To the festival. (Nel, Murdoch, Samael)

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Talk about what...?" was all he managed.

He had not had "relations" in a long, long time. And he was seventeen. You do the math. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen was sitting on his lap and touching him in places dangerously close to naughty, and the proximity itself, among other aspects, was naughty in and of itself.

He didn't even care that Doc was a douchebag.

[Nel Sayo]

"Stop being such a douchebag," Nel snapped at Murdoch, pale eyes narrowing into a glare at him. "Just because you don't have any friends, that doesn't mean you have to go around being mean to mine."

It was hard to tell whether or not she was defending Sam, or getting angry at Murdoch for ruining what a nice time they were having. And it was nice, wasn't it? Sure she had no desire to see Sam pawed at by a whore, but at least nobody was running for their lives or trying to kill anyone. That was nice, by Nel standards.

She picked up a peach and hurtled it right at the master thief's head.

[Murdoch]

Merris' eyes widened at all the drama unfolding beside them, but she was a professional so her hands just kept right on with their business.

Murdoch slapped at the peach as it zipped towards his face, sending it flying across the alcove and leaving his hand all sticky. "Oh, I'm sorry," Doc said, a deep vein of sarcasm opening up beneath his words, "I wasn't aware that you and the Half-Sentence Wonder over here were best pals. My deepest apologies, I'll try to watch my manners while I die of boredom."

He shoved up to his feet, shooting Nel a glare just as harsh as hers had been. A step around the table, and he looped one arm around Merris' waist while he shoved Sam in the chest with the other, rocking him back in his chair but leaving him otherwise unharmed. "I paid for this one, freak. I think I'll keep her," he said, straightening up with Merris now tucked securely under one arm. She just gave a little shrug to Sam as if to say Hey, he's right, gold's gold.

He pointed a finger at Nel finally and just growled, "Don't ever bring these petching jokers to my house again," before turning and stomping out with his whore.

OOCDuring the shove, Murdoch has lifted Sam's coinpurse. And run out on the tab. Stine, chat me up when it's my turn again, since I'm hoping you'll come after Doc with a vengeance

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam was left blinking, both by the sudden, aching absence of Merris in his lap, and Doc's sudden and hateful denouncement. He didn't really care so much about Doc's appraisal of him, that is, no more than any person's, though he thought they had begun to get along. He surely didn't think it fair that Doc... Well, Doc was a douchebag.

"I'm sorry," Sam said, entirely for Nel. "I didn't mean to cause you any trouble. I just thought... it'd be fun to go to the festival with someone."

Though his eyes were dry and it would take a god to change that, his voice did have a hint of the forlorn in it.

[Nel Sayo]

"It's all right," Nel muttered, one narrow shoulder rolling in a shrug. "I dunno what crawled up his ass and died there. Sorry he's such a butthead."

It bothered her that she didn't know whether Doc was just genuinely annoyed by Sam, or if she'd done something more serious to piss him off. A frown threatened the corner of her mouth, and she blew out a sigh, then shot Sam a somewhat self-deprecating smile, and shrugged again.

"Ah, well. At least we --" Oh. She blinked, and got to her feet, eyes scanning the room as she tried to find Murdoch, or Merris, had he left yet? "Sam Sam Sam -- check your pockets. Fucking hell, I will kill him -- you still have your money on you?"

[Murdoch]

He didn't, of course.

At that moment, the blond woman returned and bowed to them with a smile. "I do hope everything has been to your satisfaction. If you've need of anything else, I'll be happy to service you. Otherwise, your total is fifteen gold. Merris' fee was taken care of privately," she said with another twitch of a smile.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam blinked at Nel's upset and the sudden appearance of the whore with the bill. His hands slipped from here to there on his person; he thought he knew a few tricks to safeguarding his hard currency since he had on occasion relieved someone else of theirs. He found that Murdoch was his superior in that regard, and he reddened again, but this time from rage in equal parts with embarrassment.

"That douchebag!" he fumed.

[Nel Sayo]

"I'm gonna cut his hands off," Nel ground out, fists clenching.

She delivered a glare to the blonde whore that was positively withering, and then directed her glare skyward, like she could rain curses down on Murdoch just by standing there for a minute. And the shift of those ethereal features into anger was certainly a thing to behold. Terrifying and icy, for just a second.

Then she dug into her boot and pulled out a coinpurse.

Into the blonde's hand she counted out fifteen gold pieces, like she was pulling teeth, and when the bill was settled she stuffed the purse back into her boot and took a deep breath, twisting about to look at Samael.

"So this one's on me. I'll get your money back. Sorry about that. Just...I'll get your money back. Where are you staying? I'll bring it to you."

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

He stiffened.

"You don't have to bail me out," he insisted. "I'll do dishes, or clean dirty sheets, to pay for our dinner. I promised."

It was important to him. Honor, of sorts. He hadn't had any in so long. So long. And he genuinely liked Nel even though he thought her fear of horses was unnatural in the extreme.

"I mean, I appreciate it, but I promised."

[Nel Sayo]

"Don't be a martyr," Nel suggested, chucking Sam in the shoulder. "They never die pretty. And promises get broken. You can pay me back when I get your money back from Doc."

She threw her hands up, as if to say that the matter was settled, and he could take it up with the blonde whore holding her fifteen gold mizas if he was that determined to be honorable and keep promises, or whatever. Nel didn't put a whole lot of stock into things like that, didn't much see the point of it, or what the big deal was about.

"But, look -- I'm gonna go find him before he can spend it all. So. We'll try again -- and we won't bring him next time, or I won't, right, I'm sorry again -- I do like you!"

And then with the flash of a smile, she twisted about and started hurrying towards the brothel's door, scooting around and in between tables and patrons, on a hustle because she knew that kid's gold was going to burn a hole in Doc's pocket faster than a match in a hayloft.