PM to join Theories and Cocktails

[Issie Asure]

Issie listens intently to the bartender's response as he gives his own to her question, "I'll take something soft, I don't mind what it is". Issie then looks over to the woman he asked about Morwen and gave a small sigh as he said, "Well, the lights aren't like those in Avanthal, and the sounds weren't ever made. I'm not saying it might or might not be Morwen, but more evidence would be needed". He sighed as he began to speculate what could cause that level of change, magic? Yet it didn't feel right, there had to be another answer that was just magic. Yet, it made sense, anything that was strange and unnatural, it was magic. Anything remotely out of the ordinary seemed to have always been some inclining of the idea that magic is afoot, Issie began to sigh "Well there could be a natural occurrence of every few years or something this happens. But there is always the idea that magic is involved".

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

Whilst serving the newcomers, Anibesa kept listening to the girl who had the younger girl with her as she spoke, though her attention was kept on the newcomers.

The seemingly human man seemed mostly pleasant as he asked for a drink, stating that he wanted something soft but didn’t mind what it was, and Anibesa nodded with a warm smile.
”One of the teas would likely be what you’re looking for! I’ll get you something sorted!” she exclaimed, opting to choose a cold tea but not to add anything alcoholic to this one, after all the man had asked for something soft. Once she’d poured the cold tea, one that had a flavour similar to passion fruit, she placed a mug onto the bar in front of the man.

The woman seemed friendly as she asked for a bite to eat and one of the teas, and Anibesa grinned warmly.
”Good choice there! Any preference on tea, and would you like a pitcher or a mug of that? And for food, I’m not too sure what Stu has back in the kitchen, but if you know whether you’d like the snack platter or a more full meal, I can go check the specifics for you?” she offer as she started to prepare to make the tea.
She listened more to the conversation before the shorter man arrived and she turned her attention to him with a light smile, though something about him seemed somewhat familiar.
She made her way over to him and as she was about to welcome him and ask him what his drink of choice would be, he spoke, mentioning how fine a day it was, and beginning to choose a drink.
”Aye the weather here is always good for a brew!” his chuckled amused the redhead, and as he asked for a pitcher of the ale and three mugs, she felt a sense of familiarity, possibly of some similar occurrence in her past, though not one at the forefront of her memory!
”Of course! Good choice there!” she grinned, setting about to grab the glasses first, setting the three on the bar in front of the Isur, placed into a triangle formation from how she’d attempted to carry the three glasses at once. Next she retrieved a clean pitcher and began to fill it with what was marked as the ‘Not Quite Isurian Ale’. It was a drink that Anibesa hadn’t yet tasted, though the smell was certainly pleasant.
Smiling once the pitcher was filled, she placed it on the bar next to the glasses and looked over the man, again.
”That’ll be one gold then. How you enjoying the place? Excluding the weird lights of course!” she asked him with a smile as she tried to listen to the other conversation in the bar, only really managing to here the two young girls be introduced as Ashka and Chaya. That information caught Anibesa’s attention, including the fact that the older of the two girls was a weaver. She knew she’d have to try to speak with her.

Then she heard the other woman speak, introducing herself as Ixtli, an unusual name by Anibesa’s standards, though she continued to listen, finding out what the woman was doing in Syka and where she’d came from.

From what she heard whilst listening, it seemed that almost nobody really knew what was going on, though the mention of magic made sense in her head, as had the idea of the lights being similar to the ones in Avanthal, until the human looking man mentioned that the lights weren’t similar, and that no rumblings occurred in Avanthal.

”Whatever is causing that rumbling is loud, and it has to come from something. Tomorrow I’m going to try and find my way through the jungle, see if I can find a source.” she announced, standing up confidently as she looked over the small crowd that had now gathered in the bar. ”If anyone else is curious, or just wants to go into the jungle, you’d be welcome to join me? We would come up with a plan while still here and then leave off tomorrow.” she extended the offer, looking over each of them.

