Eden hadn't planned on actually tasting the beer, but when he lowered it, a clear offering, she detached herself swiftly. Her hands descended upon either side of the drink, eager to taste the contents of the cold glass within her hands. She pressed her lips against the edge and carefully tipped it back to allow the amber liquid to pool into her mouth.
The hint of several flavors hit her at once and there was strangely none of that weird after taste when she had stopped drinking. In fact, it was a little sweet, which caused her to smile. "Oh, yes. Yes, they do. I will have to visit there someday to thank them all personally for their hard work," she said with a smile...not having let go of his drink just yet. She hadn't meant to keep it, but she hadn't thought of giving it back either.
“Good. You should.” Now freed from Eden’s clutches, Rictor took a step back and crossed his arms, watching as she savoured the drink. “And you’re a ranger, so you probably could go off jaunting whenever you feel like it. Isn’t that how being a ranger works?” He grinned.
She’d finished her sip but was still clutching the tankard. He cleared his throat and held out his hand expectantly, waiting for it to be returned to its rightful home. (Never get between a Kerwonian and his beer.)
"I wouldn't say all rangers," Eden said handing his tankard back to his open hand, "but I do enjoy a good jaunt." Eden had entertained the idea of propositioning Rictor many-a-times, but had never found the right time to do so. Now seemed like as good a time as ever. "I wouldn't mind one right now, if you'd care to join me."
“Join you?” he echoed, drawing an honest blank. “What, on a jaunt? Already took a vacation recently, so I probably can’t do another this soon. You knew that – brought you back a fucking souvenir and everything, like you asked.”
Eden stared. She just stared. Was this happening? Was he being purposely obtuse? "That's not..." she started, wondering if this was some sort of sign. With anyone else, he would have caught on faster – Rictor’s mind usually lived in a state of comfortable, playful innuendo – but with Eden, those particular gears ground to a halt.
He stood there a couple awkward feet away, brow furrowed in confusion as he started trying to connect the dots.
The beer helped.
“You don’t mean…” Rictor began, as the dawning realisation hit him.
Eden wasn't sure if she was supposed to wince or power through this sort of thing, especially with the fact that he looked really confused then wasn't smiling as he came to fully understand the root of her question. "Actually. Yeah, I do."
In response, the holy knight coughed and took another long defensive swig of his beer, as if loosening up his throat for what had to come next — whatever would come next, however in the fucking world he would handle the turn this conversation had taken. And his mind flew back to any past interactions with Eden Dire: the constant hugs, the piggyback rides, the tousling of her hair… Faram fuck, how had this happened? There was a breed of female friend that he casually slept with, and one that he didn’t.
“Eden,” he said, trying to gingerly locate the right words that would rescue this unpalatably strained situation a bit. There weren’t any, of course. “I, uh. I’m flattered. But I just always figured we were… I mean, you’re like a little sister to me.”
There was more staring. Then Eden's lips formed a circle. "Oh." She blinked. "Well, that is definitely a no then." She shrugged. "Can't blame a girl for trying." A moment later she added, "Little sister," under her breath before wincing.