i'm a lot nicer than some of the others ;; amerie

Aspen was in his office, waiting patiently for Amerie to stop by. He had been informed on her "week off" and had the strangest suspicion that she didn't come up with that idea on her own. The problem with her week off was that she was late on getting some important paper work to Ughdarras. She had sent Aspen a formal apology letter, but also mentioned that she wanted to meet with Aspen to personally apologize, and deliver the paperwork.

"This poor girl," he said out loud, speaking to his daemon. "She needs a lot of help."

Kelda nodded her wolfy head in agreement. "I just hope she hasn't been getting it from all the wrong places," she added.

He reached over and grabbed his quill from it's bottle of ink and absentmindedly brushed the feather along his lips and nose.

Today was also not going to be a good day. That seemed to be the norm, lately.

Amerie was in Ughdarras to hand over some important papers that should have been dealt with last week. Unfortunately, Hadley had lied to her and told her she needed to ignore some of her duties, so she had, thinking that Hadley was offering her advice from the goodness of his heart. Amerie had even ignored Caviar, who had insisted that Hadley was wrong. Caviar had ended up being right, of course (like always), and Amerie had been informed, too late, that she had already screwed up big time.

Now she needed to apologize to another overloridian. Amerie had only met two others, Hadley (the jerk), and Tamar (the scary lady who had opened Amerie's eyes to Hadley being a jerk). Aspen was the overloridian of Ughdarras, and supposedly had also been overloridian the longest. He was old, and this made Amerie even more nervous.

What if he was angry?

He would have every right to be angry.

What if he was mean to her?

She would probably cry.

Caviar had been giving her a pep talk her entire journey to Ughdarras, but it hadn't worked. Amerie was petrified to talk to this man that she had possibly screwed over. But she had to do it. So here she was, knocking on Aspen's door.

Amerie wished she had brought Aran.

Knock, knock, knock!

Aspen and Kelda both looked up simultaneously when a knock sounded at the front door. Unlike most of the overloridians, Aspen didn't have a butler who answered doors for him. His house definitely wasn't small, it housed almost eight clio at one time, but it wasn't a giant mansion either, but he felt like having a butler around would be a waste of the butler's time, plus Aspen liked living alone. But he had no problem with getting up from his desk and walking down the hall and stairs to get to the front door. He was old, but not decrepit yet!

"Miss Lux!" he said as he answered the door, "It's so nice to finally meet you!"

Aspen had a very kind, fatherly smile on his face. He hoped he could make the Solas overloridian feel comfortable.

Amerie was surprised when the overloridian, himself opened the door. He greeted her with a goofy grin, and a happy attitude.

Instantly Amerie was wary. Hadley had been a good guy. Had seemed like a good guy. He was nice, and inviting, and made Amerie feel at ease. What if this guy was no different?

Tamar told you that this guy was one of the clio you could trust, Caviar reminded her.

Regardless, Amerie though it would be a good idea to be careful, anyway. She smiled nervously at Aspen and said her hellos. Then Aspen was leading her down the hall to his office. His house wasn't as big as her own or as big as Hadley's estate had been, but it was regal in its own right. It looked lived in and comfortable. Amerie found herself relaxing as she trailed after the Ughdarras overloridian, but then reminded herself it could all be a trick.

Finally they got to the office and Aspen offered her a seat. Amerie took it, sitting carefully with her back straight.

He looked friendly, but expectant. Amerie wasn't sure what to say.

'I'm sorry,' would probably be a good start.

Amerie closed her eyes and took a breath before beginning. "I am really, really, really sorry about last week," she squeaked. "I don't know what I was thinking!"

"Miss Lux," Aspen replied. "It's alright. Just relax for a second."

Aspen could tell she was nervous, and he wanted to make her feel comfortable. She had no reason to be nervous or scared around Aspen. Sure, the late documents set Aspen back a little bit, but it would all be caught up eventually. Probably today. They may be overloridians but they still were clio. They still made mistakes.

"I'm not angry," he told her. "I know you're very new at this. I was very scared when I first settled, and trying to grieve all at once!"

He wondered if Amerie knew that his grandfather was the previous overloridian. He wasn't going to elaborate any further unless she asked though.

"Really?" Amerie asked. It was hard to imagine someone as old and as poised as Aspen ever being nervous or scared.

"I honestly am trying... I guess I just need a little more practice is all," she said. She was disappointed in herself. She didn't want to let Solas down.

"I was your age when I settled," Aspen explained. "And although I had a lot of training, the fact that I was taking on an entire eilemaiden all by myself, really scared me." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk. "Don't worry, you'll get this!" He grabbed the documents that she had brought them and said, "Now let's take a look at this..."

He briefly scanned over the papers, he would look at them in more detail later, after Amerie left. He set them down, and nodded thoughtfully. "Very good," Aspen said while looking back up at her. "I think you're doing fine!"

"You think so?" Amerie said softly. Aspen had made her feel a lot better really quickly. It was nice to think that she knew at least two overloridians who were good clio. Although Hadley had seemed nice too, so it was hard to say.

Just take the compliment and calm down, Caviar told her. He also had his own suspicions, but he wasn't going to talk about them. He just wouldn't let his guard down.

"You think so?" Amerie said softly. Aspen had made her feel a lot better really quickly. It was nice to think that she knew at least two overloridians who were good clio. Although Hadley had seemed nice too, so it was hard to say.

Just take the compliment and calm down, Caviar told her. He also had his own suspicions, but he wasn't going to talk about them. He just wouldn't let his guard down.

Amerie wrote:"You think so?"

"Of course I do!" Aspen replied. He leaned forward more and flipped Amerie's documents over so she could read them better. "This is definitely the work of an organized overloridian!" He began to point out all the good points that Amerie had done, whether it be punctuation or competence of her work or what-have-you.

Kelda felt like he was being a little too enthusiastic. She could tell that Amerie wasn't feeling very confident with herself and she worried that the young overloridian would think that Aspen was over exaggerating or lying. She nudged his hip and made a face that said 'calm down'.

"So," he said while sitting back in his chair. "Is there anything I can help you with? At all?"