Chapter 61 - Date Night I

Bjorn built her pyre with his own hands, laid her in flame like a queen.

The ashes he gathered into a small jar of silver and bone, worn always at his belt.

From that day, men called him The Ashen One.

Not only for the urn he carried - 

But for the cities left smoldering in his wake.

The Saga of Bjorn, Verse 12

===============

Alexandria’s face itched, and she hated it. Hated the constant pain. Hated how it frayed on her nerves. Hated how fragile it made her, liable to snap at her friends or cry at the drop of a pin. 

Things had been going so well. For a whole week it looked like she was going to have friends. More than one, more than just Vivian. Then her face flared up, she started snapping at everyone and making shit decisions, and now she’d pushed everyone away. Again.

Story of her fucking life.

Why had she thought she could make her own ritual? Everyone had been right about that. Well, one more day, then it was the weekend and she could hide out. Maybe practice the fire spell and see about getting to the next stage of the challenge room. Ugh, this was stupid.

Alexandria’s self-recrimination ended when she rolled over in bed, and noticed a flowery letter on the floor. It had clearly been slid in under the door. The ginger looked around the room with her leaf-green eyes, trying to find something suitable. Why did everything long and sticky suddenly vanish when she needed it? Eventually, she decided that a pair of long quills was good enough, and used them to manipulate the letter around.

What would it be this time? Cursed letter? Contact poison? A letter saying she should kill herself? Not that those were particularly imaginative. Alexandria’s personal bet was on a noxious substance that would cause her grief, without needing a long trip to the hospital wing. Joke would be on them, she was used to powering through that sort of thing. 

With a feeling of trepidation, and a good deal of experience, Alexandria flipped open the letter. Nothing exploded, no cursed wraiths came screaming out, and no lightning struck. She poked it experimentally a few times, then leaned over to read it.

My dearest Lady Renard,

I would be honored to take you to dinner tonight in Corwin, then perhaps we can see which activities we could do together. 

Naturally, if you have a prior engagement, simply let me know and we can discuss rescheduling.

Sincerely,

Erik Morsin

There was a scribbled PS in on the bottom, in a completely different hand. Alexandria recognized Vivian’s scrawl.

What he’s TRYING to say, badly, is do you want to go on a date with him? Please say yes, he’s been so earnest about asking me for help. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.

Unsaid - but Alex knew her friend too well - is Vivian would spend weeks bitching and moaning over the ‘lost opportunity’ if she turned it down, and how it was ‘so romantic.’

She’d probably do the latter one anyway.

Alexandria wanted to say yes, but was suddenly struck with indecision. What would she do? What would she say? What would she wear?

She paused at the last thought, and swore to herself.

“Bloody Vivian’s infesting my thoughts.” She grumbled.

She refreshed herself and got ready for the day, only for Vivian to slide into a seat next to her at breakfast, beaming like the sun.

“Sooo?” She asked, her eyes huge.

“So… what?” Alexandria asked. Vivian threw her hands up in the air.

“You’re impossible! The date! The letter! Are you doing it or not!? I must know, one way or another. It was romantic, yes, but if you want to tell him to piss off I’ll be with you every step of the way! Of course, it’s terribly unfair to send the letter to you right as you’re working on forming a coven, it could be extraordinarily awkward if you say no, but we can do it! Maybe we’ll steal Felix and make a little coven of three. Or-”

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it!” Alexandria whispered. Anything for Vivian to get off her back.

“YES!” She pumped her fist, ignoring the glares from everyone else trying to eat around them. Only Felix utterly ignored them, eating scrambled eggs with one hand while reading a textbook with another.

“Okay, okay. We can’t seem too eager to accept. It’s a date! Weeee! How are we going to tell him? When are we going to tell him? We need to make sure we’ve got some time after our usual coven meeting to get ready - two hours should be plenty, work up an appetite for dinner. We want…”

Alexandria looked at Vivian in awe. The girl seemed more excited for her date than Alex herself! She slowly smiled, pulling the scars of her face tight, and sending a familiar twinge of pain racing across her face.

What had she been so worried about? She clearly did have friends… and her ritual had been particularly bad.

Fwish fwoosh burn was… yeah.

==========

Alexandria was fretting as the fateful hour approached. What had she been thinking!?

“This was a terrible idea.” She hissed, feeling green.

“Yeah, you’re absolutely right, orange is not your color. It’s too matchy matchy with your hair, while also being a different enough tone that it doesn’t work. You’re totally an autumn. Try this.” Vivian said, putting the dress back and picking out a new one. 

“No, the date thing.” Alexandria whispered.

Vivian rolled her eyes.

“Honestly! It’s just a sweet, wonderful, romantic date with an absolutely dreamy guy. What’s there not to like?” She asked.

An ugly mix of emotions rose up in Alexandria. She wasn’t quite sure what she was feeling, only that she didn’t like it.

“It’s not like you’ve been on any dates yet, you’re not exactly one to talk.” Alexandria replied. 

“Try this green one on.” Vivian said, pushing the dress into Alex’s arms. “And no, I haven’t been on a date. Yet. Bane’s kinda tasty though, and have you seen the arms on Sugarplum? Plus, there’s the upper years.”

Alex made some gagging noises.

“Please, spare me.” She whispered.

“But who else am I going to gossip with about this!?” Vivian said. “Hazel’s a recluse, Sora’s only interested in how well they fly a broom, and the other two are boys. I can’t talk to them about this! Alex, save me, you’re the only one I can have girl talk with!”

“The other girls in our house?” Alexandria whispered. “Brown’s in half our classes, and De Lys seems fine.”

