Office Hours

[Dani deGrey]

Dani had been home for some time now: she’d had some dresses made, spent some time with her nieces, sampled Declan’s latest vintage, annoyed Drew as much as she could, still no sign of Nana as of yet, and the days were beginning to drag together in one endless stretch of monotony. She still hadn’t checked in with her cousins as of yet, seeing Lucian at the ball with a pretty little blonde had piqued her interest but not enough for her to visit as of yet.

Besides, she was closer to Triston deGrey anyway, both in age and in general. So it was Triston she called upon to sate her curiosity. Dani didn’t send a messenger, didn’t give her cousin any advance warning that she would be stopping by- simply turned up at his office door with a bottle of Declan’s wine and a belated Yule gift of a bottle of Terronan whisky. ”Triston!” The woman said brightly, not even bothering to knock but rather waltzing into the office as though it was her own. ”Not too busy for a meeting with your favourite cousin are you?”

Dani offered him a bright smile as she plonked herself down into one of the chairs, adjusting her skirts to stop them creasing. ”I missed you at the ball you know, and on my travels, don’t suppose I can pull you away from your council duties for a month or two? We’ll disappear like old times? Might do you some good you know, you’ve been so serious recently- and between us, it’s starting to age you dear cousin.”

[Triston deGrey]

After Yule, life suddenly came crashing back down on him. It was like everything had been placed on hold- the king hadn’t just died, there was no pressing need for a regent to be determined, and there were no politics. It all came swarming back the very next day, unfortunately, and Triston found himself busier than ever.

Strangely, though, Triston welcomed it. It took his mind off of other things that he couldn’t afford to be thinking about at the moment- he needed to focus on the matter at hand. At first, he hadn’t wanted to even try for regency- but now that Eleesa was counting on him for it-- his own family were pushing him into it, Aric even was- he felt he needed to do something.

He barely noticed as the door to his office swung open. It wasn’t until he heard his cousin’s voice fill the room that he glanced up and his face instantly lit up with a wide grin. “Dani!” Triston quickly set his quill down and rose from his chair, quickly shaking his head in response to her question, “never too busy for you.”

He stood there awkwardly for a moment because he had been about to embrace her but she plonked herself down into a chair. He laughed and rather than sit back behind his desk, he took a seat in the chair next to her after turning it to face her.

The ball. Yes, he had shown up to that rather late, because he avoided going at first, ran into Eleesa, and then finally went into the ballroom just as it seemed most of his family had already left. Lips parted to respond to her, to apologize for missing her, but Dani continued speaking, which only brought another smile to his features as he watched her.

Another laugh escaped him and he shook his head. “How kind of you to point out, dear cousin. You haven’t aged one bit.” He folded his arms over his broad chest as he leaned back in his seat and sighed, shaking his head. “I wish I could. Those were the good ol’ days, hm?” He smiled and breathed a small laugh out his nose.

It was then that he noticed the two bottles she brought with her and he smirked. “Can I get you a drink, then? Or are you drinking straight out of the bottle again? For old time’s sake, of course.” He stood up and fetched a couple of glasses, setting them down on his desk before sitting back down.

“How are things? It’s good to see you back in Tresteria. For how long this time?” He knew Dani wasn’t much of a homebody. She never lingered in one place for long-- he had been there right along with her for a little over a year or two at his low point in life, to which he always felt he owed a lot to her for putting up with him during those times. “I don’t suppose I can hold you down from your traveling for a month or two, hmm? Cause some trouble here for a while?” He used her own words, twisting them around for it to make more sense. He smirked and laughed softly. “There are too many men in the deGrey family! How are we to get by without a woman to knock some sense into us all?”

[Dani deGrey]

It was good to see her cousin smiling, beaming even, to see her walk through his office door. Though the two were the same age: it was almost too easy for Dani to see Triston as older, as wiser, very much a grown up like Declan. ”I should hope not!” She said, laugher bubbling from her lips even though she meant every word, ”What is it you’re doing anyway? Very important and very serious councily stuff?” Teasing, Dani leaned forward to have a look at what was on her cousin’s desk only to lose interest very quickly and flop back into the chair; dark eyes finding her favourite cousin once more.

”And very kind of you to notice,” Dani may have been easily flattered at the best of times, but it was still nice to hear her youth hadn’t quite deserted her just yet. ”I would say it’s just lucky genes but then I’d never be able to point out Drew’s grey hairs again- speaking of Drew… did you see him at the ball? With a girl no less, I’ve never met any of Drew’s girls but this one invited me over for tea! Oh Triston you should have seen his face! If only I could paint! I would immortalise it and have it hung in my hall.” She really should check in with Drew, it had been on her mental to-do list since the ball along with taking Miss ROUSSEAU up on that offer of tea. For now though, her attention was focused solely, well mostly, on Triston deGrey .

