Private Tales The Lonely Hearts Club

[Ceilidh Trahan]

"What are you doing, Cece?"

Ceilidh Trahan immediately pulled further away from Asemir and looked down, red blossoming on her cheeks. She looked around the table, realizing that they were now alone. She should have listened to her mind. Honestly, she should have stayed home. Instead she came to a party full of Fae and immediately threw herself into the arms of her dead mates best friend. It had been 1,000 years since Traynor's death, it had been even longer since Asemir and Mab had split. She could not help but want to be with - near - someone she once considered a good friend and someone she was attracted to.

"I..." she stuttered, her hand trying to find the wine bottle that she had set on the table. "I am so sorry, Ase. I just," she took a drink from her half empty wine bottle. "I wanted to congratulate you on winning." She looked back up into his face and all she wanted to do was touch it. The handsome face that she had missed so much for so many years. He was comfortable - both mentally and physically at this precise moment.

"I missed you, Ase," Cece said with a far away voice.

Asemir

 

[Asemir]

Weren't too many fae that truly considered Asemir's scar-riddled face to be handsome anymore. Took a certain kind of woman to look past or ignore them, took a different kind of woman to find them attractive on their own. Confusion shifted briefly to concern at the crestfallen nature of her expression, then to warmth at her words. It was nice to be missed. He wasn't sure she had, considering how things had been left between them.

It wasn't thoughts of Traynor that drifted in just now, but they would much later on when the sobriety had returned. No, he was a bit preoccupied with the revealing cut of her dress, the warmth of her figure settled against him, and the wafting scent of lilac mingling with the wine. She'd always smelled lovely - of course most high-born women of the Courts did.

"And I you," he offered in return, ensnaring her snugly with one arm while finishing off his own bottle of wine. These bottles just weren't big enough. Setting the empty bottle down on the table, his gaze drifted to the one left behind by Luella. Asemir picked it up, noting that she'd barely taken a sip, "I don't think Miss Balsinde likes wine. And this," he twisted the bottle to read the label and swirled the open top beneath his nose, "is a very good dry vintage. We should make sure it doesn't go to waste."

 

[Ceilidh Trahan]

Ceilidh leaned back into him as his arm came around in a comforting embrace. She watched as he finished his bottle of wine and reached for the one that Luella had discarded. "I would have switched with her if she would have said something. Mine was sweet," she made the was true as she drank the last bit of her bottle. Two bottles down and she was definitely feeling it.

"No, we should never waste wine. That is a sin, a travesty really." Her stomach grumbled and she realized that she also needed to eat something. "I need food, Ase. Is there any around here? Also, I am sorry for poking fun at you earlier. Well, I don't know if sorry is the right word, but I am not really upset with you." Her words were punctuated with truth as she drew circles lazily on his chest with her head resting against his shoulder again.

It had been so long since she had seen him. So long since her life had been her own. She had only recently felt her power of inspiration return to her and she had painted for the first time in almost 1,000 years. That is how she had known that she was ready again. She needed her life back. She needed normalcy.

Asemir

 

[Asemir]

Sweet. Dry. He had a memory like a strongbox but he could not for the very long life of him ever recall Ceilidh turning down any bottle of wine offered to her, regardless of the type. He, however, was more of a dry wine sort of fae. Never been one for sweets or desserts - though Mab rather liked them. The savory, the spicy, that was where the heart of his gut truly found serenity.

Speaking of food...

"Not likely much left. I think I saw a shuck cleaning off the platters before I found the gaming tables," he'd never really liked party foods much. Finger foods. Sweets. Etc. The man tipped his head at his lamenting companion and gave her a squeeze with his arm, "Sorry won't fill your belly." He didn't feel up to broaching the topic of their past right now. That was a subject for another time, and one he wanted to give its due.

"We'll go back to my place and feed you proper. I've had enough of the festival anyway."

