fic: Back Alley Bend
Mar. 24th, 2010 01:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bonnefoisTitle: Back Alley Bend
Series: Neverwhere
Character/Pairing: Marquis de Carabas, Richard. Preslash. OMCs, OFCs
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 2062
Author's note: part of the Good Enough ficverse.
The Marquis lead him down a shady place, now. In dark alleys of London Below, places he'd never been when he was an Upworlder, let alone down here. Most tipped their hats as he passed. Everyone seemed to know him in a place like this.
She was clothed in an assortment of clothes, like much of London Below. The biggest difference was that she wore a lot less than they did. Her bodice dipped startlingly low, so much that it barely contained her large, supple breasts.
"Why if it isn't the Marquis," she said in a high pitched nasal whine. It reminded him of a joke that Gary had made once about a girlfriend that went something like there was only one way to shut her up.
The Marquis nodded to her.
"The players are around the back if you're interested," she said. "Theys been wondering what took you so long. Theys thought maybe yous lost interest."
"I'm always interested," the Marquis said.
When they had passed by her, Richard stole a glance at his companion.
"A friend?" Richard queried.
"A whore," the Marquis said amiably. "We've done business together."
Richard looked only a mite bit taken aback, more surprised than dismayed, really.
"And not of the sort she usually partakes in. I had to find a customer for her in return for a favor. And it wasn't of that kind either," the Marquis said. "I've yet to use that favor yet, come to think of it."
"Right then," Richard said.
"It's fairly common around here to occasionally offer oneself as part of a bargain. If one gets on hard times and that's all to offer, well, it beats starving. Some take it on as a trade if they're talented or good-looking enough."
"So you've–"
The Marquis smiled. "Now, now, Richard. Don't be getting nosy. No one likes a snoop."
Which Richard thought was probably a nice way of saying I'm fairly fond of you and you're quite useful, so don't force me to silence you to keep my secrets.
Traveling with the Marquis could almost lull one into a false sense of security. He was a witty, charming person with a distinctly shady side. Or as Door had put it 'kind of' shady in the way that rats are 'kind of' covered in fur. When it came to the question of how far De Carabas would go to keep his secrets, or in other respect, Richard wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. He had a feeling it was a subject best left untouched.
*
The interior was dingy and smoky, almost by design. People in rags with lowered glances looked over their games. Some were the types of games he knew, such as dice and cards. There were a few others that he wasn't so accustomed to, such as a game involving knives being stabbed in-between splayed fingers. A man leaned in the doorway that lead in deeper to the place. He wore a threadbare sweater that was loose enough to droop and expose one of his bony shoulders. He had a boyish face and hazel eyes, which were now a shade of brown. A disapproving, harsh brown. His lips were ruddy, and chapped with a bit of white on the side of his face.
"You've got a bit of food on your face," Richard said. He brushed at the side of his mouth to demonstrate.
The boy looked up, a challenging gaze. He spat at the floor.
"Pleasant as always, I see, Darren," De Carabas said.
Darren's face did not soften when it came to the Marquis, but there was an unidentified spark in his eyes.
"And is this one a friend of yours? Or..whatever you call your business associates."
"I don't keep friends, Richard. He's another whore, actually."
"Oh," Richard said. "Wait, what category do I fall into?"
"Hmm, I wonder," The Marquis said with an enigmatic smile. He lead the way to a table with a particularly conspicuous lot. Leave it to De Carabas to choose the worst of them. Richard pulled his coat a little closer around him. The walls did little to stifle the chill of the place; the wind found its way to every crack. Then again, it was always cold down here.
The Marquis kissed the dice for luck and handed it to Richard. However, he was distracted by Darren, who was glaring at him pointedly, as if personally offended by him. He wasn't just staring at him, every so often he'd glance over at the Marquis like some besotted schoolboy.
"Richard, your point isn't to stare at the whores, but to throw the dice. Unless you're interested in striking a bargain with them..."
