Ted Montague's Office, Thursday Afternoon
Apr. 23rd, 2009 07:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
withoutveronaReno, Romeo thought wryly as he took a seat in one of the plush chairs in his father's office, could be trusted with many things. They included Romeo's life; it also included finding the best bar wherever he happened to be. The dive they'd ended up in after dinner the night before was down a street Romeo had never even noticed in the 17 years he spent in Verona, and the one-handed bartender was not stingy with the whiskey.
Romeo still felt it, more than a little. He shifted in his seat and tried to focus on his father. Reno, spared this particular display of family awkwardness, had taken Balthazar and Benvolio to the same bar; Romeo tried not to wish he was with them.
"How does this day find thee, my son?" Ted Montague asked, not unkindly. He seemed almost amused to find his child slightly the worse for wear, but, then, at this particular moment he would have forgiven him almost anything short of marriage or jail. "The maids tell me your bed spent the best part of night undisturbed by your presence, so I assume a greater good than that of sleep called to you."
"As a host, I had to ensure Reno enjoyed himself," Romeo returned, with a shy grin. "Thou hast taught me that ably, by thy own example."
"Well met, Romeo, well met," Ted answered. "Thy friends art welcome here, no matter what hour, weather, or day. Marry, when thou hast returned home, we must see about procuring a home for thee beyond mine. Young fools must live beyond the sight of old ones, that's a proverb."
"Not one I'd heard, Father," Romeo said, with a slight smile. "It may be some time before I'm in Verona enough to need a home of mine own, though of course I will be happy to be near my favorite old fool come the holidays."
His father had tried to bribe him into coming home; he'd refused the bribe. Indirect communication was, in such things, the Montague way at first, and, Romeo thought, the gentlemanly one.
"But the holidays might be all days, would thee to come home," Ted cajoled, chuckling in the way of a man who was very certain things would go his way in the end. "What, meanst thou to make a life in Tokyo? Has not your time in Fandom been enough in foreign lands for thee? We could call thee Hiro, and dress in kimonos, if that would make thine return sweet."
"The return would be sweet at first taste indeed, but bitter at the center. Home is where Yurika is, and so home is Tokyo." Romeo had fought too hard for that to give it up.
Romeo's calm certainty was beginning to try Ted's patience; he reminded himself that he was being a better man than his father would have ever been by even appearing to give his wayward child a choice.
"Come, come, Romeo, have sense," he said. "Where wouldst thou even make a home in Tokyo? Surely the elder Dojima cannot invite his daughter's paramour into his house, you're not even betrothed. Your plan is a glistening castle in the air for children. But thou art no child, and thou must tread on this earth. Thou had a year and more in the East; now, the time has come for thee to come West, to Verona, and take thine place beside me. To go further East instead is simple madness."
"We would get an apartment; I'd work," Romeo said, eying his father carefully. "There is good I can do in Tokyo -- I'm to tutor homeless teens in English."
His father snorted. "Thou might have the world, and thou would rather teach. Well, the schooling did thee some good. But art there not homeless teens here?"
"Aye, and they would want to either fight me or do naught but beg for money. In Tokyo, my name means nothing," Romeo said, dismissively, as he tried to puzzle something out. "It was not so very long ago," he mused, "that you told me that, while my banishment might be happily o'erturned, 'twould not be wise for me to take that as an invitation to come home, and so thou bade me to return to school. What hast changed thy mind?"
"Oh, we've a new governor now," Ted said -- airily, though the information was anything but light. "Here in Verona, old Capulet is ailing, and the boy who's taking his place has a soft heart for your first bride, and for Benvolio and his wife, and so for us. The threats that made me ask you to stay away have sailed past the horizon; thine own ship would find a smooth harbor."
That was a relief, then. "That explains why it is safe for me to return," Romeo said, still skeptical and thinking to make an offer that would pacify his father. "Not, if you will let me beg pardon for asking, why thou art so hot to see me do so. Surely some time to wander the world is not too much to ask; I'm green yet. Let a few more years pass and I may be ripe to join you."
"A few more years for you to ripen, and you may rot on the vine," Ted shot back. His volume rose as he talked. "Thou claimed thou wert a man when thou was a boy of 15; now thou art a man, with a degree all but on the wall, a wife to mourn, and an enemy you put in his grave. This mask of lisping childhood does not suit thee, Romeo. Be my son and come home."
"I am your son, and I will not!" Romeo answered, loudly, as he rose from his chair. "This will ever be my truest home, but do not try to make me return for good before the season for it comes. It is my only life, and I must live it."
Ted's shoulders sagged, and he gave Romeo a sidelong look as he spoke quietly. "The season is now. The business is not prospering as it once did," he admitted. "Your cousin is too gentle, too soft, too distracted by his pretty wife; he handles our money carelessly, as if it came from a well that would ne'er run dry. I will die, someday, and would to leave it all to my son, not to my nephew."
So, Romeo thought bitterly and rather unfairly, there it was: In the end, it came down to money. He should have known better than to think it was about him.
"Wilt thou help, son?" His father looked every moment of his sixty years as he waited for Romeo to answer.
