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Who: falsejezebel, inkstainedsword, and edsidlemirth
What: A drink with an old friend(?) before an outing with a new one
Where: Some classy bar, then uh somewhere featuring a lovely ballet
When: last Veerdi, early evening on into night
Warnings: None?

Another ~~Friday~~Veerdi off, another night out, though Aimery had much classier intentions than the last. He dressed for the ballet in his nicest gray suit paired with his new bowler hat and his far older sword; yes, bringing a sword to upscale venues was perhaps a little uncouth, but he didn't want to look a target- especially since he would likely be escorting a Lady home.

He was meeting Eddie at the bar first and only intended to have a drink or two at most so as to be sober for the performance. Honestly, Aimery was glad to have an excuse to leave should Eddie prove as annoying as he had been lately- he knew they'd once been close, close friends, and Eddie did have his high points, but, well. At times it was hard to see what he must've seen in him once.

Anna, on the other hand, was charming and lovely. She reminded him of Gundred grown up they way he'd like her to, not still messy and childish. She was a delight, hence his invitation to the ballet. Aimery had never seen one before and Anna seemed the sort to appreciate it. He intended to meet her at the theater as well, though he was very slightly late due to getting a little turned around on his way.

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Eddie's current employment doesn't leave him wanting for basic necessities. He has a little left over after the budgeting is done. It doesn't leave much for the sorts of nice things he'd be able to get his hands on if he weren't keeping his hands to himself. The green suit he came here with is the best he'd be able to buy, back home. He knows if he wears it too much, it's not going to look as sharp. He's putting his spare money into clothes, but they're not as nice, and despite his best efforts, his best suit is not presentable, this evening. His life is so difficult.

Dressed in black, he arrives, right on time, and scans the patrons for his friend. He'd sent him a message, earlier, and isn't so much concerned about Aimery being late as not showing up, considering he could have chosen any of a good number of prior evenings to spend time with him. That doesn't put him on as much of an edge as not being in a better suit, but still... it's good this is a nice place, and that it should be a pleasant evening.

Aimery was there already, having claimed a table within eyeshot of the door, dropped his hat on the table, and let the server know he was waiting for someone to join him before ordering. When he spotted Eddie —not in green? He almost didn't recognize him— he stood up and waved for him to come over, mouthing his name rather than actually calling to him. Aimery reached out to shake the other man's hand when he neared, "Eddie! It's good to see you."

Ah, there he is! That's a relief. Relief? No, of course he would be here. It'd be stupid for someone to stand him up.

Eddie shakes Aimery's hand and is all smiles. "It's good to see you! Finally! How's your evening?"

He waved for Eddie to sit after their handshake, then settled back into his own chair. For the sake of grinning and good conversation, he ignored that 'finally'.

"It's gone quite well. Better, now that I've good company." He nodded with his chin towards Eddie, "I like the suit."

Eddie removes his hat and sets it down on the table beside the indicated seat, then sits down, at ease. If he's dropping bits of passive-aggression into his words, there's no hint of it in his posture or expression.

"Oh? It's not my usual, is it? Thank you." Yeah, he looks good in less expensive suits, too. That wasn't a concern, totally. "Now, you look sharp, and I am not only saying that as a clever lead-in to mentioning your sword."

"It suits you," he said with a fond smile, intending it as a genuine compliment. So what, if it wasn't objectively the best suit? Black was as good a color for Eddie as green. Aimery's smile turned more proud when he was complimented, his gaze and hand dropping to his sword to adjust it under the table. "Had you not seen my sword before? It's the same I arrived with, I've not been to a forge or purchased a new one yet. I'm saving up."

"This is the second time I've seen you in person, here," Eddie mentions. "So it's novel. But not out of place, and I like it, even if it's not the new, awesome one, yet." There, and now on the matter of old swords and second-best suits, they are even. Eddie leans back in his seat.

"For the work schedule you're keeping, I certainly hope saving up wouldn't take too long."

He nodded in thanks for the compliment and continued to attempt to ignore Eddie's passive aggressive snipes, though he was starting to crave a drink. Aimery looked around as he answered (with some passive aggressiveness of his own), hoping to make eye contact with a server and draw them over. "Suits, entertainment, and furnishing a room to my standards takes up most of my wage even when I'm frugal, but since I've been supplementing my income occasionally, it shouldn't take too long, no."