Richard returned his attention to the game, and the Marquis' wry smile. He felt a bit abashed over the whole thing, and tried to change the subject away from the subject of whores.
"I've never cast dice before."
"Luck is obviously on your side. You wouldn't still be alive without it," The Marquis said.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence on my skills," Richard said.
Richard took a breath and threw them. These weren't just regular dice, but squares with different prints with animals carved into the sides. He had no idea what an alligator, a boar and a tiger added up to, but that was what he'd gotten. Apparently it was good, as the Marquis was satisfied with it. He cast several more lots, with such results as weasel, cow and seal, to boar, seal and tiger. No one cared to explain the rules of this game, least of all the Marquis, so Richard just threw blindly. Whatever the rules were, they were winning by quite a margin. So it went for a while, before the Marquis pulled out before the luck turned and collected some assorted odds and ends that made up any payment of London Below.
One of the men (he never had caught any of their names) looked him up and down and smirked.
"Nice traveling companion there ."
"Yes, he is, isn't he?" The Marquis replied with false sweetness.
It took Richard a moment to get the joke that was being passed around. He knew it was something sexual, obviously, but his mind didn't connect exactly what they were implying, and what De Carabas wasn't denying. He wasn't a schoolgirl, but he was still sure his cheeks were a bit red.
"..I'm going out to get some soup," he said.
"Mm. Don't stray far," the Marquis replied absently as he settled his affairs.
*
Richard had been walking around in a daze for a while. He knew it wasn't that bright an idea to get separated from The Marquis, but he needed some air and figured deep down that the Marquis would find him one way or another. People didn't slip through De Carabas' hands, he didn't let them.
She slipped her arm in the crook of his arm and pulled him into another place. He blinked several times, still a mite bit confused from the shift.
"You should be more careful, Richard. There's no telling what kind of person I could have been," Door said.
It was a large library, filled with books from floor to ceiling on an assortment of shelves. Piles of books sat on the floors, turning it into labyrinthine, so much that Richard wondered if they could get lost in a place like this.
"You're all dirty. Where did he take you this time?"
"Some back ally somewhere. It was full of gamblers and whores."
She sighed. "Leave it to him to put you in that situation. You weren't hurt? Nothing stolen or otherwise molested?"
"No, not really. It bothers me a little bit, though," Richard said.
"That he might have had company with whores?" Door said.
"Not that."
"I wouldn't put it past him, certainly," she said. "Was it that it might be a male whore? I don't think he'd take advantage of you. Not on my watch, anyways."
"The idea of him liking men doesn't bother me," Richard said, thoughtful. "I mean, to each his own. This was really an arse, though."
Door paused a moment, taking this in. "You do know you sounded jealous at that moment."
Richard blinked. "Jealous? Jealous of what?"
"You don't mind that the Marquis prefers men, only that he prefers men other than you."
"I didn't say that," Richard protested.
"Not in so many words, but the implication was there."
Richard stopped, and leaned against a bookcase. There'd always been a...something. Richard didn't know how to define it, really. He'd been far too busy trying to find his way back Above to really acknowledge it, and it did take a while to really form. Now it was glaring him in the face. The Marquis had an allure to him, and Richard had always responded to it on some level. And now, without much to distract him, and with the Marquis' constant presence, something was taking shape inside him.
"Er, there's more..."
"There's always more, isn't there?"
"They were all saying The Marquis and I were uh, a little closer than friends. The Marquis didn't exactly
"Well are you?" Door said.
"Am I what?"
She made a gesture with her fingers, crossing them like one would when telling a lie.
"Oh...no."
"Something tells me you're not too opposed to it, though," she said.
"It's crazy. Crazier than even most of the things down here," Richard said.
"I could threaten his life if he ever hurt you, but he'd probably just come back." "Threatening the Marquis, even jokingly probably isn't the best idea," Richard said.
