» Devil Won't Leave Me Alone, Open

[Luís Caldeira]

It was no unusual occurence to spot Luís Caldeira in a corner of the Hog's Head, a tankard of Firewhiskey not far away. His reasoning differed night from night for going to the dim, dreary pub, but he could safely give a few general causes for his presence there: a) it was warm-ish and a hell of a lot more comfortable than his shack in the slums, b) the customers there couldn't very well look down on his shady reputation, because, hello, it wasn't the Three Broomsticks or some posh upmarket place... and c) alcohol was sort of necessary most nights and it was the only thing Luís would willingly spend money on.

Tonight, however, he was after more than that. Company was the wrong word, he supposed, because he really wasn't in the mood to small talk with some jerk he didn't know, and even if a pal came along, he wouldn't be all that interested unless they were planning on paying for the booze the rest of the night... but he had decided - perhaps not a totally clear-headed decision and likely not anything to do with his head in the first place - that it was one of those nights when he needed a woman. And frankly, most would do. The problem was, he wasn't exactly in a position to afford even the cheapest of whores, and people he'd slept with before were well aware of his inherent sleaziness - notoreity, he preferred to think of it - usually had second thoughts about entertaining his whims unless they were as far off the moral compass as he promised to be.

He worried, for a moment, that people just looked at his solitary figure and thought him lonely. Lonely. Luís'd tell them a thing or two (with his fist in their face) if that was their suspicion, because no shit, he liked being alone. He was not a pack member, and if anyone thought different they were delusional. He wasn't even friendly, usually, so that was that. But his hair didn't look too greasy, he mused as he ran a hand through it, and he'd easily come to the conclusion, after scanning the other clients lazily, that he didn't have all that much competition in here tonight. And with that, he sauntered across the room to the bar again to get a refill... and not just that, either.

OOC: beware, Luís is way too hungry for female company so he'll probably hit on anyone who comes his way... for better or worse, just sayin' xP

[Delphinia Allaird]

Maybe I like it this way

She needed to clear her head. She needed to get away and settle her thoughts, to find her piece of mind so she could control herself better and think clearly. And so naturally she felt inclined to slink off to one of her old haunts. She hadn't been to the Hog's Head in... Well not since Lucian had crossed paths with her there and taken her home with him. It was strange once she realized that, strange to go back in there after so long.

Delphinia stood before the building and looked up at it from under the hood of her cloak, wondering briefly if she ought to change her mind and go back home. No, she couldn't. She had already come so far and what would be the point of explaining herself when she hadn't even done something worthy of explaining. She needed to think, needed to sit down and take her mind off of everything. Her sister had recently killed herself and she had overheard a variety of unpleasant rumors about her sister that she rather preferred to turn a blind eye to and now... Now she was beginning to suspect that she was in the family way and that particular revelation had her on edge and unsettled.

Walking into the Hog's Head finally having given up on dithering, she kept her cloak wrapped tightly around her and strolled up to the bar to order herself a drink. She turned around to find herself a quiet, secluded place to sit and saw a familiar face. Her mind made up, she headed straight for him and sat next to him. "Luís! Hope you don't mind but I thought you looked lonely," she said, referring to the fact she had just sat herself next to him without asking or warning.

Tag: Luís Outfit Words: 301
created by kay of caution and sds

{I apologize, my Elphy muse likes whoring your Luís open threads x)}

[Luís Caldeira]

What had he been thinking about being lonely? What had he planned to do had someone brought it up? Well, he was forced to eat his words when a familiar voice commented on that very fact... and it was someone he had no inclination of punching in the face. Delphinia.
He'd started, since her marriage, that being whisked away by Allaird or whoever, assuming he wouldn't ever see her around the village any more. As, being opposite ends of the class scale now, they were, in theory, supposed to inhabit different areas and remain within their own circles. And, loath to admit it, he did slightly - only slightly, obviously - miss seeing that fiery hair around the slatternly streets of the slums. Only because at least he could sort of trust her... though perhaps not anymore. Who knew?

