wanderingsin

Aggie joins them in the waiting room as Athelstan, Ragnar and Mags arrive.

She hugs each of the Few in turn, nodding to the others. “They’ve sent him in for an MRI straight away. He lost consciousness almost as soon as he was in the ambulance. They tell me that’s not unusual and not to worry.”

She crosses her arms, hugging herself a little, “But beyond that, they won’t tell me anything else. I’m not family.” She sounds just a little bitter about that. “I guess all we can do is wait.”

The recital hall is only half full when they arrive. Student recitals are usually pretty small but this evening’s perhaps quieter than normal.

But most of those there seem interested. There’s an air of excitement in those milling about, and a touch of mild distain from a group of well dressed students sipping champagne in one corner of the foyer.

A woman in her early twenties comes over to meet each of the guests in turn. She has the sort of stunning Grecian beauty that would have made do something stupid like turn into a swan or a golden shower.

“Welcome to my Aggie Michaelides’s second year recital, performed by the Disparate Few Quintet. We’re so glad you could come.” She greets, offering them a glass of champagne. “I’m Mags, Aggie’s sister. May I ask your name?” She has a list on her phone rather than a clip board but she doesn’t need to check it. She has most of it by heart.

Sin rushes home to shower and change his clothes, texting Athelstan as he goes.

Sorry, long night at school. I'm on my way to you now. <3 Sin

He looks at himself in the mirror, noting the bags under his eyes. He hesitates a moment before grabbing a bag out from under his sink. He hasn't worn make-up in a while but he still has some stashed somewhere. He manages to find some concealer, using just enough to tidy himself up.

Dressing a clean outfit, rather more casual than normal seeing Athelstan won't care what he wears, he dashes downstairs, a slice of toast between his teeth as he pulls his jacket on.

A quick bus across town and he's standing outside Athelstan's building, tapping the buzzer lightly.

By the time Sin makes it back to his building, the heavens have opened and he's soaked to the skin. He had shed this jacket and wrapped it around this violin case to protect it. His white buttoned shirt is see-through with rain but fortunately his brocaded waistcoat, fitted and a little hipster, keeps the curves of his chest protected from view.

He fumbles with his keys, water dripping off his long mane. He's in such a hurry to get out of the rain he barrels inside, heedless.

Sin turned down towards the arts building of the University of Florence, too raw to head towards the study hall just yet. He always felt like this after recitals, even practice ones. Playing his own compositions left him feeling open, exposed. As if he’d said too much and everyone around him could read his history as if it were tattooed on his skin.

He should head back to his apartment and shower. That always helped but he wasn’t ready to face the rush hours trains, not with his violin case in tow. No, better to stay on campus for an hour or two more before heading...back.

He still couldn’t think of the tiny one room studio in a crumbling building as home. Home had to be somewhere but that wasn’t it. The place was an overpriced death-trap on the edge of the city, kept only one step ahead of calamity by his neighbour Ragnar. The Scandinavian construction worker acted as handyman for the disparate denizens of the building, usually paid in favours or food or however they could manage.

Sin stepped into the lee of a building, leaning into the ancient climbing fig that covered so much of the wall to check his messages. His hair frizzing from its tight braid in the humid air that promised later storms, forming a messy halo in the light from his phone’s screen.

Athelstan’s message made him smile. The talented art student had sent him a photo of his latest work, a painting of Sin as St Sebastian, his body half turned away, face in shadow so the arrows down his flank stood out in bright contrast. It was beautiful! Sin had been very hesitant to pose in any way that fully showed his... deformity but Athelstan had been understanding and happy to work with poses that made Sin comfortable. For someone who came across so sweetly naive, Athelstan was surprisingly incurious about Sin’s... difference, never pushing or asking more than Sin was willing to tell.

And he paid generously for Sin’s time. More than most would be willing to pay for a life model. More than most would be willing to pay without expecting something more.

The thought made his shudder and delete the next three messages, all of them from a certain art modelling agent who was more than happy to find Sin high paying gigs with bonuses. It was an arrangement Sin wished he’d never entered into. But tutoring alone couldn’t keep a roof over his head.

Trying to push that bile inducing thought aside, he slipped into the great edifice of the Arts building. He had planned just to take the long way to the study hall, detouring via the new works on display in the hallways but the sounds of applause caught his attention.

He drifted to the door of one of the larger auditoriums just in time to hear Doctor Roman Fell, curator of the Capponi Library introduced. He hadn’t meant to linger but the man who stepped onto the podium had a presence about him. Sin found himself slipping into a seat at the back, his violin case hugged to his chest as he rested his chin on it’s neck curve to listen.

There was something compellingly visceral about the way the doctor spoke of the dark passions of Caravaggio. Something sensual, bordering on sexual. In the heavy half light of the theatre and lingering warmth of late summer, Sin found himself his hypnotised, enthralled.

He lingered as the lecture ended and the art history students broke into groups to discussed or filed out in search of coffee. He had no real reason to linger. After all, he was intruding here, far from his current school of study. Realising he was being foolish, he gathered his things and stood to leave, meaning to slip between the thinning crowd unnoticed.

Sin dropped Izzi off at the train station, kissing her deeply before letting her go. They didn’t say goodbye. In fact they didn’t say anything. Izzi was a wanderer too and understood the way of things. Just a kiss and a smile and she was gone.

Sin leant on his bike and opened his phone. There were things he was going to need before he met up with Ragnar and Athelstan. Things he needed equipment to make.

The Breaking Bad fan site looking like well, just another fan site and many people who use it were probably just normal fans. But it was also a front for a rather elaborate network of co-ops.

Chemical co-ops.

Why? Because someone thought it would be funny.

Sinric logged in and searched for the nearest house. It would be a hard day and night’s ride to get in for an available session but it would be worth it. Popping and all night pill, he turned his bike towards the lab.

This one wasn’t a lab Sin had used before but the layout was much the same others he’d used – set up in a quiet corner, this one a room above a vet clinic. The rules were pretty simple and universal across most of the labs – pay for what you use, keep things clean and tidy and never draw attention to the lab.

He dropped a large roll of notes at the front desk before heading upstairs and getting to work. He only had a day’s session to work so he got to it, making the most of the time he had.

On closing time, one of the vets came up. “I’m closing up now.” The vet was a young man, broad shouldered and well muscled.

Sin pushed his hair back from his face and smiled. “I’m sorry, I won’t be long. I’ll just clean up.”

The young vet smiled back. “Don’t hurry. I still have some cleaning to do myself.” He licked his lips shyly. “I know I’m not meant to ask what goes on back here but... I kinda don’t know how else to start a conversation with you.”

Sin chuckled and puts the finished his pills into a mint tin. “How about you finish your cleaning and I’ll finish packing up. And if after that, I happen to ask you the best place to get a meal around here, maybe you could join me?”

The young vet blushed warmly. “I’d um... I’d like that very much.”

Needless to say, it was a couple of days before Sin left town.