Snamish

[Porcelain Fish]

Maduin let out a sigh, smile vanishing, and grabbed Brad by one ear, peeling him off of Lillith and heading for a nearby sitting room with a convenient door. "Come on Waggley-Tail. We're going to have a serious chat in small words."

[Jack Rothwell]

"I'll be glad to be moving along from this place." Eli murmured, his voice carrying a little too loudly in the oppressive space from comfort. "Never liked tight spaces, it always brings out paranoia in me." A rock clattered noisily underfoot as if to illustrate the half-elf's point, he ducked under a low ceiling and repressed a shudder.

"Still I'm surprised to see a couple on the road." He continued, looking back at Rose and Argus. "Romance and travel are often hard to juggle. Are you planning on marriage? Snamish would be a pretty setting, and I know a priestess who could perform the ceremony." He gave the pair an encouraging smile.

[Drannin]

Argus blushed, nearly turning completely red. "Er... that is..." He looked to Rose for help, only to see a similar expression on her face. "Well... you see... um..."
How exactly did he word this? Especially when he wasn't exactly certain what they 'were' right now?

"Um... that's fine, thank you... uh... we weren't, uh..." He turned frantically to Rose for help.

[Graybeard]

Uncharacteristic annoyance was the next emotion to march across Brad's open face. Why was this strange little man taking him away from the woman he loved? "Okay, so talk," he said curtly, as soon as he and Maduin had some privacy.

--------------

As soon as Sister Rose recovered from the (considerable) shock of Eli's question, the playful side of her personality, never far from the surface, gave serious consideration to giving Argus' hand a reassuring squeeze and smiling shyly. However, that really wouldn't do. Eli was misjudging the situation. (Wasn't he?) It was woefully premature to be thinking about such things. (Wasn't it?) And besides ...

"Thanks for the offer," she finally smiled back, "but I don't think spending a honeymoon talking to the Cardinal Inquisitor in Umbertiel is my idea of fun." To put it mildly. That should at least buy a little time for us to get back to town, and maybe the subject will be forgotten... "So how is it that you're friendly with this priestess?"

[Porcelain Fish]

[OOC]GB, I hope you don't mind me taking Brad for a spin, but I think he needs his man-card back. It can be retconned of course if you like.[/OOC]

"First of all, don't ever address me in that fashion," Maduin said blandly, letting go of Brad's ear long enough to shove him into a chair. He straddled Brad's lap, put his elbows on the Veracian's chest, and got a good hold on his nose. "Now pay attention. We're going to go over some very basic training."

"What-"

Maduin gave Brad's head a good shake. "Focus. You can jabber mindlessly later. Now, when I say, Lillith - you're wrong, you're going to say-"

Brad's bright green eyes lit up at the mention of his beloved's name. "Lillith-"

"No, Brad. Focus." Maduin gave Brad's head another shake via the convenient grip on his nose. "When I say "Lillith, you're wrong," you're going to say "No, you're wrong Maduin, and you're stupid! Say it just like that."

Brad's brow crinkled in confusion. "But-"

Shake

Maduin waited until Brad's few scattered wits had conglomerated once more into a vague semblance of sentience. "Lillith, you're wrong," he said patiently.

"But Lillith-"

Shake

"Lillith, you're wrong," Maduin repeated.

"No, you're wrong Maduin, and you're stupid." Brad fumbled a little bit over the words, regarding the fingers clamped around his nose warily and clearly anticipating another involuntary headshake.

"Good," Maduin said brightly. "Now, with feeling. Lillith, you're wrong."

"No, you're wrong Maduin," Brad said more emphatically, hastily adding "And you're stupid."

"That's it. Say it like you mean it! Lillith, you're wrong!"

"No, you're wrong Maduin, and you're stupid!" Brad practically shouted, a smile starting to cross his face as he really got into the exercise.

"Lillith," Maduin said with genuine relish, "You're wrong!"

"No, you're wrong Maduin, and you're stupid!"

