[Rearing Stallion] Returning to Normality (Bolivar, Open)

[Marcus Braeden]

6th of Spring, 511 AD,

It had been three days since he had managed limp his way back into the city. It had been four days since he had escaped his captors camping out in the Wildlands. And it had been an entire season since he was captured by them. Over all this time, Marcus had not had a drink, which is the reason that he found himself wandering into The Rearing Stallion. Well, on second thought, ale wasn't the only thing that caused him to wind up there. He was hoping to see some familiar faces, someone to help him readjust to life in Syliras and inform him of anything he may have missed, which he assumed, was quite a bit. A cool breeze followed him in through the door. Marcus' eyes quickly adjusted to the dim lighting inside. After peering around the room a sighted an empty table. It was further from the fireplace than he would have liked but he decided to snag it while it was empty. He sat down on the wooden stool and gazed about the room, desperately searching for a familiar face. He recognized no one in the room, not even the barmaid. Well maybe someone I know will come in later he thought to himself. He looked toward the barmaid and waited till she acknowledged him, and once she did he waved her over to his table, ordering some ale. She acted quickly and immediately brought Marcus his ale. Marcus reached into his pocket and slipped some coins into her hand as a smile stretched across her face. Once she had all the coins she ran off clenching the money. Marcus took one sip of ale and leaned back in his seat, looking into the fire a few tables away.

He began to ponder about what would become of the men who had taken him. He also thought about his fellow captives. He knew he wasn't the only one who was taken by them, although he was blindfolded for most of the time, he was not deaf. He had heard too many other voices screaming for help to conclude that he was the only captive, although he was the only one who escaped. Marcus couldn't help but want revenge on the people who most likely cost him his dream of joining the Syliran Knights. But it wasn't only vengeance, his dreamer side of him couldn't help but think the whole situation was an opportunity for adventure. Marcus snapped out of the trance that the fire's dancing flames had put him in, and took another drink of ale.

[Dimitri]

Dimitri had arrived at The Rearing Stallion at around the twelvth bell of the day. His patron told him he would be extra busy. He entered and saw the mild lunch crowd and went back into the kitchen to find Remi with a smile on her face. "We are making bear casserole today," she said. "We have alot of work to do, we need to make the sauce and get it simmering, cook the meat, make the noodles, then throw it all together. You ready for this?"

"First we will start the sauce. Now to do this we need to purée some tomatoes."She handed him a medium sized bowl, some metal box thing with a bunch of sharp edges and holes, a knife, and a large bowl of tomatoes. "Ok cut the tops off the tomatoes, then take the box grater," gesturing the metal device, "And place it over the empty bowl. Then place the tomato, cut side down on the top of the grater, and slowly squeeze and rub it in a back and forth motion. Do not grate the skin of the tomato. Dump what comes out of the grater into the bowl." Dimitri picked up the knife, and slowly began slicing the tops off of the tomatoes. His cuts were often jagged or too big, wasting tomato, but he managed to get through it without much incident. He then picked up the first tomato, placed it cut side down on the grater, and proceeded to squeeze the contents out everywhere. "Throw it away and do again, less squeezing," Remi chimed in. He grabbed another tomato and lightly squeezed it, and rubbed it along the grater. The juices dripped into the bowl and the meat fell into the inside of the grater. He noticed the skin easily slipped back so it wouldn't grate. He finished, threw away the skin, and dumped the grater into the bowl. He then repeated it with the rest of the tomatoes.

Remi set the bowl aside, "Now we must make tomato sauce." She put out a pot, another bowl of tomatoes, an empty bowl, and some sort of metal bowl with holes in it inside of the empty bowl. She then gestured to a pot of boiling water. "Take your knife, and make a single shallow cut in each tomato, only breaking the skin then place in the pot, when the skin shrivels and starts to peel away, drop it into that bowl of ice water behind you. Then remove the peels, cut out the core of the tomato, and remove the seeds, all over the colander," gesturing the bowl filled with holes, "To collect the juices, then add the juices and tomato meat into that empty sauce pot, and I'll help you cook it down to a sauce." Dimitri slowly took each tomato and made slight cuts in them. If the cut was too deep, Remi had him throw it out. When he finished each one, he put it in the boiling water. As each skin shriveled, he dunked them in the ice water. Then took them out, pulled the skins off with his fingers, then used the knife to cut out the tough cores and scrap out as many seeds as possible. He finished doing that and poured all of the tomato meat and juice into the pot. As it heated up it began to thicken as he mixed it all together. When it reached the right consistency, Remi had him remove it from heat.

"Ok I cooked up the tomato paste before you arrived so now it is time to put it all together." She put three whole skinned tomatoes, a bowl of crushed tomatoes, and his tomato purée into his tomato sauce pot. She had him finely chop up three cloves of garlic and add it in. She had him slice two onions in half and throw them into the pot. She then had him put three spoonfuls of herbs she called basil, thyme, rosemary, and oregano, and three spoonfuls of sugar. She then added some red wine, some mint leaves, pepper, and grated cheese. She had Dimitri stir it all together and put it on a simmer. "We will let that simmer for six bells. Go out and bus tables and take care of customers and come back here in five bells."

