well any man with a microphone
can tell you what he loves the most
can tell you what he loves the most
Had August been more of a stranger dealing with women of strong opinions and tempers a bit beyond warm, he might have already thought better of this attempt to gather information. The smoke curling from each of the Warden’s steps seems like a pretty good indication of her current mood, and nothing about her reaction suggests his appearance has altered it.
Well, good thing he is a natural at stepping lightly, when he needs to.
“Always a full-time job,” he says, and the crescent-moon grin his mouth shapes then is knowing. He, too, has his hands full nightly with keeping the idiots in line, particularly after they’ve had too much drink, and lost too much money.
He follows comfortably at her side, matching his pace to hers, noting with interest the glances others quickly cast their way. Most of them are wary, and quick to to look elsewhere. It seems their new Warden already has a bit of a reputation - but in a court like this one, with the kind of year they’ve had, this hardly strikes August as a negative. Neither does he take her response to his introduction as an insult, though the tone and the words themselves suggest he could. After all, the low profile he keeps in the city is by design.
“I manage an establishment in town.” His smile is as harmlessly light as his words, and he guesses that her interest is low enough in him that she won’t press him for specifics. He is, after all, only another businessman in a city of them. Neither is it disenginius when he colors his tone with concern as the continue past a booth stacked high with rich-hued Indian corn and a dozen kinds of gourd. Everywhere there is conversation and laughter and the signs of a city celebrating; it only makes him wonder more what caused her mood. “This flood of visitors in for the Festival is good for us, of course, but I worry things are still...volatile...and not all of them have merriment in mind. That’s why I thought I’d ask you, Warden, if there’s anything particular my colleagues and I should keep an eye out for.” And August finds he isn’t even pretending.
@Morrighan
