audrey (larcener) wrote in emillion, @ 2014-06-12 22:52:00 |
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Why had he agreed to meet Audrey here for drinks? This was the question that kept floating through Darius’ head for the entirety of his time sitting down at the table he’d gotten them over in one of the corners. Maybe this table was a bad idea. Though, really, being here at all was a bad idea. He didn’t want to be the other man, but wasn’t that what he was making himself every time he agreed to meet her somewhere? This was only supposed to be as friends. Darius had to remember that, had to keep that in mind. You could have a drink with a friend that you used to screw. Yeah, sure, people did that all the time. This didn’t have to mean anything. It wouldn’t mean anything, he wouldn’t let it mean anything. That was the way it had to be, and that was the way Darius was going to function during this night. Though… He wouldn’t deny that somewhere, in a part he tried to shove down, he did miss her, and her ridiculous ways. A frown tugged at his lips. This wasn’t the time for thoughts like that. With the frown still on his face - it was out of place with all the joy around him from people celebrating their various founder’s festival events - another swing of the wine he’d bought was taken. It might be a huge holiday to some, but Founder’s always just meant more hurt people, and more work for him. It was kinda… Annoying. Audrey had been a little late. Her hair was braided to her side, tossed over her shoulder. She was as inconspicuous as she could be, dressed in normal clothes with a shawl around her neck. Pushing the door open, she pushed on her toes glancing around the room for sign of the white mage. Catching a glimpse of him she made her way towards the table sliding the chair out and taking a seat. "Sorry I'm a little late." Lifting her hand up she flagged down a waiter, ordering a drink. As soon she got her drink she raised it to Darius before taking a sip. Her attention went back to the white mage, smile spreading ear to ear. "I wonder what the fireworks show will be like this year!" “Nah, no worries.” The entire thing was written off with a simple wave of his hand. It was better to play this cool then get all hot headed about it. That would only cause more problems, and bring more attention to them in the end. Both things, he really didn’t need, especially not on a night like tonight. In fact, the last thing he needed was to be seen here with her probably but… Here he was regardless. A glance was given towards the door as a new person entered, but regardless, his glass of wine was rolled between the palm of his hands for a moment before her next exclamation came out. “Oh, uh.” A pause. “Dunno, never much been involved with them.” And honestly, he didn’t really get to go normally either. She watched as his attention drifted to the newcomer, slight frown forming before she faced him with a smile. He was worried, she could tell. Lifting the shawl she covered her hair a little, hoping maybe it'd calm him and if it didn't, she had other ideas. "You don't watch the fireworks?" She asked in plain shock, raising her brows. "That's like the best part. They do something different each year. We should check it out." She threw the offer offhandedly knowing the white mage would want nothing with getting caught with an engaged ex girlfriend. Looking him over, she seemed unimpressed. "You're so stiff, Ajora." Raising her hand she called over the waiter again. "Some shots, please!" The blonde shot a playful grin back at Darius, almost challenging him. "You aren't going to pussy out, are you?" Her eyes drifted towards his wine. His forehead crinkled with eyes focusing on his glass of wine as it was raised up but not taken a sip of from yet. “Normally too tired.” Plus that meant being around more people, which well… With festivities the way they were, he spent way too much time around people on days like this as it was. Then, since he’d started getting a reputation as a White Mage some years back, it wasn’t unusual when he was trying to go for a stroll during Founder’s for someone with an injury to wander up and ask for a Cure. It was… Exhausting. With that thought sinking in his glass was raised again, a good chunk of the contents being put down in one go. “It’s been a long day.” His voice lightened up a little with the rebuttal, and his posture relaxed a little, but not nearly as much as she’d probably like. Then…. Wait. Was she challenging him to a drinking contest? What the hell was his life? “Depends on what swill you order, I do have some standards.” Yeah, way to play it cool… Only not so much. At of his voice changing, her smile grew. It was with his last