[Open Post] Titus Langourous

[77th_earl]

Most days, when rehearsals for Cyrano's play aren't keeping him busy, Titus is out riding the trails in the garden or the more-traveled ones in the woods, but on especially warm days, he retreats to the coolness of the library where he's been curling up with the stack of books that the Doctor helped him to find, or with a few odd books of poetry he

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[drownedfuchsia]

His sister is about, eventually, even if her typist is a bit slow on the uptake.

Still, Fuchsia Groan is about which can mean a variety of things. Today, that means carrying about a copy of Carmilla in one hand and a banana in the other. Those two things are not connected.

Being about also means bursting out onto the porch, intending to find a place to read.

[77th_earl]

Typist has been a bit slow herself, due to health and real life concerns, so she totally gets it!

Titus looks up as Fuschia approaches, and a smile crosses his face. "Fuschia, how have you been?" he asks.

[drownedfuchsia]

Moving close to her brother -- one might say Fuchsia has never devoloped a concept of Titus needing personal space.

"Studying," that actually means reading vampire book in the library. Still, she makes it sound like the greatest intellectual pursuit ever.

[77th_earl]

"Ahh, your study of vampire lore and legends?" he asks. "Have you found many interesting tales?"

[drownedfuchsia]

"If all vampires are as easy to figure out as the one in this book, I should never have any trouble." There are times when Fuchsia gets things. There are other times when she will miss the obvious. This is one of those former times.

[77th_earl]

"But by the fact that there are some that are easy to identify, would it not be possible to presume that there are some that are not so easy to notice," he says. "Some that might hide in plain sight among humans?"

[drownedfuchsia]

Fuchsia chews this over in her mind for a few moments. "Well I know that," and one wouldn't be wise to ask why she had to think that over.

"Like that one I met -- the one who didn't sparkle -- I never would've thought he was a vampire, just a man with bad manners."

Somehow, she makes the bad manners sound like a greater insult than blood-sucking soulless non-sparkly monster.

[77th_earl]

"There might be some who conceal themselves even more thoroughly. Did you not say that one snarled and contorted his face at you?" he asks. "There might well be those which avoid such displays."

[drownedfuchsia]

"Ones who would never make themselves known at all?"

Prepare for the greatest piece of wisdom ever, from an affronted Fuchsia.

"That's not fair!"

Did that say wisdom? Well, that's a subjective term.

[77th_earl]

"Perhaps they are private individuals, who do not wish to be mistaken for the more terrifying types," he says, with a small shrug.

[drownedfuchsia]

"By the stones, Titus, if they're going to hide who they are, people might think there's a more sinister reason." That one might be a slightly wiser thought, from her perspective.

[77th_earl]

"Must a person reveal everything about themself? What of privacy? You have had secrets, would you have wanted them revealed without your consent?" he asks, patiently, even a bit tiredly.

[drownedfuchsia]

"But my secrets won't hurt anyone but me," so she thinks.

"I don't believe people should hide who they are. It was impossible to do that at home."

Unless one came from the kitchens, or, perhaps, had a very simplistic view of life.

[77th_earl]

He sighs. "Not everyone is so open as you are: some folk in this place are more shy by nature. Should they be expected to be something which they are not?" he asks, patiently.

[drownedfuchsia]

"I'm not asking them to be something they're not. I only want them to admit to what they are, Titus."

Fuchsia is very certain about that. The problem is, given that she is no longer at Gormenghast, and neither is she in the fussy dresses that overwhelmed her, nor has she been treated as irrelevant by most. While that may not seem a problem, it is, in the way that she might not be able to answer who or what she is if asked.

The only exception is that she will always be Titus's sister.

[77th_earl]

"Would you have me do the same? I do not want to admit that I was once an Earl, when I merely wish to live as ordinary young men do," he replies tiredly.

He doesn't let on that he's not sure now that the title is even rightfully his, which is why he no longer uses it.