Word CountAnibesa’s total for this thread
2164

[Aladon]

The red head bartender seemed to like the choice of brew that he choose. Aladon pulled out four gold and placed it on the counter. He smiled at her and said, “If someone puts Isur in the title of drink, I always have to test it out of principle.”

Sitting down at the bar as he waited for his pitcher of ale, Aladon was approached by a human teenager and a little girl in tow. The Isur looked at her with a smile. For a fleeting moment, he wondered if the little girl was the teenagers child, but the little girl seemed to old for that to work. The teenager introduced herself as Ashka and the little girl was her sister Chaya. Ashka introduced herself as the settlements weaver. She asked if he had been here long, and the Isur shook his head and said with a smile, “No, I only been in Syka for sixteen days, so I am pretty new to the jungle and leaving in a tent, but once the forge is built, it will feel more like home.” The Isur shook his head and apologized, “Sorry I am being rude, young lady. My name Aladon Blackforge Sultros. In Riverfall, people call me Al. I am the new blacksmith in town, and it a pleasure and honor to meet another tradesmen like myself, Ashka...”

When Ashka asked him about his theory on the lights and noises, Aladon rubbed his chin for a moment, bit his lip, and he thought about it. Honestly, he no clue the reason. He just thought the fire in the sky was pretty, but the noises were kind of unnerving and unnatural. It was hard to sleep if they started to up in the early evening. Often he wondered if they came from the ruins that Syka was in the shadow off, but he wouldn't know. He wasn't a wizard. Aladon decided to give the weaver his best answer, “Honestly, I wouldn't know, but if I had to make a guess, I believe the noises came from the ruins in the Maw. Maybe some crazy wizard activated some ancient relic in the ruins, and the lights and noises could be energy coming emanating from it.”

Aladon shook his head and said simply, “That is just a opinion of simple man who knows nothing of the arcane or supernatural world, so I would take my theory as a grain of salt.”

When a different women next to him started to speak to the red head bartender, Aladon listened to her and studied her appearance. First she had a mohawk something that he didn't see very often in the lands to the east, but she had numerous tattoos on her body, and she was dressed in minimal clothing. Regardless, she looked intimating to the blacksmith, and she seemed unconcerned out him, so he wasn't going to engage him unless she did first. However, he did listen to her. The savage looking woman was right the gods did walk among us, but why would Morwen venture this far south? He must of spent all his time under a rock at the beginning of the year because he only noticed that the weather was much warmer and drier than usual, but he was on the southern part of the continent, so he thought might have been strange, but warm weather was nothing earth shaking. The savage woman had a interesting theory about wild djed. As he said, he knew nothing of magic.

When the human male mentioned Morwen again being in the jungle, Aladon started to wonder if Morwen was lost. Why in holy hai would the goddess of winter be in the south of Mizahar? Was he missing something? Did he just live in his forge all year? Wait! He was finishing up with his apprentice ship as a blacksmith, so he didn't venture outside much unless it was night. He honestly enjoyed the warmer weather these southerner didn't know about the horrors winter brought to the northern part of continent especially in Kalea. Starvation and freezing to death were common outside of Sultros. He spent whole winters in Wind Reach wondering if he was going to eat.

He was about in ask what happened to Morwen, but the bartender said to the group that she was going to venture out into the jungle in search of the source of lights and the sounds. He wondered if it was a wise idea to venture into the Maw chasing ghosts. He couldn't quite place the reason why, but he feared for the red heads safety. The Isur filled the three mugs of ale, and he looked Ashka and asked, “You look like you are getting low, Ashka. Would you like me to top you off?”

Pouring the other two glasses, he asked the group with concerned look on his face, “In Riverfall, I was finishing up my apprenticeship, so I am not sure what happened at the beginning of the year. You all seemed concerned about Morwen's whereabouts? Did the goddess go missing? The way you talk about her. It makes it sound like something horrible has happened to the world. If I am missing something, could you inform me?”
subtracted-1gm for pitcher of beer
Seasonal Points✴ Create A Theory - 20 pts

[Ashka]

The nerves echoing around the room from people's voices made Ashka's fingers itch and twitch to start the spindle going again, just so that she would have something safe to occupy them. The problem was that it would occupy both of her hands and leave nothing available to handle her drink or defend herself with. She listened to the conversation instead.