sentence that the blonde rolled her eyes. “Uh huh,” she retorted playfully taking a drink of her pint of ale. Despite humoring Darius and other nobles with wine, Audrey had always had a taste for beer. Bierfest couldn’t come back any faster. “Vodka for starters,” she mused looking down at her carbonated drink. “You aren’t going to pussy out on vodka, are you?” she was teasing him. The waiter returned with two shot glasses, placing them on the table and leaving the two alone. Audrey’s eyes went from the shots to the white mage, her fingers already snaking their way around one of the glasses. “Ready?” “You wish.” Came his knee jerk response to the challenge, which, as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he instantly regretted them. He’d seen the way she drank before. Hell, he’d seen her take on more drinks while sitting with her in the past than he was pretty sure he’d seen fighter’s guild members take on, but… Well, he could technically keep up with her… If he wanted to cheat in a sense. Though… They hadn’t exactly outlined any rules on this either…. “Only if you’re ready to lose.” Came the challenging reply. Audrey might have alcohol tolerance on him, but he had poisona on her, and well, he wasn’t against using it. With that, Darius reached for the drink closest to his hand. She was eyeing him, playing with the glass in her hands. “Bottom’s up!” Audrey took the shot down rather easily, setting the glass back on the table, her eyes immediately darting to Darius as if expecting some grimace on his pretty face. “The only reason I lost that time was because you cheated. Who uses Poisona to become undrunk when the purpose was to be drunk in the first place!” Audrey’s hand shot back up, ordering a side and another round of shots.”What kind of liquor do you not chicken out of?”she mused, taking a sip of her ale. With the invitation to drink, the shot was pulled up, and downed in one go, Darius’ face twisting up briefly as the vodka went down. It really never had been his drink of choice, but if that’s what was being ordered well… That was just that then, wasn’t it? “Guess we had different ideas on what the purpose was.” A hand came up the back wiping at his mouth briefly before the shot glass was put back down on the table. Instantly he reached for his wine, and took a sip, attempting to wash the taste of Vodka from his mouth. “Didn’t chicken out of that, won’t chicken out of anything else you order either.” He’d drink it, that was not chickening out as far as he was concerned. Audrey had watched him with her smirk growing in amusement as he lifted his glass. “Are you chasing the shot down with wine?” she teased, already planning on not letting him live it down tonight. “Wow, Poisona, chasers. What else, Delacreaux? Are you going to talk half shots and give me the other half to finish?” The blonde raised her hand again, signaling for the waiter to come by ordering another pair. “Tequila,” her smirk grew as he walked away and the ninja leaned back on her chair, sipping at her ale. When the man came back with the two shots and a small plate of limes, Audrey reached over to grab Darius’ wine and placed it next to her ale away from them. Grabbing the shot, she raised her brows before downing the shot and immediately taking a bite out of the lime. “Washing booze down with more booze, yeah, a real bitch move.” Really, he was going to get himself drunk quicker if he kept this up. “Can’t help you got shit taste in booze.” The wine would casually be sipped at between waiting, he wasn’t sure where to go with this, how to make any of it work, or even what to talk about but… It seemed like she was less interested in talking, and more interested in drinking. Honestly, he wasn’t sure he could blame her. “Ordering booze that needs fruit, yeah sure, and you bitch at me about my wine.” With that, he reached out, grabbing up the shot and lime to follow suit. “Wooow,” she looked at him, amused he was complaining so much. “Alright,” she nodded along, pushing the plate closer towards him. “Eat one. I dare you to eat one. By itself. No salt, no anything. Do it.” She motioned towards the plate, ale in hand, finishing her glass and slamming it on the table. “I’m waiting. And when you’re done, you order the not-shit-taste-in-booze shot.” “You want me to eat more fruit after you try to chew me out for taking a wine ‘chaser’, yeah, no.” Even with the words, his demeanor had seemed to shift to something much more comfortable than he had been before. Though, when the waitress came back around an order for two Cognac’s would be placed. Audrey had been ready to chide him for declining her challenge when a waitress came back with the two glasses. The blonde stared at the glass in