Map-be we could be friends... or frenemies, up to you

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire didn't even notice the food in front of her. She had made a bit of progress on her map of the school and had a few pages tacked together on the top of her canopy bed where no one else could see.

She had one in front of her now, and was scribbling furiously to complete it. She vaguely registered the chatter of other Slytherins around her and wondered briefly how she must look. She was set slightly apart from other students, hunched over with her butt hanging slightly off the bench and her head almost on the table, her black hair covering her face and her work enough that she felt at ease working on her map out in the open like this.

She hadn't found any secrets to the castle yet, but that was okay. It was her first week, she still had time. And besides, what was the point of knowing where a secret was if you didn't know the quickest way to get to it and all the other ways other people might go or be?

Sapph shook her head slightly at the convoluted thought and let it go. She sat up briefly to take a swig out of whatever was in her cup before hunching back over to continue her work.

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

The first year Gryffindor strided into the Great Hall with a stuffed backpack on his shoulders and his attention glued on the pages of his grimoire. Among his scribbling there were drawings of the castle's floors accompanied with almost illegible notes. He rushed to the closest table to sit down before he was going to forget what he intended to write down.

Lost in his own thoughts, oblivious to the fact that he had joined Slytherin table's less crowded spot, he took quickly a seat and took out of his backpack a quill and an almost empty ink bottle. He tried to scoop as much as possible ink in his quill's slit and began encircling locations on his maps, writing down a few lines. It was just the end of his first week at Hogwarts, yet his sharp eyes had detected something interesting while exploring the castle.

As a fervent collector of chocolate frog cards, Alkander identified several portraits of famous wizards and witches while wandering the school's corridors. What had peaked his attention though was when he realized that there were pairs of identical portraits located in different floors or locations around the castle. It was then when his quest to visit and pinpoint the different locations began. Having spent almost his whole day to this cause, he was now jotting on his grimoire the location of the last identical pair of portraits he had encountered.

He smiled to himself content with his discovery with his grey eyes radiated excitement. Musing over what could be the connection between these portraits, he took off his eyes from his notes and looked around him for the first time. His widened eyes shifted everywhere around him as he realized he was sitting at Slytherin table. Fortunately, not too many people were close to him except from a girl around his age, sitting opposite to him. Moreover, he wasn't wearing his robes or his uniform that would have uncovered his affiliation with Gryffindor.

Alkander remained cool and casually poured some pumpkin juice at the goblet in front of him. He cast a brief, last glance at the girl opposite to him that she was minding her own business and he immediately became absorbed in the pages of his grimoire again.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire spent several minutes perfecting her map of the halls outside the Slytherin common room. With this page she would complete the damn dungeons. In her mind the best way to start was to know the best ways to and from where you're supposed to be- the best alibis had to be foolproof.

She finished the page with a flourish and held it up triumphantly. "Ha!" Without meaning to she let out an exclamation of victory. With a smug grin on her face she reached in her bag to pull out more parchment, but as she started to straighten she saw him.

Sitting right there where he could see her map. "Gah!" She was so surprised by this guys sudden appearance that she flew back, almost knocking over the goblet of whatever that was in front of her. She grabbed it quickly before it could spill over her completed work. She smacked her blank parchments on her map, trying to hide it and not noticing a corner sticking out.

She narrowed her eyes at the newcomer. "Who the bloody hell are you and how long have you been there?"

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Trying to figure out the connection between the identical portraits, Alkander reached blindly for the goblet full of pumpkin juice. Just when he took a sip, the girl opposite to him suddenly exclaimed surprised. Startled he choked. The liquid stung the inside of his nose, he sputtered and coughed, gasping for air. "Apparently someone dying." Alkander snarked, choking a little more from the acid burn in his nose and throat. It took him a few moments to recover. He grabbed a napkin and wiped the mess he had made. Fonrtunately, he spat most of the juice inside the goblet and his grimoire was intact. He wondered if she had figured out he wasn't a slytherin and then eyed the blank parchment she used to cover something. "Long enough to see what you were doing there." He nodded at what she had in front of her and defensively raised his grimoire so that she could see only its leather cover. "You should be more careful. Walls here have eyes and ears." He advised.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire almost burst out laughing when the guy started dying. That's what he got for sneaking up on her.The guy didn't look familiar, but that didn't surprise her. She hadn't been the most alert with the other students. She would deal with them a little later.

