[x] I don't mind continuing our conversation in bed, but only our conversation.
[x] Put him on your bed. It can easily fit two or three people anyway.
"I don't mind continuing our conversation, but only conversation. We just met, and I am included that, well, if such a thing should happen I'd like to be more sober. Also in a more romantic setting.
"A regular slumber party, then? Suits me just fine!" Sidonie smirks and shrugs. "Good company is good company." You push into the suite, which is just as you left it, still elegant and minimalist. Part of you doesn't even want the giant softness of the bed, you consider just putting Avagis down on the mat and curling up on that.
"I'm a little worried about Avagis, as well, so let's keep him close."
"How close?"
"The bed. There's an obscene amount of room." You wave vaguely at the massive, vaguely seashell shaped whiteness of your bed.
"...are you sure your motives are innocent? This sounds delightfully cruel to your escudero." Sidonie giggles, covering her mouth, Avagis mutters slightly as his legs sway lose in her grip.
"It'll be fine."
The two of you lay Avagis onto the bed, remove his shoes and set him straight. He rolls over on one side and goes into a deep sleep.
"His clothes?"
"I suppose we'll leave them." You push your hair back and look at your own outfit. "I'm going to get changed, and I'd invite you to take the time to do the same."
"I think I'll do that. A dress isn't very good for sleeping, now is it?"
"Your boots would spoil the covers, as well." You dump your jacket on the back of a chair. "But go on. I'll only be a minute."
"Okay! In a moment, then." She leaves.
You're left alone again. In your present state, the cavernous master suite would be oppressive in its stature were it not warmly-lit and separated into parts that are a mite more tolerate. You step around, looking for your dressers from which you can retrieve your things. In your own rooms you could manage quite fine, but in these circumstances you are too unused to the furnishings and arrangement of things is unfamiliar.
You mutter to yourself, saying a slew of things not-quite incomprehensible but that barely register in your own mind as you fuss between dressers still piled high with Balduino's clothing and closets that suspiciously contain a number of formal garments that look like they would be in your exact size. A little annoyed, you fumble around and see if any of them would suffice for a sleeping gown but each is too formal, too sequined and embroidered to not chafe or emboss your skin as you rest on it.
Frustration hits a peak and you silently find yourself wanting to find Aina, wherever she's gone off to.
You hear her snoring a few steps past the baths.
She's draped over an elegant chaise, down to a modest white sleeping gown of her own, a book pressed against her bosom and an oversteeped, cup of luke tea on a table at arm's length from her. She looks content, rested… and though you can't begrudge her this you're a little helpless at the moment.
You inch closer, tapping her shoulder. "Aina…"
Always a light sleeper, she immediately chokes on a snore and blinks open. "Gwuh!" Her eyes dart side to side, and she drops the book to the floor and rubs her face. "...Mistress. It's very late and you're still in your formal clothes."
You crouch to pick up the book and glance over it. She's been reading the estate's construction records, of all things. "My lady-in-waiting doesn't need to concern herself with the specifics of this estate." You say, handing it back to her with a smile.
"That's if she intends to be a lady in waiting forever." She leans towards you, her nose wrinkling. "You stink of booze."
You smile sheepishly. "I do. The last few gulps may have spilled."
She reaches out and pats your cheek with sisterly affection and stands up, moving over to a bench by the bath and patting it down. "It's fine. Undress and we'll get you ready for bed."
You comply silently, squirming out of clothes that took you three attendants to slip into in what feels like forever. The boots in particular are utterly stylish things that feel comfortable on your feet, but you feel a precarious moment almost running backwards into the baths at full pace as you try to remove them.
"...so." You break the silence. "What did you mean when you said you wanted to be something other than my lady-in-waiting."
"Milady isn't going to spend her life as a consort anymore. She's a landowner, right and proper." Aina comes to help you, but slowly enough that you suspect she might be trying to teach you a lesson.
"...that's right. It hasn't quite sunk in yet."
"Time will do that." She runs a warm, damp cloth over your skin, making sure there's no liquor or sweat clinging to it, and forces you to drink a whole glass of water. Your stomach is accommodating, if barely so.
"What do you intend, then?"
"I'll train to be chamberlain, once the current one retires. I intend to follow you to the end of all this, Mireia." She says, serious in a way that makes your heart feel a little heavier. "But I want to be useful to you. Our lives won't be the same anymore."
