EXT - Victoriana Patisserie; day
Dorian had sent a runner to see if Blake was available to meet at the patisserie in Victoriana. Early on the pair had met in the Seiiki for anonymity's sake. Just now, in near view of their shared nemesis' former residence the male half of the twinset felt fine. Times had changed and he needed to obtain sweets. He was betting on his cousin? agreeing to this and likewise wanting to indulge a sweet tooth. Beside that he had leftovers unsuitable for rabbits that he could pack off without taking it home from his morning ride. So it was that he would be sat outside, legs crossed, with a Japanese-tied bundle of onigiri that Keiko had sent him off with. As an adult he chose to put off eating until he could have what he really wanted, choux buns and coffee. Thankfully, smelling as much of horse as he did, he'd chosen an outside table just after handing Irene off to his people at the town's stables.
His hair had half come loose from the tie Di first put in it when she'd brushed it for him earlier, but he'd not dare to untie a ribbon he'd barely be able to put back together as ornately and neatly, best he could do was tighten it and wait until he bathed to ask her indulgence once more. It was not a ploy for proximity or anything, to be pitched as a break from her studies. A ploy his twin would have witnessed him using his native intelligence on many a time.
Here at the sidewalk cafe in riding clothes, Dorian had just received a coffee and a pain du chocolat that he made short work of, while the cooling coffee, already richly scented, was enriched from the flask he carried. The last of the dewy coastal humidity of the morning was burning off slowly under diffuse light from high cloud cover, mitigating spring heat.
Blake Jermyn announced himself with the door slamming open in the way only a foot placed directly in its wooden center can make it. The reason for this was soon made clear, his hands absolutely stuffed with sweets and pastries of all kinds. "Dude have you TRIED the bear claws in there, they're-BRO YOUR HAIR!" He beamed, chipmunking his current mouthful of food into one side of his face so he wasn't COMPLETLEY disgusting for talking with his mouth so full. "I fuckin' love it man, long hair don't care!" He reached one hand up, realized high fives wouldn't become a thing for another ten years, then used it to sweep his own hair back.
Blake had also been through a few changes in his looks, most notably where his legs had once ended in stumps welded to mechanized prosthetics, he was now flesh and blood from head to toe once more. Perhaps just as notable were the smoked lenses which obscured his eyes. "So how you been, fam?" He grinned at the little pet name, not used to using it in such genuine earnesty.
Dorian was lighting up a darkly rolled smokable of some time when Blake burst onto the scene. He stopped with the flint unstruck, then stood, looking at the legs, and instead of answering about his own hair, proclaimed, "Legs!" This delighted him unto throwing himself around Blake in a hug, "Gods' blood, look at you! Fam!" He repeated the phrase not quite sure knowing what it meant, only that it was good, based on context. He did smell of horse and sweat, but he'd set down his lighter and cigarette case upon the table in order to embrace his friend.
"Me, I... I'm fine. Look at YOU!!" Grinning was a fully shared experience.
Blake Jermyn blushed a bit as such sudden attention was drawn to him, his miraculous transformation. "I, uhh, yeah," he said, a little sheepish, a little shy, "y'know the last time I came over your place?" All that happened therein remained unsaid but implied. "Well... That kinda happened all at once right after. Woke up the next morning and, boom, toes again." He looked down at his shoes, at the skin of brand new shins.
The hug was met with a joyous leap into it, a big tight bear hug in return, the coffee he held clutched in one hand sloshing dangerously but mostly contained. "Crazy, right? But like, crazy in a good way." He thought. Perhaps. "You guys are the best, for real.”
Dorian only pressed his torso to Blake's for a moment before gesturing at the other chair for him to sit down, the cigarette holder, engraved sterling with gold inlay would be pushed toward the other chair. "Sit, let us talk. I wanted you to be family, what did you call it, Fam? Is that what it means? Help yourself, this is what I hear they call across the pond, a spliff. My brother recommended it to me, and he was right." The lighter would get pushed toward the other chair too. "You look so well, and I am glad. It is a good family to be part of, is it not? Hahaha. Truly though, I am so glad you can see why my sister is... treasure beyond treasure."
Blake Jermyn blushed a bit as such sudden attention was drawn to him, his miraculous transformation. "I, uhh, yeah," he said, a little sheepish, a little shy, "y'know the last time I came over your place?" All that happened therein remained unsaid but implied. "Well... That kinda happened all at once right after. Woke up the next morning and, boom, toes again." He looked down at his shoes, at the skin of brand new shins.
