[Inclement Weather] Strange Left Turns (Aidara)

[Volinir Orchid]

4th of Spring, 513AV "Land! Sweet, unrocking land!" From the moment Volinir had touched down in Thunder bay, he could not thank Mount Skyinarta enough for not attempting to empty his bowels. Indeed, if he could have simply glommed onto the rocky walls that reminded him so much of home and just drank the delicious, delicious heat from the volcano, he very likely would have done it. Instead, the Symenestra simply wandered. He rather enjoyed wandering. It reminded him he was free. Completely, shamelessly, flip-the-skies-the-bird (of which there were many) free. No one to tell him where to go or when, or punch him somewhere sensitive. Today was no different. Volinir wasn't entirely sure where he was going- Only that it was somewhere he had never been before, and that that was a good thing. Having only been in Wind Reach briefly, Volinir did not, as it so happened, know that meandering through tunnels randomly was only a good idea if one wanted to get hopelessly lost or run into something either incredibly violent or socially unacceptable. Fortunately, Volinir did not run into the violent. Unfortunately, what he did run into was the terrifying. All he did was make a left turn- Just one left turn!- and suddenly the poor dancer was bumped by one of the much less professional variety into some sort of horrible writhing mass of flailing, murderous Sym-seeking limbs and loud noise and HUMAN SMELLS. Volinir had perhaps a tick to register shock before he was buffeted by another party-goer, and sent careening helplessly towards the center of what seemed to him like some sort of demon-orgy. Or an ambush. He had stumbled upon the Inclement Weather. Or, as he would refer to it for years to come, "that place where everyone wants to break or bone you and your life flashes before your eyes." While many were hidden by darkness in the center of the dance floor, Volinir saw everything. And what was seen, he could never unsee. He saw... things... Unspeakable things... and a rather strong jawed Inartan lady seized his leg and said something that, to his poor Nari, sounded like a threat to his prostate before he was accidentally booty bumped out of her wicked clutches and back towards the outer ring. While he screamed in terror and clawed and scrambled, he was tragically indistinguishable from the thrashing crowd. Finally, after what felt to him like an eternity, but was really much closer to thirty ticks, Volinir was ejected out of the floor like a message out of a pneumatic tube, and was sent catapulting face first into a bowl of what felt like mold. The sound of shattering glass told him that his arms had likely knocked something over. While he would most certainly get up eventually, at the moment Volinir was much more inclined to just stay in that position, face planted in a bowl of something, arms limp upon some sort of stone surface, one knee buckled. At least it wasn't as visually noisy. In heavily accented Nari, he moaned into the stuff, "Help me..."

[Aidara]

Bartending was turning out to be a lot more work than Addy had initially anticipated. Filling in one auspicious evening for a suspiciously absent Tom and Tessa, Addy had found a hobby that she otherwise would have never pursued. It wasn’t the mixing of the drinks, or the rushing up and down the bar while trying to distinguish one shouted order from the next that the little Inartan woman loved.

It was the attention.

There was nothing better in the world than a gaggle of patrons all attempting to flirt their way to the front of the line. Luckily for them, Addy was easily swayed and bribed. Serve the hotties first, she soon learned, and the pros far outweighed the cons, which were mostly sulky stares from those passed over.

“And what’ll it be, gorgeous?” Green eyes sparkled as Addy purred at the dark, auburn-headed woman that leaned across the counter towards her, the tight vinati barely managing to restrain and cover her ample bosom. The quick, circular motions of her wrist as Addy used a cloth to swipe up the remnants of a drink long drank were slowed by the beautiful, twin, round, glorious bits of womanly flesh that pressed and popped even further from the top as the woman leaned in even further.

Rather than shyly divert her gaze, Addy let her lips twist into a hungry grin, the rag flipping up and over her shoulder as the little healers full attention was turned on her customer- her only customer, as far as she was concerned in this moment; not that the other patrons minded. More than one set of eyes was focused on the exposed flesh practically being laid out upon the bar. “A Feather Bed, please.”

“I can do you better than that and still get you a feather bed. Mine.” Practically purring, Addy bit at the bottom of her lip, never taking her eyes from the other woman’s face as she reached beneath the counter for ta shot glass and a small, dark bottle of liquor. A generous splash of the unknown and Addy slid it slowly across the counter. “Body shot. On me.” The playful smile turned wicked and the constant rustling and movement that accompanied any bar ceased, leaving the area around the two women eerily quiet. “And the drink is on the house.”

