He'd put his foot in his mouth enough times with the Doubletake that he tried to stay at least a little on his toes when he took a job for her anymore. He might not fully understand what the little slips and faltering of her smile meant, but he could at least figure out that it involved Koa. Koa, who had been a drunken, heartbroken mess in King's End a while back. The realization hit a little too late to do any good, so he hid his embarrassment behind another sip of his alcohol, and for once kept his mouth shut. It was remarkably easy when being called Courier Extraordinaire made him want to puff up like a little bird with a big swagger!
Though the wind came right out of his sails at those narrowed blue eyes and that drawled word: payment that sent little shivers of PTSD up the Messenger's spine. He pulled his drink a little closer, but greed had him leaning forward in spite of himself as the items were placed on the bar. The dragon scales and manticore feathers could only have come from one - okay, technically two - sources, and Tal's mouth tugged into a crooked grin at Flora's blatant milking of her family connections for all they were worth.
And then there was the parchment.
Calculations immediately started up behind those glacier-pale eyes. Thoroughly distracted by all the potential held in that deceptively fragile roll of parchment, he missed the tension in her fingers as he instead focused on her sea-blue gaze. "How big a favour are we talkin'?" he asked carefully. His fingers were already itching to inch towards the paper, but he wasn't going to take the leap without knowing exactly what was being traded.
Though the wind came right out of his sails at those narrowed blue eyes and that drawled word: payment that sent little shivers of PTSD up the Messenger's spine. He pulled his drink a little closer, but greed had him leaning forward in spite of himself as the items were placed on the bar. The dragon scales and manticore feathers could only have come from one - okay, technically two - sources, and Tal's mouth tugged into a crooked grin at Flora's blatant milking of her family connections for all they were worth.
And then there was the parchment.
Calculations immediately started up behind those glacier-pale eyes. Thoroughly distracted by all the potential held in that deceptively fragile roll of parchment, he missed the tension in her fingers as he instead focused on her sea-blue gaze. "How big a favour are we talkin'?" he asked carefully. His fingers were already itching to inch towards the paper, but he wasn't going to take the leap without knowing exactly what was being traded.
