The Bittersweet Midnight Wake of Apolonia Rosario Patron

[Dan the Man]

"Together, in the white room."

He glanced just past her. He hadn't mentioned it, and he didn't doubt she wouldn't like the news.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya took a firm step backwards, one eyebrow raised. Several comments came to mind, but she discarded them all. "Well, I get the floor then." She looked around the room. "Shall we find our host?"

[Dan the Man]

Dan gave lip service to her question, but her previous comment was on his mind.

"Of course."

He walked at her side, putting whatever idle speculation he entertained on hold.

[Vittorio Patron]

Vittorio and Rosa were in the main atrium, keeping a silent vigil at Apolonia's side. It was obvious that the sting of grief had passed them both. They were content to simply be in her presence. At the sound of footfalls, Vittorio turned his attention to Dan and Arya.

"I trust everything isse alright?"

Rosa looked from her father to Dan, and then to Arya. She remained silent, a living doppleganger of her eternally resting mother.

[Arya Ravenwing]

They were just standing there, Rosa looking down at her dead mother's face. Arya suppressed her natural shudder, and nodded to their host. "Yes, everything is fine." She kept her hands at her sides, and then noticed that she was holding her right arm as though she were about to snatch a blaster out of her hip holster.

With her dress, there was obviously no weapon within reach, and the smuggler nonchalantly clasped her hands together, her arms resting against her hips.

[Dan the Man]

The Killer, the Smuggler, the Liar, and his Daughter talked on through the night, and the hours passed. Dan and Vittorio reflected on Apolonia's life, and Rosa occasionally added her own words, seeming to be a living apparition as she spoke. Arya kept pace with it all uneasily, making best efforts to be social. This went on for some time, until at last, Dan rose from a table where they were all seated.

"It's getting late." He said somberly, looking to his counterpart.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya was hiding a yawn behind her hand as Dan got to his feet. "Ah, yes, it is that." She pushed herself up as well, accepting Vittorio's kind hand to help her upright. "Thank you for the hospitality."

Vittorio thanked her warmly for her company, and she found herself blushing. He must have been quite a charmer when he was younger. Rosa was sweet, but melancholy, refraining from touching either of the rogues as she said her good-nights.

By the time they were shown to their room, her feet were killing her. Arya couldn't remember the last time she'd spent so much time in dress shoes. Combat boots were her usual fare, and her feet weren't used to being pinched for so long. She plopped down on the edge of the bed and started pulling her shoes off before she even looked around the room.

[Dan the Man]

Dan turned his back to Arya, facing the large mirror at the foot of the bed. As she pulled her shoes off, he slid his jacket off his shoulders, which hit the floor with a muffled sound. Without anything to shroud them, his twin blasters gleamed in the dim lamplight of the bedroom.

The old gunslinger spent the next minute or so looking down at his hands, and back up to his reflection.

[Arya Ravenwing]

She threw her shoes to the floor, glaring at them, and rubbed her foot a little with her right hand. "See anything interesting?" Arya nodded towards the mirror.

[Dan the Man]

"Too much."

Dan reluctantly looked away, closing his fists tightly as he let his arms rest at his sides. He turned to look at Arya as she sat on the bed, and he took his mind off of pressing issues.

"Guess the pumps didn't agree with you?"

As he spoke to her, he worked the buttons of his shirt open, one by one. Nothing in his actions were provocative in any form. He was once again implacable.

[Arya Ravenwing]

She grimaced, "The last time I wore those shoes, it was an in-and-out art heist. It went sour - uninvited terrorists... ah, well, ancient history."

Arya glanced at the floor where she'd be sleeping, and then at the dress she was wearing. "Uh... I need something to sleep in."

[Dan the Man]

Dan looked at Arya appraisingly, drawing a hand through an errant strand of hair as he did so. After a moment, he resumed his work, and when his shirt was unbuttoned, he handed it to Arya.

"It's either this, or asking Vittorio from something from Apolonia's wardrobe."

Something in Dan's eyes pleaded with her to take the shirt.

[Arya Ravenwing]

She shrugged, "Okay." Arya narrowed her eyes at the older man. "Although maybe she had a nice nightgown..." She grinned at the look on his face, "Oh I guess the shirt is fine." Arya tossed it on the bed.

The smuggler turned her back on her employer, and slipped the straps of her black dress of her shoulders. With a little wiggle, she pushed the dress down to the floor, and reached for the oversized shirt. Arya pulled it on, and started on the buttons, turning around to see where Dan had gotten to.

[Dan the Man]

"You sure you don't want to take the bed?"

Dan asked, as he sat across from Arya, fluffing a pillow errantly with his right hand.

[Arya Ravenwing]

She smiled sweetly. "Nah, but I'll take a pillow and a blanket." Arya eased the pillow he'd just patted out from under his hand, and tossed it on the rug next to the bed. "Wouldn't want you to put your back out, sleepin' on the floor."

After securing a blanket from the bedclothes, Arya expertly wrapped herself up in it, and snuggled up with the pillow. "Don't forget to turn off the light. I can sleep almost anywhere, but it has to be dark." It was warm on the floor, in spite of the climate control of the mansion, and she partially shrugged out of the blanket to keep cool enough. Her long legs were exposed, and she idly played with the edge of the bedskirt with her toes as she closed her eyes and prepared to sleep.

[Dan the Man]

Dan rose to his feet, and padded over to the switch.

"Good night, smuggler. You'll need it."

With a click, he switched the light off, and returned to the bed. Drawing the sheets over him, he closed his eyes. Sleep came to him quickly, as it did to any man who learned to tune out a protesting concience...

He awoke a mere six hours later, and slipped out of bed as Arya slept. Retrieving a second shirt from a wardrobe down the hall, the gunslinger went down the stairs, to attend to business that could no longer be avoided.

[Arya Ravenwing]

A floorboard creaked, and one of her blue eyes opened. Arya turned her head with the pretense of rearranging her long limbs while sleeping, and saw the door to their room close with a nearly silent click. Both eyes opened fully and she sat up, verifying with a glance that the bed was now empty.

Frell you, she got to her feet as quietly as she could, frelling leaving me with no pants. She wasn't about to get back into the dress, and a quick glance in a mirror told her that her shirttails more than covered the essentials. A few seconds work converted her vibroblade sheath that she'd worn on her thigh to one that fit snugly around her forearm.

She padded barefoot to the door, which she opened slowly and peeked around. A shadow moved by the stairwell at the end of the hall, and as her eyes adjusted to the deeper dark from the moonlight in the room she thought she saw someone going down the stairs. Then all was still again. Arya slipped around the door, distributing her weight as carefully as she could so as to avoid squeaking floorboards as she made her way down the hallway to the stairs.

[Dan the Man]

"You're up early."

Dan spoke to the lone person sitting in the dining room, as he slowly walked down the stairs.

[Vittorio Patron]

"I did not sleep."

Vittorio conceded, looking up at his brother.

"How could you?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya crept along the hallway silently, and stopped just shy of the stairs. She could hear Dan's voice, and settled down to eavesdrop on the conversation. The desert night was cold, and she carefully drew up her knees and hugged them to her chest for warmth.