It was a normal evening like any other, and it had been a normal day as well. Sailors and other patrons were drinking, being rowdy and it was only a matter of time before the typical sea shanty singing contest started up. Though if the night passed without that frivolity, it wasn't going to hurt the feelings of one of the Tavern worker's feelings. D'Artagnan Tallow had been working at the Tavern for a couple months now, as a dishwasher, cook, and busboy, and bartender, whatever was really needed. Usually, he was kept out of sight in the kitchen, but tonight was busy enough that he had been ordered to help wait on the tables. He didn't mind waiting on tables, he was handsome enough in appearance to actually help please the few female patrons. As a matter of fact, so long as he wasn't expected to hold much conversation, he got along well with many of the patrons. The young human came out of the kitchen, wearing a clean white shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a dark vest, and a short apron over dark pants and boots. His dark brown hair was slicked back out of his face in an almost charming manner, and whatever of it was long enough was braided down his back. He had a pleasant smile on his face as he carried his tray of food and drink to the patrons.

Like usual the Mother did her shoving motion and most of the children left her side. It had to be hard to have so many children all wanting your attention at once. Staying silently against the wall she stared out into the space where she believed she had no place. It did not take much for Angela’s attention to shift to the young one as she strolled over. A hug was given to her for after all they were connected. Angela was her mother but in a different sense. The earth had birthed her into Angela’s arms. “Go have fun alright?” Angela tucked a strand of red hair behind Foxglove’s ear. A gentle nod came from her but she could still find no words at least verbally.

I feel like I don’t belong. I feel like I am not one of them. It was the plus side to being the avatar of the goddess. There didn’t have to be verbal communication. Angela put her lips to the girl’s forehead and smiled before sending her off to Adeluna. It was good for her to get out and see people she wasn’t family with. Plus it helped keep Angela in contact with everyone.

Deciding to go for the tavern she found the singing merrymen and decided to open the door. She squealed a bit as she jumped out of the way of a flying bottle. “Things never change around here.” She grabbed a man to dance with and swung him around singing songs. Her voice flew high as most Rosens did. Her hair was long and red while her eyes a pleasant green with a red ring around the pupil. After a while she stopped and took a breath calling over the brown haired man. “Can I can a drink please?” She fell back into a chair laughing.

D'Artagnan, more commonly called Dart by those in the tavern, looked up as the door opened and in walked a young woman. She was quite lovely, with a lot of vibrant red hair that fell about her shoulders. He heard her join in almost immediately with the raucous singing of the shanty of the moment, before she flopped into an empty seat, apparently out of breath. She called to him about a drink, and he nodded, and quickly scooped up the mugs and plates he had been collecting from an empty table, and wiped the crumbs from it. He quickly deposited the dishes in the kitchen and came over to where the breathless red-head now sat and smiled at her. 

"W-w-what can I g-get f-f-f-for y-you, M-m-miss?" he asked politely over the din of the dining room, though his tongue was having some trouble forcing the words out between his lips. A brief flash of embarrassment painted his cheeks at his inability to speak properly, but it faded, unlike the smile he still had on his face. 

She looked up at him and the first thing she noticed was his stutter but she offered him a kind smile. “An ale please. My voice is strung out from all the singing. Its always so lively here in the evenings.” She looked out towards the crowd and turned her head only to give a wink. 

Another shanty song began and she happily clapped along with the crowd as everyone got merry. Foxglove's face lit up as many men came to her and asked her to dance. She rejected each one as a finger came up and slightly twirled a soft red lock around. Ever shy her face was turning all colors red before Dart came back over with her ale. Once in hand she took it and drank a good bit of it. 

"Of c-c-course, M-miss," Dart replied cheerfully before he turned and moved off, being hailed by several others as he passed for more rounds. He went to the bar and pulled out several of the tall mugs and began to fill them with the Tavern's best, rich, frothy ale from the tap before he loaded it all up onto a tray and moved back out onto the dining room floor. 

His eyes had rarely left the main room, as it was part of his job to help sort out any problem guests or patrons when they got too rowdy. His focus, however, had been more on the young red-head, which actually proved a very good thing. As he had been filling up the mugs, and even before, he had been aware of how many of the patrons had come up and asked her for a dance. Despite her refusals, there was one in particular who seemed unable to take "NO" for an answer. 

"Alright, Miss, if you aren't going to dance, I will just join you," he said as he had a seat at the table with Foxglove. Dart's eyes narrowed, while carefully maneuvering his rather long legs around chairs and bodies, depositing the mugs down upon the tables to the guests who had asked for refills. 

Foxglove gave Dart a cheerful smile as she  waited for her ale. She clapped happily to the music and found herself staring over to the cheerful boy. He seemed to be around her age and unlike the rest of the men in the tavern he was quiet and outspoken. He attracted her attention much better than the bulking man. “It doesn't look like I have a choice.” She smiled to the man who appeared to want her attention much more then she wanted Dart's.

Her green eyes moved to the man who was trying to make all sort of conversation. She nodded along but her eyes still followed the boy as her hands brought up her ale and she took a long sip. “Boy I want a damn ale. Can't you tell when a man is thirsty.” The man yelled as he put his arm around her. Foxglove huffed a bit as she raised the mug and smashed it into his face. He went through a table and the men sitting at it jumped up.

She folded her legs behind the chair's legs like a lady before looking at her broken mug. “I need another ale from the cute waiter boy!” She moved her finger softly and the broken remnants of the mug moved up and over to the table behind her into a pile. “There all picked up so you don't have to work too hard.”

