Just paperwork? [Surprisingly uneventful.] Almost seems anti-climactic, after everything they put me through this morning. I was half-expecting they'd make me flog you in public to mark the occasion.
[Dorian accepts the cigarette he's handed, and then lays down next to Toby so he can reach the ashtray on the man's stomach.
And hey, if Elle can take care of it, that works for him. It's more time with Toby, and less time wrangling with administrative services.]
Does she care, at all, that you're jumping ship soon?
They're not going to tell you no if you suggest it. You're the Dominant, you get all the public say. [Or enough of it that he'll get his ass in trouble if he speaks out of turn. He chuckles at the thought and then takes a nice long drag from his cigarette.]
Well she doesn't know yet [seeing as his hands and mouth have been very occupied since Dorian called him earlier] but she won't mind that I'm going back to you. She's our biggest stan, as the kids say. Every time I go on about you, she gets the cutest little dreamy look on her face, like she's hearing the greatest love story that's ever been written.
[That's how their lives are, in a way. All their trials, self inflicted and otherwise, that only keep them apart temporarily and still deeply in love despite all of it. Hard not to see it as a romance, in a way.]
I'll help her find another Submissive, if she needs the help at all. She's resourceful, witty, and sharp, and she throws the most savage shade when pressed. I've no doubt she'll be fine without me.
Grand authority of the city or not, I can save it for when we're in private, or somewhere else we like, [he jokes, taking a long drag from his own cigarette.
He smiles slightly as Toby describes Elle. No wonder they worked out well as contract partners, if she was as into their relationship as she sounds. She must have found Toby's soft spot.]
That sounds fine to me, but what's... 'shade'? [He's from 2016, help him out, Toby.]
[He's not much better, Dorian, but come on! You've got to keep up.]
It's disrespecting someone subtly. An example you might know from ye olden times is the American phrase "bless her heart." People use it to throw shade about someone being completely ridiculous or out of touch before explaining what they've done wrong. Elle does it beautifully with even more subtle and eloquent phrasing.
[It's truly a thing of beauty. He hopes Dorian gets to see it soon so he can see why he adores this woman.]
In that case, it's just another new word for something old. [He's amused, and pleased to recognize the slang across time. Thanks, Aisha.] People like Oscar and Harry were kings of 'shade', in their time.
If she's that socially astute, she'll be something to be reckoned with, [he agrees, and then takes another drag off his cigarette, as he rolls his gaze up to fix it thoughtfully on the ceiling.]
Did I know her, too? I can't remember. [Obviously, but it still gets a mention because it's weird.]
Honestly, I'd give a lot to hear Oscar of all people use the phrase throwing shade. It would've been an absolute riot. [Especially coupled with the fact that the man was brilliant at it. Toby read all his letters and works, he knows the man had the wit and intellect for it.]
You did, at least in passing. You weren't friends like she and I were, but you did know her, if mostly through me. [He chuckles, helping himself to a drag of his smoke.] She's a very earnest and pink person, and you asked me more than once if she was truly like that. And she is. I can show you her room in the house tomorrow. It's obnoxiously pink, and perfectly her.
[High praise from Toby, and Dorian will know that for a fact.]
Someone like you could have convinced him to, probably. [For a moment, his smile takes on a wistful quality.] He was weak for romantics - and a pretty face, [he adds, knowingly.] Bat your eyes, and he'd talk himself into almost anything. [Unless it was cruel. Oscar never could follow him, there.]
Obnoxiously pink? [He can't even begin to imagine, and his morbid curiosity is officially piqued.] Which room was she using? [Screw tomorrow, he wants to see what's happened to their house, now.]
I do have a way with people, [he chuckles. All that without his vampiric abilities, too! He knows he's charming and damn near irresistible unless he's the opposite of someone's type. Even then, he's got good potential as the "gay best friend" for almost anyone.
Ah, well, guess they're moving now?? Toby barks out a laugh as he sits up, cigarette between his lips so he can help the other man up.] The spare bedroom. I wasn't using it for anything, and the city made a rule a few months back that people contracted to one another had to live together. I wasn't about to have her living in our room, either, so this seemed best.
