Dorian Montoir
November 27, 2020 6:22 PM
September 1st (tag Vlad) by Dorian Montoir
Dorian stepped out of the fireplace, and into a quiet, empty house. The Brockerts were all off seeing Lavender onto the wagon for the new school year. It was one of those times when having multiple places to be had come in very handy. He had felt like her last dinner at home with her family was not an event he should intrude on, especially as he wouldn’t be able to share in whatever everyone else was feeling, regardless of the fact that there had probably been several different and mixed emotions at the table. Excitement, sadness, but all of them for her. If Dorian had been sad, it would have been far more self-directed and selfish - he would not have been sad that Lavender was leaving, he would have been sad that he was not. He thought there was a possibility that Vlad would share that emotion with him, but he had still felt like it was better to take himself out of the way.He’d gone to stay with Jean-Loup. His boyfriend’s reticence at letting him into the apartment he was living in had been forced to dissolve in the face of the fact it was the only way to keep him for several days at a time, which clearly he wanted to. The small space above the apothecary shop was half apartment, half storage and all ‘cannot be bothered to maintain.’ Jean-Loup was working a few shifts in the shop because even though his tuition was paid there was a need to have money in order to eat, and so long as he didn’t complain about the boxes or that one wall that kinda… oozed, he was allowed to crash upstairs for free. He had done his best to make it not terribly and horrifically depressing. Having magic could go a long way to achieving that. They’d almost had fun casting illusion spells on the stack of boxes so that the apartment had varyingly had an elaborate fountain, a modern sculpture and, at one point, a pretty convincing Abraxan living in the corner. And, of course, this was just temporary. When Dorian moved there, they could pool their resources. When Dorian moved there, he wouldn’t expect him to live like that. It just made sense to save money for now, so things could be better. When Dorian moved there…
He made his way upstairs, and into the clean, capacious shower. He used Jean-Loup’s shower products whilst he was staying with him. After all, they were both guys, what difference did it make? Except it meant that, by the end of his visit, he smelt like someone else. And it made him seem so temporary. He should get his own shower gel for Jean-Loup’s place. Jean-Loup would probably like him having some stuff there. Vlad would probably like it if he didn’t smell like another person and the wrong set of bedsheets when he came back here. He wasn’t sure which of them he’d actually be doing it for. Maybe for himself. He liked Jean-Loup’s smell on Jean-Loup, but it didn’t really suit him. He lathered up, the acerbic sting of ice fresh sports jock sliding down the drain to be replaced with his own softer, almondy scent.
It was good to be
He was making himself tea in the kitchen when he heard the noises of several people arriving back to the house. His first instinct was to slink back upstairs with his tea, to avoid them all because he wasn’t sure how he knew to be sociable right now. But before he could escape, there was someone in the doorway. Luckily it was the one person he wanted to see. The one who might relate to how he was feeling right now, or some of it, anyway.
“Was it really weird?” he asked Vlad.
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Dorian Montoir
September 1st (tag Vlad)
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Vladimir Brockert
December 06, 2020 5:14 PM
Feels like we're stuck in August 31st forever now. by Vladimir Brockert
Vladimir hadn’t expected it to be, but seeing Lavender off to school was an exceptionally unsettling experience. When he and his parents got back inside, he went immediately to the kitchen for tea, a comforting habit he had - obviously - picked up along the way from a semi-former roommate. And speaking of, to his surprise and joy, that exact person was already in the kitchen, doing the same thing. It was nice, having Dorian stay with them, even if it was just part of the time. The two boys had lost a lot of time last year, and Vlad was grateful for the opportunity to make it up now, especially in an environment as safe as his own home, where Jean-Loup would most likely not be.So despite the feelings about seeing off his sister, Vlad smiled at the sight of Dorian. “Super weird,” he confirmed with a nod. “I cried, just a little.” That wasn’t a very surprising statement, he imagined. Vlad had always been sensitive, a fact that Dorian knew well. “Lavender will be just fine, I’m sure, and she’s got friends and other cousins to look after her now, but…. I don’t know, it’s weird to picture her there without us to look after her.” He was a little protective of his little sister - she was such a good girl, he couldn’t stand the thought of anybody messing with her. He had been grateful they got to share at least one year together at school, although it would have been even better if Ivy had been there with them, too. Unfortunately, their age differences hadn’t quite allowed all three of the siblings to be at Sonora together. It was nice, though, having at least one of them around for all seven of Vlad’s years away. It made the place feel a little more like home.
