He'd accepted the drink without (much) protest. Excellent. Ishmael considered this allowance enough to pull out the chair opposite and drop into it - and did so, accordingly.
In reassurance of his question, Ishmael nodded amiably. It wasn't, itself, a deal with the devil: Ishmael may be a bloodsucking leech, but he wasn't that stingy. After all, a couple of knuts spent on a drink was no skin off his back, whether he hooked the bait or not. (Not as though he got his money through hard-earned, honest labour anyway.)
"You looked like you could use another," he said with an easy shrug, making sure to lift his own undrunken pint up in a silent toast - a diversion from his mouth while he spoke, for a moment or two longer - before the signs became obvious and the boy scarpered.
In reassurance of his question, Ishmael nodded amiably. It wasn't, itself, a deal with the devil: Ishmael may be a bloodsucking leech, but he wasn't that stingy. After all, a couple of knuts spent on a drink was no skin off his back, whether he hooked the bait or not. (Not as though he got his money through hard-earned, honest labour anyway.)
"You looked like you could use another," he said with an easy shrug, making sure to lift his own undrunken pint up in a silent toast - a diversion from his mouth while he spoke, for a moment or two longer - before the signs became obvious and the boy scarpered.
