The Night Starts Here

[Keagan]

It was one of those windy, chilly and heavy raining nights; the kind of days that Keagan especially missed the roof over his head and comfort of his home and family. These were the days when he wondered if the rest of his life would compose of wandering aimlessly throughout the world, having no set home, no location of residence. Keagan was not the overly adventurous type, he was far too afraid to be. But he feigned bravery...or so well he tried but often failed miserably. Good thing he was a fast runner. It was far easier to run rather than to pretend to be something he was not.

But right now, his main concern was to get out of the rain. He had already slipped in the mud once, and while most of it had washed away by this point, he had a cut with dried blood around it on his neck. He had managed to conveniently trip right into some sharp sticks on the ground. Just his luck! He pulled his hood up a bit, feeling it dripped onto his eyelashes. He did not have much; all but a few coins in his pockets from a recent visit in a small village that he did not even know the name of. He folded his arms across his chest, shuddering from the cold, walking forward and trying not to just break down from the hopelessness of this situation. But it almost seemed as someone of a higher power heard him for in the very near distance he saw... a tavern! YES! There was hope! He looked towards it with eagerness as he hurried his steps to get inside.

When he did step inside he saw the huge crowd of boisterous people. It was loud, obnoxious.. and everything a tavern was expected to be like. The main thing was there was people. A TON of people! Whether they drunk, sober, whatever! The point was, there were here. The eeriness of the quiet woods was something that Keagan hated. And now, he would not have to worry about that anymore. He pulled the hood off of his head, looking around for a place to sit. Maybe he would go to the front and ask for some water. Yes. That was a good idea. For Keagan was not exactly a drinker and so did not want to risk trying it out right now. He went to the front and set down a couple of coins.

The woman, seeming to take pity on him, filled up a mug of water and handed it over. Keagan smiled politely and thanked her. He kept eye contact for a little too long as he was walking a bit backwards, not really looking where he was looking. As soon as he turned, he collided into someone, his water spilling all over... her! He had spilled his drink on a woman! Keagan looked at her, his eyes widening with the shock of his own actions. Oh no! Oh no no no. He watched the woman very carefully. She was certainly older than him, but seemed to age well for her beauty was still apparent. Keagan just looked at her, as if waiting for her to slap him for doing something so ridiculously clumsy. Story of his life!

~ Tag Jolayne! ~

[goddess]

***

The hood around her pale face was damp from the cool rain as the wind penetrated through the cloth and pierced her skin. This was like the childhood winters they use to go, both her and her brother near the mountains, the same cold that made her skin chill and hands go white. Though the rain was different, she had never seen it so heavy before, not in her home lands anyway. But when the rain does clear a brilliant sky is shown and the world is uncovered from the darkness of the storm. Maybe that same darkness will leave her heavy heart and allow her to move on these days and her life would flow until her end. Light will fill her life once again.

The stallions tracks seemed to slip and slide in the mud from the brown unsteady grounded beneath his hooves. His dark fur was damped by the rain just has her out cloak was and the husky breathing clamed once the sight of a village in her eyes. Patting the animals neck to quicken the pace for they would then seek shelter. Trotting to an old stable, she asked the keeper to leave the horse while she too rested inside some place warm. Jolayne trotted through the mud, her movement where heavy and sharp. Finally a breath was let out as rain no longer touched her cloak. Throwing the darn thing off her head, pushing the door wide open to the tavern in an not so grant entrance.

This place wasn`t what she was use to with, castles were much grander let alone cleaner the this slum, but t was a temporary home none the less. The people in the place where load and rough and Jolayne made her way through the crowds with as little contact as possible. The voices echoed in her already sore head, as the red headed beauty attempted to find somewhere quiet to rest for a while, or at least unstill the rain sieacsed. The best idea was to grab a drink and sit quietly in the corner, alone from the rest of humanity. Taking a moment to grab just a water, throwing a couple coins on the bar, she headed towards the exact destination that she was looking for. Quiet and alone, or at least quieter. The older woman looked kind of at peace alone and by herself, but she craved conversation and connection.

Pushing her thin body out of the chair that she sat in, forgetting about the cup left behind .This place was no longer to her liking, and any way she must pursue toward Camlot before the end of the week. The crowds became a haze and the sudden wet feeling of a drink on her cloths. Snapping herself back to her reality, Jolayne stared into the face of her attacker.... person? There was no way to describe her person in front of her except that he was a young boy, maybe in his twenties, but at least half her old age. Time had told her not to anger at such small things, as much as her mind wanted to scream, Jo had learned that that was childish and ignorant. ”I hope that was water?” The Queen to be said.

***

[Keagan]

Keagan just looked at her, waiting nervously for her reaction. She did not seem to display anger, nor raise her hand to strike him. So...maybe...she would handle this a lot better than he feared? Oh he hoped so! He craved any sort of company and he did not want to leave such a populated place just because he could not watch where he was walking! Her words were both a relief and ones that still left him anxious. Was she angry? Annoyed? Content? Probably not. She had probably come in wet from the rain, only to be soaked yet again. Oh what he he done!

His eyes did not become any less wide as he answered her question, or statement rather. "It is! I mean...it was...I mean...." He was rambling and he knew it. But what else could he say? He had just thrown his drink on her! Even if it was not intentional. He looked at where the water had spilled and then found that staring in that general region of her body was probably not the most polite thing. So he awkwardly shifted his gaze to look at her face instead, still expectant of her to do something more than speak. "Please forgive me," he said, in a rather pitiful voice. "Here's a cloth!" He suddenly exclaimed, reaching into his pocket to pull out a rag. It was not the cleanest thing ever, but it had not occurred to him to just have asked the bar keeper for a cloth.

He moved his hand forward to wipe it for her, but then stopped. That too wold be rather impolite. So instead, he just held out the rag for her to take. "It was just water," he once again quickly assured. "I had gotten water because I can't drink anything else. Well, I mean I can but I get drunk very easily. Not that I'm drunk right now. I blame my natural lack of balance for what happened. Not that I'm trying to justify my actions..." He abruptly stopped talking, taking a deep breath, trying to hold his tongue. She may not be so amused with his extensive and completely unnecessary explanation. "I'm so sorry!" He repeated, deciding it was probably best to finish on that note.