Apparently the lights weren't much like the Avanthal ones after all, according to the explosive man, nor, according to the woman sitting apart, were they normal to this part of the world. Her name was Ixtli, a butcher, and although new to Syka itself, she'd lived in the area most of her life. She also had a number of tattoos and Ashka wondered idly how they compared to her own Svefran tattoo on her shoulder.

The lights not being line Avanthal's rather put paid to her own theory but a number of other theories were being bandied about and she looked at each speaker in turn as they added their suggestions. The small man turned out to be a newly arrived blacksmith with a very long name. Ashka lost track of his name when he mentioned he came from a forge in Riverfall. "I spent some time in Riverfall last spring, but not near the forges." Chaya, catching the mention as well, popped her head around Ashka and said, "I thought all the men in Riverfall were huge and blue? Your arm's different but it isn't blue!"

"Chaya!" Ashka scolded. "Behave!" Chaya folded her arms and looked stubborn. Ashka tred not to roll her eye or sigh too obviously.

The blackmith revealed he didn't know about Morwen's absence, and in her irritatin, Ashka had to struggle not to roll her eyes at him to. Where had he been this last year not to know? "We didn't have winter last year," she explained tersely, "because Morwen never showed up to do her job of bringing it. And thanks for the offer of a drink, but I'm good with what I've got."

As the discussion diverted onto going on an actual trek to find the truth, Chaya's expression grew more and more unhappy and she pressed closer to Ashka's side. Ashka hesitated for a long moment, her curiousity desperately wanting to know what the answers were, but Chaya came first. She put an arm round her sister and sadly shook her head. "I'd love to come, but I've got responsibilities elsewhere. We're all we've got left of family, and I can't just run off into the Maw without her." She left unsaid that Chaya had neither the strength nor the skills to come with her.

Common, Pavi, Fratava

[Ixtli]

”A mug will do, as well as the platter, thanks.” The bartender seemed very willing to please her crowd, and Ixtli committed her face to memory in case she would meet her again. The redhead probably knew most of the settlers through her work at the Tidepool and her eager-to-help attitude could be appreciated in the future.

The short man at the bar introduced himself as the new settlement´s blacksmith and his words piqued Ixtli´s interest for a few ticks. A man who knew how to work metal? Surely she would need his expertise in the future. Although she didn´t quite catch his name, he should be easy enough to find. His theory of a crazed wizard in the jungle seemed a little too extravagant for the Myrian, but she knew the wilds of Falyndar sheltered things beyond imagination, so she kept an open mind and listened quietly.

Chaya, the youngest present, then babbled something about the smith´s arm and Ixtli´s attention was quickly drawn to it. Although so briefly it was hardly noticeable, her eyes widened in surprise at the view of his dark red arm with silver veins flowing through it. The Myrian had not seen anything like it in Taloba; the limb seemed powerful, an almost mystical aura surrounding it. If no magic was involved, then did the man belong to a race she knew nothing about? She made a note to ask him, when time would be right.

Everybody had a idea or two about the lights and their possible origin but nobody seemed to know for sure, and soon the bartender exposed her idea to venture into the jungle and figure it out. Ixtli raised an unconvinced eyebrow at the offer to join her; did the redhead know anything about the forest and its danger? Had she ever even tried to travel through the jungles? The girl didn’t look rugged enough to have any experience of Falyndar, and Ixtli shook her head and turned to fiddling with the content of her backpack, waiting for her food and drink.

The ongoing conversation still caught her ear, and when the man asked about Morwen´s whereabouts she couldn´t help but listen. Who was this goddess, what was her story? Ixtli wondered how she had never heard of her before, but the fact that she presided over the season of Winter spoke for itself; seasons were a bit of a loose concept here in Falyndar, where the weather oscillated between warm and wet and warmer and wetter most of the year.

