Sweet Talk

[Lovely]

Year 2, May 10
early morning call to Philadelphia


=Miiiiiister Tiernay. You haven't reported to work this week. I should consider you abandoned, but due to the egregious manner in which you departed from our evening engagement, I should think it amazing and incomprehensible that you're even still alive. And I want my horse back.=

Oenghus... Iain... listened with his forehead on the edge of the upright of the station master's desk, propped before the mouthpiece he covered with his hand to keep himself from hissing obscenities at the man. When he spoke, he took it upon himself to offer the milder of insults, if anything was to be abandoned, and ignored the man's proper title, addressing him more like a fellow than a partner of the firm. "Yes sir, Mister Michaels, I can imagine you would," he gritted out, beside himself with a passionate desire to wrap the wire at his fingers around the man's neck and pull tight to shut him up. The man had no sense to understand the dire situation and why he had not yet returned. "But, I'm afraid I'm in no position at the moment. You'll have to wait. Consider me resigned if you must, but I believe you'll find a letter of grievance from my uncle if you do. Have it whichever way you like, but for comfort's sake, I suggest you consider me on a leave, to return as soon as feasible. That's all I can tell you."

=A lea-...?! This is preposterous. I can't grant you anything of the sort. You're only an apprentice, Tiernay. This extortionary attempt to retain your position is an outrage. I should have you lowered to the status of a bin clerk when you return. IF you return.=

"Yes, a bin clerk would be fine, sir. Thank you for understanding, sir. Goodday, sir," he slithered out from the conversation.

=Tiernay!!? Tiern-...=

The phone was returned to its status of idleness though he felt it necessary to wipe down the casing from the toxins of his mere thoughts that he felt would be too caustic for anyone else to touch. He smiled kindly for the station clerk as he tucked the kerchief back in his pocket and stepped away from the desk. He had other business to attend now.
==============================

In a town this size, how could he not know everyone in it in his first minutes off the train? He knew Philadelphia and its mothers' sons from every party and merger his uncle had the chance to attend, and show him off as his footman for lack of better use. His uncle wouldn't know a footman from a flowergirl in this place, but some things were ever evident, especially to Oenghus and his sharp eye for details. Hair so red it set the street on fire, even though it was neatly tied for social business, caught his attention and drew him from the steps of the station in a double step to catch up to her outside the postman's door. How not to be a wretched soul and draw such attention to her on the street like this? He slowed and waited for her to exit her attention from her letters and resume her stroll to the next shop, mayhaps crossing that path more subtly as he tried. Hatless, perhaps foolishly so in this desert glare, he was unable to do more than stop and squintingly smile for her. "Good day, miss. Could I ask your direction in this town?"

She was fussing gently with her sleeve as he spoke and though she hadn't looked up yet, she stilled and seemed to freeze for a moment before slowly lifting her gaze. His voice... though it might seem silly to some, she didn't think she'd ever forget it.. or those amazing blue eyes. She stared into those eyes barely breathing before letting a gentle smile spread over her face. "Good day sir." She finally replied softly, surprised in a most pleasant way by his appearance. Of course her reaction wasn't as formal as it should of been, but she'd laid in bed nights, dreaming of him coming to carry her off like in a fairy tale. Logic said that wasn't what he was here for and that it was mere chance that he'd asked her for direction, he wouldn't have any interest in her or daydreams of her like she did of him. "Of course.. what are you looking for?"

His cuts had healed nicely though a slight scratch remained and his full suit of clothes unhindered by tears and rips made him seem taller and his eyes more stark still. "If I were to utter the truth, the reverend in this town would have me on the next train for the way I'd made a lady blush in public," he said quietly as they stoppered the traffic on the boardwalk. He took a step back into the street so she could let others pass behind her yet stay in the shade. "I must say instead, that I am looking for a place to stay. And, I daresay... perhaps a place to work. My last discussion with my employer was not terribly kind. On my part... not for anything I'd done against my work," he suddenly defended though he didn't know why her opinion would matter so much.

She shifted as he did which allowed the others to pass, she blushed lightly anyway at his words though his thoughts probably had nothing to do with her specifically. She smiled kindly to his words about his former employer and nodded a little, she waited for the small crowd to pass and stepped back to allow him to come up on the walk again. "A place to stay.. would you prefer the hotel or the boarding house?" Her eyes stayed on his face and she tried not to seem like she was some fawning socalite, though she was likely adoring. "What sort of work might I direct you towards? I don't want to assume since you've left your former job.. perhaps you want something different?"

