Mistoffelees shifted. It felt odd to be returning to the town house with so little pomp. He'd paid his bill at the hotel and dropped his bags off in his room and he was back. Sighing, he descended the stairs.
Serafine entered the house, Victoria coming in behind her. She paused when she saw her son on the stairs. Victoria glanced from one to the other and excused herself, murmuring a soft greeting to Mistoffelees as she passed him.
Mistoffelees smiled as his cousin passed, murmuring a greeting in return and stopping where he was, considering his mother. "Good day. How does it treat you."
"Quite well, thank you. How does it find you?"
"Here, for one, which is a new improvement over the last few weeks."
"It's good to see you again. How have the last few weeks been for you?"
He shrugged, tail curling slightly behind him. "Well enough. I suppose I got used to staying at hotels over the summer and while traveling so it was not quite a burden."
"Well, I'm glad to see you again. You and your uncle have reached an agreement then?"
"A sort of one. I believe he is more pleased with it then I am, but that is the way of the world."
"May I ask after the nature of it?"
"I have to run for election," he said. "It's hardly... the worst fate but..." He sighed. "There may have been hints at engagement as well."
"Well, so long as they are hints only at this time..." Serafine shook her head slightly.
"I believe I managed to stave any of those off until after election season," he said, voice small.
"You'll do fine, Mistoffelees, I'm sure of it."
"Thank you," he replied. "Though you have more faith than I do."
"You're a very capable young tom, you'll find a way to make the best of it, I'm sure."
"If nothing else, Tumble will be there with me," he said. "And at least Mr. Philipson is in the House of Lords, which means I won't have to deal with him."
"You really don't care for your cousin's betrothed, do you?"
He paused for a moment and shook his head, glancing around. "No. I know him too well."
She nodded slightly, "I'm only passingly familiar with the family, myself."
"I would never judge a family by one member," he replied, glancing at his uncle's office down the hall. "But his father is dead and I have personally never heard much about his mother either. They're a good bloodline but Plato himself..."
Sera's gaze flickered toward Bustopher's office as well, "His mother has never been a queen I've been able to tolerate spending much time with. A good bloodline does not a good cat make."
"Not in any ways no," he shook his head. "But he's charming." He paused for a moment, before turning and heading toward the library. He was curious if any of his books had been moved and this conversation should really not happen in public if it was going to continue. "Would you mind stepping inside the library with me?"
Serafine hesitated at that, though Victoria could be found in the library it really was a tom's domain and it had been an invitation. She finally nodded, "Of course."
He glanced back at her, holding the door open. One ear flickered but he did want in some important way to be able to connect or at least partially confide in his mother.
Sera stepped inside, her gaze flickering around the room. She'd been in the library only a pawful of times, but there had been changes made in the short time Mistoffelees had been home. It seemed far more welcoming for readers and a quiet retreat now.
Glancing around with some relief that not much had changed, Mistoffelees realized the last Thomas Hardy book he'd been reading was left out on the table. Scooping it up, he turned back to her. "Do you remember the first night I was kicked out by my uncle?"
She thought back, nodding after a moment, "Yes, I do recall that."
"The reason was because I was attempting to convince him to break off the engagement before it went public."
Her brows rose, "I see, I suppose that explains his temper. How well do you know your cousin's fiancé?"
"He would be considered one of my oldest friends if I considered him a friend," Mistoffelees replied, going to reshelf the book.
"What is he like?" She asked softly, glancing around and finally settling on the edge of one of the chairs, smoothing her dark skirt around her.
"The chair is perfectly safe," he said with a soft smile at her sitting on the edge. "He's... as I said he can be charming. But it's entirely a front. He likes getting what he wants and if he doesn't get it, hell's to pay."
She offered him a faint smile, "I'm sure it is, it's also designed for those with more freedom of motion than a dress will allow." Sera considered her son's words, running a paw over the black velvet trim of her sleeve, "So..." she tried to find a way to say what she was thinking that would still have some tact to it.
He considered her outfit, crossing his arms and leaning against the bookshelves. "Point."
She finally found the wording she might consider a bit more tactful, "Is there anyone you know that you would have approved of your cousin marrying?"
"Pounce, maybe, Tumble even. But I do not believe uncle would approve and I do not believe either of them have free hearts. Possibly even Lord Harrold, or Sir Green. But I do not know them as well."
Serafine sighed, shaking her head, "I wish there was some reassurance we could give her."
"I do too," he said quietly.
"Be there when she needs us I suppose?"
"If we can," he replied. "When we can."
"As much as we're able," Sera agreed.
He nodded. "As much as we're able. Do you know if there's a date yet?"
"Not as far as I know, my guess is it won't be too far out though."
He nodded and sighed. "God... of anycat in the world he was the last one I wanted to deal with here."
"In all likelihood you won't have to deal with him much..."
"You don't understand Plato," he said, shaking his head. "He'll go out of way to throw this in my face."
Sera considered that and then nodded, "A falling out or have the two of you always been like that?"
"Falling out," he said, a little abruptly. "At least, you could say that."
She nodded, but didn't pursue that, "I see." There was a pause before she spoke with a soft sigh, "So you don't believe there's any chance for Victoria to be happy?"
