THORNE HEIR

"See, this is why I ought to just stick to having fun with you." Tim admitted as he followed Tobias's lead. He even found himself smiling and meaning it. "I never say anything dumb in front of you, and we always have fun."

“Fun, trouble, other things…well, I can’t blame you for that and I’m going to let it get to my ego but what was that you said about saying something dumb? I can’t see that from you! And even if you did, you can get away with it with a charming smile.”

"Elliot Carlisle, by the way. A pleasure to make your acquaintance" Smiling at the other man, deciding to take his advice even further, in the spirit of having a better time as Tobias had put it. "Do you have a habit of randomly dragging men off to dance with you, or am I just very, very lucky tonight to be your decided partner? Because I dare say, your sudden appearance, is making my night far better already."

“Tobias,” he beams and gives a not-so-subtle raking look up the other man's body, his gaze being deliberate and making sure to end looking at him right in the eyes. Giving his surname was never something he liked to do. “It’s a habit I quite enjoy! Random men or not, nothing beats it but less dragging and more mutual wanting,” he grins. “Normally I don’t try my luck on the dancefloor and give a more direct proposition and we end up in my chambers,” if there was any hope of subtlety then it had been obliterated. “Or around the back of some tavern. Names not always shared.”

"truthfully?  both.  less  people  wander  by  with  them  closed,  and  the  music  softens."  ramón  tilts  his  head  then,  hearing  the  request,  debating  on  whether  he  should  indulge  the  other.  still,  what  would  be  the  harm?

ramón  withdraws  another  cigar  and  holds  it  out  to  the  other  man.  "i'll  trust  your  insight,  though  do  be  warned,  if  your  prediction  ends  incorrectly,  you  will  suffer  the  consequence  of  my  sewing  needle."

He takes the cigar and lights it, taking a good drag of it. “Is that a hidden meaning for something? Are you going to stab me?” laughing as he asks it as if it weren’t a dangerous prospect.

As Tobias seemed to agree to steal something from Dominic, Edgar's expression brightened with immediate mischief. He leaned closer conspiratorially, like this was the first serious conversation they'd had all evening. "You cannot steal something practical from Dominic. That man thrives on practicality. We need to take something that will deeply inconvenience him emotionally." The opium and alcohol had clearly combined into a dangerous level of confidence now, because Edgar looked genuinely delighted by the possibilities.

"His signet ring would be excellent. But he might murder me if we do that. Or his stupid pocket watch - he checks the thing every ten minutes like Parliament itself will collapse if he loses track of time." Tobias' idea about the horse made Edgar laugh again, louder this time. "No, no, wait - imagine stealing one of the O'Connor bank ledgers and replacing it with a detailed sketchbook of horses instead. Dominic would have an aneurysm." He was already pacing slightly now, restless with excitement, running entirely on impulse and terrible ideas. "Actually, better." Edgar snapped his fingers suddenly. "Dominic has this brooch that our grandfather gave him; I know exactly where it is. It'd cause enough drama to be entertained for weeks."

Oh to steal something from one of the powerful families just for fun and to do it with his friend. He’d longed for times like this.  I’ll do it and if I’m caught, I’ll take your role in this to the grave!” The excitement was emanating off him, his eyes lit up with a crazed excitement eager to get out of the party and do their plan. 

“All are excellent options and we shouldn’t choose! They’re small so I could take all of them and we could do the sketchbook plan but that might take more work so that can be a later one unless you have that kind of thing lying around? Let’s go now!”

"Funny looking, maybe." Katherine mumbled, managing to make the spot on her dress less wet. But there was still a slight stain there, which she was very much unhappy with. She could see the rosiness in his cheeks, the easiness in his smile, and Katherine scowled. That could only mean one thing.

Her suspicions were correct when he voiced them almost immediately. "That is pathetic. One should not need to be intoxicated to have fun." She was not one to talk though. In fact, she was a little jealous he was already clearly quite happy. If they had been on better terms, she probably would have asked for a swig from his flask. Instead, she gasped dramatically and glared at him. "You snuck that thing in? It is practically the size of your giant head!" She crossed her arms over her chest, her classic bratty sister look. "I will tell Papa what you've done."

The urge to eyeroll is there but he fights it and opts to keep his irritatingly good mood on his face knowing that would get more of a reaction. His casual air about him could always get under people's skin when they were annoyed at him. “I don’t need it to have fun. It’s simply fun to do it and have a good time. Besides, the ale here is so weak you’d need to drink triple just to have an effect!” The drinks taken on his time away had increased his tolerance an unhealthy amount. “I did and I’ve, maybe, been around a few of the drink stations to share my little treat. Tell him, I’ll even raise a toast to the man!”