"If your employment is barely enough to keep up to your standards without supplementing your income..." Because come on, of course he knows what 'supplementing my income occasionally' means. "Why on earth are you on call six days a week to wait on someone hand and foot?"

You know, friendly conversational topics. He follows Aimery's gaze. Yes, drinks would go well with friendly conversation.

Well then. That was harder to ignore. Aimery sighed heavily and leveled an annoyed look at Eddie. "Because I'm suited to it. The job doesn't require me to wait on someone hand and foot, merely cook a few meals a day and keep a manor clean. It takes so little effort that I only work perhaps an hour or two a day, and not only does it pay enough for me to live comfortably, it gives me a beautiful home in one of the safest neighborhoods. Supplementing is to cover luxuries like a handcrafted sword or taking my friends out to fancy bars."

Neither Eddie's tone nor demeanor changes, though now his gaze is on Aimery, and his smile pulls into a smirk. "Only an hour or two a day, hm? Are you going to need a moment to think up new excuses for avoiding your friends, then?"

He leans forward and rests a hand on the edge of the table. If he were in any position to make unspoken threats, this would be when he would imply it. This would be when he'd give Aimery the chance to appease him. But, he's not in that position, and so the mask of good cheer is strained.

"Avoiding? I spend about as much time catering to you as I do working."

The waitress took just that moment to arrive and looked decidedly awkward by her timing, "I'll... give you two some more time-"

"It's fine. Could you bring us a couple glasses of red wine, please?" Aimery asked, turning a sweet, faintly apologetic smile to the woman. She nodded and headed off, and just as quickly, he was back to glaring at Eddie. "I've not avoided you at all."

Eddie falls silent when the waitress arrives. No, it's entirely uncalled for to give her any grief, and he doesn't even comment on not being allowed to pick out what he wants to drink.

He is no longer smiling, and affects a slight sneer, but that's about as much an act as the smile a moment ago, matching the glare Aimery's giving him.

"I was not aware that texting back and for constituted catering to me, but I also don't consider that a substitute to conversation in person," he says. "No, it's true. That's what you've been doing. We would not be having this conversation if it weren't true. We'd have been running around the city finding fun things to do weeks ago."

"I, on the other hand, do consider it to be the same," he answered, his annoyance waning into mild chastising as Eddie seemed to be agreeing with him, though Aimery wasn't sure if it was an attempt at manipulation or not. "I spend as much or more time a day talking to you as I do the men whom I live with and work for. It's unfair to expect me to not only be on call for you throughout the day then, when I do manage time to see you in person and take you somewhere nice on my day off, treat me as if I owe you more."

That was... actually quite cathartic.

Eddie holds up his hands, a few inches from the table, fingers spread, a mitigating gesture, while Aimery talks. Then, he leans back again, subdued, with a glance off to the side.

Then, he says, "You said we were close, but you must realize that this is how I am. But, now you have your abilities, and I... don't have anything to bring to the table. So." His voice slows down. He's not happy, nor snide, and resisting the urge to save face with one act or the other. It makes him tense up. He wants to lash out with the best verbal sparring he can muster and explain exactly how terrible and unforgivable a thing it is to say that to him. He knows if he's supposed to be better that he has to fake the appropriate response. "It's not reasonable for me to make demands of your time."

It's a gorgeous performance. Indeed, as they leave the theater she realizes that she has possibly been a terrible companion -- something in the blood her sire gave her makes the performance of such a cherished art form call to her (like some endlessly reenacted nostalgia, maybe? she doesn't over-wonder at it, only delights in the enthrallment, at being powerless before such perfect beauty). Her only regret, once the curtain closes, is that perhaps the sheer excess of her enrapture may have made her look foolish before one of the few sophisticated gentlemen she's yet met in this city.

Truly, it has been a relief to find Aimery here in Baedal: with every law she once lived by shaken and turned on its head by the absence of the Masquerade, Aimery's gentle, elegant formality feels like a return to civilization.

She turns to him, covering her embarrassment at her behavior in the theatre with self-deprecation. "I don't suppose I need to convince you that I enjoyed the performance."

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/arises from the depths of backtagging: Post-Ballet