Watching the fight on another cold day

[DeathsAngel]

Drunken laughter was the first thing Alithia heard as she opened the door to the beautiful warmth. Though spring was on it\'s way it was still awfully cold out, and the warmth of the large crowd was a blessing as much as a curse.
 
More laughter of drunks and whores sounded above the large rumbling crowd as rough months of winter was eased by the slow promise of spring to come. The air of the room was good, so Alithia decided to stay for a while, at least until another fight started. Men and a couple daring women gambled together on some tables, while in corners other kept to themselves either in their misery or just trying to relax after a long days work. The bartender gave her a small notice, just like he would any other customer, as she ordered an ale. She wouldn\'t drink much of it, but if you ordered anything less people would start to look at you funny. She had long since learned how to blend it.
 
She grabbed her drink and went to a corner table, where she could see if anyone approached her. She slowly drank and watched the crowd. A female scream, probably a dramatic whore, came from the room as two men fought over her. The screamer didn\'t even bother to pretend to be afraid, she was enjoying the men\'s fight too much.
 
Aly watched as more people joined in, either by accident or on purpose, it didn\'t matter. She thought she should probably leave, but the fight would last that long, and if it did she would leave. Until she just sat alone in her corner, watching it casually and drunk her ale and slowly ate the loaf of bread she had stolen on her way here.

[Existentially Odd]

Stable Manager Bede Gallagher grinned triumphantly as the dice rolled his way at last and he managed to win his money back - with a tidy little profit of about a gold, to boot.  He announced that it was time he left the game - to all the other players\' chagrin, since he\'d been losing steadily and lining their pockets for the last hour, only to rob them of their profit at the last minute - knowing how to quite when he was ahead (even if it was barely).

With an affable, dimpled grin, he brushed his golden locks back and stood, pocketing his money and laughing as the other four men attempted to cajole him to sit down again.  The curls bounced as he shook his head and leaned to the left a little, so that he could slip most of the coins into the inner seam pocket of his dark brown long pants (where it couldn\'t be taken easily), which sat upon his right hip.  That done, he retucked his beige shirt - it was loose and billowy, with a strig tying the vertical opening at his chest together - and righted his vest.  He would get his coat at the door.

"So long, gentlemen!" he chuckled once more, swinging his long leg over his chair like it was a horse, politely tucking the furniture back in, and heading for the exit.  Only once he was upright did it occur to him that he\'d indulged quite generously in the ale as he gambled and he found his legs were a little wobbly.  He also discovered (after a few wobbly steps) that there was a rather energetic fight going on, and it was between him and his goal.  Undeterred, Gallagher ducked his head down and attempted to barrel his way through the melée, finding it all rather amusing in his inebriated state.

Unfortunately, he wasn\'t able to ride out the buffeting as well as he\'d expected to; he was smacked into by a man flying backwards, which sent him careening in entirely the wrong direction and straight for a corner table.  His arms splaying forward did nothing to halt his progress as he collided heavily with the object, sending a chair and the table in two different directions.  The worst part was that the table shifted - and shoved straight into a perfectly innocent woman sitting there, nursing her ale and minding her own business.

Gallagher looked up at Alithia through the curtain of blonde curls obscuring his vision, more or less sprawled over the table he\'d knocked into her.  If ever there was a time to regret having one too many ales, it was now.  "I\'m terribly sorry, miss," he apologised in his deep voice, wincing sympathetically as he attempted to straighten up.  "I got bumped... er... I didn\'t hurt you, did I?"

[DeathsAngel]

Alithia\'s mind was wandering into past, long and recent, as it often was when she sat down to drink, as the fight started to bore her attention. She was inturrupted from a thought of how she could improve on her not quite legal hobby of pickpocketing by a man blundering into a table.
 
"Great Adora!" Alithia shouted a shock, her trained commoner accent slipping for a moment as Gallagher got thrown of course, causing her mug of ale to spill, all of it on her, and she got shoved back.
 