The hug was met with a joyous leap into it, a big tight bear hug in return, the coffee he held clutched in one hand sloshing dangerously but mostly contained. "Crazy, right? But like, crazy in a good way." He thought. Perhaps. "You guys are the best, for real."
Dorian only pressed his torso to Blake's for a moment before gesturing at the other chair for him to sit down, the cigarette holder, engraved sterling with gold inlay would be pushed toward the other chair. "Sit, let us talk. I wanted you to be family, what did you call it, Fam? Is that what it means? Help yourself, this is what I hear they call across the pond, a spliff. My brother recommended it to me, and he was right." The lighter would get pushed toward the other chair too. "You look so well, and I am glad. It is a good family to be part of, is it not? Hahaha. Truly though, I am so glad you can see why my sister is... treasure beyond treasure."
Blake Jermyn happily plopped down into the offered chair, dumping his pile of sweets and beverages onto the little table between them. "Feel free to swipe whatever ya want, I probably shouldn't eat all this myself..." He laughed, like if Dorian declined, he was totally going to anyway. Indeed, he immediately started in on the coffee, a horrendously sweet and creamy concoction that he sipped with glee, buzzing with energy as soon as it hit his throat.
"Yeah, fam's short for family, cute right?" A playful grin, which swiftly wiped RIGHT off his face as his jaw dropped, his eyes went wide behind their obscuring glasses. "Where the fuck did you find *weed?*" In his eyes, Dorian had offered him priceless treasure beyond compare, his long-lost companion of late nights and long thoughts. Immediately, almost reverent fingers reached for the spliff, his other hand producing a rather battered metal zippo from his pocket.
Only once the smoke was in his lungs did he respond to the conversation, breathing out an immense breath of relief. "Hell yeah man. Your girl's great, I dunno how I took this long to get really caught up with y'all... Although I, uh, have a few questions about that, whole thing..." A surruptitious glance around to make sure no one was looking, before he slowly nudged his dark glasses down, revealing that his eyes were no longer glittering pale blue but a strange combination of yellow and crimson. "Is this supposed to happen?"
Dorian chuffled a laugh as he sat himself down and leaned toward his chum, taking up one of his own to light, off the cuffing it, "My brother has a plant, and Hector's Apothecary.... I believe it has the flowers. I am not sure, I steal them from Drystan." He did move on to more pressing topics, explaining, with his silvery eyes of birth staring into those that had changed in Blake, "Last time my hair was this long my father called me a--well I would rather not say, but it was an unkind word, because of the derision in its meaning. In any case... something that comes with... walking this side of the world, if you will, is change. What was it the mad German with the French disease said, 'You cannot stare into the depths without the depths staring into you?' Something like that. My sister did this to my hair by virtue of walking that world. She is.... most magical, and I--" He peered into Blake's newly coloured eyes and for a moment the silvery irises burned bright to gold surrounded by a paler skin and hinting at a more fierce creature beneath the veil where Dorian sat. There was the suggestion in the air of the whoosh of man-sized wings, whose spectral yellow edges were visible for a moment then they and after them, the eyes within intent upon the black haired young man and the gold haired one, dissipated into thin glamoured air again. He waited for the response to such a thing, his true form hinted at after this far into their acquaintance as if it hadn't been on display at the duelgrounds.
Blake Jermyn stared at Dorian as if the man had just offered him full access to the fountain of youth. "Dude.... Dude if you can get me some seeds? I used to farm this shit for a *living.* I'll get you a whole FIELD growing in no time flat." Could this be the dawn of the Windgrace Weed Empire? Only time would tell...
"Your dad's a dick," Blake scoffed, rolling his eyes. He'd caught plenty of heat for the way he wore his hair in his own younger years, which only increased his determination to let his locks flow free tenfold. "Wish I could give you mine, he's the best ever..." Little giggle as he sipped his coffee, warm glow of love in his heart. "But, uh, yeah. She did warn me that I could mutate into a monstrosity by doing this, and I guess I thought this was kinda that?" A gesture towards his half-shaded eyes, before his eyes went wide as Dorian once again shifted into that gleaming, winged figure, if only for an instant, if only for a flash. "*Damn.*" A long pause to just, take in the majesty of this being that he’d always just seen as, his buddy Dorian. "So like... How do you do that? Go back and forth like that?" It seemed Blake had no knowledge of glamour, thus explaining the sunglasses.
