[Benny/Ravi] - elephants

Jul 12, 2011 16:22

Who:
Beniamino
Ravindra
When: July 10, Sunday
Where: Inanna's
Rating & Warnings: I am just gonna always say PG-13 for whores 8|a

In which Ravi tells Benny that Benny don't know nothin' 'bout elephants.



He'd bought Benny a cloak. Soft wool, beige because it seemed to suit him. More costly than he'd like to admit. Ravi was getting too sentimental where it came to Benny. He realized that. He wasn't sure he cared. It was nice to get to pretend, even if it was only one night a week, that there was somebody who cared about him the way he wanted to be cared about.

Tonight, Benny slept longer than he usually did. He snored through a whole cigarette, and eventually Ravi climbed out of bed to dress and leave his payment on the side table, resigned to the fact that Benny wasn't going to provide any afterglow antics tonight.

But, well, he didn't want to put on his own cloak without saying good-bye first, but he didn't want to wake Benny just yet, either. The soft snoring was a sound he did not mind listening to. He used the elephant figurine on Benny's windowsill as an excuse to wait around; he'd seen it before, but had never really had the chance to get a good look at it. He leaned against the wall beside the window, turning it over in his hands, careful to be gentle with it. A heavy, gold-painted figurine of an elephant, just like the ones back home. It had been a long time since he'd seen an accurate representation of one.

He'd expected the present, but it had been nice to receive it. He could no longer count the promises of gifts from past and present customers on his fingers or toes, so to have one come through was a pleasant surprise. What practical purpose it would serve, he still didn't know. All he'd thought of as he drifted off was that he'd done a lot to deserve his nap, and if Ravi wasn't aware that he was appreciative he was deaf, dumb, and blind.

When he stirred again, it was with alarm that the space next to him had grown cold. His eyes opened, immediately frowning at the sight of money on the bedpost. "Fuck," he mumbled angrily and scowled as he pulled himself up. Ravi was gone. Had he been embarrassed? Impatient? Expecting something else? "Cita's cock, sergeant. Would it kill you stick around?" He scooped the money into his palm and rose to tuck it away into the book on his shelf, stooping to scoop up his new present as he went. It was as soft as Ravindra's, if not softer from newness and lack of wear. He rubbed it against his cheek again and sniffed it. Damn, he thought, turning back to his bed, he'd forgotten to rub it on Ravi's hea-

Benny jumped a mile at the sight of Ravindra leaning on his wall, his elephant in hand. What the hell was he doing over there? Didn't he know that was his own little area and that figurine was his why was he touching it oh my Cita. To his credit, he didn't scream. Just barely.

Ravi froze, glancing up at Benny's outburst. He watched the boy shuffle around, knowing he should probably speak up but not sure what to say. By the time he'd come anywhere close to deciding on something, Benny had already noticed him. Too late.

"Ah..." Now he really didn't know what to say. Hm, maybe he shouldn't have touched the elephant. The look on Benny's face was...not a good one. "I wondered where you got it," was all he managed to say, obviously meaning the figure cradled gently in his fingers.

A hand was still pressed to his chest while he waited for his heart to stop thudding wildly. "Oh." Was that all? "Why didn't you just wake me up, love?" He was glad that Ravindra had stayed, even if the circumstances of finding him were a little strange. Had he been watching him sleep? It was stranger still to be happy about these things. It meant he was getting to the sergeant.

Once his breathing had calmed he rooted for his pants and slid them on, then pulled the cloak over his shoulders sideways like a blanket. A blanket would have been a better gift, but Benny hadn't known how to say that. Ravindra was a difficult beast, and any suggestion might have meant he'd be offended. "I got it someplace. Don't remember," he shrugged as he lowered himself to sit crosslegged on the bed. "It's an elephant. A baby one."

Because Ravi was incapable of doing something like that SHEESH BENNY. He didn't answer the question. His answer was, "Because it seemed weird to wake you up to ask where you got your elephant," and that was, obviously, an awkward answer to give.

"I know what it is," he replied instead, glancing at the elephant again. "But the trunk is down. All the luck will run out."

