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[brushoff]

"You've reached the inbox of one Dorian Gray. Don't forget to leave me a message. If you're interesting, I'll get back to you."

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[citizendetective]

[Misty arrives about ten minutes later, looking just as she'd sounded: serious, subdued, and unsmiling. But when she spots Dorian, she gives him an easy nod.]

Hi. Thanks for... offering, and meaning it.

[She guesses?? She's still not totally sure that he does, in fact, mean it.]

[brushoff]

Of course, [ Dorian nods. Misty looks...fuck, it's hard to describe. Depressed? Which is a very unMisty thing to be. Idly he wonders what happened: because something obviously happened.

But there's part of him that wants to be seen as Dorian Gray: flighty good time party animal. For the moment, he doesn't press. ]

Afterwards we can go back to my room, have some wine, and give each other shit about our music tastes. But right now, shall we begin the lessons?

[citizendetective]

Sure.

[She sits down on one end of the piano bench - not where one should sit to actually play, but she's trying to leave him room - and leafs through the music already on the stand.]

I'm assuming we're starting with something simple.

[brushoff]

We'll start with a classic that everybody starts with: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

[ And so, the lessons start. Dorian's actually not that bad a teacher when he puts his mind to it. He starts with how to read music, then which keys on the piano are which notes. He's keeping everything very basic at the moment: Lord knows that piano can be very complicated the further you get into it. But he occasionally looks over at Misty to make sure that she's understanding what he's saying and is perfectly fine going back to explain more if needed.

He'll go as long as Misty wants. Lord knows she probably needs the distraction. ]

[citizendetective]

[And Misty, in turn, is a decent student - one without any sort of obvious aptitude for music, but she has a decent ear, is generally quick at picking up skills, and struggles less than a lot of beginners would with having her right and left hands do different things.

She's good for about an hour before she lifts her hands off the keys and sits back.]

That's enough for today - don't want to burn out my brain, haha.

[brushoff]

Understandable, [ Dorian nods. He gives Misty a wry grin before, ]

Now, who wants a drink or two?

[citizendetective]

I'm not getting drunk.

[She says with a sigh, closing the piano lid. She still wants to talk to Natalie tonight.]

But yes.

[brushoff]

You look like you might need it, [ Dorian points out. ] But we can just have a glass of wine instead.

[citizendetective]

I'm fine.

[She says, and then she sighs.]

No, I'm not; I'm frustrated and pissed off. And wine sounds great.

[brushoff]

[ There we go. He knew it was something like that. Dorian gives Misty a nod before standing up from the piano. ]

Then we'll head back to my room, I'll pour us both a glass, and you can bitch about whichever of the Barge's array of idiots pissed you off. Deal?

[citizendetective]

Okay.

[She says, torn between suspicion and gratitude as she moves towards the door leading out of the gazebo.]

Are you really being like this just because I made you feel like I wanted to hang out with you for you?

[brushoff]

I'm being like this because you're frustrated and pissed off and decided to bother me instead of Pagan or Natalie.

[ Dorian is well aware that he's mid-tier on the list of people to bother. So what, did Misty piss off both of them? ]

That tells me that whatever happened, you need that drink.

[citizendetective]

Well, I already bothered them.

[She says, giving him a sharp look over that wording.]

And I'm going to bother them again later. I'm not mad at either of them.

[brushoff]

Alright, alright, wrong choice of words, [ Dorian dryly responds. ]

My point still stands, though. But if you're not mad at them, who are you mad at?

[citizendetective]

Have you met Arthur and John? New guys, sharing a body?

[brushoff]

[ Dorian nods. ]

New John possessed me when I took his mask and got pissy when I somehow magically didn't know that taking the mask would possess me. Arthur is alright but desperately needed a little bit of help in the fashion department.

[citizendetective]

Well, in my experience, Arthur is a massive a-hole and John takes his side in everything. And he wants to share secrets from Nat's file with him. Our secrets.

[brushoff]

[ Dorian frowns a little. This seems probably more complicated than Misty's making it out to be. But there's one thing he's sure of. ]

That sounds aggressively co-dependent. [ He shrugs before, ] I know that they had their whole little odd possessive thing back home, but surely they don't expect to do the same thing with whoever Arthur's inmate would be.

[citizendetective]

Oh, I'm sure that they do. And Nat is fine with it.

[And Misty is bitter.]

[brushoff]

[ Oh Misty is exceedingly bitter. Dorian frowns for a moment, thinking to himself before, ]

You know there's an easy way to get back at her. You share your secrets with someone Pagan's co-dependent with, making a specific effort to focus on any Natalie-centric dirty laundry. Share them with Kiryu, perhaps?

[citizendetective]

[Misty makes a small, impatient sound.]

The dirty laundry isn't the point, Dorian. It's that those secrets are ours, and if Arthur knows, then they won't be anymore. Pagan and John knowing are one thing, but--

[A pause.]

What makes you think Pagan and Kiryu are codependent?

[brushoff]

I mean, they're not, [ he shrugs. ] Honestly, I think they have a healthy relationship. But it's very hard to reach a co-dependency level of 'I literally have control of this man's senses' so I went with the next best thing.

[ There's a pause before he continues with, ]

Honestly, I think your best thing to do is watch and wait. There's going to be a moment where someone likes John but loathes Arthur or vice versa. I don't think they'll know what to do at that point. I don't think there's any way to convince John not to tell Arthur because when you're as joined at the hip as those two are, it's a damn nuisance to try and unpry them.

[ It's almost like two people who went through the same traumatic experience trauma-bonded like hell BUT YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THAT, HUH MISTY ]

[citizendetective]

You don't understand what the problem is, do you.

[Bitterrrrr]

[brushoff]

[ A pause before, ]

In all seriousness? I probably don't. You know my tendency towards lovely, intense friendships that I mentioned earlier? They're all dead. And I already know I'm nobody's one and only here the way that you and Natalie or John and Arthur are.

[ Whoops, just ignore that bit of self-loathing, Dorian certainly is as he continues talking. ] I suspect the problem is 'someone who you don't want to learn secrets about you and Natalie is going to learn those secrets', but I'm honestly not sure why you're grumpy about that now considering that we get 'spill your trauma' bullshit thrown at us every month.

[citizendetective]

And if that happens with these secrets, I'll be pissed off about that, too. They belong to us, and no one else.

[Another pause, and she looks over at him as they walk, studying his face.]

Define "one and only". Did--

[No, scratch that; she's not going to ask if Natalie called her that. She knows the answer.]