(1311-05-05) Love and Service: A Lesson
Summary: Novices learn from a Priest of Elua
(Content warning: Totally accidental double entendres and suggestive language by pure coincidence)
RL Date: Sunday May 5th, 2019
Related: None
nicolette anse 

Upper Landing — La Rose Sauvage

From the gallery overlooking the salon, a hallway leads to the Alyssum wing of Rose Sauvage, where the most coveted adepts of the canon of innocence and modesty can be found. Upon the polished wood floor is a plush runner, muffling the steps, whereas the corridor's walls are covered with dark green damask and lit by a few oil lamps. The doors to the solar and the patron room will be right at the front, whereas the personal quarters and dormitories can be found further down the hall.


Priests and priestesses aren't a common sight at the night court, but every once in a while one comes through. Eisheth in case one of the courtesans gets hurt. Naamah and Elua for questions of the spirit. That indeed is why Anse is here. Having just ended a lesson on Elua's companions with some of the youngest courtesans, not even teenagers yet. As the lesson wraps up Nicolette is sent to show Anse the way out. At the moment though he's happily joking with the young soon-to-be-novices, still sitting on the floor of the room crosslegged as he speaks with them.

-

Nicolette arrives in a white gown that runs from throat to ankle, suggesting little and baring even less. She wears an opaque white veil across her hair, though a few of her dark brown locks run stubbornly against her face. When she spies her charge still chatting with the youngest of the novices, the elder novice carefully draws her dress up as she folds her legs beneath her, kneeling beside them all while baring only a glimpse of smooth white stockings. For a time she listens to the Priest lecture and joke with the young ones, before adding her voice to the mix.

"Have you ever undertaken a mission outside of Terre d'Ange to spread the Precept?" Her voice drops, and she turns her blue eyes to the other youngsters gathered about, as if telling ghost stories around a fire. "I've heard stories about their corrupt, uncouth ways, and was warned away from them when I was no older than these adorable ones here."

-

Anse tilts his head towards the unexpected question and smiles a warm, friendly smile. "I've not been outside Terre d'ange to spread Elua's love, no. Have you considered perhaps, that their ways may not be so corrupt and uncouth if we took a bit more chance to understand them? We are the youngest of nations are we not? Perhaps even in those places where Eluas love seems strange there are lessons to be learned about the ways people live their lives." He waxes philosophical in return, perhaps curious what the retort to that might be.

-

Gloved hands slip across the tops of Nicolette's upper-thighs to tease out any folds or creases in the fabric. As she preens herself as modestly as an Alyssum can, her head cants to one side and her gaze flits skyward in thought. "I've not considered that," she admits, with a glance to Anse. Dutifully, she bows her head, and a timid smile splays across her lips. "And I would love to learn more if you have more to share. All I know comes from painted pictures, second-hand accounts in books, and histories about the frequent raids on the Camaelines. They've always seemed very… hungry." Nicolette shudders, and folds her arms protectively over her abdomen. Then she drops her voice to a whisper and leans in toward Anse. "Like dirty wolves." She speaks that last bit with an abundance of apprehension, but no malice, and a mote of starry-eyed curiosity.

-

"I'm from Camlach you know" Anse says, still smiling "I try and put myself in the other shoes." And then he pauses to wink and say jokingly "not that I wear any" and then he whispers back "and surely there are dirty wolves among us as well" he says still playfully, but perhaps a little less jokingly. "But I try to imagine what it's like to be Skaldi. Their gods are different than the companions for one, no one else has what we have, the very blood of the divine flowing through us, but they have their own histories and traditions. And I think about how cold it got in Camlach, snow in the mountains even in summer, and I think, maybe the way they see it is that we refuse to let them live with us. Maybe to them we kill their fathers and sons who just want to make a place for them to live in our bountiful lands."

