Dec 10 16:12:41 107 PA - A Night at the Nightingale
From Chronicles
Dec 10 16:12:41 107 PA.
NIGHTINGALE
Early-evening at the Nightingale is one of the best times to be at the establishment. Enough people to be exciting and entertaining, but just few enough that it's calm and relaxing. The ability to speak in a normal voice is always appreciated as well. This does not happen to be one of those nights. A couple, according to a banner hung from the wall, is celebrating their first anniversary, and their crowd is loud and raucous. Apparently someone knows the management. Or, perhaps they just know that parties mean increased purchase of expensive alcohol. Gabriel is far more casual than most people ever see him, sitting half-on, half-off one of the bar stools at the counter, basically one cheek hanging off the side. Still, he looks comfortable, and the translucent brown bottle in his hands looks pretty good too.
Celaeno makes her way into the club, smiling brightly as she slides her way past the bouncer and skirts her way toward the bar. Ducking her head down as she gets there, she promptly orders two drinks - one practically glowing in a long stemmed glass and the other dark and squat.
Valeriya makes it to the front of the line in her standard leather jumpsuit seemingly oblivious to the gowns and suits around her. The door man even tries to suggest to her that she might fit in better with a line.. "Mam this is a somewhat formal club and bar with standards of class and dress.." However he was stopped short by her sharp glare as she clearly asked, "And your point is?" His stutters where then ignored as she proceeds to the bar.
With eyes watching the room and goings-on with a touch of humor, Gabriel can't help but notice the tall woman walk up to the counter and grab two hands-worth of drinks. Oh, what the hell, it's Celaeno? His face registers the surprise, but it's momentarily hidden behind an upturned bottle. Then, yet another tall woman enters the bar, but Valeriya is immediately identified - as perhaps she wants. Or, she just isn't a very classy woman. No one knows. For the moment, however, the Kentuckian seems content to drink whatever is coming out of the bottle, and watch the room.
Oblivious to anything going on in the club, Celaeno promptly swigs back the first of her drinks - the darker of the two - before gently lifting the other into the air, peering through it into one of the floor lights before spinning to face the crowd, arm still lifted. Her attention splits slowly, as she begins taking it all in, a smirk coming to her face as she eyes the party for a moment, though if she notices the other two she doesn't yet make it known.
At the bar Valeriya calls for a cold mug of the cheapest expensive beer they have with a critical eye. The amber fluid is thoroughly considered by sight and taste before giving a slight shake of her head. Done with that disappointment she turns to consider the people about, see if they are worth the credits they spend.
A closer glance at the fellow's bottle would immediately show that it's not alcohol. No, in point of fact it's some kind of soda with a label that looks like a gorilla arm-wrestling a rhinoceros. It must be good, because Gabriel orders a second after the first is emptied (presumably) and slammed on the counter. Usually, the man is somewhat forward, which is in stark contrast to the fact that he also prefers the quiet and solace of being left alone. Tonight, however, he continues to watch the two women whom he knows, because he's never really seen Celaeno dressed up much, and Valeriya, never even seen her in a classy place at all. His hands remain busy with drink and at his side.
Giving her drink a slight swirl, Celaeno finally seems to pick out Gabriel, her smirk not dropping while she considers him for a few moments. Her head leading her short march on pointy heels, she slides into a seat near him, asking, "So, I don't think I ever asked you, you ever wind up moving any of those goods, break even?" She takes a small sip of the fluorescent golden liquid.
Valeriya's can turns up Gabriel, which is of mild interest by her expression, and then the nicely dressed lady joining him garners more. Sufficiently intrigued she takes her beer and rises to venture over that way. "So have you successfully dismembered all your furniture yet?" She asks Gabriel in greeting.
Gabriel begins talking to the shorter of the taller women with a polite quarter-bow from the waist and a, "Miss Celaeno, evening." Then, after a quick scratch at apparently a sudden itch on his neck, he smiles and responds with, "Actually, I think that I did rather well. Was able to fix up a bunch of the armor myself, kept the clips, and I'm hunting around right now for someone to buy the rifle. Keeping one for myself, after all. It is apparently a collector's item." His smile then fades slightly. "Been wanting to ask you something too, but not here or now." The tall Valeriya is similarly acknowledged as she approaches, and his smile brightens again as he answers her question with, "Not yet, but I still have a huge bruise right here," he pokes near dead-center of his chest. "Thank you for that, by the way."
