[Syliras Location] The Golden Dragon

[Lucas Arias]

The atmosphere in the club was rather pleasant. Lucas had thought it would be a lot different, that he’d see a few naked people, but apparently there were differences between a gentleman’s club and a brothel. The former seemed to have more class. Still, he couldn’t help but look at the patrons a little, wondering if he would recognize anybody. Did the knights ever come here? He’d be really amused if Loren Dyres or Petri Alvikal were among the Golden Dragon’s patrons and spent their evenings with one of the ladies here! As Tyras approached him, the squire furrowed his brow a little. As the man adressed him, Lucas looked just as irritated as the owner of the Golden Dragon, although it was for a different reason. „I’m not a boy“, he corrected him and raised his head to make himself look a litle taller. It didn’t help a lot though. Even if he stood on his tiptoes and wore shoes with heels Lucas would always be on the short side. „I’m nearly eighteen and a man. And I’d be surprised if my parents were in your establishment. They usually spend their time together! Although I always had the impression that my father was secretly wondering what the Golden Dragon’s like ...“ While Tyras‘ voice would have made a woman’s heart melt, Lucas was no woman and not gay either, and thus it only served to irritate him further. „I’m one of your customers, Sir“, he informed him in a matter of fact tone. „I’ve come here to enjoy a glass of fine wine and the company of one of your women. Maybe you could introduce me to one of them?“

[Archon]

At Lucas' explanation Tyras' demeanor shifted, and he gave an apologetic bow of his head, "Then forgive me, young sir, for the mistake," as he brought his head back up he smiled pleasantly at Lucas, "You certainly have a young appearance to you." Still with the pleasant smile Tyras moved next to Lucas and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder, "I would certainly be happy to introduce to one of our fine ladies. Tell me, young sir, what strikes your fancy? Are you looking for someone exotic and mysterious? Maybe soft spoken and demure? There are many wonderful ladies here at the Golden dragon, and we certainly aim to please." As Tyras spoke he guided Lucas to one of the nearby small tables, and then gestured for Lucas to take a seat, "Just let me know what you'd like, and I'll have them bring over some lovely wine for you to share as you get to know each other."

[Lucas Arias]

„You are forgiven“, Lucas replied generously since the man had as good as acknowledged him as an adult. He even smiled a little, a sign that he wasn’t mad anymore. „I get such comments a lot. I mean, I could probably grow a beard, but I’d still have soft features, and I’d still be a little on the short side, so it probably wouldn’t help much.“ He shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t really want to think about that unpleasant fact too much. It frustrated him to no end that he would never be a muscular, manly knight and that even some girls were taller than him. „Exotic and mysterious sounds good“, he remarked and pictured a beautiful six armed Eypharian and a Chaktawe with copper skin and completely black eyes that wore comparatively little in the way of clothes. „I’m not really interested in soft spoken and demure. It would remind me too much of a colleague of mine.“ With that he meant Jaelyn who he had gotten to know a little while ago. While his fellow squire was without a doubt a very pretty girl, she was much too naive and nice for his taste. Nice was boring. „And I would appreciate it if the lady in question were not too tall. It would make me feel a little strange if she were a foot taller than me.“ With that he followed Tyras to one of the tables and took a seat. Again the squire tried to act as if he knew exactly what he was doing, but the look on his face betrayed him, a little at least. He was obviously excited. „I like red wine best“, he informed the man.

[Archon]

"I know just the woman for you," Tyras replied with a smile and a bow, and then he quickly vanished from view as he turned and made his way into the practical maze of privacy walls surrounding tables. Lucas was left alone at the table for a few chimes, and during that time he was treated to a few interesting things for his young senses to enjoy. First were the sounds, mostly the low conversation one would expect in a tavern, but there was the occasional voice, usually female, that was raised in some form of delighted and exciting noise most likely unfamiliar to the young Squire. The smell of the place was also very similar to that of a typical tavern, but with a bit of extra tang to the air from the remnants of various people burning and inhaling Dreamsmoke. The most interesting treat was definitely for his sight though. After waiting for about a chime at his table a couple came stumbling within his view. While most of the women Lucas had seen so far had worn hardly any clothes the woman of this pair was practically nude, her companions eager hands seeming to have already dislodged the flimsy bit of fabric covering her breasts in their eagerness. The girl gave a delighted giggle at the man's attentions, and then met Lucas' gaze. Tossing him a flirty wink she guided the man away from the table after a few moments of display in front of the Squire. "Greetings to you," came an accented woman's voice along with an olive skinned hand, from behind the privacy wall, offering Lucas a glass of red wine, "Welcome to the Golden Dragon." The owner of the hand holding the drink stepped around the wall, and revealed herself to be an Eypharian with four arms. Her lightly gilded skin was covered in little more than a V shaped piece of dark blue cloth that covered barely more than the essentials, and was held against her body by a golden colored sash around her waist. Her neck was adorned with a glittering gold collar that seemed designed to draw focus towards the curves of where her neck met her shoulders, and like all other workers she wore a golden bracelet upon her wrist. Her face was smooth and pleasantly rounded, and dark red hair, that fell to her waist, framed a pair of emerald green eyes. Possibly most pleasing of all was the fact that she was noticably shorter than Lucas, possibly even half a foot shorter than he, but the curves and softness of her body was definitely that of a woman. "I am Tahera," she smiled warmly at Lucas as she placed a bottle of wine and second glass on the table with her other hands, while still offering him his glass, "Might I know your name, handsome one?"

