Who: Ari & Audrey What: Talking at last! Where: The Coulombe estate When: Shortly after this. Rating: Tame Status: Complete
There were quite a few benefits to not playing a lead role, chief among them free afternoons during the week. The prince and Cenerentola had been called, and she had nothing to do with that, thankfully -- so here she was, at the gate of Aud’s very large and fancy house…
...Wishing she was back in rehearsal.
(Because at least rehearsal made sense, her would-be apprentice notwithstanding.)
Truthfully, she still expected to be sent away, and then she’d have to consider whether or not to climb the wall in broad daylight before her courage deserted her. Because no matter how casual she tried to be, Aud was in many ways the most important person in her life, and she had all but tossed her away --
But the servant who came to the door only smiled and nodded and told her, “My lady is in the garden, if you would like me to accompany you.”
She was too shocked at first to do anything but shake her head, but he was gone as quickly as he’d come, leaving her to go forward or turn away. Well, at least the door was open, for all that the second option seemed appealing.
She walked forward instead.
In a sunny corner of the garden sat Audrey, in a very pretty dress slightly too large for her (her cheeks, Ari noted, looked thin), sipping on a glass of what looked like lemonade, and staring into the distance. Ari stopped, waiting to be noticed, then a few moments later (when she began to suspect she would not be), cleared her throat and said, “Hello.”
And if that wasn’t the most awkward greeting Arielle Chiaro had ever offered to Audrey Leradine, she didn’t know what was.
Whatever reverie she was stuck in, she had snapped back to reality with Ari’s words. Craning her neck to look over her shoulder, she got the first glance of her best friend in a very long time. “Ari,” she smiled. Standing up from her chair she had walked over to the bard, embracing her in a hug. It wasn’t like before. It lacked any strength. Letting go of her, she motioned to the table. “Sit with me.” Sliding over she took a seat back in her spot.
“Want some lemonade?”
It was all so… normal-but-not-quite. Ari noted the lack of strength in the embrace, noted that under the dress Aud seemed as thin as she’d feared. She stood for a moment, uncertain, before accepting the invitation. “I’ll take the lemonade, as long as there’s nothing else in it.”
Because with Aud, one never did know.
A beat of silence passed as she took a vacant seat before offering, “I thought you didn’t want to…” she stopped for a moment, then reconsidered and changed tracks entirely: “I’m glad to see you.” Looking terrible, but she was uncertain enough of her reception that she didn’t quite dare be as blunt as she might have been in another instance.
“Just lemons, water and sugar,” she replied with a smile. Reaching for the glass she took a sip from it, setting it gently back on the table. “How have you been?”
Ari poured herself a glass, using those few moments to compose an answer to the question. “Busy,” she settled on at last. “I’m working again. Other areas of my life are… chaotic. Oh, and there’s this tiny bardlet following me about, trying to get me to take her on as an apprentice. I do appreciate that she’s even shorter than me, but keeping out of her way has proven moderately challenging.” A pause. “If I ask how you’ve been…?” She trailed off, waiting for an answer.
“Hah,” she laughed out loud. “I wonder what it’s like to have an annoying apprentice. Pro tip, dash all of her dreams before it’s too late.” She readjusted her weight on her chair, glancing over at her. There was no use skipping around the bush, reaching for her glass she fiddled with it as she spoke. “I’m sorry I ignored you,” she began. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see you, I did, I just thought it would be better if I were by myself.” Audrey’s lips squirmed, her lower lip finding its way in between her teeth. “Juliette found out about Miles a few weeks before he did that. I knew I was left alone.” She paused again before scoffing at herself and pressing her hand against her forehead. “And I abandoned you all the same, there’s no forgiveness in that.”
“It’s not about forgiveness.” At the moment, it was apparently mostly about lemonade. Ari sipped at hers though she found herself not particularly thirsty, just for something to do as she worked out what to say. “I just thought -- never mind,” she shook her head.
With some people, things could be as easy as this: a dismissal of hurt simply because it was Aud, and what would she do without Aud? It was unthinkable.
“I’m glad you’re talking to me now.” A small smile. “I was going to try breaking in, you know. Even though you’ve got that beast somewhere that took a chunk out of me once. That’s how much I care. Except then Vivi assured me I could walk in through the gate -- so here I am. I’m sorry to hear about Juliette. She left? Just because you’d married someone who claimed to be someone else?”
Honestly, these silly lawful fighter types.
“She wasn’t thrilled she was lied to, to say the least. And you needn’t worry about Boris—the Countess returned him to his rightful owner. You only have to worry about that white fluffball that’s more of a over welcoming butler than a guard dog. I swear, he should just wear a sign that says ‘please do come in, shall I fetch you a drink’.”
Ari laughed -- it felt good to laugh, far more normal than the rest of this visit had been so far. “Had I known that, I would certainly have invited myself in sooner,” she said. A pause, then, “She was always watching you with adoring eyes, you know. I’m sure she’ll forgive you after awhile, once she’s cooled off. Just give it a little time.”
