ιηѕαηιту :: A 1x1 between herondale and Rivkah

[herondale.]

Leaning forwards slightly to cushion his body for the abrupt stop of the carriage, Gideon couldn't help but smile when he watched the woman lean her head out of the carriage window. Yes, he'd never seen a woman act that way before but he found himself none too surprised at the action. What he'd been told of the woman - in the file he was still yet to finish reading - the doctor had been severe in her incasiration and, by the sounds of the old man's notes, she wasn't allowed outside. Gideon wanted to please the doctor in any shape or fashion since he would be influencing his chances at becoming a doctor himself in later years. It was also why he'd agreed to take her under his wing; more strings to his bow, as it were.

So far, however, as he observed her, Gideon didn't see any signs of the madness that she had been accussed off. He agreed that perhaps she wasn't as proper and well-mannered as society wanted her to be but, so far, she seemed well-mannered enough to be passed as remotely normal in his eyes. The doctor had wanted him to take notes of the young woman's mannerisms and to report to him immediately should anything odd happen. Not that Gideon anticipated for anything like that to occur. Shan't judge a book by its cover he thought to himself with an inward chuckle before he stepped out of the carriage himself.

Feet crunching on pebbled ground, Gideon had been about to retrieve Shayna's luggage himself when he saw her lift it easily off the rack at the back of the carriage. He raised an eyebrow in slight bemusement but simply let it slid, following behind her and smiling as she looked back at him. He could tell she was somewhat excited and it amused him greatly. When she commented on his home, he chuckled quietly. "It isn't as grand as the doctor's home but it's much easier to find your barings," he commented lightly before he added, "I'll give you a tour, if you'd like?"

[Rivkah]

The girl grinned broadly at him. "Oh I'd love a tour, thank you," she said cheerfully, head tilting and unkempt strands of fiery hair slipping down to hang in a wispy fashion. She tucked them behind her ear, emerald eyes blinking innocently. Her mind was anything but innocent at the moment, and she already had the first trick planned: She could smell animals nearby, and they were always set off by her. She could bet any birds in the trees, dogs in the yards, or cats in the chairs that she came near would start acting strange toward both her and their masters. The thought brought a flicker of mischief to her eyes again.

Mmm, and the smell of Mister Gideon. He was still young; about the age she appeared to be. He hadn't spoiled yet. No longer would she have to trap the servants when they dared come close enough to Shayna back at the doctor's; she wouldn't have to starve herself and live off of the little red meat that they gave her. She urged herself to control her thoughts, because she knew otherwise she would be too tempted.

She would have to be patient; if she went too drastic with her pranks from the start she would be labelled as a different kind of insane then she was locked up for. In fact, she could use this to her advantage; talk to him about it as if she could care less, go into the details, share her trivial knowledge... It always made people squirm when they hear they've been keeping a "sane and harmless" girl prisoner. They only had the first part right. She was dangerous, but in a different way than people thought. Plenty of other girls had minds of their owns and they weren't a danger like she was.

[herondale.]

Gideon wasn't too sure on how he was supposed to act or, rather, deal with the young lady. The doctor had simply ordered he care for her and keep an eye - a keen eye - on her until the two months were up. So he found himself treating her like any other guest that came to stay at his home. Of course, that was a rare occassion and, if he was quite honest, Gideon enjoyed his solitude and the location of his home, just on the outskirts of London, was perfect for his mannerisms. And also, it would seem, to house interesting guests.

Taking note of Shayna's grin, Gideon nodded his head with a warm smile on his lips before he then lead the way into his home, taking the steps swiftly yet not so much that he was at risk of stumbling and careering face first into the concrete slabs. The doors were opened for them, the few servants he had being ready and waiting for their arrival. The gentleman greeted both of the female servants with a slight curving of his lips before he steered Shayna towards the room on his left.

Pushing open the doors, he held them open for Shayna before turning to face the room. It was fairly small in terms of width but length-wise it was quite vast. Upon the walls hung portraits of Gideon's ancestors and relatives that, would he be allowed the curtosy of doing so, he'd remove. Briskly. The table set in the centre was lengthy and surrounded by chairs despite the houses' lack of residents beside Gideon. "This is the dining room... mess hall... call it what you will," he said, his voice shaking slightly as he chuckled. "I've arranged for breakfast to be served every morning of your stay here at nine. Despite the lack of better occassions, the cook is rather quite good," he explained before indicating to a slightly-ajar doorway to the right of them, stating that it was the kitchen.

