Re: Vendors on Main: Mal/Away Away
His eye caught on the sword - ah, the sword. It hadn't really entered into his calculations before this particular moment. "Ah. Well, I am not he," he assured his piratess friend. "I have never held any rank in the military or navy, enlisted or otherwise."
It was strange how quickly a person could fall in with another. He felt that it was happening between them right here, right now. Her pattern of speech and appreciation for the qualifications of a Royal Astronomer really did appeal to him, a flash of soft skin and the insistence that everyone started at the bottom. He puffed out her chest and his eyes flared a little wider, even more amused and captivated. She had her audience, if she had been seeking one.
A brow flickered up reflexively. "A pirate?" He beamed. Beamed, really. A kindred spirit! "I'm...well. Not a pirate. But I've been known to skirt the law in my own way to the detriment of the powers that be, and to live life according to my conscience and not much else."
The mention of his parents drew a fainter smile. "They were people of means who thought there was no need to apprentice me," he said. "They couldn't know they wouldn't live very long." She drew him into archaic modes of speech, and he followed along without thinking. "I made my own trade. We don't have many guilds these days, unfortunately."