front of her, eyeing it cautiously. Grabbing the glass, she rolled her eyes. “This classy fuck.” Putting the glass to her lips she had hesitated a moment before she downed the glass and put it down on the table. She did her best to keep a straight face, to avoid looking defeated. Raising her hand, she ordered another ale. “Gonna watch the Founder’s Play tomorrow?” she settled down into conversation. As her ale arrive, she gripped the handle, taking a small sip. A slightly incredulous look was given as Audrey simply downed the Cognac. With a sigh, Darius shook his head, and took a sip of the liquor with ease. It was smooth, went down easy, and had - to him - a pleasing taste. Her commentary was met with a low scoff between sips which seemed to be written off inherently just by the way the atmosphere of their game had changed. However, with the question, he gave a shrug. “Probably.” A pause. “Normally try to take my Ma.” A beat was left to fall while he took another sip. “You?” Audrey watched him as he drank it slowly, both their definitions of drinking completely off. Audrey simply wanted to get the buzz from it, Darius seemed to actually enjoy it. Beer seemed to be the only exception for the blonde. Her cheeks felt warm and she rested her chin on the palm of her hand as she tilted her head thoughtfully. “Ari’s in it. Of course I’m going. I want to see the Hoverbike Races too. Want to find a way to get out of going to Founder’s Ball. You?” Darius gave a passive shrug of his shoulders, continuing to sip leisurely at the Cognac without much thought. “Dunno, always have a lot of work during the festival. People get too excited, or drunk, and do dumb shit and get themselves hurt.” A slight sigh slipped out at the end of his sentence, something more concerned, and worried than the annoyed tone he tried to present as he spoke. “Probably will miss most stuff.” A slight shrug. “Normally do.” When he mentioned people getting drunk, Audrey only paused to look down at the alcohol between both of them, before continuing to listen to him. A frown pulled at her lips. Had she not been engaged, Audrey would have pushed the white mage to try and take most of it off—to enjoy the Festival for once, but that wasn’t her place anymore. “You need to find more fun things to do,” the words slipped from her lips. Whether it was the alcohol taking its toll or not, she wouldn’t say. In realization of that, she reached for her pint and quickly drowned her lips in the liquid. “Work’s fun.” And in a way it was, not the traditional laughing giddy sense of fun, but in a way that he enjoyed what he did. Even if part of Darius’ extreme levels of work motivation was to make up for his own shortcomings, and well, maybe if he worked hard enough, he could finally make up for some of the things he hadn’t been able to do in the past. With that thought, another sip of his Cognac was taken. “Not sure why you don’t get that.” And maybe he was starting to feel the effects of the booze too. Audrey only stared questioningly. Then again it wasn’t her place to tell others what fun was. “If you say so, doc.” Her body was beginning to get warm—that cozy sensation she yearned for. A comfortable smile grew on her lips and she continued to sip at her beverage. “Oh you know what we should do another da—” A distant sound interrupted her as she perked up her composure. Others in the bar had heard it too, she could tell, as she glanced around the room. Others however were a bit too far gone to even notice. A glance was given down to her communicator. It was the right time. Digging through her pockets, she pulled out enough gil to cover both of them as she set it on the table. “C’mon!” she glanced up at him, mischievous grin growing in her lips. Standing from her seat, she motioned for him to follow her on outside. Darius frowned at her sudden cut off sentence, and even more at her suddenly paying for things and trying to drag him outside when they simply had agreed to drinks. An uneasy eye was given down to the gil, and over to her. “I thought we were just meeting up for drinks.” The unease in his voice obvious, the drinks had loosened him up enough for some honesty, but not enough to just run around all willy nilly. At least…. Not enough yet. The sound of his voice had grown a frown on her lips as she glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes had drifted towards the window where she could see faint light glimmering in the sky. Her lower lip snaked its way between her teeth and she pulled her seat and sat down again. Her attention went back to her beer. He was right, they were only here for drinks. Like a distracted puppy, she would glance over her shoulder towards the window on occasion, just to