ALLOW ME TO ASSERT MY RECOLLECTION OF THESE FATEFUL EVENTS AS THEY TRANSPIRED, CAREFULLY UNFURLING BEFORE HIM LIKE THE PUERILE, WET WINGS OF A VERNAL LEPIDOPTERA: THERE WAS A SOUND FROM ABOVE. TO THE UNWISE EAR, A BANAL CLATTERING OF STEPS OVER TIRED WOOD! BUT TO THE LEARNED SOPHISTICATE, A PURVEYOR OF RARE AND FINE THINGS, THE TWINKLING OF BELLS UPON A HIEMAL ZEPHYR (OR MAELSTROM IN DISGUISE). IT STARTLED HIM. FOR SUCH AN IMPRESSIVE ESTATE ITS SPRAWLING ANATOMY LAID BARE, THE VIVISECTION AS DISCERNED BY HIS CLEVER MIND PROJECTED WITHIN CONSCIOUSNESS THE GROUNDS WERE UNUSUALLY AND DISPROPORTIONATELY VACANT; HE'D ANTICIPATED A HEALTHY POPULOUS OF HAUGHTY STUDENTS AMBLING ABOUT ITS TANGLED SYSTEM OF NERVES, LOUNGING IN THE POCKETS BETWEEN MAUVE ORGANS AND IVORY BONES, VANDALIZING THE STALE AIR AND PRISTINE QUIETUDE WITH EXCLAMATIONS OF YOUTHFUL ALACRITY! BUT NO SUCH THING EXISTED HERE, NOT NOW. IT WAS ONLY HE AND THE FURTIVE CREPITATIONS OF THE RESTLESS FIRE, QUIETLY GNAWING ON LOGS OF WOOD WHILE HE GNAWED ON A FESTERING CONTEMPT. HAD FATE NOT STUCK ITS FAT FINGER WITHIN THE WHEEL OF TIME, HE WOULD HAVE DEPARTED WITH HIS ENMITY BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF HIS PRECIPITOUS HOSTESS, NEVER HAVING WITNESSED TRUE MAJESTY AS A RESULT OF AN UNBRIDLED IMPATIENCE.
THE CRESCENT OF HER PALE INSTEP, A TAN, PEEPING LEG, A SLENDER WAIST WANING ABOVE WHITE HIPS BUT BELOW AN AMPLE, LACE-DRAWN BUST BURSTING WITH FRILLS AND TITILLATING SUGGESTION; HER WHITE SKIRT FELL LIKE GREAT WINGS AT HER RADIANT SIDE; A BRONZE FACE BEJEWELED, HER SAPPHIRE EYES GLITTERED OVER HER PINK SUNSET SMILE, WHITE-BLONDE WISPS KISSING THE ROSETTE PEAKS OF HER DIMPLED CHEEKS THIS WAS THE ORDER IN WHICH HE ESPIED MAGNIFICENCE, HELPLESS BEFORE IT; UNABLE TO LOOK AWAY. HIS EYES, OR HIS STRANGE ICE, SETTLED ON HER WHITENESS WITH A VAGUE TWINKLE FROM BEHIND THEIR DUAL ABYSSES. ALTHOUGH UNMOVING, PLAGUED AS HE WAS BY A HABITUAL STOICISM, HIS GRIMACE SOFTENED INSTEAD TO A MILD AMBIVALENCE (THE MIND FROZEN OVER). "NOT AT FIRST GLANCE," HE REMARKED, ADJUSTING THE TWEED OVERCOAT THAT DRAPED HIS FOREARM LIKE A CORPSE; STRAIGHTENING HIS ATLESIAN SPINE! "YOU MUST BE MY CHARITABLE RECEIVER." LOW AND BRUSQUE, DRIPPING WITH SARDONIC IMPLICATION AS IT ECHOED THROUGHOUT THE VACANT FOYER. JOIN ME IN MY OFFICE, SAID THE ANGEL.
the mind commands and the body obeys. the carcass heeded the implicit gesture of its mistress and willfully opened one of its intestinal valves with an agreeable 'clang.' they moved quickly within its well-furnished entrails: she stepping confidently ahead, he trailing behind like her obedient, gloomy shadow. embron made no qualms with the universal quietude of this place and was relieved to know that her office, too, had been serenely suffused for he was accustomed to and preferred silence. he comfortably took his seat in the armchair that had been seemingly posed before her tremendous desk made of venerable mahogany like the rest of the institution. the stiff velvet relented beneath him. the chair itself seemed remarkably small in comparison to his dark enormity. setting his effects by his feet, he uttered, "summer break, i'd assume? or are the students here just exceptionally well-behaved? i wasn't expecting an empty, peaceful building when i was invited by your headmaster." but he hadn't exactly expected her, either.
while his arm still lingered below, his head gently lifted, his chin slowly canting upward, an argent sleet and an azure wintertide colliding! "speaking of whom... will the professor not be joining us?"