The Balcony, The Duchene Estate, Leighton, England (1762)....
Alain Remington had had enough of Cornelius Eyston for one night and several lifetimes. Diner had been it's usual boring onslaught of questions about his personal affairs, whether or not he had a love life and the constant goading on the part of his impish cousin and well meaning but often overbearing mother on whether or not he had met someone. His father did his best to interject on his behalf and Reginald proved to be quite the force of nature when steering one clear of unwanted conversation. Thoughts of Noreen had seemed to increase despite his best efforts to suppress them at least when in the presence of his family. Casimir was all laughs when it came to his younger brother's discomfort as he had known it all too well.
It wasn't an especially good night for Alain as he stormed out of the dining hall and out toward the balcony finally fed up with attempting to endure dinner and the annoyances that came along with it. Casimir ventured after him, bringing along a bottle of wine he swiped from the table while their parents and visiting cousins were otherwise preoccupied.
"You know I can't put my finger on it little brother, but you've been all out of sorts as of late." said Casimir venturing out onto the balcony wine in hand.
Alain stood near the edge of the balcony looking out over what could be seen of the city from their estate. The gas lamps were lit and the lawmen were on patrol for a lot of good it did them due to the onset of the thick blanket of fog from the upcoming morning. There was a nip in the air but it did little to bother the already fueming Alain following his unwanted cousin's latest round of annoyances.
"I wish to be left alone Cas." replied Alain still in the midst of his fury.
"And I wish to shag The Queen." replied Casimir with a smirk as he defiantly approached his younger brother. "We can't all get what we wish whenever we wish it."
Alain rolled his eyes. He didn't even know why he bothered to voice his opinion on matters no one ever bothered to listen to it in the first place.
Casimir cracked open the bottle of wine noting that it had been red, his favorite and he smiled with delight.
"You are well on your way to becoming a man little brother." he said after taking a sip from the wine and handing it to Alain.
After a few moments of hesitation, Alain took it and drank some down recalling it had been better than the bile in the back of his throat that came with the disgust he felt from having to be anywhere near his cousin Cornelius.
"So..." said Casimir on a more casual note. "Anything new with your little girlfriend?"
Alain rolled his eyes once more knowing all too well that it would be a matter of time before Casimir brought that up.
"No need to get your trousers in a bunch little brother, I'm just curious as you did come to me for advice on this matter and I wish to know how you are progressing." said Casimir in a charming tone.
Alain did his best not to recall the memory of his first kiss with Noreen, but his face turned beet red and he could hardly look into his older brother's strangely giddy grey eyes.
"Well well...it appears that there is some life in you after all." remarked Casimir with a wicked grin. "Got your first kiss and everything."
The words of his brother caught Alain off guard and he practically turned from an embarrassed shade of red to a sickly green as a result of it.
"H-How did..." he began stumbling through his vocabulary.
"You've just told me." replied Casimir with a mischievous smile. "Good on you little brother, at least you are on the right track to becoming a proper man."
"Sod off Cas." growled Alain.
He had not liked his private affairs being the subject of discussion at dinner and he definitely had not liked Casimir being the one to bring it up now.
Being attracted to Noreen was still somewhat new for him and quite a private thing to go through and the last thing he needed was mockery in a field that he'd been vastly unsure of how to navigate let alone explore.
As far back as he could remember there was nothing in his life that had even remotely compared to what he felt when Noreen had kissed him for the first time. It was as if she'd ignited something dormant within him that sent electrical pulses all thought his body. Food had no taste, drink was quite bland and colors became a mesh of dull gray whenever he had to go for very long without being in her presence. He would have likened it to an illness or a fit of madness if he dared unsure how best to proceed when it came to meeting up with her again.
No longer in the mood to jest, Casimir handed Alain the wine once more. He knew first hand how nervous his younger brother was about his recent venture into manhood and it was something to be proud of in a sense.
"You don't have to have all the answers." he said with all the wisdom a bloke like him had acquired over years of trial and error when it came to impressing women. "Just do what comes naturally to you both and you'll be more than fine."
"Doing what comes naturally is what's so bloody daunting." replied Alain taking a drink from the wine and passing it back to his older brother. "I wouldn't know the first thing about how to control myself should the worst come to pass."
"Who's to say that is a bad thing?" asked Casimir with an arched brow. "Trust me Al, you've been waiting long enough, if the time finally does come are you going to deprive this lass of what she truly desires of you....are you going to deprive yourself...we only live once little brother and not ever bloke is as fortunate as you are to have the pressure taken off so early on."
Casimir took another drink and handed the bottle back to Alain whom had finished it. The older lad smiled before tussling his younger brother's hair like so many times before when they were mere boys rushing through the halls in the midst of a game or a sword fight on the high seas.
"Live a little." he said before hopping over the balcony. "You might find that you actually enjoy having something of a life once in a while."
Alain shook his head knowing all too well where his brother was headed off to. He looked down at the empty wine bottle he held in his hands noticing that Cas was kind enough to leave him with all the evidence of his crime.
"Bloody arse." grunted Alain before he tossed the bottle high into the air and into Casimir's direction as the swift running noble son disappeared into the night.
The crashing of the glass had gotten the attention of a few watchmen on patrol, but Alain did his best to duck into the shadows before he could be seen. Before heading back inside and going to bed, he decided it would be best to bring his paints and canvas along lest he and Noreen find themselves slipping into a bit of trouble.