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Just what she needed. Back to working in a bar as a barwench again, Merry rolled her eyes as yet another flask was tossed into the bar itself. Some men clearly had no manners. Not that she expected them. Still, she wished that drunks could have some sense of decency. She’d already had to stab a man’s hand with a fork just to keep him and his friends from drunkenly feeling her up.

A sad thing too, he was rather handsome, just a piss poor excuse of a man drunk who thought a woman would fall into his lap for a few pretty words. Words didn’t get you a warm meal. They didn’t pay for clothes or food. The men wanted to have someone warm their beds they would need to warm her up with some gold.

Gold that she was told was her’s if she went and served the man sitting off on the one table. The other serving girl had tried, and had said his eyes held something that ‘wasn’t right’. Merry scoffed at it. Men always looked off. Just part of them being men. Plus, she was chosen. If the man tried anything Eris would come charging in to protect her. The girl hadn’t even taken the man’s order either. All the work for Merry. Just like back home.

Putting on her best smile, she wiped her hands on her apron, checked her dress, and sighed. Show time. Walking over to the man in question he didn’t seem that off. So his eyes were odd. So were half the drunks. “Hello sir. May I take your order?” Nearby a man said something about wanting to order an ‘a**’. Merry ignored it.

Well she knew why the other girl had shied away. This guys was hardly the friendly type, that was for sure. As Merry tired to size up her client, Eris made her way from the kitchens to sit by the bar. The flicked of the doe’s amusement in the fact that drunks seemed to not notice her was felt by Merry who tried to keep her attention on the man. The drunk men who were oblivious to the fact that a guardian was in the room could wait.

“Not been here in a while eh? Well we have a potato and beef stew, it’ll warm you right up and chase of any lingering chill. The brandy in the back ‘s a decent one. Wine is all but bitter juice. Ale’s cheap but will get you on your a** if that’s what you be wanting.” A glance to the drunken revelers, Merry rolled her eyes. “Which I hope isn’t your case. Have a few pot pies, but they have more veggies than meat. You want a real treat though?” She smirked, hand on the table as she leaned over. “You go for the half a hen and the brandy. The bird falls right off the bone and the bread it comes with is fresh right out of the oven.”

Pulling back, she crossed her arms, hoping she’d at least get an order. Even if he had grim feeling to him and his eyes were far to void for any sensible liking.

Merry was used to being looked past. You didn’t often deal with the most lucid individuals in a bar all the time. Not to mention drunks didn’t see much past tits anyway. A blessing and a curse sometimes. Still, the chuckle had her keeping her own smile up, even if said chuckle was a bit odd. “Stew and brandy then. Coming right out.” Following his gaze out of sheer curiosity, she realized what, or rather who he was looking at. Eris looked back at her chosen, head tilting, wondering if she was needed.

A simple hand motion stopped the doe from going over, at least until Merry was subject to a surprise from the shadows. “Oh! Uh, hello there little one.” At the sight of a fawn, Eris was curious, slowly making her way closer, avoiding the few drunks trying to pet her.

A pet from a drunk was more like a slap to back really. Something neither guardian nor chosen approved of. But the fawn had gotten Merry’s attention, and as she watched the exchange, Eris arrived, giving her chosen a gentle nudge to her arm. “Well then.” A hand on her hip the barwench grinned. “Not every day I see another chosen and guardian. He’s just a little ‘un though.” Eris bent down peering to the fawn to better look at him on his own level.
“But, I’ll go get your meal. Eris here can keep you company.” The doe shuffled a bit at that, not exactly wanting to be left by strangers. Yet Merry was off to the back, only having to pause as one patron grabbed at her skirt and tried to force her into their lap.

Quickly enough she returned with the cup and bowl, a warm half loaf of bread joining it. “If you want I can go get some greens for your bo-“ A man threw a coin at her, earning a glare. Rude drunks were some of the worst drunks really.

Merry felt a bit awkward, if only because men were trying to call her over for activities best left to bedrooms and back doors. Just because she did them on occasion for a price didn’t mean she enjoyed it or that she’d offer her services to just anyone. The drunks jeering probably didn’t even have the coin for it, spending it all on cheap booze. Not to mention even if they did they’d probably pass out before they even got as far as her skirts. Typical drunk behavior really. So Merry just kept focusing on the man, as odd as he and his guardian might have been. They were better than the drunks at any rate.

The sound of teeth made her hesitate and pull back slightly. Eris mimicking the motion. Neither had ever seen a guardian do that before. Yet Eris was braver than Merry for once, still pressing on to look at the little fawn. “You’re welcome. An’t no trouble after all, part of my job.” Another coin tossed, even if Gabriel was next to her. One man didn’t often stop a group anyway. “Normally they don’t toss coins and just jeer.” She said, looking briefly at the various men laughing and calling out. “You get used to it after a while, that and the pulling and pinching.” She offered him a sad smile. “Just part of the job.” A cry that her job was better suited bent over, making the barwench scowl.

