Closed Close Quarters

[Junco]

Red Diamond Tavern
51st of Summer, 516AV

Frigid snowy wind swept through the entrance to the musty tavern as its large wooden doors opened to the outside. In, bracing himself from the cold, staggered a large bearded man, shrouded in a heavy blue fur cloak and thick wind blown hair. Pushing with some strength he closed the door roughly behind him, cutting off the storm that had begun to rage outside, but not before a hound bounded in after him. The dog, a large breed, his coat littered with snow, seemed playful in the falling snow, but obediently quieted down as the pair entered the building. Some of the few faces inhabiting the tavern turned to look at the disturbance, before returning to their drinks and stories, others ignored his commotion. Besides the owner and barmaid there were only five or so other customers beside newly arrived Junco.

Heading to one of the plushy chairs by the fire, he pulled off his large cloak and draped it across the back of the chair. His hunting companion plopped down on the shaggy carpet next to his owner. The fire in front of Junco was roaring bright oranges and reds, blues and greens near the center, and giving off a tremendous amount of warmth. So much so that Junco knew he would only need a few chimes by the fire before he warmed up and started to feel uncomfortable with all the heat. A storm was brewing outside, nothing that worried Junco in the slightest, although the temperatures were dropping low enough for the Morwen marked Vantha to shallowly wish for a second gnosis from his goddess. The first mark only went so far to protect him from the freezing colds of Northern Taldera.

A pretty, though taken, barmaid quickly arrived to serve him. He asked simply for a mug of ale and she whisked off to retrieve it. When she arrived back, ale in hand, Junco wondered to her if she would be able to put some water in a bowl for Bastian, his dog. He was panty slightly from the walk over. The barmaid smiled at the animal and brought what was asked a chime later. Bastian happily loped it up then got up to sit right in front of the fire, closing his eyes for a grateful minute. Junco sighed and laid his head against the back of his chair, closing his eyes as well. When he opened them again he looked to the top of the fireplace where the residing champion of the animal hunt placed his prize. As of now the trophy was a pair of extremely large antlers with many, very pointed, prongs. Probably from some dire deer, moose, or something of the like. He gazed fondly up at it, imagining the day when his trophy would be on display.

He glanced back at the door to the outside, wondering when would be an appropriate time to go back home. His mother had kicked all the males out of the arvinta, claiming the women, mainly Aumber in her pregnant state, needed some space. Did she know she was kicking two young men, a father and an old grandad out of their home? His dad just laughed at the women and their antics, while his brother Hembr, having the trait of doing whatever his wife asked without thought, went off together, Junco did not know where. His grandfather made a bit of a fuss, going on about how he was an old man, even going to far as to remind his daughter in law that he was the head of the house. But his mother was strong and did not fall for his bluff. He may be head of house, but he did not make the rules and he knew it. So he trudged off to the common area of the Frostfawn hold while Junco headed outside as his little sister taunted and jeered as his misfortune.

Thinking about his mother he decided he should probably wait a good few bells before even thinking about returning. So he sipped at his ale, not wanting to spend too much coin here, or run the risk of impairment, and watched the flames dance in the hearth.

[Lucy Snowsong]

"I could see him being embarrassed by it as he told me: 'Yeah I forgot it at home.' " Two women were laughing and chatting at a table. Lucy was just telling a silly story to another woman. They were there for a half bell by then. As a man came in Lucy glanced over there the door. The weather was getting chillier and wilder. She hoped it was only for a few bells. Not like she planned to go home anytime soon but even being their Great Queen's people, she could handle so much if the weather acted crazy. She turned back right away to her companion. "You must be kidding with me!" Said the Whitevine woman as she was laughing. "Oh no, no! Even I couldn't come up with such story on my own, believe me!"

Grace born into the Whitevine hold, naturally her life has been about curing the ill and the wounded. She was kind and caring, but could be very serious about her work and knew exactly what she wanted. If she wanted something to do, she couldn't be stopped. She was already in the Tavern when Lucy has arrived. Was it fate, or luck or coincidence for the Snowsong girl, no one knew, but she didn't care. It could be anything but it was just great for her. She wanted to talk to someone from the Whitevine, with a medic.

