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Date: 05-28-11
Poster: Lazare Carno
Post # 76
Good
Times
Good times. They should never be taken for granted. As most things in
life, every single good time should be savored and appreciated, long
after the fact. Carno leaned with both arms crossed on the bar counter,
chatting with Alex, about the morning's training, certain young knights
that had caught the experienced eyes of the older knights and King. And
everything in between. There was the occasional laugh from Alex as he
saw to his duties, that joined in by Lazare, but it would not be this
particular One of Four not to keep that smile in place even when the
conversation died down. It would also not be like this One, not to have
food before him, and a good stout ale to accompany it. Alex had seen to
both, so yes, Lazare Carno was quite content for the now.
Having finally made it back to Heathfield proper, the furrier had put
her horses up, stowed her gear in the stables, and then made her way to
the tavern. Up the steps she went, her feet making hardly any sound, and
the floorboards surely not squealing much, if any, beneath her light
weight. She blew in the door as a rush of wind behind her aided her
ingress, the soft scent of rose and heather sweeping in before her to
the bar. She was dressed in buckskin pants, a light blue cotton shirt,
men's style, and a loose suede vest of her own making. The blue of the
shirt made the black opal bluegreen fusion of her eyes more on the blue
side at the moment. Her hair was in a thick braid dangling down past her
backside, the color of it more blonde than it had been in the winter,
shimmering highlights of gold and bronze vying with the deeper tones of
honey brown. A saddle bag hung over one slim shoulder, as the little
Frenchwoman aimed little feet for the bar. She graced a pleasant smile
at the man leaning there, and then waved a hand to Alex with a charming
smile. Only the French could be so charming with just a smile.
"Bonjour, Alex! I am returned, oui? Did you think perhaps I had
gotten lost, nevair to return, hmm?"
At first it was the breeze that caught this particular Horseman's
notice, and because of it, he drew in a deep breath and turned to watch
the lady's approach. His smiled never faltered and he offered her a nod
of greeting since she spoke for the now to the familiar, kind man behind
the bar. Her accent, ah yes, the accent, could not be denied. That made
it all the more reason for Karl's man to smile as he turned back to his
food while the two greeted one another. It was, without doubt, a good
thing that de Vimeure was not at the moment within.
Bluegreens flicked over to the man smiling over his food, before Alex
supplied her with a nice, hot mulled wine. It was almost as if the man
knew she was coming, she would swear! "Merci, Alex. As always, you
anticipate my need, oui?" Settling the heavy saddlebags on the
bartop, though down at the end, out of the way, she put a foot on a
stool rung and then hoisted herself upwards to land on a stool.
"Whatever Hazel is cooking, I would love to have this, oui. I am
starving!" Indeed, the furrier looked even more lean than she had
on her departure to trap furs. It had been a hard spring for her.
"I got trapped behind a landslide in a little valley, Alex. The
sides were so sheer I could not climb out. A canyon, more like."
Shaking her head, she sipped her wine.
Lazare slanted a look in her direction with a cant of head. "But
here you are, Lass. Did you take flight?" With those words, he
leaned back, to check behind her for wings. The bread he had torn from
his loaf still in hand and on the way to his mouth as he grinned and
shook his head, no, not wings to be seen.
She gave him a sideways look through her lashes, long and lush as they
were, just as he turned to look at her. She flushed just a tad at having
been caught looking at him, her skin, now more bronze than the cream of
the winter, barely showed it. He reminded her of the night here, in
early winter, when she had seen a man fly off from here, having been
looking at her window at just that time. Or thought she had, anyway! A
bemused look flickered in her eyes, before she answered. "Oh,
non...monsieur..? I had to wait until the heavy snow and ice melted from
the landslide, before I could dig out a path. I should perhaps have said
"we", for I was not alone. I had my Trésor, my stallion, and
my pack horse. I could not climb out an leave them to starve, oui? I
must to wait for spring, before I could attempt it, for them. As it was,
we nearly ran out of food. I think I hunted that valley clear of
anything to feed us."
