Something about this place smelled right to him, he decided. The streets looked normal enough but they held that feeling of otherness that he'd long ago associated with the gunslinger woman of the past and the dusty mystery that seemed to solely define her life at the time. Tavarius could not remember when last he had seen Madison Rye, what had they said to one another? Hers was a name that brought up many feelings, but the memories were more of a blur of emotions and images rather than anything concrete.

He remember nights at the Ugly Piper with Madison and the rest of the gang as they waxed poetical about life and friendship and the darkness of everything around them. He remembered the delight on her face whenever he would perform one of his little 'miracles' and he remembered how they had fallen into and out of love with one another faster than the time it would take to explain their strange romance. He remembered the fear when she went missing and the relief at her return, how those first few days apart had been difficult but how they had been able to easily reconcile their friendship.

Tavarius and Madison were never meant to be more than what they had become, memories of friendship and a fondness that could not be explained by any mundane means. She represented a period in his still short life where he had learned what it meant to be more than the thing he had been created for, what it meant to be human. For that he was eternally grateful, even when he disappeared out into the night without a word or a trace and went on to learn more of the world, of life, and of himself.

He came back now to that town where his humanity had been first born to the light of the day and wondered where he could find her again, to see if she had changed as much as he felt he had. Asking around told him of Charlie's bar and he wondered if he'd ever been there or if all their nights had been at the Penny Moon and the Ugly Piper, or had it all been at Charlie's and was he misremembering? Tavarius couldn't be sure anymore, not with the way his head seemed to work and forget in an instant. It was a cruel process and since he'd first learned of it, the trickster had figured the best way to counteract the degradation of his memories by focusing not on the minutiae of the moment but instead on the smell, the feel, the color, and the sound of it. Such a inherently physical focus kept the memories alive in him, even if he couldn't not put it into words.

He found Charlie's bar and wondered at the darkness around it. The lights inside were still on and so were those out on the street but something seemed to be draining it all away in his eyes, like something not right in the world had swooped in and upset the balance of light and dark in this place. He frowned and walked up to the door and opened it, surprise coming to light on his face when he saw the bar empty. It was late, after all.

"Hello?"

His shock of dark hair was all in a tussle and he was wearing a wrinkled suit that didn't quite fit him, yet he seemed unbothered by his disheveled state. Indeed, it was the sort haphazard way of his life that was reflected in the manner he carried himself and it spoke volumes of the heart that beat just a little too hot and fast to be normal underneath his porcelain skin. He seemed a fragile thing on the verge of shattering like old pottery made brittle by the hot, unforgiving sun.

Despite that, though, his smile was warm and inviting and contained within it all the cheer one could hope to see in a person and more. His eyes that seemed to change color by the dancing of light flickering and coming and going when he was about held no hint of malice or mischief but projected in their sparkling range of hues a delight uncommon in any man, least of all one such as him. He did not appear to be taken aback at not seeing Madison there in that instant and instead crossed the room toward the bar where Tag sorted out those gleaming glasses for the next day.

"Hello," he said again. "I'm looking for Madison Rye," he looked around and wondered at the lights that seemed so mundane to most but were like great chandeliers to him and as he passed each bulb seemed to flicker and burn a little brighter than it had the moment before, as though he carried through the room a current of electricity.

"I heard she ran this place. I'm an old friend of hers. My name is Tavarius."

Each word was measured, short or long, but not curt nor reserved. Rather, he spoke with a cadence not unlike the particular enunciation a poet might use when speaking in verse aloud to test the sound of the words in the ears. He spoke with what appeared to be a love of the sound of those words and he wanted to do them all the justice they deserved.

He reached into his coat and withdrew from one of the pockets lining the inside, a small wooden ball no larger than a golf ball and he set it on the bar and rolled it beneath his fingers.

"I haven't seen her in a long time."

Think dark brows bot rose up when Tag introduced himself as Madison's husband. A hand shot out to offer a shake which, if Tag accepted, would have been all manner of wild and excited and could leave a lesser man's arm feeling numb when through. Tavarius was positively beaming, he'd never suspected he'd come back to find her married.

"Married!" it wasn't a question, but an exclamation. "Oh wow. Married," he continued. "That's amazing. The Madi I knew was all whiskey and fire and always getting into trouble. I never would have imagined she got married," he tilted his head to the side like a curious animal to regard Tag. "But time changes and people go with it. That's fantastic news!"

"How long have you two been married? When did you meet? Do you have a house? Kids? How many? Pets? Do you have a dog or an otter? I think an otter is a fantastic pet but you need a license because they're still wild animals but they're really cute and fun," the stream of questions and words came tumbling out of his mouth like a waterfall of sounds and even when the last line was spoken he was still mumbling and muttering excitedly and nonsensically.

"Married. Wow!" he said again. "Is she here?"