Without waiting for her prey to respond, Addy placed both palms on the bar top and hoisted herself up onto its surface. Freshly cleaned of the sticky residue of numerous mixed drinks, Addy was able to slide slowly down in front of the woman, bumping the shot out of the way with her hip as she laid flat and languidly stretched her arms above her head. The Vinati that Addy chose to wear was hardly more than a breast band in deep green, to compliment her eyes of course. It left her entire midriff bare, the bryda she normally wore replaced with low slung, tight white shorts that left the lithe line of her leg exposed.

“Do you dare?” Small fingers were pressing the shaker of salt into the buxum womans hand, who was looking down at the little healer with an equally wicked and hungry smile and took the shaker without a word. The men surrounding the pair began to cheer when she leaned down towards Addy, brightly rouged lips parting in a smile as she began a throaty whisper “I would-“

“Help meeee.” The pathetic call came from somewhere just beyond the bar, loud enough to be heard above the thumping of the music and desperate enough to make even the most interested onlooker glance in that direction. Addy lifted her own head and glared in that direction, sending one of those patrons on the far end of the bar off to see what was wrong with a sharp nod of her head; the poor Avora man didn’t seem at all pleased to be sent away, slouching and muttering as he disappeared into the darkness.

“It’s always something.” Tangling her fingers in the deep V of the unnamed woman’s top, Addy pulled her back down, her gaze sweeping down to the flat and bared expanse of her stomach with a pointed lifting of her brow. “Hurry now, or the shot will sour…”

“Aidara. I think he’s hurt.” The Avora had returned, pushing his way through the onlookers to unceremoniously pull the little Endal from the bar, taking her by the hand and pulling her back through the crowd without another word. Addy had no time for protests before she was faced with the awkward tangle of moaning, groaning, and flailing limbs.

Biting back her frustration was difficult, but Addy managed to smother the arousal that sent a flush across her pale skin and slipped into work mode by sheer will. It was her job, after all. Cool and professional, the little woman knelt down by the big mass of god-knows-what-that-is and said, in a firm and clear voice. “Are you okay?”

Right. Awesome healer.

x

[Volinir Orchid]

A woman's voice finally roused Volinir to push himself to his feet, wipe his face clean, and pull the gunk out of his hair. Finally opening his eyes, the Symenestra saw that he had fallen into a bowl of... Mold. Blue mold. With mold on it. Why mold? "Why mold?" "Why mold?" "That was out loud." Oops. Remembering there was somebody who asked him something, Voli checked himself for more mold, put on a smile that said more "screaming internally" than "pleased to meet you" and turned to address... Woah. It was around the moment he beheld Addy and her choice of dress that he decided that this was clearly some sort of depraved sex-cult, and he had stumbled upon a ritual. "Are you Nikali, or just a priestess?" he inquired dryly of the Inarta woman, his smile turning much more bemused than a badly disguised expression of horror. "I'm surrounded by things that want to break my arms, I think someone might have tried to rape me back there, and I was just hurled into a bowl of fungus. How do you think I am?"

[Aidara]

Sitting back on her heels, Addy watched the… thing mutter and flail, carefully leaning back when one of its arms (or legs?) struck out in her direction. Covered in the blue mold that was the bane of the Inartan existence, the little healer-turned-bartender knew that she didn’t want to get any of it on her. Sometimes starvation looked better than eating it and it was prudent to avoid it in any way, whenever possible.

“Nikali?” The voice had allowed Addy to pinpoint whatever this was as a man, but the name he spoke rang no bells and left the woman glancing around at those patrons who had stopped their partying to sate their curiosity “Are one of you Nikali?” Blank faces met her inquiry and Addy was forced to return her gaze to that pale face and its horrific grimace- no wait, that was a smile, good god- and lift a slender shoulder in a shrug. “There is no Nikali here, and I am most certainly not a priestess.”

