} i came here by day but i left here in darkness

[cailisairgid]

Who: Princess Nuala & Jack Benjamin
What: With revelations abounding about the Candlelighters and House Ecumenal, a conversation must be had.
Where: Third floor at St Vökr.
When: Veerdi evening.
Notes: Check out Sol and HB's reports for what led to this. Also, strict formal dress code.
Warnings: None as yet.

Despite Nuala's relatively brief time in Baedal thus far, this is not the first private dinner she's attended (or hosted) at St Vökr and she's as comfortable as she's going to get with the guarantee of privacy that the restaurant offers. Having arrived just barely early with Integra's creative denunciation of the House Ecumenal still ringing in her ears, she waits for Jack upstairs with a virgin cocktail and their menus, the files she'd brought with her still neatly in the slim case that had sat discreetly beneath her cloak. It's frustrating not to know how much the Militia already knows - more than they did a few weeks ago, certainly - but she doubts they're much interested in transparency with the Hellsing investigation.

Neither Nuala nor Integra suspect Jack of involvement - he can't possibly be that stupid - but it's imperative that they compare notes and that a decision is come to about what must be done next. He's a useful ally, and at times she thinks perhaps he might be a genuine friend; this is a problem for all of them.

Comments

[cailisairgid]

In politics - in the work with Hellsing - sometimes distasteful things must be done, and become, to achieve better ends. It isn't a pretty truth, but it's something Nuala is much more familiar with than she sometimes seems.

(She is condemned to death; she does not forget it, for a moment.)

"My disappointment will be useful, in that way," she says, simply, as she slips the slim file back into her case.

[mightyfallen]

It's something Jack finds near-intolerable at times, that he cannot be the person he is, that must so often act against what he knows to be right. It's worse now, with her, to think not only must he do so again, but he may lose her good opinion in the process. (He can't remember, precisely, how her good opinion became so important to him, but the fact that it has is as clear as the tiny flinch he gives at her words and the momentary hollowness behind his eyes.)

"So it will." His smile is small, polite, and false, but it's better than showing what he feels. Whatever is left of the food and drink, he hasn't the stomach for it now. He gives a nod and rises. "Goodnight, Princess."

[cailisairgid]

"I will see you here," she reminds him, almost delicately, as he gathers himself to leave. "I won't forget who you are."

This is a necessary evil, and in some ways meeting here will be important to her simply to keep that in mind- she has no desire to condemn him for a course of action that she has in no small part encouraged him towards. She may be capable of ruthlessness (she is, more than most who know her here can imagine), but she is the bleeding heart of Hellsing now and she sees him flinch, wishes to soothe it.

"I will not forget who you are to me," she repeats, more certainly, and leaves it at that.