105

[impure_tale]

If that experience has taught me anything, it is that even if I had been a virtuous man, I would still have been the victim of the same injustices, and why? There is always at least one person with power who cares nothing for law, cares nothing for honesty, or equality, or lawfulness, and only about silence and control.

My keepers in Charenton cared nothing for helping or healing me. They only wished to hide me.

[Private to Prefect]

I won't trouble you in person. I realize you were not the same man, just as I was not the same man, in terms of how we each arrived here. But there was still a core of truth in my identity, as I'm sure there must have been in you.

My point -- thank you. There are few that I could credit with saving what sanity I had, and I can say that one of them was most definitely you.

Merci, Prefect.

[Private to Iago]

We shall have this conversation here or in person.

Comments

Private

[inhumandog.livejournal.com]

I do not wish to speak with you.

Private

[impure-tale.livejournal.com]

That's not one of your options.

Private

[inhumandog.livejournal.com]

Then I would rather stay here.

Private

[impure-tale.livejournal.com]

That is a side of me you should never have seen in the flesh, Iago. I showed my file to you in the hopes that reading would have been enough.

Private

[inhumandog.livejournal.com]

The file should have been enough. But, the Barge has other plans. I came through it unscathed. I need no explanations from you.

Private

[impure-tale.livejournal.com]

I'm somewhat glad you did see it. What I was subjected to -- that is the manner of wardening I would shield you from, Iago. I have lived my whole life surrounded by hypocrites in power -- a King who would throw my ilk to the wolves while he sends spies into the bedrooms of the aristocracy when his own becomes quiet and unmoving, priests defiling women on their altars of worship -- many others. They do not relish being told the truth, and they certainly appreciate it less when the truth is brought out in public. If they are powerful enough, they will do anything to silence those that would speak.

If you are to do well here, then your Warden must act to help you, and not just will you to silence and stillness. Surely you must understand that is all I wish to do for you.

Private

[inhumandog.livejournal.com]

I understand.

Is that all?

Private

[impure-tale.livejournal.com]

No.

The man that I was then was not your Warden. You were not my Inmate. As such, I want you to know that I would never harm you in the manner that I threatened then, and I have never been tempted to.

Private

[inhumandog.livejournal.com]

I never thought you had been tempted to do so, Marquis.

Prefect has, by this point, worked out, that EVERYONE LOVED FLOOD HIM :C

[buywithme.livejournal.com]

...

I'm glad to hear that you remained sane, Comrade.

Private

[impure-tale.livejournal.com]

You are a good deal more valiant than I credited you.

Private

[buywithme.livejournal.com]

Comrade, I am very glad that he helped you, but I am not him. I don't want to be him. The core of truth that he had... it wasn't the same as mine.

Private

[impure-tale.livejournal.com]

It is still there, you know. You just aim it in another direction.

Private

[buywithme.livejournal.com]

I promise you it isn't.

Private

[impure-tale.livejournal.com]

Why are you afraid of me, Prefect?

Private

[buywithme.livejournal.com]

...I'm not afraid of you so much as...

I don't know, wary.

Private

[impure-tale.livejournal.com]

Do you think me dishonest? Deceitful?

[themostdashing.livejournal.com]

[Journals are for girls. You just get a lot of knocking on your door instead. You better be home, Marquis. B| ]

spam

[impure-tale.livejournal.com]

[Of course he is. And though the flood is over, and he has returned to his Warden body and state of health, the events of the past couple weeks have taken their toll on him. He slept late, and was woken by the sound of Renate barking at the door.]

Mmh --

[Mumbling, he climbs out of bed and his entire body is shocked with the cold. He grabs his bathrobe and drapes it on, clamping it shut to block the chill, and pads his way across his chamber toward the door. Renate stops barking and sits down beside the door, wiggling with uncontained excitement, as though pleased to present to him that she has discovered a visitor.]

Apaiser vous, Renate.

[He opens the door and appears to freeze in place, staring.]

spam

[themostdashing.livejournal.com]

[Pavi has absolutely no time for however the Marquis chooses to respond to his reappearance, however. He moves forward with definite intent, slides one hand around the back of the Marquis' head and kisses him firmly, kicking the door closed behind him almost as an afterthought.]

spam

[impure-tale.livejournal.com]

[He's taken aback, certainly, not given time to even wrestle with whatever emotions were boiling up inside him. He is simply suddenly being kissed, and he has no reason to object, no reason to not kiss back. His arms slip around the other man's waist, fingers clenching and unclenching, bunching up the fabric of his vest.]

spam

[themostdashing.livejournal.com]

[Pavi wastes no time in pushing him towards the nearest wall, pressing his mouth to the Marquis' neck. He has the faint recollection of a lifetime's celibacy knocking around in his head - something that seems impossibly absurd, like a life without food or oxygen - and until he's done something to exorcise it, it's unlikely that the Marquis is going to get anything resembling conversation out of him. Sorry. Priorities.]

spam

[impure-tale.livejournal.com]

[Thankfully the nearest wall is covered in tapestry, sparing the Marquis from the sudden bolt of cold that would have stricken his back, even through the fabric of his robe, if it had just been bare stone. He is gasping the minute Pavi releases his mouth, the hands on his back moving and grasping with deeper tension, made up of savoring and anticipation.]

spam

[themostdashing.livejournal.com]

Mi sei mancato. [It's a low whisper, and not something he's about to admit to in English, but there it is. Pavi backs off only for the time it takes to get his own vest off, tearing at the buckles and buttons, then kisses the Marquis again and pulls at his robe. There's little tenderness in any of it, his every gesture fuelled with a forceful hunger.]

['I missed you.']

spam

[impure-tale.livejournal.com]

[And with any other man, he might have gotten away without anyone else understanding it. As it is, the Marquis has pushed past any moments of shock or tenderness that had pushed themselves to the forefront and returned each gesture with equal fervor and zest.] Stare, Paviche. [He whispers it almost savagely, but there's a snatch of desperation in his breath.] Stare...

[ooc: stare = stay (italian)]