[It's going to need major redecorating when they take it back over in full, but that's a problem for future Dorian and Toby. Present Dorian and Toby have a bedroom to investigate and all of Elle's things to see.]
Have a care you don't mess with any of her crafts or makeup when we go in, darling. That would be rude.
The spare bedroom takes a little finding because everything's so new, but when Dorian does step into Elle's room, it's clear what Toby meant by 'obnoxiously pink'. The arrangement of the decor isn't terrible, he must admit, but all the pink. What is... happening.]
You weren't kidding about the pink domination. I feel like I'm standing in Barbie's adult Dreamhouse. [Dorian picks up a plastic tumbler that has a cursive 'Hello, beautiful!' hand-painted onto it in glittering, champagne-coloured paint. What the actual hell.]
...Mixed with a side of 2000s pop psychology. [What does he do with this, Toby? This room contrasts his entire existence????????]
[Dorian, he has to be sure. He really likes Elle, so give him a break and be kind about all this! >(
The reaction to the bedroom is great, though. Toby barks a laugh and all but doubles over before he can answer any of his fiancé's thoughts. God, it was worth it not to give him better warning just for that reaction.]
She's from the early 2000s. I'm pretty sure her love languages are Cosmo, sugar, and cocktails. [With a healthy dose of sex on the side, now that she's in Duplicity.] You were confused by her last time, too, but I assure you she's very real and is everything you'd expect from this room.
[A beat, and he grins.] She also runs a spa in the Down and has access to all the best soaps, jellies, and bath oils. Care to try a few out?
[Let him show you the brilliant master bathroom, future husband! From the eyebrow waggle in your direction, you should know it's that good.]
I have no idea what I'm supposed to expect from this room. [He really doesn't. He's met all kinds of women, men, genderless, and genderfluid people with High Femme energy, but what he's looking at feels like an exaggeration that goes further than that.] Camp night at the Met Gala? [????] What does she do, besides running a spa and owning ... [he counts] a lot of animals? [Especially dogs. Nnnghh.
... but yes, please, he is curious about sumptuous bath products.]
Bask in the fact that it exists unironically in our house for another few weeks? [He can't even say it without laughing.]
She's a busybody, though not in our way. [You know, the very normal and mortal way.] Always visiting friends or baking or cooking something. I never run out of things to eat when she lives in the house. Well-- not good things. [Cheese doodles don't count and he knows it, and those he runs out of often.] Also shopping, when she's got enough money on hand for it. She's added a few things to the closet for me in her time here. [They'll get to seeing that later, he's sure.]
Also, no need to worry about the animals. She stays at her other house half the month with all of them. None are are allowed in the house as a rule, and she's respected that without question for the last five months. [God, has it been that long since the decision came down? Guess so, but what a bloody terrifying thing to think. It'd become so common he didn't even think about it. Not the realization he was looking to have right now. He shrugs it off by taking Dorian's hand and leading him back to their bedroom, then directly into the ensuite.]
Bath bombs, shower jellies, a few oils for the bath - all in a variety of scents. I'm sure you'll approve. [He releases Dorian to look over the collection stashed away in a cabinet. The man will find they're all in scents Dorian would choose with only one or two of Toby's favorites mixed in.]
[He really needs to get to know Elle better, doesn't he? It doesn't sound like she and Toby were contracted long, but the other man clearly adores her. A friendship like that isn't going to fade, just because they won't be bound together anymore.]
Are you going to want to keep her room that way, after she's gone? [It wouldn't be such a loss, he supposes, if she really means a great deal to Toby. He'd prefer to make the room over in their own way, but he can have a heart sometimes, for the vampire's sake.
While he's talking, Dorian picks through and sniffs at all the bath treats stored away. Anything rose-scented gets a secondary, approving sniff.]
I've no idea. [He's not had to think about it in anything but an abstract "what if she disappears too?" sort of way, and even then he wasn't certain what he'd do with it. How do you choose what to do with a room that's become so much a part of the house and someone who's lived in it? Elle is still his friend and he wants her to have a comfortable place here, should she visit once Dorian snags him for a permanent contract again, but is it wise to give up their only spare bedroom when she can't stay the night without getting in trouble after the house is in their name once more?
