Participants:
| Date: | 2010.09.07 |
|---|---|
| Location: | EW - Beast Caverns |
| Synopsis: | Jaya comes in search of a runner that doesn't exist. |
| Rating: | PG13 - Some language. |
| Logger: | Max |
Jaya, in the stables. It's been a long time before this that she's stepped foot in here again, and the barkeep's just a bit hesitant stepping passed the doors into barely familiar territory. She has a bound stack of hides in one hand and a writing stylus tucked over one ear as she takes careful steps into the stables this early morning, the scarred-faced woman peering about to see who would be present. She was certain the beast manager was around here -somewhere-….and she seemed not sure whether or not to make her presence known just yet. Just in case she wants to, you know, bolt for the door. Instead, a few more paces and she pauses before the first reached stall, taking time for her eyes to adjust a little before sighing at her own antics and calling out. "Hey!"
Having just finished up with giving out the duties for the day, Max is currently ensconced in his makeshift office, right at the end of the aisle, supposedly going over paperwork. Instead what he’s doing is finishing off the last slice of a bubby pie and reading what looks to be suspiciously like a letter, rather than any kind of official documentation or stock tallies. The call has him lift his eyes briefly in the direction of the sound and offering in distracted return, “In here.” Not quite having placed the voice just yet.
Hearing an actual reply, Jaya's quick steps take her down the row of stalls and into that makeshift office. She peers around the doorway to spot the beast manager with his pie and documents, watching him for a moment or two before a hand lifts in an awkward wave that he probably doesn't see. "Um…hey," she begins, her eyes taking in the office before returning to his face. And for the sake of saying something more than 'um….hey', "Pies for breakfast?" She tries to make that sound all witty and sarcastic, but it fails.
Max’s attention had gone back to whatever it is he’d been reading, his expression forming a faint grimace around the last piece of pie slice, for something written. With Jaya’s appearance and awkward greeting, the sheet of parchment is quickly laid face down and an altogether guilty look is quickly overtaken by a crooked grin as he licks his fingers clean. “For breakfast, lunch and supper if I had my way,” his tone entirely too roguish for his own good. Wincing a little as he bends to deposit the pie tins into a drawer, the letter getting taken up, folded and set to his shirt pocket, the beast manager waves her on in, “You lost?” short tease for the woman’s appearance back in the beast caverns.
Jaya eyes that sheet that has Max's attention, then that pie tin. His response on the pie is something she doesn't know what to make of, along with his tone, so she blinks a few times and does one of those, "Ahahaha"s noises. Stepping further into the office, her study of the place evident, "I must be," she answers his last, lips quirking at the memory and the short tease once her gaze lands back on Max. "Didn't think I'd be back here….a shame, actually." There's a small frown, there and gone, before she shakes the moment off and she takes a couple more steps further into the office. "Actually, I am here to check on something," she admits, her tone taking on something more formal and cordial as she steals a glance about her. "Hope you got a minute?"
The makeshift office come sleeping quarters is a simple affair. Desk with a two shelves behind it, near the door and over on the far side, a mattress that’s neatly made up with a nest of blankets at it’s topmost corner near the pillow that appears to have grown…fur? A simple press stores whatever other personal effects the beast manager might have. Max’s attention however only briefly follows Jaya’s glance about the area and then his eyes settle back onto the woman, expression neutral in the face of her tease save for a light narrowing of eyes but he says nothing in return simply waving her toward the empty chair opposite his at the desk. Moving carefully, he leans back against his chair and puts an assessing look over the woman, taking in the formally polite tone, “Checking on something? Waine been runnin’ up a bar tab?”
Hands falling on the top of the chair first when she is waved to take a seat, "Well, as you know, I am quite fond of my barmaid," Jaya states, not sure how to launch into this other than to just blurt it out without any pleasantries. Pausing, she moves to fall into the offered seat then, her eyes stealing on the pillow growing fur with a dubious expression. "I want to do something nice for Suli, which is why I'm here," she explains, a hand going to her chest in emphasis. As to Waine? There's a low chuckle, along with a snort. "I don't do tabs, normally," she notes wryly. "I do make special cases, if I trust the tab to be paid in full within time limits. Your thugs have been drinking up my ale, though." She could be joking here, but her face betrays nothing.
