Open [Rearing Stallion] To drink, or not to drink.

[Acinonyx]

The offer from the young woman somewhat took Aci by surprise. Such a generous offer to someone she didn't even know, he just stood there, staring at her in amazement. Drunken amazement of course. But still amazement. "Wow, thanks! But I don't think I will. I think I'm approaching my limit with drinks now," Aci managed to say. "And I've only had had two, how bad am I!" His face twisted into a sustained laughter, then gradually quietened down to just a chortle. He placed his hand on the girl's shoulder and sighed. Doing so, his body naturally turned to the table he was once sat and saw that there were new people! Oooh! New people to talk to! How exciting! EXCITING! That word exciting rung out through his head multiple times as he practically skipped to the table. Realising how extremely rude it was though to leave a woman at the counter by herself though, Aci quickly retreated in a backwards skipping motion and held out his hand. Notably, this is something Aci would never do if he was sober. Hand holding, he was told by his parents, was a sign of intimacy. He had no intention of intimacy tonight, but in his clouded mind of judgment, this seemed totally appropriate and he meant it as a sign of good will. "Come with me, stranger, let us meet the new guys! Oh, what's your name? I'm Acinonyx! Or Aci!" Have I already said that before tonight? Was it to her? Did I repeat myself? Curses if I did... There was such a diverse mix of people at the table, there weren't even any chairs left, so he would settle for a standing spot in between the two men who were originally sitting there from the beginning. Normally, he would take the time to analyse each character, instinctively and seemingly effortlessly. However, he didn't care tonight. He would just walk over. As soon as the young, pretty woman took his hand. Or not. He didn't care either way, as long as he got to socialise with everyone! Spotting the couple who were fighting to his side, he then added, Perhaps not eeeeveryone. Just these guys then. Yeah, that'll be my goal for tonight. What a night this is going to be!

[Jubilation]

Did I do something wrong? Jubilee thought as the man stared at her. She was about to apologize when he spoke up again, rejecting her offer. Jubilee simply shrugged and set the mug back down of the counter next to her as the man laughed at what he had said. Though she didn't find what he said funny, Jubilee found herself laughing a bit at the man's sudden outburst of laughter.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, the man looked towards a table filled with people. Jubilee looked over at them too as the man in front of her suddenly walked away. At least, he skipped away. She laughed a bit at that, and noticed he was coming back, except backwards. He's a little strange, Jubilee thought as the man held out his hand to her. She wasn't sure at first, but decided why not, and shrugged.

"I'm Jubilation. You can call me Jubilee." Jubilee smiled as she took the man named Aci's hand.

[Naiomi]

Not receiving the man’s permission to touch his head, Naiomi withdrew her hand, somewhat sadly. She understood being polite and had good manners, when she wanted to. Still, she brightened at the young woman’s question about her race, especially when she realized the woman was a Konti. Naiomi had always thought herself and the rest of Kelvics to be rather dull. “There’s nothing different really. When I change into my Kelvic form, I’m still me; I’m still human. And I’m still a hound when I change back. I guess being a hound has its advantages, mostly the smells. I love the smells. I can smell practically everything when I’m a hound.” Naiomi was proud of this fact and beamed when she said it. “In fact, when I’m in my human form, I feel a little weak without my nose. But what’s it like being a Konti? I wish I could be as beautiful as you.” One of the men introduced himself as Feonr, and Naiomi realized, somewhat ashamed at her lack of manners, that she had not introduced herself yet. She was glad he was beginning the introductions, because Naiomi felt it was hard to hold a conversation when she didn’t know anyone’s names. “I’m Naiomi,” she quickly added after his introduction. Just as she introduced herself, a young man and woman joined them from the bar, holding each other’s hand. They must have been here earlier, and Naiomi felt bad that they had to stand. Draining the rest of her beer, she stood up quickly and went to the table where she had received her chair earlier. She stood between two of the men, crouched so they were at face level, and threw her arms around their shoulders. The two drunk faces that turned toward her looked surprised to see her again. “Gentlemen, two more of my friends showed up, and I don’t want to leave them standing. Are there two of you who wouldn’t mind giving up their chairs?” “Listen,” one of them slurred in an attempt at some grandiose, drunken oration. “You’ve already stolen from one of my friends. I’m not gonna let you steal from us again, because…” He couldn’t remember where he had meant to go from there, so he nodded his head once to reinforce his point. Naiomi took on a wounded air. “I would never dream of stealing, not from such admirable gentlemen as yourselves. Two drinks for each man who gives up his seat.” She dug into her pockets and held out four silver mizas in each hand. The two men took the money and stood. She kissed them both on the cheek. “Two drinks and kiss.” The man who had given up his seat earlier complained. “I never got a kiss.” Inwardly, Naiomi smiled that the only thing he was complaining about not getting was the kiss. She slid around the table and kissed both of his cheeks. “Two kisses for the first man willing to be a gentlemen tonight.” She left him with a smile, and he beamed a contented one back. She’d have to be careful. There was a fine line between the point where one could use a man and get away with it and the point where he got the wrong idea, but these men seemed good-natured enough. Leaving a gold piece with her first gentlemen, she slid the two chairs up to the table victoriously for her two new friends, hoping she hadn’t missed any introductions.