So far only Lucy was talking. It held some purpose. She loved to entertain, and she loved to tell other stories. She also wanted to get in friendly term with her, wanted some answers from her. She was curious about the life of a healer, what stories she heard. She wanted to expand her knowledge how to act as one. Lucy took this seriously, she needed to hear how one feel about their job. What do they do exactly, how do they do it? What feelings they have during? Every little detail mattered for her so she could gave her best during a performance. She didn't just want to act it, she wanted her characters to be so real, others would forget they only watch a play.

"So..." Lucy changed her tone, put her elbow on the table and rested her cheek and chin on her palm. Her eyes' color also turned to deep dark blue. "Enlighten me, please! What is it like to be a healer in the Whitevine. How do you spend an average day? How does it feel to aid people? Details, details." With her eyes Lucy quickly looked around. There were quite lot of people there, chatting, having fun and other activities. She turned her attention back quickly at the woman. Took a deep breath, and tried to block out the others from the place. She had to professional about this and she was indeed curious.

Grace was still smiling but also was a bit confused or lost a bit. Perhaps she didn't know where to start. Her eyes just reflected that fact, the colors were mixing there. But that was only momentarily, she quickly put her thoughts together. "Well hard but rewarding at the same time. You have to understand that this reward might not be financial rewards always. It's more... complex than that." The Snowsong girl was nodding and was really serious, she was prepared to 'open' herself and absorb everything the woman would tell her. "It's a hard work both physically and mentally. You have to find balance with the patients also. You have to understand their feelings, their well-being and everything about them, but also have to keep a certain distant from them or the grief will consume you." She started with a basic picture as Lucy hoped. And as she was telling her about everything she could, the weather was just getting worse and worse.

[Epifanio Snowsong]

Epifanio Snowsong


Epifanio rose on the second level of the Red Diamond Tavern. The night before he was enjoying himself of some of the perversions of the job. He had enticed a younger Vanthan the night before to enjoy an improvisation. Epifanio, however, was unsuccessful in his swooning as he got majorly plastered and was unable to perform to a standard which didn’t involve feverishly pestering the beautiful lass with a masquerade of different compliments which didn’t make much sense in his ramblings. He didn’t remember much of the night before, but when he awoke he was cuddling his gamba in the far corner and had a piece of bread sticking from his mouth.

He woke mildly confused and in his feverish state of sweating out the nights liquor he flashed awake and knocked some chords to his Gamba. The sounded in a shrill deep musical thud. As wind knocked on the ceiling above and whirred across the roof of the tavern, Epifanio yawned and felt the side of the wall to be abnormally colder than usual. Gaining his composure, he sat up and drank from the nearest cup on a table nearby which was left there, possibly from the night before. In his dizzy state he spat it out immediately knowing it to be stale liquor. With a slight cough and staggering he stood up and went over to the balcony and looked down below. He saw a few different people. Of the most notable was Junco who was sitting by the fireplace, and his neighbor Lucy who had been talking to what looked like a healer of the whitevine hold.

A smile crossed his face; now was his chance to either make a grand entrance, or to spy on the few and see what is going on, and potentially hear of some tavern rumors. Kneeling down against the balcony, Epifanio placed his ears closest to one of the openings. He heard “This reward might not be financial as always, it more complex than that.” Epifanio was delighted and wondered of what sort of reward that Lucy and her whitevine friend could possibly be talking about. His mind went rampant with the possibility of some sort of hunt or adventure that would result in a reward fit for the grandest of stories.

With that Epifanio stood up and walked over to the corner where his Gamba lay, and picked it up and retrieved his gamba bow from his case. Heading over to the balcony he called out “Tales of reward and prosperity, so grand!” He put bow to string and began to play improvisation.

