@Sunny
Three Oaks is quite literally right next door to the Dunlin House, on the opposite side of Cati's place. In the last six months or so, it's gone from a wreck to a rather beautiful manor house; the stated intention was to renovate and repair, and it looks like they've really achieved it. It's reasonably well known throughout the family that Lili manages a rather ginormous household of people, some of whom are family but most of them are not. Catching her at home, not a for sure thing, but tonight she is here, lounging around in front of the television watching some mindless home improvement show.
There is a knock of the door, the sound hopefully loud enough to carry to the lady of the manor. Lara waits on the other side of the door, bundled up like a goth in winter. In one black-gloved hand is a bottle of bourbon, dangling absently as the eyeliner-loving Lara waits to be admitted.
Rolling her eyes, Lili lifts her head and looks, like she expects whoever it is to just open the door and walk in. When that doesn't happen she -- completely without an audience, mind -- exhales an over the top melodramatic sigh, dragging herself over to tug it open. She's wearing black fleece pants and a pale yellow t-shirt, her hair a little bit ruffled. Still, she pulls it off well. There's a moment of staring when she sees Lara on the other side of the open door, and then she's stepping back and waving a hand in invitation. "Hey," she greets. "Come on in, it's cold. What's up?" Weary, those words.
"Peace offering," Lara says without any pre-amble, extending the bottle of bourbon out as she steps forward and into the beautiful manorhouse, a sheepish look gracing the delicate slant of her rosy cheekbones. "For Thanksgiving. I didn't mean to ruin it." She gives a shiver, acclimatizing in the warmth of the house, her green-eyed gaze sweeping first Soleil, and then the foyer. "This place is beautiful. So much better than it was."
"Oh," Lili answers, taking the bottle and glancing at it, then back up. The door is closed, and she's turning to pad over in the direction of the bar. "Thank you. You didn't ruin it, though. Not by yourself, at least. Did Catriona get a bottle of bourbon, as well?" She slips behind the bar, finding an appropriate spot for the bottle on the shelves there. "At least it was just arguing, rather than -- other insanity. There were no zombies, nobody tried to burn the house down, nobody got shot or even shot at. Pretty mild family holiday, all told."
Lara's very pale brows shoot up high on her forehead, both soaring there like wings for a long moment. "Zombies are fairly common around these parts?" she queries, watching the woman as she moves away, eyes tracking, possibly faint with approval. "As for Catriona getting a bottle... not sure I'm sorry to her, yet. That's why I'm here, aside from apologizing to you, since you were hostess. I'd like to try and understand why she went off the handle. I heard she's had a rough time lately?" Her fingers toy with the zipper of the puffy black coat idly, eyes staying on Soleil.
"Yes," Lili replies mildly, glancing back at Laura for a moment before she gestures the woman further in. "You can hang your coat up in the closet there, mind the shotgun. Would you like a drink?" She turns back to the bar, setting about getting herself some juice and vodka poured. "Her fiance cheated on her, they broke it off at the altar. Amongst other things. And she went off like she did because people were ganging up on her."
'Mind the shotgun' Lara mouths with a wry, friendly smile as she finally unzips and slips out of the puffy coat. Underneath, there is just a lot of black leather and red satin. It's a dress, of sorts. The top is crimson satin corset, studded of course, the bottom is black leather, full length, covering the winter boots she slips out of. "She didn't know he was cheating on her till they got to the altar?" Lara queries in surprise. "That's in bad taste. Some men."
"No, I think she knew before, but it all came out at the altar," Lili answers, picking her drink up and heading back for the couch. Holmes on Homes is turned off, the remote set aside before she settles down to sit. "I don't really know what happened, but I do know it's been rough, and I do know I'm the last person you want to criticize her to if you're actually here to make peace. Cati isn't just my cousin, she's one of my best friends."
Lara holds up both hands like she's being robbed as she follows Soleil, foregoing the drink and settling down on the couch not far from the other Dunlin. "I was criticizing him, not her." She cocks her multi-coloured head, staring at Soleil with those cut-glass perceptive eyes. "I feel like you're determined not to like me. I promise, I'm not so bad. I was just defending my brother. I respect that you were defending Catriona." There's a smile that follows that, as Lara plaits her fingers together on the leather skirt covering her lap.
"And if I wasn't determined to not like you, accusing me of it is helpful how?" Lili asks, lifting her eyebrows lightly, her own expression one of simple calm. She shakes her head, takes another drink from her glass. "My objecting to your behavior at dinner the other night does not mean that I am determined to not like you. The issue I took with your actions towards Catriona would probably have not put me off of you as much as they did had you not spent the first half of dinner discussing Barnabas's penis after others had dropped the subject, which made me incredibly uncomfortable, and frankly made me want to claw your eyes out." It's all said entirely conversationally, like she's talking about snow in the Winter in Maine. What? Yes, of course there's snow.
Lara has that same look of calm-it must run in the family. "I spoke about my newest book, with a nympho vampire as the title character. Belle mentioned that Baranabas played one on television, though he stated he didn't. Catriona brought up Barnabas's penis to begin with, mentioning that he flashed it on an episode. I said nothing. Maddox brought it up again. I said 'Oh, well if you're offering'. And then I said nothing more on the subject." She stares at Soleil. "I have an eidetic memory. But, clearly it's got you upset, then, even if that's not what happened. I'm sorry."
<OOC> Lara says, "Sorry, took me a minute to review the log :)"
Which is when I reviewed the log to make sure I hadn't actually done what Soleil seemed to think Lara had IC at the aforementioned scene (I hadn't), was told by someone OOC what was happening (because apparently she had already started bad mouthing me to them), and then asked to peace out. It was a great second scene on a game I had just joined.
