FromTheMountainToTheSeaIndex From the Mountain to the Sea Aura gives her mother's arm a squeeze and gives the pair a wink as she takes her cloak back from Lorius again. "I have some business down at the docks." Gerard responds. "If you would consider a view of the city and some of the ships of the fleet interesting, then your wish may be granted." "I am from Atlantis, handsome," Aura grins devilishly. "Of *course* I want to see the ships." She swirls the purple cloak about her shoulders and looks expectantly up at Gerard. "And I should see the City while I have the chance, since I will be going to Rebma soon." "From Atlantis." Gerard says. "To use a phrase I once heard Florimel's daughter use, 'I Don't even know what that means'" He then laughs, a booming laugh and waves a dismissive hand. On Gerard, its about as subtle as the waving of a large weapon. "I'll be happy to show you," she offers cheerfully. She masterfully ignores Nick's retreating snicker. "If his Majesty is going to package you off to Rebma…" Gerard continues. "I am surprised that you aren't more interested in the family secret first." Gerard gestures in the direction of one of the side doors and then briefly claps his hand on Aura's back. It's not *quite* a bone-jarring move. It still makes her earrings swing. But Aura has to gather herself to overcome the sudden bout of light headedness that changes her smile to something a bit more... let's say predatory. "Come, o Atlantean. This way. We can trade questions on our journey. Ladies first, of course." "Excellent," Aura beams. She falls into step beside the wall of a man. as much into step as she can be when his single stride is roughly equal to two of her own. The cloak still sitting on her shoulders swirls around her and does very little in the way of covering her up, unlike before Court. "I've actually been here once before years ago, but I did not really see much of anything outside of my destination." The attempts by Gerard to slow his pace so that Aura can keep up don't quite work. His stride is long and difficult to match, regardless of his attempts to slow it. "Now that is truly unfair, Aura." Gerard says, starting to lead her through a maze of corridors that seem more designed for staff and servants than Family or visitors, judging from the people that make their way for Gerard (and by extension, Aura). "I gave you the right of first question, and but with a single comment, you have given yet more fodder for mine own. You are, it would seem, well trained by your mother. And diametrically different than your brother." She opens her cloak with a dramatic flourish of one arm and smirks. "I should hope so. So. A question you want. Hmm.... what to ask, what to ask..." Gerard slows his gait to now slow, ponderous steps, and he looks. He gives Aura a most un-uncle, but definitely appraising look. Never one for beating around the bush, Aura looks up at him and smiles. "Tell me; would you ever consider having a steamy affair with a terribly talented Atlantean?" Gerard stops in his tracks, and regards Aura for a long moment. "Portia would kill me." he says. It does not sound at all like a denial to her. Aura stops and gives him a slow once over. She quirks an eyebrow when she looks up into his eyes again. "I doubt that. I may be new here but I am not uninformed. Lorius has been more then happy to fill me in on the various cousins and all the details of parentage." She smiles. "You know where to find me if you change your mind." "Indeed." Gerard says noncommittally. He does give Aura another once over before looking forward and resuming his slow progress leading Aura toward an exit. She begins walking again. "I believe it's your turn to ask a question." "Several come to mind with what you have said and implied." Gerard says. He pauses "And what you have intimated." Aura inclines her head in an abbreviated bow and gives him a smile that is both inviting and challenging. A flurry of servants in green and gold get out of the way as Gerard makes his way past them. Like two currents around a rock, they split and form up again behind Aura as Gerard continues along. "When did your mother sneak you into the Castle to walk the Pattern?" "Is difficult to say with any exactness," Aura replies thoughtfully. "Time runs much faster in Atlantis. Oberon was still around though." "The Family Secret you were referring to earlier was the Pattern, oui?" "Probably at least 50 years or even more." Gerard says, regarding Aura. "Yes, the not so well kept family secret is the Pattern. Enough tales have spread about it...why, for example, my newly found son not only walked the Pattern, but walked the mostly dangerous of the three." "You, Aura, seem to have been born and raised in