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The problem was that Florian also tended to sleep with just the blanket Like, bare-ass naked on the couch It wasn’t exactly the worst since dryads didn’t seeical needs as humans – I was pretty sure he went to the bathroom once a week – but it was the principle of it That couch was a disaster before Florian started living on it, and noas a nightmare
In contrast, Raziel was a study in elegance This was a guy who liked the finer things, dressed in the kind of clothes that seelance, but were nonetheless extremely luxurious Hundred-dollar T-shirts, acid-washed jeans made in limited runs, squarish spectacles that looked like they had lenses lass – kind of a hipster, really
He probably hts – and went for weekly manicures And he had this mop of hair that looked floppy and careless, but you knew he paid hundreds for every cut You knew that he used soeht angle, the sheen of his hair alel
Albeit one who couldn’t engineer el of el of mysteries,strange and terrible arcane secrets, to tapping into the riddles and rhythms of our chaotic universe
That was the exact reason I found it so frustrating when he did his whole befuddled schtick The dude had to be ancient, and he knew just about everything there was to know about the arcane underground and beyond, uide to the cosmos and – don’t ever tell him this – kind of my mentor He knew a hell of a lot about the Vestments, for example
And yet
“So you’re sure you can’t just use soet us out of this jam,” I said
Raziel rolled his eyes and shook his head “For the millionth time No”
I stoppedhow he could afford all his da little Florian the talk about work and finances No more allowances”
“Am I Mom or am I Dad?”
I groaned “I don’t care Pick one”
“Mom it is, then” Raziel nodded at me, determined and ready
I sighed, squeezing the bridge ofand ly I only watched Florian snore for a couplehim awake by the shoulder He was heavy, and dense, too, way denser than a huet to do
“Florian,” I murmured “Florian Hey, man Get up I need to talk to you”
Raziel stepped up quietly to ht into Florian’s ear Sorry, yelled, I should say A single ear-splitting “Florian!” was all it took