-

That brings a twinkle to Nicolette's eyes, and she reaches over to lay her palm feather-light against Anse's arm. "Our wolves are quite fashionable, I'll have you know." Her slender mouth twists at the corners to let a ray of innocent, warm light brighten the somber conversation. "Perhaps there is something to what you say. If even a Camaeline can come to have compassion and love for the Skaldi through knowledge, then there's much I need to learn about the world." She breathes out a wistful puff of air, a sigh of longing, and then lets her hand fall away to rest on her lap. Now, when she speaks, she has all the manner of a Siovalese student. "But how can we let them live with us until they accept the precept?"

-

Anse laughs happily at your return jest "I will give you that my young friend, we are a fasionable bunch. I would much rather sleep with a d'angeline girl than a skaldi one, you have me there." Anse beams a smile at you as you lay a hand on his arm, and he reaches over to pat your hand. "I dedicated my life to love, I truly hope that I have love for everyone their is. D'angeline, Alban, Skaldi, no matter who there is. I can't say I always manage though, i'm nothing but a flawed mortal." Anse silts his head at you "I'm not sure I truly have the answer to that my dear, for often I believe we dont accept Elua's words. Love as thou wilt is a very very hard precept to follow."

-

Concedingly, Nicolette inclines her head to the Priest for the second time. As her eyes scan over the young, shy faces watching the two, she sits more upright. "You're quite correct, Monsieur, the precept can be hard to follow even for d'Angelines. Even for the Servants of Naamah. Do you have any advice on how we might closer walk in his footsteps?" Although she directs her question to him in a somewhat theaterical manner, as if to offer up a lesson for the young ones, she affixes her attention on Anse completely to drink in his reply as eagerly as the semicircle of budding White Roses.

-

"Love doesn't always feel good, and it doesn't always come in ways we would like or directed how we would like. All of you will most likely fall in love in terribly unopportune times, because youre all in Namaah's service, which means you have a seperate duty beyond your own heart. I think the most important thing to remember is that we aren't blessed Elua. Elua was so divine he couldn't not love all of us for who and what we are, and thats what makes him so special, but we aren't him, we're flawed." Anse starts, not exactly on a high note "but that exact mortality makes us experience love in a way maybe even blessed Elua couldn't. Knowing that we are weak is important, because it allows us to heal when love hurts us, it allows us to stay grounded when love floats our heads away, love is the most complex and difficult thing, and also the most wonderful thing, and its balancing that thats the hard thing we must do. So, and I know it will be hard, I was young once as well, but know that when you have those first flutterings of your heart, be it for another courtesan or for a patron or perhaps for someone who filters in on the edges, a servant or someone, know that eventually those flutters will fade back and not to let them carry you away. Enjoy love while you have it but if you try to hold onto it with a firm hand, it will just slip away from you even faster and leave you hurt."

-

All the little novices gathered around Anse nod after he finishes his sermon, their big eyes full with wonder but not complete comprehension. Nicolette remains still, a tender expression on her face. After a weighty pause, she gestures for the young novices to rise. "Thank the Priest of Elua for his lesson, children, and then off to bed. I know some of you still have chores to get to." One by one the little ones form a line, offer Anse a timid, blushing thanks, and then run off giggling to their dorms in twos and threes.

When the last group has left, Nicolette rises to her feet, sweeps her hands over the front of her dress to maintain its pristine white, then gives the skirts a brisk ruffle to ensure that no pleats or creases bare even a sliver of her stocking-clad calves. Ritual complete, she takes position before Anse just as the promenade of children had. "Thank you for the lesson. I remember hearing such a thing when I was their age but not quite understanding it until now." Her blue eyes settle on the man, overflowing with innocuous affection, and she stoops into a careful curtsey. "A hard lesson to live by, to be sure. Would you like something from the kitchens? A snack, or something to drink? I'm sure that you must be thirsty after teaching all evening."

-

Anse laughs and demurs thanks, clearly just enjoying talking about these subjects. Wishing the younger children a happy night Anse unfolds his legs to rise to his feet and beam a happy smile at you "oh? You understand it now my young friend?" There is a bit of an amused twinkle in his eye as he says that "no needs for curtseys either, i'm just a brother, no noble. As to something to drink, I would be delighted at your hospitality." There is still a bit of an amused look at you "so who was the first love of yours that made you understand then? Another novice perhaps? Perhaps one of the older courtesans, you'd have to be close with anyone who might know whos the you under your robes."

