A red-haired dwarf teetered beside a seated woman, his unfocused eyes struggling to not drift their way down towards her cleavage, and failing miserably. The pensive Marcus sat at the end of the bar, staring into his drink while contemplating the mysteries of the universe, such as how he was going to pay this month's rent. A group of merchants from the Alienage had pushed a bunch of tables together, and were exchanging stories, trying to figure out who had the worst customers of the day. Meanwhile, Pit worked to clean ale off of the counter.

All in all, it was a pretty standard Tuesday at Pit's Stop.

"Hey Pit, have we got any of that red wine back yet?"

It was Johnny asking, the new waiter that Pit brought on after another staff member decided to shop showing up to work. It was frustrating, and always led to an awkward transition, but such was life in Starkhaven.

"Which one? We ran out of a couple over the weekend."

Johnny opened his mouth, and then froze. Holding up a finger, he ran back to the table in the corner.

Awkward transitions indeed.

"The Tevinter shit, apparently it's the only stuff he'll drink. Did we get that one back
yet?"

Pit took a look at the man in the corner, a middle-aged human with an angular face and a receding hairline. Without answering Johnny's question, Pit poured a glass of red wine from one of the bottles behind the bar and handed it to him, trying to hide the label.

"Wait, isn't that the Antivan stuff? He's not going to drink that!"

Pit glanced at the man in the corner, he was busy watching the red-haired dwarf get a drink thrown in his face. The entire bar erupted in a sarcastic cheer and applause, and Pit was confident that he didn't hear what Johnny said. He opened his mouth to explain, but someone cut between the two of them.

"Karl won't be able to tell the difference, he just likes the fruity stuff, and thinks that Tevinter sounds manlier."

Ria added a little huskiness to her voice at the last word, and set down her tray of empty mugs behind the bar.

"Just you wait Johnny, when Karl gets really drunk, he'll start only drinking things that are 'pretty colors with pretty tastes'. His words, not mine."

Johnny held back a laugh as he began to cross the room with the glass of wine, being careful to avoid the now-surly-looking red-haired dwarf. Ria and Pit surveyed the bar floor with a matching grin, there was something about the colourful characters that they had to deal with every night that made everything worth it.

"So, how's the new guy working out?"

"Still learning, but the customers seem to like him, so that's the important thing so far."

Ria nodded, she had been working with Pit the longest out of anyone else on staff, and had seen her fair share of people come and go over the years. She too had become accustomed to the reality of the business, and knew that not everyone had to be stellar servers, if they kept people happy, then that was often good enough. Other people like Ria and Pit could pick up the slack where needed, Maker knows they were used to it.

"How's your night going anyways?" Pit asked. "Haven't been watching your section, just figured that you were good."

"Oh it's a night, that's for sure."

"Table seven?"

"I thought you said you weren't watching!"

He hadn't been, but whenever a group of city guard comes in like that, they are pretty hard to ignore. Pit's Stop has had quite a few fights over the years, but the only times thing got especially serious or dangerous almost always had drunk guards involved. Of course, he wasn't about to curse himself by actually bringing up that possibility.

"I am all-knowing, I don't need to watch in order to know what's going on."

"Well if you're looking for anyone to smite tonight, you could start with those three."

Pit wished that he could find it in himself to be surprised, but he was far too used to their type. A little bit of power during the daytime gave them a magnificent sense of entitlement in the evening. There was a reason why everyone else in the bar had been giving them a wide berth, no one wants to talk to an off-duty guard these days.

"Is it anything new tonight? Or just the same old same old?"

"Have you ever known guards to be original? I swear none of them have ever seen an elf before, makes me feel like I'm on display or something.

It was something that Ria unfortunately dealt with often, being the only elf currently on staff gave her a sort of exotic appeal that some newcomers couldn't help but be drawn to. After a couple of drinks, they were often more than happy to let her know just how enthralled they were.

"Do you think you'll be alright?"

"Yeah," Ria replied with a heavy sigh. "Just keep an eye on them if you can, make sure they aren't leering too hard."

Pit nodded, there was an unspoken add-on to that request, an understanding that Pit had with each and every member of his staff.

Keep an eye on them, and stop them if they try anything.

Ria made her way back onto the floor once again, and Pit returned to preparing the drinks for the rest of the customers. Johnny seemed to have fallen into a groove, so thankfully Pit didn't have to watch him as much as he had earlier, so he was able to divert most of his attention to the trio of guards. Ria had just put down another round of drinks at their table, and one of the guards said something that Pit couldn't quite make out. Judging by the way that Ria quickly shot him down though, it wasn't anything pleasant.

"What's s'matter anyways hon? Got a little knife-eared lover waiting for you back at home? Just waiting to stick his little pecker inside o' you then eh?"

This drew a laugh from the rest of the guards, and precisely no one else in the room.

"That's right, and he's still twice as big as you are." Ria said with a wink.

This time, the guards simultaneously dropped their heads and stared into their drinks, while the rest of the bar erupted in laughter. Ria would have some fun with the guards later, make it clear that it was a joke, but hopefully leave them embarrassed enough to not come back.

Something about those three screamed trouble to Pit, and he could only cross his fingers and hope that they would return to the barracks and tell all of their friends to stay clear of Pit's Stop.

After all, a man can dream once in a while, can't he?