very_sharpe | Life stands before me like an eternal spring with new and brilliant clothes.

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biffy

Life stands before me like an eternal spring with new and brilliant clothes.

The weather lately has been particularly reminiscent of England, enough that it leaves Thomas wanting to add more brightness to his life. He's finally set to decorating his apartment, making it look like a proper person lives there. Despite the lingering spring rain he's finally feeling some optimism about Darrow. Perhaps the hope was in hibernation for the winter - he can't blame it, the winter was rather dismal, even by his standards.

Thomas might have never called himself vain, before coming to Darrow. He isn't entirely sure it's vanity, though, as much as a sheer delight with what he can afford. That is what brings him to Bardolf's.

Upon entering he closes his umbrella and leaves it in a provided stand, in a plastic bag to avoid creating a puddle. If someone takes it, oh well. Perhaps they need it; he'll get another.

He's been here a handful of times, but has stuck to the ground floor on each visit. Today he's decided to visit the second. He's done a fair job of choosing things for himself, but clothing really isn't his area of expertise. That, and it might be nice to have something properly tailored from the ground up.

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Well, Biffy thought again. That did not seem like the kind of family one spent very much time missing.

"My London is unusual, even with the rest of the world. Supernatural creatures abound where I'm from. Vampires, ghosts, werewolves and the like. England is exceptional in that it allows these elements to walk freely," he explained. The amount of times he had this conversation, Biffy was beginning to think he ought to print a pamphlet.

Thomas shakes his head. "It's still hard for me to conceive of so many different faces for the same place." He wonders how many Londons there are. "It sounds like the sort of story my wife would write. Though she tended more towards ghosts, I think. Those, at least, we knew were real."

"I find that, in any world, there are more things that exist than anyone knows of." In Thomas' case, it seemed there were ghosts.

"Your wife is a writer?" What stories she must have written. Maybe something Mary Shelley.

"Oh yes, a very good one, actually." He blushes a bit. "It may not be right to call her my wife, anymore. We were married before we arrived in Darrow - she about a month before I did."

"So she is here, then?" Biffy asked. It was, again, a gentle prompt to continue if Thomas so desired. In the meantime, he assembled three shirts, two pairs of trousers, and four different styles of suit jacket. For amusement's sake, he also added a smoking jacket to the pile but doubted it would suit Thomas' needs.

"She is. She is the person that found me at the train station... though I can't imagine the shock it gave her. Last she saw me, I was dead, and my sister was trying to kill her."

That did, Biffy thought, rather put a damper on the relationship. He did not say that. Instead, he held out the selection of shirts in Thomas' size. "Try these, then, and tell me what you think."

And then, because he was always too curious, he added, "What is the lady's name?"

Thomas takes the shirts and steps away from the mirror, assuming he's to change in a dressing room or something.

"Edith." He says her name with a tender tone. "Edith Cushing."

Biffy stopped mid-stride, distracted from showing Thomas to a dressing room at the name. Given everything that Thomas had just discussed, it didn't necessarily surprise him that Edith would not have mentioned having a husband but it did catch him off-guard.

"I know her," he said, searching for the right expression to put on his face and ending on 'bemused.' "She and I are friendly."

"Isn't she wonderful?" Thomas would not be surprised or even hurt to learn that Edith had never spoken of him, or their marriage. Why would she? No doubt she had seen Darrow the same way he does: as a fresh start, a way to forget everything that happened in Allerdale.

"She's been very kind to me. Every moment with her is like... basking in sunlight after a long winter."

Biffy smiled but at that he did not make any quips or witticisms. It was clear, in only a few words, that Thomas still adored Edith but that their relationship was very complicated. Thomas did not strike Biffy as the delusional, lovelorn type but someone who seemed to have accepted his love would be that of courtly knights.

Curious indeed.

"She has a good soul," he agreed. You can see it in her."

"She brightens everything she gives time to," he says, shaking his head as he goes to change into the things Biffy has given him to try.

