Vivienne

-Truly amazing.  She knows to the second when something is different.-  Vivienne turned and gave Faye a kiss. “Indeed, Mon amour.  Let’s see what is upstairs waiting for us.” Vivienne gracefully pulled away from Faye and stood up.  Looking back over her well sculpted shoulder, Vivienne pointed at a small bronze jar beside the bottle of wine they had been drinking. “I would like you to keep that safe for me until we get to the manor, if you…”  She paused and laughed lightly to herself. “...Alas, you are right.  Use that phrase too much.”  She pointed at the container. “Let me begin again.  I would be honored if you kept that safe for me until we get to the manor, please mon amour.” 

“You never answered me when I asked what that was earlier this evening.”  Faye hopped off the bed and picked up the wine bottle downing the contents. “Which…” She purred softly, “...is what I have come to expect from you.”  Faye looked at her naked form and then back to the sheets.  Taking a moment to pull the top sheet from the bed, Faye wrapped herself so she was fully covered then picked up the metal container.

“Your modesty is endearing, darling.” Vivienne proceeded to walk slowly out of the room, “Feel free to open it and quench your curiosity, however I am going up stairs.”  Disappearing from view, “I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you that I am naked and walking…away…from…you.”  Vivienne giggles.

Faye looked down at her hand for a split second then dashed quickly behind Vivienne. “Wow.”  Faye licked her lips, “I am glad I did my testing, or I would be leaning against this stairwell again, Viv.”

Vivienne climbed the stairs and walked through her living room and kitchen nodding her head as she went along. “It would appear that they fixed the floor and wall rather easily.”  She pointed to the missing appliances. “I shouldn’t have given Martin an open canvas to remodel.”

Faye walked beside Vivienne. “Looks fine, Vivienne.”  She shrugged, “It might be sixty years before you come back here as well.”

“We.” Vivienne smiled and winked at Faye. “...Sixty years before we return.”

Faye gazed at the sheet covered furniture. “Wow, it really does look lifeless in here now.”  She pointed where the television was. “They removed most everything of value.”

Vivienne snickered and walked the remaining stairs. “I am walking away again, mon amour.”

“I see how this is now.  No need to control me with your ability…you just drag me along by staring at your ass.”  Faye hurried to catch up and the two entered their bedroom. “So what are we wear…”  Faye stopped what she was saying and stared blankly at the two dresses hanging on the half mannequins. “You weren’t kidding when you said Cinderella, Viv.”

Vivienne pointed to their bed, “I picked out our underwear and stockings.”

“Stockings?  Who calls them that anymore?”  Faye laughed and quickly grabbed the black cotton underwear, sliding it under her makeshift wrap.  After wiggling to get the fit correct, Faye raised her eyebrow. “I am not wearing hose.”

Vivienne mirrored her progeny and slipped on her underwear and sat down on their bed and rolled the black hosiery over her feet. “I would prefer that you did, Faye.  It sets the tone for the evening.”  She stood up and walked over to her mermaid flared dress. “Elegance, mon amour.”

Faye closed the door to their room and shuffled back to the bed and unwrapped herself from the sheet she was wearing. “Fine.”  The half-Korean woman huffed and carefully pulled her own black stockings over her legs. “I feel like a deranged Barbie.”  Faye held her arms over her bare chest and studied her A-frame dress. “I need a bra.”

“They are built into the dresses, mon amour.” Vivienne blew Faye a kiss and pulled the floor length diamond studded chiffon cape free of the mannequin. “Perhaps me explaining what is in the bronze container there would occupy your mind long enough to get into your dress.”

Faye studied her dress as she unzipped it and pulled it free from where it hung. The black bodice was made so it had one wide strap over her right shoulder and cupped both of her breasts in a small spoon like fashion and stitched perfectly to the lower half of the dress, outlining her waistline. “Vivienne.”  Faye grinned and ran her hand where the dress started to flare. “I love this.  I mean look at how the color goes from black here, to..I think this is champagne and then to white.  With pearls and diamonds?”  She looked into Vivienne’s crystal blue eyes, “Are these real?”

