Consequences, Shmonsequences (Eros/Evelyn/Cat)

"No, of course not," Eros said, flustered giving way to confused. She'd suggested he dance with another woman, said that she enjoyed seeing people she liked have fun with others, and now she was demanding answers he didn't have and asking if she'd offended him. Even if she had, he'd never admit it, even to himself.

Oh, he'd bet Mano would know what to do with such a woman. Turn the entire thing into a flirt somehow, or suggest sex as a fix. Assuming Mano would have gotten into such a dreadful mess to begin with.

Evelyn eyed Eros for a few long, silent moments as a song ended. "Come on, dear, let me buy you a drink," she said, slipping her hand into one of his. A change of pace, a change of scenery and a good strong drink would help. She wasn't one to hold back, but perhaps she had tried a little too much a little too soon. "What do you like? I'm a whiskey girl, myself."

"I'll have a whiskey as well, neat," Eros said. He wouldn't argue her declaration that she intended to pay, but made a mental note to be quicker with his own offer later. He kept his face smooth, unperturbed, but he felt quite perturbed. He felt it, and worked to rid his body of tension and regain his composure.

"Man after my own heart," Evelyn said, raising a hand to get the bar tender's attention and order two. "I can't tell you the looks I've gotten ordering drinks like this. Some people think girls are supposed to want those frilly, fruity drinks every time, even ones who look like me." She shook her head as the short glasses were set in front of them, a thick finger's worth of amber liquid still swirling in the bottom from the pour.

"There's nothing wrong with fruity drinks on occasion," Eros said. "I don't make a habit of them, but sometimes brandy simply isn't appropriate." And sometimes one found oneself at a Muggle club with the most forward woman one had ever met, and whiskey seemed just the thing. He told himself to expect a burn, as it likely wasn't the quality he was used to.

"Cheers," Evelyn said, taking a grateful sip from her glass after raising it briefly toward Eros. "Tell me, have you done anything daring since your wild night in my dorm room?" she asked, looking over at him. There was a smile, but it was a tad more reserved than it had been on the dance floor, just for now. It likely wouldn't last through the bit of liquor in her glass.

"Not at all," Eros said, and certainly nothing worth comparing to this. "Well, nothing daring as such," he corrected himself. "And I believe you'd find it positively yawn-inducing, so it doesn't bear speaking of." Technically his little affair with Mano was daring, but all the story Evelyn would get if she asked was that he was sleeping with a friend. He wouldn't even say that, except that she was so positively blasé about things.

"I will try my hardest not to yawn at any stories you tell me," Evelyn said. "Tell me one of your boring stories." She took another sip from her glass, feeling the burn at the back of her throat and on down turning into warmth that was already beginning to spread. "And I'll tell you a story of my own." There were plenty of stories to be told.

"Mine isn't even a story," Eros declared. "I've a close friend I share a bed with now and then. According to Society's rules, we should not." And he shouldn't be talking about it. "Really, I've friends who've done far worse and far more openly, but as far as daring goes, that and my earring are my limit."

"Oh, an illicit affair right under the nose of your Society," Evelyn said, smiling. "That's not quite boring. That's the kind of stuff Shakespeare wrote of. Not to mention half the other classic authors." There was a reason it sold so well and managed to stay relevant throughout the years. People liked stories with such relationships.

"It would be more Shakespearean if we were in love, but it stops short of that," Eros said. "There's affection, but nothing we'd risk our futures for. I think I'd quite enjoy a taste of that kind of romance. I've friends who are always passionately in love. Four or five years of it, with the occasional tiff, but for the most part, blinding passion." He took a sip of his own drink at the thought. He wouldn't believe it if he hadn't seen it so many times, and he still didn't always believe it.

"I was in love once," Evelyn said. "Or, at least, I thought I was, maybe I wasn't. It definitely wasn't that all-encompassing, consuming love they talk about in books. I'm not even sure if I want it. Well, maybe I do, the books make it sound nice, don't they? But it just leads to being tied down, doesn't it? You find someone, get married, buy a house, get a dog, have a kid...where's the adventure?" She considered for a moment, the finished off her drink with a tip of her head and glass, then set it back on the bar for a refill.

Eros chuckled. "If you're my friends, the passionate ones, the adventure never ends." How could he begin to describe it? "They currently have two dogs, three children, and more adventure than they know what to do with. They go to clubs, dabble in questionable bedroom activities, and with a few drinks between them, will give free shows of their devotion to one another's bodies. They terrify me, on occasion, but I believe they'd swear to the adventure. I believe it's the person far more than the situation which makes life interesting." He and Mano, for example, had been given much the same lot in life, and yet they'd made quite different choices.

"Well, then perhaps I just need to find the right man," Evelyn said as the bartender swept in to quickly refill her glass. She winked a thank you at him and picked up the drink. What was the right man? Ah, but she'd never given into the whole fad of creating her dream man. "Well, I'm young, there's still plenty of time for me to find the right person. Besides, I've always heard you never find them when you're looking."

"That's certainly been my experience," Eros said, lifting his glass. How long and how hard had he looked for that elusive something without finding it? Then he'd fallen for Mano, left to search out a girlfriend or at least an appropriate lover, failed with both Shianni and Lani, and ended up with Mano after all. "Life seems a great joke sometimes."