Nice Jewelry You Got There (Rynhin Quickhand)

[Lizzy MacBeth]

Fall 24th, 512AV; Mid-Morning A little ways away from Yae Varones Studio The day started off dragging herself out of bed, munching on some almonds while she sat at her desks chair attempting to wake up. Groggily she would reach into the desk drawer for a small mirror, peering into the reflective steel, frowning, her hair was always a mess and never behaved like it should. Setting the small mirror down she took her brush and began to battle with the chaotic mess of hair, fighting it until it seemed to calm down and the knots broke from the strain, frizzing back up almost instantly she groaned and set the brush down, how was she ever going to look prim and proper for Yae Varone's Studio? Sighing, Lizzy stood up and began to dig for clothes, today was going to be long- as it always was and seemed to be. Wishing Macey well, her tabby cat and locking her apartment up and setting off; there would be no need to worry for Macey, the window was always open wide enough for the cat to slip in and out unnoticed if it needed to do any buisness, the curtains hid the fact well. Swiftly she walked the lower docks, her chin held high and a passive look about her, a glint in her eye suggesting she could have been nervous going into the Noble district with her complete averageness. Her clothes, though clean, were of average clothing and nothing near the fabled silks and furs that those with the extra coin to spend had. If her father hadn't out of the blue decided she needed to work for such pleasures, maybe she would be languishing in fine silk and furs as well, sipping coffee and nibbling pastries as if it were an every day thing? "Prissy brat he said" Lizzy muttered under her breath, feeling a firey anger light up "useless, lazy cow" she continued to mutter to herself. Such words stung. Memorys flooding her thoughts, and goals filtering through to proove him wrong- she didn't even notice if she was being watched, followed, or anything of the sort. Nevermind that, she wanted to learn how to make coffee- hopefully Madame Yae Varone would be courtious enough to explain a thing or two? If Lizzy could get into the little coffee shop even. The confident demeanor began to wash out with her tensing nerves as she became closer to the building she wanted to enter, stopping and taking a deep breath as she remained stationary, exhaling she let her mind just clear after a few moments, becoming empty of everything and then focusing on one thing, and one thing only. Learn, perhaps to brew her own coffee and sip in the mornings as she had done years ago. Moving once again, determined, Lizzys mouth began to salivate at the aromas of nearing coffee, the pastries, if people didn't know better- they would have flocked around the place just to sniff the heavenly air. The anticipation came back again, this time she didn't suppress it and pushed the door open to the coffee shop. Inside she was greeted with the warm air, aromas abound, she stepped lightly, avoiding eye contact as best as she could and felt the eyes on her- of course her hair had to be finnicky today, even more so than other days. Yet something rather strange happened, a patron stood up and smiled at her, smiled! "I believe I know you from somewhere," he said with the most dazzling smile that caught her off gaurd "do you think we could, you know, talk for a moment~?" He took her by the arm, gently, but firmly, even forcefully though she protested quietly she didn't know him and that she wanted to speak with Yae to teach her how to make such wonderful things, but her pleas fell on clogged ears and a painted on smile. After the first few streets they passed, he let her go, or rather dropped her suddenly and began walking away without another word- nor even a good bye or an explanation! Lizzy watched as he left her, the suprise now turning to anger- how dare he?! She got up and patted herself off, the anger beginning to burn at the indecency she had been treated with, she never even got close to her goal and she was closer to the common districts than she was the richer districts. For the longest time she just glared in the direction of the Studio, it had been such a marvelous discovery, such a suprise she had found after pining for a cup of her own fathers coffee weeks ago, she really was not suited for such common rabblery.

[Rynhin Quickhand]

The Noble district, not Rynhins favorite place but the best place for information gathering about the nobles and also the best place to find rich travelers that need a lighter purse, or no purse at all. He had scouted the area briefly a few days earlier but this time he came for a closer investigation about the noble life of Ravok. Even though he didn’t like the rich, he enjoyed pretending to be one of them, cleaned up as he was he thought himself to look pretty good and not his usual average self, but he probably looked like the average rich instead. His hair washed clean and a nice bath had done him good, and with fine black velvet pants and jerkin with a white long-sleeved shirt of the same material underneath it made him almost look stunning. On top of it all he had added a fine white hat and a little perfume to complete his disguise. Besides it was easier to find pretty girls when they thought you were rich rather than a commoner. The only problem was that his disguise lacked places to hide stuff since he had left his cloak at home, the only thing he carried with him was his dagger strapped to his belt and a purse secured next to the dagger to prevent thieves from having an easy time getting hold of the purse.