"I\'m fine, sir, jus\' a bit star\'led." She grinned sheepishly. "Though, ye did spill meh ale, costin\' meh a pretty coin, but I came \'bout bit o\' luck recen\'ly so\'s, I ain\' to \'cerned \'bout that." She stood up and offered a hand to her fallen companion. "Ques\'ion now is, is yeh alrigh\', now?" The word "now" sounded more like "naw", though probably a bit strong for someone who had orignally spoke that, but most people didn\'t mind.
 
She didn\'t have anything to hide, she just was trying to make a living, so the common man, or woman, didn\'t say too much against her sometimes, especially when her nerves her knocked, obviously fake accent.
"Though, I\'ll be tellin\' ye from the same exper\'ence, that ye should be walkin\' \'roun the figh\' \'stead of through." Another thing that sometimes gave her away was that she would use long words with more than the average amount of syllables.

[Existentially Odd]

Chuckling good naturedly, Gallagher waved the woman\'s offer of help away - well, she was more of a girl than a woman, really, and a scrawny, bedraggled one at that, that would hardly manage helping someone of his size and weight up - and got his lanky body up off the table about the time she was checking he was alright.  He quickly assured her he was fine, before he listened to her piece of advice.

"I will attempt to remember that in the future," he assured her with a grin.  "Should the circumstance ever arise again, that is."  With a confident wink, he straightened his vest and peered down at the damage he\'d done, pulling the table back before reinstating the chair he\'d knocked sideways with his stumble.  Once that was done, he regarded the young woman he\'d managed to soak what seemed to be an entire ale into.

"Can I offer you some help instead?" he enquired jovially, indicating her wet clothing with a lightly waved right hand.  "I suppose laundering your outfit would be out of the question, so perhaps some coin to reimburse your drink - or a new one entirely?" he added, sounding very excited indeed as each successive idea occurred to him.  His blue eyes were round as coppers by this stage; he just about gasped as yet another brainwave struck his already-sloshy brain.  "I could share it with you!" he crowed, as if the girl was desperate for some company to break the subdued quiet she\'d been enjoying.

[DeathsAngel]

Alithia shook the ale off her clothes as he lifted himself up off the table; she wasn\'t surprised that he had turned away her offering hand, she knew that she would not be able to help him up, her strength laid in areas other than muscles. You didn\'t have to be strong to pick a pocket, but you did have to be nimble. She grinned good naturedly in return, and she bent to pick up her empty mug from the ground and place it on the table.
 
She helped him straighten the table that he had knocked about as he tried to remember her advice. "I just learnt that from bein\' knocked \'bout couple time mehself!" She smiled broadly, that kind of ignorant, innocent good natured grin of the commoners, though probably slightly exaggerated, placing the chair back under the table and turning back to her newly-found companion.
 
"Well, if yer so keen on buyin\' meh a drink, who\'m I to say no?" she smiled broadly, holding back laughter as his foggy mind came up with the ideas as if they were the best he had ever thought up before. "I\'d be glad t\' have some comp\'ny!" she said truthfully. Not very many people talked to her, and most of those who did didn\'t have nice things to say to her.

Alithia stuck her hand out to Gallagher, "meh name\'s Alithia, Ali fer short! And you are...?"

[Existentially Odd]

He shook her hand without hesitation, finding it was dwarfed by his large, calloused hand but giving it a friendly squeeze anyway.  "Pleased to meet you, Ali.  My name\'s Bede Gallagher but everyone pretty much calls me Gallagher - I can\'t say it\'s for short, though," he chuckled, dropping her a wink as he released her hand.

With a glance over his shoulder, he ascertained that a good many of the inn\'s staff were involved with sorting out the fight - except the barkeep, who knew better than to leave his stash of money and was watching staunchly from behind the bar - so they would have to wait to order another drink.  Unless Gallagher felt like weaving his way through the stoush once more.