And Dianthe ... she'd disappeared off to dance with Midir, the fate of which he'd no idea. He was sure he'd find out tomorrow one way or another. With a sigh he pushed away the regret of moving from his current position and the attention his chest was getting, Asemir released her from his one-armed embrace, "It's not far from here. Do you remember the way?"

 

[Ceilidh Trahan]

Cece nodded and slowly set her feet on ground before shimmying between his legs and the table. Now that the table was empty, she did not mind moving it with as she left her seat. She waited for him to stand before they would start walking together. She did remember where his place was. They had all gone there one night for drunken shenanigans after a party. The good ole days that she remembered so fondly. Before everything had gone so bad, so fast.

She thought of several things to say as they walked yet her mouth would not let her form the words. She was usually very chatting when she was drinking, but right now she just looked sad. Maybe it was the silence that was growing as they got further away from the party. Perhaps it was the fact that being in the Autumn Court made her thing of Traynor's death and how it could have been avoided if he had not joined the Sluagh. So many what ifs and not enough resolutions.

She let a sigh that she did not realize she was holding in as they approached the mansion that was Asemir's Autumn Court home.

 

[Asemir]

He collected rumes, wine, and Cece before taking his leave of the festival. A short jaunt through the ley brought them out into the thick of the forest and the lane which lead up to his home. An honorary place if nothing else, it saw rather little use from him now. Though he frequented the Autumn Court most of all, he suspected Midir kept the mansion tended and stocked for his own needs.

Wouldn't be the first time Asemir had walked in to find Midir the Erlking ransacking the cupboards in the middle of the night. He smiled to himself at the thought, took another drink of wine, waved a hand to unlock the doorway with his blooded magic, and waved Ceilidh inside.

"Lord Kor Aren," a sprite greeted him midair, bowing as she hovered, "so good to see you again! May I prepare anything for you and your guest?"
"What have you got fresh, Bailit?"
"Hare and duck, M'Lord."
"The hare ... what's that stew your mate makes..."
"Port Hare, would you like me to set the table?"
"No," Ase looked over to Cece, "bring it to my study. We're kicking formalities out tonight. A good friend has come to visit. And bring ginger water."

"Of course M'Lord," and Bailit zipped off, presumably to the kitchens.

The study wasn't a place Ceilidh had been last the group was all here. Part of his private rooms, Asemir used his study less for the act in which the name suggested, and more for casual repose. He offered her a faint but warm smile and gestured for her to walk with him up the stairs, "It's been some time since I've stayed here," he began, refusing to comment on her glumness, "I think it sees my brother more than me nowadays."

 

[Ceilidh Trahan]

Ceilidh walked up the stairs beside him and stiffened slightly when he mentioned Midir. She blamed him for Traynor's death and she had done well to avoid him at his own party this day. She was not going to think about that though. She took each step with concentration so she did not end up face planting due to her drinking. Once she reached the top of the stairs, Asemir led them down the hall to his study. He opened the door for them and she walked in.

Her eyes roamed the study and she liked how homey it felt even though it was not his main home and main study. There were two coaches with a small rectangle table between them, a desk that had a stack of books on it, a single bookshelf that held books from new to old, and a round table that looked more like it belonged in a dining room. She supposed it was good for taking dinner up here when you did not want to disturb the papers on the desk. Cece ran her fingers over the spines of the books and then turned back to Asemir.

"It is nice of him to keep it here for your use," she said softly and made her way over to one of the couches. She sat in the left corner of it with her left folded to the side of her. Now that she had walked off some of her wine, she sat awkwardly quiet. "What have you been doing these past years?" She finally asked, breaking the silence.

 

[Asemir]

"Hm," he made a sound between a grunt and a laugh, calmly stepping into the room and moving toward the unlit fireplace. Asemir stooped by an alcove to collect several pieces of wood and made his way to the open hearth where he busied himself stacking them on the wrought cradle.

