Gwendolyn wasn't really expecting a busy night tonight. A few pirates had come in and grumbled at her until she'd gotten them settled, and there was one couple dining on the inside tonight that were chatting shyly as people who have only just begun dating often do. The usual crowd of drunks were by the bar-- they were in a circle this time, watching two bugs under a glass bowl fight each other and placing bets.

The fire in The Widow's Walk was roaring, and the cavernous, endless room was much warmer than it was outside. The darkness was already spreading and the sun had already gone down. Through the glass windows you could see the purple tones of the sky that were giving way to dark blues. The water was already a deep blue that only had a few pink highlights on the crests of the waves.

Gwen found the endless sound of the sea soothing, although she didn't know this herself. She had stopped hearing the crashing of the waves a long time ago. A small grey mouse skittered from one end of the room to the other and she watched it, idly thinking to herself that their old cat had to be replaced. His mousing skills had obviously faded.

As evening faded into night, Gwen fought back a yawn, wondering if she should close the restaurant early and tell the cooks to go home.

Normally, when he needed something to eat he hadn't cooked himself, Charlie was not one to fritter away cash on class. This, he reasoned with himself, was a perfectly prudent move for a young man of limited funds and indiscriminating taste in victuals. If he were being perfectly honest with himself, however, the young Charlie Ewing would admit that it was actually because no respectable establishment would actually let him through the front door.

So it was with muttered prayers and curses alike that he approached the Widow's Walk front door. Of course it had been nearly a year since he'd last been-- maybe he'd get lucky, and they would have changed staff. He almost groaned aloud remember the last time he'd been in. He hadn't thought he'd had quite that much to drink, but, well. Five harassed waitresses (and three waiters) later he had found himself unceremoniously shoved out the door and told never to show his face there again.

"They've gotta let me in," he muttered to himself. "There's not another place in town I can take Laur."

"Oh, Charlie, this is actually quite nice," Laur said, honestly surprised. "I suppose you don't frequent this place much yourself?" A small smirk rampaged across her face, and then left her with her usual deadpan expression seconds later. "Oh, my, are we by the ocean?" Laur had never seen the ocean, of course. Who'd have ever thought it'd be beautiful? The setting sun was sparkling on the waves, and she was rather entranced by it all. Hopefully the presence of a rather surprised and haughty sister would be enough to get Charlie into the Walk.

"Oh yes, it's lovely!" Charlie looked around somewhat nervously. Perhaps they had different staff now. Surely they would have forgotten by now...? He firmly resolved not to even touch a drop of alcohol tonight. If they served him. Which they had to, didn't they? I mean, when a restaurant says "don't ever show your face here again", they don't really mean it... do they? He quickly threaded his way through the other seated patrons to an open table by a window.

Gwen felt the weight of two galdori fields impose upon her consciousness and winced. There were other girls serving, right?... Right? She looked around desperately but they all seemed to have vanished. She caught sight of the pair and followed them with her eyes. Hopefully the other people here wouldn't be too upset. The Widow wasn't exactly known for serving galdori-- but it being the classier sort of establishment generally meant that there was room for leeway.

With a sigh, she checked herself in the reflection of the glass she had been holding earlier and fixed her hair, then moved in smoothly towards the couple. It wasn't until she was a few feet away that she realized she recognized the field. The face confirmed her suspicions. Gwen immediately turned red.

"You!" She managed to gasp at Charlie.

At first, there seemed to be hope. A waitress was approaching their table, and if she wasn't wearing the friendliest of expressions, it was no worse a face than she would show to any other galdor couple. Probably. He remembered her from the... incident. Maybe she wouldn't recognize him. But then her strangled greeting came and he knew he was doomed.

Charlie groaned. Of course she remembered. Was it too much to ask that his sister could visit him and walk away without actually learning anything about him? Or at least not... this thing? This one, particularly embarrassing incident? Charlie Ewing buried his face in his hands for a moment, then smiled weakly up at Gwen.