“I picked the colors to match your eyes.”  Vivienne pulled her own gown free of the mannequin and stepped into it.  Vivienne loved the feeling of her strapless solid black gown.  She gracefully backed up to Faye, “Zip me please, mon amour.”  Vivienne felt the dress get tight and hug her hourglass body, amplifying her chest and hips with a flare at her knees. “Yes, my love.  The pearls and the diamonds are real.”  Vivienne tugged lightly on her dress to adjust it and then smoothed out the fabric on her perfect form. “Your jewelry is over on the dresser where you put the jar.  Emeralds.”  Vivienne walked around and zipped Faye’s dress as well. “There.  You look perfect.”

Faye spun once and felt like a princess as she did. “Seemed like the thing to do.”  Faye bit on her lip shyly. “You said you’d tell me what was in the jar there.”  Faye clipped on her emerald earrings and white gold chain with a heart shaped tiger's eye in the center. Spotting the tiara, Faye tilted her head questioningly. “No way.  You can’t possibly want me to wear this.”  Faye folded her arms. “I really will be a princess with that on.”  She pointed to the jar. “Well?”

“That my love is a container full of grave soil.”  Vivienne clipped the diamond encrusted chiffon cape over her bare shoulders. “That goes where I go.  I am entrusting it to you, mon amour.”  Vivienne added her own dangling sapphire earrings to her ensemble, matching her sparkling blue eyes. “I didn’t think you would agree to the tiara.”  Vivienne chuckled, “You look elegant as it is.”

Faye shuffled over to the little jar and opened it. “Did you make this like you did the bowl and utensils?”

“Yes.”  Vivienne added, “I know what you are thinking.”  She pointed to the open container. “That is sentimental, I don’t actually need to have it for anything.  I just feel drawn to have it.”

Faye perked one of her black eyebrows and looked back at Vivienne. “You said full?  It looks like part of it is missing.”  She picked up the bronze and showed it to her partner. “There.  It is a dirt line from where it’s been in there so long it bonded.”

“What?”  Vivienne looked inside where her soil was. “You’re right.”  Vivienne frowned and waved her finger to Faye. “Please put the lid on so we don’t lose more.”  Vivienne walked over to where two sets of knee length boots were laid out.  She handed Faye her set and sat on their bed, pulling her boots on. “Faye.”  Vivienne sighed and gave a worried look to Faye. “Something is wrong.  Very wrong.”

Faye sat beside Vivienne and pulled on her boots, then zipped up the side. “What do you mean?  You are starting to scare me.”

“I have felt like I am slipping…things are just not right for me.”  Vivienne patted Faye’s hand gently. “I don’t know if it is the age.  I feel like I am missing things that I shouldn’t.”  She pointed at the jar. “I don’t know how long that dirt has been missing.  I don’t look at it daily, or even monthly.”  Vivienne put her hands on her hips, flaring out her cape. “I look at it when I want to remember France and my family.”  She shook her head confused. “How did I miss that some of it was missing?”  Vivienne took another breath and paced. “I smelled coffee downstairs earlier too.  Why?  There isn’t any in the house.  No.”  Vivienne’s blue eyes twinkled as she glared at Faye once more, “I haven’t felt anything like that in…what centuries? I am the oldest of our kind, I know it.”  Vivienne paused and rubbed her forehead. “I know because I hunted and killed all of the other elders.”

Faye pushed her dress over her boots and sat quietly, thinking. -Coffee. Missing dirt? Letter mentioned a puzzle.-  Faye turned her head and looked at the letter open on the end table. “Vivienne?”

“Yes, my love?”  Vivienne graciously answered.

“The letter.  You folded it up and set it down after I word tricked you into this trip, right?”  Faye raised her eyebrow and pointed at the letter.

“Yes, why?”  Vivienne leaned forward, concerned.

“It’s wide open.  Neither of us have been up here since yesterday morning.”  Faye smiled. “See?  You aren’t slipping at all.  You had a hunch and sent Casey up here last night to check things out.”