"They won't, I suppose." You sigh and then look back. "What does a chamberlain do, exactly?"
"What I already do, except I'd be in charge of the house staff, wages, all that. I don't suppose you'd mind giving me that?" She's stepped away and already come back in the seconds between you speaking, with a comfortable-looking dress in her hands. It's a silken number in bright red with some gossamer bits and opaque parts that preserve your modesty, although you get the feeling it's not quite as warm as the one she has on.
"Provided there's no one better, who I trust more." You smile, meekly reaching for the garment and standing up to pull it over your shoulders and down. "...thank you."
"Oh, it's nothing." She grins, and looks over in the direction of the suite's master bed. "So who's company do you have?"
"Aina!"
"Sidonie? Or Avagis? The snoring is a bit ambiguous…" She clicks her tongue, looking a bit disappointed. "Shame. I even went to the trouble of getting you something presentable."
"...b-both, technically. Avagis is asleep, Sidonie is on her way back."
"Both!"
"I'm not doing anything with them! I just wanted to keep an eye on Avagis, and Sidonie and I will talk of the future."
"In bed."
"Well… I have a certain amount of privacy not available elsewhere on the estate."
"Of course." Aina looks at you leveily, and then goes on tiptoes as if she were trying to peek over the partitions despite them being a foot or so taller than her rather stately self. "Is he still in his formal wear?"
"Yes."
"Hmm. He'll be uncomfortable in those. Someone should change him out of those before he wakes up, or Sidonie returns." She begins pacing between cabinets, pulling out a set of Balduino's clothes that you suppose would probably fit him just barely, although the height difference between them would have your escudero floating in the garments. She's quick. "I'll have to let you do your hair by yourself this time, apologies."
"It's fine. I'm grateful for your consideration to all of our guests and new household members" You look at her, smiling a bit nervously as you turn the brush to yourself.
"You can thank me with a fatter wallet when we go shopping again." She winks, unperturbed.
"Done. Although the prices in Gran Castille are apparently steeper than even Puerto Profundo."
"Hah! We'll have to make it ungainly fat, then." She steps around the partitions.
Avagis is neatly tucked into his part of the bed when you return, curled up on his side with his hair brushed back neatly. As you expected, the pajamas look a bit big on him, particularly around the shoulders and collar. You worry he might be more offended to be in the former count's clothes than left to sleep in his formalwear. Aina is standing by the doorway, patient as Sidonie rejoins you wearing a flowing white outfit that covers her small body like a tent.
The magistrate's first reaction is to rub her chin and look at you with renewed interest, and finally nod in approval. "I feel underdressed."
You can see Aina's mouth creasing into a sneaky grin. In the absence of being able to restrain you, she's resolved to just add fuel to the fire and watch your reaction.
"Oh, this? It's nothing… I just wanted to be comfortable." You flush a little and sit at the foot of the middle of the bed, deciding to at least not subject your escudero to being sandwiched between the two of you.
"As did i! And here we are." Sidonie moves to do the same.
Aina looks over the three of you, smiling gaudily. "I'll return by morning for breakfast. Will I leave you time to sleep in?"
"Yes, please." You say.
She nods dutifully and steps out slowly to the door. "Goodnight milady."
"...goodnight, Aina." You crawl across to the head of the bed and slide underneath the sheets, pulling them up to your shoulders with a sigh.
Sidonie quickly moves to occupy her third of the bed in turn, still easily most of the full size of your own at your parents' estate. The sheets are new, but you can still smell something vaguely familiar underneath them. Balduino flashes in your imagination, but you decide to push him out for the moment and focus on the discussion you had wanted to have in earnest earlier.
The two of you are lying face to face with the span of an arm separating you.
"So what did you want to talk about that was so important I was going to be in your bed?" Sidonie asks, lips pursing slightly. She's giddy, in a way that she doesn't show tremendously but you can feel, just a little.
"We had a good mood earlier that I didn't want to spoil. But I still wanted to talk to you the specifics of our present arrangement."
"I'll answer anything any questions you have"
What do you ask? You can pick up to two topics.
[ ] What's the situation in the Capital?
[ ] What will I be doing in Gran Castille?
[ ] What interest do you have in Avagis, specifically?
[ ] Where exactly do we stand, in terms of power?
[ ] Tell me what information I won in our card game earlier.