Secret :

Play me

When bow met string it sounded off in a fleeting and surprising twist of notes, and Epifanio began to sing with it. “Complexity tales, and mastiff sails – faring across the land with the note of hand. Oh, what a wonderful time to be part of this summertime. Once was heard of two strangers in before, a night of drinking and heretofore – arguments of beauty in bed no more.” His tale went in to describe of not getting his own reward last night, and his words in improvisation began to twist from his original story. “I stepped to fast and nothing had passed, but here I wake on balcony after my own…. Travesty.”

Epifanio put down his bow abruptly and smiled not knowing if anyone had actually been listening then sighed and put up his gamba in his case and decided to make his way downstairs in the inn to see what was going on.

As he walked down the stairs he was slowly recovering from his dizzy spell and occasionally bumped into the side of the wall and then went over a chair next to the fireplace and plopped himself abruptly down then sagged down into the chair while holding his head as if he had a headache.


This is an option for speech.
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[Junco]

Junco's pondering was interrupted as he heard a strange note cry from the second landing of the tavern. Looking up curiously, his dog doing just the same, cocking his head to one side, he peered into the darkness to no avail. He was sure something was moving up there, someone he had not noticed before and was inclined to go have a look. Though upon realizing this was not his home and anyone had quite the right to be up there just as much as him, he relaxed himself back into the chair. Only to be rudely interrupted once again by a man who had appeared on the landing as Junco expected and proclaimed what seemed to be a theme of something before he pulled out a wooden instrument and began to run a bow across it.

The hunter recognized Epifanio immediately though was left undecided whether to roll his eyes at the obvious hungover state of the man and common obnoxiousness or to smile at the familiar face. Instead he was left simply staring at him until the bard finished his song, a nice tune with rather strange lyrics that seemed to insult himself and put down his bow. During Epifanio's last few notes Bastian began a sad howl, Junco abruptly shot him a sharp word and he stopped, putting his head down into his crossed paws, hiding. Junco then gave a slow clap which represented both acknowledgement of his talent and Juncos view of his song as slightly inappropriate for the setting. Most everyone in the tavern was looking up at the landing and the bar owner and maid had come out from behind the counter to peer up as well. As the song ended the owner turned a stern face to the maid. She just looked back innocently at him, shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders before she headed up to the second floor and the bartender back behind the barrier of the counter.

Junco did begin to smile in amusement as he watched Epifanio climb down the stairs, bumping into railings and tripping up over himself, it was a bit sad Junco mused. As the bard sat down across from him Junco outstretched his hand for his acquaintance to take and let out a laugh before grinning and saying "Quite a night, eh my man?" At Epifanios arrival Bastian got up and jumped over to him, giving Epifanios limp hand a lick before sitting down in front of the chairs again.

[Lucy Snowsong]

She didn't even notice that Epifanio was listening to their conversation. But as Grace wanted to continue she stopped as Lucy's neighbor started to sing. "So I always sta--- Can you hear it, where? Oh there!" The Whitevine looked up to the direction of the music. Lucy first closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her eyes got another color: brown. She didn't like to be disturbed and pushed out from her 'zone'. "I swear, if Morwen won't shut him, I will." Grace looked back at her. "You know him?" The Snowsong girl only nodded and stood up. No one can steal away her 'spotlight' this way. No one.

She started to improvise a bit. But it was more to mock her friend for being a mess right now. "Because the beauty won't magically appear in the bed of the prince, if the prince is not willing to go after her and treat her as he should. To indulge her with flowery compliments. " She was watching as Epi was slowly coming down on the stairs and eventually sat down silently. "And now the prince instead of getting warm by his love, he only has the fire of the hearth in a cold tavern." She sat back down, her eyes changed back dark blue. Grace raised her eyebrows at her.

"Oh why being like that with him? He wasn't so bad. It was quite amusing actually. I wonder what he's like." Lucy did reflect the healer's expression and also raised her eyebrows. Also it did annoy her that there was no comment about her tiny performance. "Tell you what, I'll introduce him to you, so we can continue our little conversation. Believe me, he is no prince charming." Or for Lucy he wasn't. She still resisted. She stood up and so did Grace as her eye color changed. The Snowsong girl still had the dark blue. She was curious what did Epifanio was searching up there.

