An explanation made Chéri reach a conclusion that was perhaps a bit shallow, but appropriate for someone who was no painter “Then you must be lucky. Or maybe, you are steel learning how to find beauty into more things. And people,” they theorised, with a simple smile.

Chéri nodded and pointed their fingers in the air, with an excessively triumphant smile “That. That was what I meant. The attention,” they tried to add. It was too much of a subtle concept for their sad language skills to explain. Chéri shrugged “And why would you help them?” the question sounded rhetoric even to them. They shook their head “No, you should be with people who like you,” they concluded. Maybe it wasn’t a universal truth or a truth universally acknowledge, but they still felt like in Darius position it was the most reasonable course of action.

A shurg “I didn’t say never. I didn’t even say often. But sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I am not there. Sometimes I am training because I care about my body being able to dance when I want to dance. It will forget if I wait for the whim and the more I get used to it, the more demanding I will get with my mood. Discipline is more important than that,” they repeated the words of their old ballet master like they would the gospel, without any hesitation. Darius was still in the picture, for good or for worse.

A nod. Beauty and elegance, Chéri could work with that. He could work with Paris. But it was the better human that got them. They put both their hands under their chin and flickered their lashes “An angel,”they said, not without irony, but also putting some extra sweetness in their voice. What they didn’t say, was how much exercise and effort it had cost them, to learn to command their body like that and to push it to that limit of power and grace. Effortlessness was a much more attractive look for them.

Darius showed his toys and Chéri couldn’t help but think that while the man certainly had a lot to express, a great deal of love, and enthusiasm, it also looked like he was trying to distract himself. It wasn’t a bad thing per se, but Chéri thought it made his statements incomplete. They had a sort of confirmation when Darius reacted like that. The man wasn’t at peace with his body.

Chéri repeated the gesture “Oh, you could feel it? Like this?” they then followed his jaw, drawing the bone under the skin and the beard “Or is it more of a throat thing?” they asked, as their fingers wondered down Darius’s neck “Some also do feel it in their stomach…” they kept saying, as their voice got huskier and their eyes stayed big, cheerful and innocent. Only their smile suggested they knew exactly what they were doing, but the contradiction made it easy to ignore it if one wished to.

Darius raised a brow and laughed. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say. I know what's beautiful when I see it. it isn't a matter of searching. I suppose my idea of what's lovely could change, but it isn't something that needs searching."He explained, thinking it was fine. He could tell stories with his paintings but he's painted ugly before and he was now running from that.

The man quickly apologized. "Ah, I'm sorry, my muse. I wasn't thinking about the fact you must keep up the practice since it is so physical. It is very different from painting and I never meant to insult you." he said sincerely.

Darius nodded with a smile. "An angel, someone above us to look upon in beauty and grace."He grinned as he painted a bit thinking it was that simple. If he knew what the other was thinking, he would have corrected them. Not because they were wrong, but he didn't want to admit how right they perhaps were.

"Ah.. ah!" He said quickly when the other was so close, their hands touching at his skin making him tremble and he backed away, almost falling over his table full of paints. He wasn't disturbed by the attention but he was confused. No one ever liked Darius, no one ever wanted Darius. The only persons who had ever hit on him was a mad man that he was certain said it to find something for possible blackmail to mess with the man and the other was the owner of the pony and he wasn't even certain she was hitting on him but wanting a friend to help her with her children. "What are you doing?" He asked quickly. While he knew where they worked, he didn't believe they could be doing this. He wasn't going to pay for any sort of 'bonus' he felt he was paying them more than enough to be a model and he didn't think he'd said anything to make them think he was wanting to ask for this. He had too much respect for the figure before him to ask them for sex, he didn't ask anyone for it. He was enough of a joke amongst the people around him to go around begging for that sort of thing.

Chéri laughed. No it wasn’t. Most people found them beautiful and there was no discussing that. The idea that culture could influence something like taste, preferences or ideals was hard to grasp for someone who had never read in their life, didn’t know what philosophy worked and had a very trial-and-error approach to everything.

