🚀 go-pugleaf

Jester looked at Meriden, a vaguely amused expression on his face.  "A
new friend, perhaps?"  He flicked his fingers idly, and a small mouse
ran across his hand and then disappeared.  "What was all that about?"

Meriden blinked, momentarily distracted by the mouse.  "What?  Oh, yes.
Well, as you know, just as I finished my story, there was a cry from
outside, and the sound of metal on metal.  I rushed out to see what was
going on, and there was Chalmers, with the woman, Raven, hurt and
a few dead assassins.  I offered to help, and bandaged her leg.  Chalmers
will, as he said just now, be returning shortly, so, yes, I suppose
he is a new friend.  Where *did* that mouse come from?"

Jester wondered aloud, "What mouse?"

Just as Meriden was about to mutter a tart rejoinder, the girl with whom
Jester had been flirting returned, bringing Meriden's ale.

Jester smiled broadly, his crisp white teeth shining like a beacon of 
flirtatious delight. "My dear," he mused with an obviously conjured voice
of concern. The waitress stood up slightly, looking (though trying not to
look as if she were looking) quickly from side to side, and trying to see
exactly what this odd little man was referring to. "... you truly 
must be more careful." His smile melded gently from one of greeting, to 
one of gentle concern. He quickly produced from midair near her head,
a good sized golden coin. "Mustn't leave these things lying about you know."

Her expression snapped instantly back from one of confusion, and into one 
of glee. She beamed with excitement as she curtsied slightly. A few of the
patrons of the tavern who knew her better, chuckled lightly at the sight
of her curtsy, but her hot stare quickly hushed their festivities. She 
smiled again at the odd looking jester, and walked (a little bit of
spring in her step) to help another patron.

Jester, still grinning in amusement, turned to look at his equally
odd looking friend. He sat for a moment, just sitting with that grin, then
asked of his companion, "Is she gone yet?"

Meriden craned his neck slightly, to see over the shoulder of his
brightly clad tablemate, and nodded the affirmative.

Jester slumped forward, brows knitted into a scowl, and lip poked
out slightly, in an odd sort of a "pout". A tiny, odd little green hand, no 
bigger than that of a marionette, reached out of his left sleeve, holding a 
moist mint leaf in its palm.  Jester didn't even glance down, he simply
reached over with the tips of his index, and middle fingers, and accepted the
offered leaf, one of his strange little habits.

He popped the leaf into his mouth gently, and the wiry little green 
hand disappeared as if it had never even been there. As he chewed on his
greenery, he exposed the cause of his glumness. "I've really got to quit
doing that stupid trick. Every time I really get into impressing some 
lovely lady, I let loose with that one, and I'm out a gold coin." He looked
up at Meriden as if the bewitched little weaver understood completely. 
"They're scarce enough as it is, you know. Heh." He chuckled to himself, as
he got sort of a faraway look "I still remember that bastard that taught 
me that trick when I was young.  He'd encourage me to practice like no 
tutor I'd ever had. And every time, I'd practice till I was broke, and 
he'd walk away all the better for it, mumbling `there's a lesson in this boy.'
and all the time I thought he meant something about the trick itself, not
about being a sap. Heh. Heh, heh" Suddenly the brightly dressed Jester's 
whole demeanor changed. He looked at the table between himself, and Meriden,
then up at his companion.

He smiled brightly, pointing at the full glass between them, "At least
she forgot to charge us for the drink."
-- 
"Faster, faster, faster until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death."
	- Daniel Keyes Moran
"Disclaimers are for sucks; these opinions belong to EVERYONE!" - Me
Stephen Beitzel - sbeitzel@netcom.com - sbeitzel@wet.com