dumbshow | incredibly indulgent shipping post

[Paolo came and went resisting the urge to interrupt Jindosh. He'd already said he wouldn't regardless of his anger or not, and what would he do when he gets there? Apologize. He didn't want to, but he knew if he got another scornful look it would be game over.

He's forgotten how complicated he made it after stepping into the walls. He overlooked the guards, traced his fingers over directions of where to go, and... well, he smiled when he realized Jindosh drew the lines of his little notes. But he'll keep that to himself.

He was wrapped up in reading one of those when he heard the writer's voice, a thud of metal and a groan following. Someone hit their head on something not too far down.] ... Yeah.

Ah—the unmistakable sound of someone wandering off where he shouldn't. [Paolo whacking his head on the house is just stupidly endearing enough for Jindosh to feel a little less angry at him, which is... questionable, but he's already forgiven him enough to come collect him before he rolls under something and crushes himself to death.

Jindosh knows the innards of his house like the back of his hand, of course, so he'll have no trouble climbing down to find Paolo. It won't take him long.]

You really shouldn't be down here. This place is unkind to the inexperienced.

Well, the point was to get experienced. [Paolo raises the question as he rises off the floor, all but given up on keeping the pair of pants clean. He rubbed the top of his head in one hand, closing a book in the other. He turned the cover away from Jindosh when he caught sight of him.

Ignore the dirt of his face from wiping it with hands that have been on the floor.] I know not to make puddles next to sparks, so I think I'm already a step ahead than whoever you put that sign up for. [Poor guy.] Shouldn't you be keeping up with your... whatever?

[God, he's filthy. How is he already filthy? Who told him to roll around in the dirt on the floor?

Jindosh is judging, yes, but tears his eyes away from Paolo's filth to blink at the sign he put up. Oh—that sign. (Did he remember to have someone deal with this body? He decides not to check, defeating the purpose of even thinking about it.)]

It seems I have to keep up with you, lest the sound of something exploding down here suddenly interrupts my work. Come, we're not spending more time down here than absolutely necessary.

[Is he still mad...? Kind of. He'd rather Paolo be somewhere he can keep track of while he's mad at him, that's all.]

[Paolo is having a hard time telling if he's still mad. In other cases, he'd planned on it, but he'd crossed the line more or less accidentally this time. Hm.]

I don't touch anything. [Except that one thing that he opened and promptly shut when there were too many wires to many any sense of. He shifts his weight, looking out through the glass. He was a little lost on how to get back...]

Lead the way. [He'll wave his hand down the corridor... except it was the wrong way. Busted.]

[Jindosh just hums, looking at where Paolo is gesturing... and raising an eyebrow, because he's so wrong.]

No. This way, and it would be better if you paid attention.

[Follow him, scrub.] Don't leave that book down here, either.

[If he wasn't still mad, he'd be questioning the book already. That's how you know.]

I-- [Well damn!! Paolo probably would've made some smart comment, but that isn't help him, and he did almost just leave his dumb book. His frown is returning, so he keeps behind Jindosh after dusting the dirt off it.]

... It's more than I thought. [It took like, ten seconds to try talking again, he's weak.] This place.

[Hmm. Still mad, so it takes him a pause of his own to answer, but he can't resist talking about the house in the end. Even if Paolo is lingering behind him.]

Of course it is; it appears only as effortless as the amount of effort put into it. I don't deal in smoke and mirrors, Paolo—the simpler it looks to the untrained eye, the more complex the mechanism that holds it together.

[He runs his hand along the wall as he speaks, a man enraptured by his own work. Even if there are a few leaky pipes, the image of the mansion coming together? The first room, that intentionally moves more in a more complex way than any other, just to prove his point? He wants those tiny glimpses of more to sneak through.

That's the point. Testament to engineering, and everything. But now he's just wandered to a halt to stare at his own walls, and turns to start walking again with a short sigh. Back to reality: babysitting.] If you wanted to avoid me, you didn't have to come back.

