[SE] But does it sparkle?

He had a lot to do in Torchline on this trip, both personal and professional, but Tal was a businessman first and foremost so it was his deliveries that he prioritized upon arrival. And honestly, getting the bucket of unicorn poo off the Peregrine was going to be at the top of his priority list no matter what!

As soon as he'd tied up his boat at the Skyport the courier had left his dragon to watch over it and he'd booked it over the bridge to Haulani, the bucket with its tight lid firmly mitigating the ripe aroma in tow. His steps had slowed at an intersection between two streets, one leading to the Court and the other to the bars, but after only a moment of indecision he'd chosen the route that led over the canals and towards the Hanged Man.

And so, with the word count out of the way, Tal pushed open to the bar, glad to duck out of the oppressive heat of the late-morning sunshine. He was looking better than usual: his scruffy hair had actually been properly trimmed and pulled back into a neat queue, with a soft shine to it that spoke of conditioner, and the discerning eye might even think that he had been moisturising. Alas, the same could not be said for his sturdy but plain ensemble. His protective Goggles were over his eyes, shading them from the sun outside and making the transition indoors practically seamless even if it made him look like a bit of a fashion disaster, and he cleared his throat before raising his voice to reach the back of the empty bar.

"Delivery for Flora Kaito-Taliesin!"

flora

Flora, of course, always looks ravishing, thanks so much for noticing.

As she pops out from one of the Tavern's back rooms, her gaze does rove briefly over Tal. Not enough to notice the way his complexion has evened out or that his hair isn't such a disaster, merely to confirm that it was the Messenger with a capital M, and not one of her dads bringing the bar some extra liquor.

"Hey you," she purrs a touch flirtatiously, waggling her brows in his direction. "Took you a bit more than a week, huh?" Which, you know, was Flora's way of saying she absolutely wasn't going to pay full price for something he hadn't delivered on time. And making conversation.

Flashing him a bright smile, the queen nods her head toward the bar. "Drink?"

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Hey, she wasn't called the Doubletake for nothing! But Tal had been needled enough by that sharp tongue behind those pretty painted lips that the effect wasn't quite as overwhelming as it had once been.

"Ran into some bad weather over th'Climb," he admitted reluctantly, his usual scowl falling forlornly over his features at the reminder of the missed deadline. He would have been on time, but sometimes Caido had other ideas.

He set her 'package' by the door before coming further into the bar with a grateful nod for the offer of a drink. The bucket was scrubbed clean on the outside, but even with the lid hammered down tight there was a pungent whiff about it that he didn't want to ruin the drinks.

"Yeah, thanks." He bellied up to the bar and only then did he look around properly, belatedly remembering to pull his Goggles down after a surreptitious glance at Flora to make sure she wasn't purple. "Hey, place is lookin' good. Don't think I've been back since y'rebuilt it," he realized, words going from brain to mouth without filter. "What'd y'change up?" Because who didn't put their own spin on a major renovation project when rebuilding from the ground up?

flora

"Mmmmm." Flora hums, not unsympathetically, but, y'know, it also wasn't her problem, either. Watching as he set the bucket down, the queen didn't bother to sniff too closely in its direction. Instead, she turned and gestured over her shoulder as if she were about to wave her hands and reveal all manner of prizes hidden behind mystery doors or boxes. "Pick your poison."

Smirking as Tal finally removed his goggles, Flora raised her brows as she looked around, nodding in agreement. "Mmm, we changed a bit about how the canals come in." Gesturing toward the side where one of the canals flowed all the way up the bar, Flora shrugs. "Before the merfolk could only really get to the outside portion of the bar." Which, in hindsight, did seem a bit unfair and made things infinitely more difficult on her servers. "Obviously I also added a bunch of traps, basically all of the plants you see are poisonous, oh, and there's a designated sex closet which has helped the bathroom lineups." Smirking, because at least two of those things were true, Flora turned and began to fix the Messenger his drink.

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In fact the back of the bar was filled with prizes as far as Tal was concerned, and he ordered his drink - a Halovian Mule - with an appreciative sigh. Her professional bartender's hum was about what he'd expected and he waved a hand with a grimace. "Yeah, yeah, scare up a couple o' manta crystals for me an' I'll call it even," he relented morosely. What else could he do? He'd missed the deadline he'd set and with it his chance at trading for her Compass.

While she pulled down the bottles and mixed the mug he followed her gesture to take in the updated wetbar.

