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 Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 12:28 am
For the past week, Mare had been presiding over Alg's schedule. This meant, in all things, she was effectively tailing him around the sect of the Court that belonged Thorne, demanding of him new teachings every night to be improvised on the spot with no books or pens or paper. She also had him tell her his stories - murder mysteries, Thorne had explained to her once. They were all so fascinating. They reminded her of bedtime fables, and when he left her on a cliffhanger she sought him out for retribution - the next line in the story. Thorne checked in periodically, his tired eyes growing more exhausted until suddenly there was light in them again.
Mare knew why, but thought it polite not to simply assault him with the topic.
So instead, as the morning workout concluded one day when the window outside was either trying to tell them that it was overcast and the middle of the night or overcast and the sky simply decided to be full of stars, Mare found Alg in one of the luxurious shower rooms afterwards without so much as knocking first and said so that her voice echoed to every corner of the room, "If you do not mind my asking for such a conversation, may I have a word with you on the act of courtship. Rather, I am inclined to know your thoughts on marriage, as you are a veteran of the act yourself, and therefore the trials that must predate it - that is, the act of courting itself."
She paused.
"I have come to understand that courting itself has changed over the ages to a less standardized form. For instance, ones ability to pleasure in the bedroom has become far more casual. It baffles me so, but I would rather wish to breach this topic with a knowledgeable man first."
She was obviously Plotting Things.
Meanwhile, Thorne hissed Mean Things at her as he followed her in, disheveled and unruly from the chase. She was definitely not supposed to be doing this - this had not been what he'd intended, goddamnit. iloveyouDIE HELLO FROM THE MIDNIGHT CREW here is your overdue start!!
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 10:35 am
If Thorne seemed to get more weary as time went on, it was to be expected that Alg was too. The physical regime he was being put under by Mare, something he'd underestimated at first, was hard on his body. At some point he knew, he was bordering on it now, that he'd be used to it but every day there was fighting, training, and Mare was a bit more tricky than he expected. His knuckles and hands were bruised, his body ached, and by the time he was allowed time alone it wasn't alone at all. By the time he was allowed rest, to sit, his mind was being exercised. She wanted lessons. She wanted stories. Worn to the edge of exhaustion he was made to think and formulate tales. It was easier, at her request, to tell her Red Herring stories but even those some nights were difficult to recall details or he'd fumble over some clue that tied a later string in the tale together. Mare didn't let him forget it or get away with it. He'd be woken up with more questions. Insistence. And then in the morning, after doing his best to satiate her, he'd be woken to fight and train again. And the shower was his brief respite. He'd noticed his sides becoming more trim and though he wasn't quite losing his stomach his body was firming. There was some displeasure in it, a hard set frown and a sour sinking in his stomach because it always made him think of his husband. To miss him deeply when he was finally given freedom of his own thoughts. Even if the exercise had revealed a certain clarity of mind that he was learning to work with, he wanted nothing more for his comforts and his home and Jeremiah. Algie was not pleased to be disturbed after his shower, hair still wet and half dressed, he near jumped out of his skin when Mare's voice echoed around the shower room and he tugged on his shirt to hide skin. The professor ever remained conscious of his body. "I'm not exactly a veteran-" Alg couldn't hide the creases of annoyance to be disturbed in the very slim moment of time he was allowed to be alone. "-I've only been married recently and-" Thorne was joining her. His eyes moved between them both, "I'm not sure what you want me to say..."
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 12:45 pm
"Oh, but at least you are married," Mare said, a glint in her eye.
Thorne exhaled sharply, staring at her to avoid staring at Alg. He agonized every day over the fact that he had taken the professor - that he had done the wrong thing. But if Alg was able to succeed - and he would, he had to - maybe he could help Noeh. Help them all. And to succeed, he had to want it, had to miss it, had to fight for that life that had been stolen from him again. The subtle differences of this regime sharpened over time, grated. Thorne knew. And Mare had a way of making sure quiet was never long, being alone was never quite a thing.
But that didn't stop him wanting to leave the room the minute Mare opened her mouth and said, "Perhaps not a veteran, but you at least have courted someone else successfully at least once, and that in of itself is a triumph that the Lord Alexander might as well try and understand himself." Mare crossed her arms, and then decided better of it and pointed at Thorne accusingly. "I would like you firstly to tell my Lord that he has no business wandering around looking heartbroken over a transaction which has not occurred due to his inability to even discuss the concept of courtship with that whom he would desire to marry - "
Thorne, who was edging very quickly from disturbed to horrified, waited until the exact point when Mare said, "And I cannot believe that it is because he is worried about his performance in bed, when I have known it to be true that in some capacity they do share one, which is why I would like you tell him to stop hiding out in his study and actually addressing the fact of his intentions," to turn and leave the room, his entire face on fire.
