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THE THIRSTY MINNOW - PHOEBE'S ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON
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Phoebe replaces the wooden board in the floor, carefully slotting the loose wood back into place after ensuring everything is in order. She sits back up with a sigh, glancing around her room, almost nervously. She takes the handful of coins she removed and drops it onto the room desk, and prepares to write out another note on the stationary she's set up there.
Ninell walks along the hallway of the Minnow, looking at the numbers on the doors that line either wall as he recalls the room that Phoebe said she's residing in. He's not dressed in his armor at the moment, his heavy gear stowed securely back in his own room just out of convenience. Instead, he's dressed in an elegant and purposely loose-fitting suit of a rather lightweight material, some braided cords woven through with thin strands of some lustrous, yellow material keeping the outfit under control. He comes to a stop outside of the room Phoebe mentioned, then knocks smartly after a moment.
Phoebe hesistates at the sound. She reaches under the desk, pulling out a knife and creeping towards the door cautiously. "Oh! Um, one second! Who is it?" She calls out, even as she moves closer to the side of the door, just in case of an attempt to force entry.
Ninell calls back upon hearing the question. His deep voice should make it pretty obvious from the moment he opens his mouth. "It is Ninell, Phoebe. I hope I am not disturbing you, but I thought I should stop by to talk about your information gathering."
Phoebe 's ears perk up, and she lets out an involuntary "Oh!" Before she grits her teeth and shakes her head. She lowers her knife, turning to set it back in its hiding spot, then back to unchain the door, slowly opening it to peek out. "Ninell? I uh... yeah. Yeah, uh, come... in?" She steps back slightly to open the door up for him.
Ninell smiles a bit when the door cracks open and he catches a glimpse of Phoebe. As she steps back to let him in, he gracefully dips his head and moves over the threshold. "Thank you, Phoebe. I hope the day finds you well, so far?"
Phoebe closes the door behind Ninell once he's inside, locking it behind him and checking the chain. Her room is rather unusual, a mix of styles and items that gives a sense that Phoebe has a very strange sense of fashion, from mundane and utilitarian to unusally dressy and fancy. Although, some of those outfits seem like they might not fit Phoebe so well. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, so far so good." She glances over Ninell, scratching her head awkwardly, "If uh, this is about yesterday, I'll just apologize about all that whole thing and we can uh, move on or whatever..."
Ninell tilts his head curiously as he moves into an open spot of the room and stands quite properly indeed, his hands clasped respectfully behind him. "About yesterday? You mean the invitation to your room? Or is it perhaps something else you think you need to apologize for?" He flashes a quick grin, "Please, you did nothing to warrant apologies, Phoebe. I might be a knight, but I am a person, just as you are."
Phoebe frowns, still checking Ninell out a little too closely, "Eh, well, you know... Erika is so embarrassing, and uh... well, you know. The rest. Glad you're still a person though. I mean, uh, information right? You wanted information?"
Ninell doesn't seem to mind Phoebe's oddly intense inspection, accustomed as he is to people giving him strange looks ever since he'd set out from his homeland. Instead, he nods at the question. "Yes. Well, more precisely, I was hoping to make our arrangement a little more official. That is..." He takes a moment to dig at a small satchel strapped to one of his belts and extracts a small coin pouch, "I do not intend for my request to be simply a favor. I am fully willing to pay a finder's fee if you are able to gather information leading me in the correct direction."
Phoebe 's gaze is pulled away from Ninell to the pouch as she hears the tinkling of coin within. "O-oh?! Oh, well, that does change things a bit as well. I mean, I was... gonna help anyways but, coin is appreciated too." She seems to relax a bit, with promise of compensation, thinking of this as more of a business transaction. "More info about that dragon, right? Where it came from?"
Ninell nods as he takes a moment to open the pouch up and extracts a handful of coins, which he passes to Phoebe. "Exactly. Any information that would guide me where I need to go. Eyewitnesses, preferably both from here in town and wherever the dragon came from, would be ideal. And here, as a payment to start." He shakes his head a bit, "I do not know what your asking price is for this sort of job, but I hope this will suffice."
Phoebe takes the coins, quickly counting it, "It's, uh, yeah. It'll suffice. I'll make it work." She pockets the coin for now, crossing her arms to think. "I'm still sorta new here, but I'm making inroads with contacts, and asking around town is easy enough. So, I'll do what I can."
Ninell hums and nods as he cinches his pouch shut again and tucks it away. "Excellent, Phoebe, that is all I ask for. I will be sure to pay the rest of your asking price when you deem fit, so please just let me know when you wish for payment."
Phoebe nods, "I'll find you something worth the price. Heh, thanks." She shuffles a little awkwardly, not wanting to mention that this is her first 'honest' job. Instead, her eye turns back to Ninell, watching him. "You're for real, huh? The whole knight thing?"
