Rothenburg

Feliciano was a bit distracted in noticing how the waitress had looked and spoken to Ludwig - her smile was so pretty, anyway, and no wonder that she was smiling to Ludwig, he also thought, since the warrior was so tall and strong. He would also smile in that way to Ludwig, if he was a girl... well, once he knew that the prince wasn't really as scary as he looked.

Anyway, as he heard Alfred speaking again, Feliciano looked at him with a smile of admiration.

"Matthew! You should have told us that your brother was a hero! This is so awesome!" he said looking alternatively at both the brothers. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Feliciano." he introduced himself offering Alfred his hand.

Nevertheless, there was something in the almost hyper way Alfred was speaking and smiling that made Feliciano wonder if heroes weren't supposed to be a bit more serious, like Ludwig... well, he maybe was a bit too serious, instead, but anyway. Matthew's brother seemed really nice and friendly, and Feliciano was just happy that the number of people at their table had almost doubled.

Ludwig wasn't clarifying any further on what was going on. "I didn't realize there was such a thing as a professional hero," he said to Alfred. "So what sort of heroics do you like to perform for others?"

He saw the waitress coming back with another one, both loaded down with several pitchers of beer and water, a bottle of red wine under the fairer haired woman's arm. He stood and helped them both, getting giggles from their first waitress as his hand brushed hers on the pitcher. Ludwig turned a bit pink, not nearly the same as he did whenever he got close to Feliciano. This time, it was purely embarrassment at the woman's attention to him.

He set the pitchers on the table, letting the waitress set the glasses down.

He began pouring glasses of beer for the others, ignoring the waitress saying, good-naturedly, that she should be doing that.

Toris sat back down and moved his chair some in the hopes of making a least a little more room for everyone. It wasn't much, but it was a little better. He looked in awe of Alfred as he explain his profession, of sorts. Not many people choose to be heroes these days, most people kept their heads down. He stayed quiet though, he didn't have anything to say that the others hadn't and he very much doubted the other cared to know his name.

The cleric was content to watch the conversation play out, noting that Ludwig volunteered very little which made Toris curious. Not that he would ever ask. He watched as the man assisted the waitresses, which greatly soothed Toris' unease about him.

"Thanks," he said quietly to him as he was handed a beer; a beer he wouldn't drink. He fixed his attention back on Alfred whose casual disposition and sincerity Toris was quickly starting to like. Perhaps he could ask for his help... Toris cast that thought aside as quickly as it occured to him. He couldn't impose himself like that.

Toris shifted uncomfortably, he could feel this niggling sensation that they were being watched. Which probably was the case, considering how loud Alfred had been and how energetic Feliciano was. Still, the feeling of being watched so soon after feeling what might have been old magic... he bit his lip and let his gaze wander over the tavern.

Really, he was happy to meet his brother. It had been long since their last encounter and to be frank, he was starting to feel lonely, wandering all alone and with nobody being loyal to him. Matthew was indeed the quieter one and lacked Alfred's massive confidence but without he himself noticing, he was easily making friends. Alfred had observed his brother long enough. He was a human magnet, just like now; he was once again surrounded by great people. Alfred though, he remarked with a sad sigh, had problems gaining other people's friendship. He wondered if he was too loud and overall annoyingly optimistic.

But he was happy that Matthew's friends were such good people. Feliciano was the happiest man he'd ever met - he hoped he would never ever lose his smile. He also liked Ludwig, he was like an awkward teddy bear; strong and yet with a kind heart, Alfred assumed. He couldn't restrain his chuckle at the sight of the other flushing.
"I invented the profession of course!" He answered Ludwig with a beaming smile. Well he was actually a knight of nobility but that term was beginning to sound outfashioned to him; it was the age of bourgeoisie. He might have been 500 years too early with that idea though.

Then there was this other young man who had offered him a seat before. It occured to him that he never asked for that man's name. "Hey, care to introduce yourself to me?" He asked and catched the change of expression, "What's wrong? You look uncomfortable."
He followed the brunette's gaze, it locked at the huge guy with pale blond hair. He frowned.

