Looking for an Inn (Open)

[Fallan Windchaser]

"A few days it is then," Fallan replied with a smile. It would give him some time to explore this city, to come to a first impression of its character and then to see what other opportunities might arise. To make a success here was not going to be easy given that he had arrived with little to his name aside from his horse and travelling gear, but success was in seeing what the locals could no longer see because they were too close to a problem and too used to dealing with it to realise that there was another solution.

"So, with that settled, what do you do around here when you are not studying?"

[Hadrian]

Hadrian laughed. "You're looking at it. Binge drinking helps me stop thinking about magical formulae all the time. Someday I'll have to have a bit more discipline, but I just don't feel like meditating all the time. I mean, that works too, but I guess I work so hard on some things that I like to be lazy elsewhere, which can't last for long if I want to be the best after graduating."

[Fallan Windchaser]

Fallan laughed and grimaced all at the same time. "This is the best part of this city?" he said holding up his beer and then drank of it. "Ah, well I guess it could be worse," he said, knowing that enough of the beer would soon make him care not at all about the taste.

"How is that fisherman friend that you mentioned getting on? He sounds a skilled man to bring in a catch when the others don't or is that just because he avoids the beer?"

[Hadrian]

"The best part of the city is the University. It's all the pre-Valterrian architecture and books and learning and all that good shyke."

He grinned and drank more beer.

"The kelp beer is a necessary evil. Helps you forget your hungry belly when there's another food shortage. And Hrair... well, he's fond of the sauce, if you know what I mean. But that might just be why he goes out into storms and pulls in a bumper catch when the other fishermen stay at home."

[Ira Dayer]

Ira violently opened the tavern door, head in tumult. She was very angry.
Her fierce blue eyes scanned the tavern for an empty seat. All the places alone were taken, she glanced at the empty seats and decided to sit near two men one with tanned skin and the other with clear eyes that looked sensible, at least more sensible than the others.
Het tail, only part of her half blood Akvatari heritage, flicked nervously as she made her way across the tavern. Her face a hard mask, her eyes venomous.
As she drew level with the two men next to the empty chair she gestured to it and quickly sat down without waiting for a response.
She gently put her tiny 13 stringed harp on the table and dumped her brown coat on the wooden floor. It was hot so she undid a button of her shirt.
Her emotions roiled in her head chasing one an other, she didn’t even know why she was so angry but she was taught like an elastic waiting to break.
Ira’s silken tail played with her hair as she propped herself up on her elbows and surveyed the tavern and its occupants.

[Fallan Windchaser]

Fallan had to laugh at the relevation that the fisherman might not be as dedicated as he'd assumed but that he might well be successful because of his drinking habits. His response however would have to wait, if it were ever to be voiced because at that moment a woman barged into the tavern, drawing at least the eye of the Drykas. He stared at first because his eye had been drawn and then because she was in herself a woman who drew a second glance.

The gentleness with which she placed her instrument on the table was at odds with her entrance and the way her eyes challenged everyone and the stiffness of her movements.

He closed his jaw which he'd found to be hanging open and gestured broadly. "Welcome Lady to our little gathering. Is kelp beer to your liking?" He found himself unexpectedly garrulous and shut his jaw once more and smiled to her.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian had a hard time not staring at the woman with obvious Akvatari blood. He was currently taking an independent study with an Akvatari professor in the School of Anthropology, and it was strange to see a woman walking around with some of the markers of a decidedly not-quite-human species. He was used to melancholy from them, not rage, but he too noticed the reverence with which she treated her musical instrument.

He only smiled for her and sipped at his beer, letting Fallan do the talking. Fallan was going to be the man of words while Hadrian was the man of action if their chance meeting turned into a business partnership, after all.

[Ira Dayer]

Ira’s anger ebbed away leaving a deep unhappiness in her, a tangible ache in her heart.
She gad a good look at one mans teeth as he gawped at her, but she didn’t mind, she smiled and answered gesturing at her tail: “ Kelp bear would just hit the spot, thanks, but…- she trailed off as she blushed her cheeks becoming red –could you kindly get one for me? You see I walked long without a stick thinking it would diminish my dignity, but now my body aches. The price I have to pay for my Akvatari blood.- She trailed off and as she finished talking she averted her eyes from the two men her mouth forming a hard line as she prepared for a possible jape from one of the two.

[Fallan Windchaser]

"More beer?" he asked Hadrian with an uplift of an eyebrow, tacitly accepting the request from the woman. He was fascinated by the new arrival at the table for he had never before had the chance to speak to anyone of the Akvatari race and there were always things to learn, things which sooner or later he could find a way to turn to his advantage.

"My name is Fallan by the way," he said to Ira, "and my silent friend is Hadrian, though I'm sure that he will overcome his shyness while I'm at the bar." He winked at Hadrian as he stood, wondering how the man would take the liberty from a relative stranger.

[Hadrian]

"Hadrian," he said, nodding and affirming the name Fallan had given him. He glanced after his new Drykas associate, then back to the irate Ira. He hoped that she had actually partaken of the kelp beer before because most people lost their lunch the first time they tried it. Then again, maybe Akvatari would like it, being part sea creatures themselves.

"Are you new in town, then?" he asked, figuring a polite tack would help since she didn't seem to be in the best of moods. "All that walking," he added to explain his assumption.