He had tugged off a bite of that crusty bread, chewing the while it took
her to comprehend and explain, the flash of enjoyment for the food and
the company evident in his eyes. "Especially, since last I recall,
a horse is not often fond of hunted game." He reached out and took
up his tankard, clearing away the swallowed food before continuing.
"So it must have been quite the task to keep them hale enough to
make the journey home once the pass had cleared." His gaze swept
over her, not in the way of some men, but more to take in her well being
considering her plight. "Aye, Alex, have Hazel fix her a plate
heaping with her finest. The lass could use some plumping up." A
soft wink followed his tease, knowing that the French suffered when it
came to a sense of humor.
The girl's head tipped in purely gallic fashion, her lithe little form
turning to an angle to more face him, as her lips, that funny little
upside down mouth, pursed in consideration at him. A light little laugh
finally left her and her hands fluttered before her."
Monsieur..." And so he would remain, as he had not given her his
name at her slight questioning tone during her explanation..... "A
mash of wild oats, berries, and ground nuts will feed a horse nicely,
but one must still to *hunt* for it, though one does not use any bullets
or bolts to garner said items. I scavenged all over that little valley
for foodstuffs for all of us, both carnivore and herbivore." Thank
you very much, her tone said. Yes, she was French, and could use a
little humor injection! Then he hit her in her vanity! A disconcerted
look crossed her face and she looked down at herself in dismay.
"Have I gone scrawny, then...?" Tones of horror in her voice.
Smiling still as her bravado took over, he listened as she explained the
definition of the word that he had early misquoted. He tipped his
tankard to her in a salute, then looked to Alex with her question. The
bread in hand motioned to the lass for Alex to answer. Carno didn't know
how thin she was to begin with to know if she had 'gone scrawny'. Alex,
however, would have no part of their discussion. He just continued to do
what he did, even if he had a suppressed smile with his eavesdropping.
Since Lazare could garner no help there, he looked back to the woman.
"By no means, scrawny, Miss." While she waited for her food to
arrive, he scooted his plate closer to her. "But anyone could use
the extra rations to return what body weight they had lost after such an
ordeal, at least, in my humble opinion." He dipped his head to her,
motioning to the vittles on his plate for her to share during the
anticipation of her own arriving. "Carno, by the way."
She gave a little squint to Alex for not answering, though she could
appreciate his desire to stay out of it. Her feminine side appreciated
the answer from the stranger, who was so kind as to push his plate
towards her. Normally, she would never have even thought of doing such,
with a stranger's plate...but...oh, Heavens above. That was *bread*.
Real, fresh, yeasty...bread. Something the French could not resist, or
rarely so. Her eyes positively fondled it as she spoke. "...My last
meal...oui, eet was zee last of my root vegetables...and the last, very
withered apple." Eyes on that bread as if hypnotized, she quite
forgot her attempts to lessen her accent, and so the last part came out
heavily tainted with it. Slim fingers dared to reach out for a hunk of
that lovely looking bread. "Ees there buerre to go with eet?"
Butter, if he knew that word.
With the palm of his hand, he twisted the plate around, exposing the
soft, white butter on the other side of the mound of bread, potatoes,
roasted beef. There was a shallow valley in the middle of it where he
had scooped his own bread through, but she was welcome to it. Being the
warrior, it never occurred to him that a lady may not wish to share a
plate with a stranger. He had extra, it was just the thing to do.
"So, am I to be graced with your name as well, Miss? Or do I just
get to refer to you as the Once-lost-now-found Miss-o'-the-Valley?"
"Oh....oh! Je suis *tres* desolais....! It is lovely to meet you,
Monsieur Carno. I am Evony Jolie. I do apologize...." It was the
bread...soft, succulent, yeasty bread..the thought of tasting it once
more that had cost her the proper manners. She gave the man a truly
penitent look, and smiled more warmly. She took up the bread, tore off a
chunk, and then pulled a dagger from her boot to take up some butter.
