OOM -- for Jack Benjamin

[capture_eternity]

Dorian's room is of late, late Victorian opulence bordering on Art Nouveau, and encompass in its small space a little bit of everything that a gentleman of leisure might keep in his home.

The walls are papered in deep jewel-toned hues and covered with paintings -- portraits from all times of history, but no landscapes or still lives -- there is a small writing desk, a book-case filled with books bound in linen, silk, or leather, two chaise-longues arranged around a small table that, at this moment, only holds a potted orchid but has enough room for drinks, even a small repast, and a rococo bed in the corner, head and foot curved gently as if to encompass those that will rest, or play, upon it. There is a fire in the fireplace, a view of the greenhouse behind the rich, purple drapes on the window, and chandeliers to light the room.

Dorian holds the door open for Jack with his free hand, and bows. "Welcome to my home away from home."

Comments

[holy_or_broken]

Jack looks around in admiration. "If all the rooms are like this I may have to get one myself."

[capture_eternity]

"I don't know what other people's rooms look like," Dorian says. "This is a little like a home away from home, everything I like put in a nutshell. Do take a seat."

He gestures towards the chaise-longues and puts down the glasses and his book on the table.

[holy_or_broken]

"I may have to follow your example, then," says Jack as he sprawls on a chaise. "Put together all the things I like in one room."

[capture_eternity]

"What would it look like, then?" Dorian says, reaching for the bottle of wine to refill their glasses.

[holy_or_broken]

Jack starts to toss off an answer, the says, "Simple. Elegant without being fussy.forthright."

He gives Dorian a rueful smile. "Or that could just be the person I want in it."

[capture_eternity]

Aha.

"And who would that be?"

[holy_or_broken]

Jack reaches for a glass. "No one real."

[capture_eternity]

"The person you want is some lovely image of yearning, rather than someone that you know and secretly desire?" Dorian says.

[holy_or_broken]

"How about you read a little of that book to me?" Jack says, with a look like he knows he's deflecting and will,probably continue to do so.

[capture_eternity]

"I'll begin at the beginning," Dorian says, and does so.

[holy_or_broken]

Jack leans back his head and closes his eyes to listen. He finds more pleasure in the reader's voice than the prose he's reading, but he's not going to complain about content.

[capture_eternity]

Dorian reads for about ten minutes, taking a sip of wine from time to time, calmly making his way through the sensual overload of the text. His voice is low and pleasant, with a soft purr in his tone that betrays the way he is affected by the sensuality.

[holy_or_broken]

Jack's body relaxes as Dorian reads, though there's something in the way he holds his hands that says he is listening intently.

[capture_eternity]

After a while, Dorian puts the book down on the table, and picks up his wine glass.

"You get the idea," he says.

[holy_or_broken]

"I like it," Jack murmurs, his eyes open just enough to look at Dorian through his lashes. "Or I like your voice. Bit of both."

[capture_eternity]

"I hope my reading isn't too soporific," Dorian says, with a little smile.

[holy_or_broken]

"No, no," says. Jack, sitting up a little. "Quite the opposite."

[capture_eternity]

"A had seen a few chapters circulated in private, at home," Dorian says. "Here, I caved in to my curiosity and simply got the printed book."

[holy_or_broken]

"Circulated in private? Is it banned?"

[capture_eternity]

"It's obscene," Dorian says, almost gleefully. "It becomes much more descriptive later."

[holy_or_broken]

"Shocking!" says Jack, grinning.

[capture_eternity]

"Very much so," Dorian says. "So the point is to not even get it noticed while it is published quietly. A gentleman prefers to enjoy in silence."

[holy_or_broken]

"The poor author, though," says Jack. "Just a few copies, privately circulated...what a disappointment it must be."

[capture_eternity]

"They knew," Dorian says. "Of course they knew when they started writing that this was not a book to be hailed by the critics and devoured by the masses."

[holy_or_broken]

Jack has another drink.

"Your world's like mine that way."