Yet, a new idea started to grow and weave its roots in Ixtli´s head. If the lights had anything to do with the missing goddess, or with any other deity… If they were of divine origin… The Myrian would not forgive herself to have missed this opportunity to get closer to divine magic, to sacred power. With a new spark of interest in her hazel eyes, she turned to the bartender.

“I could join your little adventure,” she began slowly, with purpose. “I have experience travelling in the jungle. It´s not safe nor easy, but I have some skills that could help, if you´re looking for someone to come along.”

Her smile grew slightly as she spoke, compliant, pleasing, while her eyes still glimmered mysteriously.

Common | Myrian Calls | Thoughts

[Issie Asure]

"Well, I've been meaning to go into the jungle, I'll join the expedition". Issie ran his fingers through his hair as he looked around, multiple people are likely to be going with. Could they handle themselves in there? They should have some knowledge, enough to, hopefully, go through the expedition, yet he did fear there could be danger that would be beyond what most are known to. Even Issie was afraid to find what could be inside as he never traveled into the jungle. he sighed as he looked towards the woman who said she would go in, she had knowledge, it was apparent in her eyes. She knew far more of the jungle than he did, yet their skills seem on par, just his understanding of the land was very little.

Issie brought is arms into the air as he wrapped one around the other and stretched in the opposite direction, releasing some nasty popping sounds as his shoulders released tension from them, then he did the same with the other arm. This stretching showed the deep purple, red, and blue coloring that runs along his arms as his skin looks stretched in multiple areas. He let his hands fall as he then took a bend back and popped his back and readjusting himself. He finally sighed as he now looked, strangely, more tense as he mentally prepares himself to travel straight into danger.

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

Anibesa couldn’t but grin at the Isur as he put his money on the counter. Gently she slid it off the counter into her hand before putting it with the rest of the Tidepool Bar’s money, hearing the mans words as he mentioned how he had to test drinks with Isur in the title.
”Aye I can see why! I’d be the same. Can’t promise it’ll be what you’re used to, but Stu puts a lot of heart into all of ‘is brews.” Anibesa said, still smiling before scanned her eyes over everyone, trying to remember who had given a name and who hadn’t. She didn’t doubt that she’d be seeing all of them outside of the bar at one point or another considering how few people were in Syka. It would be good for her to be able to know what everyone did.

Then she heard the Isur introduce himself and she found herself raising an eyebrow. The name rang a bell, though she wasn’t sure whether she’d met him before, just heard of him, or just heard parts of the name in passing.
Then as she was thinking, she heard the youngest of the group start to speak, addressing the Isur and his arm and Anibesa chuckled quietly to herself. She liked the young girls curiosity and now she was interested to see how Aladon would react and whether he would explain his arm to the child.
Then Anibesa turned her attention back to the woman who was interested in the snack platter. She smiled sweetly at the woman and started to mix the mug of tea carefully, infusing the tea with the water and mixing it, before placing the mug in front of the woman.

”Here’s your tea, and I’ll go check with Stu on the platters. I’ll be back in a second, but it’ll be around one gold and one silver.” she said with a smile before turning to leave the bar and head towards the kitchen, trying to listen to the scraps of the conversations that were going on as she walked across the wooden walkways to the kitchen area, the conversation not audible anymore, though she could now hear the sounds of Stu at work.
”Hey Stu, we have an order for a platter?” she said calmly as she stood at the entrance, only to see Stu emerge from behind his brewing equipment.
“Haven’t got much set up so you’ll have to help slice the fruit.” the man said and Anibesa nodded, stepping into the kitchen and watching Stu.
The man pointed to a piece of counter space in the kitchen that was clear apart from a simple wooden slab that was littered with knife marks from it being used as a chopping board.

