and migrate in their timing. But yes I have, she didn't have the dead cat with her."
Yosannah considers, "You know about that cat. It would be pretty recently then. Strange. She tried to take me to Rathorn a couple weeks ago. She said it would help her get this collar off me. I didn't pick on on it though. Death must have Kit's ... memories.. I guess."
Ithius says "Rathorn.. the house of assassins. No.. her mother was of house Rathorn.. Mar.. damn I can't remember."
Yosannah seems saddened. "Mariko. A very dear friend."
"Seems.. Death is part of her to begin with but I think she's at least enjoying things more. No dead cats."
Yo shakes her head, "It's not like that."
"No?" Ithius hmms, "tell me then."
Yosannah says "It's hard to explain. We... They don't think in terms of enjoyment, happiness, bad, good. They just are."
Delerium enters the bar, shutting the door in the face of a green-shirted orderly bearing a strait jacket.
Yosannah glances up in mid-conversation as she spots Delerium, "Del!"
Delerium walks in, leaving snowy footprints. She dusts snow off her shoulders with a mitten-clad hand, and smiles. "Hi!"
Sithriel says "I'm well... Hello there Delerium."
Ithius waves toward Delerium grinning.
Cisco lets his steps take him over towards the booth by the bar, though he is talking to Sithriel as he walks by her. He glances over, also greeting "Hey! Signora Delerium, hello."
Delerium looks around, pushing her hat back a bit. "Hmmm... let's see." She looks at the bar. "Nephthys... Sithriel...Cisco..." then over at the booth by the bar. "Yosannah and Ithius." She beams and waves her arms about. "Hi everybody!!"
Yosannah can't help but laugh.
Nephthys turns and waves to Del.
Delerium heads for the booth by the bar. "Can I join you, Yo? You look great, by the way."
Yosannah slides over, "You bet you can. Where have you been?"
Delerium flags down a server as she takes a seat, ordering some hot chocolate. "Don't skimp on the whipped cream this time, please."
Yo nods, "I hate when they do that."
Cisco asks "Got room for one more, Donna Yosannah, Signor Ithius?
Delerium smiles. "Here and there. Raising my baby and loving my husband." She offers Yosannah a hug. "How have you been?"
After a while, the two men leave and Del and Yo are left alone...
At their booth, Yosannah says "Odd that Cisco should invite me to that party."
Delerium says "Why's that odd?"
Yosannah drops her eyes to the table, "I hurt him pretty badly last week."
Delerium asks Yosannah another question, a little louder. "WHAT?!" Well, okay, a lot louder. Delerium asks, "You wanna tell me how you almost did that?"
"He asked me if it was in the Horsemen's nature to act the way we do, Or if we were just insane." She offers this matter of fact.
Del glances at Yosannah, distracted, then stares into her boothmate's eyes, giving her head a light tap, as if knocking on a door. "Hey, that freaky disease spirit is still inside you? What's her name... Pesticide?"
Yosannah nods at Delerium, "Yes she is, but that's what I've been wanting to tell you Del." She tugs at the collar around her neck, "I've got control of *her*."
Delerium's smile turns the slightest shade uneasy. "Wow... uh, really? What kind of things?"
Yosannah says "Well, when Cisco suggested that I was insane... I grabbed him and 'pushed' real hard. He started to spasm and cough." She shrugs, "But I didn't want to kill him. Just show him what these beings can do so that he'd stop poking around asking questions." She slumps back into the booth, "So I took it back."
Delerium frowns, disappointed. "That wasn't very nice, Yo." Never mind what trouble she might be in, lecturing a horseman of the apocolypse.
Yosannah frowns. Strangely she seems disappointed to have disappointed Delerium, "I know, but at the moment I thought it best that he see what sort of trouble he could get into. I mean, what if he set off one of the others. They'd be less kind, I'm sure." She shrugs.
Delerium smiles a little. "Well, I think I know how you feel. I have super mind powers in some places... but it's possible to go overboard, sometimes. Did you apologize to Cisco later?"
Yosannah reiterates, "I was warning him, Del" She seems to be looking for her approval. Or maybe her forgiveness. Yosannah glances over at Cisco as she chats with Delerium.
Delerium gives Yosannah a rather stern look. She also glances at Cisco, briefly. Delerium's tone is gentle. There is concern, and empathy, but no approval. "There was someone very close to me once. Like an older sister. She tried to warn me about something very important, but instead of just telling me, she used actions. She ended up hurting me very badly. And not just my feelings." Her gaze softens. "I don't want you to get into trouble, Yo. Please be careful, when dealing with others."
Yosannah says "You know what you say is important to me. I'll try to be more careful."