Lords And Ladies (2.12)

Despina

“Hmmm,” says Despina, staring into her crystal ball.

“What is it, fortune teller?  What do you see?” says the man, knowingly.

“I see...I see...I definitely see something...The spirits are telling me something important.  Something shocking.”

“Oh, indeed?  We are interested.”

“They are saying...They are saying...” she looks up at him, slowly, mouth slack with shock and surprise.  “That they have a pay wall.”

The man watched her, patiently.    “...What?”

“Yes,” says Despina, nodding sagely.  “They require a small payment before we can continue onto the man’s fortune.”  Despina pauses, and then looks down.  “Though it’s really not so much a fortune as it like watching a recording?  I think this might be this morning.  The spirits just aren’t with it today, I guess.  But if you find the information useful, we would appreciate a small donation of, oh, say, twenty bucks.  Or there’s the Gold plan.”

“The.  Gold.  Plan?”

“Yes, yes.  For just fifty Dragon dollars you get a months worth of fortunes, preferred customer service, and a chance to win a bonus vacation when you reach the afterlife.”

“...We believe we will just stick with Silver,” says the man, unfolding his palm to reveal a crisp twenty dollar bill.

“Oh, right, thank you sir.  Now, the Dragon man’s mor-I mean, fortune...”

***

Lord Durante Ilucis

Dante’s eyes fling open.  He sits up in bed, looking around at his room.  It is nearly pitch black, the only light coming from the faint green glow of the numbers on his alarm clock.  Three-twelve AM.  The sun wasn’t even coming up yet.

Dante pats the pale form next to him on the bed, just to confirm that she’s still there. Captain shifts and curls up under the bed sheets, scooting over to him and curling up against his form with a soft little sigh.

“What time is it?” she murmurs, tilting her head up to look at him, strawberry blonde fanned out in every direction.

“About two hours too early, love.”

Isabella yawns, then slides her arms around his chest, kissing his side, then his shoulder, his neck, his lips.  She rests her head in the nook of his arm.

“Are you alright?  Did you have a nightmare again?” she asks.

“No, I’m okay.”

“Was it the falling one, again?”

“Nothing new.   Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m going to worry about it.  Remember when you had those really bad night terrors when I was eleven and you and Meb were thirteen, and you got all moody and cranky?”

“Kind of.”

“Don’t tell me not to be worried.”

Dante sighs, but nuzzles her forehead in silence.

“You thought you were psychic for a while,” she adds, eyes closed.

“...I remember.”

“You thought you were seeing the future for a while.”

“I remember.”

“Even though you were dreaming about historical events you’d just read about in school.”

“I remember.”

“Don’t do that again.”

They chuckle.  Time passes.

“I can’t sleep,” says Isabella.

“I can’t either.”

“I don’t feel like getting up though.”

“Neither do I.”

Some more time passes.

“...Want to...you know, mess around?”

“Yeah, sure,” says Dante, reaching for a box by the bed.

***

Dante and Isabella brush their teeth at the sink in his bathroom, presently disrobed.  They both spit at the same time, multicolored toothpaste and spit mixing together as it circles down the drain.

“Our timing is getting better,” says Dante, with a chuckle.  Isabella smiles a little, taking a makeup kit out of the drawer and placing it on the sink. She opens it, and slides it towards Dante.

He opens it up, taking out eyeliner.  “Thanks, Izzy,” he says, beginning to carefully apply it.

“No problem.  I am not looking forward to work today,” says Isabella, raising her arm and applying deodorant to her pits.

“Why’s that?”

“Lady Wolf handed down a special assignment.  I’m going to have to send my best squad and my worst to it until further notice.”

“Oh, geez.  That’s unfortunate.”

“Tell me about it.  I’m not looking forward to being down two squads.  Things are already tight.”  She sighs.  “Plus, the VIP they’re being assigned to is someone I may have insulted.”

“Oof.  That’s really unfortunate.”

“It’s not like I have to talk to them myself, but I thought for sure they were guilty of something and kind of dismissed them and I’m just entirely certain this will all go badly.  The older Captains aren’t going to let me here the end of it if they find out.  I could get in a lot of trouble.”

“We all have bad days,” says Dante, moving onto painting his nails, as Isabella brushes her hair back and ties it up.

“I suppose you’re right,” she replies, walking out of the bathroom to get dressed.  “Do need me to hand you anything?” she calls back.

“Uh, yeah, sure.  Some underwear would be nice.”

“Which kind?”

“Uh...” says Dante, thinking for a moment as he touches up his lips with a natural looking color.  “Panties, I think.”

“What color?”

“The green ones, I think.  Oh, and the dragon earrings.”

“Do you want the, er, fake...?”

