An Apt Apertif (Glen, Sunrise, Ka'Ri)

[Continued from Songs and Secrets]

Aeran the valet again is riding in the front seat of a carriage through the Sun District, his charges and his panther secured inside. They arrive at the luxurious estate of Veshti Selmer, and he once again alights to open the door and bow, holding out his hand for each as she steps out. The panther stretches and yawns and bounds past them all, into the house.

Glen will remain in character until they are inside, in case any prying eyes had followed them.

Veshti, who ordered silence in the carriage until they reached her home, sweeps them into her house. "I'm going to go change clothes, dears. Enjoy intriguing. I'll speak with you later, Sunrise, dear."

Sunrise fills the carriage ride back with happy chatter about gossip and clothes. Tonight was legitimately a triumph for her, the firat time she's performed for an exclusive audience of the city's elite and mingled with them afterwards as equals, and she taps into that energy to keep the conversation light and, above all, safe.

The act drops as soon as they're home and the door closes behind them, her shoulders slumping as if a weight has dropped on them. Before everyone leaves she adds, "We're waiting on Luther and Thorn anyway; he has the right to be here when we discuss what we've learned about his father. So yes, we can take a moment to change." With that, she heads to her own room.

"Oh good, I like that boy," Veshti observes mildly. She pauses to leave word with the doorman so Luther and Thorn will not be left waiting.

Glen is positively brimming with energy once in the house, allowing himself to drop the stiff and silent act and replacing it with an even brighter, more cheerful version of his usual self. Elen nips along playfully after him, having been cooped up (and a Very Good Boy) during the party.

Glen is about to take his first step up towards going to change when Sunrise's words stop him dead in his tracks. "Oh!" The electric feeling coursing through him and making him feel invincible suddenly goes flying right out of him, replaced instead by deeply confusing mashup of both giddy, nervous excitement and sheer terror. "That! Well, yes, of course. Obviously. I'll just go change, then, now!" He stumbles over his words, grinning sheepishly, and then turns and hops up the stairs two at a time, Elen bounding after him. He disappears into a room upstairs to change.

Ka'Ri takes a brief time to dress back down as well. The high culture thing is definitely not her speed and it is nice to wash off her makeup and put back on her breeches and good jacket again, especially now that they fit so much better on her with the belt. She neatly folds the dress clothes and brings them down over her arm so she can give them to Veshti directly.

Once she's handed them over, she makes her way to Glen's. She's noticed he still hasn't returned and her own dressing down took the least amount of time of her companions. She hoped he hadn't immobilized himself too much with worry.

Glen has removed the fancy valet's livery and is standing with his back to Ka'Ri, facing a large closet. Inside are a wide variety of men's cut clothes, from which he is having a heck of a time making a decision. He thinks for a long moment, reaches out to pick one up, but then retracts his hand again, and goes back to thinking. He notices movement behind him, looks over his shoulder to see Ka'Ri, and smiles at her. His face is alight with nervous excitement.

"Oh! Hey! Can I trouble you for some help here? I, um." He is a little shy. "I want to pick something nicer than my regular traveling clothes, but I also don't usually have the occasion to dress nicely, so I don't really know what to wear."

Ka'Ri smiles conspiratorially at him. "Does this have anything to do with the handsome gent you were whispering to over by the food?"

Glen, found out, grins. "Was it that obvious?" He turns back to the clothes and folds his arms, one hand reaching up to hold his chin thoughtfully. "I did tell you I wanted to see him again." He pauses. "I really haven't dressed... nicely, before. I mostly just dress for utility - traeling, sleeping outside, all that. I usually wear green, but that's more to blend in than anything else." He looks back at her, his hand still on his chin. "Um, help?" He chuckles. "If you don't mind?"

"I'm a thief, you don't get much past us," Ka'Ri said with a wink. "Now tell me everything you can about him and I'll try and pick you out an outfit."

She walked to the closet and examined the clothing options with great fervor starting to put together potential combinations in her head.

"Oh. Um." Glen blanches a little, feeling a bit silly to have gotten so caught up when he has met the man only on two occasions. "I don't know much more than you about Thorn. I do know he's brave, and kind. And shy?" He thinks back, cocking his head thoughtfully. "He thinks he's not interesting, but he's so interesting. I don't think it needs to be terribly fancy; he doesn't seem to stand on pomp and whatnot, and I'd feel out of place in something like that. But I want to look nice when I see him." He folds his arms. "I'm in your capable hands, Ka."

Ka'Ri takes a long second, looking over the options and then selects a few items and comes back, laying them out on the bed to show Glen.

The first is a fairly simple combo. Nicer shirt, breeches, and a dark green vest. It's modest, yet clean and nice, also allowing him to show off his arms if wanted.

The other is slightly more daring, a fur-lined jacket with a wilderness feel combined with a slight overcloak going over one shoulder.

She has a guess on which Glen will take, but offers them both equally to him as options.

As he looks between them, she bites her lip and apologizes.

"Hey, earlier today, when I got riled up with Rik, I just wanted to apologize to you about that. I really didn't want that to come across like I was ranting at you and I worry a lot that that's how it landed."