He returned to the kitchen on time, "Now we will be making the flat noodles." She had a bowl of flour, a small bowl of salt, a bowl of warm water, a smooth wooden board with flour on it, a wooden spoon, a knife, and a pot of boiling water. "Pour the salt into flour and mix it up, then add warm water, mix it up with the spoon, then finish mixing with your hands." Dimitri poured the salt into the flour, and mixed it up with his hands. He then poured the warm water in, forming a sticky substance. He mixed it up with the spoon. When it got to thick he began mixing it with his hands until no flower or salt was seen. "Now place the dough on the floured board, and knead it for ten chimes." She showed him the motion for kneading, "Then split it into two balls, cover with cloth, then let stand for fifteen chimes." He bega kneading the dough, noticing how it worked the muscles in his forearms in a way that felt like some muscles that didn't typically get worked, were actually doing something. When he was done and let it stand, "Divide the balls into four smaller balls each. Roll out the balls until this thick." She held her fingers barely apart, "Then cut the dough into
rectangles three inches by six inches. Then place the dough into the pot and boil for about five chimes. Then drain and we are done with those." As he finished draining the water he began to wonder how much longer this meal would take to make.

Remi then grabbed a bunch of wrapped packages from the icebox. "One of these is half bear, half hog meat sausage, another is peppered ground bear meat sausage, and the third is bear burger." She unwrapped the two sausages and put them in a large pan on the range. "Fry these until they are completely brown. Try not to burn them." She then added some chopped onion and crushed garlic. While he was browning it she fried up the burger. When they finished she combined the two pans together, and removed from heat. She handed Dimitri a bowl of crumbled cheese and had him add parsely and a bunch of eggs. He then blended it hard, his arm surprisingly burning at the unusual motion. She then poured the simmering sauce into the bottoms of three glass baking pans. She then laid the flat noodles ontop of the sauce, followed by the meat, then the egg cheese mix. She then sprinkled a shredded cheese on it. She repeated the process layer by layer and topped them all off with sauce. She then covered them with incredibly thin metal, almost paper like sheets and put them in the oven. "Go out into the bar area and tell everyone the house special is bear casserole, and take orders and tell them it will be ready in an hour." He headed out, taking orders, starting with a man staring into the fireplace, "Ser, we are serving Bear Casserole tonight, would you like some?"

[Marcus Braeden]

Fire had a strange effect on Marcus. It hypnotized him, it made him think about his life. Maybe it was the years of working as a smith and always having to have a fire nearby. He found comfort in watching the flames dance before his eyes, as if they were telling him a story. He would always gaze with some sort of fascination as if he had just had some sort of epic realization. When he worked the fire would induce a strange trance-like state. But rather than being completely out of it, he would become more efficient in his work. It was as if he no longer needed to think about what he was doing but instead, everything came naturally, as if the work was doing itself. Therefore it was quite common to find Marcus sitting in front of a fire observing the various shapes of the flames. And once again Marcus was found watching the fire, thinking about the past, present and future.

This time however, he found himself ripped from his dreamworld and thrown back into reality when he heard the voice of a man behind him. Marcus jumped slightly, startled that anyone had bothered to talk to him. Marcus turned around quickly looked up at the man, quickly acknowledging his height and a rough estimate for his age. He was definitely tall for his age, which Marcus guessed was his late teens. Unfortunately for Marcus he was simply there to take his order for food if he wanted any, not to tell stories or engage in a friendly conversation like Marcus had hoped. In fact he was most likely a young lad who worked at the stallion to gain a few extra mizas. Marcus decided he could eat, after all, it had been a while since he had had a hearty meal.

"Hmmmm, bear casserole eh? Sure why not, i'll have a plate" Marcus said, "After all, it's been a good season since I've had a decent meal." As he said this, he put his arms upon the table, revealing a few scars, hoping to incite the lad's curiosity.

[Dimitri]

Dimitri took the order and noted that the man severely wanted someone to talk to. Dimitri gestured to the bartender using the Syliran Knight hand signals, since he was a former Knight. He told him the man wanted a food order, and that he was desperate for company. The bartender chuckled, and nodded. Dimitri turned toward the man and noticed he had his arms out conspicuously, showing off his many scars. Dimitri gave himself an inward sigh and took the obvious bait. "Wow, how did you get those scars Ser? Must have hurt something fierce."

Dimitri made sure he said all this with a prim and proper smile. He wasn't huge on conversation but considered it training just like anything else. He looked around the room and saw that the other servers had it under control. Dimitri didn't let on that he was a squire, nor combat familiar. Hopefully this man's story was better than his attempt to receive attention.

