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Who knew boats could sink (ego!!)

Started by Goldie, August 04, 2016, 04:25:15 PM

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Goldie

"I'm sorry sir," the comely bar maid dipped her head apologetically, "I haven't heard of anyone with that name. More ale?"

Zarak nodded solemnly, trying his hardest to mask his disappointment. How hard was it to find someone who could mend a boat and keep it underwraps? Specifically, why was this bastard so difficult to find? How many ports had he been to know? Six? It was becoming ridiculous chasing this Oros around the world just to get his stupid boat fixed.

Dammit. What kind of pirate was he? He always had a good report with his crew, they always seemed to like him whether he was a first mate or captain, but he was beginning to think captaining just wasn't meant for him.

When his boat nearly 6 years ago crashed in the middle of the ocean and he was saved by a black sheep of a tribe with hell ass backwards moral codes. Wasn't that his sign? His sign that it was about time for him to take the mantel and become a captain himself?

Or was he just not cut out for it? Perhaps he should just hang up his captain's hat and leave well enough alone.

Regardless, the ale in his hands was cool and the head tickled his nose pleasantly, and the coins he had swiped from the girl's belt jingles softly as it slipped into the side of his boot and slid gently down towards his heel. He had enough from his profitable years on his boat to just take a few moments to enjoy life.

Before he got back on a ship. His rightful place.

egoistic

Mmmm... Nirindel grasped the pair of wooden sticks in each hand, concentrating her gaze and narrowing eyes at the task ahead of her, she felt more like it was the greatest quest, no, an entire mission in life to undertake. A simple bowl of stew.

Cold stew to be specific.

A bowl of stew that laid there for a good half hour now.

By now she had spent what, a decade? Outside of her homelands, seeing more of the world, trying to learn more of it, yet this was simply something she could not get used to. A pair of sticks to eat everything. What the hell was the reasoning behind using a pair of sticks to eat? People had different ways of eating, rituals even. Some used hands, some used some kind of utensils. Apparently Thanati used chopsticks. A pair of sticks.

Certainly, their cuisine was quite unique, as Nirindel had learned, they did seem to boast quite the variety of spices, even ones she had never seen in her life. And, of course, she had to admit that she enjoyed this specific cuisine. The one thing she did not yet manage to wrap her head around was... why sticks. How did you even 'wield' them.

This was far from the first time she had tried eating with them, or even holding them, yet she never seemed to be successful in getting a single bite into her mouth. This time, of course, was no different.

Even the personnel had seemed to occasionally approach her to see if she was alright and some of the unnecessary glances from other patrons, she had to admit, were tad embarrassing.

Worst of all, however, it seemed that she was bound to starve this time, as her pride would just not allow her to display weakness and cave into actually requesting for some kind of help or a more familiar set of utensils. Utter despair.

Goldie

Zarak would be lying if he told someone he didn't notice the girl struggling to eat her stew. He would also be a liar if he denied finding it immensely funny to boot. He, of course, had finished his own dinner - a nice steaming bowl of noodles and some identifiable, yet delicious,  meat - and the utensils he had been given hadn't caused him any problems.

That, of course, stemmed from the fact that he had made port in Jin'ta more times than he could count throughout his 32 years of life.

He snorted into his ale as she continued to struggle; already feeling the effects the smooth liquid had on his worries and his fears about his boat.

"Need some help there, lass?" he scooted his chair closer to her, being careful not to let any of the golden panacea slosh over the rim of his cup.

egoistic

Nirindel had figured the whole situation could be considered amusing by others, but for the sake of her own dignity and peace of mind she chose to present herself with a white lie - no one saw her, or at least minded her... or at least was going to comment on the fact that she is absolutely terrible at what she is trying to do.

And just like that the lie was torn apart.

In just a matter of moments she found form of another person settled somewhere further off, yet closer to her. Seeing a drink in his hand, she would have probably continued on delusion of assuming that he had simply relocated.

"...no." she'd mutter as an answer, finally grasping a tiny bit of meat with the strange utensils. And just as she had tried to put the bit of food into the mouth, the utensils practically slipped from her hands, the meat plopping on the floor, as she nudged the bowl with her elbow in a horrible surprise, nearly sliding the bowl right off the table.

There was no turning back now. As she swallowed her pride and admitted. "As a matter of fact. Yes."

Goldie

He smiled crookedly, the drink affecting his movements more than he cared to admit. But right now, drink was his only friend! Without his boat, and with his crew scattered to all sorts of sordid places - though that brothel in the red light district made enough claims it even enticed him to be fair - his life was just one drink after the next; one purse after the next. In fact, he would probably have amazing calves by the time he managed to stumble his way back to his room for the night; his boot was so much heavier.

"Well," he reached over her shoulder gently and placed her fingers appropriately on the sticks, "Y'first gotta grip it like this, see?" he wouldn't be surprised if her fingers slipped a little as she stumbled her way through learning a new utensil. "Then, y'just wiggle 'em back and forth a little. Don't worry if it takes ya awhile t'get the gist of it."

He released her hands and sat back in his chair, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable with a strange man hovering over her.

"And t'be honest, y'could always just skewer th'meat like a sword." he winked, jovially.

egoistic

Noting the clear smell of alcohol coming from the man, Nirindel would have somewhat frowned. But then a single idea dawned upon her. If he was not sober, he might not even remember this the other day! Well, he didn't look that drunk, but she could never know. Perhaps her hopes and wishes would be fulfilled just this once.

Though finding it a bit strange that the man had simply grasped her hands, she figured there was no better way to actually learn. Seeing how the others ate made no difference in her attempts to learn and now, she had at least known the proper way of holding the utensils!

Wiggling the two sticks in her hand she had tried yet again to pull something out of the bowl using the utensils. But the next revelation uttered by the man, practically made her gasp. "Wait. What? Can you even do that? Isn't that bad manners?" she fervently questioned. The idea had been in her head, but she had not actually seen anyone else do that. Figuring it would make others frown upon her, she decided to not even attempt this before!

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