“I feel a bit idiote for even asking about a gem when you’ve clearly got more interesting stories to tell that have nothing to do with society or this ball,” she teased, stepping closer but not unbecomingly so. “What other superstitions did your seamen have about the gems you recall? I must be aware.”

She was always good at this: playing the perfect princess. But for once, it was easy to play that part and it hadn’t felt forced.

“There were a few superstitions but I never paid too much attention to it if I’m honest. The one I remember most is never setting sail on a Friday because it meant bad luck or we used to whistle a lot. I never knew why and just thought it was something but, apparently, it was to encourage wind speed,” he shook his head at the daftness of it. “Do you have any?”

"Yes, I do," He scowls at him. "You have too," He tells him. He listens to him. His brows furrowed. " I guess that is the right thing to say," He thinks of Edgar and himself. There was some sorta of madness. It always felt like no matter how much they tried. They are never good enough for Dominic. "I'm going to assume you would go for what you want." He gives him a look. He leaned back in his seat, and he thought about it. It would be dull. His life felt dull, and he knew there was one thing that could add to or make his life better. "It depends on if the risk is worth it," and he wondered if it was...

“I think if you think about it and even if you’re tempted to do it for just one second then you should. Your character but I think that could apply to life as well. Especially with someone who is as in control as I’m assuming your brother is. Risk is a hypothetical,” he says with a shrug, dismissing it with a hand waving the air away. “It’s just something that might happen. It just gets in your way from doing something you want to do.”

He moves with ease, like he’s completely into the movement and letting it take him back to when he felt free and did dances like this on all the nights off he had, in some tavern or some street. Anywhere. It didn’t matter. “Loosen up! You’ll have a better time, I promise you!”

At the mention of the Murray house, Edgar's eyes lit immediately with dangerous interest. "Oh, now that is an excellent idea." He straightened from the pillar at once, already looking delighted by it. "Tobias, I think you may actually be a genius." Edgar quickly mixed another deathly potion of gin and opium, downed it in one go before setting the empty glass aside with far too much confidence for a man who'd mixed the terrible drugs into it himself. "What are we stealing?" he asked immediately. "Please say something absurdly impractical. I want this to become a family legend." His grin widened further as the possibilities started arranging themselves in his mind. "A painting? A statue? One of their horses? We could leave it somewhere humiliating afterwards. Imagine the headlines if a prized Murray horse turned up outside Parliament wearing ribbons."

Then another thought struck him and he laughed again. "Though honestly, if we're stealing things to fuel rivalries, perhaps we should rob the Barnetts too." He paused halfway through the idea, expression shifting as he reconsidered it. "No, actually, scratch that." A mischievous smile spread slowly across his face. "Dominic's the one truly keeping that ridiculous feud alive. We should steal something from him instead." Edgar looked genuinely thrilled by the idea now. "God, imagine my brother's face."

That look. The spark in someone's eye that surely meant trouble and Tobias was sure as anything that it had been something many people had seen when he was about to get into some trouble. More likely the kind that led to his arrest in the past. “Well, I’m not someone who uses their brain that much except in these situations! I think something better than their paintings. You’ve heard how down they are in their finances, let’s not ruin something they may have to sell,” he chuckles. “How about something to do with their business? The rivalries between our families is about my mother but the competition with the banks is what keeps it going. Although their horses could be fun. We could put it in their bank and let it defecate all over the floor!” It was just getting the horse into the building that would prove difficult. 

“The Barnetts?” His blood ran cold, his face surprised and full of alarm. That would mean stealing from Piet. Relief flooded him when it changed to someone else. “From your brother? Well, it would complete the set of your family members who hate me. Let’s do it! Do you have anything in mind?”

Taking the glass from Tobias, she grinned and gave a twirl. "Thank you," she cooed, dipping into a playful curtsy. "I cannot tell if you are a moonstone or the moon itself," she teased. "...but I will say: you are a wonder, Mister Thorne."

Lord Thorne was a hard ally to get, but an influential one. Insulting his son with honesty wouldn’t do Dominic any good. Instead, he just smiled and took a step back, as if he were evaluating him. “I think you’re a man who seeks transformation,” he says, nodding to his outfit. Moonstone was just like the evaluators, but he’d heard so much about Tobias; transformation seemed appropriate. “But other than that, I’m afraid I’m not a good judge of character.” He lies. “You are free to give me yours, if you wish.” Dominic didn’t care. He’d heard enough about Tobias to value his opinion no more than his brothers' on their bad days. Dominic knew the relationship between Lord Thorne and his son was strenuous at best, even after his return from his unexpected absence.

