Common Ground

[Existentially Odd]

Continued from \'Reporting A Crime\'

Wilson thanked Joely with a tilt of her head and softly spoken words of gratitude as he held the door to the tavern open for her.  She gathered the hem of her coat habitually as she moved to precede him.  She didn\'t walk too far into the elegantly decorated room once inside, preferring to have her companion with her before she made a choice as to where they should sit.  Instinctively, she scanned the room to gauge who was present, who was missing and what sort of danger level they posed; thankfully, everyone seemd pretty safe.  Noble, happy... none of them Lord Dagger.

She sighed out a breath she hadn\'t realised she\'d been holding, her shoulders releasing some of their tension as she turned to give Joely a smile.  "Where would you like to sit, then?" she asked as he stopped by her side.  The room wasn\'t bursting but it was pleasantly full and, if the farmer wished, they could either get lost in the midst of the crowd, or remain at a table slightly apart from it all.  She left it up to him.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Not feeling as though he would blend in too well with a richly dressed crowd, nor under the impression that he would be comfortable to be surrounded by them, he chose a table that was more secluded.  He held back a chair for the captain to seat herself upon, his manners something that had been drummed into him since he was old enough to walk and talk.

"I think something a little more out of the way," he\'d said as soon as her offer was spoken, his feet taking him here hastily.  He pushed the chair in as she sat and had barely had time to draw his own chair close to the table when a serving girl approached them.

[Existentially Odd]

Wilson smiled as she jingled her money pouch; not a necessity in an establishment such as this - where everyone had money to flash around - but a habit she employed to ensure she got the attention over whomever she was with.  There was still the annoyingly common habit of a gentleman getting preferential treatment in the finer establishments, simply because they tended to be the ones noted most often for being the money-earners and keepers.  Wilson had always thought that was something the supposedly \'common\' folk on the farms got right; out there, men and women toiled and earned side by side, lest only half the amount of work be completed.  Everything was shared and all attitudes relatively equal.  It was the way it should be, in her opinion.

As planned, the serving girl smiled her way immediately.  "Firstly, I\'d like a room for my friend here to enjoy tonight and, secondly, a drink for each of us.  A hot apple cider would suit me perfectly and for my companion a... ?" she broke off, looking directly at Joely to allow him to place his own order,  continuing the show of fiddling with her money pouch by absently counting out a silver and some coppers.  She anticipated that the tavern would provide a room and breakfast for a silver and their drinks would be covered by the smaller coins.  Assuming Joely wasn\'t in the mood for an entire keg of ale, of course.

[Malkavian Riddler]

"The same," he said so softly that the serving girl begged him to repeat it.  He smiled with embarrassment and said it louder, being heard the second time and then smiling at the captain once the girl had left.  "Thank you," he said and looked at her for a moment longer before realising he had nothing else to talk about.

His mind churned quickly, searching for topics and coming up with none that they could share.

"This is a lot finer than the Broken Wheel," he told her, not thinking she\'d ever seen the country-side tavern.  "I like the tapestries," he said, pointing one out on a wall nearby of a hunting scene for a wild boar.

[Existentially Odd]

Wilson found that the heat generated by a room full of energetically conversing bodies - even though it was a generously sized space - was enough to cause her discomfort.  Now that the moons had changed, out on the streets the air was cool enough at night to warrant a coat, but indoors such a garment soon became superfluous; especially when there was a fire somewhere nearby.

She shrugged off the wool-lined brown garment while Joely spoke, draping it across the back of her chair.  Beneath, she wore a forest green tunic shirt - it had a round-necked collar with a short \'v\' shaped insert over the centre of her chest (revealing some of the white linen that was her undershirt which, in turn, covered her chemise and the corset that supported her generous breasts), went down as far as the tops of her thighs (it was belted) and sported long, flowing sleeves - and dark brown slacks over her low-heeled hide boots.  Her money pouch was tied securely to her belt and rested between her thighs, as was her habit no matter where she sat.

Turning back to face him, she smoothed a hand over her hair, to ensure that none of the thick russet curls had escaped the twist (it looked much like a number eight) she\'d pinned it into at the back of her skull.  Her fringe was - as stubbornly as always - twisted over the cowlick above her forehead; she hastily fluffed and pulled it down towards her eyebrows - knowing how it softened her appearance - then smiled at her companion.  Placing her hands on the table between them, palm to palm, she observed his awkwardness and gave a soft, derisive snort.