Ivan shifted his eyes away from the merry group and down to his tankard. The last thing he wanted was a confrontation and the look that bold was giving him all but promised one. All he wanted to do was talk to Toris....but that was a stupid want. The man probably didn't remember him. he had been so short when he was kicked out left the castle. he did his best to look as inconspicuous as possible, even going so far as to strike up a conversation with the pretty little barmaid who had been trying to get his attention since he rented his room.

Matthew couldn’t help but smile at the term ‘professional hero’, knowing that if it was an official title, Alfred would find a way to be first on line to become one.
“You haven’t run into any trouble, right?” He felt like a hypocrite asking, but he really wanted to know. Matthew had been fretting over his brother’s safety for years and wasn’t about to stop now. Besides, there was so much that could happen in a long span of time and Matthew often feared the worst. So it made him incredibly glad to see his brother alive and in one piece.

Looking over at the others around the table, Matthew marveled over how quickly they had gone from three to five. He thanked Ludwig as he received a beer from him and tried not to laugh when he noticed how popular Ludwig was with the ladies. Although Ludwig didn’t seem comfortable with it one bit. Though it seemed like he wasn’t the only one at the table who was uncomfortable.

Toris looked nervous and Matthew wondered if something was wrong as the other looked around the tavern. He immediately thought of the magic earlier. It appeared that both Toris and Feliciano had sensed something earlier, too and now Matthew wondered if they knew something about it that he didn’t. And, more importantly, if it was something to be concerned about.

"There is water and wine here if you don't like beer," Ludwig told everyone, knowing already that Feliciano had wanted wine. He looked to the waitresses and then at the group. "Could we have a nice sampling of the menu, particularly the pork loin and potato dishes? They've never been to the Rhynland before, so they may not be ready for sauerkraut or bratwurst." She gave him a smile and a pat on his shoulder (again with the touching that made him uncomfortable) and told him how nice he was for taking care of his friends. Yes, he would most certainly die of embarrassment one day, he knew it.

He had no issues with covering this bill just as he had the rooms, but he didn't want to insult the others. If anything, he'd let them pay for the room and take the blame for ordering such a large amount of food. Truth be told, he was very, very hungry and could put a decent dent in what he was ordering anyway.

The waitress left to place the order, making Ludwig feel considerably more comfortable with the distance. With her gone, he was able to focus on the rest of his table. He glanced at Toris, wondering what could have him so on edge. "Is there something wrong?" His eyes followed the brunet's line of vision, seeing the pale-haired man at the other side of the room. He certainly didn't look like he belonged to the Rhynland, nor from Matthew and Alfred's land or Feliciano's.

Toris noticed everyone's attention and went a little flushed, he really hadn't intended to concern the others and he plastered on a smile.

"A-ah, no, it's... it's nothing I'm sure." He responded, "I'm sorry. Oh! And my name is Toris."

He reached for a pitcher of water and poured himself a glass, which he sipped at. He was probably being ridiculous and now he had worried everyone for no reason, but on the other hand... if he was right and didn't say anything he'd never forgive himself.

"Actually," he dropped his voice to a whisper, "that magic, it... it wasn't normal."

His green eyes flickered over to the man at the bar. He'd seen that color hair before, he was sure of it.

"Trouble? HAHAHAHA, no way!" Though his laugh came out strained and somewhat nervous. Really, he did not meet any troubles beside the fact that he had no friends.

The man, Toris was his name, sipped on his glass of water and told the group with a barely audible whisper that some kind of magic wasn't normal. He twitched at the word magic, he had his problems with magic. Or to be precise, he couldn't handle magic at all. It was something he did not understand despite him living in a kingdom with a very much magical king who never failed to give him the creeps.

"Magic, you say?" He was a new addition to the group so he wouldn't know. "You feel something wrong?"

Ivan drummed his fingers on the bar nervously. The barmaid had gone to get his meal, steak and potatoes, leaving him with nothing to do. He slipped his hands in his pocket to keep them still. Judging but the looks he was getting his drumming was not appreciated.

"Ow!" He withdrew his hand and with came a little dragon, hanging from the tip of his index finer by its teeth. The tiny creature relinquished its hold and fluttered onto its pets hand. She had heard him order food. Who else would the steak be for if not her magnificent self?

Ivan scowled and stuffed the lizard back in his pocket. He didn't have time for it. His goal was to be inconspicuous and a dragon certainly would not help his cause.

