Valentine
- In the Duggins -
I'll have you know, I'm a very important man!%\0\%
Posts: 99
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Post by Valentine on Dec 30, 2008 16:45:47 GMT -5
((Continued from " Creature Comforts")) Valentine had taken off his long coat and folded it over his arm - despite the cold of the cellars, walking around in them while wet was asking to be struck down by the vicious common cold. All the way there, he was rehearsing how he was going to apologize to Erik on Mortimer's behalf. Mimicking the saddened creature would only make it sound like mockery, so he needed to turn someone else's misery into his own to make it sound sincere. Hesitating at the door, Valentine knocked, hoping that Erik's own hurt in this case was of the sullen, vulnerable variety. He was still very much afraid of Erik at this point.
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Post by Erik on Dec 30, 2008 16:51:41 GMT -5
Erik was, in fact, feeling distinctly guilty. He'd slunk home from the vicomte's house, leaving him slumped bonelessly--still smirking--across the bed with a warning about touching Mortimer again that rang false even in his ears.
That had not gone at all the way he had planned. In fact, things were decidedly worse. He resolved that Mortimer must not know, and was in the process of discarding his clothes when the knock came.
Julian would not knock. Nor would Mortimer--if he ever came back. And the list of other people he wanted to see at this point amounted to exactly none. He wrenched open the door in his shirtsleeves, forgetting his mask in his misery.
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Valentine
- In the Duggins -
I'll have you know, I'm a very important man!%\0\%
Posts: 99
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Post by Valentine on Dec 30, 2008 16:56:58 GMT -5
Leaning back from the door, Valentine's shock more had stemmed from the instantaneous opening of the door, and not the horrid face before him. That trigger had not been pulled on Valentine, thus his only fear was his immediate doom. When it had not come, Valentine found his voice, trying to sound grown up and more confident than his display just then.
"Er... ah... Ehrik, c-cahn I speak t'you? It's aboot Moortimer..." he started, watching the intense yellow eyes before him. "It's impoortant."
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Post by Erik on Dec 30, 2008 17:02:07 GMT -5
Erik stared at him balefully for a moment.
"You've seen Mortimer," he said flatly. Had he come to Valentine for comfort? Did this mean he wasn't coming back? Was Valentine here to berate Erik for his unthinkable cruelty. "Don't bother," he said. "Erik acted rashly; Erik was unkind. I know all this."
But he let go of the door and turned without closing it, moving back into the house.
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Valentine
- In the Duggins -
I'll have you know, I'm a very important man!%\0\%
Posts: 99
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Post by Valentine on Dec 30, 2008 17:13:57 GMT -5
Taking this as a sign to come in, Valentine stiffened his spine and followed Erik in, able to feel the lingering tension from their earlier fight, as if the house were now the scene of a crime. Shutting the door behind him, Valentine hung up his damp coat and took a deep breath.
"Look, Ehrik, Moortimer feels, Ah'm sure, as awful about this foight as you do. He tells me he shud stay doown in the dark, an' that 'e doesn' wanna be a person annymoore..." Sighing, Valentine kept a few steps behind Erik, trying to appeal to the part of him that cared about Mortimer.
His tone changed now, to one matching the weight of the situation. "But 'e also says 'e's soorry. An' that 'e loves you an'... an... an'Julian very much." Getting caught up in his own feelings of friendship toward Mortimer, Valentine started to choke on his own words.
"Please, Ehrik... 'e said e'd leave with me... I 'aven't got a place to go, an' I doon wanna drag'im onna the streets with me."
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Post by Erik on Dec 30, 2008 17:21:22 GMT -5
Erik whipped around at that, his bare face stricken. "He wished to leave. For good?" He sat in his armchair, feeling quite depleted. "Why could he not come to me himself?"
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Valentine
- In the Duggins -
I'll have you know, I'm a very important man!%\0\%
Posts: 99
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Post by Valentine on Dec 30, 2008 17:31:00 GMT -5
Less stunned by Erik's sudden turn - it was to be expected that he'd react in that manner - Valentine nodded solemnly, actually taking the time to kneel before Erik. A hand went to the man's thin knee, and he kept going, wanting this to head in the direction of those two making up.
"Becoz 'e doesn' think 'e can. All Ah I know issat you two 'ad a foight an' now Moortimer thinks th'only place 'e belongs is in th' black depths'a that lake."
He let Erik absorb that for a moment, then offered a solution. "If y'want, I can tell 'im you want 'im t'come home," he said warmly.
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Post by Erik on Dec 30, 2008 17:40:15 GMT -5
Erik flinched at his touch, having had quite enough of that for one day and feeling somewhat overstimulated. "Ridiculous," he said. "Erik apologized to him already. He knows I want him home. We don't need you as a go-between."
It irked him that Mortimer had gone to Valentine, had confided in Valentine, when he could not stand to stay and speak to Erik. If Mortimer had stayed, Erik would not have gone to Valmont's. And Valmont would not have...
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Valentine
- In the Duggins -
I'll have you know, I'm a very important man!%\0\%
Posts: 99
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Post by Valentine on Dec 30, 2008 17:46:09 GMT -5
Valentine dropped his head, his sharp goatee hitting him in the collarbone when he did so. When his head came back up, he drew in a long breath and looked back up at the older man, the angle of his mask making it look a little agitated, as Valentine was beginning to feel.
"If 'e really knew it, 'e'd be 'ere. Apologoizin' in anger don' work." Valentine stood up and folded his arms across his chest, quite tired of being seen as someone unimportant. "Ah'm bringin' 'im here," he said, turning to leave. Again, his maturity surprised him, but he was too... determined at the moment to give it much thought. Without so much as retrieving his coat, Valentine was ready to leave the house - and Erik would have to kill him to stop him.
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Post by Erik on Dec 30, 2008 17:55:45 GMT -5
Erik blinked after him confusedly, vaguely registering the man's agitation but not certain as to its cause. He didn't even know why Valentine was here aside from being a stray Mortimer had dragged in. Who was he to tell Erik how to conduct his family affairs?
"Fine, do what you like," he muttered.
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Valentine
- In the Duggins -
I'll have you know, I'm a very important man!%\0\%
Posts: 99
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Post by Valentine on Dec 30, 2008 17:57:31 GMT -5
Given Erik's blessing, not that he entirely was looking for it, Valentine left to retrieve Mortimer - he wanted this resolved, though he did not yet understand why.
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Post by Erik on Dec 30, 2008 18:51:33 GMT -5
Erik remained where he was, in a funk, feeling hollow and bereft and not entirely in control of his destiny, at the moment.
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Post by Mortimer on Dec 30, 2008 19:02:53 GMT -5
The little creature clung to Vlanetine's hand and opened the door to the house, pulling him in and otherwise looking at the floor, his great mouth working slightly, sharp teeth peeking and hiding.
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Post by Erik on Dec 30, 2008 19:07:09 GMT -5
Erik heard them as they entered, and raised his head. Valentine and Mortimer--he would wait for them to come, for he had no wish to chase Mortimer away. He looked disheveled and miserable, sunk into the chair as he was.
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Valentine
- In the Duggins -
I'll have you know, I'm a very important man!%\0\%
Posts: 99
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Post by Valentine on Dec 30, 2008 19:09:55 GMT -5
Valentine took initiative when they were inside, pulling his little friend farther into the house, wanting the two of them to get started on their forgiveness of one another.
"C'mon," encouraged Valentine, speaking softly to the creature at his side. He guided Mortimer over to the unmasked, half-of-himself that was Erik, already having high hopes since neither Mortimer nor Erik had driven themselves away since Valentine returned.
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