“You’d be the only one,” Max gives sardonically on the barmaid, not bothering to disguise his own views on the surly woman. Arms moving to fold lightly over his chest, dark eyes settle a dubious look onto Jaya as she seats herself, “Do something nice for her?” Her chuckle is met with a short nod of head over Waine not having run a tab, “Good.” Brows then lift over talk of his men drinking up the ale, his mouth quirking up at one corner, “I don’t pay them to drink, neither do I settle their tabs, so if they talked you into running a tab, best you sort it out with them.” Although one can be sure that if this is the case, there is going to be some serious butt kicking done to make said thugs cough up.
Jaya appears taken aback, perhaps not expecting that response from the beast manager - even though she is well aware of the temperature between the two. Legs crossing as she leans back in the chair, her gaze speculative, "Suli's not bad once you get to know her," she decides to say after a moment, regarding Max with interest. "She's….resourceful. Good to have on your side," and she fixes the man with a menaingful look before she lets it off. "But anyway…something nice for her, right. She tells me she purchased a runner before the hatching and it has been stabled here. I was thinking of making something nice for her to use when she goes riding on it, as a token of my thanks. You don't mind if I go and take a look at her runner, hmmm?" Brows lift at that, then his thugs are addressed with a wry, "They have no tab. I rarely do it, like I said."
A thin smile flickers out in response to Jaya's reaction, with Max uttering a skeptical, "Mmhm," to her attempts to expound on the virtues of the barmaid but he neither adds to nor retracts from his earlier comment. As she continues to talk a frown settles into place and the beast manager leans forward, taking up a ledger to the right of him and starting to go through it. Without looking up from it, "How long before the hatching? A few new ones came in while I was away, but Zen has them and their owners all listed here," turning the ledger so that the bar owner could see for herself. Standing carefully to his feet, he moves around the desk and toward the door, "Any idea what it looks like?" Even although he knows every runner under his care, he still seems prepared to pursue this further. The matter of his men and tabs draws a dry chuckle from the man, "A joke," he puts out on her words, "Next time try adding in a few skirts they harassed and a brawl and I might believe you." Winking at the end.
Jaya leans forward with a frown to take a look at the offered ledger. Her eyes scanned the list, not finding the Telgari's name anywhere on it. "She didn't give me an exact date," she admits on how long before it was purchased, the barkeep stealing a look Max's way. "But….that can't be right. You sure this is updated?" and she taps the ledger, her lips pressing together. As to what it looks like, the dark haired woman is looking back down at the ledger as if the answer to that question would be there. "She would know, obviously," she finally answers, looking away from the ledger to lean back in the chair with a shrug. "Thought maybe /you/ could help me out there - since you're the manager around here and all," and she waves a hand around in front of her in indication of the office. As to the men and tabs, she gives Max a /look/, head tilting slightly to the side at him. "And I would lie and scratch their backs because….?" she drawls on that, trying to maintain her even composure. "Though, Waine's been eyeing me something fierce. I think he's itching for me to black an eye out. What do /you/ think? Should I knock his eye out?" Oh yes, she'll toss the words right back at him, and it's possible that the barkeep is trying on jokes for size for that matter.
“Aye well, it didn’t come in under me. I’d have remembered. And it didn’t come in while I was away either,” Max remarks from at the door and reaching for his hat that had been hanging on a peg. His hand stills a moment before setting it to his head, meeting that look of Jaya’s and then a smirk peels out, “You’d have to go a lot further than lying and scratching their backs to have them switch camps, darlin’.” Her words over Waine draw laughter that starts out deep in his chest and then is cut short with a grimace of pain before commenting wryly, “Now that I’d have to see. Waine’ll have you over his knee and spanked before you can blink, darlin’.” Taking a step over the threshold and simply expecting the bar owner to follow him, the beast manager nods to the ledger before her, “Bring that with you.”
"That's right. You skipped out for awhile," Jaya notes when he does, getting to her feet as she watches him go towards the door. It's something she wants to bring up, but for now… "I'm not afraid of your thugs, shuga," she drawls on switching camps, settling her bound stack of hides under one arm. She catches that grimace of pain, though, her frown present despite her teasing quips. Her eyes lingering on him, "As for Waine, /darlin'/, I think you and I both know I can handle myself - should he manages to." Brows lift with meaning at that, then the woman is grabbing up the ledger and appears ready to follow him. "Besides, beast manager. Don't make promises your man can't fulfill."
