Ephemeral Truths [Verity]

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

When Verity arrives for her daily shift, Schön's demeanor in answering the door suggests this might not be just another day at the office. "Ah, good morning. I wonder if you might feel like a small change in the routine?"

Comments

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

He grins again. "I'm sure." When it's their turn to order, he calls for Peking duck, won ton soup, bell peppers and beef, chef's fried rice, and looks to Verity to see if there's anything she'd like to add.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Crab rangoons, please, and a cup of egg drop soup." There's little chance she's going to eat the whole duck, but that's why leftovers were invented. Meanwhile, she's going to be drinking tea like it's going out of style. They may need another pot when their meal comes.

"I first had Peking duck on my thirteenth birthday. The j--the guy my mom was dating at the time talked her into them taking me out for my first 'grown up meal'. I can't say I was disappointed. What about you, when did you first have it?"

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Mm, not until I was nineteen," he admits, "and in America on a student visa. One of my peers ordered one, and couldn't finish it himself."

[brave_heart_verity]

"You studied in America?" That gets a little smile into her teacup. "I didn't know that. Where did you study? And what? Or should I guess... San Fransisco, and you majored in... underwater basket weaving?"

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

He chuckles. "New York," he corrects, "and I was supposed to be studying politics."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Hmm. 'Supposed to be'? I take it you found other things more interesting?" C'mon, don't be a tease, there is a story here and she wants it. "Art, lovers, or fashion?"

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

He chuckles. "All of the above. New York was a very... eye-opening place. It was where I was able to come into my own."

[brave_heart_verity]

Schön.

Dude.

C'mon.

She's making that face now.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

...he sighs. "Not remotely what I meant."

"I had awoken as myself some two or three years previous, but I didn't truly understand myself yet. I wasn't able to freely mingle with others like myself until I reached New York."

[brave_heart_verity]

That's not what she was thinking, Schön, and you damn well know it.

"There weren't any in...?" Nudge nudge prod. She told him a story!

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Oh, there were, but I was the son of a wealthy, influential family. I went nowhere without bodyguards, spoke with no one who hadn't been vetted. The other local fae were kept at more than arm's length."

He tsks reproachfully at himself. "How vain I must sound, the poor little prince in his lovely gilded tower." His lips turn down, somewhat bitter, and he hides the expression briefly behind a sip of tea.

"In any event, my family held political power as well as wealth, and it was expected that I should bring the family more of both. I was able, through some very delicate finagling, to convince my teachers and parents that the best place for me to continue my education was a private college in New York, and that it had been their idea in the first place. In New York, alas, they didn't have the sort of connections that would let them maintain my body-guarded bubble, but I was a dutiful son with no ambitions beyond serving the family." No less bitter, his lips turn up into a smile.

[brave_heart_verity]

Her eyes go wide as he tells his story (and don't think she didn't notice he hasn't answered all her questions) until she finally looks down. As if her tea is going to be any sort of comfort right now.

"You don't sound vain. You sound like V, if he had any ambition to be his own person."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Given your fondness for the boy, I shall take that as high praise, and thank you for it," he replies softly. "I'm sorry to have soured your day with sad thoughts." And he is.

[brave_heart_verity]

The boy. It makes her wince, but only because it's true. He has so much growing up to do, and so little time before...

"Oh, no, you haven't. It was a surprise, the parallels in your stories. I'm glad you found your freedom." She pauses for a moment before giving him a shy look. How much will this favor cost...? "Would you talk to him about it? If he's willing to?"

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"About... my past? Feeling suppressed by my family, and the release I felt when free of them?" There is some reluctance in his expression, and not merely the dealmaker's mask of it. Sharing a confidence with Verity is one thing, but he doesn't know Viatorus nearly so well, nor have any sort of arrangement or understanding with the lad.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Or..." No. She doesn't even know that this is what V wants. So she sighs and shakes her head. "Nothing. Sorry. Forget I asked, it was out of turn."

She refills her tea cup, then angles the pot toward his; would he like more? "I'm glad you liked New York," she offers at last, trying to retreat to more comfortable conversational topics.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"You want to help him. It is a generous impulse," Schön offers, trying to soothe her regret.

He nods, at her offer of tea, waiting 'til she's poured to continue. "As am I. It is a beautiful city. Do you have a favorite neighborhood?"

[brave_heart_verity]

She gives him a little smile; there's no reason for him to feel bad about these things. But to say she has a lot on her mind is an understatement.

"Who could pick? I guess... Chinatown for food, Soho and the Bowery for shopping, Upper East for living."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Mm, grand choices, all. My friends and I had a certain fondness for the artistic souls of Alphabet City," he admits.

[brave_heart_verity]

"I'm not surprised." She glances up when their soups are delivered, thanking the waitress and waiting for her to leave again before speaking. "I regret not having explored more when I had the chance."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Perhaps you'll have the chance again, someday," he suggests.

[brave_heart_verity]

Clink, clink goes her spoon as she stirs her soup. "That's not the problem."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"No," he admits, spooning his own soup, "I don't suppose it would be."

[brave_heart_verity]

"But there's plenty of other places to explore," she points out when she rallies again. "I never traveled much, so it's not all bad."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"There are," he agrees. "Any about which you've wondered?"