Completed A Meady Encounter [Blizzard]

[Ruzekiel Soren]

Fall 15, 512 A.V.

It was quite literally a dark and stormy night, and Zeke had the rare evening off, so he decided to spend it in the best way possible---at the Withering Rose. It was nearing the season of pumpkin-flavored everything, and the city of Alvadas always welcomed the unique, spicy flavors of pumpkin coffee, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ale, pumpkin tea, pumpkin cake, pumpkin soup, pumpkin...well, you get the point. Even better, once he got sick of it Zeke knew that it would be out of the shops and bars by winter, giving him two more seasons to forget the magical taste. He sauntered into the Withering Rose happily, and then realized that quite a few other patrons had had the same idea as he. The stressed out barkeep was tending to a full house that night, and when Zeke searched the throngs of people, he could only find a few empty seats at the bar, which he glady elbowed his way to and claimed before anyone else could. It took a while to get the attention of the barmaid, but eventually she had a free moment and he ordered a pint of signature pumpkin mead. He may be small, but he certainly wasn’t a lightweight either. Years of smuggling the green fairy can do that to you. Zeke sipped at his ale and grinned at his fellow patrons. It was a great night for a fall beverage.

[Blizzard]

Blizzard had been stressed and agitated so much. The Kelvic was on edge like she was after her bloodlust. She felt as if she could rip anyone apart just if they looked at her the wrong way. For other's safety she had called the shots and was trying to contain herself but it was a very hard task indeed, as she was a ticking time bomb waiting for the right tick to send itself into a disastrous rampage. She needed to wind down and to take it easily and intoxicating herself might just be the only other way. She had tried relaxing, she had tried letting her anger loose on an inanimate object but the fact that her bloodlust was creeping back up on her was a scary thought. Especially since everyone she looked at, she had looked at their neck first. Her golden locks were only a disguise to her true and wild animalistic form. Her mind screamed out "Blood! Hunt! Kill!" yet she knew she had to fight it, otherwise she'd end up executed and dead herself. The streets were vibrant, and a little happy go lucky woman decided to trip and skin her knee right near Blizzard. Every nerve in her body was going off as the scent had hit a soft spot long forgotten about. Her eyes contracted and her mind screamed pounce to the point her head was literally hurting. She grasped her throbbing head and was brought to her knees. She wasn't sure if it was a great illusion from Ionu or what but it hurt. Deeply. Blizzard had her hands clasped around large portions of her hair as she held them tight and shrieked a small bit. She bared her teeth, trying to contain the animal inside. She needed to reach the Withering Rose. Almost as if luck was on her side, there it was. The Withering Rose had shifted right beside her to her left. Catching a glimpse of it, the Kelvic got up quickly and sprinted full out for the door, throwing it open quickly. The snow leopard walked inside, shoving past some of the customers and sat at one of the many seats in the restaurant. Only two were left and she chose one next to a black haired man with slight stubble littering his face. Not caring for her manners she simply looked at the bartender "Get me a bottle of wine, on the double, now hurry!" She slowed her breathing, caught herself and clasped her hands together so tightly her knuckles were white. This had to work or else she would have to remove herself from humanity once again and that would not be pretty once she returned. The snow leopard wouldn't have Avanthal's safe rules to guide her along and make her obey anymore. She was in Alvadas and if needed, Blizzard would walk outside the Gaping Maw, right now and leave everything behind for another year or so.

[Ruzekiel Soren]

The barmaid squeaked nervously and snatched an old bottle of wine from under the counter, dusting it off and setting it in front of Blizzard, immediately bustling as far away as possible from the possibly enraged blonde. Zeke had turned at the sound of people “oomfing” as someone pushed them violently out of the way, and now he regarded the woman next to him with an amused look on his face. Having already finished off a good amount of mead, he was unusually unaware of how scary she looked, at least to the other, less inebriated patrons. Even if he were sober, he probably would have said hello to her anyway, given that he wasn’t the brightest when it came to a social situation that didn’t involve suspicious magical mushrooms and tree-climbing motleys.
“Well what’s got you all in a tizzy then?” he asked the stranger curiously, gazing pointedly at her white knuckles and panicked expression.

Zeke had seen plenty of strange people in Alvadas since he’d arrived only a few weeks ago, and this person didn’t seem any different from the rest of the usual crowd, but he was intrigued by her. Being a natural storyteller, it was his prerogative to learn about other people, what their lives were like, what made them laugh, cry, stab each other repeatedly with a kitchen knife (seizures, taxes and revenge, respectively). Why was this woman so determined to get to this seat, and clench that ancient-looking wine bottle into splinters? Zeke just had to find out. It was his slightly misguided duty. Besides, he was running out of rowdy bar ballads to sing at the Wolf’s Cave, and no one liked love songs, Zeke included. Maybe someone pushed her down the stairs and she was steeling herself up for a gruesome and bloody revenge? He grinned at the thought.

