"Thank you," she said, genuinely meaning it. She liked calling people by their first names, she just felt more comfortable when she had explicit permission to do so, though this didn't seem to be considered necessary by a lot of people. "You can call me Bryony, as well." Technically, her first name was 'Susanna', but no one had used it for years.
She took a sip of her drink, careful to wipe the bottom of the glass against a napkin first, to ensure no condensation dripped onto her precious sketchbook. "I'm fine, thank you." Valentine's day was coming up - far from her favourite holiday, and beyond it the dim spectres of her sister's birthday, Mothering Sunday... On the plus side, Marcus was back in London, so there were things to be grateful for. She pushed her sketchbook carefully to one side to make room for the folder he slid across to her, opening it immediately. "The colours are beautiful," she said, looking up with a shy smile. It was still a little strange for her, to talk to other people who enjoyed art as much as she did. "The feathers are almost shiny - like a real bird."
Trying to push her anxiety to one side, she offered him her own sketchbook. "It's mostly just pencil sketches, at the moment," she said. "I'm trying to work on my portrait skills."