Celaeno's head bobs for a moment toward Gabriel, nose wrinkling ever so slightly as the other woman approaches. An eyebrow lifts at the mention of furniture and bruises, and she slowly spins the glass in her hand before adding jovially, "What, I miss a party? Shame, shame."
"No problem. When it hurts like that you know you really learned something." Valeriya points out before looking to consider the other woman from the closer perspective. "So who is your friend? Will you introduce us?" Valeriya asks with a calm smile.
The older man winks at Valeriya and responds to the other woman with, "Oh you don't know the half of it. It was taking all of my strength just to keep her off of me." This slides very nicely into holding his free hand toward Celaeno, "Miss Celaeno, this is Miss Valeriya, my instructor - for now," then the hand slips toward the other woman with, "Miss Valeriya, Miss Celaeno, whom I've fought with once or twice and gotten to know as a nice gal over the few months that I've been here. Hopefully we can all enjoy a trio of company." Gabriel really seems to be in his element, odd considering his usual job and demeanor. Well, maybe not his demeanor, which is usually fairly warm.
Celaeno just grins as her head cocks to the side, glancing between the two, "Sounds like a fun time, hey." She takes a small sip from her glass before giving Valeriya an appraising look for a moment, "Glad to hear that I'm 'nice' though, really makes my day when I think about it, and I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time."
Valeriya nods accepting Gabriel's subtle invitation to fully join him and Celaeno. "Oh, another worker of the trade then? My luck is improving. Yet another contact to make for a busy work schedule." Valeriya beams at Celaeno. "Do you do contract work for others, your own jobs or both?"
Gabriel shnuffles at something that fizzed up out of his soda and got into his nose. After that brief interruption of the conversational flow, however, his smile returns, and his eyes are wide in greeting to both, just listening as they exchange first-meeting pleasantries. However, he somewhat rudely interjects his opinion, "I'm fairly certain that Miss Celaeno doesn't do anything unless it's going to be worth her while in something more solid than spiritual-goodness." The tone of his voice, does probably convey that this is not a judgment call, just a thought.
Opening her mouth to respond, Celaeno balks for a moment, just grinning at Gabriel's assessment, "Well I wouldn't call it a 'trade,' maybe, but to here you say it like that makes me out to be some sort of dispassionate murder-machine." One eyebrow lifts as her eyes settle back on Gabriel, "but if you can't find a way to make your search for spiritual-goodness pay the bills, you're doing it wrong."
Valeriya grins at the reference to Celaeno, showing no qualms. "I prefer passionate dismemberment over dispassionate murder myself, if the pays pretty much the same." She voices, setting her mercenary view clear on the table. Though she does give a look of concern to Gabriel. "Spiritual goodness? Has one of those white collared cultists I've seen around gotten to you?"
A slight chuckle comes from the man. "I grew up during the Great Depression. I know how to get by without much at all, so money isn't all that important to me as helping out. Just the way my childhood was." Gabriel shrugs. "I know it's not for everyone, and it's not supposed to be, and no reason it has to be. In fact, I'm probably the fool!" His final statement is punctuated with a clear sign of amusement. "Don't get me wrong, money's great. I just don't live for it." The older man might have just a touch of reminiscence in his eyes as he speaks very briefly of his childhood.
Celaeno's head dips into her drink for a moment, "It is what it is, and everybody's a fool. But now that I think of it, I need to figure out how I'm going to pick me up a new 'cycle. And go about outfitting my old one for a bit heavier duty work. But that's neither here nor there, hey?" She practically drops her glass on the bar, spinning to peer into the pseudo-darkness of the rest of the club.
"Money certainly isn’t everything. Heck, I doubt I'll give two shits about money in a few weeks. But that is in a few weeks. Until then I have to eat and equip myself for work or it wont happen at all." Valeriya explains with a slight shrug. "You can't eat money after all. But it does lubricate many transactions."
Being from backwoods Appalachia Kentucky, Gabriel isn't exactly ever surprised by even the smallest sign of inebriation. However, simply almost-dropping a drink isn't necessarily a red flag, and in any case, while he can't help but notice, he also does nothing but make a friendly crack, "Never seen you get taken down by a single drink, Miss Celaeno. What'd they put in that thing?" Then helpfully to the same woman, "You should speak to a guy called Galvin. He's really ah, I believe the term is, 'tricking out' his hovercycle." That said, his attention switches to the taller of the two. "I'm sorry, Miss Valeriya, I'm not sure that I even know how long you've been in the city, let alone where you're from."
