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 Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 12:00 pm
Restaurants & Rendezvous
TIME: Evening
PLACE: Shyregoed, in a restaurant near the Mishkan border
CAST: Scarlet Espostin and Evan Gabel
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 3:54 pm
The sound of a bell could be heard as a tall boy entered the rustic building. Inside, the tables were worn and sparsely occupied by local customers, most concentrated on the book they were reading or the person in front of them. There seemed to lack a traditional bar and instead, there was a simple booth near the back. Waiters and waitresses were very few, with most sitting at the the booth and smoking. In the dim lighting, Evan could see an empty table by an open window, which hopefully would carry away the smell of his weather vane.
Walking quietly, he tried to look around for an idea of what patrons were eating, aware of how hungry he was from his trip. He was on the way to meeting a friend of Dorian's in Mishkan with about two hundred shillings weighing in his thin pockets. For once he could have a decent meal that consisted of both a bread and a meat, something that he hadn't had since the beginning of his trip (back when he didn't know how to ration).
A waitress took notice of the farmboy and edged over, her voice tired but enthusiastic.
"What're you looking to eat dear?" she asked, trying to get a better handle on the dishes haphazardly cradled in the crooks of her arms, "we have pork pie, blood sausage, pasta, lobster, and groat pudding."
Evan took a moment of pause to reflect on the food items, some scrutiny and others with a look of bemusement. Wasn't lobster what people used as bait? He remembered being read to about sea creatures when he was younger.
"Um I guess I'll have the lobster!"
It seemed to be more of a question than an affirmative order, though the waitress wasn't going to question a patron. After the waitress left, Evan turned to stare outside at the quickly receding number of citizens walking the streets of Shyregoed, thinking about the rest stops that he had already taken. He didn't want to disappoint Dorian in any regard, particularly since he had no way to pay the male back for either the shillings and the information on the Imperial Guard. So far he had been the only one to give him a definite direction, even if he didn't know what would be at the end.
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:53 pm
The coins in Scarlet’s hand jingled noisily as she ambled through the populated streets. They gleamed in the sunlight as she shook them. Smiling, the young woman reached up to pull her dark red hood over her dusty, orange-brown hair. A couple of passer byers curiously glanced at her when they walked past Scarlet, who merely grinned amiably and returned the look with a half-nod. Little notice was paid to her gradually growing collection of coins. Her grin stretched wider, her hands giving the coins a small, pleased toss into the air before she deposited them into her bag. She hummed quietly, skimming the shop signs until she decided to walk into an arbitrary restaurant. While it didn’t seem particularly lively or crowded, the pangs in her stomach told her now was not the time to be picky.
Despite the dim lighting, Scarlet refused to remove her hood. Narrowed eyes looked at the employees lounging at the booth before she swept her gaze across the room, searching for a decent table to seat herself at. Her expression lightened considerably at the prospect of sitting by an open window, but her face quickly darkened when she realized a man had already preoccupied the table right in front of it. She huffed, stood tall, and slid into the table behind him. Scarlet fished out a few coins to pay for the meal when she managed to catch the man’s order. She reached into her hood to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. The grin was evident in her voice when she mused, “Lobster? Miss.” Just as the waitress began to leave Scarlet waved her back. “I’d like to have lobster, too.” Another contemplative hum as she drummed her fingers against the table. “I’d like some pasta too, while I’m at it.”
The waitress nodded briskly before disappearing into the kitchen. Scarlet slid deeper into her seat, but found her bow to be digging into her back. Grunting, she moved to place it on the table, wood rattling against wood.
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Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 12:00 am
"What is that smell?"
Evan turned over to see a lady holding a handkerchief over her nose, her face full of contempt and eyes narrowed to find the source of the smell. Did she suspect the weather vane? He had shifted it closer to the window in hopes that the smell would dissipate whenever a person entered or exited the restaurant (rather than scaring people away with its decayed stench). He still couldn't figure out the reason behind the bad odor since he was sure that he had cleaned the weather vane at least once or twice during the trip. It hadn't even been stained with anything since the birds had flown into the vane so long ago.
He glanced over to the irritated woman with a sheepish look, earning him a sneer.
"Aren't you going to get that thing out of here?" she asked, her voice nasally.
"Well I can't just get rid of it," Evan said, shoulders shrugging, "I got t' find someone to fix it."
The woman continued to hold the cloth to her nose, rolling her eyes at the frivolousness of the young boy.
"I'm not going to deal with this. I'm leaving," she muttered, putting down some coins for her half-finished meal.
Evan remained quiet this time, but turned his attention away from the distraught lady and toward the sound of another female, younger this time who he must have missed. She was wearing a hood, but her voice and lithe fingers gave her gender away. Though they exhibited some wear (perhaps from being an archer?), they were quite smaller than his own. The bow itself was nothing of note....aside from one small detail. The dim lighting made it hard to see but he could certainly smell something familiar coming from her direction. It wasn't as strong as his vane but still vaguely there.
