First meet [ Nina || Vakko ]

    He had not taken notice of the girl until she actually hopped in the seat in front of him. Vakko himself was used to being either ignored or stared at throughout the city and had long ago stopped caring about it, so this sort of random attention was something he had never experienced in Valsk... not any sort of `good` random attention, at least. His family had many known friends, so most of them `tolerated` the halfling with contempt but didn't spare him a second of their precious attention for anything above a curious, sometimes racist stare, so his brows frowned when he saw her, or what he could make out of her small frame under that unusual amount of clothing. An outsider, apparently. "Why, yes. What gave it away?" He asked casually with a little smile on his face, ignoring some of the other costumers turning around to give a quick peek as the girl's question had been rather loud. At her second question, he tilted his head. Curiosity almost told him to speak his roots, but he settled for a different answer. "Yes, I live here in Valsk, in a house just outside the city." The fascination in her eyes kind of puzzled him. Was the racism gossip about Valsk on the rest of the continent so bad that people would look in awe to the fact he had not been impaled in front of the church yet for living here? "What about you, little one? You're obviously not from here if you're wearing this amount of clothing in the beginning of summer." He asked.

    A moment later, the waiter came about with a large cup of tea and a plate with fresh bread, some butter and a knife for him to serve himself. The man took a peek at the girl sitting in front of Vakko with an obvious look of curiosity, knowing for a fact that Vakko's good acquaintances could be counted in the fingers of two hands, and none would accompany him so early in the morning to work but the half elf simply rose up his shoulders, helpless, knowing as much as he did about the matter.

    Surprise took hold of his expression too fast for him to hold it back. Another half elf in Valsk? He had not spoken to another of his kind for over 10 years and he was more than a little shocked, so it took him a moment to process her following words. And she spoke a lot, which in one way was a good thing, as it gave him enough time to shake his head and regain a little of his composure. "Well now, that took me by the ankles." He chuckled, leaning forward on the small table to gently pull her hood back up. "But you shouldn't be so carefree about your roots here, friend." He lifted up a finger in warning. "People are used to me and they can't hurt me, but that doesn't mean they'll be very kind to you, specially if you wonder about by yourself." He spoke of experience, of course. Several old bruises and scars scattered on his body more than enough to prove his point. "But I'll admit, this town could use some liven up, so I'm glad you're here." He pulled the last of her sentence from memory, smiling at her despite himself. Vakko was happy to meet another one like him, and he was struggling to not acknowledge that to himself.

    Nearly mimicking her gesture, he too leaned in to get the smell of the fresh bread. No matter how many times he had it, that smell always hypnotized him. He had just rose up the butter knife when she spoke. Smirking, he set down the knife and took the tea cup off the plate, resting it on the table as he pushed the plate towards her. "Why not? Take a bite, tell me how you like it." After so many years of having breakfast by himself or with only his father, it was good sharing it with another person. "What kind of music does your father sings?" He asked, a small part of his mind surprised he was actually looking for topics to talk to her.

    He always forgot that his father's unusual expressions and catch-phrases were not shared world-wide, in fact most of them Vakko himself frowned upon now and then, but after living his whole life listening to them, some of it got imbued in his mind, and he used them so casually he barely noticed. "Ah, sorry. It means you surprised me. I hadn't spoken with another half-elf for a long while." He said as she happily took a bite of his bread. After she had her share, he served himself, putting up a generous amount of butter as he watched her, amused by the myriad of her expressions. After she spoke out her verdict, he chuckled at her question. "I'm not the most well versed in farming, but I could guess most of Valsk's grains come from Belport. Not many things can survive the cold temperatures long enough to grow edible." He pulled out all random pieces of information he could think of to answer her. Cooking and farming where far low on his knowledge list. Before he could finish his trail of thought, she bombed him with another question. This one he had to stop for a moment, looking for the right words. "Well... now they have no reason too, but when I was a kid, I used to be bullied a lot for being a halfling before I learned how to defend myself." He made a face, remembering his first years in the north, the scariest time of his life. "Children can be very mean when they want to, no matter how much food you give them." He gave her an apologetic smile as he took another bite of his own bread.

    The words coming out of her mouth were coming fast, something Vakko was not used to in the morning, so he had to actually focus his eyes on her to pay attention. As she finished and reached out her hand, the half elf laughed and shook his head. "You sound much like a seasoned businesswoman, miss." He said with a smile. "Alright then" He reached out and took her small hand on his own, shaking it. "We have a deal, with one condition." He lifted up one finger. "You gotta go there and pick a desert for me too. Now it's my turn to judge your tastes." For some reason he was turning childish by talking to her, but he pushed the thought away. The idea of going to the show scratched the back of his head. Most times he attended any celebration, he tried his best to go by unnoticed, and a seat in the front row was hardly unnoticeable. He could hear his father's strong voice, the one he adopted as his conscience, advising him to be careful about it.

