[The Rearing Stallion]Noon to Night[Open]

[Romen]

Winter 1st, 511AV.

It was a cold afternoon, and though it was still early the skies were dark and gloomy. Wind blew through damp streets and light rain splattered on the many rooftops that made up Syliras. Romen made his way hurriedly through the streets with his collie Vida at his heels, hoping to avoid the inevitable storm that seemed to be approaching.

He walked into the Rearing Stallion releasing a burst of cold air into the small tavern. He hung his coat up on the rack by the door and went to sit by the fire to warm himself up. Vida lay down under the table, content to sleep there for a while. The seats by the fire were nearly always full if you got to the tavern too late, but in the late afternoon when it was quiet enough it was easy to get them.

A young barmaid came to his table and asked him what he'd be ordering that day. "One mug of ale, please" he replied in a thick British accent. She returned with his drink shortly and set it down on the table. He smiled showing off some of his white teeth and handed her 2 silver mizas. He had gained a little bit of money earlier that day when a young widow had come to him in order to speak with her husband who had recently passed away. Her husband had been a Syliran Knight and died protecting the city. Roman smiled a little, knowing he should feel bad taking advantage of her grief in order to earn some money. He didn't particularly care though, having done this for years and using it to get his way out of most situations.

His dog nosed his leg, seeming to have woken up and was now demanding attention. He scratched behind her ears and she had closed to him, pressing herself against him. He sat there, petting her with one hand and taking a gulp of ale with the other.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

Gabrielle shivered and held her coat tighter around her. She disliked the cold, and if she had planned any better, she would have travelled to the South by now. The girl thought of the Southern Suvan Sea, and how nice it would be there at the moment. She had been in Syliras for a while now, much longer than she had expected and was accustomed to. Her mother had left her in ownership of her casinor as she moved up to the Lia's ship, and Gabrielle didn't feel like sailing the casinor out into the sea just yet to follow her pod's direction. She had never really been in charge of a ship alone before, though it was possible to sail a ship of that size with just one person.

She ducked her way into a tavern, and plopped herself as quickly as she could, rubbing her hands together to gain some warmth. When the barmaid approached her, she quickly asked for some ale, confident that it would warm her up somehow.

The young girl looked across the room and noticed that there was an animal there, a dog, it seemed. Curiously, she realized that the man the dog was with had the blue eyes of a Svefra and a snake tattoo. The Svefra normally got tattoos of their animal friends (or tavans), but she had never heard of one who had a snake as one, because it was the sea and there were only sea snakes -- not really what one would have as a companion. Was it possible that the dog was his tavan? It seemed highly unlikely, but still possible. ’Is he one of my kind?’ she asked herself curiously, ignorant to the fact that he was not.

As the barmaid came back with her ale, Gabrielle took a sip, her eyes still transfixed on the blonde man. He somehow resembled someone dear in Gabrielle's past -- her brother. The only difference was that her brother didn’t have blue eyes.

’If my brother had the eyes of a Svefra, he would look like this. And if he looked liked this, he probably wouldn’t have left,’ Gabrielle thought sadly to herself. The girl continued to stare at him, not realizing that she was being rude.

[Romen]

Romen looked over as the tavern door opened then shut and a young girl quickly took the first seat she could find in the tavern. Romen took a sip of his ale and glance back at her. She was pretty, he'd give her that. He took his eyes away, not wanting to be rude but he could see her move her gaze to him out of the corner of his eye. At first her gaze was question but then took a sadder tone. He vaguely wondered what was upsetting her, but didn't really care enough to try and find out. He was about to invite her over to his table, as the day was turning out a rather boring one, when Vida took the opportunity to make a new friend.

Vida was a friendly dog, never having been fazed by the hardships she and Romen went through. She was still forgiving and thoughtful and selfless. In fact, she was the near opposite of Romen. Not long after the girl had sat down in the tavern and ordered an ale, Vida trotted over to her. Vida's tail wagged slowly and her tongue lolled out to one side. She walked right up to the girl and placed her head on the girl's lap, looking up to her with large gray-blue eyes.

Romen reacted a tad late, but at least he reacted. He let out a short whistle and made a clicking sound with his tongue. "Vida!" he called out sharply. The dog's ears twitched and she slowly made her way across the tavern to Romen's side. He gave her a glare and she crawled under the table, glaring back at him.