Wait, a baby one? He raised an eyebrow at Benny, wondering what he meant by that. It was just a scale model of an adult elephant.

Benny shot a raised eyebrow right back. What did he know about elephants? "Elephants don't carry around luck. It's water," he said, tone imperious. He shrugged and raked his hands through his hair to tame it. "Besides, what do I need luck for?" The only thing a whore could count themselves lucky for was a customer that didn't beat them to death.

"They are my favourite animal. I want to ride one one day. Or have a pet."

What, Benny. His arched brow arched higher, the other lowering, in a look that very obviously said Benny had no idea what the fuck he was talking about and did he really think Ravi didn't know anything about elephants?

"Have you ever seen an elephant?" he asked. "A real one?"

He frowned. It was the look he understood, and it annoyed him. What the fuck, did India have everything. "No," he admitted quietly. Instead of snatching the figurine back like he wanted to, he patted the space on the bed next to him. "I saw one in a painting. Someone told me they were real. I like them." His reason for liking them so much would pin him at about twelve years old, and therefore he would never share it: their noses looked like giant cocks.

"Is there anything they don't have in India, love?" he asked, though he smiled as he said it.

The corner of his mouth pulled up in a smile at the question. "No," he answered, managing to pack forty years of national pride into one word.

He walked over to sit beside Benny, carrying the figurine with him, holding it in his lap. "We had an elephant in our caravan when I was a boy," he said, his eyes on the miniature elephant. "Her name was Ravnita. They would tease me and say, 'Ravnita and Ravindra, you are meant for each other.'" He smiled, but it was a sad, wistful sort of smile. "...We had to leave her, when we left India.

Benny took the opportunity to lean against Ravindra's side when he sat. He was awake - he'd have to be after that scare - but still wanting to feel warm and lazy. It was a shame Ravi had gotten dressed already. The cloak slipped from his shoulder as he did, and a hand raised to scratch at one of the thin scars behind his shoulder when it did. "Are the babies really that cute?"

"Ah?" The babies? What? He looked to Benny, his expression puzzled. "This is not a baby," he said, holding the figurine out to Benny, so he could take it back if he wanted. Combined with what he'd said earlier, that was the only thing he could think Benny meant, but he'd feel silly if it wasn't.

"Yes it--" Well, could he really argue with the sergeant? He'd said he'd owned one. Ravindra seemed determined to deny everything Benny knew with his own superior knowledge from a country Benny would never see. On the one hand, it was rude to have all of his preconceptions squashed. On the other, he supposed he didn't mind. Even now that he knew his statue wasn't of a baby elephant, what did it matter? He'd probably never leave Tyrol again.

Still, he pouted up at Ravindra from his shoulder. "What are they like, then?"

The attempt to argue followed by pouting also got a smile out of him. Ah, Benny, stop being adorable. Honestly, though, Ravi was just glad for the opportunity to talk about something he knew well, though it drifted from fact to story as he went. "Large," he said. "Larger than any animal you have seen. As tall as a house. Very strong, but slow, and we use them to carry things or pull carts, and kings dress them in fancy silks and ride them. Indra, the lord of the gods, who I am named for--he is said to ride an elephant with ten tusks."

All of the information made his brows raise slightly. A ten-tusked elephant, a god, as big as a house? "Are you sure you're not lying to me, love?" He smiled against Ravi's shoulder and moved to pick up the small statue. "What does an elephant even need ten tusks for?" Ten noses, and maybe Benny could see the point. That'd be something to laugh over for sure.

Benny let himself fall forward and to the side until his head lay in Ravindra's lap. It was no a bad way to have a conversation, he knew, and also prevented him from leaving. "Are all people named after gods where you're from?" He lay the statue on his stomach in exchange for tracing a finger down Ravindra's jaw. "Or are you just special?"

He was a little taken aback when Benny set his head in his lap, but settled a hand on the boy's chest and made no effort to get rid of him. It was obvious Benny didn't want him to leave just yet; who was he to argue? "It is all true. Indra's elephant has ten tusks to be five times fiercer."