"Especially when I still owe him a favor," she said, nodding her head in agreement.
"So," Richard began, "I might be jealous over the fact that he might have once slept with a male rent boy. Am I missing anything here or did the world suddenly go mad again?"
Door laughed. "You sound like you used to, when you were a real Upworlder."
"I feel like it did when I was a real Upworlder," Richard sighed.
"I should pick you out a good manly tragedy. All that Austen has gone to your mind and driven you mad." She searched the stacks of books, with classics of all kinds in thickly pound hardcovers and softcovers with much wear and tear at the spine.
"Richard the third? Hamlet? MacBeth?" Richard suggested.
"Tempting, but no," she said. Door scanned the bookcase, looking for just the right one.
She searched high and low and finally procured whatever it was she was looking for.
"Naked Lunch?" Richard said. He looked up without quite saying the question.
"Well, it'll make you feel less mad and I can't think it will put any romantic notions in your head."
Richard took a final look at it and shrugging, put it into his coat pocket. "That works."
*
"I don't see what pretendin' to be infatuated with a boor like you was worth," Darren said. He stared up at De Carabas with a hateful expression.
"That is my business, and my amusement," the Marquis said breezily. "And now, your payment."
He rifled through his pockets for a moment, only a moment and came up with a small hard candy treat. The boy had a sweet tooth, especially for hard candy.
Darren scrunched up his nose. "Not nearly enough."
The Marquis rolled his eyes and got another candy, still wrapped and in perfect condition. "These are awful rare. Too rare for the likes of you." He threw a few more pieces of plastic wrapped candies and looked back
The seeds had been planted. Now the only thing to do was wait.
*
That night Richard stirred in his sleep, the name of Anesthesia on his lips. De Carabas tried to recall the exact meaning of it. He thought he had heard it as some part of the medicinal profession, but it struck him that it could be a name.
Really, Richard was so transparent. He showed every emotion right on his face as they came to him. Anger, shame, sadness, guilt. He couldn't hide a thing.
Series: Neverwhere
Character/Pairing: Marquis de Carabas, Richard. Preslash. OMCs, OFCs
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 2062
Author's note: part of the Good Enough ficverse.
The Marquis lead him down a shady place, now. In dark alleys of London Below, places he'd never been when he was an Upworlder, let alone down here. Most tipped their hats as he passed. Everyone seemed to know him in a place like this.
She was clothed in an assortment of clothes, like much of London Below. The biggest difference was that she wore a lot less than they did. Her bodice dipped startlingly low, so much that it barely contained her large, supple breasts.
"Why if it isn't the Marquis," she said in a high pitched nasal whine. It reminded him of a joke that Gary had made once about a girlfriend that went something like there was only one way to shut her up.
The Marquis nodded to her.
"The players are around the back if you're interested," she said. "Theys been wondering what took you so long. Theys thought maybe yous lost interest."
"I'm always interested," the Marquis said.
When they had passed by her, Richard stole a glance at his companion.
"A friend?" Richard queried.
"A whore," the Marquis said amiably. "We've done business together."
Richard looked only a mite bit taken aback, more surprised than dismayed, really.
"And not of the sort she usually partakes in. I had to find a customer for her in return for a favor. And it wasn't of that kind either," the Marquis said. "I've yet to use that favor yet, come to think of it."
"Right then," Richard said.
"It's fairly common around here to occasionally offer oneself as part of a bargain. If one gets on hard times and that's all to offer, well, it beats starving. Some take it on as a trade if they're talented or good-looking enough."
"So you've–"
The Marquis smiled. "Now, now, Richard. Don't be getting nosy. No one likes a snoop."
Which Richard thought was probably a nice way of saying I'm fairly fond of you and you're quite useful, so don't force me to silence you to keep my secrets.
