Private Tales Take the risk or lose the chance

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
Everything was quiet on the starry road, like someone had pulled all the air out of it. She couldn't even hear her own breathing though she knew it had to be loud with how frantic her heart beat in her chest. What was she looking for? An exit. No, she had found the exit. Home? Not home. Far away from home. Home was not safe. Home was where he was. Her chest felt like a cage and her heart burned like a bird on a spit. Even her body felt like a trap.

The stars had begun to swirl out her mounting panic forming their own tunnel of light that flashed in and out of focus. Sometimes all there was was brilliant light, other times single stars stood out starkly and hung there as though they had important meaning Lottie should understand. Then all of a sudden they stopped and exploded outwards. Gaping darkness rushed up and with a yelp she fell down the rabbit hole.
 
This deep into Lottie's ever-growing illusion, even Varys was having difficulty cutting through the maddened reality that she had created. The black void that stretched out before him was dotted with stars, light peeking through as though the sky itself was covered with a knitted blanket, only thin streams piercing the holes on the surface.

Varys cupped his hands around his mouth and called for her, but there was no sound-- Varys couldn't even hear his own footsteps, in fact, light as they were against the glowing road that led him deeper into the dark. Lottie was going deeper, and the deeper she traveled, the higher risk she would never be able to return.

She had to be stopped before that could happen.

Varys kept moving as quickly as he could. There wasn't a moment to spare; at any time Lottie could be swallowed even further into madness, without a hint of a warning.

Almost like the void knew exactly what the Elf was worried about, the lights in the sky began to burst, breaking the silence with a deafening blast that shattered the light beneath his feet. Varys heard a voice, a woman yelling. Lottie was close, he just had to break through the illusion, contain it.

"Lottie!" He shouted, out to every inch of nothingness that he could see as he fell. "It's over! Control yourself, now!"

And then, all of a sudden... he wasn't falling anymore. He was on his back, laying on something soft. What was it...?

Lottie Beaufort
 
Lottie! It's over!

With a groan, Lottie sat up and cast her eyes around the room she had landed in. There was something familiar about these walls and the view from the window but she couldn't quite place it. Still groggy with the lasting affects of the drug the doctor had given her she pulled herself shakily to her feet. What had she been thinking about? Home... That's why this looked familiar. It was--

"There you are!" Lottie whipped round and nearly tripped over her own feet in her haste to get away. The Prince swept in with a flourish of his embroidered silk cloak. He was handsome. Undeniably so. With warm chocolate brown hair and blue eyes like a perfectly cut topaz. His smile showed off two dimples even though they were slightly covered by carefully maintained stubble.

It all made her feel sick.

"I thought we were done playing these little games, Lottie. This isn't how a wife is supposed to behave..." he gently locked the door behind him.
 
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Varys placed his hands under him to sit up, fingers digging into the thin mat laid on the wooden plank floor. He'd been sent somewhere, deep within the mind. Of course, Varys figured it would have been Lottie's mind that he would be finding his way out of, but...

He knew this little ramshackle house.

The cluttered one-room home, with plants, and animal skins hanging from the ceiling, notes scribbled on parchment and pasted all over the walls, books covering the floor, and the old man sleeping face down on the sole desk at the center of it all. This was where he'd lived. That was him.

Another version of him, anyways.


Varys didn't remember everything that had happened. It was all still so cloudy and fragmented. He knew the truth, though. That he'd been a monster, seeking to break the laws of magic in order to live forever, who'd preyed on the helpless to extend his own miserable, hateful existence.

And he'd succeeded, but no magic that skirted the laws set forth by the universe came without a cost. A cost that had left the reborn mage without his memories, without his knowledge or emotions. He ran, lived in the filthy alleyways of Fal'Addas's slums, and stole money from the foolish until a chance to leave and discover the truth about who he was found him.

When he finally found those answers, Varys hated himself. What he'd done, and who he'd been were disgusting. His entire life had been a fabrication.

He was an abomination.

Varys didn't know when he'd started screaming, his hands clasped on the sides of his head as his legs clumsily scrambled to bring him up to his feet, stumbling like a newborn fawn towards the door to the shack and pressing against it hopelessly as it refused to open.