Ninell smiles at the question and dips into a practiced bow. "I am quite for real, yes. Ninell, knight of Eukune, at your service."
Phoebe blinks, then awkwardly returns the bow, "Yeah, well, Phoebe, uh, Nothing, at yours, I guess?"
Ninell blinks as he straightens up again, then chuckles and waves a hand. "Ah, sorry. I am not all too formal, but, uh... force of habit. Please, do not feel like you must act similarly if you would rather not." He dips his head, "But, as before, a pleasure to meet you, Phoebe."
Phoebe straightens up. "It's fine, there's just nothing formal about me. But it is a pleasure though... never really met anyone like you before..."
Ninell smiles a bit more brightly at that. "I am not too surprised, really. My kind have not left our homeland for a long time. A few generations, at least, if I recall."
Phoebe nods, "No, I uh, I mean. Not just what you are? I mean... hell, I don't even know what I mean." She reaches her arm back to rub her head. "Don't worry about it."
Ninell tilts his head curiously, then chuckles a bit as he catches on to what Phoebe meant. "Ah, I think I understand what you mean, Phoebe. I suppose you might see something you like, hm?" He relaxes his stance a bit and opens his arms, palms up, inviting Phoebe's gaze again.
Phoebe blinks, taken aback at the forwardness of Ninell's question, putting her into a weirdly defensive posture. She turns away from Ninell, but opens one eye to study him from a side persepective. "Hmph. Well, I guess so? I mean, you're plenty handsome, I guess."
Ninell laughs a bit and nods as he adopts a more relaxed pose, one arm dropping down to hang loosely while he rests his other hand against his hip, "I suppose. I never really did consider myself such, though I can hardly argue with you and Erika saying so rather openly."
Phoebe snorts, "Well, I think Erika said it enough for both of us. But maybe that's just her. I don't know her that well, despite her saying we're friends." She isn't exactly refuting either the fact that she thinks Ninell is handsome, nor the fact that Erika is her friend.
Ninell chuckles as he smiles at Phoebe. "Well, in that case, maybe I actually was mistaken in your original intentions when you invited me over here, hm? I had the sense that the information gathering aspect was a secondary consideration for you."
Phoebe blinks, turning away completely from Ninell, "I-it's not like that! I'm not- I can't-" She keeps stopping herself. She can't exactly explain her situation. "I just mean... I'm not the 'relationship' type."
Ninell tilts his head, still smiling a bit. "Then care to say what it was like, then? Of course, I understand that you may not be a 'relationship' type, but you do not need a relationship to enjoy that sort of thing."
Phoebe shifts back in place to stare at Ninell, not his body, but his face, trying to detect the trap there. She sighs but part of her is relieved, "I dunno. Maybe it is like that. Maybe that's all it is, eh? You're pretty good on the eyes, you don't seem like a creep."
Ninell shrugs a little, still keeping his gracefully casual stance. "Perhaps that is all it is, if that is what you want it to be, whatever it may be." He pauses, then starts to chuckle again, "If I was a 'creep', as you say, I doubt I would be a knight. And I will say, you are quite cute, too, if you do not mind me saying so."
Phoebe chuckles back, blushing just a bit, "You'd be the first." She seems to hesitate, not entirely sure what happens next, "So a knight... not too stuck up to spend a night with some strange wolf, eh?"
Ninell nods, smiling lightly. "A knight, yes, and certainly not like a haughty noble. If this is something you wish for, I am available and have no issues with some, ah... dallying about after such a long trip from Eukune."
Phoebe: "Dallying about, eh?" She smirks, but it's still a little awkward. "Eh... why the fuck not, right? Life's too short. We can both get a bit of fun out of this, right?"
Ninell hums, noting the awkwardness to Phoebe's smirk. "A bit of fun for the night, and we can continue as we have been otherwise, if that is what you wish." He steps over towards Phoebe and gently touches a finger to her jaw, "If you are not the relationship type, then we can keep this simple."
Phoebe closes her eyes at Ninell's touch. "Simple is good... and I think I need this. Thank you."
Ninell smiles a bit as he strokes his finger against Phoebe's jaw for a moment, then slowly slips his arm around to gently pull her a little closer. "If you believe you need this, then allow me to provide it for you, Phoebe."
Phoebe is still taken off-guard by the closeness of another person, something she's realizing she's never experienced before. She opens her eyes again and gives Ninell a hungry gaze, then leans in against him and completes the embrace, her muzzle meeting his in an awkward but passionate kiss.
Ninell meets Phoebe's look with a knowing little glint in his eyes, only for her sudden kiss to catch him off guard. It's a few moments before he recovers, but once he does he wraps Phoebe in a warm embrace and leans into the kiss as he works to match her unexpected passion.