[Lovely]

"Don't worry your head about finding me work, miss. Simply turn me toward the boarding house if you would, please," he said, not wanting to concern her in what he truly did to survive. "I have a few dollars to squander away on a dinner perhaps, if you'd be willing to join a ruffian like myself later on?"

She smiled brighter at his offer of dinner and she lowered her eyes trying not to show him how eager she was to say yes to his offer. "I'd be delighted to join you for dinner. I'll have to check with mother first." She lifted her gaze to show him that she did want to come and she wasn't using her mother as an excuse. "Might I walk you that way, and enjoy a few more moments of your company rather than just point you toward the boarding house?"

"Tell Mother that she can join us as well. I'm sincere in the offer. Your kindness repaid twice, I insist. This way?" He pointed down the street, not sure which way was right or whether staying at the boarding house was wiser than the hotel, but the barrister was less likely to find him there if he came looking for him or his horse. "You have your chores. Oh, and I have my bags. The station, I've left them behind." He realized he'd stepped from the curb in such haste his own case was waiting without him.

"Oh." She replied softly as he seemed to brush off her offer to spend a few extra moments with him and that he invited her mother to dinner as well said very clearly that he held no interest in her company -for her, he was just being nice. "That's very kind of you. You don't have to repay me.. it was my pleasure." She pointed down the street in a different direction. "It's off the main street, Walcott's. You'll see the sign."

He paused, confused by her distance. Then it was clear and he smiled shyly. "You misunderstand me. I recall your tale of taking care of your family. I merely didn't wish to take you from your chores. If I may only have the pleasure of your company alone... I daresay... I'd prefer it," he explained. "Though, it's not proper to offer you such an invitation without the formality of a card for your mother's required approval. Well then... promise me you'll wait here but a moment?" He looked around, realizing the post office would be his saviour if she would stay and wait for him to return.

[Lovely]

She felt her cheeks warm slightly as she was corrected, she misunderstood and for that she was embarassed but thrilled. "I.. of course, I'll wait." She let her eyes wash over his face, she could hardly believe he was standing in front of her, nevermind asking her to dinner.

"A moment, I swear it," he nodded, forming a cheeky smile as he reached to her arm, making certain she was real and there to hear him. He bolted on light feet around her to dodge into the postman's office, seen explaining something hurriedly to the clerk if she watched through the window. Into his pocket he'd dug for money in exchange for the pen and the card and sleeve onto which he jotted his invitation. The next few moments had the clerk clearly confused and Oenghus nodding out the door toward the girl who waited. To whatever it was, the clerk finally understood and seemed to agree, taking the card back behind the counter to stamp it roughly as if to mail it away.

Not as hurried and with a mysterious calm, Oenghus returned to the walk to advise simply. "It appears miss, that you have a letter. I think you should retrieve it and I'll meet you presently once I've .. retrieved my bag." The wink...a game... a sweetly offered treat for her to play along as deeply as she wished... she would be able to enter the postman's office again to find a new card, her invitation in proper script and gentlemanly clear writing while he scurried like a school boy to get his things.

Her eyes seemed to light up with the game he set into motion and she shook her head with a soft giggle. "I suppose I should go check with the clerk.. see if I missed anything." She'd meet him back on the walk in a few moments, invitation in her hand and sweet smile on her face. The light blush of her cheeks and the sparkle of her eyes would show him how his invitation and actions delighted her.

He'd run down the street just in time to find the porter moving his bag to the locker inside. Hoping not to be detained needlessly, he offered the man a few pennies for the trouble, though he was running out of such items without digging into what was contained in his cases that would need dealing with in a more private setting. He thanked the man for his attention and hurried back to the street, slowed a bit by his luggage and a bit out of breath by the time he returned.

His cheeks were reddened and freckling from the sun's merciless glare and flushed some from his haste. "This will simply not do," he huffed out, chuckling against the spectacle he was sure he was making. "Men in dark suits without hats are as good as carrion in this part of the country, I believe. Is there a place here to purchase a hat?"

Nicolette chuckled softly, shifting to come closer to him and lifting her parasol to shade herself. "Of course there's a place to buy a hat, how do you think the other men hide their faces? You could find a lovely girl to walk beside in the meantime.."