[Paolo keeps his mouth shut, observing the man speak so fondly of things the Howler couldn't begin to understand. He couldn't possibly comprehend it all if he tried, but he'd be satisfied if he managed a fraction. He wanted to grasp what made Jindosh so happy, for when he'd fail to.

It's why his brows furrow when he hears that.] I'm not a man to run off because of dirty looks, Kirin. [Offense? No, it's spoken too softly to be. He's taking steps to walk alongside him now.] Besides, I already got plenty of looks in the market for wearing your things. I just... wanted to get started.

[He'll show off his book, Jindosh's grump or not. It was far below any first-year student's at the academy's level, but he thinks it's nice.] Can't find a space to fit here if I don't know what's around it.

[Jindosh makes another face, apparently having forgotten that Paolo went outside in his clothes. Like, this just didn't occur to him somehow? He's had better moments.

He'll look at Paolo now, at least, glancing sideways at him when he actually shows him his book. It's—it's such a low-level volume he doesn't think he's cracked open a copy since he was a teenager, and even then, just to criticize it... But the whole image fits together suddenly: Paolo crawling around behind the walls, reading this book, hitting his head on the mechanisms—and Jindosh, despite himself, is touched.

Being impressed by the house is nothing compared to wanting to learn about it. The way to his heart is under his perfectly polished floors, apparently. With another short sigh, he reaches over and wipes a smudge of dirt off Paolo's cheek with his thumb.] Apology accepted, I suppose.

[Hmm. Shush. After a beat,] You know, they tried to hook me into writing a foreword for that one, when the fifth edition was published. I told them they wouldn't be able to understand it.

[Whatever image Paolo was trying to establish for himself outside of their bedroom slips away with the smile he gains. It's small, his head turned like the wall has suddenly become very interesting, but it's there. Paolo does do whatever Jindosh wants and he should hate it.

He doesn't. He's brushing the hand at his face off, but it's just so he can hold in his own as they walk. Threading their fingers together like they had the evening prior, minus the expectations. He just liked the feeling.] If it'd be anything like The Astounding Clockwork Soldiers, I think the foreword is all I'd read.

[Another surprise—like it hadn't occurred to Jindosh either that Paolo would have picked up his book, despite how there are at least four copies in easily accessible places around the mansion. So the look on his face for just a moment is much more genuine than the annoyed expression he's been sporting since breakfast, and it's Paolo's fault.]

How much of my book did you read? [No, we're talking about this now, forget everything else.]

[Oh, he can't make faces like that. It means Paolo will smile more, and it's already unacceptable that he is now. Jindosh is dreadful.]

All of it. [He says matter-of-factly, as if this makes him more qualified to be interesting.] A few times. Don't know what you were thinking in 23; no one saw those faces and greeted them with anything but screams. You changed them because wood's cheaper and sturdier, am I right?

[Look at him... he can be smart.]

[Don't call him out, he'll take back his forgiveness!! He's sensitive. It's too bad he has his own book memorized and that fact is obvious, or maybe he could get away with pretending he doesn't know what Paolo is talking about.]

Now you're clever? Please. [maybe, he'll never tell. It's time to get out of the walls and take Paolo back upstairs to put on clean clothes, meanwhile.] ...They were also top heavy.

And shattered easy. [Paolo has to add, after so many hours of conversations where he didn't know anything to say. He's keeping close, though, even if he didn't see anything wrong with being this filthy. It was one of his better looks.]

The bird head is nice. [He'll stop calling him out, he guesses, since he wants to stay in good graces.] Your face is nice, too, but... uh... I prefer not seeing it when they're trying to skewer me. Where are we going?

[Stop calling him out!!—oh, he did stop. Jindosh still gives him a look, but tugs him along by his hand instead of stopping to discuss how Paolo figured out that half of a grinning porcelain face is his face. Never mind.]

Upstairs. You've ruined my clothes, so I'll have you change and then stay there.