"Yes, but don\'t you be fooled by the surface of the place; underneath all that nice oak panelling and the pretty tapestries it\'s exactly the same as the Wheel.  Not even as good, in fact, for the entertainment here hardly ever compares and the customers in this place... well," she leaned over the table towards Joely, glancing around before continuing in a conspiratorial manner, "they\'re usually so busy comparing the size of their money pouches they don\'t give anything close to the value of a good, honest chat like you get at the Wheel."  She dropped him a wink, implying that she believed the men who frequented the Scowling Boar were more interested in puffing up their chests and strutting about, boasting about their latest accomplishments like so many rowdy peacocks.  They were easily as noisy and designed primarily to look pretty and... not do a lot else.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Joely beamed back at her, relaxing a great deal further in her presence now that she\'d voiced something he\'d initially thought at first sight about the place.  Was he so wrong to think the wealthy fickle?  Apparently not, for she seemed to believe it as well.  His father was more forgiving though, telling Joely that the rich seemed to have no purpose because they had fewer worries, and should their family want for nothing, they\'d be much the same.

Joely wasn\'t too sure about that.

"It\'s very busy here," he replied after a moment of looking around, "Lots of people wanting to be seen?" he ventured, his short time at the markets and the many purchases made from his stall had led him to such a conclusion.  Most of the men and ladies who bought the wolf-fur pouches commented that such-and-such would see them and be envious.  His respect for the noble folk had dropped greatly.

[Existentially Odd]

She chuckled, green eyes shining merrily as she shuffled forward on her seat and crossed her arms on the table, leaning on her elbows upon the wooden surface.  It was a very unladylike posture - and certainly not a position to indulge in upon a meal table - but she found it comfortable and so she tucked her hands in near her armpits and ensured that her voice was of a level moderate enough to hide what she said from all but the closest of passersby and loud enough that Joely would hear her.

"Oh, to be seen and do some seeing," she replied airily, her expression deriding the habit openly.   "It\'s a very selfish cycle of indulgence they have going here; most of it\'s hollow and full of bluster.  The worst part - I find - is the lack of trust beneath those generous smiles and friendly slaps on the back.  Get any of them drunk enough - or pull them out of a gutter after they\'ve reached such a state and failed to make it all the way home - and you learn some ugly truths about their attitudes towards their compatriots," she grinned, raising her eyebrows to further stress her point.

[Malkavian Riddler]

His eyes sparkled with excitement at being placed in the loop - how naughty he felt, yet honoured that she believed him worthy of such truths.  She placed trust in him, a trust that he would not sacrifice.

"You\'ve pulled quite a few out of the gutter?" he guessed, "and their tongues are loosened by the ale?" he prompted, wanting to know specifics but not quite game enough to ask her directly.

[Existentially Odd]

She chuckled, glancing pointedly over her shoulder as if she were trying to place faces to inebriated street decorations, then looked back at Joely.  She gave a knowing nod.  "A couple of them, yes.  Some claiming they were not meant to be there in such a position and it only happened because Lord so-and-so plied him with too much alcohol and you know that Lord so-and-so likes to take sweet young men to his home for other types of cocktails whenever his wife - the lovely Lady so-and-so - is out feeding the orphans and if we guards could just find it within ourselves to help him up, he\'ll be perfectly alright - which is more than can be said for Lord you-know-who, because of course his lands are not faring well and did you realise that he\'s not paid his serving man in four months?  Things don\'t look-"

She broke from her cheeky recount of an anonymous tale - not necessarily accurate but an amalgam of things she\'d heard throughout her career - as the serving girl returned.  The captain was slightly ashamed that her airily waving hand (the one that was helping her tell her story) almost struck the pretty young thing in its weaving about.  The girl slid their drinks off her tray and onto the table with a smile, though, then gave Joely a much friendlier look as she placed a shiny key on the table beside his beverage.  It had a wooden tag with an ornate \'14\' etched into it.  "Your room key, sire," she explained, curtseying politely as she added, "breakfast will be served from sunup to nine of the clock."  With that, she was gone.