Spreading it on the bread, she took her first bite, and her eyes closed
in near orgasmic delight...at least to look at her, anyway. Her mouth
smiled, her shoulders rose up in voluptuous expression of delight, as
she began to chew. A little moan of enjoyment left her, entirely unaware
of this.
Was there any wonder why Lazare enjoyed his meals? To see her so
enraptured with just a bite of butter slicked bread, now this was a
woman. "Quite the pleasure, Miss Jolie." Now, that pleasure
could come from many aspects of making her acquaintance, considering....
It was perhaps a disappointment when Alex placed Evony's own plate upon
the counter for her further consumption.
She opened her eyes as the man spoke, her smile full of gratitude for
giving her the bread, and then she looked to Alex at the sound of the
plate sliding across the bartop. "Ah, bon! Merci, Alex! Please to
tell Hazel the same, oui? Mmmm...this looks so very good." She took
up a fork and smiled at Lazare. "Merci, to you as well, Monsieur
Carno, for sharing such excellent fare."
"It is one of my many delights in this life, Miss." He nodded
to her, allowing her to start her meal even though he was riddled with
questions he wished to ask. Nourishment first, casual conversation ...
in the midst of it.
She ate with the manners of a lady, but there must be admitted, it was
with rather a ravenous bent, in this case, at this time. She truly had
been on the verge of starving, though had carefully husbanded herself
and her animals to make it home. Though she was not yet home, as it
were. This was a rest stop on the way to her cottage. It did not take
her long, though, to reach fullness, and so she pushed her plate away,
wiped her lips, and gave a replete sigh of content. "Oh, le bon
dieu, mais that was gooood." She topped it off with another sip of
her cooling mulled wine and then smiled at both men. "La, it is
good to eat when one is truly hungery, oui?" This directed at
Lazare.
"Especially then." He chuckled, nodding off his agreement to
that fact. Although, it seemed Lazare was always eating, and so, it was
without question, he was always hungry. But then, he enjoyed every
aspect of his existence. Life was too short, given his profession, not
to.
There were a number of things to see to after the morning's practice.
Trevor made sure to wash up good and although casually attired, he
looked impeccable as usual. This was the side presented, immaculate, but
there were a lot of surprises to this particular Kingsman, one of the
four horsemen, as one got to know him better. He appeared there within
the door frame cutting off the light from outside for a moment as he
surveyed the room in a quick eye sweep, pausing on Lazare. "Your
counterpart didn't come?" Was there just a twitch at the corner of
his mouth as he continued to the bar. A cordial nod given the woman.
"Top o' the Morn."
She smiled at his understanding, before signaling to Alex with a
languid, and purely gallic, wave of her hand, though there was not even
one iota of arrogance about it, simply a very hungry woman relieved of
hunger, and having a very pleasant time of it, compared, certainly to
her hard, difficult journey home. The hollows of her cheeks were more
intense than they had been, it was sure, and she was weary looking,
though not sleepy. Her buckskin pants showed a lot of wear and tear,
along with the dust of a long road trip, or in this case, more offroad....and
her blue cotton shirt and suede vest were nearly as worn, looking. The
braid was not neat and tidy, though long and lush, glinting with liquid
gold highlights from the sun. Bluegreen eyes turned to the man suddenly
there, and a quiet one he was, in his movements! She smiled graciously
at him, with a tip of her head, before speaking to Alex. "A bottle
wine would be delightful, sir. Something light, crisp, and somewhat
sweet, if you have it, sil vous plait."
Lazare had just opened his mouth to speak, to start his questions, when
he heard none other than Trevor Cairns! With a slap of hand on the
counter, which caused his plate to dance, he pulled his eyes from the
lady over to the man entering. "Aye, he has but only just
now!" Carno waved Trevor over to join them. In truth, each of the
Four was Lazare's counterpart.
Casually attired meant he went without the surcoat, leaving the finely
tailored vest of black satin with a minute black on black design over a
pristine dressshirt. Pants of black as well the polished tooled boots.
