Inn on the Outskirts of Town (P)

[Anonymous]

In a small inn, mass chaos was happening, sharp contrast to the rest of the sleepy town of Le-marri. Locals and travelers both gathered in conversations, arguments, contests, and a whole lot of drinking.

In the midst of this chaos was a man, well he looked too young to be a true man. Yet at the same time, the handsome dark-eyed youth was entirely too old to be a boy anymore. Caught in that delicate balance, he certainly was old enough to drink, if his current state was any indication. Leaning back in his chair, feet were propped on another. Two empty glasses sat in front of Tadita, a third half full.

Yet this wasn't just any night. This was the night for Tadita. The night when Chessa, the only girl he had loved with his heart and soul, had died. Not of an accident or disease, but from old age. From the iron grip of time that had passed him over. It had happened nearly 500 years ago. He still cried over it today. Someone had once said time will heal all injuries... maybe that was true for those who were mortal. For him, the process had never happened. On this night, he felt like it was happening all over again.

So ale sat in front of him, and he was going to get completely drunk. It had already happened, his reflexes and senses and intelligence slowed to a sluggish rate. Two glasses showed his miserably low alcohol tolerance. After all, he never drank except for this annual ritual. This annual tradition that was his way to say farewell, honoring her through the drink year after year.  Drinks normally hurt him, this would nearly kill him. Who knew, it might this year. Yet he knew his limits, after all, this had been going on for three hundred years. Three hundred times to test things out. The pain was part of the ritual, the seizures and convulsions and blood were his penance. It was the price he exacted out of him to start to atone for the all the pain he had caused in others.

Even after three hundred years, he hadn't begun to come even close. How did you pay for a human life, for crushing innocence? Tadita was still trying to find out. Yet he tried to not to think too hard about it, as he reached for the glass and took another swallow. Movements normally graceful were jerky, his entire aura messed up by the drink. Yet he was nearly piss-stupid drink, almost able to forget his wretched life for an hour. As his brain waves slowed, his amusement grew. A drunken smile was upon Tadita's face, and he added to the din as he couldn't help but sing. In Elvish no less, the lilting sounds beautiful even from a drunk's mouth. And just because he was drunk didn't mean his voice was any less good.

[Anonymous]

"Oh, would you just shutttt uuuuup!!"  Above the drunken chaos, an argument went on in one of the rooms, between a man standing in the doorway and his (for not much longer,) wife huddled among bed clothes.

"I'm sick of your babbllling!  All you everrrrdooo is naag meee that I have problems," his voice slightly slurred, and then took on a higher pitch in bitter mockery, "Marek, stoppp hiring sooo maneey servant girls, get a boyyyy.  Marek, stop doooing work for allll the village women, helllp some meen.  As if I couldn't be trusted."  He screamed at the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and wobbled a little while he stood.  It was rather obvious that he had been underneath in the chaos prevously, by both his manner, and his reaction.  For the first time he brought his gaze back to the bed.

"Andd youu!  Duneven thiiink about mooving, I'mgonna kill youu in a moment while I'm done!"  He shook his fist at the younger man, also huddled in the bed, paused for a moment, let out a furious growl, and then lunged at him...

 --

"Oh would you just shut UP!"  Fists slammed into surfaces, and an empty glass fell over, while the half empty one only rocked back and forth.

Below, again, among the chaos, was Ari.  He sat at a stool under the room of the argument, and gulped the rest of his ale.  Having his own reasons to drink, or rather to not be not drinking, he had already had his necessary share, and only continued for sheer enjoyment, and appearances.  It was very cheap to be his breed of demon, very inconvenient, and very entertaining.  Well, entertaining sometimes.

"No one understands your BABBLING!" He continued to yell in the direction of the singing.  He just grew more and more furious, glaring violently at the empty ale mug, until out of no where he came to his feet, knocking over his stool, and storming at the singer.  Only his height could look threatening, if that; Ari was a rather lanky guy.  But the fury burning in his eyes looked about to kill.

Four steps later, he wobbled.  Five, he fell flat on his face.

Finally managing to make his way to the elvish song, he propped himself up on the table, and his eyes became wild.  His mind was swirling, and he gave a frustrated grunt.  His eyes flew violently between the singer, to his drinks and the table, to the ceiling above his toppled stool and where his own empty mugs had fallen over.  He then looked back at the singers goofy grin, blinked twice, and flopped himselt down into a seat across from his, grinning just as madly as he propped his own feet upon another chair.