Wilson - who\'d sat back to allow the drinks to be placed on the table - lifted her mug and took a sip, enjoying the feeling of the warm, cinammony liquid slipping down her throat.  Replacing it on the wooden surface between she and her companion, she gave a wry smile.  "Looks like you\'ll be able to order a meal on the morrow, if she didn\'t ask what you want now," she told him, aware that it was a practice to have a set option for breakfast in the less flashy inns, but there seemed to be a bit of choice on offer here in the Scowling Boar.  If she was interpreting that statement correctly, of course.  "I hope the bed in room fourteen is to your liking," she winked, raising her drink and taking another little taste.

[Malkavian Riddler]

He was grinning at her as she adopted the tale and mock-gasped and nodded encouragingly in all the right places to enhance her story.  The wickedness of the gossip appealed, making him feel better about himself and his own simple values.  He blanked his expression before smiling in return to the serving girl, looking down at his key and then nodding at the captain\'s explanation of ordering a meal the next day.

When she told him about the bed, he had a response for her.  "Would you like to look at it?" he replied unthinkingly.  He wasn\'t aware that the invitation to come up and see his room - specifically the bed -  might be construed in another manner, so that his gaze didn\'t falter and his question was bold.  If he thought about it, he would realise his folly, but right now, at this particular moment, warm and happy and sipping his ale, feeling grown up and much better than he had when she\'d found him sifting in the dirt for coins, he had no idea of what he was asking of her.

[Existentially Odd]

Her head... tilted slightly... as she regarded him, hand stilled on her mug.  She was quite sure of what she\'d heard but... not of the intent behind the words.

On the one hand, Joely had struck her as having suffered a great blow to his self-assurance this evening - if he ever was the type to proposition a lady normally, anyway... she doubted he was - so she didn\'t think he was confident enough to have just asked her to share his bed.  He didn\'t strike her as the type to say something so blatant, that could easily be misconstrued and offend her.  He was raised to respect women; she\'d been able to tell that all along.

On the other hand, he was young but... that didn\'t necessarily make him a shy virgin.  Not when he lived and worked out on the farms; she\'d certainly had her share of \'farm flings\' growing up and she knew how open those Adora worshippers all were about embracing life and indulging in its pleasures.  Joely probably wasn\'t past twenty yet, but those that worked the land married and paired up young.  He was also smiling at her quite openly now, a pleasant glow in his eyes.

But a glow bright enough to ask her to his room?  No... surely not!  Still, the prospect of it intrigued her enough to want to follow the offer through.  A slow smile grew on her lips - though there was a gleam of question in her green eyes.  If he had simply slipped over his tongue and made an innocent offer to show her the room she\'d effectively paid for - and that had to be the case - she knew it would be a terrible mistake to point it out down here in the common room of the tavern.  She didn\'t wish to embarrass him in public like that, not after the humiliations he\'d already suffered this night.

No, if she was going to deliver another blow to his ego, best it be in the confines of his private room, where she could refuse him without an audience.  He was far too young for her - despite his strong physique and appealing looks - and she simply couldn\'t picture them consorting in such a manner.  Plus, she had a grudge to bear with Dagger - not that Joely had to know any of that - and being seen ascending to the inn\'s private rooms with a strapping young man would certainly get back to him; that was enough for her.  Even if she re-appeared back in the common room five minutes later, there\'d still be talk.  Considering her companion\'s appearance, she felt it would be a flattering development, despite the sullying her reputation would take.  She was certainly no untarnished virgin in some of the public\'s eyes (though their details were always far from the actual truth of her love life... thankfully) but, considering the amount of things she knew on every other person in the drinking hall... she doubted the gossip of her going with Joely to his room would stray too far.  Just far enough to reach the right ears.

"Okay," she agreed pleasantly, taking a big swallow of her drink.  "Did you mean now or... after we finish our ciders?"

[Malkavian Riddler]

Due to her not having reacted overly to his choice of words, Joely didn\'t go back to analyse them, therefore he continued on their conversation with the same innocence in check.  She\'d responded in a manner he\'d half expected, the other half with a polite refusal because it was late and she had work to do, or something along those lines.  He figured without her in uniform, she didn\'t have work to do and was still won over by her confession of other\'s sins.  Maybe there would be more gossip once they both went to his room.

"After our cidars," he replied merrily, "there\'s no sense rushing a night that\'s turning out well after all."

He was the type to focus on the good once the bad had passed.

"I\'m glad to have met you," he told her after a moment, gushing his thankfulness and then embarrassing himself with his own exhuberance.  Imagine, the captain of the guard buying him a drink.  He could tell all his countryfold what a generous woman she was, down-to-earth and certainly to be treated as one of their own for she\'d treated him, a commoner, as equal.