He couldn't recall if Cece was aware that Midir was his younger half brother, but it didn't seem a relevant point to bring up. Nor did the fact that the King used this place as a getaway from politics and courtly affairs. "It is. I paid my due for it, anyway." If a few thousand years as a titled Hound didn't earn him a home here he didn't know what would.

"What have you been doing these past years?"

Asemir glanced back at her where he kneeled before the hearth, holding match against strike strip as he considered that question with raised brows, "Leading the Dusk Court." Was she not aware of his position there as Triumvir? Glorified King of Kor Aren. How he'd gone from their High Guardian to Triumvir even he wasn't sure. Certainly it had nothing to do with his good looks...

Snnk-fssshhh. He lit the match and carefully set it to the kindling within the wood stack, waiting for it to catch, "It's dull work. Mostly I spend my days performing Provings on refugees looking for a peaceful place to call home. Ensure the Guardians are doing their jobs, test the security on the Groves, make diplomatic calls to the other Courts as needed. Train new Guardians. Dot my i's, cross my t's. It's quiet there," the logs caught well and he receded from the hearth, pulling the screen over the front of it and turning to face Ceilidh again with another deep sigh.

"And I have grown to like the quiet." Asemir watched her where she sat, thinking she looked misplaced and discomforted, but she fit into the quiet quite well. Where had that vibrant, vivacious fae Lady gone - had Traynor taken her with him into the mysts? Such was the curse of devotion to love. He was almost envious of her. Quiet steps carried him from the growing warmth of the hearth to take a seat beside her. He sprawled like a lion, setting his feet up on the coffee table and reaching out to her nearest hand to tug her over to him, "Come here, sorrowful wolf. What can I do to lift your spirits?"

 

[Ceilidh Trahan]

Ceilidh was not aware of anything that had happened in the recent millennia. Besides Winter Court politics, she tended to stay out of politics all together and even those were beyond her at the moment. She had no idea what Mab had even been up to. She made a mental note to set up an appointment to go see her friend soon. She also made a mental note to not think of Mab tonight either. That would not do.

"I never thought I would like the quiet, but it has become my best friend. Besides dealing with pressing art business that others could not handle and a handful of other people, I have not spoken with anyone in the past 1,000 years. Not until today." She watched him walk over and spread out on the couch.

He may have been retired and living a peaceful life now, but you would never guess it by looking at his body. He was still muscular and strong. When his hand touched hers and tugged her over to him, she smiled and shifted. Her body fitting into the crook of his arm with ease and her legs bending in the same direction except they were now on the couch. His arm going over her shoulder.

"Lift my spirits?" She let out a hmm and sigh at the same time. "I am really not sure, Ase. I did paint again for the first time not too long ago. It was nice." She looked up at him, "just like this is nice." She studied his face and his light blue eyes. "What have they said about me these last years?" She was genuinely curious even though she was almost one hundred percent sure that he would not tell her. He was too nice to tell her the unkind words of her fellow fae.

 

[Asemir]

"That must have been very lonely."

One thousand years without speaking to another. Much as Asemir liked the solitude he afforded at Kor Aren, he could not fathom a total lack of social habits. Visiting Mirlorne to check in at the Dusk capital was a treat and he did enjoy seeking out old friends and making new ones. Only now his wick for such things burned quickly. In his youth he would have reveled in the delights of Hunt Festival day and night until Midir chased him out. Tonight he had barely been there a few hours before he felt it time to turn in.

Lord he was old.

"There are better people you could have found to speak to for the first time in a thousand years than me, I think. I'm sure I am quite boring now compared to before," he chuckled, glancing down at her. And what did the people say about her?

"I hardly know," his fingers gingerly traced the length of her arm, sliding back and forth of their own accord, "I spent so long in the thick of the Courts and their politics and gossip because I never believed I had a choice not to. Now that I do," he leveled a deep exhale, "I choose not to every chance I get. If you want gossip you'll have to go to Mab. There's none here to be found from my lips and I'll not believe a word of it from any other's. No one tells me about Cece but Cece herself."

