Who: Vanessa Ives and Dorian Gray When: After the Giga Plot Where: A park What: A walk in the park Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Vanessa had begun experiencing a few unnerving things since the end of the world that never was, from sensing something was coming before it did to hearing voices when she was alone in a room. It was definitely getting creepy and putting her on edge more and more. It didn’t help that the show she was producing was a psychic show. In fact lately it had made her more annoyed than anything with the woman’s theatrics. If she ever had a true premonition she’d probably cry like a baby and wet herself. It wasn’t all fun and games, it could be dangerous.
Taking a walk through the park to clear her head, she stopped suddenly and turned. Across the way she saw Dorian and, ignoring how she had known he was there, she made her way over to him. “Mr Gray? It’s Vanessa Ives, we’ve spoken on the net”
Hearing his name, Dorian turned towards the voice that was now all too familiar to him. Just the night before he’d dreamt of the woman who was now walking towards him and he couldn’t help but smile. She looked quite different in modern clothes as opposed to the silk purple gown she had been wearing at Mr. Lyle’s Seance, but that didn’t mean she looked any less attractive. “Miss. Ives. How are you this afternoon?”
When Dorian had decided to take a walk through the park and do a little people watching, he hadn’t expected to run into anyone he knew, not that he knew Vanessa exactly, but he certainly was glad that they happened to be in the same place at the same time.
Vanessa wasn’t sure of Dorian had dreamed of her or not though the smile he gave when he saw her made her think he may have. Her...intuition was getting better as she dreamed. Or what she liked to call intuition, empathy or clairvoyance seemed too much at the moment.
“I’m doing very well thank you. All the better for seeing you now” Vanessa replied, her language recently coming closer to her dreams when she didn’t focus, “And yourself? Enjoying your walk?”
"I'm enjoying it much better now." Somehow Dorian hadn't been the least bit surprised to see Vanessa in his dream and upon waking he had hoped that they would meet soon so that he could ask her about it, because he was certain that she was most likely dreaming too. "What brings you out today, Miss. Ives?" Anyone else he'd call them by their first name, but right it felt right to refer to Vanessa by her last.
Vanessa smiled, very pleased she had run into him wondering how coincidental it had actually been. “I felt the need for some air” she told him, “And since it is a nice day a walk seemed to be the most logical thing to do. Yourself?”
“I was bored at home. Decided to come out and do some people watching,” Dorian returned the smile, glad to see her as well. Some people might have felt awkward being around someone who they had dreamt about watching have sex with a stranger in an alley, but Dorian rarely felt awkward about anything and he barely batted an eyelash, “And I’m very glad that I did. Will you walk with me?” He held out his arm for her to take if she wanted to.
“I would be delighted” Vanessa said, taking his arm and falling into step next to him, “So have you discovered much of interest in your people watching?” she asked him, knowing that if he was anything like his dream counterpart he would be able to infer a number of things just from looking.
Dorian’s smile widened as Vanessa agreed to walk with him, “Nothing quite yet. I haven’t been out here very long.” Truthfully, Dorian had stopped caring about anyone else nearby the moment he saw Vanessa. “But I’m sure we’ll discover something.”
“Oh I have no doubt we will” Vanessa replied with a smile, like Dorian she was less interested in others as she was with him. “I think you’ll find there is plenty to keep you occupied here”
"Tell me, Miss. Ives, where are you from originally?" Now that they had met in person Dorian wanted to know as much about Vanessa as possible. If he hadn't been intrigued by her before, he was extremely intrigued after the dream he'd had the night before.
“London, England” she told him, “Born and bred and then after University I moved to New York” Vanessa told him, she had been losing her British accent for a bit but since the dreams it had returned full force.
It hadn't been difficult for Dorian to figure out that she was from England, considering their dreams took place in Victorian England plus her accent might have been light, but it was definitely British, "And what brought you out here?"
“A promotion. I was an assistant television producer and I had been working on a show in New York then when it moved out here I got the chance to move with it and become the producer. An offer I couldn’t turn down” she told him, “And what is it that you do Mr Gray?”
“That’s impressive. What tv show is it?” Dorian didn’t watch a lot of TV, but he was curious what sort of programs Vanessa produced, “As for me, I’ve always lived here. With the exception of when my parents would send me away for school.” They continued walking along the path, a jogger passing them as they went, “And as for what I do, I have fun.”
“Actually it’s a psychic talk show, it airs daily at 2pm” she told him, it was so ironic now with the dreams. “And what does Mr Gray consider fun?” she asked him curiously with a smile.
Dorian's brows rose slightly at that and he was reminded of the seance in his dream. "I've never watched a psychic talk show. Is it real or just a bunch of garbage?" He wondered now if anything like in the dreams had ever happened to Vanessa, "The usual. Parties, gambling, drinking. Things of that nature."
“It’s garbage honestly but entertaining enough for the audience” Vanessa told him honestly, lately since the dreams she’d found herself getting more and more annoyed but reminded herself it was just a daytime show that kept housewives at home entertained. “Ah, that kind of fun. Of course, are there enough parties around here for you?” she asked him with a small amused smile.
"So in other words, she makes stuff up and says things people want to hear?" Dorian wondered if perhaps he should check out this show to see exactly what it was that Vanessa produced, "There are never enough parties."
“Precisely” Vanessa replied, “We have a team who watch the audience for body language reactions to things and relay the information to her” It was pretty vague so there was pretty much always someone who related to it. She laughed at that, “I’m sure there aren’t”
"Do you think there are any real psychics out there?" Dorian had never really thought about that question before, but after his dream he was curious as to what Vanessa thought, "It's one reason why I'm forced to host my own."
“Before I would have said definitely not but now...I don’t know. Maybe. But if there are I imagine they aren’t the kind of people who would advertise it or be on a television show” she told him. “Of course, I’m sure they’re rather grand too”
“Unless they want to take advantage of it for personal gain.” Dorian said, smirking over at her then nodded, “You have no idea. Perhaps I’ll have to invite you to my next one. Your friend Victor too perhaps. Or does he not enjoy fun.” His smirk only widened at this and he only took his eyes off Vanessa when they came to a fork in the path, “Which way, Miss. Ives?”
“Naturally” she allowed, though if it felt anything like the way she experienced it she couldn’t imagine doing such a thing. “Oh I think Victor could use a little more fun in his life, I’m sure we’d both enjoy it very much” she replied, before considering the path in front of them, “Let’s try this way, it looks more...adventurous”
“I’ll keep that in mind the next time I plan a party.” Dorian was already planning his next party in his head. Now that he’d met Vanessa, he knew that he needed to have one soon. The path Vanessa chose had a more of an incline than the other one and appeared to be closer to the more wooded area of the park, “Excellent choice.”
Vanessa smiled, looking forward to it already. She liked Dorian and wanted to get to know him even better. “Don’t speak too soon, if we get lost it will be entirely my fault” she teased with a grin. Though the thought didn’t worry her, in fact it was rather exciting.