Author's Note: Once again, head canons! I do try to be as true to the universe as possible, but some things you just have to fill in the gap for yourself.

As we headed toward the Statics building, I tried to find some way to weasel out of my situation. Instead I ended up just mentally beating myself up. Ugh I should have just made up a name on the spot rather than giving the REAL one. I am just not being the best genius I can be today. Maybe its becauseyou're not that much of a genius. Shut up, doubt.

"Perpa doesn't have many colleagues," Gixx said. "How do you know her?"

"Took a course from her back when I was in college," I reply. Maybe I could fake being sick? Ok that was desperate, and no way he'd buy it.

"The entire course?" He asked.

"The entire course and passed with flying colors," I boast, but I'm quickly scanning my surroundings, trying to find some way out.

Gixx seemed mildly impressed, which confirmed that he wasn't making up being friends with Perpa, or that he was familiar with her quirks at least.

Too late, we were inside the Statics building. We hand over our tickets to the asura watching the entrance, and I sigh in resignation. There were other eager young asura, a few teachers, and random citizens mingling before the lecture began.

"How do YOU know Perpa?" I ask.

"I know her from my days in Dynamics. She's always been brilliant at handling mystic energies," he said.

I furrowed my brow. "I thought you were a graduate of Synergetics?" I'm sure I'd heard that somewhere.

"I'm not a graduate of any of the colleges," he replied. He said it plainly and without shame.

My ears perked up. Now that was something I hadn't known about Gixx. I was going to question him further, but a moderator had come up to the podium. The crowd quieted down and he began.

"Everyone, your attention please! Professor Perpa is here to speak to you today about Mystransmogrification and our ties to the Mists. If you would all be so kind to give her a warm welcome," he said, then conceded the podium to an older, portly asura. She was very short, with her hair in a traditional bun on her head. Her eyes were small, and dark. She shuffled her way to the podium, to polite clapping.

She cleared her throat.

"My. Esteemed. Colleagues," she began. Her voice was gritty and she enunciated every word as if each was deserving of being in the spotlight. I had no idea why she always emphasized every other word either. "Today. I. Will. Discuss. Untraditional. Mystictransmogrification."

Here we go. I give a small sigh, and immediately tuned out. The speech impediment along with her voice just made the subject nigh unbearable to listen to. I took a quick survey of the crowd around me. The reactions were priceless. Some looked shocked, some confused, others wondering if it was a joke. Always easy to tell who was warned beforehand. I began to make mental bets on who would leave first.

After trying (and failing) to entertain myself by computing the angles of the tiles behind her in relation to the Pythaga Theorem, I turned to look at Gixx. Relaxed, leaning back slightly, he had one hand near his face, propped up by the other. The very image of a pondering asura. His normal scowl and furrowed brow was gone, a serene expression on his face. Pupils dilated, calm demeanor, no doubt about it; he's actually listening to this. He is IN to this. So much for getting out early.

Without all the stress and worry on his face, Gixx was kind of attractive, in a distinguished older gentleman kind of way. Oh there's a thought I never imagined I'd have. Gixx noticed me looking at him, and I quickly turned away to avoid eye contact. I shifted my weight awkwardly and sighed again. This was going to be a LONG lecture.

After what felt like an eternity, the lecture was over. There were only a handful of us left; most of the listeners had left long ago. I had been ⅚ of the asura I had bet would leave. Despite the tone of the lecture, it had been informative. Nothing I could use for the VOED or my personal projects, but you never know when information will be useful.

"Well, that was informative!" I exclaimed, faking my cheerfulness. "It's time for me to go!"

"I wanted to have a word with Perpa first, and we still need to discuss-" The sound of my stomach growling cut Gixx short. Glancing outside, the sun was starting to set. We had spent most of the day in the Statics building, missing lunch.

He paused. "You're right, we should go," he said, switching his tone. I regarded him warily for a moment. "We've been here longer than I intended."

"Glad you see it my way," I replied.

"We can discuss your duties to the Priory over dinner," he said it so casually it almost slipped by me.

"What?"

"I'll pay of course. There's a place in Lion's Arch that I'm partial to," he began to head towards the Lion's Arch gate, "You are hungry aren't you?"