He strolled through the Noble district with a confident walk, enjoying the views and even the smell. It was a lot different from the Docks where he lived at the moment, but it was always like that in the few cities he had visited, well maybe with the exception of Sunberth his real home. He also noted the number of guards, a lot more guards here than in the other parts of Ravok that he had been to so far but he doubted they would prove a problem, at least not today, he was just one in the crowd after all and he wasn’t planning on causing any trouble. He would enjoy this day, not just by finding information about the nobles of Ravok but also by being someone else again, a game he always enjoyed playing. He just needed to find someone he could glean some information from, but an opportunity for that would arise by itself. For now he decided he would just enjoy himself.

He had worked his way closer to the common districts without intending to and stood talking to a lady selling pastries in the street when he noticed a girl across the street, glaring at something with an angry expression. Smiling to himself he told the lady to add another pastry and paid her, he had found his victim. People usually warmed to you faster if you cheered them up and made it easier to glean information from them.

Rynhin made his way across the street to the girl and offered her one of the pastries with a smile, he noted all of her silver jewelry and fell back to his usual self for a moment.
"Nice jewelry you got there. "
He cringed on the inside, that was not what he had planned to say and it was not a comment someone of status would just blurt out. But it was too late to fix that now so he kept the easy smile on his lips and hoped he could smooth it over later if he had to.

[Lizzy MacBeth]

Lizzy was in such a tizzy over being so rudely removed from the Studio, she hadn't taken notice to anything around her; it was only when the soft smell of a pastry, as well as the light perfume, and maybe even the strange comment that caught her attention. Looking at the man now offering a pastry, all charming and classy looking, she raised an eyebrow with a growing blush, as if to say: What? Why was such a fine looking gentleman talking to someone as plain as her, it made the young woman slightly suspicious after the charming Studio patron before had smiled so nicely at her. "Yes, it is very nice, why are you mentioning the obvious?" She replied not a second or two after his unannounced arrival, the smell of pastry reminding her further still. Her eyes glanced to the pastries, at the same time getting a good veiw of his richly looking clothes and then back up to his face, looking him in the eye as she wrapped her shawls tighter around herself before relaxing with a passive annoyed look she commonly used for everyone she met, rich or not. He certainly did seem to have some of the more expencive fineries, as well as being finer groomed, she couldn't help but notice anything that screamed 'I have cash on me' to her. Lizzy would have to step lightly and delicately with her words. "I'm sorry sir, but are you offering one of those to me? You don't seem the type to bother with the common people..." Lizzy added a little more enounciation to the last bit of her sentence, and it even stung herself, considering herself among the average but she looked it and he did not, she would have to consider herself not at his status.

[Rynhin Quickhand]

It was funny how some clothes could change people’s opinions about people, he thought to himself as he noticed her blush, a few bells ago he doubted she would have given him a second glance if even a first. A dark smile crept into his mind as she drew the shawl tighter around her neck, he was amazed how people willingly walked around with potential weapons that could be used against them. He forced the thought away, this was not the right time for such things.

The look in her eyes threw him off a bit, he didn’t think he had offended enough to deserve such a look when he was trying to be nice. This was not going as planned at all, but it was too early to give up just yet. He kept the friendly smile on his lips as he listened to her and put the pastry in her hand as she finished.

“I’m not offering it, it’s a gift.” He told her cheerfully as he gazed back into her eyes.

“Besides, I couldn’t help notice the upset face you made a moment ago. A pretty girl should be smiling on a beautiful day like this.” Rynhin tilted his head and gave her an expecting glance from top to toe, his gaze lingering a moment on her cleavage before he added with a slight bow.

“And you sure are pretty enough to be more than a common lady, my lady. – And I guess you judge me wrongly then, but you could have fooled me.” Finishing with a little wink.

[Lizzy MacBeth]

