Darian was a man with a mission. He walked fast, with a spring in his step that bade him swing off lampposts to take the corners and skip over curbs (twasn't anything the public hadn't seen before). In the sunset light he suspected he looked very fine so he naturally made a spectacle of himself as he sauntered the familiar path to Dolly's appartment. Black and silver tonight, which were colors he often wore with Dolly, black and silver topped by his mad mop of red curls and his ever-present smirk. Rings clinked at his fingers. His dark eyes gleamed.

He pulled her into a kiss as soon as she opened the door, a really elegant one that finished in a dip. His lips curved against hers in an irrepressible smile. He hadn't seen Dolly in ages. Weeks! Far too long. He kept them both propped against the doorframe when they finished, one arm supporting her waist. Nuzzling her cheek like a happy cat, he inhaled slow and deep to catch the scent of her dizzying perfume. Every part of him snapped to attention at the feel of her in his arms, but Darian released her as soon as he was certain she wouldn't fall over from surprise.

"Evening," he said warmly, hands lingering at her hips. "Oh, beautiful, you're a sight for sore eyes."

Dolly merely raised a well sculpted eyebrow at the long lost Darian's exuberant greeting. Yes, it had been ages since they'd seen one another, that was not really very uncommon when one of them was seeing someone. Tilting her head to one side, lips twitching with a smirk at the corners she gave a one shouldered shrug, "Well Darling, that's what happens when you have a proper girlfriend. I've been forced to fill my time with much less interesting men - and Salazar save me, working on my blasted book," she pressed a kiss to his forehead before slipping out of his room and back into the penthouse, assuming he'd follow as he always did. She wouldn't bother trying to guilt him with how lonely she'd been, or how absolutely appalling finding Dom in her bed had been, or how furious she was that he was back with Niobe and still came crawling to her. Dolly had perfected her mask over the years; from the half lidded eyes to the smile that said she knew something you didn't (and in some cases this should probably scare you).

She poured them each a drink, black curls obscuring part of her profile, she would not admit to him (or anyone) how much everything had changed in a year. Her birthday was next month, Merlin she was getting old. She wasn't speaking to Dominik or Dazmond, she rarely heard from Livi now that the teen was engrossed in school. Just a year prior she had been sent off to the Islands to finish her book in peace. Now here she was, more alone in the Ivory Tower than at any other time in her life. She needed to meet new people, see new things - but the problem was that she'd really already done that. Turning toward him and offering the redhead the glass she brushed her hair from her face, "How is the little woman, Darling? Adorable as ever I assume, I am a bit surprised you forgot honestly. From what I remember she was an excellent kisser and a fast learner," it was a well known fact that Dolly was a terrible tease and snoop.

What was not so common knowledge was that after everything with Dom in her sixth year she had dabbled about with lots of people trying to fill that void. Landis hadn't been the only one, and for a time Maiko had been as good a distraction as any. Sitting herself carefully on the lush overstuffed sofa, Dolly looked up at the man and took a languid sip of her drink, "Now, what shall we do with ourselves this evening - since our usual activities are rather off the table"? Tormenting Darian was a pastime she missed dearly when he went upon these committed adventures. They never lasted long of course, he had yet to beat her two year record with Eli, but it was terrible amusing to see that bedeviled shadow pass over his face when he realized he was tied down to someone and thus Dolly's refusal to muck about with involved men came into play. There was no question that Dolly was of a looser moral fiber than most women but at the end of the day she had a code that she honored and involved men were not to be meddled with. She'd be worse than Charlotte trying to nab Eddie. So tasteless.

"Well darling, that's what happens when you have a proper girlfriend."

Darian blinked, a stuttering sweep of red. The penny dropped.

Then he leapt back like he'd been stung, obviously startled. "Oh," he said. "Oh shite, I forgot." He started to laugh, because really, he was awful at this. "I'm sorry, Dolly. Let's pretend that was a friendly greeting."

But if anyone had seen - his head whipped around. Kiss Dolly on her doorstep, check for journalist photographers. Damn his exhibitionist nature! The dip had seemed so natural. Even if no one had caught that, he'd made quite a show of himself on the way over. Swinging off lampposts - perhaps everyone would mistake it for the early stages of love. A man in love with his new girlfriend.... and on the way to see Dolly. Darian heaved a sigh and followed her in.