She went to the seats where the two men were sitting. She noticed the bearded Vantha knew Epi too so she addressed both. "Hey boys, what's up with you? " While with her elbow she was nudging Epi to get his attention she introduced herself to the other man. "Hi! I'm Lucy Snowsong, and this is Grace from the Whitevine hold... Hey neighbor be a man now, we have a lady for company." The healer did find the situation a bit odd, but as Lucy introduced her to the man with the dog, she offered her hand for a shake. "Nice to meet you! What's your name?"

[Epifanio Snowsong]

Epifanio Snowsong

Epifanio extended his hand and shared in a Vanthan greeting with Junco. He was exuberantly still tired and had a minor headache, but the cheer of people seemed to make him feel a bit better. The dog, Bastian, was a welcomed commodity to which he enjoyed. He let the dog lick him and gently patted him on the head before it went back to lay down. “Is it over already? I lost track, I suppose it should be the next day by now! I just hope that this time I didn’t do anything that might haunt me later. I was upstairs for some reason though, maybe hiding from someone.” Epifanio smirked towards Junco before noticing Lucy and her friend walk towards him. He didn’t expect for his neighbor to approach him, but she had her own agenda most of the time.

Epifanio’s eyes shined with the ambition of gray colors. “Oh, my fine lady, didn’t you know? That there is Bastion…” Epifanio began weaving another tale of particular fancy “Bastion here is the best man you could ever find; loyal, cunning, and won’t try to steal your hand in marriage! He might, however, lick it.” Epifanio smiled and then stood up to greet the new person. “I may not be a prince charming…” Epifanio glared towards Lucy and smirked, “but I will treat you like a princess if that is your thing, my lady.” He exchanged a formal Vanthan bow and held out his hand when instead of being granted the ability to kiss Grace’s hand, his own got licked by Bastion.

“Ah, good ol’boy.” Epifanio once again patted the dog on the head then took his seat, offering for the other two ladies to take a seat on the couch adjacent to them. The flames roared and in a crackle a piece of wood fell out of the hearth. “Agh!” Epifanio let out and then quickly got up and attempted to pick up the piece of wood and throw it back into the hearth. “Only fire we need around here is the one in my heart!”

Epifanio smiled and threw himself back into his seat once more. As he sat he took out his pipe and was about to light it for a quick smoke, but instead just let the taste from the previous light linger in his mouth as he dry sucked on the herbs. “Say; any of you know what is up with this strange wind? I’ll be back. You two ladies try to control yourself around Bastion, now. Don’t need you running off into the sunset without leash.” Epifanio got up and hastily walked to the front door. The handle was cold and only slightly turned. As he attempted to open up the door he found that out that it would budge one bit. “Oi!” Hey let out across the Tavern. “I think the weather has taken a turn for the worst!”

With great struggle he pushed his body on the door repeatedly. It only slightly gave way inch by inch, and through a small crevice wind and flurries of snow started to fly into the tavern. It caused Epifanio to grimace and shut his eyes. It was remarkably cold, and he could tell by trying to peek through the crevice that snow had almost encompassed waist high of the door. “More than worse. We can’t get out. We’ve been snowed in gentlemen and women. Brace yourself cause we will be locked here for a while!”

Epifanio started to heave his body in a contort to attempt to shut the door. After a few chimes of struggle it finally latched shut and he returned back to the hearth to get warmed up, only to notice the flame was starting to die out. He looked around and saw only a few loose logs to set upon the fire. “Not sure if this will last us the entire time. We should save the logs for tonight when it gets more cold. So who is going to keep me warm?” The bard asked with a wry smile and turned towards Grace at first and then as his eyes turned amber with pink hues he looked at Lucy.