“Took a tour of the countryside,” Max gives with twist of a smile but doesn’t expand further than that. Moving out of his makeshift office a long look gets sent back over his shoulder to Jaya for her bold words of not being afraid of his men, nothing but an unreadable smirk greeting that. Heading toward the first stall, he misses her frown, as he turns out a wry chuckle, “You caught me on a good day.” Whatever that’s supposed to mean. Nodding his head toward the big black stallion housed within the stall, “Starflight. Belongs to the Weyr,” this with a thrust of chin down toward the ledger she carries and then starts toward the next one that holds a white mare, “Raindance. Came in with Grawson, a messenger from one of the stations.” A rough snort greets her last, “That’s for you and him to work out. But you might want to bear in mind the string of skirts he already has skipping around after him.” Back to their amble down the aisle, with him expecting the bar owner to check him against the ledger, “Charger,” a bay gelding, “belongs to the Weyr too.”
"A tour?" Jaya considers that for a moment. "And I suppose you and Phineus enjoyed yourselves on this tour?" The question is given dryly, her gaze remaining firmly on Max's back as she follows him out of the office. Then he starts naming the runners in the stalls they passed, her eyes going from the runner indicated to the ledger she has in her hands with a small frown. "You think I need such advice?" she levels at the man on his last about the thug, her gaze falling on Charger. "Is this all?" she asks then, her gaze falling on the ledger once more as she turns it this way and that. Perhaps Suli's name will show up then? "This can't be right," she states, now taking to throwing her suspicious looks Max's way - as if this is, somehow, his fault.
Having come to a halt near the stall of a high strung palomino stallion shifting from hoof to hoof within, his tone fills with a small margin of pride for the strong willed beast, “Renegade. He’s mine” Its then that Jaya’s words hit him and have the man narrowing a hard look onto her, “What the fuck do you know about Phineus?” his voice dropped down to a dangerous level as one of the ‘hands passes by. For a moment all else being set aside as he awaits her answer, but when another lad casts a curious glance their way he gathers himself together and heads to the next stall, “Spring Breeze, she’s the Weyr’s too.” Pointing to roan gelding a short way down, “Seafoam. He’s Lyle’s from Southern who’s here visiting with his uncle.” Brows peak upward, “Calling me a liar?” Max’s hands pocketing as he casts a glance down to the woman, “If she bought a runner, it ain’t here. Face it darlin’,” a small smirk appearing for the barmaid potentially having been caught out in something, “she lied to you.”
Oh, that dangerous level. Jaya passes a glance at Renegade, lingering at best, before Max's tone seems to stop her in her tracks. Glancing at the passing stablehand, her own tone cold, "Alara came to me about it," she notes to him in a low voice as another stablehand passes by. Eyes flicking to his, "She wanted to know if my family had any connections to him, since he was a trader. Clearly, they don't." Arms coming to fold awkwardly around her stack of hides and ledger, "But I see it means something to /you/," she adds dryly. "He hurt Ahni, didn't he? I saw him at the bar. Alara didn't reveal much, but I'm not a fucking dimglow." Hard eyes linger on that point, then she purposefully looks away from him. As to him being a liar, Jaya very much wants to by the look she sends him. Lips draw together as she stares at the last runner called, "Why would she lie about something like /this/?" and she thrusts the ledger out forcefully as she throws his little smirk a look. "I know you don't like the woman…." she trails, regarding the man darkly as her thoughts, for the moment, turn inward.
“Not connected…” Max leans away a little from the bar owner, some of the darkness in his expression schooling away leaving in its wake a tight jawed silence as his eyes linger over Renegade. Finally he casts a sidelong glance Jaya’s way, his hard look perhaps saying more than his words on the topic of whether or not Ahnika had been hurt, “He won’t be doing it again,” a cold smirk settling in as he avoids adding further fuel to whatever rumor might be out there. In fact, if anything, he’d prefer to shift the spotlight of the conversation off of himself and the red-haired weyrling as evidenced by the snort that follows, “She’s covering something up,” he states blandly. “You might want to go over the exact where and when of her having told you she’d bought a runner and perhaps you’ll find your answer there,” another last look the palomino’s way and the he’s heading to the adjoining stall to rub a fond touch over Spring Breeze’s neck, “Was she supposed to be somewhere at the time she said she was buying said invisible runner?” Offering prompt of further thought on the matter to Jaya.
"I just bet he won't," Jaya's voice is clipped in regards to the trader in question, watching his face with her own guarded expression in place. Regarding that cold smirk, "Covering something up," she echoes Max's words, not entirely believing that. "Suli? What for? Why would-" she stops, hands coming halfway up as she shakes her head to the thoughts and questions. "Wait. This is crazy! She-" she pauses again, watching Max with Spring Breeze as his question gets her to pause. Shaking her head, "She's been here, /riding/ her runner," she notes on the barmaid and the times the woman went missing. "She said so." Annoyed now, throwing a look towards Spring Breeze as if that one would have the answer, "So there's no runner," is her conclusion, jaw tightening at the implications noted by the beast manager on the Telgari not being truthful.