This was an illusion, he tried to remind himself as the splintered wood of the door pressed against his cheek. The intensity of the magic had lured Varys into a trance and trapped him within his own thoughts.

The hell he was in right now was just the guilt that he refused to let go of.

Lottie needed him, though. There was no time to dry the tears that burned his cheeks or to dwell on the resentment in his mind. Varys shifted to lean his back against the door, staring down at the visage of the wrinkled old elf laying in front of him.

There was only one way out, and it lay with the knife on his hip. San'Seya drew it slowly, rose it above his head, and closed his eyes tightly as he plunged the blade downwards.

And when he opened his eyes again, he'd woken up. Still in the illusion, but no longer in the trance. This place was different, the hallway he lay in was lined with banners and expensive pottery. It reminded him of some of the castles he'd seen in Oban.

A muffled scream caused his remaining ear to perk up.

Oh no...

Lottie Beaufort
 
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Lottie was on her knees sobbing, the echo of her scream seared her throat still.

"Please..." she whispered as the man crouched before her. The clothes she had been wearing were replaced by a flowing dress, one not too dissimilar to what she had worn the fateful day her sisters had finally discovered what had been happening to her.

"Ssh... ssh..." the Prince murmured and came to a crouch in front of her. With a surprisingly gentle hand he took her chin and squeezed, forcing her to look up into those beautiful topaz eyes. "Unless these are tears of joy they are very silly. I wouldn't hurt you, have I ever hurt you?" he asked, sounding almost hurt. That familiar feeling of icy fingers clawing at the inside of her mind crept over her. Her real answer, her real thoughts, froze on her lips.

"No," she whispered dutifully and abruptly the crying stopped. He smiled and she smiled back as his hands began to run down her sides...

Then the illusion shifted.

Lottie sat huddled in an icy cage, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly round her. A faint mirage of what was happening to her played out like a Moving Picture on a screen before her but she refused to look.

"It's not real," she whispered to herself as she rocked. "It's not happening, it's not real."
 
Varys pushed onwards, towards the distant scream that proved to be the only sound that echoed within in the constantly shifting illusion. There was no hiding the dragging of his feet, and the weight of his eyes as the hallways built by Lottie's mind seemed to stretch on for miles.

Between the fight with Niv, the blood that escaped from where his right ear had once been, and this nightmarish journey through the psyche of a woman in turmoil, Varys was exhausted. His bones ached to rest, and his mind begged for relief, pleaded for him to lower his defenses. As soon as he did, however, he knew he'd be at Lottie's mercy.

And she wasn't herself right now.

Coming to a closed door at the end of the hallway, Varys heard her voice sobbing beyond it. There were other sounds, too. Other voices. What they were saying, and what they sounded like... his face wore a grimace before he'd even opened the door and revealed the large chamber beyond.

It was disgusting. Grotesque. And yet Varys stared at the images projected into the room for far too long, his fists clenched and his jaw set in a wave of silent anger. Of course, he'd suspected. Lottie had given him the pieces to put together, and he had to an extent. To see it play out though... It made him feel sick to his stomach.

Someday, the person who did this to her would face the ramifications of his actions.

Tonight, Varys turned away from her past and looked toward her present. The shrunken figure of Lottie curled up within a cage. A deep breath filled his lungs as he stepped forward to stand between her and the horrific scene in front of her.

"I told you I'd get us outta here, didn't I?"

The mage squatted down to be closer to her. "You can't stay here, Lot... Trapped in the past, torturing yourself with the memories." His lips curled into a small frown, eyes flittering away from her for the briefest of moments as he reached a hand through the icy bars. "Trust me, I know how you feel. It's not too late to move on, though."

His palm opened, and he smiled as warmly as he could.

"Take my hand, and bring us home."

Lottie Beaufort
 
Varys' voice cut through the sounds of the nightmare like a warm knife. Had she dreamed him too? She wondered as she slowly raised her head to peak at him over her crossed arms. This had to be a dream after all, what more could it be? It reminded her too, of another reason to wake up. Her eyes roved slowly from his face to the missing ear; could she not even leave that horror behind in the waking world? She grimaced.