shadow, then snuck into Amber by your mother to walk the Pattern, and then you went skipping back to your world. Which begs another question or three, but I believe the next question is now yours..." At this point in the conversation, the two have reached a side entrance to the Castle that seems to open out onto a list or training area of some kind. A couple of guards salute Gerard as he steps out. As Aura crosses the threshold, a sudden stumble sends her into Gerards' grasp. He raises an eyebrow after he effortlessly catches her and sets her on her feet on the cool grass outside the Castle. Gripping his arm as well as her small hand can, Aura appears genuinely shaken if the paleness under her tan is anything to go by - and possibly in a little pain. Taking a deep breath, she lays a hand over her heart. "May I borrow your Trump of Lorius? Mine are in my room..." Gerard has a brief look of surprise cross his face. He nods, and his hand reaches to a small leather case attached to his belt. One handed, with the other holding Aura upright, he opens and pulls out a set of Trump cards. The Unicorn on green faces Aura as he looks through the cards, and finally offers one of Lorius. "Is that all you need?" he asks, a note of concern entering his voice. "Merci," she says with a faint smile. "This should only take a moment. If it will not make you late for anything, I would appreciate you patience." Slowly she lets go of his arm. Once she is certain she won't keel over, she focuses on her cousin's portrait. The uneasiness that Aura experienced is fading by the time she finally lets go of Gerard's arm and starts to pay attention to Lorius' trump. After a surprising short time, the connection is made. Lorius is sitting on a divan, leaning over and looking at a map or chart of some sort. Mother is just visible as well, sitting beside him. "Your daughter, oddly enough" he says aloud. And then, continuing to speak aloud. "You didn't miss me *already*, surely?" he says to Aura. And then he looks a little more discerning. "You look a little peaked." She smiles faintly and speaks without voicing it. ~My connection with Nick cut off rather abruptly when I stepped foot outside,~ she explains. ~Is he alright? He is -- hiding on Mother, Or he was. Would you check on him?~ "As. You. Wish." Lorius says, with a slight smirk resuming on his countenance. This is replaced by a little more concerned look as he furrows his eyebrows and looks around. "Found him." Lorius says, reaching down. Nick is dazed, unconscious, and perfectly blending on the rug in the room. "Found whom?" Deirdre asks aloud. "Your daughter's familiar. Seems that their connection was snapped..." Lorius stops in mid sentence. Nick resumes his normal coloration and opens his eyes uncertainly, blinking his eyes up at Lorius. He tries to get up, and then collapses back to a prone position, shaking his head. The son of Fiona places him on the divan next to him and then turns his attention back to Aura. "Just as you stepped outside the Castle?" he says. "Must have been a spell ward Mom set up on the Castle, your spell got severed abruptly and harshly once you crossed it, and the both of you took the backlash, Aura." "Your mother's doing." Deirdre agrees, a cold tone in her voice. "I'd recommend you take it easy for a bit, Aura." Lorius advises Get some protein and salt into you. Have Gerard buy you some lunch. I'd also recommend..." Lorius switches to a mental voice *not trying to seduce Uncle Gerard for at least the next two hours* She coughs. *But didn't you just tell me to get lots of protein and salt?* she sends sweetly. Lorius relaxes at Aura's response.
"Oui," Aura grimaces. "Merci, Lorius. Tell Nick if he behaves, there is rum in it for him when I return."
She gives him a wink, then passes her hand over the card. And so the connection ends. Smiling, she turns to Gerard. "Thank you," says she as she returns his card to him. "I just had to check on my familiar. But everything is well. Although Lorius says you are to take me to lunch." She smiles. "Now, where were we?" "Lorius has told me to take you to lunch." The large man shakes his head in a clear look of disbelief as he takes the card. "I don't know how my son gets along with him." he mutters. Aura's smile breaks the brief grumbling look on Gerard's face and brightens it as he continues. "Now, if you and your familiar are all right, I was going to take you down to the city." Gerard says. He begins his long strides, trusting Aura to follow along toward the front of the Castle and the stables as he continues to speak. "I was going to have us ride down, but perhaps a carriage, or a trump might be the better option." he looks at Aura inquisitively. She hums thoughtfully. "While I would