It was a busy morning, though lately that wasn't unusual in Suki's Teashop. Before, in the winter, it was only occupied by the regulars who shivered in corners and reminisced about the Old Times. In summer all kinds of people with money to spend made an appearance, though Suki wasn't actually that bothered who appeared as long as they purchased something. It would have been ideal if there was more than three people in the Teashop at one time, but Suki was firm that any more than three and profits would slump. Thus, it was Antonym, Raissa and Garan who overworked themselves that day.

They had approximately equal authority, but Raissa had the upper hand with her age and experience. This boiled down to her telling the other two what to do.

Antonym wore her Teashop arrire, a simple white dress with a blue apron. Her blonde hair was tied back in a braid. At 8 that morning she had looked fine, but the sweltering heat and the number of customers caused her appearance to become unkempt after an hour or so. Right then she was scrubbing the tables vigorously and wishing she had an iced drink. The shop was nearly full, but not quite. Garan and Raissa scurried past her muttering things that needed to be done; that was how it worked. If someone else was cleaning that day, she'd be doing the same thing. It was sontanious but it worked nonetheless. Keeping a Teashop in working order was an intricate, spontanious dance, and it had just reached its climax. Her feet ached, her skin was feiry and slick with sweat; she had a sooty patch on her cheek from somewhere or other. Strands of hair flailed helplessly about her braid.

It was now midday. Antonym weaved her way through the customers to the counter for a drink and a short interval before the dance picked itself up again.

Ah, the capital. Wait...capital? Why the hell was he in the Capital of Olencia? Most people probably had heard of him here, including the whole exile of Sezerix and the supposed 'pirateering' of Captain Sez as well. It was something about the city. It was a beautiful place, especially during the summer seasons. Stalls and tents lined the paved streets of the Capital. Many people roamed around, bearing smiling faces and purses filled with money. Ah, the sweet sound of jingling coins.

As people passed though, they all seemed to eye Sezerix suspiciously. His well muscled body seemed to intimidate people. And if it wasn't that, it was humongo-ginormous (extremely big) broadsword that was slung across his back. The onyx blade was truly something to marvel at, along with the crimson designs that were at the top part of the blade. Most were probably thinking what in gods name made Hell spit out a man to even think about creating a sword this...scary. But Sezerix walked on. He wasn't particularly interested in the small tents and stalls set up. He was looking for some sort of tavern or inn or something to get a drink or two...or five.

After just a few minutes of looking around, Sezerix got impatient. He grabbed man by the arm, and spun him around. "Where's the nearest tavern or inn where I can get a drink?" asked Sezerix. The man stared wide eyed at him. Finally he came to his senses. "Uhh...well, the nearest one is to the center of the town, about a mile." As soon as Sezerix let go of his arm, the man sprinted in the other direction.

A whole damn mile? Ain't no way in hell I'm walking that far... thought Sezerix. He needed something, or else he'd probably get irritated by the smallest things. Sezerix turned to the right, only to see a small tea shop on the side of the street, a sign on top of the building labeled "Suki's Teashop." Sezerix sighed. It would have to do.

Sezerix turned the knob, as the door swung open with a creak. He looked inside, as many people seemed to turn to him. For a moment, they stared at him, at such an irregular man walking into a teashop. Seemed people in the Capital weren't as judgemental as people from other places. Sezerix was glad no trouble would arise here. He could just relax and have something in peace.

Sezerix walked over to an unoccupied table, and took out the large sword on his back. People eyed him nervously, but it all calmed down as Sezerix leaned it against the wall. He took a seat, and slouched down a bit. There was a menu on the table, though Sezerix didn't bother to look at it. He waited for the waitress to get to him.

EDIT: Not as long as I would have liked. I'm gonna add more, but you can reply anyway. :3

Antonym's eyes rolled in the general direction of the door as it opened once again, taking a grateful drink of her tea. When she saw the... exotic... looking man enter she gave a small start, her mind racing at the sight of his large weapon. He didn't look like he was about to create a bloodbath of the teashop, but it was an intimidating weapon nonetheless. Antonym watched it carefully, almost owlishly as he settled it against the wall and sat down. There was something about his character that worried her - why was he in Suki's Teashop and not some random tavern? - but even burly men liked tea, she supposed. Antonym was more used to seeing white-haired women and potential scholars who talk about books and think drinking tea is classier than sitting at home.

When her break was over, Antonym noted with mild irritance that Garan and Raissa had not served the man yet. They were busy, of course, but ignoring the man as subtly as possible. He probably intimidated them. Not that Antonym wasn't a little bit nervous as she stood and put her apron back on. Well, he was a paying customer after all. She made her way through the tables and stopped at the man's. On closer inspection, the big sword (broadsword, though she knew not the name) was an interesting make. Antonym knew nothing of swords other than the typical ones used by the Kings' Guard.

With a polite, 'i'm-getting-your-attention' cough, Antonym said "Can I help you Sir?", in an enquiring tone.

Sezerix waited for a bit, though noone seemed to be coming to serve him. As he looked around, he saw only a few noble looking people and other who had their faces stuffed in books. This wasn't exactly the place for him at all, but it would have to do.

Luckily, a young lady, probably in her upper teens, soon came up to him. She gave a little cough, obviously indicating that she was there. Sezerix turned to look at her. Suddenly, Sezerix felt something awkward. He only sensed that feeling when there was some sort of magic around. Sezerix eyed the young woman for a second. Nah. She would have been taken at a young age if she were.

"Can I help you Sir?" he heard the woman ask.

"I'm assumin' that you don't have anything alcoholic, so how 'bout the strongest coffee you guys got," said Sezerix in his rugged, outdoor tone. The weather was quite nice outside. A tad warm, but still nice. Still, it didn't matter much to Sezerix. No matter was season, weather, day, or month, he finished what he had to, and went on with whatever was necessary.

