Scent of Home
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
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#15
"Uuuuhh...yeah, but nothing I'm willing to show without something in return first." Adam bargained, suddenly looking a little shifty as he pushed his bag further behind his hip. The few pills and powders he had left were precious to him, things he did not want to publically advertise for fear of theft. Not that Amalia seemed the kind of steal a high but...you never knew. "And well. They're normal for good looking people, like me."

The honest answer is that he'd played up a roguish character in the brothel and had never take the costume off to become a highwayman, having liked the way the shirt framed his chest.

She brought up his backwards comment again and Adam sucked in his cheeks, put his hands in his pockets. "...I am sorry about that. Fucked up. S'not like we didn't have villages back home."

"So is it just you here now? No...boyfriend, girlfriend? Anyone helping you out here?"
ADAM
So what's the point of robbery when nothing is worth taking?
It's kind of tough to tell a scruff the big mistake he's making
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
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#16

Amalia tenses at his shifty expression, the memory of thief not far from her mind. But rather than stealing, he seems to be guarding, pushing something precious out of sight. A faint, almost knowing smile pulls at her lips, though it is darkened by an unearned sadness for the man. Trophies of the lost, she mistakenly suspects. Memories of loved ones, of the people and places he once called home. She, too, would cherish these; an unconscious hand raises to the pendant at her throat in sympathy.

His next comment elicits a laugh, lilting and brief and a little sardonic. "You must have stolen them, then," she teases lightly, brushing off the added like me with her mocking barb. "I feel bad for the good looking man who must be walking around naked somewhere, missing his leather."

Amalia softens as he apologizes, finding it hard to stay angry at this strange, nonthreatening man. "It's alright. It must be hard, being somewhere totally new. I... I can't even imagine." Empathy rings in her tone, sincere alto thoughtful as she continues to work. The Outlanders, as a whole, have adapted surprisingly well - conflicts and brittle truces aside.

Laying out the four long ropes of bread, Amalia is poised to braid before his comment catches her off guard. "Uh..." A blush colors her angular cheeks, unbidden and rosy, and she drops her eyes from his face, laughing nervously. "There are, um, some of my grandmothers friends who help sometimes, um... but I live here alone. No one, uh..." has ever been interested, she does not add, though the pervasive loneliness in her soul squeezes, vicelike, against her heart.

"What... what about you?"

amalia
been talking to myself forever
and how I wish I knew me better
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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#17
Adam tried to pretend he wasn't offended by Amalia implying he wasn't good looking, but he was. Still, he couldn't resist the hance to make a good joke, and recovered his upset pursed lips with a smirk. "Most good looking men I know are happy to show it off every so often. He'd prolly thank me."

She accepted his apology, which made him smile further, the comment almost forgotten. Adam rarely had people stay mad at him for long, possessing an easy charisma that tended to lead people to be fond of him rather than cross after repeated offences. It was something he had learned at a young age and used to his advantage for a long time.

He watched with interest as she spread out the bread then began to braid it. Ooohh, so that's how they do it, he thought, but didn't say that for fear of looking stupid.

Hearing that Amalia was alone came as a bit of a surprise. She was a beautiful woman with skills and a shop...as far as Adam was concerned, she was the kind of girl who was way too good for him (not that he'd ever admit it) and he would have assumed someone would have asked by now. "Huh, really? I thought you'd have someone here. As for me...eh...I get around. Got an ex-wife, but the emphasis is on the ex part. Things don't always work out, you know?"
ADAM
So what's the point of robbery when nothing is worth taking?
It's kind of tough to tell a scruff the big mistake he's making
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
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#18

The plait turns out adequately enough, far from art but of sufficient quality to sell. Amalia slides it onto a pan as Adam continues to tell his story, head vowed to hide the worried blush at his surprise. To Amalia, isolation is expected: she has never been anything deserving of love, not yet earned the right to aid.

Still, she appreciates the thought.

Her eyes blink up at the mention of ex-wife, head tilting curiously on her neck. "What happened with her?" the girl asks softly, only vaguely aware of the impropriety of such a question. This, perhaps, is her greatest fear: to love and lose, give the pieces of her away only to have them returned in time, more fractured than before.