He glanced over at her cloaked figure, peering nonchalantly at her face below the hood. Definitely her. He was almost so surprised to see her that he forgot about the whole go-get-a-girl-for-the-night plan for a moment or two, but then he realised a couple o'things... namely, that at present she was one of the better-looking creatures in the place, and besides, she was a female who knew him relatively well and yet, for some odd reason, didn't actually hate him. He subtly made a face to himself as he thought that over, wondering why that was. Maybe it was just because he hadn't tried to sleep with her. Maybe he shouldn't be thinking about that. Maybe he should just use the opportunity to merely satisfy his curiosity and his apparent need for company in a totally innocent way by simply talking to a friendly face. After all, it wasn't every day...

"Oh, s'that why you came on over? Pityin' me?" He questioned, an eyebrow raised. "Or did you just miss me?" He added with a cocky smirk, waving a hand in a loose gesture to say casually that, no, he didn't mind. Not that it mattered; she was already sitting down. He leaned forwards a bit. "I suspect someone else's lonely or somethin', too... else maybe they wouldn't be here alone." He stared at her squarely, a little intrigue in his eyes as he waited for an explanation of some kind. "How are ya?"

[Delphinia Allaird]

Maybe I like it this way

She rolled her eyes and flashed him a crooked smile, "Well if you'd rather I went and sat with someone else..." she trailed off, though she really had no intention of going anywhere else. "Lonely? Me?" she repeated, mimicking incredulity as she did. "Don' know the meaning of the word!" She grinned and took a sip of her drink. She'd missed the drinks of the Hog's Head... the grubby glasses and the slightly musty tasting- Oh god. Oh no. She sounded just like those silver spoon girls she had spent her entire life envying and loathing! She blocked that train of thought promptly and pretended that hadn't been even the tiniest bit close to what she had been thinking.

"I wanted to get out for a little, tha' s'all." She could hear her accent trying to sneak back in and her first instinct was to repress it but then... Well she didn't want Luís to think she had already developed a superiority complex. She liked him and while her elevated position meant that it wasn't 'proper', she didn't want to lose his friendship either, if friendship it could be called.

"I'm all righ', considering," she finally replied and then realized he likely had no idea what she was talking about. "My sister died a few weeks ago." Though that really wasn't what was weighing on her mind. She had been shocked when she had found out about Ophelia's death, not shocked because her sister was dead so much... Shocked at how little she felt over it, she had almost been... happy. She had wanted her sister gone for months and it certainly didn't help that Lucian had employed nor that he had seemed less irked by her presence than she. Then there were those things she had heard whispered in corners and between servants ever since. Snatches and snippets of conversation that she personally rather wished she had never heard. "How about y'self? Still working at the cauldron shop? What abou' the ladies? Found yourself a sweet'art yet?" Elphy grinned and waited for his reply, taking a sip from her drink in the meantime.

Tag: Luís Outfit Words: 355
created by kay of caution and sds

[Luís Caldeira]

He rolled his eyes in quick succession as he watched her smile and jest a little. He started on his next drink after a little sardonic guffaw at her cheerful enough response to the thought of loneliness, and set his Firewhiskey down after taking a long, slow draught.

What was it with her and wanting to get out, Luís wondered, really? Certainly she was able to do what she liked, visit whichever places she liked, get fresh air now and again from her life; he just had not exactly considered the constraints or the monotony of a life in which you had everything you wanted, and so therefore couldn't comprehend what she was going through... or talking about. But if the Hog's Head was the place that had called to her and comforted her, well then, so be it.

A flash of feeling - sympathy, he supposed - crossed his face when her words about her sister reached his ears. It was rather a foreign expression, and dwindled away until the only fathomable expression was faintly in his eyes. "Eh..." Luís being totally devoid of any sarcasm or malice was as close to sincere as he got, but the words 'I'm sorry' would just have seemed out of place on his tongue, no matter the circumstances. His brief grimace would have to do. "What killed her, then?" So, perhaps asking how she'd died was not helping matters or particularly classic small-talk, but it wasn't purposely tactless, just sombre and darkly curious.

