[The Rearing Stallion] Torches (Kam & Rythern)

[Rythern]

60th Spring, 510 A.V.

Location: The Rearing Stallion
Time: late evening

The dark-haired young man leaned nonchalantly against the front exterior of The Rearing Stallion. He had eyes an odd shade of blue, which watched as every time the doors to the building swung open and shut, the exact same square of yellow tavern light doused the exact same square of ground before him. A fascinating exercise.

Rythern had shown up here for the same reason Rythern showed up at most places in Syliras during the evenings: he was bored. That, and the fact that Kamrynn was supposed to be here. Well, scratch that. Kamrynn was probably going to be here. Rythern knew the two of them had discussed this in passing, but now that he thought of it, he couldn't quite recall the time they might've agreed upon or even the date really.

Not that he cared much. He was fairly sure it was sometime around now. Kind of.

If not, ah well. Like he had anything better to do. The Vantha did what he usually did when he was bored: withdrew two of the throwing knives from the knife-pouch at his belt and began to play with them. Typically he'd spin them around between his fingers - it was his version of a nervous reflex (or it would've been if Rythern got nervous, which the young performer insisted he never did). He could also do a few tricks and a bit of juggling with them if he concentrated, but this was one of those nights where just thinking the word 'concentration' already involved more brainpower than he was in the mood to use.

Within moments, his gaze landed back on the square patch of light cast on the ground.

Doors open, doors shut. Doors open, doors shut.

On second thought, maybe he did have better things to do. He just had yet to think of them.

[Wystern]

[[OOC ignore]]

[Kamrynn Sleightyr]

"You're gonna put someone's eye out with those letter openers." Kamrynn prodded with a grin, stepping out from the shadows surreptitiously. "Probably your own, too. I've seen how you handle those things."

He hopped up the steps and extended his arm, then the two friends shook hands warmly. "I wasn't entirely expecting to find you here, but it's a pleasant surprise." His eyes flashed a mischievous yellow, or at least one of them did -his left eye didn't return to its normal color right away, leaving Kamrynn with a goofy, heterochromic look. He hadn't a clue.

"I feel bad for the ladies of Syliras." The knight added, feigning concern. "What with the two of us on the loose tonight. Let's grab a few beers and get started, shall we?"

Without waiting for a response, Kamrynn pushed the doors to the Rearing Stallion open, a flood of light washing over him and his companion as they entered. "Carmen!" Kamrynn called to the waitress as he headed for the bar, his eyes scanning the room for beauties. "We're gonna need two of your very biggest buckets of ale."

The doors swung shut behind them.

[Rythern]

Rythern glanced up as a familiar form materialized from the darkness.

"You're gonna put someone's eye out with those letter openers," said a grinning Kamrynn Sleightyr, one of the Syliran Knights with whom Rythern had temporarily allied himself weeks earlier, to fight a secret organization planning a bizarre mass-assassination-turned-coup. "Probably your own, too. I've seen how you handle those things."

The young entertainer grinned back and sheathed the knives. "Knew you'd show up eventually," he said as they exchanged a warm handshake.

"I wasn't entirely expecting to find you here, but it's a pleasant surprise."

Rythern chuckled at the un-synched flash of Kamrynn's eyes, the shifting colors of which were the luminous traces of the young knight's part-Vanthan ancestry. The two entered the tavern as Kamrynn remarked on the newly arrived plight of Syliran ladies and ordered two ales. Buckets. 'Your very biggest', to use the precise language of the knight.

The Vantha wandered to the bar and sat leisurely. By the sound of things, Kamrynn intended them to have a robust start on the evening, and Rythern was rather looking forward to it.

"How've you been, anyway?" he inquired of his friend with a twinkle in his eye. "Managing to avoid the assassins and drunk mobs, are you?"

[Kamrynn Sleightyr]

Kamrynn chuckled honestly. "Unfortunately, yes. Things have actually gone back to the typical boring grind pretty quickly." The knight leaned back in his chair. He was sans his armor tonight, wearing only a tunic and loose fitting pants -both a brilliant snow white and almost certain to be stained irrecoverably during the evening's festivities. His short sword hung from his hip now instead of on his back.

"How about yourself? Find any work telling stories instead of participating in them?" Their drinks arrived then, and even Kamrynn was taken aback. The term bucket wasn't quite appropriate, the monolithic glasses set in front of them looked better suited for putting out a barn fire or than holding a beverage.

"Wow, Carmen." Kamrynn said to the waitress, not sure where to begin. "You don't kid around."

She flashed them both a smile. "You did ask for two buckets, Kamrynn, so I hope for your sake you have tomorrow off duty. By the way, who's your friend? A cousin of yours?"

She listened as Vakya introduced himself in his typical charming fashion...

[Rythern]

Rythern laughed good-naturedly to Kamrynn. "So it's back to the usual routines for you? Truthfully I haven't been causing a lot of trouble, recently. Work's not bad. I mean, act like an interesting person for enough days on a street corner and a funny thing happens. Some people start coming back." The young man added pointedly with a wink, "I imagine the letter openers don't hurt with the 'interest' bit, either."