He turned over to her with a sheepish smile, deciding not to try and make the same mistake by not warning her.
"I hope you don't mind the smell," he said.
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 7:26 pm
The conversation going on behind Scarlet did not go unnoticed. Lips were pressed into a thin line when she leaned forward, her back still straight as her stomach lightly pressed against the table’s edge. Her arms rested on the table and her hands were loosely twined together. The hood still hid a majority of her face, failing to hide only the tiny smile on her face. She did not turn her head. Instead, she continued to stare forward while she strained to hear the bits and pieces of the talk. There was nothing else better to do anyways. The woman’s voice had become nasally. Had she plugged her nose with something? Air blew out of her nose as she held back soft laughter. The smell wasn’t as horrible as the other woman made it out to be, at least in Scarlet’s opinion. The rest of the conversation was a blur to the redhead until she heard the clatter of coins and chair legs sliding across the floor.
Scarlet leaned into her chair. So the woman had chosen to leave rather than bear with the smell. The corner of her lips twitched. Of course. The boy’s voice came again and it took her a second to realize that he had now directed his attention to her. “Oh.” She sat up in her seat, twisting her upper body just enough so she could catch a flash of his face. Fairly young. Tanned skin. Perhaps he had spent most of his days in the sun. “Don’t worry. It takes more to drive me out of a restaurant when I have an empty stomach,” she joked. “The smell isn’t as bad as she claimed it to be.” She turned around just a bit more to notice that the thing was actually a weather vane. That was certainly not something people toted around on a daily basis. “An interesting choice of item to carry around.” She half-nodded her head toward it.Punani chans And months later I tag at last. orz
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 4:16 pm
The young girl was soft spoken, but congenial all the same. Evan let a a smile grace his face and nodded in acknowledgement before he turned his entire seat to face her. Like everyone else she had noticed his choice of item, but wasn't disgusted by it. Instead she seemed curious.
"Yeah," he started.
He opened his mouth to explain, but refrained from it. By his count, he had talked about his vane at least five times, which is enough to make even him tired of it. This girl though, he doubted she talked much at all. He was still a curious fellow despite how much he liked to talk about Lander's handiwork and at least with her, he wouldn't be afraid of her overshadowing him.
"Your lobster sir."
The waitress set down a steaming plate of lobster and some utensils, calling Evan's attention. The acidic aroma of vinegar caused a rumbling in his stomach, which was enough to get him to start eating. He was once told that he had the stubbornness of a mule and the attention span of a fly, which was more true than false. If Evan felt strongly enough about something he would not relent, but most of the time he just moved onto thinking about other things. The angry woman, the looks of revulsion, they were all behind him. He thought more about the bow girl. How did she get an item like that? Would she know about what was going on with his weather vane? He turned over once more, swallowing his bite of food.
"Your bow is a piece of work too," he said, "you're an archer right?"
No, of course she was. What was he saying?
"I mean, do you just do it for fun or professionally?" he corrected, "been a long time since I've seen a bow that fine."
Yes, that would work.
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 3:29 pm
As the man turned his seat toward Scarlet, she began to do the same. She held both edges of her seat and twisted it toward Evan, but not completely. It was at an angle where she could still comfortably reach for her meal once it arrived. She received only a one-word answer, causing her to raise an eyebrow. That was it? No explanation? It seemed he had been about to say more, but thought against it. Why he thought so she didn’t know, but Scarlet wouldn’t pry. She wasn’t a nosy type, or so she claimed.
The waitress gave Evan his lobster, the smell easily wafting toward her table. Thin lips curled into a smile as she placed her hands in her lap and silently told herself to be patient and wait. A moment later, the same woman came strolling back with a plate of pasta. “Your lobster is coming up,” she told Scarlet before leaving. The redhead smiled before picking up a fork and mixing the pasta with the red sauce, the steam warming her face.
“No, I just like to carry a bow on my back because I can,” she teased. She twirled the utensil, spinning the pasta into a tiny clump that she slid into her mouth. Still smiling, she let a moment of silence pass to let her swallow her food before amending, “Yes, I am.”
“For fun,” she continued, “but I’m planning to join the guard someday.” The smile on her face turned soft, even wistful. “Thanks. It was my brother’s.” Scarlet looked back down at her plate and gathered up more pasta onto her fork. “How about you? Got a reason for carrying that vane around?”
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 7:50 pm
Evan tensed a slight. Was she making fun of him?
The thought came immediately into his head, prompted by the amount of sarcasm he received from the Gabel Farms's other employed workers back in his teenage years. Repeat questions (mainly because Evan's focus was never completely there) became something of an annoyance to the other workers who were attempting to finish quotas on time. Of course, their brand was more vicious and condescending (usually with exaggerated inflections). This girl's good-natured smile leaned more toward a light teasing however.
His shoulders relaxed and he started to cut up his lobster into odd pieces, speaking in between bites of shellfish.