Celaeno's eyebrows lift in tandem as she is taken off guard by Gabriel's comment, "Just setting it down, just setting it down. Maybe I'll give him a look up, but I don't think it'd be all that worthwhile. I've got two things I want to do and only enough cash to do one of," she grins with an acknowledging nod toward Valeriya, "Lucky for me, the two things aren't eating and keeping a roof over my head. What's your specialty? So I know who to go to in case I need another pair of hands."
"I've been in town for two weeks now, on the planet for three. I come from s planet similar to this in the Anvil Galaxy, higher gravity though." Valeriya answers without hesitation before taking a sip of her draft and eyeing Gabriel, warily. "What are you? The chaperone?" She teases before nodding to Cel. "I specialize in going undetected, detection, and retrievals. Best against magic settings but competent in the mundane as well."
"Ah, apparently I am the mundane," Gabriel responds as he tips up his soda bottle. "Everybody's special in some way. City's like a comic book come to life, and I'm just one of the background characters. But I do well for myself, somehow," he ends with a wink at the two - something that's rather awkward to accomplish. Yeah, he really took that hit about planets and galaxies rather well, because he took time to think about it. "I'm sorry, Miss Valeriya, I'm a poor astronomer. I know constellations, Sun, Moon, and the important stars and planets you can see. 'Fraid I've never heard of an Anvil Galaxy. In fact, I can't think of the name of *any* other galaxy."
Celaeno nods idly to herself, "I'll see what I can do, though I'm not sure exactly what qualifies as a 'magic setting,' personally." She grins at the woman, sliding her way out of her chair as she picks up her glass again, "though I should note you're not in bad company there, Gabe. Plenty of stars in the sky and places in the universe, and there's nothing wrong with being the mook slogging through the mud."
Valeriya says, "Background characters tend to live longer fuller lives." Valeriya points out with a smirk to Gabriel before shrugging. "Not sure of its relation to this galaxy myself. If there is any. The portal I took to here as dimensional. They don’t always agree with physical space and distances." She explains with the reassurance of her own lack of understanding.
"Uh-huh," comes Gabriel's intelligent response to Valeriya's explanation. His attention turns to Celaeno briefly and nods. "God loves the infantry."
Celaeno grows quiet at Valeriya's statement regarding portals and the rest, a quiet frown flickering momentarily across her face before her smirk flits back and the rest of her glass is drained. "Nah, the bastard just hates everybody the same," she grins at Gabriel, "and no matter where you are the trick's to avoid the explosions. I'll be seeing you lot around. Look forward to hearing what you've got to say, or coming up with something for you to do," she nods to Gabriel and then Valeriya. "Take it easy, I'll get each of you a drink next time around," and she turns to glide back out the door, giving a little finger wave as she goes.
"She's nice, I like her." Valeriya remarks of the now departed Celaeno with a glance to Gabriel. "You know more people like her? I'd be really appreciative of being introduced." She says with an alluring smile.
Gabriel raises his bottle in salute to the woman as she quickly departs, just offering in his thick drawl, "Goodnight, Miss Celaeno," that's unlikely ever to be heard by the woman. But even if he wasn't just a nice guy, propriety demanded it. It's early evening at the Nightingale, and the normally very classy establishment is far more raucous than standard. According to a banner hanging from the far wall, it's a couple’s first anniversary, and apparently they and a large group of friends are really whooping it up. The older, short man is at the counter near a much younger, tall woman in conversation, each with some kind of drink in their hands. Gabriel smiles up to the sky-scraping woman - relatively, at least - and says, "You know, I can't really think of anyone else like her. Quite the little psychic mercenary. I know others who fight, I know other psychics, but I don't think I know any other similar combination of the two." His eyes are squinted slightly in thought. "If you don't mind, in twenty words or less, could you summarize exactly what dimensional is, and how it goes into the same sentence with the words 'galaxy,' 'moving,' and 'portal?'" He seems genuinely interested, if not confused. His bottle is tipped back once more.
