A Winter Day in Haven [Ythabel - Flashback]

[attr="class","itsover"]
Opening the wooden door of the establishment, Gwrtheyrn Knútr Medrawt stepped inside the warm comfort of this lounge bar while leaving behind the dry and only mild cold of the outside.

A funny story this place had, so had he been told and so legend had it.

According to Warduul - an unreliable source, but one that still had its worth even if only for the sake of humour - the Stray Dog was one of the first businesses of its type to open in Haven, right around the time when most of the Rapture Square was still being constructed. This all seems like the setup of a regular story, but please, you shall only continue on reading. It is said that the man who founded the bar - and whose blood lineage continues on owning and managing the place - was a little bit of a, let's say, past trouble maker. He was a mere constructor and a regular man helping out in the building of the city, but this was because his record wasn't the cleanest of things so he was, well... "forced" into helping - you surely know what this means. Now, the fun part. Him and his co-workers found what looked to be a stray dog and, since this type of work can be a lonely one, they gambled for who was to keep him. Our middle-aged protagonist won (it is said with a fair bit of cheating going on, but this would've only mattered if he had been caught... which he wasn't) and so the black and white dog was now his. How can this lead to the inception of a costy thing such as a lounge bar? Well, apparently the dog wasn't one that belonged to the streets at all: it was a now grown dog that had once been the lost puppy of a fairly wealthy mistress. When, by pure chance, said mistress came into Haven looking to set-up a business in the newly built city, she found our constructor and the dog which he had won by the way of cards and chips. "I'll give you the building I just bought and help you with anything else you might need if you give me the dog", she said after explaining the situation. "Say no more", the man replied. And so he gained a piece of expensive property for free; and so he stopped being a constructor; and so he began a new life. The building he inherited was to become a lounge bar for him to live the rest of his days relaxed, surrounded by people and alcohol. The name he gave it? "The Stray Dog", in memory of the cute bastard that wasn't a stray one at all.

Now inside this building that had an interesting backstory to it, Gwrtheyrn took out his long coat and carefully placed it on one of the existing hangers at the entrace. One has to be careful with the changes in temperature in order to not get a cold - taking into account the other problems he already had to deal it, getting sick wasn't something he needed to had into the mix of things. Looking at his surroundings, the young adult took into his eyes the available information.

It wasn't full, but it wasn't empty: a nice middle-ground of people enjoying their time and partaking in casual conversation, whether it was on the boots, regular tables or at the counter. A few employees were also on duty, being there as many males as females, all of them visibly picked with the eyes of the customer in mind. The place was also clean and tidy, really professional and friendly... although, in typical Haven fashion, Gwrtheyrn suspect the mood quickly changed once the high hours of the night came. Not a thing to worry about at that time, though.

Walking with confidence towards the bar, he directed his words at the woman working the register.

Excuse me, can you tell me if..., it was mid-sentence that Knútr realized he essentially had no idea who the hell he was looking for, so he just winged it while hoping for the best,...if someone that, uhm, caught your eyes came in? A female, particularly, he ended up saying.

"Hmmm, let me think", the employee with the blonde hair tied into a pony-tail said as she raised one of her hands into her chin as if pulling her brain strings into remembering who had came into The Stray Dog in the past hour, "A lady with an eye-patch arrived around half a hour ago!", she said as if a lightbulb lit up over her head, her tone reflecting the enthusiasm of a teenager working her first job and gaining coin for the first time in her life, "And another came in some minutes ago. She had a big staff, like those in children's books! That's all I can think of though..."

And that's more than enough. Thank you..., he shifted his eyes to her name tag before gazing back at her face, ...Elenna, he finished with a smile, making the girl blush a bit and simply nodding in silence while giving a smile back.

Which one was the medicine bringer he was looking for though?

I'm sure that if she was the one with the eye-patch Warduul would've mentioned such by making fun of it, so...

He concluded that the best option was the one with the staff. So, after a bit of walking and looking, he found the woman - and staff - in question. Grey eyes, straight black hair, a little taller than the average woman by the looks of it, drinking what smelled to be wine.

Gwrtheyrn approached the boot in which the individual in question as enjoying her time alone. Then, in his calm yet compelling voice, he spoke while looking at her.

Sorry, he said to get her attention, I'm looking for a woman selling herbal medicine from Fumehat. Does that person happen to be you by any chance?, he asked.

Hopefully it was - his back was beginning to hurt after all the walking and he really need to sit down for a bit.

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