That's far too heavy a thought when he's still swimming in the joy of Dorian having said yes to his proposal, so he shrugs it off for now.] I'll think on it. For all I know, she'll tell us to take it down after she's taken all her things out of it. [A stunned beat.] Actually, she may just do that. She is our biggest fan. [He can't blame her for that; they are the picture of romance, even if the younger immortal will deny it vehemently.
He smiles as he watches his fiancé picks through all the bath goodies. He'll let the man pick what he wants, but he does give a little push toward something particularly nice by plucking up a mini bath bomb labeled as orchid-scented.] It's got dried petals in the center of it too, [he offers enticingly.] I used up the rose ones last week, but we can get more of those this week. They've got a lovely effervescent feel to them and really good scents.
[Dorian samples the loveliness of the orchid bomb's scent, and then lowers the hand clutching it. It hits him how normal all of this is between them. How domestic. They're fitting back into each other's lives like this without almost no friction at all.]
Honestly, we could be about to bathe in nettles and I couldn't care, [Dorian admits, chuckling. He reaches for one of Toby's hands, and smiles up at that beautiful face.]
I just... want things to stay like this, with you, for as long as they can.
We have forever together, darling. [He smiles back and tugs Dorian closer to himself for a kiss.] Not going anywhere now that I've got you again. I'm yours until the stars burn out and we get that-- oh bloody Hell, what was it called again? The uh... inevitable heat death of the universe?
[It's a terrible and poorly executed dark joke, but he grins as if he'd delivered it perfectly. Nothing can tear down his mood now that his soulmate's back and he can look into those gorgeous, expressive eyes and touch that soft and beautifully sculpted body.]
But let's avoid the nettles. You may heal right away, but I still have to deal with the rash for a while before it'll go away. [It'll ruin ~the mood~ if that happens.] We have plenty of other lovely things to use instead. In the bath, in the shower, and in the freshly washed linens we can put on the bed before we pass out.
[A bed in which they will cuddle for a very long time before Toby's satisfied enough to let Dorian go so he's not shivering all night long. God knows it's going to take hours, and he can't care in the least.]
[He knows this won't be their forever, but he can live vicariously through Toby's grinning optimism, just for now. That fantasy is better than reality, and he needs it, when he's only had his vampire back for a few hours.]
The Big Chill, [he affirms, chuckling ... halfway convincingly at the dark joke.] Lucky for us, you can take the cold, and all I'll need is a good coat or three. [Pushing himself harder to overcome his own lingering wounds, he adds,] Hell, it'll preserve the portrait even better than the attic is going to do now. [Who needs feelings, just avoid them all. ♪]
I do like the orchid one. [He touches the bath bomb contemplatively.] But now I'm thinking about when I'll be able to get my things [the portrait] in here. Don't react, because I know it's bad, but the portrait's sitting in a closet right now. [There was no time, okay????]
[Well, then. This is certainly Toby ignoring everything his fiancé has said in favour of that last bit.]
We'll put it in a box I'll carry over tomorrow night. Or whatever night this week when it's packed and ready to go. That asshole can wait in a bin until I'm good and ready to deal with it for all I care. [He huffs indignantly.] Not like that whispering git can get anywhere without my help anyway.
[If Dorian thought there was any chance the vampire would be happy to hear the portrait is back... well, he shouldn't have. The portrait being here is only good in the context of Dorian being here. No more and considerably less if Toby can manage it.
I'm sure the portrait missed you, too, [he says, his tone obliging.]
It won't take long to get it in something, I just need the something, and help getting it in there. We can throw a sheet over it to muffle it, if we have to.
... Do you know a place that's going to throw out a box big enough to hold it? [Not having his memories really isn't helping, here.]
Oh yeah, he missed being the most restless pain in my ass that's ever existed. [Again: fuck that guy.]
We had to have someone build something big enough to carry it last time. I can look up who it was and get them to bring something 'round to the apartment again. [Because he absolutely tossed that box straight into the bin after they were done with it last time.] Won't be hard to get if you make the call. A 'brand new' Dominant, even a LIER, gets a fair amount of leniency from native shopkeepers when they have money for whatever they're asking for.
