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[tortallan_npc]

[After this.]

He's a fool.

His friends, his family, might be high and mighty, but the man is a dimwitted fool.

The one-two slam of the kitchen and inn doors is cathartic. Mad as she is, Abigail appreciates the noise and hopes it sets his teeth on edge to know she was imagining that bald head of his caught in each of them.  He'd know, of course, because he knows her.

Right now, she's not so sure she wants to know him.

Not with the way he hadn't bothered to follow his apology with an explanation. Not with the way it had made her feel when each day passed without word.

Not with the rumors brought by each weary traveler, or the reports of the Lioness riding off in the night.

Abigail thins her lips and sweeps under the low roof of the stables, her skirts trailing in the damp earth and straw. Just because his rider deserves to be beaten around his thick head doesn't mean Cloud shouldn't have his oats.

Comments

[mnt_raph]

Oh he knows, Mithros does he ever know. It's only after he's sure she's out of the building that he allows himself to relax even slightest bit. His jaw cracks as it unclenches.

He knows where she's headed when she leaves, so he gives her a few quiet moments with Cloud before following her out. Raph is careful to make just the right amount of noise as he enters the barn; enough to alert her, but not enough to spook the horses.

"Hey."

[tortallan_npc]

An excellent idea. Perhaps the best he's had in over a week; she'd bet good coin upon it.

Tossing a glare at Raph over her shoulder, Abigail fetches a fresh pat of hay and tosses it under Cloud's feed bucket. She then leans over the door, watching the pony eat. A heavy lock of blond hair falls forward; she doesn't bother to push it back.

He didn't think this was going to be easy, did he?

[mnt_raph]

Nothing good ever is. One step at a time, Raphie boy. One step at a time.

"So uh...it's good weather we're havin', ain't it?"

[tortallan_npc]

Silence. Even Cloud remains quiet, lifting his head from his bucket and regarding Raph with large, questioning eyes.







"I've a powerful need to hit you over the head with a chair again," Abigail warns Raph at last.

[mnt_raph]

He smiles in spite of the danger, and takes the break in tension as an invitation to join her by the stall.

"Probably deserve that. You got my word I won't dodge or block or nothin'."

[tortallan_npc]

"It'd be more satisfying if you did," is her clipped response.

He's welcome to stand wherever he likes, but she's not ready to soften or relent.

"I won't be used."

[mnt_raph]

He nearly double takes.

"Used? What the hell do you mean, used?"

What does that even mean?

[tortallan_npc]

It means just that, and as she makes a habit of saying what she means, she turns his way and raises an eyebrow.

"A week you're gone, and you don't think I might want to know where and why?"

She's not some roadside doxy he can leave and come back to whenever he has the urge.

[mnt_raph]

"I didn't think..."

What? That she wouldn't notice? That she wouldn't care?
He scratches at the back of his head.

[tortallan_npc]

A harsh laugh. "No, and I suppose I should've been surprised if you had."

Abigail takes a deep breath. Motion suits her better at times like these, even here, so she finds an old, battered broom and begins knocking down cobwebs.

"Here I was, ears full of an attack over in Wexland but not a word from you."

It may not look it at the moment, but she'd been fiercely worried.

[mnt_raph]

"I wasn't anywhere near Wexland."

He doesn't mean to say it, it just kind of slips out.

"And I didn't mean to be gone so long, it was outta my hands."

[tortallan_npc]

Oh, that really doesn't help his cause any.

A particularly stubborn cobweb meets with a firm swipe and drifts down to blanket his head.

"Aye, of course it was. And I'm certain someone gagged you and kept your mouth from passin' on the message to Stefan or another helpful soul with two perfectly good feet!"

[mnt_raph]

"Not gagged exactly..."

For the briefest of moments he considers telling her the truth. That he spent the week in the jail of a bar at the end of the universe stuck in the shape of a panda bear.

She'd never buy it, and honestly...he couldn't blame her.

