olden times for Tommy

[oohforeshadowing]

The great country pile isn't their speed, really.

Double had their lovely house in London, bought and paid for by their adoptive father - a High Fae of some high regard, who'd been fretting about their lands and accounts falling into strangers' hands when he passed on. It was a heartrending story, of course, and Double was...well, positively delighted to be anything the old man wanted them to be. For the right price.

Shapeshifters have long since had a bad reputation for sliding into the upper echelons this way. They hadn't been in penury to begin with, by any means, but 'lovely house in London' money and 'vast estates with mining wealth and hundreds of rate-paying tenants' money is not the same by some order of magnitude.

The old man died peacefully in his bed, well over a century old, and left the manor house and everything that went with it to their sole heir. Who is going to sell it all, eventually, but it feels tasteless not to even let their 'father's' body grow cold.

They move in after the last of their furniture has been transported, and lets the housekeeper give them the tour. They cut quite the figure: long blond hair pinned up in curls, a jacket and blouse tailored tightly to a corseted waist, the snug high-waisted breeches favoured by most males. Their tail is the most exposed part of them and the woman they're following keeps eyeing it like she's not sure if it's obscene or not.

"...show you the stables, your grace," she says, as she walks ahead to the outbuildings.

"Ah. I suppose we ought."

Comments

[oohforeshadowing]

"A lot of it is going into the sets, the effects," Double says, reaching for their own cup. "A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play positively drenched in magic and trickery. Emulating that by human means is quite the challenge, but they're equal to it."

[bleak_midwinter]

"Anything you personally had a hand in?" He's curious - they're creative, and resourceful, and clever. So he knows they must have been able to contribute more than just money.

[oohforeshadowing]

"Oh - well, I've been trying to keep my nose out of it, I promised I wouldn't compromise their vision. But they did ask," they admit. "And particularly when it comes to the costuming, well, there are some ways to satirise the Fae aesthetic best informed from an insider's perspective."

[bleak_midwinter]

He gives a soft laugh and meets their eyes. "Anything a simple human would recognize, or is it just to scandalize the Fae?"

[oohforeshadowing]

"Both. For example - Fae like to emphasise the parts of themselves which are visibly not human, especially in high society," Double says, leaning forward onto their elbows as if sharing a secret. "Their necks and fingers are longer, so they wear high collars and multiple rings. Their waists and hips are narrower, so they wear snug clothes. You can do a lot with visual illusions to give human actors an exaggeration of things like that."

[bleak_midwinter]

"The troupe must have been very happy to get someone with your expertise on board. I had occasionally noticed this, but never really knew it was to emphasize their non-human traits."

[oohforeshadowing]

"Well, some of it is just conspicuous spending, I'm sure," they remark. "More jewellery and silk. Humans sometimes do the same, but they sometimes do it very differently, and that's a statement in itself. 'I'm wealthy but I'm not Fae, and I want you to see that from across the street'."

[bleak_midwinter]

"The rich exhaust me," he laments, though he reaches to trace his fingers over their hand - one exception to the rule can be made, here.

[oohforeshadowing]

They smile and cradle his hand in both of their own.

"If anyone else asked me to tone it down a little, I'd do the opposite out of pure pettiness," they admit. "You are my singular exception."

[bleak_midwinter]

"Would you, tone it down? I don't know why I'd ask you to."

But he feels warmth at the words, and their hands around his own.

[oohforeshadowing]

"Which is part of the reason I like you so much," they say, with a small smile. "I'm looking forward to you seeing the play. I want to...share it with you."

[bleak_midwinter]

He folds his other hand over the both of theirs, feeling soft intimacy cradle in his chest. It's an odd feeling, so big and so small at the same time.

"Then I hope you've got a good seat saved for me tonight - and maybe a tour of the theater beforehand?"

[oohforeshadowing]

"Darling, we have the royal box," they promise, "and a tour of the theatre sounds like a wonderful idea, so long as you're feeling limber enough to avoid any stagehands rushing to make last-minute adjustments."

They smile faintly.

[bleak_midwinter]

"I'm limber enough," he promises. "I'm feeling alright today. Might as well take advantage of that while we can, right?"

[oohforeshadowing]

"We should."

But Saturday is two days away, and - though they've noticed more good days than bad, lately, they have to point out something that might have slipped his mind.

"...Although - we'll be out of the way, but there will be a large number of Fae in the audience. I can understand if you'd rather I take you along to the full rehearsal."

[bleak_midwinter]

"Fuck them," he says, firmly. "I'm not going to let them get in my head and then continue to inspire fear in me, keep me away from things I want to do. They've kept me for long enough."

[oohforeshadowing]

They smile, broadly, and lean across the table to kiss his cheek. It's more intimate than they've been with him since he was freed, but they honestly can't help themself.

"That is so perfectly, utterly true."

[bleak_midwinter]

He hopes he'll feel the same way on Saturday, but having said this aloud strengthens his resolve. He has to keep going on, doesn't he? What else can he do?

"And you as well. They've spent all this time trying to push you down. Let them know at the end, that the art they enjoyed came from you. More than just your wealth."

[oohforeshadowing]

"Well, I won't be taking a bow at the end of the performance, that would be a dreadful act of egotism even for me," they chuckle. "But from the royal box, one very much can very much seize the opportunity to be seen."

[bleak_midwinter]

"Well, at least stand up and be seen," he compromises. He'll personally very much stay down at that point - let attention fall on them.

"I'm looking forward to the spectacle."

[oohforeshadowing]

"And it will be spectacular," they promise, with a toothy grin. "Literal fireworks, darling."

[bleak_midwinter]

"Literal fireworks? Human fireworks?" Or magical? He's seen the latter many times, and loathe as he is to say they've always been very impressive. But he's hardly ever seen human-made fireworks.

[oohforeshadowing]

"Human fireworks," they promise. "Stage pyrotechnics aren't as impressive as the kind of thing you see outside, of course, we can't burn the building down. But things can be accomplished with chemistry that even the Realmers will find impressive."

[bleak_midwinter]

"Who did the work for it? I can't imagine they already had someone on board who had these skills?"

[oohforeshadowing]

"They didn't," Double agrees, leaning back a little. "But they did have contacts who do that sort of thing for other theatres, parties and so on. And I had the funding for the materials they needed."