"M'Lord?" Bailit arrived hovering at the doorway to the study.

"Come in."

She flew in over their heads to the far end of the study to the wall just behind the round table. There two small pocket doors opened at a whisk from her tiny hand to reveal a dumbwaiter with covered trays inside. Her mate buzzed out from the dumbwaiter, helping her to set the table with combined magical efforts. Trays and utensils floated serenely through the air, settling into place. A crystalline pitcher of water poured out into matching glasses. Bailit put the final touches with lit candles.

"Dinner is served, Lord Kor Aren."

"Thank you Bailit," Asemir looked down at her, giving her shoulder a squeeze, "hungry?"

 

[Ceilidh Trahan]

"I think you are exactly who I needed to talk to. My life is very boring now, Ase, so we can be boring together." She smiled up at him and looked down at her at the same time. She touched his face for a second before he continued to talk. His fingers running up and down her softly made her feel a warmth inside that she had not felt in a very very long time. "Yes, Mab will have all the gossip. I need to see her to get caught up on everything that is has in Court too. I have a feeling the newest Lords will not be pleased to see me."

She was grateful for the interruption of Mab talk when Bailit came in with news of food. She watched the two sprites set the table and her stomach let out a low growl as she started to smell the food. She felt Ase squeeze her shoulder and ask one of her favorite questions. She genuinely smiled for the first and this one actually reached her eyes, "I am starved and it smells amazing!"

A small bit of her old self showed as she set her feet on the ground and jumped up with enthusiasm. She walked over to the table and waited for Asemir to join her before she would sit.

 

[Asemir]

He had a very strong feeling that regardless of what the newest Lords of Winter thought or had to say about her, Mab would not let them get a single word in edgewise. The Winter Queen protected her own fiercely, he knew this from first hand experience. One thousand years of mourning was not something he thought Mab would hold a grudge over. On the contrary, he was certain she would be quite delighted to see Ceilidh - a welcome reprieve from her own solitude from the Court and the daily routine of motherhood.

Gossip and girltime.

At least he had confirmation that he was boring. Asemir did not find that he cared too much and smirked at her brightening expression for the arrival of dinner. There it was, a glimpse of the old Cece. He was a bit slower to find his feet, allowing himself the opportunity to watch her saunter over to the table without really realizing he was doing it. A short side-quest to the wine cabinet and a grunt of irritation marked his discovery that Midir hadn't been keeping to his own wing when he stayed here. He'd taken a few vintage bottles and left a quickly scribbled note of 'King Tax' in the empty spaces.

Used to be IOU. Now he was just getting greedy.

With a roll of his eyes Ase plucked a bottle free and set it on the table beside the remainder of the one they'd walked here with. Two empty wine glasses were quickly filled, "I think we can manage glasses now that we're being boring adults..." he curled a half grin before removing the covers from the trays to reveal the steaming bowls of Port Hare stew, fresh baked bread slices, a spiced butter glaze, and small assortment of local cut fruit.

Ase held up his wine glass to her, "To breaking the quiet."

 

[Ceilidh Trahan]

Ceilidh watched Asemir go to the wine cabinet and, admittedly, she enjoyed the view a lot. She had taken her seat by the time he returned with a bottle of wine and she smiled again. Wine always made everything better. She snorted when he mentioned them being adults. "We are most definitely not adults, Ase, but we can act civilized through dinner at the very least."

He lifted the covers off the trays and she was hit with a much stronger smell than before. The dark red stew with chunks of hare of it called to her. She looked at the rest of the tray too and her mouth was practically salivating by the time she had taken it all in.

Cece raised her wine glass to Ase's toast, "to breaking the quiet and reconnecting with old friends." Their glasses clinked together softly and she took a sip. It was dry and perfect for the stew they were about to consume. She set the the glass back on the table and picked up a spoon. She dug into the stew and savored the first bite like she had never tasted anything this good before. "This is fantastic!"