Glen goggles at the two lovely options Ka'Ri has assembled for him. He'd never have known to put them together just so. "I would never have put these together without your help. Thank you, so much." He picks up the former outfit - the shirt and vest. He runs his fingers over the fur on the jacket. "This is beautiful, but it's a little too... flashy? for my tastes. I feel like I'm not the guy who would wear this. I'm not that confident." He chuckles, shaking his head.

She apologizes, and he gives her an understanding nod. "Thanks. I appreciate it. And it's okay, I promise." He tugs on the breeches, and then slips into the vest. He walks over to her. "I know it's not what you meant. So don't worry about it. And you've more than made it up to me already." He affectionately pats her on the shoulder.

He gives her a wide, excited grin. "Can I escort you back downstairs, milady?" A little bit of Aeran the valet slips back into his voice, and he winks at her.

"Yeah," Ka'Ri responds gratefully, but stops herself from taking the easy arm. "But I do want to say this part out loud, I care about our friendship and your well-being. They're important to me, so I don't ever want you to believe that they aren't. So if I fly off in the future and hurt you, I want to make that right too, okay?"

She pauses a second. "Now let's wow this handsome young man of yours."

He nods, grateful. "That means more than you might know. I won't forget. And I care about our friendship and your well-being too. Thanks."

He takes a deep breath, in and out. "Alright. Let's go," he says, and they head downstairs together.

Sunrise is in the parlor when they return, curled into a couch with her face scrubbed clean and hair pulled back into a prosaic ponytail. She's barefoot and clad in a soft white nightgown, and seems ready to relax for the night. On the table in front of her is a selection of cordials and small glasses to sip them from, but currently she nurses a cup of hot tea.

She looks up when Ka'Ri and Glen come in, smiling a greeting.

They do not have to wait long before a butler shows in Luther and Thorn. An autumn squall has caught them in the distance from the carriage to the door, and both are brushing water from their shoulders as they're brought in. Luther smiles warmly at Sunrise and moves to sit near her; Thorn beams at Glen and nods politely to Ka'Ri. "Hello! I'm so sorry we're late, but it took a while to get away."

Sunrise grins and scoots to make room for Luther, taking a napkin from the table and dabbing at his face and hair. "I'm glad you made it. Can I get either of you anything?"

Glen stands up as they come in - partly because he's built up some nervous energy waiting for them even for a just a few minutes, and partly because he understands that this is what one does in a situation like this. "Oh! You're not-- it's not-- you don't have to-- is it--" Glen, in his excitement, tries to start four or five different sentences, back-to-back.

He closes his eyes, grinning self-consciously, and takes a breath, then opens them again. "It's no trouble at all; we're glad you could make it. Thanks for coming by. Do you need a towel or something? Or, yeah - Sunrise, you don't have to get up, I'm already on my feet - can I get you anything?" First he looks to Luther as he asks, then expectantly to Thorn.

Luther chuckles at Sunrise's offer, sinking into the seat and tilting his head amicably to allow her to dab at his sodden clothes. "Perhaps a change of clothes? Do you have another nightgown I could borrow?" he teases with a laugh. "The sky opened up as we drove in."

Thorn gives Glen a shy grin. "Uh, if you have a towel, it would be nice?" he admits. "It's pouring buckets out there! We sent the driver to the kitchen to dry off by the fire; didn't want him to catch a chill."

Glen leaves the room briefly, and returns carrying two enormous, luxuriously soft towels. They're overkill, but just hand towels didn't seem like enough. He manages to resist suggesting Luther could wear his as a nightgown if he wanted, despite the giddy feeling inside him causing the thought to bubble to the front of his mind. Instead, he nods his head respectfully and smiles with admiration at the Feytower commissioner.

He then turns back to the half-orc gentleman. "And yours, Thorn." He holds the towel out for the young man. "Can, um, I take your jacket? I can hang it to dry over by the fire as well. It wouldn't do to catch cold so soon after all that's happened." He grins.

Sunrise laughs. "Yes, I can see that." As he begins to towel off, she tilts her head. "I can offer a bathrobe. It's very soft and very warm and very dry." Her lips twitch. "It's also very pink, which I think would complement your coloring nicely."

Ka'Ri smiles at the awkward flirtation between Thorn and Glen and amuses herself watching from afar. She makes her way to the various beverages, eyeing them slightly askew before downing one of the available apertifs in one gulp, not remembering what a breach in protocol that is.

"A lovely color on everyone except myself," Luther observes with a grave smile.

Thorn turns in place to allow Glen to take his jacket. "Thank you! I usually have a pretty good constitution, but I'm still not totally recovered from...all that," he admits in a shy undertone.

Sunrise shakes her head. "Well, if you get cold, tell me. Enduring a pink robe for a couple hours is better than getting sick."

Sitting up then, she grows more serious. "So. You know that the point of tonight was to find out as much as we could about Immeral's past." She looks at Thorn. "You may not like what we're going to say, and you don't have to be here for it if you don't want to. But you have the right to hear it if you choose."