Drunken Fun

by **Aenisa** on June 6th, 2017, 8:28 pm

7th of Summer - 517 AV

Thick, empty and void of life was the darkness that enveloped the streets of Alvadas. Aenisa was moving through them like a tiger on a hunt, waiting to pounce on its target. Aenisa however was just trying to get home to sleep and not to be the target or be the hunter in the darkness. Having spent most of her day on a rooftop outside of a home she had fallen asleep and awoken when a cat had dashed over her chest.

Shadows seemed to dance around her as she moved in and out of dim lights emanating from nearby taverns and bars as well as houses and shops. Few people were still in the streets and those that were usually seemed to move in groups of five or more. Aenisa was alone, she moved alone. Normally she would be asleep at home by this time but the darkness did offer some advantages over the daylight. For one, Aenisa could move almost completely undisturbed in the darkness and slip through the shadows like a true living ghost. Here and there she could see other shadows moving with her own, no doubt she was not alone in trying to be unseen by the larger gatherings of people.

Aenisa still hadn’t figured out how the city really operated and so moving unseen was probably for the best she figured. Here and there people emerged from taverns, inn’s and different shops as well as homes. Most people who were still out at these hours of the night seemed to be heavily intoxicated and so as Aenisa moved through the streets she saw quite a few getting tossed out from the establishments. “Come on! Itsh only a game!” Came the voice of a man further down the street as he pleaded with the owner of a tavern who promptly shook their head. “Don’t come back until you sober up!” Came the harsh but determined voice back at the drunken man, it was the type of a voice where you don’t even bother to try and plead further. A few choice cursewords from the drunk man and then he was on his way just as Aenisa got closer to the Tavern, she hoped that he would just ignore her. The darkness was hiding her for most of the time but the closer you got the brighter the darkness seemed.

Aenisa was just about to walk past the drunk man, even from a distance away she could smell the heavy stench of alcohol. “Heeey! Maria!” Came the voice and a hand swung out to halt Aenisa in her tracks. Glazed over eyes inspected her in the darkness as if he had seen a friend but wasn’t quite sure if the person was still a friend or if they were on bad terms since. Aenisa stood in silence for a bit and watched the man as he held her in place with one hand, she waited. “Maaaariiiiaaa! Whhyyy…” He almost lost his balance as he swung from side to side, catching himself with much effort he then continued. “… Why… Why… Why yooouuuu ooouuut here?!” He finally managed to get the sentence out into the darkness to Aenisa.

“My name not Maria.” Aenisa said calmly, she wasn’t going to start something with a drunk man in the streets of Alvadas this night. “Maaaaria! Don’t beee liksh that!” A hard pat on Aenisa’s shoulder let her know that he wouldn’t listen to anything that she might say that went against what he now knew to be the truth.

SPACER

by **Aenisa** on June 7th, 2017, 9:40 pm

7th of Summer - 517 AV

The stench of alcohol seemed to have invaded the entire street now and the man that had captured Aenisa in his conversation didn’t seem to mind it one bit. He was a true annoyance now, Aenisa just wanted to head home and sleep again in her bed, not deal with some drunken guy. By the looks of the man, it wasn’t the first time that he had been thrown out for his excessive drinking, his stomach told tales of years of servitude to the spirits. A shirt that had long ago given up concealing his figure now showed it proudly to anyone who encountered the man. Aenisa just felt like she might want to punch the man but she tried to talk calmly to him, knowing that throwing it down with drunk people was never a good idea.

“I am not Maria, I tell you. I don’t know you.” She tried to plead with the man again, seeing if his thick mind could accept her truth or if he was past caring. The briefest of moments it seemed as if the man understood his mistake but then the clarity that he was feeding on just sort of ran out. He shook his head and muttered something that was unintelligible to Aenisa. “Yesh… Yesh… Mariaaaa! You know where… where I come fromsh?” He swung a bit from side to side as he asked her this and then he looked over towards the tavern that he had just come out from as if she hadn’t noticed. A loud sigh was offered before Aenisa said in a bored tone. “Where?” The sigh registered with the man who puffed up his chest a little and pointed at Aenisa as he said. “Maria! Maria! Maria! Listen! You… You don’t do that to mee! Okaysh?” He stared at Aenisa with the gaze of someone who is clearly crazy or blind drunk, Aenisa knew it to be the second one.