Laur knew that smile, although what he'd used it for in childhood was not as bad as what he was using it for now. "Charlie? What did you do?" She glared. Charlie would not survive long under her gaze without telling her anything, that was for sure.

Ordinarily, Gwen wouldn't have dared to speak in such a way to any golly (especially one who had brought his date here to eat)-- and yet she was too angry to hold back. "What did he do?! Well I'm too proper t'say where exactly Charlie-boy put 'is hands, but I'll tell ye it weren't anywhere nice." She was bright red now, and shaking. Years of living in Old Rose and working where she did told her that her behavior was perhaps not the most appropriate for the situation. She tried to calm herself.

"I believe we told you we weren't t'serve ye here anymore. Seein' as ye've got a guest, I'll make a clocking exception-- but if I ever catch your ugly go--" Gwen bit her lip again, keeping her from finishing that sentence. Charlie wasn't the only golly here. And he was still dangerous. "Well you en't welcome after this, anyhow."

The humans in Old Rose were more wild than the ones in Vienda, but they weren't stupid.

"What can I get th'pair of ye t'drink?"

Oh good gods. She had outed his bad behaviour in front of his sister. Ooooh Alioe have mercy, she was never going to speak to him again after this.

"Come now," he said, laughing a little nervously, "I'd hardly say I'm ugly." Charlie looked at his sister, then at Gwen, then back to his sister and sighed. "Something with absolutely no alcohol in it whatsoever?"

((Did I see open? Har. Laur needs some real Harbor cultural lessons.))

"Aw, ent that cute." Wavorly smirked from over the rim of his drink, nodding in the direction of the two relatively young galdori who had already managed to cause some kind of excitement from the waitress within moments of their entrance. From his seat in the back of the Walk, there were no words to discern, but the situation still looked more interesting than whatever kind of sportsmanship was going on near the bar.

The wick pointed with a scraggly chin, "Is the Harbor the new vacation spot for the wealthy Vienda type this year?"

"It must be because our rain is so much more ... appropriate. It's quite an attraction, you know." Corwynn mumbled sarcastically as he followed his ex-pirate of a butler's stubbly indication. One of the galdori was definitely too young to be wandering around outside without a school uniform on, especially in a place like this. The other was, well, a bit more of a resident by the looks of things, "Although, honestly, the Arova pales in comparison to the sea anyway."

The red-headed wick laughed and shrugged, not drunk enough to get philosophical, "Now's your chance to bet all the pennies in your pockets and say they get poor Gwynn even more flustered before they even get their meal. I'll venture to say it ent an impossibility."

"All of them? I'll take that bet just to see how you plan on paying for your dinner and your drinks, let alone because both of those gollies are too young to cause the kind of trouble I could get into." The gunman rolled his eyes and settled into watch, smugly satisfied that additional strife was not on the menu.

"Erm...do you have lemonade? Thank you." Laur didn't drink, as a rule. Stupid. "Charlie, please tell me you only harassed the one waitress and not a whole restaurant full. I can't believe you. Absolutely disgusting, Charlie. Thought you'd learned your lesson after the time you felt up that sixth form when you were twelve." She would make an exception to how she usually treated waitstaff and apologize to this woman, whatever race she happened to be. Her brother was an absolute idiot. She wouldn't have let him in here if it was her serving. "That's right, you better not be clocking drinking. Can't have you kicked out again."

Gwen decided not to tell Charlie's girlfriend the whole story. She wasn't ready to risk his wrath. Privately, she thought the girl looked a little young for him-- but gollies were weird that way. When Laur ordered she blinked once and her cheeks reddened. Was she suggesting their ale wasn't good? Where did this girl think she was-- clocking Brunnhold? Old Rose was known for the good quality of it's alcohol!

"Of course, ma'am." She half wondered if she should tell the bartender to spike the lemonade. "We've got plenty o' fine ales and whiskeys, though. If ye'd like to have some o' that. Your brother can tell ye what fine quality they are." Gwen glanced haughtily at Charlie and made a face. "And I'll be bringin' you some water...sir."