love to ride -" she pauses to smirk at him before continuing "-Starfire, alas, would be likely vexed at me if I took her from her warm stable so soon. Atlantean horses are hardier then they look, but she has never been anywhere with this type of chill in the air. I would prefer a carriage." Her smile became playful. "I wouldn't want to miss the scenic route." "Chill?" Gerard laughs, a booming, friendly sound that echoes like a big drum. "You haven't yet been here in the true depths of winter, my little niece. Or met Hadrian. He considers this positively tropical." "Poor sod," Aura mutters. "A carriage ride you have asked for, and one you shall get." he promises. Gerard soon leads Aura toward the stables. Five people, led by William, are just leaving and heading down the mountain on horseback. The Atlantean gives the group a nod of recognition. "We'll take the hansom carriage." Gerard instructs one of the stable hands. "The Princess is not in favor of the chill of the day. Go fetch Mattlock, he'll do as a driver. And we'll take Adel today to pull us. She needs the exercise." Stable hands busy themselves, two bringing forward a tall, gray standardbred mare, and two heading to a side building to reveal a small carriage in gold and green. Aura looks at Gerard's size and then at the hansom cab. She looks sceptical that a man his size can ride in one of those comfortably. Then again, it could be cozy. As they do so, sensing her nearby presence, Starfire snorts from deep inside the stables. She's been housed near the center, and presumably warmest part of the building. "I'll be right back," Aura says suddenly. She moves swiftly into the stable, searching out her opalescent mare. Gerard nods and walks over in the direction of the emerging hansom. "Hey girl," she says warmly, stroking the mare's gleaming head. "It's a bit nippy out - despite what everyone who lives here keeps saying. We'll go out tomorrow for a little while. When the sun is high." She focuses a moment and then plucks from the air one of Starfire's favorite Atlantean candies. "I have to go now," she says as she offers the sweet to her horse. " I'll be back." With another affectionate pat, she leaves to return to Gerard. Starfire seems to have calmed down with the attention and the sweet, and by the time Aura emerges from the stables, the hansom is out, hitched to Adel. Gerard stands at the open door, a hand waiting for Aura to enter the carriage ahead of him. Inside, once Gerard follows Aura into the carriage, Aura's instincts are right. It IS very cozy in there. Gerard knocks on the top of the carriage, and the driver starts off. Aura is just fine with cozy. She tosses her cloak over her shoulders and shifts the front piece of her 'skirt' to one side so she can cross her legs at the knee without worrying about wrinkling the fabric. It has nothing to do with how very much skin this further exposes. The fact that Gerard gives her legs a glance is completely a coincidence as well. "Now, if I am going to listen to your cousin, I am supposed to see you fed. I doubt that strictly Atlantean cuisine is something we'll find in Amber--until you take steps in that direction, but what precisely were you hungry for, Aura?" She quirks an eyebrow, smirking at him. "Regarding food, that is." Gerard grins as the carriage passes through the entrance to the Castle and begins a switchback road down the mountain toward the city. "Foo," she pouts fetchingly, before that expression shifts to a superbly innocent one. "Lorius suggested plenty of salt and protein." Gerard raises an eyebrow at Aura's change of demeanor to innocence, as if not completely buying it. However, his first response to Aura's words is a belly laugh. "Then there is no help for it. Our cheeky little relation has made the choice simple and direct. I presume that he means for you to have some fish and pomme frites, rather than simply eating some salted peanuts." "I'm not at all sure that is what he meant," says Aura with a look of mystification. Likely feigned. "Madame Oriel's restaurant on Pereland Lane." he says loudly to the driver, as the carriage begins its descent down that switchback road that leads up the mountain. With each tooth of the switchback, the city, laid out and running from the harbor to lapping up the mountain comes closer and closer. "Our relations who hail from technologically more advanced and populous shadows consider the city to be small and primitive." Gerard says, pointing out Aura's window, and letting his other hand balance itself on her shoulder. "How do you find it?" She looks obediently out the window while leaning ever so slightly against his hand. "It's all very..." Aura frowns lightly. "I don't believe I have ever seen a city