The Sun Also Rises

Ah but how well he knew that look! That insecurity and wonder and hope that all at once seemed to flicker behind the eyes of the young woman at that mention of her lover and Dorian's own tale of just how those courtships had occured within his own tame. An art he sorely missed even though he himself had been fortunate enough to court and be courted by a man who understood those importances in turn. He hardly desired to distress the girl in any sense, her flushed cheeks and the nervous lilt to her voice perhaps giving away the very depth of her emotions and indeed the delicate vulnerability of them. How glorious love could be and yet how terrible all at once. Such a curious feeling it was to so desperately desire someone or something only to fear to speak to them all at once. Love, perhaps, the ultimate contradiction and one whose emotions even he himself had not been free off in those early days off his own relationship when, until that love had been declared, Dorian had spent an immeasurable amount of time staring at the ceiling off his bedroom so going over each and every word and token off affection Sebastian had gifted him. That warm simper so found his lips once more, Dorian reaching out to allow his hand to rest atop the womans own then and draw her gaze to him, those silver eyes so softly meeting the vibrant blue off her own.

"Darling, you are not the first person whom has ever loved another before and feared they may not feel the same, nor will you be the last. It is a wonderful feeling and a terrifying one all at once. Believe me- I know. Just as I know how it feels to have someone else consume your thoughts until you wonder how it is you ever thought about anything else. I am to marry Sebastian and I still think about him all the time. I cannot say I know how Andras feels but I have seen him look at you and there is much in that look. It is no crime for you to love him, do not be ashamed of it. If it is fated to be, then it will be."

He smiled easily once more, his hand lifted from her own then, Dorian so attempting to afford that woman even a small shred of confidence. He was nearly assured that Andras felt much the same way and yet too- he knew well of the man's past and his unwillingness, perhaps, to take on any lover for the danger it might yet place them in. Still, there was surely no harm in at least assuring the young woman Andras cared for her in the least. Dorian so seeking to respect that very admittance she had confided to him in all the same. That shift in conversation to his own wedding so had a habit of drawing that grin to his lips once more, at least until that utter ordeal with the vegetarian menu so passed his lips. Dorian utterly unable to comprehend what sort of man would turn down food, let alone meat! He had seen the poor die in their thousands from lack of food, dreaming of a single slice of bread, just as he had seen men sell near all they owned for a side of beef. To be so callous as to refuse such foods was simply outside his understanding. As if they no longer valued meat. To think!

Dorian's own gaze shifted to the woman as Beylani promptly announced her agreement, the Fae King distinctly content to find she was a sensible sort of woman when it came to this. His features frowning slightly at this ridiculous manner of thinking that somehow excluded fish- such beliefs apparently highly fickle- before this mention of vegans saw his eyes widen once more.

"What!?

The idea that some beings might wilfully choose not to consume any product from an animal was.....wasteful in the extreme! Who were these beings whom would disregard milk or meat or wool? Whom would blatantly turn away from those very meats and fibres that others craved and so needed to survive as if it were somehow inferior? Had they no sense? How did they feed their families? The very economy off his own country ran upon its agriculture which, through mankind's very development of those early farming practices had sparked the industrial age. Society had only achieved the very feats it had through those early farmers, a noble profession and one the world relied upon. How some beings could turn away from the very foods nature so designed them to consume was baffling! Especially when many in the world still starved. His outburst seeming to have distracted several other tables. Dorian's arms folding across his chest.

"I think that is perfectly ridiculous and terribly selfish of them to turn away good food. People have changed a great deal."

This he was willing to admit to in the very least. Dorian seeking to distract himself then with that query on Alexander and how Beylani had been enjoying her job. The Monarch content in the knowledge she seemed well satisfied with her work before the sudden appearance of that waitress prompted his hurried reach for that menu. Goodness but he hardly knew what half those foods were without Sebastian to guide him! Dorian pondering several of those choices then as the waitress inquired as to his choice. The Monarch oblivious to the Frenchman whom had materialized a few steps away, startling a young family as he did, before those decidedly accented lyrics slipped smoothly from Matteo's lips as he moved to slide into that spare seat quite uninvited. The Frenchman a near spitting image of Dorian himself, if not a little taller. The pair appearing very near the same age. "He'll have the roast beef sandwich, thank you Mon Cheri." Dorian's own surprise at so seeing the man affording him little chance to argue that order as the waitress left.

"Goodness Matteo! I was not expecting you today. Although it is so you are rarely ever expected. Is Alexander with you?"

The Fae King so paused to glance about that room for a moment as the elder Fae's head simply shook. That warm, easy grin dancing upon his features as that faint look of amusement seemed to find him all at once. Dorian assured he might never understand how it was so matteo so constantly appeared amused. As if the very world was a joke only he understood. "Alexanderous is busy this day, riding into history, as is his want. I shall surely find time to interrupt his evening later and when it is most inconvenient for him. I have come for a different purpose today."

"Alexander has a horse?"
"He does. I believe the world trembled the day he met the creature. They are destined for great things- though do not tell him I said as such, his ego positively cannot take it."

Dorian merely allowed one eye to lift in a clear bafflement of such a thing. Where on earth one even kept a horse in this city if they did not own the land he hardly knew and yet, if he knew anything off his godfather it was surely that the man so prided himself on doing the impossible. The age old manner suddenly returning to him then as he hurriedly proceeded to offer those introductions.

"Forgive me Lani, this is Matteo- my Father. Matteo, this is-"
"Beylani, yes, I know. It is a pleasure to meet you Chere Fille"
"You might let me finish the introduction all the same. Why is it you are here?"

He queried then, watching as Matteo afforded the woman that dip off his head, the Frenchmans gaze, as silver as his own, lingering upon the girl then. Dorian so finding that nervousness returned to him as he watched the pair. Matteo, after all, so seemed to delight in...baffling people. Dorian not at all assured the poor girl was quite prepared for such things. Dorian yet to meet a woman whom did not blush before the two thousand year old Fae. Matteo, however, so continued to eye the woman beside him. That pleasant smile upon his features still. "I have come to see girl whom lingers in my visions." He answered simply- and how lovely she was. Far finer in her true form then in those images that clouded his mind. He could see well, perhaps, what it was that Andras so fancied about her. "Tell me, Beylani Rae Rose, do you believe in fate?"

Dorian Aragona