Snippet #2678175

It wasn't a pleasant feeling that gripped him when Mordred felt Amir grab his hand, his body tensed as it anticipated for Amir to strike him in some form. And yet, nothing came. He desperately wanted to look away from Amir, to avoid the depths of those brown eyes, yet found he couldn't bring himself to break eye contact. He was reminded once again of Trytheus, those eyes too were brown and filled with stern determination. But this was a different look entirely. It was... Caring perhaps?

He listened to Amir with an almost confused silence. Usually it was that men spoke with such conviction and anger in their voice was because someone had wronged them, or someone they were connected to. But then the realisation struck him, that Amir wasn't carrying the tone of annoyance in some form of false friendship, the anger wasn't directed at him, but at Amstra itself? Or perhaps it was directed at one far more specific individual.

It still felt strange though, for Amir to be so adamant about trying to support him, most either rejected it or accepted it as some small part of his personality that didn't need referring to. Even the few he had ever managed to convince to spend the night with had hardly made any allusions to it being a prominent part of either of their lives. He had to wonder that when two young lovers courted each other they spoke of each other with support and care to simply acknowledged their presence? But this seemed something all together different to him, all together alien.

And then he realised, that of course it would. Gnaji was not Amstra, it stood to reason that Amir would view it all differently. He had no idea how the social politics of the distant desert even worked. It could be that any there were free to act as they wished, or perhaps that none dared question the Riders personal tastes, as they did in Amstra. Either way it was one of the things he desperately wanted to change in Amstra.

"Now come on, let’s go fucking shopping." He didn't know how to properly react to this entire thing now. Amir spoke harshly but with a kindness at the same time, and seemed only to want to support Mordred in his entirety. Part of him wanted to break all sense of composure and wrap his arms around Amir, gushing his thanks for his words. Another part of him wanted to up and run, hardly willing to allow himself to trust that this was not some cruel joke on Amirs part. Yet another part wanted to ask Amir what his... Take on the whole thing was, what really was the norm in Gnaji. But with all these conflicting emotions all he could manage was a meek nod, and throughout it all he hadn't been able pull his eyes away from those brown pools.

He slowly pushed himself up from the wall stepped away from Amir. Only then could he pull his gaze away from the blond boy beside him. What was happening to him? Had a little bit of friendship turned him into a moonstruck fool? He tried to steel his resolve once more and step further into alleyway. Yet he was aware that he couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't give away just how jumbled his thoughts were right now. He led them both out of the alleyway as soon as possible, trying to get back to the light and sound of the street once more. Perhaps there he could focus on something for long enough for him to be able to recollect himself.

It didn't take them all that long to return to the business of the street once more. Everything was exactly as if they had never nearly brushed with their untimely deaths in the dark. Though this part of the city had far less music leaking from the buildings, nor were there the smells of fresh food permeating the air, instead there was now the faint and peculiar smell of fresh dyes underlining the air ever so subtly. Mordred picked his way through the bustling crowd of well dressed people, mostly nobles and their servants, and finally managed to make his way to a corner shop which had a single door, which had only recently been painted a fresh and shiny brown.

Inside the sounds of the outside faded away, only to be replaced with the sound of pleasant conversation and every now and then the snipping of scissors. Bolts of cloth were stacked up by the door and rows of well dressed mannequins stood besides rails where different assorted clothes could be found, coats and shirts of every colour and design were juxtaposed by the piles of simple trousers nearby. It didn't take long at all for someone to come up to them.

It was a short women who had only recently gone past middle age and the touch of time was only starting to show on her face. The first hints of wrinkles touched just under her eyes and the short hair about her temple was starting to show small streaks of grey, yet despite that her eyes themselves held the look of one used to finding faults and her mouth was drawn in a constant frown, though it didn't help much she was holding a pair of pins in one corner of her mouth. Upon seeing Mordred though, her expression quickly brightened up.
"Oh Mordred, it's good to see!"
"It's always good to see you Cas. You've hardly aged a day." The two embraced, though Mordred had to twist slightly to avoid being stabbed by the pins that somehow failed to fall from her mouth. Mordred turned to Amir, though he made sure that he didn't let himself look into Amirs eyes again.
"Amir, this is Cassandra, the genius behind my clothes." Cassandra laughed at the compliment.
"Oh please boy, you'll give me an ego. Mordred is always the one to decide what he thinks is going to look good on him and I just make sure he's right." Here the short woman leaned closer to Amir. "I think he secretly always wanted to work here but duty calls as they say. Keep it between us eh?" Mordred felt a hint of a smile trying to pull at the side of his mouth as he shook his head.
"You always know how to wound me Cas. Amir, why don't you look around, see if there's anything you like here, I think Cas and I are going to have to see if we can whip up something between us to surprise you." The short woman rubbed her hands as she gave Amir a devilish grin, somehow sizing him up in a single look before grabbing Mordred by the sleeve and dragging him to one side of the store. He managed to flash Amir an apologetic half smile to Amir before letting himself be carried away. He hoped Amir wouldn't find his being dragged away by a woman shorter than both of them to be too rude. Though as he thought about it, it was likely that Amir would just see the comedic value of it.