Alexius: Alexius and Crispin Bunking

Crispin seemed completely unconcerned about Random's glare boring into his back, at least until he was our of it's view. Then he looked over at his cousin, looking nearly abashed.

"I didn't think he'd notice that fast... Not mad, are you?"

Alexius shakes his head. "It was inevitable, I suppose. Father doesn't miss too many tricks, be it in Poker or in life."

"We've got to get it back to his rooms though. By morning. I know he'll keep his word if we do, and let the matter drop. Although." Alexius says. "We won't get away with jack for the rest of the time Harri is here, and I'll live with this for months."

He shrugs easily. "Ah well."

"You're a friend." Crispin's smile was back, and he lightly slugged Alexius's shoulder. "And I'll make it up to you, I swear. And I bet if we could get your mom to agree, we could have you and Harri spend a week down at our manor! Dad doesn't have the eagle eye like Random." Crispin paused, considering that as he opened the door to Alexius's suite. "Well, maybe he does. But I think he likes catching us too much to try to keep us out of trouble."

Alexius chuckles. "I don't think Corwin will mind Harri spending time at the Manor, but I think my Dad will be harder to convince."

"After all." he says "Dad knows what Bleys is like and knows that it would be an awful opportunity." his eyes go bright. "for me to get into mischief. Especially with Random trying so hard to keep me on the straight and narrow."

"Bed in the corner's yours, the one by the window is mine." Alexius says briskly with a grin. "I'd provide a little light, but Master Lorius dislikes me to use my talents frivolously. But it could be worse--it could be Aunt Fiona teaching me, instead."

"Fi's not so bad," replied Crispin, his voice muffled as he peeled off his shirt. "You just have to know how to soften her up. Alot of open mouth admiration does the trick most of the time." Crispin tossed the shirt, and it caught on the endpost of his bed. His shoes and trousers were next, leaving him in a thin undershirt and boxers. He climbed into bed, propping himself up on his elbow.

"You could take lessons from dad, too. He's great, when you can pin him down. And if he had an audience of four to perform for instead of just two, I bet he'd be happy to show us some things. You know," His face brightened. "I bet I could get him to ask Uncle Random or Aunt Vi! Then they'd have to say yes!"

"Now that might work." Alexius brightens. "Or have Bleys try and charm Mom, that usually isn't an easy trick, but Mom can talk Dad into it, if Uncle Bleys did it."

Alexius undressed a bit and got into bed. "So how DO you soften up Aunt Fi, anyway?" he asked. "Besides the admiration gambit?"

"Oh, tell her about your exploits." Crispin shrugged. "You know, things you've gotten away with. Things you've nearly gotten away with." Crispin's smile was sharp, even in the darkness. "Girl's you've gotten away with... You have any stories like that?"

Alexius laughed. "A few exploits here and there, but I don't think kissing girls is what interests Fiona. I think probably other adventures is what might get her intrigued in me." He rolls his eyes.

"Anyway, I think its time we got some sleep. I just hope the girls manage to return that durned lighter."

Crispin eased back down to the mattress, a lazy smile covering his face.

"Trust me. Fi likes to hear about exploits with girls. Makes up for Bleys not having any, anymore." His eyes closed, and in moments, he was asleep.



When Alexius stirred, it wasn't to his father's drumming (Thank the horn) or a servant making too much noise in the sitting room (usually at his mother's orders). It was to the soft turning of pages. He opened his eyes, and saw Crispin, already fully dressed and bathed, reading to dawn's light. The book was leather bound and the pages stiff with age, and it had his attention completely.

"Crispin?" Alexius moved to an elbow and regarded his cousin. It wasn't the fact that he was reading, nor that he was awake that confused Alexius. The combination of the two, combined with where he and his sister had been yesterday, that alarmed him somewhat. Especially given the condition of the volume, that seemed to whisper its ancient nature.

"What are you reading?" he asked.

"A journal," said Crispin, snapping it shut. He frowned as the hour was chimed... Six o'clock. "I better check on that case before your dad skins me for a new drumset." He hopped out of bed, tossing the journal onto his pillow. He passed the door completely, springing onto Alexius's bed and over his waking cousin to come to the window. He hit the locking mechanism, and the window swung out. He leaned out, sniffed the air, then eased his left leg out onto the ledge running by Alexius's window. A gust of wind rushed in the room.