Mare stared after him, expressed her distaste by making a noise of displeasure, and turned back to Algie.
"I will wait for you outside," she said pragmatically, "But I would very much like to discuss with you the world of courtship as you know it when you are done, before lunch of course. I'll prepare tea."
And left Algie to his machinations. For the time being, at least.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 2:58 pm
Alg was caught in a moment of gaping silence. Thorne's own horror and fleeing actually saved the older man from having to be questioned about his tattoo that had been briefly on display, the green dragon on his chest, but he knew there would be worse conversation waiting for him outside. Mare had been difficult for him at first, his only experience with her kind being at the ball, but she had grown on him slightly. She had an inquisitive nature that he appreciated, a sense of propriety and manner in most scenarios which he could support, but when it came to things like this she was strange - aggressive in some ways - and slightly over bearing. When Alg finally emerged, dressed and combed and shaved (because Mare had some standards to be met), he was still wary about where this would be going. "Is this about Thorne and Chris?" He moved to help her with the tea if there was anything to be done.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:38 pm
Mare smiled at Alg as he emerged, and once satisfied with both the tea and the small plates of snacks she'd prepared, she sat down daintily across the table from him. The apples were cut into ribbons, sweet sugar dragonflies delicately perched on top, cheeses laid in a beautiful array. Later she was planning pumpkin soup and roasted seeds - the harvest season was coming soon.
After spending so many days together, she had learned Alg's preference for tea, but always allowed him to design his own brew, the sugar cubes stacked neatly in the center of the table alongside a jar of amber honey that glittered in the half-light.
"If that is how you would like to view it," Mare responded idly, preparing her own cup of tea and humming a sweet little lullaby. She found Algie an agreeable sort of company, and liked what he taught her. She would like to ask him for more from his own tales, but right now a different concept was on her mind.
But then she paused and blinked at him.
"What made you want to court your husband?" she asked, curiously. "Why did you reach for him instead of anyone else?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 9:11 pm
At first he'd relished the tea, one of the proper luxuries he was granted, but slowly he'd stopped enjoying it so much, started taking it with less sugar, drinking it more bitter. He drank it, he set it that way, but as some small self punishment. Alg wasn't sure why and he'd gotten used to the bitter tinge on his tongue, he just didn't want that comfort of home here in this place. He wanted something else to strive for. Mare made delicious food but it wasn't Jeremiah's. There was the lack of home. As he picked up a sugar dragonfly he thought a moment of how he'd kill a man for his favorite tin of biscuits. Cheap. A little dry. Mass produced. He missed them. "Well I loved him since I was young," Alg admitted plainly, "We were friends as boys. He's... an amazing person and always was." He shrugged a shoulder, "And he helped me grow stronger just to be with him."
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 9:32 pm
Mare sips delicately at her tea as he speaks, watching him with wide, curious eyes that speak of something sharp behind her lady-like demeanor, her long-winded speeches and supposed intrigue with courtship romance.
Placing it down, she looks up at Algie, her mouth set into a sweetly sharp line.
"Is that why you're here?" She asks. "Is that why he took you? Do you think what is happening now will be enough for what is to come? When you must fight back, will you be that strong person that he helped you become all on your own?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 6:05 am
Algie knows very well of the sharpness behind Mare's girlish interest and courtly manners. There was a reason he'd been left in her care, her watch, he training. Because she could eke out training, hardship, and when necessary the punishment that Thorne could not. "We seemed to agree there were things that needed to be protected," Alg couldn't say totally why he'd been taken. But Thorne, in his way, wanted to help the professor be stronger and better. To feel less helpless. "I need to be strong of my own volition. Not only because of someone else, but for them. On my own."
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 11:05 am
Mare sighed and tilted her head at him.
"Need to and are are very different things," she said, a statement of fact. She reached for a sugar confection and played it between her hands, making the light from the window dance off of its wings. She paused, and then decided to change the tracks of their conversation.
"Very well," she said, "When you write your heroes and your villains in all of your stories, what do you make them out of?" She tilted the dragonfly towards her mouth, looking up at him, "What do you do when you want to make a villain?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 11:16 am
"I can only strive to be better until I can confidently say that I am," The professor picked up cheese and apple together. "I wouldn't be here at all if I was. I wouldn't need this... wouldn't need Thorne's patronage." Alg looked at Mare, "Wouldn't need to know you at all." The food was popped into his mouth, chewed quietly, and he thought on her questions. He did teach creative writing so it wasn't so hard to direct on that front. "I pull from the real world. I find traits in people I know, people I see, despicable influences that are believable. There's nothing worse than an unconvincing villain."