Stepping back from the counter, Amalia once more surveys Adam, this time taking in his skinny frame beneath the layers of bizarre black clothes. Scarcely an ounce of flesh sits on him. Skinny as a skeleton, her grandmother would say. I can hear your bones rattling.

amalia
been talking to myself forever
and how I wish I knew me better
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
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#19
Most people didn't just right out ask why you'd divorced your wife, and Adam expected it from shy Amalia least of all, but he didn't mind a bit of directness. She'd given him some cake, after all. Leaning on the counter, he pushed his hair back and wondered how best to tell this story while not revealing anything too vulnerable or personal.

"Well, uh...she was a real rich girl. I'm talking relatives of the royal family and shit. I met her in the gardens of the brothel I grew up in, though, when she'd run away for the umpteenth time." He smiled then, remembering their first meeting in that patch of dirt that passed as a garden, young and still hopeful they would be something once they left. "And I'm...not rich. Never have been."

He hugged himself then, the first real show of any self-consciousness. "When we were twenty one or so, she wanted to patch things up with her folks. Which..involved getting married. Can't have a rich heiress with a boyfriend, fuck no. So we get married, cos we have to."

As much as it had been an obligation, the day of his wedding had been nice. It had just been everything that had followed that had been the problem. Endless mocking at parties, continued barbs from her family, the knowledge he was to be trapped in a gilded cage... "...Our lifestyles, I guess you could call it, didn't really match up. So we broke up a couple years on. I still see her eve...I guess I did still see her every so often. But not really romantically."
ADAM
So what's the point of robbery when nothing is worth taking?
It's kind of tough to tell a scruff the big mistake he's making
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
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Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#20

Perhaps it is an uncouth question, but Amalia asks from a place of genuine curiosity, her propensity to stick her foot in her mouth once more rising to the fore. She tilts her head as Adam speaks, listening intently to his tale. Half of it does not make much sense - the idea of class and riches and royalty is relatively foreign to a girl who grew up where such things did not much matter - but her eyebrow arches in teasing amusement as he mentions growing up in a brothel, a blush again tinting golden cheeks.

It is when his arms wrap around themselves that Amalia realizes her mistake. Perhaps it is Adam's nonchalance, his brazenness which set her so at ease, made her forget that people are vulnerable and talking about loss can hurt. Guilt creeps up inside her gut, and the girl turns away, still listening but not willing to look, busying herself once more with work. She nods when he speaks of an obligation to marry, though this too she does not fully understand, the idea being as foreign as the man. "I'm sorry." For his pain, for loss, for poking a wound.

The conclusion is somewhat bittersweet, and Amalia wants to follow up, to ask more questions into his past, pry into the mystery of this bizarre man. Instead she bites her tongue and nods again, empathy written on her face. She has loved and lost, though not in the same way, and she knows the pain of telling that tale.

Looking once more at his malnourished form, a thought occurs to the quiet baker, a way to ease at least some of his pain. "I was going to have lunch soon. Would you like to stay? There's extra." Not strictly true - leftovers are never excess here. But if there is one thing all Chandrakant women thrive at, a unifying force that runs in their blood, it is getting people to eat.

amalia
been talking to myself forever
and how I wish I knew me better
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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#21
"Huh? No...s'alright. It was a while ago." Adam shrugged, never having been comfortable with anything he perceived as pity. Life was better when people saw him as invincible, cool, unbothered by anything, no matter how far from the truth it was.

She continued to look at him as if he were someone to be sad for though, and he shuffled uncomfortably in her gaze. The only reason he continued to stand there and let himself be scrutinzed was the smell of baked goods in the room, the taste of anything like home something that held too much promise for him to leave. So when Amalia offered lunch, he split into a grin.