[Marcus Braeden]

Marcus watched as he used hand signals to tell the bartender something. He had seen the signals before, but there was no way he could remember where. He had been away from civilization for an entire season. Marcus smiled since his ploy had worked, but it quickly disappeared, considering he was about to tell a fairly traumatic story, at least for him.

"Alright have a seat, but i recommend you have a drink before i begin" Marcus said as waved over the barmaid that had been so eager to take his money earlier. Marcus ordered him a drink, beginning his story when the drink arrived.

"Well, the reason for these wounds, is because I'm a fool, a damn fool! You see, towards the start of winter, I decided to venture into the Wildlands, unarmed. Well, I payed dearly for that mistake, you see, I was taken, taken by bandits, or something like that. I was blindfolded a good amount of the time so i didn't really know what was going on. Anyway whoever took me gave me these scars. I was beaten...a lot. I don't remember too much over the course of what happened, only bits and pieces. Anyway four days ago I managed to slip away, leaving behind many other captives. I managed to find my way back to Syliras, but not without a little bit of struggle. On the way back I was attacked again, but I managed to slip away once more. So here I am, trying to readjust to normal."

Marcus deliberately left out the part about becoming a Knight. The dream was dead and there was no use for in brining it up again. He needed to let it go. He looked down, looking at the scars on his arms, and then suddenly, he made a decision.

Marcus glanced back toward the fire and muttered to himself "Oh but it is not over yet."

[Larcen]

The well-weathered doors to the establishment creaked open slowly, leaving the entryway open as a handsome-looking tabby cat stalked inside, feline eyes unblinking as he scanned the place with a passive bestial curiosity. Apparently satisfied after a cursory inspection, the cat padded away from the door and sat down by the side, pawing at it's left ear casually, drawing inquisitive stares from nearby customers. He appeared to be waiting for someone.

Not a minute later, just as the held-open doors were about to be closed by a helpful patron, a lithe male figure dressed in all black skulked through the doorway casually, making the potential door-closer step away, taken aback by this shadowy soul's sudden appearance. On this day, Larcen was dressed in his usual outfit of full-body black leather armor specially made to blend into the night, paired with a matching black hood and cloak which covered up the armor and made it look as if he was simply a very gloomy traveler with a penchant for black.

Shortly after his entrance, Larcen paused and squatted, reaching out to scratch the furry little head of his feline companion before straightening up again and skulking towards one of the tables, his cat in close pursuit. As he reached an empty table and sat down, the cat jumped up onto the table and settled down beside the empty mug. His eerie green eyes hooded, Larcen gestured at a serving-lass to bring him a drink of ale, then settled back into the chair. Near his perch of the day was a pair of men who appeared to be trading tales. He said nothing, and merely listened.

[Rovan Dermane]

Rovan entered the tavern quietly. He shuddered against the cold, rubbing his hands as he headed almost directly for the hearth of the inn. He felt the prickle of numbness leave his ears and hands, exchanged for the slight pain of sudden warmth. After a long day, Rovan felt it was due time to rest and relax. The scholar grapped a stool and seated himself close to the fireplace, noticing two other men sitting and talking by it. They were both well-honed men of a physical character. They were likely sharing warrior stories, Rovan thought. As he sat there and listened slightly to their talk, he spotted a man dressed completely in black leather at a nearby table. A cat seemed to follow in his tracks, jumping up on the table to settle by the hooded figure. Rovan cringed his nose. He was sure that cat was a full flea-sack. Aslong as it did not near him though, he was not alarmed.

[Marcus Braeden]

Marcus had taken notice of the men who had sat down near him. He figured they could be listening in, after all, it was quite an interesting tale. Marcus sipped heavily from his mug of ale upon finishing his story, keeping his eyes focused on the door, in case anyone he knew happened to wander into the inn. However he also found himself once again glancing toward the fire. Marcus also took a glance at the men who had sat around him and listened to his tale. One of them gazed at the other who had brought a cat with him into the inn. Marcus had no problem with this. However the way the man looked at the other man and his cat, Marcus could feel some tension in the air. Marcus took another sip of his ale and glanced back towards the entrance. Nope, no one he recognized had come in.

Without even noticing, Marcus' eyes had once again fallen on the fire. And once again, he began to think.

[Dimitri]

Dimitri listened to the man's story, feigning concern and interest. He sounds just like every other drunk that got into a fight. Dimitri saw the newcomers who chose not to speak but rather simply inject themselves into the area and listen. Dimitri was fed up with constantly listening to drunks. He decided this was all a waste of his time. He stood up, thanked the man for his story, and left. He walked quickly and arrived at the Squire's dorms, thankful to be out of that situation.

[Leviathan]

Thread Award! Marcus   Skills Skill Gain Info. Meditation 1 -- Storytelling 1 --   Lore N/A Dimitri   Skills Skill Gain Info. Cooking 3 --   Lore N/A