[He'll just. let that sink in for a minute. Reinforce that all the bullshit he was told during Orientation is true and unfortunately very real for everyday life around here.]
I gathered that from orientation. And all the people on the street acting like this place is the Torture Garden, 24/7. [Ah, the Torture Garden. Good times.
Just not when it isn't a choice.]
Frankly, I don't care what they're expecting. I'm not walking you on a leash, controlling you in public, or doing whatever else they want us to do to show that you're 'property'. [A beat, and then he huffs a laugh.] Unless we decide we're looking for a change of pace.
[It wouldn't be the first time, but still. There are always ways around rules he, or they, don't want to follow. This place might be in a different dimension, realm, or whatever it actually is, but it still seems enough like Earth that all the ways things work here can't be completely different.]
We certainly won't be doing that in public. My "diva" collar doesn't have a ring on it. [He offers that casually, then adds,] At least one of my pink collars does, though, if you're ever feeling like really taking me out for a spin when I've been a naughty boy.
[Troll mode: activated.
But he will totally do this if Dorian ever says he wants it even jokingly.]
[He can't help the laugh that comes at that, as he shakes his head.]
Collars, plural? How many do you have? [The fashionista in him gets it from an accessorizing perspective, but it's still weird, and new, that it's a social requirement to wear even one.]
Seven, actually. [Yes, he's very proud of this face.] Had to cover my bases, and then Elle gifted me a couple of cheeky ones. The "diva" included. She really knows how to gift once she gets to know someone.
[Which is to say he has many lovely things that are all her fault. Gloriously so.]
[Seven collars means that there's actually something to all the insanity introduced during Orientation. Thank Christ Toby's here to give him the full score of what it's like to live here, daily.]
After seeing her room, I've no doubt. [He frowns slightly.]
So it's all real, then. There's a sex quota that someone is actually checking, and people like you [he indicates the stripe on Toby's neck - that unfortunate tattooing of the other man's beautiful skin] aren't able to do as much in this place as people like me.
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[Dorian accepts the cigarette he's handed, and then lays down next to Toby so he can reach the ashtray on the man's stomach.
And hey, if Elle can take care of it, that works for him. It's more time with Toby, and less time wrangling with administrative services.]
Does she care, at all, that you're jumping ship soon?
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Well she doesn't know yet [seeing as his hands and mouth have been very occupied since Dorian called him earlier] but she won't mind that I'm going back to you. She's our biggest stan, as the kids say. Every time I go on about you, she gets the cutest little dreamy look on her face, like she's hearing the greatest love story that's ever been written.
[That's how their lives are, in a way. All their trials, self inflicted and otherwise, that only keep them apart temporarily and still deeply in love despite all of it. Hard not to see it as a romance, in a way.]
I'll help her find another Submissive, if she needs the help at all. She's resourceful, witty, and sharp, and she throws the most savage shade when pressed. I've no doubt she'll be fine without me.
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He smiles slightly as Toby describes Elle. No wonder they worked out well as contract partners, if she was as into their relationship as she sounds. She must have found Toby's soft spot.]
That sounds fine to me, but what's... 'shade'? [He's from 2016, help him out, Toby.]
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It's disrespecting someone subtly. An example you might know from ye olden times is the American phrase "bless her heart." People use it to throw shade about someone being completely ridiculous or out of touch before explaining what they've done wrong. Elle does it beautifully with even more subtle and eloquent phrasing.
[It's truly a thing of beauty. He hopes Dorian gets to see it soon so he can see why he adores this woman.]
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If she's that socially astute, she'll be something to be reckoned with, [he agrees, and then takes another drag off his cigarette, as he rolls his gaze up to fix it thoughtfully on the ceiling.]
Did I know her, too? I can't remember. [Obviously, but it still gets a mention because it's weird.]
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You did, at least in passing. You weren't friends like she and I were, but you did know her, if mostly through me. [He chuckles, helping himself to a drag of his smoke.] She's a very earnest and pink person, and you asked me more than once if she was truly like that. And she is. I can show you her room in the house tomorrow. It's obnoxiously pink, and perfectly her.
