A Benshiran Meets A Drykas ( Lestin )

[Gintoki]

As Gintoki woke up in his tent which was being tormented by fierce and sharp winter winds he slowly stood up and checked his belongings to see if anything has vanished in the darkness of the night. It has happend once before that he woke up due to the sounds of mumbling and untrained footsteps around him. It was a blessing for him that he is a very light sleeper and a blessing for the would-be thieves that he didn't feel like slashing his tent open with his scythe to decapitate some low-lives. So he just mumbled a warning after a loud yawn.

" If you're that eager to die just kill yourselves, it'd be much quicker and I can guarantee you that this way it'll be a LOT more painful. "

After a few seconds of silence, probably by being stunned from the sudden awakening of the man in the tent the rookie-thugs ran for it.

That's why Gintoki always sleeps with his scythe close-by and his most valuable belongings near his head. As Gintoki got fully clothed in his one and only set of clothes the wind and cold struck him like small needles with every second he stayed out in the open. It didn't help that he had to save his money since he had no income whatsoever and as such was forced to set up his tent an hour away from the city and the city gates.

As he packed up his tent and belongings he set foot for the gates. After an hour or so he arrived and greeted the guards that were shivering non-stop aswell heartily. Gintoki and the guards have a wordless understanding of eachother's troubles so they have a friendly atmosphere between them.
Once Gintoki entered the city he strode quickly towards The Rearing Stallion.
It had become Gintoki's " homeless-centre " since it offered warmth and cheap drinks, and the occasional interesting conversations and people passing through.

As he entered he greeted the bartender, dropped his belongings with a loud thump on the floor next to a unoccupied table and walked towards the bar while listening to every sound for the always-expected rustle of a thief near his things. He quickly ordered a glass of beer, paid the barman and went back to the table.

As he sat down he glanced around to see if there were any suspicious members of society among the few early birds of the tavern.

[Lestin]

The Rearing Stallion’s doors burst open and a chilling draft sent waves of cold to the people inside. Lestin walked in with a confident gait and the doors closed behind him. The whistling winds were replaced by the soft drippings of rain water that fell from his dirty cloak that covered his entire body. Lestin’s serious expression greeted anyone who looked at him and dared anyone to come and tell him something about it. He was terribly grumpy since he had to wear a cloak because his usual attire had gotten wet and yet irony struck him with a hammer and his cloak had become wet when a rogue wave of rain attacked him while he tried to look for the popular bar.

Lestin marched dutifully to the bar while ignoring the disapproving stares he was receiving, a trail of water left behind in his wake. The tender came to him clearly not happy with the condition of his floor but Lestin dismissed his words when he tried to voice his concerns and instead demanded for a big glass of beer. He paid the barman more than the allotted price, as compensation, and went to look for a seat.

Lestin took a seat at an empty table and dropped his glass so hard that it made a loud blunt sound and beer spilling everywhere. He felt uncomfortable at having a glass of beer in front of him. He didn’t feel any obligation to drink a beverage that was intended to intoxicate but bought it anyway. Instead, he looked around the bar and noted a peculiar stranger glancing at him and he glanced defiantly back, the line of his eye brows inclining with his sinister gaze.

[Gintoki]

As Gintoki was solemnly nipping from his glass and glancing around the tavern with concentration, as to not let anything slip by him, a man entered. The man appeared to be around Gintoki's age and he was clearly in a bad mood. He looked as though he swam to the tavern and then rolled around in a mudpuddle outside the door, Gintoki assumed that was the reason of his bad mood but ofcourse he couldn't be sure. When the man slammed his drink on the table it was ever the more obvious how ticked off he was with whichever situation he was in.

Gintoki raised his dirt-stained glass slowly to his lips and took another sip, he wasn't in the position to slam his drink and waste precious liquid. Eventhough he felt like doing what the man just did he kept calm. As he looked at the man he could see some interesting features, he was a relatively tall and muscular man for his age and had brown hair with braids on one side of his head. Accompanied with the angry and stern look on the man's face it certainly gave the impression of him being a strong man.

That's when Gintoki saw that the man was looking directly at him, with an even angrier look on his face than before. Gintoki is not the kind to be shook by a mere stare so he calmly stared back before raising his glass to the man as to show him that there was no reason to get angry.

[Lestin]

Lestin responded with an arrogant flick of his chin, as if dismissing the stranger’s neutral gesture entirely. Lestin had every right to be annoyed and severely antagonised but he did reason with himself that it was unnecessary. His state of mind was a mess. It was being in a new foreign area that was raining on his parade and Lestin felt he had to defend himself from everybody and everything. Although irony was enjoying his company and striking a double blow in that he was making himself being targeted on grounds of suspicion and shady activity for bringing indecency to the tavern.

Then a profound thought entered Lestin’s thoughts. He figured he should calm down and accept his new environment. Making acquaintances such as the stranger that had raised his glass earlier would seem like a positive idea but he felt that he probably wasn’t happy with the serving of arrogance given to him earlier.

Wait... Lestin was never that considerate to strangers so why would he refrain from doing what he wanted? With increased determination, he grabbed his cup and walked over to him intending to sit down and smash his glass down to stamp his presence on his table, beer spilling being the forecast for the day.

[Gintoki]

Gintoki smirked as the man dismissed him with a crude gesture. Gintoki was actually enjoying the atmosphere between him and the unknown man, it was refreshing and quite contrasting with the usual friendly behaviour that the large scythe on his back unwillingly forced from the unnnamed people around him.

Just as Gintoki was about to stand up and walk towards the man he saw a sizeable rat sneaking around under the man's chair. The rat was even so bold and foolish to stay under the chair, completely unaware of the peril it was in and the fatality it would face if discovered. Gintoki wanted to hurry towards the man because by doing so he would, hopefully, chase away the "little" vermin.

But when he wanted to get up the man did the exact same thing, chasing the rodent away with a hard nudge in its side by the chair's wooden leg, it squeeked softly before scurrying off towards one of the darker areas of the bar.

Gintoki smiled, his good deed for the day has been unknowingly snatched away by the angry man coming his way.