Locke
If it was one thing the youth could appreciate, it was a good joke. Of course, it was nice if he knew he was supposed to laugh.
Locke paused mid step at the hissing whisper, as if it arrested every nerve and pulled out every breath. His suspicions are not hidden on his face as eyes narrow and the chained ear falls back with a light rattle. Like a long stick reaching his foolish mind from far away, something pokes at him, voice yelling from far away. In the tones of his old teachers they berate him for … Locke almost listens. For all his talk, he didn’t actually want to end up getting smacked in the head with a bottle. It sounded rather unpleasant. Yet, he didn’t want to let go of the comrade he now pictured in his mind, one which would laugh with him, toss back a bottle, and tell him of how it should all be. How they would make it be.
Locke had that before… and he missed it. A forgotten part of life he had long lied to himself was not missing, when in truth, it still ached where it had been ripped out.
So the young thief hesitates with hard judging eyes, but makes no move either way, even as the pebble clatters across the stone, echoing the hollow silence that fell between the two. Maybe it would look to this unicorn as if the young thief merely was trying to sort through the truth on the chestnut’s face, but in reality he was caught in the snares of memory and wishes, trying to sort through the truth in his own heart.
Then came the break, the huff like snort, the drop in the shoulders, and that mirroring twisted smile. A joke, it was a joke. Locke was frozen in the previous feelings a moment longer before his senses slapped him aback the head and he too sighs and laughs himself back into a smile. Locke’s words, hanging onto the outskirts of a light laugh, come before he’s fully set. “Don’t worry, I won’t blow your true identity, Bastard. Code name Raglan it is.” And by the time he finishes all is set back as it was before, a fool hardy youth, set high against the bosom of mischief and invincibility, topped off with a wink.
It was still chiming in his mind, ‘that see, suspicions were ill found’ (Raglan’s attempt at mentoring actually taking a step back as he affirmed the gut feelings rather than caution). So though it took a moment, Locke carries on as he had, ready to chase down a good night with a few too many drinks. Happily stepping into the strong smelling bar of the back alley his comrade pointed out.
Eyes adjust quickly to the darkness, but the youth still hesitates just inside as he takes in this favorite haunt. The place was low and dark, but warm in the ways of a favorite chair or bed. Not many had nestled into its folds, but those that had did not look up or seem the kind to do so. It was a place a stranger would be made obvious in for it was a welcome retreat to those who knew its shadows. It brought a wider grin to Locke’s face as he slid up to the bar beside Raglan in time to hear the bar maid’s bitter reply.
Watching the exchange with a grin and leaving it to his comrade to all the fancy footwork such flirtations required, the youth merely looked over the counter to his options, and spoke only when his turn came. A laugh building and spilling out at the end of his last words. “A Sazerac, if you can manage it, or a straight whiskey. I’ve no desire to have my breath scare away the ladies.” The knock comes with a literal one as his tail lashes out to the stallion beside him. It might have been pushing it, but whatever reservations and little voices would have told him that had not made it past the bouncer at the door. Still he softens it with a more jovial grin, absent of smirk and malice, as he settles to wait for their drinks.
“So, tell the truth, do you come here for the bite of the women or the drinks?” A meaningful glance was given to the working Benilde. It was a poor start, but there was nothing in the young thief to cover the gap in conversation any better. For all his wit and cleverness, it had been quite an age since he’d found himself in this position. As much as he still desired it, the outfit needed some adjusting before it was smoothed out again.
OOC:: @