If Lizzy had been anyone else, anyone else at all, the nice man may have gotten a better reaction from other girls; giving him only a firm gaze, she raised an eyebrow as he spoke, judging him silently as he talked. Though she did not push away his gift, which was a small, charming start, it simply sat in her hand, an awkward item, from a stranger person. Staring back into his eyes, not even a glimmer of change to her aditude towards him, but as he continued on to flatter her Lizzy blushed more, reddening slowly along her cheeks, the bridge of her nose, and even back towards her ears. Surely I'm not that pretty, I wonder.. Lizzy thought to herself, suspicions growing. Blinking, she replied curtly, and strongly- attempting to stare him down "I apreciate your gift then, especially after being so rudely removed earlier..." a twitch of her lips, turning upwards in one corner as if trying to make this into a sly joke, her mind wandering to how her hair looked in front of the man "the reason why I looked so angry was because a man, one charming such as yourself removed me from Miss Yae Varones Studio... I didn't have a chance to even explain why I was there... It was rude. I'm sorry, I must have been having one of those moments.." She added in, tilting her head to the side lightly, unsure of what to make of a budding conversation. Being apologetic made her feel weird, and it must have shown in her tone that she was not adept at apologizing but it was an attempt. Lizzy brushed her hair back, behind her left ear, a nervous twitch she often performed when not feeling in her game but it revealed a small silver stud in her left earlobe to the man, one of the two at least, the other was in the right earlobe hidden neatly through the other side of her red forest of hair. I better not break into a sweat because of him... The thought entered her mind even though she did not do such a bodily thing often, it was rare but sweating would be terrible, especially with the corset wrapped tightly, tied, and buttoned down to give her a facade of trim posture and body shape and she was feeling warmer than she should have. "I don't believe I caught your name sir, what was it?" Lizzy questioned after realizing she did not know it, glancing at the pastry in her other hand and then back to him, wondering if it was the pastry, or the mans concern that was making the situation more awkward for her than it should have been "or should I call you the pastry man?"

[Rynhin Quickhand]

Such a sour girl, Rynhin thought to himself as she kept looking at him with the intense gaze. But at the very least it must have had some effect since she was blushing, unless it was a blush of anger. But he kept the friendly smile on his face, he wasn’t going to give up this easy.

He gave her a little cheerfull laugh as she told him about the man who had removed her.
“As charming as me? Impossible!”
No wonder they removed her if she looked this sour all the time, but then again didn’t most noble women do? But he kept these thoughts to himself.

Putting on a more serious expression, only half faked since he could actually target his anger towards the rich who thought they could treat people as they pleased, and turned around to face the way she had been glaring with that angry expression. Pretending to search for the man who had removed her, but he needed a break from that mean look before he lost his friendly attitude towards her.
“Such a horrible way to treat a lady! You should file a complaint!” That sounded like something a nobleman would do when they were upset with how they had been treated, even though it was easier to just ignore it or find a way to kill the one who had offended if it was serious enough.
“I assure you that this man must prefer men, otherwise he would not treat a pretty lady as yourself in such rude manners!” Which was also only a half lie since she was pretty enough with her red hair and she wasn’t really lacking in womanly curves.
“I should go over there myself and give him an earful myself!” He continued on with his rant before he collected himself to turn around and face that sour expression again. His eye caught the sight of the stud in her ear, making it three pieces of jewelry. She couldn’t be too poor he concluded, unless all her money went into such useless things.

He casually waved her attempt of an apology away, was she really as common as she wanted him to believe?
“No need to apologize, my lady. If anything it is I who should apologize for disturbing you so rudely!” The friendly smile was back on his lips and he gave her another bow. He wasn’t practiced at bowing as some of the rich seemed to do to each other but he had done it enough to make a decent imitation.
“You can call me Ryn.” He didn’t give her his whole name, a little mystery never hurt and he didn’t want to make up a fake name incase he forgot it later on.
“May I have the pleasure of knowing yours, my lady?” He asked as he straightened again.

editFixed a spelling mistake.

[Lizzy MacBeth]

Lizzy watched him somewhat confusedly as she attempted to resist being distracted by a certain food item in her hand, the feeling of a soft pastry in her hand, golden brown and baked to a crisp perfection, the smell was heavenly but she persevered. "I don't think-" She was about to put in as he mentioned complaints, but she shut up easily enough when he continued on as she followed him, always remaining a few feet away for good measure "I-" She attempted again while his back was still turned towards her, lips turning into a pout for being cut off again and listened politely; Lizzys annoyance was beginning to grow over him, and the dramatic way, but he spoke well enough. Is this the proper way to go about things..? I'm pretty sure I'm the one at fault here, Rhysol forbid this man from getting into trouble.. Lizzy thought to herself, digging around for the many years of memories that involved such mannerisms. Rolling her eyes ever so slightly as he turned back to her, leaning backwards a bit and looking over to the Studios direction; deciding whether she should just leave him or bring him with her to talk. Listening still. Ears straining to be attentive to him, it was a subtle detail in his choice of words but it had caught her attention as she looked back to him. The look on Lizzys face was dissatsification. "You mean 'you may' not 'you can' am I correct, Ryn?" It was such a minor detail, a very small one as she raised an eyebrow, empathizing her words "Ryn?" Lizzy repeated, softly as if questioning, trying to remember if he was anywhere near influential "Just Ryn, or is there a last name as well?" She remained impassive to his nature, only the beginnings of an irritated smile seeped into the corners of her mouth "I am Eliza MacBeth, you may not call me Lizzy." There was a difference in how she had worded her introduction, a minor difference, but it made her sentence far more proper than his had been.

