Once Upon a Time in Termina (For MagusSin)

[Lys]

Years of hard manual labor at the ranch made carrying the heavy wooden crates, filled with clanking bottles filled to the brim with milk a matter of muscle memory for Cremia. Unfortunately for the rancher, this fact didn't make the long descent from the front door of Clock Town's Milk Bar down the straight staircase that lead to the actual bar any easier. That said, she always managed. Tonight, however, her legs felt they were close to giving out... Her arms felt shaky underneath the crate's weight... She could feel her face turning red. However, it wasn't because of the strain of her load. Rather, it was because HE was here. Kafei. The object of her unrequited affections. At least, that's how it seemed. After all, the strapping young man was engaged. Under normal circumstances, Cremia could chalk up her affections as a lost cause and move on, but the fact that he happened to be engaged to Cremia's best friend, Anju.

Cremia was trying his best to be happy for her friend, however, she was dealing with a constant war in doing so... Jealousy, anger, loneliness and despair all combated her desire to be loyal to her friends. The best thing she could do at this point was try to give them their space. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Doing some work around the ranch would keep her mind off it, right? Nope. She simply couldn't keep her mind from wandering. Doing so was going to be even harder now, when her work and social life overlapped like this... Well, perhaps Kafei simply wouldn't notice her?

She stepped off the staircase, where she was greeted by the bartender, a short, smartly dressed man with long, balding hair and a magnificent mustache.

"Good evening, Cremia," he said in his soft, gravelly voice as he helped lift the heavy crate from her arms.

So much for going unnoticed.

"Hello, Mr. Barten," Cremia said, brushing a curtain of her red hair out of her face. "How's business tonight?" she asked, making sure to avoid glancing at the young man sitting at the bar.

The bartender gave her a knowing, sympathetic look. Seeing as he had contact with Cremia and continued patronage from Kafei and his fiancee, he could put two and two together to figure out what was going on.

"The usual," he answered. "Listen... You don't look so well tonight. Why don't you have a drink? It's on the house. And there's an open seat down there." Mr. Barten gave a nod towards the seat furthest away from Kafei. Obviously, he wanted to speak with her.

"I-I don't know if I should," Cremia stammered. She had time to, of course, but with Kafei here, she wasn't terribly keen on sticking around. Still, she knew Mr. Barten well enough to know that he obviously had a reason of keeping her here beyond a friendly chat. Pair this with the fact that he was possibly the closest thing she had to a father figure in her life, and... "But maybe I need it."

The rancher girl crossed the bar, and took a seat in the corner, glumly looking into the reflective surface of the counter. Mr. Barten was right; she DIDN'T look very good tonight... She wore the look of a weary woman. Mr. Barten, now behind the bar, moved in front of her, placing a cold, glass bottle in front of her.

"Thanks," she murmured, not daring to sneak a glance at Kafei. She knew she had been noticed, but she sincerely hoped he wouldn't come over here... Sometimes, she wondered if he was oblivious to the fact that she harbored feelings for him. She knew Anju was...

[MagusSin]

The blue haired male held a simple drink by the left end of the bar, sitting relatively alone and off to himself for the most part. His grip upon the drink relaxed and loose, swirling it around within the glass a few times. With the upcoming carnival so close his mind was off, wandering about from here to there with many different musings and today was just one of those days he held distracted beyond repair but nontheless deciding to come enjoy a fine drink at Mar. Barten's!

He missed Cremia the first time she entered the bar area, but he certainly did not the second as he caught the Bartender shift away to the other side of the counter. He offered a small smile in return, hand moving to graze through his blue locks and push himself up and away from the seat. He was raised well by his parents and Cremia had always been sweet to him so seeing this weary and tired look upon the girl he most certainly made his way to her and offered a polite boy of his head and a charming smile, "Ah, Cremia! I didn't know you were coming her etonight. I'd have asked Anju to come but she's just been so busy lately..." Was he fully oblivious to her likings of him? Not entirely. But he believed them innocent intentions, nor nothing harmful toward the beautiful ranch-worker.

His eyes wandering to the Bartender, Mr. Barten and then back to Cremia blinking a few times as he did so, "I didn't interupt anything, Did I? You'll have to forgive me. I just wanted to come see you! It's been a bit since we've last been able to catch up."

[Lys]

Ugh. This is exactly what she hadn't wanted. Cremia's blue eyes shot up from the counter's reflective surface and gave something of a panicked look to Mr. Barten. However, the stocky bartender returned it with a rather stern look, which seemed to say "Deal with it now!". Cremia looked down again, face going a tad red, and sighed. She knew the man was right. She knew running from her problems wasn't going to solve anything, but then again, there were some things that you just couldn't control no matter how badly you wanted to. Things like her father dying, and leaving the ranch and the entirety of it's responsibilities to be left on her shoulders. Or the fact that a person you cared for had feelings for another, and seemed to be able to let you continue suffocating under the pressures of life without a second thought.

"Hey, Kafei," Cremia said softly, brushing a curtain of straight red hair out of her face, and adjusting herself on her stool slightly to look at the man. "It's been too long, in fact. The ranch has just been keeping me busy. You know how it is..."

While it was true that work had been taking it's toll on Cremia, she had always managed to take care of it as well as leaving some time for a social life. The truth was that Cremia HAD been avoiding that social life ever since Kafei and Anju announced their engagement. That said, the two young lovers had been so busy with the preparations, Cremia wasn't even sure that they had noticed, making her feel all the worse about the entire situation.

Mr. Barten suddenly decided to busy himself with something on the other side of the bar near the stage, leaving the two young adults alone.

"So... How've you been? How's Anju?"

The questions were asked in earnest, but there was a sliver of pain in Cremia's voice as she asked... However, it was almost undetectable.