Suddenly, she'd spun the spotlight onto him instead, and he snorted under his breath before replying. "My life's the same old shit it's always been, thanks for asking," He remarked, nearly cheerfully - at least, it was accompanied by a laugh. "Cauldron shop, same as ever... an' I take my pick of the ladies, jus' like always. I gotta tell you," He added, leaning in closer and pretending to be serious, ready to impart a real piece of wisdom, "Sweet'arts are overrated." He shook his head at her and her ridiculous question in amusement, taking another drag of alcohol as he did so. He stared at her squarely, refusing to lean back just yet, raising an eyebrow as if he expected her to answer his next teasing, rhetorical question - because really, she ought to be able to tell him. "I mean, where's the fun in settlin' down?"

[Delphinia Allaird]

Maybe I like it this way

Ophelia... Why couldn't she be mournful of her as most were over their siblings? Was it the distance that had grown between them? The dislike? Maybe it was the rumors and the whispers she had heard? Perhaps she was just dead inside... No, no that couldn't be it. She loved Lucian, didn't she? People who loved could certainly not be dead inside, could they? The shame? Embarrassment? Unwillingness to admit association with the deceased girl? It was probably a combination of all of them but it didn't stop it nagging and weighing at her mind that she should be so unaffected by the occurrence. "Some fraud of an Healer or somethin'," she replied with a frown on her face. She didn't quite understand the suspicious nature of her sister's untimely death. What sort of operation had she had? She hadn't seemed particularly unhealthy to Elphy, but then she had been doing her best to stay away from her sister whom she hadn't even pretended to like and so had no real knowledge if there had been anything ailing her or not.

She much preferred asking him about himself at present. Elphy was not under the inclination to boast to him of all people in the Slums and there was just enough weighing on her mind that she wasn't feeling exceptionally forthcoming with information either.

She quirked a brow at him, "Overrated?" she repeated. Perhaps they really were... No, she was just being glum and far too pensive than was relevant for the situation... Whatever 'the situation' happened to be. She pursed her lips in a sort of pouting expression that bordered on rueful. "There's plenty of fun to be 'ad, in my experience," she retorted abruptly, the tone lightened only by the smirk that had slowly worked it's way onto her face without her realizing. And then it dawned on her what she had just possibly insinuated, at which she felt a moment's heat rise to her cheeks. It might, in all honestly, be very close to the truth but that didn't make it any more embarrassing. "Each... Each to their own," she said in an attempt to recover herself, grabbing her drink and hastily taking an unladylike gulp from it to distract from her embarrassment.

Tag: Luís Outfit Words: 374
created by kay of caution and sds

[Luís Caldeira]

The question of the circumstances of her sister's death wasn't really explained by Delphinia's words, or the papers, but it seemed she just didn't know much more. Sounded odd, in any case. Luís frowned too, not sure how to respond to that and not so sure she wanted to talk about it. Though apparently he didn't have much better to do than listen if she felt like it later, he sighed internally. "Well, you'll get over it soon enough," He muttered, low enough that she wouldn't be forced to hear it if she'd be offended by the callousness.

Safer to stay away from topics of suspicious deaths? Sure, though, talk of his own life would likely be as depressing if he thought about it too seriously. "Overrated?" She'd repeated, and Luís smirked while she paused. "Considerin' it, are ya? It's true, I'll tell ya..." He prompted lightly, rolling his eyes but concentrating on the redhead again when she vehemently defended the benefits of settling down. He, perhaps also due to his state of mind tonight, caught her - accidental - drift immediately and held his tongue in his cheek to avoid laughing, but as her face flushed his smirk broadened and by the time she was gulping down her drink Luís was snickering outright. "Plenty of fun, eh?" He repeated, not really about to ease her embarrassment by moving on. "Glad to know you and your 'usband haven't tired of each other's company yet," He remarked - sarcastically - and added, "Don't regret the married life, huh..." musingly as he drained his drink. Allaird must actually be a good bloke. He kind of hardly imagined that rich men paid much mind to their wives. Maybe he should get himself a wife. Wait, what... He snorted at the very thought. But he could do without still thinking about what Delpinia had made him start thinking about.