Tonight is a night of nights. It's nothing like the one before or the one after. Why? Because it's tonight and last night or tomorrow night can never be tonight without some time traveling or waiting. Eddie isn't doing either one of those when he comes inside, though. He's pirouetting instead. And then there's a cabriole, plie', and many other words Eddie could never spell. His dance is in time to the music, but the music may be somewhere else.
Valeriya furrows a brow for a moment at that challenge and takes two more to sip her beer in thought. "Dimensions are a matter of scale. You have your universe with its countless galaxies and such. In it you are a background character. But in another dimension you may be a lead character, or not a character at all. There are gates between such dimensions. And the ones to popular realities are established for trade, moving things and people between them." Valeriya summarizes in about forty words. Good thing it wasn’t a challenge for credits.
The Kentuckian leans over toward the tall woman next to him and says under his breath, "This is Eddie. Pretty hyper, but nice enough. Don't expect a straight answer to a question." This statement is punctuated with a good, solid, informational wink. Then, "Thanks, Miss Valeriya, I'll try to keep those things in mind. Dimensions and all. Might just be the kind of thing that'll take me years to really understand, not having grown up with them." He pulls on his bottle again, and takes a moment to inspect the anniversary party and of course, watch to see what (or if, to be fair) antics the metal-headed man pulls.
Eddie stops suddenly in the middle of a jump. He stops spinning, that is. A thump of both feet back on the floor and then he skips to the bar. Eddie waves one hand at a bartender and the other at two of the faces he's seen before. "I'm not that hyper and you shouldn't ask so many bendy questions." He's grinning at first, but becomes very serious when he leans towards Gabriel to whisper loudly and point at the woman next to the Kentuckian. "Watch out. The little red one will steal your balls."
On cue Spitz pokes his head from Valeriya's bosom to hiss vehemently at Eddie before retreating back to his harm sanctuary. "Yeah I've seen him around, amusing at least. Pretty amazing what people are willing or made to give up for an advantage don't you think?"
Rather rudely, Gabriel continues a brief conversation about Eddie, with Eddie right in front of him, but speaking to Valeriya. "Honestly, I've yet to determine exactly what it is that he's had done to himself. Maybe you can help me out with that one. You'll have to tell me what it's like where you grew up sometime," he adds as a rather incredibly-tangential comment. As the lizard emerges from her cleavage like magic trick, he adds, "Ah. Wondered where he was." Then, a wide smile breaks across his face, and as he has done in the past, he addresses Eddie as somewhat of a child. "Hey, Eddie, how're you doing? You really get around, don't you!" The ball comment? Probably dismissed in his own brain as a, "Huh?"
"Oooh! Does it bite? Can I pet it?" Eddie did sort of get the chance to sort of pet Spitz before, but now he steps around Gabriel to check out the lizard and its hidey hole. He doesn't even have to bend down much to try for a closer look. "Doing great! Better to go 'round all over and not be in the same place, ain't it?"
"It spits. And not wile he remains cloistered between my breasts you cannot." Valeriya answers firmly to Eddie with a strong stare. To Gabriel's question she decides to go to the source, and conveniently change the subject. "But tit for tat, what's with the metal cylinders sticking from your head? Why'd you get them?"
Eddie almost pouts and lowers his hand that was already starting over. He thumbs over to Gabriel with it, instead. "Told him. Makes hats fit way better. Makes it easier to make it harder to let people kill you, too!" Since he can't pet, Eddie settles for just leaning closer to peer at Spitz or whatever he can see of it. If it did bite, his nose might be in trouble. "Wish I would've thought of a hiding space like that. Looks cozy and you can find those just about anywhere, too!"
Valeriya sighs and mutters a phrase in a dark tongue before she quickly fade from view of regular eyes. "It's not polite to stare." Her voice notes to indicate she is indeed still there. "See, he had those cans put in his head to make him more resilient. I imagine their location has secondary effects as well." Her voice notes calmly, her expressions remaining unseen.
"Apparently," Gabriel agrees with a shallow nod to a woman who disappears before his eyes. Damn it. "I'm going to assume that you're somewhere around, Miss Valeriya. Just about every man I've ever met had a thing for breasts and cleavage. In my time, only adolescents and horny, immature twenty-year-olds would stare like that. But apparently in this place," the older man shrugs, "I guess you have to cover up if you don't want to attract attention - and covering up is something that you have admirably accomplished." Yes, three months of life in the city has been good to his acceptance of the strange and supernatural. Barely flinches. He then leans out his left hand and snaps his fingers loudly a couple of times. "Hey, hey! Eddie! Over here. She might come back and not appreciate being leered at."