"Hell yeah." He replied, far too enthusiastic for a lunch offer. "What've you got?"
ADAM
So what's the point of robbery when nothing is worth taking?
It's kind of tough to tell a scruff the big mistake he's making
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
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Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#22

"Great!" She is somewhat taken aback by his sudden enthusiasm, but flashes a smile in response, pleased to have evidently offered something right. Food is easy, food is safe, and with it as a common ground Amalia can find her feet, feel stable in her knowledge of how to do this right, at least. She gestures to the table in the front of the shop, and the shelf with plates and knives beside. "Mind setting up while I grab the food?"

Amalia retreats to the back of the shop to gather her supplies, humming absently as she does. Her grandmother used to throw dinner parties when the nights grew short and warm. Perhaps she ought to do the same-

But who would come? a cruel voice whispers, Outlanders who only tolerate you when you are helping? Naturals who know better, who have seen your nani's parties and will know how much you've failed? Adam, who stays because you've offered to feed him, but clearly cannot wait to escape?

She shakes her head, balls her fists, tries to push away the thoughts that swirl around her like so many gnats. Swallowing down her insecurities the girl returns to the front of the store, smile a little dimmer, not quite in her eyes. She begins to set the spread upon the table: dry meat, stashed away through winter; bread that did not sell the day before, but is still far more than palatable; jams and preserves, berry and onion; and a small but precious portion of goat cheese, fresh from Rory's farm.

Sitting down on one of the benches, Amalia begins to serve herself a portion of bread and cheese. "Help yourself," she offers earnestly, anxiously eyeing the slender man. She hopes that this is adequate, backwards as it is. She hopes that she has done something right.

amalia
been talking to myself forever
and how I wish I knew me better
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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#23
"Oh, yeah, sure." Adam nodded confidently, even though he had little idea of what setting up for dinner actually included. Probably plates, right? Chairs...? He had only ever eaten in inns or at Heidi's mansion, places where the food had been made elsewhere then brought to you; or had stolen on the streets from market stalls and eaten in a dark alley over a grate.

Sneaking about the place, he managed to find some plates and a cloth, placed them both on the table. It looked...sort of right? He really didn't know what was expected of him here and it bothered him far more than it should, Adam always wanting to appear confident and sure.

He sat down and waited for Amalia, taking off his holsters and laying his guns by his feet. When she did come out with such a spread of food he grinned, looking over it all. "Shit, this is great. You should be working down at that inn place. I asked for soup there the other day and I'm pretty sure they gave me piss in a bowl."

Eagerly he took a piece of bread and loaded it with meat, cheese, onions, making a sandwich for himself. "I haven't got a way to pay...with money, if you know what I mean." He looked up with what was meant to be a seductive smirk, though the effect was a little ruined by his cheeks stuffed with bread.
ADAM
So what's the point of robbery when nothing is worth taking?
It's kind of tough to tell a scruff the big mistake he's making
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
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Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#24

Perhaps leaving a self-declared thief unsupervised in her shop was not Amalia's wisest course, but Amalia had by now decided the man was far from any level of threat. Returning to the front of the store, she is pleasantly surprised to see that Adam has managed some semblance of table setting, even going so far as to add a table cloth. One eyebrow raises but the girl keeps mum, bemusedly watching the man at work. It is only when he settles that she clears her throat, emerging with her scarce bounty in hand.

She cannot help the pleasure which colors her face as he compliments her food, as undeserved as the praise may be. Pursing her lips when he talks about bowls of piss, Amalia shakes her head. "I haven't eaten there since they re-opened," she muses thoughtfully before taking an altogether unladylike bite of bread and cheese. It pleases her to have her work be deemed superior, though she will never tell him that.

But the happiness makes her features less harsh, eases the tension around her eyes, so that when he offers other payment she is relaxed enough to choke a laugh, her hand flying up to keep pieces of bread from flying across the table. Finally, some of Adam's flirting has gotten through: Amalia blushes a fiery red, equally taken aback by the suggestion and entertained by the comical way in which he made it. It's a joke, obviously- a strange and somewhat inappropriate one. So apt, coming from him.