Dart passed out drinks left and right before he finally reached Foxglove at her table and handed her the last mug he had on his tray. 
"There y-you g-g-go, Miss," he smiled brightly. He had noticed how she had watched him, though he didn't let on. He didn't get much of a chance to say anything else to her before her loud mouthed companion yelled at him, demanding an ale as he slipped his arm, quite obviously around Foxglove's shoulders without any regards to her wishes. Dart felt a flash of anger rising in the pit of his stomach, but was actually stunned when the lovely redhead smashed her mug into the sailor's face, and sent him sprawling into the next table over, ale and food and chair scattering across the floor and all over patrons. Dart looked at the young lady in surprise as she actually made all the fragments of her broken mug fly up from off the floor into a nice pile on the table, saying that she wanted another ale, from him specifically. 

He didn't say anything, but swept the mess of the mug onto his tray, and hustled over to the bar to retrieve the requested drink. He reached the table again at about the point that the sailor was picking himself up off the floor, his shirt covered in ale, and nose swelling greatly due to the blow he had received. Just as Dart placed the drink in front of Foxglove, the man reached out to grab her. 

"You little bitch! I'll teach you a lesson in civility!" he snarled at her. Instinctively, Dart's hand shot out and grabbed the man by the wrist rather tightly. 

"I w-wouldn't do that, Sir," the lanky busboy warned. The sailor growled and swung his fist at Dart, catching the teenager square in the jaw and knocked him to the floor. 

"Keep out of this, you half-wit!" the sailor snapped at Dart. Dart shook off the daze of being hit and rubbed his jaw. He jumped to his feet as the man lunged at Foxglove again, and swung his tray as hard as he could, catching the sailor across the head before he dropped the fractured platter and grabbed the man's arms and pinned them behind the sailor's back, and drove him into a nearby table.

"I s-s-said leave the l-lady alone," Dart growled as he showed remarkable strength despite his lanky size and hauled the sailor towards the main door to escort him from the premises.

Foxglove wasn't about to let a man talk to her like that. She came from a warrior race. A race much like the amazons. Her ivy eyes narrowed down at him. “You wish you could teach me a lesson.” She was going to teach him one but before she could she was shocked by the tavern boy. The anger left her lips as she was full of laughter before she picked up her new mug.

She sipped on the new ale and watched him. “You are quite strong.” She caught him by his sleeve when he went past her the next time. “My name is Foxglove.” She offered him a smile through all the noise and excitement. “Thank you for helping me. Though I am sure I could have taught him a lesson, I thoroughly enjoyed watching you teach him more.”

She blushed a bit and got up to walk with him to the bar. “Will you have a drink with me? When you are free I mean. I will pay for it since you helped me. You have been a great server as well best tavern boy I've seen in a while.” A soft smile was on her face as she leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek.

Dart escorted the sailor out of the tavern door before he released him and turned and went back inside. He wasn't blind to the look of rage the sailor gave him, but didn't think anything of it. He returned to the dining room of the tavern and went and collected his tray from the young red-head's table. He paused as she grabbed his sleeve, and smiled sheepishly as she complimented his strength, and ran a hand through his hair nervously. 
"Uhh… Dart. I-I am j-j-just glad I was h-here to do m-my job," he said as he held his tray at his side. "I d-do believe y-you c-c-could have… b-but I was b-brought up t-to treat women w-with respect and to protect them," he explained. He was surprised as she got up from her table and walked with him back to the bar. "I am g-glad that it d-d-didn't upset you," he added as he put down his tray and began filling up mugs and passing them out to patrons. He blushed even more than she did when she asked him to have a drink with her. 

"Umm… yeah, s-s-sure. It m-might b-be a while though. T-tonight is one of the b-b-busiest n-n-nights of the w-week," Dart replied as he began wiping down the bar. He went beet red as Foxglove leaned over the bar and kissed him lightly on the cheek. In fact it surprised him so bad he actually jumped backwards and and ran into the shelf of glasses. Expertly he caught the falling glasses and replaced them on the shelf, laughing nervously, and getting a few laughs out of the patrons as well. He cleared his throat nervously, his face still burning, and went back to work, though he did hide a sheepish smile as he looked over a Foxglove briefly before he was called back onto the floor for drinks. 

His mind was actually reeling. Most girls thought him cute, but the stutter usually just made them giggle and pay him little attention other than being acquaintances or even friends. No one had actually kissed him, let alone for just doing his job.

He barely had any time to think about the kiss, as things got really busy and he was running around the dining room delivering drinks and food for the next hour or so. Finally things began to calm down, and the dining room's activity began to dwindle down as patrons left to go home for the night, and Dart was able to slow down enough that he wasn't practically jumping over chairs to serve his drinks. He left a load of dishes in the kitchen to be done before he went back out to the bar to where Foxglove was waiting. 

"As I s-said, v-very b-busy," he chuckled. "R-refill?"

Foxglove giggled lightly at the look he was giving her and smiled more. "Well I thank you very much Dart. You certainly showed him you aren't one to mess with." She was full of compliments tonight. "My mother taught me to know how to win a fight."

The red head was completely amused when he got beet red on her. "I'll be waiting then." She heard the tavern laugh but she was ready for him as she watched him catch the glasses. Honestly he was really cute. She drank from her mug as she waited for him.

As the night progressed she waited for him by the bar. People like her were use to time moving quickly after all they were long lived. She smiled at him and laughed. "Only if you sit next to me and drink with me. Take a break." She patted the seat next to her. "I want to get to know you and can't if the tavern closes. Hell at this point I would even wash dishes next to you."