Parental Advisory: Possibly Explicit Content? (D5, LE)

[Mariessa Tremaine]

It was hard to hide that she was shy about the subject, but... she didn't really feel like she had anyone else to speak with. Well, there was Jyn, but she didn't want to worry her twin too much, and she half-suspected what Jyn would say already.

"Well... uhm... I suppose it is a bit more specific. I don't really know who I would choose, or who is the best... or who I like the most." She looked down into her cup of wine. "Do you... remember that time when I went missing, before mother died? When I came home safe and sound, saying a mystery knight had saved me?" And almost everybody laughed, thinking I was as loopy as mother.

[Marten Tremaine]

Slowly, Marten nodded. "I remember." He hadn't laughed, but he had sometimes wondered. He and Mari were always close, and he certainly wanted to believe him. But in the deepest dark of night, sometimes fear would overcome his trust.

Again, he gestured encouragingly for her to go on, giving her a kindly smile.

[Mariessa Tremaine]

"It... was Harben. Harben Varner," she said, nervously turning the cup between her fingers. "Said he had been tracking those brigands for a few days until he finally caught up with them. I... I guess with all that happened, with that and with mother, I just couldn't remember it was him."

Mari sighed heavily. "So, when I finally figured it out, and got it confirmed from him too, I gave him a token of my thanks. I... honestly didn't know what else to do, it seemed right? But... earlier today he sent it back. Said that he wasn't worthy of it."

Honestly, it was all... that wasn't how it was supposed to go, at least not from what she had been told of these sort of things when she was younger.

[Marten Tremaine]

"Harben? Harben Varner?" Marten echoed. His eyebrows drew down. "That little lad's old enough to be fighting bandits? Rescuing people?" Shaking his head, Marten took a drink from his own cup. "My. Where has the time gone..." He sighed.

Clearing his throat, he brought his attention back to Mari's problem. His brows drew down again as she related the tale. "Hrm." He was silent a few moments, frowning. "I've met the lad, of course, but I can't say that I really know him." He chuckled. "Not if he's fighting bandits now. Maybe... he wants to prove himself in the tourney." Really, it seemed all out of order, though; you accepted a lady's favor going into the tournament, not out of it. At least not that sort of favor. Marten grimaced at that thought.

He gave his daughter a reassuring smile. "He did always seem nice... would you like me to chat with him?" He cleared his throat again. "About his intentions?"

[Mariessa Tremaine]

"Harben's older than me and Jyn, father," Mari rolled her eyes a little with an amused smile. "He was always closer to Lawrince in age..."

She sighed. "Maybe...? I suppose it would be easier if it was just Harben. He'd be a good man, I think, but," the girl shrugged slightly, "there's also Terrance. And... oh, seven hells, I really should apologise to him for yesterday."

While she was aware that swearing was incredibly indecent for a proper lady, there were few other expressions that fit better for her mood there.

[Marten Tremaine]

"Mari, language." Marten teased. Going out with her and Lawrince, their speech had occasionally gotten rather colorful; it wasn't the first time he'd heard her swear, and she'd heard him many more times.

"Apologize? Urgh." Marten's hands came up to touch his temples. "Slow down, Mari. You'll give me grey hairs." Well, more. "What happened with that Terrance fellow that you need to apologize to him?"

[Mariessa Tremaine]

"Oh... I thought you saw... felt like the whole hall saw, to be honest." She grimaced slightly, looking more like her father than her mother when she did so.

"Uhm, well... I've been spending a little bit of time with Terrance. Nothing improper, of course," Mari added quickly in case Marten was getting the wrong idea. "But... well, I wasn't really sure what he thought of me, and I felt that maybe he just wasn't interested in me. In that way. But when we were dancing, he..."

She blushed red with embarrassement. How awkward it was to talk with her father about this!

"He was very... charming, flattering even. When he said I was 'unlike any woman he had met before, more than he hoped to ever meet'... I.. didn't really know what to do and I left in a hurry." Mari buried her face in her hands. "Ugh... it seems to stupid of me now!"

[Marten Tremaine]

Marten let out a puff of breath. Oh, to be sixteen again, where leaving a dance with a member of the opposite sex was a very serious matter indeed. Once more, Marten rubbed his temples with his fingers.

"Now now, it's okay, Mari." He reassured. "You didn't do anything wrong. You've only just met him, after all. And..." He grimaced as he considers her words. "Well... let's just say that I remember being your age. Really." He chuckled. "There's nothing wrong with taking a bit of time to sort things out for yourself. In fact..." His glance grew a bit stern. "I strongly encourage it."

Marten sighed. "As it happens, I spoke with this Terrance fellow today. He... seemed very earnest." He said, his tone a bit gruff.

[Mariessa Tremaine]

Mari wasn't sure what was worse: her father thinking that his teenage years was anything like what she was going through now, or that he had been giving Terrance the dad-interrogation.

She pushed her fingers through her hair. "This is so embarrassing... please don't say you interrogated him or anything like that, father."

[Marten Tremaine]

Marten grimaced, scratching at the back of his head. "I wouldn't say I interrogated him, no. We had a talk, that's all.

He grunted. "After all, if there's any possibility of him being the next Lord Tremaine, I'd like to know him a better."