a downhill spiral [r]

[BELLUM BLACK]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style,background-color:#cccccc; border-radius:10px; -moz-border-radius:10px; width:500px; padding:0px;,true] Well, this was awkward... Like, super-awesome-awkward. It didn't suit Bellum to be out where there were such a crop of people, a sea of blank faces. He really sucked at seeing people as humans, why did he always do that? He really could only notice the few, even most of his relations were like strangers to him. Taking off his cap to momentarily to run a hand through his hair before replacing it atop his head. Were hats allowed on in school? Well, that wasn't a question he particularly worried about, whether they were or they weren't, he'd still wear it because it was like a religious garment to him. The way one of those hats rastafarians wear are religion to them. Either way he always managed an excuse to wear it, though he was probably ten times sexier without it, he wasn't really concerned about his outward appearance amongst his peers, but it always seemed that all the rich ladies he as a butler was supposed to serve for the rest of his miserable life, wanted him to look appealing. You know what, fuck that. He wandered aimlessly through the halls... Where was he supposed to go again? He was supposed to meet someone... What was his name again? Lain? Leona? Leon? Ah, yes, Leonzio, the butler training-person-thing. Even if reluctantly a butler, Bellum still had to be trained as such and at the current moment in time he was little more than a pathetic mess. God forbid he ever actually had a lady to serve because the lion's pride of the Black family constantly thwarted any and all attempts at atleast making peace with well... anyone and everyone. He just had one small problem.... what did Leon actually look like?

[LEONZIO EZZELIN MELCHIORE]

It was simply like any other ordinary day for him, the neatly suited male strutting down the hallways of the luxurious halls of the esteemed institution he worked in. And though he dressed like all the young men that followed the lovely ladies from behind or side, the blue-haired male was obviously much more mature than those 'children' around him. He carried a professional air about him, one which would immediately cause people to greet him with a "Good day to you, Mr. Melchiorre" when he would pass by. Even as a butler of the one person he would regard as the most elegant in the institution, he was still equally important as the headmistress of the school. He was Leonzio Melchiorre after all, the schools managing butler who watches over all those training to be better if not similar to his example.

As much as it seemed like he was simply loitering around the school, one of his jobs when not actually instructing was to make sure that his students were doing their job. He was the inspector and enforcer, ever watching out for any slackers who are staying away from their assigned duties. Honestly though, it was an excuse for him to simply enjoy roaming around the very institution he was raised in, even though they had moved far away from their original location of Italia. He was the kind to reminisce a bit, momentarily losing himself in the blissful memories he had built while being there. And though the halls were nearly void of people, it wasn't before long that his eyes would fall upon a certain individual.

The young man stood out a little too well before him, his appearance unbecoming of the upstanding young men her would personally train. The boy he saw was dressed all too casually to be one of his 'apprentices', raising the question on who this person might be. Still, he was not quick to assume that this person was one of his own, for there had been a few instances of guests wandering around these elegant halls. Either that or he was a new applicant to the school, though he only be able to know for sure if he asked. As a representative of the school, he did need to welcome this person properly, for it was the appropriate thing to do as an esteemed butler there. Leon straightened himself out a bit more, adjusting his tailcoat and blue tie before approaching the red capped male.

"Pardon me, young master, but for what reason have you come to Stella Fiore today?"

[BELLUM BLACK]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style,background-color:#cccccc; border-radius:10px; -moz-border-radius:10px; width:500px; padding:0px;,true] Well, Bellum wasn't particularly focusing on anything because he was such a noob. He barely even looked like a butler but more of a lost child. You couldn't blame him, one day he was just sort of, told to come here and meet with someone, but yeah. He was totally lost. It figured rich people would be greedy and make a massive building to house all their stuff. As a rather well dressed male approached him, Bellum shoved all his silly thoughts on these trivial matters to one corner of his head for later pondering. His thoughts now changed to who the male was, and what he was doing in Bellum's personal space like a foreign invader. Pardon, hahaha, he said pardon. Pardoned? Denied. Bellum looked in a rather bemused manner at him, young master? This guy was hilarious... But, he seemed polite and really, Bellum couldn't be angsty and raging at someone who was being nice. However much the thought or even the word made him feel sick to his stomach. Ugh. "I'm here to meet someone named Leonzio about butlering or whatever." he said rather casually, his gruff, scottish accent shining through. Apart from that, maybe this man could help him, because Bellum surely wouldn't have begrudged it, since he was well... In need of a little help. "Know where exactly I could find him?" he continued. Bellum folded his arms, looking rather comfortable.

