Xaviers!

It's the day after Alessia's party and about ten in the morning when a car pulls up in front of the gates and a driver steps out to open the door for Miriam. For a walk of "shame" she looks surprisingly decent, though she is wearing a big pair of sunglasses as she nods at the driver and steps through the gate.


((open))

Wanda is wandering the grounds on a walk when she sees Miriam arrive. She quirks an eyebrow and makes her way over, "Enjoy the party?"

"It was very interesting. I had fun, but I'm not sure you would have. Plenty of making conversation with people who do their best to be dreadfully boring on the outside. There was plenty of wine though." she says, although she doesn't sound too hungover, despite the sunglasses. Which if she doesn't have a head-ache just seem rather pointless considering the signature grey sky of December in the UK.

"Overdid it last night then, I take it," she says, gesturing at the sunglasses. "We can go inside if you need to."

"Yeah." she says to one of the questions at least and heads for the entrance to the mansion. "Other than everything being a bit bright I feel pretty good though. I've had worse mornings."

"Well, we'll get you in before 'bright' turns to 'migraine'," Wanda says, opening the door. "So you said the party was boring, but obviously interesting enough for you to stay late," Wanda says, though not in an accusing tone, "Hopefully you've got some energy left for me now that I'm done with my project."

"Oh boring on the outside doesn't have to mean much to me. I definitely had a good time. And it never hurts to get your name out there among society. Did your... thing work out?"

"Had to do some observations and write up a long-winded explanation. Mostly tedious than challenging, but a significant part of my grade, so one does what they must. Sorry I missed the party."

"Maybe next time." she smiles behind her big sunglasses.

As they made their way through the hallway, Wanda asked, "You need some hair of the dog as they say? I think I still have something in my room."

"I think I'm alright, actually. I'll have some water if you have any though." she says, not wanting to turn down the actual invitation.

"I think there's some in the mini-fridge," she says, leading the way towards her room. Once there, she pops open the mini-fridge and rummages, pulling out a bottle of water and tossing it to Miriam.

"Great, thank you." she says, sitting down on Wanda's bed as she opens the bottle and takes a sip. Something seems to bother her but after a second she seems to put it out of her mind and takes another drink.

"And you're sure you didn't mind letting Alessia have my company for the evening?" she asks, looking at Wanda. If she's also reading Wanda's thoughts on the matter she's not letting it on.

"She seems nice. Is there some reason I should mind?" It's an honest question, Wanda can't seem to conjure a reason in her mind to suspect Alessia of anything.

"I suppose not, no." she says and that seems to settle things for Miriam. Surely this counts for having made sure Wanda is okay with whatever this triangular arrangement is. And even though deep down she knows that's not really true she can tell herself she brought it up. In a way. Besides, Wanda had been invited as well and Alessia had been forward enough at the club that everything should be crystal-clear. "So project aside, how's your day been?"

"Kind of quiet. Mother is starting to make noise about me coming home for Christmas, but I can't decide if that's what I want to do or not."

"You don't want to spend Christmas with your family?"

"Yes and no. Part of me thinks I'd rather spend Christmas with you."

"I wouldn't object to that." she smiles. "God knows I'm not going to spend it with my mother..."

"My parents would be okay with you spending Christmas there if you want, but I can get why that might be a bit much. So we could spend it somewhere else if you'd rather."

"Let me think on that. I'm sure I can come up with a nice place to go for a couple days." she says. Her casino winnings are running a little low, but that's something she should be able to fix before then.

"Well, just let me know. I told them I was still figuring things out, so I have a bit of time before I have to give them some sort of definite answer."

"Important question though... Are you okay with Christmas in the sun? Because making it snow on a tropical beach is probably going to rub people the wrong way."

"Never been anywhere at Christmas where there wasn't snow, but there's a first time for everything I suppose."

"It's not like I have a place in mind, so if you want snow then tell me now." she chuckles.

"No, sunny is fine. New experiences." She looks Miriam over, "Feeling better?"

"I told you, I'm fine." she says, lifting up the sun-glasses a tad to give Wanda a quizzical look.

"Well, things seeming unusually bright isn't usually a good thing, so I was just checking," she says, largely out of caring concern.

"I didn't get much sleep, that's all. Maybe I'll take a nap this afternoon."

"You'll mess up your sleep pattern doing that." She sits on the side of the bed and runs a hand across Miriam's cheek.

"Well then maybe you'll have to come up with a clever ploy to keep me awake..." she says, taking Wanda's hand and holding it against her cheek, the warmth of her fingers feeling nice on her skin.

"You're the clever ploy person in this relationship," Wanda says with a laugh, "But I think I can come up with something."