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Post by Dante nó Valerian on Apr 14, 2010 21:34:22 GMT -5
As always with my spare time, I headed out of Valerian towards the bookstore. Books. There was nothing I adored more, the mere smell of them and the turn of each page were exhilarating. However, I was here for more than one reason, even though I did dearly love books. This bookstore was not one I would frequent often for it did not have a selection that piqued my rather particular and sophisticated taste. However, it was a neutral meeting ground and I had more than one reason for being here. I was here to meet up with one of my cousins who I had known since I was a child. We were in the same predicament of sorts, though he was only part Shahrizai while I was full, I supposed that made things different. I skimmed the books, turning to glance over my shoulder, though not my head when I heard the bell ring and I caught sight of that all too familiar head.
I smirked a little, not even turning to face him as I picked up one of the dirty books from the shelf. "I think I found one for you." I was jesting, but my voice did not seem to hint at any of it.
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Post by Demetrius nó Mandrake on Apr 14, 2010 22:22:07 GMT -5
I did not frequent the bookstore, though I enjoy a good read, and found myself becoming better rounded in my reading selections since my appointment to Second. Regardless though, I had rarely stepped into a bookstore, but this one I knew well, I always passed it on th way to La Roche.
I walked through the front door, hearing the bell jingle, and looked down an isle, feeling a pull to it, and sighting a familiar profile, which turned, and showed the familiar face. I walked over, a smile on my lips even as he turned to me with words on his. The man always had something to say, even if it did not involve words.
"Ah, then one of your personal favourites, I hope," I said with a snicker as I raised a brow, then opened my arms to embrace him. "Dante, ah Dante, look at you, all grown up," I joked. It was not as though we had not seen each other since our childhood, especially with him being a Valerian and me a Mandrake, but our professions did not lend to a great deal of time to pass and sometimes these sorts of things slipped through the cracks.
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Post by Dante nó Valerian on Apr 14, 2010 22:37:19 GMT -5
"A personal favorite indeed," I said, dropping the joke as I put it back on the shelf. I would not read such things. I did such things in real life, after all. As he embraced me, I did so back, wrapping my arms firmly around him, feeling those muscles that had developed, feeling the man that I had always loved as a brother. "I should hope I would appear grown up, I am four years your elder, after all," I said, sweeping a loose hair out of his eyes in affection. "So, Second, hm?" I asked, giving him an immature pinch on the cheek. I was always so uptight, but with him, the man that knew me in my youth, it was oh too easy to just let all of that fall away.
"How have you been, cousin?" I asked, squeezing his shoulder as I headed out of the shop. After all, I was only hear to meet him and the fresh air would do both of us well. "You look ALMOST mature now, I can barely believe it." I could not help but tease him, though anyone else would have taken me seriously. A hint of a smile never grazed my lips.
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Post by Demetrius nó Mandrake on Apr 14, 2010 23:18:31 GMT -5
I rubbed at my cheek after the embrace and swatted him goodnaturedly on the shoulder. We exited the shop, the cloying smell of old tomes and volumes of books of every subject clung to me, and I was happy to be out in the open air. I breathed it deeply and let it out in a large sigh.
"Yes well, just because you've grown a bit and filled out little Dante, doesn't make you a man," I said raising a brow. "And yes, well, I may look mature, but you are certainly closer to the graying in fact... is that one I see right there?" I teased. Not many people saw this side of me, the playful side, teh side that wasn't eternally serious or terribly snide and serpentine, but it was easy with Dante. "Yes... Second, so it seems, Ignace must have lost his mind," I joked, "but really, I am enjoying it. What about you cousin, what have you been doing with your time?"
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Post by Dante nó Valerian on Apr 15, 2010 14:17:18 GMT -5
I missed the smell of the books instantly. It was the reason why I had so many, other than the fact that I loved to read. There was a comfort in the smell of pages for me that brought me back home. It was not necessarily because that was where I wanted to be or to remember, but it had always been a comforting place for me, my father's study. I was a bit nostalgic, though not much, and turned to Demetrius with my normal hard stare when he told me I had grown and filled out, but nothing more. "I believe I am as mature as any man. Just because I am not making every child squeal away from me in fear, hm?" I said with my normal half of a smile. "Mayhaps you need to be so scary to make up for an insecurity, cousin?"
I ran a hand through my hair at his comment. "Graying is a sign of wisdom. I'm not surprised you don't have one," I said with a wink. "Ah, you know me. Reading mostly. Assignations from time to time, but that's business. So, reading... tending to the younger adepts. I've never been as adventurous as you." Assignations were, after all, just business for me and barely mentionable. "And how about yourself? Have you found a lady to occupy your time yet?"
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Post by Demetrius nó Mandrake on Apr 15, 2010 15:12:15 GMT -5
I sneered at him as he jested about my lack of wisdom. "Street smarts is far more valuable than book smarts," I said, then, remnembering the trouncing I had gotten from another cousin, I scrunched my nose and winced, "which it appears I do not have a great deal of either," I shrugged, sloughing it off. We walked now, side by side as we talked, with no place in particular to go.