She frowned a bit when he told her he knew what she was doing. She narrowed her eyes at him for a minute and then chose to ignore his warning. "Of course they do, you twit. That's why you make your own system, keep it coded, and never keep it all on you." She stuck her tongue out at him again and slipped the finished page into her bag.

She eyed his grimoire. "You look just as suspicious as I do." She eyed him furtively for a second before muttering "I have found either my greatest ally or my greatest rival."

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Alkander hadn't really paid attention to what the girl had hidden beneath the blank parchment but he had tried to fish it up anyway. Talking about coding and keeping note secret, confirmed that she was up to something fishy as well. "No need for that." He dismissed her advise with a negative hand gesture. "My handwriting is hard to read. Even for me sometimes." He admitted with a chuckle and no sign of shame. A mischievous half smile had crossed his face, thinking of ways to make her reveal more.

He looked at his grimoire and took an unconvincing, offended expression. "Me?" He pointed his thumb on his chest. "I just research for a history of magic essay. About the founders." He said and his rascal grin kept getting wider as he flipped a few of his grimoire's pages.
"Rival?" He repeated thoughtful. "Don't worry. I won't tell your head of the house that you sneak out of the common room at nights." He regained his half smile, once more fishing for information.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire almost laughed. This guy was sneaky alright. He wasn't half as clever as he thought, but then again, he might be more clever than she thought. She considered him briefly for a moment before holding out her hand.

"Sapphire. Sapphire Michaels. Who are you?"

She was at least going to know this bloke's name if he was going to be any fun. A thought crossed her mind, and she smirked lightly. Whatever this guy was, he would be her first. And the first is always the best.

Okay, she winced internally at that one. She really needed to curb her weird as hell thoughts. They made absolutely no sense.

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Alkander set on the table his grimoire and shook her hand. It was good she was receiving his comments and his jest positively. People underestimated him although if you could pay close attention to his eyes, you could witness the sparkle of intelligence. Regardless of the moderate fondness towards the girl, he used his sarcasm and his fun personality to deter her from making any more fuss over his presence at the wrong table.

"Careful with the handshakes and the hand movements while you are surrounded by full glasses." He commented about earlier and shook her hand.
"Apart from someone dying, I'm Alkander." He introduced himself, deliberately sparing her his surname. At first it might have looked like he didn't want to share unnecessary, additional information but the truth was, he had an unusual surname and he didn't want the rest of their conversation to spiral around this.

Then there was a moment of awkward silence but Alkander was an icebreaker.
"Come on now! Tell me what you were hiding there." He prompted her with a whimsical grin.
"If you tell me, I'll tell you a secret about the forbidden forest!" He promised sincerely. The constant half smile on his face might wasn't inspiring honesty but Alkander loved sharing hints that could kindle people's adventurous side.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapph snorted at the guys handshake comment, and before she could retort he lead on with another witty comment and his name. She couldn't help but get her wicked little grin at that. Alkander? It was about time she found a good name on a kid who could take a joke. Her mind instantly started running through all the ways she could butcher it.

She didn't even notice she'd forgotten he was there until he spoke again. "Come on now! Tell me what you were hiding there!"

Her eyes narrowed a touch and she pulled her hand away slightly, her lips just barely pinched. This kid was a bit disarming, she'd let her guard slip. Well played, Salamander.

He continued on with a somewhat tantalizing promise to reveal a secret about the forbidden forest. Her eyes narrowed a hair more and she cocked her head, deliberating. She hadn't made it quite past the castle yet, but the words forbidden and forest were enough to get her attention. On the one hand, he would know she was making a map. On the other hand, it was a fairly standard piece with no secrets he would see and if he blabbed and she was questioned, she had a solid defense.

Deciding took her maybe thirty seconds. She reached back into her bag and produced her latest piece of the map, setting it cautiously in front of Lassander. She watched him closely, gauging his reaction.