"Hell, aren't you too young to be in here? ... You sure can sing!"

[Anonymous]

"I'm plenty old enough to drink, sirruh. I just look young... but up here... it's old."

At the end Tadita gestured at his head, sloppily poking at his skull. He even managed to touch it a couple times, without poking an eye out no less. Motor functions were starting to become shot for him, his speech slow and slurring slightly. Strangely enough his songs had been crystal clear, maybe because he had learned them when he was young, the words and melodies so ingrained that he no longer needed to thing, his vocal chords worked on their own, independant of his thinking.

An abstract humming came from his throat for a second, the man completely disregarding his new friend. Friend, stranger, it was all the same thing in the end. People came and people went. He suddenly snapped back to reality, black eyes focusing on everywhere around Ari before fixing in on the man. In terms of size, Tadita was a good deal smaller. He wasn't tall or broad, only wicked fast. Yet right now, that speed and agility was all but nullified in the fog that was floating through his brain.

"An' I'm Tadita. I didn't catch your name."

[Anonymous]

"Ariandus Aderisi.. Yeah.. Let's just go with Ari, makes everyyyything easier!"  He grinned, glancing back to his stool and mugs, faintly wanting to continue his drinking spree, even though he really didn't need it.  There were enough people around to keep him swirling anyway.

"Ereyone pretty much calls me Ari.. 'ceptt Lenna... But she doessn't matter, 'cause she's a whore.."  His stare became bitter, and he returned his dazed focus to Tadita, grinning again.

"Thas funny though.  I'm a lot older than I look too...  You a demon or something?"  He began humming the tune Tadita had been singing, only rather off-key, as he had no practice with it, and his current state was slowly deteriorating down to match the singers.

[Anonymous]

"Wellanow, aint that a... co-ink....co-i.... co-ink-i-dink. I... I ain't quite a demon, but I'm kinda close. I think, anyways..."

As Tadita slipped more into his happy drunken stupor, his speech had reverted back to the rural accent of his homelands. It showed just how drunk he was, the man who normally spoke multiple languages, and kept a large vocabulary and used it was now having trouble with word 'coincidence.'

Reaching forward and picking up the mug, he took another swallow of the substance, not giving a thought or care now to the toll it would take to his body later. Peering over the rim, he dark eyes focused on the liqued in the bottom. Not much left. There was a problem, but one that could easily be fixed.

Sloppily flagging down a serving wench, Tadita managed to recover shreds of his dignity and poise, as so not to appear a complete fool in front of the ladies. It was an ingrained response by now. Once you became their friend, men could care less about him saying something stupid, or doing something strange. Women were more flighty, and you had to make an incredibly good impression on them before daring to act the fool. Well, in his expirience anyways. With a charming grin he stared up at the serving wench. At least being drop dead drunk didn't affect his good looks. She smirked back, obviously amused by the entire situation, and somewhat receptive to the smile. The cut of her dress and the way she carried herself suggested she did other things than serve ale, though at this point it went way over Tadita's head. He might still remember how to be popular with the ladies, but he sure as hell had forgotten how to tell he was.

"Oi, I need another for myself, and one for my friend here."

[Anonymous]

Ari looked over at the girl, and thought to himself about how she had a real pretty smile.  While Tadita had been trying to gather himself up, Ari was mentally as drunk as himself, Tadita, and three fat guys sitting at a table nearby laughing their heads off and falling out of their chairs.  Ari was far to spread out to ever be capable of such ideas.

"Heyyyyyyyour prettttty!"  Ari said pitching forward and practically falling out of his seat.  He grabbed the edge of the table in time, and looked at his feet on the floor.  His feet weren't supposed to be on the floor, they had been up on something.

"...Howw did my feet get on the floor Tadeeeeta?"  He drunkly asked Tadita, and looked over at the chair which had somehow been turned,  "Someone...someone pulled my chairr out from under me!!!"  He looked wide-eyed at the chair, and then back at Tadita, fuming.  "That...bastard!!!  Did you see where he wen--"  His eyes were drawn back to the angry corner, where his empty mugs had now been knocked on their side.  He longingly stared at the empty mugs, wishing for them to be filled again, and wishing for them to float all the way to where he sat.  When that didn't work, he remembered there was a servant nearby with a very nice chest, and asking her to make them come back gave him another excuse to look at that chest.

