Valerian didn't look like someone who had brandy often, and his behavior with the drink only exacerbated this impression for Art. Art took the brandy bottle back just so he could pour a healthy serving into his own glass — he would have preferred to stick with whiskey, but it wasn't worth the effort of crossing the room to grab the other bottle, especially given how weird talking to Valerian in the first place was. He set the bottle down on the nightstand and sat down next to Valerian; the mattress sank a little under their combined weight, pushing them a little closer together.

Art hummed and took a sip of brandy before he answered. The question would have raised his defenses coming from most people, but Valerian seemed to be asking genuinely — he was harmless, at least to Arthur.

"I guess adventurous is a good word for it," Art said with a half-smile, "Company's alright. I get to — do what I want, now, and no one expects differently from me. And that's pretty nice, too." The crush of society's expectations had very obviously not stopped him from ruining his life before — but now he could do what he wanted and no one noticed, or if they did notice it was just part of the noise of the scandal. There was a sort of freedom in it; at least, that was what he told himself.

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   Valerian Macnair