“There’s a banana, an orange, a mango and a pineapple. Know how to cut any of those?” the man said warmly as he wiped his hands clean and moved to another part of counter space, preparing something that Anibesa couldn’t see.
”I could take a guess at the banana and orange.” Anibesa said with a smile as she walked to the chopping board and glanced around, retrieving the banana and the orange and placing then on the chopping board.
She found a knife and got to work on the orange first, opting not to peel it and hope that it looked okay. She cut through the orange, trying to keep the knife steady and keeping her fingers out of the way, hoping that she wouldn’t risk cutting her fingers.
She wiggled the knife through it, her eyes rolling slightly as the knife got stuck in the orange for a bit and she had to move it more aggressively before it pushed through all the way and it lodged itself into the chopping board. Grimacing, she pulled it from the board and continued chopping the orange until she was left with uneven orange slices.
Next she moved onto the banana and peeled it, slicing that as best as she could though the banana slices were also uneven to her dismay.

She turned towards Stu ready to ask about how she should tackle the other two fruits, only to see that Stu had finished both the food he had been preparing and the fruits she hadn’t yet sliced.
She watched Stu carefully as he took the banana and orange slices and placed them onto the plate with the other fruits, bread, some cocktail sauce and what looked like fried shrimp.
“Thank you Stu!” Anibesa said with a smile before taking the plate back through to the bar and placing it in front of the woman. The conversation didn’t seem to have moved on much and Ani estimated she must have only been gone for a couple of bells.
”Fried shrimp it is today, and I can tell you that Stu makes some really good friend shrimp! Anibesa grinned widely as she spoke to Ixtli.

She heard the conversation of Morwen and Anibesa glanced around, shocked that anyway wasn’t aware of how winter had never came last year, and the amount of killings that took place when the other seasons stated that Morwen’s children had to die. She heard Ashka explain to Aladon about how the winter hadn’t come and Anibesa tilted her head slightly.
”The other seasons weren’t happy about that either. A few really bad things happened…” she said slightly uncomfortably. The man must have been living under a rock to not have seen what had happened.

Then she heard Ashka mention that she wouldn’t be able to join Anibesa’s hopeful expedition, then both Ixtli and the first man mention that they’d be interested in going to investigate what was going on, and Anibesa realised that she wasn’t prepared with much of a plan.
”That’s completely understandable. You have this one to worry about!” Anibesa said with a smile to her. ”If I find anything out I’ll keep you in the loop though! And that would be great you two. The jungle is pretty dangerous, so I think it’d be best for us to determine where abouts we want to go first. Minimise our time in the jungle maybe?” she suggested, leaning forward on the bar with her arms folded across it. ”I’m Anibesa, but most just call me Ani.”

Word CountTotal for this thread: 3213

[Aladon]

Aladon smiled at the Ashka sister Chaya when she asked if he was a akalak, and she shook his head and said with a smile to her, “Akalak's skin can be blue, but I am no Akalak little one. I am a child of Izurdin, and I would called a Isur. I come from a Kingdom far away from Syka called Sultros.”

The Isur nodded slowly about Ashka answer about Morwen being missing. It was strange that a god would just abandon her duties and run off for no reason. He wondered how bad the chaos has been around the world since she abandoned her duties. The thought of no winter didn't effect the Isur much because he wouldn't have to worry about cold night, snow, or ice, but he spent most of life underground, so the seasons on the surface mean little to him. However, he could see how the surface world could be affected with long term summer. Droughts could run rampant, plants that depend on the seasons would not know when to grow, and migrating animals wouldn't no if they should move away from their summer feeding grounds. The surface world would be in chaos, and he figured all the blame would be passed to Morwen's people. People tended to quickly blame other people for their problems.It he figured Morwen's people were suffering for her transgressions. Aladon said with a nod, “Well hopefully she returns to her duties quickly...the surface world needs the balance of the four seasons.”

