Hard as it might be to believe, the Sassy Owl was still in the same place as he knew it. This might have surprised him a little if he hadn't remembered exactly how long Claire and his father had known one another. It was a trick hed done a few times with Alex. Maybe more than a few really. He landed in the beer garden, though you'd have to have seen his entrance to know the true direction he'd been traveling to begin with. The Owl was really just a pivot point in a much more involved run. Nick entered through the back door, taking a little time to let his eyes adjust to the lower light within, and then it was search around for Claire. He was more nervous, now that he'd had a chance to realize exactly what he'd done (and who he had to answer to for it). He liked Claire, really he did, she just usually made him nervous. The wiping of his palms on his jeans had nothing to do with being nervous, and neither did his hesitation as he finally caught a glimpse of her. He shoved a totally not nervous pair of hands deep into his pockets and moved with best possible speed in her direction. (In this case best possible was a slow walk that already had him slouching like he had been caught getting Alex into a scrape.)
Huffing a soft sigh, and suddenly finding that blue t-shirt with the This is how I roll image across the front interesting, he managed to get a few words out. "Au" Uhm Claire?" He squinted a little at the almost utterance of what he normally called the woman. "I saw your note to come over and?" Nick suddenly checked the distance to both doors, wondering if it was too late to make a break for it. "...talk." He didn't sit, didn't do anything more than stand there wearing that I'm so guilty look, that was punctuated by the furrow of eyebrows and the crease that appeared in between.
The pretty blonde behind the bar spotted Nick before Claire did and across the distance between Casey the bartender and her boss, she tipped her head toward the boy coming through the door. It was enough to make Claire straighten from her lean in anticipation. It was an odd line to walk between the knowing and the showing but she did it with practiced ease limned with only subtle shades of awkwardness. Despite the impending meeting, she was dressed casually. Seldom was it something more than a jeans and a t-shirt sort of day. As she turned toward Nick's approach, her Converse squeaked against the old wooden floors until she came to face him. He was tall, taller than his father by a fair clip, and handsome in a roguish sort of way.
In short he looked like trouble.
"Hi. I'm Claire, but you already knew that." Still she extended a hand toward him for a shake. There was nothing soft or dainty about her grip, all business and calloused as it was. But it was brief and she quickly dropped her hand with a light slap against her thigh. "So, uh, first things first, congratulations. For awhile I thought I might end up with Six or Michi as my squire, so honestly I'm a little relieved. Getcha a drink or something?" She paused to squint at him. "If you're even old enough to drink?"
Somewhere amid the butterflies in his stomach a smile boiled forth spilling over his face. It wasn't praise, but it was close enough to pull that toothy, half embarrassed half preening look to his mouth and send it directly to his eyes. He had an odd thought as she shook his hand, he'd never done that with her before. Their first official meeting had happened so long ago, all he really remembered was that she'd had pink hair, and he'd let her know about it. Her grip, while not surprising, held strength, even if she somehow managed to keep it feminine. Maybe it was just that it was smaller than he remembered. His own hands were covered in rough skin, in part from the forge work, but perhaps even moreso from roof racing. "I did know that, but it's nice to meet you." He managed to leave the again in his head at least. "Of course most people do know who you are, Overlady." He uttered off the small joke with an easy laugh.
"I'd say that for a while I was afraid you'd end up with Six or Michi too, but I really wanted the opportunity to acquire the Squireship." He'd nearly let his plans, his real need slip by saying he was after the shield. He was so bad at this kind of thing, dancing around the truth seemed an immense waste of time to him. "Can I sit' May I, I mean. And well I guess" May I" I left my ID at home." That was probably code for I'm not old enough to drink. It did have the fortune of being one hundred percent the truth though. After Monday's issues, he'd stopped carrying any kind of identifying markers. Not that he'd be able to come up with an alias and stick to it, should he be picked up by the Watch. He wished he could have been more articulate with her, but much like her daughter, Claire flustered him if for different reasons.
"Eugh, call me, Claire, really. C"mon." She made a face at the title if only because even ten titles and four years later, it still felt awkward being called by a sports title. On one hand, it was ever an oddity to meet the older version of someone younger that she already knew. On the other, it was fast becoming old hat, so she didn't make an awkward comment about how she had just met his younger self here recently. Hooking a stool with the foot, she tugged it aside to make more room at the bar, a roll of her wrist gesturing for him to join her.
"Two OctoberFests but only two. This is a business meeting." She cut Casey a cheeky grin and the blonde rolled her eyes before dancing off to fulfill her boss's request. A pair of beers were set out soon after and the vicinity cleared out for the pair to talk. At that hour, it lulled between lunch and dinner and therefore was fairly dead in the restaurant. Behind the bar, flat screen televisions replayed the week's sports highlights as well as broadcasts from various Terran sports as well. Claire preferred football over baseball but with the World Series approaching, it covered half the screens. "Don't tell your father that I'm an enabler or I'll have to beat you with that shield I'm gonna give you. Oh, so, about that. You legit about this squire thing or was it just for the win?"