see. The bar emptied out a bit with the fireworks, making it a lot easier to hear Darius across from her. “You should see Mercutio, he’s gotten so big!” “Mercutio?” Darius’s forehead crinkled, the name not instantly ringing a bell as he hadn’t had much experience with the dog between Aud coming over to his place with a fair amount of frequency - to help not make her sister feel out of place, along with giving them more privacy - and the distance they’d put between themselves over the course of the last month or so. Honestly, the white mage felt bad not being able to place the name, it was obviously a pet, or a friend’s kid or something but… For the life of him it just wasn’t coming to mind. Her frown grew. "I'm going to tell him to pee on you next time he sees you." She paused drinking her beer. "My puppy. He's 4 months old now. He's 25lbs. He's probably going going to get as big as my sister's dog. His paws are huge." Needless to say she hadn't been giving the pup much attention with the engagement underway. Miles had a dislike for dogs and he had mainly been staying under her little sister's care. “Right.” He couldn’t help the sigh that accompanied the words while taking another sip of the almost finished glass of Cognac. They’d been ‘broken up’ since March at this point, and even before then things had been rocky here and there. “Ah, alright.” His eyes dipped down to his drink, another glass being considered. Just how long had she wanted them to sit here and drink for? Though as she continued on talking about the dog, Darius found himself simply nodding. He didn’t mind dogs, but also didn’t really know a whole hell of a lot about them either. Was twenty-five pounds really that big for a dog? He’d seen quite the variety of the years but… Never really thought about how much they should, or did weigh. Shifting a hand tried to signal for a waitress, and failed. A brief frown was earned, and he downed what little remained in his glass. “How tall do you think he’ll get?” There had only been a few times Darius had gone over to Audrey’s place, and well, he hadn’t really been paying attention to the dog when he’d visited. That was for sure. Her eyes had followed him as he failed in getting the waitress’ attention, but before she could get it he had asked her a question. “30 inches would be my guess. Something like that. His mom is pretty small compared to the dad, but he has giant paws, so I’d guess he’d be as big as the dad.” She took another sip of her beer. “Did you ever have any pets growing up?” The waitress came around and Audrey ordered two more Cognacs. Except instead of drinking it down like a brute, she was going to try and drink it slowly, to “enjoy” the alcohol as everyone else would put it. When she came back, Audrey looked down at the glass, making a face again before taking a sip. Her expression scrunched up and immediately she took a drink of her ale to wash out the taste. “Yeah, no. I don’t like that.” The alcohol had begun to work its way in, her cheeks holding a definite red tint to them. “I didn’t know you were good friends with Cormac. Well I mean, I figured you knew him, but I didn’t know you knew him so well.” “Nah, not really.” They had had a family pet or two here, and there, always small things. A fish, a bird, they had a cat at one point but… Living in the area they did for… As long as they did… Pets of any substantial worth went missing quick. When his Ma had gotten the shop, she’d picked up an animal or two, but by then Darius had basically grown to live in the tower, and well… He could hardly claim any of those pets as his own really when he was never there. A light scoff was given as Audrey switched back to her beer with the refusal of the Cognac. “No taste.” It was half chide, and half joke, but either way, it was out and Audrey would take it as she would. Though the sudden bringing up of Cormac caused his forehead to crinkle. “Yeah, we’ve known each other for years. You know him too?” Audrey made a face at the white mage, scrunching her nose before taking another sip of cognac. “Oh please, I have plenty of taste.” She didn’t. Leaning forward as the room was crowded back with people after the fireworks show, the two continued amicably with the conversation for some hours until it had been time to go home. The table served as their battle-torn earth with several wounds, each showcasing their alcohol consumption. Audrey stumbled to her feet, in an attempt to push the chair back in. Face completely red, she walked alongside him as they headed out the door—liquor already paid for. A stupid grin hung off her lips as she looked up at the night sky. “Man,” she paused, holding back a silly laugh. “I really wanted to see the fireworks