"Hey, hey you!!  Yourr that pretty girll my friend called...Cannyou get me my drinks?  Theyy went over theree and didn't comeeback when I wasshere..."  He laughed and grinned goofily, attempting to hold himself upright and look somewhat held together, (and only wobbled more in the process,) while he spoke staight to the serving wenches cleavage.

[Anonymous]

"Sure, hon. Just don't hurt yourself."

With a saucy smile she took up Tadita's mugs, and went over to grab Ari's as well. Serving wenches could carry an amazing amount of empty drinks in each hand. Striding over to the taps she filled up four of the six mugs, figuring the two couldn't handle much more, or would at least go through this a little slower than the initial round. If not, they could get someone else or herself when she was passing by again.

Meanwhile, Tadita was a little concerned about someone pulling a chair out from Ari. He without question believed the man. After all, why wouldn't he? He had proved himself to be a good respectable being so far. Looking around the room, he tried to espy the culprit. When he was that miserably drunk it was hard, and there was no shady characters snickering at them from the shadows.

"Ah didn't see nobody, Ari. Mebbe the.... wha' was that word... th' bastard was under cover. Gotta be on our gaurds."

At that point the serving wench came back and plunked the four fresh mugs of ale at in front of the men. Tadita grinned and thanked her, even managing to get the words out correctly this time, and with a minimal of slurring. The girl sweetly smiled at him, mentioning something about calling on her when she was off of work and they were a little more sober. At that she slipped off, there was far too many tables clamoring for service to spend more time with this pair of drunks.

[Anonymous]

Ari purred happily at the sight of the new filled mugs.  He just smiled at them for a while, leaning with his chin on the table and his eyes inches from the glass.  Bubbles floated happily to the top, and the world was a better place.  And before Tadita could finish thanking her, Ari found himself so happy that he started gulping his first down, without even noticing how much he drank.  After all, he only drank to drink.  Ari didn't get drunk, it was everyone else who did.

And then the serving wench walked away.  He blinked, and swallowed a quarter of his second.

"Wai...waiit, COMEBAAAAAAAAAACK!"  Ari slurred the cry as if his life was in danger, turning to violently he slid off the table, and successfully crashed to the floor again.  He picked himself to stand up, wobbled, and landed on his butt again.

"...They tripped me, Taadii...."  His eyes began to water furiously, and everything fell apart.  The weight of the world was crashing down on him, and gravity was to blame.  He waved a moment, eyes completely watered over, and fell on his side and began to wail.

"WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?????"  Ari cried out at the top of his lungs, and continued to cry as he did such, "Whyyyyyyyyy do they allllllllllwaysssss leaaaaaaaaave meeeee.  Iiiiduned evvven know her naaaaaaaaaame!!!  Andddshess off with someonelssssssse! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!"  He rolled onto his back, wailing as if he were going to die, until a man walked over to him and lightly kicked his arm.

"Hey friend, you gonna make it?"  the stranger asked, sympathetically.  Ari looked up at him, leaving his mouth open but silencing the sounds.  He blinked several times out of swirling confusion, inadvertently blinking away some tears, rolled back over, and hopped right up.

"Of course!  I've never felt better!"  He brushed through his hair to try to fix the mess from rolling on the floor, and looked over at the table friendlily, "I'm Ari.  Are you having a great night too?"  He grinned, grabbing one of Tadita's mugs absentmindedly, and downing it without a thought.  He then turned to step back to his seat, tripped, and fell flat on his face again.

[Anonymous]

After the serving wench left, Tadita was also in a happy euphoria. Most of it was the achohol coursing through him, the other part was that he was close to picking up a girl. Even when falling-down drunk, he still had that touch.

When Ari had his breakdown, all Tadita could do was stare. What was his problem? Did he hurt himself when flopping on the floor? It really wasn't clean down there... who knows what was down there. Yet Ari continued to wail, his sound nearly hurting Tadita's ear. Yet when he jumped up, everything seemed to be ok. He would have to ask about that... if he remembered what happened tommorow.

When Ari fell the last time, he finally decided maybe helping out would work. Standing up himself, Tadita nearly collapsed then and there. The world wasn't supposed to tip and spin like that. When it steadied enough, he took a couple swaggering steps and roughly grabbed Ari by the elbow and half dragged him to his chair and onto it. Whoever was tripping his friend was going to pay if they kept it up. Flopping into his own seat and nearly falling out of it himself, he grabbed onto the table for support and surveyed the situation.