"Sorry? Didn't know he was shy...." Eddie almost pouts again when Valeriya vanishes, then straightens up with a snap at the snaps. "What? What's over here?" His eyes dart around Gabriel suspiciously to try and find whatever it is. When they can't, Eddie looks back towards where Valeriya used to be. "Oh! Your boobs were pretty, too. And you smell nice. Now will you come back?"
"Nah, my beers out and another would be too expensive here. The single was far too expensive. Time to move on. I'll see you at the gym in a few days for your next beating Gabriel. Valeriya says, still unseen. After some time of silence from her it can be assumed she will not be seen there again that night.
Gabriel does allow for time to pass.. and pass.. and pass some more before, "Well, Eddie, I've had people walk out on me before, but never like that! What're you doing here tonight, Eddie? Come for those nice folks' anniversary party?" He wears a smile and then drinks from his fizzy soda bottle.
Eddie shakes his head. "Nah, I just-There's a party? Yes!" He waves to the bartender again, excitedly. "Give me a... one of those, and two of that." He points to Gabriel's drink, then at one of someone else down the bar. "What're you doing tonight?"
"It's Sunday, Eddie. I'm coming back from evening church services." Gabriel tickles the small silver crucifix around his neck. "Light a candle for my Natasha, give thanks for what I have. You know." Clearly he assumes that yes, people do know what he's talking about. He then raises his bottle. "You're into Gorilla Brand Soda, too?"
"Do you give her the candle before you light it," Eddie asks, "or after?" The soda's pretty quick to show up and he nods as he takes it. "Yep. It's the best stuff ever!" Just to prove it, he takes a large gulp. Then tips his head, taking time to savor it. "Doesn't taste like gorilla, though..."
Gabriel smiles softly, and states, "I just light the candle so that she knows that I where she is, and that I remember her. But I'm with her every night, and she never leaves here, either," he taps his chest, over his heart, with a slow, closed fist. Then in a different voice, addressing a child with a sly eye, he asks, "How do you know what gorilla tastes like?"
Eddie looks at Gabriel's chest and almost wonders if he carries things around like Valeriya does... but he doesn't really look equipped for it. The question quickly takes precedence. "I... I dunno. Maybe I don't. It doesn't taste like I'd think gorilla would taste..." Eddie nods firmly, sure of his quick thinking. "What's a gorilla?"
"A gorilla is me, on a really, really, really bad day," Gabriel answers with a grin. "Like a giant, over-sized monkey that could tear one of those 'borgs apart if you were dumb enough to piss off a silver-back gorilla. What have you been up to since the coffee shop? Wheeling around, flipping, spinning - making sure that nothing falls out of your head?"
"Yep!" Eddie nods vigorously. Nothing falls out, either! "Juggling, dancing, spinning, flipping, finding things. That's what I always do. It's fun!" He drinks some of his not-gorilla gorilla soda and winces. "Beats up borgs? Wow. I don't do that. Usually."
"So -" Gabriel's speech is cut off as the husband of the pair decides to launch into a rambling, extremely loud, very slurred toast to his wife, a woman who is very unabashedly making eyes at one of the man's friends. Thankfully, he's obviously too wasted to notice. One of those kinds of things that you want to tell the guy about, but you know it's not your business. Instead, the older man just sighs and shakes his head. "You know, Eddie," he begins, "it's the lucky man who finds the love of a good, true woman."
Eddie turns to watch the toast and lifts up his soda. "Here here!" They look like they're having fun over there, so he wants to be encouraging. "Oh, like that guy?!" He asks Gabriel and points to the one who's not as drunk and getting eyed. The question has to be loud so Gabriel can hear him over the toast.
The older man shakes his head. Doesn't matter if his tall friend just pointed him out. Nope. Husband is too wasted to look after his wife, that's his problem. That's they way society is supposed to work. You don't screw your friend's sister, and you don't point out marital problems, even when one of them doesn't know it's there. Unless a man is beating his wife. "Uh, no, Eddie. Not like that. That's lust, not love."
"Don't look so bad to me." Eddie shrugs and pirouettes to face Gabriel. "Better than not having it, right? Wait..." He eyes him with some suspicion. "Is this one of those chicken or the egg things?"
