7th Day of Summer, 518 AV
The twilight hour was upon them and sun was ending its long parade across the dimming sky, as it was want to do at the end of the day. Syna’s resplendence was dipping lower and lower into the calm horizon of lake Ravok by the time Elias arrived, the shadows birthed from her lingering farewell growing longer and bolder with each passing step until the last vestiges of sunlight finally vanished and a veil of darkness drowned the sky and all below it. The stryfer watched in contemplative silence as the lamp lighters appeared not long after, moving from pole to pole, lantern to lantern, and making the streets shine with flickering, alchemical torchlight. Soon the darkness that had taken hold of Ravok’s streets was banished and the city was once again bathed in a brilliance of luminesces… or at least, most of it was.
The area outside the Bullyard tavern seemed a particular exemption from both light and scrutiny. There the soldier noted fewer torches and deeper shadows, and found himself wondering if such a design had been intentional.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he stepped inside.
Like before, a menagerie of sights and sounds and smells assaulted him all at once. It was a nauseating concoction of shouting, laughter and spilled drinks that all culminated into the usual brouhaha that one expected when setting foot inside a place as seedy and spectacular as this. All manner of races were seated and standing amidst the denizens of the intoxicated joint, from towering Myrians to squat Isurians, and even a handful of multi-armed Ephyarians were lounging near the back. Just as last time, all eyes flickered to him when he entered, but the vast majority turned away almost immediately. But a few more...
"What're you having?"
A slender, almost delicate woman was working the bar that night, her thin hands a blur as she mixed and served a half a dozen orders at once. Elias took a seat at the end of the counter that separated them, isolated and alone.
"I’ll have a-”
"Well slap my ass and call me the Voice, I don’t petching believe it!"
Customer and waitress alike turned as one to see a smirking Braga duck under the doorway -even though it was nearly seven feet tall- and saunter up to the bar alongside them. His eyes were flashing with a savage joy of recognition. Elias on the other hand kept his seat and wished he’d been faster on that order.
"You’re still alive, Nykan?"
"Business is good, soldier boy” The gladiator smirked “and Dira, that nasty cunt, has never wanted anything to do with me so far. I figure she knows well and good if she ever shows her face around the Animal, she’ll get herself a proper petching for her troubles." Braga cocked an eyebrow and his eyes shone with something other than memory, the dancing amusement of knowing. "I hear you’re not doing so bad yourself, pip squeak."
Elias's grin widened on its own and the waitress's eyes shriveled into something between exasperation and apathy at the sight of them both grinning like morons.
"Life is good, though not for lack of trying."
"I'm sure… Gotta admit, surprised you actually came back after what I did to you last time."
"I’m ready for round two."
"Ready to take your-"
"-lumps?" Elias said, remembering the big man's turn of phrase the first night they met. "I’m ready for you to try."
A laugh like a jovial thunderstorm echoed around the bar as Braga cracked knuckles the size of small apples. There was no warning for what came next, just a buzzing in the air like bees set to frenzy. It was a familiar feeling, a terrifying and exilerating feeling, the kind some men dreaded and others embraced like a lover. Something stirred and growled within the Ravokian as time seemed to slow around them. The air was thick with stale mead and all he could hear was the sound of Braga’s knuckles popping one by one. The power erupted from his guts just as the giant swung his meaty fist at the swordsman’s head, the force and fury behind the blow more than enough to knock him through the bar and damn near through the wall behind it, but it was not to be. That power that had begun to whir to life would not allow it. The flux burst into action, flooding his bones and muscles like a river bursting the damn. Elias’s hand lashed outward, and what should have ended into unconsciousness or worse was instead met by gasps from across the bar as all eyes turned to see what had just transpired.
Twitching, straining, both men stared at each other with beaming glares of defiance and mirth as Braga’s fist trembled within the vice Elias’s hand had created around it, stopping the surprise punch mere inches from his face.
The giant’s stirred shone with sickening elation.
"Oh, I’m gonna enjoy this."
The area outside the Bullyard tavern seemed a particular exemption from both light and scrutiny. There the soldier noted fewer torches and deeper shadows, and found himself wondering if such a design had been intentional.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he stepped inside.
Like before, a menagerie of sights and sounds and smells assaulted him all at once. It was a nauseating concoction of shouting, laughter and spilled drinks that all culminated into the usual brouhaha that one expected when setting foot inside a place as seedy and spectacular as this. All manner of races were seated and standing amidst the denizens of the intoxicated joint, from towering Myrians to squat Isurians, and even a handful of multi-armed Ephyarians were lounging near the back. Just as last time, all eyes flickered to him when he entered, but the vast majority turned away almost immediately. But a few more...
"What're you having?"
A slender, almost delicate woman was working the bar that night, her thin hands a blur as she mixed and served a half a dozen orders at once. Elias took a seat at the end of the counter that separated them, isolated and alone.
"I’ll have a-”
"Well slap my ass and call me the Voice, I don’t petching believe it!"
Customer and waitress alike turned as one to see a smirking Braga duck under the doorway -even though it was nearly seven feet tall- and saunter up to the bar alongside them. His eyes were flashing with a savage joy of recognition. Elias on the other hand kept his seat and wished he’d been faster on that order.
"You’re still alive, Nykan?"
"Business is good, soldier boy” The gladiator smirked “and Dira, that nasty cunt, has never wanted anything to do with me so far. I figure she knows well and good if she ever shows her face around the Animal, she’ll get herself a proper petching for her troubles." Braga cocked an eyebrow and his eyes shone with something other than memory, the dancing amusement of knowing. "I hear you’re not doing so bad yourself, pip squeak."
Elias's grin widened on its own and the waitress's eyes shriveled into something between exasperation and apathy at the sight of them both grinning like morons.
"Life is good, though not for lack of trying."
"I'm sure… Gotta admit, surprised you actually came back after what I did to you last time."
"I’m ready for round two."
"Ready to take your-"
"-lumps?" Elias said, remembering the big man's turn of phrase the first night they met. "I’m ready for you to try."
A laugh like a jovial thunderstorm echoed around the bar as Braga cracked knuckles the size of small apples. There was no warning for what came next, just a buzzing in the air like bees set to frenzy. It was a familiar feeling, a terrifying and exilerating feeling, the kind some men dreaded and others embraced like a lover. Something stirred and growled within the Ravokian as time seemed to slow around them. The air was thick with stale mead and all he could hear was the sound of Braga’s knuckles popping one by one. The power erupted from his guts just as the giant swung his meaty fist at the swordsman’s head, the force and fury behind the blow more than enough to knock him through the bar and damn near through the wall behind it, but it was not to be. That power that had begun to whir to life would not allow it. The flux burst into action, flooding his bones and muscles like a river bursting the damn. Elias’s hand lashed outward, and what should have ended into unconsciousness or worse was instead met by gasps from across the bar as all eyes turned to see what had just transpired.
Twitching, straining, both men stared at each other with beaming glares of defiance and mirth as Braga’s fist trembled within the vice Elias’s hand had created around it, stopping the surprise punch mere inches from his face.
The giant’s stirred shone with sickening elation.
"Oh, I’m gonna enjoy this."
WC - 829