-

"Don't worry, no one saw me curtsey," Nicolette whispers with all the mischief that a White Rose can muster. She folds her hands before herself and turns to walk, side-by-side with Anse, toward the kitchens. Her pace stays languid enough that she can lead without outstepping him. To his question of her love, she merely smiles and averts her gaze as a warmth rises to her cheeks. Slippered feet shuffle a steady rhythm through the silence of her reply, interrupted only by a clumsy segue. "Well, we have some ginger cookies and fruit tarts, along with tea and wine. I prefer tea to wine. It's sweeter and less prone to… disheveled behavior." She wiggles her interthreaded fingers, then separates them to brush open a doorway. The kitchen fires have died down and the space is empty. A tray of not-yet-stale treats sits on a counter. Only a single cookie remains next to a half-dozen tarts, demarking the clear favorite.

"The berries can stain our dresses," Nicolette stage-whispers. She guides Anse to the side with the ginger cookie, then circles around to the other end of the counter, putting the tray between them both. "Sometimes, when I read stories about the great loves of Terre d'Ange, I can feel those heart-flutters too. Do you read the romances?"

-

Anse laughs at your joke making, even the simple mischief of a white rose can be fairly amusing in the right context. Anse folds his hands behind his back as you lead the way, smirking a little at your turning away of his question. He doesn't press the matter, rather allowing you to shift the subject onto other things. "Disheveled behaviour is a good way of putting it, wine can most definitely be dangerous, but also sometimes liberating. I've seen both sides of it, both perhaps a little scary in their own ways." He bypasses the treats to just take a glass of tea, smiling at you from accross the counter. "Truth be told I have not. When I was younger I only wanted to read about knights, I kind of hated reading honestly, and sure there were touches of romance there, but it was the romance of war. Now, I hate the idea of war and knights and all that goes with it. But ah, the great loves of Terre D'Ange. They're occuring all around us right now, dont you know? This city is full of thousands of tales of love. Some good, some bad, and all things inbetween. Stories of pure passion, stories of chaste love. All of it. I am fortunate that I get to hear so much of it, people sometimes bring their stories to the temple and I always love hearing them. I love hearing first hand. You can see on the faces and hear in their voices all the emotions that come along with it."

-

"I love the pagentry of the Knights. Their tournaments and parades make it easy to forget what their weapons are for." With all the bashfulness of a woman undressing, Nicolette plucks the fingers of a white glove until it slips free from her hand. Carefully, she lays her pristine glove aside and stretches her slender, bare fingers toward a tart with apprehensive caution. The little morsel sheds crumbs as she raises it from the tray, perched precariously between dainty fingertips, and leads it to her mouth. For an instant she looks from it to Anse, and just as quickly averts her gaze as the sweet thing comes to rest on her tongue.

Once the treat vanishes into her mouth she languidly chews while maintaining a downcast gaze. Fingertips brush feather-light at the corners of her mouth to usher away any lingering crumbs, the dark-staining juices of the tart's crowning fruit, or the lush cream folded between the layers. Nicolette swallows, then reaches for a barrel of water with haste. She scoops a ladle of the clear liquid, takes a sip, clears her throat, and manages to look horribly guilty all the while.

"The only stories I hear come from the pages of books. The White Roses are kept away from others — especially us novices — and so little gossip filters up this way." Her bare fingers lay on the edge of the silver tray, glaringly bare compared to the rest of her form.

-

Anse might be, if anything, amused by your extreme careful nature and extent you must go just to have a tart. He sips his tea and watches with a small smile and bemused expression. "I think you'll do well for the patrons who seek a white rose" Anse comments as to your very careful and talented nature that even just eating a tart brings out with another sip of tea. "And yes, its far too easy I think for many people to forget what the weapons of soldiers and their purpose is. Its very easy to paint love for ones country and people pure nobility and honor, but it can have its dark twists as well. Love your country so much you become blind to its faults, or love it so much that you look at others outside of it with hate. Its a grave problem with some of our people, loving our country and ourselves too much." But then there is a small polite laugh "I do not believe that is your problem to deal with or to solve though. As to gossip? When you make your debut, and are given a modicum of more freedom, ask to make an offering to Elua. I can't possibly imagine such a request to be denied. I'll load you down with stories as romantic as the great romances and filthy enough to make a sailor blush and everything inbetween."