Dorian: || If he felt some covenant backlash against that drop of glamour it was shaken off with a roll of his neck and a tossing of golden locks over one shoulder. Dorian explained it haltingly, this key piece of advice for someone he cared for walking a strange new path, but the way his eyes went wide and from silver to stony upon Blake's talking about his father would assuredly make the dark haired man curious. Dutifully Dorian went to the task at hand, and taking a long drag from his smoke before carefully putting it out with the cherry eased away to be relit later, explain with smoke pouring from his earnest face, both nose and mouth and a long slow exhale, "For me it is like this. You had a long time getting to know you as you remember yourself before, right? Well, you are still that man. The rest is... like a... it is a secret. A secret weapon perhaps. Did I make any sense at all, fam?" Blond brows went aloft as he concluded, trying out the new phraseology.
Blake Jermyn's head cocked at that flash and flicker of emotion, and, yes, his curiosity was piqued. But as well, he felt sympathy swell in his heart as well. He knew that look, or thought he did. Knew it all too well, despite the love he held for his own father. So he didn't press, instead just quietly scooted a bit closer to the other man, almost a protective gesture.
As Dorian explained exactly what it was to become so much more than human, Blake just shook his head, a rueful little chuckle leaving his lips. "Made all the sense in the world, fam," he said, repeating the phrase as if to show him that he'd gotten it right, "Well damn, guess I'm already an expert then, huh? Most of who I am is a secret, what's one more on the pile?" He smiled as brightly as he always had, but perhaps his words now gave rise to wondering exactly how practiced that smile was, exactly what was hiding behind it.
Dorian also felt like he had to explain, "There are beyond ancient reasons why not to frighten everyone else, like being outnumbered. But--" He paused and smiled at a passing pair of parasol bearing ladies as they strolled past. If a wattage could be applied to the size of his smile it would be a large one, and thus she showed Blake another of his defenses against anything he did that was untoward. Charm. It was easy when well-bred, well heeled, and symmetrical of face, without so much as a word.
They'd strolled on before he replied, after supping on brandied coffee, "I looked much the same until I came here, as I ever had. This place is special, and perhaps... here you are on a path not unlike mine own. We were destined to meet. You came to the right place that day, Blake. For none else among my kindred seem to understand some of the very basic things you do. I should tell you... Dinah can answer your questions. She has seen *him.*"
Blake Jermyn offered the passers-by a bright shining smile as well, the joy infectious as the two women giggled to each other as they walked on by. His charm had been a bit more hard-won, relying on silver tongue and clever improv rather than good looks and trained manners, but was quite present just the same, constantly bringing anyone around him on a merry smoke-and-mirrors show, always misdirecting away from that which he wanted to hide, and back towards his bright, exuberant energy. Seems the two of them had even more in common than he'd initially thought.
"Impressive, man. There's gotta be some trick to it, I mean, if I could change my eye colour by lying about it, I'd have done it a long, long time ago... But yeah. Like, from the minute I got here and got into, all that shit with Roesler, I saw you and I *knew* you would get it. Really get it, not like all those other people who think they know what's up with the world but don't know a damn thing about what really makes it tick... Yeah, you know *exactly* what I mean." That bright smile had faded a bit, the heavy burdens in the boy's heart beginning to come into view.
That is, before his jaw dropped once again, eyes going wide. "She-... What? My babydoll, my boy?" The coffee cup shook in his hand, and he reached for the joint again, needing the calming smoke. "Is... Did she say if he's, in bad pain?" Hope widened his eyes, their corners pricked by desperate tears.
Dorian topped off his half emptied cup with a bunch more brandy and stirred it with the tiny accompanying spoon while he listened. While he observed Blake to make certain the other man seemed to understand as far as anyone could what he'd said. And when it came to that discusssion, the one he knew was somehow dearest to this man's heart, though his own father gave him some trouble, Dorian spilled, warmly, cossetingly, with assurance lifting his voice on thermals on hope, "I shall tell you the bad news: that he remains in Roesler's keeping. And it is specialised, for his own good, I am afraid to say. The good news is that he is vital enough to hunger. To consume. And that my sister's contributions seem to have an enlivening effect. More are to come."
His face was grim for a half a hundred reasons that boiled down to one: Niles Roesler. Grimness and a stiff upper lip got buried into strong drink in English fashion.
Blake Jermyn went for the coffee just as eagerly as Dorian did the brandy, savoring that bittersweet flavor just as deeply as the effect it had on him. Remembering another time, another cafe so similar to this, when the subject of their current conversation had been seated right there next to him, smiling so wide and so joyously that the coffee had dripped down the tear in his cheek, only to be cleaned away by Blake's kisses. It was as if the liquid itself could bring Blake closer to him once more, caffeinated eucharist to a lost god of time.