Her face fell somewhat when he turned down the offer to go travelling once more even if she had been mostly joking. Those years they had spent together on the high seas had been fun, some of the best of her life- both of them running away from something, distracting themself from Tresteria and the people they had left behind. ”They really were, do let me know if you change your mind- I’m always ready to leave and it would be so nice to have company again.”

”You can indeed, though these were supposed to be gifts for you.” She laughed then, brown eyes trailing him as he retrieved two glasses for them. Dani had told herself she wouldn’t drink again after winding up at Blackthorn following Yule and, naturally, that resolve had lasted only a day or two at most. ”Things are fine, I shouldn’t complain- though I won’t lie to you Triston, I was disappointed to not have a welcome home party, I hope the excuse is spectacular for your sake.” 

Rolling her eyes at him, Dani leaned her cheek into her palm. Though the room was formal, a place for meetings of a more serious nature, Dani found she relaxed easily in her cousin’s company. ”As for how long I’ll be home? Who knows really, I’ll probably hang around to see Nana home… So I suppose I can let you persuade me to hang around for a couple of months, depending on how good your reason for not meeting me at the docks is. Because I won’t beat around the bush, I was heartbroken. Had to lace up my dress in a moving carriage on my own and everything.”

”But anyway cousin mine, why were you so late to the ball? And what’s new in your life? Catch me up and spare no detail!”

[Triston deGrey]

Triston’s smile remained, as he watched his cousin curiously looking across his desk as the papers he had strewn about. Very important and very serious councily stuff. He laughed and nodded. “More or less…” Dani seemed to lose interest before he finished speaking, and he chuckled. There was no point in really trying to explain what it was he was working on. It would surely be a bore to her. Hell, it was a bore to him, even.

He leaned back in his seat, folding his arms over his chest as she rambled on about Drew and his grey hair, and the ball. He shook his head in response--he hadn’t seen much of anyone at the ball, unfortunately. Then again, he had arrived later than most. His smile grew into a grin as he watched her. Dani had always been so animated and he got far too much amusement in watching her expressions. Drew had a girl? Oh, how he had missed the family gossip from the other end of Nana deGrey’s family. “I would have loved to see his face… Perhaps that should be your next endeavor? Learning to paint so you could capture moments such as that…” He chuckled and gave her a daring look. “So, will you go to tea with this lady of his?” He smirked and shook his head. “Of course you will--just to get a rise out of Drew, if anything.”

As her face dropped from his declining her offer to go traveling, he frowned slightly. Unfortunately, he had taken on more responsibilities than he even knew what to do with at the moment. He promised Eleesa to help out where he could in preventing Tresteria from going to an unfit or corrupt man regent to replace her husband. If that meant he ran for it, he told her (and Aric) that he would. He forced a small smile and nodded. “Of course… You will be the first to know should I ever need or want to leave again. There’s no one else I would rather travel with,” he genuinely told her. And he meant it.

Once he sat back down, he took the bottles from her and opened one before pouring them into the glasses, handing one of them to her. He laughed before taking a sip of his own drink, shaking his head in response to her displeasure of not having a welcome home party. “Oh--Didn’t you know?” He gave her a feigned concerned look, watching her curiously. “There was an entire ball, held on Yule… In your honor. You just told me you were there. I planned the whole thing. Only the best for my favorite cousin.” He smirked and winked at her before taking another sip of his drink. “Mm… This is good. Where is it from?”

His lips pulled up into another smile that touched his eyes, upon hearing that she would be staying for a while. But also, that Nana would be coming home soon. But that smile was quick to fade again, Dani expressing her heartbreak for him not being there at the docks to greet her. Triston shook his head, trying to sound as serious as he possibly could, despite the smirk that crept back along his lips, “I would have been there, for sure… But, see… No one bothered to tell me when you would be arriving--and every time I was about to leave to go check for your arrival, I kept being pulled into meetings and trying to put out fires left and right. Please forgive me?” He shook his head. “None of your brothers were there to meet you, either? Shame on them. I shall have to have a word with them.”

"But anyway cousin mine, why were you so late to the ball? And what’s new in your life? Catch me up and spare no detail!” At first, Triston laughed. “Nana has rubbed off on you--You are starting to sound just like her with the ‘spare no detail!’ bit.” He smirked and then took a long sip of his drink before leaning back into his seat and releasing a deep sigh. His expression fell to a more serious, troubled one and he stared down into his glass, contemplating whether or not he should talk about it. He already spoke with his older brother, William. And although Dani was the only other person who knew of the troubles that had plagued Triston all those years ago--he wasn’t sure she’d want to hear that he had fallen right back into where he was ten years ago. He let out a saddened huff of a laugh and shook his head. “Honestly--” He scratched his thumb against his temple, hesitating briefly. “I was avoiding something-- Someone. I was considering not going because it may have been easier to deal with?” He shrugged his broad shoulders and looked back at Dani, searching her face. Triston wondered if she would guess what troubled him, or if she’d try to pry more information out of him. Part of him felt she might think he was foolish if he told her, and he wasn’t certain if he wanted to hear that right now--he was already at war in his own mind about it all, he didn’t need to add more fuel to that fire.

