His crooked smile returned for a moment before fleeing from his scarred face as he listened.
Rho was kind.
"It sounds as pleasant as it's brewer is. How can I refuse?"
On the topic of young love Hawkflesh had little to add.
"I suppose that's only normal. Festivals have a way of making people bolder."
Before he could refuse eating some of Rho's lunch his body betrayed him and let out a wet gurgle from his stomach.
"It... has been a few days since I've had a real meal."
Again he flashed a sheepish smile before reaching out with his thin hand and picking up something crunchy and crescent shaped before looking at it with scrutiny.
"Cucumber?"

@Rhosyn Firth
 
A grin split her face at Hawkflesh's eager words. "That's what I like to hear!" The doe woman left her drink on the bar as she slid from the barrel and grabbed another mug to fill with the golden tones of the suggested Cider, while her new drinking companion continued.

Rho raised her eyebrow as she returned. The man was all thin, now it wasn't all that surprising. Concerning, but not surprising. She could help give him a meal at the least tonight. Placing the bubbling mug in front of the elf, she peered closer giving a small sniff at was held in his fingers. "Perhaps zucchini? It'll be good either way. Ol' Lady Flower is the best cook among us. She always makes the food to sell at the festivals. Along with her quite large family. Rabbitfolk you know."

She sat down back on her makeshift seat while selecting another piece and munching lightly, a well seasoned mushroom. Her favorites. "There's more food out there than just this, if your particularly hungry. Plenty to share and indulge." She tended to keep to the vegetable dishes, but some of the smallfolk had excellent smoked and prepared meats.
 
He took a drink and Hawkflesh had to admit that it was in fact a very refreshing cider, crisp and clean. It got his eyebrows rising in surprise at how good it felt to drink it.
"This is really good."
He took another drink and set it down. Not knowing much about brewing he had little more to add but on the topic of food he took a bite from the crescent shaped vegetable and chewed it.
His stomach awoke the instant his teeth broke through the shell of batter to remind him of the gaping pit within that cried out for proper food and for the umpteenth time that day he ignored it.
"I think you're right, I think it is zucchini."
Taste was never his strong suit. Heightened elf senses were all good and well but drinking bitters had left him with a dim tongue overall.
"To be honest Miss Rho, I'm completely ravenous. I'll happily eat anything laid down in front of me."
He meant it too. If someone placed a live lamb down on a plate he felt he might turn into a wolf.
It got him thinking.
"Do you not eat meat Miss Rho?"
 
The doe woman's smile could not have grown wider. Sure the folks around Plumhollow complimented her brews often enough, but it was something else to have a stranger says the same. It some how made it more meaningful.

"I'm pleased you like it." She said nodding to the mug. "Goldenwood Apples are quite sought after, so I was lucky to get my hand on some. There some of the sweetest around." Rho finished the piece of fried vegetable in her fingers before switching to taking a drink from her own mug.

"We'll have to get a few more things to eat then." She'd have to wait until Petra showed back up or convince someone walking by to help, which knowing the people of the area wouldn't really be that hard at all.

"No, the stuff doesn't sit right on my stomach." Rho admitted. "I did try once, but there was something strange about trying to eat another animal's flesh. My people have a belief that the Deerfolk came from the deer that roam the forest. The Mahsef and the Paisef, other beastkin have similar tales of their own. Made me feel like I was eating someone's ancestor. Now not all feel the same way, which is fine, but that's just my preference."
 
"That would be lovely Miss Rho, thank you again."
Hawkflesh said while helping himself to another deep fried vegetable.
There was no stopping his stomach now, try as he might. He was beginning to feel dizzy even, nothing serious but still, it was there as he listened with interest to her story and reasoning. Not eating meat was seen as a bit of a luxury to some but he was aware that certain folk could not eat it as a matter of their physiology. So to hear an almost spiritual reasoning backed by Rho's own negative experience.
"I can understand that. I don't think I would feel good eating an ancestor of my people. Too close to cannibalism for me. That said, I trust you wouldn't begrudge me if I went for a bit of that..."
What was he smelling there? A strong whiff to get the scent that creeped into his nose told him.
"... chicken pot pie?"
Again his stomach let out a gurgle that sounded like a threat and he placed a self conscious hand upon his belly before giving Rho an embarrassed smile.
"The sooner the better maybe... before..."