A lazy baring of teeth grows that holds no mirth or warmth and simply adds further to the vaguely cruel air the man now wears, “Me, covering something up?” The ‘innocent’ act not given much effort and so is an outright failure. That calculated expression of laziness pins onto Jaya, “You got something you want to say about it?” a brow hiking upward in challenge. But he leaves it all aside, leaning a shoulder up against the mare’s stall, watching as Jaya tries to work through her barmaid’s lies. Quieter and with more sincerity of regret for the woman, “There ain’t no runner and she ain’t been here, Jaya. I don’t know what her game is, but if I were you, I’d get someone to tail her. See where she’s going when she says she’s here riding.” A twist of lips appears briefly before it disappears again, “Maybe she’s found herself something on the side, eh?”
"Not you," Jaya is quick to correct on covering, eyes rolling to the ceiling briefly at that baring of teeth. "But unless you got something you want to release off your chest…." a finger lifts to tap her ear slowly, indicating that she was definitely there to hear it in any capacity. Finger dropping, "Tailing her seems a bit extreme," she notes on Suli, her expression an uneasy one. "There could be any number of reasons why….and if she did find something on the side, I'd think she would tell me…" Right? Maybe not. It does bare some thought, though. Actually, a lot of it. There's uncertainty here now, and she's not liking it. She reluctantly gives Max his ledger back, passing one of the runner's stalls a lingering look before a new player enters this drama. Tall, blonde, and dressed in slightly worn clothes, Lorayit's voice can be heard before they even notice his presence: "Hello! I'm looking to ride a run—Oh hey, Dicori!" The farmer being escorted by one of the stablehands towards the two, the man passes Jaya a long look in greeting before he regards Max. "Didn't think I'd run into you so soon already," he notes to her briefly, then he turns and nods to the beast manager. "Lo," he gives his name in greeting to him with a charming smile and a hand thrusting forward. "You're the beast manager? I need a runner."
A drop of head with a short shake of it in amusement greets her offer to unburden himself to her and then he’s lifting his gaze back onto the woman with a rueful twist of lips, “I’d hate to be the one to bore you to tears, darlin’.” The dry amusement falls away and Max settles a level look onto the bar owner, “Extreme?” A soft snort and then he’s pointing out, “You ain’t gonna know what her deal is, unless you –do- set a tail on her. She’s lied to you already, you really think she’s gonna just out and spill the beans if you call her out on it?” There looks to be more he might have said on the matter except for Lorayit’s entrance, dark eyes going the other man’s way in a flicker of attention which then settles back onto Jaya with a mildly questioning look. Pushing away from his lean, Max keeps his hands firmly pocketed despite the hand being offered him, “Lo,” he echoes the name given as if trying to place it. Flowing an assessing look over the farmer, he returns in what could be considered a mildly interested tone of voice, “Don’t think I’ve seen you about before. You a new Weyr resident then?” Not responding to his being the beast manager or the man’s need of a runner just yet.
"Nothing hardly bores me, these days," Jaya drawls dryly on that score, shaking her head. "Unless you're planning to tell me you're really a woman?" Dry humor ebbs away at Max's next comment on her barmaid, her expression turning dark. Silent through his words, "I'll talk to her," she decides to say, her teeth pulling briefly at her bottom lip absently. "It doesn't make any sense. She has no /reason/—" she could have said more, and she wanted to, but then there's that familiar voice before Lo makes his entrance into the conversation. Dark eyes regard the farmer with suspicion (as is her way) before she meets Max's questioning look with a raise of brows. She's silent as Lorayit addresses himself to the beast manager, his hand hand dangling in the air for a few seconds before he realizes that the pleasantry was not going to be offered back. Staring between the two and the stony silence, "Am I interrupting?" Lo asks, his eyes going from one to the other and back again once the stablehand scurries off. Max's curiosity gets an offhanded wave of fingers, for he regards Jaya's silence with interest first. "You know, I never got your name," he puts forth as if this sudden thought occured to him right at that moment. Back to Max, his hand dropping away, "I'm a new resident," he agree to that easily, nodding as he waves fingers towards his own clothing. "Farmer by trade. Heard there's good land this way. You know about it?" Lorayit - all kinds of friendly. It's only then that Jaya finally responds to him with a flat response to his question for her: "Because I never gave it."