Breathing his alcohol straight in Aenisa’s face, torturing her with his annoyance. Aenisa broke free from his grip and took a step back, it wasn’t fun at all now and she raised her voice a little, pointing at the man she said. “You stay back, don’t need you face in my face, you want talk, we talk here.” Her right hand ventured down towards her belt where she had her little dagger tucked away, should he spring forwards and attack her. A drunken man was always unpredictable and it made Aenisa insecure around him. For a moment, it seemed as if the man might spring into an attack but instead he croaked up a form of an apology as he tried to give Aenisa a hug. “Mariaa, don’t be like that! You know meeee… Come on!” The approaching hug was something that Aenisa didn’t feel like receiving from the stranger and she took a step back and put her hand out to stop the man. “No hug, you know what happened last time.” Aenisa took a gamble that the man might get absorbed into the conversation and reveal something about this annoying Maria that Aenisa now apparently was. He swung a bit from side to side in his alcohol induced state as he stood there, thinking about what happened last time.

SPACER

by **Aenisa** on June 8th, 2017, 5:09 pm

7th of Summer - 517 AV

The street was still empty except for Aenisa and her little friend that she had encountered in the very same spot where she still stood. There was no chance that Aenisa was going to get out of the conversation that she had just initiated with the man without punching him or running away. It wasn’t really something that she wanted to do. Pulling her shirt up a bit further she tried to shrink down a little to alter her own appearance in the eyes of the man. Aenisa looked at the man as the gears slowly came to a halt and he spoke in his slurred voice again, looking at her with his glazed eyes. “I don’t know… what happened lasht time. It doeshn’t matter. Maria! Tell me, where ish Tholino?” Leaning forwards a bit he almost lost his balance again and wiped his mouth with his hand in a most slobbish of ways.

Wiping her hair away from her face a little in an action that seemed to mirror her shift in personality. Aenisa had decided that she might as well become this Maria for the conversation’s sake and that way she could just drag him along for some fun. “Tholino? He is home. Why you not home?” Her broken common tongue was clearly not something that the man was going to pick up on, or at least Aenisa hoped that he wouldn’t. It was hard to put one and one together for the drunken man who clearly wasn’t aware of what was truly going on before him at that moment. “Homee? Hah!” He laughed and burped at the same time as he found this hilarious for some reason or another. Once he had gotten a few good laughs out of it all he continued to speak. “He should be here wiiiith ush!” Almost shouting this at Aenisa as if she could just magically make this Tholino appear for his pleasure.

Wafting her hand in front of her face to get the smell of alcohol away she then smirked, nodded her head and said. “Yeah! Why don’t you go find him?” This was her exit from the conversation that she had wanted to find for a little while now and it had presented itself perfectly. Stupid drunken people who couldn’t understand that a no was a no. Counting herself lucky that so far the man had at least not tried to have his way with her, Aenisa waited to see what he might say, playing the patient part. It took a while for the man to see the logic in what Aenisa had told him, that in fact he shouldn’t just complain but also go and fetch his friend. “Uh… Yeeeesh! Yeeesh! I should! I will!” He was again, almost shouting at Aenisa as he said this because for some reason his drunkenness had told him that Aenisa had grown deaf.

Rickety steps carried the alcohol ridden man down the street as he had chosen to ignore Aenisa after realising that he should pick up his friend. It was a huge relief to Aenisa to not have to bother with the man again and she quickly relaxed a little, feeling the burden of stupidity being lifted from her shoulders once more. She could head back home again. Pushing her clothes back in their positions she started off in the other direction, still hearing the light tune that the man was singing as he went. The song grew quieter by each step that Aenisa took and eventually it had all faded away as she came around the next corner. Darkness was still her friend and shielded her from much attention from the rest of the citizens that was still out and about in the darkness.