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 11:34 am
"Well that is just rude," Mare replied, picking the wing off her dragonfly, "You make it seem as though I am poor company, which I promise I am not. Just imagine if Corr was still here. You would have lost limbs by now, I'm sure."
She listened to him with rapt attention, eyes bright and curious. She was a very good student when she wanted to be, but her sharp mouth made her too dangerous to be put into a classroom setting so leniently.
"Very well," she said, "Do you believe there are villainous traits here? Do you think your own monsters really see themselves as what they are to your readers? It's a curious idea, to pull from the real world, but I do not think it is so easy in the real world to say here is the hero, and here is the monster."
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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 6:00 am
"Not rude, don't misunderstand. Just truth." Algie peered over his glasses at her. "You aren't poor company, the fact remains if I didn't need improvement, training... discipline," he sounded loathe to admit that part, a man at his age needing such a thing, "I simply wouldn't be here." Another bit of food was taken, and again there may have been some self punishment in the way he didn't gorge on food here. Even sweets held less appeal within present company. Not as a personal offense, but he didn't want to like this. Didn't want to be comfortable in his surroundings. "There's villainous traits in everyone," Alg ate his apple, "Myself included. Selfishness namely. It's a strong motivator. Given a proper end goal, almost anyone can justify their actions no matter how heinous and that lack of definition between hero and villain is what pulls people in." Alg lifted his head, no more food for him, and tucked his hands against one another in front of himself, "And people's ability to identify with a villain's motivations even may garner sympathy. You know a lot of people enjoy the villains more than the heroes. More struggle against base instincts.. and sometimes the right and proper choice isn't always the one most would make when put on the spot."
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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 10:06 am
"Very well," Mare responded, looking at him curiously. "I accept that line of thought, but you seem very adverse to the idea that you do in fact need discipline. Is it such a terrible thing to need to improve? To be stagnant in life, I imagine, is the most dangerous thing of all."
She twirled the leftover dragonfly in between her fingers, a laugh treating her throat as she watched Algie explain himself to her.
"Ohh," she hummed, the sound pleased. "You may just as well be right, to say that villains can be loved. And anyways, are we not all villains to someone? The devil himself was an angel too, once." She crossed her ankles one over the other and laid her hands in her lap, smiling at Algie.
"Very well," she said, "What sort of villain do you see in me?
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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 10:54 am
There was a difference between stagnancy and comfort. To be steady and settled did not mean to be stagnant.. but perhaps he was deluding himself. Perhaps he truly had been existing in a stagnant place. Had he made any personal progress of his own accord, or had changes merely been thrust upon him against his will? Besides marrying Jeremiah, and perhaps the choice to let Thorne help him, had he truly chosen anything that had happened to him in Ashdown? "And the devil was also written to be the foil of a story. But what a backstory they gave him, hmm?" It was clear that the professor was not religious. Alg rubbed his chin and his fingers itched to write, to draw, to jot all this down like they did every day when they spoke, when she pressed him for information or lessons or to dredge things from his murky memory. "Well I don't know your history very well," He did most of the talking, her the asking, "But anyone deemed a teacher or a trainer can be put forward as a villain. Inflicting hardship, even with the prospect of progress, can twist the recipient." He was a teacher, he knew this first hand. "To know your story I could certainly sort more.." Alg smiled and rested his chin on his hand in amusement, a tease, "Are you trying to make it into my books, miss?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 2:12 pm
"It's an elegant backstory, certainly," Mare replied, "There was always such a violent beauty in a fall, don't you think?" She rubbed her hands clean of the sugar dragonfly and leaned back in her seat, hands clasping over her bony knee. "There is also the distinct thought - that the mind makes the punishment, and not the action itself. He started going to Mass, again, you know, after he took you."
She laughed, a crisp sound like the crunch of autumn leaves in the fall, or the scrape of a branch against a window after dark.
"Oh? What would you guess at, if you had to put a backstory to me?" She asked, eyes lighting up. "And I suppose that is well and true. But is that because of the method of teaching or the trainers intention? We are all striving to fit some sort of mold."
She made a noise like she was mockingly affronted, looking at him with merry eyes.
"Oh, but the ruse is up!" She said grandly, and laughed. "I would very much like to live on in a book, I think. It is a very grand way to go on living, even after death, and I much admire your way with words. I think you could write me a beautiful story, villain or not."
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