[Lovely]

Whatever pink had rouged his cheeks faded suddenly. Surely she'd made no connections to the scarf, had she? He'd spoken clearly, he was certain, without any hints, unless the madness and heat were making him slip up. "Thank you," he remembered to say to whatever else she'd mentioned, though 'lovely girl' rang sharply in his ears and he nodded. "That I could, thank you again. Walcott's you said? Any relation to the Belford or Hempsted line of Walcotts in Cambridge? Sorry, it's a potential hazard, I assure you. Philadelphia poisons the mind with the lineages of hundreds of well-to-dos I've never actually met," he laughed.

She shook her head, giving a small shrug of her shoulders. "I don't rightly know. I believe the sisters were born here, I do know where their mother or father were from. I have yet to learn all the lines and relations here. We've only just come out ourselves." She explained lightly, still smiling at him.

"I'll tell you a secret. It doesn't matter, except to other Belfords or Hempsteds or Walcotts... or Tiernays for that matter," he sighed. His uncle was not going to be pleased but he really didn't care. "What a coincidence, then, since I'm here, perhaps now to stay no less than a few months."

She looked down at the walk and sighed a bit herself, lifting her bright eyes up to his face again with a small smile. "Being dragged out here doesn't seem like such torture suddenly. " She blushed again and cleared her throat softly. "Pardon me, that was awfully bold of me to say."

"Being dragged?" His query seemed tinted with knowledge he wasn't about to share. Her glance was returned with a haunted one of his own. "Being dragged and tortured doesn't sound entirely inspiring for one's stay, no. I'll assume you mean metaphorically and not... you haven't been kidnapped again, have you?" He'd glanced about briefly to ensure they weren't overheard.

She giggled ever so softly and she almost leaned into him but didn't. "Metaphorically at least for now.. unless mother decides I should be the next in offer to mister Kingswell, at which point I may beg to be kidnapped.." She cleared her throat again. "I apologise I shouldn't speak so crossly of someone.. We are out here for my cousin Elizabeth. She came out here to teach and married a local man. Her father, my uncle asked my mother to come out.. to be with her while she.. adjusts and as I am not married myself.. where mother goes, I go."

"A city woman marrying a local man? From here?" Incredulous, his eyes scanned the men on the street around them, most looking like they'd been farmers and ranch hands their whole lives, or were traveling through with no intention of staying. "What type of man from a place like this could capture the heart of an educated woman, especially one whose life is sold to fostering knowledge and literacy?"

"You have a low opinion of the people here, because they work hard in harsh conditions rather than enjoy the comforts that some of us do back East?" She pouted a little and tilted her face up to look at him. "Just because a man has rough edges or a more hash side does not mean he has no redeeming qualities or that he is unlovable."

[Lovely]

"You have a low opinion of people out east to assume we don't have a harsh side, miss," he countered coolly. He turned his palms up, showing his own callouses and marks. "I meant her love of books and knowledge must have made it hard for a man without similar tastes or words in his mind to break into hers. I know teachers, and lawyers and accountants. Their worlds are closed around words and numbers and laws with very little awareness of anything like this. No offense to the woman or the man who loves her."

Her eyes widened a little and shone softly as if she might cry though she did not, she looked down at the ground, properly chastised and put in her place. "I apologise. I misunderstood what you meant. I didn't mean to offend you in any way, or to imply.. the way you said it at first, I misunderstood."

"Your apology is unnecessary, Nicolette. I am a man in two worlds much of the time, the tame and the wild, if you will. I prefer to spend my time away from cold offices and the stench of ink and oil, though I can't deny the draw of the money behind such things. I am, as they say, only human. And, I'm often misunderstood. Not your fault. I simply forget my place and my audience. It is I who must apologize. I'll make it up to you. That's the sign there? Walcott? Would you dare to follow a strange man to his room, miss?" The cheeky grin had returned with the wink as he stopped a step ahead of her, the boarding house in view.

She looked up after he'd apologized himself, ready to argue that he hadn't had to when he continued with his daring proposition. "I.." She blushed a bit and looked to the sign on the porch of the boarding house. "I.. I suppose it would depend on why I was following him.. I think I may dare." She aswered him softly.

"My intentions are not crass nor are they unscrupulous," he reassured with a nod and a subtle nudge to her arm with his. "Although misunderstand that or not all you like and you'll still be wrong. A man of mystery doesn't reveal his methods any more than a magician reveals his illusions."

