RFC-Mini Arc 4: Night Life-08 (Patreon)

With an unspoken signal, our group separates. Cynthia pulls Kierra and Miss Alyssa away, laughing merrily, and Geneva disappears into the crowd. [I think I might draw a bit too much attention from the common masses, my summoner. With your leave, I make myself scarce.] Probably a good idea.

I let Maxine drag me onto the dance floor and what ensues is a pleasant half an hour of dancing. The initial press of the crowd is off-putting but our group is sizable enough to carve out a space for ourselves. The dancing itself is, well, confusing coming from a background of formal dancing, but no one seems concerned about the mechanics of it. It reminds me of children hopping along to some benign nursery rhyme mixed with drunken fumbling, though Cloud is closer to drunken fondling.

The music changes, slowing down to a recognizable pace. The crowd breaks apart as pairs form up. “Oh, here we go,” I say, a little excited.

“What is this?” Cloud asks, watching the twirling figures with interest.

“Formal dancing,” Alana says with clear distaste. “An art restricted to social warriors. While I was learning how to swing a sword to slay monsters, my sisters and cousins learned how to swing their hips to slay future husbands.”

I snort out a laugh. “It’s not that bad. I always enjoyed dancing.” I could always lure the maids into practicing with me. “Come on, Alana. Just one.”

She turns her head and mumbles, “Don’t know how.”

“What was that?”

“I said I don’t know how!” she repeats forcefully. “Did you miss the part where I said I was doing martial practice?”

“You sound bitter,” Cloud says, grinning at the glare thrown her way. “There is no need to be angry. I’m sure honored sister would be more than happy to teach you.”

“With pleasure,” I add quickly. Maybe a bit too quickly as Alana eyes me suspiciously. “I promise to mind my manners.”

“You have those?”

I put a hand to my chest. “My friend, you wound me.”

“Ladies,” Maxine cuts in. “We have company.”

I follow her gaze to see a group of young men approaching us. I give them a cursory glance, thoroughly uninterested though Cloud turns predatory. Really, she’s staring at them as if freshly roasted chickens are waltzing up to us.

“Ladies.” The man in the lead stops an arm length away and bows. It’s good but it lacks the poise of someone trained to do it from the time they can walk. “I couldn’t help noticing you are alone for the evening. A—”

“Oi, are you sure you should be out partying right now?” I cut in sharply. He turns to me, clearly bewildered. Not used to being cut off, huh? “I mean, you’re clearly suffering from a condition that induces blindness.” How do we look alone?

His confusion morphs into amusement. “I meant to comment on your lack of escorts. A circumstance my friends and I would be happy to rectify.”

“Doesn’t need rectification,” I say slowly, making sure he understands every word. “We’re ‘escorting’ each other.”

Cloud takes the signal, taking her eyes off her man-meat of choice to move to my side, an arm going about my waist. Maxine blatantly moves closer to Alana, who looks incredibly annoyed but doesn’t move away as their arms brush together.

The leader’s brow furrows. I’m saved from having to break it down further when his friend with a chin sharp enough to cut stone and muscles on his muscles slaps his shoulder. “She’s saying that she’d rather dance with her friend, pretty boy.”

“Exactly. Go find some actual wayward maidens to sweep off their feet.”

I make a shooing motion. Leader looks reluctant, his eyes moving away from me to land on…Maxine. Ah, so that’s his target. She’s not nearly as abrasive as I am, watching him with a polite smile as he angles his body toward her.

“Perhaps I can interest you in a dance, Lady…”

“Maxine Guiness,” she says, her smile turning extra polite.

“Aidan.” I’m starting to think he may really have vision problems as he ignores her frosty expression, flashing what I guess he thinks is a charming smile. “You look beautiful tonight, Lady Guiness.”

“Who does this guy think he is?” I ask Cloud. A little too loudly as the one who answers is Aidan’s friend.

“He’s the apprentice of the Bearskin Steel and thinks that makes him worth his weight in gold,” he sneers. His eyes glance between me and Cloud. “You, I’d believe are a pious woman. You, not so much. Not with the way you were eyeing me earlier.”