She turned to him, smiling, with a drink in her hand. Darian's eyes narrowed. He knew that smile. His mouth opened - how did you know I had a girlfriend, how do you know who my girlfriend is? - then snapped shut.

He crawled onto the couch next to her with bad grace. "You're evil," he hissed, eying her with her little black dress, her knowing smile, her rules about sleeping with taken men, and her oh I'm sorry darling I seem to have sampled your newest flame before you. Again. "I know what you're after. It won't work! Maiko is adorable. I'm very happy." He dropped his face into the cushions with a whimper, clutching his drink like a chastity belt. Unfortunately, it probably would work.

Dolly and Darian were the same really, in most ways - it was why they were so well suited to this open and jealousy free relationship. They did as they pleased and when they needed one another, well. They were much obliged to that need. He was probably her best friend in the world, the only one who came close to accepting and understanding most of her. Well, there was Landis but that was fraught with complications and his lingering loyalty to Dazmond. Other than Liviana, unless something drastically changed, Dolly was done with the Wiedmans. It hurt her to be done, it broke something almost fundamental in her will - but it had to be done. She couldn't spend the rest of her life doing what she'd been doing and pretending it was enough. It wasn't... and she didn't believe in the same things she had before. True love was  for silly little fairytales. It never worked out proper in reality. In reality the boy you loved grew into a man you despised and you lost some of the best pieces of yourself trying to please him.

Giving Darian a sly smile she simply shrugged one shoulder, "I haven't the foggiest what you're talking about. I'm not after any little thing. I actually rather like whenyou have a girlfriend honestly. You make the most delightful face when you squirm," her voice lilted with a teasing laugh as she reached out to twine once of his curls around her finger, "It was a bit inconvenient, you being so busy, a few weeks ago when I had to deal with a drunk Dominik in my bed - but I weathered the storm and since he's boinking that strumpet Niobe I doubt he'll come wallowing around again. I've almost resorted to spending time with Liadan - can you imagine. Merlin Society bores me. I've been thinking of whisking myself off to Pairs for my birthday, maybe Rome. If you're single by then I might let you tag along".

Dolly teased him, even tugging on a lock of his hair, but her heart wasn't in it. Cautiously, Darian raised his head. She was a little cold to him today, which he could understand. No lady liked being made to feel like the other women, though it had been an honest mistake - see Dolly, kiss Dolly, it was a habit older than his new relationship. The adjustment period was always hard.  But it was more than that - there was something else lurking behind her blase tone today.

They were alike in many ways, glamorous, glittering, and proud. But where Darian was diamond-sharp through and through, Dolly was soft-hearted.

Darian propped himself up on his elbows and wiggled closer until his chin nearly touched the side of her thigh. His legs kicked lazily in the air, idle as any teen witch writing letters on her bed (though the tumblr of whiskey he clutched to his chest somewhat marred the illusion). "That skank. I should spread rumours of his tragic work-related impotence; no one would expect it originated from me." He rubbed her knee supportively. The smile turned in her direction was 100% Darian Morgan at his manipulative best - coaxing, open, and sweet. It wouldn't work on her unless she wanted it to, given that she knew him and his smiles so well. Still, it was a clear invitation - talk to me, Dolly, tell me all about it.

Dolly sighed a little into her glass, ice clinking against the side as she gave her slithering sidewinder companion a long glance. Tormenting Darian was only really fun when there would be a payout at the end of the night. Otherwise it was a lot of built up tension for nothing and frankly Dolly was tired of nothing. She was tired of being the one left lacking in satisfaction. People pairing off like it was the bloody second coming and the flood waters would arrive any moment. Why couldn't people just be footloose and fancy free? She knew his relationship with Maiko wouldn't last, his relationships never lasted... but it was lonely being the one without someone. Before there had always been Dominik or Daz to distract, or some random pretty little thing she happened to find particularly entertaining for a little while. Maybe she'd have to give up and call Rosier. He wasn't ideal but he did have a pretty face and... well it would probably piss Dominik off.

