Dojima-Montague Apartment, Tokyo, Wednesday Morning

[withoutverona]

Romeo's nineteenth birthday started with a package from his father containing a collection of Lord Byron's works, a dagger that was about twice as elaborate as anything Romeo had any business carrying, and a letter that suggested -- in a polite, backhanded, and elaborate way -- that Romeo was missed and should make it his business to visit Verona sooner rather than later.

There was also a large box of chocolates. They were good. Romeo ate the caramels as his breakfast. He should have been reading about the equilibrium point in supply and demand, but that kept turning into perusal of the poetry. Really, the poetry struck him as more relevant.

[OOC: For the girlfriend, or for birthday emails/calls/texts/homing pigeons.]

Comments

[withoutverona]

Romeo was going to take just a moment to process that, and reflect that absolutely nothing could happen on the island that would surprise him.

"... were they oversized, or just normal vegetable-sized?" he finally wondered.

[bitchprince]

"There was a variety," Arthur replied, promptly. "It was the tomatoes that offended me the most. Had to take a bath afterwards."

[withoutverona]

"I'd think that would ruin your clothes," Romeo said. "The tomatoes. Not the bath."

[bitchprince]

"If you ever face man-eating tomatoes in battle, bring a helmet," he had to point out. "Also, Merlin's a bird this week, and I'm not going near the washing machines."

It... tended to end in disaster in the single three instances he'd gone near them, and there was only so much indignity he was willing to bear.

[withoutverona]

"Noted," Romeo said, of the need for helmets in fighting tomatoes. "And oh. Hasn't he done that before? I don't blame you for avoiding the machines. They kept turning my clothes grey."

This was the fault of the machines, of course, not of Romeo.

[bitchprince]

"I do not know how long it's going to last this time," Arthur said, to the ceiling. "Last time, it was a scroll with a set duration. This time-- who knows."

[withoutverona]

"It always ends sometime," Romeo said, knowing that was obvious. "Still. You miss him."

[bitchprince]

Arthur's mouth twitched. He couldn't think of anything witty to deflect it, so he admitted, "Marginally."

[withoutverona]

"Of course, only marginally." Someone had known Arthur for most of a year. "I wish him a speedy transition back to normal."

... no, we weren't going to question whether Merlin ever counted as normal.

[bitchprince]

"I'll let him know," he said, dryly. Really? Because Arthur had so many fascinating opinions on the topic. "How is your Dojima?" he said, instead, and... tried not to think about that being the next question after the whole thing about how Merlin was doing.

[withoutverona]

Well, clearly, the questions weren't parallel at all.

"She's well. She works too much." Meaning only that she wasn't at Romeo's beck and call -- her coworkers would probably have a very different opinion of whether what she did with her time could be called work. "We're supposed to go out for my birthday later."

[Headed home!]

[bitchprince]

"Well, I hope your birthday celebrations are up to snuff." Hey, he was making a good effort to sound like he'd actually known, there. "Get a bottle of wine in my name; I'll reimburse you next time we meet."

[withoutverona]

"Oh, there's hardly a need for that," Romeo said. "I'll have a cup for you, though."

"Besides, I didn't do anything for yours." ... and he was assuming the odds were with him and Arthur hadn't been born in December.

[bitchprince]

Arthur rolled his eyes. "That hardly matters any." Father had always gone a little funny on his birthday; it wasn't exactly Arthur's favourite day of the year.

[withoutverona]

"It always matters a little." Yes, Romeo, poke at him when he sounded exasperated, that usually ended well.

[bitchprince]

"Romeo, I know you people seem to be convinced you can argue with me, but I expected better of you," Arthur said, the back of his head idly thunking against the wall behind his bed. "If you don't accept this, I will be forced to send you some in the mail, and do we really want to deal with the expenses of cross-dimensional traffic?" Beat. "Although investing in that might help the current economy..."

Nerd.

[withoutverona]

"We can argue with you, there's just no guarantee we'll win," Romeo said idly. "Though now you're going to make me look up Japan's policies on wines in the mail. I know they let me ship things to Reno..."

[bitchprince]

"I think we can both agree it would be less effort if you got the wine yourself and let me pay for it," he replied, "Although now the mail does sound like an interesting prospect."

Clearly, he was very clever.

[withoutverona]

"... incoming or outgoing?"

Romeo had absolutely no intention of taking money from Arthur, so he was letting that argument drop.

[bitchprince]

Well, then it was entirely on Romeo's head if he found himself winding up with too much expensive wine on his doorstep within, say, ten working days.

"Incoming," he said. "Outgoing will be a concern once I manage to get those horses for Reno." Still a work in progress.

[withoutverona]

The narrative said that as if there was such a thing as "too much expensive wine" for an apartment with a Montague and a Dojima in it.

"And with the horses there's the concern about keeping them alive, too," Romeo said idly. "Why, is there something from Japan you'd like?"

Please, don't let it be tentacle porn.

[bitchprince]

... No, that would have been a little much even for Arthur at his dirtiest.

"No. Merely curious, for the moment. You mentioned you've been sending Reno some things."

[withoutverona]

"On and off. There's so much need. Ferret treats, things for him to keep himself busy with, seeds when he asks for them..." He shrugged. "Rikku's staying with him for now. That should help."

[bitchprince]

"It should," he agreed. "He sounded pleased when I last saw him."

[withoutverona]

"He's spent a lot of his life tearing things down," Romeo mused. "He's building something now. He has reason to be pleased."