Author's Note:
Very angry atm since reading about abandoned cats in the summer months when irresponsible families go on holiday – WHO WOULD ABANDON A KITTY AND THINK IT'S OK. Seriously…
That reminds me of having neglected Dinah and Marcus in this story. Shame on ME! Perhaps they'll band together and start a mutiny.
So what will happen in this chapter? No matter what, you can be sure that eggplants were NOT involved. Nope, not even a little bit.
I wish to quote from Whitman now
To show the way I feel, I feel about you, oh about you
Cause it's a "subtle electric fire" you light in me
Every time I see you
- Sixpence None The Richer
I practically crawled to the museum with my eyes to the ground as 80's break up songs played in my brain. I almost lifted my hand to my forehead in a melodramatic swoonish gesture of feminine anguish. Oh woe is me this day!
Meanwhile in Africa, children are DYING but sure, woe is you.
But joking aside, I really did feel like shit. I mean, by this point I did not know what the hell I was to Aro or what I meant to him. I mean sure, we had only been intimately involved for less then a month, but to me that is like…a lot longer. Like dog years.
Yeah. Might have to do something with the fact that all our previous "relationships" have lasted for approximately two weeks at a time, which we didn't care much about anyway because until we decided to jump immortal vampires. Whom we find ourselves incredibly attached to (no pun intended). We did not even entertain the idea of a long term relationship before this point.
Wow. That's actually kind of insightful of you Brain.
Just doing my job, figuring things out so you can go screw it up.
Bottom line – either Aro saw me as some sort of temporary sex puppet that he could discard at any moment OR (very unlikely) he actually liked me for who I was. And I needed to know that now so I could keep this demented relationship in a healthy perspective.
I had never really visited Aros office before, even though I knew he had one. It turned out to be kind of a a big deal. He had his own room with a secretary outside and everything. I approached her and asked where he was. She was a plump red-headed older woman dressed in blue. She kind of reminded me of Joan from Mad Men, except maybe a bit older. She looked me up and down, giving me a strangely fond smile. Eh?
"Oh, you must be his...he told me to expect you." She said, soft laughter tinkling between sentences.
"Where is he….Beatrice?"I asked, glancing down at her name card. She pointed down the hall.
"He's with the other curators at the moment, but you can go find him three doors down to the left. "
"I see, thank you." I said, and I must have sounded kind of low because she gave me a mothering sort of look.
"Come love, you look a bit peckish – here, have a biscotti." She said, offering a small basket full of strange half-moon shaped cookies.
"A what?"
Beatrice rolled her eyes.
"A biscuit dear. They're Italian."
Of course they were.
I took three of the cookies and went off to the direction Beatrice had said he was. I opened a door which said "conference room 3" and peered inside. There were about 5 men in there, all dressed in dark tweed and the like. It was pretty easy to spot Aro in the crowd, his pale skin a dead (haha) giveaway.
They were standing in a small circle, chatting quietly amongst each other. If I didn't know any better I'd say that this was the most normal I'd ever seen Aro act since I'd met him. Normal for undead Italians, that is. His movements were slow and graceful as he used his hands to gesture when he talked.
"Yes, I quite agree. The byzantian era should at the very least include some form of interactive media." One of them said, who had a grey beard and thick glasses.
"An audio drama that you can listen to as you view the exhibit?" another one asked, who was taller and whose beard was triangular.
"Precisely."
"The poetry from that era is divine. Can we bring something in from the archeology department?"
"That depends. I do not think we have the rights to display those particular scrolls you're referring to in your memo."
"But they can be persuaded, surely?" Aro pitched in, sounding very british and normal.
I coughed a few times to get their attention, not wanting to intrude with any loud noises.
Aro was wearing one of his designer three piece suit get up and let me just tell you, that those grey wooly pants really showed of his assets, if you know what I mean.
It was almost a shame that he had to turn around facing my direction. A contrast to my own get up of sparkly unicorn sweatshirt and polka dot tights and combat boots. When the other curators turned to look at the opened door, I could tell they thought I was interrupting. Well fuck them.