-

Nicolette demurs to that praise with all the modesty one expects from an Alyssum: She bows her head, averts her gaze, lowers her lashes, permits a sliver of a smile, and touches a gloved hand to her throat. "You're quite generous, but I do hope that I can serve Naamah well." While Anse speaks, her fingers find their way back into her pristine white glove. Another bout of reticence seizes her when she has to scandalously expose herself by up-rolling her sleeve to glimpse a slender, pale wrist, so that she might nestle the hem of her gloves beneath her garment. After her indecency, she smiles to Anse as unvoiced apology.

She falters when Anse mentions the sheer filth of his stories, and a downward flicker of her eyes pairs with a sudden rose-red tide that sweeps across her cheeks. It's an involuntary reaction, a surprised kind of Alyssum flinch away from the suggestion of the sordid. Nevertheless, she doesn't miss a beat and smiles wide. "What a marvelous idea! When I have my debut I'll do just that. Those stories must be something, as I've heard that sailors get quite grimy at sea. They're not known for fretting about their appearances either."

-

Anse smiles back at you when you smile your apology at him. "I'm not generous, i'm a penniless priest who likes to say whats on his mind. If I was generous I'd say that and leave you a fat patron gift" Anse says with another playful wink. In many ways Anse is the polar opposite of your situation. He seems entirely relaxed and casual, wearing just simple cotton blue robes that sort of drape over him in no particularly stylish way, and hes not even wearing shoes. Nothing even close to the manacured and careful presentation you've been so careful all night to keep together and done so experately at. "I look forward too it" Anse chuckles a little "perhaps I oversell a little, I can definitely make you blush though, a sailor maybe not so much. I've never been a sailor, but if they're anything like soldiers, they'll say pretty much whatever nasty things come to mind without missing much of a beat. But its a lovely time of the year to visit the temple, we've blooming flowers again and the grass is soft. I dont know for you if it will be a relief or a punishment, but even a white rose has to have bare feet in Elua's temple."

-

"Oh, well, maybe I can match you story for story. I once saw a poor novice who spilled red wine all over her white dress. It never did quite come out, but it still wasn't as pink as her face! There are all sorts of shameful, unclean accidents when you wear all white." Nicolette gropes for some defense of Anse's suggestiveness by hiding behind a veil of ignorance, but unlike the one that graces her dark-brown hair, it remains completely translucent. A subtle lowering of her lashes timed with an aversion of her gaze — not to mention the repute of the Servants of Naamah for their education — provides a window past her half-constructed, half-natural blindness to the carnal.

A window that one might easily interpret as an open door.

Nicolette seizes the subject of footwear to turn away from talk of sailor stories and their creeping, corruptive influence. "Bare feet might be a relief if I can find the right dress. Something long enough that won't leave me too exposed." The White Rose briefly bites her lip after that last word, as if it were profane, but verbally marches on. "I bet it feels wonderful. So cool and breezy." Then she freezes, struck by a terror. "Are… stockings okay? Or would that violate the rule?"

-

Anse grins at you a little "truly a terrifying and debased story." Anse raises a hand in the air as if to take an oath "I hearby swear I'll never wear a white robe. You've scared me straight. Mayhaps now I'll be forever terrified of walking around with a glass of red wine as well. Might have to stick to water for the rest of my life now. You've put Kushiels fear right into me." Anse smiles through all of this, he'd most likely be unable to deadpan even if his life depended on it. Anse much more seriously considers the second line of questioning. "We take off our shoes because thats how Elua walked the world. Life spring in his wake as he walked, and it brings us a little closer to him when we do it. But we're also not born of the earth herself, and so sometimes we get cold. I've seen plenty of noble ladies come in stockings, and I've seen plenty of people wear slippers in the winter. Marsilikos is warm compared to Camlach so I'm lucky, but even I wear slippers sometimes in the winter, even priests can get frostbite. So yes, stockings will be fine. Maybe once you make your marque you can celibrate by really going crazy and walking on some grass barefoot. Anse says, playfully teasing.

