A Hunting We Will Go (Open)

[Nyla]

With a grunt Asta flung Iver over her shoulder, his body crashing onto the table in the middle of the room before tumbling to the ground. When Asta had stepped into the store's hidden back room to speak with Iver, she hadn't expected it to go well. This, however, was just insulting. The shop was one of five small shacks at this lowly oasis (if you could call it that) in the middle of the Plains. No one stopped here except for vagabonds, thugs and foolish travelers. She wasn't sure which category she fit in.

Asta took a steadying breath and spit blood onto the floor. One of Iver's buddies had landed a punch to her jaw and managed to split her lip. A couple teeth felt loose too, she thought with chagrin. Luckily for him, though, she had repaid his kindness with a broken nose (after slamming his face into the wall repeatedly).

"I won't ask again," she said hovering over Iver's cowering form. Bodies lay sprawled around him, his henchmen, either passed out or dead, she didn't care. "Where is it?"

Iver sat up slightly and winced, clutching his ribs. Asta smiled hoping she'd broken something. "I told you," he began, a look of pure loathing on his face. "I don't have it." Asta sighed, unsheathing her sword. She crouched down so they were eye to eye and began examining the blade. "You have five seconds then to tell me who does. I'm a reasonable woman, but Iro should be back any time now and I wager he's hungry."

The blood drained from Iver's face. He paused, surveying the room for any hope of escape before relenting. "His name is Rhysand. A lord or a noble of some kind. I sold it. Last I heard he was on his way to Connlaoth." Asta smiled. "See how easy that was? Something to work on for our next meeting." With a flick of her wrist, she brought the handle of her blade down onto Iver's head, knocking him out.

She sheathed her sword and put her hands on her hips, pacing. So the medallion was in the hands of some privileged fool on its way to Connlaoth. Brilliant. She spit again and sighed. She needed a drink. Slamming the door behind her, Asta crossed the tiny square to the tavern. Mug of ale in hand, she plopped herself down at a table in the corner of the room, back to the wall. She propped her feet up and took a long slug from the cup. "Let this be a sign the rest of the evening will be uneventful," she whispered to herself, trying to shake away the nagging feeling that the night would be anything but.

[Smaugthesilver]

Laeli cautiously approached the stranger, tiptoeing towards her in a clumsy impression of sneaking.
"uh, hello?" She tapped the stranger on the back.

[Nyla]

At the first tap on her back Asta spun around and grabbed the girl's wrist. She was a frail thing and Asta realized if she gripped too hard she might break her hand off. "What?" she said giving Laeli a cold look. Whatever reason this girl had for disturbing her, now was not the time. She probably wanted money.

[JackieCat]

Well, that was interesting, very, very interesting, a medallion, and a woman so intent on getting it she would kill, or at least injure?  This medallion must be very special indeed.

Faelis Gindien was crouching in the shadows, silent.  He had came across this hidden room and decided to slip inside and see if there was anything worth stealing.  He had been looking around when he had heard someone about to enter.  He had hidden, and soon after the people had entered and a fight had ensued.

Now the elves thief sat in the dark listening to the woman talk with the man on the ground, then knock him out.

When the woman left, Faelis slipped out of his hiding place.  He considered stealing whatever the unconscious men on the ground had with them, but he decided against it, he might lose the woman.

He followed her out of the shop, undetectable, and to the tavern, though he didn't go inside immediately, he waited a few minutes, if he went in right after her, it could be suspicious.  He wrapped his dark cloak closer to his body, covering his clothing and jewelry while he waited.

When he did go inside he went straight to the bar, but he kept an eye on the woman, who was now talking to a small teenage girl.

Faelis ordered a drink and went to sit down.  Close enough so he could overhear what the two were saying, but not to close as to become suspicious.  In the eyes of you woman and the teenager, he could simply be a traveler looking for a drink.

[Smaugthesilver]

"S-sorry for d-di-istur-b-bing you but I w-wondered if you knew w-where we a-are?" Laeli stammered,  terrified and sweating hard.

[Nyla]

Asta sighed and dropped the girl's wrist. "We're in a tavern. If you're looking for money, why don't you try pickpocketing one of those men over there?" She waved her hand in the direction of a row of travelers sitting at the bar. She didn't have time for pickpockets and liars tonight.

Sighing she took another sip of her drink. Her jaw ached..she would need another drink soon to soothe the pain. As she set her cup down, Asta thought she caught someone at a nearby table looking at her, but the stranger had turned around before she could be sure.