Steel gripped Blake's heart at the news that his beloved was still in the hands of the one Blake trusted him with least, his redgold gaze downturned, his shoulders slumped. "Fuck. It's *never* the good pain with Roesler...." A heavy sigh, his strange phrasing seeming to reveal that 'bad pain' was not a measure of intensity, but rather a sort of category. "But... You said he's eating?" He looked up again, shocked. "Baby almost *never* eats, I have to try so hard just to get him to eat his noodles sometimes, and noodles are his favourite... So, that's gotta be a good sign..." A little laugh of desperate hope, though it seemed the storm cloud over Dorian's mood now hovered menacingly over Blake's as well.
Dorian: || With as many reservations as he had about it, the balance of the story was not Dorian's to tell. But he could admit, "The man trusts Dinah, he is... fixated on her for some reason, so she has access. You should speak to my sister, she can tell you the rest. I was not there. You know he has moved residence to a ship above the isle. Far above where the belly of such a beast belongs, I say." Dorian had been planning to say it face to face with the great serpent since his sister had returned clad in clothing different than she'd left their home wearing, and with a new appendage taken under the German's watch. His hands. How could he help but snarl considering that part rather than the consumption by Blake's father? The two things were far apart and past conception like why Dinah and Drystan wanted anything to do with Roesler at all. Beyond his urbane demeanor, kindly affect, handsome face, cultured tastes, connections.... Dorian's face grew grimmer by shades as the list went on in his mind.
Blake Jermyn only glowered further at that. "He trusts her because he *wants* her. And that trust is probably just a facade. That's what people like him *do,* they act so perfect, like they were made for you, kind, understanding, trusting... Until you're in too deep to get out easily. That's when they turn on you, like rabid dogs. The minute you can't escape. The minute no one will believe you." His voice seethed with hidden vitriol, fire of fury blazing in those brand new eyes. "*You* get me, though. I-... You don't gotta talk about it if you don't wanna but... There was someone like that in your life, huh? Someone who was all smiles until the door closed? It's... It's not easy. Understatement, I know, but I ain't tryina make us cry here... But when you get out the other side, it's almost worth it. Because life never felt so beautiful without all that ugliness before, and when you really do get free, you know. You know how not to fall into their traps again. And maybe, if you're lucky, you can stop them before they hurt someone you love." His eyes had locked on Dorian's now, burning bright. "Good friend of mine one said that what you do with those people is *kill them and eat them.*"
Dorian listened and closed his face's darkening with a hand rubbing his dark honeyed brow. He drew a long breath and let out an even longer sigh before he'd explain, "I served in the royal navy. A LONG time ago. There was a captain I once admired, I thought he saw me as my father did not. I was wrong. I mutinied and my father had to buy me out of it. I brought back the crown a ship worth a county's yearly output, its hold full of treasures rare to the sceptered isle, rather than risking it searching for--" His passionate explication broke off just there with a huff. "Ancient history, unrecorded. Thanks to my father's good name and greater coffers."
He'd show a frightening aspect of himself as he grinningly explained, "I did not kill him. Only his son." To keep the captain's threats about taking Dinah from coming true. There was no remorse just twisting of a certain ring upon his middle finger. "But, send word to Dinah, when the snake hasn't lately been an object of pity, turning up at our home for succour as he did of late. Just now he's been fawned over by my kith and kindred." This hurt of Niles' did not give Dorian any reason to smile any less, really.
Blake Jermyn listened to Dorian's tale with careful nod, careful focus. But when he got to the end, rather than recoil in horror, Blake only *smiled.* "If the son's just as bad as the father, then good on ya. Even if not, hell, I get it. I'm not sure how many others I took down with the last dragon I slayed, as it were." He knew they were in public, made sure to disguise his words. And even then, even if they weren't... He wasn't sure how ready he was to speak the words at all. He could count the number of people who knew such a terrible secret as this on one hand, and even of those, most of them he hadn't told directly, only shown in other ways, let them draw what conclusions they may.
"Yeah, I'll drop her a li-... Wait, what?" Once again, he leaned in, eyes bright and wide with curiosity. "What happened? He got his shit wrecked? Do you know who did it?" He was almost eager as a puppydog, as he went over the many enemies his enemy had. "Wasn't me, or Mr. B neither. We were, uh, busy last night. Together." A blush tinted his cheeks.
Dorian shrugged in answer before he set down his now fully emptied cup, then he's answer, "I know not fully, but twas not I, sad to admit, who what did you say, 'wrecked his ship?'" A set of dark chuckles emerged in punctuation, and a much less angelic boyish smirk crawling up one side of his mouth after he'd laughed again. But he'd conclude, "Could not have happened to a nicer man, could it? But who is B?”