-

Nicolette erupts into a peal of giggles after Anse's feigned abstinence, and lifts her white-gloved hand to cover her pale pink mouth. The corners of her shimmering blue eyes crinkle with her humor. As her laughter dies down, she steals a glance toward the open doorway to ensure that her amusement hasn't caused a stir in any of the younger novices, who by now are surely tucked into bed. When no adepts, courtesans, or near-debut novices come to chide her, she turns herself back to Anse.

"Grass between the toes is one of the best feelings in the world. Sometimes…" Again, Nicolette glances back to the door way, but this time with covetous secrecy. "Sometimes I forego my stockings when I'm allowed to go to the gardens. Promise that you won't tell?"

-

Anse glances conspiratorily at the doorway before lowering his voice a little to say "I promise. Your secret is safe with me." He crosses his heart to seal the deal. "You're lucky no one heard that laugh, that might have been a laugh worth a bit of gold. I've heard all kinds of interesting stories about what people will pay to get out of an Alyssum courtesan. So I will take it as a great honor I was granted such a gift." Anse says with a warm smile "you bear an interesting burden in your service to Namaah. I think sometimes maybe it might be a little freeing as well. You know the limits of your cage, so many people don't quite understand the ones they've locked themselves in. And eventually you'll get to fly away from yours if you wish, not every receives that either." Anse muses outloud "though you didn't ask for such musings so I shouldn't offer them, its a bad habit of mine, to keep talking until someone tells me to stop."

-

In a brisk moment of self-awareness, Nicolette lowers her gaze to stare at her gloved hands. "There are a good many sounds that men and women try to wring from the lips of a White Rose. You do me a kindness by seeking only laughter." Again, she worries her bottom lip, though the gesture falters with the reassurances of Anse's words. Her eyes light up, and an equally-sunny smile soon follows. "Then I'll take refuge in my cage and be glad for it's sanctuary, until such a time that I'm set free and have to stumble my way through the world on my own." A pause. "I like your stories. They're steeped in wisdom, and remind me of tea. Comforting, warm, refreshing, and still invigorating. What of your own burden? It must be hard to love even those you desire to hate."

-

Anse just offers a kind smile when you reply to his comment about earning your laugh. "I seek only that you're happy, not even your laughter. I only wish good things for you, and hope I didn't upset you by saying what I did." Anse laughs then "ah, I am not so wise. Warm and refreshing though? I can accept that with a humble thank you." This time its Anse's turn to show grace out of station, giving you a bow in return for all your compliments. "I hate being selfish about my own troubles" Anse admits "I don't hide anything about my life, and speaking honestly I took the cloth just as much for my own soul than to help others, but I often feel guilty bandying about my problems when they are truthfully so small in the grand scheme of things." Anse beams a smile at you then, a bright and excited one "ah, but I don't desire to hate everyone. I -want- to love everyone. I dont want to hurt a single thing if I can avoid it, not the meanest person or smallest animal if I can avoid it. I'm mortal, so its impossible to do so completely, but I try. But i've no particular grand wisdom. Quite a few would call me ridiculous in fact, as I've been known to ramble and make a good deal of poor jokes."

-

"You haven't done a single thing to upset me. Quite the contrary, you've made me feel at peace." Nicolette basks in the warmth of her own persistent smile for a time, watching Anse and listening to his words. She takes a break only to look around for a stool, which she pulls over to her side of the counter. "Would you like a seat?" If so, she repeats the process for him, though as she draws near to his form she keeps her gaze downcast, head turning away as if unable to bear the nearness of his presence.