“Nah, not today.  Work day.”

“Oh, right.”

***

Dante and Isabella walk through the upstairs of his apartment, Dante clad in a black shirt and pants along with boots with slightly raised heels, Isabella in a black tanktop and navy blue uniform pants.

“Sure you can’t stay for breakfast?” asks Dante, waving at one of his robot daughters as they walk by one dusting a painting.

“Yes, sorry.  I really want to stay, but I should get to work early.Which one is that?” asks Isabella, quietly pointing at the robot.

“Bianca.  You can tell because of the metal plating.  I hadn’t quite figured out the skin yet, let alone some of the other features.”

“Oh, right.  I remember her.  She’s adorable, in a kind of...bald metal robot way.”

“She’s become quite fond of wigs.”

“I can imagine.”

Down the stairs they went, walking to the front hall.   Isabella opens a closet, taking out her police jacket and hat.  Putting them on, she turns to Dante.

“Have a good day, Izzy,” says Dante, hugging her tightly.

“Give me a call after work? If you're not too busy with one of the other girls...” she asks, hopefully.

“I will, I promise.”  He kisses her.  It nearly lasts a full minute.  Then he opens the door and waves to her, watching her go with longing eyes.

He shuts the door.

“Ahem,” says an craggy voice.  Dante turns around, to see the familiar side of a well dressed elderly gentleman with a carefully trimmed beard.  “Good morning, Dante.”

“Good morning, Leo.  Where’s Damien...?”

“Still sleeping  My son was rather stubborn about avoiding rest up until I convinced him to lie down.  I am happy to report that he hardly seems to have been affected by his head injury, though it may be time to invest in another bodyguard with a thicker skull.”  Leo grins, a toothy, old grin.  “I see Isabella left already.  Try to flee my cooking, huh?”

“Eheheheh.  No, she just had to get to work.  I’m glad Damien is okay.  Is my sister up yet?”

“She hasn’t come downstairs yet, I’m afraid.  I did, however, just wasted a great deal of time perfecting bacon and eggs, and I would greatly appreciate it if someone sat down and ate it before it starts to rot.”

Dante chuckles, patting the old man’s shoulders.  “Yeah, yeah, I’m going, I’m going.”

***

Copy of the newspaper in one hand, coffee in the other, and a hearty breakfast in front of him, Dante sit at the apartment’s main dining table.  Through large glass windows covered with white blinds most if not all of the Dragon and Raven District’s are  visible, straight to the mighty, towering but ramshackle Wall itself and the ruined old world city beyond, filled with thugs who reportedly made Dante and Isabella’s’ fathers’ crew look gentle and loving.

The newspaper was largely humdrum today.  Minor human interest stories, some articles on the fashion of the Queen Herself, that sort of thing.  One article speculating on his own love life, which he avoided reading entirely.

A pair of olive hands suddenly cover his vision.

“Guess who,” says a voice.behind him, a voice he was more familiar with than any other.

“Damien,”lies Dante.

“Pfffff,” says the woman, his twin sister Carmin.  “Nice.”  She removes her hands from his face, plopping down in the chair next to him.  Quite frankly, the average person can’t tell them apart outside of the chest area, and with the...unfortunate passing away of the city’s previous royal twin fantasy years ago, they had become something of sex symbols to the city in their own right, at least among the Dragon and general noble population..

They are both simultaneously flattered, amused, confused and a little weirded out by this, both being of the opinion that they are complete and utter dorks on the inside.

 “Good morning, Dante.  Izzy gone already?”

“Mmhmm.”

“What’re your plans for the day?” says Carmin, beginning to eat as well.

“Well, first I have a meeting with our...extra occupant when she arrives, and after that I’m heading into work a bit late.  Not sure what I’m going to do between now and then, though.  I could head down to the bar and visit Meb, or see Tara before her morning performance down in the lounge.   Or I might call Mindy.”

“Ah, the ladies already.  Of course.”    Carmin grins.  “Did you and Izzy...?”

“Yes,” says Dante.

“And you used protection?”

“Of course I did, sister.”

Carmin reaches out and pets Dante’s head.  “Good brother.  Best brother.”  Dante rolls his eyes but smiles despite himself.

“What’re you up to?”

“Well,” says Carmin.  “No law office for me today.  so I’m probably just going to hang out here.  Or with you.  Not sure yet.”

Dante grins a little.  “No booty calls?  Awww.”

Carmin laughs, and shrugs.  “The day is young, brother.”  She winks.

“I’ll warn any smart folks I see ahead of time.  ‘Look out, my sister is coming and she wants to mindfuck you!  Literally!”

They both giggle like children, as Dante finishes up his food.

Who will Dante hang out with?  Meb, Tara, or Mindy?