Prytaneum
Discovery
Even as I turned away from the man, his eyes remained on me and made it more than a little hard to relax. I kept an eye on him in my periphery as best I could and noticed that Mama Mia and I weren't the only one's reacting as whispers slowly spread throughout the bar. The cat-man seemed to ignore the attention he was getting completely, much like he ignored the waitress that hesitantly tried to approach him, instead making his way through the bar on his own and settling down at the counter. Only then did his gaze shift away from me, instead focusing on Mama Mia who made another face before moving his way. A knock on the counter seemed to be all it took to make everyone around the man busy themselves with their meals or move away and I saw them start to whisper something before I looked down.
It's none of my business, I told myself—though it sadly wasn't very convincing, seeing as I was becoming increasingly certain that it was about me. Still, I was pretty sure Mama Mia was right about me staying out of trouble, especially of this type; I certainly didn't want to start a fight with someone as strong as he felt in the middle of a bar, especially not when I was now starting to worry that the only real backup I had would get caught in the crossfire. And that's without even getting into everyone else in here.
No, Mama Mia said she'd handle things and it was her job; I'd trust her, at least until she was proven wrong. And if she was…well, I'd do whatever I had to, I guess.
Right now, however, I needed to get Welf's attention. Seeing as Mama Mia was keeping the cat-man more or less distracted, I risked a glance in Welf's direction and saw him digging into his meal with gusto, apparently enjoying it. His eyes, like those of most of the bar, were still trained on the cat-man's back, however, and I took advantage of the bar's distraction to tip over the entire glass of water on his table. Welf's eyes snapped down to look at it and I quickly began to reshape it, starting by turning the arrow from before towards the frowny face. Then, I had to pause and think for a minute before making the rest of the picture, trying to figure out how to communicate what I wanted to say. In the end, I went with large droplets of water with impressions of numbers on them, set to a very rough approximation of the bar—some tables here, the counter there, and so on. I didn't bother detailing everyone or everything, but I noted the people who stood out to me. Welf's dot, for instance, I labeled with a one, whereas I gave the cat-man a five with a plus sign beside it.
Welf looked between it and the bar several times, probably picking out the people that I'd pointed out to him. Even though I knew he couldn't have felt the heat, I could tell that he'd started sweating and he lifted a hand to the collar of his shirt, pulling at it slightly. I let go of the water on the table, allowing it to lose its shape, and then gathered it back up in the shape of an arrow, pointing towards the exit. Welf swallowed slightly, but instead of leaving his money on the table and leaving, he reached into his pocket to pull out the shells I'd given him and put them on the table within easy reach, staying put.
I exhaled slowly and had to fight not to roll my suddenly tense shoulders. I appreciated the show of support, truly—the only issue was that if things went awry, I wasn't sure I'd be able to survive or escape, much less Welf. I'd have to try and play things safe, but if something happened, this could get really ugly, really fast. And I didn't even know why this was happening yet.
And then the room abruptly shifted once more as the doors to the bar's kitchen swung open and Syr stepped through with a smile and a serving tray piled high with food. Normally, it wouldn't have drawn any attention, but it was an unexpected and sudden move in the already tense atmosphere. The cheerful atmosphere of the bar had shifted oddly and the other customers seemed to be searching for something else to look at, focusing a great deal of attention on her. The other waitresses especially seemed on edge, the elf and one of the cat-girl making to approach her before hesitating and remaining where they were. It seemed Welf and I weren't the only ones having silent conversations, because I saw them exchange looks between one another and after a moment Syr seemed to notice the cat-man. When she did, an odd, complicated expression seemed to consume her face, as if she wasn't sure how she was supposed to react and in the end, she didn't, remaining where she was.
Somehow, seeing her react like that seemed to make things even more tense. None of the customers were speaking, none of the waitresses were moving, and the previously jovial bar descended into a silence that no one seemed willing to break.
So I did.
"Syr," I said, rising slightly off my chair and lifting a hand to signal her even as I did my best to act like nothing was wrong.
Immediately, the attention of the room shifted towards me, but I kept my eyes on Syr, who took a deep breath before bringing back her usual smile and making her way towards me. As if my words were a signal, the rest of the room seemed to start back into motion as well, though in the case of the customers, that mainly took the form of a lot of people setting their money on the table and rising to leave.
That seemed to be the last straw for Mama Mia, who promptly threw aside all efforts to talk quietly.
"Oi, Flomel!" She shouted, slamming a hand down in front of him even as the other pointed at his heart. "Either order something or piss off! You're ruining my business!"
The man—Flomel—raised his eyes to meet hers and glared at her for a long minute before looking away and murmuring something I didn't catch. Whatever it was, it seemed to satisfy Mama Mia somewhat as she snorted and turned away. I did my best to pretend I wasn't looking at them as I watched Syr approach, noticing the way her shoulders drooped.
"I'm sorry," Syr whispered as she came close, an almost disappointed expression on her face as she slowly unloaded a small mountain of food in front of me. The enthusiasm I'd expected from her seemed entirely absent. "I wanted you to enjoy your meal, but it seems like things have gotten a bit tense…"
She had no idea. Flomel seemed intent on shooting me the occasional glance and the stare on my back had yet to diminish. But I decided to lie for her sake; if nothing else, years with Gabe had taught me how to ignore it when celebrations seemed to take an awkward turn.