[Lucas Arias]

As Tyras told him that he knew just the woman for him, Lucas smiled. While the man was busy looking for the woman in question, the squire watched and listened to what was happening around him. At first the Golden Dragon really did resemble a normal tavern complete with all the things that people normally did in taverns, but there were those sounds that made the squire’s eyes widen. Lucas often claimed to be incredibly experienced as far as women were concerned, but the truth was, he knew as much about them as he knew about Jamoura or Zith or other exotic creatures. Most of the sounds he heard were new to him. As the couple came into view, the boy blushed – but he didn’t look away! On the contrary, he stared at the woman. He could count the naked – or almost naked – women he had seen so far on one hand and found certain parts of her anatomy very fascinating. As she met his gaze, his blush deeped, but then he smiled and winked at her as well. His gaze followed her until he heard the voice from behind the privacy wall. He instantly turned around. His eyes lit up, and his mouth probably hung open for a few seconds! An Eypharian! An Eypharian that was even shorter than him! As far as Lucas was concerned, Eypharians were the most attractive people in the entire world, and if he ever got married, his wife would be an Eypharian with as many arms as possible! He accept the drink, secretly wondering what it would be like if those four arms were touching him. And then he forced himself to stop thinking those slightly naughty thoughts and sat up a little straighter. He didn’t want her to have a bad impression of him and think he was a stupid, inexperienced boy (even though that was exactly what he was). „Thank you“, he said and took a sip from his wine before he focused his gaze on her again. He succeeded in bring his features halfway under control. „I’m pleased to meet you, Tahera. My name is Lucas. Why don’t you sit down and pour yourself a glass as well?“ He gestured towards the chair next to him. He didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to talk about to her – most of the questions that were on his mind were terribly embarrassing - so he just settled for something very simple. „Where do you come from, Tahera?“ he wanted to know. „Are you from Ahnatep?“

[Archon]

Lucas' reaction to her appearance brought a hint of amusement to Tahera's smile, but she made no noise or other hint that she had noticed him go slack jawed for a moment. She simply stood there and smiled at him as he sipped the wine, and then bowed her head as he introduced himself and invited her to join him. "I'm happy to meet you Lucas, and thank you for the invitation," Tahera's tone was soft and smooth, but her words held the rough accent of someone not raised speaking common. As Tahera moved to accept Lucas' invitation to sit her bottom arms reached down and shifted the chair closer to Lucas' own, enough so that when she had seated herself her knees bumped lightly against his, and her upper arms busied themselves with pouring her own glass of wine. She took a small sip of her glass as Lucas asked his question, and as she replied she held the glass lightly aloft, "You're very knowledgeable Lucas," she smiled brightly at him, her upper left hand moving over to lightly stroke his shoulder, "I am indeed from Ahnatep, or at least that is where I was born. I was not long there before I left, and eventually made my way to Syliras. I like it much better here," she gave a little laugh as her fingers trailed up Lucas' shoulder to brush against his cheek, "There is no sand to get everywhere, and no terrible Dhani to fear." Even as Tahera's upper left arm softly stroked Lucas' cheek her lower left one glided over and brushed against the side of his thigh, a testing touch to see his reaction, and she leaned a little closer to Lucas, "What of yourself, Lucas? Have you always resided in Syliras, or were you born somewhere else as well?"