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

The girl remained silent for quite a lot of time. He couldn't contain his lopsided smile, accompanied by a raised eyebrow. He knew that his words had coaxed her to at least consider sharing her secret. Anticipation throbbed in the air between them when she finally made her move. She pulled out of her bag a map that Alkander promptly realized that it was depicting the dungeons. He had drawn a similar own yesterday when he toured the castle's bowels.

He looked at Sapphire and snorted amused. Then he turned the pages of his grimoire and turned it around for her to see his own map, occupying two pages with sort notes at spots that he suspected unconfirmed secret areas and passageways. "I think we're in the same page." He jested as their drawing were quite similar. "Actually, good job." He praised with a nod and retrieved his grimoire, flipping through its pages again. "So you are a mapmaker yourself. What's your next project?" He asked quite interested, having finally a proper sip of the pumpkin juice.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire's jaw dropped and she studied his map quickly. Damn, he was right. Deciding to reward him, she pointed to one of his suspected spots and said quietly "This comes out just down the hall and around the corner, behind that headless statue. Saves five minutes." She looked at his other spots, noting he was almost right about most of them. She went back into her bag and pulled out a few loose parchments with rough sketches of the first floor and spread them out on the table in front of him. Right now they were just the basic floor plan with some of the bigger things that caught her interest, like which corridors always seemed busy and which ones were more deserted.

She followed his lead and grabbed her drink, sipping whatever it was before setting it back. "So Alavander, you're rather too good-natured to be in this house. Which table were you supposed to be at?" Sapphire noticed she'd forgotten to label a corridor in her rush and corrected it smoothly while she waited for a reply.

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

"I knew there was something suspicious with that headless statue!" He pumped his fist after Sapphire's confirmation. She was a Slytherin, of course she would have known more about the dungeons than him. He had been only once there so far. It seemed he had earned her trust as she next showed him her work of the first floor. He had made more progress on that floor but he was glad that there was another person exploring like him. Alkander wanted so bad to share his theory of connecting portraits but his competitive spirit at the same time was holding him back. Perhaps he had to wait first and confirm his suspicion before saying more.

His half smile faded into a frown for the first time since the two of them started talking. "It's Alkander." He reminded her, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Who said that Slytherins are not good-natured?" He queried and his smile twitched on his lips again. He then checked over his shoulder the rest three tables of the other houses. "Which one you think I should be at?" He responded with a question.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire hid a grin at his fist pump. This guy was definitely something. She had to admit, in spite of her general distaste for people this one didn't seem all that bad.

She had to laugh at the annoyance on his face when he corrected her about his name before he went on with his questions. She flipped her hair and responded with a coy smile. "As for your questions, well," She looked away, feeling a little guilty now. "I'm not exactly the best with other people. I never really think before I talk, I'm bad puns and bad jokes. I tend to keep to myself, but I still overhear other people from time to time. From what I hear in this house in the snippets of conversations I don't care about half the kids here are either rather too full of themselves or stuck up on some sort of family expectation thing."

She turned back to him, her Sapphire eyes now glittering with mischief. "You don't seem to strike me as either, Salamander. You aren't half as clever as you think you are but you're probably more clever than I think you are. I can't really say where that puts you though. I don't pay attention to the other houses enough to know who goes where."

It struck her then that maybe she had said too much, so she watched his face for a reaction.

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Alkander listened closely as she commented on his statement about Slytherins' nature. It was interesting to hear this from someone who actually belonged to the house. She was a living example of his conviction that the houses did not make the person. "Ah, stereotypes!" He rolled his eyes amused. Slytherins were definitely the most misunderstood out of the four. Their zeal could be easily misinterpreted as vanity.

"There is a jerk in every house for sure. Well, Hufflepuffs might be excluded." He chuckled at the corresponding stereotype that described Hufflepuffs as overall nice individuals. "I thought I would be sorted in Slytherin but I'm not into all that blood purity nonsense. I know that not all Slytherins support that but the founder was." He revealed as he had never really comprehended why people would have embraced such an unsubstantial belief over bloodline superiority.
"Oops! Now you know at least that I'm indeed at the wrong table." He looked at her coyly as this revelation wasn't made unintended.