“Well at least we are stuck in a Tavern together. What is the worst that could happen?” Epifanio smiled then went to unlatch his Gamba once more, taking out the large instrument. He placed it between his legs and started to pluck some chords fairly slowly, and worked on tuning it for lighter tones on 4 strings, and very deep tones on the remaining 3. He then drummed at the base of the Gamba to test its reverb. It let out a simple melody of a deep bass like boom.

“If you haven’t guessed yet Grace; I work here at the Red Tavern as an entertainer of sorts.” Epifanio then began playing a quiet yet very relaxing melody on his Gamba as sucking dryly on his pipe, while the group would surely continue talking.



This is an option for speech.
This is an option for speech.

[Junco]

"From an angry woman no doubt." Junco responded heartily to the unforgiving womanizer. A lost cause the hunter always thought. However Junco's amusement at the bard was cut short as two women, who had been previously chatting at the bar when Junco arrived, walked up to the pair of men sitting by the fire. He hadn't given the pair much notice before but now as they stood in front of them he saw how beautiful they both were.

He stood up immediately as the both approached and bowed his head politely with a small, warm smile. If he had a hat he would have taken it off in respect. It became clear almost instantly that the taller of the two women knew Eipfanio previously. That was not very surprising as Epifanio made it his business to get to know every woman in Avanthal. Junco simply knew that neither of them were from the Frostfawn hold for he knew everyone in his hold personally. Apparently the taller girl, the one who seemed to know Epifanio, was from Snowsong and her companion, although they didn't seem to know each other very well, was from Whitevine. Junco wondered if perhaps his sister in law Aumber knew the woman, Grace.

Grace introduced herself to Junco but before he had the chance to take her outstretched hand Epifanio cut in offering his own and taking Grace's question as directed towards the animal instead of the hunter. "Bastion here is the best man you could ever find; loyal, cunning, and won’t try to steal your hand in marriage! He might, however, lick it.” Junco immediately felt a surge of emotion and someone who was paying attention close enough could see his eyes turn from a light blue to a flaming orange in an instant. He took a quick stern look at Epifanio, who may not have been paying attention. "...but I will treat you like a princess if that is your thing, my lady." A hint of green touched the orange, turning it almost a murky brown. It was gone quickly, changing to a middle-toned blue when Epifanios hand was also interrupted by Bastian who had come to give the bard another gracious lick. The dog had abandoned his post by the fire as the women arrived, excited about the new people coming to join their little group. Junco gave him a grateful rub behind the ear.

Before it disappeared Junco took Ms. Whitevine's hand and looking at Grace and then Lucy introduced himself to both, "Junco, of Frostfawn hold my friends, and as the bard here mentioned, this is my pup, Bastian. He's a good dog I wouldn't be frightened he's very friendly as you may have already seen of course." Junco said referring to his dog's signs of affection towards Epifanio so far. Now, as the two women sat down on the couch Bastian sat directly in front, yearning to be pet, looking back and forth between the two, his tongue lolling lazily out the corner of his jaws. Junco himself settled back into his chair as well.

Ignoring Epifanios sudden plight about the fire and log Junco turned to the women and asked "Would either of you like a drink? On me, of course." He smiled gently and ran a hand through his rough hair to straighten it. He once again ignored Epifanio as he went to go check the weather, choosing instead to pay more attention to the women, posing more questions like "May I ask what brings two ladies like yourself to this tavern during a storm?" Yet He was cut off as the storm he mentioned seemed to come up in Epifanio's voice as well.

He stood up abruptly once more and went to join Epifanio at the door. He reached the hungover bard just as he declared the group was stuck. He quickly looked out a frozen window, smearing his hand across the surface to try and peer outside, with no luck he saw nothing but white which he realized was because the window was blocked with snow.

Puzzled, for a moment he stood confused, his eyes turning a very deep, almost black, purple. Then he sprang into action. Epifanio was already by the fire announcing that there was not enough wood to last for a long while. Junco had no idea how the snow had built up so fast or why their dear Goddess Morwen was upset enough to cause this, if she did. Ignoring his new companions he set off to the tavern owner and started to speak directly to him.