Matthew raised an eyebrow at his brother’s horrible attempt at hiding something, but said nothing. After years of knowing Alfred, he could tell that something was the matter, but didn’t think anything too bad had happened. He’d be satisfied with the response, for now, anyway.

“If it wasn’t normal, then what was it?” Matthew asked, completely clueless. Matthew noticed that the others around the table were looking at a man who he immediately identified him as the ‘huge guy’. If that man was the source of the spell earlier, then not only was he creepy, as Alfred had pointed out, but also utterly terrifying as it meant he was extremely skilled. Matthew also couldn’t quite place where he was from.

“Hey, what’s that?” he asked at a whisper as he saw the pale-haired man holding a small creature. Yet when Matthew blinked, there was nothing there, so he assumed he must have been seeing things. He'd been almost certain that there was something there for a second, though.

He looked at Alfred in real admiration. "Professional hero" sounded really cool, as a job, and he wondered if he could possibly be of some help to him and Ludwig, in their situation.

Speaking of the other prince, Feliciano noticed that Ludwig had blushed slightly at the waitress's attentions. This time, he could tell why he was blushing, though, since the maid was so charming. He definitely was too shy, though, since he didn't even slightly return her smile.

"You should be kinder to the girls, here, Ludwig. They're so pretty ♥" he said, patting the blonde warrior on the leg.

He followed everyone's looks to the man sitting at the counter; he definitely looked tall and imposing, but he wasn't paying attention to them, at the moment, and anyway Feliciano's eyes caught the view of another cute maid (thus totally failing to catch the short apparition of the small animal on the tall man's hand) on the other side of the room, who was apparently cleaning the fireplace. She looked a bit shorter than the others, with dark curls scattered on her back. He decided he could join her for a while, while they were still waiting for the food; she seemed so lonely, in that corner of the room.

"Excuse me for a while, I'll be back soon~" he took his mandolin and left the table, all smiling in the direction of the girl.
One or two short songs would surely lighten her work.


[[so, bye for a while, I'll be back in a week~]]

"Holy mother of the dying pig! That must be a dragon!" He turned to face Matthew.
"I want one!" He said and formed a pouting mouth.

In fact they were staring with full force and without sense of discretion, it would be miraculous if that stranger failed at noticing.

Ludwig was surprised at the dragon the other man had, but finally turned his attention back to his beer, realizing how conspicuous they were being in their staring. He took a drink of the ale, savoring it. It was fantastic after so long with just water.

It was also a distraction from Feliciano's advice and from the fact that the other man was leaving to serenade a waitress. If Ludwig was jealous, which he could maybe admit that he was, he didn't want the others to pick up on it.

Ivan shifted uncomfortably and glanced quickly in the direction of THE table. He looked away immediately and stared bewildered at the steak that had appeared before him. What on earth had he done to earn such a look?! He filled his mouth with food and went over any and everything he could have done to get such a look. He came up with nothing slipping bits of steak into his pocket all the while.

“Do you even know how to take care of one? I mean, it must be harder to keep than a dog, or something.” Okay, well maybe he wanted one, too, but that was beside the point. At least now Matthew was certain that the dragon had been there, now that he knew someone else had spotted it as well.

He saw the pale-haired man look at their table before turning away quickly and Matthew immediately felt embarrassed. The man across the tavern hadn’t even done anything and they were acting like they spotted some kind of dangerous criminal.

So now he felt bad, and felt almost guilty enough to walk over ask if the man wanted to join them. But harmless or not, man was still scary, and he probably wouldn’t want to, anyway after how weird they were acting.

"I'll feed him well at least," Alfred shrugged and sat back normally again. "We would be best buddies."

At the word best buddies Alfred's eyes sparkled in glee, a faithful follower had always been in his wish list for so long. The dragon would grow big and monstrous, Alfred would hop on him and they'd fly away hunting villains and saving locked up princesses. It was perfect life.

Toris furrowed his brow, paying almost no attention to the others, something...something was very familiar. The hair color was one, the soft exclaimation of 'ow' was another and then the magic...

