Thread: The Longest Night:  A Meridian Society Christtmas (TheCorsair & Madame Mim)

Three of them? Colin asked, impressed. That's a difficult shot. Ome bullet apiece, too, Sam added. An' no hesitatin'. Just pow, pow, pow. She extended her index finger, miming a shot with each word. Well, he does know how to handle a rifle, Colin said, sipping his cider. Oh, Ah reckon y'all know all 'bout that, Sam responded with a wink, eyes twinkling as Colin nearly choked on his drink. They'd been disctete, of course, but it hadn't been all that hard for her to piece it together. She was, after all, a Ranger. That meant investigating and piecing clues together, not just busting heads. And she'd wager good money that the two men were fucking - something that sounded more interesting than she expected. She loved Erik, of course, but Colin and Kieran were bith delicious-looking. Erik. He'd been acting... strange. Ever since the first day of Haunnikah, when she'd decided to be honest and explain that she was attracted to women, too. She'd been emphatic in explaining that she loved him and wouldn't ever hurt him, but she had to tell him. Because she'd been reading up on Judaism and they didn't seem to care for her... what had Anne Marie called it? Bisexuality? Yeah, Jews didn't care for it any more than Christians did, and he deserved to know. But now he was... well, he was just as sweet and loving and sexy as ever. Most of the time. But sometimes he seemed... tense. Distant. And that worried her, because she didn't know what was wrong. Wasn't honesty a good thing? But right now, she felt like she was walking on egg shells around him. Finally, she sighed. Ah'm gonna get me a refill, she said. Anyone else want one? If you'd had a daughter and her mother let you, you mean,hr Anne Marie said. She would have, Algernon said, the casual intimacy of the kitchen catching him off guard. In his minds eye he saw her again, his favorite memory of her. Dark hair spilling over the white shoulders of her fencing uniform as she pulled her mask off, triumphant laughter dancing in her soft hazel eyes. Point, she cried, the match is mine! Hardly a fair one, he laughed in return, sweeping her into his arms. Hardly fair? Her words were filled with a comic outrage. If you were a better fencer... He silenced her with a kiss. The target is the heart, my dear. And you struck mine years ago... He bit off the statement with sudden force as old pain tore at him once more. I doubt, he said, voice clipped and controlled, that any woman I married would have refused. He forced his hands not to shake as he embedded his knife in the block. Excuse me. There is something I must attend to. Sam dodged around the Professor as he exited the kitchen, watching him leave with some curiousity. Then, with a shrug, she refilled her coffee and Erik's cider as Anne Marie chopped the rabbit. Uh... she said, hesitantly. If'n y'all don't mind, kin we talk? Later, Ah mean? Ah... she glanced toward the fireplace, watching Colin excuse himself and Erik watching her with that strange new expression of his. Ah... got a problem, an', well, Ah'm hopin' y'all kin help me. Colin walked the hall, heading towards the water closet. Strange how he could dfink beer or grog for hours, but three pints of cider went straight to his bladder. Of course, it was also an excuse to get away for a few minutes, regain his composure after Sam's comment. He'd thiught he'd been discrete! Was he slipping? That was something to worry about, because he could lose his commission if it came out that he was homosexual. Even if he also had a taste for the fairer sex. A strange noise stopped him, sort of a wet sniff. An animal, perhaps? Whatever it was, it came from the door up there, the one that wasn't fully closed. So, casually resting his hand on the small revolver he carried in his coat - paranoia was a safety precaution in the Society - he slipped forward and peeked in. It was Professor Swift, seated with his back to one wall. A daguerrotype was held loosely in his his hands, an image of a young woman with long, braided hair in a white gown, and he stared at it with an unreadabke expression. Feeling suddenly as if he were intruding, Colin slipped away.