[Lucas Arias]

„I like your accent“, Lucas whispered to her after listening to her for a while longer. Her voice was soft and smooth and pleasant, but there was still that little exotic touch, the fact that she prounced certain words a bit strangely that betrayed that she was not a native speaker of Common. He found that fascinating. Lucas had always had a weakness for foreign women. He took another sip from his glass (he didn’t want to drink too fast – without a doubt she wouldn’t appreciate a drunkard), and then he noticed that she had moved her chair closer to his. As her knees bumped against his, his eyes widened slightly. As she called him knowledgeable, he smiled, a somewhat embarrassed smile, as if he secretly agreed with her, but thought it would be wrong to say it out loud. „What was it like in Ahnatep?“ he wanted to know. He noticed that she was stroking his shoulder. Was he just imagining things, or was her touch unusually intense? „I’m glad that you like it in Syliras“, he remarked. „It’s a bit boring sometimes, but it’s still a nice and safe city, everything considered. It must suck if you constantly have to worry about those snake people.“ He looked somewhat embarrassed as he realized that „suck“ was probably not a word that a young gentleman like he pretended to be would use – and then he felt her fingers brush against his cheek.. „Oh my ...“ he whispered as he noticed that her other hand – her other left hand – Eypharians were really quite fascinating creatures – had moved a bit lower and was now brushing against his tigh. He gulped. He felt a little hot all of a sudden, and he couldn’t help but smile even more. He liked that! And then he decided to be bold and reached out to her. His hand brushed against her cheek, and then it slowly moved downwards. As she asked her question however, he withdrew his hand again. For a moment he considered telling her a story about how he had been born on the other side of the world and his family had been forced to flee from a great evil, but then he decided to go with the truth for a change. „As far as I know I’ve been born in Syliras“, he admitted. „Some people say I look like an Inarta, but that’s probably just coincidence. Could you imagine me on an eagle, Tahera?“ He laughed.

[Archon]

A pleasant trill of laughter and a pleased smile showed that his whispered compliment regarding her accent was well received, and, apparently as a reward, Tahera leaned a bit forward. This caused the small strips of on her torso to fall away slightly, revealing to Lucas a better view of the soft mounds of flesh that had been hidden before. "Ahnatep is a beautiful but dangerous place. Elegant gardens and floating palaces in the desert, but they are only for the elite or their toys. If you don't have power there there is little you can do for a good life, other than offer yourself to someone who has power," she gave a small shudder and leaned lightly against Lucas' shoulder, "Syliras is much nicer, even if it is boring." Lucas' light touch was met with a bit of pressure as Tahera leaned into the touch and closed her eyes. As his fingers moved downwards a soft moan slipped from between her lips as she leaned her head to the side to better expose her neck to his exploring fingers. His withdrawal was met by a sigh, but when Tahera opened her emerald eyes she smiled warmly at Lucas, "Oh, I bet you would look handsome mounted upon any creature," she replied smoothly to his question, "Especially upon a horse. You have strong hands, are you a Knight, Lucas?" her eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement at the thought of being with a Knight.

[Lucas Arias]

As Tahera leaned forward, Lucas leaned forward as well and lowered his gaze somewhat so that he could take a better look at her – or rather, certain parts of her that were really quite lovely. „Floating palaces?“ he asked. He straightened himself again and pulled his gaze away from her chest with a hint of regret (and another blush). „Do you mean that they float in the air?“ His eyes were wide with fascination. Her description of her home was enough to distract him for a moment. „There are no floating palaces in Syliras. The whole city is one big fortress, and it’s stuck on the ground. I’d love to see Ahnatep one day, even if it’s dangerous. It sounds wonderful! Do you think your people would accept me?“ „Yes, I probably would“, Lucas agreed after some thought as Tahera remarked that he would look handsome mounted upon any creature. Humility had just never been his forte (even though it wasn’t his worst character flaw). „I am indeed a knight, Tahera“, he then replied proudly. „As good as at least. My quest is just around the corner.“ „Do you want me to tell you a bit about what I do?“ he asked and leaned closer to her so that he was touching her again.

[Archon]

A brief look of disappointment, possibly irritation, flitted over Tahera's face as Lucas' attention was drawn away from her over the thought of floating palaces, but it quickly vanished beneath a warm smile, "Yes, they drift through the air as if they weigh nothing, but they are grand constructs of stone and metal," Lucas' next question caused her to give a soft laugh, and her upper left hand ounce again gently stroked his cheek, "The people there generally do not like outsiders, treating them as slaves or pests, but perhaps with your charms you could find some respect and safety there." Lucas' admission that he was only a Squire dimmed Tahera's excitement only slightly, and she moved to match Lucas' lean, dropping her hand down from his cheek so they could rest shoulder to shoulder, "I would love to hear about what you do," she replied warmly as she tilted her head to rest her soft cheek against his shoulder, and her lower left hand began to softly and slowly wander around the top of his thigh, "I bet you have many interesting stories."