[ lestat, kaveh thinks, reminds him a little bit of a storm at sea. kaveh is no seaman. sumeru is largely landlocked save for the ocean to the north, a natural boundary between their northern-most cliffs and fontaine's rolling grasslands. the two natural locations along its land for ports have ports; elsewhere, towering cliff-faces with their jagged teeth holding up the gnawed facet of the sky separate land and sea. when kaveh thinks of the sea, the first he thinks of is the sandsea. deshretian ruins jut from the sharp incline of ancient sand dunes, the gust of a raging dust storm that covers and reveals the bones of ancient civilisations on a whim.

kaveh has always loved the desert, is the thing. the desert is where his father died; kaveh had been the one to kill his father. but kaveh couldn't resent the desert, couldn't muster up the enormity of the hatred needed for the endless expanse of it that was the foundational ecosystem for the eremites and the way they have chosen to lead their lives, and so chose instead to love it. lestat one moment is a clear desert's day with a sky so blue it was ravishing, so much so that you could imagine leaning up and drinking from it the way you would a ladle in a well. lestat another is a hoodwinked storm, lidded eyes the playful flicker of a look so incisive that kaveh needs to refrain from looking behind him to see just who was it that made him take it on, because it couldn't be kaveh.

but the adoption of knowledge for one's own sake is something that all sumeran scholars respect. the red of kaveh's eyes glint as he leans in to study the embroidery again. the masters craftsmen of sumeru's treasures street would find very little fault in the work, kaveh thinks. marvelous. ]

It's lovely, Lestat. I can see that the silhouette of your embroidery is distinct enough that one can see the shape of the flower from a distance, but the needlework is also congruent down to the last detail. I'm no tailor nor craftsman familiar with fabrics by any means, but I've recently attempted to create a garment for a friend. I didn't know how to embroider, so I hand-painted it instead; perhaps I should have reached out to you first to see what surprising repository of knowledge you had to share.

[ kaveh's smile softens along its edges. ] And you'll be surprised - this bar and club is owned by a vampire, after all. Midnight has blood stocked in the back. You only need to ask. As for why I am not drinking tonight - well, the night is lovely and deep, but I have a promise to keep. [ kaveh's head tilts. the gold of it spills over his shoulder. ] Is Louis here tonight as well, then?