InsaneJournal

Monday, September 24th, 2007; Danukas and Cordelia.

Who: Danukas & Cordelia
When: Early evening
Where: The Juozapavicius forest cottage
What: Cordelia informs Danukas of the rumors going about town that a faun was murdered
Rating: PG-13 for Cordelia's brief language

"A faun's dead. The town's foaming at the mouth with murder. We couldn't be so lucky as to have a genuine murder." Air was pushed out of her nose, short but heavy, and those hypnotic brown eyes rolled up and away from the window in which she stood to observe the comings and goings of the others. Arms crossed in front of her chest, the woman twisted a little back and forth as she stood in physical debate, to tear away from her post or stay right where she was. Her long, dark hair framed her face and gently bowed back to allow just her profile to be seen over her shoulder. One of those eyes cast a glare back in the direction of her husband, a gesture that came so naturally that she did not even have to think to do it.

"How could these people be so shocked with a death? Don't they remember what it's like being outside of this place? I hope whomever did it enjoyed it. Lucky bastard," her pitch heightening as the speed of her words quickly increased. "These people are such idiots as to think that natural killers are going to suddenly be pacified on peace! Peace doesn't do shit! Peace is glorified boredom!"

The prattling on of his wife, something of which he had grown accustomed to in the last few decades of their union, went unnoticed save for one bit of information--suspected murder. He would not have to exercise his opinion now as Cordelia was very familar with his rational as to why they had to come here, to Elysium, of all the places in the world. But, a murder? Truly? In a place as quaint and presumably cozy at this? Why, such an event would create an awfully large black cloud over the heads of the many citizens here and it might actually drain a little of the peace out of this place. Both to antagonize his wife and collect a bit more information, without looking up from his book as he lounged on the sofa, "Murder, did you say, darling?"

"Pah!" Cordelia scoffed and her eyes flared with anger as she spun about to face him. Why did he have to do that? And without even giving her the courtesy of looking up from his book. "God damn-it, you only ever hear what you want to hear." And to this, Danukas allowed a smile to tug at his thin mouth, because all men only ever hear what they want to hear, if that is what they choose. Especially when their wives can be cast so easily into a hissy-fit and it is found to be amusing.

"Come now, Cordelia," he replied in a dry tone, "you know that's only half-true."

He knew full-well that if he aggravated her enough, she would leave the house, and if she did not have all of the details that were availible, Cordelia would be out and about to soak up the town's tears and worries like a sponge. How she longed for something dire, something dramatic, anything that could literally scream death and put a scratch on the town's rose-tinted glasses for how Elysium was seen. And, as they both knew, a scrap of gossip like this was simply too good to keep to herself.

"A faun, a male, was found dead up near that saltwater lake. Off the path." Crossing the room now, her dress skirts swished above the sound of her shoes on the wooden floor. Cordelia stopped short of the side of the sofa and loomed over her husband, the corners of her mouth upturned with increasing delight as she revelled in the few facts known as of that evening. "Slashed to ribbons, so some have said. Certainly, there's creatures in the woods out of the Grim fairy tales that might have heard his little hooves on the path--but, come on, what kind of hungry creature would pick off a faun." For a large beast, a faun was a pretty small meal, after all. There was something to the art of the hunt, for pleasure or for sustinance. Something with big claws and presumably with teeth to match would hardly waste time with a mere faun. "There's a town meeting tomorrow. I wonder if they'd care to go into detail."

Danukas answered with ease, "Probably not," to the details, and added, "but the prospect of a wild animal would seem to be much more likely than, well, whatever all sorts of creatures live in this part of the world." Even with his age, there was plenty that the vampire had never come to realize could also exist, despite the fact that he too was a popular 'myth'. "You shouldn't fuss so much over it. The event was unfortunate and will probably be forgotten in a week or two."

It was always like to him brush off these possibilities; while she did respect his intellect, sometimes she absolutely hated how it was exercised. So what if it was more likely that a wild animal killed the stupid faun--the point was that someone was dead and the town was having a collective freak-out! What would these fools do if real murders were to take place? If two or five or a dozen people were found dead? Then what? "Oh whatever, I don't want to hear this from you. I'm heading into town--you know, that place where shit actually happens instead of being out here in the middle of the god-damn woods." Cordelia was thoroughly annoyed but also rather hungry. God, how she missed their old house, where there was enough hall length to properly storm to the door and make a dramatic exit. Instead, she would have to settle with a snide comment.

"And if you attempt to make anything with your appearance acceptable today, don't shave off your beard. I hate when you do that. You look like a leathery old frog." With that, she stuck her nose a bit to the air and slammed the door behind her.

The man stroked his beard once in thought, noted that there would be a town meeting the following day, and went back to his book.