His hand went to the beer, he was glad she was making the offer of it, had been about to take a drink of it when she mentioned his father. Nick stared at the bartop, doing his best to look like he might be reading the label on the bottle. Mostly he was just trying to hide his face, or as much of it as he could, but even in profile you can see lips pull inward and brows that pinch. "I haven't talked to him, I suppose you could say I don't want to talk to him." Still true, though he'd let her come up with her own reasons why. God, unless she asked him. He lifted the beer to his lips, something he was going to wait to do, but he needed to do something, or be stuck like that for too long. The swallow was held, until he could distinguish hops over the mild bitterness he always found in beer. It helped, the moment passed by enough for him to trust his own expression once more. He focused on her face, it was odd that he had a strange fondness for her, even though she wasn't exactly the Claire he knew.
"Do people actually just get into things like this for a win" I've been in my share of races, but I mean that's kind of the point o f a race, right?" His head shook, and his shoulder came up ever so slightly. "No, I needed this. It's not a prize to me." It is, or would be a tool. It occurred to Nick exactly how dangerous this meeting could become for any of his plans. If she phrased her questions just right, he'd give away everything. Everything that she didn't already know that is. "What is it that you need out of me from the position. I know Addie does the cookie thing, but I'd hate to be arrested for poisoning you accidentally. I guess I'm a little like him, and a lot of things that have happened over the past two weeks have made me a little I don't know, angry, or somewhere between angry and upset."
"Ah, are you playing the blahblah-I don't wanna talk to my parents here-blahblah thing" They always do that. It never lasts." She remarked thoughtfully, turning toward the bar to give him a profile view sidelong. Much as she had always, she looked no older than twenty-one, maybe twenty-two, her skin free of marks and scars and smoothed to a granite polished finish. It was an unearthly sort of thing, that kind of youth, both a blessing and a curse in and of itself, but she wore it like a badge of her burden, stuck forever on the top side of too-young-to-know-better. Hell, he'd pass her up before long, that was a scary thought. Her own swallow gave him a few more moments to compose himself, a strategic pause meant to glaze over the brief crack in his cheeky facade.
"They do. Some of them. It's just a sport, after all. Others do it for the glory, to be a part of history. Even if sometimes they probably shouldn't." Claire cut him a pointed look aside, her brows lifting. But it was back to her beer for another drink or two and a gentle shrug of her left shoulder. "I suppose if you're gonna do something, you may as well go big or go home, right' So all I want is effort. Prove you won it for a reason, use it well, learn from it. If I can help with that, I will."
Mention of Addie was cause for pause though, her conversation with Michi the night before still fresh in her mind. Pursing her lips, she considered her answer just a little bit further before adding on to it. "The point of a squireship is to benefit the squire, not the baron, or in this case Overlord. If there's something, anything, I can do to help, just say the world and I will. You know that, right?"
(many thanks to the player of Claire for her help in this endeavor!)
Huffing a soft sigh, and suddenly finding that blue t-shirt with the This is how I roll image across the front interesting, he managed to get a few words out. "Au" Uhm Claire?" He squinted a little at the almost utterance of what he normally called the woman. "I saw your note to come over and?" Nick suddenly checked the distance to both doors, wondering if it was too late to make a break for it. "...talk." He didn't sit, didn't do anything more than stand there wearing that I'm so guilty look, that was punctuated by the furrow of eyebrows and the crease that appeared in between.
The pretty blonde behind the bar spotted Nick before Claire did and across the distance between Casey the bartender and her boss, she tipped her head toward the boy coming through the door. It was enough to make Claire straighten from her lean in anticipation. It was an odd line to walk between the knowing and the showing but she did it with practiced ease limned with only subtle shades of awkwardness. Despite the impending meeting, she was dressed casually. Seldom was it something more than a jeans and a t-shirt sort of day. As she turned toward Nick's approach, her Converse squeaked against the old wooden floors until she came to face him. He was tall, taller than his father by a fair clip, and handsome in a roguish sort of way.
In short he looked like trouble.
"Hi. I'm Claire, but you already knew that." Still she extended a hand toward him for a shake. There was nothing soft or dainty about her grip, all business and calloused as it was. But it was brief and she quickly dropped her hand with a light slap against her thigh. "So, uh, first things first, congratulations. For awhile I thought I might end up with Six or Michi as my squire, so honestly I'm a little relieved. Getcha a drink or something?" She paused to squint at him. "If you're even old enough to drink?"
Somewhere amid the butterflies in his stomach a smile boiled forth spilling over his face. It wasn't praise, but it was close enough to pull that toothy, half embarrassed half preening look to his mouth and send it directly to his eyes. He had an odd thought as she shook his hand, he'd never done that with her before. Their first official meeting had happened so long ago, all he really remembered was that she'd had pink hair, and he'd let her know about it. Her grip, while not surprising, held strength, even if she somehow managed to keep it feminine. Maybe it was just that it was smaller than he remembered. His own hands were covered in rough skin, in part from the forge work, but perhaps even moreso from roof racing. "I did know that, but it's nice to meet you." He managed to leave the again in his head at least. "Of course most people do know who you are, Overlady." He uttered off the small joke with an easy laugh.
