Welcome to Gaia! ::

He collapsed into his chair with a bottle of cold ale and a heavy sigh. It had been a long hard day of work; he’d even worked in some time to paint, He fished down in the cushions for the remote and flicked on the TV with a contented hmmm.
He tilted the bottle to his lips for a sip and hesitated after only a moment, what was that sound?

He put the bottle back down and got back out of his chair heading for the door to investigate. He didn’t –think- that Lee would have locked herself out, but there was a first time for everything. “Lee? S’that you?” He called “I made some chicken salad, it’s in the ice box waiting!” He checked the peep hole and saw nothing, swung open the door and glanced into the hall.

“Lee?” He called peering out into the hall, hesitating at the strange voice. She was talking to someone, and that alone was odd. “Laoise?” He said again quietly. He nearly asked what was going on but instead stepped carefully into the hall way half wishing that he’d brought something to defend himself with, even the bottle of ale would have been preferable
“Who’s there?” He demanded the burr in his voice heavier for the edge of confusion and distrust.

“Come on in then Boy-bach.” He stood aside “The Lady would have taken your face of if she thought the worst of you, so be dashed with ‘polite’ and come inside, you must be an ally for her to talk to you at all, but I think it’d be a sight ruder to stand here in the hall waiting for the neighbors to gawp.”

Truth be told he wasn’t sure what to make of Lee bringing someone back, he had to be ‘on their side’, but that didn’t necessarily make him a knight. He fetched some ice from the box to help with the bruises, and a bit of iodine and bandages for the scrapes that he’d seen as well, likely there were more where those came from as well, the boy hardly looked like the type to fall into a scrap, but maybe that was part of why she brought him?

“Are you hungry eh?” He asked settling the medicines on the table and then offering the ice wrapped in a towel to the young man. “I suspect our lady here is, but I have chicken salad waiting to be made for her that should satisfy I think, unless she’s grown tired of it?”

Breu paused at the question. “Talk? Or bring people here?” He replied with a deadpan expression that said he was dead serious on being unsure which he meant. Maybe that was more normal given their probable lines of work. “Talk, is normal…ah… new to bring guests. Sit! I am not the big bad wolf.” He waved to a chair. “Water? Pop?” He offered, the boy looked like he could use more than that but given the rules this side of the puddle he wasn’t going to offer.

“Would you do us the honor of explaining Lee?” He asked as he dished her out the required chicken salad. “Because he’s hurt? Because he’s on ‘our side’ of the fight? Or is there some deeper meaning I’m missing here?” He glanced back at the puppy of a young man. “First two are legitimate reasons mind you.” He said pointing a knife still stained with chicken salad at him before rinsing it in the sink and fetching a glass for water.

Poor Jude could have no idea that he was in the home of a fellow coffee worshiper, the blessed beans were sometimes the only thing that got Breu moving in the AM, afternoons were so much more preferable, or evenings, evenings were fantastic.

Breu took a deep breath and let it out slowly, thoughtfully as he considered the wordless young man. “Alright… what’s yer…” He waved his hand. “Name, skill, whater’ you call it?” He tilted his head to one side, minorly put out that his downtime had been invaded but also interested in making sure the young man had the means to defend himself.

“Since the Lady here trusts you, I’m sure its safe enough t’ tell you that I’m on yer side. Annwn, page of earth, and I shan’t be showing you because I’d rather not get feathers in my coffee.”

He fumbled out the machine and found the mini grinder, pouring in a fresh batch of whole beans and grinding them to his satisfaction before setting up for a fresh pot.

While that percolated he turned back to lean against the counter and pulled down a pair of mugs, tilting one as a question just to see if the young man wanted to upgrade from water to ‘fresh coffee’.

“Promise it tastes better than that 4 dollar nonsense.”

“Whats that sayin? One must imagine Sisyphus happy? Always made me think of retail myself.” He said considering and swept the pot out from under the drip and a cup under it for long enough to pour a hot mug of coffee.

“Milk and sugar are here, you want them?” He asked and offered up the first mug of heavenly brew.

“Well, if we’re to be stuck in this mess, on the same side or thar abouts. I suppose I should teach you a thing or to about fisticuffs at least. Can’t do a dag damn thing about your…senshi stuff but I can at least teach you to throw a punch.”

He looked at Lee and then back. “….and if that seems futile I’ll start tossing the lass here at you. She’ll get you going right quick. Five of six ends pointy.”

“Well, hard to step out now I imagine, you’re part of it, you know about it.”

The man joined soon enough with his own cup of black coffee. He varied the way he took it to a surprising degree perhaps, but this seemed like a ‘black cup’ time to be fair.

“I didn’t ask to run about in…feathers wielding a cracked stag horn like I was pretendin to be Hern” He shrugged.

“But its hard to turn my back when I know I can be out there making a real difference, even if no one sees it. “Why don’t yeh let me try and teach you some…we both learn from it lad, and if yeh still can’t hack it you choose then. But dun go giving up without er getting help at all.”