[Aerion]

Aerion listened as the man who identified himself as Feonr talked, he inclined his head to all five of his new tavern companions when the two at the bar finally decided to join them, so Aerion told all of them, "I am Aerion, I am a Drykas from the Sea of Grass. My white Strider outside is named Teren and he has impressed upon me to tell you that he greets you all warmly." He said the last half suddenly, as Teren didn't want to be left out of the loop. He watched as the young woman who was seemingly unsteady on her feet go over to the table close to them, talk for a few moments, then kiss three gentlemen on the cheek, the third one twice. Aerion once again felt Teren's amusement over their bond and he chuckled softly as she returned with two chairs. Aerion finally decided it was his turn to continue the conversation, and decided now that all of them were gathered around the table, he would ask them, "What do each of you do for employment? I am currently a Weaponsmith at the Ironworks. If some of you do not have jobs yet, what occupation do you desire?" Deciding to trust this strange group, both himself and Teren were feeling quite interested about what each of them do.

[Rose Heckleburg]

Nodding her head rose agreed. "I agree as well. I'm Rose, Rose Heckleburg. Nice to meet you. " she said addressing everyone. They all probably heard of the Heckleburg fire. For it had made headlines almost everywhere. The filthy rich family's house burnt down along with all their untold riches. Only the eldest daughter survived... The headlines flashed in her head. Closing her eyes she smile though her eyes told another story. Hurt, and loss swelled up. Forcing it out go her eyes she leaned back into her chair and put on a fake cheery smile.

Looking around she waited for them to introduce herself. She sat quietly and looked at them trying to identify the races. The girl in her left was a...kelvic? She looked like one. So did the drunk boy and the shy girl. Looking to her right she decided that her acquaintance was either a mixed blood or a Ethaefal. And she couldn't tell because of the hood what her other companion was.

" It must be very interesting. " she replied to Naiomi. " I honestly think it's about the piner beauty. I could be pretty on the outside but that dosent matter if I have a terrible personality. Being a konti is fun. Give me your hand. I want to show you one of the good parts of being konti. " she said with a smile to Naiomi nodding at the other companions.

[Naiomi]

Something seemed off when Rose introduced herself. Though the girl put on a beautiful and cheery smile, Naiomi’s canine intuition told her the girl was sad, and that made Naiomi sad. The worst thing was that she didn’t know how to comfort someone in her human form. When she was a dog, she just set her head on people’s laps and drooled, and that seemed to work. Unsure of what to do, Naiomi did nothing. However, Rose soon smiled genuinely, spoke of being a Konti, and asked to see Naiomi's hand. Immediately, Naiomi held out her hand toward Rose. As soon as Aerion asked about everyone’s employment, Naiomi forgot about her sadness and jumped at the opportunity to talk about herself as she was proud of all her accomplishments. “I used to be a prostitute,” Naiomi told them, her face conveying her obvious admiration for her old profession. She reached out and grabbed Aerion’s drink. “May I?” With his permission given by a quick nod, she took a deep gulp and continued. “It was good fun, and it paid pretty decently, especially when the lads left happy. I always had the most wonderful time; all of them were men worth falling in love with. But it got dull after a while.” “What I really want to do is get back to what I was doing in Kenash. That’s where I was born. I was one of the best hounds in all the plantations. My nose wasn’t the best trained, but I was smarter than all the others, one of the advantages of being a human, I guess. I was a tracker, trained for it since I was born practically. No slave could shake me from their trail. There are few times I failed to find them.” Naiomi talked about slavery like it was a game to be played. She still didn’t understand the concept of slavery or of freedom, because for her, neither had really been that different. In both cases, she had been allowed to do what she loved. In Kenash, in slavery, she had got to use her tracking skills even more. “There was one time I tracked someone for three days, and I ran through so many swamps and thickets of brush that my collar got pretty beat up. But in the end, I found her. My friend, the one who trained me, his name was Master. Anyways, he was so proud of me that he bought me a brand new collar, and it was one of the prettiest ones I ever had. Not quite as pretty as this one though.” She tilted her chin up, so everyone could see the collar around her neck that had her name worked into the leather. “That’s what I want to do. I want to track. I don’t much care who I do it for. Bounty hunters or hunters, it doesn’t really matter much to me.” She looked around at the rest of them, trying to judge how impressed they were by her previous jobs and anticipating hopefully that others had led equally exciting lives with even more exciting stories to tell.