Nicolette perches herself on her stool and neatly crosses her legs beneath her white dress. The shift of limbs cause new folds to appear, and she makes quick work of plucking at her skirt so that those creases don't outline the shape of her thighs for too long. Tidily, she crosses her hands atop the countertop, and hooks one foot behind the heel of the other. "Once, when I was little, another girl and I were lining up to recite rhymes in a lesson about the Houses. She stepped on my dress and it tore. I almost cried. After that I really wanted to hate her, but I couldn't bring myself to it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't even dislike her. I wound up afraid of her, actually, because she made me feel helpless. But I certainly never loved her. She's still here. Maybe I should try loving her."

-

"Its an honor to have done so" Anse says when you say he brought some measure of peace, and when you offer a seat he seems a little aware of the situation at least, and takes a half step back from you as you bring a stool around the counter, not wanting to make things too uncomfortable. He is there as something other than a patron afterall. "Thank you" He offers once you return to your side of the counter and he shifts his robes around a little so he can sit on the stool comfortably.

Anse listens quietly to your story, a small smile finding the corner of his lips at some part in the middle. "I think a lot of people are like that. Near everyone in fact. Its natural to get upset. I dont think anyone would judge you if you were angry about what happened, though I think its a good thing you dont dislike her for it. Emotions are hard and they can tear through you like a storm without warning. Swooping in and messing everything up. I still get heated in the moment if I get in a serious argument, though I hate that part of me, sometimes I'm unable to help myself. Its human nature, even for those of us who strive very hard to be one thing or another." That of course, applies to both of us. Alyssum has their guides to attitude, the priesthood theirs. "I would say try loving her, even just opening your heart a little and accepting loving her might be possible might be enough to take away some of those painful memories. Why afraid though? Were you helpless because you didn't know what to feel in regards to her, or helpless because you felt like you had no recourse, or helpless in another way?"

-

Wide and attentive, blue eyes drink in Anse's face as she listens to his response. She nods every so often, and lowers her gaze when the questions come. One hand slips up and brushes a stray lock of dark hair behind an ear, and in doing so, provides a glimpse at how red they've become with her frequent blushing. "It's good for White Roses to love even those we don't want to, I think. You might even say that's the core of our service to Naamah. Not to make our Patrons find love for us, as the Heliotropes do, but to find love for our Patrons no matter how… vigorously we may differ. To love ourselves enough to be firm in who we are, but to find love for them as well. Sometimes… sometimes love can burn, and that's okay."

Perhaps as an indication of where her thoughts are, she toys with an earlobe that burns with pink blush. Her hand falls away and settles instead in her lap. "I think that it made me feel helpless because I couldn't make myself hate her. She was shy and timid, like me, and although she never apologized she hid her face in her hands for the rest of the day. The poor girl was too ashamed to recite her rhymes. It was disarming." In a sudden twist away from her reflective tone, she beams at Anse, ear-to-ear. "There are much worse things to be helpless about. Before I joined the Night Court of Marsilikos, I lived on a homestead with my family. The poor sheep would get so hot in the summer, all bundled in white, and needed someone else to cut them out of their winter coats."

-

Its Anse's turn to muse your words and he thinks over your thoughts on your dedication to Naamah quietly, taking a sip of tea with two hands as he actually pauses in conversation for any real length for the first time tonight. "I think thats very well stated" Anse says after his pause to think "you're quite thougtful, its a good trait. You've a good deal of compasion and awareness. I'm sure you try quite hard not to take too much pride, in that I think we're similar, but you should be a little proud, you seem a fine young girl." Anse smiles at your description of the incident. "Perhaps just a small guesture of kindness. Even a kind word or greeting might be enough to get her to open up to you as well. Sometimes thats all it takes, not some grand gesture of trying to be shown to the world, but a small token, making a bridge where the other side might be looking for it." Anse laughs at the alternative methods of being helpless "true, that does sound quite awful. A sheep can't exactly strip themselves naked and jump in a lake if its too hot. Or I suppose for Marsilikos, in the ocean. It can be a relief sometimes to get away from the temple grounds and remove my own wool coat I admit" Anse says with a tug of his robes "luckily I dont need someone to shear it off."