“It was weird seeing her go, but it was also just weird to not get on the wagon,” the Teppenpaw alum went on. “It’s such a bumpy ride, but I’m actually kind of missing it. What about you? Feels weird not to be going back, doesn’t it?”
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Vladimir Brockert
Feels like we're stuck in August 31st forever now.
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Dorian Montoir
December 09, 2020 5:33 AM
Does that mean we can stop growing up? by Dorian Montoir
The knot in Dorian's chest eased slightly as Vlad smiled and confirmed that Dorian wasn't alone in how he was feeling. At first, Vlad was more aligned with the protective big brother feeling, and although he included Dorian via a first person plural pronoun, Dorian wasn't sure he felt he had earnt that. He had cared about Lavender, of course, and had he had any suggestion that things were not going well for her, he would have done his best to step in and help. However, he had felt somewhat separated from her both by the age gap, and by the fact that, by the time she had started, he had felt that maybe the kindest thing he could do for her fortunes was not make her too closely associated with him. He had also, many years hence, reconciled himself to the fact of sibling separation, although he could offer a sympathetic nod, remembering how hard it had been. Remembering how Vlad was the one who had sat and comforted him through that.
"It is strange when life comes between you and people you care for," he confirmed, "Even it is just via a logical progression of time that you knew always would happen."
Seeking the only further solution he had to this, or any dilemma, he pulled out a second teacup, asking via the slightest quirk of his own eyebrows, quite sure he wouldn’t need much more than the steady rhythm of their usual synchronicity to know Vlad’s answer. Though Vlad tended to be a little more direct and straightforward in how he replied.
“Yes,” he stated, looking back up as Vlad expressed the actual way he too was feeling. He poured every imaginable feeling into the single syllable – the sheer weight of how everything had changed hanging heavy on it, but edged with the silver lining of having found someone to feel that with. And this, more than his sadness at not returning to school, was reflected in the way he looked across at his room-mate.
"At least I get to see you sooner," he stated, pouring the tea and holding out Vlad's cup. He sipped his own tea contemplatively. It felt better now that Vlad was here, but that feeling was one he wanted to catch hold of and keep. He wanted to make sure it kept being warm and cosy and as like it always had been as possible.
"So, I am thinking…” he stated, a little hesitantly. “Do you want to go upstairs and charm all my bedroom walls yellow?" he asked. Mrs. Brockert kept saying he could redecorate if he liked, but he had never felt quite confident enough to follow through on that offer. Now he thought, it might be nice...
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Dorian Montoir
Does that mean we can stop growing up?
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Vladimir Brockert
December 09, 2020 6:33 PM
I wish. by Vladimir Brockert
As he always did, Dorian had a point. Of course they all knew this day would come. Time was always closing in, always pursuing, looming over with the threat of immovable change. From the first moment Vladimir had arrived at Sonora, his nervous little foot meeting soil as he stepped off the wagon, there was a knowledge that graduation was coming. The whole point of education was to prepare them for adulthood.But actually being here - really living this crazy new young adulthood - was an entirely different matter. It felt weird to be a legal adult. He thought he still needed a grown up, and it was a little scary to think that if someone needed a grown up, they could potentially turn to him.
Vlad stuffed away that thought and accepted the mug offered to him, smiling softly. Dorian hadn’t asked, but he knew. He knew Vlad wanted tea, he knew what tea he liked, and he even knew which mug he liked. Of course, Vlad was pretty sure he could have done the same if the positions were reversed, but it was always comforting to be known. And after living together for seven years, how could they not know each other?
Dorian’s suggestion surprised him, but he was thrilled to hear it, immediately processing an implication. If the older boy wanted to redecorate, that meant he definitely wanted to stay, and with some type of permanency. “Got a free afternoon?” Vlad asked in return. “Instead of charming it, we could just actually paint it. It’s a pretty fun way to spend a day, if you aren’t busy.”
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Vladimir Brockert
I wish.
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