Blake Jermyn shook his head. "Well if I ever find out, I owe that person a beer. Or like, a lot of pizza, if they don't drink." A wicked little laugh, matching Dorian's own. Man, the more he talked to his first and best Callistan friend, the more he found in common, the more he ended up so glad that he'd had the courage to crawl, dirty and bloodsoaked, into his lovely rose garden. He grinned at the twist on his turn of phrase, and, honestly, shipwrecked was a good term for it. He might just have to steal that one and make it legit...
"Ya damn right, maybe it wasn't by our hand directly, but that just means our sweethearts won't get mad at us for hurting such a 'nice' guy, am I right?" A conspiratorial little wink, before the question prompted more blush from his cheeks. "Mr. B? Short for Berkshire, dunno if you know him but he's like, around. Guy's got *loads* a' money, so I wouldn't be surprised if ya run into him hangin' out where rich folk do. Kinda standoffish at first, but trust me, he's another guy who *gets* who Roesler really is, gets what it is to get the rose-coloured glasses pulled off your eyes early. He's another guy we can *trust,*" Blake insisted.
Dorian: "Pizza, I love pizza, is there a place around here that does one well?" Of course Dorian was at first focused on pie, but he soon pulled up and toward more important topics at hand, "Berkshire, heard of him, he took our maid. Married her, I hear. Didn't make too favourable an impression on Dinah, but I shall let you know if I encounter this man." He was ever on the hunt for people who might help him with his case against Niles, and this personage was somewhat unknown to him. He'd carry on, after another chuckle, "I am glad you are having a good time though. You know I was so glad that day that Dinah understood you were to be kin, that you were."
It had made his life much easier, having to be that much less duplicitous to someone who he'd rather hide nothing from.
Blake Jermyn nodded eagerly, grinning at thoughts of pizza. "Yeah, there's a couple places around. Made it at Kitty Kisses once, but I dunno if it's a regular menu item or nothin'. You ever been to Kitty Kisses? It's like, right next to your house. Real cute little cafe. Real cozy and homey-like." It seemed hard to believe that the dilapidated building next to the Windgrace manor could suit this description, but Blake seemed to believe it strong enough.
"He ran off with your maid? Well, shit. He does like to get around a lot, I guess... Put a pretty girl or boy in front of him and ol' Mr. B turns into a slavering horndog. But I can't say I ain't glad of it, might never've gotten to know the guy otherwise." Another blushing, sheepish grin. "Shame Dinah ain't impressed, but maybe that was Roesler's doing." He huffed. "Mr. B and Roesler go way way back, and I don't know the whole story, but I know Roesler fuckin' boils his blood just as hard as he do ours, maybe even more, so drop him a line some time, at least if it wouldn’t get ya in hot water with ya gal." A grin.
A small bewildered laugh wound its way from his lips at the mention of being family, though there was affection in it. "Hah, yeah... Kinda blowin my mind, if I'm gonna be honest. Like, if you told me a year ago that I *had* more family, let alone would actually get *along* with them, I'd have called you nuttier than a shithouse rat. It... Takes some gettin' used to though, don't it? Knowing that I'm, this..." He made a gesture towards his eyes. "Still feels weird to think of myself as anything other than just an average jackass, another face in the crowd. Like I thought at first all the praise was just gettin' to my head or somethin' but I can't shake the sense it's just... Weird." He sighed, a little huff of frustration.
Dorian: || The expression nuttier than a shithouse rat made Dorian bark and then howl with laughter. On the other side of it he’d explain, “Speaking of this average jackass, I need to get back and cleaned up to present myself to my siblings. I told Naoko that I would fill in diving for him today after luncheon. We’ll talk again soon, won’t we? And you will come visit us? We at least have a full larder... right?”
Blake Jermyn laughed brightly right along with him, beaming bright with wild joy. "Shit, yeah, don't lemme keep ya. I got an apothecary to hit up, anyway..." He'd tucked the remains of the spliff behind one ear, patting it almost reverently. "Good luck divin', don't let any sea monsters bite ya," he said with a grin as he hastily pocketed every last uneaten pastry. Perhaps he wasn't a street urchin anymore, considering how close he was with some of the island's richest, but old habits die hard.
"I'll drop Dinah a line in the post, don't be surprised to see me over at your place some time soon, alright? Good to come and see my fam again in any case." A grin before he was hopping out of that seat, dashing off again with all the boundless energy of youth. "Good seein' ya man, talk to ya later!"