Tadita decided he should get another drink, before they ran out and Ari went into another depressive low again. Even though he was respectable, he was showing mood swings, and some signs of depression when the ale was gone. Understandable, life was always better with more drinks. Raising his hand in that drunken yet lazy way, he vaguely called out,

"Oi! We need some refills!"

[Anonymous]

This time the girl who appeared looked younger, and her dress, though with a similar cut, wasn't as glamourous or showy.  On the other hand, her face was a portrait in comparison; she wasn't the type who you would expect to work in a simple inn.  A flawless face, vibrant and sparkling robins-egg-blue eyes, golden waves of hair...  And as petit as she was, you wouldn't expect her to have worked a day of her life.  Yet, she felt summoned by the singers wave.

"Oh, you poor thing!"  A slight country accent rolled out with the mothering burst, as she fell to the floor to help Ari up to his seat.  He found his balance and looked at the girl, wide-eyed and silent.  She smiled at him.

"Ya'll should be careful with your chairs.  Shouldn't you be takin' better care of your pal?"  She giggled as she turned to face Tadita snd winked, "I'll go get you your drinks."  She picked up their mugs and floated off in a manner far too graceful for the typical serving wench.  As she disappeared, Ari spun in his seat and looked at Tadita wide-eyed.

"She...she..."  He seemed quiet, in awe, unable to finish his stuttering sentences.

[Anonymous]

Tadita was also visibly affected by her beauty, openly staring. Not too many real beauties came through this town. Most were pretty, decent, not harmful to the eyes. But very few possessed a face and body like that. Tadita almost regretted his partial flirt with the other wench. His time would be much better spent doing the same thing with this girl. Why settle for average when you could go for the gold?

A protest had risen to his mouth when she told him to take better care of his friend. He had been doing the best he could! Let's see her do better when she was drunk and an assassin was trying to steal the chairs right out from under them. Yet she had already turned and left, leaving a hollow feeling feeling behind. The words died in his mouth, no use saying anything like that when she was on the other side of the inn.

Hearing Ari, Tadita decided to finish his stuttering with the obvious, seeing as he was in better control of his voice.

"She was purdy. Drop down b.....beau-tee-full."

While Tadita now possessed an accent of his own, it was different from hers. Though it did make sense, they were probably from different regions, and the accent he had grown up with was the inflections used hundreds of years ago. Languages evolved over time, and that was a fact. If he were to go into full dialect, then no one here would be able to understand a word coming out of his mouth. He wasn't quite drunk enough yet to do that.

[Anonymous]

It was crowded, and that was just a minor thing on the list of things that annoyed Damul about this place. The characters were wayward, the drunkenness would lead to eventual jostling and unwanted patting, and there was a yelling drunkard upstairs that he already felt like killing. Nevertheless, on a thief’s logical point of view, the place was perfect. You hardly needed to be quick here because a drunken person’s reaction time was so bad they’d never detect a purse snatching from an attempt to get them to stand on their own feet. It was almost too easy.

Damul sighed. He’d rather not be here: the lack of space and the camaraderie left him feeling empty, alone. He’d probably never choose to come here on his own volition. He’d rather be in the forest, or at least hit up the La’marri temple. Times were getting tough though, and he had just barely gotten into the thieves guild, so he thought he’d better prove his worth. At the moment, he had a sack of coins, and for now he’d drink some of the swill he needed to make himself look like he belonged there. Not that this was that big a problem: with a beaten light coat with the hood barely hanging on a thread, dusty ripped pants and a black long sleeved shirt, he looked like the kind of vagabond that carried the stench of commoner on his sleeve. Damul was fine with this because of someone saw what he had under his sleeve, particularly on his arm; the results wouldn’t be so nice.
His hair was hanging to his shoulders and was dirty, but this wouldn’t be a factor. Damul knew how to charm a snake while he was skinning it. Not that he’d do anything like that anyway…more likely, he’d skin a human. He flagged down a pretty brown haired barmaid.
“Pardon me,� he asked, flashing his best won’t-you-help-poor-little-me smile, “I was wondering if you’d fetch me a drink? I’ve been walking awhile, and a guy like me can’t really think straight unless he has his fill of drink, so he can continue not thinking straight with some good mead in his belly.�

The girl laughed, and Damul continued smiling. She had very nice, light laughter; nothing like the squealing giggling that came out of the more loathsome barmaids there.