I couldn't argue with that. I was hungry, and going to Lion's Arch would bring some excitement to my day. I nod, and follow him.

I followed Gixx through Lion's Arch, but paused when we reached the restaurant. The place he was partial to was the exact place I had intended on taking Gorr to. The irony of the situation was not lost on me.

I laughed.

Gixx looked at me, puzzled. "Something wrong?"

"No, no I'm fine." I replied. "I just was planning to go here myself sometime."

"Then you don't object, that makes things easier," he said.

And here we were. At a tropical themed bar that I had planned on taking Gorr to, but instead was with Gixx. We came up to the bar, and sat on the bar stools. Some days just do not turn out how you want them to. I sighed.

"That's the fifth time you've sighed since we got here," Gixx said.

"Today just hasn't gone the way I expected," I responded.

The bartender turned towards us, his eye lighting up with recognition. He was a human male, who looked like he just hit middle age.

"Ah, Commander Tippa and Gixx of the Priory! It's an honor to have you both here!"

"Yes, yes thank you. I'll have an ale," Gixx said dismissively.

"And for the lady?" he gestured toward me.

I rested my forearm on the table, and leaned towards him. "Surprise me."

"THAT, I can do!" he turned back to the bar and started pulling out various bottles and supplies.

Gixx shook his head.

"Now, about the Priory," he began.

"Can't we just have a drink first before business?" I asked. Maybe I could put it off just a little more . . .

"No," he shook his head, "This is serious."

My ears perked up. That got my attention, but it was confusing. If it were serious as he claimed, he would've skipped the lecture. Unless it was serious, but not urgent, which was most likely it.

"You see, I need your help in keeping the Priory funded," he began, "We rely on donations to keep running. On occasion we do sell off pieces we find that we can't use or have no intellectual value."

The bartender continued to mess with my drink, pulling out a vial with mist wafting from it. I was starting to wonder if my mystery drink was a good idea.

"Of course, I prefer NOT to do that whenever possible," he continued.

"So you want me to donate something? Or sell my autographs to fans? Maybe give a portion of my book money to you?" I mused. I'd been working on a novel of my time in Orr. It was one of the things I'd been doing during my vacation.

"That would help raise some revenue, but it wouldn't be much," he quipped, "How are you at dinner parties?"

The bartender turned around with our drinks. He put Gixx's ale down next to him, and my drink . . . well my drink was a sight to behold. It was in a wide shallow glass, swirling with a green and purple liquid that I assume was alcoholic. Also, It was on fire, a soft blue-white flame licking the edges of rim. A few of the other patrons turned to look at my unusual concoction.

I grin from ear to ear. "It's on FIRE," I say proudly, pointing at it.

"Blow it out before you start drinking," the bartender advised. He looked proud of his handiwork. "That's a one of a kind drink I've been working on. Let me know what you think."

It was Gixx's turn to sigh. I ignored him, blew out my drink, and we both took a sip of our beverages at the same time. My drink tasted like . . . grape and passiflora? With a little something extra . . . something sweet, honey maybe? I could barely taste the alcohol.

"Delicious," I say with a smile. The bartender looks proud. "Can I get something to eat to go with this? Not sure what would go well with . . . whatever this is."

"Broiled crawdads," Gixx interjected. "As I was saying, how are you at dinner parties?" He tried to steer the conversation back on track.

"Boring. Rather be fighting risen." Hmmm not honey. Sugar?

Gixx took another gulp of his ale. "Well you're going to one tomorrow,"

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are," he turned away from his ale to look at me head on. "Formal parties are a great way to meet potential patrons. I believe having you go to a few would greatly help the Priory."

I took another sip of my drink. So that was it. Gixx wanted me to hob nob with some nobles, help get some money for the Priory. Made sense. Being the Pact Commander meant I had a lot of visibility, more so than any other Priory member, save for Gixx himself. I wouldn't say I was a celebrity after helping to take down Zhaitan, but I was recognizable and commanded a lot of respect from people. Using that to his advantage, I could bring in a lot of patrons and potential donors to the Priory. I'm positive just being IN the priory has resulted in a spike of donations. What wealthy aristocrat wouldn't want to brag to his or her peers about having helped fund the death of an elder dragon? It was as close to battle as they would ever want to get. Now was also a good time to seek patrons out; Zhaitan's defeat was fresh in everyone's minds and a weight off people's shoulders.