[High praise from Toby, and Dorian will know that for a fact.]
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Obnoxiously pink? [He can't even begin to imagine, and his morbid curiosity is officially piqued.] Which room was she using? [Screw tomorrow, he wants to see what's happened to their house, now.]
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Ah, well, guess they're moving now?? Toby barks out a laugh as he sits up, cigarette between his lips so he can help the other man up.] The spare bedroom. I wasn't using it for anything, and the city made a rule a few months back that people contracted to one another had to live together. I wasn't about to have her living in our room, either, so this seemed best.
[It's going to need major redecorating when they take it back over in full, but that's a problem for future Dorian and Toby. Present Dorian and Toby have a bedroom to investigate and all of Elle's things to see.]
Have a care you don't mess with any of her crafts or makeup when we go in, darling. That would be rude.
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The spare bedroom takes a little finding because everything's so new, but when Dorian does step into Elle's room, it's clear what Toby meant by 'obnoxiously pink'. The arrangement of the decor isn't terrible, he must admit, but all the pink. What is... happening.]
You weren't kidding about the pink domination. I feel like I'm standing in Barbie's adult Dreamhouse. [Dorian picks up a plastic tumbler that has a cursive 'Hello, beautiful!' hand-painted onto it in glittering, champagne-coloured paint. What the actual hell.]
...Mixed with a side of 2000s pop psychology. [What does he do with this, Toby? This room contrasts his entire existence????????]
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The reaction to the bedroom is great, though. Toby barks a laugh and all but doubles over before he can answer any of his fiancé's thoughts. God, it was worth it not to give him better warning just for that reaction.]
She's from the early 2000s. I'm pretty sure her love languages are Cosmo, sugar, and cocktails. [With a healthy dose of sex on the side, now that she's in Duplicity.] You were confused by her last time, too, but I assure you she's very real and is everything you'd expect from this room.
[A beat, and he grins.] She also runs a spa in the Down and has access to all the best soaps, jellies, and bath oils. Care to try a few out?
[Let him show you the brilliant master bathroom, future husband! From the eyebrow waggle in your direction, you should know it's that good.]
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... but yes, please, he is curious about sumptuous bath products.]
...yeah. What d'you have?
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She's a busybody, though not in our way. [You know, the very normal and mortal way.] Always visiting friends or baking or cooking something. I never run out of things to eat when she lives in the house. Well-- not good things. [Cheese doodles don't count and he knows it, and those he runs out of often.] Also shopping, when she's got enough money on hand for it. She's added a few things to the closet for me in her time here. [They'll get to seeing that later, he's sure.]
Also, no need to worry about the animals. She stays at her other house half the month with all of them. None are are allowed in the house as a rule, and she's respected that without question for the last five months. [God, has it been that long since the decision came down? Guess so, but what a bloody terrifying thing to think. It'd become so common he didn't even think about it. Not the realization he was looking to have right now. He shrugs it off by taking Dorian's hand and leading him back to their bedroom, then directly into the ensuite.]
Bath bombs, shower jellies, a few oils for the bath - all in a variety of scents. I'm sure you'll approve. [He releases Dorian to look over the collection stashed away in a cabinet. The man will find they're all in scents Dorian would choose with only one or two of Toby's favorites mixed in.]
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Are you going to want to keep her room that way, after she's gone? [It wouldn't be such a loss, he supposes, if she really means a great deal to Toby. He'd prefer to make the room over in their own way, but he can have a heart sometimes, for the vampire's sake.
While he's talking, Dorian picks through and sniffs at all the bath treats stored away. Anything rose-scented gets a secondary, approving sniff.]
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That's far too heavy a thought when he's still swimming in the joy of Dorian having said yes to his proposal, so he shrugs it off for now.] I'll think on it. For all I know, she'll tell us to take it down after she's taken all her things out of it. [A stunned beat.] Actually, she may just do that. She is our biggest fan. [He can't blame her for that; they are the picture of romance, even if the younger immortal will deny it vehemently.