"There is a total of eight people and a dog in here. how much food do you have in stock and how long will it last that many people? Do you have more firewood somewhere in the building?" Then to the barmaid; "I need you to start fetching blankets, pillows, anything to make makeshift beds, one side of the tavern for the three of you, and the other for the men." He decided to take charge in this seeing as the only other men in here were one drunk, almost asleep, and a rather old man who was peering, wide eyed, at the door.

It was almost night and there was little chance the storm would let up by then. It was clear they were staying at least one night within this building, trapped. He did not know how long the storm would rage, but he needed to make sure everyone was warm and fed during their stay. The owner returned giving him a rundown of his supplies. "I have enough ale for months, water is fine too. Only about five more fire logs in the back. Food might be a problem depending on how long we are stuck. I have 10 pounds of meat frozen in the cellar, a few greens to last a couple days maybe. I was going to get a new delivery of meat tomorrow..." He trailed off, deep in thought. 10 pounds, that would last the lot of them a day... two if they were lucky... "Other than that I have some pudding and a couple loaves of bread. I get the bread fresh everyday so that stuff was baked this mornin'." Junco nodded at the man, still lost in thought.

The barmaid came rushing back soon after the owner had given his report. In her hands was a pathetic pile of blankets. In fact there were only three, made of linen and about the size of a small table. "Whats this?" He asked, annoyed. "It's all we have. We're not an inn Junco. We use these to wrap the fresh bread and veggies" She retorted. Junco sighed but accepted the 'blankets' and placed the on an empty table beside him. Then he stood still as the owner and barmaid looked at him, thinking.

[Lucy Snowsong]

It didn't take too much to get the fellow Snowsong's attention. But instead of introducing himself, he started to talk about the dog. Lucy turned her head towards it. Loyal, cunning, best man. Well she was certain that even this dog could be a bigger man than any other person sometimes. She couldn't help but smirk back at him. She may have criticized him a bit too much, he was still a friend to her. "As if it would be that easy. But keep trying lover boy, just don't forget that Grace is under my 'protection', thank you." She didn't want any more distraction, and wanted a silent night also at home.

The Whitevine girl was definitely confused about what was going on. Random poetic and non-poetic talks were exchanged between the two performers. Rather she greeted Junco and his dog. "So.. yeah Junco and Bastion. You have a really cute dog, you know that right?" Grace showed a warm smile and was patting the dog. Lucy turned around, it would be rude to left out the other man. "Oh yeah, yeah sorry! It's my pleasure to meet with you." She was wondering that she might have to give up on the idea listening to her new friend in peace.

Epifanio left them for a bit. "Don't worry we won't run. Be careful though or Morwen's snow will give you a slap." She said half-jokingly. But she might not be so far from the truth, the weather did act weird. As soon Junco mentioned drink, Grace quickly went back and forth to their table to bring her ale she left there. Lucy shook her head. "It's better if I don't drink right now, thank you for the offer though." Her eyes had the hues of green along with dark blue there. She was calming down and she actually didn't feel so bad at all.

Lucy looked at the direction of Epi at the door. While that Grace answered to Junco's question. "Oh I had a tiring day and thought I might come here to rest. Lucy came after me. And she just approached me randomly. And we started to chatting --" They stopped and everyone in the tavern was looking at the direction of the bard. The storm became wild and they were stuck in the tavern. Who knows for how long. The Snowsong's had some troubling thoughts in her about it.

Could it be? As Junco was trying to get hold of the situation, Lucy sat down. Her eyes reflected her fear, as it turned yellow. "Is Morwen upset with us? Did we anger her?" She whispered under her breath, but healer still could hear it. Grace didn't approve those questions. "Don't even joke with that! Surely she is not. Get a hold of yourself, we are Vantha! We can handle a storm, and we still have the blessing of our Queen!" Lucy was a bit surprised as the kind healer turned all serious. But she nodded and tried to smile. "You're right, I'm silly sorry."