Slowly he inclined his head to me, his deep brown eyes (contact lenses) contemplating me for a moment with an indecipherable look. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he looked bored? Introspective? He was probably tired of me already. But then as he approached me he went in to kiss my cheek. In a fit of retarded panic, I leaned away.
He retreated hesitantly, looking surprised. Ugh, why do I have to notice how cute he is when I'm about to end it?!His eyes were wide as he stared at me – something I recognized as his inquisitive/demanding/other mood. Trying to figure out his expressions was like solving a rat's maze – take the wrong turn and you might end up with an electric shock or a piece of cheese.
Or wait…
"Did you meet my secretary?" he asked out of the blue. I nodded and waved the biscuit around in my hand.
"Yeah, she offered me a biscuit."
"Biscotti." He corrected, and bent his head down to take a large nibble of it in my hand. The gesture was intimate and sexy as hell. Oh right, I forgot that vampires actually could eat human food without having to choke on it.
He looked from my face, to my shoulder and to my knees and up to my face again – I think he was trying to feel me out without reading my mind.
"You look lovely." He said very soft, eyes cast down so that his dark lashes obscured the color of his eyes. I blinked at the unexpected compliment and his unusually shy demeanour, feeling myself blush. As a matter of fact, this whole scene felt very first date-ish. Weird.
"Thanks."
Then he seemed to give up and slumped next to me against the wall in a very ungraceful and un-Aro like way. Then I realized that he was just mirroring me on purpose.
"So uh, how are things going? Dazzling anybody with your astounding intellect?" I asked, avoiding his eyes. Aro tilted his head upwards and sighed melodically.
"Oh, I do that regardless- progress is being made, slow but all the same."
We fell into a lapse of silence as I tried to think of a good way to say "hey I missed you but at the same time maybe we should call the entire thing off because I think you'll get bored of me in the next minute due to your overwhelming intelligence and I don't think my heart can handle that sort of emotional trauma".
"Romero – come and take a look at this."
Aro glanced between me and the curators with a suspicious glint in his eyes. Then he stared at me until I had to ask what he wanted. He held out his hand to me with a debonair flick of his wrist.
"Come. "
Anytime and anywhere for you pumpkin pie!
AHEM!
I want your input." He said.
"Heh?"
But Aro only smiled at me gently, laser eyes a bit manic and I did as he asked. As usual, it was better to play along than to ask questions with him.
As we approached the others, there was an immediate change in their behaviour. Many of them frowned at me, and started shifting uncomfortably. I think I could take a stab of a guess why, considering what I'd been up to last time I was at the museum. I wonder if the security staff had a picture med with the label "public sex maniac" under it.
That's kind of cool.
It's NOT cool its humiliating and most disturbing.
Whenever else are we going to be called something like that? It's totally cool – it's like a superhero name.
If that's a superhero name then I do NOT want to see that particular superhero in action anytime soon. ¨Then again, it's called make love and not war.
"Ah. Hello Miss." One of them said primly, without shaking my hand thank you very much.
"Hey there."
The rest of them just pretended I was not even in the room. They started babbling about ancient greek stuff again when I noticed in the far corner of the room a long table with a bunch of ancient looking stuff on it. They were probably for the upcoming exhibit, I figured.
"Uh, what sort of input did you want?" I asked. One of the curators harrumphed at my words, his tea cup jiggling dangerously in his hands as he looked at me with horror.
"Input – from her? Romero really, this is not the time for jokes. I do not think we should take advice from someone who looks like she belongs in, well, kindergarten. Uh, no offence to you, Miss. "
I glared at him unabashedly. But then again, I suppose he wasn't exactly wrong in his assessment.
Aro however, did not glare or look discomforted. But his entire demeanour changed almost invisibly. It seemed he almost grew a few inches taller, just staring at them blankly. As if he were looking at a couple of small, harmless insects that had nothing to do with him whatsoever.
"Mr. Romero – are you all right?"
Then abruptly he smiled calmly like Betty Crocker once more, but it was just a smidge sharper than it had previously been. His eyes flashed bright red for a fraction of a second.
