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The Sinnenodel couldn't train a dog out of its kennel if the realization only came to him in this moment. Of course Ben would be a fool to take his words literally despite his eyes shifting to the count at his words. He had also overestimated the Astorio; it was clear as the calm surface on a lake that Victor had just as much socialization practice as Countess Marivaldi. The division between the four was horrendous and no doubt Count Sinnenodel was having his fun manipulating them to his leisure. How embarrassing, Ben wondered what Her Highness had in mind to bring these four nobles together. To think his father was convinced the Eves were the laughingstock, he would have keeled over in shock were he witness to tonight.

The conversation had been all over the place yet to the end Aaron had been the one to suffer the brunt of the damage. Why was that? Ben initially thought it was flaunting his mage above the others but his treatment was puzzling. Victor and Count Sinnenodel definitely both thought he had an ego problem, but having met the mage away from the noise, it didn't come off as that way to him. There was something more to this that he was missing but he couldn't think of what. That little look he gave Eris had also caught him by surprise: complimenting Aaron was the wrong thing to do?

Ben was all too glad to leave and he was more than eager to return to his quarters. For one, he needed to have a long talk with his mage about the relationship between herself and the countess. For another, he needed to reconsider his position. If the countess was a lost cause then was allying himself with the Sinnenodel wise? Or was it best to cast aside his father's wishes and act on his own sooner than planned?

The blond vampire waited until the rest had stood before he would. He couldn't believe that he was again agreeing with Count Sinnenodel [i]again[/i]; he too hoped their next gathering would go off better than this one. At least Chaend would be a touch more interesting with that in mind. He gave the host a slight bow as was customary and reached into his jacket's pocket before presenting the count with a small envelope. [color=C0C0C0]"I thank you for this opportunity and sincerely look forward to the next,"[/color] Ben said. Who knew how things would change next time. [color=C0C0C0]"A token of my appreciation, as you will."[/color] Less a token and more a promise fulfilled of course but that wasn't appropriate to mention in public.