[Blizzard]

As soon as the bartender sat the wine bottle down, Blizzard popped the top and took a few gulps, the sweet taste lingering in her mouth and around her teeth. This being her first time around with wine or any alcoholic beverage she wasn't familiar with the effects and she came to realize just how drunk one could get by a few drinks. Her knuckles relaxed a bit around the bottle, staring into it's contents as if it held secrets to immortality. Hearing the voice split the air and enter her highly sensitive ears she shot the young man a warning glare, her nose scrunched up. "Stop it Blizzard! Don't you remember last time you came here and got snarky?!? And now you're the one having to get drunk for your benefit!" Her conscience was screaming out at her to realize the situation and to calm down, but unfortunately, the timebomb was on the edge of a large and high cliff with a rocky bottom awaiting if it fell. Metaphorically of course, if she went off there was no way she could turn back and she would suffer severe consequences. "Didn't your mommy teach you not to talk to strangers?" Her blood was at a boiling point and she took a few more sips of her wine then looked at the man, shaking her head with a smirk that obviously said 'I cannot believe you are doing this.' However, Blizzard wasn't positive on the amount of the drinks he had had and for all she knew he could be drunk out of his mind for all she knew or he could've just gotten here so it was unsure if he actually comprehended her body language. "Look, by talking to me you're kind of walking on a high-wire right now so please, for your own sake just... be quiet." The Kelvic said this through half bared teeth as she tried to contain herself. "Drink, drink now Blizzard!" Listening to conscience she took another gulp of her wine. Now she could definitely feel it starting to kick her in butt. Her nose felt weird, like a tingling growing with every gulp. She sighed then looked at the man "After all, there are many many dangers out there." She smiled, her elongated fangs flashing for a split second then taking another drink of the wine. Surprisingly, the feeling was growing on her to the point she actually liked it. The numbness was growing and she could barely feel her face anymore. "So this is what being halfway drunk feels like. Haha, control it Blizzard."

[Ruzekiel Soren]

Wow. A firecracker indeed, Zeke thought, watching her glug at least a quarter of the wine down and then snarl at him.
“Didn’t your mommy teach you not to talk to strangers?” Zeke chuckled and replied without pause, “My mommy’s dead, and I learned on my own that strangers are the best kind of company. Especially the angry ones.” He grinned impishly, tapping at his empty glass and calling for a spot of pumpkin rum. The barmaid refilled his glass, while looking back and forth from Zeke to Blizzard and giving Zeke several looks that said “What the hell are you doing? Run!” Zeke noticed these looks, of course, but paid them no mind. A few bumps and bruises and attacks on his ego were more than fair in exchange for a good tale.

He took a big gulp of rum, savoring the fiery rich taste, and turned in his seat to get a closer look at the firecracker, not in a lecherous way, but rather in the way that a cute, obnoxious woodland creature will paw at your trouser leg in search of a crust of bread.
“Look, by talking to me you're kind of walking on a high-wire right now so please, for your own sake just... be quiet." The woman took another galloping swallow, wiggled her nose as if there was a feather tickling it, and turned to look at him.
"After all, there are many many dangers out there." He saw fangs. For a split second, she had fangs, he was sure of it. Those weren’t wolf fangs though, nor the canines that Sunny had. Maybe a cheetah...? But he would have to quell his curiosity.
“OK,” he said contently, turning back to his drink and ignoring her.

He quelled his curiosity for exactly one minute and three seconds.

“Are you a Kelvic?” Zeke asked her. It was a harmless question, nothing to spear him on an olive pick with, but he was curious, goddamnit, and he was only somewhat tipsy, and he was itching for something interesting. The woman looked weird now. She was making funny faces and wiggling her nose again, like her face had gone numb or something. It certainly wasn’t the alcohol, because he hadn’t had much at all, it was just this weird person making weird faces. He giggled a little bit, wondering if she’d ever actually had wine before.