Not that she was really concerned with pissing him off anymore, sometimes it was just a nice little bonus to her antics. Finally she sighed and went back to petting Darian's hair, draining her glass, "He's such a beast. I mean he's shagging that dreadful reporter and he just shows up to crawl into my bed. I've had to go and change the locks now. I'm absolutely done with him - and it's the worst feeling in the world. I know it's still and twit-ish of me but some idiotic part of my brain really believed eventually he'd get his life together and we'd be happy. I look at him now and what's left over, after all these years of pining and resentment - and what for? And now Tappy is probably shagging that ice queen Aileen which is absolutely vomatrocious. Why is the whole bloody world pairing off and making goo eyes at one another? It's sickening - present company not excluded. Why the devil do you want to be in a relationship? It involves all the things you loathe like monogamy and not being able to kiss me".

She sounded a bit like a petulant teenager, "And then you've got Dazmond doing Merlin knows what, in the throws of a depression because she married a criminal who - Salazar's knickers! Ended up in Azkaban. It's a simple maths problem, you marry a sloppy shady bastard he's going to get arrested for being a sloppy shady bastard. Cause and effect! She's been absolutely no help at all," she heaved a great sign and looked down at Darian, bottom lip protruding, "Life is categorically unfair and I dare say I am to old to go about finding new friends now. I've had the same lot since I was all of eleven, Daz since birth practically," her chin quivered as though she might burst into theatrical tears as she slid off the sofa and went to pour herself another drink. "I don't think anyone in the universe knows how terrible lonely and tedious it is being Dolly St. James. You come close but you've gone and fancied yourself a proper girlfriend now, so I'm all alone in my bath of Champagne bubbles and diamonds"! She dropped dramatically back onto the couch, face hidden in her arm, crying "Oh, what a wretched life," before peeking out at him, trying to hide the way her lips twitched with a grin.

"Isn't that his general modus operandi?" Darian wanted to know. He rotated a hand on his wrist lazily, an all-encompassing wave, but languid as his movements might be his eyes were bright and watchful. "He's been doing that for years. Frustrating, I know. So you really say that you've sworn off him for good?"

Dolly had said that before, and then taken him back. Dominik's puppy eyes must be legendary. Merlin knew (Darian knew) it couldn't be his prowess in bed alone.

Especially if he was crawling in drunk.

Of course, it hurt Dolly very much. It always did. Darian couldn't understand the appeal, himself, the addiction she had to heartbreak. He was very sympathetic - he was very sweet - he would send her a nice bottle of vodka later this week, top-shelf, maybe even some flowers - but Darian couldn't say he empathized. His infatuations were quick and bright-burning, intense, all-consuming, easily begun and easily forgot. He didn't pine for years. Still, if she needed the purge the poison of her roiling feelings, he was here to listen and make the right noises in all the right places.

She was still petting his hair, and he stroked comfortingly at her leg. "Never put your happiness in someone else's hands," he said sagely, taking mental notes. Darian hadn't seen Tapendra in a while, and for all he knew he and Aileen were certainly sleeping together. It made more a pretty picture than a vomatrocious one, he thought, though it was a shame that Tapendra seemed the type to be devoted to monogamy. Darian would have to work on that, though it was not currently a priority.

"Why the devil do you want to be in a relationship? It involves all the things you loathe like monogamy and not being able to kiss me".

"Oh, I don't know," he replied lightly, carelessly - dismissive. "It seemed like the thing to do." She was sulking about it now which - given that he'd never been the one engaged or off the market for months and months - Darian thought was somewhat unfair. They had a mutually beneficial relationship, Dolly and he, but sometimes her possessiveness was distasteful. What was the use in a strings-free lover if they were suddenly tugging strings?

He forgave her her pouting in the face of such recent emotional upheaval. Dolly must not feel that he was one of the people in her life slipping away.

"You're never too old for new friends, Dolly. You know you can always come out with me if you want to meet people." Darian watched her fetch more alcohol and then throw herself upon the sofa. "Poor darling," he murmured easily, as she peeked at him playfully from under her arm. His lips drew back from his dazzling teeth. "Why don't you drink up and forget all about it?"

She considered his question carefully before answering. It was fair, after all, that there should be some doubt on anyone's part who had known her for more than a few weeks her ability to dismiss Dominik and keep to it. It was like a twisted drug in some respect, she loathed it but she couldn't help but let him come whimpering back when the world got him down. There was something different about this time, different than all the times before. There was something she saw as inherently sick between them now that she hadn't before. "Well, a wise Witch knows to never say never," she paused eyes focused though unseeing on her companion, "I'd never ask for my key back before. In all our fights, for as long as I've had this place he's had a key. You don't even have a key," she brushed a curl from her eye and looked down.

