Royal Red Wine with Belit and Rosary

One might imagine wine holding foul memories for you following the nasty events beneath the checkpoint, involving Dame Nil Riiche and the corrupt guard captain. Then again, one might not have had the chance to taste the genuine article from the royal capital themselves. The night after that quest, when you and the saintesses had enjoyed the Royal Red together, that fruity aroma and rich flavor had drowned out all the hardships before it. This was a wine that stood up to its reputation and, frankly, as it was a gift, it would be rude not to drink it. You reminded yourself that as you prepared to bring more of it out from the camp's stock.

Of course, good wine demands good company. It would be neither wise nor gentlemanly to hog it all to yourself. You decided to extend an invite to the saintesses to join you, if they were interested. The more the merrier!

The first, who joined you quite merrily, was Belit Von Bromide. She'd shown a taste for the expensive wine back during the day of the party and she wasn't about to pass up the chance to get her party on one more time. "Oooh, this is all the ills of society right there, in one bottle! The stuffed-shirt royals drink this stuff every day! Can you imagine?" the ranger ranted as the two of you made your way to the campfire. She watched eagerly as you uncorked the bottle, practically licking her lips. "Notice how Helmid didn't join us? I'll bet she got to drink this stuff all the time, as a noblewoman in Missionaire! Probably imported it from the capital and drank it with her fancy little breads and cheese," Belit scoffed, mocking the paladin by pantomiming stabbing little invisible cheeses with an invisible fork.

You told her that you didn't think this sort of wine was a common accompaniment to snacks, even for the uppercrust in the royal capital. It certainly wasn't widespread in Missionaire.

"Yeah, yeah. You think you know that better than me? I've been dying to get my hands and lips on this stuff ever since I started nicking stuff from nobles!" Belit giggled, wiping her mouth with the back of her glove as though she was literally drooling.

Maybe she was? You started to question whether you were feeding a blossoming alcoholic.

Before you could worry too much about that, she'd already taken the bottle from your hands and was eagerly beginning to decant it into two cups, filling yours higher than you probably would have if you were by yourself. She raised the cup for a toast with a big grin on her freckled face. "Cheers, to good friends putting away bad people, eh?" she encouraged you, then clinked her cup with yours.

You were happy to see that she already considered you a good friend. You hadn't been in camp long, but Belit seemed to have warmed up to you quickly. Maybe it was because you were close in age, or perhaps she was just excited to have someone with origins a little closer to her own to pal around with. Either way, she was perfectly comfortable sitting right alongside you on the bench by the campfire, close enough for your shoulders to touch.

The intimate mood shifted as a nearby saintess cleared her throat, barely audible over Belit's giggling and the crackle of the campfire. You turned your head, surprised to see Sister Rosary sitting by herself on the bench one over. She was holding a cup in two hands and tracing its circumference awkwardly with her fingers, while watching the two of you toast. "Oh... Hello! I don't mean to interrupt. I simply thought I would join you for a bit of wine myself," she smiled, looking at her cup instead of straight at you.

Belit smirked. "Huh, didn't take you for a wino, Sister! Or is it the company you're after, hmmm?"

Rosary's face darkened with a blush as her fingers began to work the cup's metallic surface more roughly. "S-Sacrament is a normal part of church activities, remember? I'm not averse to wine! Nor the squire," she responded, pausing a moment, then turning an awkward smile upward. "N-Nor your company, Belit! We are companions and fellow saintesses, after all!"

"Hmmmm... Yeah, I guess you're right. You're a friend too, Rosey," Belit laughed, hopping up to pour the nun's wine far, far higher than she probably would have chosen to. "We young ones ought to stick together, right? I think of you like a little sister some times!"

"... But I'm older than you," Rosary reminded her in a quiet voice, knitting her brow with concern as more and more wine poured in. "Gracious! That's plenty! Thank you!"

"Heh heh! How about this: if you can down that whole drink, I'll consider you to be part of my gang with Vin here tonight, then we'll get into some real fun!"

Rosary gulped, then stared down at the overly full cup once more. "It is... a bit decadent, for a woman of the cloth to drink quite so much--"

"Well, tonight's the night to get you out of that cloth!" Belit retorted. When Rosary flushed even deeper, she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Figuratively, or what have you. Go oooon, drink!"

You sipped at your own wine as you watched the two banter back and forth. You weren't quite sure that Belit, persuasive as she sometimes could be, was going to have much success getting Rosary to stick quite so far out of her shell. Perhaps you could encourage her? That much wine was a pretty daunting task, especially for a light drinker like she was... Then again, perhaps she didn't need to drink at all? Belit seemed to be a sucker for it, not Rosary.