Luckily Epifanio did distract her thoughts a bit from there. His eyes changing as he asked the question while staring at her. She wasn't quite sure what to do with that. She has seen that look before. She tried to keep it cool. "Worse thing that could happen that I might have a nice sleep finally." She was an actress, she could use those skills outside her performances, though her eyes were a big giveaway. He started to play on his instrument, trying to easy the mood. It worked, her fear disappeared and she was rather calmer. "Oh talking to Grace ? You hurt me my old friend. I thought you want me to warm you. Is that how you treat a princess?"

[Epifanio Snowsong]

Title and Date

As playing his quiet tones and sucking on his pipe with unlit herbs in it he mostly faded away into his strumming. This time in particular he didn’t want to use his bow, and didn’t feel such a tone would be needed. Alas, that didn’t keep him from smiling towards Lucy when she mentioned that Grace was under her protection. How could she possibly protect Grace? Epifanio sat back when noticing Junco’s flares of emotion and shared glances towards himself in regards to Grace. Though, Epifanio was a charmer, he also enjoyed the aspect that possibly others could find passion in ways he has not. With that in mind; he switched his tones to those of a more romantic setting using the lighter and more pleasant chords to hopefully allow the two to talk a bit more personally.

It was Epifanio’s way of relieving his own stresses about being locked into the Red Diamond Tavern. He didn’t want to get stuck at work forever, but he knew that the owner would want him to maintain his disciplines and keep everyone in a good mood while they were snowed in. Bad memories would lead to bad business after-all. Thinking to himself while playing he grew a bit anxious, it showed in his music as his tones began to hasten just a little bit, causing for some sloppy handwork.

He didn’t much think about Morwen, but overhearing her name from Lucy’s lips did put some interesting thoughts in his head. Perhaps she was angry or sad; something a bard could potentially help with. Though, Epifanio didn’t worship her as much as Rhaus, he still knew that this was her domain and that she was well loved within the people of Avanthal.

With a puzzling joke at Lucy’s mention of having a nice night of sleep and thinking that he was talking to Grace, Epifanio spoke through his teeth as they were clutched onto his pipe “You are far from a princess, Oh Lucy. Though, it never occurred to me that you would want to help keep me warm.” He smiled and set his pipe down into his lap and still while playing a romantic tone started to sing as well.

His deep voice penetrated throughout the Tavern, and it was thrown in such a way that it seemed to chill even his very bones. Of course, that also could have been the cold starting to settle in as the fire was quickly dying out. “Lucy, Oh Lucy.”

“Picture for a moment
A morning sun
In our glacial land.
Eyes of Lucy Snowsong,
Dreaming of someone
To hold her hand.
Then she found her man
To which her heart sings
Though I was just a fool
Never in my lifespan
Had I thought of these things
For I was just a tool.
Lucy, oh Lucy,
hmmMmmM”

Epifanio’s lyrics and improvisation took a turn that perhaps surprised him and his silver tongue got the best of him, once again. His strumming once again returned to a softer melody of idle singsong as he continued to hum along. Words soon took their grasp though, as he spoke normally through his melody. “Lucy, what am I to do?” His eyes looked down towards his instrument and it wasn’t long before he slowly looked back up to see her reaction. He spoke mostly in riddle during the previous song he had conjured up, but it was sung from his heart.

“Soon night will fall, and I can’t just get drunk to forget all of this and pass out in a corner upstairs. I will likely freeze to death. Before I freeze to death I should literally go insane, and here I am sharing that insanity with someone who had lived next to me for an entirety. What do you truly think of me anyways?” He was being awfully dramatic, and this was just another way of him dealing with the stress. Soon night would fall, and he had already slept away most of the day from his haphazard lifestyle.

Mostly ignoring the conversations between Grace and Junco who likely felt either uncomfortable from his previous song or mostly didn’t listen to it and focused on their own conversation he shared a glance towards Lucy and set his instrument down on his chair. (Something he would always take with him no matter what) “I will be back…” He hastily made his way back upstairs and to the corner he had passed out in and shlomped himself against the wall in what to him felt like utter defeat.