[Dani deGrey]

She didn’t envy her cousin, locked up in a very stuffy office all day doing what looked like very boring things. She wasn’t sure what the appeal was- life was for living afterall, and there were so many jobs that Triston could do that would involve less, less, paperwork. It was a good thing that Triston deGrey didn’t try to explain what he had been doing that day before Dani had waltzed in there with her usual panache- she would have politely listened for about ten seconds before changing the subject. Not that she wanted to be rude, but that she didn’t quite understand the finer points of the law, how they were made, or how Tresteria was run- and there was only so long she could nod along when her cousin may as well have been speaking in a different language. A long attention span was not one of Dani’s strengths.

Keeping her gaze upon her cousin as she spoke, Dani talked animatedly with her hands as usual whenever she really got going. This must have been the third or fourth time the woman had recounted the tale of Drew and his new friend, the just-mysterious-enough-to-be-very-interesting Sienna. But despite having told, and therefore heard, this story several times over- Dani’s face was just as expressive as it had been when she had plopped into the seat next to Declan at the ball to recount it for the first time. ”You know, I can paint I will have you know, cousin mine.” The woman said, as though she was telling the man some great, grand secret. ”It’s only, people are a little tricky- people and horses. Landscapes and flowers are a little easier. But his face was like this-” Pulling a look of well and truly over-acted shock, an expression more at home upon the boards of a theatre than in a ballroom. ”Only-” Dani waved a hand dismissively, ”- more wrinkly and less pretty, still it was a sight.” She grinned, even apart from her twin brother, Dani couldn’t help but make jokes at his expense. Most knew all too well she didn’t mean a word of it, and she wouldn’t hear a word against Drew unless it fell from her own (or Declan’s) lips.

Dani paused to think, leaning back into the seat. ”I think I will, after all, it would be rude to turn down an invitation to tea. Getting a rise out of my dear brother will just be an extra treat- the cherry on the cake.” Grinning, Dani made up her mind then to send a message to Sienna Rousseau , accepting her invitation as soon as she returned home that afternoon. It was rude to leave an invitation unanswered too, and it had been several days now since the Yule Ball.

Her cousin’s frown did not go unnoticed, though Dani might have acted as though she hadn’t seen the way his lips tugged downwards. No point dwelling on a disappointment. ”Make sure you do, you could probably do with a break.” Shrugging, Dani shifted in her chair a little, idly tapping her toe against the ground. ”I’m sick of looking at all these papers and I’ve only been here ten minutes, God knows how you must feel.” She laughed at that, a bright, easy laugh- designed and timed to lighten the slightly sour mood that seemed to have begun to settle upon them both. This was supposed to be a reunion after all, not a time for worrying and disappointment.

Taking the glass from him, Dani nodded in wordless thanks before raising her glass slightly. ”Chin chin.” She said brightly before taking the first sip. ”Is that so? It would have been good of you to tell me, cousin, I would have endeavoured to arrive on time.” Feigning surprise, the woman pressed a hand to her chest, ”Teronna, but the wine is from Declan’s estate- it’s pretty good this year, but it’s pretty good every year.”

A perfectly groomed brow lifted as Triston’s face fell, and for a moment the woman was worried he had taken her expression of disappointment to heart- but then she watched the shadow of a smirk creep, slowly, across his lips and she realised he was teasing her- good, perhaps she hadn’t lost her favourite cousin completely to seriousness and grown up responsibilities just yet. Scrunching up her nose, Dani gave her cousin a look as though she was toying with the idea of forgiving him but unable to quite make up her mind. Dani drew this out for a moment or two before giving a theatrical sigh and saying: ”Oh of course you’re forgiven, I could never stay mad with you, dear Triston.”

”No, though to be fair- Dec had his wife to deal with and two daughters to dress, Drew obviously had other things on his mind that night. Besides-” She paused to shrug, ”I might have been a teeny tiny little bit late, I had to get changed on the carriage ride from the docks to get there even close to on time.” But that was Dani deGrey: often late, always making an entrance.
Nana has rubbed off on you--You are starting to sound just like her.