so.... well, it's not very //colorful// is it?" She looks up at Gerard. "It isn't meant as an insult, but the local stones and woods are limited to a narrow band of the spectrum, oui? It will take some getting used to. I'm sure once I know it better, it will become colorful in a completely different way." Gerard's fingers flex, slowly and carefully as his hand continues to rest on the perch of Aura's shoulder. "I am not certain what you mean by limited to a narrow band of the spectrum." Gerard replies. "As far as the local stone, its mostly granite, some marble. Importing more exotic stone is costly. As far as woods, I leave the expertise of *that* to my brother Julian and his children. They could tell you better if there are strange colored trees in the depths of Arden's shadows that no one but they trod." "Is Atlantis' building materials that much more colorful?" Gerard asks. "Lorius has never mentioned Atlantis and what it is like. Neither did your mother, before..." Gerard stops speaking. "Well she wouldn't have," Aura says matter of factly. "No one was to know until she was ready for them to. Lorius was a surprise..." "But yes," she continues. "Our most common tree is blue for a start." "Lorius was a surprise. Now that is four words that describes HIM to complete perfection." Gerard says. "Blue trees, huh? Well, some of the pine trees up on the peaks of the Kolvir range have blue-green needles, but the bark will remain brown." "I am not sure what my brother would think of truly blue trees." Gerard says reflectively. The carriage at this stage has just about finished the switchbacks, the sides of the road now lined with upscale several story houses. The architecture, with few windows and relatively compact forms, definitely suggests that the open warm-weather loving architecture of Atlantis would not work here in any month save summer. Assuming that summers were actually warm here... "Aside from estates outside the city." Gerard says. "the well to do of various Noble Houses and enterprises build structures up the mountain in the direction of the Castle. To be close to the Castle is to show your wealth and power." he explains. She nods while her warm shoulder moves slightly under his hand. "That makes sense for places that have a class system. You can't have just anybody living so near to the Royalty." Aura looks out the window at one particularly impressive structure. "Things are very closed up here," she observes. "But that is a product of the weather, I take it." "That's the Mayor's Residence." Gerard says as he notes Aura's interest in the dark red stone building. A stray pinky responds to her shoulder movement by grazing the side of her neck with the pad of the tip. "Random has allowed the same Mayor to remain in charge of the city since Dad's day, although my brother's methods of keeping him in line are far different." Aura hums thoughtfully. Her head tilts just so, giving him a longer length of tanned neck to travel along. "And yes, the weather here can be most inclement...especially in the winter." he adds as the carriage passes by. "This place of Atlantis with its strange colored woods and rock, Aura. I would wager that snow is as foreign and rare there as blue colored wood would be here." Gerard asks. "Or at the very least, you've never spent a blizzard-buried night in a large bed, underneath a bearskin blanket." She smiles at him from under her lashes. "Is that an invitation?" The traveling finger stops briefly. Gerard's smile is blazing, not in the sense of a bright star in the sky, but more like a burning fire, a force of nature. "I think, Aura, that if the winter turns and there is a spring snowstorm this year, you might be too cold to take advantage of..." Gerard pauses. "such an invitation." "If I am warm in a large bed under a mound of furs and you, I think I can manage," she smirks. "Not that I need an excuse." "You haven't answered my question though." Gerard says, raising his eyebrow just a fraction. "Or were you going to propose some sort of counter invitation?" "I have seen snow twice in my life; once on the trip here," Aura replies. "And once on a distant mountain top." "Hmmm." Gerard considers this. One nail runs along the sharp crease on his slacks down the length of his thigh. "Have you ever been with someone while being able to feel what they feel, and they your feelings? Shared every intimate touch, ever current, every pleasure?" Gerard exhales slightly. His stance as he sits shifts slightly "No, seductive little minx that you are." he says. "I have never been part of such a." Gerard closes his eyes in thought. His finger on Aura's throat still moves however. "gestalt. Yes, that is the word, is it not?" "It is a good word," she replies huskily. Her