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Dread Pirate Robots

Dread Pirate Robots

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Mar 21, 2019
25
Pennsylvania
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Cesare Mayakovsky strode down the hall, checking the numbers beside the doors as he went.
1964...1965...1966. Bingo.
Cesare brought his hand up and rapped several times on the door. He waited a few moments, then rapped his knuckles against the door again, more loudly. After another brief wait, the door opened and he found himself face to face with a tan young man with dark brown hair and green eyes, who appeared to be around the same age as himself.
"Hello. Are you-" he looked down at the paper in his other hand. "...Kallias?"


 
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Romi

Romi

Secretly a Bird
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Adjusting was not an easy task. It wasn't an easy task for someone who'd grown up in the narrow reality and had to learn magic was real.

Kallias had the exact opposite problem. He'd always known magic was real. Magic had been part of his normal everyday life. It was everything else that was an issue. It was being free. It was going to school. It was having choices and options and being told his opinion was mattered.

He'd been told there would be someone sharing his living area (private bedrooms, but a shared middle area), but he didn't really have much of a sense of what that meant. He'd always slept in shared quarters, and he'd found the idea of having a room all to himself unnerving.

The knock kicked him into action more or less immediately. He didn't stop to think about it, just went straight to the door and pulled it open.

He was...

...Normal. Kallias had seen a large number of completely supernatural creatures on the island, but the boy in front of him looked normal enough.

He'd been expecting something... else.

"Yes," he said, stepping to the side to let Kallias in. He almost immediately started to tip his head forward and bow, before he caught himself and straightened back up.

"You are my roommate? The one who will be living with me?"
 
Dread Pirate Robots

Dread Pirate Robots

Active Member
Inactive
Mar 21, 2019
25
Pennsylvania
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He/Him
Cesare stepped smoothly into the room, just far enough for Kallias to close the door, and smoothed down his all-black three-piece suit as he surveyed his surroundings. He didn't even notice Kallias' deferential manner - he was used to such treatment; it was non-deferential treatment that stood out to him.
"Yes," he said slowly, looking around the room rather than at Kallias. "I will be...living...here...with you. This place sure is..." he seemed at a loss for words - or perhaps at a loss for words that weren't openly insulting.
"...cozy."
Where Kallias was used to sharing a limited space with many others, Cesare was used to sharing mansions - palaces, even - with two others. The prospect of sharing this already constrained (by his standards) space was a daunting one. But after a moment of consideration, his furrowed brow smoothed and his expression cleared.
"Okay, we can make this work. Maybe some tapestries and rugs, go for a textured look. Maybe a chaise over there...definitely a better couch, this one has clearly seen better days. Maybe we'll get a pull-out. And...I'm thinking new light fixtures with tesla bulbs. Yeah. This is gonna be the sickest bachelor pad on campus when I'm through with it."
Finally, he looked over at Kallias - with a bit of a start, as though he'd forgotten he was still here. "Ooh, if you're gonna be associated with me, you're gonna need to dress better. No offense, man, but - ya know what? I'll take care of it. We'll get your measurements later and I'll have some stuff made and sent here."
Suddenly realizing that he hadn't even introduced himself properly, he quickly added "I'm Cesare, by the way; Cesare Mayakovsky." He extended a hand. "Pleased to meet you."

 
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Romi

Romi

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In a way, it was either the perfect match, or the worst possible match at all. Cesare was used to being treated like a god. Kallias was used to treating people like gods. So the moment Cesare started acting like he owned the place, Kallias's brain simply said well, this is the way it's supposed to be and went right back to acting like he'd acted for more or less all of his sapient life. The fact that he'd insulted the very sparse decorating did not bother Kallias in the slightest. He didn't know anything about decorating, or modern clothes, and it was obvious that Cesare did, so why not? He didn't know what a tesla bulb was, but he didn't know what a chaise was either.

He stayed quiet through the explanation, nodding along the way he'd been taught to, and he did his best to keep up with what was being said to him. He was talking about clothes now, right? He was going to buy him clothes, because his clothes were shabby (truly, close to average). It was a concept he was familiar with, because having shabby looking slaves made you look worse, and it was the same principal, wasn't it?

It didn't occur to Kallias that the entire exchange should probably have been insulting.

He was slow to react to the offered hand, but did take it, giving an awkward handshake as he attempted to mimic what he'd been taught. He was used to bowing, and handshakes didn't sit quite right with him.

"I am Kallias," he said, lacking any sort of family name. "I haven't been on the island very long. I hope I won't be too great a burden as I adjust to the island."

As if the island was the issue.
 
Dread Pirate Robots

Dread Pirate Robots

Active Member
Inactive
Mar 21, 2019
25
Pennsylvania
Pronouns
He/Him
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Cesare said in response, waving a hand as though to dismiss concerns about Kallias' adjustment being a burden.
"At any rate, you've been here longer than I have."
He went over to the fridge and rummaged around, eventually coming out with a red p