»opulence{miles kane x alex turner}

b a p t is m

just felt like it

my style has evolved since the last update but just ignore it

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The serpent man was sitting with his elbows on the desk and a sickening, assured expression across his sharp face. It was marred with stubble- he'd not shaven for days now, and it added to this strangely unhinged manner in which he had started to come across. There were physical changes ravaging every man in this house; as though the mental tolls of the situation were manifesting in their tired eyes and wired expressions, in the week-old stubble and the sleepless stances. Even Miles didn't know what energy source he was running on anymore, because he couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten anything.

He looked up as Robert entered, seeming strangely interested in the second man's arrival. Usually, he wouldn't have even bothered himself to divert his attention from whatever he was doing. Robert could see a long list lying between his elbows on the desk, and it took him only several stilted moments to realise with a dull thrum of excited dread that Miles was writing the guestlist for his party. It seemed that he was actually going ahead with it, no matter how lunatic he must have known it was, and he caught Robert's wandering eye with a bemused sort of sigh. He had the omniscience of a man whose sanity had deserted him years ago now, who had seen the world in ways that no one else could possibly understand and was therefore the only tenuous link between the stupid plan and anyone else on earth ever comprehending the idea. Robert was feeling suitably alien.

"Do you think it would be too short notice to invite Dexter from Chicago? If I pay for his flight?"

Robert sighed. Part of him had come here to argue with Miles if he could- but for all the difference he was going to make, the Kane may as well have been hewn straight from stone. His teeth had been sunk straight into the jugular of this idea and he was no more likely to let go than a lion with an antelope dead in its jaws. He had that same gleam.

"I thought you weren't making a guest list?" Robert pressed, eyes narrowed.

Miles waved a hand dismissively towards Robert. "It's rough numbers. I won't have them making a mess in my kitchen."

"You're gonna have to deal with a lot more mess than that if this goes the way you want it to." The conversational nature of this murderous plan would have knocked a good man sick.

"I can account for that mess."

Miles went back to his list-making. Robert watched him add 'Dexter?' in his swirling handwriting and resisted the urge to point out that the journey from Chicago would take around the same amount of time between now and the party. Miles wouldn't listen anyway. Four more names joined the list- four more obscure businessmen with no outstanding qualities, four more blank faces to fill the house with shadows and voices that would obscure what was really going on here. Miles' pen hovered above the page for a moment, tracing out the trails of words in the air as though he was waiting for something. Robert was wondering when the best time to explain what he had actually come here for would be, when he could seize on a natural lull in conversation and vibe to articulate the idiot idea of his own. Miles did it for him.

"Did you want something?" He managed to- for once- ask a question like that without sounding rude. Usually he made no effort for politeness, but the promise of such a plan being carried out right in his own front room was enough to have actually put him in a decent mood for once. Robert couldn't bear the thought of what things would be like in this house if it didn't go to plan. And- he decided to just face it- there was so much that could go wrong that it would be highly unlikely that things were carried out without a hitch.

Robert drew himself up to his full, impressive height. He looked strangely soft today- not dressed as he usually was in his rough work clothes. He needed a shave as well, and his blonde hair was almost grey with a lack of lustre. The men in this house had forgotten about themselves.