[Acinonyx]

"Nice to meet you, Jubilee!" Aci beamed reciprocating the smile from Jubilee. Aci made an effort to walk more steadily towards the table, mindful that skipping again would probably send the little girl flying. She only came up to Aci's shoulders. He had missed the first half of the introductions, though Aci himself didn't know that. He walked in at the time when one of the new girls seductively "borrowed" two chairs from a group of men, using her charms to a fine extent. Kissing and bribing out money, just for seats for us? She must be very kind. Or stupid. Whatever, she's cool, Aci thought as he graciously threw out his free hand to one chair, offering the first seat to Jubilee. Manners cost nothing after all. He then sat down himself, and listened to the conversation. Aerion... Rose... and the seductive one. Yes, that was what Aci now called her. Her and all of the others must have introduced themselves already. To rectify this small gap, Aci quickly introduced himself and Jubilee to the group, hoping to receive mutual responses. Then, he sat quietly, as Rose gave a sullen look emanating from her eyes, clashing with her cheery smile. He was going to ask if something was wrong, but in this large group, perhaps it would be best if such matters were held in conversation more privately. The seductive one then gave a long account about her profession as a... prostitute? What's that? Aci showed a puzzled expression. He had never heard of what a prostitute was, but by her description, that it made all the men happy, he could see it being an honourable profession. He smiled innocently. She then showed off her collar from her past, one which this Master gave her. OH, SHE'S A KELVIC! A bright light just lit in Aci's seemingly exaggerated smile. He then wondered how many others here were Kelvic, it was somewhat rare in Syliras to have Kelvics, so this was truly exciting for him. When the seductive Kelvic (renamed according to the just mentioned fact) finished, she had this look on her face that said, "I hope you loved that..." Aci took it as a sort of challenge to better her story, being the competitive hunter he is. He knew just what to do... Challenge accepted. "Well, you may track," Aci gave with a smirk, tongue in cheek and a playful tone. "But I do more than that. I track, yes, but I also hunt. I was trained by my parents to hunt from as soon as I could run! Now, I regularly go hunting, just to feed myself with the more natural food than what you'd find here, and it's great exercise. One time, there was this pack of wolves." Aci paused as he remembered he was going down the memory lane that revolved around his parents' deaths. No matter, continue, Aci quickly thought in his drunken mind, insensitive right now to his parents recent tragedy. "And they thought they had me, but oh no. I vanished into the thick brushes. And I tracked them, no doubt in the same manner you track. Then lashed out at them one by one. One fell each time I lunged out and they grew panicky each time I hid in the foliage." Whilst talking, Aci was slowly undressing himself. Why? Because reasons. His judgment right now was concentrated on getting one up on the other's stories. So this was how he was going to do it. Blind to the social rules that dictated you must not be naked, he reached the end of his story almost fully nude. He let silence amongst the group fall, before removing the final piece of clothing and immediately after transforming into his cheetah form. This knocked the chair back, but no doubt the swirl of light distracted everyone else from that. Although cheetah Aci was still drunk, he found he had more balance in his animal form. Making a grand pose, he placed his two front legs on the table, closed his eyes and looked up. Yeahhh... That's how to look majestic as the god himself... He then lowered his head, his way of showing he was totally up for any petting. Petting... mmm... Nothing like a good petting.

