(no subject)

[phedredelaunay]

Phedre did not appreciate being stood up. When someone made an appointment, it meant that she kept her evening open. And so now... there was nothing. She might have gone to Hannibal instead, but... well, he was probably with Alcuin.

She also didn't like just hanging around in the lobby in the hopes someone might come in and want her. And she suspected the other girls didn't care for having her as competition either.

So she put a light coat on over her shift dress and went down the street to the pub. Had a glass of wine by herself. Perhaps that would be all it was, or perhaps she wouldn't remain alone.

Comments

[daoine_prince]

It was no one's fault, but Willy had been wounded. Wounded by a memory. A scab torn off a wound that would never heal. He knew that with time, her memory would fade again. The torment of her loss wouldn't steal his breath.

It put him in a dark mood with dark tastes. He'd spent the past two days poured across cushions, smoking the poppy liquor with the Seance. That had held the darkness off, but the pirate king had come and taken his friend. The fae had sobered and set out looking for another distraction.

He saw her hair first. Brilliant in the sunset.

Willy fell into step behind her, his long strides catching him up quickly.

"Phedre..." he called when he was close enough to reach out.

[phedredelaunay]

Phedre turned her head to him.

"Willy," she said, and smiled. "What a lovely surprise."

[daoine_prince]

"How much coin for your love tonight?" he asked, in no mood for subtleties.

Unusual for the fae to lead with money...

[phedredelaunay]

Phedre looked a touch surprised, because that was indeed unusual as far as she understood. But she named a price and added, "You're fortunate, I was stood up by a client tonight."

[daoine_prince]

"What fortune," he said.

He gestured the way she had been going.

"Would you like to dine first?"

[phedredelaunay]

Phedre shook her head. "Not unless you'd like to," she said.

He seemed... eager. Perhaps this was good fortune.

[daoine_prince]

"Give me wine in your bed," he said, then offered her his arm to escort her back to her rooms.

[phedredelaunay]

Phedre led him through the brothel, stopping only to tell someone that he was here, and then brought him to the same room he'd been too before. Her favorite.

She closed the door, and then went to a shelf and picked up a bottle of wine. "Tell me how you are feeling tonight, my friend," she said as she poured.

[daoine_prince]

The fae did not lie, but rarely were they ever candid. Willy was quiet as she poured, then smelled the wine she handed to him.

"I am grieving," he decided to say. "A loss from long ago. I want to chase the memory away."

At least for the moment.

[phedredelaunay]

"I see," Phedre said, and poured another glass for herself. "Well I am very happy to offer whatever distraction would most please you." And she meant it, too. She liked Willy.

[daoine_prince]

Willy considered her for a moment, then wet his lips.

"Has anyone ever shared their pain with you, anguisette? Have you ever touched a Daoine heart?" he asked.

Something about the question seemed...threatening.

[phedredelaunay]

"I do not understand what that means," Phedre said truthfully. "So I assume the answer is no."

[daoine_prince]

"To share grief, agony, longing, raw love untargeted...it is deeply intimate for my kind," he explained. "But to share it with a mortal is...quite painful. I thought you, of all people, may enjoy such a bond."

[phedredelaunay]

"And you would want to... bond with me?" Phedre asked.

[daoine_prince]

Sorrow deepened his gaze.

"I would like to, yes. Perhaps some good can come of it."

[phedredelaunay]

Phedre reached to touch his face. "I would like to help you."

[daoine_prince]

willy nodded once.

"Tell me, Phedre...have you ever had a broken heart?"

[phedredelaunay]

Phedre honestly wasn't sure how to answer that question for a second. "I... not.... very broken. Bruised, perhaps." She'd never let herself get that close.