Mid-Winter Art and Music Soiree

Fe regarded Purity with a quirked eyebrow, once again slightly amused at his apparent nervousness and fidgeting. Part of her wished she could whip it or scare it out of him. However, she did know that any move she made would probably send him scurrying away. Mentally sighing at this, Fe decided to behave herself.

At Purity's rather hopeful sounding question, Fe almost shrugged nonchalantly. She liked, no loved singing, but she suspected that the reason for singing was, maybe, she wasn't 100% on this, more an attention thing than a self-expression thing. She liked being the center of everyone's attention, she loved when people watched her and admired her. But, for some reason, Fe really didn't want to disappoint Purity with such a superficial answer.

"It probably is. I mean, I haven't given the reason why I sing too much thought," she said. "I just kinda know I do," she added as she took a sip of her drink and then shrugged lightly.

"You been singing long?" Fe asked, expertly changing subjects a little as she sat herself on the table and crossed her legs.

@Lain
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"Oh, no, never," Zoraida shook her head, "I'd never knowingly place an artifact that could seriously harm somebody on display, or on display without some sort of protection in place," she stated, very aware of the implications of such a reckless act.

"For example, the painting is in a special glass that has been sealed magically using a magical code of sorts, and it's not even that dangerous, to be honest," Zora explained to Colten.

"of course, I will have my assistant place a card on both items, and you can decide later on," Zora said to Colten. She wasn't too worried if he took both pieces or not. There was always a market for this type of art.

@PixelatedGlory

Zora helped herself to another glass, but this time it was champagne, from the tray of another waiter going in the opposite direction as the one Colten had motioned over. Taking a small sip before she answered, Zora eyed the room first, and then turned her attention back to Colten.

"Maybe next year there will be a bigger purpose, I don't know yet," she confessed, "My family has always supported the arts. I grew up around art, and books, and music. I appreciate it, collect it and like to share this quiet passion with others," Zoraida admitted as she watched a young lady, a sculptress if she remembered correctly, as she mingled with the guests.

"Tonight is really just about enjoyment, a way to escape the snow for a few hours and to let the artist community mingle and display their work." she answered warmly.

"And what about you Mr. Morey, do you enjoy art, or are you just here to add to a collection?" Zoraida asked with keen interest, asking as she sometimes did, very direct questions. She knew many were here tonight to look for, and hopefully find, that "new and upcoming" artist to add to their collections. Collections that would never truly be enjoyed be placed, often started only as a way to brag, show off their wealth, or worse, put away in a vault until the items had important resale value and were "worthy" of being displayed.

Zora smiled at the bowing gesture Colten made, obviously in good fun, and nodded her head once, and ever so slightly, in acquiescence. "If I could have stopped this snow, I certainly would have, but I can't, so I did the next best thing and threw a party instead," she joked.

Letting Colten speak, giving him her full attention, Zora nodded in understanding and knowingly. She knew what he meant, she was a lot like he was. She didn't collect to just have something. The object had to have some kind of meaning to her. Her father, Miguel, had prided himself in being *a collector* and had filled entire rooms with pictures and artwork that nobody ever looked at, or even liked. He had it just to brag to guests and friends.

"I actually collect books," she admitted after a moment, "my grandfather's house in Spain is filled with books, some dating back to the 14th or 15th century, a lot are handwritten even. Beautiful pictures, strange creatures. They all fascinated me as a child, and I'd spend hours mulling over the ancient texts in Latin, olde English, German... it didn't matter the language. They all fascinated me," she told Colten with a smile.

"You are a writer, no?" she inquired curiously as she smiled and nodded, greeting a guest who walked by them.

"The very same or similar, I'm guessing," Zora said, brightening visibly at the change of topic. She loved books and reading, and she rarely got to speak to anyone else who enjoyed books as much as she did.

"I'd spend a lot of my free time in the library, they'd often find me draped over books, even asleep sometimes," she told him with a small chuckle as she brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes.

"Young adults?" Zora inquired, "That's certainly different. Not exactly what I'd have guessed," she admitted truthfully as she looked at Colten with interest and tried to envision him writing for starry-eyed teenagers. "What type of stories? Fantasy, first romances, real life..." she asked very curious now at what he actually wrote about.

That was something Fe could effectively empathize with. She knew she had been singing for as long as she could remember. And knowing sirin folk, she had a feeling she probably could sing before she could talk even.

"I have been singing for as long as I can remember, probably seventeen or eighteen years now," she told Purity, trying to think of how old she might have been when she first sang her first notes.

"It truly seems like forever at times," she confessed almost tiredly, "but in a good way, ya know," she rushed to add as she looked at Purity a tiny bit sheepishly.