[Blizzard]

The Kelvic chuckled with a smirk then smiled "Are you a dumbass?" she took another small harmless sip of wine then looked at him "Figure it out yourself." She smiled, long enough for the drunkest of drunkards to figure out it wasn't an illusion and was definitely elongated canines then took yet another harmless sip. She quickly reached up to touch her face and realized her face was completely numb. Unfortunately, these were the side effects of trying to control herself. Her mind was growing slower than usual and was taking quite a bit longer to comprehend exactly what he meant by what he said. "The angry one's are the best, eh? Oh goodness, not another Ronar." If she was in her snow leopard form her ears would be pinned back and her fangs would be bared. However, she was trying to keep it a friendly night and she simply had her eyes narrowed, her jaw clenched, and a not-so friendly smirk on her face. Blizzard bit her lip and took a few more sips of wine. She was losing the feeling in her fingertips as they were going numb too. Her mind was growing slow and she realized she wasn't thinking properly like she should. The wine was strong, especially on her previously alcoholic free body. The numbness had grown to her toes as well and she soon couldn't feel them either. She was losing coordination and was trying to recall what happened yesterday but she soon realized that a drunken Blizzard had snuck up on her. She chuckled just for the thought of realizing she was drunk. "Blizzard, you're going to be a giant mess in the morning." Blizzard tried to stop drinking but the taste was so good and before she knew it she was drinking more small sips and falling deeper into the depths of the wine's toxic side effects. She laughed again and smiled and meant to say "Haha, the wine makes me feel funny." but it sounded more slurred and something like "Hehuh tza wihe fil funny." Her conscience was shaking it's head but there was nothing it could do now. Blizzard had slipped into a deep and gone drunk state that would end up with a pretty nasty hangover for a first timer in the morning.

[Ruzekiel Soren]

“Yes, yes I am”, Zeke said brightly, swiveling again to regard her and pushing back a lock of blueish hair with his hand. “Though I should have asked more specifically...some kind of leopard? I’ve only known canines. Never met a leopard before.” The Kelvic was now touching her face as though someone had told her there was a smudge on it, looking bleary-eyed and confused. He almost wanted to grab her by the shoulder to see if she was allright, as she was swaying rather dangerously back and forth in a crowded bar, but given the expression on her face he figured he should keep his distance.

Zeke knew when a Kelvic was riled up, even in its human form, and right now whatever big cat that was sitting next to him would have its ears flattened to its head and a snarl on its face. Still, he wanted to see how far he could get without her ripping his head off in a lovely spray of blood and Zeke bits. So he grinned, knocked back the rest of the rum and called for another. He was actually quite proud of himself, being able to drink that much without passing out or even getting slurred speech.

The Kelvic next to him, however, was apparently not as experienced with alcohol.
“Hehuh tza wihe fil funny,” she said with a drunken hiccup.
“Hehe, yeah, uh...” Zeke watched her warily as she swayed from side to side like a sapling in a breeze and looked deeply and longingly into the narrow-mouthed depths of the greenish wine bottle.
“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?....whatever your name is...?” Some people just couldn’t hold their liquor. Or their wine. How drunk could you get off of fermented grapes? Especially her being a hardy Kelvic? He gently turned the bottle in her grip towards him and read the label. Oh. That explained a lot. He set it down and looked at her with his elbow on the table and his face in his hand, puzzled.Then he waved over the barmaid and when she trounced over to them Zeke leaned in to whisper, "I think we have a possibly violent and armed first time drinker here, and you've been giving her whiskey." The barmaid's eyes went wide and her head once again whipped from Zeke to Blizzard to Zeke to Blizzard. Then she shrugged and walked away. Zeke scoffed and resumed watching Blizzard become ridiculously drunk, only slightly worried. She was a Kelvic, she'd pull through. Besides, she looked like she needed it anyway.

[Blizzard]

Blizzard had let down all boundaries from this new state despite her conscience trying to rip and fight against it and hold some up. The Kelvic smiled at the man and once again showed her teeth but not in a 'I'm gonna kill you way.' Just a friendly smile that her sober state would'nt've done more or less then chuckled another slurred statement attempting to say "Snow leopard actually." but once again, it sounded like another slurred statement "Shnuh leahp shalur." Blizzard was making a fool of herself and she didn't realize it. If there was any better way to get off edge, there probably wasn't any other way better than getting highly drunk. The Kelvic's coordination was very low and her balance was even worse. "Blizzard. Nice to meet you." but to other's ears it sounded more like "Blizah, meuh." Her attempts were pathetic as she held out an uneasy hand but quickly drew it back in to stable herself. She pushed the whiskey away and folded her arms on the counter and put her head on them, coughing a few times. She was swaying in her chair then looked around only to return to this position once more. She felt sick to her stomach and her head was hurting badly. It was a throbbing pain in which made her want to fall to her knees and hold her head. She wasn't in the mood for drinking anymore and wanted to leave. The plan had worked and she was no longer bloodthirsty but this would have major consequences, including a nasty hangover tomorrow. At least quite a few citizens would be safe at the cost of a few bruises and a hangover for her. To keep from being executed she supposed that wasn't too bad of a price. She raised her head, knowing it would be like a figurative suicide to try and walk now. Blizzard simply looked at Ruzekiel "And you? Name? Racis?" This was probably the clearest thing she had said in quite a while of being here. She looked back at the bottle of whiskey, slapped 12 golden mizas down (which the bartender quickly collected), then pushed the bottle even farther back so the temptation wasn't there to drink it anymore. Unfortunately, Blizzard underestimated the distance and it fell back a bit too far and shattered on the floor. Blizzard smiled and laughed "Ne- harnh, no foul eh?" She laughed once more and by this time anyone could tell she was not in a good shape.