"It would but . . . I'm sure someone else more qualified could go? I'm not one for formalities and events," I responded. I feel for Gixx. I really do, but I have a distinct dislike of nobility that's entirely justified.

Gixx took another drink. "No one at the Priory is. We're scholars, not socialites. Even the ones who specialize in culture and society are terrible at these events."

"Exact-"

He cut me off before I could finish. "Which is why your hesitation is noted, but inconsequential."

The bartender placed our order in front of us. I went and grabbed the crawdads, cracking them open and eating the inside. I knew my table manners were especially bad, but I wasn't doing it as a way to try to convince Gixx to not make me go. I was just really hungry.

"I don't have anything to wear!" I cried between fistfuls of food.

"You can wear your Priory armor. Just have it properly shined," he responded. He hadn't touched the food. He either had a large breakfast or a stomach of steel to resist the food. I wanted to say that I had never bothered to buy it, but I have the feeling that would lead to a rant that I just didn't want to deal with now.

"The last formal party I went to, Queen Jennah got kidnapped!"

"And you saved her. I can assure you, this party will be far milder. No one higher than a minister is attending, so there shouldn't be any separatist nonsense," he said as he took another sip, "And besides, if you can handle that, I'm sure this will be much easier."

Blast it! I couldn't think of any more excuses. Probably because of the effects of my tasty, tasty drink, or the warm feeling of being full of food. I lift my drink up and down the last of it.

"FINE."

"Don't worry, you won't be alone, I'll be going with you," Gixx pushed his empty mug away from him. He drank that faster than I thought, or I hadn't noticed while I was enjoying my own.

"If you wanted to go out on a date with me," I began with a smile, "you could've just asked."

Gixx gave a derisive snort.

I tapped loudly on the bar counter to catch the bartender's attention. "Two more of whatever you made me before," I called.

"Two Flaming Quaggans, coming right up!" the bartender confirms. Flaming Quaggan. Ha! Love that name!

Gixx raised an eye ridge at me. "Two? You think that's wise?"

"One for me and one for you! You said you were buying right?"

"That wasn't an invitation to abuse my wallet," He said, turning to go.

"Oh? You haven't even eaten anything yet. Don't tell me you aren't going to fulfill your promise of buying me dinner. A couple of shrimp doesn't count as a meal."

He paused for a moment and eyed me silently. It seemed like he was trying to figure out if I was up to something or not. I gave a small smile. I wasn't. I figure if I was going to spend tomorrow in a stuffy dinner, might as well live it up tonight, especially if I'm not paying.

"Crawdads," he corrected me. "And that is true." He took his place back at the bar.

"Barkeep! Can you get us something more filling to eat? Something with meat!" I shout.

"Coming right up," he puts down our Flaming Quaggans in front of us. Apparently having pulled all the ingredients out earlier made them much faster to make. I'm guessing anyway.

We blew out our drinks, and each took a sip. I eyed Gixx's reaction.

"Sweeter than I expected," he said, and then he took another sip.

I nod and crack into more of the crawdads. "You sure you don't want any?" I ask.

"Mmmm no," he responded. He took another drink. He was really enjoying it.

"You ORDERED it and you're not going to eat any?" I could feel the Flaming Quaggan catching up to me, but not to the point that I didn't see how strange that was.

"You look like a seafood person," he shrugged. I lean toward him, waiting for more information, or confirmation it was some sort of joke. He continued to sip his drink and say nothing more.

I decide he's not joking, and I laugh. "That's the first time I've ever had someone say that about me!"

He's had enough drinks that I think I can get away with going to the subject I had in mind.

"Earlier, you told me you never graduated from a college," I said.

"Did I?" he wasn't slurring his words, but I could tell that the alcohol was finally catching up to him as well.

I nod. "You can't tell me something like that and expect me to just drop it," I say with a smile.

