It is a very quiet place in the woods that Cornelius has asked Nathania to meet him at. Somewhere in the trees where the only sound is the occasional brave bird in the sky or critter scrambling through the brush on the edge of the wood. The wind is fickle tonight. Usually still, but sometimes gusting with little warning. It causes the boughs to protest with creaks and rustles before settling back down to quiet.
The Beast himself is sitting on a stump that is the result of someone having cut down a tree with an axe here quite some time ago. Efforts to burn it were half-hearted; leaving a blackened seat wide enough for three people to sit on comfortably. As he waits for his invited guest, he busies himself by examining a berry he found. A cautious sniff is given before it is, with a shrug, tossed up into the air and caught in his mouth. He immediately makes a bitter face and says to the air, "Bit-TER! Aye-yai-yai."
Nathania comes up from behind but carefully and quietly circles around to front. "Hello, Cornelius," she says with warmth. "May.. I sit?" She's wearing jeans and one of Glitch's black hoodies, along hiking boots. Her hair is in a ponytail like usual. She smiles faintly. "Everything... well enough?"
Faking surprise, Cornelius's eyebrows shoot up for a moment, but almost instantly settle as a smile spreads on his face. "Please." He pats the stump. "More than enough space for hiney on this thing. Even kinda dry! Always nice to not get up with wet ass." He smacks his tongue off the roof of his mouth as that bitterness lingers. "So!" He twists in his seat to more or less face her. "Lemme start by saying that everything is fine, toots. Some people get a little worried when I call 'em in for a secret meeting of this sort. I hope that this isn't too far into the back-ass of nowhere for you?"
Nathania grins crookedly as she settles in, shaking her head. "It's... fine. I don't mind." She only got lost once, and that was for a few minutes. "I'm glad.. everything's okay. I do admit worry," the dolly says. As Cornelius will come to know--Nat? Queen Worrywort, Mother Of All Winters. Or something.
"Sorry to worry you," he says with an apologetic expression. "I'll cut right to the chase." The horned man scratches behind his ear. "I need a favor. A personal favor. I don't really know anyone here, but I got a good gut feeling about you." He sucks in a breath and continues to speak with hardly a pause. "It's about Darby. I'm not sure how much I trust her." He glances over his shoulder despite being in the middle of nowhere, then proceeds to speak even as he is turning back. "What impression do you have of her so far? I want to know... if I'm the only one that noticed." He seems a little timid to accuse another member of the court.
Nathania looks at Cornelius for a long moment, before shrugging and seeming to think he's sincere enough. "I like her. I think... she's got... a warm interior under... her skittishness. She tries... to be... so very Winter. I like that... about her. What's... wrong with her?" she asks, button eyes on Cornelius with worry.
Even though they are close, Cornelius scoots a little closer to Nathania. His voice drops down to a hush. "It's not that I think something is wrong with her, per se... it's more that I feel something... off." The look he is giving her is very intense despite how still he is and how calmly he speaks. "Can you keep my doubts between us? If it's just me being crazy, I don't want my mistake to cost a good Winter her reputation." He rubs his lips together once more and adds, "Please."
Nathania stares at Cornelius a little suspiciously, but those eyes... and that honest look.... She melts a little. "I won't say... anything, of course." Her button eyes take in the lip-rubbing; she subconsciously files it away for further study.
From this close, she can see the detail in his eyes that would otherwise be easy to miss. The gold in them is not just color. It is coins. Gold coins in his irises are what add that dazzle to brown. "Thank you," he says after a few seconds. "I'll be honest. I already tried to poke around and see why it is that this voice in the back of my head insists that something is off. She's so aloof, you know? One real private cat." There is a swallow before he admits, "She's onto me. She can tell that I don't trust her. Around me, she's guarded. But if I feel like I can trust you, maybe she'll be like that, too, you know?" Those brown and gold eyes grow imploring.
Nathania watches him, also feeling like something's off--that's slowly getting bigger despite her obvious willingness to listen to him. "Well--I don't... know," she begins, falteringly.
"I'm not asking for you to do anything that would be wrong. I'm too... afraid she might be innocent." His ever-moving tail starts to feel its way around his side of the truck; wrapping against the bark. "If you could just... I dunno. Consider it a friendly visit. Drop in on her sometime and ask how she's doing. Ask if she's going to pledge to Fate's Harvest. I mean... isn't it a little odd that she still hasn't?"
Nathania shrugs. "That's not... really any of... my business. People pledge, or don't... for various reasons." But she looks at him and shrugs. "If you... really want me to, though... I mean, I'm not the smartest." She taps the side of her temple. "Fluff for brains."
"Hey, that sounds better that what I got in the attic." Cornelius has a touch of a smile on his lips as he says that, but it quickly fades due to the business at hand. "I'm not trying to bias you. Just... want to make sure we aren't being reckless. The system for vetting here is just-" He trails off and looks into the distance as he tries to think of the right word, then shakes his head. "Absent." Cornelius's eyes move back to Nathania as he puts a hand on her closest knee. "If this gets that little mouse in the back of my head to stop nagging me, it'd mean so much to me, toots. The world. Seriously."