"Me? Huh... well... adventure? Not as much as I would like. As for ladies in my life," I thought on that one. "Yes... and no... there was a woman I had met during the Midwinter Masque," I explained, looking from ahead of me to gaze at him, his profile, "but... well we had fun but there was something... else... anyway who knows," I shrugged again. I certainly did not. There was a spark, there was something different, special, moreso than when I had bedded any other adept during the Longest Night, or any patron. "Basically I do what you do, look after the little ones, help out abotu the House, perform my duties as Second," I said with a sigh. "Life has actually grown rather boring for me.... minus a few intriguing assignations.
It was true and it was sad. The most danger or excitement I had had within this past month was being tossed over a bar.
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Post by Dante nó Valerian on Apr 15, 2010 15:22:00 GMT -5
"Ah, a lady at Midwinter Masque? One night stands have never been my thing." Actually, any sort of non-assignation relationship has never been my thing. I had never done anything with anyone that was not under the sign of a contract, unfortunately, or rather, fortunately. It made things so much simpler to merely say that it was just business and that was how I preferred it. "It seems that is all that is becoming of our life, Demetrius, boring old men who look after children," I said this with a soft chuckle and ruffled his hair a little. "But who knows? Maybe one day you will be the Dowayne of Mandrake and have your life set for you."
I shook my head. "I could have been Second of Valerian but... I don't think that is the path for me." I shrugged my shoulders a little. "Maybe I will travel or go home to Kusheth now that my marque has been made for several years now. Surely you have some aspiration in your life, cousin? Surely you miss home, even a little?"
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Post by Demetrius nó Mandrake on Apr 15, 2010 15:55:44 GMT -5
I ran my fingers through my dissheveled locks, and they fell right back into place. His words stirred me, just a bit, and I thought on what he said, truly thought on it. This had always been a problem for me, something of a conundrum. Wondering what next. I knew I was destined to be Dowayne, should, bless his heart, Ignace ever pass, or retire, but what of me then? Is that what I tuly wanted? Well I had thought so, for the longest time, mainly because I had not thought I would be good at anything else. Dante was a reader, an intellect, he could always go to the University, he coudl always teach or tutor, open up a salon for reading and a bit of something else on the side, for a very high fee, of course.
"You know me," I said softly, "my passion has always been doing the work of Kushiel," I said with a snide laugh and a wry smile as I thought back to my younger days, the days that had made my parents believe that I would be perfect for Mandrake, "I do not know if anything else is in my future other than being Second, and eventually, Dowayne," I continued. "Perhaps they will pair me off with some other adept for good breeding," I chuckled. "Kind of makes me sound like livestock, doesn't it." I sighed a little, thinking hard. "Perhaps I will go home... just to visit, of course. I do not think I could stay there forever. I have grown too accustomed to City life."
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Post by Dante nó Valerian on Apr 15, 2010 19:19:56 GMT -5
"It has. You may very well be a good Kusheline priest if you did not love your phallus so much," I said seriously, but I knew that Demetrius would understand that I was just teasing him. I gave him a slap on the back as we walked. Nowhere in particular, but it was nice just to be out here, just to breathe in the air, just to be in his presence. I loved very few people, but he was certainly one of them, a cousin who understood what it was like to merely be... given away when a family had more than enough money to provide. A better future. More like getting bored of the fact they had accidentally had a child. It wasn't abandonment. Demetrius' family had not wanted him influenced in the Shahrizai blood, the little that he had, and I simply did not seem to have the traits that would flourish in the setting. Maybe it was best that I was here, but still one thing always bothered me.
Why Valerian House?
Surely they could have sent me off to Siovale for learning or to a university or a tutor but... to save money, perhaps? Or was I merely that embarrassing to them? Surely my traits of not wanting to get into unnecessary fights were those that made me submissive, per se? A bothered expression fleeted across my features, but I buried it, like everything else as I turned to Demetrius' problems. "Do not have a child just to... have a child," I said simply. "They deserve more and you're not livestock. Besides, this world doesn't need more Demetriuses than it can already handle. One may be enough." I said, hoping that that would liven his spirits a little.
"When you decide to head home, please send me a missive." I was frugal with my money, I had been saving it the best I could, but for what means? "Maybe I will be a teacher," I said, sounding unsure though and merely speaking aloud. "But will men and women be able to see more than a pretty face that you can bend for coin?" I shrugged my shoulders a little. It was true I could open a salon and do both, but the repetition that assignations had become... I did not think I wanted to do this for much longer, forgive me Naamah. "Let us go home together. I have not seen my parents for nigh twenty years, it will be good to go home."Being a Second isn't everything at least..... it doesn't have to be." That was the reason why I had not wanted the position. "Demetrius, we're fully marqued adepts, we can go anywhere we want and not have to worry about money. We can make a life for ourselves... somewhere."
Sometimes I just felt so trapped. "Do anything. Travel." And yet I knew in my heart this was where he belonged. I just wish he didn't. I was so restless in this city. Books could only tell me so much.
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