Chéri shrugged. Insults were no news and Darius was not cruel towards them. But it made them more weary of saying anything more when it came to ballet, as they had little patience and giving the man the time to think about it and to reach his own conclusion was more than Chéri was willing to do.

“Born to be bless mortals with beauty, born for joy…” they were repeating sentences they head heard from other people. Nothing of that applied to how it felt to be them. It hardly ever did. Chéri was entirely disconnected emotionally from how men felt about their apparence, but that had been such a key factor in their survival that they basked in it and looked like nothing else mattered. Whenenver they were getting close to seduction, they managed to lose themselves in the fantasy as well.

Darius back away and almost fell. Chéri bent their head to the side and stayed in position for a moment. The man was so scared they didn’t get closer for the moment, sure to scare him again, even more. “I was explaining something to you,” they said, matter of factly and blinked a few times “Did I scare you?” they said, their eyes getting big, sweet and apologetic, as they shrunk, pretending to be sorry to have scared him. Chéri looked away, getting a little red on purpose, as if they had betrayed a liking they didn’t realise they had for Darius “I…” they didn’t know how to finish the sentence. They were just trying to pretend to be confuse and need some type of reassurance. The lost little duckling act scored well with some people and they figured, perhaps, Darius would have enjoyed comforting them. They bowed their head, in a self conscious display “Oh, maybe I should go…” they weren’t going anywhere.

The comment had Darius' mind spiral elsewhere. "You must be born to be beautiful, some people struggle all their lives without achieving it, but you still have to work to bring it out at it's best. Otherwise, beautiful people will just be lovely. If even that. Though there are some truly blessed to be beautiful without effort, but it will only last so long. But the same is joy, one can find joy easily if they were blessed to be born into money or enough beauty and luck to get money. Then joy is easy to come by. I struggle with that, but I also was never born to be beautiful. Though..."He shrugged staring at the painting. "Perhaps I was born with something wrong inside. Missing or unaligned? That's why I'm no good with people. Or I had it and my family devoured it at an age I'm too young to remember.." He shrugged.

Then the other had come upon him with that tease and he'd been on the floor before he realized it. He stared up at them and backed up enough to stand and brush himself off. He picked up the spilled water and grabbed a cloth to clean it up, carefully averting his eyes. "I wasn't scared, just startled. And it wasn't that it was.." he waved a hand gesticulating wildly. "the touching. I'm not used to people touching me." He said sharply and became immediately embarrassed. He immediately turned when she mentioned leaving and shook his head reaching out to take a hand. "I'm sorry, it isn't like that at all! You have been fantastic, there is no need to apologize."

Eh. They had pushed a little too much, Darius was musing beyond what Chéri had requested. It might go either way, which was why that was a little bit of a concern. “That is the nature of beauty. That is why most people desire it so much. Because it is fickle and bound to disappear. It will be beautiful like this for you today, tomorrow… but my beauty days are counted, nonetheless. And the only way you or me can honour that, is by making the most of it,” Chéri didn’t say this in an aggressive tone, they looked positively angelic as they went on with that imagery, as if they were talking about something heavenly that didn’t feel like blood, bones and skin to them.

It was the last thing they said before shrinking into their shyiness and confusion act. “I didn’t intend to disgust you,” they most definitely hadn’t, but insecurity shall do. Chéri turned “I-I am sorry…” a little bit of hesitance and some intent suspended? Perhaps that could do. He was holding their hand now, so that helped. They kept looking unsure “I made you uncomfortable. I thought… I wanted…” they sighed and their big eyes became a little brighter, threatening tears. A hand was a good start, but Chéri figure they’d probably need to have Darius embrace them to get anything going. The barrier needed a little more breaking down.

Darius nodded in agreement. "That is a great shame, but I will make your beauty last forever. A part of you will be immortal, though I think you have a long time before it even begins to fade. I am very careful in my muses." He said very matter of factly. It wasn't just being young and pretty, it had to be a very special beauty to catch his eye, and years will only make the beauty more refined, he felt certain.

