"Have you? No," she answered back, pulling up a chair and her phone out of her pocket. She dialed someone. "Hey Glo, I'm going to skip out on tonight. You guys go ahead and go. Enjoy!" She hung up and sat down across from him. Apparently, she was staying in. "Maybe I couldn't be a DM, but I could do that. I think you're awesome. Can't you tell? Oh of course, you can. You're the DM. You knew I wasn't going anywhere. I'd rather be with you. I was saving this dress for something special. I guess this is it. Either I've made a fool of myself, or piqued your interest." The stars in her eyes and unvarnished admiration touched a part of him he hadn't felt for a long time. Ash paused, jaw in hand, taking her in. There was no fooling this one. "It's good to say what you mean. It eliminates the small talk. I don't have a problem with it. I'd rather do it that way. For your information, the only reason I haven't asked is because I don't think you fully understand WHAT you ask." He stood and held his hands out, helping her up from her chair. As he spoke their eyes locked. He had a way of doing that, getting one's full attention. "I'm going to talk and you're going to listen - intently, if you will." "I know it's called a 'game', Luna - but it's THE GAME for this planet and all of you. In great part, I'm responsible for this world. ALL OF IT, including you - all the marbles. That's the only reason I'm here now, because I'm allowed to mingle this time to direct my main players, plotting, planning and strategizing. We have some fabulous players. The concept of it doesn't escape the men of the Clan. I don't want to let them down. And I don't want to be like this to you, but I have to be. It's not just about you and me. It's a whole world of people, dear Luna. Please understand that. This - MY choices in MY LIFE for myself have to be about the world, not just me. It is a part of what one gives up to be a DM. You could be a great liability to me if you don't mind what I say and abide by it. I'm not angry or displeased. I'm flattered. Truly. But, I don't need any more liabilities than I have." Luna's head was down now. She looked torn between being embarrassed and about ready to cry. He wasn't being unkind or mean about it. Maybe that's why she managed to look up again and see him smile down at her. "I think it would do you good to go and talk to the ladies that know what it's like to be with an Alpha or a Grigori. Your own family. That's your issue there. It's just the way things are with your family. You need to step back and look at it with different eyes. Not your everyday ones. Talk to the men too. You'll understand then I'm not exaggerating. I'm not terribly social as it is, and I'm very, very complicated. Your propensity to do what you take into mind to do...that trait is both alarming and charming. It puts me at an impasse with you, as to what to answer. "Being brutally honest - which I must, the bottom line is: I don't need someone sabotaging me from the inside who thinks they know how things work in the Game better than I do. I've been playing it since before your great-grandfather was born and he's twelve hundred years old. I don't want to take you home and you leave me because you didn't understand what you were getting into. Ash hooked his finger under her chin. " You say you want to learn. Learn from them how much they bite back on their own wants and needs most of the time and just gracefully accept because of whom their mate is. He'll make time for them, when he can. Your parents for example. Those women keep themselves busy. Look at your mother. It's no dream ride sweetheart. Show me you want to learn. Then you call me and tell me what that is, and what you say will depend on my answer to you. I never asked or volunteered to play this game. But here I am." He kissed her on the forehead. "Would you like to go for a walk in the moonlight? Hmm? No sense in wasting the evening. We can talk about whatever you like." She nodded wordlessly and sniffed - all the while managing a quivering smile. She'd realized he wasn't brushing her off. He was giving her a test...like the Hero's quest to find the truth of something or some long lost artifact. Maybe that was 'romanticizing' it but that's how she needed to look at it.