Fortunately, the Tipsy Sheep was just a few flights of stairs down, so even with the insanity she had accidentally spawned on the network - well, it would sort itself out later, or it wouldn't, and she didn't have the time to be upset about it now - it didn't take much time for Ari to throw on a dress, tug on her boots, and run downstairs. It was late and the tavern was less than half full, but this tavern never closed, fortunately. The bar served much later than was conventional - or, she supposed, strictly legal, though law enforcement rarely cared to argue about it.
She noted Merri in the corner, looking.... well, hunted, actually. Poor man; someone really should have taken him in hand long ago. What kind of people lived in that tower that they allowed a sweetheart - of his age! - to become so repressed?
She slid onto the bench next to him and said, "If you tried not to look quite so much like a bagoly is coming to eat you, it might help," she said. "Why don't you order the house red?" Half a bottle would, she thought, be just enough to get him loosened up.