She ate a bit more in silence before eating some of the warm bread on the side. She kept making noises of appreciation as she worked on the food. "Do you ever miss the Winter Court?"

Do you ever miss me? We were all so close and then you were gone, she thought and did not say. She hated to admit it but she needed him after Traynor died. He was the only other person who would have felt his death in a similar way as her albeit not exactly the same. They were as close as brothers. Closer than some brothers, even, and he had left her to suffer alone.

 

[Asemir]

A somber smile warmed over his expression while he watched his friend dig in to her meal. She ate with such appeal and intensity it almost seemed like she'd starved herself of good meals as well as her social life. It was good to see her enjoy it, and Asemir had always liked a woman with a healthy appetite. A brief smile stretched into his scars as he turned to finally dig in himself with far less zeal that Ceilidh.

The meal was good, no doubt, but for him it was not the food that had made this evening so noteworthy.

"Do you ever miss the Winter Court?"

That question drew a slow gaze upwards and caused his brow to pinch inwards just so. A loaded question with as many layers as he had years. He watched her in silence for several moments, gauging her unspoken meaning by the look in her eyes and the slight twitches of her expression. She was skirting the subject of his neglect and he wasn't sure if he preferred this to her forthright grief and anger about it. Felt like a slow leak in a deteriorating roof. Sooner or later it would cave in and the only way to fix it properly was to remove the rot and decay that had settled in over the years. Build anew.

But he didn't feel like tonight was the right night to tear everything apart just to get to the bones of their friendship again. Cece looked happy and she deserved that happiness, however small.

"Every day," he answered at length, returning his attention back to his meal, "every day I miss some portion of my many previous lives. There is not a day I do not think about them or the people or the places I've left behind."

Though since his departure from Winter his mind had been haunted by thoughts and memories of Mab, the death of Traynor (relayed to him about twenty years too late) had shifted his mind to his old friends. To Cece. He'd thought about her quite a bit and he lived beneath the untold weight of all his regrets - not having gone to her when she likely needed him the most was just one of countless others.

"I spent most of my life living selfishly," he continued quietly, "thinking only of myself. I am a greatly flawed individual, Cece, but I have found my repentance in helping others in Dusk. Mm," he grunted in distaste for the flavor of the conversation and moved to take up his wine glass for a good drink, "forgive me for souring the mood. You are painting again, you said? Tell me about it."

 

[Ceilidh Trahan]

Funnily enough, Ceilidh had lost the enjoyment of eating for many years. Food had the same appeal as painting had had to her. None. She ate to survive and that was it. It all tasted the same so now that she could taste again, she savored it. She had loved food before Traynor's death. It had killed her to lose that love on top of everything else.

Cece immediately regretted asking the question as soon as he looked back up at her with his steady blue gaze. She looked down and played with her stew. She had intentionally asked the question knowing it would hurt him and she had still asked it anyways. She was terrible person and the pain in his eyes as he spoke made her heart break. She wrestled herself, torn between going to give him a hug and answering his next question.

"There is no need for forgiveness. I soured the mood by asking a question that I knew the answer to," she stirred her stew and took a bite. She did not look back up at him for a minute and then it was above the rim of the wine glass she was drinking from.

Ceilidh had painted several portraits and a few landscapes in the past few weeks. They were all beautiful and no one would have guessed that she had not painted in a millennium. "I have painted a few portraits. The usual suspects," she paused to take another drink. "I have a beautiful portrait of Mab that I need to bring her soon. I suspect it will brighten her day. I also painted one of you and if I would have known that I would see you, I would have brought it."

Her prized painting had been one of her and Traynor on their wedding day. It had been the best day of her life, she would never forget what they had looked like. The gold circlet resting on her head, the ridiculously huge wedding dress that she just had to have, and the happiness of young love. A tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away with her free hand.

She was almost done with her stew now and she did not want to waste any of it. She took the last few bites and then finished her glass of wine, setting it on the table for a refill. "I did not mean to bring up sad memories, Asemir. Please forgive me." She repeated his words back to him. Honestly, she just wanted to be back in his arms right now but she could not bring herself to move. She was afraid that she had ruined the evening.

