[Simpering Seacow] My Best Fun-Sized Friend! [Bob]

[Renly Summers]

Day 51 of Fall, AV 511 The Simpering Seacow

"Trayto, another Shanty!" Commoner was a funny word. In many places, it was treated as a word of derogation. A low-classman, a peasant, one who was no better than a lowly farmer or dockworker or sailor or professionless bum. Yet, at the Seacow, a commoner meant something else entirely. It was who was a common sight at the joint, and they were the ones that were treated as friends, sometimes even family if you were a truly special person. Still, Renly was a commoner here in the Seacow. It was a place she could relax. It was a place she could forget about who she was running from, simply because it was a place she could drink, laugh, and have a good time, in an environment that was just a little more peaceful than the rest of the horrible city. Why was it protected by what appeared to be an invisible curtain from violence or crude men? She wasn't curious enough to pry. That's why she was a commoner here. "Ease up there lass. Don't want to have to nurse you back t' health again. You are a little thing. Shouldn't drink like a fish." The Eypharian was kind, smiled as he spoke, yet was at least half serious about what he said. Renly wasn't known for her control with alcohol. She wasn't known for being particularly calm when she drank. She wasn't known to pace herself, or even attempt to. Still, it was money, and Trayto was running a business. He handed the young woman another glass of his own special beverage from one of his six hands, then walk away humming some soft tune. Renly sat there in silence for a moment as she stared into her drink. She was alone here, sitting at the counter without another soul within fifteen feet of her. If she wanted to cry, she could have softly shed tears and nobody would have noticed. She didn't know. It had been so long since she cried, or cared, that she had begun to think it simply couldn't happen anymore. There were things that happened that truly scarred people, making them mere husks of who they were. Renly shrugged as she told herself to ignore the painful images of the past, then took a large swig of that very specifically brewed beverage. "The Creeper" some called it. It was a drink you didn't taste much alcohol, but it would hit you later down the road. Renly turned her head to see an unfamiliar face. Yet, to be honest, it wasn't his face at all that intrigued her. He was so short, like a dwarf! He was a dwarf! How exciting! Renly giggled to herself (her face was already faintly pink from her drinking) as she waved for the short man to join her. "Hey! Hi there! Come here, come here. Trayto, give my best friend here a Shanty too! I'm buying!"

[Bob Barton]

Bob only knew that the Simpering Seacow was a place to get tattoos in Sunberth because he just hung out with the wrong people. Most of the drunks at the tavern chose to be there because the tavern was considered to be more exciting even if the cafe it was compared to is run by one of those scary six armed freaks. Freaks because they all had six arms and try to imagine that on a man but Bob knew from what he heard that the women were just enticing. Scary because Bob had never heard a man who described six weapons coming at him with such terror in his eyes before. As for the other people he hung out with which were sailors, they did not like or care for landlubbers who turned their back from the sea and so whenever the topic of the Simpering Seacow came out most of them would just start talking about how horrible the tattoos were when they came out and that the women were nothing more than cheap whores. Of course Bob never really bothered believing most of those because in the end it always came down to the eypharian bartender. Only after he had experienced the place for himself he would make his own judgement.

So imagine the surprise when one day Bob learned that the place was actually some sort of open air cafe as well. That would actually make it a worthwhile visit since he was growing rather tired with the usual Sunberth rabble he had to put up with. "How did I not know about this place earlier?" he asked himself seeing the tables packed with people out at the front mostly with not the dangerous losers that he knew. Would they be other sorts of dangerous losers? Only time will tell if Bob decided to come to the place more often and that might actually happen when he saw the waitresses out at the front. They are not even the eypharian women that he had heard so much about. "Really...how?" he asked himself again. This just had to be the best place ever. Beautiful women who were not being harassed by the other Sunberth customers could only mean that the Simpering Seacow was a safe paradise in Sunberth and that made Bob have no hesitation when he opened the door to enter.

The Simpering Seacow just kept getting better and better because as soon as Bob stepped in, he was already being called out by a woman or was that a girl judging from her size? He could not tell which since he was halfway scanning through the cafe for someone until they got to him first. It seems that the only thing which stood out for them both were their size but Bob was not going to say no to something which literally dropped into him. In fact, the way she was acting right now reminded him a lot about Victor and that meeting turned out well even if it ended with him being forced to carry the boy back home. This girl with her pinkening face was halfway to that stage and Bob will not mind taking her back at all because...he was just that sort of rare person in Sunberth who would help a troubled lass without expecting anything in return. Nothing in return at all!

He leaped on to the seat beside the girl and took the drink with his "thanks. We just met and we are already best friends?" Looking to the bartender he would ask "am I really in Sunberth right now or did someone just kill me a bell ago and I flew up here?" Well, of course he was still in Sunberth since even if they were different the people still had the aura of danger around him and he already heard about the Simpering Seacow being run by the eypharian but he could still wish it can't he? "So best friend, why is it that you invited me over to this nice place?"