Triangle Tutor (Complete)

Weighing her pride against her ever closing window of opportunity (what a cruelty to become both immortal and acutely aware of the merciless march of time), Gladys decided over the course of a few nights of pondering that she ought to use the resource that is Titus sooner rather than later. So after waiting for what she felt was an appropriate amount of time after their last uncomfortable conversation, she woke early in the evening and set off to find him.

Once close enough to the area she thought his room to be, she turned into a bat and hid, wedging herself into the space between a picture frame and the wall. She couldn't just show up and start making demands: —this had to be done delicately. So it was imperative that she wait for the perfect moment to speak with him.

As Gladys waited she stretched her senses as far as they could in this form, which meant hearing and smell mainly. She wasn't sure how long she waited, but she managed to distract herself sufficiently by eavesdropping on conversations going on in other rooms and by trying to identify by smell alone the vampires and thralls who passed by.

It was during this exercise that Gladys realized she heard the louder footfalls and smelled the earthy scent of Titus, who was walking down the hall in a robe, looking most displeased. Well, that wasn't ideal. But then again that could change over the course of the night, she just had to wait. Letting him get a considerable distance ahead of her, she took off and followed after as discreetly as she could.

By the time they were headed towards the drawing room, Gladys greatly expected that Titus knew he was being followed. Still though, this could be ideal. Or it could be a disaster. Only one way to find out.

Soon they came to a room occupied by none save for a single thrall. So far so good. Gladys glided in after being called by Titus, and hovering about two arm lengths away she transformed mid air, their eyes level for just a split second before gravity took over and she dropped to the floor with a soft tap of her shoes.

The thrall looked up and left without comment or seemingly any emotional reaction. Smart, Gladys thought. She smiled at Titus, expecting he would be mad with her and planned on waiting out the scolding he would probably give her before she spoke.

Gladys had to fight the urge to laugh at his attempt at keeping a polite facade. Admittedly he was doing quite well. But little cues let her know that he was annoyed with her at best. In that case it would be in her best interest to get to her point as quickly as possible. If she wasted his time, she was wasting her own time as well.

With a knowing smile and a gleam in her eyes she said, "You know lots of things." It was a statement more than a question, and yet she paused as if waiting for an answer.

This was better than Gladys was hoping for.

In his annoyance and anger Titus seemed more than happy to spill his guts, a fact Gladys would have to file away for later use. Not only did he know plenty from simply being around for so long, but it seemed he was a scholar too. And even if he was embellishing his merits, just learning a fraction of his knowledge would be enough to fill nights on end.

She waited through his tirade, trying not to appear too please, too eager. She didn't even know what most of the things that he said were, and yet the prospect of learning them was still exciting. Finally he seemed to have worked out the most of his frustration. "Well? You hate being idle? Then put your knowledge to use! Teach me."

Gladys sucked air through her teeth in thought and leaned against the back of a chair. Titus was correct, she didn’t care that he had sat. If anything she took it to mean he intended to stay and listen to her. She thought she was winning him over.

“It would be... different, though. Before you were just... unexpectedly tossing small, unattached bits information at me. If you were to teach me in a more formal setting you could put everything together and I would be ready to listen.” Not to mention you'd be teaching me things I actually want to learn, she managed to just think to herself.

Gladys' eyebrow quirked upward at the sass she was getting right back. Well, she shouldn't have thought that it would be easy. She fought the urge to roll her eyes.

“Of course I believe in learning from everything. But do you truly believe that learning in unpredictable, random chunks is the only way to learn? Or the only way to teach? Even that it’s the best way? By that reasoning you would also agree that feeding a baby is best accomplished by throwing food at its face, no?” Again she arched an eyebrow at him, circling around the chair she had been leaning on and sitting to face him properly, nothing but their egos between them.

She was having second thoughts. If he was so against the idea could she trust anything he said? Would he try and sabotage her efforts? Or maybe she needed to simply express her intent to go to another teacher and let his jealousy do the rest of the work.

Again frustration bubbled up in her, and again she fought it down. She couldn’t fly off the handle at him. Losing her temper would mean losing, period. But she also knew that talking much more would only serve to further annoy Titus more so she made her closing statement as brief as she could.