Looking back at Ali, he tilted his head enquiringly at her, interested in getting her opinion.  "Think we should wait that out," he asked, thumbing behind him to the fight, "or should I go around it to get us some drinks from the bar?"  His eyes twinkled as he emphasised the advice she\'d given him.

[DeathsAngel]

Ali laughed as he explained his name, when he envolved her hand in his, shook it than let it go. "Have t\' be argeein\' with yeh there, ain\'t that short! Gallagher, ye say?" She tested the name, she probably should have shortened it to "Gall\'gher" for her accent\'s sake, but she didn\'t like shortening names, and she doubted that Gallagher would notice much.
 
Alithia turned to look at the fight, it was starting to slow down, and many of the workers were getting hurt in the process. They\'d stop soon, otherwise the guards would have to get envolved, and most people here would rather stay far away from the guards, Alithia included. Even when she\'s doing some of her odd jobs, instead of pickpocketing, they were mostly a little shady when it came to being legal.
 
"Up t\' you, now. Won\' last long if anyun\' of \'em got any sense lef\', other\'ise the guards\'ll be comin\' their way. So I figured we could be a\'waitin\' it out a bit \'afore ye put yerself int\' more danger than ye need t\' be." She nodded sure of herself and pulled her chair back out from under the table.
 
 " \'Less o\' course ye wantin\' t\' be goin\' \'round the fight t\' be gettin\' us some ale, hope ye don\'t get knocked \'bout again, wouldn\' want to make ye spill more\'n one mug of ale a night!" She teased good naturedly with a slight wave of her hand as another sheepish smile once again appeared on her face.

[Existentially Odd]

"Fair point, m\'lady!" Gallagher gasped enthusiastically, pulling a face that implied he was glad she\'d brought that fact to his attention, for he\'d almost made a very dire mistake and waded back into the fray.  He promptly pulled the chair he\'d replaced away from the table and sat his long body upon it, leaning forward with his elbows on the table an his fingers steepled together upon it.

He grinned, obviously pleased with himself and also with her witty warning.  "I shall wait until the storm has passed," he declared, confiding a little extra information to her then: "I\'ve already had four anyway - and you certainly need some recovery time."  Again, there was a wink and a confident grin from him, this one showcasing his dimples as he gave her saturated chest a pointed look.

"Besides, it\'ll give you time to tell me what you do with yourself when you aren\'t hanging around here being coated in ale," he hinted, waggling his eyebrows playfully.

[DeathsAngel]

Alithia grinned as he agreed with her suggestion of waiting a bit, and leaned back in her chair just slightly. "I\'m glad ye approve. Didn\'t want ye to be gettin\' any more banged up." She stated, leaving most of her accent, in his state she doubted he\'d notice. She wasn\'t too worried about it, most people figured she was probably some girl who was brought up slightly better and was forced to live on the streets(or close to it), which was actually the truth.
 
Ali couldn\'t help a slight cock of her eyebrow as he confided in her. "I\'m perfec\'ly fine, meh shirt\'s already mos\'ly dry, but I do believe it best that we wait." And probably limit the amount of ale you buy. She added to herself as her grin turned into a smile. The man certainly had charm, she\'d give him that. She found herself liking the man, even though she had just met him.
 
She shrugged at his inquiry of how she bought her time and laughed a little at the wagging of eyebrows. "Not much t\' tell, I\'m afraid. I do a bit of odd jobs here than there, \'nough t\' keep meh from sleepin\' on the roadside." She answered. "How \'bout you, what ye do when yer not banging into tables \'n\' whatnot?"

[Existentially Odd]

"Odd jobs, hrmm," he debated, looking at her through mockingly narrowed eyes, as if he was highly suspicious of such wording - which he was.  How often had he heard that little turn of phrase come out of the mouth of someone shifty?  She seemed harmless enough but now that she\'d advertised herself as doing anything that would keep her from sleeping on the streets, he knew that he would be wise to be more wary of her.

