A medical emergency

[fadingworld]

A deep navy cloak hides his features and the more ornate tunic the courtesan usually wears to greet his clients. Mal hunches his shoulders and slides through the crowds hoping to avoid notice. He keeps his head down until he reaches the home of the doctor and wraps smartly on the door. "Open up," he calls in a voice that expects to be listened to.

How much time did he have? He could not have a client bleeding out. Not this one. Not one who had come to him for help, to be treated privately.

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[fadingworld]

Mal crushes the herbs intently for a moment. "It might not seem like it to you," he says quietly. "But it is very different to hear it from a friend rather than it coming from a client or Madame. Your words mean something."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis hums softly, clearly thinking Mal's words over. "Yes, I suppose it would be different," he finally says with a slight, soft smile. Mal is beautiful sure enough, but the more Regis gets to know him, Mall is showing himself to be bright and kindhearted, with a genuine wish to help. Simply put, he is beautiful inside and out, something very rare in Regis' experience.

[fadingworld]

"You I trust," he says softly looking up, "You tell me the truth and not just what you need me to hear." He smiles sweetly at Regis, "You mean a lot to me."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Like it often is when Mal expresses his fondness for his master and mentor, Regis doesn't quite know what to say. A shy vampire, even with all his years. In some ways, well... Why not?

"That I can tell you, that I will never resort to any false flattery."

[fadingworld]

Mal accepts this. He would not have felt comfortable in the house if he had thought Regis would act more like a client. "Good. I think you would be honest even if it hurt me because it will make me stronger over time."

He smiles softly, "I can promise I will be a faithful companion, nothing about you will scare me off."

[mandragoraspiritus]

That statement causes Regis to pause, looking more serious.

"Mal, there is much of me that you have not yet seen, and I truly hope that you will never have to."

[fadingworld]

"If I do, I will remember what is at your core," Mal says simply, "A desire to do good. I know you will always come back to that."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis smiles a slight, somewhat sad smile. Sometimes Mal truly could be naive. "Ah, I often find myself wishing that things were as easy as you sometimes make them out to be," he admits."

He leaves the work table, going to the book shelves to retrieve one particular book. 'On Vampires' it says tooled on the back, and is teh most accurate account he knows of, not only in its facts but in it's illustrations. Flipping through the pages he shows some of the drawings to Mal. The garkain, the fleder, the ekimmara... Large, hulking beasts all fo then. Even when coming to the alp and the bruxa, though more human looking the women portrayed still looked like monsters.

"These are vampires," Regis says. "Lower vampires, admittedly, but still. Do you really think that my teeth would be the only thing to set me apart if I stopped pretending?"

[fadingworld]

Mal looks at the pictures, giving them each brief attention. It does not change his mind. "Looks do not matter," he says softly. "Abilities either, it is what you feel Regis, your actions."

[mandragoraspiritus]

It can't be as simple s that, Regis thinks. He thinks of Dettlaff and the one human he grew to accept, a human woman he gave his heart to, so completely. He had thought she had accepted him. In the end, her betrayal has unleashed such torment and ended so many lives, Dettlaff's included. In thinking of Dettlaff, grief and sorrow comes to the forefront, as it so often does.

"I hope you are right," Regis says, and for a moment he looks so very tired and weary. "I truly do."

[fadingworld]

Mal gets up and comes to brush a kiss over Regis' cheek. "I know I am," he says very gently. "Show me something you think I could not accept and I will show you otherwise."

[mandragoraspiritus]

The hugs Regis has gotten somewhat used to, but this small, slight kiss is new and he blinks in surprise at it. But even though he smiles at it a bit wider, there is still clearly something that weighs on his mind.

"May I leave the rest to you for tonight, Mal? I feel a need for some air." It is a statement of Mal's capabilities even after only two weeks, that Regis trusts him to handle this task by himself.

[fadingworld]

"Of course," Mal says easily and steps back to his work. He is enjoying the process of the work and he trusts that Regis will talk when he is ready. "I will say goodnight now and lock up when you leave in case I am in bed when you return."
He might not sleep though and lie there waiting for a sign of Regis return.

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis nods at that. "Goodnight then, Mal. And thank you. I will let myself in."

Without there being anything he needs to do or to bring, he merely leaves Mal there, slipping out the door and into the night.

Far later that night there is a sound as he returns, but not from the front door but rather from the attic.

[fadingworld]

Despite his best intentions Mal does doze on and off. The noise does draw him from the chair in the study and out. "Regis?" he calls softly, "Is that you?" If it was not, there was not much Mal could do to make himself scare to stay out of trouble.

[mandragoraspiritus]

"It is, you can be calm," comes Regis' voice. He sits up there, on the sill of the only window in the attic, the window open and just looking out over the city.

"Apologies that I woke you. Go back to sleep, or you may come up if you like."

[fadingworld]

Barefooted, and hair that looks rumpled now that it is short, Mal comes up to join him. "I was only dozing," he says coming to rest his chin on Regis shoulder. "This is a wonderful view."

[mandragoraspiritus]

At first Regis tenses a bit at the sudden proximity, of Mal within his personal space and showing all signs of not leaving it anytime soon. But soon he relaxes and even leans a little bit against Mal. He has no wish o alienate the only person here who says he will accept him fully.

"It is," he says quietly. "It isn't the fairytale land of Toussaint, but it is beautiful nevertheless."

[fadingworld]

The tension does not go unnoticed. "You should let me know if my touches become too much," he scolds with gentle affection. "It is second nature to me and I will not always spot my limits."

He studies the scene. "I think anywhere might look beautiful at night when all is peaceful."

[mandragoraspiritus]

"Do not worry, Mal. If you are unwelcome I will let you know." Though perhaps he is too lenient. Surely a master should have more distance towards his apprentice, not be so personal. He just... Doesn't want to.

"Peaceful," he murmurs softly. "With all good folk asleep in their beds, with only the rabble, the drunkards, the whores, the thieves and the cutthroats out and about."

[fadingworld]

"Not all those who are out are bad, or all those asleep good," Mal points out softly. "Night to me, on moments alone hold great potential for change. A dream that sets someone on a new path coming morning, a thief who changes his mind."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis actually chuckles, then, and now he definitely is leaning back against Mal, not heavily but enough for it to be noticeable. "You have a far kinder outlook on things than I do, my friend."

[fadingworld]

Mal rests a hand on Regis' other shoulder. "Looking for the good, makes life worth living for me," he confesses very softly. "I let my mind go down a very dark path once." He swallows. "I saw what I did, what the people I was with had the potential to do, their dark desires and..." he breaks off.

"Only when I twisted it to look at the potential for goodness could I bare to look and live in the world again."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Sitting like this is starting to feel almost like he's being embraced, in not just a brief hug but rather something more lingering. His mind shies away from it to some degree, warning to be careful And yet... It has been so long, hasn't it? So long since he was given anything even remotely close to it.

"You do know, I trust, that I would listen." This evening and now night feels open just as much as that night when they had sat drinking the mandrake cordial and yet they haven't touched a drop.

[fadingworld]

"I do," Mal says with a quiet sense of conviction. This is why he's felt able to open up. "But those thoughts are long gone. And now? Now, oh if you could see my heart, it is light. I have all I could wish now.

I only hope I can bring some of that happiness to you."