Diana Meets Endolf. [Private Social]

Diana was happy to be out and about without her right arm, aka her baby pigeon hawk, Divebomb. Even though she loved him very much and was, for all intents and purposes, his mother, it was nice to spend some time without him. The weight off her arm was most relaxing, it felt as if she herself might fly away.

The brunette falconer had just spent the night out at the coliseum the night before so tonight it would be good to have a little variety. It was a small stall between stores, armor outfitting boutique to the left and perfumes, oils and scents to the right, with a little food stall cozy. It had premium foods and seasonings from all over the world. Fish, poultry, lamb, beef, pork and many other choices. It has just enough seasoning to enhance the flavor, and they also sold a few brands of wine to compliment the meal. It was inexpensive comparatively since the choices were so limited but so delicious.

Diana ordered a broiled fish to take home to Divebomb and she ordered herself a rack of lamb, as she made some small talk with the store owner, enjoying herself, keeping him from working on her meal.

Night had fallen over Reim once more and once again Endolf found himself out and about wandering the streets. The young Fanalis felt that being out in the Reim night life would be helpful to him in his ideas for new techniques. He knew he couldn’t beat Merrze with only what he had available to him in terms of techniques at the moment. Of course an improved sword like his Resentment deserved new ways to showcase its improvements. Lost in his thoughts about ways he could abuse his new weapon in combat he was brought back to the moment by the rumble of his stomach. Taking a look around his surroundings he tried to see what was available to him for food. From the looks of things, not overly much.

Down the way he could see an armor shop just a few buildings down from a shop that seemed to specialize in things like scented oils and candles and similar things. Definitely not a shop he would frequent himself. The armorer, that might have been a different story if it were another day. However, he noticed that, sandwiched between the two shops, was a food stall in full service. A smile crept its way onto his face as he began making his way towards it. After all, it was often unwise to get between a hungry Fanalis and a meal. Taking up a seat he noticed the owner busy in the middle of a conversation with a brunette haired woman.

Honestly he wanted nothing more than to interrupt the two but he supposed it was a good thing in the end. At least this way he’d be able to decide on what he wanted to order first.

"Oh, but you have to tell me how the children are, Agrippa. I remember last time Gaius was here, I saw that he had sprung up half a foot!" She even showed the difference in height with her hand, which cut just under her bosom, and raised to nearly her collarbone, the brunettes expression morphing to a light-hearted laughter. The vendor let out a slight laugh, but he saw his new customer out of the corner of his eyes as he turned to face him.

"This is what we have, son." Agrippa looked at the boy and could tell he was a Fanalis, for some reason Fanalis were great customers of his since they tended to lean towards the carnivorous side of the diet spectrum. The food merchant was the only owner of the stall so he knew this red-haired boy had never been here before. His arm outstretched over his food stall counter and pointed to the base of his stall, where there was a menu.

"This is everything we offer, son, I'm sure you'll love it, this miss is one of the many who keep coming back to eat here." Diana smiled and now took the show. "Ooooh, you know what I recommend beside the rack of lamb," Diana tapped the edge of her plate simultaneously, signaling to him what was on it, " the pork tenderloin! He sears it to keep the juices and flavor in, the seasoning always enhances the flavor, and it's hot and tastes amazing."

Diana turned away for a second to take a bite of her meal, but now her body was turned to Endolf and Agrippa to have an open conversation with the three of them.

Endolf didn’t have a lot of time to wait before he was noticed taking a seat at the stall. Agrippa, he had caught the man’s name when he approached the stall as the two were in a decently deep conversation with each other, welcomed him with a display of the whole menu for him to decide from. He continued to bolster his own abilities as a chef by explaining that the woman who sat with them continued to return regularly. As Endolf looked the menu over it was the girl’s turn to try and talk the food up, pointing out the fact that she was eating lamb and that the pork tenderloin was well beyond worth looking into. Unfortunately Endolf couldn’t bring himself to order that dish even if he wanted to. The memories of his trip to Kou with Mer, of sitting in one of the food stalls eating pork kebabs and bowls of pork noodles having yet to fade away. It kinda made the whole “revenge” thing a bit harder for him, having somewhat enjoyable memories of his time with his former teacher, he realized.

“As great as the pork sounds, I think I’ll try the lamb. Can’t be too bad if you’ve managed to keep a beauty like her sitting her boasting about it.”

The Fanalis gave Agrippa a cheeky grin before turning it on the girl in question.

“Unless, of course, you’re on the payroll as the pretty face that gets customers eating?”

Diana opened her mouth in surprise for a split second, then her hand covered up her opened lips as her lips and cheeks peaked out of the silhouette of her hand, revealing the hint of a smile. She turned from Endolf, and turned to Agrippa, getting off of her seat. In one quick motion, she gave the clerk a fullbody shove onto his bicep. "Hey, did you hear that? You ought a be paying ME to eat here."

