Post shopping refreshments

[Keegan nó Orchis]

I looked around for a table and found one off to the side. I motioned for Aleron to follow me and we arrived just as a barmaid was passing.

"Pint of ale, please," I told her, smiling.

I looked at Aleron to see what he wanted.

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

Smiling charmingly I nodding in agreement to indicate that I wanted one as well as I sat on the bench and laid the package next to me. Once Keegan sat I asked, "Why did you decide to stay in Orchis once your marque was made?" I'd never quite understood the motivation for that- my ambition had always put other ideas in my mind.

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"Cause there is nothing else I have ever wanted to do than be an adept. I wouldn't switch places with anyone in the world. I love this life, my life," I told him. "I know it's not for everyone, bit it is for me."

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

Nodding in acceptance of his answer if not understanding I replied with, "I will agree- that life isn't for everyone, me included. Someday I may want to settle down and not have to take assignations, so I have to get trained into another line of work, which requires my freedom. To each, their own."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"Love as thou wilt can mean your life as well as a person," I said, grinning.

The bar maid returned with our pints and I gave her some coins.

"This rounds on me," I told him. "In case I have to dash out and w don't make it to the next round."

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

Smiling, I said, "You're not going to hear an argument about the drinks- I was a Bryony, and old habits die hard. I will say this though- going independant is a much more lucrative job choice. Still, I'd rather be freeand not have to please anyone but myself and those I choose to."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

I took a drink of my ale before answering him.

"That's because for you, assignations are a means to an end, the fee. For me, they are about the people I am with. Making a woman smile, seeing that look of happy pleasure on her face, feeling the contented relaxed form of a man pressed against you as he drifts off to sleep… that's what it is for me. I'd take assignations for free if it wouldn't get me kicked out of the Guild," I told him.

"Besides, if I left Orchis, I'd miss the people, my friends, the people who have been my family. I could never leave."

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

Smiling a little wryly, I said, "It sounds like you've been very lucky in your assignations then; some people are more trouble than the money you make. It's the ones that I wouldn't make pay that matter."

Quickly, to keep myself from talking and sounding any more foolish, I downed half of my mug of ale. Talking shop wasn't something I did terribly often, and I seemed to be rather bad at it.

[Keegan nó Orchis]

I chuckled and took another drink of ale.

"So…just to make sure I don't inadvertently make eyes at the wrong Gentian and find myself having to run from you… what's her name?" I asked him. Honestly, I had a sneaking suspicion that I would have to do more than run.

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

Laughing softly, I said, "You could make eyes at her and never have to run- in the end, nothing will stand in my way, and if something does, then Hell will break loose. She is an adept, after all- jealousy would only drive me mad and leave me useless to her."

With a conscious effort I didn't reach for the pendant that hung over my neck. "Her name is Riva," I said, conscious that I should give him some sory of answer since he had helped me pick her gift. "And it seems you have a friend in Cereus."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"Nice to know the conversational maneuverings they teach at Bryony haven't left you since you've been gone," I said with a laugh.

"A very fetching and sweet adept named Nyx delivered a package to me at Orchis. She won two dances with me at Midwinter by guessing the contents of the package. The scarf struck me as something that would look very nice on her, and hopefully make her smile," I told him.

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

Lifting a sardonic brow and grinning I replied smoothly, "I told you that old habits die hard- and I forget very few things."

After taking a sip of ale I swallowed and said, "If she's the typical Cereus than green will look very good on her- anything will as long as it's not pale. I don't understand the attraction of someone you could lose on white sheets, though."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

I laughed, nearly snorting ale out my nose as I tried to swallow.

"No, you prefer someone who looks good walking barefoot through a sea of red," I said, still chocking/laughing.

"Not everything I do is meant to get a person into my bed…. but if it was to happen, my sheets are blue anyway, they go better with my hair," I told him, grinning.

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

"Well, as long as you're color-coordinated," I said with a sly grin. "Losing a girl in the bedding can result in some complications, after all."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"Do you speak from experience?" I asked him. "How many girls have you lost in your bed sheets?"

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

"I've never had any girls in my bedsheets- I go to theirs," I said slyly. "Saves me a lot of effort, as they always know where they are, so no hunting through the covers to find them. "

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"But then you never get to experience the joy of the hunt," I told him , winking.

I drained the last of my pint and set the mug down.

"What you have rather been if you hadn't been born into the Night Court?" I asked him.

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

Smiling, I said, "I have no more need to hunt- I only give chase when told to do so."

Looking down, I thought about his question. "I don't know; this is the only life I have known. Everything is divided into patrons and adepts, one or the other. If I hadn't been born into the Night Court, I would be a patron, because that is the other option."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"I think I was looking for more what you would have been doing while you weren't catting around the Night Court," I said, grinning. "But I won't push, I have no need for your inner desires, they are yours after all. And… since I don't particularly see you ending up in my bed, I really don't need to know any of your desires."

I laughed and signaled the barmaid for another round.

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

"Well, I went to Bryony hoping to get a good job once I had made my marque- I guess I would do that," I said with a grin. "Accountant or broker, that is what I would be."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

I made a face, and then laughed.

"Oh ugh… I can't imagine making my life that way. I think I would rather have to clean chimneys for a living, at least then you get to see little patches of sky," I said.

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

"There is time to see the sky when one is done working, I think," I said with a smile. When the barmaid came back over I handed her the coins for this round and then took a drink of the ale. "What would you be if you couldn't be an adept any longer?"

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"I'd have to perform some intricate act of ritual suicide," I said, then took a drink of ale. "I am not made for any other life. I was lucky enough to be born where I should be, to whom I should be. "

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

"That is lucky," I said, taking another drink. "Sometimes, even fate has to get something right."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"So cynical for someone so young," I said, laughing. "It breaks my heart." I sighed dramatically and then took a drink of ale.

I stretched out my legs and scanned the bar.

"So, my dearest ex-Bryony friend, if I was to pick a woman and bet you 30 ducats you couldn't get her to buy you a drink, would you take that bet?" I asked him, grinning.

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

Laughing, my eyes flashed a little in challenge. "I'm not that out of the game," I said with a chuckle. "But I think you should go first, as my elder- to show a child like me how it's done."

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"But it's no challenge for me," I said, grinning. I was delighted he was willing to play, this was a favorite past time for adepts wasting away free time. "There's not a woman - or man - in this bar that I couldn't get to buy me a drink. You should just give me the money now."

[Aleron Carle(Retired)]

"Oh, but I am so bad at games, I would lose immediately without expert help," I said, my face a mask of innocence. "You should show me, so I have something to aspire to."

[Monique nó Fronsac (D)]

Tried of being stuck in the town house I left with a handful of coins and made my way into the City and to the Cockeral. I entered smiling and pulled off my cloak revealing my deep amber gown cut low...alright so it was very low but I needed some attention, Gregoire had been so much into the case that he had stopped taking assignations for me.

"A flagon of ale please." I said as I stood at the bar.

[Keegan nó Orchis]

"Oh, there we go… someone fresh off the street," I said to Aleron, motioning to the woman who had just walked in. "Watch and learn."

I rose and made my way across to the bar.

"Hello," I said, grinning. "You look far to respectable for a place like this. Are you sure you didn't mean to end up at the White Heart?"