Boys Will Be Boys [GoblinFae]

[Ivory]

Francisco paused with one foot on the step to give his friend a bewildered, searching look.  "We really need to find you a girlfriend," he announced, then stepped down onto the ground below.  "Preferably," he added with his usual self-satisfied smirk, "A girlfriend of whom your mother does not approve."

Remembering his promise, however, the blonde added, "But not tonight."  He would leave that insurmountable task to another night!

"I always feel lucky," he added cheerfully.  Usually more-so as the night went on.  "Have you eaten at all today, or have you been locked inside with your experiments all day?"

[GoblinFae]

Benjamin gave him a skeptical look, grunting in response. He did not plan on having a woman in his life anytime soon, especially not the way his mother went on about marrying. "Any girl you'd pick she wouldn't approve of, you know that. She thinks you're a bad influence."

The nobleman nodded, his smile returning briefly before his brows furrowed in thought. "I...don't remember. What day is it?"

[Ivory]

Fran was a bad influence -- that was the point, of course!

His mirth at the thought, however, faded into an expression of concern in response to his scientifically-minded friend's hesitation.  It always baffled -- and worried -- him that Benjamin could become so wrapped up in what he was doing that he forgot to eat.

Poor boy!

"Thursday, Benny.  It's Thursday."  He set a hand on the other noble's shoulder and leaned forward a bit to peer down into Benjamin's face.  "You really shouldn't be locking yourself away like that.  I'm not always around to feed you, you know."

[GoblinFae]

The nobleman scoffed and shook his head. "I'm not that bad Franny. Besides, heavens know my mother will never let me die from starvation. Even after she's long gone the woman will still haunt me from the grave. 'Benjamin,'" he squeaked in a falsetto voice. 'Don't forget to scrub behind your ears. Did you wash your hands before you ate? Benjamin dear put your books away. Benjamin you're up far too late! Go to sleep!'

He burst out laughing, no longer able to contain himself as his mocking ceased. "Can you imagine? An eternity stuck with my mother as a ghost, oh the horror!"

[Ivory]

Almost immediately, Francisco's mouth stretched into a wide, cheerful grin, and he laughed out loud at the impression, which was, of course, uncannily good.

"Gods, I certainly hope not!  How would we ever have any fun with her looming over your shoulder all the time?"  Naturally, Francisco immediately thought of how it would impact him -- after all, Benny's mother had mastered the withering glare of disapproval.  It even made Francisco uncomfortable, which was not an easy thing to do and one of the chief reasons he rarely acknowledged her looming presence.

"But that's enough talk of that," he decided.  For the last few steps, he hastened forward to reach the doors first, then spun to face his friend with a smirk.  "Let's win some money."

[GoblinFae]

Feeding off Francisco's boisterous energy, Benjamin quickly found himself just as eager as he hurried with long strides to follow his friend inside. It took him a moment to blink the stars from his vision and adjust to the darker, musky setting of the tavern. Men sat all about the place, some drank, some played cards, some smoked, and some flirted with the serving women. It was typical pub behavior yet was not of much interest to the nobleman. He came for his friend for the most part.

"You want to get drinks or table?" he asked, turning to the other man. "You lead tonight."

[Ivory]

"We need to have our wits about us tonight," the young man remarked with a longing glance towards a passing ale.  Alternatively, the glance could have been directed towards the shapely waitress bearing said ale.  With Fran, it was hard to say.

Rather than linger on thoughts of either, he moved gracefully towards the gambling tables with a slight nod of recognition to the owner of this fine establishment.

"Dice or cards?"  Francisco reached into his purse to withdraw some coins.  He was still determined to make up at least some of the cost of the ruined experiment, even if Benny seemed to have forgotten all about his anger and disappointment.

[GoblinFae]

"Cards as I have no desire to gamble against loaded dice. With cards we at least have a fighting chance as the evening wanes and drunkenness sets in. That alright with you my friend? I know you prefer a drink or two yourself and cards start higher than dice."

As disgruntled as Benjamin had been before he was not about to throw his friend to the wolves all because his own pride had been bent and bruised a little. He knew his friend's financial situation was worse than his own and that was bad to begin with. They certainly did not need to be getting thieves into undue trouble for the possibility of coin and merriment.

[Ivory]

"Loaded dice!"  A hand over his heart accompanied the dramatic, albeit quiet, exclamation.  There was no need to draw too much attention to themselves -- at least, not the negative attention announcing the rest of the room was cheating (without so much as sitting down) would draw.  "Tell me, you aren't suggesting these fine, upstanding gentlemen..."  Francisco's arm swept towards a table of grungy, muscle-bound gentlemen who, judging by the angles at which their noses sat and the miscellaneous scars about their persons, were likely employed as thugs...or something, perhaps, worse.  "Would play with loaded dice."

One of them happened to look up, and Francisco quickly dropped his arm with a sheepish expression.

"As I was saying, cards is fine."

[GoblinFae]

Francisco's statement was met with disapproving silence as Benjamin stared forward pointedly, arms crossed in front of his chest. "I bet they would be," he laughed back softly, before wrapping an arm about his friend's shoulders.

"Why don't you pick the table so we can start pooling our earnings. Dare I say it, I think my luck is changing."

[Ivory]

"Of course it is, of course it is," Francisco announced cheerfully as he looked over the tables closely before finally choosing one.  "It's what I'm here for, isn't it?"

Except, usually, their luck changed for the worst with Francisco around -- unless he were being very, very careful, as he was now.  After all, this was no longer about him having fun -- it was about him making up to Benny the money he had lost in his experiment!  (In other words, still about him.)  There was usually something about Francisco's carelessness and habit of showing off that welcomed trouble...

But, tonight, he was determined to concentrate.  Mostly.

(OOC: And now we need to have them get into trouble -- because as much as Francisco doesn't want it to happen, he's too Franny not to find trouble!)

[GoblinFae]

Benjamin gave his friend a sidelong glance but otherwise made no comment as he dared not tempt fate in his opinion. He could only hope that his changing luck was for the better and not the worse but who could tell when the pair were involved? Anything bound to go wrong did and anything bound to go right...still went wrong. If he actually took the moment to ponder it, the nobleman would have been wondering how the pair were still alive and at the very least whole. They were constantly getting into some scrap of trouble or another.

'Enough of that thought though,' Benjamin chided himself, 'tonight isn't going to be one of those nights!' He declared not realizing how wrong he was. He gave his friend a nudge hoping they could get started already, not noticing as he shoved Francisco a little harder in the direction of a rather large bloke drunkenly weaving his way to another table.