They were doing it again, this thing where they spoke and acted like a couple. There would be no relationship without the money between them, Ravi reminded himself. Don't get too comfortable. "Not everyone, but it is common. My name, Ravindra, it means 'Lord of the Sun.'"

Was Indra very short, he wondered, but bit his lip to keep from asking so. Instead he let his fingertips trail, eventually smoothing a piece of Ravindra's hair down where it stuck out above his ear. "Lord of the Sun," he repeated slowly. He held Ravi's stare with a thoughtful look, then laughed quietly. "Maybe that's why you're so brown." It made sense, in his mind.

This was nice, lying like this. It was usually only a luxury afforded to him by Owen. The fact that his sergeant hadn't gone yet gave him hope. "What did you mean about luck before? I've never heard of it."

It seemed like such a strange thing to say. Actually, he wasn't sure how he felt about Benny pointing out his skin tone like that. It made him uncomfortable because he knew it was a joke, but he didn't know how to respond in a way that didn't seem to ruin it. Either it was stupid or it felt too serious. In the end, the moment passed with no reply, and he let it go and hoped it didn't make him seem like he disapproved.

"Elephants are lucky." Answering this question was much more comfortable. He knew what to say. His fingers trailed idly over Benny's collarbone as he spoke. "So to have symbols of them is also lucky, but only if the trunk is raised up. Otherwise all the luck will fall out."

"Why are they lucky? Because Indra rides them?" Benny had the feeling he was skirting a fine line that once passed, would lead to a long story about a religion he didn't care for. It wasn't anything against his sergeant, religion irked him in general. People like him went to some sort of hell in every version. He picked up the statue again and turned it over in his hands, careful not to get in the way of Ravi's wandering fingers.

"This isn't unlucky, is it?" His elephant's trunk was pointed down. "It just doesn't have any?" It didn't make much sense for elephants to have luck in their trunks. How would they eat without being unlucky? Did they fill up with it constantly? How inconvenient, to have to walk around with your cock-nose always pointed up...

"No, they are lucky because when the gods and the demons created the elixir of life, elephants were one of the nine jewels that surfaced in the process." He could tell the long version, but he had the feeling that Benny didn't actually care to hear it.

It was unlucky. He bit his lip, sliding his hand from Benny's collar to lie flat over his chest. He didn't want to say that and upset him, though, so he lied. "Right. All the luck is gone, is all."

"That's fine." Benny set the statue to the side and stretched his arms above his head lazily, chest arching under Ravindra's hand. "What does someone like me need extra luck for?" he exhaled with a quiet groan and let himself relax again, limbs falling on top of the one at his chest. A lazy yawn escaped his lips as he took up the sergeant's hand in his own two. He smiled warmly at it, deliberately avoiding Ravi's face.

"I'm lucky enough without it I think," he murmured as he massaged down the other man's wrist. "What about you?"

"Mm. I could use some extra luck, I think." Someone else might have made that come out flirtatious or joking, but Ravi said it seriously, with his eyes on the floor, his expression thoughtful, ignoring the feel of Benny's hands on his own. With the way his luck had been of late, it was the only honest answer he could give.

Ah, there it was. The day he got anything easily from Ravi - besides his money - was the day Hell froze over. He let out a quiet sigh and continued to massage the arm in his grasp. Ravi was slowly making him a patient man. Half the things he tried on the other man were ignored by will or blissful ignorance. It was that sort of cosmic stubbornness that made him so fond of the sergeant. He was like a giant puzzle wrapped in mystery and eyebrows.

"I wonder if there's a place where whores are considered lucky. Then maybe I could help you out." Essential? Always. But lucky? No. He hugged Ravi's hand to his chest with another sigh, this one resigned. "Will you tell me more about your India?"

He splayed his fingers over Benny's chest, looking down at him with something that was almost, but not quite, a smile. Was the childlike naivete who he really was, or was it just an act he put on for his patrons? Did it matter, either way? "I could tell you whores are lucky in India, and you would believe me."