"Quite."
But before more could be read in his face, he turned away from all of us to inspect the ancient jewellery and trinkets on the long table. For a crazy moment I thought he was going to turn around and throw it all at some poor unsuspecting curators little bald head.
"But Gentlemen, we have not discussed the most important aspect of the exhibition." He said smoothly. He seemed to be fiddling with something in his hands.
"Which is?" one of them drawled unimpressed, stirring a spoon in a small tea cup.
"Why, the matter of presentation of course."
Aro turned around dramatically, holding a delicate golden leaf crown in his hands. It looked really old, not the sort of knock off crowns you could get at Claires or K-Mart. Nobody said anything as he slowly put it on his head, then jumped up on the conference table at the center of the room.
What could you have said? "Uh, sir – is it really wise to be trying on ancient jewlery as if you owned it?" or "didn't your parents teach you it was rude to play with the furniture?"
I suppose you could have said something like that, but with Aro – what was the point? Be it the vampire allure or his general charm, this was the kind of thing he could get away with. If it were me wearing that crown on the other hand, I'd probably be arrested and asked to bend over before you can say tortellini sandwich.
I stared a bit mesmerized, unable to help myself.
I've probably said this many, many times before but yeah…Aro may be many things, but he was also a very beautiful man. And there was just something especially beautiful about him when he was about to do something crazy – like jumping up on tables with a crown on his head as he was doing right now.
Why does this remind me of Tom Cruise?
The other three curators blinked up at him, confused.
He promenaded across the small table back and forth with all the casualness in the world, hands in the pockets of his tweed jacket. Then he looked down at us as if we were nothing but mere peasants.
"Presentation? What about the presentation? " One foolish curator dared to ask.
Aro leaned down a bit. The curators took half a step back.
"We want our visitors to learn as much about the roman emperors as they can, do we not?" he asked, with a velvety smooth voice.
"uh, of course."
He leaned back up and theatrically threw out one hand in the air, eyes pointing at the sky. Lord knows what he was looking at, for nobody could be that fascinated by flourcenet lights.
"So why then have we so sorrowfully neglected the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty? Is that not a terrible shame?"
"Ah, you mean Nero. Yes, yes I see what you are getting at."
"So glad we are on the same page."
"what do you suggest?"
Aro brushed off his sleeve and grinned, showing sharp white teeth.
"Well, why ask me?"
The curator with the triangular beard was not deterred, waving the little teaspoon around in midair to emphazie his point. "Because you're the resident expert on his reign, or so I'm told. Come on, have at it then."
Aro turned his back to us again, walked for a bit on the table and then abruptly stopped in his tracks. How he could not make it topple, at least a little bit, was beyond me. His head turned, one brown eye observing us from afar.
"Let's make a game of it shall we? I'll say something Nero has done, and you have to guess whether it is true or not. If it is not true, then, I'm afraid, you'll be put in the stocks."
"The stocks!?" Triangular beard exclaimed. Another curator put a calming hand on his shoulder and laughed a little awkwardly.
"He means that we'll have to plan that part of the exhibit on our own. That was what you meant, correct?"
The pregnant pause before Aro answered made me want to smack my head against the wall.
"….of course."
"Well that sounds like fun. Give us a lesson then Mr. Romero.""
"Don't worry – I intend to. "
"Start by telling us something true." I said out of nowhere. All the curators turned and stared at me like I was a wild bear from the zoo. Aro blinked a few times, but remained unpertubed.
"Very well. In 37 A.D, the future emperor was born – but his fate was at that time not predetermined for glory."
"No?"I asked stupidly.
"No. But as it often happened in Ancient rome, if you were cunning enough and patient enough, good things would come your way."
The curators scoffed with boredom.
"Easy - Most people know that already."
"Of course. But then…" Aros eyes shifted down, something in them glowing faintly, as his eyes fixated on the hands clasped in front of him,"…not every memory survives the trip of nearly thousand years, or so I am told. And that leads me to the next little tale. Say, have you gentlemen heard of the Wonder caves?"