If Lucy chose to follow he would pretend to be asleep, and if not he would sit there deeply in thought. Mostly thinking of his past life before his parent’s died. After a series of chimes depending on what would occur (if Lucy followed him or not) he would lay down and rest his head, still suffering a bit of a headache.

[Junco]

Walking somewhat solemnly back to the small group by the fire, Junco arrived just as Epifanio started to pluck around on his instrument. It was a pretty little tune, a bit calming, and he pitched a grateful thought to the bard. Junco himself was a little worried about their situation, but the last thing he wanted to do was to upset the women in any way. He sat down in his original chair and moved it from facing the fire to facing the couch slightly behind him. Now he was facing Lucy and Grace, and he opted to talk to Grace, Lucy seemed to be in a bit of an flirtatious argument of song with Epifanio. He thought he'd let them be as he filled Grace in with a little bit of information. He would let Grace fill Lucy in and he'd talk to Epifanio later. The owner of the tavern had chosen to fill in the other two guests who seemed just as useful and dumbstruck as they had been all night.

He leaned in as Grace looked up at him questioningly. "So we seem okay on supplies. Food is a little low, but that all depends on how long the storm goes on. And honestly I don't see how it could go on for too long." He tried to smile comfortingly, though his eyes may have given his worry away, a deep green. He did have the advantage that Grace didn't know his eye colors and their meanings yet, so hopefully he wouldn't worry her.

The Whitevine nodded as he talked, wide eyed and listening intently. He appreciated that she seemed to be taking this seriously. Junco then did make a point to say he would be watching over supplies and things, make sure they are rationed out correctly. The owner being a Winterflame as well as the barmaid should prove useful in the food department.

Epifanio began singing along to his gamba, Grace seemed interested and turned to watch, as did Junco following the charming Vantha's bright eyes to the bard. Junco wasn't much of a poet so some words of the song were lost to him, though the lines "Eyes of Lucy Snowsong / Dreaming of someone / To hold her hand" were quite obvious enough, and Junco turned his head away from the pair, slightly embarrassed, yellow-green.

His embarrassment grew as Epifanio's song ended and he started speaking sentences instead of versus, a strange sound for the bard. Grace, feeling the room, leaned in closer to Junco. "So... where did you get Bastian? What kind of dog is he?"

Junco grinned at Grace and Bastian cocked his head up from the fire questioningly. After a moment or two of not being addressed again the dog laid his head back down, closing his eyes once more. Extremely grateful for the subject change, and for a chance to talk with Grace a bit, he answered as his eyes turned light blue again. "He's a Falivan Elk Dog, or a hunting dog mainly. I'm a hunter within my hold so he's a great help. I've had him about 3 years now. He was a birthday present from my brother and sister in law." He paused for a moment, glancing fondly back at his companion, before a thought struck him. Looking back at Grace he asked, "Actually my sister in law is from Whitevine, he name is Aumber. Did you know her back when she was there?"

Epifanio at this point got up and went back to his hovel upstairs, or so Junco assumed. He hadn't been paying attention to the pair's conversation end and was slightly worried the man had gotten shut down or something similar, and was now upstairs sulking it off. He considered going up and making sure his friend was alright, but decided he wanted this chance to talk to Grace. If Epifanio didn't come down within the bell he'd go fetch him. He had to let him know of his plans anyway.

Grace answered Junco's question with little thought. "Oh yes! She's a bit older than me but I knew her since I was born. He family was pretty close to mine, but oh, you know Holds, everyone is very close to everyone. We were friends when we were children, separated a bit when we got older though..." She fell off into silence, thinking perhaps about the lost friendship, Junco did not know, though her eyes did change color, noting a change in emotion.

What he said next was so completely out of the blue he shocked himself and that may have even shown in his face. But it was out before he could help it and now he only hoped Grace would take it in the right way. "Well Aumber doesn't see many Whitevines anymore. Maybe if we ever get out of this tavern you could come by and visit? I'm sure she would love to see a friend from home."