Nathania nods, a little reluctantly. She can't help but feel like something is 'off' here. "What do ... I get out... of the bargain?" she asks suddenly. Her button eyes narrow to thin bars with two holes instead of four for thread. "You want... me to do something for you. What do I get?"
Cornelius's eyebrows lift just slightly as Nathania asks for what she gets. That surprise quickly shifts into pleasant surprise. His smile returns. Self-interest seems to put him at ease. It is a sign of agreement. The wheel and deal. The hunt and catch. "Well, I suppose I did say I would owe you, didn't I? Tell me, Ms. Winters..." He purses his lips thoughtfully; eyes thoughtful. "What can I do for you? How can I... scratch your back?"
Nathania considers the question. "Tell me... why you really.... want to know... about Darby." She smiles broadly. She knows -something- is up, even if she's not sure what. Mother of pearl button teeth catch the light. (Those things must be hell to floss.) "You... know her. She told me." Dropping a truth bomb on him. "So what's... really up?"
The reply is not immediate, but Cornelius does not seem to be making anything up either. He looks like someone organizing thoughts rather than manufacturing them. When he does speak, it is with his voice low. His expressive nature is subdued. The cool of Winter becomes him as he recounts a tale. "When I met her, something inside me." He lifts his hand from Nathania's knee to press a fist to his chest over his heart. "Something in the Beast I have Become was triggered. The beast took over, and I found myself running after her before I even realized what I was doing." His eyes lift to find Nathania's buttons. "My instinct was to hunt her down. Rip her apart. Eat her as she screamed." The sincerity of that coolly spoken statement might be more shocking than if it were admitted with drama. "I am a Knight of the Dragonslayer. It is my duty to find corruption. To purge it. Maybe it wasn't the Beast in me that wanted to kill her. Maybe it was..." He shakes his head. "The Wyrd works in mysterious ways."
Nathania tilts her head, watching the rat-man. Her body posture is--hard to read. Floppy, doll-like. "I don't.. know if I believe that, after... all the... lies you've told me thus far, Cornelius." She pauses. "How can I be sure... this is the truth, and the rest is just testing me?" And then she grimaces. "Who are you... to test me, anyway? I've been here longer; I'm close to both.. the Wyrd and the Season." Not angry, just stating fact. "I want... proof, please."
"If I'm playing you," Cornelius says as he looks at her without so much as a bit of offense taken at the accusation, "that would just be me being true to the path that Snowflake set before us. If I'm not, there is a concern that I am asking you rather harmlessly to look into. In either scenario, isn't it better to take a little time to check on Darby?" He tilts his head just slightly as he looks at her as if trying to read her. "It's not a powerplay. That's... not how I assert myself, Dolly."
Nathania raises an eyebrow. "And how -do-... you assert yourself, Cornelius?" She bristles a little. She's feeling stupid and vaguely trapped, neither feeling she likes. She glances around. "Is Darby... around and listening... somewhere? Or is this just... the same... old test?" She stands. "I will do what... I have to. It may involve... looking into you -both-." She glowers.
Slowly enough to either be considered very dangerous or not dangerous at all, Cornelius leans in so that he can speak almost into Nathania's ear. Or what should be an ear. "You are wise," he says in a voice low enough to barely be heard even with that distance. "If I were in your shoes, I would be looking at me very closely. Some hero of Chicago shows up out of nowhere without so much more than 'I'm here to help' for an excuse. Is he really good intentioned? Does he want to build the local Onyx Court into something more than the--let's be fair--shambles it is in? Is anyone truly that altruistic?" He pulls his face back far enough that he can comfortable see his eyes. "Then again, he did pledge. His actions have, thusfar, been pushing things forward." He lifts a finger up towards his temple and taps on the side of his horn. "I'm on your side, Miss Winters. I can say it. I can swear it. But if you didn't suspect me at every turn--at least for some time--I would be disappointed in the woman that is a veteran to these people." His golden stare is unblinking at her eyes. "Investigate me if you wish, but please talk to Darby. If you do, I will show you something... too real to be refuted."
Nathania raises an eyebrow. "Fine. I'll... talk to her. About you. And about... her role in all this." She stares at him unblinkingly, stitched lips in a flat line.
The man watches her face so very intently as she responds. The smile he gives her is not broad with victory, nor devilish with mischief. It is almost sad, but somehow so very understanding. This time when he leans in, it is simply to give her a soft kiss on the cheek--the feel of his lips pecking there soundlessly before he pulls back and stands in one strange, boneless motion. "I thank you for coming here, I thank you for your caution, and I thank you for your agreement." He gives a strange sort of half bow, turns, and disappears by the time he has gone more than ten feet away from that stump; not even a footprint where he has stepped.
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