"I'd say that for a while I was afraid you'd end up with Six or Michi too, but I really wanted the opportunity to acquire the Squireship." He'd nearly let his plans, his real need slip by saying he was after the shield. He was so bad at this kind of thing, dancing around the truth seemed an immense waste of time to him. "Can I sit' May I, I mean. And well I guess" May I" I left my ID at home." That was probably code for I'm not old enough to drink. It did have the fortune of being one hundred percent the truth though. After Monday's issues, he'd stopped carrying any kind of identifying markers. Not that he'd be able to come up with an alias and stick to it, should he be picked up by the Watch. He wished he could have been more articulate with her, but much like her daughter, Claire flustered him if for different reasons.
"Eugh, call me, Claire, really. C"mon." She made a face at the title if only because even ten titles and four years later, it still felt awkward being called by a sports title. On one hand, it was ever an oddity to meet the older version of someone younger that she already knew. On the other, it was fast becoming old hat, so she didn't make an awkward comment about how she had just met his younger self here recently. Hooking a stool with the foot, she tugged it aside to make more room at the bar, a roll of her wrist gesturing for him to join her.
"Two OctoberFests but only two. This is a business meeting." She cut Casey a cheeky grin and the blonde rolled her eyes before dancing off to fulfill her boss's request. A pair of beers were set out soon after and the vicinity cleared out for the pair to talk. At that hour, it lulled between lunch and dinner and therefore was fairly dead in the restaurant. Behind the bar, flat screen televisions replayed the week's sports highlights as well as broadcasts from various Terran sports as well. Claire preferred football over baseball but with the World Series approaching, it covered half the screens. "Don't tell your father that I'm an enabler or I'll have to beat you with that shield I'm gonna give you. Oh, so, about that. You legit about this squire thing or was it just for the win?"
His hand went to the beer, he was glad she was making the offer of it, had been about to take a drink of it when she mentioned his father. Nick stared at the bartop, doing his best to look like he might be reading the label on the bottle. Mostly he was just trying to hide his face, or as much of it as he could, but even in profile you can see lips pull inward and brows that pinch. "I haven't talked to him, I suppose you could say I don't want to talk to him." Still true, though he'd let her come up with her own reasons why. God, unless she asked him. He lifted the beer to his lips, something he was going to wait to do, but he needed to do something, or be stuck like that for too long. The swallow was held, until he could distinguish hops over the mild bitterness he always found in beer. It helped, the moment passed by enough for him to trust his own expression once more. He focused on her face, it was odd that he had a strange fondness for her, even though she wasn't exactly the Claire he knew.
"Do people actually just get into things like this for a win" I've been in my share of races, but I mean that's kind of the point o f a race, right?" His head shook, and his shoulder came up ever so slightly. "No, I needed this. It's not a prize to me." It is, or would be a tool. It occurred to Nick exactly how dangerous this meeting could become for any of his plans. If she phrased her questions just right, he'd give away everything. Everything that she didn't already know that is. "What is it that you need out of me from the position. I know Addie does the cookie thing, but I'd hate to be arrested for poisoning you accidentally. I guess I'm a little like him, and a lot of things that have happened over the past two weeks have made me a little I don't know, angry, or somewhere between angry and upset."
"Ah, are you playing the blahblah-I don't wanna talk to my parents here-blahblah thing" They always do that. It never lasts." She remarked thoughtfully, turning toward the bar to give him a profile view sidelong. Much as she had always, she looked no older than twenty-one, maybe twenty-two, her skin free of marks and scars and smoothed to a granite polished finish. It was an unearthly sort of thing, that kind of youth, both a blessing and a curse in and of itself, but she wore it like a badge of her burden, stuck forever on the top side of too-young-to-know-better. Hell, he'd pass her up before long, that was a scary thought. Her own swallow gave him a few more moments to compose himself, a strategic pause meant to glaze over the brief crack in his cheeky facade.
"They do. Some of them. It's just a sport, after all. Others do it for the glory, to be a part of history. Even if sometimes they probably shouldn't." Claire cut him a pointed look aside, her brows lifting. But it was back to her beer for another drink or two and a gentle shrug of her left shoulder. "I suppose if you're gonna do something, you may as well go big or go home, right' So all I want is effort. Prove you won it for a reason, use it well, learn from it. If I can help with that, I will."
Mention of Addie was cause for pause though, her conversation with Michi the night before still fresh in her mind. Pursing her lips, she considered her answer just a little bit further before adding on to it. "The point of a squireship is to benefit the squire, not the baron, or in this case Overlord. If there's something, anything, I can do to help, just say the world and I will. You know that, right?"
(many thanks to the player of Claire for her help in this endeavor!)