Pushing herself to her feet, Addy nodded to two of the closest men; they didn’t look very happy about it but they immediately set to picking the stranger up. “It was more of a rhetorical question, where you’re obligated to say “good” unless something is broken or otherwise damaged. Your pride does not count.” Little hands moved to rest lightly on her hip, that which was jutted to the side and accentuated not only the smooth curves of her body, but the attitude that thickly laced her words. “If you’re hurt, I can help you. Otherwise…”

Turning to slip back behind the bar, Addy finished her sentence with an eye roll. More apt to accept outsiders than her peers the little woman still had her limits, and interrupting a body shot was definitely going too far.

x

[Volinir Orchid]

"They don't know Nikali. The sex-crazed ginger people don't know Nikali." "But then why are you trying to be naked?" Volinir asked before his brain caught up with his mouth. "Not that... That's a bad thing." he added quickly as an afterthought. Or lack thereof. "That wasn't what... Petch it, you're sexy. There, I said it." He was going to try to be civil, but he was in a volcano of savages. Excuses about intention could just suck on his apparently toned arse. "I don't think s- Wait, don't leave me!" Volinir said, nearly tripping over himself to intercept the little Inarta woman. "I can't escape alone!" He needed a guide out of this nightmare realm. Thus, he had to bribe the native. Yes. There was no way this could go horribly wrong. "Tell you what." The Symenestra said after a quick intake of breath, "We'll make a deal. You tell me how to get out of here, and I'll..." Uh oh. He did not know what she wanted. This was a problem. This was a strong-jawed problem that wanted to violate his anus. "Erm..." "What will I do?"

[Aidara]

The normally witty, or at least cute, response that Addy usually managed to fire off fizzled and died on her lips when the strange thing asked her why she was trying to be naked. “I’m not…” But, she was. “I don’t…” It had been a conscious choice of clothing, or lack there of, for her night of bartending. And it had been met with the expected forms of approval. “Because it gets the job done.”

Oddly thrown by the lanky man, Addy paused for a few more ticks as he stuttered out his awkward approval of her beauty. Nothing she hadn’t heard before, but there was something in the pathetic stutter that made her frown, if only slightly, and toss a few words over her shoulder before she resumed her retreat and sashayed away. “Well, thank you!”

“You’re new to the city.” That much was obvious, but it wasn’t a question. The things yelp for her to stay had stalled Addys feet for a second time, a glower turned upon him now, and her arms crossed tightly over her chest when she whirled, yet again, to face him. “Any of these lovely people could help you leave but you insist on keeping me from my tips and my fun?” However oddly disturbing she found the flailing man, the shouts of Addy’s empathy managed to make it up through the haze of the alcohol, echoing softly in the recesses of her mind.

A time in the Baths, many seasons ago, floated up along with the pity, when Addy had first started to come into herself. A group of them had ended up in the same soaking pool, along with a pale, odd, and rather creepy individual… Her fellows had shown their true colors, but Addy had reached out to the Outsider girl and tried to welcome her to the city.

If looks were anything to go off of, this thing was of the same race. Symenestra. “I…” Oh, petch. There goes her night. “should probably look to make sure that your arm is okay. Rek’Keli would not be happy to hear one of her own turned another away just because there was a petching hot girl waiting for her back at the bar with a lime wedge.” Extending a hand down to him, Addy quickly thought better of the gesture and motioned for the men bordering the newcomer to lift him to his feet, and motioned for him to follow her from the club.

“So, what’s this about a deal?”

x

[Volinir Orchid]

"What gave it away?" Voli deadpanned when Aidara said he was new. "The awkward tumbling, or the screaming like a little girl?" When she complained about other people existing, he retorted with "Yes, but I can't tell which ones are tripping balls and want to eat my face. Whereas I know you're sober because you haven't kicked me in the shins yet." His disconcertingly long shins. After a moment's pause, he added quickly. "Please don't do that. They're fragile." And then of course there was the talk of the hot girl with a lime wedge. A hot girl. With a lime wedge. A hot girl. With a lime wedge. Girl. Wedge. "There is no justice..." Followed shortly by her avoiding touching him. Oh, that stung. "No, of course." Volinir fumed as he followed Addy out, dodging swinging arms, flying vinatis, and "Haayyy"s all the while. "Goodness knows how awful it would be if you made contact with an icky Widow. You'd have to wash your hands, and apologize to your grandmother, and-" Oh. She hadn't forgotten about the deal babble. And she hated his guts. This was bad. He really didn't think this through. "I really didn't think this through." He was just desperate. "I was just desperate." He just wanted to get out of that Gods-forsaken place. "See, my life was flashing before my eyes back there, and I really didn't want to get ground to a fine white paste, so when I said 'deal', I really didn't mean..." Volinir's panicked brain chose this moment to chime in. "Her legs are tiny and her clothes are impractical. She can't chase you. Run!" And with that thought, the Symenestra opened and closed his mouth silently, turned on his heels, and tried to make a dash for it.