Keeping a deadpan expression in place, Max glances back toward his office and quarters and then shifts his attention back onto Jaya, “So you saw the little black number I had hanging up in there, huh?” He’s kidding, right? Broad shoulders lift and fall in a shrug when she insists on speaking to her barmaid on the matter of the non-existent runner, “Your call.” And then leaves the matter there to plant a bored look onto Lorayit, leaving the bar owner to answer on whether or not the farmer was interrupting. He hardly even seems to notice the unmet hand that drops away as he keeps that same unreadable expression in place, except for when the briefest edge of a smirk flickers out, “So you’ve met our illustrious Headwoman then have you? She get you all nicely situated and squared away?” Only one who knows the beast manager will hear the trap he lays for the man, silking through his tone that turns a notch ‘friendlier’. An easygoing shrug rolls out, “Wouldn’t know.” This to there being good farm land beyond the Weyr, “You come far to lay claim to this ‘good land’ we have out here?”
"I'm jealous, actually," Jaya keeps up with the deadpan pretense, shaking her head and for the moment, seeming to keep her focus on Max. "Looks like we share the same size. Does this mean we can be 'besties', now?" And since Max is willing to let the matter with Suli drop, she is willing to, too. At least, in current public company. The barkeep shows bland amusement at Max's words for Lorayit, dark eyes flicking finally to the blonde farmer to gauge his response on the Headwoman. A hand reaching to rub at the back of his neck, "Ahh, Indira, right?" Lo picks the name in open hesitance, blue eyes seeking somewhere beyond Max as he seems to recall some recent memory. When his hand drops, "You know, I haven't gotten around to it yet. Dicori, you'll take care of that for me?" He turns to Jaya when he asks, partially-joking to avoid the look in the beast manager's eyes. She'll get her out of /this/ sudden discomfort, right? "I mean, that's if you prefer me just /calling/ you 'Dicori'…" - Jaya's gaze merely tells him that he's on his own, so he has no choice but to turn back to Max. "Anyway, I've heard 'rumors' that the land is good out here," he continues to say just as easily, not betraying any nervousness at the sudden questioning. Regarding Max and Jaya boldly, "And I didn't come /far/. Are you running this stable or not?" Turning to Jaya with a gesture to the beast manager, "Is he? It's kinda important," and Lo injects just enough seriousness into his tone to emphasize that. Jaya snort, turning a long look onto Max as she answers the farmer with, "Well it's definitely not /my/ stable, shuga."
The same clothing size? That cracks through the deadpan expression and has Max putting an amused look onto Jaya before settling his attention back onto the newcomer with a bland indifference save for the lightly raised brow at the tell coming from the other man to being discomforted. Stating with a carefully crafted smile in place he points out in mild tone, “If you have to ask, you haven’t met her,” and then with a nod over to Jaya, “And no, she can’t do it for you. The Headwoman runs a census of the population here and such expects everyone except the dragonriders, to present themselves to her personally.” So helpful isn’t he? The bold pressing on whether or not he runs the beast caverns, earns Lorayit a slight narrowing of eyes, and yet still he doesn’t exactly answer in either the affirmative or the negative, “Maybe if you tell me why it’s so important, I can pass the message onto the beast manager for you?” one corner of his mouth curving upward slightly as he decides to go with the route of ruse for a while. And if Jaya’s of a mind to give him away, he probably won’t stop her, but neither is he sending her any kind of conspiratorial looks right now.
"Weren't you the one that told me what's life without a little mystery?" Jaya levels this at Lorayit, her lingering amusement more on stumping Max with her comment than with the farmer before them. "Guess they were just words, after all. Be sure to come by the bar again at a /decent/ hour next time and I might be a bit more nice." The smile is quick, bratty and gone in seconds. Looks like Lo's not getting any help from the bar owner - at least, not now is her curious study of the man is any indication. With Max busting his chops as well, "/My/ business," Lo is quick to drop, his easy demeanor starting to slip with a long speculative look Jaya's way. "But thanks for offering," he adds, his gaze returning back to Max with something glinting in his eyes. "It's clear I've interrupted something between you two," and fingers flick between beast manager and bar owner rapidly as he takes a step back. "Perhaps I will find another way to, ah, get what I need." Blue eyes settle on the dark haired woman, his gaze easily could be seen as one to unsettle, before he turns his gaze on Max and tips his head to him as if in farewell.