[LEONZIO EZZELIN MELCHIORE]

Polite, proper, patient, professional...four 'p's that he believed were absolute necessities when acting as a servant to those higher than himself. He was, at least trying to anyway, be the best role-model he could be by acting in such a manner, even towards one who seemingly had mo class whatsoever. The male before him seemed rather uncouth, rough around the edges of his personality. Of course, Leon bore in mind the youth this male possessed in contrast to himself, the boy probably having a difference of ten years between them. Young, brash, cocky...that was how many young men displayed themselves before they were trained to become a butler. Leonzio was no different as well, but he had matured through time, even though he felt he was lacking in some aspects.

As the younger male's voice spoke out, the much older male couldn't help raising a brow as the boy spoke, rather rudely for that matter. Obviously the child had no idea that it was he that the capped male was searching for, bit Leonzio decided to keep silent for a moment. Apparently the young male was going to be one if the new 'students' he was going to help train and monitor, one which strangely enough reminded him a little if himself. He honestly felt like laughing seeing the slight resemblance, though he kept his neutral appearance for the sake of keeping the professional air about him. He just simply uttered the words "I see..." before pausing for a brief second.

He tried to think back for a moment, remembering the list he had read earlier in the morning. Admittedly, he had not gone through the whole documents yet, his memory acting a little fizzing to recall if such a young man was listed there. Still, it would perhaps be a good time to interview the person before him, a least to get a messages on what kind of approach he would use on him. "I will escort you to his office then," he said with a calm tone, his fingers motioning for the boy to follow him. Leon had some time to kill anyway.

"If you don't mind me inquiring, for what reason did you decide to become a butler?"

[BELLUM BLACK]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style,background-color:#cccccc; border-radius:10px; -moz-border-radius:10px; width:500px; padding:0px;,true] There was definately something off about this one, he seemed way too... passive or something like that... Bellum took an instat distast and quite unfortunately, wasn't good at hiding it, his semi-carefree demeanour now was replaced with a stern seriousness, riddled through facial expressions and body language. The way he spoke too, also sparked unrest inside him. He saw, did he? Not if Bellum could help it, and that unsavory thought of wanting going gouge out this mans eyes, but no... He wouldn't let him know that, after all... he was forced here to learn som manners, or at leaast that was his thoughts on the matter and manner in which his parents hastily sent him to wherever the hell this place was called. "..." Bellum kept eye contact on this man, as if judging his every move, he wanted a better impression, he really did. At least he was going to show him to where he needed to go, which sort of did the trick, but then not quite. "I understand." said Bellum in compliance, showing willingness to follow his elder. He really did understand, he wasn't dumb, he really wasn't. He knew what he would and wouldn't do and that pride of his made absolutely damn sure that it was going to stay that way no matter what. Next the man asked him his reasons for being a butler. He didn't really want to answer something so personal, but found the urge unresistable... maybe he just had to get it off his chest. "It's nothing really, I'm just following my heart." he replied, in all seriousness, this was the truth, but also a lie as he really didn't have a clue.

[LEONZIO EZZELIN MELCHIORE]

He walked down the halls again only reversing his course, his feet taking him towards the faculty room where his personal office was located. Still his pace was a little slow, as if leisurely wanting to take his time back since there was something at the moment he was doing. With this male following him around there, Leon was determined to find out all he can while going back, hoping to make his little interrogation over and done with by the time the boy would realize who he was. Of course, he would also need to avoid be addressed by his first name as well, though there seemed to be no one around that would call to him so casually using that name.