 

[Asemir]

Asemir very purposefully ignored the tear that appeared on her cheek, shirking any sense of duty to wiping it away in place of refilling her wine glass. It was not any sense of callousness, it was simply a sense of boundaries he'd come to learn with those that had lost their significant others. Let them grieve, let them hurt, let them feel anger and pain. Time was said to heal all things, but he wasn't convinced it healed a wound that deep. She would live with those scars for the rest of her life and, if anything about the marriage rituals were to be believed, the rest of her other lives as well until she found Traynor again.

He lofted a brow at her apology, "As you say, Cece," he refilled his own glass as well and tucked in to the rest of his dinner, "there is no need for forgiveness."

"I'm not sure I need another reminder of this ghoulish mug hanging about," that ghost of a smile returned, the one he wore when he took jabs at himself, "I don't even like seeing myself in looking glasses. Perhaps you can send it to my niece and she can use it as a dart board. That would make her century. Hm."

 

[Ceilidh Trahan]

"We will end up going back and forth with apologies all night at this rate, Asemir," Ceilidh chuckled dryly and picked up her now refilled wine glass. "I would suggest we not apologize again except I know us and we are incapable of not apologizing."

She watched him eat his stew while she picked at some of the still warm bread. She ate a few of the pieces before grabbing her glass again. "First off, Ase, your face is handsome as ever." Ceilidh had only ever known this face of his and she did not like that he took digs at himself. "Second, I would never waste a perfectly good portrait on your niece. She would enjoy it too much and I would get angry thinking of what she was doing to it."

"May I ask another person question?" She did not wait for him to answer before she plunged on, "why have you not started a family in all these years?" She knew that that had been something he wanted and Mab had refused to give in. Cece was of Ase's mind and she had wanted a family too. Her life without a baby was not for lack of trying before she lost Traynor. She had given up on that sort of happiness ever finding her now. It was a cruel world they lived it here.

 

[Asemir]

Truth. He was not above issuing an apology where one was warranted. Asemir often too the blame for many things he was not guilty of just to keep those he cared about whole and happy. He'd grown accustomed to being the vassal for wounds of all kinds if only it meant taking the pain from others. Pain he knew and pain he had learned to live with - though he'd yet to experienced the same kind of unending agony of the soul that Ceilidh had.

Seemed she was intent on needling him regardless. With her compliments to start. He gave a savage grin for a flash of a moment, "Give it to my mother then. She will gladly display it in her home in Winter where Tati can't touch it just to piss her off."

And then with the question to gut all conversation. The man gave her a look that was normally reserved for those who seek to insult and do so successfully. A rare instance indeed, Asemir was not easily ruffled by words anymore but there were a select few choice questions--like this one--that cut straight to the heart. He'd wanted a family with Mab - she knew it, Traynor had known it, Mab knew it ... but it was Mab who refused. And now with his knowledge of Mab's child with another man, it marked a sudden deployment of fresh pain he hadn't realized he'd been holding on to since meeting little Ruosin not but a week prior.

It had been the wonder and the instantaneous endearment, the overwhelming affection he'd felt toward the little one that had completely disguised the old scar that had been forcibly torn back open.

His jaw tightened, drawing a line of tension down through the scars on his face and he stared at her briefly as if she'd just kicked his dog. Which was a silly thing because if he had a dog then it was Baenon, and Baenon was perfectly capable of defending himself. Quickly though he muscled through a recovery by clearing his throat and downing the rest of his wine, "Wasn't meant to be, I suppose."

He poured himself another glass, "Are you going to ask me why I'm single, next?"

 

[Ceilidh Trahan]

Ceilidh, once again, realized she was a terrible person and a terrible friend. She wanted to apologize again, but she kept it to herself. She was hell bent on making this man hurt tonight and she did not even know why. The look that was on his face actually sent a shiver of trepidation through her. She followed his lead and finished her glass of wine before sliding it closer to him for a refill. She was capable of filling her own class, but the bottle was still in his hand.

