Fire up that fiddle, boy, and bring me one last drink [open]

[truthsandlyres]

Who: Apollo and YOU, please

What: Having a drink

Where: One of the taverns by the inn

When: Sukkardi (Saturday)evening

Notes: Multiple threads okay!

Warnings:Tipsy Apollo?

Apollo was not unfamiliar with battle. He'd watched dozens of them. Hundreds of them, maybe. He knew how war worked, understood that people were drawn to bloodshed, believed that world peace would never be achieved. Still, it had never mattered before.

He had never been in the middle of it before.

The whole event had left a bad taste in his mouth, which was why he found himself knocking back drinks. More than ever, he was eager to get back home, to be able to distance himself from all the unpleasantry again. "Another," he called out, pushing his empty glass back. Half distracted by a woman down at the other end of the bar with dark eyes and a large chest. Eyeing him less than discretely and he felt nothing. A sigh of disgust. What was wrong with him?

Comments

babycakes, it's the cat's pajamas

[truthsandlyres]

"Pleasure, Anna."

He gave her a wink and hailed the tender over.

"Get this lady and her legs whatever it is that they'd like."

Apollo turned back to the woman and gave her a cheeky grin. "So, is your self-esteem prone to wandering off on you?"

and you bet we know our onions

[indiscreet]

So he knew his manners after all. Of course a drink was worse than useless to her if she tried to actually taste the stuff, but it always made for a lovely effect.

"Red wine will do nicely, thank you -- a pinot, if you have it." Her choice didn't matter, but she liked requesting wines by name: it made her feel rich.

Anna let out a bit of a laugh as she turned back to Apollo at the question.
"I don't make a habit of it," she replied, "but is it such a terrible thing to enjoy a bit of reassurance?"

[truthsandlyres]

"Of course not," Apollo cooed in reassurance. Truth be told, he was used to women wanting it. Asking if their noses were too big or brows were too high or hair was too dark.

Women were fickle little creatures.

"Did you enjoy the battle?" he asked jovially.

[indiscreet]

The wine looks beautiful when the bartender pours it into the glass; Anna is in the midst of swirling it idly when Apollo asks his question.

It was beautiful. It's her first, instinctive thought, and it disturbs her.

"I'm simply glad it's over," she says, keeping her tone mild. "Were you able to experience the glory -- you know, the mud, the endless noise, our delightful attackers?"

[truthsandlyres]

"Oh yes," he replied. "I am quite the hero."

He laughed, then. "Spent most of the balcony up on a battle." A pause. "But the other way around." Maybe, he thinks, he should have gotten more involved after all. Maybe Cassandra had a right to look at him in that way of hers.

Too late now though. He shrugs. "Seen worse."

[indiscreet]

"So have I, actually." She's not sure why she's willing to tell him what she's about to share, but either he won't believe her or he's too drunk for it to matter. Most likely both.

"When the Fae were in the city -- the old city, I mean, where I was before -- I saw these...creatures. I don't know if they belonged to the Fae themselves, or were only somehow related to them without being allied. But they were fighting each other: lords and ladies of stone, fish-folk armed with tridents. I've never seen such strange-looking piles of corpses..." She trails off. "I'm sorry, I've been terribly morbid. Your stories are surely more charming, Apollo the poet."

[truthsandlyres]

He stared at her blankly as she finished her confusing story about the fish people.

"I--turned a girl into a sunflower once."

Always a good fallback story, he thought.

augh sorry for lateness. I blame it on Apollo's intimidating hotness.

[indiscreet]

It wasn't the right choice for a story, as it turns out. Anna's expression hardens at the mention of turning people into things they are not: it is far, far too alike the True Fae she has known, and their callously...unique methods of obtaining new furniture. Or new candlesticks, as the case might be. She had no doubt that they would see little problem in turning a mortal into a flower, and suddenly Apollo is classified with them.

Newly wary, after a pause a bit too long to be comfortable, she asks, "Why would you do something like that? I'm sure she was a perfectly lovely person." She tries to keep her tone mild, her expression neutral, to mask her sudden fear.

he is pretty hot, so I'll let it slide.

[truthsandlyres]

"What? Oh. Yes. Clytie was nice enough, but she was also starving herself to death staring at the sun all day. Probably would have gone blind. It was a good thing."

He waved his hand dismissively. "Don't just turn people into plants for fun, what sort of--"

The rest was mumbles.

Re: he is pretty hot, so I'll let it slide.

[indiscreet]

"I've known some who would have thought nothing of it... except perhaps that they were doing the mortal a kindness by making him into something 'useful,'" she says, her voice quiet.

"She really would have died if you hadn't changed her, this Clytie? There was truly nothing else that could be done?"

Of course, for all Anna's terror at the prospect of having left herself vulnerable to the cruel mercies of a Fae -- again -- there is a part of her that is also eager for the challenge. She ignores the impulse; the Huntress has tasted enough violence already in the past few days.

[truthsandlyres]

Apollo reached out and touched her nose.

"You," he emphasized with a cheerful smile, "Are very pretty when you're annoyed. Anyone ever tell you that?"

And again, because he couldn't quite remember her name. "You."

[indiscreet]

Anna suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. True Fae were a serious matter, even if this Apollo were far too completely ossified to realize how close he'd come to scaring her off.

She paused to consider: had she been scared off? Honestly, it was a little late in the evening to let that happen -- after spending so long obviously flirting with one man, she wasn't sure how easily she could find another.

Here goes, then.

She smiled back. "And you know all the right things to say to a girl."

Her hand brushed his shoulder.

"What's say we get out of here? Find ourselves someplace private?" A quick glance around the room revealed a promising-looking dark hallway; with any luck it would lead to a back room.

[truthsandlyres]

"Okay," he responded cheerfully, debating just how drunk he really was. Too drunk?

Possibly!

He stood up from the stool and stumbled a bit, holding out his arms to steady himself. Easy there, he told himself, touching his finger to his nose. And he grinned. Good. Not too drunk.

"Where to?"

reply was eaten by spam! /rages at heavens...but not Apollo, of course

[indiscreet]

She smiled at him indulgently, then reached for his hand to lead him into the back-shadows of the bar.

Her skin is slightly cool to the touch. Normally she might have spent the blood to heat it with the arousal a man like this would expect, to give her cheeks a flush and her heart a pulse, but things are different in Baedal. Apollo didn't come close to suspecting the truth of her yet -- that much was easy to tell -- but she believed Réjean when he said that in this city she couldn't rely on the safety of mortal ignorance.

She only hoped he wouldn't flee when she told him what she really wanted of him. It would be such a shame to resort to Entrancement...

To her relief, Anna discovers she was right to expect a back room at the end of the hallway where she leads Apollo. Once they are truly alone, she places her cool palm to his chest, the ends of her fingertips resting against the nape of his neck.

"I have a special request," she says.