Th || Thomas X Arthur - Tumblr Posts

"yeah," he answered with a warm, unembarrassed laugh and nod of his head as the other seemed surprised with how much food thomas had gathered for himself. "whoa, wait, how did you see all this? you can see through that?" he questioned with an almost childlike sense of fascination as he looked up at the other's mask; and the feather's covering his eyes. in fact, thomas went so far as to lift his free hand and wave it in front of the other's face as if he couldn't see him. "that's pretty cool. if i had that mask i'd be walking into walls and tripping over everyone."

chuckling, clearly amusing himself with the thoughts of him wearing a mask that obscured his vision like that, thomas picked up chocolate covered strawberry and unceremoniously popped it into his mouth; taking a minute, or two, to chew it without acknowledging that the man was still with him.

"oh, yeah," blinking, he seemed to snap his attention back and remember that he currently had company. "people tonight clearly don't know what's important. do you want some? i have plenty... but, actually, wait..."

turning to face the stranger, thomas pushed away from the surface to stand up straight. smoothing out the front of his suit, he fussed over his appearance for a second to make himself look better before speaking again. "first," he furrowed his brows and deepened his voice to make himself appear more serious. "if it is satisfaction you seek, you must first answer my riddles three."

masquerades weren't exactly new for arthur, his family had been old money rich from new england. the circles the ashe family ran in were known to throw all sorts of extravagent events like this but the key difference was that those had been filled with people artie knew his entire life and kids he grew up with. he'd only been in alexandria for six months, only collecting a small handful of friends.

at first, the bookstore clerk hoped he could run into thomas and angelo but they were nowhere to be seen. he mentioned the ball to the them, did they ghost him? because of that, he was sitting alone in the back of the ballroom and watching other people dance. around an hour or so into the event, artie could hear his stomach growling. scanning the room, he saw a corner where plenty of food was sitting. perfect.

"oh, is this all yours?" he asked, realizing this wasn't the food table but someone's plate instead. the stranger seemed to be hoarding a lot of the food, or so it seemed. nobody seemed to paying the two of them any mind, more focused on dancing the night away or sneaking off to the rooms upstairs. "yeah.. i don't think they even realized there was any food to eat."

"yeah? okay." nodding as his lips pursed together, he squinted at the man through his mask as he rocked back on his heels; swaying himself in place as he tried to think. "alright, so, a riddle... right..."

"i never was, am always to be." thomas began, his words drawn out and slow as he tried to remember the riddle in the same seconds he was speaking it. "no one ever saw me, nor ever will. and yet..." he paused for a moment, his thoughts running away from him, only for him to catch them again with a slight nod of his head. "and yet i am the confidence to all, to live and... uh... to live and..."

just like that it was gone.

lifting his hand to rub at the back of his neck with mild embarrassment, the familiar let out a soft laugh as he smiled warmly at the man still standing with him. "yeah," he drawled out with an amused shake of his head. "i guess i don't remember the whole riddle... i remember it was a good one though. honestly? i wasn't even planning to make you answer any riddles, i was just messing with you."

"if you're hungry, you can help yourself to whatever i have."

the mask he was currently wearing had been gifted to him when he was given an invitation to tonights event, he didn't know where it came from but it would have been a shame to not use something that was so beautifully crafted for him. he assumed there might be other guests who had the similar masks, if not the same, but every single mask in the ballroom seemed to be uniquely made for that persons. despite the wings covering his eyes, he could still see through them and navigate through the room. "uhh... yeah, i don't know how but i can see pretty normally with these." he didn't have an explanation on how the mask worked but didn't bother asking either. "i thought i'd be doing the same thing." he took a half step back when the blonde started waving his hand in front of his face.

and just like that, the stranger seemed to have forgotten he was there and resumed eating. artie awkwardly waited for a moment or two, looking around the room to see if he recognized any of the faces but no such luck. maybe he'd just head back to the bookshop and get an extra hour or two of sleep. that was when the stranger seemed to remember he was there again and offered him food again. "yeah, i'm actually kind of starving-"

he was cut off, suddenly the guy was standing up straight and dusting himself off. "a riddle?" he looked around, wondering if biard or angelo were pranking him right now but they were nowhere to be found. "yeah, i guess i could answer a riddle." was this guy a sphinx or something?