To the festival. (Nel, Murdoch, Samael)

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam looked something between scandalized and betrayed.

"But you said..."

But Nel had admitted that she was new in town. He sighed, exhaling his disappointment so he could enjoy the evening anyway.

"Oh well, then we have time to plan," he said optimistically. "So what's good to eat, huh?" He had been on a budget since he high-tailed it with a stolen horse some two years back, but he was in Syliras now and he had promised a pretty girl a meal so he wasn't going to disappoint.

[Nel Sayo]

Nel's face fell alongside Samael's, and she kicked at a broken bit of cobbled stone, but the sulk was gone in a wink and then she was smiling again. So she'd heard wrong; big deal.

"Okay, well, so food it is. Can we show Sam some place fun? Maybe we could play cards or something, I mean I don't dice or anything, but I like cards." She all but bopped; this would be fun! Nel hadn't had a whole lot of fun lately, and she was a girl for whom fun was basically another source of food.

[Murdoch]

Murdoch just chuckled as Nel bounced back from her sulk, eyes flickering around the crowded streets as he led them towards the docks.

"Well, if it's gambling you want, we can head over to the Spinning Coin. It's where I spend most of my time anyway, I can introduce you to a few of the dealers. They don't really have food that's fit to eat, though, so if it's something good you're looking for we should eat before we go. Now, I know you're averse to brothels, but the Golden Dragon really does have a damned fine dinner menu. Or we could head down to the docks and see what the fishermen have brought up. You can usually buy a few things and there's a woman who runs a stall where she'll cook it for you right there, damned good too."

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam was about to vote for the brothel in order to have plenty of good scenery while they ate, but he thought it might not go over well with Nel, so he erred on the side of chivalry. His smile was sincere when he passed the initiative on to her.

"Why don't you decide, little swan?" he asked with impish humor.

[Nel Sayo]

Nel's guileless blue eyes danced between the two men for a minute, eyebrows crawling upward when Sam deferred to her preference.

A blush swept the high slopes of her cheeks when Samael called her little swan, and she shot a glare at Murdoch as if it were his fault that this stupid nickname was starting to catch on.

After a moment, though, she crinkled her nose and then blew a breath out through the rounded O of her lips.

"Fine, we can go to the brothel, 'cause I'm starving. But you guys can't go off to petch the whores and leave me all by myself."

Which was the sort of thing Syon would've done. Sat her somewhere and told her to hold onto the coins so he didn't fuck his way through all of them.

[Murdoch]

"As if there's anyone there who can compete with your beauty, my dearest," he said, turning a smirk down at her that was half-playful and half actually flirtatious.

"All right, then, we need to head... this way," he said, veering them off on a different path than they'd previously been heading. Strangely enough, they seemed to pass a great number of Syliran knights who were roaming the streets on patrol. But maybe that was just coincidence. The fact that one or two of them gave him a nod and a smile must have been confusing considering what a dastardly character he was supposed to be, but here, in the bright daylight and wide awake, he seemed effortlessly friendly.

Eventually they wended their way around the castle and over to The Golden Dragon, that famed gentleman's club that catered not only to gentlemen. He led them in, patting Nel's hand as he unwound it from his arm so he could step up and whisper something in the ear of the mostly-naked woman who came to greet them. She giggled and pressed a kiss of greeting to his cheek, murmuring his name and some bawdy reply to whatever offer he made. Which got a grin and a laugh out of him, but a moment later she was leading the three of them through the establishment.

Which was a maze of silks and secluded corners, winding through several floors of this establishment. The woman led them to one such nook, this one covered in what seemed to be leopard fur and sporting a roaring hearth, and waved them into their seat before she disappeared to go fetch the wine.

"Welcome to the Dragon," Doc laughed, gracious as ever they could hope.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

When they had passed the stables on the way in, Sam had immediately wondered what it would be like to work the stables of a place like this. It would likely reap him scores of funny tales to share over drink, but he tucked that thought away as they were ushered into the place and seated at a table. He flounced into one of the furry chairs, much like a young child testing out a bed for possible trampoline action. He grinned up at his companions, easily amused.

"What's good here?" he asked Murdoch, but sparing some attention for Nel, too. He wanted to see how she reacted to the place.

[Nel Sayo]

Nel practically tripped over the brothel's threshold when Murdoch let go of her hand, because her eyes were wide and roaming all over the place. So she stumbled a step, but caught her balancing easily, shuffling along behind the boys. Didn't hear whatever bawdy remarks were being made, because that was the sort of thing she'd learned to tune out, over the years. Sy had loved his pillowhouses. But he'd always told her to either wait outside, or be elsewhere, and for all she knew a thing or two about them and how they worked, having had to fish her brother out of quite a few of them, she'd never gone into one as a patron.

She looked less at the women and more at the decor, at the way the thing was arranged, kind of thoughtlessly peeking in and around the sheer, spilling curtains; and then sharply straightening back, a blush spiking into her cheeks as she hastened to catch up, and keep her eyes to herself. Right. Brothel. What else would those curtains be there for?

Collapsing into a chair between Murdoch and Sam, she propped her heels up on the nearest table and let her shoulders sink, relaxing.

"The food is good," she said, spearing a look at Murdoch. He'd said it was good, and if he was lying, she would skewer him in his sleep. "Let's get food first."

[Murdoch]

"Everything's good," he smirked to Sam, "food and flesh. Though the flesh is actually cheaper," he chuckled.

Another scantily-clad woman appeared with the wine, this one a pale-skinned brunette with sultry blue eyes that went first to Murdoch, a smile tilting her lips. "Well, well. Look who it is," she chuckled.

"Merris," he said with a laugh, climbing to his feet to give the girl a hug and kiss. "And just where have you been all winter? I thought I might pine away to nothing in your absence," he said, one hand over his heart and a truly pious look on his face.

Which didn't fool the whore at all, who just giggled at his antics. "I do not live to wait on you hand and foot, my dear man," she said as she squeezed his free hand.

If either Nel or Sam were more observant than Murdoch was tricky, a glance at those entwined hands instead of the rest of Merris' very lovely body might reveal a short exchange of tapped fingertips between them, just a quick tap-taptap-tap! and then a coin slipped her way. But then again, Murdoch was no novice at such endeavors.

That was when those big blue eyes turned down to Sam, and her smile widened. "Besides, it seems you've brought someone younger and more handsome to keep me entertained," she smirked.

Which just made Murdoch roll his eyes and sigh. "Mercenaries, the lot of you," he said mournfully as he slumped back into his chair and watched Merris slink closer to Samael, her attention focused wholly on him.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam flushed from neck to hairline in a matter of moments at the woman's regard and then she went and made it worse by sitting next to him. Between one instant and the next he entertained a detailed fantasy of eating his dinner off of her body, and that was mostly responsible for the dumb grin on his face that began to eclipse his reddening.

"I, uh... I... uh..."