[Smaugthesilver]

"Hey, you! I am not a pickpocket. You can go die in a marshy hole, for all I care. I've got a good mind to get the authorities on you, criminal." Laeli half yells, her face flushed in anger.
"Unlike you, I'm a law abiding citizen."

[JackieCat]

Faelis almost chuckled at the the teenager's outburst, but he kept quite, not wanting to draw attention to himself.

He would wait a while longer to go up to the warrior woman.

[Nyla]

Asta smiled at Laeli's outburst. For such a frail child, she had quite the temper. Dangerous, considering she was among a vicious group in the middle of a tavern.

"Go die, eh?" Asta said as she casually pulled out her dagger and began to clean the tips of her fingernails. "I'm not sure a marshy hole is a fitting end for a notorious criminal such as myself." She paused and gave Laeli a bored look. "So tell me, law-abiding citizen, what do you really want? Why bother a low life trying to drink away her sorrows?" Asta put on a theatrical tone as she said sorrows.  "Who knows what dark things I might be capable of." At that, she slammed the tip of her dagger down into the table where she sat.

Scaring a little girl wasn't exactly something to be proud of, but Asta had more pressing things on her mind. She had to admit, though, the girl had nerve.

[visualspice]

The rider fell off his steed, and the strange bird-like dragon gave a few nips at it's fallen rider's side. The man didn't move, and the creature gave a cock of it's head, then prodded the man with his taloned foot.

"OUCH! AH!" the man cried, jerking up suddenly as he grabbed onto the new gash on his side. "Nana'tehk!" And he went into a slew of curses in his native language before groaning and raking a hand through his dusted and blood caked hair.

The bird-lizard gave a few whistling croaks as it gestured with it's head and the man sighed, turning from Nana'tehk over to the-

"OH BY THE SPIRITS, WATER!" And he plunged his head completely into the thing, the gargling world of water all but consuming and Nana'tehk simply watched. While his master drank and washed in the horse's trough, he beast took interest at a noise that suddenly came from inside, from what it could deduce, as a tavern.

"Rawrk?" the bird-thing cawed as it cocked it's head, and walking much like a curious dodo, it moved forward towards the place and began to sniff at the door. When he tried to push it open with his head, it noticed the door was locked. He blinked, lowering his head and looked at the door knob. Then lifted up one taloned foot, turned the knob and pushed the now open door with his head.

At first,t he dimply lit room smelled strange, but upon smelling beer (which happened to be on of Nana'tehk's favorite drinks) he gave an elated cry and waddled his way into the room, long tail hitting Nyla on the back of her chair by accident, before cawing at the bar maid wanting a drink. But the bar maid took one look at the beast before dropping her entire tray of beer as she screamed and ran away. Tilting his head curiously, he simply dropped his head and began to lap the fallen, foamy beer off the floor.

And at about this time, Nana'tehk's master lifted his head out from the trough with a long, exaggerated sigh. He tossed his now soaking wet hair out of his face and wiped a hand down it to remove the excess water from dribbling and soiling too much of his clothes. In the process, he smeared some of the red paint that looked like a mask around his eyes before he turned to notice Nana'tehk had gone missing.

Blinking, he slowly looked around before calling out inquisitively, "Nana'tehk?" He sighed, growling as he slumped against the trough. "Damn avirian," he groaned. But the man perked up when he heard a scream inside the tavern, then the bar maid flee out of it. He just shook his head, still slumped beside the trough, looking like complete shit, as he shook his head.

"He just couldn't wait for me to get him the beer." Muttering more words in his native tongue, he debated getting off of the sandy ground to drag his bird-dragon out of there. But he was aching all over, so he figured he'd give himself a minute or two.

"Yes.. a minute.. then I'll go in there and get Nana'tehk and then some booze.. maybe some food.. but definitely booze." And he began to wonder about the probability in training Nana'tehk to get him said booze.

[Smaugthesilver]

"Well, criminal , if you try and kill me, my Dragon will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb. And, as a law abiding citizen, I could excuse it."

[Nyla]

Asta barked a laugh at Laeli's response before leaning in close to whisper. "You're not the only one with a dragon sweetheart."

She leaned back in her chair and pulled her dagger from the table. "Now get out of my si-" Just then a giant tail smacked her in the back of the head. "What in holy?!" Asta gawked at the beast now licking beer gleefully off the floor. This tavern was turning into a madhouse..