"It's nothing," I said, forcing myself to relax. "I didn't come for the sake of the crowd anyway. It's not going to cause problems for you, is it?"
Somehow, my words seemed to cheer her up as she smiled at me and then undid her apron, hanging it up on one of the hooks on the wall before pulling out the stool nearest to me and taking a seat.
"It should be fine," She said, seeing my confused look. "Considering how many people just left, it seems like things will be slowing down a bit early tonight. Is it okay, Mama?"
Mama Mia glanced towards us, lifting her head in a jerky nod to give the okay, and Syr beamed even as she rested her chin upon her interlaced fingers.
"How does it look?" She asked me, glancing at the food in front of me. "I ordered all my favorites."
I wanted to say that I'd noticed, but I refrained; still, it wouldn't have surprised me if she really had ordered all of her favorites. There were about a half-dozen plates with a few side dishes mixed in, ranging from a bowl of soup I didn't recognize to a platter of roasted meat I didn't recognize to a pasta dish I didn't recognize. Regardless, there was a great deal of it and if I had any actual attachment to my own money, I'd have felt mournful. As is, I was simply baffled as to how she expected me to eat it all, but quickly settled on a solution.
"In that case, you shouldn't mind helping me eat it, right?" I asked her, looking at her askance. "Since you missed breakfast because of me, I guess it makes sense for me to treat you to dinner."
Syr deliberated over that for about half a second before drawing one of the plates in front of her with a smile, either ignoring or not noticing the way Mama Mia closed her eyes tiredly.
"Thank you for this morning, by the way," I said, slowly setting to work on my own dish. "It was very good. I'm sorry that you had to give it to me."
I wasn't even lying; I'd eaten it for lunch while I was waiting for Welf to finish my new armor. Even though it had just been bread and cheese, it had been surprisingly tasty.
"No, no," She disagreed, smiling beautifully at me and laughing it off. "The fact that you came here tonight more than makes it worth it—I'm glad to see you again."
Given the amount of money I was presumably spending, I'd hope so…
"This is a nice place," I said after a moment of awkward silence. I was kind of lying, given…everything, but if people weren't looking at me so intently, it seemed like it'd be a nice place. And however expensive it was, the food was very good.
"It is," Syr replied, nodding. Without me even having to ask, she began to talk about it happily. Most of it was stuff that I'd already guessed, like how the owner, Mama Mia—or rather, Mia Grand—used to be an adventurer or how they only hired women. She mentioned off-hand that Mia welcomed people with open arms, regardless of their background and then went into a bit more depth about the bar itself. But to be honest, I had a hard time focusing on anything she said, not so much because it wasn't interesting as because Flomel had started glaring at me the moment Syr sat down at my side and it was getting worse by the moment.
In and of itself, that didn't really bother me—I was more than used to being stared and glared at. But given the timing and the location, I couldn't help but wonder why; I had someone I'd never met staring holes in my back and someone else I'd never met staring holes in my front. Were they connected? Or rather, if they weren't, why would someone as apparently powerful as this guy care about me—
Oh. It couldn't be, though, right? I couldn't be that simple. But…
"Hey, Syr?" I interrupted, deciding to ask.
"Mm?" She replied.
"Can I ask you something?" I wondered. "I mean, can I ask something about you?"
"Oh," She said, blinking before smiling. "Sure. What do you want to know?"
"Ah," I said, hesitating and scratching my cheek. I didn't consider myself the bashful sort, but even I knew this was a weird question to ask like this. "This is a little embarrassing and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but…do you have a boyfriend?"
The moment the words left my mouth, several things happened at once. First off, the sound of glass shattering echoed throughout the bar, coming from the mug that Flomel had been holding before he, uh, crushed it. So I was guessing I might have touched a nerve there or maybe guessed correctly.
Secondly, all the other waitresses, who'd been milling about cleaning things up, proceeded to pause in the midst of their work and look towards the counter—whether because they'd heard what I'd said or because of Flomel, I wasn't sure.
Thirdly, Syr immediately flushed, looking down and away from me as she stammered something unintelligible.
And finally…Mia slammed her hand down on the countertop hard enough that the entire middle section broke and snapped up into the shape of a V around her fist.
"Flomel!" She roared right into his face. "What the hell do you think you're doing to my property!?"
I wanted to point out that she'd done way more damage herself than he had, but I very carefully did not, remaining focused on Syr.
"Another," Flomel said, seemingly ignoring her anger even as he opened a hand to drop the last of the glass fragments. Instead, he was very definitely looking towards me. In hindsight, maybe I should have asked this question in private, but…live and learn, I guess.
But when Syr mumbled something, I turned back her way and raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry?" I asked.
"I don't," She said shyly, looking away from me. "Why do you ask?"
Damn. Seeing her embarrassed was making me feel embarrassed. I'd just wanted to make sure I wasn't somehow about to find myself between an extremely powerful guy and his girlfriend, but saying it the way I did may have been…
"I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong," I replied, looking away myself. "Sorry."
"Its fine," She mumbled, looking down at the plate in front of her. None of the other waitresses had moved yet, all of them seeming on guard—but nothing happened.
Man, I thought. What a weird night.