"Nope. That's an evolution thing, as far as I understand the question. Not that I'm really a scientist," Gabriel allows, pausing to sip from his fizzy soda bottle, then placing it empty on the counter and waiving for a new one. "You really want to hear about my early twentieth-century opinions on values and morality, what things are and what things aren't? These are usually the kinds of questions that your mom and dad answer. Like 'where do babies come from?'" The man, a father in fact, ends with a raised eyebrow and sips out of his new bottle.
Eddie laughs. "I know where babies come from. Seen lots of that. They can go anywhere after they get here, though. Don't the stork or mommies or daddies, then. Did you know that?" He sees that raised eyebrow and raises another.
The older man frowns a little, not quite being able to follow the other man's grammar and phrasing. "Um, yeah. The stork. Mommies and daddies. You get a baby." Gabriel shakes his head again, a bit confused at what Eddie may be trying to express.
"You can buy them, too," Eddie adds another choice in there, "if you want to be really lazy or don't know any storks. The ones nobody else wants, you know? I don't want any, though. Too short and if they run off into some little hole, you'd -never- find them again."
Gabriel shakes his head disapprovingly. "Nobody *buys* a baby. Buying babies is a very bad thing. People can *adopt* babies, which is when parents love a baby very much, and they take him or her home to raise, and don't get paid for it! Owning people because of money is a *VERY* bad thing!" The man seems exceptionally pissed off at the idea, almost as if he may have some experience with the subject.
Eddie chugs down the rest of the bottle and let's out all that silly fizzy stuff with a loud burp. "Oh, is -that- what it's called? Guess more people love kids a lot. Sally used to get adopted all the time because she was so pretty. She got to eat at Happy Burger lots after, too. When she still had teeth." Now that he made room, Eddie starts to gulp some of the whatever the other things were he ordered.
"Really?" Gabriel asks in a slightly better mood. Not good, but better. "Sally is a pretty girl who gets taken home a lot?" An eyebrow is quirked, and is asked, "How old is she?"
"Yep." Eddie nods several times. "About the same as me, I guess. She showed them all sorts of fun places. Mostly places behind other places. Wait, didn't we already talk about where babies came from?" He shakes his head and laughs. "You're going in circles. Good thing I don't get dizzy!"
Gabriel nods knowingly at what Sally may in fact be, though that knowledge is absolutely neither here-nor-there. Instead he continues his odd and admittedly conversationally wandering talk. "Did Sally teach you all of these cool tricks, Eddie? You know, juggling, flipping, riding a bicycle with no hands... I'm sure you do all kinds of other things, too."
Eddie shakes his head, still grinning. "Nope, but she was really good at some of that. Taught me lots of other things, though. I learned the juggling, flipping, riding and stuff all by myself." Now that he's reminded, Eddie flips backwards before he forgets. Some of his drink even stays in the cup. After that, he just has to pull a blue ball out of his sporran to bounce it against the floor.
The Kentuckian chuckles as the other fellow goes flipping around, somehow managing not to collide with others in the very crowded nightclub. He winces a bit as the drink flies out of the cup, but otherwise remains as he is - half-on, half-off a stool, with one foot on the ground. As there is no reason to try to talk to someone busy flipping around the floor - unless you're its parent and are allowed to grab it and make it stop - Gabriel simply leans back slightly and takes a long pull from his bottle of fizzy soda.
Eddie steps back up to the bar and gulps what's left of his mystery drink. "Don't you do any of that? It's lots of fun. Or are you just one of those boring guys that likes to kill people?" He's curious again, but he does realize that could be bad. Like the staring at the lizard was for Valeriya. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with killing people..." Maybe that'll soften it.
Gabriel looks at the other man with a smile. "I don't like killing people, Eddie. But no, I don't do flips, either. Most of the time, I run errands for the guys up in the Merchants Plaza, or lift bricks and sledgehammers on grunt construction sites, and sometimes help people out with math and reading when they need to understand contracts and things like that." The older man then shrugs a little and grins a different type of smile. "Other times, people just like to listen to my stories. Especially little kids." He seems very pleased with that detail. But then, as Eddie falls inexplicably silent, Gabriel finishes his drink, enjoys the drunken husband, feels bad for him because of the possibly cheating wife, then leaves, presumably to go back to his clearing and sleep.