[Rynhin Quickhand]

Rynhin cringed on the inside as he saw her distant look change to dissatisfaction, he had made a mistake. What had he done wrong? Could he fix it?
An annoyed expression flashed over his face after hearing the reason for her scowl, did she even have another expression anyways? What is wrong with this girl? Noting petty things like that, commoner my petching ass. He quickly smoothed over his annoyance and waved dismissively at the comment. This shouldn’t be too hard to smooth over.

“My apologizes, my lady. My fellow merchants always tell me I spend too much time among my common employees and they say it’s starting to rub off on me. It seems they might have a point!”

He took a smile bite out of the pastry, finer people did just takes small bites, didn’t they? He couldn’t imagine them gobble down a pastry, before he continued.

“Ah, delicious! The fine woman who made this should have asked for much more than she did!” He looked back over at the woman selling the pastries.

“I’ll have to remind myself to give her some extra later! I might even ask her to become my cook! Pastries every day.. What a wonderful life that would be.” He looked back towards the woman in front of him.

“Oh I’m sorry, Lizzy was it? Yes, Ryn. I don’t see the need for last names, people tend to give others too much credit for them. A name does not make you who you are.” If she wanted to be an annoying brat then he could too be annoying! Besides, weren’t most nobles annoying in the first place? At least most he had experienced were. He took another bite of the pastry and threw her another smile.

“You should really try this, it’s delicious!” He tilted his head. “But should you not add a but in your introduction? But you may not call me Lizzy? Or maybe it’s just me who thought your way of speaking sounded flawed.” He said in a stuck up tone that annoyed even him. He cringed a little on the inside again, he shouldn't have done that. He should have more nerves than this, he needed to guide the conversation to a more pleasant subject.

“Oh well no matter.” He waved his hand dismissively again and adjusted his hat a little. “So tell me Lizzy, do you live here in Ravok? Such a lovely place this city, built on a lake of all things! Amazing!” He rambled on in a much more friendly, slightly forced tone. She was such a brat, he should just go find someone else to ask for information instead of putting up with this! Yshul give him patience. But he had already started, could as well see if she was of any use. At the very least he would get some training in patience. A thought struck him.

“Oh and tell me about this..” He had to search his memory for the name. “Miss Yae Varones Studio was it?”

[Lizzy MacBeth]

The flash had not gone unnoticed and brought a visible smile on her lips, and what may have been suprising, Lizzys sour face went calm, relaxed as she listened to him try to smooth over his small mistake. But this was not an expression that would tell Ryn he had fixed the problem if he caught on quickly, depending on how he would look at it, Lizzy might have been preparing to tell him off with that confidently growing smirk on her face. Yet she let him blabber on, listening closely to what he was saying. Hah hah, he's being silly.. If other nobles, or influential people all acted like this.. I wonder how Ravok would be right now? Lizzy thought to herself, pondering lightly. 'Lizzy' passed through her ears, causing her to raise an eyebrow again and go stern with him for not having of complied with her request, switching to an annoyance rivaling excitement. Touche, Lizzy thought to herself as a wider smirk slid on her face, en gaurde then good sir. Taking a normal sized bite into her own and chewing slowly, savoring it and letting her tastebuds come alive with the flakey goodness, the solid sugary tasting cream inside revealing itself and a smidge on the bite she had consumed, he was right- the pastry did taste great. Briefly, she shut her eyes, imagining a life beforehand before snapping her eyelids back open and staring at him, pondering her words carefully. "Thankyou for correcting me Ryn, I should have added a 'but' however, I believe that is to be ignored because of your own mistake; it's only fair" Lizzy pointed out, defending herself, "but anyways, yes I live in Ravok with my own apartment, I take it you're a tourist sight seeing then" she kept her distance but in a friendly motion she was a little closer to him "your amazement of the cities location saids you are," she smiled a bit, glad an outsider enjoyed the city even if she were taking a wild guess based on the context of his sentence as well as the tone he had with her when asking the question. Lizzy took another bite, thoughtfully ignoring his question of the studio, thinking her words carefully before swallowing and replying "yes, Miss Yae Varones Studio, I was looking to learn how to make some of their coffee, or just coffee in general, expensive as it is" Lizzys eyes went a little distant as she remembered the great taste of such a liquid treat "my father would have coffee made in the morning, and we would always drink it in his study so I wanted to attempt to recreate that feeling." Smiling at the thought as she went absent minded over the situation, before realizing she was going off subject, she blushed nervously and apologized again "I'm sorry, I'm sure you wouldn't want to know of that."