"Good." Maduin let go of Brad's nose and patted him on the cheek with a fond smile. "Now take your hands off my hips, and if you ever get off on touching me again, I will cut it off."

Brad blinked, glanced down between them, and then flushed a dark beet red and removed his hands. Maduin got up and opened the door, crossing to Lillith.

"Lillith, you're-" He'd been about to say going to like the new and improved Brad, but he didn't get a chance.

"No Maduin, you're wrong and you're stupid!" Brad thundered triumphantly from the doorway of the sitting room, obviously having made an adjustment to his trouser accommodations.

"Well," Maduin said after a moment into the dead silence that followed, glancing back at the dark-haired, green-eyed, broadly-grinning Veracian. "It's a start at least."

[Jack Rothwell]

"So how is it that you're friendly with this priestess?"

Eli shrugged. "Fourty years of living in the same town gives a man plenty of opportunity to get to know people. The old folks insisted on taking me to the temples and the ceremonies when I was a child until the habit was ingrained. The lady in question runs a small temple in my neighbourhood, she's nice, wise, non-judgemental, certainly liberal enough to wed a pair of humans on their visit."

[Drusia]

"So how is it that you're friendly with this priestess?"

Eli shrugged. "Fourty years of living in the same town gives a man plenty of opportunity to get to know people. The old folks insisted on taking me to the temples and the ceremonies when I was a child until the habit was ingrained. The lady in question runs a small temple in my neighbourhood, she's nice, wise, non-judgemental, certainly liberal enough to wed a pair of humans on their visit."

OOC: Desiree: "Damn! And here I thought he was talking about me." **Sigh**

[Graybeard]

[OOC:

"So how is it that you're friendly with this priestess?"

Eli shrugged. "Fourty years of living in the same town gives a man plenty of opportunity to get to know people. The old folks insisted on taking me to the temples and the ceremonies when I was a child until the habit was ingrained. The lady in question runs a small temple in my neighbourhood, she's nice, wise, non-judgemental, certainly liberal enough to wed a pair of humans on their visit."

OOC: Desiree: "Damn! And here I thought he was talking about me." **Sigh**

Yeah, certain parts of that description fit Desiree better than others. Also, PF, Brad is an NPC, to be used and abused by others as they see fit. Some of what you did to him might stretch the envelope just a tad, but we can work with it ... /OOC:]

"It's all right, I don't think we're quite -- ready for that," Sister Rose told Eli, starting to blush again. The silence of the next few minutes might have been awkward if they hadn't been passing through one of the more intricate sections of the entrance maze. (Then again, maybe it was a little awkward anyway.)

Once the path became clearer, Rose turned back to the soldier. "If you're coming with us, is there anyone you need to tell? You know, anyone -- in your own household?" She was blushing again, without quite knowing why.

-------------

Brad dusted himself off and tried to regain what was left of his dignity. "Sweetheart, do you have any idea what that was all about? That man is very strange..."

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Want me to retcon? I can make Eli's description about Desiree if you like./OOC

"If you're coming with us, is there anyone you need to tell? You know, anyone -- in your own household?"

"My parents, my younger sister, that's about it" Eli replied. "But, truthfully, they all knew that it was only a matter of time before I packed up and went out into the big, wide world. It won't be a problem." The half-elf considered the other implication of the question Rose had asked. "There's no Mrs Haverum or little Haverum's running around if you were wondering. That's something I'm still working on."

Drips of water fell on the soldier's head, he brushed them off with annoyance. "Give me sunlight." He muttered. "We don't belong down here."

[Graybeard]

"We don't belong down here."

Was that an intended double entendre, or what? Sister Rose wondered. Well, she could sympathize; the underground part of the passage to Snamish always made her mildly uncomfortable. Anyway, the light of day, and the descent of the final gulch, weren't far away. Indeed, fifteen minutes later they were emerging near Snamish ... to be met by Benedict.

"I -- think it would be best if you plan to take Lillith with you," he said, a hesitancy in his voice that Rose found very unlike her father-in-law.