When she said wrongly his name again, he frowned and rolled his eyes irritated. "It's Al-kan-der!" He repeated and narrowed his eyes. She clearly now doing it on purpose. "Hmm, so neither a Ravenclaw..." He concluded supposedly thoughtful with a smirk. He wasn't offended that she didn't consider him that much clever. It was better when people weren't aware of your potential. "I like your deductive method. It leaves us with Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Go on, which one could it be?" He urged her to find it on her own.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphires brow furrowed when Alkander mentioned "blood purity." The term made absolutely no sense to her, and the more she thought about it the more she confused herself. But, not enough for her to miss his comment about the table and that coy look. Okay, maybe he was half as clever as he thought. At the very least he was clever enough to be delightfully amusing.

She smiled when he corrected her about his name again. "Okay, Al-ex-an-der." She winked at him playfully, unabashedly enjoying herself with once. She wondered when the last time was she had done that with another person. Probably never. She took a sip from the cup in front of her. "You know you get this cutest wrinkle in your brow when you're mad." She teased him lightly, before actually considering the rest of what he had said.

"Alright, so since all the nice blokes are in Hufflepuff then that puts you in Gryffindor." She smiled at him coyly. "If you go by that, shouldn't that make us bitter rivals?"

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Alkander snorted when the girl repeated butchering ruthlessly his name and rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to correct her again as she was obviously doing it on purpose but he was planning to retaliate in some witty way. His cheeks might have blushed. He felt them getting hotter when she referred to his brow's wrinkle.
"I'm not mad." He insisted. "But maybe I should. Did you just called me oldie?" He failed to act offended again but he pretended to check the spot around his brow for possible wrinkles.

Objectively, between Hufflepuff's and Gryffindor's mold, Alkander fitted more the latter. After exchanging witty comments and teases, it wasn't difficult for Sapphire to figure it out. "You know you keep offending me, I might think you don't like me after all." He teased back and just then he realized how hungry he was. With his stomach rumbling, he reached for the bowl of mashed potatoes and scooped a generous portion into the empty plate in front of you. "Bingo, I'm a Gryffindor! Bold enough to eat Slytherins' food." He gibed and added to his plate a few brown-sugar barbecue-coated chicken drumettes. He preferred to eat with her since she was a good company and tolerated his presence.

It was truth that their houses had a notorious rivarly, for no reason in Alkander's head at least.
"But why?" He questioned as he poured more pumpkin juice into his goblet. "I mean take a chimera for example. It is composed both by lion and serpent parts and is one of the most successful predators." He referred, taking for granted that Sapphire knew the creature. He did that often, ignoring that not everybody was raised in a family of magizoologists.

"Your parents are magical, right?" He asked, intending to get to get to know her better.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire couldn't help but giggle when Alkander started feeling around his brow for wrinkles. Yeah, that did it. She didn't hate the bloke. Oh well. Hating everyone was too much work, anyway. Besides, it wasn't that she hated people, it was more... uninterested.

She frowned when he teased her about him not liking her. Oh. She hadn't thought about that. She forgot that other people had to like her back. He might've been teasing, but she still reminded herself to try to be nicer sometimes. To Alkander, at least. Other people would have to earn it first.

At the mention of food she looked back at the table, remembering that she was actually sort of hungry and it was what had brought her down here in the first place. She'd just gotten... distracted. She smiled again when he proceeded to put potatoes on her plate and chicken on his, and reached out to the side of her for some buttered sweet peas. She gave him a small bit first- didn't know if he liked them, so just a bit to start- before adding a more generous serving to her own plate. She then grabbed a few of the chicken he had.

She had started to take a bite when he mentioned Chimeras. Bloody hell, those were real? Sweet. She took her bite and chewed thoughtfully. He asked about her parents and she swallowed. "Well, one of 'em must be, or I wouldn't be here." She answered seriously, before checking to see what she had been drinking. It was pumpkin juice, huh. How did she not notice that. She took a swig and set it down. "I've been in a kid's home since I was three, and I suppose no one likes my wonderful personality since I'm still there." She tossed her hair and winked playfully.

"How bout you?" She asked, taking a bite of peas. "What about your parents?"