Romeo let out his breath. "I will think on it," he said. It was the best he could do. Loyalty and family tugged at one side, Yurika and the future at the other.
He didn't know which would win.
[OOC: NFB. Reno modded with permission. Happy birthday, Mr. Shakespeare.]
Romeo still felt it, more than a little. He shifted in his seat and tried to focus on his father. Reno, spared this particular display of family awkwardness, had taken Balthazar and Benvolio to the same bar; Romeo tried not to wish he was with them.
"How does this day find thee, my son?" Ted Montague asked, not unkindly. He seemed almost amused to find his child slightly the worse for wear, but, then, at this particular moment he would have forgiven him almost anything short of marriage or jail. "The maids tell me your bed spent the best part of night undisturbed by your presence, so I assume a greater good than that of sleep called to you."
"As a host, I had to ensure Reno enjoyed himself," Romeo returned, with a shy grin. "Thou hast taught me that ably, by thy own example."
"Well met, Romeo, well met," Ted answered. "Thy friends art welcome here, no matter what hour, weather, or day. Marry, when thou hast returned home, we must see about procuring a home for thee beyond mine. Young fools must live beyond the sight of old ones, that's a proverb."
"Not one I'd heard, Father," Romeo said, with a slight smile. "It may be some time before I'm in Verona enough to need a home of mine own, though of course I will be happy to be near my favorite old fool come the holidays."
His father had tried to bribe him into coming home; he'd refused the bribe. Indirect communication was, in such things, the Montague way at first, and, Romeo thought, the gentlemanly one.
"But the holidays might be all days, would thee to come home," Ted cajoled, chuckling in the way of a man who was very certain things would go his way in the end. "What, meanst thou to make a life in Tokyo? Has not your time in Fandom been enough in foreign lands for thee? We could call thee Hiro, and dress in kimonos, if that would make thine return sweet."
"The return would be sweet at first taste indeed, but bitter at the center. Home is where Yurika is, and so home is Tokyo." Romeo had fought too hard for that to give it up.
Romeo's calm certainty was beginning to try Ted's patience; he reminded himself that he was being a better man than his father would have ever been by even appearing to give his wayward child a choice.
"Come, come, Romeo, have sense," he said. "Where wouldst thou even make a home in Tokyo? Surely the elder Dojima cannot invite his daughter's paramour into his house, you're not even betrothed. Your plan is a glistening castle in the air for children. But thou art no child, and thou must tread on this earth. Thou had a year and more in the East; now, the time has come for thee to come West, to Verona, and take thine place beside me. To go further East instead is simple madness."
"We would get an apartment; I'd work," Romeo said, eying his father carefully. "There is good I can do in Tokyo -- I'm to tutor homeless teens in English."
His father snorted. "Thou might have the world, and thou would rather teach. Well, the schooling did thee some good. But art there not homeless teens here?"
"Aye, and they would want to either fight me or do naught but beg for money. In Tokyo, my name means nothing," Romeo said, dismissively, as he tried to puzzle something out. "It was not so very long ago," he mused, "that you told me that, while my banishment might be happily o'erturned, 'twould not be wise for me to take that as an invitation to come home, and so thou bade me to return to school. What hast changed thy mind?"
"Oh, we've a new governor now," Ted said -- airily, though the information was anything but light. "Here in Verona, old Capulet is ailing, and the boy who's taking his place has a soft heart for your first bride, and for Benvolio and his wife, and so for us. The threats that made me ask you to stay away have sailed past the horizon; thine own ship would find a smooth harbor."
That was a relief, then. "That explains why it is safe for me to return," Romeo said, still skeptical and thinking to make an offer that would pacify his father. "Not, if you will let me beg pardon for asking, why thou art so hot to see me do so. Surely some time to wander the world is not too much to ask; I'm green yet. Let a few more years pass and I may be ripe to join you."
"A few more years for you to ripen, and you may rot on the vine," Ted shot back. His volume rose as he talked. "Thou claimed thou wert a man when thou was a boy of 15; now thou art a man, with a degree all but on the wall, a wife to mourn, and an enemy you put in his grave. This mask of lisping childhood does not suit thee, Romeo. Be my son and come home."
"I am your son, and I will not!" Romeo answered, loudly, as he rose from his chair. "This will ever be my truest home, but do not try to make me return for good before the season for it comes. It is my only life, and I must live it."
Ted's shoulders sagged, and he gave Romeo a sidelong look as he spoke quietly. "The season is now. The business is not prospering as it once did," he admitted. "Your cousin is too gentle, too soft, too distracted by his pretty wife; he handles our money carelessly, as if it came from a well that would ne'er run dry. I will die, someday, and would to leave it all to my son, not to my nephew."
So, Romeo thought bitterly and rather unfairly, there it was: In the end, it came down to money. He should have known better than to think it was about him.
"Wilt thou help, son?" His father looked every moment of his sixty years as he waited for Romeo to answer.
Romeo let out his breath. "I will think on it," he said. It was the best he could do. Loyalty and family tugged at one side, Yurika and the future at the other.
He didn't know which would win.
[OOC: NFB. Reno modded with permission. Happy birthday, Mr. Shakespeare.]
