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Post by Plaisir Durante (R) on Nov 29, 2005 10:42:42 GMT -5
I sat in the carriage as it made the short trip from my home to Gentian. It didn't feel like a short trip, but that was due to the fact that I was so anxious to see Vivien again.
I touched the box on the seat next to me. I had spent much longer than I had thought I would trying to find the right present. I had finally happened upon in a little store that sold imported goods. The proprietor had called it a kaleidoscope. It was a brass tube just longer than my hand. There was a thin chamber at the end that held bits of colored glass. When you held the tube up to the light and looked through the other end you were treated to a dazzling rainbow that changed as you turned the tube. Looking through the kaleidoscope had given me a bit of the same wonderful joy I had felt when I was with Vivien. It was perfect.
As the carriage pulled up to Gentian I leapt out, ribbon tied box in hand. I swept into the foyer and told a waiting adept who I was and who I was here to retrieve. I watched as the girl hurried off.
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Post by Vivien nó Gentian(D) on Nov 29, 2005 11:46:13 GMT -5
I had been the bane of everybody’s life all day long. I had been more than usually unwilling to settle to anything and Celeste had threatened to gouge my eyes out. Twice.
With agonising sluggishness the hours trickled away until finally it meant I could legitimately waste an hour or two getting ready. And then there was more waiting. And then … some more … and then, just as I was embarking upon my forty third game of Patience with my tarot cards, Estelle came to fetch me. With one final glance in the mirror I hurried out of my room and dashed through the corridors of Gentian, my shoes making an impressive amount of clatter upon the polished floor tiles.
I skidded through the door of the antechamber where Plaisir was waiting for me and just about managed to totter to a standstill. I hesitated, experiencing a moment’s horrible uncertainty that maybe he’d changed his mind in the intervening days or that, perhaps, I wasn’t what he wanted any more. For even I had been startled somewhat at the difference between the slim young man with his hair in a tight and austere braid I saw in the mirror today and the dreamy, tangle-haired creature who usually glided about the place in other people’s gowns.
But I was so glad to see his face again that it banished all doubts and I flew across the room towards him. I hurled myself bodily at him, wrapping my arms about his neck and my legs about his waist, and pressing my artfully carmine-pink lips to his before I’d even said hello.
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Post by Plaisir Durante (R) on Nov 29, 2005 11:54:36 GMT -5
My brain registered surprise at the change in Vivien's appearance, while my heart leapt in joy. Rather the same way Vivien leapt into my arms.
I held him to me and kissed him passionately.
Reluctantly I finished the kiss and pulled my head back so I could look him in the eyes.
"Now that has got to be my favorite greeting of all time," I said with a smile.
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Post by Vivien nó Gentian(D) on Nov 29, 2005 12:07:27 GMT -5
I rested my forehead lightly against his, staring into eyes and grinning, I am sure, quite absurdly. And then I kissed him again, on the nose, on the brow, on his chin, on both cheeks … leaving glistening pink traces of my progress behind me.
“I’m so glad to see you,” I said, still clinging to him for all I was worth. “I could have made the greeting even nicer but there are people watching.”
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Post by Plaisir Durante (R) on Nov 29, 2005 12:20:24 GMT -5
I chuckled at his comment. "We shall just have to hold off on the rest of the greeting until later then." I kissed him again and then set him down upon his own feet.
"Don't you look marvelous," I said with a smile.
I picked up the box I had set on a side table. "I brought you something," I said, holding the box out to him. I had been thinking of teasing him and making him wait until later to open it, but I couldn't wait any longer myself.
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Post by Vivien nó Gentian(D) on Nov 29, 2005 17:33:53 GMT -5
Preening under his compliments, I extended a leg in its exquisitely heeled and shining shoe and performed a sweeping bow. “I’m glad you think so,” I said, blushing a little, tucking a strand that had inevitably worked its way lose from my plait behind my ear. “It’s not my usual style. It matches you very nicely.” I stroked a hand along the soft fabric of his sleeve. “You look very dashing too,” I added, shyly.