nails still exploring the weave of the fabric. His finger traces over //that spot// on the curve of her neck and she almost purrs. "The real question is, do you want to be a part of something so profound?" Gerard's finger stops, but he does not remove it from her neck. He also attempts some self control, keeping the rest of his body stock still and non reactive as a thoughtful, pondering look comes across his face. He does not answer for nineteen seconds. Finally, his response is his free fist, pounding the top of the carriage. "Take us to Musgrave instead." Aura looks on with a Mona Lisa smile and hooded eyes. The carriage makes a turn at the next intersection, and has picked up the pace. "I cannot promise cuisine at my townhouse to match a fine restaurant. However, I suspect, Fiona's son notwithstanding, you are not that interested in haute cuisine after all. If you've decided to cross the Rubicon, little Aura." Gerard growls, a sound that seems more suited to a large, powerful bear than a man. The finger that touches the spot reaches and gently tugs at a curl of her hair "then cross it you shall. Soon." "I'll take that as a yes then," she replies with a slow, sultry smile. Her magic is almost singing in response to those two small, but very Alpha actions that are the growl and the tugging on her hair. She can feel it tingling just under the surface. Some might consider this a drawback, but raised in the magic of Atlantis, Aura has quite a different view of it. "Yes" Gerard says simply, strongly. He withdraws his finger, and his hand on her for the moment and withdraws. The physical intimacy might be diminished for the time being, but there is a new note in the carriage. Sitting back in his corner of the cozy carriage, he cannot completely withdraw from being close to her, but the new position allows him to review, look and rake over Aura with his eyes. His gaze is piercing avaricious, carnivorous, and definitely dominant. Outside the buildings of Amber city, and now its denizens, stream by, completely and utterly ignored by the man sizing up Aura on the other side of the comfy carriage. Aura carries on as if nothing has changed. She still looks out the window now and again, but her focus is on the man taking up most of the carriage. Her hand has moved back to herself, but it isn't still. Her fingers caress the Atlantean Fire Gem around her neck. The colors in its depths dance high just as the sensations rising within herself. She looks over at him again and smiles invitingly. She was the one who had started this game; she certainly isn't backing down now. The terrain continues to flow past. Aura can feel the carriage turn, twice, and the sounds of the city becoming a little less pronounced than the louder volume that had briefly flared into full activity. Its clear, behind him, that this is a quieter, more private, more secluded area of the busy city. The carriage moves on stolidly, implacably. Gerard for his part watches every motion that Aura makes. He inhales deeply but not sharply. A small smile crosses his face as the carriage turns once more, and past a low gate toward what must be now an imminently reached destination. "Tell me about the jewel. Is it part of this sensual gestalt that you have promised? " Gerard finally says. "Possibly," she answers coyly. "It is an Atlantean Fire Gem. All born to Atlantis wear them. We are gifted with them at our Naming and they bonded to us. We wear them always. They are many things to us, and can tell us much about another person by their shape and what we see in the depths of their Fires. To visit the caves from which they are mined is a most breathtaking experience." Aura pulls the chain bearing hers away from her but doesn't take it off, allowing the elegantly curved flame shaped stone to dangle freely on its gold chain. The dancing fires within it calm now that it is away from her skin, but they are still there, flicking within the blackness of the stone's heart. "Sometimes, one not born of Atlantis is gifted with one if they are somehow dear to the people of Atlantis, or have defended Atlantis is some great manner. Mother has one. It was given to her the day I was born. But it is not blood bound to her, and I don't think she was ever fully indoctrinated in their lore." "Your mother gave you to Atlantis." Gerard says. "Of course they would give her a gem in exchange for such a thing. Even if she is not fully educated in its lore. I must admit." Gerard looks thoughtful "I have never seen her wear the like. The fact that Lorius does not have one is completely unsurprising." Aura laughs. "It has been discussed. But then he goes and does something like crashing a space ship into the bay, disrupting the ecosystem of the