-

Nicolette dips her head after Anse gives his retort, and does her best not to blush. She fails. A coy, embarrassed smile spills over her lips like dribbles of tea over the edge of a steaming cup. Timidly, she mops up her amusement by pressing a hand to her mouth. When it falls away, the smile remains without any trace of the deep, dark delight that comes from finding amusement in indecencies such as skinny-dipping. "Luckily we have big, beautiful windows in the Alyssum wing, or else we might wither in the heat. I think most of the girls and boys here would prefer that to having our coats sheared off, even to swim."

The White Rose stops there, leaving the notion to hang in the air like ripe fruit. She tilts her head and smiles to Anse, content to just watch him with eyes that overflow with innocent affection. Or, perhaps she waits to see if the fruit will be plucked, or left to fall to the ground.

-

Anse lets both of his elbows rest on the counter, and hes smiling along with you as you place a hand to your mouth and do your best to hide you smiles and amusement. As an Alyssum one whould imagine you should feel quite proud, Anse isn't exactly one to hide his emotions or reactions and your timidness and blushes have certainly drawn him in deeper into the conversation and your personality at the very least. "You think so?" Anse asks "wearing all white as you all are, and the way those of an Alyssum bent tempt and chastise, invite and turn away, simultaniously, one might imagine the very thing a patron might want to do more than anything else is sheer one of you of your white coats. One might even imagine that the girls and boys here may even like it." Anse offers a little shrug then, he says the words in his best attempt to be playful and musing and not flirtatious. He may have taken the offered fruit, but he knows you're a novice and he is no patron even if that wasn't the case, so gentle teasing and vague statements are the order of the day, not implications.

-

Nicolette averts her gaze as she has done many times before, and adopts all the typical markers of an Alyssum wilting under the strain of impure thoughts. But then a small twist of her lips betrays a hint of satisfaction. Blue eyes lift knowingly from her hands to affix on Anse. A heartbeat later, she carefully unfolds her legs, brings her stool back to where it was, then returns to the Priest's side of the counter. "It's nearly curfew. I should get to bed before the rules are broken. Would you like me to see you out?" The young woman lays her hand on Anse's forearm and squeezes, before withdrawing to linger beside the doorway. "No one will mind of you steal away with a small morsel." Belatedly, she lifts a hand to indicate the treats still on the tray. "Late as it is, someone will be along to clean them up."

-

Anse slides off the stool as well when he notices you begin to put yours away, and not so rude as to leave it there he puts it back where it belongs so that you or another novice doesn't have to. "Its been a pleasure my new friend. I truly hope I'll see you at the temple some time." He waives his hand a little as if to say 'show me the way out' but stops mid gesture and has to pause at something you say, turning away from the doorway as he starts laughing. He has to actually pull his elbow up to his mouth to use his arm and robes to try and stiffle the laughter as it seems quite a bit more mirthful and intense than the lighter more polite laughs earlier. It takes him a few moments to compose himself and when he turns back around hes grining like a fool and shaking his head. "You're very good, astoundingly good, I ought to thank your dowayne and second out of pure principal. Mind if I steal away with a small morsel." He says shaking his head "its so perfect, such a way to close out the night, I definitely want to see you again, I'll need some return stories about how you're tearing through the nobility of this city after you're debut." He sighs and gets a little more composed "anyway, see me out, yes please."

-

"I'm glad you appreciate my courtesies. I would hate to leave such a loving guest hungry. Sadly, I can't offer more than just a nibble." Nicolette modestly turns away the direct praise with more dual-meanings, and then smiles to Anse with all the innocence that comes with virginal youth. Side by side, they walk out of the kitchen and through the hallway of the Alyssum wing until they reach the spiral staircase. The white-garbed novice stops at the threshold. In the quiet of the night, the near-imperceptible sound of a distant crack or a muffled groan filters its way up from the floor below. Nicolette excels at not hearing them. "Here is where I leave you, Monsieur. Thank you for your lessons on love. I'll take your words to heart and try to live them, daily. May I write you at the Temple?"

-

"Absolutely, I look forward to letters, dont be too upset at me if my handwritting is terrible, and dont forget to come make an offering after your debut, I look forward too it." Anse says with a smile before giving his own return very light pat on your arm, provided she doesnt avoid it of course, before heading out of the dormatories.

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