Coyness, however, vanished as he held out a box to me. “For me?” I asked, excitedly. “I love presents. Thank you so much. Which reminds me, I have plenty of your money left from the outfit. I just wasn’t extravagant enough. Except I can’t remember where I put it. Maybe I gave it to Nyx. No wait. I think I must have left it behind at the tea shoppe. Don’t worry,” I added, glancing at up at him wide-eyed. “Caraf will have picked it up. She never lets me forget things. And she’d take better care of it than I ever could.”
I accepted the box and peered curiously inside. “Oh, it’s a … uh … I’m sure it’s lovely and that I’ve always wanted one but, uh, what is it?”
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Post by Plaisir Durante (R) on Nov 29, 2005 17:43:28 GMT -5
I smiled as he looked at the kaleidoscope.
I retrieved it from it's nest of velvet and standing behind him held the eye hole up where he could look in it.
"Look in there," I told him, pointing the other end towards the flame of a candle.
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Post by Vivien nó Gentian(D) on Nov 30, 2005 6:59:03 GMT -5
I lent contentedly back against Plaisir’s body as he came up behind me to show me the present. I turned my head so that I could give him a sceptical glance before putting my eye to the bizarre metal tube.
“Oh!” I gasped, pulling back almost immediately and blinking to clear the brightly coloured dancing stars from my vision. “Oh! It’s … what is it?” I took it carefully from his hands and turning it round and round. I shook it curiously and then risked another peep inside. “How do they get those in there?” I asked, staring transfixed at the turning flickering multi-coloured fragments.
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Post by Plaisir Durante (R) on Nov 30, 2005 8:15:03 GMT -5
I smiled at the unsure look Vivien gave me and then chuckled at his response to the beautiful sight within the plain looking tube. I had had the same reactions.
"It's called a kaleidoscope," I told him. "Those are little bits of colored glass, but I am not sure how exactly it is all put together. The shop proprietor was hesitant to give out too many details."
"All I know is that it is beautiful and delightful and unique, like you," I said, reaching out to caress his cheek, "and I wanted you to have it."
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Post by Vivien nó Gentian(D) on Nov 30, 2005 10:41:57 GMT -5
“A collide-a-scope?” I repeated, still staring down the tube and making the coloured pieces of glass dance as giddily as my heart. “What a strange name. What a miraculous thing. I wonder what makes them move in such patterns.” I put it back in its box – lovely though it was I would rather be able to look at Plaisir.
“Thank you so much!” I said, standing up on tiptoes to kiss him. “It’s ever such a clever present. I can’t wait to show Caraf but I don’t think it’s the sort of thing one ought to take to a party, do you? Caraf is my best friend, by the way. She’s from Heliotrope and she’s going to be their tonight with some foreign lord. I can introduce you.”
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Post by Plaisir Durante (R) on Nov 30, 2005 10:53:41 GMT -5
I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him to me as he kissed me. A smile returned as he rushed on about his friend.
"No, I don't think the celebration is the best place for your gift." I let go of him reluctantly.
"We have a long carriage ride ahead of us, so perhaps you should go stow the kaleidoscope and you can tell me all about your friends on the ride."
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Post by Vivien nó Gentian(D) on Dec 1, 2005 5:42:30 GMT -5
I nodded, mind straying instantly and catastrophically to the possibilities of a long carriage ride. Before I was overcome by blushes, I fled back to my room to leave the collide-a-scope somewhere safe. I paused again by the mirror before I return, smoothing any escaping hairs back into place and touching up the kohl I’d used upon my eyes. Vanity satisfied, I hurried back to Plaisir.
“I’m ready,” I said, slipping my hand into his.
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Post by Plaisir Durante (R) on Dec 1, 2005 10:11:57 GMT -5
While Vivien was stowing away his gift I caught sight of myself in a mirror hanging on the wall. I laughed as I saw the trail of pink kisses that was evidence of Vivien's delightful welcome.
