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Epitaph of Anguish: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

In which a mask becomes involved with the theatre, and the Wandsman confesses a certain interest.

Warnings: Shakespearian English, Very long Flashback, Gratuitous French, use of alcohol, internalized homophobia, First time sex, public sex (discrete), confessions

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Offering the Wandsman a place for his surgeries was the best decision the Black Lord had ever made.

There was simply something more to look forward to now. A break in the cycle of chair-sitting that came in the whisper of soft-scaled wings against his shoulder, or the appalled stares of peons and his fellow nobility alike as they ogled the low-ranked being perched so confidently upon the back of the Anguished Lord's seat in the midst of holding court, or the late-night conversations that seemed to grow more friendly with each visit. Darkness still did linger in the in-betweens, of course. Little hints of anguish slipping in whenever the Wandsman departed for a few weeks, or squirreled himself away for the sake of surgery, but a sample-size of general misery was far preferable to what the noble had grown used to.

It wasn't until the new member of his court was gone for a full four months that he truly found himself struggling to stay afloat. At first, it had helped to think of the Wandsman. To simply continue with what he'd been doing before, planning out subtle methods of teaching the man both proper Common and the language of the Court if only to keep the genuinely clever doctor from becoming a laughing stock with his poor grammar and odd accent, and pushing to actually get that promised operating room completed so he'd stop finding corpses in his library. Even still, that only really lasted him a month until thoughts of the Wandsman instead plunged him further into his melancholia. His odd longing to see the foreigner again gradually engulfing his days, then his nights until he eventually couldn't get the image of that man out of his head

It was a guilty thing, truly. An awful obsession underlined in oil and late night fantasies followed by shame and further declining health that only dragged him further down until he didn't think anything would make him feel genuine joy again.

Only when the Anguished Lord had fully convinced himself that the Wandsman would return no longer. That someone had snuffed that life out so he may never stray from anguish again, did that lithe, wing-robed form grace his presence again, the exhausted, stumbling Wandsman dragging himself through the main door at what would have been his typical cycle had he shown a few months prior. His state was... worrying to say the least. Clearly drunk, and somewhat limping like he was.

The Black lord was rarely one to fully shirk his duties. He did take some pride in his status, after all, and after having been ill for so long, perfection was something he needed to practically cling to in order to maintain his position, however, he could not resist the urge to dispel his peons early and come forward, reaching a tentative hand to brush against a ruffled, dirtied bug-wingish thing.

"Mine doct'r... What hath happen'd to thee?" He knew not what to call the man other than by his own profession, so he often found himself sticking to such in conversation. It was... odd, to say the least, however the Wandsman had refused every query as to what his name might have been. "Art thee did hurt? wh're has't thee been?" He suppressed a surge of indignance. The wandsman simply abandoned him for five months, then had the audacity to come crawling back so drunk he couldn't stand up straight?

"Fine. Wast busy," The Wandsman slurred insistently, lightly swatting the Black lord's extended hand with an appendage before he paused and folded it tightly around himself. "...S'rry f'r striking thee... Th're is... much goings on wh're I cometh from."

Oh... How sweet... Such a small being thought that soft appendage had harmed him? The Noble swiftly dropped his upset, his heart practically melting at the misconception of his own strength. "T' didst not did hurt me, thou art valorous, now."