It was a good thing that she hadn't served him yet, though, as her casual list of the other improvements had him first wrinkling his nose in consternation, thinking he must have misheard her, and then blinking in surprise and leaning away from a nearby orchid, and then coughing as he turned an interesting shade of pink in what was possibly a new speed record. "I'm sorry, did you say traps??" he finally managed to wheeze out, pounding his chest with his fist to help restart his heart. "Wh... why in th'hail would a bar need traps??"

flora

One day she'd likely have to pay the courier what he was actually owed, but Flora was pleased as punch that today didn't seem to be that day. "Can do. I've got some in the back, actually. Or—" Tapping her fingers against the bar, Flora raises a brow. "Given how often people seem to need water from Frey's Breath these days, last time I was there I grabbed a fairly large jar of it. You wouldn't be interested in that now would you?"

Placing a copper cup filled with a fairly strong Halovian mule in front of the Messenger, the queen grins slyly. "Why wouldn't a bar need traps?" She hums mischievously in response, her blue eyes flashing with amusement as they drink in the flush spreading rapidly over the courier's cheeks.

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He didn't even have to think about her counteroffer, giving a firm shake of his head. "Nah, I don't need th'water. Now if y'had what's s'posed to grow in it..." Like a Rae's Lily for instance... "Well, you'd be able to get it where it's goin' faster'n I would," he finished with a wry grin for Remi's daughter. "Th'manta crystals'll do, thanks."

Unfortunately he wasn't able to appreciate his drink just yet, as the various implications - or straight out statements - worked their way through the plumbing of his brain. "Well, not gettin' repeat customers, for one," he protested. And maaaaybe his eyes slid over to where the bathrooms used to be in case a third door was visible, but he quickly brought them back to his hostess with an effort. He cleared his throat and reached for the cup, taking a bracing sip and then a second for good measure, looking unfazed by the strength of the contents though they did nothing to reduce the flush on his cheeks.

To say Tal had a lot of experience with booze would be something of an understatement.

"So, uh, how's the whole Queen thing been goin'?" he asked, definitely not desperately seeking a safer topic than the apparently very dangerous bar he was currently sitting in.

flora

"Fiiiiiiiiiine." Rolling her eyes, Flora holds up a finger. Slipping out from behind the bar, she heads toward the back of the tavern. After making sure that she wasn't being followed, Flora entered into her guild where a number of manta crystals were always kept handy near the canals in case any of her guildmates needed to make a quick escape out the back. Returning, the queen drops three onto the counter. "How's that for a quick delivery."

Scoffing, Flora fixes herself a drink and rolls the glass between her hands. "Definitely stops a certain kind of repeat customer, that's for sure." She agrees of her maybe-real, maybe entirely hypothetical traps.

"Good. Great. Torchline is almost entirely protected from the void, the citizens seem happy, we've got free booze by the docks and magical water...the weather is almost always nice..." Basically, Flora couldn't see why anyone would want to leave anywhere but Torchline, and yes, of course, she was biased. "How about you? You followed my mom to King's End, right?" She'd never stop thinking the Messenger wanted to bone her mother.

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Tal scooped the manta crystals into his bag with a grin they'd come in useful for swimming with Koa later, and for once didn't rise to the sass in Flora's words. "Not bad," he admitted. "If the whole regional ruler thing doesn't work out, Seawright's Delivery Service is hirin'." Franchising options available!

By then Tal was thoroughly invested in the idea of traps in the bar, and he definitely more than half-believed her. His nose wrinkled up as he tried to figure out just what 'kind' of repeat customer she meant, but in the end he opted for nodding knowingly he did not, in fact, know and sipping his drink until he could change the subject to something safe.

"Sounds pretty great," he admitted. It wasn't even all that reluctantly; as much as he had once hated the heat, his Frostbite Cuff had made it a lot more bearable, and now that he'd learned how to swim the ocean was slightly less terrifying. "You must be doin' it right." And as for following Ru? Well... yeah. Tal didn't see the problem with backing up his bestie and getting out from under the thumbs of rulers who didn't like him. "Yeah. An' she'n Sunjata are doin' really good! Oh, I've got a pretty amazin' partner now, too," he added, expression softening as a genuine smile lit up his face. "Alys. Me an' her built a house in Meadowreach an' it was good for a little while but..." he shrugged, pushing his copper cup back and forth between his hands. "We're travelin' t'gether again these days, an' it's nice t'have a place t'go back to sometimes, y'know? But... home is where she is." He was more nomadic than otherwise and maybe he just had to make it official. But that was a conversation for another day and probably a different bar. "Plus, I'm kinda jealous that we don't have somethin' like you guys do, what with your Void protections an' all. I'm gettin' pretty sick o' havin' t'pull Cursed Daisies out o' th'garden every time I'm home," he groused with a grimace before taking another drink.