[Ruzekiel Soren]

"Shnuh leahp shalur."
“Beg pardon?” OK so she hadn’t needed it that much. But at least she didn’t look insanely murderous anymore. Just a bit green.
A few people were starting to look but Zeke stared them down (or attempted to anyway.) He hated people looking at him when he was knackered, not like he remembered people looking. He nodded and smiled, catching her politely by the shoulders and pushing her gently back into place when she began to tilt precariously towards him.

"Blizah, meuh,” the woman garbled. He assumed it was her name, and he reached out to take the offered hand but she pulled it away to steady herself on the stool. She pushed the whiskey away and set her head on her forearms and Zeke patted her shoulder awkwardly as she let out a hacking few coughs.
“And you? Name? Racis?” Zeke stared at her for a moment and then realized what she was trying to say.
“Oh, uh, yes, I’m Ruzekiel, and I’m a human vantha, and I live here, in Alvadas,” he nodded his head slowly as he said this. He knew she wasn’t stupid, but he also knew that she was probably in a horrible haze right now and he wanted her to know that he was a friend. Well, sort of, even if she had been threatening him only an hour ago. Blizah gave the whiskey bottle another longing look but then made a disgusted sound and pushed it away further. So far in fact that it fell to the floor and shattered. The bartender squealed as glass went everywhere. Zeke sighed. “Sorry about that,” he said blithely, and he slipped his tab plus a few silvers across the counter to the girl, who blinked at him and then quickly pocketed the extra cash. Blizah giggled drunkenly. "Ne- harnh, no foul eh?" Now people were really starting to notice what a bad shape the Kelvic was in, and Zeke felt partly responsible. Some unsavory folk were leering at the woman and he felt his stupid mother-hen thing kicking in again. Damn medicine wolf instincts.

Thus, before Blizah could stumble into trouble or yarf on someone’s boots, Zeke slipped his generous frame under the drunken woman’s arm. “You need some fresh air. Come on then,” he said matter-of-factly, sliding off his stool and leading her slowly towards the door of the packed tavern. He pushed his way through the crowd, keeping an eye on her face and making sure she didn’t topple over, her arm securely wrapped around his shoulders. When they got outside it was to a cool night with a nice breeze and a nearly cloudless sky, perfect weather for sobering up. He led the poor drunken thing to a nearby bench and dropped her onto it in a pale, greenish heap, then sat on the other side, keeping his new shoes as far away from her face as possible.
“You allright, Blizah?” he asked gently. She was going to have a wicked hangover in the morning, that was for sure.

[Blizzard]

Blizzard tried to resist the man but in her drunken state it was all she could do to mumble slightly and push away very faintly to no avail. After all, her eyesight had gone somewhat blurry and she couldn't walk on a straight line if her and everyone else's life depended on it. Even if she tried to get away, she would've fallen flat on her face with no possible way of catching herself. "Never again." The people that gave her looks as she left would've had a horrible night if she hadn't have been defenseless and in this... situation. Blizzard simply drew her eyebrows together and bared her teeth but the expression soon was erased from her face Ruzekiel opened the door and led her out. The cool air from outside hit her lungs and brightened her eyes quite a bit more than usual. The man was sturdy but she could tell he was straining a bit trying to make sure she didn't fall. The bench was hard and cold but it was a heck of alot more relaxing than the barstool. Blizzard felt horribly sick but just looked at the man in confusion. Her eyebrows were drawn together like curtains "Why the hell is he calling me Blizah?!? I said BLIZZARD! Not Blizah!" Unfortunately, her drunken state failed to realize and consider that her speech was most definitely slurred by now. Mumbling once more, her mind thought she was speaking out of the most scholarly dialect "What the hell is going on?" when is reality it was "Wha- thas hell as goin un?" Blizzard felt an upset in her stomach and her previous meal came up on the other side of the bench, away from Ruzekiel. The Kelvic coughed then looked at the strange man. "It's Blizzard! BLIZZARD!" but to other's ears it was "It's Blivvard! BLI-!" The morning would not be a pretty one. She leaned back against the bench then looked as the buildings changed once more, the streets serving a new look. This made her drunkard self chuckle then she mumbled some more rubbish that didn't make sense. Her face showed confusion once more as she looked at the new building in front of her as if it were a perplexed maze she had to navigate with just the stars.