After showing her the dining area, Gideon backtracked and showed her the sitting room which, much like the kitchen, made up for it's lack in width in its length. The decor was a mixture of teal and gold and dark oak woodwork - not Gideon's first choice but he didn't see the point in wasting funds on redecoration. After this he showed Shayna the drawing room before leading her up the curving wooden stair case to where the bedrooms were located. The servants quarters were on the left whereas Gideons room and the guests rooms were on the right. He indicated to where his own was set before he led Shayna to her own room. "Finally," he began as he opened the door, "this is your room."

Opening the door, Gideon was relieved to find that the servants had done as he had instructed and cleaned and dusted all the ornaments and furniture and changed the bedding. The bed was four-poster which a red coverlet and duvet. The walls were decorated similarly to that of the sitting and drawing area and there was a large pane-glass window set across from them, lighting the entire room.

{esh, gideon likes to blab...}

[Rivkah]

The woman took note of everything that he shared with her; wanting to make sure she got it right. She would nod after each room shown. Her gown skirted along the polished floors, and her gaze never wavered. Kitchen, dining room, sitting room, drawing room... Everything was now imprinted into memory. Her smile remained innocent and she paid close attention to him, not focused on anything else at all.

As he showed her to the room she would be staying in, she placed the luggage on her bed before coming back to the doorway and meeting his gaze. "Thank you very much for this, it's so nice to be in a new home," she said in a sweet, melodic tone. Her head then tilted, and she read his expressions. Now, to guilt-trip. It was unbelievably easy to make someone be sympathetic. She didn't like being pitied, but it could be amusing at times.

She let out a little sigh, deliberately looking at the floor before locking gazes with him again. "It's wonderful to have human interaction. I'm not one that quite frankly likes to stay indoors much. I am allowed outside, right?"she inquired in an angelic voice, feigning doubt, though she really did wonder. She wanted some outdoor time for once. It had been three years. Her eyes widened innocently, and she awaited his answer with a look of hope and intrigue. He didn't seem foolish enough for pouting, but hoped he would at least be merciful enough to allow her outside, unlike the doctor.

She then looked down, fiddling with the folds of her dress. She began to chew upon her lip, now truly thinking about things. She hoped he would deal with her maturely and not as if she was childish and insane; that had gotten old fast. She was not a bauble. Her gaze seemed to become more serious as her head rose and she stared up at him. Quietly, she said in a friendly tone, "I do not wish to be treated as if I am a porcelain doll about to break." Her eyes flickered again with irritation at the thought, though she looked as if she was just wishing for a serious, mature answer out of him. The mature ones were more fun to both converse with and prank.

[herondale.]

Feeling as though he'd already spoken for the both of them, Gideon waited patiently in the door way as Shayna stepped into the room and placed her luggage on the bed, the sound of the springs creaking in protest causing Gideon to wince - his lack of guests meant that the beds were rarely used. Gideon was thankful for the young woman's attentive expression throughout the tour, half expecting her to yawn with boredom as he would have done had he been in her position. He wasn't exactly one to be rude but one could only take so much until they collapse in a heap on the floor, finding ones own imagination to be a better place than reality. Gideon would prefer imagination over reality any day.

As Shayna came back towards him, the same sweet smile on her lips as she had worn throughout the entirity tour, Gideon smiled back in response. He found himself quickly taking in her expression and was relieved that she didn't seem to display any disappointment whatsoever on her face. At her words, he tilted his head. "I'm glad that it appeals to your tastes. Personally, I dislike the colours," he commented.

Gideon hesitated however when he noticed the shift in facial expression and the tilt of her head. His brow furrowed ever so slightly at her sigh and met her gaze. He awaited her to speak and, as she began, he listened in silence. When she asked about being allowed outside, Gideon nodded immediately. "Of course," he replied. "But I'm afraid you'll only be restricted to the grounds and no further than that by the doctors request."

As her head rose to meet his once again, Gideon saw the flare of irritation in her gaze as she spoke. He hesitated before he spoke. "I don't intend to belittle you in any way. On first appearences, I don't see any of the differences in your character that you have been accused of." His hands shifting to clasp behind his back, Gideon smiled. "You're more than welcome to wander the house and grounds yourself."

[Rivkah]

The girl relaxed, relieved, as he assured her she could venture outside. "Of course, thank you. I will most certainly stick to the grounds," she said, true gratefulness actually apparent in her voice. Shayna hardly found it necessary to show true thanks to anyone, but standing there was a girl who had barely walked upon the ground in three years. Eyes searching his expression, she bit the inside of her cheek. It had been torture to stick to only occasionally pulling her head out of a window when the doctor wasn't looking. She loved the outdoors, she felt torn apart without it.

