ax_main | Dorian and Molly, backdated to 9/7/19

Dorian and Molly officially meet.

Dorian was pushing himself for an extra mile on his run by going around the lake when he spotted a hard to miss purple figure sitting under a nearby tree. Mollymauk Tealeaf. It wasn’t a name you forgot, never mind a face. Though they’d yet to meet in person, he’d seen him around school and he’d heard a lot about him—nothing, but praise, in fact—from Gilmore. Had he not already wanted to meet Molly, that alone would have cemented it.

As he neared the tree, Dorian slowed to a stop. Molly, he saw now, was lounging in the grass, idly painting his fingers nails in a bright red, sparkly nail polish. “Love the color,” Dorian said, smiling his best.

Molly glanced up at the sudden arrival, the tip of his tongue poking out from between sharp teeth. He blinked once, then found himself smiling in return -- from the look of the new boy, he certainly knew what he was talking about.

"Thank you. Interested?" He held up the bottle teasingly.

“Why not?” Dorian replied after a moment’s consideration. He sat down across from Molly, and offered out a manicured hand. “Red’s not my best color, but I do wear it well.”

"Darling, I think you could wear anything well." Molly shot him a bright teasing grin, then turned his attention to the offered hand. He took it carefully, setting the polish bottle down on his crossed legs, and began painting Dorian's nails with a deftness that said he'd done it before.

“Absolutely true,” Dorian replied, glancing up from watching Molly work to send him a teasing grin of his own right back. “I look incredible in anything, or nothing. It’s a gift.” He looked back down at his hand. The color that had looked so bright on Mollymauk looked brazen on him. He loved it. Brazen suited him.

From the amused, and more than slightly appreciative look Molly shot him, he agreed. "Clearly you'll have to come shopping with Shaun and I some time. Though it might be too much for some stores to handle.”

“Well, then they’d have to learn, wouldn’t they?” Dorian replied cheekily, dark eyes bright with laughter. “I’m not about to miss out on that kind of adventure because a few people can’t handle greatness.”

Oh, Molly did like this one. His grin widened a bit, but he focused in on the last of Dorian's nails before reaching imperiously for the other hand. "That's the spirit. I take it you haven't been here long? I'm sure I would have noticed sooner.”

Dorian admired his nails as Molly started on his other hand. “Not too long, no. Dorian Pavus.” He flashed one of his charming smiles. “A pleasure to finally meet you, Molly. Gilmore has told me so much about you. Nothing but praise, of course.”

"He is a terrible flatterer," Molly said with a grin of his own. "You have me at a disadvantage, then. You'll have to tell me all manner of fabulous things about yourself to even it out.”

Dorian tried not to feel a little hurt that Molly had never heard of him before. He gestured to himself with a hand, his smile charming. “Well, as I said, I’m Dorian Pavus. Greatest shame to ever come out of the Pavus family line, which, if you know any Pavus’s, is the greatest status one could achieve.”

"I can't say I have, but I'm happy to take your word for it," Molly said brightly, even if most of his concentration was on finishing Dorian's last fingers neatly. Once that was complete, he leaned back a moment to let everything dry. "What does a Pavus do, generally?”

“Politics. Conservative Republican. If you were to Google the name, that’s all that would come up. Well,” Dorian smirked, “almost all that would come up.”

"And your goal is to add a number of other results?" Molly couldn't help but flash him a grin. "Seems like a worthy ambition to me.”

Dorian laughed. “It’s a work in progress.” Though, really, it was less a goal and more a collateral benefit of spite and good, old fashioned teenage rebellion. “But enough about me. Tell me about yourself, Molly. What do you do?”

"Do?" Molly echoed as he reached for Dorian's hands again. "Mainly provide a spot of color, clearly." He gestured vaguely at himself with the hand holding the brush, then applied it to Dorian's fingers.

Dorian closed his eyes and tilted his head skyward, enjoying the warm sun and the attention. “Well, of course, and you do it remarkably,” he said like that were obvious, “but I refuse to believe that’s all someone of your obvious merit does.”

"Well," Molly said, affecting his best thoughtful tone, "there's also the tarot readings. But honestly I'm quite happy to live a life of idle luxury.”

“Tarot cards? Really?” Dorian said, his interest piqued. “How unique. I’ve never met anyone who does that before.”

"Never? Well that's terribly unfortunate," Molly said as he finished the one hand and reached for the other. "I can certainly fix that, once we're done here.”

Dorian smiled as he slipped his hand into Molly’s. “You’re just fixing all sorts of problems, aren’t you?” he said with a flash of a smile, then blew on the still-wet nails on his other hand. “How long have you been reading cards?”

"Oh, long as I can remember," he returned blithely. "One has to make themselves useful, in a circus.”

“My, you are full of surprises, aren’t you? What’s working in a circus like?” Dorian had been to the circus once as a little boy. His nanny had taken him. He remembered elephants, and clowns, and being enchanted, but not much else. Oh, and there had been popcorn.

"Terribly dramatic," Molly said with a mock serious look and shook his head. He leaned back, letting Dorian reclaim his hands to let them dry. "But a good time none the less. I certainly kept busy.”

Dorian blew on the nails of his now free hand to help them dry, shooting Molly a grin over them. “I bet. There must be plenty for someone as talented as you to do.”

Molly's smile widened in turn, enough to show off the tips of sharp teeth. He did enjoy a flirt, and Dorian was really very good at it. "I do what I can. Shall I expect you to be tracking me down for manicures, then?”

“And the company, of course,” Dorian replied, putting a light hand on Molly’s knee. “We great people need to stick together. The school is tragically short in supply.”

"Oh, naturally," Molly agreed cheerfully. "There is a sad lack of fabulous at times, and we clearly need to rectify that. You'll have to come out with Shaun and I some time.”

A toothy, charming smile broke across Dorian’s face. “Absolutely. I think we could all use a day of pampering. You two should come to the spa with me. We could grab lunch after, do a bit of a shopping…”

"A spa, is it? Oh, you are most definitely speaking my language, darling.”

“I speak both leisure and hedonism fluently,” Dorian informed Molly with a grin.

"We're going to get on marvelously," Molly told him solemnly. "I can't wait.”

Dorian put a hand over his heart. ‘Neither can I.”