Benny pulled a face, one eye narrowing and his mouth pulling to one side. It looked playful, but he wondered if his sergeant wasn't calling him stupid. Men and women alike had no trouble saying the most hurtful things to a whore's face without even a blink. It simply didn't occur to them anything was wrong. "You'd be cruel to lie to me, love," he pouted, and reached up to smooth the same piece of hair back as before. "There's plenty of things you don't know about where I'm from, I bet. You can't know everything."

His fingers pushed into the top of Ravi's hair, half stroking and half arranging. He had beautiful hair, thick and jet black. He liked its shortness. "Maybe I'll just go see it for myself. Shiri's disappeared, you know."

"I don't know everything," he said. "Just everything about India." It was obviously a joke, but he wondered if Benny would take it as one.

He reached up to remove Benny's hand from his hair, twining his fingers between the boy's as he lowered their hands. His other hand left Benny's chest to run through his hair and smooth it back into its proper place. It seemed the least awkward way to manage a, "Don't do that." If he'd just walked in, he wouldn't mind so much, but it was different on the way out.

"She has?" He hadn't noticed; he habitually avoided Shiri in the first place. "Why?"

"India, and elephants, and maps," he corrected, his thumb brushing against Ravindra's hand. He pouted to see his handiwork destroyed. It was cute when his hair was pushed all around like that. Almost boyish. "I like it." He took Ravi's hand back against him and shifted the back of his head against the other man's leg. There was some give to the sergeant when he didn't have clothes on. Dressed, it was a different story. "One day you'll have to tell me about the jewels, love. I want to know how something as big as a house can float." Impractical, unless the elixir cauldron was as big as the ocean he'd crossed many times, and therefore impossible. It was just the way his mind worked.

"Sometimes she goes off somewhere, who knows." His lips pursed when he thought about it. "Never know when she'll be back." It was inconvenient. Who would he complain about Essa and Etienne to?

Did he really care to hear it, or was he just saying that? Ravi was sure he was just saying that. But, well, he wouldn't pass up a chance to tell a story, so long as Benny was willing to at least pretend to be interested. "Perhaps next time, then," he said. It was too late tonight; he was only still here because Benny had him pinned.

"That seems like it would be bad for business." Though he was sure Shiri hardly cared. She seemed like that sort of person.

Truthfully, as much as he liked spending time with Benny, he was getting antsy to leave, and his responses were winding down until Benny noticed he had nothing to say and got off of him and let him go. Because, you know, Ravi is incapable of just coming out and saying, "Get off me, I need to leave."

The fact that he hadn't launched into a story about demons and Indras-or-whatever was a clue. Benny would never be one of those whores who clung piteously to their patron's cloaks - it was tacky. "Maybe next time," he repeated. He'd let the sergeant go, and puzzle for another week about how to go about getting information he could actually use. He brought Ravindra's hand to his lips before he lifted himself out of his lap with a reluctant groan. His back hurt a little, but that was no fault of his, only Ravindra's knobby legs.

There was something missing. Ravindra's own cloak. He disentangled himself from his own and crawled to the other edge of the bed to retrieve it. The familiar scent of tobacco and other sergeant-ly smells hit him at once. His eyes went between the beige fabric on his bed and Ravindra thoughtfully for a moment. The other man would howl if he asked him. Instead, he handed the bundle of grey over with a smile. "I'm glad you stuck around."

Benny read his mind!!!!! :D=-< BENNY BEST WHORE

Benny's sudden departure left his lap cold, an unpleasant absence, and he almost wished he could drag Benny back down and stay here all night. He couldn't. Sofia would throw a fit and accuse him of being a terrible person in that way she had. He didn't want to deal with that.

So he rose to his feet, moving around the bed to fetch his cloak, but Benny got to it first. For a second he was afraid the boy would hang onto it and try to keep him from going, but that fear was assuaged when Benny held it out to him. An acknowledging, "Mm," was all the answer Benny got as Ravi took his cloak back, but it was grunted with something close to a smile.

He really was getting too attached, he thought, as he moved for the door.

beniamino, ravindra

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