[Aerion]

When the young woman identified herself as Rose Heckleburg, Aerion remembered hearing some guards talking about a fire, mentioning the name Heckleburg, but he didn't know the exact details. He realized that she must either be related, or be a survivor of that fire. Teren felt sad for the young woman, and Aerion, despite his misgivings at first about his companions, could feel himself starting to loosen up as he felt sorry for her. To lose family at such a young age was a terrible thing, and Aerion himself could relating, thinking to himself and remembering losing his brother. Aerion told himself to forget about it, to move on and not spoil the excitement in the air tonight, with Teren trying to comfort him over their bond. As Aerion looked back up from the table and his thoughts, he heard Naiomi say she used to be a Prostitute. Having never met one himself due to his high moral standing and growing up in a small traveling town, much smaller than Endrykas, that sort of thing was never really allowed, accepted, or seen among the people he met. It just wasn't done! Aerion decided not to judge this girl though, as she seemed as if she just did it for the companionship. Aerion understood how being alone could be though, so as he looked back down at the table, he felt a bit ashamed for jumping to conclusions. Aerion decided to try harder to understand others as he looked back up, hearing her voice directed at him as she asked for his mug, he nodded so that she could take it across to her, not having the desire to drink it in the first place. Several minutes passed as Naiomi finished her story, Aerion couldn't help but feel sorry for the young woman, hearing what to him sounded like torture and it seemed awful to him. He looked up at her and studied her for a few moments, noticing that she did not seem upset by any of what she just said,in fact she looked happy, proud. He decided to stay quiet, so as to not steer this night down a turn that he could avoid. He started to speak to ask the group another question, but he was cut off as the young drunk from earlier started to unclothe himself and seemed as if he was trying to either impress Naiomi, or to even top what she had said. Aerion could hear Teren's neighs and feel the horse's amusement over their bond, Aerion was about to say something, to mention public decency, when the young drunk switched to his Cheetah form. Aerion said, "Oh." As he had already started a word, but it turned into another as he felt amusement and slight embarrassment rise up inside him now, chuckling a bit along with the neighs coming from outside that sounded oddly like laughter as the Cheetah put his paws up on the table. Colored lettersDecided to try a bit of different colored writing, feel free to tell me if it is hard to read.

[Rose Heckleburg]

Rose listened to all the introductions and what peoples jobs were. Nodding her head every now and then she smiled. First Naiomi was a prostitute. Than Aci was a hunter. That meant Aci was also a kelvic. Nosing her head some she smiled. "I work part-time as a masseuse at soothing waters. " she offered. Nothing really exciting about that. She really didn't think of her job as work. Just as a hobby. Shrugging it off she went back to listening to their conversations. She was thinking about where they all came from, did they all come from the city. Or were some visiting. "Where do you guys come from? " she asked politely to start some conversation. Looking around she noticed how people were slowly starting to leave. She looked back at the group curious to where they came from. What would they say. Where any born here? Looking at the tiny circle she shrugged it off. She listened to their small talk for a while.

As the people were leaving the room was getting colder. Putting her cloak on she felt much better and snug. Paying attention to their conversation she kinda zoned out feeling a vision. Quickly snapping out of it she refused. Of she was going to have a vision she was going to have it in the bathroom. Or at home. She shook the vision off but knowing it would come back soon. Knowing no one could see her Gnosis mark, a Seers Lilly, she put her hand on her upper arm feeling the mark. She played with the curves and swirls before putting her hand down. Her gnosis mark was now concealed. She looked at the group waiting for something to happen. What exactly? Good question. She just sat up straighter and listened to their conversation.

Seeing Aci turned into the cheetah form she was amazed. "Wow!" How could one do that!! Deciding that was worth a good petting she gently petted his head. She still couldn't believe that the drunk Aci here a minute ago was now a probably drunk cheetah. Amazed she petted under his chin to. Than after a minute or two she went back to petting his head. In rhythm she petted his head his fur felt great! So soft. Like a cloud. How interesting.

[Naiomi]

Naiomi realized that her interaction with Rose had been cut short by the sudden question about professions. Only when the Konti posed her own question to the group did Naiomi remember that the young woman was going to show Naiomi something involving Naiomi’s hand. The mystical powers of the Konti race were just as fascinating to Naiomi as their beauty, and Naiomi prayed she had not missed her opportunity. Having already shared where she was from, Naiomi was attempting to get Rose to demonstrate one of those mystical abilities while the conversation continued. Her hand was still extended toward the young woman but was resting on the table in a way that could seem natural, so Naiomi flexed it open and closed several times, desperate to get Rose’s attention. Just as she did so, the Konti shifted and put her cloak on, wrapping herself deep in its warmth. Flexing her hand more obviously, Naiomi tried to get Rose’s attention, but as much as Rose seemed to be present in this moment, it seemed as if she was about to be present in another. Naiomi couldn’t explain what she saw, so she chalked it up to being another of the Konti mysteries. Rose placed her hand on her own forearm, tracing some unseen pattern. Not wanting to be rude but still wanting to see what Rose could do, Naiomi held her hand out with her palm up and tapped the table with her knuckles several times.