The Sun Also Rises

It was the most curious of sounds that managed to stir the man from his sleep. Those soft cries at last causing his stormy grey gaze to flutter open and eye his bedroom with that blurriness that seemed to afflict every being still struggling into wakefulness. His gaze shifted briefly to that wall clock, the time not too much past nine in the morning! It was far, far too early for him to be awake. Dorian considering rolling right back over only to be beset by those cries once more. His gaze, this time, drifted downward to that several months old puppy whom seemed to positively wiggle with glee at the notion that Dorian had afforded him his gaze. One hand reached almost sluggishly downward, the Fae stroking the puppy's black and tan head in some vague hope that he simply required that comfort- only to have the dear creature begin to nip at his fingers in play. Sleeping the whole day through, it seemed, still something of an idea Maxwell was yet to become accustomed too.

"Oh, very well, very well. Hold on."

He was awake now after all, he might as well take the puppy out to the garden. Maxwell still seeming oddly reluctant to make use of that canine door Sebastian had seen to having installed so the puppy could take himself to and from the garden as he desired. Dorian slipped easily from those sheets then, the man turning only to assure himself none of those covers had fallen from Sebastian's still sleeping figure- foolish as though such an idea might have been. Dorian entirely aware the vampire felt nothing in that state of 'sleep' and yet still the idea of him getting cold in any fashion bothered him enough to at least attempt to prevent it. It hardly took long to find his jeans and shirt, Dorian taking several moments to arrange his himself into some state of neatness even if this was the very equivalent of the middle of the night for the man. He slipped quietly from their bedroom then, shutting that door behind him before making his way down the stairs with Maxwell excitedly in tow. Dorian quite unable to prevent the grin that found his features at the sight of the sheer delight the dog seemed to find in life itself. It was decidedly infectious. Those small puppy paws skidded along the polished wooden floors of that expansive, opulent home. The soft sound of someone else momentarily seeing the Fae turn to spy Charles reading at the dining room table, the manservant near leaping to his feet in an effort to assist him.

"Could you fetch Maxwell's lead please? I quite think he wants to go out. No, no, we will be fine, you needn't bother yourself with coming Charles. We shan't be long and security will be following me I'm quite assured."

He near effortlessly waved off the other man's worry, Dorian entirely sure that a trip to the park in the middle of the day was largely doable. The Press were hardly likely to be searching for him in the day, Dorian long since having taken up Sebastian's nocturnal schedule. The Fae almost looking forward to enjoying but a little of that sun he had largely given up for his fiancé without those cameras chasing them down the street. It took only a moment longer to fix that collar (complete with bowtie) to the Rottweiler puppy's neck. Maxwell excitedly pawing at that door before near racing out of it with Dorian in tow. The man struggling to fit his sunglasses in the interim as Charles closed the doors to that mansion behind them. It took several moments of detangling before the Fae so managed to get that lead and puppy under control, those security opening that side gate to let them out. Dorian entirely aware of several of those bodyguards following him at a distance and yet he had long since learned to ignore them entirely. Maxwell, it seemed, was in possession of an amount of energy Dorian deemed unholy for such an hour of the day. The Monarch himself near half asleep as he was all but towed down those streets and into the park. The puppy having exhausted himself significantly enough to wander at a more relaxed pace by the time they were halfway down that path.

Perhaps he would have to have words with that Puppy Preschool, after all, did he and Sebastian not send Maxwell to such an establishment for the very purpose of helping to assist him in gaining some sort of societal based manner? Dorian quite assured the dog was prone to losing himself to excitement. Yet, he supposed, he was still awfully young. A part of the Fae King enjoying the dog's antics all the same. He could hardly help that smile that found his lips again at the sight of that park spread out around them. That simple life called to him in a fashion, his fingers briefly extended to brush through those autumn leaves that hung low on the branches of those small bushes. Even with that coming winter that landscape remained very much alive. He could see it, even beneath those bare trees and browning grass. Life itself so....drawn to the man. His gift for that very affinity assuring, perhaps, he understood it far better than most. In the very least, he could so see that life where it appeared there was almost none. How terribly enchanting it was! And to think of all those autumns and winters and every other season he had missed! So locked away as he had been for so many years within his own country. Dorian determined to enjoy his freedom so entirely now that he had found it- and Sebastian to share it with. That warm simper tugged at his lips again at the mere thought of that man he adored as they made their way toward that fountain he visited often. It surely lacked the glory of his own within Italy or the Palace of Caserta and yet his appreciation for any sort of art assured a certain fondness for it all the same. How pleasant it was to see it within the morning and beneath the sunlight. Dorian near taken aback by how popular that park was in the day when compared to the moonlight he normally saw it beneath.

The man had no sooner seated himself upon that fountain then Maxwell took it upon himself to lunge for those pigeons, sending them fluttering up and into the sky, Dorian watching near bewildered as he ducked almost instinctively, that puppy- satisfied with his work- proceeding to leap at the legs of a young woman seated beside him, that little body wiggling wildly in delight as Dorian bent to scope him up and into his arms. That young woman afforded an apologetic grin as the Fae King held that puppy to his chest, Maxwell proceeding to try and chew at his own dark brunette locks. Those accented words aimed towards the pretty young woman then. Dorian's method of speaking decidedly....old fashioned perhaps. The man very much a product of his time- and it surely showed.

"I do apologise, he has not yet learned to contain himself. He gets terribly excited you see and then he forgets all his manners. We are working on it. I think he- oh."

The Monarch's gaze shifted readily then to the camera in the young woman's hands, his gaze resting upon it quizzically as his words halted. Dorian a notoriously curious being in every sense. He had become used to the modern world to an extent and yet the man was rarely so close to those more traditional cameras. Dorian having marvelled at the one within his phone alone the night Sebastian had first gifted it to him.

"What are you photographing?"

He inquired then, that curiosity still clear, Dorian glancing upward to the woman once more as Maxwell licked at his chin, his features scrunching slightly in response to that tickling sensation, the youthful-looking man batting the puppy gently away- pausing only to straighten the dog's bowtie absentmindedly. That pleasant grin resting upon his features still.

"You must find a very great deal of things to photograph in this park. It has a great deal of colour in every season. I've not seen a camera quite like that before."

In the very least he was rarely afforded a look at them. Those Papparazzi rarely keen to entertain the idea of letting him examine those cameras they photographed him and Sebastian with, even if he was Italy's King. The Monarch so hoping his chosen pair of sunglasses, for today at least, might prevent anyone from recognising him so readily. His recent engagement to Sebastian having thrust them both back into the limelight once more. The man positively tired of seeing his face decorating every magazine and news-stand from Europe to Australia and everything in between.

"Have you been to the north side of the park yet? There is a rather pleasing walking track down there, lined with trees, it is especially scenic in the autumn."

There was a simple ease to his voice, a ready confidence. The sort that came from someone used to talking to others. Dorian a truly good natured sort of being, one who loved nothing more than embracing the simple beauty of the world at large and in every sense. The man quite sure he had found someone who might share that ideal.

Dorian Aragona