SPACER

by **Aenisa** on June 8th, 2017, 5:15 pm

7th of Summer - 517 AV

It wasn’t as bad as Aenisa had imagined to be out during the night in Alvadas, sure, you saw a lot less and you had to always watch out for some drunk and high people wandering the streets. Still it seemed to be a sort of chaotic calm that dressed the entire city in its blanket. Colourful facades stood dark and lonesome together, the streets no longer strained under the workload of wagons and shoes. All in all, the city seemed to be a welcoming and calm place during the night. Aenisa had just walked past the Tower’s Idol Slanderer, the red eyes shining as brightly as ever in the night and although she was well hidden, it had seen her. “A woman wanders alone, darkness is her friend, in reality she is a tiny, pathetic creature that wishes that she could walk in the light, proud and tall. What are you afraid of little Inarta? You are afraid and lonesome, you don’t fit in this city.”

The words dug deep in Aenisa as she could feel how the statue knew exactly what she felt like, she had wanted to shout something back at the statue. Stunned she had decided that she didn’t want to do that all of a sudden and had continued her journey. Getting away from that cursed statue was always a good thing, it was a wonder that it still stood in the city, did it actually have a purpose? She guessed not, it was a stupid creation and at that particular moment, Aenisa wanted to strangle the creator of it. She walked around the next corner that she found to get out of the sight of the statue.

“Maaariiiiaaa!” Came the voice, Aenisa froze cold in her steps and started to mutter for herself “No… Please.” Slowly turning around, she was met with the face of stupidity itself, it was the same man and Aenisa felt herself die a little inside, why did the city play these cruel pranks on her? Aenisa hadn’t been bad towards Ionu lately and yet, it seemed that he was punishing her. It was possible that the encounters were not the making of Ionu by which case there were some other forces at work in the city. Whatever the forces, Aenisa chose to curse her own luck this time. “Maria! Maria! Maria! Come! Come!” He was waving excitedly with his right hand for her to approach, he was clearly worked up about something and wanted to show his best friend. “What is it?” Aenisa asked in a bored tone as she started to head over towards the drunken man again, hating every step of the way.

“Yes? What?” She asked as she arrived, standing a good distance away from the man who once more was brimming with a smile from ear to ear as he motioned her towards a nearby alleyway. He snorted and then almost lost his balance again as he turned around on his heels, speaking “Come, Maria, come, see what I found!” He was clearly excited about having found something and even more excited about having someone to share it with, finally. There was a light emanating from the alleyway as Aenisa came closer and the drunken fool was standing there, still waving her towards him. “Come! Come! Come! See!” He says and then wanders off into the alleyway just as Aenisa is about to reach him.

SPACER

by **Aenisa** on June 8th, 2017, 5:28 pm

7th of Summer - 517 AV

Being prepared for most things in Alvadas, this wasn’t one of the things that she had been prepared to encounter and especially not at the hands of a drunken man. In the street that she ventured down there was a small campfire around which a group of around ten or so people stood, entranced in something. Apprehensive about the situation, Aenisa slowly approached, the fire dancing along the houses and casting daunting shadows. The closer to the fire that Aenisa got, the bigger the shadows seemed to get. The more intimidating the shadows got and the more intense the fire got, the more it seemed to draw her in.

Excited faces were all focused on the middle near the fire, the drunken man who had lead her there looked at her and then motioned towards the center of it all. The rest of the people who stood in the ring all were absorbed by the spectacle on offer before them now and they were talking amongst one another. “I put five on the left one.” Came the voice of a man as he pulled out five silvers and put them down in a small box near the fire. “I take that bet.” Said a second man and another five came into the box. Soon there were at least thirty silvers in the small box and it was taken away from them by another man. Obviously, the owner of what was going on, he held the coins closer to himself and slid five silvers into his own pocket, no doubt as payment for his services.