Of course, he wasn\'t the judgmental type and certainly not in the mood to worry right then.  Why, he spent his time with anyone, as long as they were an interesting character and he found something about them appealing.  Considering he\'d once had a glorious night rolling about naked with a thief leader of some sort (though he\'d only found that out about her later, after she\'d disappeared when the guards had focussed their attention on finding her), it was obvious to him that he didn\'t have any particular standards about who he spent his time with; Ali might interpret his playful look differently, though.

He dropped the expression soon enough and gave a laugh to let her know he\'d only been joking (though if she reached for his pants at some point, he would now suspect her of less than innocent motives and keep his coins out of her reach - well, everything valuable he kept in there out of her reach, really!).

"As for me, I manage the city\'s stables," he informed her offhandedly, as if his job wasn\'t an all-consuming passion and an integral part of the workings of the entire city of Oberon.  "I\'ve been up since the middle of the night delivering some early foals - twins - so I gave myself the rest of the day off to celebrate!" he giggled, beaming a guileless smile at her that had his dimples winking and his blue eyes shining brightly.  He brushed some of the more determined golden curls that hung over his forehead out of his eyes (with a hand that was steady, despite the amount of liquor he\'d claimed to have consumed) then, so that he could see what Alithia thought of him caring so strongly about horses that he went out and got drunk just because he\'d managed to help bring two more of them into the world.

[DeathsAngel]

"Aye, odd jobs." Ali knew that people often thought of shady jobs when people said things like that, which was true. Those trying to stay off the streets didn\'t care too much about the law and which side of it they were on, though she did try to stay mostly legal, at least at first she had. "Us\'lly simple things," she continued, almost completely throwing away her fake accent, it was awfully tiring to keep it up. "Find meh mos\'ly in the Markets, best place for quick payment." Best place to pick pockets, you mean. But she didn\'t say that aloud.
 
 She couldn\'t help but to giggle when Gallagher laughed to show her his look was a joke, she had half expected it to be so. He didn\'t seem as though he was put too much pressure on the subject, but nontheless, no sense putting down her guard. He, too, was probably a little more wary, unless of course he was even more drunk than he claimed. Though, whenever she came here she considered herself off duty of any jobs, and that included picking pockets.
 
"Really?" She cocked her head in interest, though not mockingly. Again, she could not help to laugh a little when he did, she always did that whenever she got into conversation with somebody\'s company she enjoyed. "Twin foals?" She asked curiously. "That\'s act\'lly excitin\'! Though I can be seeon\' why ye\'d take the rest o\' the day off." Then, noticing with a side glance. "Fight\'s slowed \'nough to see \'bout gettin\' our drinks." She stood up and grinned again. "If yer still interes\'ed in buyin\' us some drinks."

[Existentially Odd]

"Absolutely!" he enthused, his far taller body surging to its feet as Ali stood first.  "You sit," he instructed imperiously, pointing at the chair she\'d just got out of.  "I\'ll go and get the drinks, you stay here.  Ale alright again?" he asked, waiting for her suggestion before moving off and braving the crowd.

[DeathsAngel]

Alithia couldn\'t help but laugh at his enthusiasm, though it wasn\'t offensive in any way. "Right, I\'ll be stayin\' right here!" She said as she sat back down and leaned back to prove that she wouldn\'t move. "Aye, ale it was. But I\'ll take whatever yer payin\' for, ain\'t that picky!" She shrugged lightly as she spoke, showing that she didn\'t really care what he bought.

[Existentially Odd]

Gallagher gave a nod that caused his curls to bounce perfunctorily and then turned to wend his way to the bar.  The crowd had, indeed, dispersed and all the remained was one rather sorry-looking woman pouting in the centre of a circle of glares; she seemed to have had something to do with the fight, though all contestants (as it were) had been evicted from the premises.  There was a lot more room to move now, which suited Bede just fine.