reef and throwing up enough dust into the air to turn day into night." Gerard looks absolutely surprised. This stops him for a long moment, which ends when he decides to return to the subject of the jewel. "What should I be seeing in this fire?" Gerard says, reaching forward to let his fingers brush the gem extended out on its chain. "What does your fire say about you, if I were an Atlantean and educated in their lore?" "It is shaped like the flame," she smiles. "Senseous flowing curves and tempremental. But I cannot give all my secrets away on the first date. Some things you will have to learn through expereince." "The wisdom of Woman." Gerard says. The carriage has slowed down as it approaches a porte-cochere which extends out from the main body of the townhouse. With its imposing side, and thin columns, it might be classified as a Federal style house. Aura drops the stone to lay once again between her breasts where the fires within its inky depths dance high around the edges, while the inner blue picks up the elevated rhythm of her heartbeat. She looks out the window then back at Gerard. "It suits you." "Thank you." Gerard says. "Sooner or later, most of the Family acquire property of their own in the City, or outside of it. Or even given as a gift. Sometimes too many of us under the same roof for too long can be trying." "Given time, I am sure you will do the same." he adds. "I imagine it will not be very long at all," Aura admits. "I find the architecture of the castle repressive." "That's a thornier problem." Gerard admits. "It was built for War and remains that to this day. Not even Florimel would dare to suggest otherwise." The carriage comes to a stop, and a few moments later, the driver opens the door on Gerard's side. He steps out and offers a large hand to Aura to disembark. A puff of cold air, moist with the promise of rain blows past Gerard and into the carriage onto Aura. Aura shivers and pulls the cloak closed around before putting a delicate hand in Gerard's much larger one. She steps down lightly and looks up at the sky. "Do you get thunderstorms here?" she asks curiously. "Despite being an island, Atlantis never gets anything fierce. I have to go to Persa or Etrusca to experience great thundering storms, and I do quite adore thunderstorms and all that power crackling in the air. I find them .... invigorating." The smile she gives him leaves no doubt at all as to just how she means that. Gerard booms with laughter. "I think my brother would be suspicious if I asked him to use the jewel just to make a thunderstorm this afternoon. And Amber gets plenty of thunderstorms without it. More of a summertime phenomenon, however." "I shall keep that in mind," she grins. As he says this, he brings Aura to the door, which has already been opened by a man in livery. Not the gold and green of the Unicorn that she saw in the Castle itself, but rather they are clad in blue and grey. "Aarre" he says to the middle aged man who stands at the door. "See to it that the fire in the Den is roaring and that there is wine. Withdraw and come back with food in an hour." "Yes, sir." Aarre replies. He gives a bow of the head to Gerard and doesn't look directly at him, or Aura. Gerard looks speculatively at Aura and then back at the servant. "Aarre." he says. "Make that an hour and a half." Aura smirks and lets her eyes wander again. "Oh, you best make it two..." "Milord?" Aarre says, looking at Aura. "Two." Gerard says. "You can stop looking at the lady's figure, Aarre." Gerard says. "Go." Aura gives the man a blinding smile. Not that he can see much, bundled in her cloak as she is. The man in blue and grey holds the door long enough for Gerard and Aura to step into the vestibule that lies beyond the door, and then turns and proceeds through it and into rooms beyond, and gone. The door swings shut, putting away the chill of the morning. "The staff here are loyal, and discreet, but I do not give them the opportunity to be voyeurs." Gerard says, taking two fingers and using them to lift Aura's chin to regard him. She gives him a sultry smile that is far too easy to be anything but natural. "But of course," says she while shrugging off her cloak. It drops only to be caught by the one hand behind her back. The rest of the rich purple pools artfully around her feet. "Is this your way of saying this is our little secret?" "Any such trysts between us are our business and our business alone." He steps forward and his free hand snakes around her waist to hold the hand that is already behind her back in place. He pins the hand against the small of her back, and coincidentally draws her closer to him in the bargain. "Your mother or others may guess or speculate, but this is our secret, and ours