"Buy me another?" He raised an eyebrow hopefully, twirling his empty glass in his hand and finally changing the topic. Though her embarrassment had been hilarious... maybe just one more grin about it.

[Delphinia Allaird]

Maybe I like it this way

She didn't dare mention the fact that she had been over it within minutes of hearing about it. She didn't miss her sister, the younger girl had been absent from her life for years and then turned up out of the blue and forced her company on her for months. She had even heard the odd murmur from the servants that she had taken a rather more invested position than just as a maid. She had yet to confront Lucian as to whether there was any truth in what she had heard, she was holding back on account of not wanting to hear a confirmation, or worse a denial that gave her reason to doubt his honesty.

"If you think they're overrated, you clearly just haven' met the righ' sweetheart yet!" she retorted, a blush still faintly visible on her pale cheeks. She took a sip of her own drink, deciding she was glad to have slipped out of the house for a while though she did wonder how long she could stay before her absence was noticed.

She stared for a few moments at his empty glass and considered it. Did she have time to sit with him for another drink? What was the time even? She bit her lip and decided she would give in. Another half hour or so couldn't hurt, could it? Shooting him a rueful smile, Elphy drained the rest of her own drink before standing up and grabbing his empty glass. She returned shortly after with refills which she placed on the table, "An' here I thought you were a gentleman," she tutted teasingly, referring to the fact that she had had to buy the drinks which she honestly didn't mind, she was now better of than him after all, she supposed it was only fair.

Tag: Luís Outfit Words: 302
created by kay of caution and sds

{{Soooo sorry for the wait!}}

[Luís Caldeira]

Luís contemplated her latest counter-argument for one second. The right sweetheart. "Right." He snorted. He wasn't sure that was going to happen. And Delphinia knew him as well as anyone, and he could hardly tell that she believed that herself. "An' how d'ya know when you've met the right one, hm?" He prompted cynically, rhetorically, ready to laugh her down if she tried spouting out some female romantic nonsense. But perhaps she was happy enough at present to believe in such a notion, who knew.

He could almost hear her internal dilemma of whether to stay or whether to go. She shouldn't be here in the first place, but she'd come for whatever reason - if only because it had used to be a familiar place - and she didn't seem all too eager to get back to face her sister's strange death and the sweetheart of hers she'd married. (For the money... he hadn't asked, but she must've.)

Watching her smile ruefully as she went, he leant back, casting his gaze around the room instead. There were a couple eligible women - eligible in that they weren't otherwise occupied and hardly hideous - and, seeing one return his intrigued stare, he offered her a supercilious eyebrow raise and a casual wink. It almost looked as though she might approach - if not, Luís would have approached her - but Delphinia returned with their drinks at that very moment and the wench across the room turned away. In disappointment, he would add. Ah well. Delphinia wasn't such awful company. And even with her red mane, he supposed she wasn't half bad to look at.

He took her teasing with a sip of the next drink, rolling his eyes in amusement. "Yeah, an' it's my gentlemanly charms that get me ev'rywhere with the women," Luís replied in sarcasm. Gentleman was possibly the worst word to describe him. "An' here I thought you weren't much of a lady...but eh." He countered, sounding half-impressed. He casually reached out to push back the hood of her cloak a little - not completely, not enough to reveal her upper-classness to everyone in the pub; she likely wouldn't forgive him for that - but just slightly, in a joking manner, as if he were peering at her to double-check her identity. He did momentarily survey her face with proper interest, though, for it had been covered in shadow for most of the while. Of course Luís remembered when she hadn't been a civilised, well-to-do lady, back when she had been in a better position to protest about buying the drinks, but he was sure she didn't really mind now. She'd got him one, hadn't she? Exactly what friends were for.


I'm sooooo sorry for the wait, Olive, Luís muse just deserted me for like an age D: