The Sun Also Rises

Really, Dorian was quite assured he hardly knew why he bothered to even attempt to correct his Father at all. His very efforts to lessen Matteo's use of the word 'balls' at the dinner table was so only followed by the mans very insistence the entire table had them and that this, somehow, permitted their being mentioned- before a veritable string of sentences all but littered with some curse word or another fell from the elder Fae's lips. That very look of disdain on the Monarch's features only seeming to delight the Frenchman all the more. Frankly, Dorian was rather pleased for that shift in conversation to his own impending Italian trip with his sibling. The Monarch having come to decide he looked distinctly forward to spending such uninterrupted time with Aiden alone! How glorious it would surely be to get to know his brother, to ask those very questions he longed to ask of him and to simply engage in those very activites Dorian was assured brothers engaged in- even if he was, at the present moment, somewhat undecided on exactly what those activities were. Why Aiden sought to ask permission of Matteo before he traveled the Monarch so hardly knew and yet, in that moment, Dorian was content enough to brush such a mild curiosity aside in favour of those promised tales.

It was a veritable wonder, in every sense, just how Matteo had managed to become a farmer at all. Let alone a successful one, when it seemed his only true talent had been the loss of rather a number of sheep. A loss, it seemed, that Alexander had long since known off and Matteo had taken several centuries to admit too! Really, he supposed, he was rather un-surprised by his Father's decision not to admit those very mistakes for some centuries later. The Frenchman, for as long as he had known him, distinctly inclined to pretend as if every mistake, accident or unfortunate event caused by his own guidance (or lack thereof) was somehow either intentional, an act of fate or simply meant to be. Rather than his own fault. Dorain's own head shook slightly at that very consideration before Matteo himself took up to telling that tale of Dover. A tale Alexander in turn seemed to take little please in remembering. His Father and Godfather inclined to argue over those very facts that so apparently led to Matteo being knocked unconscious and Alexander leading the entire army to a ravine they could not cross. The Hunter determined to insist he had taught Matteo to keep his eyes on the present, Matteo arguing Alexanders apparent cowerdice in having ducked. Just whom Matteo had inherited that ability to so twist his words, and the blame, no longer a mystery in any sense. Alexander, Dorian suspected, quote near the Master of that very art.

Dorian's own query on just why Alexander had gone to such effort to cross that ravine long after the war had been won so prompted that soft utterance from Aiden that 'someone' liked bridges. That very response to coaxing that inquisitive look the the Italian's features in near the same moment that scowl seemed to form on Alexanders own at that very reply. His Godfather so turned towards him then, offering that insistence instead that he had built that bridge simple to prove to Fitzwalter that the city could be taken from the South. For several moments yet Dorian was wholly content to simply stare at his Godfather. Alexander, it seemed, having spent an unnecessary amount of time building a bridge he did not need merely to....prove a man wrong. Such an....interesting use of his leadership.

"Oh, I see."

Perhaps his godfather was a more....vengeful man then he knew. That prospect, for now, was cast aside in favour of that more traditional thanksgiving talk. Dorian, much to the disdain of at least one member of that table who groaned, readily suggesting instead that they might go about that table and mention what it was they were thankful for- just as those very books upon this holiday had suggested should surely be done. Such an idea seeming distinctly pleasant. At least to Dorian himself. The Monarch turned toward his husband then, his silver gaze so meeting that bright blue of Sebastian's own before suggesting the vampire might choose to start. His Husbands declaration that he was thankful for not only Dorian himself, but their family at large so readily prompted that bright grin to the Monarch's lips. Dorian unable to prevent that look of simple delight at such an answer. Sebastian so eternally reliable upon such occasions to say just those needed and perfect things. Dorian so leaning sideways to place that chaste, simple kiss on his lovers cheek. The Fae King, it seemed, entirely comfortable enough in the embrace of family to offer that affection.

"That was lovely, Bastian, thank you."

His silver gaze so shifted readily then toward Aiden. His sibling so hardly appearing....thrilled with the idea of being asked such a question and yet, surely, there was something his brother was thankful for? Dorian so finding himself so very near...struck with a worry that perhaps.....there was nothing in all the world his sibling so enjoyed. Dorian, after all, was a terribly observant sort of person. The King not at all inclined to miss that disdain, or perhaps distress, that very question seemed to cause within his brother. Dorian wholly inclined to wonder what sort of unhappiness had existed in the man's life to promote such an outlook. That concern tugging at him and yet, perhaps, it was no such thing at all. Aiden, perhaps, simply....disliked public speaking. Such a worry equally as viable. The Were resting his head on his hand before declaring he was thankful he had never had to do thanksgiving before- and for alcohol. Dorian left momentarily blinking in surprise at such a response.

"Aiden, I really don't thi-"

His very chastisement was abruptly cut short by Matteo. His Father affording him a near pointed look that he found both baffling and rather irritating before the Frenchman thanked Aiden, with a touch of sarcasm, for his 'touching' words. Matteo, in the least, seemed to take that question with a greater degree of seriousness. The Frenchman's insistence he had waited a very long time to gather their family together prompting that simper to Dorian's lips once more. That very legacy Matteo was determined to leave behind however so quickly saw that roll of his eyes. At least until that mention of Sebastian's fangs.

"What do you mean about Sebastian's fangs?"

That very query fell from his own lips rather abruptly. After all, Sebastian, those past few weeks, had become very near paranoid over the notion that Matteo had attempted, in some sort of....dream, to steal those very fangs! A notion Dorian had, gently, attempted to convince his lover was surely not true. Sebastian himself having been wholly distressed by the notion he couldn't seem to remember why he felt that way. The lack of a vampires ability to dream only further complicating that issue until Dorian had become entirely worried about his husband. Had Matteo simply foreseen those conversation or did the man truly know something about Sebastian's fangs? It was fortunate, perhaps, that Alexander so took that turn then. The Dark Hunter seemed to consider those very words for but a few moments before offering them. Alexander so uttering his thankfulness that each of them had, despite it all, so made it here today. The Hunters gaze shifting from Sebastian, to Aiden and himself, to Matteo and back with each mention of each of those phrases. How very....right Alexander was. Dorian inclined to feel that flutter of warmth within his very chest at those words. That bright grin returned to his lips.

"That was very well spoken, Alexander. Thank you."

How readily he meant those words! How very much that had, each of them, overcome to so sit at that table tonight. That 'turn' so passed to Dorian then. The Fae King entirely ready with his own words then as he so eyed that table at large. His gaze fluttering first to Sebastian, then each member in turn as he spoke.

"I am thankful for my Husband, because I should be entirely lost in every way without him. He is not only my husband, but my best friend and I quite adore him. I am thankful for my Godfather, because, even though I did not know it, since the day I was born he has watched over me. I am thankful for my Father, because even if I did not always see it, or not always recognise it- he was always there when I needed him, every time- and he still is. And I am thankful for my Brother, even though he is very new to being my Brother, he has, in one night, been a better Brother to me then any of my other siblings ever were and I look forward to being a good brother to him too."

That ready, warm simper so found the Monarch's lips then. Dorian meaning but each one of those words he had offered. The Fae King so moving to raise his glass then.

"I think we should all toast to our very first thanksgiving together."

Dorian Ellington-Aragona