Henry’s gaze darkened and flickered towards the other, appraising him from the corner of his eye. Their friendship was a most beneficial one, as he was so aptly reminded. Moistening his bottom lip, he smirked in reply. “I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see how true your statement is.” Not that he expected something out of the evening; Theodore Fortin was, as it turned out, one of the few who could hold his interest with their clothes on, and was becoming a rather good friend of his. So really the idea of just going to the tavern with a friend and having drinks at the least was enough for satiate the Earl for that evening. A shocking thing for some, at least those who somehow believed he couldn’t hold onto friends.
Following after Theodore, he grinned when the other expressed an interest to join in on the card game he mentioned. Their meeting was an unorthodox one, Theodore having snuck his way into the gentleman’s club only the upper society men went to. And Henry, ever astute and knowing this bearded interloper did not belong, had made a wager: beat him at a card game and he may stay without fuss. To his surprise, Fortin actually bested him. And while normally his ego could not handle such defeat, Henry found himself impressed enough to vouch for his place there. And their friendship had carried on from that moment. “You simply do not know me well enough, yet,” he said as he descended into a chair. “Gambling is.. Unfortunately a vice of mine, and I seek it wherever I can. But it could be nice to have a companion the next time I get the urge.”
Fortin eagerly ordered the first round, and gulped it down rather quickly. Henry was of course the picture perfect gentleman, taking more time to nurse his drink. And while he would wrinkle his nose at others, Henry did not even bat an eye at the other as he ordered another drink. Instead he wondered just what it was like living in the Shadow Realm that a man so effortlessly chugged down whiskey that quickly.
Henry snorted, rather indelicately, at Theo’s question, finishing his drink before ordering a refill of his own. “Not much, unfortunately, though not because of my parents’ appearances at the festival.” He stayed separate from them when he could, coach ride excluded, so he didn’t have to worry much about running into his family while there in Corona. “This weekend is too involved, and Corona proper is too clean to find much ‘trouble’. But here—” He motioned around the Snuggly Duckling with its low lighting, rough edges, and stuffed animal and weaponry as décor, “—Your lot has a front row to any sort of mischief around these parts. Rooming in the home of the world famous Tangleton Ruffians.” When he drink arrived, he quickly moved to take a long sip, as if competing with Fortin’s gusto. He did not gulp down the drink the same way as his companion.
Someone catching his eye caused Henry to pause mid second sip. Admittedly his mind wandered to his altercation with Lady Drusilla earlier that very day. When she spoke harshly to him. Not that he didn’t deserve as much, he was, as always, acting a cad, but… He just hadn’t been expecting it. Neither he or his prick. He scoffed, “The only people I’m being paraded around are the ‘proper young ladies’ of the ton, a boring lot. Not easy enough with their virtue, or interesting enough of character to tempt me. Handsome or otherwise.” Intolerable he thought most of them. “And I would advise you to maintain a distance from then yourself, Fortin. Positively no fun comes from tangling oneself with lords’ daughters.” He swallowed another gulp of whiskey before nodding at him. “And what of you? Gotten up to anything interesting while in Corona?”
Theodore lamented Henry’s plight, if only because he seconded the sentiment — women of the ton were bred well, with the unfortunate expectation to continue in that tradition. He did not wish to court another; he merely wished for a distraction. Most who found themselves acquainted in such a way with him expected the same. No attachments, no feeling. He pitied the season’s young men, who would be hounded by mamas and young women alike.
If he thanked anyone in that moment, it was Gaston for his inability to even appear noble, not after all he had done to Her Royal Highness, so Theodore had done well thus far as to not be asked to fill a lady’s dance card. He was not a sought out bachelor. “Believe you me, I have no intention in meddling with the affairs of any ‘proper young lady.’ I leave the court and its women solely to you.” He raised his drink in a toast, one hand on Henry’s shoulder as he declared, “May you have luck in finding she who shall be the future Duchess of Cinderellasburg. You’ll need it, you poor devil.”
It hadn’t been even more than a few days since his encounter with Briar Rose, but the young Fortin struggled with purging her from his mind. It drove him mad, not knowing why he was so moved by their encounter, but perhaps it was because she thought him so.... intolerable? Infuriating? Insolent? She had every right to think of him as such, seeing as he had given her nothing she had wished for in their chance meeting. Their brush into one another had left him wanting more. More of what? Even he couldn’t put it to words.
He just knew he wished for her golden-eyed gaze to meet his, for her rosy lips to purse at his words, for her to simply not waver in her attention to him. Pathetic, wasn’t it? It certainly wasn’t love, nor affection, but more of a.. fascination. An interest.
It struck him then that if he wished to know more about the elusive woman, his chances were better with picking the likes of Henry’s mind for he had an advantage in having grown up in Auradon alongside her. “Say, Charming,” he said, piquing his attention as they walked beside each other, “what do you know of Lady Briar Rose?” He tried every bit to appear nonchalant, echoing back to the warning his friend had uttered only days past, of ‘maintaining a distance’ with such young ladies. Theodore feigned picking something off his vest, still trying to be discreet, “She and I talked to one another only briefly the other day. She seemed...” There were many words he could use to fill the space, but he settled with, “difficult.”