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James lounged comfortably, feet kicked up on a neighboring chair as he took a long sip of his drink. This was the best part of the apple fest, he reckoned. He'd been neighborly and helped with some apple picking of his own for the event, and after dealing with some rather ornery horses all morning this was a great way to wind down and just relax.

Another sip of his drink, an apple brandy he'd gotten from a vendor and brought with him into the tent, and James took a lazy look around. At least everybody was having fun. He didn't immediately spot anyone he knew, but he'd lost count of how many drinks he'd had at this point, so he wouldn't have been particularly surprised if he'd missed someone. He flagged down another Apple Maid, was that even what they were called? He wasn't sure if it was a thing or if he'd just made it up and then forgot. Either way he flagged one down to get another bottle of hard cider delivered to his table since he was starting to run low on the brandy.

Part of him wanted to tell them to stop taking away his bottles and empty glasses so that he could keep track of how much he'd already had, but this didn't seem like that sort of atmosphere to carry on like that. That was what dive bars were for and a tent, while nothing fancy, didn't quite qualify. Still, he was in a pretty good mood, good enough that when someone bumped into him while walking by he just gave them a smile and pulled his boots out of the neighboring chair. "Sorry 'bout that. I was probably leaned too far back. Have a seat for a spell, unless you got other places t'be."

Rivalee had been in Greenbrooke about a month and that had been long enough to convince her to stay. There was something about the city that attracted her and it wasn’t just the power of the ley lines and the way she could feel the magic dance along her skin most days. Something else called to her and insisted she stayed, so she would; for now. It wasn’t the usual scene for her and even her decade in Italy or the decade in France still saw her moving around within the countries regularly. But since she had decided she’d plant some roots for a bit, it was time to get out and do more than just frequent the bars and clubs when she wasn’t at the lake.

The Apple Fest sounded like some good local fun when she heard it was coming up so on the first day, Rivalee made her way out there to see what it was all about and to further make some friends. She knew it was a casual affair and dressed in a cute, red, off the shoulder crop top with slight bell sleeves that she paired with skinny jeans and a pair of ankle boots. She still accessorized, of course, but nothing flashy; just some fun pieces to pull the look together.

She’d wandered around the stalls for a bit, enjoying the atmosphere as she chatted with various people and learned more about their homemade products and if they had a store she could pop into later on. Eventually her tote bag was starting to bulge with items she’d purchased and decided it was time to take a break and headed for the beer tent. Bless the man on carding duty who thought she didn’t look of age and then complimented her youthful appearance. If he only knew the true birth year! She went to the table that was serving the various bottles and ended up grabbing two bottles of Molson Canadian beer since they didn’t have anything outside the standard options and she’d found that particular staple wasn’t too bad.

As she scanned the tent for somewhere to sit, a man lounged comfortably across a couple of chairs caught her eye and Rivalee knew she found the person to keep her company for a while. She intentionally nudged him with a hip as she passed and smiled as he apologised and invited her to sit with an accent she hadn’t been expecting. Seems like she wasn’t the only traveller in the area. “I would compliment you on your manners but they didn’t extend to wiping off the seat your boots had just been on. You’ll just have to work a bit harder for a compliment now,” Rivalee commented as she set her drinks and bag on the table but then sat on the chair without wiping it down herself. It made more sense to have a dusty backside than hands as she didn’t have anything else to wipe it down with and it wasn’t like there was mud all over it.

“I’m Rivalee,” she gave the simple introduction with another smile gave a little salute with the bottle she picked up before taking a long pull from it. That was exactly what the afternoon needed.

"Ah, well, if'n you want I can always wipe it down. Didn't think nothin' of it, apologies, miss." James didn't seem too terribly bothered by his apparent rudeness, if only because she took a seat anyway. Besides, his boots weren't muddy, just their normal amounts of dusty.

He lifted his own glass in return to her salute before taking a lazy sip and setting it down. "I'm James, pleasure to make your acquaintance, ma'am. And if'n you don't mind, I'll get your next drink to make up for my boots bein' in your seat. Or I can even get one of them waiters to bring me an extra glass and I'll share this here brandy." James reached over gently flick the bottle in question with a finger to set the glass softly ringing.

"It's good. Nabbed that from one of the venders out there, brought it in here with me to supplement my cider and beer." He grinned and added, "That and the chairs here in the tent are a bit comfier than the ones outside." After a moment of lazily eyeing the apparently young woman who sat in front of him he decided that she wasn't as much of a spring chicken as he wagered. "So you from 'round these parts or from yonder? I'm sure you can make a decent enough guess as to where I'm from originally, but I've been here a while. I can even talk the part if I have half a mind to."

Nice and fuzzy minded from an unknown amount of beverages deep was not really the time to show off his ability to blend in with a very bland rendition of what he regarded as the extreme yankee accent of the locals. That and they'd grown more or less used to him being around and the local families had learned long ago not to bother asking tricky questions or otherwise think too hard about it.

James had an easy confidence to him that Rivalee admired but she couldn’t let him have everything that easily and gave a little one shoulder shrug. “If you can keep my interest by the time I’m done both beers, then you can get me another drink.” He was attractive and his relaxed vibe were helping in keeping her there but she wasn’t about to judge the man entirely based on a few seconds of conversation. While she was all about appearances and enjoyed a casual hook up, Rivalee loved learning and a shallow conversation wasn’t always what she was interested in. Then again, she was sitting in a beer tent at a festival so perhaps lowering some standards was in order.

“You don’t say,” Rivalee smirked at James pointing out the obvious that he wasn’t from the area. It had been a while since she’d been in the southern states but the accent did seem to be straight out of Texas if she had to guess. The fact that he could hide the accent if he wanted to but didn’t was another thing she liked about the man. “I appreciate your commitment to being yourself. Some things you shouldn’t have to give up based on where you live.”

She took a drink from her bottle and gave a small shake of her head when asked if she was a local. “I’m from the west coast originally but I’ve moved around a lot to study and learn more about myself, I suppose you could say.” She enjoyed the pursuit of knowledge when it came to the history of mages based on various regions and even studying new spells and how spellcasting is done elsewhere. So in a way, she wasn’t lying about discovering more about herself.

“I recently stopped here as a little vacation but I’ve become utterly charmed with the city and now I’m looking into getting a condo, preferably by the lake. I’m in my element when I’m near water,” Rivalee spoke the words casually enough but if James knew anything about the preternatural world, he was sure to pick up on the hint she dropped. Otherwise, she just sounded like a woman that loved swimming, or at least tanning on the beach.