When the bartender introduced herself as Anibesa. Aladon eyes went to the red haired bartender and looked at her face. He recognized the name, and he had happy memories attached to the face, the blue eyes, and the name. He would explore it those memories later since she was busy at work. He didn't want to take up her time with a crowded bar. Looking at Anibesa, he gave her a warm smile and said with a nod, “I haven't been in Syka long, Ani, so I wouldn't be much help out in the Maw, but please be safe out there if you venture into the jungle. I will definitely talk to you again. It nice to see you again, Ani. It hard to forget your pretty blue eyes...” Taking his pitcher of beer, he nodded to the rest of the patrons in the bar, “Well it nice meeting all of you, but I think I am going to nurse my pitcher while I look at the ocean and clear my mind from a long day of work.”

Walking to a table by the water, he sat down in a empty chair, poured only two of the mugs, placed one of the mug in front of a empty chair, and took a drink out of his own mug. He stared out into the ocean contemplating the events of the seasons, and the reason why Morwen would shirk her duties and abandon Mizahar.

*Leaves the thread*

[Ashka]

The butcher, Ixtli, said that she was interested in the jungle expedition, as did the explosive man, and Ashka tucked herself back into a corner out of their way. The bartender, having introduced herself as Anibesa, or Ani, understood well enough what that problem was and offered to keep Ashka in the loop of information. Ashka hardly had to think about that before she nodded. "Thank you," she said, a quick smile tugging up the corners of her mouth, "I'd like that. Very much." Then she added to Chaya, "See? I'm not going anywhere. We make our own pod, you and I..."

She took a sip of her drink as the blacksmith explained to Chaya that he wasn't a blue Akalak from Riverfall - which to anyone looking at him was blindingly obvious - he was actually an Isur from a place called Sultros who had only been working in Riverfall. Chaya nodded half solumnly, her eyes on his red arm, until he took himself and his drink off to stare at the view. It seemedd he wasn't interested in the trip either, and a small knot relaxed in Ashka's gut. Nobody was going to try and push her into anything at the very least, and the Riverfall reminder was out of reach of her and Chaya.

She took another sip, and reached again for her spindle, giving in to the urge to do something. "I'll just be back here in the corner, out of the way. Don't mind me, or the spindle. I'll move if you need me to." Her gaze flickered across the other faces, trying to judge their expressions, then she set the spindle spinning, and slowly fed fibre into the end of the thread already on it. The spinning motion twisted the fibres together to make thread, and the spindle hung from the end of the thread, getting lower as the thread grew longer. When the thread grew long enough that the spindle was very close to the floor, she'd pause, wind the thread onto the spindle, sip her drink, and start again. It was quiet, repetative, and soothing, and allowed her to listen in without obviously eavesdropping.

Common, Pavi, Fratava

[Ixtli]

"Thank you for the tea." As she sipped on the refreshing blend, Ixtli pondered about the missing Winter and its consequences. Having never met a Vantha nor experienced snow and cold, it was hard for her mind to wrap around the possible negative changes brought by the loss of the goddess, so she didn't make too many assumptions and kept enjoying her tea.

The man with the purple-colored arm explained his appearance by his belonging to a race the Myrian had never heard of, coming from a faraway and unknown kingdom. So maybe all the inhabitants of this distant place bore a limb as striking and impressive as his? What an intriguing thought!

When the bartender came back carrying the food, Ixtli's mind went blank of any other preoccupation and she started eating, content to finally silence her grumbling stomach. The fruits were perfectly ripe, the shrimps the tastiest; after a few chimes of devouring her food she let out a satisfied sigh and pulled a gold and a silver miza out of her backpack and slid them towards the redhead.
"Delicious. All I needed. Thank you."

Not many of the people present seemed keen on following the bartender – Anibesa was her name, as Ixtli learned a few moments later – for her exploration of the jungles. The blacksmith moved to sit by the waterside and the two girls had already opted out, leaving only the loud-spoken man and herself interested. The Myrian pushed her empty platter aside and listened to Ani as she devised the beginning of a plan.
"Where do you think we should start? It seems to me the lights come mostly from the north-east. Maybe we could meet near the Bungalows and make our way north, little by little? I haven't been here long though, I'm guessing you know the area better, so if you already have something in mind I'll just come along."

Ledger-1 gm 1 sm for food and drink

Common | Myrian Calls | Thoughts