Traveling with the Marquis could almost lull one into a false sense of security. He was a witty, charming person with a distinctly shady side. Or as Door had put it 'kind of' shady in the way that rats are 'kind of' covered in fur. When it came to the question of how far De Carabas would go to keep his secrets, or in other respect, Richard wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. He had a feeling it was a subject best left untouched.
*
The interior was dingy and smoky, almost by design. People in rags with lowered glances looked over their games. Some were the types of games he knew, such as dice and cards. There were a few others that he wasn't so accustomed to, such as a game involving knives being stabbed in-between splayed fingers. A man leaned in the doorway that lead in deeper to the place. He wore a threadbare sweater that was loose enough to droop and expose one of his bony shoulders. He had a boyish face and hazel eyes, which were now a shade of brown. A disapproving, harsh brown. His lips were ruddy, and chapped with a bit of white on the side of his face.
"You've got a bit of food on your face," Richard said. He brushed at the side of his mouth to demonstrate.
The boy looked up, a challenging gaze. He spat at the floor.
"Pleasant as always, I see, Darren," De Carabas said.
Darren's face did not soften when it came to the Marquis, but there was an unidentified spark in his eyes.
"And is this one a friend of yours? Or..whatever you call your business associates."
"I don't keep friends, Richard. He's another whore, actually."
"Oh," Richard said. "Wait, what category do I fall into?"
"Hmm, I wonder," The Marquis said with an enigmatic smile. He lead the way to a table with a particularly conspicuous lot. Leave it to De Carabas to choose the worst of them. Richard pulled his coat a little closer around him. The walls did little to stifle the chill of the place; the wind found its way to every crack. Then again, it was always cold down here.
The Marquis kissed the dice for luck and handed it to Richard. However, he was distracted by Darren, who was glaring at him pointedly, as if personally offended by him. He wasn't just staring at him, every so often he'd glance over at the Marquis like some besotted schoolboy.
"Richard, your point isn't to stare at the whores, but to throw the dice. Unless you're interested in striking a bargain with them..."
Richard returned his attention to the game, and the Marquis' wry smile. He felt a bit abashed over the whole thing, and tried to change the subject away from the subject of whores.
"I've never cast dice before."
"Luck is obviously on your side. You wouldn't still be alive without it," The Marquis said.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence on my skills," Richard said.
Richard took a breath and threw them. These weren't just regular dice, but squares with different prints with animals carved into the sides. He had no idea what an alligator, a boar and a tiger added up to, but that was what he'd gotten. Apparently it was good, as the Marquis was satisfied with it. He cast several more lots, with such results as weasel, cow and seal, to boar, seal and tiger. No one cared to explain the rules of this game, least of all the Marquis, so Richard just threw blindly. Whatever the rules were, they were winning by quite a margin. So it went for a while, before the Marquis pulled out before the luck turned and collected some assorted odds and ends that made up any payment of London Below.
One of the men (he never had caught any of their names) looked him up and down and smirked.
"Nice traveling companion there ."
"Yes, he is, isn't he?" The Marquis replied with false sweetness.
It took Richard a moment to get the joke that was being passed around. He knew it was something sexual, obviously, but his mind didn't connect exactly what they were implying, and what De Carabas wasn't denying. He wasn't a schoolgirl, but he was still sure his cheeks were a bit red.
"..I'm going out to get some soup," he said.
"Mm. Don't stray far," the Marquis replied absently as he settled his affairs.
*
Richard had been walking around in a daze for a while. He knew it wasn't that bright an idea to get separated from The Marquis, but he needed some air and figured deep down that the Marquis would find him one way or another. People didn't slip through De Carabas' hands, he didn't let them.
She slipped her arm in the crook of his arm and pulled him into another place. He blinked several times, still a mite bit confused from the shift.
"You should be more careful, Richard. There's no telling what kind of person I could have been," Door said.
It was a large library, filled with books from floor to ceiling on an assortment of shelves. Piles of books sat on the floors, turning it into labyrinthine, so much that Richard wondered if they could get lost in a place like this.
