Mag Paget, Shotgun Knight (clippedwing) wrote in emillion, @ 2013-08-01 16:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !log, azalea cerelia, magnolia paget |
Who: Mag & Lea
What: Sharing a bottle of wine.
Where: Cerelia Costuming
When: July 27th, afternoon. (Backdated)
Rating: PG
Status: Complete.
The day after the minor apocalypse in the Tenements, Mag bought a bottle of overpriced red from a vendor in the Bazaar and made her way to Cerelia Costuming. She hadn't come out of that ordeal unscathed, but pain was of course not a concern and her injuries didn't impair her movements. Her right arm was in a sling, and would be for a few days. Her shoulder had been dislocated during the commotion and, though she had managed to pop it back into its socket herself, the joints and tendon needed a short vacation to recuperate. The white mage she'd seen that morning had assured her most of the damage had been curbed thanks to the healing she'd received out in the field, and while he'd advised rest, visiting Lea for a chat and a drink could hardly be considered strenuous. Cerelia Costuming had got thrashed during the riot some days ago, and Mag had heard some of the destroyed buildings in the Tenements belonged to the Bards' Guild, so as Councilor of that guild, Lea would be anything but pleased. Mag hoped the wine and her company could do something to help her friend cheer up. When she arrived at the Cerelia family business, Mag had to admit that the place had indeed seen much better days. She tucked the bottle into her sling and raised her uninjured arm to rap on the door. On any other day, Ilana Cerelia might have answered the door, her cool smile lovely despite its aged setting. Today, it was her only daughter, who might have been the woman's mirror image were it not for the red hair and younger features. Her father's personal healer, Azalea had cleared most of the week to spend with her parents. That and the debacle of the night before had taken their toll on the councilwoman. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her normally coiffed hair was pulled back in a utilitarian chignon. But it seemed nothing could dim Lea's characteristic grin. "If it isn't Mag!" she greeted with alacrity. A quick, one-armed hug was given on Mag's uninjured side before Lea ushered the knight in. There hadn't been much time to gussy the battered store up. Rolls of fabric were shoved to one corner, torn mannequins to another. With an apologetic look, the machinist led them into the back. Fortunately, this area was much improved. An old table stood undefeated by the riots, as did its attendant chairs. "Anything I can get you, honey?" Lea offered, gesturing for Mag to take a seat. At the sight of the wine bottle, she pulled two glasses out of an overhead cupboard. The old lady trio had become an old lady quartet very quickly, and with good reason. Any woman with a taste for good vino was a woman worthy of high regard. Cerelia Costuming was in disarray, but it was Ilana Cerelia's baby, and Lea's mother struck Mag as the type who would come back stronger after being knocked down; surely the family business would be back in full swing within a week or two at most. Mag followed Lea to a room at the back of the store and took a seat when Lea gestured for her to do so. She was glad to see that Lea's sunny disposition held in the face of her bad luck these past few days. "The pleasure of your company?" Mag smiled, and nodded for Lea to take one of the other chairs. "And a corkscrew," she added with a laugh. Normally she would have just uncorked the bottle with her own hands -- a technique she had perfected over her life -- but she wasn't sure if it was okay to use her right arm too much, and she would need both hands to open the bottle herself. One of the good things about being back in Emillion -- and Mag added new items to the list every day -- was that now she had a chance to catch up with all the people she'd had almost no contact with over the past year and a half. During the time she'd spent merchanting around with Kamon, her visits to the city had been brief and far between, so after returning for good she had found she'd missed most of what had been going on with her friends' lives. The perfect example was Aspel, whose life had taken a 180 degree turn in Mag's absence. Yet there were others, such as Lea and Vivi, who had also collected quite a few interesting stories to tell since the last time they'd had a chance to sit down and talk. Mag had never been as close to Lea and Vivi as she was to Aspel -- she wasn't as close to anyone as she was to Aspel -- but she hoped to strengthen their friendship, now that she was back. "How's your