He smiles as he watches his fiancé picks through all the bath goodies. He'll let the man pick what he wants, but he does give a little push toward something particularly nice by plucking up a mini bath bomb labeled as orchid-scented.] It's got dried petals in the center of it too, [he offers enticingly.] I used up the rose ones last week, but we can get more of those this week. They've got a lovely effervescent feel to them and really good scents.
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Honestly, we could be about to bathe in nettles and I couldn't care, [Dorian admits, chuckling. He reaches for one of Toby's hands, and smiles up at that beautiful face.]
I just... want things to stay like this, with you, for as long as they can.
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[It's a terrible and poorly executed dark joke, but he grins as if he'd delivered it perfectly. Nothing can tear down his mood now that his soulmate's back and he can look into those gorgeous, expressive eyes and touch that soft and beautifully sculpted body.]
But let's avoid the nettles. You may heal right away, but I still have to deal with the rash for a while before it'll go away. [It'll ruin ~the mood~ if that happens.] We have plenty of other lovely things to use instead. In the bath, in the shower, and in the freshly washed linens we can put on the bed before we pass out.
[A bed in which they will cuddle for a very long time before Toby's satisfied enough to let Dorian go so he's not shivering all night long. God knows it's going to take hours, and he can't care in the least.]
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The Big Chill, [he affirms, chuckling ... halfway convincingly at the dark joke.] Lucky for us, you can take the cold, and all I'll need is a good coat or three. [Pushing himself harder to overcome his own lingering wounds, he adds,] Hell, it'll preserve the portrait even better than the attic is going to do now. [Who needs feelings, just avoid them all. ♪]
I do like the orchid one. [He touches the bath bomb contemplatively.] But now I'm thinking about when I'll be able to get my things [the portrait] in here. Don't react, because I know it's bad, but the portrait's sitting in a closet right now. [There was no time, okay????]
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We'll put it in a box I'll carry over tomorrow night. Or whatever night this week when it's packed and ready to go. That asshole can wait in a bin until I'm good and ready to deal with it for all I care. [He huffs indignantly.] Not like that whispering git can get anywhere without my help anyway.
[If Dorian thought there was any chance the vampire would be happy to hear the portrait is back... well, he shouldn't have. The portrait being here is only good in the context of Dorian being here. No more and considerably less if Toby can manage it.
But seriously, fuck that guy.]
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It won't take long to get it in something, I just need the something, and help getting it in there. We can throw a sheet over it to muffle it, if we have to.
... Do you know a place that's going to throw out a box big enough to hold it? [Not having his memories really isn't helping, here.]
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We had to have someone build something big enough to carry it last time. I can look up who it was and get them to bring something 'round to the apartment again. [Because he absolutely tossed that box straight into the bin after they were done with it last time.] Won't be hard to get if you make the call. A 'brand new' Dominant, even a LIER, gets a fair amount of leniency from native shopkeepers when they have money for whatever they're asking for.
[He'll just. let that sink in for a minute. Reinforce that all the bullshit he was told during Orientation is true and unfortunately very real for everyday life around here.]
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Just not when it isn't a choice.]
Frankly, I don't care what they're expecting. I'm not walking you on a leash, controlling you in public, or doing whatever else they want us to do to show that you're 'property'. [A beat, and then he huffs a laugh.] Unless we decide we're looking for a change of pace.
[It wouldn't be the first time, but still. There are always ways around rules he, or they, don't want to follow. This place might be in a different dimension, realm, or whatever it actually is, but it still seems enough like Earth that all the ways things work here can't be completely different.]
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[Troll mode: activated.
But he will totally do this if Dorian ever says he wants it even jokingly.]
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Collars, plural? How many do you have? [The fashionista in him gets it from an accessorizing perspective, but it's still weird, and new, that it's a social requirement to wear even one.]
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[Which is to say he has many lovely things that are all her fault. Gloriously so.]
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After seeing her room, I've no doubt. [He frowns slightly.]
So it's all real, then. There's a sex quota that someone is actually checking, and people like you [he indicates the stripe on Toby's neck - that unfortunate tattooing of the other man's beautiful skin] aren't able to do as much in this place as people like me.
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cw: talk of drug use
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