Dani practically glowed following that compliment. To her, there wasn’t any higher praise than being compared to Nana. The woman was a force to be reckoned with, and yet she still held onto that spark of adventure that drove Dani forward too- to be compared to their Nana was like being told she was doing everything right. Apart from having seven grandchildren of course, Dani never wanted that. Her nieces were enough, thank you very much.

Keeping quiet as her cousin glanced down at his glass, Dani waited.  She might have been a hurricane at times, but Dani deGrey knew her cousin- and she knew it was better to keep her piece for the moment if she wanted to have any idea what was ticking away behind that troubled look of his. Occupying herself with the drink in her hands, Dani swirled the glass once or twice- admiring how the amber liquid caught the light before lifting it to her lips to take a long sip. Thankfully, Triston didn’t wait too long before speaking. She lifted her gaze from the glass, letting it rest on the man with an interested look playing across her features. ”A certain someone…” Dani mused, having more than a slight idea as to who that someone would be. Ten years had passed, but that didn’t mean her cousin had moved on during that decade. ”... and did you manage to avoid her- sorry, that certain someone.” She leaned forward ever so slightly, hoping her cousin would open up a little, tell her more without the need for further pressing or coaxing.

[Triston deGrey]

Some days Triston wondered if he should have stayed in Tresteria’s army as its General. Though he still made it a point to remain involved, he had mostly resigned to help put his mind to use in the political end of things. Though the military was tough, politics were never really easy either, especially when it often became corrupt. But that was why he was there--to try and keep it from being corrupted. Edward had done enough of that himself, and he knew there would be a lot of broken pieces and loose ends that he would need to fix if he was to become regent. If he did not gain said position, he would work tirelessly to put any sort of positive influence on the council.

But Dani’s presence was a welcome distraction for the time being. He needed the break, in all honesty, and he was thankful for it. His grin only grew deeper until he let out a laugh at his cousin’s demonstration of Drew’s face. Dani made a great impression and he could almost picture her twin’s reaction. She didn’t need to try and paint it, regardless of whether or not she was good at it-- Triston had the image in his own mind now. He hummed as his laughter slowly died down, but his smile remained. “Oh, I wish I had been there to see it. Maybe I will give him a hard time later… See if I can replicate the reaction.” He smirked and then leaned back in his seat, watching as Dani contemplated the tea date. He was glad to hear she would accept the invitation if only to perhaps make a new friend. “Ah… Then you should have to let me know what Drew thinks of that… And any other gossip that might come of it. You know I do enjoy the family gossip.” He chuckled again.

Had he not been so involved in the future of Tresteria, he certainly could have used the break. As much as he loved traveling with Dani, he wasn’t entirely sure the next time he would be able to. Still, that didn’t have to stop him from thinking of it and look forward to whenever that next time would be. Someday.

His gaze shifted to the top of his desk at all the papers Dani mentioned. Once again, he smirked and shook his head. “Ah, you know me…” He shrugged nonchalantly. Triston was organized and actually enjoyed writing and reading anything and everything he could get his hands on. Even though he was sure Dani was only exaggerating, (or was she?) he started to clear up some of the papers and place them in a neat stack on the side of his desk. Folding his hands and setting them down on the now empty spot, he grinned. “Better?”

He took note that the wine was from Declan. It really was good and he took another sip after raising it in a silent clink towards Dani. He would have to make a visit to his other cousin and compliment him, and perhaps gain some more bottles for himself, or for special occasions, of course.

Thankfully, he was being forgiven for not being at the docks to receive her. “Well--that’s a huge relief. I am appreciative of your forgiveness and inability to stay mad at me.” The smirk remained on the edges of his lips and he winked at her, taking another sip of his wine before leaning back in his seat to listen to her as she explained her brothers’ reasoning for not being at the docks for her upon her arrival.

But as their conversation turned to the more serious matters that plagued him, he sighed slowly and nearly inaudibly. He hadn’t meant to speak with anyone regarding what was on his mind. Not many knew of his involvement with the Tresterian queen. His eldest brother, William, and his cousin seated in front of him were really the only two who knew of his feelings and how it had ripped him apart when Eleesa married Edward. Triston pretended not to notice Dani musing about his words of avoiding a certain someone. He knew that she would pick up on it, unless he had convinced everyone enough that he had moved on and no longer had feelings for Eleesa. Truth be told, those feelings had never faded.

He stared down into his glass as if he hadn’t heard her question until he slowly shook his head. “No--I failed horribly at that.” He cleared his throat and scratched at the back of his neck. “Actually, they found me and I had no escape…” He breathed a small laugh out his nose and shook his head again. “And now I fear I may have made things a bit more complicated than ever before.” Triston sighed and ran a hand down his face then shrugged. “I don’t really know,” he said almost defeated sounding.