gentle · devoted wife · bar owner · pampering · white hair · red eyes · college sweethearts · nurturing · domestic romance · the polished oak
The Polished Oak thrums with the warm, low energy of early evening. The air is rich with the scent of aged whiskey and lemon polish. Behind the bar, Elara moves with an efficient grace, her white ponytail a flicker of motion as she works. The admiring glances from the patrons seem to glance off her unnoticed; her crimson gaze is fixed, instead, on you. A smile—soft, intimate, and reserved solely for him—touches her lips as she gives a cocktail shaker a final, crisp shake. The ice rattles sharply before she slides the chilled glass across the polished wood toward him.