"You're all dirty. Where did he take you this time?"
"Some back ally somewhere. It was full of gamblers and whores."
She sighed. "Leave it to him to put you in that situation. You weren't hurt? Nothing stolen or otherwise molested?"
"No, not really. It bothers me a little bit, though," Richard said.
"That he might have had company with whores?" Door said.
"Not that."
"I wouldn't put it past him, certainly," she said. "Was it that it might be a male whore? I don't think he'd take advantage of you. Not on my watch, anyways."
"The idea of him liking men doesn't bother me," Richard said, thoughtful. "I mean, to each his own. This was really an arse, though."
Door paused a moment, taking this in. "You do know you sounded jealous at that moment."
Richard blinked. "Jealous? Jealous of what?"
"You don't mind that the Marquis prefers men, only that he prefers men other than you."
"I didn't say that," Richard protested.
"Not in so many words, but the implication was there."
Richard stopped, and leaned against a bookcase. There'd always been a...something. Richard didn't know how to define it, really. He'd been far too busy trying to find his way back Above to really acknowledge it, and it did take a while to really form. Now it was glaring him in the face. The Marquis had an allure to him, and Richard had always responded to it on some level. And now, without much to distract him, and with the Marquis' constant presence, something was taking shape inside him.
"Er, there's more..."
"There's always more, isn't there?"
"They were all saying The Marquis and I were uh, a little closer than friends. The Marquis didn't exactly
"Well are you?" Door said.
"Am I what?"
She made a gesture with her fingers, crossing them like one would when telling a lie.
"Oh...no."
"Something tells me you're not too opposed to it, though," she said.
"It's crazy. Crazier than even most of the things down here," Richard said.
"I could threaten his life if he ever hurt you, but he'd probably just come back." "Threatening the Marquis, even jokingly probably isn't the best idea," Richard said.
"Especially when I still owe him a favor," she said, nodding her head in agreement.
"So," Richard began, "I might be jealous over the fact that he might have once slept with a male rent boy. Am I missing anything here or did the world suddenly go mad again?"
Door laughed. "You sound like you used to, when you were a real Upworlder."
"I feel like it did when I was a real Upworlder," Richard sighed.
"I should pick you out a good manly tragedy. All that Austen has gone to your mind and driven you mad." She searched the stacks of books, with classics of all kinds in thickly pound hardcovers and softcovers with much wear and tear at the spine.
"Richard the third? Hamlet? MacBeth?" Richard suggested.
"Tempting, but no," she said. Door scanned the bookcase, looking for just the right one.
She searched high and low and finally procured whatever it was she was looking for.
"Naked Lunch?" Richard said. He looked up without quite saying the question.
"Well, it'll make you feel less mad and I can't think it will put any romantic notions in your head."
Richard took a final look at it and shrugging, put it into his coat pocket. "That works."
*
"I don't see what pretendin' to be infatuated with a boor like you was worth," Darren said. He stared up at De Carabas with a hateful expression.
"That is my business, and my amusement," the Marquis said breezily. "And now, your payment."
He rifled through his pockets for a moment, only a moment and came up with a small hard candy treat. The boy had a sweet tooth, especially for hard candy.
Darren scrunched up his nose. "Not nearly enough."
The Marquis rolled his eyes and got another candy, still wrapped and in perfect condition. "These are awful rare. Too rare for the likes of you." He threw a few more pieces of plastic wrapped candies and looked back
The seeds had been planted. Now the only thing to do was wait.
*
That night Richard stirred in his sleep, the name of Anesthesia on his lips. De Carabas tried to recall the exact meaning of it. He thought he had heard it as some part of the medicinal profession, but it struck him that it could be a name.
Really, Richard was so transparent. He showed every emotion right on his face as they came to him. Anger, shame, sadness, guilt. He couldn't hide a thing.