tonight,” she slurred. “You shoulda gone.” His own words slurred around the edges, but not quite as badly as hers due to his preference for a slower drinking pace. What could have or should have been done was in the past now, and all he could really think about was how good it would be to get home, and get out of the clothes he’d been dressed in all day. Though, a few other thoughts floated around too about things he’d like to do, or see…. But… This was supposed to be drinks as friends, and he really shouldn’t sleep with someone who was supposed to be married but she just felt so… “Maybe you can get someone to make fireworks for your own celebration?” If she wanted fireworks, she should be able to get some somehow, right? Audrey stepped ahead, hands behind her back as she continued to look at the sky. "It's no fun all alone," she mused spinning on her heels to look back at him. Her brows raised curiously first at his words but then she shook her head. "No. Maybe when I marry someone I really love. Maybe then." She had been walking backwards, ahead of the white mage carelessly through the empty streets. Unfortunately she didn't think about any loose stones or react appropriately when her foot slipped under one of the rocks, losing complete balance. Darius blinked, confused by her sudden serious statement. What the hell…? He’d just meant like… A party or something, or just doing fireworks because she wanted to do fireworks. Why the hell was this suddenly so serious? Why did she take it that way? Why… Then she seemed to jerk uncomfortably as if.. “Watch out!’ But really, the words were too late and Audrey was tumbling backwards. Even though he was quite intoxicated as well, Darius attempted to lunge forward and grab her so that she wouldn’t crack her skull open on the cobblestone streets. That sure as hell would be the last thing he needed tonight. Her arm was pulled forward as her hands sprawled out to grab onto anything she could. Clinging to his shirt, her body pressed against the white mage. For just a brief moment, she had considered not letting go but before it could get too weird she began to laugh and straighten herself back up. "Note to self. Don't walk backwards when the world is still spinning." She grinned back up at him, teasing playfully. "What would I ever do without you? My hero!" “Probably a good idea.” It was still a little shocking to have her pressed this close to him after all this time of making sure there was distance put between them, but before he even knew it, she was pulling away. “Wouldn’t call myself a hero.” There was a faint hint of bashfulness in the words as Darius shifted back, a hand rising to rub at the back of his neck as eyes lowered. Letting a moment pass he finally looked up. “Shouldn’t you be getting home?” Though really, he didn’t want her to go. Audrey looked in the direction of the Noble’s District, frown forming on her lips before looking back up him. It was pretty late already, but she didn’t exactly want to go home either. Her teeth bit down on her lower lip, before shaking her head. “I don’t want to go home,” she admitted, the street lights around them blurring her vision. “Did you want me to go?” “Didn’t say that.” Where the first words out of his mouth as a hand lingered on her arm a bit longer than it should as she had stepped back, but not pulled away completely yet. Damn his mouth, and damn his inability to control anything that ever came out of it…. And damn the wine, and Cognac, and anything else they had ingested over the course of the night too. Her eyes were glued on him, trying to focus on his facial expression. Another hand came up to press against him to control her balance. “Then,” she paused slowly, “did you want me to come with you?” The question honestly caught him off guard in some ways, but at the same time, his buzzed brain had his mouth speaking before Darius could even fully think over the words. “Well,” The word was dragged out in a mock attempt at consideration, as his eyes wandered over her body near his. “wouldn’t say no if you tried.” And really there, in that instance, was the exact problem of the entire situation, now wasn’t it? Audrey had taken this as an invitation, pressing herself closer to him while never shifting her locked gaze. "Let's go back to your place." Her hand trailed down his arm, lips slightly apart and waiting for his approval. Watching her shift, to proposition him in the way that she was, to…. “Yeah.” Between the alcohol, and his own sex drive, and… Audrey… Darius couldn’t say anything but that with his eyes wandering hungrily over her. The White Mage’s hand would take hers, and with a tug, would work to lead the way back to his place as she’d requested not long ago. |