"Do you mean the caves in which Nero was rumoured to conduct several orgies in secrecy?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds like the pleasure caves in the playboy mansion." I commented, as the men in the room except Aro started coughing with embarrassment.
"Not quite. And yes, those caves. I happen to know wheter they were real or not. Now I ask you the same question. What do you think?"
"It's plausible."
"It wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination, considering Nero's overall… behaviour." Triangular beard curator said, beating his spoon against his empty cup.
"I call bullshit."
"Pardon?"
"I may not be a scholar or anything, but I do remember seeing this documentary on the history channel about ancient brothels and let me tell you – none of it happened in caves."
The curators scoffed into their tea cups and laughed at me. Note, not with me but AT my person.
"Well gentlemen? What's your answer?"
"Well, my answer will have nothing to do with what that young lady just said, but I will have to go with the negative also."
"Well for one, I am quite certain it is true."
"Same for me."
"Oh dear- I am afraid that's a tie. You see – the wonder caves did exist, but they were not for debauchery activities."
"Then what were they for?" triangular beard asked, irritated. Aro innocently shrugged his shoulders.
"Nothing. They were simply pretty to look at."
Everyone groaned, having expected something a little bit more interesting of an answer. Aro simply polished his nails against the buff of his coat, looking very pleased with himself.
"Come now. Only one more questions to go."
"This better be a good one." Triangular beard muttered behind his grey mustache.
Aro took the crown off his head, turned over in his hands and contemplated it silently.
"Nero had three little advisors, who were very kind but very judgemental to those closest to him. It pained him greatly, but Nero did not see any other solution but to lock them into individual cells, strip them off their clothes and skin them alive, bit by bit. The process was extremely painful and lasted for several weeks. True?"
All of the curators suddenly gulped.
"Not true…? " triangular beard mustered with much uncertainty. Everyone held their breath. Close up on me, close up on that cow over there. Tense bongo drum music intensifies AND-
Aro sighed, disappointed and looked off into the distance.
"Well, it might have been true. Anyway, it's just after 6 pm and I have other business to attend to. We'll continue this discussion on Wednesday?"
"Well Uh, yes. I suppose that would be a good idea."
I heard someone giggling loudly. And then I realized with a start that it was me. Whoa, the crazy bells sure are ringing. I wondered if Aro had played those guys just because they made fun of me and my clothes. Then I realized how weird it was that I knew him well enough to know that it was true. Aro descended from the table with his eyes fixed on me as if HE was the one hypnotized by my appearance and not the other way around. Funny, that. At that exact moment, when our eyes locked, I felt a strange tingle in my stomach. Like, I don't know how to describe it. But it felt like I was hit by an electric jolt.
This was of course not the first time it had happened with Aro in the room, but this time it was definitely more KA-POW and BANGARANG than those earlier times. I wondered what it meant.
It means you're a wizard Mina.
Really? Will I finally go to Hogwartz? I still got my bag packed just lemme-
NO YOU COTTONHEADED IMBIZILE – IT MEANS THAT YOUR IN LOVE.
I brought my hands up to my mouth in surprise. I mean, I knew that I felt a lot of stuff for the man. But up until this point I wasn't sure. But now I was. And more importantly, I realized that I accepted it. And in the middle of all this Aro was suddenly right there in front of me, his slender hands holding the sides of my head and giving me a unexpectedly tender look that looked almost out of place on his face. His eyes that usually were so manic and bright were halfway closed, almost sleepy looking.
"…And you think that I do not find you stimulating. " he said gravelly.
"Wait so…you don't see me as a temporary sex puppet machine?"
To that he smiled and shook his head as if I was being tremendously silly. Then he kissed my forehead so sweetly that it took me by surprise. This side of Aro was something I hadn't expected him to be capable of before I got to know him. And though I knew that his body was technically dead and cool to the touch, his touch filled me with warmth. Ugh, maybe it was just this love thing that was fiddling with my perception of reality.
"I suspect your perception of it is far superior than mine, belle pazzo."
"….Did you just call me a lunatic? Isn't that a tad hypocritical?"