Swallowing her food, the girl tries to respond in kind. "I'm sure we can work something out." Woefully inept at this sort of game, her flirt sounds more skeptical than sensual, the high color in her cheeks betraying her desire to burst out laughing again.

amalia
been talking to myself forever
and how I wish I knew me better
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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Posts: 1,044 | Total: 8,707
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#25
"Good decision. I mean...I guess it's free, so I can't complain too too much, but..." He shrugged, far too busy eating good food to talk too long about bad. Amalia's meal was just as good as anything he could have at home and the bread, for some reason, made him homesick; it really didn't take much nowadays.

Adam smiled with amused wide eyes as Amalia choked on her bread, laughing to know his dumb, automatic flirts had had such an effect. He was surprised when she responded positively, his smile turning to a rather wolfish grin.

"What would you have in mind?" He asked. For a moment he considered stroking his foot along hers under the table, but he decided that would probably be too much and settled instead for leaning a little closer, his chin in his hand. "If you can't think of anything, I'm sure I have some ideas that'd blow your socks off."
ADAM
So what's the point of robbery when nothing is worth taking?
It's kind of tough to tell a scruff the big mistake he's making
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
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Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#26

Her jest is taken far too seriously, the teasing game suddenly flipping into something dangerously earnest. Amalia blinks in surprise as he leans closer, the grin on his lips predatory and sharp. Copper colors her narrow cheeks, confusion written in her awkward half-smile as she unconsciously pulls at a lock of hair, trying to decide how on earth to proceed. It isn't that she does not enjoy flirting, but she is woefully, hopelessly out of her depth. There is no clever comeback, nothing better to give but the first thing which rises, unbidden, to her tongue.

"I'm not wearing socks."

Then she laughs self-consciously, looking away, deeply embarrassed and wildly bemused. This day has taken some strange and unexpected turns, and the girl is entirely without a map. Adam is attractive, in a straggly sort of way, if one liked their partner less body than bone- and Amalia ducks her head to hide her sudden entertainment at the utterly absurd notion of the man as a mate.

amalia
been talking to myself forever
and how I wish I knew me better
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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Posts: 1,044 | Total: 8,707
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#27
Amalia's delightfully absurd response drew a sharp, surprised laugh from Adam. He clearly liked the words, smiling as if she had said something witty and smart. "I guess not, huh?" He asked, then leaned back and continued to eat, seemingly dropping the flirting for the moment. It was something so natural to Adam that he felt fine weaving in and out of it, switching his charm on and off like a light.

It took til the end of the meal for him to turn it on again. Throughout eating he nattered on about things he saw in the bakery, people he'd met on his travels in Caido, people he missed from Akkarain (how even though Mallorie had been a hardass and a pain in his own supple and rather soft ass, he had quite liked her in the end). When there was nothing left on his plate, a great deal of the food gone (despite his skinny stature he could eat his own weight several times over) he leaned back in, head on one hand as he smiled at her.

"Y'seem like a nice kinda girl, so I'm just gonna ask right out this once. Do you wanna make out? If not, that's totally cool, but I'm kinda picking up on an energy here, so..." He gestured between them with his other hand.
ADAM
So what's the point of robbery when nothing is worth taking?
It's kind of tough to tell a scruff the big mistake he's making
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
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Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#28

It seems she was right about the jesting, which provides Amalia no small amount of relief. Awkwardness aside, it is easy to fall into companionable chatter, to listen as Adam tells his tales and recounts experiences from another world. They make a welcome pair of strangers: him giving, she taking, absorbing word after word. She is impressed by his truly ravenous nature, the way he managed to work through his plate and leave little more than crumbs behind. Amalia laughs, and smiles, and relaxes-

And ultimately is so at ease that his shift of tone comes from left field. Her eyes widen in stark surprise, and for a moment it seems she might spring from her chair and run-

And then she bursts out laughing, bemused, uproarious and unapologetic, her alto voice ringing through the shop. Hands rise up to cover her face, attempt to stifle the pealing giggles, but every time she looks back at him the laughter comes again. At last she is able to inhale deeply, catch her breath and force out words. "E... energy?" she repeats loudly, her face a vibrant shade of crimson before she hides it once again. "No, um, no thank you- I, uh, I think I'm good for now."

amalia
been talking to myself forever
and how I wish I knew me better


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