Hair had grown a little longer and only curled more that was tied off at
the nape of his neck. "Had I known my comrade to keep such pleasant
company, I would have arrived sooner." Slight dip of his head and a
smile to hint that touched more in dark eyes than upon his lips. He was
taking in her features in a leisurely thorough way before lifting from
the more pleasant sight to .. Lazare. At the bar by this time as well.
Yes, they were all counterparts but Dana and Lazare shared a continual
verbal one to the amusement of all. "Sir Trevor Cairns at your
service and if I may have the Lady's name?" Slight lift of brows
though surely it would be forthcoming.
"Evony Jolie." Lazare offered it for her.
She opened her funnily shaped mouth to answer, but there Lazare had it
given her name for her. She smiled, then, nodding her head. "It is
a great plaisir to meet you, Monsieur Cairns. I have been sadly detained
away from here, else I may have met you before now. I emigrated here in
..Oh, I think it was late fall."
Lazare stripped off a slice of meat, looking between Trevor and Evony as
it made its way to his mouth. She offered far more information for
Trevor, and so, that answered one of Lazare's questions.
"I have not been out and about as in former years so I would not
have known. I am sorry to hear your detainment was possibly not to your
liking?" He was going on what he picked up from her. Call it vibes,
call it something else. "I have the plaisir now, Evony," the
smile touched a bit more before gone, a fleeting thing at times that one
sometimes wonder if they saw it at all. Then again, there were other
times it was fully there without question at all.
It was somehow easier to offer more when there were more people present,
somehow, than when it was a single man she did not know, Alex
notwithstanding. Easier to be less shy and elusive. Her smile included
both men as she answered the one, careful not to show preferences for
one or the other. And how *was* Conor doing, she wondered? He had quite
likely forgotten her, by now, not that there had been anything between
them other than what she like to think of as a spark of attraction. But
surely that was long forgotten now, with her near six month absence.
"I am a furrier by trade, monsieurs. I was out trapping for certain
animals better furred in colder weather, and before I knew it, an
landslide..or I suppose I should call it an avalanche...blocked me into
a small canyon. I was trapped there until the weather turned enough to
melt the snow and ice. I had to dig out a path for my horses and myself.
We got a bit hungery (again mispronouncing the word) before we got
out."
"A woman that fits in the wild as well she does socially," one
would not be able to tell as he could see her in a courtroom in full
bloom of gown and yet in leather trappings out seeking her prey. Such a
visual held Trevor a moment for good reasons of his own. There and gone
with the slight hint of a smile again. It was even possible she could
have caught the slight French flow when he spoke the one French word.
"I hope, that if it was within these lands, it was a canyon that
had one of the emergency cabins, fully stocked." Not knowing for
sure where she had been trapping other than she was a citizen of these
lands. Taking one of the utensils left there, he stabbed one of Lazare's
small potatoes when he was distracted to the lovely lady, lovely
features, and consumed it without aplomb.
Question number four ... answered. Lazare popped a small wedge of potato
in his mouth, grinning as he chewed as Trevor said just the right
things. Not unlike his offer to the lady, he caught Trevor's sneak
attack, and he poked his eating dagger at the thief's hand, missing it
on purpose but none-the-less making the attempt. "So now, the lass
is scrawny-ish." He added the last as he looked to her with a grin,
then in popped another potato.
"Indeed, it did, Monsieur Cairns, alas, it was crushed by the
weight of the avalanche. I could not get into it. Indeed, I did not even
realize its existence until the late spring thaw, and only discovered it
as I was digging out that path. I suppose I should let someone in
authority know this, so that it can be repaired and resupplied...perhaps
moved a bit south of the mouth of that canyon." A grin curled her
upside down mouth as she saw the stabbing of the potato and the
attempted stab of the dagger by Lazare. "....Scrawnyish...but...but
you said I was not..!" A faint look of dismay again tainted her
features. Such a vain thing, is the female! Another look down at her
body, which had lost some of its finer curves at hip and thigh, yet was
still lush at breast, at least.
"Miss, I said you were not scrawny...only ish."
Blonde brows rose up at the distinction.
-c- |