Eris tilted her head at the fawn before bending down, giving a small bump of her nose the the tiny deer’s forehead. Merry was used to antics and was the doe. Unless things got worse-
And they did, a man reaching over to try and grab Merry though she managed to pull away. Just another day at work really.

The drunk hardly passed Gabriel a glance, alcohol induced gaze only passed to Merry, who was making the most unappealing of grimaces she had mastered. Men did it often enough that she’d had to make the face to try and try them away. Sadly some guys didn’t take a disgusted look for an answer. The drunk in question did manage to hear Gabriel however, words slurred as he said, “I please to have a nice round with you pretty thing.” The drunk’s tone mocking and condescending, Merry kept trying to ignore his words and avoid his grabbing hands.

“I don’t please to have anything from you.” She sneered as Eris went behind her, unsure what to do. Merry was hired help here, and hired help couldn’t go hide or leave. Not without abandoning what little pay they got. “You best just go back to your brand of brothers in booze over there. Sure they can entertain better than I can away.” Looking at Gabriel curiously, she was a bit confused why another patron would speak on her behalf. Most just ignored the drunk antics and kept to themselves. The look to Gabriel had the drunk looking too, suddenly facing the chosen. “’Ey, you say outs of this. Just getting what I want. She wants it too, don’t cha girlie?”

Merry certainly did not want. Not even for a handful of gold at that point.

While Merry might have been used to drunken advances by men twice her age and whatnot, it never was something she really adapted to. Half the time she was tempted to stab them with a knife, hit them upside the head with a metal flagon, or tell Eris to knock their teeth in, (she’d tried to do so with her fist one, resulting in a bloody fist and a man that was no worse for wear.). The other half of the time she behaved herself, resisted running, and held her ground and avoid most confrontation.
Most, not all.

The drunk in question stared blankly at Gabriel, as if trying to understand the words being spoken. A slow realization happened, at which point the man looked at the fawn, teeth clattering. He shot an angry look to Merry then at Gabriel he took a step back. “You got one them deer.” A finger pointed to fawn and doe. This was apparently worth some kind of merit to the man as he shook his head. “I don’t want no magic business jus-“ Eris came round, placing Merry behind her. As the drunk looked back at Gabriel he blinked once, twice, and then backed away. “You an’t right.” He began to mutter. “You an your deer. An’t right.”

The drunks elsewhere were keeping an eye on the sudden spectical, wondering if a fight might break out. At the drunk’s retreat, Merry relaxed slightly, looking to the man who had stood up in his own way for her. “Um…” She wasn’t used to it. “Thank you I suppose.”

The man’s smile unnerved her, but no more than the one she got from another drunk no doubt wanting to try his luck with the lady. Too bad for him, luck wasn’t a lady tonight. She was a bar wench with no inclination to show anyone any favor at that point. Gabriel however, seemed out of it, and Merry hesitated to leave him be. No because she took a fancy but more the fact that she wasn’t quite sure still what to make of him. He scared her in that way, and even Eris didn’t know what to make of his little guardian.

As the man’s smile vanished, so did Merry’s sense that this man might be one of the good ones, but his tone, his gaze was unnerving. Unsettling. This was her job however and she was supposed to chat up the clientele. “It’s only dangerous if-“ If someone took things too far. A pull to her wrist she hadn’t been expecting, and she was in a man’s arms. A man who stunk of the cheap ale. “Let me go you ape-“ She hissed, clawing at the man’s arm, getting her a curse.
“b***h, you’re supposed to take the coin and do what I say!” He didn’t slur so much, and he wasn’t as gone as the other, meaning he still had his fair share of strength, and it wasn’t a grasp she would maneuver her way out of easily. Eris shuffled side to side, looking briefly to Gabriel and Morai. She wasn’t supposed to hurt anyone, but they certain could. They were just customers, not hired help after all.

Merry wasn't sure what made it worse. The smile on his face, the look in his eyes, or the eerie sound his guardian was making beside him. Whatever it was, the man holding her tightened his grip at first before the name 'Blithe' had him letting her go like he'd been set on fire. She didn't know the name, but the man certainly did, and from his face, he was not interested in her any longer, not in the slightest. A few men even went so far and to begin to leave. While it might get her chided, she was glad of it.

Shaken, but no worse for wear, Merry forced a smile at Gabriel. It could have ended a lot worse. Either in a fight, a stabbing, a slit throat... She was just happy to be out of it. At least half way. The knife was still in the man's hands after all.

"Thank... you." Her eyes fixed on the pinprick of blood. She wanted to ask if he was alright, but it seemed useless. He'd done it for a reason, even if she didn't know that reason aside from be threatening. "I-" She left her anger fill her, that comforting emotion to chase away what brief fear she had. "I just wish those bloody bastards would keep to themselves. Think they can get whatever they want, tossing their low coin around when they have." A shake of her head, Eris went up to her chosen, giving the woman a small nudge. "Sorry you got involved."