“I’ll get you right away,� she replied, and he nodded. That took care of that. All he had to do right now was concentrate on what he saw, and then he could pretend to be involved with drinking as he robbed people blind. He made a mental note that one of those people NOT be that barmaid though…that would just be mean.
He stretched and allowed his eyes to wander off idly. He mentally noted strengths and weaknesses in his head, including noting the big hauls, hauls that would be worth the risk but were risky nonetheless. Who wanted to get in a fight with a guy who was so drunk he felt no pain? No, Damul wanted things short and sweet, with as little effort as possible so that he could feel a little less poor.

The barmaid returned, and Damul thanked and tipped her, giving her a wink. There was nothing particularly sleazy about him (except that he was a thief), and the simple flirtations, in his eyes, always worked best. He took a large swig and stayed off his immediate reaction to retch. Instead, he did the thing he’d come here to do first: eavesdrop.

"She was purdy. Drop down b.....beau-tee-full."

 Damul took another drink, but noted the person who said. He was downright beautiful himself, and Damul should know. He had eyes that were almost as dark as his own, and the mystery guy certainly seemed to have enough to drink that Damul thought him an ideal target before noting his other companion. The guy was lanky, like him, and had equally nice eyes, although they were more blue than black. Damul watched them a moment out of the corner of his eye, and the barmaid returned and filled him up another mug. He smiled, and then returned to watching those two characters. He didn’t know why, and damn well couldn’t explain it, but somehow he felt as if there were more in store involving those two, not just robbing them.

Was that his third drink? How did he get to his third? Was he actually starting to like this stuff?

“Inconceivable,� he muttered to himself. Ok. Back on track, boy.

[Anonymous]

"Mmm, beautiful is right.."  Ari mumbled with his chin against the table again, "She looked like Lena... 'cept Lena was lighter an' not so purdy..."  He pouted to himself, completely dragged from his previous spin.  He dropped his face onto his cheek and wished his mugs would come back, unsure if he wanted the girl to bring them.  Luckily for him, she didn't.  Unluckily for him, she still came back, and without the mugs.

"Feelin' down?"  She sweetly and sympathetically inquired, rubbing a hand on his shoulder.  When he only grunted a responce and muttered something about mugs, she shrugged and looked at the singer with that same warm smile she first gave him,  "Another girl's gonna bring you your drinks, I thought I could keep ya company 'till then.  But if your friend isn't up for it.."  When he only cried out in agony louder, she bit her lip and scurried off.  Ari lifted his head, only to drop it back on the table again and repeat the process a few times, wishing for the swirling to come back.

"Issnot fair...ya knoow?"  He mumbled, cheek on the table again and eyes shut, "I promise myself, prooomisse that I'mgonna fine her...  I'm gonna fine 'er, an' I'm gonna change what I saw...  An' I'll do it ina year...  An' then sheeeee shows up an' it finally goes great, ya know..?  An--"  His head flew up off the table and his eyes widened.

"She left me!  SHE LEFT ME!!"  He jumped out of his chair, standing up, and threw his arms in the air,  "<B>SHE LEFT ME!!!"  He grinned madly, turquoise eyes dancing, and he lept onto the table.  "SHE LEFT MEE-eee"  He wobbled a little, and the swirling hit him again.  He managed his way off the table, and once sitting, saw that the young blonde had helped him down.

"May not want to stand on top of the tables, hun.  Don't wantchya to get hurt."  She smiled, sweetly at him before turning and waving for the serving wench from before to come over with their new mugs, "If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask her." She looked between the two, lightly laughing to herself, and rehid her glory among the croud.  Ari had fallen into a fit of laughter by now, smiling just as warmly as the blonde girl kept smiling at the two of them.

"She left me, Tadita!  She left me."  He sighed contentedly, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the table, only to tip himself in the process, into yet another nice mess on the floor.  He jumped to his feet and looked around himself madly.

"Bastard!  I'm gonna getchya if you don't stop doin' that!"  He reset his chair, somehow, and sat propperly this time, managing to keep his waving down to a minimum,  "Prolly safer t'not do that anyway..." He'd successfully managed to pick up the same accent as the blonde girl, and wondered how many people in this inn were out to get him.  That didn't last long, though, and after a few glances around him, he looked wildly back at Tadita and grinned, spinning far too much.

"But sheleft me!  Tonight I find her!!!"

