[Kransha]

Tobias got up, not waiting for an answer from the two people sitting idly at the table. He at first thought that they had not heard him, but he decided that it was in his best interests not to continue the conversation. Toby was a cold and unsettling hobbit, but these two were even more eerie, not responding and staring out at him, the one from under her hood with disturbing orbs of ice that stung Tobias with their cold nature. He decided to find warmer conversation, literally. The room hosted many folk of varying size, age, and kind, so Toby would not have trouble finding some other hapless victims of his harmless sport.

He headed forward, ambling across the large and comfortably arranged room towards more strangers. He didn’t know how acute southern men were, but he would soon find out. Toby Hornblower figured he could slip the purse out of anyone’s full pocket, even that of the horse-folk, who these two seemed to be. There were two women near them also, but Toby did not address her, learning at least some tact from his last encounter.

He’d heard names bandied around, so he addressed them with those as best he knew. He first spoke to the ones who were apparently called Hama and Grimm, which was all he knew of the Rohirric men, who were speaking currently to a woman of similar gait. They bore the familiar markings of the horse-kingdom, the Riddermark as it was called. Honestly, Toby despised foreigners from such a place, but he needed conversation to mask his purpose. Even though he knew the names of these folk, he didn’t speak them, for fear of seeming to bold, which he was. As soon as a second of mental preparation had passed, he spoke up.

“Good sirs,” he said to the man, “I haven‘t seen you around here often and you look to be of distant parts. I am a simple hobbit in need of good conversation and I would very much like to know your names.” After a moment he added, “If you please,” for good measure. He had on his familiar inbred smile, a mixture of assessment and pleasantry which didn’t look as pleasant as Toby hoped it looked.

He made sure to address both men in a sense. His question was not directed at either specifically, so either could answer. Once he’d struck up conversation, he could get on with his necessary business with more assurance of their nature and that they would not suspect a little loss of goods or funds.

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 7:36 PM February 02, 2004: Message edited by: Kransha ]