father doing?" she asked, remembering what Lea had told her over the network. Laughingly, Lea (and the corkscrew) joined Mag at the table. The bottle was opened, and the red liquid sloshed merrily as the first glasses were poured. "Pa's doing better, thanks," she said, settling into her seat. "Still bed-ridden and grumpy, but he'll be fine by the weekend." Here she shook her head. You couldn't take her father away from dancing for too long. He'd been a principal in his youth; now he'd happily settled into being a director cum choreographer. He'd wanted the same for Lea, but, well, there'd been other plans. "I'm more worried about you!" Lea extended her wine glass in the direction of the other woman's sling. "Did you go up against the thing?" The good news made Mag smile. "A toast, then," Mag said, raising her glass. "To your father, the Dancer In Shining Armor." Quite a few people she knew had been hurt during that riot, but thankfully it seemed they would all make a full recovery. It may take longer for the stores themselves to recover; Baker's Dozen had been thrashed as well, and though Mag had been helping Rene with repairs, they couldn't resume the work until her arm healed. She would find someone to help them; having the bakery closed for even a week longer couldn't be good for business. But it would work out, somehow. "It looks a lot worse than it is," Mag said. "The sling's only there to let my shoulder rest. I'll only need to wear it for a couple of days." Thinking of the previous day's battle, she couldn't help shaking her head with a chuckle; it was rather amazing they'd come out with only a few minor wounds. "I got off light, considering the size of that thing. Kiernan was with me, and he called Lucy to spit fireballs at that monster, but all I had was a shotgun and a bunch of hurtful insinuations about its mother." The bullets annoyed the beast more than they hurt it. It had been a good thing she'd had Kiernan and Ophion with her for that one. "What's with this city lately, though? It was a lot duller last time I lived here. Less monsters trying to wreck everything in sight." The toast garnered a surprised spurt of laughter from Lea, and gamely she raised her glass to so clever a title. Things like these were the bright spots one carried with them in the wake of disaster, the bits and pieces one used to move onward, start anew. And, one way or another, Lea would make do with the bits and pieces that remained of the Guild's resources in the tenements. But she could take a break from such thoughts for now. Subtly, she reached into her pocket to silence her communicator. "Now that puts my mind at ease," Lea said, sparing the sling another glance. It was an inconvenience, to be sure. For Mag, such an inconvenience was necessary. Most people had pain, after all. But the thought of Kiernan drew Lea out of that train of thought. "That man always finds a way to play the chivalrous knight, doesn't he?" The exclamation was mirthful. Back when he and Lea had dated, his chivalry had charmed her initially. In her line of work, altruistic virtues like those were hard to come by. "And Luce is always a dream. But I damn sure wouldn't want to face you with a shotgun, honey." At Mag's last observation, Lea shrugged. "Wish I knew. Would make my job a lot easier." Not that 'easy' was likely to happen for the foreseeable future. Really, she ought to follow Councilor Min's suit and take a vacation. After an exaggerated sigh, she asked, "Say, what took you away to begin with?" Mag grinned at Lea's reaction to the toast and took a sip of her wine. Definitely overpriced, but well worth the gil she'd spent to buy it. She had come here to cheer Lea up; if she had to splurge a little on quality wine to help her cause, she would. If she had been buying for herself, she would have gone with cider, but she could appreciate good wine, and this was damned good wine. "That he does," Mag agreed, with a laugh at Lea's comment. She had known Kiernan for many years, even before his bond with Lucy had been fully cemented, and he'd always been this way, as far as she could remember. "Yesterday, we just happened to be having a drink at the Tipsy Sheep when the trouble started. Could hear that thing wreaking havoc from the Theatre District. Time to be big damn heroes, he said. So off we went." Here, she had to pause and stifle a laugh before she could continue. "And it was only a good while later, when we were up to our necks in water and taking hits from all sides, that we remembered we hadn't paid for our drinks before leaving." She shook with laughter as she remembered their mistake. "Guess big damn heroes don't pay the bill." Her expression shifted