"He's going to send me back, Varys," she whispered hoarsely. "The doctor gave me something... what if I can't wake up in time?" she gazed at the hand. Would that wake her? Was this her subconscious sending aid? Tentatively she took it and let him pull her to her feet. As he did so the bars of the frozen cage melted into a crystal like lake beneath their feet. The images behind became more muted and then world simply turned into a grey room.

"I'd rather stay in here forever than go back... there."
 
"Lottie... this is all your world. Your power brought us here. All you really have to do is tell it to let us go." A smile met her wavering gaze as she slid her hand into his. Varys understood. He knew too well the fear of going back, of returning to where you'd been instead of moving forward. It wasn't something that just went away, it was something you battled every day for the rest of your life. It was always difficult.

But it's easier with a partner.

The icy prison she'd locked herself in melted into nothing but a shimmering puddle that grew and spread across the featureless floor like an ocean of liquid diamonds underneath them. The gruesome pictures behind Varys faded into a mute grey that surrounded them entirely. Closing his hand snugly around her smaller one, he slowly stepped forward, his arms gently wrapping around her, holding her close.

"I won't let them take you." He mumbled softly into the crook of her neck. "You aren't going anywhere. I couldn't bear to watch you go. I just... I couldn't."

Lottie Beaufort
 
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Enveloped in his warm embrace, his words creating a tiny stitch across a gaping wound that had been festering for nearly ten years, Lottie allowed herself to believe in his words like she had her sisters all those years ago. They had promised not to let her go either. Had promised he would never touch her again. She hadn't realised until that moment just how much she had tied her safety from the predator that stalked her nightmares to her sisters and now, it seemed, to Varys.

So much for a strong, independent Highwaywoman, she thought in a moment of hysteric hilarity to herself. It almost made her laugh but she thought it might break down to tears soon after so kept it inside.

There was no artful releasing of her magic, no true realisation at all that what had happened had been because of her at all, but slowly the illusions faded as her hope and belief in Varys solidified and the trampled, partially destroyed camp once again appeared. Soldiers and servants lay strew about, mostly hurt but a few staring with vacant eyes into the forest or the sky. Lottie didn't say a word. She kept her face buried in the elf's broad chest and mouthed his promise to herself over and over. She had escaped and she wasn't going back.
 
It was far from a dramatic release of her power, but Varys still felt it even though his eyes were tightly shut and his face nestled into the crook of her neck; it was as though the pressure that had surrounded the pair of them in a tight, choking embrace slowly released it's held, fading into the ether it had been summoned from. Lottie's fear, her memories couldn't rule her so long as she realized that she was far too powerful for that demon from her past to ever truly contain her.

Varys believed in her, anyways. The elf probably always would.

Slowly he pulled away from the tight hug he wrapped her in, his hands sliding to rest on her shoulders as he gazed down at her with a smirk. The camp was in shambles, the guards who saught them still too befuddled to even attempt to capture them, and Niv...

Well, he was nowhere to be seen. If Varys had to guess, the mage had gotten out of dodge while he still had the chance. Next time Nithrow Valius came looking for Lottie, they would be ready.

Next time... Varys was going to do everything that he could to ensure there wasn't a next time.

"You did it. Just like I said you could." It was a soft admiring voice that met Lottie's ears as one of the Speaker's hands moved to brush the wayward locks that hung down the front of her face, damp with stress. Leaning down, perhaps more boldly than he would normally have acted, he pressed his lips to her forehead softly before turning the both of them towards the carnage left behind. There were a few horses that had survived, trotting and neighing in a confused stupor. It might be a tricky ride, but it was an easy ticket back to the city.

"Let's go home, Lot..."

Lottie Beaufort
 
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Lottie stumbled slightly when Varys turned them towards the carriage, staring at the carnage around them. The drugs the doctor had given her were now almost entirely out of her system and her mind was thinking clearly again.

"My magic did this?" she asked in a faint voice. She wasn't sure whether to be impressed or horrified at what her mind could do when she wasn't fully in control of it. If someone were ever to be able to control her what worse things could she be made to do? It made her feel sick and for the first time in her life she wished she didn't possess magic at all.