[Don't worry, Paolo's not that observant, Jindosh probably told him... but when did he tell him? It's a good thing he's not thinking about it, and Paolo's too distracted by how they're still holding hands.]

And stay there. [He repeats, his brows raising in amusement.] I'm curious as to what your plans are to keep it that way, Kirin.

[Jindosh won't use the speaker because of the maids, but he'll hold Paolo's hand all the way back upstairs. Any maids along this route are acceptable losses, he supposes. They're going to have to take the elevator which is simply awful. But it's the quickest way back to Jindosh's private rooms that doesn't involve levers, and efficiency is key.]

I was going to trust that you don't enjoy getting lost and hurting yourself in the dangerous insides of my house, but I suppose if I must turn off all the mechanisms so that you are stuck in a particular room, I may do that.

[Maids are making an effort not to look directly at them, exploding into whispers as soon as they've passed by. Paolo's taken a habit of waving to them up until they step into the elevator, where he of course, is still not letting go of his hand.]

That's a lot of effort to make me not hit my head once. [One time!!] You can't just lock me in there, what am I supposed to do? Talk to your machines? Admire the view without you?

[Jindosh, for his part, is just ignoring the maids. Angrily, but at least he's not yelling at anyone right now. He doesn't yank his hand away from Paolo's the moment they're in the elevator, either—he's going to hold onto him until he can maybe lock him in a room somewhere. That's normal.]

Yes. You can't honestly expect to monopolize my time all day. Read your little book while I'm working.

If I'm just going to read a book while you're working, I might as well have the pleasure of your company. [Paolo leans, but finds he has to stand on the tips of his toes to get even remotely close to whispering in his ear.

He opts to kiss his cheek instead.] Come on. I can be quiet.

[Paolo is so short... Jindosh doesn't make it any easier for him to reach his face, but he can't help the face he makes when Paolo kisses his cheek. It is the face of a man trying not to smile, twisting his mouth around stupidly to resist.

Paolo is dreadful.] One sound from you and I'll lock you in my chambers.

[So... fine!! Pit stop to get him new pants, and then he can sit in a chair in the lab and not speak.]

[Being locked in his chambers wouldn't sound so bad if he knew Jindosh wasn't going to be working the whole time. So he cooperates, changing out his pants for the shortest thing Jindosh owns and shutting his mouth when they stepped into the lab.

He did start out reading quietly. He really, truly did. But there were words he didn't understand, and he didn't want to ask yet again, so he finds himself staring at Jindosh from over the woodworking station, rolling an unfinished piece in his hand.]

[Paolo will have to wait to be locked in his chambers with Jindosh, alright. There is work to be done. Jindosh stands around with his hands on his hips, looking impatient for Paolo to change the moment he lets go of his hand to send him rifling through his clothes. He could have just grabbed something for him himself, but no, he's chosen to do this.

At least he makes a pleased kind of noise when Paolo is fiiinally ready to go to the lab. Jindosh deposits him in a chair and then goes back to ignoring him, but this time it's because of his work and not because he's mad. He's caught up in his work within minutes, occasionally muttering to himself and a few times just stepping back from his work table to pace around the other half of the room, thinking. (He doesn't go near Paolo because he needs to focus, thank you.) Sometimes he even looks at a clipboard, wherever that came from.

By the time Paolo gives up and just stares at him, he's probably moderately smudged with grease and charcoal from sketching between fiddling with machinery. He's even loosened his cravat, because it's warm in here and natural philosophy is really intense.

Still. Without looking up:] Don't touch that.

[Paolo's so distracted by the rare sight that is Jindosh dirty that he almost drops the piece he's not supposed to be touching. He grabs it last second, setting it back on the table such little subtlety there's no point in lying.]

You-- [He starts, but stops abruptly, remembering he's not supposed to be distracting him. He sighs in annoyance, slumping in his chair and just looking at the unfinished clockwork torso across from him. Like it would understand his pain.

He didn't learn his lesson, because he's gonna touch the head anyway.]

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