[14:37] * Maria is +1 babby today. She has Nouria in a sling, but with that little carrier basket, too. ...Maria uses the nexus as a cheat so she doesn't have to go outside in the cold, by the way.
[14:58] * Martel should probably not spend so much time drinking alone. He offers a vague wave when Maria comes in, from over his notes.
[14:58] Maria: "Hi!" She meanders over, babby in arms. "Nouria says hi, too."
[14:59] Martel: "Hello, then."
[15:01] * Maria sits down next to him. "How're you, honey?"
[15:02] Martel: "Busy, per usual. And you?"
[15:05] Maria: "I am fantastic, thank you very much." She pats Nouria affectionately. "Guess who turned three months old yesterday!"
[15:06] Martel: "I can't /possibly/ imagine," he says, dryly, because he is asking for it at all times.
( [15:07] * Maria casually punches him in the arm and resumes conversation as if that never happened. )

Thursday evening sees Martel no more interested in this dinner than he was when he agreed to it - but he did agree to it and he's making a particular point lately of making good on his promises, even the ones that aren't really oaths.

A smaller dining room has been chosen and thoroughly prepared; Martel gets the vague impression that Grella is a little indignant about his having a dinner party ('It's not a dinner party') and not letting her cook for it, and retreats very quickly from the planning because sometimes it really doesn't matter that he's actually the one in charge here. There's something vaguely reassuring about that, a notion that he chooses not to dwell on deeply. (There are more things, some days, that Martel avoids thinking about than anything else.)

He snaps a quill pen in his hand unintentionally, absolutely not hiding in his study. Someone should be up to let him know when they've arrived, at least.

The past few weeks have been, for Martel...an interesting time. Today, though, today isn't very interesting. (Yet.) Today is mostly quiet; he's been occupying himself with finalizing his staff (as it'll stand for a time - it's more than likely he'll need to expand later, but for now he thinks he has everyone he needs sorted out), and now he's escaped the lot of them for his favourite pastime.

That would be: avoiding Ewar's near-supernatural ability to find him anywhere in the castle by taking his books and his drink in Stigmata, flexing the fingers of his right hand and really looking forward to when it's properly good as new. The pull of still-healing flesh is making his already typical-scholar's-handwriting more strained.

It's been a strange day among strange days, which Martel assumes is probably why his home is filling up with people in the space of a week or so. He's fairly sure (although he wouldn't swear to it) that he hasn't even met Brody (this is only because he didn't exactly get a lot of names off the bus while he was being kidnapped as a felonious monk), for example. Preoccupied doesn't mean he's a terrible host, though, so he's making the brief trip down the hall to Maria's suite (oh god what's she done to it).

He raps on the door with the back of his knuckles, waiting for a response.

[18:33] * Maria is here in a bar, perhaps looking for Martel.
[18:34] * Martel is here, now; god only knows what he's /been/ doing. "Hello, there."
[18:36] Maria: "Hi! Can I have a sleepover?" ........let's just get that out of the way. "What are you up to?" Meanwhile, she ambles around the bar, poking at stuff. Including the answering machine, because no one else uses the thing.
[18:37] Martel: "Define 'sleepover' before I answer that."
[18:38] Maria: "Brody wants a vacation, and if he comes over I'll have someone to entertain me." She scrolls through the text messages, and then pauses.
[18:40] * Martel tries to recall if he's met Brody. "Very well. What are you looking at?"
[18:40] Maria: "Um. Be calm, first. So this chick Candice is your girl, right?"
[18:40] * Martel has the look on his face of a man who's pretty sure he knows what's coming. "That's one way of putting it."
[18:41] Maria: "It looks like she's in the hospital with her friend Enfys...I guess someone tried slitting her throat or something? I don't know, the message is off-world, some of it's garbled."
[18:42] Martel: "Does it say /where/?"
[18:46] Maria: "Um, it has pinpoint coordinates attached! Bolivar medical."
[18:50] * Martel looks /extremely/ calm, which may or may not actually bode well. "All right. Your friend can come and stay, and I'll see you as soon as possible, I have to go. Now."

[prelude to this.]