"Hmm," Ari said noncommittally. "Could be." That was all the agreement she would or could offer in this case, but then, this was not her first time playing this game, and it was her turn to retreat for the moment.
At Aspel's next question, however, she couldn't help but laugh long and hard before she could manage to answer. "Such an opinion you have of me!" she exclaimed between giggles. "If I want performance, I'll go to the opera. I hardly need to get drunk in order to enjoy myself!" She nudged the other woman in the arm, not painfully but certainly hard enough to express her displeasure at the implication. "It is not the quantity of drunken revels that matters so much as the quality," she answered, sidestepping putting a number on it. It wasn't nearly as often as some people seemed to think, anyway. "Mine are never disappointing."
She couldn't help laughing again when Aspel looked quite ready to believe her theatrics. "Apparently, drinking makes you gullible," she said with a wink. "I bought them drinks because I could afford to and to buy some goodwill. There were half a hundred candidates for the top roles at least; not a few of these celebrants secretly wish I would fall into a gutter and break my head. However, I am happy to accept a drink from you, as I think your congratulations, at least, are genuine." She turned to the bartender, who seemed to be following their conversation with some interest. "Something a bit harder, I think," she told him. "Your choice." He knew what she liked, so when the smaller glass of clear, somewhat sweet liquid was presented to her, she knocked it back easily, enjoying the slow burn down to her stomach. "I suppose the wine portion of the evening is over. Well, here's to me, and may I stay out of gutters, unless they are metaphorical."