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Alkander listened interested as he had the first bite of savoury food. It was ridiculous how tasteful was the food everyday. The elves here were the best. "Well, not necessarily. There are a lot of students here who had no connection with the wizarding world." He downed a mouthful of mashed potato. "Thanks." He said for putting a few spoonfuls of peas in his plate. The gryffindor felt a great deal of sympathy for Sapphire when she talked about her background but he didn't show. He preferred instead to raise her spirits. "Or no one was awesome enough to become your parent." He added another more positive perspective and winked at her encourangingly.

Alkander couldn't decide what was worse; never meet your parents or lose them. He had vague memories of his mother but often he missed a mother's tenderness. "My father is a magizoologist and a conservationist. Along with my uncles, he runs a zoo of magical creatures and breeds endangered species. Our winged horses are the best for races." He briefly talked about his family's business as he took a bite of the chicken. He slowly chew, a change of heart was apparent. "I don't remember much of my mother but she was a witch as well. She died when I was three." He sighed but he forced a smile. Although he lost his appetite he forced himself to finish at least a drumette and tried to change the topic to something less solemn.

"So, you could be also a muggleborn." He mused, finding it almost ironic that if that was the case, she was sorted in the house which usually valued blood purity the most. "Did you have any indication that you were a witch before receiving the letter?" He asked. "Until I turned eight years old, I was setting things on fire. Especially my little sister's dolls." He chuckled, wishing he could do cast fire spells now that he was older.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire listened intently as Alkander told her about his life. She very nearly got sidetracked when he started with the magizoologist bit. That sounded interesting- she'd make a trip to the library later. It had been a while since she'd put in the effort to really listen to anyone like this, but it wasn't as hard as she thought to keep her mind from wondering.

She almost blundered when he mentioned his mom dying, but she kept her face straight and kept listening. It was better not to have them than to lose them, in her mind. Nothing to miss that way. And she doubted this bloke was looking for her sympathy.

Sapphire had to grin when he asked her about any magical instances before the letter. "Well, it certainly explained a lot when the letter came in," She admitted with a snicker. "There are a a lot of bullies in the home. Kids with attention issues or something. I got in a lot of fights." She took a sip from her goblet before turning to Alkander, a sly smile on her face. "I found it both odd and entertaining that their hair changed color whenever I punched someone."

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Alkander could see why someone like Sapphire could be picked on and felt compassionate for all those people who were bothered by others just because they were different. "Now you can threaten them to transform their heads into large potatoes. Not that would make in difference on them." He suggested with a chuckle, although he was positive that use of wands was prohibited outside Hogwarts. "They won't know you can't cast magic away from school." He winked impishly and finished the chicken drumette in hand. He wondered if use of magic by minors in special occasions like life-threatening situations was excused. Regardless, he loved his wand so much to risk spell-casting close to an adult relative to test if he could outwit the trace. He had even named his wand, that's how much he loved it.

Unconsciously, he glanced upwards at great hall's enchanted ceiling. Clouds were flying overhead, letting only a few stars to twinkle sporadically. "Ah, I would love that on my bedroom's ceiling!" He wished, admiring the realistic work of the enchantments on the ceiling. "Which classes do you like so far?" He asked Sapphire and took a sip of his pumpkin juice.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire laughed at the thought of turning Blaine's head into a potato, and almost thought about Alkanders suggestion to threaten them with magic- or even use magic and deal with it later. But that would take the satisfaction out of feeling some twits nose crunch beneath her fist or watch the blood dripping from their face. She took a bite of her peas. She never fought until the older kids started picking on the small ones. They deserved the crap beaten out of them for making four year olds cry.

She glanced up at the ceiling when Alkander expressed admiration and couldn't help but smile around her mouthful of food. He had good taste. she had to admit that. Before she could respond, though, he asked about classes. She swallowed her food and shrugged.

"I don't necessarily have a specific class," She started, thinking, trying to figure out how to explain it. "It's more... different moments that catch my interest. I can be bored out of my skull for most a class and then there'll be one thing that the Professor says that will capture me, and I'll have to know everything about it." Her brow furrowed a bit while she talked, and she unconsciously drummed her fingers against the table. She looked up at him. "Does that make sense?"

