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Post by Alexander the Great on Jan 14, 2010 18:09:09 GMT -5
Alexander frowned.
"In the name of Zeus, who is Edward?" he demanded.
"Nadir I would never have asked you to come, nor begged you to stay. But I feared that your love would make you follow me, and I did not want to lose you."
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Post by Nadir on Jan 14, 2010 18:22:39 GMT -5
*Nadir sighed.*
"Edward was a boy I hired on at the restraunt. He became a second shadow and would not leave me or my house alone...I wouldn't be surprised if it came out that he'd been going through my mail," he snorted, his nostrils flaring with boiling anger at the memories.
"Eventually, he left, thank God. Or at least he's gotten so good at stalking my every step that I don't even notice if he's there, anymore."
He shook his head.
"In any case, it hardly matters, anymore. The fact remains that I never received any letter from you, and your reasons for sending it make no difference to what has passed. I would not have followed you, Xandros. I have my pride."
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Post by Alexander the Great on Jan 14, 2010 20:00:40 GMT -5
Alexander nodded slowly.
"I see."
"But you would have waited?" he said softly, quietly. "Would you have waited, had you known?"
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Post by Nadir on Jan 14, 2010 21:24:46 GMT -5
"I don't know, Xandros. How can I possibly know what I would have done had things been other than what they are? I have too much anger and no more patience--even for myself."
*Nadir stared at the glass he still held between his hands, the one still bandaged and stained with blood, though the bleeding seemed to have almost stopped. He was definitely ready for another drink.*
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Post by Alexander the Great on Jan 14, 2010 22:02:18 GMT -5
"You should get your hand looked at," Alexander said gently.
Was there anything else he could say?
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Post by Nadir on Jan 14, 2010 22:05:28 GMT -5
"It doesn't hurt," said Nadir stiffly, with a shrug. "What will you do, now?" He asked a moment later, almost conversationally. As if the answer would be "I was thinking of going to White Castle."*
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Post by Alexander the Great on Jan 14, 2010 22:08:01 GMT -5
Alexander smiled, but it did not reach his eyes.
"I wish I knew."
Is there even any point in living when you are not beside me?
He had conquered the world, but never had he expected to be conquered, and certainly not by a man of such insurmountable odds.
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Post by Nadir on Jan 14, 2010 22:11:21 GMT -5
Nadir reached out and patted him on the shoulder, briefly. Awkwardly.
"You'll be alright."
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Post by Alexander the Great on Jan 14, 2010 22:15:51 GMT -5
((You're right. Nadir SUCKS at comforting))
"Indeed," he said dully. The pain behind his eyes bloomed, and he felt as though two needles were piercing him through the brain.
He smiled tiredly at the man he had lost, and again, the smile was only a shadow of what he could truly give.
"And you?" he asked, pewter eyes blank. "What has occupied your time?"
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Post by Nadir on Jan 15, 2010 1:01:24 GMT -5
"I opened a restaurant. Shadi moved in...or out...or something. Anyway, she's happy, now. We don't talk much. Not that we ever did. Haven't heard from Dracula or my father for a while, but no news is good news, I guess. Ruby started a cult, it's going pretty well, I guess. Emily died, but then there was a new Emily, and she worked for the police, now I hear she's teaching some kind of forensics course over in England. Sends me a postcard every now and then."
As he rambled, he stared at the floor. That made things easier.
"I cook, a lot. I'm good at it--which surprised me. That's what led me into the restaurant business, I suppose."
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Post by Alexander the Great on Jan 15, 2010 1:03:05 GMT -5
Alexander watched him closely, reading his body language carefully.
"Are you happy, Nadir?"
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Post by Nadir on Jan 15, 2010 1:10:30 GMT -5
"I keep busy," he said noncommittally.
He couldn't remember a time when he HAD been happy--perhaps for brief periods in his childhood, his youth...with Shadi's mother, when he had been largely unaware of his kinship to the Khans, before his business had led him to the Shah's palace. Since then his life had been riddled with problems...always some threat hanging over him like a knife clutched within a fist. Erik, his father, his brother, Georgiana...the string of poor relationship choices and decisions he'd come to regret constantly tortured him, even then. Even his time with Xandros had always had some distraction, some crisis to be dealt with beyond what they had together, and even within it. The fighting; the jealousy; Susanna; Raoul...
"The peace is enough."
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Post by Alexander the Great on Jan 15, 2010 1:12:41 GMT -5
"I see," Alexander said, and he did see. See how much Nadir was hurting, how angry and sorrowful he was.
This was a man who had never truly known happiness, and Alexander wondered if he could offer him anything even remotely akin to it.
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Post by Nadir on Jan 15, 2010 1:15:29 GMT -5
"So what do you plan to do, now?"
Now that you've given up everything that made you who you are. For me, so you said.
Nadir pushed away the twinge of guilt he felt at the idea, reminding himself that Xandros was hardly a victim.
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Post by Alexander the Great on Jan 15, 2010 1:17:40 GMT -5
Alexander smiled a little and shrugged his broad shoulders.
"I am sure I will find something to throw myself into," he murmured.
The river, perhaps. I have no desire to live in a world where hate and despise me, a world where I broke your heart
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