"What about you? How's the datin' scene in Torchline?"

flora

"Mmm. I'll keep that in mind." Flora says under her breath. She'd walk into the ocean without a manta crystal and with none of her channelling slots left before she ever worked for Tal, but sure bud. Thanks for the offer.

"Yeah, I think so." Flora replies confidently if not a touch smugly. But why shouldn't she? Alongside Hadama, she and the Tidebreaker had ushered in Torchline's most successful few years, elevating its status until it basically was a paradise (Starfall not withstanding). Leaning against the bar the Doubletake's eyes widen ever so slightly as if to say yeah, I know how my parents are doing, before nearly choking on her drink to hear that Tal had a partner. It was one of those sentences where she could put the stress in different places and it still made sense.

"Alys? Yeah, I met her once. A long time ago, but..." Looking the Messenger up and down for a moment, Flora huffs quietly before lifting her glass in a cheers. "Well, good for you. Everyone deserves someone." She mutters, very much wanting to mean the words but feeling a touch too bitter at the moment given everything that was happening in her life to really put on a good show.

Then he had to spoil it all by saying something stupid like What about you?

"Wouldn't know." The queen replies icily, which for all of her recent relationship drama wasn't untrue. Jack had taken her on one date and had made it abundantly clear that they weren't dating, so...

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Maybe there was a teensy bit of reluctance on the Doubletake's part to hop on board an exciting and upwardly mobile (in the most literal sense) career of a courier with an established company, but Tal was oblivious to the undertones as he sipped his mule and gave his compliments to the region.

If only he'd known when to stop talking... but that had happened few enough times in his life that they were marked on the calendar and celebrated on their anniversaries every year. Instead he gave Flora a shy grin at her support and then promptly put his foot in his mouth.

Followed very quickly by a large drink from his copper cup as her icy tone finally cut through his obliviousness. "Uh... sorry," he mumbled with a wince. "Wrong question, huh?" He tried to sneak a peek at her expression from under his dark brows, searching desperately for a way to salvage the conversation before he finished his drink. "So, uh... what's th' fertilizer for, anyways?"

flora

'What makes you say that?' The words are clipped as they leave Flora's lips, with the queen straightening and eyeing the courier from behind the bar. Tal might be the very last person in all of Caido that she wanted to discuss her love life with (or lack thereof), especially if even he was capable of finding someone to settle down with and she wasn't.

Wiping down the surface of the bar to subtly suggest that Tal fuck off, the queen pauses. "For Rae. For a lily." She explains, her expression softening from glacial to something mildly smug, because that's right kid, she'd called down Rae all on her own. "That'll be two lilies that Torchline will have acquired." She hums proudly, and not that saving the entire world from The Family was a race or something to keep tabs on, but if it was, Flora was pretty sure that Torchline would be in the lead.

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"Uhh..." Tal shifted uneasily in his seat and ducked his head over his drink, clearing his throat as he spoke to his cup. "I mean, your eyes got all cold as Halo in Deepfrost an' you've got that kinda... th'voice that says y'kinda want t'kick my ass right now?" In spite of his frosty drink and handy Cuff he was suddenly sweating bullets. Tal had a lot of practice getting to know that tone of voice, and he was pretty sure his attempts at polite conversation had gone sideways.

Again.

But for the life of him he couldn't figure out why.

At least his attempt to change the subject went a little bit better? He raised his head cautiously to toss back the rest of the Mule and looked genuinely impressed as he slid the cup back across the bar with a nod of thanks. "Whoa. I've never met Rae," he admitted a little wistfully. "An' I've never even seen one o' those special Lilies. I wish King's End was doin' important stuff like that..." Instead of... well, whatever it was that Sunjata was doing with the region these days. He hadn't heard a peep out of the Archon since they'd finished that shrine for Frey.

flora

"That was a rhetorical question, dummy." The Doubletake huffs flatly, her eyebrows having lifted so high as to be nearly invisible behind her bangs. If he thought she looked like she wanted to kick his ass before, now she seemed to be actively holding herself back from doing it.

Tapping her fingers against the bar, the queen can only shrug in the face of Tal's awe, though it does soften her edges somewhat. "I mean...you can always just go and try and find them for yourself. They grow in Frey's Breath which...is actually a pretty nice place for a date if you need ideas." This latter part is added more softly, the Doubletake unable to rid herself of the memories she made there which had once been so sweet, only to have festered in the back of her mind for her unwillingness to throw them out.

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