Leon's attention stayed on the boy more than ever as soon as he gave a rather unique reply to him, the professional butler also taking notice on how different the boy's character. The kid seemed to be telling the truth when he gave that response, especially when he had become much more serious that he had previously carried himself. Leon had to admit that he had never heard such an answer before, the usual responses bring like 'my family made me do it' or 'I have no other choice in the matter'. It sounded like the male was destined to become a butler; at least that was how Leonzio interpreted the answer. Whether the kid was being truly sincere or not was something he had yet to determine, but so far he was liking the boy a bit.

"Following your heart, huh? If that is the case, you probably will have no problem learning then if you're that determined."

He gave a small smile at the boy before thinking on his next question to present to him. "Have you always been interested in becoming a butler though?" he asked with an inquisitive tone.

[BELLUM BLACK]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=style,background-color:#cccccc; border-radius:10px; -moz-border-radius:10px; width:500px; padding:0px;,true] The way he spoked seemed to question his own, as if questioning his own loyalty to his words, but that was just Bellum being a tad bit paranoid. But it really hit home that there was a chance that this guy didn't really trust him. He could understand that, because for one he wasn't to be trusted, secondly they'd only really just met face to face, there's no such thing as love at first sight so there sure as hell wasn't going to be such a thing as best of friends at first sight. Determination? He could say that, Bellum really didn't have any aspirations per say, he'd just decided on a random job that he'd thought would never materialize. Boy how he was wrong eh? So yes, he was going to do himself (and by extention his family) proud by becoming a fully-fleged butler. If he'd chosen it he was serious about seeing it through. Though with his temperament who knows what would happen? The male asked him yet another question, this was turning into an interrogation rather than just aimless chatter one has on the way to point B. He'd thought about the questions for a good few moments before properly answering. To be honest it was something of a second choice, as firstly he wanted to become a photographer. It didn't really work out, thusly Bellum was here, far from the motherland to get a good education as a butler. "Nope, I originally wanted to be a photographer, didn't quite work out though." he said, good job Bellum on speaking almost exactly what you were thinking. "What's your story, why're you here?" he continued. He'd kinda had enough of being the one answering finally.

[LEONZIO EZZELIN MELCHIORE]

It was uncommon, no, rare for Leon to show some interest in kids he was going to teach. Still the young man seemed like an interesting person to teach, one of those kinds that the (not so) professional butler looked forward to seeing the growth of. Though he had still yet to test the wil behind the words the young male spoke, a part of him believed the kid would do just fine. As unpolished as the male seemed to appear so far, Leonzio was willing to help this 'gem' sparkle when he was through with him. Just like his mentors did for him, he would put an effort to help with this person's growth for as long as he was willing to work for it.

"Hm...A photographer, huh? That's not a bad dream though," he nosed his head slightly while responding, the male noting the honesty in the words the boy spoke. He always did find it good when someone he was interviewing would give him an honest answer, though the male was no living lie detector. Still, his intuition would still try to look for any hints of lies beneath the words of others,especially from those his lady would say. A butler would need to know when their lady was hiding something from them, a skill which he was trying to apply now towards the butlers-in-training he would meet. So far he believes it was working, though he still tried to be a little skeptical and objective. He still had much more he needed to learn about the boy, stuff which would help Leon with the kind of style and approach to use when teaching.

Why didn't it work out though? was what he wanted to aske next, but...

"My reason for being here?"

It was not often that a student would throw a question at him, much more something that was personally about Leon himself. And because of that sudden inquiry, his mind wandered away from focusing on the boy and fall on himself. It was a good question really, a question which Leon was uncertain on how to answer. His life story was not all that normal after all being an abandoned child raised in an orphanage, then brought to this institution to be trained as a butler. In his case, it was all a series of unforeseen circumstances that eventually led to him being who he was now. Still there was no way Leon would try to bore the kid by giving him a long narrative account on his personal experiences, instead simplifying it as much as possible.

"You could say fate intended me to be here. Though it's also true I'm here because I want to be."

It was a rather vague and eccentric answer really, though there wasn't a lot Leon wished to say about it. In the end, he wasn't so sure himself on what to say in response.