I was removing the last of the carmine with my handkerchief when Vivien returned and took my hand. I twined my fingers with his and we headed out to my carriage.
I handed Vivien up into the carriage and climbed in behind him. I had just settled in when the carriage began to move. I reached over and pulled Vivien tight me.
"I have missed you, my sweet Vivien," I said as I snuggled tight against him.
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Post by Vivien nó Gentian(D) on Dec 3, 2005 18:07:44 GMT -5
“Did you really?” I asked, in surprised delight, resting my head contently on his shoulder as the carriage moved off. “I’d have thought you’d have lots to do to keep your mind occupied. Not like me. I just pined around Gentian annoying people.”
I tilted my head so that I could look directly at him. “I missed you,” I said. “Very very much. I haven’t dreamed of anything except you.”
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Post by Plaisir Durante (R) on Dec 3, 2005 19:08:13 GMT -5
"I had plenty to do, but no matter what I was doing part of my mind was thinking of you," I told him.
I kissed him deeply, letting my longing for him flow freely.
"And what did you dream about when you dreamt of me?" I asked when I finally released his lips.
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Post by Vivien nó Gentian(D) on Dec 6, 2005 9:13:54 GMT -5
I trembled against him as his kissed me, desire flooding through me as the remembered, and yearned for, realities of his body and his scent and the taste of his lips flooded through me. I clutched at him, bereft when his lips left mine.
“Oh, all manner of dreams,” I said, hiding my face in his shoulder to conceal my blushes. “Some of them were merely my fancies, you know … perhaps I’ll tell you more of those later,” I added, mischievously. “But I saw you in your restaurant with your hands all pale with flour or glistening with oil. And I saw you … I think it was some time ago now and the air was full of the echoes of faded laughter and of the stillness that follows the storm … and you seemed like a bow string the moment the arrow flies … and you sat in the corner of your kitchen and you cried.”
I lifted my head from his shoulder and knelt up on the seat to kiss his eyes, lifting a hand to the crisp dark curls at his brow.
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Post by Plaisir Durante (R) on Dec 6, 2005 9:49:10 GMT -5
I was not really surprised that Vivien had seen something that was true. I had not spent time around anyone who could walk the paths of the future and the past, but it just all seemed so natural from Vivien.
I took his hands in mine and looking into his eyes I told him, "There has only been one night where I cried at Désir, and that was opening night. After everyone had left, and I knew that it was really going to be a success I sat in the kitchen and cried for what seemed like forever. I could hardly believe that everything I had wanted, everything I had worked so hard for was actually happening."
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Post by Vivien nó Gentian(D) on Dec 6, 2005 10:36:43 GMT -5
I slithered across the seats until was kneeling across his lap, my body pressed tight against the front of his, and I touched the tip of his nose playfully with my own, keeping face barely a breath from his own. “Surely now you have everything you want,” I said, grinning.
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Post by Plaisir Durante (R) on Dec 6, 2005 10:47:17 GMT -5
I slid my hands up and down his sides and smiled.
"Now I have things I didn't even know I wanted," I said. "Or needed."
I kissed him deeply again.
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Post by Vivien nó Gentian(D) on Dec 6, 2005 10:58:46 GMT -5
I closed my eyes and kissed him back, murmuring when we finally broke the kiss, “We’re not going to make it to the party at this rate. Speaking of which…” I lent back in order to peep out of the window at the star-studded night, “...are we nearly there yet?”
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Post by Plaisir Durante (R) on Dec 6, 2005 11:01:44 GMT -5
I looked out the window as well.
"In fact we are," I said pointing to our destination looming quite close.
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Post by Vivien nó Gentian(D) on Dec 7, 2005 10:10:59 GMT -5
I scrambled reluctantly from his lap, but kept tight hold of his hand. "You won't abandon me to any dragons will you, Sir Knight?"
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Post by Plaisir Durante (R) on Dec 7, 2005 10:18:12 GMT -5
"Never," I said with a smile.
I caressed his cheek softly and gave him one last kiss as the carriage entered the grounds of the chateaux
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