The world slowed, spun three times and then his head hit the counter with a thud that made the basket jump and some of the cider splash up out of his drink.

@Rhosyn Firth
 
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"Oh no no. Eat what you will!" She encouraged giving a shooing motion to encourage him to go seek out heavier sustenance, only for her to hastily grab at her mug before the elf's head could knock it over. Grabbing a rag from under the counter, she stood setting down her mug again now that it was safe, reaching up to wipe off the spilled cider from Hawkflesh and his clothing. The bar top wasn't anything of worry, just a piece of wood sanded enough to not give splinters and sat atop some barrels to make a surface. Easy to set up and take down for the festival.

"Are you alright?" She asked as she finished sopping up the mess with her rag. She waved it in the air at some of the festival goers, a few drops of cider flying from the fabric as she did so.

"Whatcher' need Rho?" Asked the squat Squirrelkin, his fluffy tail woven through with flowers and ribbons.

"Would you go buy a chicken pot pie and bring it back here, I'll trade you to mug of whatever drink you wish." The doe woman said urgently. It wasn't something that needed to be offered twice. It was only moments later a steaming pie was placed on the bar with a wood spoon. "My thanks Vinny!" She said while sliding two mugs of the Goldenwood Cider across the bar to the Squirrelkin. Once Vinny had left, Rho picked up the spoon putting it between the elve's fingers. "Eat before I have to figure out a way to carry you to the loft. You are much to long for my small stature even as strong as I am."
 
Eyes slowly opened and Hawkflesh came back from the infinite moment with a sharp pain in his head. It was not the first time he had collapsed from lack of food and he suspected that the rush of sugars from the drinks he'd been quaffing had not helped him at all.

"I'm fine."
He said, mouth almost drooling the words. By the time the food came he had almost slipped away again and he needed no encouragement to delve into the chicken pot pie.

It was quite a sight to watch an elf give themselves over to the base instinct of hunger. They are typically seen as more in their ways. More elegant, more refined and more passionate but this also extends to negatives. Hunger for an Elf was unbearable and to be tired was to be on the brink of death as sensations go so for Hawkflesh, who felt such sensations sharper than most of his people, it was a wonder he had not been driven mad.

And mad he looked as he broke the crust of the pie with a violent scoop and making most unrefined mouth noises shovelled heaping spoonfuls of the gravy laced meat into his maw. Slurping and salivating all the while the juices stained his chin and dripped onto his tunic in thick splotches.

When he was done, for he stopped not once to speak or take breath, he sat, shoulders crumpled in contentment and stifling burps into his mouth which he covered with his fist.
"Gods below that's better than sex!"

He spoke without thinking and his eyes went wide looking at Rho, whom he felt he had now been very poor company for.
"I... I only meant that..."
Stumbling over his words he felt himself loose a lot of steam very quickly.
"It's good pie! Thank you, again, again."
He landed on eventually something to say and hoped that Rho's opinion of him after his shameful display was not *completely* ruined.

@Rhosyn Firth
 
Rho let out a scoff at the slurred words of the elf. Clearly he had no idea of how to hold his alcohol, or perhaps it had just been that long since he'd eaten. The doe woman had learned at a young age that drinking on an empty stomach was bad news. She'd over drank at a party her parents had thrown after having not eaten all day as she helped to prepare. As a result, she'd vomited all over her father's shirt before the end of the night. Aside from her initial mortification, her father had continued to tease her about that until he'd passed.

The smell of the pie seemed to have awakened Hawkflesh from his stupor enough that he was able to grab ahold of the spoon and began to eat with a fervor she'd only seen from the starving. Rho reached out and moved the fried vegetables closer to her and out of the splash zone that was the ravenous elf. A spare clean cloth was laid within reach, so he could wipe his mouth after he was finished. If she had a bib then she might have offered that too.

"You might want to slow down before you choke on the pie." She offered, but that didn't seem to be acknowledged or perhaps he was just so enthralled in the meal that was his singular focus. The pie barely lasted five minutes before the tin was empty and he exclaimed his joy and Rho laughed loudly as his eyes widened when he realized what he had said.

