11-19-05
Characters involved: Lily & Keita.
Halyard Tavern: Main Room
The morning has passed in a quiet manner, and Lily has found every reason to be out in the cold weather. Firewood has been cut and stacked, the outside windows have been washed and cleared of built up snow, the entry way shoveled and salted, and the outside of the pub is free of cobwebs and dirt. Through the back door of the tavern Lily finally stomps through, a lack of work and the bite of cold forcing her inside. She hovers around the pile of flour sacks that had made her bed last night, scooting the mess of padding closer to the cooking stove for heat.
Keita has been in the main tavern all morning, cleaning and polishing and repolishing what she's cleaned. It's a process. Of avoidance. Because two are better at avoiding than one. Still, her work eventually brings her to the back room, unfortunately - or fortunately? - at the same time as Lily finds her way there. She's carrying a sack with a few bottles in it when she enters, and they clink together when she stops, Lily's presence bringing her to a halt. Looking startled, she immediately drops her gaze to the ground. She clears her throat softly, then continues over to a table, where she sets the sack. Never looking at Lily.
Lily rubs her paws furiously against each other, crouching on her feet and trying to give some warmth to her bluish paw pads. Her ears snap up as the other enters, and her eyes skim over Keita for a split second before locking in on the stove. After an uncomfortable silence, she stands up and grabs her bulky coat from the table. "We're outta whiskey. M'going t' th' mountain t'see iffen Neville can spare some t' tide us over 'till I can get t'th' supplier." Lily says in a heavy voice.
"Let 'em go without whiskey for a while," Keita mutters with some small measure of edginess to her voice.
Lily runs her thumb over a slice in her left paw from picking up glass late at night. A task, as it was found out, that is hard to do with eyes full of tears. "An' lose business? Doesn't sound like th' Kei /I/ know." Lily hisses back.
"Maybe the 'Kei' you know isn't the real Keita," she counters obstinately, pulling the drawstring on the sack open and yanking out the bottles inside.
Lily wrinkles up her nose, the coat getting curled into her arms for protection. "S'tha' so? So y' lied t' me." Lilt replies with a husky snort through her nostrils.
Keita sighs, unhappily. "You've been lyin' to yerself, Lil'." She turns, looking over her shoulder. "Haven't ya heard? I harbor murderahs. I'm a traitah. Hell, I ruined /yer/ life."
Lily grumbles and shifts her weight. "S'not true. Who are you t' take th' words o' ah ruddy buck t' heart like tha'?" The doe retorts. "/I/ don' think y'are... doesn't tha' even matter t'yah?" Lily frowns and shakes her head. "No, y'didn't. M'fine... aren't I? Y'didn't ruin 'nything."
"I'm not a good beast, Lil'. All I've evah cared about was doin' the best thing for m'self. All I evah cared about was m'own profit." Keita's practically spitting out her words, at this point. "I treated /you/ like you were convenient 'stead of one o' the best things that evah happened t' me. I drove ya away. What do I have t' do in ordah t' convince you that I'm bad for ya?"
Lily's ears flump around her shoulders. The tightly coiled coat in her arms loosens slightly. "S'not true." She replies back weakly. But the case against it keeps piling up. Lily feels her throat choke up and the back of her eyes begin to prick up. "I don't care. None o' it. If I'm ah convenience, then tha's wot I am. I'd take tha' over not being wi' yah at all." Lily admits, slipping her coat on slowly. With a few quick steps the doe pushes up closer to Kei and kisses her quickly. She adjusts her coat and avoids the eyes of the other. "I'll be back by dark." Lily turns to leave through the back door.
