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.

Comments

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis didn't do this to receive Mal's gratitude, but to see the young man's happiness of these turn of events is still quite the reward.

Like Mal he gives Madame a bow as they pass, but yes, it would indeed be in their best interest to be away from there. The feelings and reasoning of whys he let Mal go will stay with her, but there is always the risk that she will start to change her mind. If she does, or perhaps when, it would be best if they were well away.

They take to the streets on foot. There is no coach to carry them now. But the weather is fine and though Regis will still prefer Mal to not exhaust himself for another week or two, a walk will do them well.

"Now? Now I suppose we should see to making a new space for you to live in." During Mal's convalescence, when he had become well enough to not need near constant attention, Regis had cleared that extra room of his. It stands empty now, and though Regis has placed an order to a local carpenter for an simple bed, it has yet to be delivered.

[fadingworld]

Mal glances back at once at the Rose Thorn before it disappears amongst the taller buildings. He vows he will never go back if he can help it.

He smiles, “I have simple requirements, places to put what I have.” He pauses, “And if I may a cheap reproduction painting of a waterfall.”

[mandragoraspiritus]

"You may decorate as you please, of course, but if I might suggest that we look to more practical matters first?" The room really is quite bare.

"You will be wanting someplace to study, I'm sure. I shall be setting up something of a curriculum for you. Or perhaps rather, a reading list. Then depending on the patients I receive and whatever ails them, I might at first either leave you to your reading or bring you along with me."

[fadingworld]

Mal grins. He keeps every step elegant but his face is alive. "A desk and writing implements then and paper." Things that might....actually be his.

"And clothes, I cannot keep borrowing your as nice as they are."

[mandragoraspiritus]

"No, I do think I will be needing my own clothes," Regis agrees with a smile.

"All in all, we have many errands to run. But, that purse you unexpectedly got should help to give you a start on things." Regis isn't poor but nor is he rich. While he could pay Mal's way he thinks it would be a good lesson for the young man to manage his own funds.

[fadingworld]

"It is going to be a whole lot lighter by the end of the day isn't it?" Mal doesn't seem to bothered. Though it will take some adjusting to understand a sensible budget.

"Can we do most of it in one day? I feel fit as a fiddle."

[mandragoraspiritus]

"We can manage much today but I do think you will need to pace yourself a bit. You should consider on the way back where you would like to begin. The bed will arrive soon I have been told and I have an empty chest that you can use for your clothes. A chair could also be easily produced, I'm sure, but I do lack a spare desk for you." Not to mention luxuries like bookcases and such. But then again, Mal does have access to Regis own library, so he might not need one.

[fadingworld]

Mal nods, "Alright." He already knows he would like to find some small token to thank Regis. The rest. He must stick to the bare minimum.

As they walk back, Mal peers at the odd shop window, weighing things up. Its strange to have so much choice put before him. His head is spinning by the time they reach Regis place.

"Can I store the books the and jewels in my room?" He laughs delightedly. "That sounds so odd to say outloud."

[mandragoraspiritus]

As they walk Regis gets the feeling that Mal has stepped into a brand new world, one he's never really seen before. He wonders if it will become a bit too much, if the young man might be overwhelmed by it. He then promises himself that he will be there to catch him should he stumble, in whatever which way. He has brought this on after all, and quickly too. It is his responsibility to be there now.

"Well, they are yours, so I do not see why you wouldn't?" It will take some time, he realizes, to give Mal the sense that he now has autonomy, that he has the way in what should be done with himself and his possessions. "I would suggest you keep the jewels for now, since you have some coin on hand. I can help you sell them if or when it becomes needed."

[fadingworld]

Mal takes the books from Regis and carries them in the drape to the room assigned to him. It's bareness is beautiful to him as it gives him a blank canvas to work with. He stores things neatly in the corner of the room and spins around, visualising the use of space.

After a moment of thought he brings the jewels back out and passes them to Regis. "Would you have somewhere safe to store them? There are no loose floorboards in the room."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis hasn't had many problems with break-ins. A couple of times, though, in the forms of addicts looking for something to serve as their next fix. It would indeed be wise to hide such valuable things as jewels and Regis approves of Mal's caution. Indeed, he does have places he could safely store them, but he has another thought entirely.

"That could be easily arranged." He gestures for Mal to wait and goes away, returning within moments with a crowbar. "One loose floorboard should do, yes?" He is determined to put Mal's freedom entirely in his own hands.