"I didn't realize just how much, when I married her. How do you know her?" The inquiry is pure curiosity, not meaning to pry but he's not really gotten to know many people. Edith strikes him as more at ease being social. Maybe it's an American thing.

"I ran into her last winter while she was still on crutches." He wondered now if that had anything to do with the very complex marriage to which Thomas referred. Who knew what could transpire when one's sister-in-law was going on a murderous rampage?

Then, because he did want to make sure Thomas was properly attended, he asked, "Which shirt did you like?"

"This one," he answers easily, passing it to Biffy.

"She was on crutches when she found me at the train station. I think we both could have died from the shock of seeing each other. I'm grateful for her kindness, her friendship."

Biffy nodded and made another notation on his tablet before hanging the shirt up. "Do you like the cut? The fabric? The color?" Smiling, he added, "I don't know if you were prepared for a sartorial interrogation, but here we are."

So he must not have arrived long after Edith. Her cast had been on for several weeks, if he remembered correctly, but not so long that it wouldn't have been a shock to see one's dead husband.

"All of it," he answers. "It's been a long time since I've had anything properly tailored, but you would think I would have some memory of the process." Thomas shakes his head. "When I met Edith, she seemed the only person that saw beyond my title and my accent."

"In your defense, it is a very charming accent," Biffy said. There was no defense for the attraction to titles when he experienced it himself. He had been, after all, a vampire's drone once and one could not succeed in Lord Akeldama's hive without being at least a little attracted to power.

"Now, I've pulled a selection of trousers as well. Do you prefer a heavier true wool? Or one of the modern blends?"

"I think a modern blend for summer. I can't imagine wool would be terribly comfortable... I heard it can get warm here."

Thomas is willing to try something new for the sake of comfort.

"Very good, sir," Biffy said in his sparkling best imitation of a trained butler but with a more overt show of impudence in his smile. He handed Thomas some of the trousers and then held up the ring of fabric samples. "Feel free to touch them and see which suits your fancy."

Thomas actually laughs, because he can't remember how long it's been since they could afford to keep household help. He examines the fabric options, pointing out a few that he likes.

"Hopefully something will come along that I can use as an excuse to wear this," he muses. "Though I suppose I can always find an occasion."

When he laughed, Biffy could not help doing the same. "You know, I don't know why it's considered undignified to go into a trade," Biffy said candidly. "I find myself very happy when I am working and being of help to others."

Setting aside the swatches, Biffy smiled. "One may always make an occasion."

"Our family mined clay. Well. We owned the land the clay was mined from. I would like to go into a trade now, something to do with my hands. I built little things for my sister, and had plenty of experience in repairing the larger machinery. I'm just not entirely sure where to apply myself," he confesses.

"I find that that is where the real advantage lies in the modern age," Biffy said, hoping to reassure Thomas. He handed over a few jackets to try alongside the shirts and trousers, in the interest of continuing not to abuse Thomas' time in favor of his own interests.

"There is a great emphasis put on finding oneself and one's purpose in life. Experimenting is encouraged."

"I might be a little trigger shy," he admits. "I spent a great deal of time putting myself out there, as it were, looking for financing for projects. But I suppose it's different now. I considered applying to the university here, though I haven't the slightest notion of what I might pursue. Perhaps engineering?"

He says it almost to himself, but it's nice to have more people to talk to about it.

As he talks, Thomas accepts the next set of clothes to try on, doing so without missing a beat in his train of thought.

"It seems an awful pressure, needing to know one's purpose."

Biffy nodded, making careful and quiet notes about the fit, the way Thomas' body language shifted to indicate that he might prefer one style over another. He was good at reading such things, thanks to Lord Akeldama's coaching, and it was advantageous in spying but also in simpler, more honest actions.

"As I understand it, one needn't start attending university with a specific path in mind," he observed, gently encouraging Thomas' curiosities.

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