She plotzed back into her stool and turned to Endolf, letting out the hint of laughter. "Oh, god. I don't think this is the first time this has happened either! Thanks for that." The chef was also smiling and nodding but he knew it was true, having Diana around was like a good omen. "Well, MY name is Diana, this is Agrippa." Her hands cupped her wine glass, while she gave a glare to Agrippa. It prompted the store clerk to pour a glass of the same wine for the kid. "On the house."

"And you are?" Diana raised her glass to the Fanalis, awaiting for the cheers. "To a good year, new friends and new experiences."

Endolf found himself smiling, genuinely, for the first time since leaving Kou as he watched the woman’s reactions. For a moment a look of surprise passed over her face before she placed a hand over her open mouth. The Fanalis could tell she was trying to hide a smile of her own, the corners of her mouth peeking out from behind the cover of her hand. However she pulled her hand away and turned towards the stall owner, recounting to him how Endolf made it sound as if he thought she should be paid for eating at the stall. The young redhead had to shake his head for a moment while he listened to her, only turning back towards he when she explained that it wasn’t the first time someone had said something like that either. Shortly after she introduced herself as Diana and the stall owner as Agrippa, whom he had already gathered from the conversation they were having when he had approached.

A glass of wine appeared on the counter in front of him, on the house as Agrippa told him. Of course he could tell that Diana had influenced the decision, given the glare she had given him prior. The girl went on to ask his name while picking up her own glass of wine and holding it into the air, apparently waiting for him to toast with her.

“Endolf.”

Clinking his glass against hers Diana made a toast to a good year, new friends and new experiences. The young Fanalis simply nodded in agreement before beginning to sip away at his wine while waiting for his lamb.

Diana smiled with a mouthful, "Mm, ish that ahn ahnaghram off fondle?" Before she could utter a laugh, she choked on her bite. Her face lit up red as she was coughing, one hand was used to cover her pinkish cheeks and the other over her mouth as she turned away.

Agrippa shook his head with a smile, "Serves ya right from trying to take money from an old man." He pulled Endolfs meal from a metallic furnace that he used for his cooking. There were no sides, but a bit of garnish ontop and the plate was filled in a circular pattern of the lamb. The fresh meal filled the small area with its piquant scent. The  zesty aroma was mouthwatering, and the juicy plate of meat, dressed in the right amount of pepper, salt and other condiments sat before Endolf.

Finally, Diana was feeling better and turned to her plate. "Ugh! It's disgusting how good you can cook Agrippa." Diana took another bite of her food a bit more careful about how it went down. "So tell me a bit about yourself. What kind of work do you do?" Diana assumed he was from the area, since he didn't particularly stand out except for his red-hair, which lead to another assumption about his fanalis origins.

As Endolf drank his wine and awaited his food he listened to Diana speak through a mouth full of food and nearly choked on his wine when she asked if his name was an anagram of the word fondle. Of course this lead to the girl herself almost choke on her food as well. Though since the Fanalis had only been consuming liquid he had managed to recover a bit quicker than she did.

“N-no.”

He did his best to get the word out around his continued coughs, his throat trying to clear itself of the wine.

“I-it’s just the name I picked for myself when I started living in Reim. Though, I suppose it could be if that's what you wanted.”

Thankfully the attention turned to Agrippa who laughed and took a shot at Diana who was still coughing and trying to clear her own airway. The redhead didn’t exactly want to go into the “why” or “how” behind his name, or the beginning of his life in Reim, but he was sure that Diana would ask him about it and wouldn’t fight giving her an explanation. By the time the girl had managed to clear her throat Agrippa had placed a plate in front of Endolf with his order on it. He had to admit, it smelled really damn good. As he reached for his food, ready to rip the meat apart by the bones sticking up from it, Diana took the moment to ask End to tell her about himself and about the kind of work he did.

“I fight in the coliseum mostly. Not a whole lot to tell really."

"Haha. I like how it begins, 'End'. My parents came up with my name because in some story they said Diana was a famous huntress. My parents were both hunters, father used raptors, erm, that means birds of prey, and my mom was an archer. "Bow, shooting gloves, breast plate. The whole shebang." She took a sip of her drink, "I believe there was a famous hunter named Endymion, so I guess I'll call you Endy!"

Her eyes maintained contact with his, as he explained he was a coliseum fighter. "What? I'm so jealous. What's your record like? I've always wanted to participate, and I keep going to watch... but I'm not such a good fighter. I have a raptor myself, named Divebomb, but he's still in training, if you get what I'm saying." Diana's demeanor seemed a little down as she was disappointed with her own level of proficiency, having not achieved one of her goals.