Post by Lovely Masochist on Oct 15, 2011 1:33:47 GMT -5
[/center][/i]“… We hope to hear from you soon in regards to opening your residence as a public
museum in remembrance of its history...”
Merik rolled his eyes and neatly refolded the paper, reinserting it into the envelope it had come in. This wasn't the first time he had gotten a letter like this, each one more persistent than the last. At first, they had given him pause. Was it fair for them to keep a castle, even if it wasn't ancient, to themselves for daily usage? He knew they weren't necessarily a gentle lot when it came to their surroundings; was it possible they could destroy a historical monument?
Scratch, scratch. The sound of pen on paper.
This issue stayed with him for days, troubling him when he could have otherwise been enjoying himself in Eva's company or his family's. How great would the cost, financially and mentally, be on the coven were they to relocate? Again. What were the chances that they could find another home with just as much room and privacy as the castle provided? The issues weighed on his mind, but he couldn't help harnessing guilt for degrading a structure as grand as the one they lived in by doing exactly that: living.
Scritch.
He had gone to meet up with the sender once, and the impression he had gotten from her was one of greed and self-gain. He recalled how smug she had become when she realised that she was dealing with someone who looked as young as he did, how her words became bigger and her sentences twisted with double meanings intended to enrapture, guilt, and sway him from wanting to maintain ownership. Her words gave way to insinuations of what could happen and horror stories of what had happened to other such places. All throughout her speech, he had remained passive, careful not to let her know that he could see through her mask and had every intention on fighting her with every means within his grasp. Luckily for his family, he had gone to law school. And several other schools besides.
Rustle. Sniff.
Moving on, after setting the envelope in a basket reserved for important confidential information that needed shredding before being binned, he turned toward the computer screen and tapped out a web address. 'Enter user name'. He did. 'Enter passcode'. More typing. His eyes were intent on the screen as he scrolled down the page, paused, clicked a link, nodded and moved on. He scrolled for a few more minutes, found the button he was looking for, and clicked. Reading over his receipt, he printed it out, saved a copy on the computer, then got up to file the paperwork for this month's bills.
Groan...
“Is everything all right, darling?” he asked, resuming his seat in the giant office chair behind his desk and sifting through a few more important looking documents. Homeowner's insurance – taken care of, maintenance repairs report – checked and confirmed, junk mail – disposed of, fire marshal and security inspections – scheduled for next month, in which he'll announce and recommend the castle to be cleared of the vampires with weaker control of their blood thirst, and lastly, a natural resources worker to come and inspect the overall condition of the lakes on their property.
“No! Everything is not 'all right'!” Eva grumbled from the far end of Merik's desk, the opposite of where he kept his desktop. She threw down her pencil and glared at him as if he should've known better than to ask such a ridiculous question.
He had known better, he could sense her irritation as easily as he could feel his own hunger starting to make itself known. He should've known a cup of coffee wouldn't have been sufficient enough to hold him over until lunch. Setting work aside, he placed his elbows on the desk before him, putting a slender finger to the rim of his thick-framed, black designer glasses to lower them so he could arch a delicate brow at her from over the top. Obviously they weren't needed, they were clearly for show since he wanted to play the part of 'sophisticated leader' while working in his study. In other words, they made him look smart. “What is the problem, my love?” he asked, rolling his chair over to where she was so he could peer over her shoulder at the college-lined papers with numbers, figures, and a pretty damn good signature on the top that read 'Evalynn Orion' in a script that looked like it had been practised several times before. This made him smile.
“Everything is wrong!” Exclaimed the tiny brunette beauty, whose perfect little mouth was pulled down at the corners in an angry scowl. “Obviously I'm not, because I'm brilliant, but the numbers must be having a bad day because they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing! They had a really bad night – look, the alphabet is still hungover, because it's not gone!” she pointed at the little 'x's, 'y's, and 'z's that, indeed, looked randomly placed within her maths equations.
In contrast, he believed they had a very good night, it was the morning that didn't look so well. Those poor numbers. And alphabet, apparently. “Maths is a rather difficult subject,” he agreed, his experience with it not being so great either. Fortunately, it got easier the more he used it, but he didn't quite fancy telling her that since he was sure the reply would consist of 'I don't need to know this stuff, you would do it all for me'. He would have no answer, they both knew she would be right. Fortunately, he did have some good news for her. “I could help you,” he offered.
By this time, Eva had thrown her arms dramatically over the table and leaned her face against the cool top of the desk in a move of exhaustion and defeat, but lifted her head up at Merik's offer. Eyes wide, she looked hesitant and bit her lip, glanced down at the papers, then reached out for his arm, clinging. “Oh god, please?” she begged, again switching her gaze between her husband and homework, saviour and demise, respectively.
And thus, Merik put his tasks to rest.