"I feel like you've been with terrible partners if that pie was better than a tangle in the sheets." She snorted again, chewing on another piece of her own food. She had been a little put-off by his devouring of the pot pie that she hadn't eaten of the vegetables.

"You're welcome, though I might suggest not waiting so long between meals next time." Rho suggested as she pushed the towel a bit closer, so that he could clean up some of the food that he'd splashed on his shirt.
 
Hearing Rho speak so casually of sex put him at ease. Folk could be unexpectedly prudish on vulgarity when they chose to be and it eased his heart that she seemed to be down to earth enough to even make a jab at him for his exclamation.
"I won't disagree. The last person I think was... oh I think three decades ago."
As the memory wafted over him he remembered the old woman all alone in the woods who called herself Peggy. At the end of her years she'd allowed him to stay with her in from the cold and in the dead of night crawled naked into the bed with him. Mercenary was not just an occupation, it was a way of life. A way of seeing the world. Exchanges of all sorts. A bit of warmth for a bit of comfort.
He didn't begrudge her at all.
He only wished he could have thanked her for her hospitality but she passed away before the dawn broke. It took him all day to bury her properly in the frozen earth and erect a stone with her name carved.
The sense memory of her fist clutching his hair was still there sometimes when he first woke up.
"Still, we must not judge others too harshly right?"

His cut of a smile was a bit weaker than even before as methodically he made sure the mess was as properly cleaned as he could make it this side of the bar. He did not think to clean up his tunic at all and only wiped his face with his sleeve, a bit too high for just wiping his mouth.
"Ho... *ahem* How much?"
His hand mopped the last of the stains with the towel up from the counter.
"For the pie I mean."
In an act of incredible delicacy he folded the towel into a neat triangle shape and handed it to Rho like it was some precious thing.

@Rhosyn Firth
 
"Three decades!" She exclaimed at first, that was nearly as long as she was alive. The surprise fell from her face. "Thought I guess three decades doesn't feel the same for elves as it might for me. Still that feels like an awful long time." The mug in front of her was drained. Rho stood to refill it and then take care of several patrons who came by exchanging coin or goods for drink. Fresh vegetables would be eaten later, nothing would go to waste. Bartering was just as good as coin.

"It's not judgement mind. Just surprise, but the road is ever lonely." She spoke as she poured the drinks.

She looked at the empty pie tin as she took the towel and tossed it into the bin with the other dirty ones from the evening. "A couple coppers if fine or there are plenty of chores that you could help with in the morning if you're running short. Extra hands are worth their weight in gold." She said settling back onto the barrel. The doe woman wasn't worried about it really, she was enjoying the company enough that would have been payment enough.
 
"Well, I am only in my nineties."
Hawkflesh said, leaning forward again and and throwing Rho a wry grin. She wasn't wrong to figure that the Elf perception of time was not like shorter lived beings, she just had it a bit backwards.
"You would think that but I'm afraid that's a misconception. There are those of my people who like to call other folks insults that address our longevity. Things like "mayfly" and such but we often experience time slower than others. It's how we appear to have such fast reflexes."
At some point he had retrieved a shekel from his purse and twirled it in his fingers, flipped it in the air and brought it down onto the table using the flat of his hand without looking directly at it.
"Heads or tails?"
He asked confidently.
"If you guess right you get the help and the coppers, if you guess wrong I get another mug."
It was tails, he could tell by the imprint of the coin under his palm.

@Rhosyn Firth
 
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The doe woman's held tilted to the side as she tried to work her mind around the explanation, but she realized that she'd likely drank too much to really understand what the elf had said. A coin was pulled from a purse and he twirled it expertly, letting it land on the table. "Does this mean that slights of hand are slow enough for you to see?" She asked suddenly. "You know those child wonders of a father pulling a coin behind the ear. Is that what this is?" She poked at the hand flat on the bar. "There's no coin at all under there is there."

Petra popped back up suddenly, ducking behind the counter to grab four different mugs and leaving behind a rolled piece of paper filled with popcorn drizzled with caramelized sugar. Moons above that boy was a godsend.

She took a few pieces of the sticky snack chewing on them and licking her fingers clean. "Heads." She finally concluded as she snacked on the popcorn in an attempt to fight of the steadily growing buzz.
 