"Ivan!" He nearly shouted as he finally pieced it together. He hadn't seen the other in such a long time, and even though the large man was very different from the small boy he had known, it was still Ivan. Toris could feel it. Then he noticed a good number of patrons staring at him. That was new, he rarely caused a scene and he found his cheeks heated up a rather good deal. He hadn't meant to be so loud and what if it wasn't actually Ivan at all?

Toris sank into his seat feeling highly embarassed.

Ivan started and choked as a piece of steak tried and failed to make a home in his wind pipe. Of all things he expected to be called out in a tavern his name was not one of them. His face was beet read from lack of precious air and embarrassment. He took a few deep breaths and turned round.

"Toris." His voice carried over the near silence and it sounded weak and strained to his ears.

Ludwig glanced up as the brunet at their table seemed to recognize the pale-haired man at the opposite side of the room. "Who is he?" he asked the other man quietly, noting his embarrassment.

Before he could get an answer from the man, the waitress, along with a few others came and began loading the table up with a sampling of native Rhynland food. It smelled fantastic to Ludwig, who began putting food on his own plate as he looked at Toris expectantly for an answer.

While the fighter had served his fellows with the beer, he wanted food quite a bit more than he had wanted the beer. He assumed the others could serve themselves when it came to the food. "If you don't know what anything is, please ask me," he told the others.

“Best buddies? Oh yes, I can completely see that happening,” he told Alfred, rolling his eyes.

Matthew was caught by surprise when Toris suddenly shouted out a name to the pale haired man. This meant, Toris knew him, which put Matthew’s mind at ease. At least the ‘huge guy’, or Ivan, wasn’t a complete stranger to all of them. But he wondered if it had been a while since they had met, for it had taken Toris a while to recognize the other man.

He looked at his own table only to notice that it was now full of food. As hungry as he was, Matthew lost a bit of his appetite when he remembered that he would be paying for this, or at least half of it if Feliciano kept his promise as well. He realized the shorter man wasn’t at the table, and he looked around confused. “Oh,” was all he could say when he spotted Feliciano close to the fireplace, apparently serenading a waitress. Which was fine, as long as he came back in time to pay, that is.

Alfred was more than slightly surprised by Toris' sudden outburst of the name. With a hand clasped to his mouth he whispered. "You actually know that guy?"

The freshly made food distracted him for a short moment. Did they make hamburgers, he wondered.

Ludwig was trying to remain somewhat restrained as he took his first bite of potato cake followed with bratwurst with onions. It really had been too long since he'd had good Rhynland food. this may not have been gourmet, but it was most definitely good.

He glanced at his companions, encouraging them to help themselves. He'd already finished his first beer and was pouring a second. For once in his regimented life, he was indulging in a bit of gluttony.

Toris gave a weak, apologetic smile to his tablemates. He really hadn't meant to shout like that, especially when it could have been a stranger, but then Ivan said his name and Toris knew it was him. He wasn't sure what to do though, he didn't want to be rude to the people he'd just met and leave, nor did he want to inconvience them and call Ivan over.

He heard Ludwig ask him who Ivan was and Toris thought he should at least answer before anything else.

"He's... an old friend." Toris replied, then Alfred piped in and he added, "We grew up together but... well, things happen." He said vaguely. He wasn't sure how to best explain it and maybe it would just be better not to go into detail.

And he still wasn't sure if he should go to Ivan or not. He didn't know what Ivan was doing here in the first place and he had hoped to get some information from the group of travelers. What would he even say to Ivan if he did join him? He hadn't seen the man in years. Not since they were children.

Ivan waved to the man weakly and turned back around. He couldn't do this. He wasn't drunk enough to do this. He pulled the tiny lizard out of his pocket and set it on his plate. The left over potatoes and steak were no match for it and they fell quickly to its mighty jaws.

Once she had licked the plate clean, she settled in the center, looking up at her pet and purred contentedly. She liked steak. He should feed her steak more often. She clambered up his arm and settles on her pets broad shoulder, wrapping her tail around his neck for support. He made such a good perch~ It was reasons like these that she kept him around~ She licked his cheek and purred in his ear. He should be honored to hear such a beautiful sound.

Ivan patted the dragons head and sighed glancing again at the table. He wanted to go over there but what if he wasn't welcome? Ans they were eating. That was just rude. Not that he knew what he would say to Toris if he ever went over there....He should have staid upstairs.