《 Alvaro 》<br/>Location: Abendblume<br/>Present: Ray, Ray Jr, Armando, Rebel, Dan<a class="username" data-user-id="6997" data-username="Traveler" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/6997/">Traveler</a>and<a class="username" data-user-id="6997" data-username="Sayd" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/6997/">Sayd</a><br/><br/><div class="bbm_float fright" style="float:right;margin:0 0 5px 10px">
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</div>Hale's messengers moved quickly on Hale's command and Alvaro arrived on Rebel's and Dan's heels. He casually looked around before taking a seat. People seemed tense. Ruffled. He wasn't surprised. He'd anticipated such a meeting might happen and after Armando's visit in the middle of the night, it was no shock to see the man appearing to be at odds with the Hales. If Armando had even said only half of what he'd expressed after inviting himself into his home, Alvaro could imagine how it came across to Hale.<br/><br/>It was a pity. Alvaro liked Armando. They had things in common, things that no one else in Abendblume could. But some of the things they had in common were also the things that divided them. Armando grew softer as the world around them grew harder while Alvaro had stayed the same. Nothing about the world before and the world in the present changed how Alvaro viewed things and how he responded. Life had always been about survival, visceral and tangible. Armando, on the other hand, seemed to be plumbing deep wells of sympathy and pinning it on righteousness rather than viewing things with sharp skepticism.<br/><br/>His eyes fell on the two guards that had gone out with the exiles. What motivated those actions, he wondered. Was it the same pity? He supposed he could understand it, to some degree; but understanding why someone acted a certain way, didn't necessarily make it right, and casting aspersions on young Ray by questioning his capability and intention was simply not accepting simple truths about the difference between what happened and what appeared to be happening. Alvaro had his thoughts on the matter but would speak them only if asked. For the moment the conversation was taking a turn away from the events of the prior night and Alvaro continued watching; his gaze falling from one man to another in contemplation as they discussed the map.<br/><br/>He knew of the other communities' existence, but little in the way of details about them. He knew of the trade between the groups and that in some cases it was tenuous. What was news to him was what it could mean for Abendblume in the future. If the food community was unwilling to trade, Abendblume would be left in a state of vulnerability. Perhaps that was the full extent to why the senior Hale had decided to enact his plan and that conserving resources had become more of a real issue than a potential one.<br/><br/>His eyes slid to Ray Jr. trying to gauge the young man's reaction to all that was going on. Pieces were moving, some obvious, some subtle. Hale was not happy with Armando. Something was going to happen there. He was happy with his son, however and Alvaro hoped that he could see the real potential in the young man and the readiness he had sought to display. The two guards. One was solid, artfully hiding any reservations he might have, but the other was all but squirming in his seat.<br/><br/>Alvaro wondered about his own necessity at the meeting. If Hale had wanted him to recount the events of the last night, he'd made no indication of it. Was he there to keep order if things went awry? Alvaro's gaze shifted from thoughtful to sharp and stood to move and take his stance alongside Hale to review the report and the map, but more importantly, to be in the right place to protect the two Hales should anything turn more ugly than heated words.