for all the effort he had exerted into finding a place where no wanting soul would find him, his friend still managed to hunt him down not even hours after he paid coin for good ale, warm hearth and solitude. he could have opted to spend time alone malms away from civilization, but that meant lapsing into silence in a place with far more dangers than a boisterous halfling could ever inflict— a halfling not wearing the mantle of eorzea’s hero, at the very least.
still, as he moves to the side to make room for the warrior to settle comfortably, estinien yearns for a time to be alone. once the haze of wrath and vengeance left his eyes wide open to look at the world, he found that he was much too ignorant of matters not concerning dragons and religion and politics, much to his chagrin. “ passing luck, ” he snorts into his tankard. “ ‘tis not considered passing luck after somehow finding me everywhere i hide for so long. ” his eyebrow rises in skepticism as he looks down at his friend whom, yet again, is sporting that smile — the one that stops him from truly getting frustrated with aito. “ are you certain this informant of yours is not a convenient excuse to bother me tonight? ”
his presence having been accepted ( or close enough to it ), aito slung his axe off his shoulder to rest against the table, settling in for at least a short talk. it had been long enough since estinien’s quite understandable disappearance, many had fretted but aito had trusted in the man’s best judgement. that didn’t mean estinien hadn’t been dearly missed, though.
he let out a little laugh at the accusation, but shrugged it off all the same. “you think me a better hunter than you are game? color me flattered! but if luck isn’t it, then you would have had to let me catch you. for your pride’s sake, passing luck it is,” he teased.
the bartender approached, and for a moment aito considered denying a drink outright, but most places didn’t care for customers that didn’t want to pay. he settled for an intent stare as his drink was poured, attention turned away from his old friend for long enough to lean forward and watch-- when it came to him, he was reasonably certain it hadn’t been tampered with, and settled into it slowly. “intended solitude aside, how have you been, estinien? ...how goes the battle?” his voice lowered at the last, subtle wording to avoid prying ears; estinien’s wounds may have mended, but aito held no illusions that he had walked from that infirmary healed.
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