as they moved on to more serious topics. It seemed the Bards' Guild was as much in the dark as the Fighters' Guild regarding the recent attacks. And no doubt that was another cause of stress for Lea, so Mag decided not to press the issue. Aspel had said she'd killed a woman, presumably the one who'd summoned the beast, though Mag doubted Emillion's troubles would end as easily as that. There was still the issue of that damned Lich that had got away the previous week at the caves. No point speculating about it, though; they'd just need to wait and deal with any other threats as they appeared. "Ah, that's a bit of a long story, so it's a good thing we still have over half of the bottle left." In broad strokes, Mag began to tell Lea about her affair with Kamon, and the year and a half she'd spent travelling around with him. She thought Lea may have seen him around once or twice, before they'd run off, though it would not have been strange if she hadn't. It had all been so sudden -- thinking about it now, perhaps a bit too much. And it had ended in a similarly abrupt fashion. Mag told Lea about this as well; the attack by the pirates, and how she'd returned to Emillion afterward. She found that telling the story no longer had any effect on her; a good sign. "The image of Kamon running around some crowded town square pantsless makes it all better," she concluded with a wicked grin, and downed the rest of her glass. "Priceless!" Lea exclaimed, returning Mag's grin over the rim of her own empty glass. She'd been appropriately agog over the course of the storytelling. And, naturally, there might have been a few barbs thrown at Kamon for being nothing short of a shit. "What a way to end a grand adventure. I'll be on the lookout for stories. Damn sure a corsair or two bore witness to his misery, wherever he ended up." The wine bottle had valiantly lasted their exchange, but its contents were finally whittling down. Lea poured herself and Mag their last glasses. "And now you're settling back here," she said, continuing the story where Mag had ended it. "How goes the apartment hunt?" Mag laughed. "Well, you hear any good first-hand accounts, you let me know." Imagining Kamon's misery was amusing enough, but no doubt she should get a good laugh out of hearing the details from a witness. She thanked Lea when her friend refilled her glass and nodded. "I'm staying with Aspel for now, as you know. I've been looking for an apartment so I can move out, but nothing yet. If you hear about any good offers in this area or the Commoners' District, let me know?" Aspel would never tell her to move out, but Mag felt she should, to give her friend some privacy and not get in Aspel and Ari's way, though realistically she knew that if she moved out they would be in and out of each other's house all the time anyway. In any case, Mag was glad to see that Lea looked visibly more relaxed now than she had when she'd opened the door. Mag's work was done, then. She had been able to cheer her friend up somewhat, and she could call that a victory and leave with her head held high. No doubt Lea was a very busy woman, after all that had gone down in the last few days. "I bet you've got a thousand things to do." She didn't envy Aspel and Lea their Council responsibilities. They always had to step up when something went wrong, which happened more often that not, these days. "I had fun talking with you, as always, but Faram forbid I take you from your duties." Mag stood up and saluted with an imaginary hat. "We should do this again soon. You still haven't told me what you have been up to this past year and a half," she finished with a grin. "Sure thing, honey," the machinist replied, rising when the knight did. Of course, there was good reason that Lea rarely spoke much of herself. Much as she valued her friends, they danced on opposite sides of the law. It was why she would never be quite as close with the other women as they were with each other. But their company was always enjoyed, especially on occasions such as these. Occasions that, Mag had accurately assumed, left Lea with an endless list of jobs to finish. Reflecting on Mag's story and again on Councilor Min's decision to take a vacation, she almost found herself yearning for a brief adventure of her own. Or at least a wider interval between disasters--really, Mag was right to wonder! When had the city gotten so crazy? But that was a discussion for another time. "Thanks so much for stopping by," Lea said, walking around the table. "Here, lemme walk you out." Outside the window, beyond the decimated rubble of the tenements and the high walls of the city border, the sun was beginning to set over the Outlands. |