"C'mon Carlton, you can do this!" Several other voices rang through the bar, all saying similar things. Carlton was a favorite among many of the patrons here, after all. The best at billiards in Magnolia, apparently. Zane had to say... if this was Magnolia's best, he had been made disappointed in this town. Having wandered for a while now, there were many out there who would kick his ass in pool. Oak and Crocus especially. The fact that he was winning without breaking a sweat against a man who was considered the best by many was a bit worrying. Perhaps not all cities were created equal...

"Carlton, just get it in! I bet 100,000 jewels on you!" It seemed many of the men and women in the crowd had quite a lot of confidence in the fellow. Maybe this was just his bad night? Either way, Zane needed to focus. While he enjoyed a hype crowd, they yelled way too much. The game continued on a while, with Zane eventually managing to land all of his striped balls with precision. The only thing left was the 8 ball... taking a deep breath, Zane pointed at the left middle pocket, indicating it was the one he intended to go for.

The crowd mumbled on a bit, the room's volume lowering as Zane prepared to make his shot. He took a deep breath, lining it up. Closing his eyes, he made the shot, not yet opening them. After hearing a variety of noises of disappointment from the crowd, he had assumed that he'd lost, yet it seemed the opposite. He had won, yet the people of the bar weren't entirely happy about it. After all, many were riding on Carlton. Oh well, he supposed that was just how it would be. Smiling, Zane took the prize money from the referee.

"Congratulations Mr, er...?" It seemed the ref was asking for his name. "My name's Zane." Making sure to project his voice loud enough for most of the bar to hear, many grumbled. "Well, if anyone else intends to challenge you, please give me a holler. It seems a lot of eyes are on you tonight, given you just beat our champion." The referee stroked his beard, heading over to the counter for now. Zane decided to do something similar, heading to a booth to relax a bit after the game. This bar seemed to be the most popular in Magnolia. The main attraction were the many games it held, all with prize money and bets, as well as a bit of an entry fee. Darts, poker, but most importantly pool, the most popular game in the city. Still, Zane wished the people of Magnolia coulda seen some of the other pool players he met... some were absolute monsters.

"You hear about that Zane guy...? I can't believe it... Carlton went undefeated for months, yet he comes in one day and beats him just like that!" Some small whispers were coming from parts of the bar. Zane leaned back and closed his eyes for now, listening in on many. "I dunno anyone named Zane, I think. I'm guessing he's a traveler, right?" He had to admit, he hadn't felt this way since he often did cooking competitions in his younger days. The feeling of everyone wanting to compete with you was a fun one. For now, he waited in the bar booth on his own, enjoying the cool and mysterious atmosphere he was giving off. Maybe someone would come and challenge Zane, the expert pool player. Perhaps he'd stay in this place a bit longer than he planned tonight... it felt nice being the best in the building at pool for once. Or the best in the building at anything, for that matter.

Zane's delusions of grandeur were quickly interrupted by yet another event that would be misrepresented by him, leading to an even bigger yet temporary ego. Opening his eyes a bit, Zane saw a beautiful woman sit across from him at the booth. That was fast, actually - according to Zane's complex formula it would've took at least 7 minutes and 5.23 seconds for that to happen, yet she was here already. "Hey there." Zane responded the moment the woman greeted herself, clearly already having some sort of delusional plan for the whole situation, one that would surely go off the rails within mere minutes if not seconds.

The mention of the business proposal took Zane's plan out of motion in record breaking time. "Oh." Wait, wait. Zane stopped himself for a moment, putting his hand on his chin, not because it helped him think but rather because he hoped it would make her think that he was thinking really hard about what she thinking about. As complicated as it sounded, Zane really was thinking about it. Well, perhaps this girl wasn't trying to pick him up. But, from what it seemed, she was trying to pick his wallet up. Or, wait. Would he be picking her wallet up? No, no. It was most likely a mutual picking of wallets. Besides, Zane had read about the first 10 pages of a book on business a year or two ago. At this point he was practically a master of the craft.

"Yes, of course." Zane said, looking forward to the woman. There was something about her that made her look oddly familiar. Still, there were a lot of women with brown hair, pretty eyes, a sizeable bust and a slightly mature look in Fiore. Wasn't like he hadn't met a couple of people roughly matching those traits before, and chances are he would meet at least a few more people who did. Noticing he had looked for too long, Zane took a brief moment to clear his throat, speaking further. "I'd be very interested in doing so. That being said, who are you, exactly? The owner of this bar? Some sorta model scout? I'll have you know ahead of time that I will refuse to wear anything of a lime-green color. I think it's tacky and should only really be used ironically." The man's voice was stern. Perhaps a little too stern, as if he was clearly trying much harder than he needed to be. Because that's exactly what Zane was doing. Not that he'd ever admit it, though.

Zane was a fool. But he was also a fool that could tell when something wasn't quite right. The woman wasn't quite reacting in the way he expected most to. There was something off. Of course, this observation didn't matter for long, since the mysteries behind the situation would very swiftly be revealed either way. While the girl's features had changed a bit, it was upon her asking of if he didn't remember him that the resemblance finally connected with a face in his memory. This was Kaiser, the girl he had spent some time travelling with. He was never sure what happened to her, always wondering as to where she went off to. Zane had truly thought it was a face he may never see again, though he was still happy to find her here in front of him. Still though, there were a lot of questions, even just initially. Before Zane could speak however, Kaiser continued on. Zane's minor sense of shock at the reveal prevent him from attempting to interrupt, continuing to watch and listen to the situation as it unfolded in front of him. Seeing the man he beat whisper into Kaiser's ear, Zane tried to speak. "W-wow, this is shocking. How in th-" His words were cut short by news of Kaiser's sudden departure.

As a card was presented to him, Zane realized that the woman would have to leave just as soon as she got there. He was surprised at how busy she was now. Taking the card with the information into his hand, Zane wondered how she had gone so far in such a relatively small time. It seemed like only yesterday that he was helping the foreign girl he met at a pier experience Fiore. In a way, it filled him with a sense of sorrow. Perhaps he should've looked harder to try and find her. Perhaps he should've been better. While he was happy for her accomplishments, apparently even leading a guild, Zane couldn't help but feel as though Kaiser had changed somehow. Not just in appearance or status, but her personality as well, something Zane was surprised he could tell in just a few sentences, even if only slightly. He couldn't help but wonder if it was her tone. Still, he was not nearly smart enough to tell exactly why, but he did know that something was definitely different about Kaiser.

As Zane's thinking finally concluded, he saw that Kaiser was leaving. Standing up from the booth, card still in hand, Zane shouted one last thing to Kaiser before her departure, not caring if it reached across the bar and perhaps turned a few heads in confusion. "I'm gonna go see you, Kaiser! Soon as I can! I promise!" Sighing shortly after this and dropping himself back down into the booth, Zane looked at the card. Perhaps his odd emotions in this case were not simply just caused by a sense of confusion or an emotional reunion. Well, they were, but he felt as though there was something else. Perhaps it was envy. Envy that everyone else was racing far ahead of him while he chose to do nothing, wandering around and being a goofball.

Zane thought about it for a few moments. Once a few moments passed, he came to realize that the bar was closing. He knew it would've been open for quite some time longer, though. Why did it close now...? As Zane was forced to pack his things and leave, he could not help but wonder about how time chose to pass. Usually his long sessions of thinking would take up much shorter amounts of time than one would expect. Still, as Zane walked back to his hotel through the darkened streets of Magnolia, he couldn't help but wonder. Did the bar truly close early?

EXIT