    He slightly choked on his tea upon hearing her conclusion of his, indeed depressive, tale. "Kind of sucks is pretty accurate." He agreed with a chuckle. Vakko had not meant for her to be sorry about him, he had meant for her to take it as a warning for her to protect herself. It seemed like it didn't go exactly as he had planned, thou. Was he becoming a safety-paranoiac, like his father? "Valsk not boring." He replied to her, setting his tea cup down. "I find few things more thrilling than going out in a snowy forest in the middle of the night. You can find many hidden, beautiful things, if you're willing to spend some time to look for them." He shook his head, smiling. "It's a boring place only if you have a boring mind. You don't strike me as someone who has a boring mind." He side-eyed her, a playful suspicious look on his face as he remembered the mayhem he himself had caused around once upon a time. He surely got a lot of beatings, but he was no holy saint to be spoken of. At her second question, he shrugged. "And I only visit Belport to retrieve supplies and do the occasional shopping. I hardly spend more than a day there." Belport reminded him way too much of Linhythe. The excessive laughing, the merchanting and the... overall haste feeling people always seem to be. A place he'd rather forget, so he hardly visited the city outside the busy markets, and even in there, the long past memories didn't allow him to take joy out of the expedition.

    As he watched her browsing through the items, Vakko's eyes casually lifted up to the clock set behind the counter, and his eyes widened. Oh...crap. He was nearly 20 minutes late! He looked around, fearing to find the large, muscular silhouette of his mentor looming over him, that sneaky smile that could only mean hell. But surprisingly he found nothing and a look of confusion washed over his face for a moment. Has he lost track of time again? Sometimes when he was very, very lucky, Belial would be so focused on his work he'd forget about everything else, including the fact that his assistant wasn't where he was supposed to be. A tingle of fear tangled around his mind until the girl returned with a dessert and a big grin on her face. He pushed the thoughts away. He was not going to get fired to one day, so who cared?

    "Well, that looks interesting. But it seems you forgot about your own breakfast." He analyzed the plate with a soft smile. Apple tart was not something he'd have picked for himself, as he hardly ever picked deserts to begin with, but it was nice that she put a little thought on it, so he took a large bite, and it actually tasted better than he thought, the honey specially. "That's actually pretty good!" He exclaimed after swallowing the first bite, nearly instantly taking a second one as she spoke. "Where should I go to, exactly?" He raised a brow in question. The city usually held its events either in the main square or in the hall square, but he had very little knowledge of either of their schedules.

When she took a quick glance outside, the man couldn't help but follow suit, wondering where his boss was as he chewed on his pie. He watched as she picked her own dessert and caught the baker's eyes again, curiosity still gazing through them, to which Vakko answered with the same apologetic look as the man pointed to the watch, just a second reminder of how late the halfling was.

Upon hearing her description, Vakko nodded. "Yep. I do." He said, laying his fork down on the empty plate and standing up. "And I'll make sure to be there in time but now, I have to go to work, else my boss will make me run around town carrying an anvil on my back." He smirked, not lying, as the older man was actually capable to do such things and heavens help him if he falls short on the task. He walked up to the bartender, retrieving his wallet from his jacket's pocket. "You should go, aswell, your parents are probably worried about you." He took a peek at her as he paid.

[[ you can fast-forward to the evenin, if you want, or I can do so on my next post. Up to you :) ]]

He looked up at her as he placed the wallet back inside his jacket. "You can call me Vakko." He said as he moved to the exit. "I'll see you there, then, Nina." Giving her a smile as he walked out of the bakery, mentally gathering courage for a scolding.

Besides a hefty earful and having to work double-shift for an entire week, Vakko truly believed he had gotten out pretty easy for being nearly 2 hours late. When the clock began to close on 6pm, he removed his working clothes and did the best he could to wash the dust out of his face before heading over to the theater the girl had told him to. The street was unusually packed, but he had figured it'd be as much. Valsk is not really known for it's attractions, so when one does show up, it's bound to attract the entire city's attention. He walked around until he managed to reach the entrance where a couple of men dressed in festive colors where casually talking to the locals. Vakko caught one of them as he had just finished speaking and asked about Nina. The young man gave him a curious look (he'd have called suspicious but Vakko was paranoiac by default) but asked for a moment and dissapeared through the door.

[[ I'm the last person you need to apologize about slow replies e.e ]]