Happy Daze (cont.)

[Existentially Odd]

The blonde chuckled warmly, not moving too overtly.  He wanted to ask Hew what he thought of the offer, what he envisioned might come of it and whether he\'d decided he did want to go home now, after all.

All of it was fine with Phinn, who had plenty of entertainment around him, should he wish it and was content with insinuations that might make the teenager before him wonder.  They\'d bring him back as certainly as anything done would, he was sure.  The curiosity of teenagers was always to be relied upon in his experience, no matter where they came from or whose important legs they\'d slid out from between.

"Coming here for a few drinks was just the first experience I felt like having with you tonight," he replied enigmatically, still smiling at the prince.  "\'S\'not my faultyou can\'t hold yer liquor," he giggled, his eyes dancing at Hew.

[Trillian]

Hew\'s smile broadened at the slight and lowered his gaze as he considered Phinn\'s offer before looking back up the man he idolized and risked getting caught for.  A long time ago he\'d switched from sneaking out to play with the common boys to sneaking out to spend time with Phinn.  The man had a viewpoint that would\'ve given his advisors ulcers, strong opinions and a different perspective, arguments that would make Hew\'s head spin, charismatic enough for the Prince to want to please him, to get to know him better, and curious enough to know what things Phinn wanted to do with him.  It had been a clever thing, for Phinn to rely on the latter, because it was burning brightly in Hew\'s mind.

"So how are you going to stoke the fire?" he said, trying to sound mature and playing a game which was way over his head, but pretending that it wasn\'t.

[Existentially Odd]

Phinn gave a breathy laugh and lifted his chin off his hand in favour of crossing his arms before him and leaning on his elbows on the table instead.  The change of position was also a good opportunity to dart a few glances around the room to see if they were being looked at any differently to normal.  Of course, in his state, \'glances\' were rather slower than what he achieved and he was weighted with the knowledge that he wasn\'t exactly at the top of his game right now.  They weren\'t particularly safe out on the streets and the urge to get them somewhere private was growing (mainly due to the paranoia of knowing who he had with him).

"C\'n try a coupl\'a things," he told Hew haughtily, raising his eyebrows in a superior manner that suggested he wasn\'t going to give away any details just yet - but the pretence lasted for all of about five seconds, for he gave up the details immediately.  "C\'n take ya\' t\'me mam\'s place and set ye up with the new experience o\'your choice," he explained with a little slur now beginning to be noticeable in his words, "or take ya\' back t\'my place an\'... stoke ya there," he finished with a giggle, as if he was shy about saying such things.

[Trillian]

A brothel didn\'t appeal at all so the decision was made quickly.

"Your place," he said, then shyly took a sip from the last half glass of ale he had.  The blush on his cheeks might\'ve been given to him from alcohol, but it would\'ve reached his face anyway.  He felt charmed and alive, breathless and bouyant with the expectation of something... well, he wasn\'t really sure what, but he knew it would be intimate.

Phinn was a leader, and Hew was turning into his follower, heavily influenced regardless of the alcohol in his system, but the latter made for less care in his decisions.  It gave Hew the ability not to weigh up the consequences, to simply do as he wanted without worrying about what it might look like, to who and when.  He liked not having status, he liked not having to care about what others thought - except, of course, about what Phinn thought.  He cared much about that.

[Existentially Odd]

Phinn smiled and stood up abruptly, knowing he was sliding further into drunkenness with every moment he sat there letting the ale he\'d imbibed settle into him.  He needed to ride the wave of what sobriety he had left in order to get home, and that meant leaving now.

The fact that Hew would need to get to the palace even after that was a niggle in the back of his mind but didn\'t worry him too much just then (although the visions of guards busting down his door and throwing him into the dungeons for taking advantage of Prince Mayhew were persistent and worrisome enough to keep the niggle in place).  His first priority was getting back to his lovely townehouse.

"Right, then," he announced, gesturing for his companion to get to his feet, "we shall away, then."  He laughed when Hew stood up and promptly sat back down, having absolutely no drunk-legs whatsoever, and circled the table to wind an arm beneath his and haul him up.  Phinn was surprised at how much bulk there was to the boy, having never touched him before.  "Let\'s get you home safe then, me lovely," he said with grim determination, and made a beeline for the exit.

(Continued in \'Happy Daze\')