[Smaugthesilver]

And just like that, Laeli slipped away. Not properly away of course, just close enough to hear what was going on, but not to be recognised. As a parting shot, she shot a concentrated beam of anger at the laughing woman. She obviously wasn't definatly a dragon-slaver, but anything was possible in her line of work.

[JackieCat]

Faelis was still listening in on the conversation of the two when a huge bird-beast came crashing into the tavern.

He tensed, and before he could even think a dagger was in his hand, but when he saw that the bird-thing wanted nothing more than a drink, he relaxed, but only slightly.  To an untrained eye, it had looked as if the elf hadn't moved at all, his cloak hiding his terse movements and darting eyes.

As the teenager slipped away from the warrior woman, Faelis's eyes followed her, the thief keeping an eye on all the happenings around him.

[visualspice]

Once he finally got to his feet, the man dusted himself off, readjusting the bead locked feathers in his hair and tapping off the dust from his boots. He approached the tavern, pushing the doors open and pausing just inside to get a good look at his bird-dragon, cleaning up the floor. He rolled his eyes and snapped a finger.

"Nana'tehk!"

The creature lifted it's head, making a strange, cooing whistling noise.

"You.." he pointed to the creature. "Outside." He jabbed a finger towards the door. "Now."

Nana'tehk stood there a moment, hesitating as he looked around the tavern before turning his head to notice beer on the table beside him. And any thoughts of listening to his master were ignored as he approached Asta's table, sniffing at her drink. But before the creature could do anything, the dark haired man yanked the beer from the table and wagged a scolding finger at it.

"Nana'tehk, no! No beer!" he pointed to the door again. "Outside!"

But Nana'tehk's attention was only on the beer, and as he watched it, he couldn't keep himself from trying to leap and get it, knocking his master over onto the nearby seated woman's lap- and  sending the beer mug flying.

Nana'tehk flew after it, grabbing the entire thing with it's toothy beak before making a victorious noise and darting out the door.

[Smaugthesilver]

Laeli chuckled at the behaviour of the bird. It's master was obviously dedicated to it, but, it seemed,  the bird was definitely not listening to him.

Taking pity on the ovner, Laeli points a surge of calm towards the bird-like creature.

[Nyla]

It took a few moments for Asta to absorb the comic chaos that had just happened. After another beat she let out a low sigh, watching as a crazed bird animal ran away with her drink.

She looked down at the creature's owner, leaning forward and shaking her head slightly as he lay sprawled on his back. "I hope you're planning to pay for that," she said, a small smirk playing at her lips before returning to her usual frown of indifference. Sighing again she sat back and began cleaning her nails, hoping the stranger would drop a few coins for a fresh beer and be on his way.

Truth be told he looked like hell..but no use feeling sorry for him, she supposed. She had more important things to worry about. The location of an extremely precious and powerful medallion for example..and drowning her sorrows in a few gallons of ale.

(OOC: Sorry everyone! Feels like life got crazy last month. Apologies for vanishing w/o warning, haha.)

[visualspice]

He sighed from where he had been ceremoniously flung onto her lap. It was a nice view there, and he contemplated just staying, but judging by the woman's disposition, she didn't look like she was up for any real shenanigans. So sitting up, he gave a nod in her direction before standing now on his own two feet and producing a coin.

"As if there was ever a doubt," he went on with a sigh, and flipped it at her. He continued to dust himself off, sighing again and looking towards the door his bird-dragon had disappeared through and muttering a few choice words in his native tongue.

[Nyla]

Ignoring the brief pause the man took before heaving himself off her lap, Asta ceremoniously brushed off her thighs and reached out a hand to snatch up the coin. It felt sturdy and real..that was a relief. Following the man's gaze, she turned it over a few times with her fingers contemplating before huffing angrily and digging into her pocket. She pulled out a dried hunk of fish and tossed it at the man's chest.

"Here," she mumbled. "That should help get your feathered friend's attention."

Asta had yet to see a dragon (even a hybrid) turn down a slice of karasumi. Something about the salted waters of its origin was like a drug to beasts of all sizes, particularly her own beast. Now she only had one piece of the jerky left, and although walking around with it made her smell like a musty fish market, she couldn't deny Iro his delicacies. She made a mental note to find more the next time she stumbled across a market.

[Smaugthesilver]

Laeli huffs silently. It didn't feel like that good for nothing bird could be calmed, except by bribery. Nevertheless, Laeli had a job to do. She picks up her mug and downs it in one. The tart fruit cocktail slides easily down her throat.

Laeli moves closer to elf that, even though it wasn't apparent, had become the focus of her hearing.