![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Morning After (Ficlet)
Jan. 19th, 2007 09:21 amVir starts to categorize Londo's mornings after quite early on in his tenure as Londo's aide.
There are the mornings where Londo is still in bed, groans about his head and usually needs two cups of hot jaala to start using words with three syllables instead of two. (Never just one: Londo Mollari is not a one-syllable man.) Once he gets past cursing Vir for interrupting the dubious repose of sleep, he tells Vir that the jaala is good and starts to hum one of his favourite arias. These mornings usually mean Londo has had a good time at the casino; he might have won or lost at gambling, but he definitely had a good time, probably kissed a girl, and possibly conned Mr. Garibaldi into lending him more money.
Those mornings grow increasingly rare; once the war starts, they vanish altogether.
Then there are the mornings where Londo isn't in bed at all, but on the sofa, in his clothes from the previous evening, and when Vir comes in, he says something about Vir taking the morning off. This means he spent the night working, or brooding over Mr. Morden and his allies, the war, G'Kar, Lord Refa, or whatever else there is to brood about. Invariably, Vir tries to talk with him about it and tries to find that opening that will allow him to change Londo's mind on... well, on just about everything. Invariably, Londo changes the topic on him.
Vir doesn't miss those mornings when they vanish together with the Shadows and Vorlons. Two years later, on one of his visits to Centauri Prime which he isn't supposed to make quite that often, he finds himself received by Londo early in the morning. The imperial white Londo wears is crumpled, and Vir understands, with a terror that rivals the sun darkening over Centauri Prime, that those mornings are back.
Finally, there are the mornings where Vir is the one who is still asleep, and the babcom rings, or Londo impatiently knocks at the door, or sweeps into the room and pulls Vir out of bed. The reason is invariably a catastrophe and a plan Londo has to contain it, and after Londo explains, they tend to end up taking breakfeast elsewhere. "No empire is saved on an empty stomach," says Londo, and Vir is happy to agree, to finally be able to agree again with Londo.
These mornings start when Londo called him to Centauri Prime in the days of Cartagia. They do not end until Londo returns to Centauri Prime for good. Vir will never stop missing them.
One morning has no category on its own. It is the morning of Londo's ascension to the throne. Londo has insisted that Vir leaves with Sheridan, Delenn and G'Kar. He wants no one there to witness the event at all, he has said, and Vir, having practice in this, has found a way to obey and yet to disobey at the same time. So he remains for one more day, but not in the Royal Palace. Instead, he goes to one of the destroyed areas in the capital, where the bombs from the Alliance left so many dead and wounded, and helps with the installment of a shelter, with the burial of the bodies. And when the bell tolls, early in the morning, once for every step Londo takes alone, in the ceremony he had not wanted anyone to have to endure, Vir, burying the dead, starts to cry as he has not on all the mornings before and will not on all the mornings to come.
There are the mornings where Londo is still in bed, groans about his head and usually needs two cups of hot jaala to start using words with three syllables instead of two. (Never just one: Londo Mollari is not a one-syllable man.) Once he gets past cursing Vir for interrupting the dubious repose of sleep, he tells Vir that the jaala is good and starts to hum one of his favourite arias. These mornings usually mean Londo has had a good time at the casino; he might have won or lost at gambling, but he definitely had a good time, probably kissed a girl, and possibly conned Mr. Garibaldi into lending him more money.
Those mornings grow increasingly rare; once the war starts, they vanish altogether.
Then there are the mornings where Londo isn't in bed at all, but on the sofa, in his clothes from the previous evening, and when Vir comes in, he says something about Vir taking the morning off. This means he spent the night working, or brooding over Mr. Morden and his allies, the war, G'Kar, Lord Refa, or whatever else there is to brood about. Invariably, Vir tries to talk with him about it and tries to find that opening that will allow him to change Londo's mind on... well, on just about everything. Invariably, Londo changes the topic on him.
Vir doesn't miss those mornings when they vanish together with the Shadows and Vorlons. Two years later, on one of his visits to Centauri Prime which he isn't supposed to make quite that often, he finds himself received by Londo early in the morning. The imperial white Londo wears is crumpled, and Vir understands, with a terror that rivals the sun darkening over Centauri Prime, that those mornings are back.
Finally, there are the mornings where Vir is the one who is still asleep, and the babcom rings, or Londo impatiently knocks at the door, or sweeps into the room and pulls Vir out of bed. The reason is invariably a catastrophe and a plan Londo has to contain it, and after Londo explains, they tend to end up taking breakfeast elsewhere. "No empire is saved on an empty stomach," says Londo, and Vir is happy to agree, to finally be able to agree again with Londo.
These mornings start when Londo called him to Centauri Prime in the days of Cartagia. They do not end until Londo returns to Centauri Prime for good. Vir will never stop missing them.
One morning has no category on its own. It is the morning of Londo's ascension to the throne. Londo has insisted that Vir leaves with Sheridan, Delenn and G'Kar. He wants no one there to witness the event at all, he has said, and Vir, having practice in this, has found a way to obey and yet to disobey at the same time. So he remains for one more day, but not in the Royal Palace. Instead, he goes to one of the destroyed areas in the capital, where the bombs from the Alliance left so many dead and wounded, and helps with the installment of a shelter, with the burial of the bodies. And when the bell tolls, early in the morning, once for every step Londo takes alone, in the ceremony he had not wanted anyone to have to endure, Vir, burying the dead, starts to cry as he has not on all the mornings before and will not on all the mornings to come.