Lottie joined Varys at the front of the carriage. She didn't want to be alone in the back and she was worried more about him being left alone too.

"Your ear... I'm so sorry Varys. You shouldn't have said that, he wouldn't have hurt you..." she grimaced, the guilt plain on her face.
 
"Stop." Varys grasped her shoulder as she sat beside him, cutting her off before she could keep piling blame onto her own shoulders. What had happened here was terrible, but it was through no fault of her own. If anything, Varys was the one to be blamed. "You didn't do this intentionally. They made this happen when they pressed you into the situation they did. You were..." His hand slid down her arm slightly as he looked forward, cracking the reins and setting the unsettled horses in motion away from the carnage. "You were trying to save me."

He'd been so cocksure, parading his new apprentice into Falwood on a pedestal, having her run across the rooftops so everybody could see how far little urchin Varys had come in just a handful of years. From a swindler to a powerful mage with his own student. It'd put her directly in the crosshairs of Niv and his men, and Varys hadn't stopped to think twice about it until it happened.

"I had to try something, Lottie. I wasn't going to let them take you from me again." The smoke from the camp was almost out of view behind the trees now as they rode through the thick expanse of forest they'd been escorted across by the goons Niv had with him. "Listen, Lot, I..." Varys bit his lip. He couldn't pretend to be something he wasn't, not after that. "You're so much stronger than me. Your magic is something I can't even come close to. For me to be considered your Master. It's really kind of a farce."

What power lied within this woman was something he couldn't ever have been prepared for. Honestly, Varys was starting to wonder if Oban knew. Maybe that's why they were always so damned possessive of her. The carriage turned a corner and Varys continued.

"But I'm selfish. I still want to be around you. Even if it puts you in danger. Because I care about you, Lot. You're... really all I've got."

Lottie Beaufort
 
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The idea of Varys believing himself incapable of teaching her when she had seen him talk to the wind itself filled her with panic. She tried to swallow it down and not let it show more than the paling of her skin. If he couldn't teach her to control this then who could? Would it get so far out of control that she wouldn't-- His next words cut off her thoughts so suddenly she sucked in a breath as though he had punched her in the gut.

"You don't have to be my teacher to be around me Varys," Lottie rounded on him with an apauled look on her face. "If I at any point gave you the impression the only reason I came with you was to learn then I'm sorry, Varys. That wasn't my intention. Of course I want to learn, I need to learn," that had become painfully clear. "But the reason I left with you is because I trust you, Var. And we've made a good team the times we have met - even now. Though, I'd argue you're pulling more of the weight right now," she let out a breath with a nervous laugh.

"If you don't want to be my teacher will you... will you come with me as my friend to find someone who can? I don't want to leave you, either..."
 
If anything, her words were a comfort he hadn't realized he'd needed. It also was a kick in the ass; listen to him, griping about how unqualified and out of his league he was! She'd said it herself, she needed to learn, she didn't need a whining elf crooning about how frightened he was. As the wagon pulled back into the city, now far quieter in the waning daylight, Varys shook his head, looking away from her as he found his pride.

"No, you're right. You need to learn, and I'm letting what happened back there shake me." To make such a drastic decision so soon after... well, all of that... would be foolish. Nobody could have their head on straight after going through what the two of them just had. "I'm not quitting on you yet, Lottie. Not my style." If his master had quit on him as soon as things started getting overwhelming, he wouldn't be sitting beside her right now.

Pulling back into the inn they'd rented out the previous night, Varys brings the horses to a stop and slumps back into his seat with a deep sigh of relief. Would Niv come looking for them again? Maybe, but not for a few days at least. There'd been too much damage to his camp, too many lost men.

And Lottie, after all that she'd gone through, was trying to comfort him now.

Turning his head to her, still reclined back on the wagon seat, he cracked a smirk. "We're a hell of a pair alright. Have been ever since we took out those mooks by the lake outside of Oban." He left out the fact he'd been fairly terrified at that point. "If I'm being... entirely transparent here, when I ran into you again at that party, I had no intention of taking you under my wing or anything. I was just flirting with some cute girl I had a crush on years ago."