"I'm joining the guard too! 'Thought I could get myself straightened as a cavalry man or something," he replied with a flash of enthusiasm
To see someone else in the same position as himself was reassuring, even if she probably hadn't earned the ire of a fellow military man. He wiped his lips with his sleeve and looked back up at the girl and raised an eyebrow at the mention of a brother. The parallels weren't lost on Evan, but he chose not to say too much, only nodding along with her scant words. She didn't really give much for him to go on.
Evan's answer was a noncommittal shrug as opposed to the faltering from earlier. She had commented about the item before, but he supposed that she would want some answer. He himself was curious about what her weapon's story was, but didn't want to give up more than he had to about the weather vane. "Was your brother in the guard too?" he asked, wanting to change the subject. "I don't think I've seen many archers in the military."
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 4:36 pm
Both brows were raised at the mention of the cavalry. “Is that so?” Scarlet took a pause from her meal, leaned back against her chair. Straightened, he had said? So he thought he needed some straightening out? A bigger grin danced on her lips as she crossed her arms. “Actually, I was considering joining the cavalry as well, but at the moment I’m not sure what I’d like to do once I join the guard.” There was no questioning that the woman would join the guard. She refused to stop until she had joined the same group her brother had been in.
She quirked an eyebrow at Evan as he chose to not answer one of her questions, but she returned the shrug and let it slide. They were strangers to one another. It was reasonable for him to omit certain portions of his history and life to her. “He was,” answered Scarlet, leaning forward to take another bite of her pasta. “Is that so? I knew a fair number of archers, but I suppose the new weaponry has rendered them nearly obsolete,” she noted in a sad tone.
Her eyes lit up as the waitress returned with a plate of lobster. As she slurped up even more of her pasta, the young woman vaguely wondered if she had the stomach for both dishes, but decided that if she didn’t she would merely make room. “Unfortunately I can’t say I’m a very good archer. The opposite, to be honest,” she admitted as she dabbed her mouth with a cloth.
“By the way, did we ever introduce ourselves properly? I’m Scarlet Espostin. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She smiled amiably as she held out a hand toward Evan.
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:15 pm
Evan gave the redhead a nod as he considered her words. Why did she want to join the guard if she wasn't sure what she would do? Was it out of some familial duty? Truthfully he hadn't thought much past finding Lander and getting his weather vane fixed. After all, Evan wasn't much of a future-minded person. It was only about fulfilling the current goal before drumming up the next. He supposed that she might have been the same way, minus the actual finding of the brother. A part of him wondered what there would be left to do if Lander couldn't be found, but it was quickly drowned out by images of archers on horseback.
"They'd probably rather have a good archer than a shoddy gunman," Evan replied simply, "besides, you can't be carryin' that bow around for nothing. Once you're in the guard you'll probably be shooting up targets left and right."
His expression was earnest, shooting a smile as he finished up his meal. He couldn't imagine himself using a musket or anything of the sort, mainly because of how little he knew of them. In theory it was probably like archery, only with a gun. His only knowledge came from Melissa's books, well what little of it he could understand. Licking off the last bit of sauce on the side of his lips he received Scarlet's hand, giving it a firm shake.
"Name's Evan Gabel," he announced, "...of Gabel Farms."
He seemed to pause for a moment, as if not knowing what to say after their formal introduction. It wasn't often that he had conversation with someone that didn't end up with him or another person angry or sighing in exasperation. Even Dorian seemed to be put off by his simple demeanor if nothing else.
"We had a farm back in Auvinus when I was younger you know? My parents used to always take me traveling to trade the things we grew."Syusaki sorry about the late reply college has not been kind to me OTL
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 3:19 pm
“That’s true, but…” Her voice trailed off as she reached for her bow and eyed it warily through half-narrowed eyes. Scarlet’s lips were drawn into a thin, straight line. “I can’t say I’m a sharpshooter, which is odd. When I was a kid I always shot the arrow just fine. One could say I was even better than my brother.” Bored fingers drummed against the bow’s handle. Bright blue eyes turned glassy as she stared off into nowhere. “It’s funny, actually. I wonder why I can never shoot straight now.” She shook her head and blinked, the blank gleam in her gaze disappearing as she took another bite of her pasta. “Things will work themselves out somehow, I’m sure.”
“A farm.” The mention brought a warm smile to the redhead’s lips. “My father was an inventor. He actually made farming tools. Simple ones that were supposed to make fieldwork easier and such.” Scarlet laughed softly. “I don’t know if his inventions did any good, though. He’s retired, now. Too old, he says. So he works at a bookstore now.” She sighed wistfully as she rested her cheek against her palm. “I grew up in Mishkan myself. I lived in a small town and my mom was a seamstress of sorts, so my brother and I never left town until we were older. Must’ve been nice to travel around as a child. What sort of things do you remember from your travels?”Punani chans Pardon the slightly short tag u_u;;
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