[Anonymous]

As Ari spoke about a girl, Tadita wistfully thought of his own girl. Even though she was long dead, he had to cherish the memories. After all, that was this stage of the night was for. Drink himself into a hole and remember his love in the vibrancy of youth. Poor Ari seemed to be having some girl troubles. Tadita wondered if he could help, he was pretty good with the girls. And he was wicked good at manipulating people.

The barmaid talked to him and he struggled to keep her in focus, nodding. Whatever she wanted. He wasn't going to stand in the way of a pretty girl. That's what he did through all his new friend's mood, and through the dancing on the table. The girl seemed to be awfully nice, and she didn't even know their names. What a sweetie.

When Ari again fell, rage ignited in Tadita. That freaking asshole was still messing with his friend! Normally he wouldn't get this angry, mostly because he was never this drunk. Yet he always kept his emotions in tight check, and when pressed fell into his mental armor, that logical and cold persona in which all such feeling were turned into something far more deadly. But he was piss stupid drunk, and that reflex was something self-taught, erased under the influence of the alcohol.

As a result, he has no careful checks on his powers. The flaring rage igniting his use of Coldfire, at the object of his current attention. Luckily for the entire inn and the people inside, he was looking at his drink. Coldfire licked up the entire length, the blue fire chilling the air above the entire table. The liquid instantly froze, expanding and cracking a glass already made brittle by the extreme chill. The entire process took perhaps ten seconds, the anthesis to fire lasting for perhaps five seconds. If you weren't looking straight at the glass, one would miss it completely.

Tadita got wide eyed as shock awakened part of his mind from the fog it was shrouded in, and he realized what he had just done. If that had been a person and not a glass of ale... The implications hit him like a smack in the face, and his mind partially fell apart. He really was a failure. With shaking hands Tadita reached out and grabbed whatever mug was left and unharmed, not caring who's it was. Downing the entire thing in a couple gulps, he hoped it would restore him to a degree of that happy bliss in which he had been staying a couple minutes before, voice not as sure as before as he responded.

"Dun touch that glass. An' I'm happy for ya. We'll... have a party or sumthin."

[Anonymous]

"A huge party!  So everyone in La'marris here and shes here!!"  He said, completley oblivious to the glass.  He was going off of a rush now that had tuned into some celebration across the room, and was wild with happiness.

"Sheshould be somewhere 'round here!!"  He whirled around in his chair, too excited to fall over, and began to look wildly around the room,  "Yup, any minute now, that dark haired beauty...."  Ten minutes passed; the girl wasn't found.  Ari, on the other hand, could then be found sobbing on the table, yet again, balling his eyes out.

"She's not gonna comeeee..." He moaned into the table, "Shesnot gonna come b'cause I'm to drunk an' I wasn't drunk when I saw'er....."  He let out an exhausted groan, picked up on his sobbing for quite some time, and generally became the embodiment of pathetic misery.  He gained several looks, but didn't notice them.  He was too busy examining the effects of snot and spilled ale on the wood of the table, and too busy subconciously pulling from a girl sobbing outside of the inn.

[Anonymous]

Tadita grinned wildly at Ari's excitement, it restored most of his good spirits. This was the celebrating stage, no need to contemplate on his sorry existence now. There would be plenty of that later. He sat back in his seat, waiting patiently for the girl. Who knew how Ari knew she was coming, but he probably knew what he was talking about.

Ten minutes later, Tadita was wondering if this man was more drunk than he was acting. Yet he had to do something to help his friend out. A small amount of indignation was direction at the girl. She couldn't stand him up like this! It was mean to play with a man's emotions. He scooted the chair around the edge of the table next to Ari while he cried, and patted his back in an attempt to cheer him up. His voice was slipping deeper into the dialect, give it another drink and fifteen minutes, and he would be all but understandable.

"Aw, dun fret yerself naow. She'll come, an' we'll 'ave the party like ya said. Ev'rey damn person in Le'marri."

Tadita noticed the snot and his brotherly and cleanly instinct rose. Poor guy, he must not have a hankerchief. Pulling one from his pocket, he held it out to Ari, indicating that he should take it.

"You dry them tears an' wipe your nose, and we'll get plannin' on that party."