"Heh." She had nothing to say on it. Her feelings were tiring. There was a constant desire to get up and make things right, but she knew with her fiddling it’d only make things worse. So instead she let out a deep breath and reclined back in her chair. “Let’s talk about you. How are Aspel and Drake?” This would surely get everything off her mind.
“Complicated,” Ari responded immediately. “As per the norm, really.” Another sip of lemonade before she continued, “I… told them. Which in retrospect wasn’t the best life choice I’ve ever made. That will teach me to take advice from blunt romantics,” she muttered, thinking of Flynn, who she hadn’t actually berated about this yet. Something to rectify sometime soon, maybe. “In any case, Drake has recently run into a… complication, so he’s all right, more or less, but he’s got bigger worries than me. And Aspel got so angry that she didn’t talk to me for a week, so that was excellent. My life is thoroughly exciting as usual.” She made a face.
This only cause confusion to wrinkle her forehead as she tilted her head. “You told them,” she drew the silence out for a little bit, “what?”
This only earned the ninja an exasperated look. “What do you think I told them, Aud? Come on, now.”
“For Faram’s sake Ari, you have an impressive resume. What, you have a fire breathing monster that lives in your head. Not only that but you’re actually a criminal? Am I going to have to go through life history jotting down what you might or might not have told them?” She seemed just as equally as exasperated as the bard, as though Ari’s energy had just been reflected through Audrey. “What, did you tell them about Miles? Are you pregnant with Drake’s baby?”
“What?” That actually set Ari back a moment before she started answering, one by one, ticking the items of on her fingers. “They’ve known about Ifrit for awhile. Aspel knows about the stealing, remember, I told you, and I don’t intend to tell Drake that ever. Miles’ secrets aren’t mine to tell, and Ajora, if I were pregnant I’d go see a white mage, not come running to you, Faram’s sake, Aud. You know that after what happened in Aries I… well anyway, I wasn’t going to say anything to either of them until the time was right, only it was never right and then it slipped out. Sort of.”
“Oh Faram, if you don’t tell me what it is now, I swear I’m going to shake you.”
“Why is everyone so intent on those exact words?” Ari wondered, voice rich with exasperation. “I told them I’d… gotten attached. Which, as mentioned, was a bad life choice.”
Shifting her weight on her chair, she tilted her head. “How is that bad? I mean wasn’t Drake already throwing around the L word?”
“He was. It doesn’t matter. It didn’t go well. And as for Aspel, well, as mentioned -- so angry she wouldn’t talk to me at all.” She made a face. “I think I’d rather talk about the self-proclaimed apprentice.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Audrey raised her hands as if pushing air between herself and Ari. “So, the moment you admitted your feelings back to him, he threw a fit?” Her eyes couldn’t help but roll at the mention of Aspel. “And how is she angry?” One of her hands pressed on her forehead pushing her hair back. “I don’t really understand your love interests. You pick the strangest people.”
“Actually, the moment I told him, I left. And then there was a giant cactuar, so we didn’t talk about it for awhile.” And that was skirting dangerously close to someone else’s secret to keep going down that path; she switched tracks. “Aspel is ridiculous. We’ve known this for awhile. For the record, I didn’t pick them, they just… happened.”
Audrey had been ready to question the cactuar when Ari had switched topics. “Have you guys made up yet? I mean, you’ll know it’ll happen sooner or later knowing your track record with each other.”
“Sort of.” Ari shrugged. “We’re talking. About other things,” she clarified. “Never that.” Thank Ajora.
“I would offer to fix it, but last time I did that, it didn’t go so well,” Audrey shrugged. “Well at least the people you care about are still… talking to you.”
Ari sighed. “Do we need to set a particular white mage’s head on straight?” She’d done it before, after all. She only had to hope that was all it was. And really, Aud could use a distraction from everything that had happened in her life recently.
“He hasn’t spoken to me since the last heist, when he was taking care of you,” Audrey shrugged. “Besides he has a new girlfriend.”
“You’re better,” Ari said matter-of-factly. Whoever it was, really. “Besides, I hate to mention, but you were married for awhile there.”
Audrey had already found her face pressed against the table. “I just don’t understand, people have secret affairs all the time, why couldn’t I have one?”
“Because some people are particular about these things.” Ari reached out and stroked her hand over Aud’s hair. “He’ll come around, too. He misses you, I’m sure. Though you could stand to eat more, and go out into public once in awhile.”
There was a long silence between them. Aud had finally shifted her head so now that instead of her forehead her cheek pressed against the table. "It's that bad, isn't it?"
“You look like something out of those Ordalian ghost stories you like so much, or perhaps a consumptive opera heroine,” Ari said. It seemed the discomfort had passed -- the bluntness was back. “Was alcohol your only sustenance? Because I have an incredible urge to feed you an entire cake.”
"I do like cake." It was enough to perk her attention as she sat up in her chair. Laughter broke out between the two of them as it seemed the old Audrey had finally come back to earth.