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Alkander nodded several times in agreement, biding some time to swallow a mouthful of mixed peas and mashed potatoes. "You're right. Same here." He said and wiped his mouth on a napkin. "I like the practical stuff like casting spells. If I had to choose one class then probably that would be defense against the dark arts." He said thoughtfully as he picked up his goblet. "The subject fascinates me!" He stated with a spark in his eyes. "I'm not interesting in dark arts as such." He rushed to clarify that. He didn't want to be misunderstood. "I just want to become an auror when I graduate and knowing how evil people think and act is a good tactic." Alkander specified, once more assuming that Sapphire was knowledgeable about the term. He took a sip of the pumpkin juice before continuing. "Any idea what you're going to do after school?" He asked, curious to see if she had plans like him.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire frowned a little at the mention of dark arts. The class itself was probably fine, she had no issue with that. She just knew her head of house was the teacher and she had a healthy respect and slight fear of the man. She glanced at him when he said he wanted to be an Auror. Well, he looked happy about that. Lucky for him she'd been looking into wizarding jobs a few days ago. He asked her what she wanted to do, and she took a sip of pumpkin juice before answering.

"First of all, I'm leaving the bloody home," She set her goblet down with a little more force than necessary. "Then I'm going to travel a bit, see what's out there in the world. After that, well, I haven't decided yet."

She flipped her hair and turned to Alkander. "So, Alakavander, what about the more simple things? You know, favorite color, food, drink, all the basic things like that."

 

[Alkander Avaskadiras]

Alkander slightly flinched when Sapphire set her goblet with a bit of force on the table. She must have been hating a lot the place she was before coming to Hogwarts. His fright turned into a smile when she mentioned traveling. Hogwarts was now what the world was going to be when he would be an adult. A vast number of opportunities for adventure. Though he wasn't sure if he would have time while training to become an auror, he hoped he could work at an international level which meant to cooperate with authorities of other countries. "That's a good plan. My uncle travels around the world. He's a photographer of magical creatures and magical culture. He told me once that he rode a wild dragon in Ukraine but I don't believe him." He said in disbelief and set down his own goblet, much more calmly.

Alkander he had almost finished all his food, minus a few of the peas that Sapphire had kindly put in his plate, when she asked him more trivial information about himself. "There you go again." He commented and rolled his eyes when she converted his name again. "Well I think that the sorting hat placed me in Gryffindor because I like red, though I like hues of dark blue as well." He answered first about his favorite color, something that he hadn't thought of much before. "I love chicken!" He exclaimed and gestured at the five chicken leg bones lying on his plate, stripped off flesh. "And..." He paused for a moment as he reached for a plate of lemon pie with fluffy meringue topping. "...I could be feeding only on lemon pie, although I usually prefer savory flavors." He concluded and looked wistfully at the desert in front of him. "What about you?" He asked back. "Do you want some?" He offered some of the lemon pie as he picked a knife to cut his own piece. "I think I like you enough to let you have a piece out of the whole pie." He joked with a chuckle.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire went to take a bite of her food before realizing there was none. She looked at her plate in surprise. When did she eat? Huh. She was distracted then when Alkander talked about his uncle and the photography. That was certainly something to consider, it seemed interesting enough. Before she could ponder it further, though, Alkander went on to answer her questions. Paying attention to someone else was making it hard to follow her erratic thoughts. Sapph didn't mind as much as she thought she would.

She put a hand to her chest, trying to look innocent when Alkander commented on her intentional butchering of his name. Eyes wide, brows raised, slight look of hurt as her blue eyes sparkled. She had perfected her "Who, me?" look years ago, but she wondered if Alkander would be the one who didn't buy it. It worked on every volunteer that came through the home, but she doubted any of them had this boys head.

She noted his answers with a nod, but when he offered her a piece of pie and commented that he liked her enough to share, she was just about floored. She looked at him like he had lost his mind, before taking a sip of pumpkin juice to try and cover her slip. See how long that one lasts. Assuming you speak to me after today,
at least.

She set her empty goblet down. "I appreciate the thought," She tried to sound nonchalant. "But I'm actually not very fond of lemon. You eat it for me though, yeah?"