[Existentially Odd]

Her mouth opened and her eyebrows twitched, wanting to frown and to question... but she managed to smooth her expression back into giving him a neutral smile.  If he wasn\'t spinning words of flattery and innuendo about her, then she ought to be thankful he didn\'t study the art of seduction - like so many of the men she regularly encountered thought they did (and believed they had become expert at).  His simple words were probably effective because they were sincere, though.  He honestly did see a positive turn of events now that he was safe and would have a bed for the night; he had nothing to worry about and so he could look forward to the morrow, rather than mulling over the humiliating present.  He was glad to have met her because... well, because she was a guard and she represented safety and security; she\'d looked after him after his mugging.

Not because he was trying to win her favour and charm her into his bed.  Not!   She told herself this repeatedly as she took another hasty gulp of cider and cast about to find a new topic of conversation.  Of course, since he\'d so enjoyed her monologue on the virtues of the nobles at play (or the lack of virtues thereof), she supposed she shouldn\'t stray too far off that topic.

"I\'m glad to have met you, too," she answered automatically, relaxing as she turned her thoughts determinedly away from contemplating her companion\'s motives.  Looking at the shy expression he wore after his latest confession convinced her that she was an absolute heel to be doubting him.  Or was she thinking ill of him?  Either way, she was imagining things that weren\'t true.

"It\'s always good to make new acquaintances from out on the land; helps me feel grounded.  Nobody of the Innerkeep - or at least, nobody who believes they have rank - ever feels they have anything in common with those beyond the keep\'s gates, but I disagree.  Everybody makes their way through the world as best they can; we just do it in different ways.  And worry is worry, whether it\'s over a crop not faring too well in the rains or a prized thoroughbred that won\'t fall pregnant or even a... do you know-"  With a little laugh, she broke off from her rather dull diatribe on the virtues of realising global similarities and sat forward once more, her hand curled around her drink cosily as she placed an elbow upon the table.  Her feet were crossed at the ankles beneath it but she took this opportunity to stretch them out.  Unfortunately, with her haphazard wielding of long legs she kicked him, apologised, pulled her feet back into their more cramped (but ladylike) position and continued with her story.  "We once had a certain lady - who will remain anonymous, of course - come into the guardhouse to report a ribbon stolen.  Her favourite ribbon, naturally.  She was highly embarrassed when her serving maid came huffing in after her, holding the object up, because it had fallen out of her lovely tresses in the middle of the market.  She swiped the ribbon out of the woman\'s hands, fired her immediately and flounced out as if she\'d done exactly the right thing."

Wilson grinned as she widened her eyes meaningfully, shook her head and took the last of her cider in (mostly because she was interested to see what would happen afterwards... and that embarrassed her... which made her thirsty and... well, the cycle resulted in her drink being consumed quickly, either way).  Lowering the mug to the table, she flicked it forward and folded both her arms upon the wooden surface once more.  "As I say; a worry is a worry but really... some are a little more pressing than others," she confided, smirking conspiratorially.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Joely was drinking his cidar every time the captain brought hers to her lips.  He matched her sip for sip, gulp for gulp so that they both ended up finishing together.  It was a subconcious series of movements mirroring her; to drink when she drank, to lean forward when she did so.

By the time she began talking again, he was over his embarrassment and gazing at her without concern once more, smiling pleasantly until the ribbon story which first surprised and then offended him.  "Fired?" he was aghast.  "Did she find work with a better employer?"  The story would be sour if the captain couldn\'t provide him with a happy ending.

[Existentially Odd]

Wilson chuckled.  "Well, she found other employment, yes.  With someone not quite so... hmm... delicate?  But whether it\'s better or not... well, it\'s all relative, in the Innerkeep.  One employer is much the same as the other, with a few different quirks.  It\'s like... say... deciding you don\'t like wheat farming because of the harvesting, and trying cattle instead.  Farming is farming, with a few differences.  The demands are basically the same."  She flicked her eyebrows and gave him a \'see what I mean?\' sort of look, lips pressed together briefly.  "But that\'s life, right?  Patterns and cycles; does any of it ever get broken or change?  It\'s why we\'re all pretty much the same though... so it\'s good in a way," she grinned and shrugged, looking him over subtly.  She\'d noticed him lean forward but hadn\'t commented or moved away.