"Back in a sec."

Alexius paused a moment and then rolled out of bed.

"Uncle Bleys would kill me if anything happened to him. And then Dad would. And then Mom would apologize" He murmured to himself as he headed toward the window to watch Crispin's progress.

Crispin inched his way over to the girls' room, his fingers digging into the masonry behind him. He kept his eyes up, doing his best to ignore the plummet beneath him.

A gust of wind burst up from below, just as Crispin was lifting his foot to inch his way around a drainpipe. He gasped as his foot came down on air instead of stone, and he began to pitch forward. His arm shot out, catching onto the horned face of a gargoyle, and he swung himself with a half-panicked shout back up onto the ledge.

He was still for a moment, then looked up to see Alexius there. He gave his cousin a nervous half smile and a quick thumbs up, and was on his way again. Minutes later, he was gone, sitting within the ledge of the girls' window.

"Greffet" Alexius said, realizing that he would get it for saying such language if Mom had heard it, when Crispin nearly falls. With a sad shake of his head, Alexius continues to watch.

"He made it." Alexius thought, relieved. He gave Crispin a thumbs up.

As Crispin disappeared, Alexius was relieved to have his heartrate return to normal. Until, of course, the soft knock of a servant came to his door, quietly requesting the start of his day.

Alexius moved quickly, taking a couple of pillows and arranging them on Crispin's bed, underneath the covers, so that it looked like his cousin was sleeping. He wouldn't call attention to Crispin, and after briefly considering an auditory spell to make it sound like he was snoring, Alexius headed to open the door for the servant.

A servant was there, freshly pressed clothes of a rougher material in his hands. There were two outfits, one in his colors, the other in Crispin's. The servant moved to enter the room, presumbably to lay them on the proper beds. "Good morning, Highness... your mother bids you to breakfast in the half-hour."

"Very good." Alexius says smartly. "Crispin might be somewhat late to breakfast, but I will be there on time." he replies. The son of Random steps forward to take both outfits. "Don't want to wake him just yet, I'll handle this." he says, taking the clothes from the servant.

"Thank you." Alexius finishes with a smile.

The servant doesn't reply... His eyes were the size of dinner plates, staring over Alexius's shoulder...

Right about where his window was.

The servant found his tongue, and as calmly as he could, asked, "Would His Highness like me to stay, to help retrieve his cousin from the windowsill?"

Alexius turned around, exasperation turning into shock and disbelief. "Crispin!" he hissed. It was a wonder his cousin hadn't gotten himself killed long since.

Corisande clearly was the brains of the pair, Alexius had suspected it for years, but this was the proof.

"Yes, please." Alexius says, giving space to the servant to help pull Bleys' son back inside.

Crispin was looking cold and abashed as they pulled him in. "Thanks..." He looked at the servant, giving him his best Bleys smile. "You know, there's really no need for this to get around. I'm all safe and sound, and I've finally chased away those pesky pigeons. Savy?"

The servant, unconvinced, released Crispin's hand and turned to head back to the sitting room.

"Not entirely a successful ad lib, dear cousin." Alexius says as he closes the window behind him. "Your Dad clearly needs to teach you some more pointers.

"Now, though, Mom has invited the both of us for breakfast." he indicated the set of clothes. "And if we dress quickly and hurry down, we won't keep her waiting."

Crispin set his fingers to work at his buttons, a small glare going out to Alexius. "I'd like to see you think of something better. And why'd you let him in?" He disrobed, donning the fresh outfit with curious speed. He scooped up his journal and dropped it into his shoulder bag, a smile already returning.

"Alright... Breakfast. You think your dad'll be there? Or couting the silverware?"

"He usually is, but its not guaranteed." Alexius replies. "If he is really running behind, it would be just me and Mom for breakfast, Dad having breezed through long before. Being a king is HARD." Alexius added, in admiration of his father.

"And I let him in because if I hadn't, that would have gotten back to Dad or Mom in a blink of an eye, and we'd really be in hot water."

"So what happened with the lighter?" Alexius asked as he began to change himself.

"Wolf took it back." Crispin shrugged, hopping back on the bed with a bounce, waiting for Alexius. "At least, that's what the girl's said. You should have seen them when I tapped on the window!" A smile blooms over Crispin's face, and he affects a look of slack-jawed horror. "You know, it was worth death on the cobbles just to see that." He frowned. "Though I wish Wolf hadn't tried to push me out of the window..."