He looked back across the tavern and invited the girl to his table with a small hand gesture. No matter how thoughtless Romen could be, he was polite, depending on the situation, and never passed up the opportunity to talk to a pretty girl.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

Gabrielle couldn't help but smile widely when the dog walked up to her and innocently placed its head on her lap. She playfully pat its head, her blue eyes brightening up with delight. At that moment, she missed her dolphin friend, who was, of course, at sea.

When the dog was called back, she watched him retreat with interest, and saw that the man was scolding his dog with his eyes. That instantly melted Gabrielle’s joyful expression away. The man’s expression suggested that he was irritated, but Gabrielle couldn’t tell why. When he beckoned her to join him, Gabrielle seemed taken aback and hesitatingly looked around to make sure she was the one he was really gesturing to. He had no reason to call her over. Or did he find her staring offensive?

Gabrielle had no reason to approach him, either. Yet, she gingerly stood up, her nose scrunching up in discomfort because she didn't really know what was going on. Slowly approaching him, her eyes darted all over the room, trying to think of what to say. Finally, she stood before him and looked from him and to his dog, then back to him again. She got a closer look at him now, and observed that he was quite a handsome man.

She said plainly and in a placid tone, "Sorry for the staring, I didn't mean anything by it. You just reminded me off someone. If you don't mind, I don't want any trouble today." It was almost an automatic response, as she was used to people who were not of her kind to look at her with hostility. Her kind was misunderstood for thieves, and she was often judged before she really did anything.

[Romen]

Romen was slightly surprised when she apologized. "Don't apologize, I barely noticed" he replied with a smile. "I just wanted to apologize for my dog, Vida. I hope she didn't disturb you" he continued. Obviously the girl had taken his scolding Vida the wrong way. He leaned back in his chair and motioned for her to take a seat. "Anyway, my name's Romen" he said, his cockney accent becoming more visible than before. "So tell me, what's a pretty young girl like you doing in a place like this?" he asked her, obviously referencing to the Rearing Stallion’s reputation for housing people of ill repute. She looked like someone fairly respectable. That said, so did Romen. He leaned forward again and took a sip of his ale.

He wondered absent-mindedly who he reminded her of. The girl seemed almost emotionless when she had said it but Romen wasn’t sure if that was just a mask or not. This girl interested Romen, which he couldn’t say for most people he met. Well, most of the people he met on a daily basis were his customers and they were, to say the least, not the smartest of people. They would also insist on whining about their dead relative, friend or pet for at least fifteen minutes before letting him get on with what he was supposed to be doing.

Romen wasn’t a very sentimental person, but he was able to pretend and it fooled most people. He preferred having to work a little to find out about people, rather than they just spilling out their sob stories and expecting him to let them cry on his shoulder. That thought brought him back to the present where he focused in on the girl again.

While all this was happening, Vida had crawled out from under the table and sat beside Romen. She put her head on his lap and sniffed, blowing air on his hand. He sighed and pet the top of her head with two fingers. Vida was a selfless animal and didn’t hold grudges, so if she had stayed under the table sulking it would have been very out of the ordinary.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

Quirking an eyebrow, Gabrielle said, "Your dog wasn't disturbing me. No need to scold him." She looked at the seat he offered her for a while, her expression suspicious. She observed his accent, but didn't ask about it. Her initial choice was to make up some excuse and bid farewell. Deciding that it probably wouldn't hurt to gain a new acquaintance, Gabrielle took a seat and answered, "Just call me Gabrielle."

The girl gave his question some thought. What exactly was she doing there? She had no real reason. Also, was this man flirting with her? She wasn't new to those who flirted with her, but she had no way of responding except by giving him a slight smile out of respect.

"I just entered the first place I saw. I've been here before, it's not too bad. And don't worry about it, I can fend for myself. Besides, Syliras is practically free of crime, if not totally rid of it."

She watched as the dog appeared from underneath the table, and she stared at him curiously, not really saying anything. Gabrielle couldn't think of what to say next, so she said, "So, why did you call me over? Just to apologize? And who are you, exactly?"

[Romen]

Romen nodded as she answered his question, though she had taken it slightly the wrong way as he knew perfectly well how crime-free Syliras was. He was more questioning her background, either way it didn’t really matter.

He thought a little about the question she asked him, asking it himself almost. Truth was he didn’t really know himself but he had to give her an answer anyways. ” Well, you seemed rather offended when I called my dog back. That and I’ve never turned down and opportunity to meet new people” he answered her, before moving onto the next question she asked him. ”As for who I am, I told you earlier I’m Romen.” he said ”I’m a local, ah, businessman” .