"Look..."

He begins walking towards her again.

"I got caught up with work an' lost track o' time. Nothin' more, nothin' less. You got my solemn promise on that."

[tortallan_npc]

On the one hand, it's a flimsy excuse. On the other, she's learned to, if not trust unreservedly, have faith in that earnest look in his eyes, whatever his mouth is saying.

It's one of many contrasts that make him so different from everyone else she knows. Special. And she likes special.

Usually.

Abigail looks at Raph, glances at the broom; then she swings and whacks the back of his head and shoulders with a satisfying thwack. A shower of dust rains down around them.

"Your work doing odd jobs was more interesting than me, then?" she asks, one hand on her hip and smirking like she thinks he must be crazy.

[mnt_raph]

True to his word he doesn't dodge or block the broom. Heck, he doesn't even brush away the dust and the bits of straw that land on his head and face.

However he does smirk.

"It has it's moments. If you gotta know, I was babysittin'."

That's kind of like the truth....right?

[tortallan_npc]

"For?"

The broom handle crosses her body like a shield, as that hand plants itself on her other hip.

"Because I know those Young triplets, and they're always clamorin' for a trip to this part of the valley."

Hopefully Raph wasn't planning on hiding behind Alanna's children. Abigail doesn't want to have to hit him again. The dust made her nose twitch.

[mnt_raph]

"Ruffians, scoundrels, and no-goodniks."

He blows a stray straw off his cheek.

"Yeah...geez, I wonder who coulda given them that idea."

[tortallan_npc]

That firm chin of hers goes up another notch.

"I like them and they like me," she snaps. "If you were doing something for the Lioness, then you'd best just say so."

[mnt_raph]

Yeah...he's so not getting out of this alive. Not at all. Raph keeps eye contact for as long as he can, which isn't long at all, before finding something VERY INTERESTING just to the left of Abigail's hip.

"I was doin' something for 'Lanna."

[tortallan_npc]

Abigail continues to stare at him.

She may be common-born, but only a dense person would mistake her for simple or foolish. There's a good brain between her ears and a fiercely loyal heart in her chest, though she doesn't give her heart easily or allow it to rule her head. Living where she has her whole life, exposed to both the best and worst that humanity has to offer, she's heard every tale and repeated more than a few herself. Fact or fanciful fiction, part of an innkeeper or barkeep's job is to deal in information.

So what he says means something to her. Call it Tortallan pride or a subtle admiration, but if it's true, she won't take it lightly.

"Next time," she mutters, still simmering at the way he's avoiding her eyes and all the questions she has that remain unanswered, "I'd start with that if you don't want your daft head bashed in again."

But she won't make any promises.

[mnt_raph]

He nods, indicating he understands her warning.

"I didn't want you to worry, 'cause there ain't nothing to worry about. An' I would've said if I thought I was gonna be gone that long. I swear."

Then he chances a glance up.

"That worried, huh?"

[tortallan_npc]

He doesn't know what she's been hearing. At least, he better hope he doesn't know what she's been hearing.

"Concerned," she sniffs. "I don't like leavin' things unfinished."

Strong words, but now she appears to be subtly checking him over for new scrapes or scars.

[mnt_raph]

"Wait, you're leavin' me?"

Talk slower, Abigail.

As for her inspection the only real differences of note are the nearly faded yellowed bruises around his eyes, and his lack of belt and sai.

[tortallan_npc]

She raises her eyes to the heavens, as if asking for patience and fortitude from the gods.

"No. I'm not done with you yet," she tells him, tone still short. "But it crossed my mind you might be leavin' me."

And that had burned.

[mnt_raph]

He blinks at her in confusion. Why...why would he leave her? That...that makes no sense what so ever.

Raph takes a step closer to her.

"Me leave you? Not a chance. Black God himself couldn't drag me away."

Who's the one being crazy now?
Wait...don't answer that.