It wasn't said with any pride, and Varys shook his head at himself with a shrug. "Things had been rough for me for a while before we met back up. I'd just lost some people that were really important to me. I was lonely. When you asked to come with me... I guess I saw a chance to make something good out of all of it."

He started to apologize but stopped himself. Instead, he nodded towards the inn. "Come on, you must be beat. Let's get you out of that messed-up outfit so you can relax."

Lottie Beaufort
 
Lottie glanced down at her clothes. She had barely noticed that when she had been asleep someone had changed her from what she had been wearing into the simple dress most common in Oban. Something the Prince would have approved her. It made her skin crawl and her stomach churn with disgust. But unlike before, it didn't overwhelm her or push her back into those horrific memories. Varys' words kept her anchored to the here and now.

"You call that flirting?" she asked with a lopsided smile, even if it did tremble a little. So perhaps she hadn't learnt to block all of the memory out yet, but this was half a step towards that.

"I... lost people too. These last years," Lottie confided once they had disembarked and were walking back towards their suite. "My sisters both vanished without a trace. I've no idea if they're alive or dead," she took a deep breathe. "And when I saw you again it was like... like finding a raft in the middle of the storm."
 
San'Seya scoffed as he helped her off of the wagon, feigning hurt at her words. "Fine, I'll remember to dial it up a notch next time I decide to be fresh with you, forgive me." The truth was probably somewhere between having not wanted to offend her and being a bit surprised by the sudden reunion, but that was all long past anyways. Once she made it down and steadied herself, he cracked open the door and led them in and up the stairs.

Varys wanted to say something, anything to comfort her about the bleak outlook regarding her siblings. That was easier said than done when he hadn't any of his own. Besides, what she said right after that would have left him trying to find the right words anyways.

"Lottie..." They came to a stop in front of the door, and Varys fixed his eyes on hers. She was still worried. The tremble in her voice wouldn't leave so easily. What she'd gone through today, it wasn't something many people encountered and survived. The things that Varys had seen in her mind...

Lottie needed a raft. Varys was more than happy to keep her afloat until she was ready to swim to shore.

"Wherever your sisters are... I'm sure they're looking for you too. Just like I was. No matter what, I'm not letting your past take you back. They can't have you."

Offering a meek smile, his hand slid to hers with a gentle squeeze.

"Look, there's not a way to say this that isn't cliche as hell, but..."

A thumping from downstairs and a grumbling voice interrupted Varys, and he nearly jumped out of his skin with a sharp swear. "Jesus, that damn innkeeper has the weirdest night terrors." Varys averts his eyes in an attempt to hide his momentarily flushed face before opening the door in front of them. "Let's get inside before he thinks we're breaking in or something..."

Lottie Beaufort
 
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Lottie hesitated, wishing she had the courage to ask what exactly Varys had been about to say, but instead only nodded. She was tired and probably reading far too much into the tone and the way he had looked at her. But for a moment there, the way he had held her hand, she had thought he might... It was a ridiculous idea. Varys was her friend - her only friend - and he was sacrificing a lot to stay here with her and help. He'd lost an ear because of her today in his pursuit to protect her. That thought made her reach up and just gently touch his cheek and jaw, concern and apology evident in the lines of her face.

"Okay," she sighed and dropped her hand then pushed open the door to their room. He needed rest and so did she.

As they got ready for bed and crawled into the large feather-down filled mattress Lottie couldn't help but wander, in that moment of twilight when he blew the candles out for the night. She wouldn't be able to sleep until she asked.

"Varys... you don't think any less of me after... after what you saw...?"
 
Damnit, that was so stupid. He could have just said it. After all that they'd been through today, Varys knew damned well how quickly things could end if you took them for granted, and it wasn't as though it was some secret that she was important to him. What was stopping him? Besides his own hard head, of course...

The room was just as they'd left it, the window still open from the morning when they'd been intending to race and train. That obviously hadn't ended well, and seeing the soft bed waiting for them made Varys practically want to drool, his lids going heavy in its mere presence. He wouldn't be waking them early again, they'd earned a full night's rest. She'd earned a full night's rest.