His face broke into a grin when the waitress Carmen arrived with the beers. The size of the glasses was mildly hilarious. "Ah! Now that's what I'm talking about."

Still chuckling, he glanced around the crowded tavern as the Syliran Knight engaged in some banter with the waitress. It was a busy night, and the lanterns that flickered on the tables cast their warm glow across the establishment.

"By the way, who's your friend? A cousin of yours?" The voice was the waitress's, and Rythern slid his attention back to the conversation at hand. Carmen's and Kamrynn's eyes turned to him. With a theatrical flourish of the hand, the Vantha bowed his head.

"Vakya," he said in a tone that was playfully dramatic, "of the Northern Lights. Also known as the reason Kamrynn hasn't yet charged off to his death. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

[Kamrynn Sleightyr]

"And I yours." The waitress returned. "My name is Carmen, just holler if you need anything. I'm glad to see Kamrynn is finally hanging around someone with some sense in their head."

"Feh!" Kamrynn spat. "This guy is a liability!" Raising his hands up to cup his face, he imitated Vakya's Vani accent rather skillfully, "Hold on Kamrynn, these men outnumber us three to one. Oh dear, perhaps we should wait until help arrives before we make our move." Kamrynn cleared his throat. "What kind of heroes wait for help? Heroes don't hedge their bets!"

The waitress laughed and moved on to attend to other customers.

Chuckling, Kamrynn hoisted his mug into the air with both hands. "I appreciate your sensibility though, Vakya, and sorry about the whole 'almost getting us killed' fiasco. All three of them, really." His eyes were distant for a moment as he fondly remembered their close calls, a smirk tugged at his lips that soon broke into a full grin. "Here's to looking before you leap, eh?" He raised his glass and offered a toast.

The ale was much better than usual.

[Rythern]

Rythern, who had chuckled heartily at Kamrynn's Vani-accented impersonation of himself, raised an eyebrow at the proffered toast. "Look before you leap? Where's the fun in that?" he countered with a grin. "My way is better. Think fast but act faster." Hence the joy of close calls, snickered the sarcastic voice in his brain.

He realized the knight did have a point, however, which was the fact that Rythern preferred not to fight outnumbered. The Vantha had trained in fighting but had never possessed as much physical strength as most who did, and though he was impulsive, being impulsive certainly didn't mean charging needlessly into battle when the odds were stacked against him.

Oh, wait. That was how he met Kamrynn.

Rythern raised his glass as well. "To still being alive, for some reason," he offered jokingly. As an afterthought, "And to this wonderfully colossal beer glass."

[Kamrynn Sleightyr]

"Of course, of course. To our beers!" Kamrynn clanged glasses with Rythern noisily, then the two hefted their mugs up to their mouths and pulled heavily from the contents.

"Aaaah..." Kamrynn sighed loudly, the two men dropped their mugs back on the counter simultaneously. The level of gold liquid had dropped substantially from the efforts of their first attack. "Not bad, we might make it through this alive." Kamrynn joked.

"You getting homesick yet?" Kamrynn ventured. "I've never been to Avanthal, or seen the North Lights myself," He seemed more than a little ashamed as he made his confession. "But from what I've heard, the skies of Syliras must be more than a little disappointing, huh?"

As the night progressed, the beer flowed freely and the conversation flowed easier. It felt like the two had known each other for much longer than they had -life threatening adventures tend to pull people together, and Kamrynn and Vakya's personalities meshed well.

The mugs were more than half empty now, and the two men were more than half drunk.

"Vakya, we should hit the town." Kamrynn said, setting an arm down on his friends shoulder, partly as a gesture of friendship and partly to regain his lost balance and avoid tumbling from his seat. "You know, get into some trouble or something."

Behind them, two other men were also looking for trouble, and the Vanthans were the smallest men in the bar.

[Rythern]

"Homesick?" said Rythern. The question caught him off guard. People didn't normally inquire about his home in the far reaches of the north. Then again, Kamrynn was different. He was part Vantha, and because of his heritage, he likely knew more about the People of the Light than average.

The young man laughed. "A bit. It's been a little while since I've been there, though, so I'll live." A little while. Try eight years, snorted the voice in his brain. Rythern waved the voice away. "And yeah, the skies above Avanthal are fantastic to see. You should definitely go up there sometime. You haven't seen real nighttime until you've seen Morwen's Lights."

Normally blue, the Vantha's eyes were a shade wistful. Green. Like the Lights.

Then he grinned and took a determined chug of beer and pushed it out of his mind.

When some time had passed and Kamrynn suggested making some trouble in the city, Rythern was just drunk enough to be all for it. He straightened somewhat unsteadily, catching out of the corner of his eye the two figures that had come up nearby. One looked short, stout, and stupid. The other stood medium height with a sharp - and decidedly mean - expression.

The meanness failed to register.

"Hey," Rythern greeted jovially.