He figured it’d probably be best if he didn’t specify what his business was, as some people had mixed feelings about spiritism. Some people saw it as a bad, evil thing. Which, of course, it wasn’t unless someone like Romen was using it for the things Romen was using it for. He reached for his ale and took a sip before placing it back on the table.

Vida, who was still lying beside him, sat up and nudged his hand. He pet her gently on the top of her head and she tilted her head back to lick his wrist. Romen smiled. This was why he liked Vida, she wasn’t judgemental and stuck by him no matter what he did or said.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

He gave her vague answers and seemed to be careful not to say much. This piqued Gabrielle's interest. He looked like a typical person, but one thing Gabrielle has learned so far was not to judge a person by looks. The reason why he seemed to be wary of talking about himself was something which interested Gabrielle.

She reverted her attention to Romen, her glances going back and forth from him to his dog. "What kind of business do you do?" she asked plainly, curious as to why he seemed mysterious. To show that she was willing to spill information herself, she added, "I've got no job myself at the moment, but I do need one. The Svefra don’t really have much use for money, but since I’m visiting cities, I might need some soon. I'm thinking of looking for people who need a ship. So, if you need to get somewhere by sea, or even just go on a fishing trip, feel free to ask. I'd rather just take your mizas by force, but like I said, Syliras doesn't condone that kind of thing."

She gave him a grin to show that she was kidding, and that she had no intention of forcefully taking his money. Although, she mused, if he left his pouch lying around, she might just take it. When he took a sip of his ale, Gabrielle realized that she had left her own mug in her previous table. She could see that the barmaid had carelessly taken it away, and being a stingy girl and not wanting to spend even just a few more mizas, she ignored it. It only cost a few coins, but as she said, she needed a job soon and wasn’t keen on spending on trivial matters.

"So," she repeated her question, "What kind of businessman are you?"

She felt that she was being more talkative than usual. For some reason, the aura of the room gave her the feeling that it was safe to do so. For one thing, Gabrielle trusted animals, and if this man could have such a companion, then he probably wasn’t a bad person.

[Romen]

Romen sighed. He knew this question was inevitable, but the girl seemed nice and was talking about herself a lot. Showed she didn't have anything to hide, unless the thieving joke was a threat but Romen did have a sense of humour. "I help people deal with loss, more or less" he replied. It wasn't a lie, really. In fact, Romen hadn't really lied at all in this entire conversation which was a first. Well, a first in a long time.

Romen was eager to change the subject though, in case she decided to read further into his vague description than he wanted. He noticed Gabrielle look over to where she had been previously sitting and noticed the barmaid had taken her drink.

”Want me to get you another drink?” he asked, noting what she had said earlier and realizing that she probably didn’t want to spend more despite it not costing much. He finished the last of his ale with a gulp and called over a barmaid. ”I’ll have another ale.” he said with a smile and looked over at Gabrielle questioningly, motioning for the barmaid to wait for a minute.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

Loss? It was such a general answer that Gabrielle still couldn't get a grasp of what he really was. Did he help people retrieve loss items? If that was the case, she was probably in a difficult place – she had taken many things without the knowledge of its previous owners. Did he have a job that dealt with the dead? Seeing that her questions weren't really getting her anywhere, Gabrielle decided to drop the subject. '...Maybe I can try again later.'

She agreed to his offer of getting her another mug, nodding at the barmaid to show that she wanted one as well. Gabrielle was not one to turn down free things. The barmaid scurried behind the counter and proceeded to do her work. A group of men entered the tavern and took a seat, laughing to themselves. She absently observed that one of them held a fiddle, and wondered if any bards were performing in the tavern that night. Inwardly, she missed her pod and their many parties. To her, city people could be so dull at times.

The barmaid returned, handing both of them their mugs. Gabrielle looked at Romen, her eyes genuinely bright as she said, "Thanks for the drink, it's not too often people hand our kind free things. Usually, they hide everything at the sight of us."

She took a gulp of the ale, feeling the warmth gush through her cheeks. It felt good -- it had been a while since she had some. Gabrielle looked back at Romen, her lips curved into a smile. "Seeing as you refuse to tell me about what you do, why don't you tell me something else about yourself? Come on, surprise me."