After he had filled her glass, she shook her head and looked down at it. "No, I am not, and I should not have asked you about family. I knew the answer and yet, I asked." She took a drink and stared at Asemir. He was finished eating and he looked so conflicted. "If you would like, you can ask me uncomfortable questions."

She pushed her chair back and slowly walked over to his own. She stopped next to his chair and looked down at him. This was the only way she was actually taller than him and it made her smile just a little. "Would you like to join me on the couch again, Ase? Dinner was magnificent."

 

[Asemir]

Asemir eyed her with bitter amusement, "You have a penchant for asking questions you already know the answer to." A swig of wine followed to wash down the offense he'd bit back while filling her own glass again. He wouldn't be taking the open invitation to have pot-shots at Cece, though. Uncomfortable questions were saved for people he didn't like. He gave her a rumbling grunt in reply, looking off out the nearest window of the study to spy the time of night.

This was typically his haunting hour - when he left his bipedal form and all the weight that went with it to rejoin nature as a stag. While at home in Dusk he used this time to decompress and escape his everyday responsibilities for a while. He could walk the boarders of Kor Aren or Mirlorne in peace and quiet, enjoying the breadth of the sanctuary he'd helped create. Here in Autumn he'd join the others of the Hunt on their nightly run - invigorated by the pent-up energy of the hounds who'd not had a chance to stretch their legs. Not tonight.

A skeptical brow lofted at the invitation as he turned his attention back to his companion. His blue gaze caught her smile and swept down her figure in consideration. Forgoing his haunts for an evening spent in her company was not altogether a bad trade-off.

"Only," he said in a breath, leaning forward to rather suddenly grab Ceilidh around the legs and hoist her off the floor, bent forward over his shoulder in a fireman carry. He passed over the remnants of his wineglass for the rest of the bottle, while his other hand gripped her by the thigh where she dangled to hold her in place, "if you stop needling me with your uncomfortable questions."

 

[Ceilidh Trahan]

Ceilidh was in the awkward state between sober and drunk. Sober enough to care about what came out of her mouth and how it hurt others, but there was just enough alcohol for her to not stop herself from asking uncomfortable questions.

"Asemir, I am sor..." She did not have a chance to finish her millionth apology before his strong hands were on her thighs and he was lifting her.

Ceilidh actually giggled as her feet left the floor and she found herself dangling upside down with a very nice view of Asemir's ass. She realized in that moment that this was the first time in a long time that she had giggled like a little girl.

"Alright, alright, I will behave!“ She said trying to keep her giggles in check while also trying to catch her breath. She swatted at his ass with her right hand but she did not have a good enough angle to get a really good smack in. "Put me down, Ase, I am not a sack of flour!"

 

[Asemir]

"You're almost small enough..." he replied, thinking that perhaps if she persisted with her sass he might just dump her in the pond outside. Another good gulp was taken from the wine bottle and with a soft grunt he adjusted the dangling Cece over his shoulder and slowly made his way across the study, back to the fireplace and the couch that awaited. He did not immediately set her down, however.

Placing the wine bottle on the table at the center, Asemir moved to the end of the couch, crouched slightly to grab it with his free hand and yanked it around to more fully face the fire. Pleased, more or less, he moved the front again where he bent to pull the fancily-dressed sack of flour from his shoulder to deposit her not on the couch, but in a bridal carry in his arms.

He turned and promptly flopped back onto the couch, Cece and all, wine bottle within grabbing distance.

"That's better." For her poor choice of jabbing questions he made no effort to help her get comfy. She'd figure that out on her own.

 

[Ceilidh Trahan]

"Asemir, put me down!" Cece whined and softly kicked her legs, hitting the air and not him, with mock anger. She had to admit that she liked being in his arms - even it was in the most awkward position ever. She wanted some of the wine but she was unable to acquire any from this position.