Having only met Dominic’s brothers, he was expecting some kind of a bite or cutting comment but instead he got something else. Puzzling. Or just very polite. “I wouldn’t say that I’m looking for transformation but, then again, I’m biased about myself so you might have better insight.” In his head, he thinks how the matriarch of the O’Connors would likely give a more colourful assessment. “I think you’re a man who loves his status and his family's reputation but you have a cruel streak.” Referencing the broken engagement between the brother and the Barnett girl. If Dominic was being polite in his assessment, Tobias wouldn't feel that. “That image is everything so much that you might not know you’re drowning in the expectation and trying to control everything,” the last part is too honest but Frederic’s story comes to mind. “Or I could be wrong,” smiling but it's clearly not sincere. “I’m known for my looks, not my brain or thoughts.”

Katherine walked into the Barnett home and looked around with a hint of disdain. Walking in, she already had a lot of judgement since the family was newly wealthy. She quickly made an excuse to Ceara about how she had to run off to find someone, and as she started to leave her body collided with another and she gasped sharply upon feeling the slight splash on the silk. Oh hell no.

"Tobias!" Her voice came out rather strange- starting out with anger and then suddenly remembering where she was, rising her pitch at the end to sound excited to see her brother and not like she was going to slap him. She forced a laugh at his words and glanced around momentarily, quickly snatching a napkin from a nearby tray and dabbing at her skirt. "You are quite funny tonight, aren't you?" She bit out in frustration as she looked at the wet spot on her dress. "How long have you been here? And you are already drinking?" The judgement was clear in her question as she glared at the glass in his hand.

“Here…not too long but for the drinking I started a few hours ago. That doesn’t mean anything though. High society drinks are never strong,” he huffs. “You can drink and drink and barely get anything but,” a wink as he shows her a flask in his jacket pocket that’s much too big for any reasonable gentleman to be carrying. “I’m doing my part to help.”

His explanation of his gem intrigued her, a dimple appearing on one side of her cheek as she smiled. "You are well-versed in gemstones. I admire that. I take it that you are an avid traveler, then?"

She smoothed her hands along her dress skirt, the fabic shimmering under the chandelier. "A pink diamond. It is one of the birthstones for October, and it represents love and deep, emotional bonds," she explained. "At least, that is what I've read about it. It is rare, which is also why I picked it. I've hardly seen anyone wearing pink, nor have I seen them wearing your beautiful shade of blue, either."

“You think I am?” he grins, with a humble nod that he can play off quite well. “Well, I know a little about some of them but not much at all. I was a sailor for a time and some seamen can be very superstitious and I remembered hearing about this one. Of course, none of us could have afforded any of these.”

He can’t help but look around to take a view of everyone's colours and gives a huh sound in surprise and agreement. “You’re right! I never noticed before but our choices are actually a bit unique.”

He leaned back against a pillar next to the bar cart, eyes roaming lazily around the room again; the music, the bodies pressed too close together, the sense that everyone here had collectively decided consequences were tomorrow's problem. At Tobias's question, Edgar's expression brightened with immediate, dangerous enthusiasm. "Oh, I fully intend to misbehave while I'm here" he said easily. "The only question is how creatively."

His gaze flicked back toward Tobias, sharp with amusement now. "And since you've apparently appointed yourself my spiritual guide in terrible decisions again, I think you should help." Edgar pushed himself away from the pillar then, already looking like a man halfway into an idea he absolutely should not follow through on. "We could start a fight," he suggested casually. "Enter a room we're not supposed to be in. Or convince everyone here there's a police raid coming and watch the panic." A grin broke fully across his face. "Actually, no - we should steal something unusually large. Something that'd make for an ideal decoration in the Thorne household."

His time back had been nothing short of salacious and he had rightly earned his rake reputation but having a friend who had the same mind as he did, the same desire for fun, and to misbehave or just not be as prim and proper that passed being a phase, he could already feel the relief and excitement all at once. “The best moments for creativity are in the moment! Planning something like that takes the joy out of it!” Not that anyone said anything like that but he just wanted to. He was always impulsive and it led, mostly, to the best times. Or most memorable. 

“Not your guide!” he laughs, doing his best to get out of any responsibility, even the fun ones. “Your companion in debauchery or however you want to name it!” He listens to the ideas and nods at all of them, intrigued, except for the police raid idea thinking that would scare the organisers into never having one again or stopping him and Edgar from attending. “How about from the Murray house? Add more fuel to that family rivalry!”