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

[very_sharpe]

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.

Comments

[very_sharpe]

Thomas follows Biffy to the aforementioned mirrors. "It isn't much of a story," he says. "Father spends away family fortune, son and daughter are left with nothing but a name and a piece of land. It lead to a lot of making due while trying to at least look the part."

[modern_alpha]

A sadly typical story and Biffy nodded his sympathies. It was known to happen, he knew, and for families to send second and third children to be drones or clavigers in hopes of patronage. With vampires picking up the tab, it was generally considered worth it, if a bit modern.

"Well, now you have quit the family home rather spectacularly," Biffy said, hoping that meant Thomas was happy here. He retrieved a tape measure and one of the store tablets, creating a new entry for Thomas in the store database.

[very_sharpe]

"Oh, I didn't have much choice in the matter," he says with a weak laugh. "My uh... sister and I had a falling out, over a woman I married. Lucille-- well. She killed me."

Well, there it is. If Biffy is from a place that has the undead, perhaps someone coming back from the dead isn't so strange. "I am happy here. Happier, at least."

[modern_alpha]

"Well," Biffy said politely. "That must have made things awkward in the family."

He filed away another measurement and processed how to continue. Already, he had decided he liked Thomas with his charm and manners but he was still here as a customer and Biffy as an employee. However they might befriend each other outside of this building was different from this precise moment.

"I am glad you are happier then. In many ways, I am too."

[very_sharpe]

"The rest of them were already dead. It had become a bit of a tradition by the time she got to me."

Perhaps it isn't right to make light of it, but if he broods too deeply on all of it Thomas is sure that he'll go mad. He stands patiently, moving however Biffy needs him to in order to get all the proper measurements.

"May I ask what you come from? I can't imagine a London with... with undead. Ghosts are one thing, but you seem to be referencing something else altogether."

[modern_alpha]

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.

[very_sharpe]

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."

[modern_alpha]

"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.

[very_sharpe]

"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."

[modern_alpha]

"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.

[very_sharpe]

"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."

[modern_alpha]

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?"

[very_sharpe]

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."

[modern_alpha]

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."

[very_sharpe]

"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."

[modern_alpha]

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."

[very_sharpe]

"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.

[modern_alpha]

"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?"

[very_sharpe]

"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."

[modern_alpha]

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.

[very_sharpe]

"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."

[modern_alpha]

"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?"

[very_sharpe]

"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.

[modern_alpha]

"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."

[very_sharpe]

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."