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 Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:51 pm
"Like I said. He was there." He still wasn't looking at Barth, but lowered his mug into his lap. licking the sugar from his lips. He put too much in that some of it didn't dissolve. He liked when things were sweet.
"...but he's okay. He at least agreed." He felt a little tug to his lips. "I wouldn't have thought demons would be so against giving a mark." It had seemed nothing for him to receive one, but it was like pulling teeth to get West to agree.
The smile was short lived, and resumed to a more concerned look as the monster ran his fingers around the rim of the cup. Porcelain. Easily breakable. You didn't see too many of such cups in a monster's home. Most were tin or some metal, and you often tasted it. That of cheap clay that could be replaced.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:55 pm
Barth laughed a little at that. West had been against it? He was the only demon Barth could think of that would balk at being asked for a Favor.
Calder's expression quickly soured, though, and Barth sobered too.
"What's the matter?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:03 pm
"Just thinking. I used to make fun of Christof for being marked up when we first met. Now, I don't mind it at all." The heat was traveling through the cup into his palm, and he liked it. He still felt warm in the face though.
"I think I know why he likes them so much. I don't know if that makes me pathetic."
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:10 pm
"Well it's not necessarily bad, Marking. There's a sort of security in it, for some people. Knowing what they're about. Most err, most people prefer to be needed than to be needy." Barth hesitated. "I don't like to force people into things. I prefer Contracts where...both parties are getting what they want."
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:19 pm
"I like that. Both sides agreeing. Both sides wanting it. Being needed and useful." He finally looked back at the demon. "Don't tell him, but I guess I got a little Igor in me." Which was probably a bad thing considering he was a kelpie.
He took another sip of his tea. "I do like knowing that you're tied to someone ...even for a little while. It kind of makes you feel important to have a mark. Like you were important enough to have one." He was rambling, and blamed it on the hot tea. The heat was getting to his head again and making him ramble more than he ever wood. "At least you can't get dumped with a mark." It was binding, better than some fake promise made by some passing boil who said he liked you.
He'd never forgive Cade for that.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:25 pm
You could dissolve a Contract, as long as neither side had been filled, but Barth thought better of mentioning that. He wasn't sure that last statement was really about marks.
"...Florestival?" Barth guessed. "That wasn't err, the fellow you were engaged to, was it?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:30 pm
"I never got engaged to Cade!" He huffed, shooting Barth a shocked look as if insulted Barth would even suggest such a thing. Huffing, he moved over and placed his empty cup on the nightstand, before wiggling hsi way against the headboard and pressing his back against the pillow, forcefully arranging the sheets and blanket to get comfortable.
"We just kissed." His brow furrowed. If Cade had asked, Calder knew he would have been stupid enough to accept. He thought Cade had been kind and lovely, but he was just as stupid to be tricked as he always was. Being tricked all the time and winding up with nothing. Just a stupid anklet.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:38 pm
"Ah," Barth said, this time with a different inflection.
"Not err, very nice of him, taking advantage that way," He tried to keep the guilt out of the sentence, now not sure if he even wanted to ask if Calder had been completely out of it.
"Who, then? You mentioned it, last night. Being engaged."
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:54 pm
He had been more huffy about Barth's suggestion about Cade that the word 'engaged' had slipped under his radar at first. The second time, it did not. The word sent red alarms spinning in his mind and he jerked his head to look at the other boil in shock. "I what?! When di - last night?" He didn't recall, and if he had spoke about it.....last night had been foggy...
...it had been dark, very warm, and he remembered that dream. Whispering and a kiss.
He in no way remembered talking casually about his engagement!
He gripped the covers and pulled them close, as if Barth was some vicious beast who had stolen the secret from him. He wasn't' supposed to know about that. No one was supposed to know! Under the covers, his one leg brushed against the other, the anklet in question moving just a bit.
"I...He's just someone..." Calder started to twist the blankets in his hand, looking around the room and back at his hands. "...someone from my clan." His ears were dropping and he could feel his face getting warmer.
He brought the covers up to his face, wanting to hide, before dropping them back down. "Please don't tell anyone. I don't want anyone to know." He hadn't wanted Barth to know either, but it seemed it was too late for that.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:02 pm
"What?" Barth asked, honestly surprised at the reaction. "I won't, of course, but-"
This embarrassed? Over an engagement, of all things? ...And to someone from his clan? Were they...involved? Was it arranged? Calder was acting as if...well, alright, he'd acted similarly about the thorns, he supposed, but he was meant to be keeping those under control and them hanging about at all meant a kind of public failure on his part, up there with not being house trained.
Why the secrecy?
"You err," Barth wasn't sure if this was pressing too close to the issue, "You mentioned you disliked him."
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:08 pm
If it was hard to look at Barth before, Calder was going to start appreciating all the little details of Barth's room more than ever with how often he looked around. He started to run a hand through his hair and comb it, a comforting action when he was nervous and rather be talking about easy things like Botany homework or what they thought Cafeteria Meal E was made out of. Not this.
"I do. I mean, I don't like him." He pulled on his hair a bit more. "I just sorta....had to go with it. It's..really complicated. It's just.....something I had to do." His frown continued to deepen. His eyes quickly glanced up. "How much...did I say about it?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:11 pm
"That's about it, admittedly," Barth said. "You don't err, you don't remember at all?"
Barth was feeling just as anxious.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:19 pm
Calder felt his insides sink. That was about it. He mentioned nothing else. So, it really was a dream?
"Um, no....I guess I don't." He stopped combing his hair and let his hands drop to his lap, disappointed. "I must have just been sick." And dreaming things in his messed-up head.
"I really don't like him though. I mean, if I could, I wouldn't be with him. It's just...sorta tradition. Ensuring you're protected by being in a band and that you already have someone when you feel ready." He didn't know how to explain it to someone who wasn't a kelpie. He wouldn't have to explain this to a kelpie. They would just know and think it was just normal.
"He just made the claim and no one else opposed." No one else had wanted him. "It's not like I'm going to the pumpkin patch with him." He didn't know why he was justifying this to Barth.
No. He knew why. He didn't want Barth thinking he was off the market and yet here was was, ruining his chances. You don't have any chances! This is all in your head. He has Lilith. Remember??
"You think it's weird, don't you?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 8:47 am
"No, demons have arranged marriages all the time. My err, my parents' philosophy is that as long as some of them are demons, that's alright. Not that I've been...arranged for anyone, I suspect I'm a bit of a disappointment."
Barth looked contemplative.
"It's alright in practice, but nobody err, wants me running the family business."
Which was alright with him. And how he hoped things stayed. He didn't want anything to do with his father's money, or his grandfather's money, and deeply suspected his time having it would be very...short-lived.
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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:28 pm
Calder's attention perked a bit. "So...your family doesn't mind if you weren't with a demon...and they aren't going to arrange a marriage for you?" He tried to not let any hopeful tones slip into his question, only trying to present it as mild curiousity and nothing more.
As for him, he considered hiw own arranged situation. "Ours is sort of...survival of our species. There isn't as many in our clan as their used to be. It's why this tradition is stronger than it was before. If I want to be in the clan, I have to follow the rules." As Murchadh had told him. "...but I don't think it's right. The clan didn't like it when my mother wanted to be with my dad, even though it was clear he was a kelpie too. They just weren't sure and didn't want anything else other than another one of our kind. It would defeat the purpose of getting bigger." They didn't do mix monster groups A herd had to look similar for survival. Letting in strange creatures into bands made it something else and it threatened their culture - as most felt. Calder...not so much. "I think I don't think the same cause I've gone to school."
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