There weren't any words as the two of them finally laid down to rest after what could arguably have been the longest day of their lives. Varys'd had some rough ones in the past, and he was sure Lottie had more than her fair share as well, but the amount of stress he felt seeping from his pores as the mattress welcomed his bare skin nearly made the Elf groan with relief.

"Never thought I'd be so happy to be back in Fal'Addas..."

Lottie didn't respond, but she did ask a question of her own. It was a question that made his brow furrow, and his lips curl into a small frown as he turned around in the bed to face her. The answer was obvious to him, but what cut was the fact she'd asked it.

"Lottie... you did what you did trying to save me, trying to save both of us. I could never begrudge you for that." He'd lost his ear, sure. That, and he'd burned the last bridge with his oldest friend. That hadn't been for no reason. It wasn't just something he did for the hell of it. Varys reached out, his hand finding her shoulder and his frown twisting into the smallest of smiles. "I chose to risk myself back there to keep you safe. I knew what I was getting into and what could happen, and I did it anyways because" There was another little pause as the words caught in his throat, but it only lasted a second. "I love you, Lot. I really do."

Lottie Beaufort
 
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Lottie began to frown in confusion; what was he talking about? Oh.

Of course, the magic. Perhaps she should have felt more ashamed of what she had done. People had died, she was almost certain, and Varys had lost his ear. But on a level she agreed with him - she had done what she had done to get them out of a terrible situation. She had had no intentions of going back to the Prince nor Oban, not until she was stronger. The fact she didn't feel guilty begun to make her feel guilty which caused her lips to twist.

"That..." hadn't been what she had been asking. But now the quiet voices crept in to her mind and made her doubt if she remembered the whole ordeal right. Perhaps Varys hadn't seen what... And there was no way she would bring it up and tell him. Instead she let her lips curl slightly.

"That's good to know. Thank you. And... thank you for not... giving up," she laughed beneath her breath then turned to bury her face in the pillow. She just wanted to put the whole day behind her. Despite the turbulent emotions the day had brought up, she found herself falling quickly into a deep sleep.
 
It felt almost like all the air squeezed itself out of Varys' lungs as Lottie offered a thank you and simply turned over to sleep. Varys went from feeling extremely nervous to exceedingly stupid in a matter of seconds. Right, why on earth would he say that after a day like this? There's no way she'd be ready to process.. Damnit, Varys, this is what you get for going to brothels instead of trying to talk to women.

The elf watched her for a moment as she quickly drifted off and left him lying there in the dark room in his own thoughts. Rolling onto his back to stare up at the ceiling, Varys mulled over the day, long as it had been. So long as Lottie remained with him, she would be in even more danger than she was alone, given the list of enemies he'd accrued over the last handful of months.

Even still, the thought of separating now... Well, there was no thought of it. She needed somebody to be there, to believe in her until she was able to believe in herself. What bothered Varys most of all was that he knew that he needed the same thing. Ever since splitting from his Master, his confidence in himself had been waning, his resolve weakening.

Lottie made him feel better, just by being present.

Rolling back onto his side to face her, Varys reached out, placing his hand flat against her back as he closed his eyes, following her into sleep in short order.
 
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Dawn came rosy fingered and deepened well into late morning before Lottie showed any signs of life. Her body felt spent, as though someone had picked her up like a wet towel and wrung every last drop out of her. She was thankful that she didn't have a headache to match how she felt for the aches over the rest of her body were more than enough to deal with first thing upon waking. With a groan she rolled onto her back and blinked up at the ceiling, the events of the previous day unfolding in her minds eye. She'd been in the Princes reach again. Committed something even Varys had admitted to never seeing before on a magical level. Yet here she was, waking up in the safety of Varys' bed, his arms.

She was reluctant to admit to herself how deeply that meant to her.

Glancing across to the sleeping elf she grimaced at the loss of his ear again; in the morning light it looked far worse and there was a sickening feeling there was nothing she could do for him. But elves were wonderous magic users, perhaps...

Well, she could at least go get him breakfast.