The utterly bizarre scene that was unfolding before Aenisa’s eyes now that she had reached the group was nothing that she was prepared for. Standing, stunned as she watched what had been placed in the middle of the street. A medium sized square had been put together out of wood and now stood on the stones of the street. As a floormat there was a green piece of a carpet, clearly too small as it didn’t cover the entire square. Placed inside of the square was also some small houses and obstacles that looked like they had been put together by a five-year-old. Overall it did seem like a small miniature world within the wooden square. It wasn’t the square in itself that was the utterly bizarre about it all but rather what was within the square, alive. Clearly very pleased with himself the owner of it all stood across from the small group and was introducing the tiny creatures.

“Come, step right up and place your bets on who will win this magnificent battle of the giants!” Dressed in a slightly damaged shirt and casual, leather trousers the man wasn’t exactly the excellence that his voice portrayed him to be. A beard that had not been cut for at least a couple of months also spoke of his true stance in the community. Despite his appearances, the man was excited to introduce the fighters to the group, it was a clear passion of his. “Trained by the legendary drunk beneath the Stallion’s Rear, having been fed only the best of trash. Once found with its mother, a rat who stood at almost a meter long and took the guards to subdue, today he carries that same spirit as his mother once did!” Pausing for a moment to let the dramatic introduction of the rat sink in. Aenisa figured that most of this must be some sort of elaborate prank or fraud, the others in the group were hanging on every word though. There were silvers riding on the outcome of the battle. “Everyone, give it up for Bob!” he almost shouted out as he pointed at the rat who had on an armour and a cape, walking around behind a tiny gate inside one of the homes.

Applause filled the otherwise empty street as they were all focused on the tiny rat in the corner. The home in which the rat was in wasn’t much beyond a few wooden planks and a tiny gate made from some type of metal that covered the exit. It was hard to see the full outfit that the rat was wearing but Aenisa could see that it had on some sort of outfit. The man continued. “Now, I have told you about our veteran fighter, but today we got an absolute treat for a challenger! Having come up all the way from the Patchwork Port where he was raised by an old sea captain. Having gotten a life of fresh and rotten food directly from the ships, he has grown fat and vicious! Life in the docks isn’t easy, fighters from all around the world arrive with the ships every day! Already having five battles to his name, give it up everyone, for… Tom the Fat Cat!” Once more he pointed towards where the rat was at, a small home just like the other, this one located across the square. Applause was heard again in the streets.

Aenisa could feel how the enthusiasm of the announcer and the others in the group was drawing her in. Now that the introductions of the rats were over the announcer was quick to fill the air with the question of bets again. “Will anyone else place any bets tonight? Five silvers and you could win double! Come on, Tom or Bob, one of the two, who will win? Who will perish? Place your bets, bring something home to the wife! Better yet, get more to drink!”. Aenisa could see how a few of those in the group started to look for their coins, some placed further bets whilst others were satisfied with theirs. Aenisa didn’t really want to spend her coins on this even if it looked fun. “Maria! Isn’t this amuhziiing?!” The annoying voice just cut through the atmosphere that was at the group and Aenisa found herself instantly annoyed again. Shooting her gaze at the man she just sort of sighed loudly and shrugged her shoulders at the question. She did find it fun but she didn’t want to give him that satisfaction of knowing that so instead she had chosen to be quiet. Ignoring him, she hoped would keep him away.

SPACER

by **Aenisa** on June 8th, 2017, 5:41 pm

7th of Summer - 517 AV

“Okay, everyone, gather around! This is what you have all been waiting for, the fight! The battle! The survival game! There will be only one winner! No draws, no forfeits, this is a battle…” He paused for dramatic effect as he was looking around the crowd in the light of the fire. “… To the death!” His voice had gone significantly lower as he finished his sentence and then he focused into the pen. The first gate was removed for Bob, the metal piece was tossed aside as some people in the group applauded as soon as the rat showed its nose. Slipping out of the housing from which it had emerged, it was shown to be wearing a combination of cloth and metal, looking almost like a tiny knight. The rat moved around to the side of the house, looking to find its opponent the moment that it appeared out of the house. “Look at how fierce that rat looks… A true warrior, should have put my money on that one.” Aenisa could hear one of the people to her left saying, glancing over she saw that it was a middle-aged woman.