He coaxed a soft giggle from her as she gazed up at him. "Oh thats very reassuring, thank you.. I do believe I accept this dare, even if it's just to see more of your tricks."

"A very adventurous girl and one not prone to fits of embarrassment or giggling at inopportune times," he noted out loud, his head tilted with a measure of awe in his observation. "I very much think I will enjoy your company. Especially without the stares of lily-whites and stuffed collars harumphing and dizzying themselves into self-importance in front of an orchestra."

She smiled the joy showing in her eyes at his words. "Not everyone appreciates that about me.. I'm glad you don't think bad of me for not being perfectly lily-white."

"You're not an assistant to the mayor, are you? My uncle's wife believes that's the only girl suitable for my rank because she wants to have tea on the lawn at the court house. Not only do I not think that of you, I thank the blessed lord you're not."

[Lovely]

She shook her head. "Sorry to disappoint your aunt.. the best association I have is the Murphy Shipping and Trading company. Maybe she'll let me slide with that?"

"Well, disappoint her as your heart pleases. She's my uncle's to deal with, not mine," he groaned, blantantly stating that no love would be lost between him and the woman. "Shipping and trading is fair game, however, especially for maritime steel. Ah, unless there's a bit of rum-runner in your sordid past, miss?" The glimmer of hope for some amount of intrigue shone a brief moment with the smile.

She tilted her head to the side and gave him the sweetest of smiles. "Oh dear.. you've discovered my secret, my father was really a pirate.. pity they made him walk the plank that last trip.."

"Yes, pity. That means no coaxing him into letting us board passage to India when we need to escape this desert heat," he joked, not that India would be any better than here, though it was likely safer in his estimation.

"We?" She smiled again and regarded him with a gentle curiosity that didn't make a huge deal of his reference to the two of them running off together. "Hmm I suppose you'll have to settle for trying to sweet talk me into it.."

"I don't settle and I'm not prone to sweet talk girls often. That you've seen, I'm afraid. I'm not proud of that night, those men getting the best of me," he said quietly. "They turned my tone sour and stern. Not the best of circumstances so not the best of behavior, but that's hardly an excuse. Regardless, I don't know that taking you anywhere beyond this town, or me leaving it just now, would be appropriate. I'll manage if you will." He seemed genuinely disappointed to hear that her father's influence was not approachable, meaning dealing with her would be solely dealing with women, namely her mother.

The line of teasing abruptly ended and she was left confused, what had she said or done to sour it? She opened her mouth to explain but decided against it, what good would it do anyway? "You have no need to apologise for anything from .. that night. You returned me to town with hardly a mark on me, I'd say considering I was very lucky. You did nothing to warrant an apology. Under the circumstances you were brave and went above and beyond to ensure a girl who was a virtual stranger was rescued.. I don't know and wont assume if you knew any of the other girls to say you had some reason beyond just being you to do what you did. You caught my fancy with a dance, but you'd caught much more than that by the end of that night."

"To say I'd not paid attention to any of the other girls there would be a disservice only to your cousin who attended with you that night. If there were others besides, then no, I didn't notice. There's my flattery for you. Yours... is deeply appreciated, thank you," he said, not able to help the pink tint in his cheek at his admissions. "This heat... " He pawned his excuses off to the weather with a warmer smile and started toward the boarding house.

She walked with him to the boarding house allowing the conversation to drop off for a moment as she admired the touch of pink in his cheek and let his words float in her own thoughts. Her heart did a little flip flop and she concentrated on keeping her breathing normal and her expression pleasant but not too flustered. Yet what use did it do to deny the fondness she felt when she was following him to his room?

He entered the boarding house, quickly checking doors and windows and the layout of the stairs. There was always a chance, he reminded himself... though he hoped with the purchase of his room, he'd buy some secure seclusion and avoid such concerns for a while. The scents of boiled coffee caught his attention and reminded him of the invitation for dinner, and of the train ride without much to eat. Setting his cases at his feet, he pulled out a kerchief to mop the misted sweat and dust off his cheeks. He gave little thought to the folded cloth or its coloration she might question from recognition. Quickly putting it away he looked around now for the caretakers of the tidy home for travelers. "Who would be the kind souls minding such an orderly establishment? If they offer half as warm a welcome as the walls and shining floors, I may be persuaded to extend my stay even longer."