The interchange between farmer and bar owner is given only the barest appearance of interest with Max turning his attention back toward the bay mare currently trying to tug at his shirt sleeve. And while a hand unpockets to rub idly between Spring Breeze’s ears as she drops her head further down over the stall door, dark eyes fix to Lorayit an open smirk in place for having finally rattled the man’s cage, “Good luck with your quest to find the beast manager,” he puts out with seemingly genuine intent, “If I see him around, I’ll be sure to let him know you’re looking for him.” And no, he’s not about to correct the farmer on whether or not he’d interrupted anything, letting him draw his own conclusions, for whatever reason.
Since neither is giving him slack, Lorayit merely accepts that fact with a nod and makes his unusual exit the same way he made his entrance. "Are you like this to /all/ newcomers?" Jaya levels wryly at Max as her gaze remains on Lo's retreating back. Waving in the farmer's direction, "Or do you just like giving folks a hard time?" Nevermind that she was doing the same, of course. She's willing to watch the man vanish before speaking again, turning her gaze towards Spring Breeze since it has the beast manager's attention. "I guess I should be getting back," she says then after the lingering pause, her mission at the stables, clearly, a failure.
With barely a glance in the departing man’s direction, Max’s words appear to go toward the mare rather than Jaya, “Only the ones that make me twitchy.” Her next comment draws a faint smirk from him and he sets a short edged grin onto the dark haired woman, “You want I should run after him and throw myself at his feet begging for a second chance?” a light snort meets the likelihood of that ever happening. “Tell you what,” that smirk re-appearing, “seeing as how you all are such good friends,” sardonic there, “why don’t –you- go running after him and apologize for the unruly behavior of the impolite stablehand, hmm?” Specifically designating himself that title with a vaguely pointed look going the bar owner’s way for keeping his position unknown to the farmer for the time being. Only toward the end does the slight edge of regret slip into his expression, words and tone more sincere, “Sorry you had to find out this way.” That her barmaid had been lying to her.
"There are ones that actually make /you/ twitchy?" Jaya hitches up a brow at that, which is probably not seen by the beast manager. "And he might actually like that little act, if you perform it." Lips quirk at Max talking about her and Lo being 'such good friends', the woman brushing a strand of dark hair from her face at it in non-chalance. "He's a bit forward, but he seems alright," she puts out there on the farmer, having met him before. Eyes on Max now, "He'll figure out who you are, eventually, /stablehand/," she notes with open amusement now at him. "Twitchy or not." She steps away from the stall and him then, his last words drawing silence from the bar owner. She clearly just doesn't know what to make of the Telgari, her frown echoing in her choice of words. "I'm sure she has an explanation. I'll talk to her, get to the bottom of it." Easy.
At any other time he might have clarified his use of the word twitchy, or put it in context. This however, does not seem to be one of those times for Max merely sends an echo of a smile to the woman in return. He does however quirk an amused brow for her next, “He some kind of girly-boy then?” and then a low chuckle shorts out, “Thought you liked forward, darlin’.” Shoulders move in a seemingly indifferent shrug to the farmer eventually finding out his true designation, “More’n likely.” Setting to the task of rolling his sleeves up now, a fine set of raked lines being revealed down his one forearm, the beast manager merely nods to her words of having a chat with her employee not about to harp on the subject of putting eyes on the barmaid in question. Instead he offers a simple though dubious sounding, “Good luck with that.’
"He claims to be not," Jaya answers on the farmer and whether or not he's a girly-boy, the corner of her mouth lifting at that. "And I do - like forward. Sometimes. I like to be the one being forward." There's a shrug matching that admittance, and the bar owner's turning to start making her exit as well. Her eyes do catch his arms, her brows furrowing at what she's seeing, but when she meets his eyes she doesn't make comment on it. Instead, a hand lifts up in a stilted wave, "See you around, Max," she drawls in the sudden thoughtful mood put upon her, clutching the bonded stack of hides close as she starts to head out of the stables. Over her shoulder, "Save that dress for me, shuga." Smirk.
Amusement continues to hover over whether or not the farmer is of the more effeminate variety of male or not and then slips away into a contemplative look over words of being forward but he says nothing of it. With a quick smile, there and gone again Max finishes rolling up his sleeves and lifts a hand in idle farewell, “Fair trading, Jaya.” Having turned as she did, to head back to his office, a soft snort is all that meets her comment over the non-existent dress.
Closing Theme Credits: Depeche Mode - Policy Of Truth