[fadingworld]

"Yes but," Mal's eyes widen. "No, no, I didn't mean for you to break your house apart. Honestly, I am happy to have them put somewhere else."

[mandragoraspiritus]

"And I very much want you to be in charge of your own possessions," Regis easily explains. "I could hide them for you, yes, but as I don't want you to go into the laboratory unsupervised or have to ask me for them, they shall stay in your hands. Now, pick a floorboard."

[fadingworld]

There is good logic to it. Mal points to a floorboard, just off centre in his room. "I got told once, that will people will check under the bed area and around the edges of the room for a loose floorboard. They don't have time to search every bit out in the open."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis nods his agreement. That Mal puts reason behind his decisions is a good sign in his mind.

Going down to one knee he easily digs the crowbar in under the board and with one heave pries it loose.

[fadingworld]

Regis has plenty of strength. Mal's hand squeezes his shoulder in thanks before he kneels and places the jewels in their new hidey-hole. The earring he's put in, he hopes is subtle enough that he can keep it in.

"Thank you," he says softly as he rises. "I was thinking on the way back that there will be gossip until people get used to it. I am sorry if that will make you awkward."

[mandragoraspiritus]

"Ah, yes, people will talk," Regis says with a small exasperated sigh. "An older man snatching away a young courtesan from his establishment to have for an apprentice? Of course they will talk." In other words, it isn't something that Regis hasn't already thought of.

"It should die away eventually." Or not. Such rumors could be surprisingly stubborn, where any little thing could cause them to flare up again.

[fadingworld]

Mal watches Regis face, "Will the rumours bother you?" he asks softly. If they did, he would work hard to be worthy of another person to apprentice himself too.

"I don't want you to feel discomforted."

[mandragoraspiritus]

"Oh, not for any personal reasons," Regis says easily, getting up and dusting off his trousers after having replaced the board. "Though there will surely be the odd comment about it. Slurs, gossip, perhaps some aggression. But then I have found that people will never run out of reasons for stupidity, so if not this then it would be something else. Really, Mal, I know what I am getting myself into."

[fadingworld]

"Oh good," Mal says with some relief. "Sometimes, I forgot people care about age and silly things like that." He smiles, "I can handle the slurs myself if it comes to that."

He steps closer to Regis, "If you ever find you feel you have gotten in too deep, say, and I will walk away."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis raises an eyebrow at that, making the lines across his forehead deepen. "Age and other silly things are often times not so silly but rather valid concerns. Still, not to worry." He smiles and puts a hand to Mal's shoulder, giving it a brief squeeze. "If things become bad here there is always the option of relocating. This is not the first city I have lived in and I doubt it will be the last."

[fadingworld]

Mal frowns to himself, puzzled. "But the clients I have liked best are those...." Never mind. He sighs, every polite he shies away from what looks like a sensitive topic.

"You will not relocate for me," he says firmly. "I really don't want to be a cause for trouble."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis cocks his head a bit to the side, studying the young man before him. With the profession Mal had had until this very day, and having seen at least one of his clients, Regis is well aware that Mal has been intimate with not only older people but older men. For Regis this isn't really an issue, with over four centuries behind him things like time and age looks very different to him.

But now free to chose for himself, it would be a shame if such a thing as a rumor would be in Mal's way.

"Ponder this, then. If a rumor takes off, as we both suspect that it will and I then send you on your way to avoid trouble. Do you really think that my reputation would improve. Personally, I suspect not. No, Mal, let us just be about our work and let teh gossips have their fun."

[fadingworld]

"They would settle," Mal murmurs. He tilts his head up, "Could you please answer me this. I am distasteful, or is it simply the profession. If ...I found my tastes aligned to what I experienced, could you keep me in the same house as you?"

[mandragoraspiritus]

A moment them where Regis quietly studies Mal, pondering his words and what it is the young man is trying to say. "If you truly do enjoy the company and touch of men, you mean?" His expression softens and turns more kindly. "Human sexuality is a fascinating and often complex subject. Even though attraction to ones own sex is in our world more often seen as - indeed - distasteful or even abominable, it is far from as black and white as our society would have us believe. But, to answer your question simply, yes, I could and would still have you under my roof. It would not bother me in the slightest. You are deserving of happiness and I wish you all the best with whomever you eventually set you heart on, be they man or woman."