Private Tales Shadows of the Absent

[Bliss]

Her dormitory room, thankfully, was tidy. She was lucky enough to secure a single room, to not share space with another as she had in the past 3 years. Her bed was made, the books and parchment pieces were in neat piles upon the small table she had. Even the wardrobe that had it's doors wide open showed off an organised affair.

Bliss cleared the throat and stood to the side to let in Calixtus. He had been to her door before, plenty of times, but each time she hid her room. It wasn't always this tidy.

"Get in." Her hand grabbed his arm and hurried him inside. The door opposite from her own opened and Bliss gave a smile to Owen. "Afternoon. Bye." And she shut her door on the mildly confused face of her neighbour.

Bliss leaned against the back of her door and stared at Calixtus.

"You would tell other people to not believe any rumours, right?" Of course he would. He was a Blodwyn, and her family were lower on the merchant families hierarchy. Pushing from the door, Bliss crossed to the space upon her rug that was clear. She sat down, opening the book she had borrowed unofficially from the library and began to carefully flick through it's pages. "Flattering as it would be, I do not have time to entertain such gossip." She reasoned.

 

[Calixtus]

Calixtus entered without hesitation, though his eyes swept the room with the sharp, cataloguing attention of someone accustomed to reading spaces as easily as faces.

The neatness seemed to surprise him; he had expected clutter, books stacked in unstable towers, half-finished notes, perhaps a forgotten teacup. Instead, everything was… precise.

The moment Owen appeared, Bliss all but shoved him inside. Calixtus raised a brow but stayed silent. Only when the door clicked shut and Bliss leaned against it did he look back at her fully.

Her question, however, earned a slow blink.

"I do not often care what students whisper. Nor do I waste my breath correcting every ridiculous assumption they cling to."

He moved closer to her chosen spot on the rug but remained standing for a moment, arms folding loosely.

"If anything, the rumour serves us. It gives you a reason to be seen with me today. And if it keeps prying eyes from asking questions…"

He tilted his head ever so slightly.

"Then let them think I am the object of your sudden and overwhelming affection."

That faint smirk appeared again. The one he wore when he knew precisely what he was doing.

"Perhaps I wouldn't mind such a rumour," he said. "Yes, quite, perhaps I should stoke this instead. Unless you can convince me otherwise?"