"Life throws everyone chances," he replied quietly.
"But only rarely," Sera murmured, shaking her head.
"But they're still there," he replied, tail curling as he thought about Coricopat.
She nodded, "And once in a while a real gem of one comes along." Her paw ghosted over the locket she wore pinned at her throat.
His eyes followed the motion. "Do I get to ask what's in the locket?" he asked quietly.
Sera hesitated before carefully undoing the brooch and offering it to her son.
He took it, opening it and pausing for a very long moment. "Is that...?"
She nodded, "Your father."
"You know, I remember vaguely things about him but I'm not sure anycat's shown me a picture before."
"Well, I have one other if you would like it? It's upstairs in my boudoir."
"No, it, I mean," he stumbled for a moment. "They're yours. You probably miss him more."
She shook her head, "I have that one, Mistoffelees. And I wouldn't have offered the other unless I meant it."
"Oh." He paused a moment before nodding. "If I could?"
Serafine nodded slightly, "I'll fetch it for you this evening?"
"Thank you," he said quietly.
"You're welcome."
He offered her a hesitant smile. "I wish I had the chance to know him."
"You would have liked him, and he loved you for what time he knew you."
The small tom blinked for a moment and nodded. "Thank you."
"Of course. If you ever wish to know about him, I hardly consider him a taboo subject, no matter what your uncle may prefer."
He smiled faintly, and sat down on a chair across from her. "I guess... I never did figure out how the two of you even met."
"Actually we met at the shop he was working at, hardly anything of note, but he was charming and we managed to meet and get to know one another and I fell in love."
"Just like that?" he asked quietly.
"Well, that period of meeting to get to know one another took a year or so, but...yes, in essence, just like that." He paused and nodded. "I married him two years after we met, to the family's horror of course."
He bit back a laugh. "Horror is the only way I could see it being described." Which wouldn't compare at all if anycat found out about Coricopat.
She smiled a bit at that, "That really is the only fitting descriptor."
"What did you do then?"
"After marrying him? Well, by that time he'd opened his own shop, we lived above it for a time and I learned how to help around the shop. It wasn't enough knowledge for me to be able to run it on my own, but it was enough to help him."
"Were you happy?" her son asked softly, leaning forward.
"Very. More than I would have thought possible. And then you were born and I found that my prior assessment had been wrong, it was possible to be happier."
For a moment Mistoffelees could hardly react to that. "And you didn't regret it? Giving up this life?"
She considered her answer carefully, "There were days I wished we had the money available to us, we had times where it was difficult to pay all of the bills but we always pulled through. And given my choice? I'd trade this all to go back to that."
He looked down at the brooch he still held before finally holding it back out to return it to her. "Well, it's not quite as dramatic as running away to become a gypsy I suppose."
She took it back, pinning it back on the collar of her dress with a faint smile, "No, not quite so dramatic as that."
"But you were happy," Mistoffelees stated, not even framing it as a question.
"Very. I should have known it was too good."
"That's hardly inspiring," he murmured, wincing.
Sera sighed, offering a mirthless laugh, "I'm sorry that was rather bitter wasn't it?"
"Yes," he offered her a faint smile. "Perhaps it's in the blood."
"Perhaps so," she smoothed a paw over her skirt again.
"We make quite the pair then," he said softly.
"We do indeed. Life does balance, in many ways, even if it isn't the balance we wanted."
"We can still hope for the one we wanted though."
"We can," she offered him a gentle smile, "Sometimes life obliges."
"Only when it has no other choice," he returned the smile.
"We do make quite the pair of bitter cats, don't we?"
"Some days," he said, laughing quietly. "But... I hope life is obliging me at the moment."
"I hope so for your sake as well."
"Thank you," her son said softly.
"Of course."
He sighed quietly. "And we'll do what we can for Victoria. How has she been doing?"
"She's resigned to it, but beyond that she's rather at a loss. I believe she's met him twice."
"God," Mistoffelees ran a paw over his face. "There's nothing I can say to make this better..."
"She's not the first young queen to be engaged to a cad, nor will she be the last," Sera murmured.
"But she's the first one I've cared about engaged to a cad who-I know," he changed words abruptly.
His mother nodded, "I know. But all we can do is help her with what she asks us, and support her as much as we can."
He nodded slowly. "Well, I should see about making sure everything is where it needs to be." He paused. "Thank you for, well, the talk."
"Of course." Sera rose, "I'll have your father's photograph for you this evening. Good afternoon, Mistoffelees."
"Good afternoon, mother."
She slipped out of the room, retreating to her boudoir, but feeling a good deal better than she had in a while. He watched her go before returning to his room, pacing for a while. His mind was trying to sort out Plato and Coricopat and his mother and his cousin.
Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up. Life has gotten very hectic very quickly between holidays, school starting back up, and work. However, VS just started a class on Oscar Wilde as well as attended the MLA English conference in which there was a lot of Victorian stuff running around so here, have a quick chapter! Promise the next one will be coming soon.
Also, if you head to our profile and to the companion LJ community, under the "Victorian Verse" tag I've started to post some pictures for reference for the story/locations if anyone is interested.
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