“There’s a lot to look at it,” Cloud practically purrs but her arm stays around my waist.

“Pious?”

He grins. It’s the exact opposite of charming. “Spends all day on her knees. Worshipping women, I assume.”

I snort out a laugh. “Poetic. And? You going to introduce yourself?”

“Jude. Father was too poor and unimportant to have a last name like you.”

“What makes you think I’ve got a family name?”

“Pah! I can smell nobles.”

“It’s Lou. I throw my name around when I need to.”

“Looks like you’re also unimportant. Oi!” He grabbed the third young man, doing his best to go unnoticed and pulled him forward. “This is Harvey. We’re out celebrating his acceptance into our team.”

“Hello,” he says shyly.

I hear the strangest sound come from Cloud, something between an exhale, a whine, and a growl, so soft I doubt anyone else hears it. Her arm tenses. Instinctively, my hand snaps down to grab it just as I feel her pulling away. “What’s wrong?” I mumble.

“The boy…” she whispers back. Saying boy, she can only be speaking about the baby-skinned, doe-eyed, young man who looks waifish next to Jude and her tone leaves no doubt as to what she wants with him.

“I thought you leaned more toward men like the man-ape.”

“If all I wanted were wolves, I would have stayed in the Sanctuary. I want to play with the cute, little puppy.”

“Ah. If men are wolves, and puppies I guess, what am I?”

She chuckles. “I’m looking forward to finding out. But, for now…” Her arm twitches and I release her. She grins at Harvey whose eyes widen. “I am Cloud.”

Jude scoffs before shoving his friend forward. Hard enough that he stumbles right into Cloud, who catches him by the arms. “Ah! Sorry, miss.”

“I don’t mind.”

I roll my eyes and step back. I don’t know how I feel about Cloud and her victim. I’m not exactly burning with jealousy. Maybe because I can’t help but think of him as a victim. Or a puppy. I don’t exactly feel threatened by him. What I do feel might be closer to pity. She’s going to chew him up and spit him out. If he’s lucky.

She might not need any more intervention from me but I can’t say the same for Maxine. Her polite rebuffs aren’t working. I meet Alana’s eyes over his shoulder and she minutely shakes her head.

I raise a fist. She doesn’t bother being subtle anymore, shaking her head strongly. Alright then. If it’s just words, I’m sure they can handle themselves.

Maybe I should try striking out on my own. There are plenty of other unattached women milling about the crowd.

“Hey.”

Alana puts a hand on my shoulder. “What are you up to?”

“Haha, you’re asking me that the one time I’m not planning anything.”

“Yeah? You just going to let one of your…friends get courted by a man who loves the sound of his voice too much?” She looks over her shoulder at Aidan who emboldened by Alana walking away, shrinks the distance between him and Maxine to half an arm length. Maxine looks more annoyed than uncomfortable so I leave it be.

“Like you said, they’re my friends. I don’t own them. Why? Were you hoping to see me jealous?” You shouldn’t ask for something like that. There’d be blood.

“I didn’t think you could restrain yourself.”

“Rules like that apply with commitment. Maxine hasn’t promised herself to me in anyway and I haven’t promised anything to her.” I wouldn’t say that I don’t care but I don’t feel an overwhelming urge to behead him like I would if that was Kierra playing her games.

“Oh? And Cloud?”

“Same thing there.”

“And me? You wouldn’t say anything if I went for the third guy?”

“Well, I’d take great exception to that. I’d be alone.” I snicker as she punches me in the arm. I grab her hand and pull her toward the dance floor, ignoring her token resistance. “You…I think I would be jealous.”

“Oh? What makes me so different?”

“We already have one promise between us. It’s only a matter of time before there is another, more substantial one.” Like wedding vows.

“Oh. Pretty brave of you to declare your intentions to cross the line.”

“Not me. You.” I turn, staring into her eyes. “I’ve told you Alana, you can be whatever you want to be to me. Be careful though. If you cross that line, I’m not letting you go back.” I may be patient but I’m by no means selfless.

“Thanks for the warning…degenerate.”

“You’re welcome. Now, I’m going to teach you how to dance.”