alone." Her breath hitches slightly at the contact. Aura had never been one drawn to the muscle bound hulks she had encountered. Normally she preferred the more intellectually inclined men; not that Kovikin's body was anything to sneeze at. But this man... "Just so we understand each other before we go into my den." She can see Gerard nod to someone or something just out of the corner of her vision. "I do not make it a habit of bragging on my ...conquest to all and sundry," Aura replies a tad archly despite the way her pupils are dilated. Although she fully intends to share all the juicy little details with Adonia. But Adonia was leagues away in Atlantis and was in no position to feed rumors in Amber, nor was she inclined to share Aura's business. "Good" Gerard replies. He does not slacken his grip. Aura smiles then and smoothes her free hand up Gerard's arm. "Shall we take this to the den now?" "Yes" His skin is warm and receptive to her hand's touch. He maneuvers with a grace and dexterity perhaps a little bit unexpected in a muscle bound mountain of a man, snaking Aura loose from the close press, but he does not let her go too far, maneuvering her to a position beside him, arm and hand in his own. So arrayed, he walks forward, leading Aura from the vestibule. Out of the vestibule, and through a large central room that seems to act like a navigation point, complete with a staircase up to the second floor, Gerard leads Aura to the left far corner of this great room, stepping lightly on the rug depicting a stylized unicorn. Aura had simply glided along where she was led, her cloak trailing behind her like an elegant train. Used to the soaring arched or vaulted ceilings of her homeland, the scale wasn't too much of a surprise. She is rather pleased by it. Through the dark wood door awaits a much warmer, and less titanic room. Of a scale much less intimidating than the large room just left, this room boasts bookcases, a writing desk, some comfortable leather padded chairs, and a crackling fireplace. Near to this crackling fireplace is a nest of cushions, pillows and what looks like to be a very thick and plush skin of something large, white, and furred. Gerard lets Aura go briefly, to survey the room, and for him to walk over to a sideboard where the promised wine bottle, and glasses await. She takes a moment to take it all in. It is a rather handsome room. She moves to one of the chairs and lays her cloak over the back of it. Eyeing the fur and pillows, she has to wonder just how often he brings women here. It's more a curiosity then anything. She doesn't really care one way or the other as she moves to stand near the fire and soak up the warmth.. "Here" Gerard says, striding over to where Aura warms herself. He offers her one of the glasses of wine. The wine is of a hue of purple so dark so as to be almost black. "One of the breed of Bayles that is less common than Bayles Best or Bayle's Piss. Not many appreciate its strong flavor." He takes a long sip of his own glass. She smiles her thanks and takes a sip of the wine, letting to flow over her tongue as she savors the taste of it. Her mind seems to be elsewhere for a moment. It is indeed a very strong flavor that the wine has, as advertised. It tastes of raisins, and black currants. "And we're both badly overdressed, don't you find?" he adds. Aura smiles at him over her glass and tilts her head to one side with a thoughtful hum. "As you say," she smirks and raises one hand. With a snap of her fingers Aura's ensemble flows into a cloud of purple smoke that curls around her, ruffling her now free hair before it settles itself into the chair where her cloak hangs. Her body is not one of a woman who has spent all her time studying her craft; a lineless tan and a couple of interesting body piercings decorate the toned and defined curvy bundle of womanhood. Her Fire Gem nestles in the valley between perfect breasts. Gerard regards the now under dressed Aura. Now his gaze turns rakish, piercing, and hungry. She curls her toes into the fur rug and sinks gracefully down onto a cushion. She sips her wine again and gives a negligent wave in Gerard's direction. Her magic wraps around him, warm and caressing as a tropical breeze. There is a faint scent of sandalwood and roses in the curls of tinted smoke. He is shortly no longer overdressed. Gerard looks down at the effect of Aura's spell. This of course gives Aura an opportunity to see the mountain of a man as well as he can see her. "So she's not the only one who has scents in her spellcraft." he says, to no one at all. Gerard takes another sip of the wine in his glass, sets it aside, and advances toward where she sits with purpose. And here, we will fade to black... Backlinks |