"I know I've said a hundred times I'm done, but there were things said that night that he can't take back. It dawned on me all of a sudden I don't enjoy seeing him anymore. I don't enjoy the person he is. This morose beast who is quite happy to be a morose beast. I looked at all the pieces left of him that night and...I don't know. Thursby can have him, because what's left over isn't worth loving anymore". She gave a dismissive wave of her hand as she drew a cigarette and lit it with her wand, offering the bejeweled case to her companion, "Now I just have to tell his mother. Merlin that's going to be a nightmare. She's had us all but wed in her head since before I could walk," she paused to grin at him a little, "you suppose it's strange I care more that it will hurt his mum than I've ever cared how my mother feels about anything I do"?

"You're no fun to go out with when you're with someone, I always feel the need to remind you of pesky things like morals," she was teasing of course, she and Darian couldn't have a bad time together if they tried. She did need to widen her circle of friends. She was clinging to Molly too much to be good for either of them.., and then there was her work, "Sadly I've got to settle on a new editor before December or the trolls in publishing are going to try to tie up my royalties. The last one they sent me couldn't have been more than two years out of Hogwarts and she'd never even read my books," she paused and took a languid sip from her cup before smirking at Darian over the glass, "I made the little wench cry. It's not that I have anything against the young ones it's when they lack the proper respect".

Slipping off her heels, she pointed her toes before cuddling down next to Darian, "I'm going to get terribly drunk tonight and avoid thinking about anything, but you have to get drunk with me because misery loves company. I suspect sometimes that's the entire basis of our friendship," she leaned in and brushed the tip of his nose with hers as she drained her second glass. Darian was a horrible influence. She had mostly given up the chronic drinking since that night in April when they'd been too blitzed to know what the devil Dazmond was doing in the bathroom. It wasn't as though she thought something like that would happen again she just never wanted tp be so caught off guard she couldn't protect herself or the ones she loved. So long as they stayed in her apartment what could the two of them actually get in trouble with... well that was just a silly question to ask herself because the answer was quite obvious. Hopefully it was opposite day and Darian Morgan would behave himself for once.

"That's because you know better than to give me a key," Darian teased. "Keys only encourage bad behavior... case in point." He gave an expressive wave of one long-fingered, multi-ringed hand.

"I just can't help but wonder - " He sat up and his gaze was so lovely, both soft and intent. "It's unlike you to give up on people. In fact, I'd say it's your defining characteristic." Of course, making all the right noises in all the right places wasn't fun. He couldn't help but pick, a little, at her convictions. Were they really so strong? Her heart was such a soft, hurt place, and he had heard this all before.

Darian drew into himself, no longer quite so sprawled. Still pressed to her side, he laid an arm out over the opposite side of the sofa. His other cradled his drink very close. He watched her. "There's no use left in a man who loves misery more than you, Dolly," he murmured, lips hovering above his glass. "Yes, it's such a pity that you've known the family for so long. It makes things harder, to be sure. You grew up with Dominik, didn't you?"

A moment later, his nose wrinkled. "Thursby is that reporter, right? What a dreadful woman to lose out to." She didn't even have the good sense to report on him. He shrugged as if to say, what do you care of the elder St. James? Mothers, Darian knew, were awfully overrated.

As were morals. "Tch," he muttered dismissively. He raised an arm slightly to let Dolly cuddle close, turning his lips in to brush against her hair. He rather liked her perfume, as always; but regardless of what she thought it would not be difficult to control himself tonight. He had Maiko in mind, sweet and girlish, to curl his tender thoughts around. "And they say I'm the cruel one! At least I show a little love before making anybody cry. You're too caught up on these ideas of how the world ought to work - fidelity, morality, regret - these people who lack the proper respect. That's life, my darling. Why poison yourself with thoughts of what you can't have?"

"I'm going to get terribly drunk tonight and avoid thinking about anything, but you have to get drunk with me because misery loves company."

With a languid slide of curls and the baring of his throat, Darian drained his glass. "That I can do." He spun the thing in his fingers -  smooth, heavy, fragile glass - and smiled.