Guess who just got back today....

[inner_human]

Date: Friday, June 2, 2000
Time: Late morning
Character(s) Involved: Montague Morsus, Peregrin Derrick
Location: Arcadia Gallery
Rating: PG-13... just to be safe
Complete or Incomplete: Incomplete

Comments

[morsus_et_mors]

"One, two, three to six, seventh gate - forfeit the eight."

Montague sat lounging on his white irregular-shaped sofa in the personal quarters of his gallery. The day seemed to drag on and, honestly, there was not much for Montague to busy himself with. Rolling a Galleon between his fingers, he had his gaze fixed on the the moving picture re-enacting fictional Walpurgisnacht atrocities. How quaint, how prettily fitting.

"Master, there's a visitor - would you like me to show him to the gallery?" the doorman entered, head respectfully bowed. "No, no, do not bother, Janus, I'll bother myself." With a grin and barely constrained energy Montague rose up and exited his lounge room, swagger confident and just that slightest bit dangerous.

It was time to have fun.

Now-now, tall, very tall - taller than Montague himself - were there any familiars of his that were as tall? Scowling slightly, Montague moved closer, finally entering the hall and taking a closer look at his visitor

[inner_human]

And there he was.

Perry was surprised to see that Montague looked distinctly different, and yet very much the same. The lanky frame, the proud gait, and the sharply angled, attractive face. His voice was deeper, but still jovial and just a tad mocking. Perry had stiffened and raised his chin at the sight of him, but as Montague spoke, suddenly it felt like they were boys again, greeting each other after a long summer break.

And it helped his anxiety to think that Montague may be just a bit glad to see him.

Perry smirked, his posture relaxing slightly. He slipped his right hand into a pocket. "You're laying it on thick, aren't you? It's not even noon."

He raised his brows, taking in Montague's appearance, and said jokingly, "Well, you look... like an adult." He remembered a much younger Montague, after all.

[morsus_et_mors]

"Obviously - how many years was it?" Montague replied with a smirk matching Perry's, a friendly smirk, shared between friends, not offensive in the least. "I'd even go as far as prodding you to acknowledge I look better than yourself now, but I doubt your narcissistic self would ever cede to me." He grinned.

It really had been around five years since they've last properly met, not taking into consideration the smaller meetings that also ceased at about the same time. Had he missed Perry? Probably not, at least not on the surface (what was beneath it was unknown even to himself), but they had been very close by the Pureblood standards when they were both attending Hogwarts. Initially an attraction of like-minded individuals, it later on grew into a comfortable unimposing friendship, where neither of the sides was bound with whatever obligations usual relationships have

[inner_human]

"A fair few, I think." A fair few, indeed; five, to be more precise. It didn't seem like such a long time, even though it really was.

Hah, Montague was just as cocky as ever. "Don't press your advantage, mate. I still clean up pretty well." He ran a hand through his hair self-consciously, though it did little besides muss his hair in a different direction.

Perry just watched as Montague moved closer, but the moment the younger man entered his personal space he could feel his muscles tense, as if he expected to be attacked. But Montague did no such thing, and Perry met his gaze with a thoughtful frown; he, too, remembered the connection he and Montague once shared. Perry had had very few close friendships while he was in Hogwarts, simply due to lack of interest in the world around him. So it probably meant little to consider Montague his best friend; even now, Perry hesitated to use the term. But in a purely literal sense, it was perhaps the most fitting

[morsus_et_mors]

"Hahah, what else was I supposed to take up on?" Montague laughed lightly at Perry's comment, relieved that the moment of to-be-intimacy was now gone without any seeming traumas to either. Not exactly the physical and affectionate type, the two of them. Which was good, it showed that Perry, too, had stayed the same in this department - not growing all emotional and weak as the years passed. What use was there in emotions anyway?

"It is not like I am very good at proletarian professions," he then said with a smirk, a superiority they both used to share, before starting to lead their way inside the gallery. "Here, at least, I have some semblance of how things are supposed to be - beautiful, silent and pure." Montague glanced sideways at his companion, now taking his time to study the other man carefully - indeed, already a man now. Perry still was taller than himself, which was a point of slight irritation for Montague. He was used to being the towering bully, intimidating others just by his mere presence, but with Perry it was

[inner_human]

Perry followed along at Montague's side, respectfully acknowledging Montague's career choice by trying not to laugh. Unfortunately he had to agree, Montague holding a lower class profession was a difficult, if not impossible picture

[morsus_et_mors]

"Oh you would," Montague smirked back at the other man haughtily. He was already falling back into his amicably mocking self, so very familiar to Perry. It was not something many saw coming from him in the past few years, made to suffer his cruel arrogance mounting up to outright rudeness and disregard for other people's opinions. Curious how quick a person could adopt his old ways at an encounter with people and/or objects from the said person's past.

