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 Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 8:12 am
If there was a bigger turn-on right now, Barth saying he hated Riley made him tail flicker and gave him the reassurance that Barth x Riley would never be. The kisses were a deeper reassurance, far from the awkward, wary peck that only made him feel desperate to reaffirm that he hadn't done something wrong. While he was stuck to the boil's clothes, his fingers only curled into the soft fabric, not wanting to let go this time.
When at last they parted, Calder only spared a quick glance at the door. "She wanted to know why I hated her, and seemed to want to be my friend. I listed all the things that bugged me about her, but most of all how she treats Christof. Like a tool and never as a person. I said if she stopped being a Mistress to him, actually hanged out with him, and didn't only use him as someone to do work, then I might not hate her as much." It gave Riley a chance to prove that what everyone was saying was true.
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 6:34 pm
"Calder," Barth said, beginning to undo his cravat.
"Why in hell would you want Riley to get along better with Christof?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 7:07 pm
He didn't get why Barth wouldn't see why. "Well, Christof works all the time to please Riley, and despite wanting to spend time with her, all he does is get used by her. He usually never enjoys any of it, and always seems pulled thin by all the projects she has him doing. Sure, he likes working and being used, but in the end, all she is doing is enforcing that that is the ONLY thing he's good for. At least when Christof comes to see you, he's doing things he likes most of the time, and he can come here to talk and hang out. I don't see any of that with Riley. I told her that out of all the many reasons I don't like her, that was the biggest. I told her if she wanted to get me on her good side, she should start being less of a Mistress to him and just hang out with him. Treat him like a person and not a worker."
Calder was watching Barth undo his cravat. Was this....a close-up striptease?
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 7:39 pm
"And what do you think," Barth began, and if it was a striptease it was an incredibly slow one. He kept loosening.
"will happen after graduation, if Riley and Christof's relationship improves? ...At this rate, unfortunately, even if it doesn't improve."
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 7:47 pm
Calder looked down at Barth's hands, more in thought than in waiting in anticipation. When he looked up, he was concerned. "I don't know, but then again, after what his master said, Dr. Fell, he could wind up being sold by then or.....who knows. We haven't really talked about that, Barth. After graduation, Christof could be placed in a ever worse environment than the one he is in now. It wouldn't even matter if he became friends with Riley if he winds up carts off to some other master who will keep in in some storage room or basement, never to see anyone again."
He didn't like thinking about it, but it was something that needed to be addressed. "We have to keep that from happening."
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 8:00 pm
"Christof won't end up in a storage bin," Barth said stiffly. "But he...he and I..."
This was harder to talk about openly. There were a lot of emotions that went with it. A lot of acknowledgements of what Riley was better at, what she offered that he didn't- and if she was friends with Christof too.. it just made him depressed. He found his way to the top button of his shirt.
"Riley doesn't need tips on winning him over."
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 8:03 pm
Calder sighed. "Yeah. She's already done that."
Maybe it was best they didn't get along, but he wanted his friend to be happy, and in the end, he wished Christof would make friends instead of being used as a tool. His hope was that it would in turn make him work alongside others than under them, and promote a sense of self worth the boil greatly lacked.
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 8:07 pm
"Not yet. I mean, I haven't asked, but they have ways of regulating that kind of thing at this school."
He wished Calder could help him with the buttons, but his hands being stuck were the reason the shirt had to come off in the first place.
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 8:12 pm
Calder flushed a bit. "Well, it's not like are even close to going that far, and even if they did....well, I hear students can get away with a lot on school grounds. If they wanted, and were at that point with each other......then, they very well could." Though he just couldn't see Riley and Christof together like that. Riley was just now trying to be friend with the Igor and she was in love with Malodore.
"Are you worried that once the become friends, they will go that far in their relationship? Don't you think you're forgetting Malodore might have a say on that?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 8:22 pm
"Well, I mean, Malodore likes Christof too, I don't see why it should have any problem with it."
Barth reached the second button.
"I have a problem with it."
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 9:38 pm
"OH! Well....I guess if Malodore is ...into that as well, I never thought it liked Malodore more than simple friends." That was a strange thought. To think that Malodore, Riley, and Christof would all date each other and go that far. Maybe he really wasn't seeing how close they were and could be. It was often hard to gauge the Plague Doctor at times when it was so even in emotions.
When Barth fiddled with his buttons, Calder tilted his head enough to look up at the boil. "Do you....worry that Christof will leave you once he gets that interested in her?" If Barth was worried Christof would leave him, that really meant Calder has no hope in having his friend stay with him if his master couldn't even keep the Igor around.
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 9:49 pm
"He will leave. It's not an if. Riley and I aren't going to be sharing a castle. It will be one way or the other."
"It's not your fault," he added softly, "she would have gotten around to it eventually. Being friendly. She's already started to notice- I just wish you wouldn't help her."
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 9:53 pm
Calder frowned, feeling horrible bad now for what he had done. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." He looked back up at his boilfriend, eyes pleading. "...but didn't you two used to talk about how you and him would invent together? He, he went through all that trouble when you were captured. He really was very upset. If he didn't to leave back to school then.....why are you so sure Christof will just forget you in the future?"
Then again, Christof didn't come around as often anymore. Calder noticed how he didn't see the Igor over at Barth's as often. He wondered if Barth had noticed that too and was why he was thinking about this now. "You still forget. Christof might be kept by Dr. Fell after graduation. He might not even stay with Riley in the end or have that choice."
He felt conflicted. "I don't want Christof to be owned by anyone."
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 10:06 pm
"I don't- ... I don't want that either," Barth said, "And I do like inventing with him. But we've- we've never talked about beyond... that's a lot of presuming on my part. He's- Riley comes first for him. I know that. I've seen it enough times. Fell is ultimately a businessman. I can deal with him. But what Christof wants, that's an apple from a different tree."
Still on the third button.
"Sorry this shirt is taking so long. I'll have it off in a moment. What about you, I thought you and Riley didn't care for each other? She just- wanted to be friends, all of a sudden?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 10:40 pm
"Hmm." Was all that Calder could say on the matter. It was true that Christof was looking at Riley in a different way, but probably because he loved her. Compared to that, Barth didn't compare. It was a sad turn of events, but it was ultimately something that would have to be talked about with the Igor later. "You should talk about it. If he wants to make it clear what he wants in the future, at least you won't be left assuming. Just a thought."
He looked at the third button, not really focusing on it as he was on the conversation. "She and I got into a fight, and she wanted to know why I was friendly to everyone else but her. She seemed sick of it, and upset. I don't know if it's because she didn't know why, or if she just didn't like that I didn't like her. She does tend to win people over, like you said. I can't see her having any ultimately goal in winning me over if she has one. I don't have anything to give. I certainly won't be used to do any work for her, that's for sure. It seemed harmless enough to give her a shot. Christof, Malodore, and Jericho all hang out with her, and I'd like to be able to be with them and not have to walk away whenever Riley shows up because....well, like you, in the end I would come in as a fast second. The vote on who should go would be made without thinking."
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