Sezerix felt a bit uncomfortable in the teashop. Not because of all the people glancing at him in cautiousness every now and then, but at all the...awkward warmth, so to speak. It was too nice of an environment for Sezerix to enjoy, being accustomed to life and death situations, and people trying to attack him.

Guess I gotta get used to this... though Sezerix.

"Coffee? Right away Sir," Antonym replied, with a polite bend of the knees before leaving to prepare their strongest coffee. Suki's Teashop did sell coffee, though of course there wasn't much to choose from that wasn't tea. There was every kind of tea imaginable, or so it seemed, and Suki knew them all. Nearly. Nonetheless people liked their coffee and it wasn't unpopular. Their strongest coffee wasn't exactly mind-blowing in strength, but not many people asked for their strongest coffee... and, of course, they had no alcohol. Licensing Policies and all that, according to Suki herself.

Stirring the blue mug's thick contents with precise care, Antonym looked up at the man, who appeared to be comfortable if not relaxed. She wondered momentarily if he made a point of going into teashops, before deciding that he didn't. She pulled a slight face at the stench of strong coffee; she wasn't a fan of it at all. To each his own, she supposed with a shrug of her narrow shoulders. What table number was he... 7. She carried the mug over to the man with infinite care, knowing that Garan and Raissa would be busy elsewhere. Of course. Honestly. There was no such thing as a violent man in a Teashop, unless this man was an exception... well, if he was he could at least drink his coffee first and let her get out of the way. Antonym was no fan of violence, especially when it could involve her.

Setting the chunky coffee mug down carefully, she gave her well-practiced employee-to-customer smile and hoped everything was alright, and that sweeteners and flavourings were available at a very competitive price and all he had to do was ask at the till. "This coffee is 13 copper", she told him after. "Come to the till when you're ready to pay or would like to order something else." She gave another small knee-bend, her suprisingly clean apron wavering. Looking around the shop, it appeared that the busiest period of the day was waning, though it was still a handful.

The waitress came to him with a tall mug filled with coffee, as she placed it on the table.

"This coffee is 13 copper", she told him after. "Come to the till when you're ready to pay or would like to order something else."

13 Copper? Not too expensive. For Sezerix, he was either very rich at the moment, or very poor. It all depended on what he had been doing. Sezerix didn't actually have a job. Well, not a real one anyways. He either picked off some bounties in the towns he went to, or he found some sort of trick to get money out of something or someone. He also sometimes went ahead and took things from other cargo ships when he was on the sea, which had gave him the reputation of a pirate. It sounded so...stupid.

Sezerix nodded at the waitress, giving a silent 'thanks'. He could still feel some magical energy from this woman. He was confused. The slayers NEVER missed someone who had arcane talents. Though maybe they did this time...no. It can't happen. The slayers were good at this stuff. It just didn't happen.

As Sezerix took a sip of the hot liquid, he let out a sigh. It tasted good, though probably not strong enough. He'd get some ale later on in the day. Sezerix looked back up to the waitress that served him. Could it really happen?

As Sezerix finished the coffee, he stood up, and went to the till. He dropped a silver coin on to the table. This was one of the times Sezerix was rich.

Antonym returned to the counter and busied herself serving customers and cleaning the area with equal vigour. The man with the big sword was already out of her mind, though if she looked up and to the left she would be able to see him sat there with his coffee.

A short while later Antonym was scrubbing at an irritatingly stubborn stain on the counter when a silver piece was dropped in front of her. She looked up, shifting a strand of hair out of her eyes and came face to face (sort of - she was shorter after all) with the man who owned that massive sword and wanted strong coffee. She was more suprised about the silver than the man, though; it wasn't often that people used silver to pay for their tea, given that it wasn't at all expensive and only those with more money than sense would stay in the shop long enough to run a bill over 100 copper pieces. Taking the silver she quickly rummaged about to get him his change. It wasn't an amount to scoff at, assuming one was a regular at the tea shop, so Antonym put it all in a small red drawstring purse for the man.

"Your change, Sir", she said in what Suki called a 'grateful' tone, handing him the bag and looking up at him. Suki always said that making eye contact made the whole experience more personal and memorable, though Antonym sometimes wondered if the customers would just think she was gawking at them. "Thank you for visiting Suki's Teashop and I hope to see you again soon." With the formalities out the way, Antonym returned to scrubbing the stain.

As Sezerix was about to leave, he noticed that the waitress who had served him had fished out his change. Sezerix smirked. He didn't think she understood him.

"Keep the rest as gratuity, miss," said Sezerix, his out of place rough tone coming through. Sezerix turned again, only to realize that he almost forgot his sword. That had never happened before, but there was a first time for everything of course. Sezerix walked back to the table, as his lifted his sword and swung it to his back. A few of the people in the teashop held their breaths, but soon exhaled as Sezerix fastened the weapon onto his back.

Sezerix raised his arm to the waitress who was with him just moments before, as if to say 'thanks', and then made his way out the door.

The moment he walked out, a burst of heat suddenly beamed at him. The suns were in full effect, and the heat was quite intense, to say the least. The teashop was nice and cool, and the sudden change in environment caused a slight disturbance within Sezerix, but he soon adjusted to it, as he made his was back down the street in the direction which he came.

On his way, he wondered why he kept feeling that sense he had when slayers were close, or magic was present. There didn't seem to be any signs of Slayers in the teashop. The odd thing was that he had felt energy coming from that waitress. There was no way it was possible. Maybe they missed one person? No, it wasn't possible!

Sezerix decided that he would take his mind off of it. It wasn't worth the effort.

[OOC: Argh, nothing to write about! heh]