“I'm not convinced this isn't just a plan to get me to go away, and that you'll forever string me along, telling me again and again to ‘come back later.’ Believe it or not I have a series of goals I hope to achieve this decade or the next. If you want time to think and make up your mind, that is your choice to make, I can’t rush you. But know that I won’t wait, and I am actively seeking teachers anywhere I can find them.”

She fixed him with her gaze. Eye contact to show that she meant business.

Titus stood, and for a moment Gladys was sure he was just going to walk out on her. But, much to her surprise, instead of leaving he closed the doors. Oh, she didn't like that, but it was better than having him just up and leave her without a word.

She had his undivided attention, and he had hers. He spoke and she listened, really listened to what he was saying, and how he was saying it. There was a lot more being communicated besides the words he was speaking. And in her listening, Gladys saw an opportunity for brown-nosing so obvious that she wondered if it would be insulting to take it, or insulting not to take it. But, no, that wasn’t the focus here. His main question was about her goals, and she would start with that and work from there. Let the brown-nosing happen naturally, if it did at all.

“Plainly speaking, I don’t know how to be a vampire; the extent of our abilities, the way to grow in strength. And besides that I have barely sampled the wealth of knowledge that exists in the world and I want more. Do you really think that would cause such a stir?” Gladys smiled and arched an eyebrow at him.

The fact that he thought she was totally cut off from everyone was good. Let him think that. No need to tell him she had a human tutor, and that the Lady Eydis had taken an interest in her personally. And above all else, she certainly had to keep her brother a secret.

Gladys remained quiet, letting him work out his sarcastic retort that seemed to be something of a compulsion. How alike they were in that regard. Then, much to her amazement, Titus caved, and Gladys beamed at him, "Excellent, I look forward to you contacting me when you’re ready to begin—wait. Dirt?" she smiled in a gentle, confused, almost embarrassed manner. Smiling because this was one of the first commonalities they had with one another that wasn’t grounded in an unpleasant aspect of their personalities. Confused because it was surprising to find that maybe she had instinctively gravitated towards something... vampiric. Maybe.

Then, remembering some semblance of an attempt at manners her smile shrank, being replaced with an expression of embarrassment (which she had some time ago realized would have to be more pantomime than relying on the involuntary reactions of the body which no longer occurred, like blushing) and amended, "If you don’t mind me asking." Of all the many unspoken questions she had had throughout their conversation she had failed to stop herself asking this time, and very much appreciated the tenuous nature of Titus' agreement to teach her.

Gladys wasn't sure how to respond to this. Titus seemed a little ashamed of the fact that he slept in dirt, enough to be annoyed that they were talking about it, but not enough that he was trying at all to hide that fact from Gladys, to divert their conversation, or drive her away. Though there was a gap in her vocabulary that prevented her from understanding the operative adjectives he used, Gladys got the sense that others looked down on Titus for his sleeping accommodations. Which didn't make any sense at all to Gladys. It felt so... nice to sleep, buried in the earth, dark, quiet and secured.

"I'm not going to make fun of you for it, if that's what worries you," she said with some caution, "I thought it was more commonly done." It seemed counterproductive to assert, I do that too! He might think she was making fun of him, or lying in order to learn more about his habits to tell to the others later. If he wanted to ask, he would ask.

Gladys was very tempted to make a rude noise with her mouth but she managed to stave off that impulse. “My family...” she said in a ponderous, dry tone, then made a face of disturbed discontent. “Or else what?” she asked after a moment of introspection. “They set the standards, but if those are not met or are broken, what happens?”

Splendid, Gladys thought as realization snapped into place. She was back on the fringes. From skulking about outside human society to skulking about outside vampire society. Not exactly the jump in station she was hoping for, and her face briefly contorted in her frustration.
Titus rose to his feet and Gladys looked up at him, face once again neutral in her pondering. Oh, needn't I? she thought, and an eyebrow jumped in incredulity. Yes, it would be wise to keep this one close; he seemed to have plenty of plans of his own. Plans that involved her.
"Indeed, I hope not. I leave myself in your hands, then," she said, rising as well. The time was far spent and she would press her luck no further tonight. "Thank you for your time, Herr Gainsborough."