Showing his teeth with his smile Hawkflesh blinked at the inquiry.
"We can, unless someone as quick as an elf does it."
A half truth really, good slight of hand was about misdirection as much as swiftness of motion but in essence yes.
"Though I remember my father being particularly fond of card tricks rather than coins."
When Rho told him there was no coin his eyebrows raised. Cheating had not occured to him but the idea that he would pull a fast one on her earned her a short laugh.
"That would be a good trick wouldn't it?"

When at last Rho had guessed he smiled and lifted his hand to reveal the coin, tail side up.
"Unlucky."
He left the coin on the counter and sat back up.
"Let me know when you want some help and I'll be ready."
The idea that he might seem cheap for opting not to pay was quelled by the thought of him sitting on his hind quarters while Rho worked hard after a tiring day. Maybe he should try to give her a proper thank you.
His eyes wandered out for a moment. Surely there was something he could get her, a gift or something.

@Rhosyn Firth
 
There was a disappointed look on her face a moment as the coin was revealed, but it quickly passed. In the end, it hadn't been about the coin anyways. She was much more happy to have a pair of hands tomorrow instead. Taking down the booth would be a lot of work after all. "I might have told you early in the morning, but I have a feeling after the evening is over I will need a few extra hours of sleep."

She saw the elves eyes looking out over the rest of the festival. "You should go check out the rest of the event. Not that I'm not enjoying the company, but how often will you be around for a Plumhollow Festival?" The chances weren't zero she supposed. The people here loved their celebrations. There seemed to be a new one everyone few weeks, but she wasn't going to mention that. Hawkflesh seemed like a wandering type. Stopping in a place once, with their feet never leading them back again. "I'll still be here when you're done. Got to keep filling mugs after all."

"There should also be fireworks in a few hours." She said leaning out to look at the position of the moon in the sky. Typically the fireworks were set off when the red moon hung in the middle of the sky, which was still an hour or two away. The fireworks also marked the end of the night. "If you make it back before they start, I can show you one of the best spots to watch."
 
"I'm an early riser myself usually but I'll stick around for you, fair is fair after all."
Taking his last drink in his hand he quaffed it and stood up, making to head out into the throng.

"I cannot imagine I'll be long and certainly I'll return for those fireworks. Now that I know I'll have company for them."
His smile was less sharp now, not soft, just blunted somewhat and he dared a wink down at Rho, whom he hoped he was reading as genuinely glad for his company, he had not endeared himself to the last lot of folk from this part of the world though looking back he supposed he could have been less, hostile.

Following her gaze he looked up at the red moon. To his people it was the red eye of wrath itself. A thing of vengeance and darkness, idly he wondered what significance it might have for these people, if indeed it held any at all as he headed out.

There was indeed all manner of distraction there for him.
Games and contests and songs and players. One woman was juggling fruit while balancing on the back of a prize winning pig and another fellow was performing tumbling stunts and leaping through hoops.
It was all very quaint to his metropolitan mind.

Still, such folk bore the world upon their backs. Such places meant food for the cities of the world, a fact he oft felt the cities would rather forget.
Eventually he found a place. A small (even for the folk here) member of the folk that looked very much in the way of a Hedgehog selling their candles of coloured flame, some were lit for display. Hawkflesh observed them curiously.

"Any in red?" He asked after not seeing any lit so.
The candle maker produced one, claimed it was his last (very quaint) and Hawkflesh felt it better not to haggle when he was in such a good mood.
The demonstration that the candle maker gave was brief but impressive. It seemed to Hawkflesh that the clever fellow had mixed certain chemicals into the wicks and that gave the flame its colour.

Next he came upon those children, the ones who waved ribbons in his face.
A coin trick earned him a ribbon of fine green which he wrapped about the otherwise plain looking candle.
It would have to do as gifts went and it did not feel nearly enough for Rhosyn's kindness.

Presently, he returned to the pop up bar with a half hour left before the fireworks, though he had to guess at the earliness considering he only began to head back when he saw people gathering and beginning to make them ready.

He appeared, as a giant wading through the masses of mostly smaller folk and was pleased to see that business had been booming since he was away.
Rho deserved that much he thought as he blew into his hands. the night was touching on cold though few seemed to notice or care.

@Rhosyn Firth
 
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