“De Lys is as frigid as ice, and wouldn’t know love or romance if it came in a potion.” Vivian sniffed. “Brown… okay, fine, you’ve got me there, but she’s usually sticking with De Lys! And… okay, fine. But I want to talk with you about that stuff! You’re my bestie! Who else am I supposed to talk with and giggle over this stuff with? These are the only years I can do it!”

Alexandria smirked.

“I think you’ll be able to ‘do it’ for many more years after Camelot.” She whispered.

Vivian shrieked and slapped at her.

“You’re terrible! But yes, that’s the spirit! Now, hmm, do we raise the skirtline an inch or not…?”

“No!” Alexandria protested, pulling her hemline down.

“No, no, you’re totally right, make him work for it.” Vivian said. “Don’t want to seem too eager.”

“What part of all this makes it seem like I’m ‘too eager’?” Alexandria hissed.

“How many hours have you spent getting ready?” Vivian retorted.

Alexandria huffed in reluctant agreement and continued to listen as Vivian gossiped endlessly

“Okay, don’t move, this is tricky…” Vivian said, carefully positioning the eyeliner. Alex wanted to move back at the sharp thing approaching her eye, but managed to hold still.

“Excellent! You look stunning. Now, for the final touch…” Vivian took out her wand, and twirled it around Alex, muttering a spell.

“It worked! It worked!” Vivian jumped up and down. Alex looked at her, horrified.

“Wait, you just cast a spell on me for the first time?” She hissed.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, it was one I got from Teen Witch. Did you know that every cosmetic spell is a first circle spell? They’re all about finesse, no power needed! Right, I said that was the final touch, but I was shamelessly lying.”

Alex didn’t exactly see what Vivian had done, and it worried her. She could be a bit… much.

From Vivian’s pocket, she pulled out a small necklace, with an emerald right in the middle.

“That’s too much.” Alex denied. “I’ll just lose it, or break it, or it’ll get stolen.”

“But it matches your eyes so perfectly!” Vivian said.

The two girls good-naturedly bickered over the necklace, before Vivian took it back. 

“And now, for the grand reveal. Tada!” Vivian flashed a hand mirror in front of Alexandria.

She looked… she looked good. Great, even. The foundation was thick enough to cover the scars, but subtle enough that it didn’t look caked on. At the same time, Vivian clearly had a little too much fun.

“I look like a hooker.” Alexandria whispered.

“Oh nonsense, you look great.” Vivian said. “You’ll knock his socks off! He won’t be able to keep his hands off of you! Then again, if he gets handsy, feel free to slap him. Unless you like what he’s doing. Then don’t slap him.”

“VIVIAN!” Alexandria shrieked, blushing as red as her hair. The other girl tutted at her.

“Don’t ‘Vivian’ me, you know I’m right.”

“We’re teenagers! I don’t even have tits yet! There’s going to be no handsy stuff!” Alex was going to die of embarrassment, and completely miss her date. She just knew it. 

Vivian sniffed.

“Well… you’ll get them, eventually. It’s not like Erik’s got a beard or anything yet. Plus, I’ve got a bet with Sora that you’ll end up holding hands.” Vivian dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I’ll make 10 denarii if you two hold hands for at least 10 minutes, so do your BFF a solid here.”

“Wait, she’s betting we won’t hold hands?” Alex felt her ire rising against the girl.

“She thinks Erik’s going to offer you his elbow, and you’ll take it, and that’ll replace the handholding. Do me a solid here! Grab his hand!” Vivian said.

Alex buried her face in her hands.

“The two of you are way too invested in this.” She muttered.

“Of course! We’ve got to live vicariously through you. Do a Felix and take a bunch of notes. That way I can see all the things you do wrong for when I finally get a date.”

“Is there a word for ‘my best friend killed me with embarrassment?'" Alexandria whispered.

“Yes!” Vivian said, then paused for dramatic effect. “Best friends forever.” 

“What if this doesn’t work?” Alexandria fretted. “What if it turns out he sucks, or something?”

Vivian got a shit-eating grin on her face, and Alex held up a hand.

“Don’t.” She hissed.

Vivian pouted.

“Fine.” She said. “Well. From what we’ve seen so far, he seems alright at least. Better to find out now rather than later. Line up a guy on the side if he’s terrible.”

“Vivian!” Alex hissed in mortification.

“I can name at least three wives unhappy with their husbands.” She sniffed. “And I’m a teenager, it’s not like people talk with me.”

Alex looked at the mirror unhappily, a number of terrible but likely scenarios bouncing around her head. Vivian sighed.

“I don’t have a stranger solution to take your place on your date this time,”

Alex made an inarticulate noise that vaguely resembled growling. Vivian laughed and backed up with her hands up.

“Whoa, down girl! No need to be so territorial, he’s all yours! No stranger solution, but, I do have some confidence creams. Want one?”

“Will it make me vibrate like Sora after her morning coffee?” Alex whispered. Vivian shuddered.

“That girl is going to have a heart attack at 16, but no, it won’t.” She said. 

“I’ll take the cream.” Alexandria said.

Vivian beamed as she dug around in her purse. Alex wasn’t quite convinced that Vivian was telling the truth about it being unenchanted, the girl certainly fit enough in there. 

“Wait, hang on, don’t want to ruin the look until Erik can see it. Open wide, and… there!” Vivian popped the cream into Alex’s mouth, and she carefully chewed with her cheeks puffed out like a hamster's.

Vivian jumped.

“Ah! Hera’s tits! We’re late! Well, fashionably late, and it’s sort of expected that we’d be late, but any more and we’ll be unfashionably late, and I can’t get the reputation of being late!”

Alex stared at her friend.

“Vivian. Love. You’re not going on this date. I am. Your reputation will be fine.”

Vivian flushed and pushed Alex to the door.

“Go! Have fun! Do at least three things I would do!” She said.

Alexandria Renard opened the door, and Erik Morsin was there, waiting for her.

With a rose.