After a short pause she cleared her throat, "Uh...and what'll you have t'night? We got all sorts of fish-- uh...and we can bread it, or fillet it or y'know. Whatever ye be likin'. And we've got clam stew."

Laur looked up from glaring at her brother when she saw Gwen approaching.
"Oh, by the way, miss, let me just say that I'm terribly sorry for whatever horribly uncouth thing my brother did however long ago. To put it bluntly, he's a clocking idiot. As for the lemonade, I'm not much of a drinker, but I'll certainly try a taste of ale. And I think I'll have the clam stew, unless there's anything particularly special on tonight. You, Charlie?"

His pride was a bit assaulted here. Now he was being a good boy for his sister, but this was a little much. He wasn't about to be scolded by her in front of a waitress. "I'll have whatever you recommend," he said to Gwen, a rather familiar note creeping back into his voice. "As I'm sure you would know what's best." It was almost a purr, really, a sort of seductive tone he probably had been ill-equipped to use the last time he had been in the establishment. He gave Gwen one of his slow, lazy smiles and arched his eyebrows at her. Good boy be damned, he had a reputation to uphold.

"Maybe you should order them a round of something ... to spice things up a little." Corwynn teased his red-headed companion, idly pushing the remains of his dinner around on his plate. It wasn't that it hadn't been tasty (there was hardly anywhere better than the Widow's Walk, really); the gunman had simply found himself without as much of an appetite as of late.

"Me? I ent one to hit on schoolgirls, Cor." Wavorly laughed, broad grin spreading across his sea-weathered features. He taunted further, "You've got a bit more experience in that department."

"Oh, aye," the older galdor returned with a sly, amused smile, "I suppose I can't argue with you there. All the more reason for you to do the ordering." He winked, "I've got enough experience for the both of us, after all."

"Har!" The wick coughed behind his mug full of ale, shaking his head. He waited for an opportunity to get noticed, lazily raising his free hand from his knee in a slight wave to catch the waitress' attention should she survive her current customer's ordering a meal. This was certainly not the usual game, and the ex-pirate was admittedly humored by the potential harassing of high society.

Gwen allowed herself a stiff nod in Laur's direction, and managed to keep the surprise out of her face when Laureline said he was her brother. Maybe they'd been raised by different parents.

"An ale, water, stew, an' whatever I recommend. I'll be back with your orders, then." Gwen's tone seemed to imply that what she recommended was a swift kick to the rump for Charlie, but she hurried away. That moony golly was pretty suave, after all. She didn't want to be caught off guard by it.

As she left she noticed Wavorly raise his hand and switched directions. It never did any good to displease the King's golly and his companions.

"What can I get ye gents?" She asked with a much friendlier smile than she'd used for the other table, hoping the two would tip well. "Food or drink?"

The red-headed wick shifted uncomfortably under the wolfish gaze of his employer, realizing some coins were at stake. He slid his empty mug in Gwen's direction, almost looking sheepish—if it was possible for someone both well-dressed and swarthy to look that way, "Oes. A refill for myself, and a round of something nice for the unlikely pair o'gollies across the way there. Maybe a couple of Balshem's Chroves."

Wavorly nodded his head in the obvious direction, finally grinning in a more characteristically devious way, "Looks like they could use a bit of excitement this evening, considering at least one of 'em sure ent from around here."

Neither of the two Brothers had an inkling of Charlie's history, it seemed, though it was no real surprise they were looking to cause some trouble. Corwynn offered a reassuring smile, sort of, as if confirming the woman's unspoken hopes of some extra coin for the evening, adding with his usual hint of coyness,

"Just consider it a warm welcome to the dreary Harbor from some friendly locals."

Gwen paused, unsure.

"Don't be startin' any trouble in here, lads." She said, flicking a piece of hair out of her face. "Finish it outside. That boy en't even s'pposed t'be here what with his behavior last time." A dark look crossed her face for a moment.

