9
“And he looked so very adorable!” Aeris finished her report, wiping her hands on her apron, looking all flushed and excited, beaming at the cloaked man who leaned against the frame of the door with his arms over his chest and patiently listened to her adventures with Yazoo.
It surprised him a little that they seemed to get along so well. Silently he congratulated himself for the wise decision of bringing the boy here. There was really no one who could escape from the cheerful woman´s charms, including himself. She was just one bundle of forgiving, unconditioned warmness and love, and could give any saint a decent run for his money.
“I am glad to hear that he behaved so well after all the trouble and grief he caused you,” the man said quietly.
Waving a hand in dismissal and smiling her warm, forgiving smile the maid defoliated some salad head she had picked from the garden earlier, telling him “It really wasn´t the child´s fault. It´s just the circumstances that make people act like they do. I believe there is no one evil under god´s loving gaze.”
Vincent refrained from voicing his very justified doubts, but a dark shadow clouded his eyes for a brief moment.
“I will retire to my rooms. Would you be so kind to sent the boy to the library?”
She nodded and left the sink, as he vanished in the back of the house.
Softly rapping at the boy´s door a moment later, she caught him sneakily running with the comb through his hair, since he had found a new knot earlier, and he really didn´t want her to do his hair ever again!
Upon hearing her knocking he quickly hid the item behind his back and looked at her most innocently from the bed.
Pretending that she hadn´t seen his rendevous with the comb, she came in smiling
“How are you doing?”
“Fine,” he answered dismissively, observing her with a sly gleam in his eyes and then asking nonchalanty. “Ya ain´t hav ´anotha of dat tea thing, do ya?”
Frankly, he didn´t give a damn about the tea or the happy face she made when he asked (well, maybe… a little…), but he had learned that every time he got a cup of her rancid tea, he also got candy, and that he cared about. A lot! So far he had gotten himself three of that sweet tasting sublimities and he planned on getting a lot more! He just had to push the right buttons.
Adding a small smile that made her squeal in delight, she nodded at him frantically, absent-mindedly stroking with her finger over the leaves of the flower in the pot and briefly wondered with concern why the thing looked so sick all of a sudden.
“Of course you can, as much as you want,” she smiled, her brown eyes sparkling. “I´ll bring you some, but first Master Vincent wants to see you.”
Instantly the boy´s relatively good mood was ruined. He didn´t want to met the man who had let his brothers die. Still, he was too intimidated to refuse his order and so he unwillingly followed her to the library. Sensing his stiffness, Aeris turned towards the boy before the doors and with a reassuring smile summoned one of the beloved candies from her dress, saying “Don´t worry. He may appear a little eery, but he really is a good person.”
Yazoo had his doubts, but did want the candy, so he just shrugged and was awarded with the little sweetness.
After rapping at the door, the dark voice of the landlord swept through the thick wood easily, and with a soft prod, Aeris pushed the reluctant boy inside the library, closing the door behind him.
Hesitantly, Yazoo scanned the candle lit library. Books were stacked everywhere, not only in the huge shelfes that reached under the ceiling. There were also all kind of books built to fragile looking towers and scattered over the polished wooden panels and the rich red carpet, thick and thin, large and small, old and new, plain and palatial. Golden candle holders engulfed the room with a warm light, casting odd shadows on the walls, ceiling, and the shelves. Though there was no sign of Vincent…
“Come here,” the low voice of the vampire ordered from somewhere deeper in the room. Carefully Yazoo made his way around some book stacks and a few shelfes until a small opening came into view. Surrounded by more backs of books (really what did one person need that many paper for?! Yazoo hadn´t needed one his entire life and he´d survided it too!),
Vincent was sitting on a red velvet sofa with ebony lion paws as feet. Holding an open book in his lap, wearing his usual attire and not even looking up he instructed “Sit.”
Obediently, Yazoo took a seat at the similar chair next to the sofa, his face not betraying any emotions he might have had.
“I heared you behaved well today,” Vincent said, eyes still locked on the pages.
Lifting an eyebrow, the boy refrained from commenting. If the creepy bastard said so…
“I advice you to better keep this up. You do not want to inflict my wrath upon you by saddening Miss Aeris.”
Yazoo rolled his candy in his mouth, silently agreeing to him, but keeping his face straight.
The conversation came to stop here, as Vincent seemed to have brought his point across, but didn´t release him though. Yazoo wasn´t eager to talk to him either, though eventually he grew bored of the silence, when his candy was long gone and there was really nothing interesting in here…
“Whadcha doin?” he therefore asked languidly, thinking that even getting yelled at was better than dying out of tendiousness.
“As you certainly can see, I am reading,” Vincent answered impassively.
“No shit.” The boy rolled his eyes, pushing further while observing his fingernails “Whadcha readin?”
Vincent spared him a brief look, eyebrow lifted. Yazoo flashed him a sweet smile, pretending to be utterly curious about the boring stuff that Vincent was surely occupied with.
“The hellish squall, which never rests.