Darius' eyes went wide and he placed his other hand very lightly on 'Calliope's hand. He didn't want to act too bold and make them feel trapped, he didn't want to seem like some kind of monster like his older brother had been. Calliope had to feel free to leave. "You do not disgust me at all! You are wonderful, I am sorry. It was all my fault, I assure you. Please do not go. What did you think you want? If you want anything, just say it!" He said, staring at them wanting to help and not scare them off at the same moment. "I am so so sorry. Please tell me.'

Chéri saw their beauty as a tool, a reflection, really, something they had learnt to see from other people. Their relationship with beauty was more child-like, focused on the details. What they had said about beauty wasn’t about them. It was about Darius.

Darius took Calliope’s hands and they barely managed to avoid sobbing, or at least that was what it looked like. They seemed to calm only when Darius held their hands. Chéri sighed deeply “I…I am sorry,” they used one of his hands to get rid of a tear they had produced with a lot of effort. “I didn’t mean to startle you earlier. I… wanted to touch you…” they whispered that, as if they barely dared putting the words together “I wanted to caress your face,” maybe putting it in slightly more elegant words could do. It was risky, but they had tears in their eyes and it would have meant Darius was very different from what they had thought if he refused on the spot.

Darius didn't know how Cheri saw beauty, but he had a very small view of the world and knew that much at least. To him beauty was something precious in whatever way one found it and should be preserved if possible.

He shook his head repeatedly as he tried to soothe their sadness. "I am so very sorry! No one wants to touch me." Sonia did, but that was different. She knew he was safe and liked him for that. He leaned down without getting right into their face. "Please, touch away. I will never react that way again to you for something like this, I give my word." He let go of their hand to hold it up as if to make the promise more official. Then he took the hand again and ran a thumb over the back of it, it seemed to be something he'd seen to soothe someone. "Please, does this help? If I can dry your tears, tell me how."

“But I do…” whispers were probably going to work better. Chéri almost stepped back when Darius came closer. They were now putting themselves out there a little too much, they needed to create a little bit of tension, or they risked losing the moment. Darius had to start thinking he wanted that to, he had to hope for them to come closer, he had to imagine what they were about to do before they did it. That was just how it worked. Darius held their hands up and Chéri found it could work well to lean forward and kiss them both. Would Darius enjoy a little bit of devotion? Perhaps a little blush? Chéri made their cheek burn just a little “Beautiful hands…” they told, moe to themselves than to Darius. Chéri nodded. They turned their heads to the side. Was Darius ready to be kissed? Perhaps they should ask to be kissed. Give him a little bit of agency, don’t scare him entirely.

Could Darius really be scared of a kiss? He was scared of thumb behind is ear, no doubt a kiss would be shocking. A little bit of her, though, could be given. Chéri wetted their lips with hesitation, as if they couldn’t speak, then left them semi open and whispered again “Will you kiss me, Darius? Please.” That could do.

Darius looked at Calliope, panicked he was scaring off his muse and he honestly didn't like seeing them sad. He squeezed the hand just a little. "I see that, I am so sorry how I reacted. You don't need to act shy or scared, please. You are perfect, and have no reason to be so nervous of me." He would never want to hurt them, wasn't that clear? He had never meant to upset them, and he had no idea how to fix this. Then his hands were kissed and the man felt his cheeks turn red , it was shocking and something he never experienced. Beautiful hands? They created beauty, sure but.. He shook his head and tried to not let this situation be misread. He took their hands again in his. "You do not need to compliment me. You are the one who should be complimented."

Then he heard Calliope make a request. He heard it, at least he thought he did. He told himself he was wrong, because that was not something anyone asked of him. He shook his head looking at them completely confused. "You.. what?" He laughed nervously. "Sorry, you will have to say it again. I thought you asked for a kiss and that is silly. You could be kissed by far better than me." Of course, he was rich but technically it was in turmoil and could be taken away if he didn't get inherit it. "Anything you want, I will do my best to give to you." He assured them, though he only then noticed they'd wet their lips and giving him a look. He wondered if someone slipped him something in his wine.