Either way she took Wavorly's cup with a wink and walked off, perhaps swinging her hips more than necessary.

She came back with a tray of drinks. She stopped at Cor's table first, and then went directly towards Charlie's and Laureline's.

"These two are compliments o'th' two gents over yonder." She pointed at them with her chin. "Watch your step around'em, is all I'll say. I'll be back with your food'n drink in a bit."

"Oh. Thank you." Laur looked unsurely at the drinks. She really wasn't a drinker. In fact, the most drink she'd had in her life was maybe a sip of wine at the dinner table forever ago. So long she didn't remember how long ago it was. She took one, brought it closer. It was some sort of creamy brown thing. Smelled nice, kind of. It was rather small. Oh, shoot. That probably meant it was strong.
"...Charlie? Should I drink this? Will it kill me?"

He gave the drinks a long, dark look. He really shouldn't touch them. No matter how good they looked-- and were. I mean, he should really just stick with his water. Laur had come all the way from Brunnhold to see him, and he wanted to make sure it happened again before he died. Getting absolutely roaring drunk would not be particularly helpful towards such a goal. Still... The gentlemen at the next table had been so kind as to send them over.

"If you don't want yours," he said, making up his mind and smiling sweetly at his sister, "I would be glad to take it from you." After all, he didn't want to be rude and leave the drinks untouched.

"No, thank you, you shan't be having two drinks when you weren't supposed to have any." She quickly downed the shot to dispel any urges he might have to drink it. It was sweet, very sweet, but at the same time there was a distinct alcoholic undertone. Her head felt a little fuzzy after it went down, and she would probably not be the best decision-maker right then, or in the future. Especially because she was having an ale too. Oh, clock. Hopefully those people over there wouldn't send over any more drinks. Especially because of Charlie and his little problem.

Gwen came back with Laureline's stew and an ale. In front of Charlie she put a mug of cold water.

"Anythin' else I can get ye?" And then, because she couldn't help herself, "Enjoyin' th'drinks, miss?"

Wavorly had watched the waitress wander away with a thin smile, "She's onto us, you know, Cor."

The blond gunman laughed and shrugged, pushing his plate aside and leaning back in his chair, sitting in silence until the drinks were delivered, watching the two other galdori' reactions.

"B'ah. It's not my goal to get Gwen on us so much as onto them." Corwynn offered with a conspirator's air, "Looks like one of 'em isn't sure what to do with our drinks ..." He was just surprised at which one. What were they teaching in Brunnhold these days, anyway? Had the curriculum changed that much that young students could show up in the Harbor and drink folks under the table?

This evening was suddenly more humorous than it had been.

"I don't think one round will be enough."

"Of course not." The red-headed wick snickered, rolling his eyes, "But pace yourself."

"Ummm, yes, thank you." She began eating. Didn't someone say you should eat while you drank? "Charlie, you're not eating anything?" Her voice sounded a little bit funny. Weird. "Aren't you hungry?" She was not trying the ale yet. Oh, no. Perhaps she should thank the men who had gotten them the drinks. No, no. That wouldn't do. "If you're going to have that shot, you should at least eat, love." Why was she calling him love? Eh. Didn't matter. She loved her brother, right? Or did she? He was a clocking idiot, of course--hadn't she just said that?--but he was Charlie. She had a sip of ale. Couldn't hurt. In that moment, Charlie's intrinsic Charlieness was quite apparent and unmistakable to her, and so her theory was quite right. More ale. It was kind of bitter, but also quite nice.

"Well, I did tell our absolutely fetching waitress--" he arched his brows at her "--to bring me whatever she recommended. Clearly she has." A playful kind of smile tugged at his face as he fixed her with a sort of steady blue gaze. He watched as Laureline downed the ale. It was kind of strange, he felt. Wasn't she too young for that? He was disproportionately shocked, really. She was nearly graduated, after all, but still... She would always be little to him. He turned a half-pout, half-smile to Gwen and drank his water, trying to show he was on his best behaviour.