Sweeps spirits in its headlong rush,
Tormenting, whirls and strikes them.
Caught in that path of violence,
They shriek, weep, and lament.
Then how they curse the power of God!
I understood that such torment
The carnal sinners are condemned,
They who make reason subject to desire.
As, in cold weather, the wings of starlings
Bear them up in wide, dense flocks,
So does that blast propel the wicked spirits.
Here and there, down and up, it drives them.
Never are they comforted by hope
Of rest or even lesser punishment.”
(Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, Inferno V 31-45)
Vincent stopped his low, monotous reciting and watched the boy out of the corner of his eye, half expecting him to snore the entire monologue away in his chair, but instead the boy looked at him with genuine interest, head tilted and asking with a frown,
“Why´d ya stop?”
“… Do you even understand what I was talking about?”
“Course.I ain´t dumb or sumthin´” The boy stated matter-of factly. “Sounds like sum kinda daily life report or sumthin”´
Looking somewhat awkward at Yazoo, Vincent said slowly “No. In fact this is about hell.”
“Oh,” Yazoo made, then shrugged “If dats what hell´s all bout, doesn´t seem ta bad ta me.”
“How about hearing something about heaven then?” Vincent offered, flicking calmly through the book.
“’To the father, to the Son and to the Holy Ghost,
Glory’ cried all the souls of Paradise,
And I became drunk on the sweetness of their song.
It seemed to me I saw the universe
Smile, so that my drunkenness
Came now through hearing and through sight.
O happiness! O joy beyond description!
O life fulfilled in love and piece!
O riches held in store, exempt from craving!”
(Paradiso XXVII 1-9)
Expectantly, the vampire looked at his guest, quite curious what he had to say about this now.
With a sceptical look Yazoo, after thinking about it for some time, finally declared
“Ya know, if dat´s all da fellas in heavn do, singin´an praisn´an´shit, I´d rather nat go dere…”
Vincent´s eyes widened a fraction in disbelieve.
“An besides,” the boy continued unfazed “I really dun wanna see da universe smile an shit, sounds kinda… creepy. I mean da universe´s full of stars an planets an shit, eh? How´s dat gonna work, smilin´I mean?” He shot a quizzical look at the vampire, beseeching enlightenment from the dark figure.
Vincent looked a little overwhelmed, mumbling a quiet “I… do not know. I believe it is meant as an allegory here…”
“Oh,” Yazoo made again, looking a little lost.
When Vincent continued to look at him awkwardly, the book resting forgotten in his lap, the silver haired boy cocked his head to the side again, inquiring “An? Where´d ya wanna go when ya kicked ta bucket?”
Vincent shot him another strange look, since this was a question not quite suited for an immortal creature such as himself. He answered nontheless, saying “I would prefer eternal bliss over the torments of hell.”
They were silent for a while until Yazoo spoke up again, looking very sober “In da end, it´s all bullshit anyways. Like hell we´re goin sumwhere. Ya yest stop breathin and turn ugly blue an den ya start rottin and smellin icky an gettin all mushy. Ain´t no shit like heavn or hell, dat´s yest sumthin da friggin´shavelings tell da people so dey ain´t doin shit dey dun like. In da end ya all alone an hav ta liv ya own life. Da strong rule an da weak snuff it.”
“That is… quite an interesting perspective. But you better not let hear the clerics about that,” Vincent commented, after he had somewhat recovered.
“What dey gonna do? Dreatening me with hell?” The boy snorted “Yeah, right…”
Vincent hadn´t any counter to offer, so he remained silent, a small smile forming on his lips Yazoo couldn´t see because it was hidden by his collar. Though the boy´s view of things spoke of unpleasant experiences and provided an insight into his alarmingly nonexistent morals, he was also rather pragmatic and showed an unusual keen and shrewd wit.
Before they could deepen the topic, a soft rapping at the door was heard and Aeris silently slipped into the room. She was a little surprised to see the two sitting together in a rather relaxed manner. To tell the truth, she had feared that Vincent had eaten Yazoo alive as he hadn´t come out of the room again and she had decided to come to his rescue, but apparently that seemed to be redundant.
Still, she bowed before her master and reached out a hand to the boy, saying “Now Yazoo let´s leave Master Vincent to himself again. I made your tea.”
Impassively the boy slipped from the seat, he felt quite sleepy now. The chair had been all cozy and warm and Vincent´s pleasant, monotonous voice had sounded like a lullaby to him (if he´d know what a lullaby was, that was…) and so he had no objections going to sleep.
“Well then I wish a good night to you.” Vincent said politely, adding after a pause “I will await you tomorrow.”
Aeris looked at him in astonishement but the man had returned back to reading his book, ignoring their presence.
Yazoo yawned heartily and drowsily clung to the maids hand. Whatever.
“Well then good night to you too,” Aeris replied, leading the boy out of the room and to bed.
--------------------------------------------------------
So, endlich mal ein bissl mehr Vincent u. Yazoo Interaktion. Würd mich freuen wenn ihr mir sagen würdet was ihr davon haltet :)