Arriving at the bar unscathed, he chose to order two ciders instead of ales and wait for the cinammony-apple concoctions to be warmed and produced.  They were not as strongly alcoholic, which seemed a better idea for him because he\'d had plenty already and for his companion because she was slight and young and too much would make her a lot more vulnerable than it would him.  Considering he believed her life situation to be shady, it seemed a better course of action.

While he waited for the drinks, he turned and leaned his elbows back on the bar, reclining artfully while he observed the continued goings-on of the tavern.  A few people had food, which made him realise that he must have lost track of time during his gaming.  He\'d arrived after breakfast, when the place had opened and... he\'d eaten before he came... then proceeded to drink his ales and roll his dice so... he eventually concluded that it must be approaching dinner time.  Well, some were up for an early meal, obviously.  His stomach panged as soon as he took notice of the food and he filed the information that he had celebrated his whole day away; he\'d have to start thinking about putting something in his stomach that wasn\'t likely to blur his vision, if he wanted to be fit for work on the morrow.

He\'d just caught the eye of a woman who\'d entered and sat at a table across the room - and traded interested smiles with her - when a bang on the bar behind him reminded him that he was waiting for drinks to deliver to another young lady.  He swivelled and retrieved them, then hastened back to Alithia.  "I changed my mind once I got there," he announced with a smile, setting the smaller, more fragrant (than ale, anyway) cider on the table before her.   He pulled his chair out and sat on it, legs spread as he grabbed the seat near his crotch to drag it in closer to the table in a not-so-gentlemanly fashion.  "Here\'s to not spilling a drop of these on one another," he toasted with a twinkling grin, lifting his beverage so that she could clink her mug against his.

[DeathsAngel]

Ali placed an elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand as she watched her newly found companion leave for their drinks. She let her eyes wander among the smaller crowd, knowing that it would build up again soon. She thought about Gallagher, whether or not she should really trust him. He seemed honest enough, but so did the twelve year old who tried to pick the pocket of a pickpocket... And nearly succeeded, too, except that Ali was a lot stronger than him.
 
He was very good looking, which meant that he spent of a lot of time on his looks, espicially his hair. She knew a lot about keeping up looks, she, for most of her life, had done the same. But when you live as she did now you could neither afford it in money and in getting money. Nobody trusted a beggar who looked fancy, had to look poor for people to believe you\'re poor. The fact that he took care of his looks could either mean he was a scumbag or just a man who took care of himself and his body. In either case she had not known him long enough to tell.
 
She looked up, somewhere during her time she had started to watch a spider on the floor scurrying about it\'s own busy business, and smiled once again as Gallagher arrived at the table once more informing her of his change of mind. She wasn\'t very surprised. "Quite alright." She said sitting up slightly to grab her drink, though she did notice that he had given her the smaller. She didn\'t really mind, she just took note of it to better help try and judge a character out of him.
 
"Cider\'s good enough for me!" She started to lift it up off the table as he slid into place, and skillfully hid her laugh in her smile. She lifted her cup, lightly touching it with his as to not spill the drink.
"I\'ll certainly toast to that!" She smiled and drank most of it in one sip, she had after all gotten used to ale and this was a much lighter drink than that. She set the glass down not so lightly, but didn\'t slam it either, and leaned back in her chair into a more comfortable sitting position.
 
"It\'s alrigh\'." She said looking at her cider. "Now my ma\' could make some cider that\'d royalty would buy!" She smiled at the memory. They did often stop and buy her cider, though most would send servants for such things. She smiled slightly at the memory of her mother, but quickly came back to reality. She was often careful not to think of her parents and their death, for it was still too close for comfort. "But, this\'ll do jus\' fine, don\'t ye think?" She asked with a slight tilt of her head and naturaly charming smile.