(no subject)

[2020sight]

Epimetheus has settled into a table. Feet up on the opposite chair? Check. Whiskey on the table? Check. Guitar in his lap? Check.

A certain un-invitation propped up on the table next to the whiskey, making him snicker every time he glances at it?

Double check.

---

Nita also has a table and a drink, but in her case it's a pot of strong black tea. Her manual is open on the table; it's projecting, in silvery-blue lines, a 3D map of what looks like a series of mountain ranges and canyons. Nita is frowning in concentration -- and a little bemusement -- as the projection slowly pans along a particularly stark set of conical mountains.

---

And last but not least, Carmela has laid claim to a stool at the Bar and ordered a drink that is bright purple, sparkly, and heavily frothed at the top.

She does have a tablet with her that's currently displaying a celebrity gossip website (the text is in no earthly language, but there's something about the formatting that's unmistakably reminiscent of Gawker, and it's just possible that one of the pictures in the article is of a much-loved British actor with great cheekbones). That's just there if she gets bored of people watching, though, and really, what are the odds of that?

[ooc: NaNoWriMo is over! Rejoice with me! Open 'till it scrolls, slowtimes are my favorite thing ever.]

Comments

[nita_callahan]

She looks up, blinking, and gives him a quick grin.

"Oh -- hey, Harry. It's only witchery in the loosest sense of the term."

[valiantrebel]

He leans on his elbows against the back of a chair.

"How may a thing be witchery only partway? Either it is or it isn't, such as these things are. Though I profess myself no expert," he adds, spreading his hands.

[nita_callahan]

"There's hardly anything this" -- she waves at the scrolling projection -- "is doing that can't be accomplished by technology when I come from."

[valiantrebel]

Harry takes another look at the not-entirely-witchy thing sitting in the middle of the table.

"I confess myself lost," he says cheerfully. "Does it much consume thee?"

[nita_callahan]

She laughs.

"Not hugely. Wanna sit?"

[valiantrebel]

Sitting? Sitting is weird and boring.

But she invited him, and they're friends, so he'll oblige her.

He folds his hands to keep from fiddling with something. "I have a question on a matter that has much perplexed me."

[nita_callahan]

"Yeah?" She taps one of the silver-blue lines, making the whole map suddenly collapse and shrink to a single bright point, which floats down to the pages of her manual. "Shoot. I mean, go ahead."

[valiantrebel]

That is enough to make a man startle and forget his question.

Good thing he's got that piece of paper in his hand as a reminder.

He holds it out for her. "This was given me of late."

[nita_callahan]

Nita cocks her head, reaching out and taking the paper.

"By whom?"

[valiantrebel]

"By the Lady Bar." A sort of awkward shrug. "It is from the goddess Aphrodite, or so she has said. I did not think it wise or gentle to refuse."

[nita_callahan]

Nita's eyebrows go up as she reads the invitation.

"Uh, yeah, smart move, I think." She hands the invitation back. "I actually met her here once, and she was perfectly nice. But she's got a reputation, historically."

[valiantrebel]

"I've also met her here. She instructed me in the ways of wooing women." He wrinkles his nose dubiously. "She said that I should be myself and not put on airs or manners."

(That... wasn't entirely what she said, really, but who's counting?)

[nita_callahan]

". . . Y'know, manners are usually still a good idea."

[valiantrebel]

"I know to behave myself." Look how injured he is! "Manners -- mannerisms? Affectations?"

[nita_callahan]

"Oh, okay, right." She grins. "So how's that working out for you?"

[valiantrebel]

Immediately he goes gloomy and resentful. "At least twenty families have received us since October. If Catherine Cantwell's brother Ralph had not challenged me to racing..." He shakes his head and sighs.

Best not to talk about what happened after that.

[nita_callahan]

Nita winces.

"Yikes. And not one girl you liked?"

[valiantrebel]

"Not a one!" He shakes his head. "Some do fine enough, I suppose, but if I should have settled for that, I'd not be part of this folly now." He jabs at the tabletop. "The worse a time I have, the more determined am I that she'll be right when I meet her."

[nita_callahan]

Every once in a while Nita is reminded of just how glad she is to be living in the 21st century.

"So, what, do you believe in love at first sight? You'll know she's right when you meet her?"

[valiantrebel]

"Not at first sight." Come on, Nita, it's not going to happen with this face. "But I will know her when I find her." He chuckles. "We shall most like be at each other's throats."

[nita_callahan]

Nita blinks -- and then laughs, fondly, looking down at her hands.

"Yeah, sounds about right."

(She misses Ronan sometimes. She ought to give him a call.)

"I hope you can tell the difference between 'I think you're great' belligerence and 'take a long walk off a short pier' belligerence, though."

[valiantrebel]

He laughs too. "I'faith, well enough, and hardly for want of exposure."

(He watches her study her hands with interest. That he's curious about the scars is certain, but he's soldier enough to know that one does not ask about such things, those stories are volunteered.)

[nita_callahan]

"Gotten a lot of genuine belligerence?"

[valiantrebel]

"There's many a man with not two right ideas about the world to rub together."

What makes you say that?

[nita_callahan]

"Thank God you're there to point out their folly," she says, very dry.