The Ship, way past Midnight

"You are aware of my abilities?" Lavinia answered stiffly. She shook her head. "I should have been able to stop it. They relied on me to succeed where others had not, and I too disappointed." Her eyes narrowed. "I will not fail again."

*********

"Plain by the standards of the middle class," Alistair answered with a glare. "I've cut your hair in a suitable style, unlike my own, and your suits will not stand out nearly so much as mine."

"While I understand that, I still don't think you should be blamed. You had what, a whole five seconds to react to something crashing through roof?" He knew arguing would be useless, but he honestly didn't feel that Lavinia should be considered a "failure" for a complete accident. If anyone should be considered a failure, it should be him.

"You'ere still throwing me in a suit," Luke grumbled, returning the glare with a somewhat more hostile glare of his own. He reached up and pulled the hat back off his head, tossing it back in the pile. "Either way, I'm turning in. It's late an' it's been bit of a stressful day."

With that he flopped back on the bed, scooting over to the wall to give Alistair room. Quietly he huddled up, grumbling in annoyance. He spent his entire life (that he could remember) trying to get out of the gutter and how he was being thrown into the upper middle class at breakneck speed. He had gotten the hang of that shaving business, and was even growing used to the less ratty hair style. But the suits and hats made the transition final, and he was going to be expected to ACT like an upperclass gentleman. He had no clue how they acted. Something about bows and hand kissing and stiff upper lips. The unknown terrified him, as well as the idea of falling down the same path that had his brother on the run from a Coxish nobleman.

"Do you honestly believe that matters to our superiors?" she asked, shaking her head. "They rely on results, and the result is that Lord Syme is dead and the Order is implicated. We must recover from this by making sure to tie up loose ends." She turned to go. "Do not make any more mistakes."

*********

"Right. Good night. I'll be in bed myself in a minute." Alistair began changing to his night clothes which, thanks to his stunt earlier that day, he had also recovered. In a moment, he doused the lamp and turned in himself.

Dmitri sighed slightly, replying, "Da." As Lavinia went to leave, Dmitri opened the door for her, saying, "Sleep well, Miss Cardham," as she left. Once she was through the door, Dmitri would close it after her, and prepare for bed. Something else he had picked up during the trip to the faire was some sleeping clothes, as he was tired of having to sleep in the ill-fitting suit trousers. Once he dressed into the new pants, he never slept with a shirt on, he slipped into bed, removing his eye patch and hair tie. Now that he knew Ivanna was here, he said, "Good night," to her, in Naughtsian. Pulling his covers tight around him, he dozed off.

~~

Ivanna had listened to Dmitri and "Miss Cardham"'s discussion with growing concern. Whoever Dmitri was working for didn't sound very forgiving. When the woman left, Ivanna became excited, thinking Dmitri was going to continue their conversation. When he instead got ready for bed, Ivanna was a little disappointed, but understanding. She smiled when he told her good night, and replied, even though he wouldn't be able to hear her. "Good night, my love, and sweet dreams."