Her eyes flickered with aggravation once more at his words, accused of. Yes, she had been locked up for being insane; but she was mentally and physically healthy. She just had too much free thought for people's tastes. She was too out-spoken, too independent for the preferences of the neighborhood. "Thank you," she said softly, though her next words were slightly sharp and cold, "I was imprisoned for the sheer fact I have free will. I would hope I am in a perfectly sane mind." Her gaze was hard at the thought, though it was obvious why.

Clearing her throat, the expression left her and she sighed softly. "I thank you once more for your incredible hospitality, Mister Gideon. I shall be at dinner promptly when called." Nodding in a respectful way, she slipped past him, grasping the folds of her dress as she delicately walked down the stairs. A cat crossed her path, no doubt inside for the sheer fact it was keeping the place free of rats. She slipped over, clicking her tongue and picking it up. The cat first hissed, then purred, and she whispered something to it. She knew it was trained not to destroy property, and while she had no intention of changing that, she did want a little mischief about.

When she set it back down again, it now knew that until the sun went down and it slept, it would need to trip people up as much as possible. Cats were so silent as it was that people did such on a daily basis... Now it would just be a little bit more frequent. Cats were also good observers, so she hoped she could learn a little about whether Gideon's intentions were innocent. Hers certainly weren't completely. Lips curling into the smile, she stepped outside, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

[herondale.]

Gideon took in Shayna's relieved tone of voice and nodded, his usual friendly smile curving his lips. He became mildly aware of the fact that his cheeks were aching from his seemingly constant shift between subtle smile to full friendly smile. He wondered to himself if it seemed false, his constant curving of his lips, and then found himself brushing it off. Gideon knew he could be too soft and knew that he needed to harden up a bit more if he wanted to be a successful doctor.

At the change in her eyes, Gideon found his smile crumbling the smallest fraction before listening attentively to what Shayna was saying. The more she seemed to mention her life in the doctors hands the more he thought of the doctors methods as too severe and that, from the looks of what he had seen of the young woman and the same for what she had said, the doctor must have based a lot of his observations simply on what others had told him. Gideon knew he had known the woman for less than an hour or so and that first impressions could be deceptive but he just could not link this woman to the girl in the file sat on his desk.

"From what I can see, you're very sane," Gideon commented before stepping back as Shayna spoke once more and moved smoothly past him. "Dinner shouldn't be prepared too late. I shall call you them," he said as she disappeared down the stairs and he sighed quietly, stepping out of her room to close the door behind him.

After that he then headed silently down the corridor towards hiw own room. Gideon push open the door with a heavy sigh, gently rubbing the back of his neck as he shut the door with a dull snap and headed over to his desk where he'd left the file. Picking up the seemingly endless sheets of paper, there was a rough sketch of the girl's profile alongside a polaroid photo of the girl in the rather bland clothing she seemed to have been worn whilst in the doctors care. His nose wrinkled slightly as he placed down the photo before picking up the sheet where the doctor had listed some things to keep an eye out for. Scanning swiftly down the page, Gideon sighed and then found himself chuckling at a circled point near the lower part of the list; 'sadistic view of the world and society'. Gideon saw the doctor as quite a figure head for himself, he wanted to be very much like him in the near future, but this seemed absurd so far.

A weary hand rubbed his forehead as he placed the sheet down and glanced towards the window to his side and Gideon found himself smiling when he caught sight of Shayna outside. But he nearly leapt out of his skin when he heard something crash in the corridor outside. Gideon headed straight out of his room, nearly tripping over the cat in the process and only just managed to regain his footing. He cut his curses short before stalking down the corridor to see one of the maids trying to climb back to her feet, scrambling up numerous towels that she had dropped. Gideon assisted her, hearing her neverending apologies and how she hadn't seen the cat. "You needn't apologize. Everyone has accidents. Just be more careful next time," he instructed, handing her the towels before she went on her way. But just as the maid had gone in her way, the distant sound of someone else tumbling over had Gideon sighing and stalking down the stairs towards them. It seemed everyone had lost their balance this evening.

[Rivkah]

The young woman had to duck as a bird swooped low over her head. Some animals obeyed her, others grew frightened and alarmed. But rather than finding this negative, the girl grinned. Ah, she had missed animals. She distantly hoped that the cat could bring her some information, or better yet, her file. Her gaze rose to the sky. Oh, today was just like she had seen in paintings. Clear blue yet there were puffy white clouds drifting about... Friendly despite the fact it was chilly and slightly dreary outside. But Shayna found this refreshing.