When they got to the couch, she thought he was going to put her down. She was wrong. He moved the couch some and she was swiftly pulled from over his shoulder. She yelped as she landed in his arms. Both arms were holding her up and she looked into his eyes for a split second before he flopped down long ways on the couch.

She grunted as her body curled up when she hit the back of the couch. She was still in his arms with her legs over his left and her lower back. Her head and upper back were all of a sudden very uncomfortable. He had done this on purpose and she had to admit that she deserved it.

"You think you are hilarious, don't you?" She used her elbows to prop herself up and then wiggled her way to let her feet settle on the ground. She stood up to her full height and glared down at Ase. The glare only lasted a second before she started to climb back onto the couch.

This time, she slowly straddled his thighs and then turned and flopped on top of him. Two could play this game. She ended up with her left shoulder being tucked into his and her right hand rested on his chest. Her body was stretched out to match his as well as it could since he was so much taller than her.

"No, that's better," Cece looked up at him from her now comfortable position and smiled ruefully. "If you had three wishes - with no consequences - what would you wish for?" Her pale blue eyes continued to look up at him waiting for an answer.

 

[Asemir]

"You think you are hilarious, don't you?"

The man smirked to himself as he reached for the wine bottle, "I have my moments." Brows raised expectantly at her, he tipped the bottle to his lips and smugly drank under the heat of her brief glare. No fucks given. Becoming furniture for the night yet again, Ase aided only by lifting his right arm out of the way, granting her access to the side and draping it over her figure as she settled in. He punctuated her huff of achieved comfort with a low chuckle.

This wasn't unfamiliar territory for them. At least, not the manner of conversation. Of the many, many long years they'd been friends he'd spent as much time alone with just Ceilidh as he had in the company of Mab or Traynor. In his downtime at Winter Court, while Mab was busy with her Queenly affairs, he'd often haunt Cece's studio while she worked. When Traynor was away it was up to Asemir to ensure that the woman took her necessary breaks from her art to do things like eat and get some sun on her face.

Asemir had taken these duties upon himself readily, finding amusement in annoying the woman in all the little ways he knew how. It was so easy, after all. He lofted a quizzical brow at her newest query and offered the bottle of wine to her with a deep sigh.

"Three wishes...hmmm," this was not going to be a serious answer.

"More wine," he said with a lazy wry smirk, "for starters," his left arm stretched upwards and he shifted as he folded it behind his head to prop him up a bit more, giving Cece a thoughtful hmm in the process.

"For Tati to choke on her own tongue," both brows lifted in a lighthearted, wandering look of distaste, "and for you to paint me a picture of your home gardens to hang at Kor Aren.

 

[Ceilidh Trahan]

Ceilidh watched Ase as he hmmm'd at her question. He was really on a roll with those tonight. More than she remembered, anyways. "Definitely more wine," she agreed and took a sip from the bottle he handed her. They would need more shortly and she knew that she would be the wine fetcher yet again.

Cece was in the middle of taking another drink when she coughed and choked in response to his answer about the Queen of the Summer Court choking on her own tongue. "I would appreciate it if you did not make me choke on this wine!" She coughed again and gave him back the wine bottle before she ended up spilling it.

When he answered with his third wish, she just smiled up at him. She was genuinely happy to grant this wish for him. She had been furiously painting since her inspiration had returned. She really did need Ase there to make sure she stopped to eat again because she was really bad about it.

"I can help with that last wish," Cece responded with a sweet tone in her voice. "I have not painted the gardens recently and I am sure I need to get reacquainted with the beautiful nature."

She did not realize that her fingers had started to draw designs on his chest as they lay there in silence. The only nose was the crackling of the fire in the hearth and their soft breathing. "Ase," she paused to study his face again, she had forgotten how much she missed it. Her tone made it sound like this was going to be a very serious question. "what wine do you want me to fetch next? And...is there dessert?"