He idly tapped the rim of the "Flaming Quaggan", its contents empty and looked at me thoughtfully. I wasn't sure if he was trying to find the best way to relate the tale to me, or if he was deciding to tell me at all.

After a moment he spoke again.

"Not as exciting as you're imagining," he began, giving a small smile. Every time he smiled it was always slightly lop sided, the right side noticeably higher than the other. I wonder if that was the reason he didn't smile much, it was awkward, but strangely endearing. Endearing? I think I need to slow down on the drinks.

He continued. "I went into Synergetics because EVERYONE in my family went into Synergetics. I hated it. Bad fit for me," he said. He paused and finished the last of his drink.

"So you dropped out?" I guessed. I propped an elbow on the table, and rested my chin on my palm. I'd finished the plate of crawdads, and pushed them away from me. He didn't seem like the quitting type. I'd already finished my second drink and could concentrate on his story fully. Well, as much as I could muster in my buzzed state.

"No, I switched to Dynamics. My parents were furious," he chuckled. "Things weren't better for me there. I realized that as much as I loved learning, the academic system in place wasn't for me. I thought it was in my best interest to quit, and explore out on my own."

"Are you telling me you had a rebellious phase?" I was having a hard time believing this. Gixx, head of the priory, an academic focused order, didn't like the college system?

"Not rebellious, just," he gestured with his hands as he tried to find the words, "You've graduated from Statics, you know how strict those tracks can be when you're starting out."

"Of course! You have to pay your dues before you're given real freedom and equipment or the chance to work for a decent krewe," I responded.

"Hmm I guess I just didn't feel like doing that," he fiddled with the stem of his glass. "I wanted to go out and see the world, learn its secrets. I couldn't do that stuck checking the work of my superiors or being their test-skritt."

What he was saying wasn't uncommon. It was part of the reason there were a lot of dropouts, more than the colleges were willing to admit. There were plenty of asura who avoided the system and decided on an apprenticeship instead. Most college graduates were either fond of the system, looking for good connections, or were lacking in direction. I was of the first group.

"That's how you got into the Priory? Ran into them while finding a little secret?" I tilted my head at him curiously.

"Not little at all, and yes," he looked back into his empty drink. "The Priory recognizes talent when they see it."

"Like me," I say with a smile.

"Like you," he confirmed.

We regarded each other warmly for a moment. I'm sure it was the alcohol but he looked happy. It actually felt like a bonding moment. It didn't last long, as the barkeep slid a plate of steaming food between us.

I looked at the plate excitedly. It was a platter of assorted meats: venison and beef, thinly sliced and layered on top of each other, above a plate of chopped, grilled root vegetables mixed in with a generous amount of seasoning.

"I'm sure you can find something you want to eat in this!" I exclaim. I didn't wait for his response, picking up a fork the barkeep had placed next to me. I tasted a couple of mouthfuls. I close my eyes and moan blissfully. It's spicy with a distinct cinnamon kick to it. I wouldn't have paired that spice with the red meat, but it worked very well. Maybe I could reverse engineer the recipe? I'd have to focus more while I was eating to discern the rest of the ingredients. There was definitely some saffron in there. Maybe some orrian truffle oil as well?

As I go back in for more, I notice Gixx's fork still on the bar top, untouched. I look at him and he quickly turns away and picks up his fork. Had he been looking at me?

He cleared his throat "It looks delicious," he said as he stabbed a few of the vegetables. "I'm afraid to ask what this will cost."

I finish another round of mouthfuls. "Live a little," I respond. Definitely yes on the saffron. "Besides, I'll help you make it up tomorrow, by sucking the cash out of your precious patrons."

The bartender set two more Flaming Quaggans in front of us.

"We didn't order these," Gixx said with a frown.

"They're from a friend," the bartender replied.

"Thank you mystery friend!" I pick up my drink and hold it high in their honor.

"You should take it easy on those," Gixx groaned.

"The night's young Gixx, live a little." I hold my glass in front of him, and tilt it back and forth slightly in expectation.

He sighed again, and picked up his drink. We chimed our glasses, the rims still aflame. I grin, and we continue to eat and drink for a while longer.