Alexius laughs. "Fearless and inventive, you are, cousin." He grins. "And Wolf is definitely protective of Harri. I had no idea he was intelligent enough to do something like return the lighter, though. It makes me wonder." He scratched his chin, and then looked in a mirror, satisfied with how he looked.

"C'mon, breakfast awaits us."

Vialle was there, and though there was a fourth plate on the table, it was sticky with syrup and fat from the sausages. Vialle lowered her cup and smiled as the boys entered and took their seats.

"Good morning, Alexius, Crispin…. Thank you for returning the case, Crispin."

Crispin paused, mid-cut into a sausage. "You're welcome," he said after a beat.

"We would rather you not take things in the first place." Vialle sipped.

Crispin smiled briefly, then continued to dig in. "Well, sometimes you can't help it. Random has good taste."

Alexius didn't say a word, trying not to smile when Vialle brings note of the return of the case. But when Crispin makes his comment, Alexius coughs.

"Well." Alexius said between bites of pancake. "Sometimes you do have to try, dear cousin. Restraint can be a good deal, making reward sweeter."

He chuckles. "Or so my tutors keep telling me."

"You should heed the advice, Crispin." Vialle's hand falls on his, and the teasing has left her voice. "One day it will get you in more trouble than my husband can stir up... Perhaps it is time you took rooms up here, and lessons--"

Crispin yanks away his hand, as if burned. Vialle can't see the offense on his face, but Alexius can. "I like my father's Manor. And I like his tutors.[/i]"

Alexius chuckles at Crispin's visceral reaction.

"He reminds me a bit of a younger version of my brother, Mom." Alexius states, looking at his sightless mother for a moment out of courtesy before turning back to Crispin. "With almost a perfectly parallel reaction to the idea of spending copious amounts of time here."

And then he adds. "Its not a bad thing, dear cousin. But Mother does have a point. And I imagine your sister, on occasion shares the sentiment on restraint." he grins.

"Maybe," he said, but his tone held none of Alexius's teasing or Vialle's gentleness. He wiped at his mouth, then pushed back his still teeming plate.

"I think I'm done. Am I excused?"

Vialle seemed to be about to say something, but then just sighed. "Yes, Crispin, you are excused." He rose, gave short bow, then turned. "I'll meet you at the stables, Alexius." And he was gone.

Alexius was ready to speak a foul invective, but the presence of his mother curbed his tongue from uttering the "G" word.

He was disquieted for a few moments, quiet and pensive.

"I must have touched too strong a nerve." Alexius finally said with a sigh.

"That makes him even more like Martin..." Vialle touched her son's hand. "But, if stories are true, that makes him even more like his father. He's very proud...

"But if he holds true to his line, he will be all smiles again by the time he reaches the stables."

"If he does." Alexius said. "I am going to give him a few extra minutes, though to cool off. And maybe the ladies will show up here for breakfast anyhow."

He began pushing food around his plate, reluctant to finish with any speed.

"I believe they are dining with Corwin... He leaves tomorrow morning, before dawn." Vialle listened to her son's idle scrapings for several minutes as she sipped at her tea.

"Do not blame yourself for Crispin's short temper," she said finally. "Besides... it was just as likely me who started his hackles rising." She set down the tea, then pulled the napkin from her lap, dabbing at her mouth.

"What will you be about, today?"

"Riding." Alexius said evenly. "Since Angharad is going to be here a while, familiarizing her with the lay of the land is a very good idea. I showed her Kolvir yesterday, of course, we'll go a little further afield today on the horses." Alexius explained.

"Mostly the twins' idea but its a good one." he admitted.

"I agree. Just--" Vialle hesitated, as if not quite certain how to continue without damning with her words. "Be... careful. We know how some of the twin's escapades can go awry..."

Alexius put his hand on his mother's hand. "That's why I am going along, Mother." he said with a trace of pride. "To be there if things go...off the cliff so to speak."

"Uncle Corwin would never let Harri go out alone with the Twins for that reason." he added. A few more scarfed bites of food, and he rose.

"Time for me to go, Mom." he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek

"A moment." Her hands skim over the table, and she takes up Crispin's discarded napkin and a helping of biscuits and ham. She makes a bundle out of it, then hands it to her son.

"For Crispin-- He'll be hungry."