Post by wordy on Aug 16, 2012 11:43:42 GMT 10
Title: Glory days
Rating: G
Team: SotL/TI
Prompt: in that outfit
Word count: 367
Summary: Plotting.
It’s something they learn as pages. To be unobtrusive, meek, carrying messages for the lords and ladies.
But Alex learned this lesson long before Corus.
Navigating the corridors of the palace is simple when you know how to blend into the dark crevices and shadows. Making yourself unremarkable is a worthwhile skill to learn, especially when you’re remarkable in all the ways that matter. Alex shifts like smoke, footsteps almost inaudible in his soft boots. He counts doorways as he goes, and after the corridor is empty of anyone but himself, slips into the appropriate door.
Roger raises his head, his eyes so blue that Alex finds himself involuntarily clenching his jaw. “I wondered if you would keep me waiting,” he says mildly.
But there is nothing mild about this man. Alex knew as much when he was still a page, caught up by his own pride and anger as he had been; sometimes threats are worth being extinguished, and sometimes they are worth a little more.
Even dressed for deception and darkness, Roger’s magnificence cannot be concealed. Alex considers it one of his many faults, though perhaps not one of the few that could unravel their plans. Nonetheless, it takes effort to hide his distaste; Roger’s shirt is dull and black though its quality is far from it, and the embroidery and jewels glittering upon his dark tunic show unapologetic opulence. A man who wishes to be king.
Alex listens to all that is proposed, in quiet agreement. He knows that Roger considers him almost an equal, but a show of being deferential is necessary, he’s found, particularly allowing for the older man’s ego.
Though they are—in this—together, he realises how far apart they truly are. His own attire marks that: black and discrete, quite the opposite of Roger’s decadence. Roger desires power, but Alex’s desires spring from a different source. A return to glory; power, of another sort.
And one day soon, he may reclaim his Tirragen colours, but that moment is still in the future. They plan for every eventuality, and Alex plans for even more.
Whether Roger will be there at the end is irrelevant. Alex has learned how to wait.
Rating: G
Team: SotL/TI
Prompt: in that outfit
Word count: 367
Summary: Plotting.
It’s something they learn as pages. To be unobtrusive, meek, carrying messages for the lords and ladies.
But Alex learned this lesson long before Corus.
Navigating the corridors of the palace is simple when you know how to blend into the dark crevices and shadows. Making yourself unremarkable is a worthwhile skill to learn, especially when you’re remarkable in all the ways that matter. Alex shifts like smoke, footsteps almost inaudible in his soft boots. He counts doorways as he goes, and after the corridor is empty of anyone but himself, slips into the appropriate door.
Roger raises his head, his eyes so blue that Alex finds himself involuntarily clenching his jaw. “I wondered if you would keep me waiting,” he says mildly.
But there is nothing mild about this man. Alex knew as much when he was still a page, caught up by his own pride and anger as he had been; sometimes threats are worth being extinguished, and sometimes they are worth a little more.
Even dressed for deception and darkness, Roger’s magnificence cannot be concealed. Alex considers it one of his many faults, though perhaps not one of the few that could unravel their plans. Nonetheless, it takes effort to hide his distaste; Roger’s shirt is dull and black though its quality is far from it, and the embroidery and jewels glittering upon his dark tunic show unapologetic opulence. A man who wishes to be king.
Alex listens to all that is proposed, in quiet agreement. He knows that Roger considers him almost an equal, but a show of being deferential is necessary, he’s found, particularly allowing for the older man’s ego.
Though they are—in this—together, he realises how far apart they truly are. His own attire marks that: black and discrete, quite the opposite of Roger’s decadence. Roger desires power, but Alex’s desires spring from a different source. A return to glory; power, of another sort.
And one day soon, he may reclaim his Tirragen colours, but that moment is still in the future. They plan for every eventuality, and Alex plans for even more.
Whether Roger will be there at the end is irrelevant. Alex has learned how to wait.