( #Mariposa)
The next day.
Mariposa was dressed more formally now. Purple pin-striped suit with Jackie Collins shoulders and a large yellow flower over her right breast for a corsage. No hat today as it was a cool, cloudy morning. Her pants--of the same design as her suit--were flared at the bottom. On others, it would have been gaudy and excessive. On Mariposa, however, it looked appropriate.
She sat patiently at the dinner table, waiting for this attendant to arrive. It was still three minutes before the appointed meeting but she was swimming in a morass of excitement and eagerness beneath that calm.
"Naturally, I brought music."
Naturally, she brought her old cassette player. With a flourish of her finger and a light touch of her painted fingernail, Karen Carpenter's "Close to You" fills the room.
Why do birds suddenly appear... every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be... close to you...
As the song continued playing, one of the doors opens and in comes an enormous, well-dressed, hirsute marble statue of a man. Mariposa notes his features with a slight panic, wondering if this was sent by Lak'Sig to murder her. Or worse.
"Excuse me, but has Lak'Sig changed preferences all of a sudden?" she asks.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Has he stopped shtupping men that still look like boys?"
"Afraid not. Are you supposed to be here?"
The dame affects scandal, placing a thin hand on her heart. "How rude, sir. I am your guest! Has the Premier not instructed his new bodyguards to show some respect for old ladies?"
=====================
( #Makaraig)
Victor's brows furrow. He had been in the House of Tea Leaves long enough to discover that some people liked to be called old ladies even if they were really just old men. He decided against telling the strange one his opinion.
"I'm sorry... Madame (Mariposa smiles coyly at this)... but I was instructed by Lak'Sig to meet with someone here."
"Oh, is that so? He did not tell me I would be teaching alongside an... assistant."
Teaching? An assistant?
"Are you the... majordomo of the palace?"
"I most certainly am. And you are?"
Oh boy. She doesn't know. Thanks a LOT, Mister Premier.
"I'm the new guy. The personal attendant to his, uhhh... Majesty, the--"
=====================
( #Mariposa)
"STOP THE MUSIC."
"What?"
"I said stop the music!"
Victor looks to the cassette player right beside the startled purple lady.
"Oh," Mariposa remembers.
*Click*
A long silence follows, with Victor still standing by the door. He finally gathers himself together and approaches the still flabbergasted Mariposa, remaining a safe distance of three feet. The staring contest ensues.
YOU ARE READING
Blood Wine
RomanceThey were just too different! Even when they first met they almost came to blows -- which both did not mind at all, if not for common sense and their current positions in life. But there was no denying it. Ma'Heron loathed Victor while all Victor w...
