"Yeah...." Tobias said, not knowing what to say either. Perhaps if he stayed quiet, the man would go away.

That was certainly very optimistic of him. Anthony simply nodded and took a sip from his glass once more. "Right." Aand back to silence.

Nope, he didn't. "Actually, I'm waiting for someone," he hinted.

Oh? Something other than silence? Very intriguing. "Well, isn't that nice," Anthony smiled, extremely oblivious, and finished off his drink.

Tobias felt a great desire to slam his forehead into the table board. He resisted. Instead, he remained silent again, though he glanced anxiously towards the door.

Anthony leaned back in his seat, and tapped his fingers on his glass. He was getting a bit bored and this silence wasn't helping with that, but he adamantly refused to leave. He was benevolently keeping this man company, and to leave would be very rude.

Tobias watched Anthony. Did he do this on purpose? Still, he dared not actively tell the man to leave, for fear of angering him. It wasn't smart to anger someone who held a scandalous piece of information on him.

When he looked at the door again, he resisted the urge to groan. A redheaded young woman, barely past girlhood, though visibly pregnant, entered the inn, followed by an old fisherman with a bushy beard. Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse. Why was Ben here?

The two approached, but Ben's eyes narrowed on Anthony. He helped Alice down into a chair, and before Tobias could say anything, Ben said: "A word with you, Tobias?", not moving his eyes away from Anthony, as if watching an ill-behaved dog he didn't trust.

The silence, though boring, suited him fine enough. It was a pity that it had to end, especially like this. Anthony furrowed his brows and put his glass down on the table. This was getting uncomfortable. He did not enjoy those eyes on him. He was so caught up in his own discomfort that he barely even noticed the girl. Anthony tried to put his glass on the table, realized he'd already done that, and then slowly stood up and frowned. Suddenly, leaving seemed like a wonderful idea.

Before Tobias could reply, Anthony rose and Tobias looked up at him. It was clear enough that Ben and Anthony knew each other and that did not put him at ease at all.

Ben seemed to have forgotten his request. "You tryin' to live of another person's charity again?" he asked Anthony in a tone that wasn't a question.

That shocked Tobias and he stood up as well. "Ben. Let's be civil."

Alice sat palely and glanced up and the three men with tired disinterest. Then she focused her attention on the table, plucking at a loose splinter in the board.

Anthony was offended, but knew better than to act on those feelings. "Mind your own business," he frowned, and gripped the back of the chair. Right. Civility. He should be practising that as well. He very much wanted to just leave, but that would mean admitting defeat and he was too proud to do that. But he also just wanted to go home.