milliways_bar | (no subject)

Harry Percy is on a Quest. A very solemn Quest, one that has probably taken longer than necessary due to his refusal to ask directions of anyone. But eventually, finally, he locates the stables.

He approaches the paddock slowly, looking the horses over with a practiced eye as he draws near. When he's close enough to notice the young man reading on a hay bale, he hails him with, "You are the stable boy?"

(OOC: Sorry for the delay, I was out.)

William looks up when he hears Hotspur approaching and frowns, "Ain't sure I'd call myself that. I work here sometimes, why?"

[ooc: no worries at all! I'm gonna have to head off to sleep soon, though.]

"I wondered whose they are," he replies, nodding towards the horses.

(OOC: No worries, timezones are unhelpful. Sleep well and I look forward to more tomorrow.)

"Depends, some of the patrons ain't here but let others use their horses and some sort of belong to the Bar. I know which ones are allowed for anyone's use,"

He sits up, putting a bookmark in and putting the book in his jacket pocket.

Edited 2015-06-20 01:25 (UTC)

He perks up at that last bit. "Ay, there are some designated so?"

"Yeah, Duncan and Rachat are the ones. That's Duncan over there and Rachat there,"

William points to two different horses who are having a good time in the paddock.

"Ah, they look well," he says eagerly. "You work here, say you? Then you are--" He gestures vaguely towards the ground as a whole. "--from this place?"

"I do work here but I'm from a place called Arizona Territory. I just spend time here and since my family breeds cattle, I'm always workin' with horses."

"I know it not," he says. It's practically a reflexive response-- at this point, he just assumes he won't have heard of where someone is from. "So you are a stable boy, after a fashion."

"The title I get at home is cowboy but yeah, here I'm a stable boy. My name's William Evans. I can show you where the tack is and around the stables."

"I would be well pleased by that," he says eagerly. "Harry Percy, and most grateful to you."

He stood up and started towards the main door of the stables, "There are some good ridin' paths around here. One goes all the way around the lake and there are ones in the forest. They all sort of loop around themselves, its weird but works. Have you been warned about the bunnies in the forest?"

Harry snorts. "The men here must be warned of rabbits? Oh, I do not understand this place."

"They breathe fire, but you'll see, they're hard to miss,"

Inside the stable is quiet, most of the hoses are in the paddock and William walks towards the tack room.

"Ay, will I see?" he laughs, in a tone that fairly plainly suggests he does not believe this for a second. But he stops laughing when they step inside, pauses for a moment in the doorway before following William to the back. It looks different in some ways, but the important parts-- the light, the smell-- at last something seems familiar.

"If you work here," he says, quickening his pace to catch up to William. "You must know the lord of this place. Who was it hired you?"

"Sort of, I know Sallie, one of the Barmen but I started workin' here after talkin' to a patron who ain't been here for a while. Milliways isn't a place that really has an owner or a mayor exactly. Sallie and Mike are Barmen, there's Security for dealin' with trouble and somewhere there's a Landlord but no one's ever met 'em,"

He knows it must sound odd to a man who seems like he could have stepped out The Black Arrow but that's the truth.

But he's heard it enough to be fairly resigned to it at this point, and nods along with William's explanation before concluding with a sigh, "Ay, so all say. I think someone must have built this place, even if I know not where or why."

He picks up a bridle and begins idly looking it over. "See they much use, these stables? The man who told me of them had not even seen them and even now, only you are here."

In the tack room, there's a cot, stove with a coffee pot and a few books along with all the tack,

"They see some, not a whole lot of use lately. There are always folks who want to ride and I don't live here just come and go, so I don't know all that's goin' on. I've taught some folks how to ride who didn't know, but its not like home where everyone rides cause that's what you do."

Edited 2015-06-20 22:56 (UTC)

"There is less call to ride with nowhere to travel," he says. He nods towards the cot. "This is yours?"

"Its for anyone who needs it. Last time I slept here was when Ellen's brahmin was havin' her calf. Sometimes its nice to be out here, its quieter than inside. Yeah, that too."

"Might I?" The query is out almost before his brain has caught up to realizing that he wants to ask it, and he immediately looks embarrassed, which on Hotspur is something like a shade of anger.

He says quickly, with an irritated edge (though of course the only person he's irritated with is himself), "As you say, it is very oft... not quiet there."

"Course and bring whatever you want out here. I've usually got the makin's for coffee,"

The books are a mixture of reference on horses, dime novels and others.

"I do not know what that is," he says, peering curiously at a novel with a particularly brightly-hued cover.

William looks at the title which says Tom, Adventures of a Boy Detective in London,

"Oh that's a book with an adventure story in it.

"Ay, I can read," he says sharply. He also doesn't know what a detective is, but he's not going to say it. "Coffee. I do not know what that is."