Soon the second gate was removed and the other rat appeared out from its house as well. Wearing what looked like a cape on which a skull had been poorly drawn on, the rat looked like some sort of assistant pet to a bringer of death. It was slightly smaller than the other rat but seemed to have more energy as it came out of the house, Aenisa could see the subtle difference between the two rats. The announcer started right away with his commentary of the fight. “And we are off! Today we can expect an absolute beast of a battle, both of the fighters have only had victories this season. Of course, a loss is death so that is not surprising.” He paused as if he had confused himself a bit. Aenisa looked at the rats as they were sizing one another up near the middle of the square, it seemed as if Bob had the upper hand in that department. “As you can all see, we got the battle of two cities, of light and one of darkness, of good and of evil. Which one is which depends a little on who you are, hehe. Bob is representing the noble and slightly cowardice practices of Syliras. Although the true knights of the city may be cowards, Bob is anything but a coward and has taken on the whole responsibility of the city on his shoulders!” A few appreciative sounds could be heard from the group as they were now all focusing intensely on the fight that seemed like it was about to jump off.

“Tom on the other hand is representing the darkness or the undead, fighting for the right of those that have no rights. For those that does not live and for the city of Sahova! We will see evil versus good, dark versus light and eventually life versus death! Let the fighting begin in earnest, it looks like they have sized one another up.” After this the man fell silent again. The alcoholic smell that was filling the street didn’t bother Aenisa, having wanted to go home and do nothing else, she was now focused and invested in the fight. The first strike brought with it a cheer from the group and the announcer was quick to praise the actions of Tom. A small cut had formed on Bob’s left leg as a result of the surprise attack which seemed to have drawn blood. “We got the first blood of the fight, everyone! This is a real fight now alright!” The man shouted out excitedly as the rats were circling around a rock that was found in the middle of the square. “Looks like they are trying to figure one another out, these rats haven’t had much food in the last couple of days. We of course starve them to make them fight fiercer. A battle for survival! Exciting.” He added as this time it was Bob that struck out, jumping towards Tom and sinking his teeth into his midriff section, a squeak and Tom escaped the rat’s grip. A mixture of happy cheers and gasps of horror came from the group, as soon as the rat was free it turned around and went after Bob, like a tiny warrior it dashed forwards. Whiskers tingling in the rush before it reached the other rat, a quick bite to its neck and more blood came spurting out from Bob. Squeaks and twisting of fur and skin before the rats came apart and backed off one another for a short moment.

It seemed to Aenisa like they were trying to figure out one another and whom was the biggest of the two, the best warrior and who would win. Syliras looked to be in a bad way, or worse off than Sahova was at least. The pause only lasted for a brief moment before Bob dashed around one of the obstacles in the square and went for Tom again. Jumping and twisting in the air, Bob missed completely and darted after Tom as soon as the rat landed on the ground. Dragging the piece of green cloth under their tiny little feet with him as he chased Tom. Sahova stopped fully as Syliras launched a surprise attack from behind, teeth coming to sink into Sahova’s neck as blood spurted out to the sound of squeaks. Collapsing onto the ground the rat seemed to not move any longer, Bob savagely continued the assault of Sahova as his teeth ripped away skin, cloth, fur and flesh.

Once again she could hear the cheers and the cursewords coming from those beside her as some had just won money whilst it seemed, many more, had lost money. “Just a lucky strike.” One said. “The port didn’t do that rat any good at all, blast!" Said another as the owner and announcer returned to speak once more. “What an incredible fight we just had everyone! Bob is still the undefeated champion of the season. Collect your winnings with me if you won and you can all catch me tomorrow night. I will be in the area around Ionu’s stand!” Some of the group started to move away from the arena whilst others collected their earnings from the owner. Aenisa chose the opportunity whilst her drunken friend was occupied with collecting his earnings to slip away into the darkness once more. Although it had been a good fight and actually had been fun to watch, she wanted to go home, had wanted to do so for the last couple of bells at least.

SPACER