With great care she eased from the bed, dressed and ventured downstairs to find something.
 
Varys' lack of sleep was evident, as he didn't stir even a smidge as Lottie slid from his arms to dress and scrounge for food. If he had woken, he'd probably be wary of her leaving the room on her own, but then after nearly losing her yesterday, it would take some time for him to stop looking over both of their shoulders...

Of course, what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right? What was the harm in treating him to some breakfast?

Lottie would be met downstairs by the innkeeper, the grouchy-looking elf with wrinkles lining his forehead to match his age. Varys had once gotten kicked out for asking if there was a way he could read the old man's age by counting the folds on his face. It hadn't gone over particularly well, to say the least. Nevertheless, Hasell offered her a small smile from his place behind the counter and a nod of his head. "Morning, Miss. Good to see you're well." He placed the glass he was scrubbing away and moved to grab a few dishes from the shelf behind him. "Word is that your boyfriend got you into some trouble yesterday. Can't say I'm shocked, but I felt bad that you got wrapped up in his nonsense."

Hasell was just an innkeeper and bartender, sure, but word traveled fast amongst the gossip-loving elves, and many people passed through his little establishment to grab a cheap drink. Knocking on the door behind the counter, he cracked it open and barked some orders in Elven to whoever was on the other side, passing them the plates before turning back to Beaufort.

"Varys has always been a troublemaker, Human. Yeah, he's grown up, but I still don't know that I'd stick close to him for very long." The old elf looked like there was more he wanted to say, but he also recognized that it really wasn't any of his business. So shaking his head, he nodded back to the door he'd rapped on before. "Ah, forget it. Got some breakfast cooking for you. Take a seat, should just be a minute."
 
Lottie was not yet awake enough to really comprehend the onslaught of words from the overly nosey barkeep. She merely blinked as he jumped from one sentence to the other, all the while completing his morning cleaning routine.

"Can I-"

"I just-"

A few times she tried to interrupt but on the wrinkled elf ploughed and in the end Lottie was forced to wait until he had finished. Dutifully she took a seat when he waved her to one of the various empty tables for which she was glad; she wouldn't have liked anyone else to hear him talk of Varys that way.

"Do you have any coffee?" she asked then glanced up towards the stairs. "You shouldn't really talk about him that way, Varys saved my life. Has done more than once."
 
Hasell seemed blissfully unaware of Lottie's discomfort, more pleased that he had a face to complain about Varys too than anything else. Sure enough, two plates of warm food, large chunks of steaming hot meat, and long green reeds with round tops, came out of the kitchen soon enough. Hassel set them both in front of her, raising an eyebrow as she took the opportunity to come to her companion's defense.

"Ah..." The older man seemed to come to his senses a bit, looking back to the small stove with a pot of water simmering atop it. "I suppose you're right." Hassel seemed to mumble the admission reluctantly as he turned to pour her some coffee. "It's unprofessional of me to insult my patrons, and while I haven't ever gotten along with him, I concede he's not really a rotten kid." The truth ran a bit deeper than that if he was being truthful, but it embarrassed the elderly fellow how much it had wounded him that the brat had run out of town without even saying goodbye.

"Here. Special blend. One for both of you." He swiveled back around, placing two cups to match the two plates of food. "Forgive an old fellow for being rude. I forget my manners sometimes."
 
Lottie tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and picked up the tray. Her stomach growled so loudly she was pretty sure they could hear it down the street and she flashed the barkeep a cheeky half smile.

"You know... whenever he's mentioned you it's always been fondly," she said it in a casual manner with a shrug to match. "Maybe he just enjoyed winding you up but..." she picked up the tray. "I think it was more that he enjoyed winding you up specifically," because he had felt safe with the old grump. Leaving him to chew on those thoughts, Lottie turned and made her way back upstairs. She wanted nothing more than to down the whole mug of coffee then and there but she managed to tame her impatience as she climbed the stairs.

On mouse-quiet feet she opened the door and then climbed back into the large bed with extreme care not the spill anything. Only when she was settled did she finally pick up the too-hot mug and take her first sip with a thankful groan.
 
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