"Quite the sagacious comment though, Perry," he said, allowing himself a small smile. "Arcadia does not bring much money, as you may have guessed already. Thankfully, parents had ample funds stored in vaults everywhere, so I do not have to worry about such pettiness." Montague shrugged, his thin and angular shoulders lifting up elegantly. There was his Galleon rolling between his fingers again, as he watched it, transfixed.

"One redeeming quality to their otherwise useless lives," Montague added, gaze still locked on the shining bit of metal. It rolled aptly between his slender

[inner_human]

Perry could only grin at Montague's mocking comments. This felt so much like old times. Even Montague's mention of his ample wealth was received in good humor, though grudgingly. Perry's grin quirked with a slight impression of sour envy, perhaps. He heard the quiet friction of soft metal against skin and glanced back to watch the Galleon's progression from the corner of his eye. He remembered wealth.

But he returned to the painting, refusing to show any of these weak emotions. He resented the longing that gripped him whenever he thought of his losses. Wasn't it about time he moved on?

As if reading his mind, Montague asked the very question Perry didn't want to answer, but knew couldn't be avoided. Perry turned to look at him. "Highlights?" He chuckled. "I'm sure you've more to boast than me.He looked to the painting once more; a boating excursion gone horribly wrong. Well, Theodore Gericault's painting was more complicated than Perry's ironic point of view. He stared at the dead and dying figures sprawled over The

[morsus_et_mors]

That was not too much of the information Montague had inquired. He arched an eyebrow, watching Perry near the painting, a fine specimen of the darker side of Romanticism. Well, if Perry was not feeling like telling, Montague was not about to probe on further. Not that it would have yielded any results anyway

[inner_human]

Oh no, Perry was still not very confident about revealing his activities of the last several years, and he had returned the question with the expectation that Montague would answer in a similar manner. Assure Perry that yes, he had only been waiting out the war, and nothing else

[morsus_et_mors]

"Oh please," Montague sniffed scornfully, instantly noting the lack of enthusiasm on the other's part. Quite the suspicious and symptomatic thing, if it came down to that. Perry clearly had some issues - although what they were was beyond Montague's grasp.

He dared not even think that they may have been and still be on the different sides of the war. Perry did, after all, stay hidden, waiting on the war to end, didn't he? All the same. Just like with Snape, Montague would have to watch his tongue now. Not a very new thing. No one could be trusted in this world, even old friends.

"Considering you've grown clearly soft in all those years, my friend, we'll have to stop discussing such gory and uncouth things," Montague smirked with slight derision. The Galleon disappeared in his pocket

[inner_human]

Ah, there was nothing like that let-down of adrenalin after you realized you'd gotten excited all for nothing. Of course, Perry wasn't letting on just how cold his insides felt in the wake of Montague's joke. His previous concerns threatened to creep back, to alert him that maybe there was something he was missing, here. But he didn't want to dwell on it. He was grasping for a normal conversation with an old friend.

Perry, you definitely need to relax.

Soft? Perry frowned. The very idea! But, then again... maybe he had gotten soft? He'd switched to the good side and everything. But that had been in the interest of survival... bloody stubborn survival. He hadn't really changed much, other than that... right

[morsus_et_mors]

Montague kept his silence as effectively as he could, as they walked down the owner's corridor, past the various doors into various gallery rooms. He was leading them the shortest way into the private chambers, where there would be less of the paintings and sculptures to distract them - less of that all around officiality.

He tried keeping his silence for as long as it was necessary to make Perry start feeling uncomfortable, but that was nearly impossible. Montague's lips threatened to spill into an appreciative smile - the old bastard was still the same! It was entirely possible that it was merely wishful thinking on Montague's part, but for the moment he didn't care.

With the suddenness of a raptor (no, really) Montague turned to Perry and advanced him, intruding on the other's personal space arrogantly. Damn Perry's height, he thought, before brushing the thought aside, and looking up at the other man - a corner of his lips curled in an amused smirk.

"My dear friend, why act so surprised when you always knew just how precious

[inner_human]

If anything, the silence was succeeding in annoying Perry. He'd expected more of a reaction from Montague--wanted it, really. The prat was probably doing it because he knew it would piss Perry off.

And then Montague was suddenly in front of him, right in his face, and Perry instantly flinched back a step, muscles tensing as if he was reacting to a potential assault. Definitely a move of the high-strung and paranoid. He realized a second later that Montague wasn't about to attack him, but the man was still there, right within his personal space, doing his best to stare Perry down despite their very close height

[morsus_et_mors]

"That's good," Montague almost whispered, voice low and intimate, as he kept his gaze on the other male's. It was exhilarating in some strange and intangible way - he could almost feel the tension in the air. Like in good ole times, but more intense, so much more intense and - dangerous. It was what propelled Montague forward in this boring life - the feeling of danger, mortal peril, the challenge, the smirks and the gleaming sharpness of eyes

[inner_human]

He was so wired, so ready, waiting for the wrong thing to be said or done that would snap Perry's already weak control, that would allow him to unleash all the energy and rage building up inside him, even at the expense of his friend. And Montague's reply, so strangely quiet, sultry almost, even that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to rise