She was very relieved that Gideon, unlike the doctor and his cult, believed that she was sane. Or at least, relatively so. She hated being labelled as deranged for having her own personality. She knelt in the grass, though careful not to dirty her clothing. She was feeling in a mood to set something on fire, just for entertainment. She pursed her lips, amused by this craving. Not having nourishment could lead her to odd thoughts and impulsive actions. She made a mental note to get her first human meal for months tonight; she didn't have good chances of snagging Gideon, but she would settle for a maid or servant.

She was civilized, after all, and never killed. Mostly she'd attack from behind, taking enough blood fast enough to have them pass out. She didn't like to drink fast, but the first few seconds brought the unconsciousness, and then she could slow down and only take what she needed. It was so easy to pass their blank memories off as their falling and hitting their heads. Chuckling, she sighed, shaking her head slightly. She had to get her mind off of that, it was making her hungry.

Her sharp hearing could now detect crashes and other loud disruptions throughout the house; even a broken cup. She could also hear yelps of pain as the cat would every so often sink its claws into their legs or step on their feet as it went past. Sure, it seemed a childish prank, but it brought her relief to feel less caged and a bit more in control... She simply loved fooling with humans, they were quite gullible.

[herondale.]

Gideon had quite a lengthy patience, being the one to want to please anyone and everyone, but it seemed that the servants had all obtained clumsy syndrome. After he'd assist on to their feet another would be tumbling over. The trend being the cat. Gideon was quite fond of cats and would have kept more had he had the time to cater for them. But from the sounds of the cat this evening, it was certainly acting strange. Not to mention infuriatingly persistant in the needs to trip everyone over.

Sighing quietly, Gideon assisted one of the butlers in cleaning up the remnents of one of the - rather expensive - porcelian tea cups off the floor. The butler was almost incoherantly blabbering his apologies and that he must be so clumsy and he would be much more carefully and cautious in the future. Gideon was more personally bothered by the broken shards of porcelain scattered across the floor; if someone wasn't careful, they'd be getting hurt and Gideon didn't want that.

"It's perfectly alright," Gideon finally said, cutting the butler shorts as he cupped the shards in his hands. "Please stop apologizing and just focus on clearing up this mess before someone gets hurt," he explained, his tone a little weary. The butler nodded, now totally silent, before heading down the corridor with a maid in tow.

With a roll of his eyes, Gideon then turned to head back up the stairs to the solitude of his study when his feet caught on something remarkably soft that screeched as he stumbled forwards. His hands shot out and grabbed the banisters on either side of the stairs and he couldn't help but let out an audible curse as she saw the grey shape of the cat darting out of sight. "Blasted thing," he muttered to himself before taking the steps up the stair case two at a time.

Once in his office once more, Gideon closed the door and wandered across the room to the window. Seeing Shayna now perched down on the grass he sighed quietly, thankful that she seemed to have settled somewhat positively within the first few hours. From what he could see, she was smiling once again and with that he turned away from the window and towards his desk, picking up one of Shayna's file pages and scanning it over once more before he noticed something. Brow furrowing, he stared at the page then at the desk. Sifting through the pages, he paused for a moment. The page listing all of Shayna's personal information and accusations, it was missing.

[Rivkah]

The girl got to her feet as the cat came out, the file page clutched in its tiny maw. She took it, slipping into the shadows of a tree, where she knew she could not be seen. She scanned over it, lips pursed. She had half a mind to tear it up; the accusations were so outlandish. She was a threat to the public; she was mentally unstable with various mood swings; she had various outbursts and her independent nature was portrayed as violent. Narrowing her eyes, she sighed and handed the page back to the cat, who was also hidden at the base of the tree. "Return it, make sure no one sees you," she told it softly, her voice sharp.

All of this was ridiculous. She was nothing more than a specimen being experimented on; a lab rat to them. She slipped out of the shade of the tree and brushed the grass off the hem of her skirt. Humming, she returned indoors once the cat was gone, and slipped into her room. She began to unpack, singing softly as she did. Music helped her get calm, to push away the anger that would otherwise lead to trouble. She could not afford to be impulsive at the moment...

She could smell dinner by now; it was quite close to being done. She folded the rest of her clothing, transferred it to the wardrobe, and pushed the suitcase under the bed. Glancing at the door to make sure it was closed, she gazed at the mirror, studying her reflection. Her lips then parted, the tip of her tongue applying pressure to her canines. Sure enough, they sharpened, now at delicate but very precise points. Equipped for going through human flesh. Her mouth snapped shut, her eyes narrowed, and Shayna sighed. Hearing a dinner bell, she stepped out of the room, shutting the door and gliding gracefully down the stairs, the front folds of her dress clasped in her hands for more fluent movement. She dropped them again once at floor level, walking towards the dining room. Keep your civil tongue, Shayna, you were raised proper. Independent does not mean unruly, she told herself.