[Anonymous]

"Bu' she'snot gonna come..."  He whimpered and cringed into the table, wanting to shrink into a ball and die.  He didn't even want to drink anymore.  He just wanted to leave La'marri and go back to his home in Adela...  Adela?  He didn't live there.  But who did he know that lived there...  His aunt Kares and--no, no, he didn't have an aunt Kares...he didn't have any aunts.  Besides, she was dead and--  dead?  Who the hell was she?  He just grew more and more confused, and balled up against the table.  Maybe this was what Lena used to worry him about, the wrong people being around when he drank..

As soon as Tadita started patting him, though, the worries melted away. He suddered a few times, and then looked up and glared at the croud where the girl hadn't appeared.

"Errr!  Stupid girl!  Always being late!!  Women're never on time.  And now she's going to ruin my destiny.  Just wonderful.  An' she was s'posedta be here for me when I lost Lena...  Now I'm gonna be alone frever!  I hate her!  I hate her!!!"  He kicked over the nearby chair he used to be putting his feet on, and watched it fall for a moment.

"I wanted to put my feet on that...damn it..."  He dropped his head back on the table again, and began the whimpers and the sobs again, while the swirling became too confusing,  "Tadidida...make it stop...too much bad...I jus wanna see 'er......"  He sniffled, and wondered where the happy people all went.

[Anonymous]

Jack finally pulled up to an inn near La'marri, panting, blood-soaked sweat dripping off of him. The ride had been rough enough to wake Taki from his slumber, and make Lochlan complain grumpily about traveling coach. The inn looked quaint, and inviting for those who had spent their past few nights on the ground. Jack unhitched himself and replaced his shirt, immediately putting Lochlan into a headlock and dragging him off the wagon.

      "Sorry, mates, but I need a stiff drink after that. And what was that?" He put his ear closer to the grumbling Lochlan's mouth, immediately looking up and grinning. "And my mate Lochlan 'ere is buyin'!" He dragged the hapless bandit into the inn. Taki looked helplessly and then took a look at his other erstwhile companions.

       "Can we go in now? I've learned that leaving Jack alone in a bar for longer than fifteen seconds is begging for trouble..."

[Anonymous]

Bane easily kept pace with the wagon, using the trip to perfect her transformation. If she were to look like a horse, why not look like a damned good one? It wasn't hard to use her knowledge to carefully adjust porportions, and fiddle with a couple other points. The end result was the girl looking to be a small, yet nearly perfect jet black horse. The exact purpose for doing this wasn't clear, yet she enjoyed it anyways.

Clipping and clopping into the town, Bane realized a fatal flaw in her plans. She was a horse now... but horses weren't allowed into inns. And she couldn't just transform into a girl in the middle of the street. Part of it was that all of her life, the young woman had been told not to transform in front of others. First it was to hide her potential from her parents, then later to hide a pricy government expirement from the public. And here she was likely to be shunned, though people here did have magic. Mulling over it, she decided that when the others went inside and attention was drawn off of them, she would slip into an alley and change, and hope no one noticed. Stopping when Jack did, she stamped a hoof against the cobblestones, waiting impatiently for Billy to get his slow ass into the inn.

Tadita suddenly slammed his mug on the table, resolve coursing through his veins. That good-for-nothing whore was standing up his buddy! There was only way to fix this... or there was only one way apparent to his very drunk mind. Go find this harlot, and bring her here. If she wasn't coming on her own, then Tadita was going to bring her. Never mind that he had no idea what her name was, or what she even looked like...

"I'm gonna look for her till I fin' her and drag her ass here ta meet ya!"

The plan was sound... until he stepped outside. Which that in itself was a truimph, the man was ready to fall on his face at any second. Clutching onto the doorframe for support, he squinted, suddenly wondering why he was leaving the achohol behind. It was then that his black eyes landed on the most beautiful black horse that he had seen in a long, long time. All thoughts of looking for Ari's girl faded, and he sprang forward to look over the magnificent mount standing in front of him. Running a hand down her whithers, he let out a very unmanly squel. The more he saw, the more he liked. Looking up, he saw a wagon with two men and a woman. They must own this beauty. Dark eyes shining and arms wrapped around the mare's neck (as much to keep balance as much as he loved her), he blurted out words in his now accented and slurred words.

"Oi! 'Ow much for this mare? I'll buy her! I'll give ya 50 gold pieces for her!"

The amount, of course, was about twice what a horse like that was worth. But Tadita was hooked, and wanted the new love of his life now. He didn't have that amount on him, but he certianly had it. The man had worked and sometimes plundered for nearly 600 years. After that amount of time you tended to work up massive amounts of money.

[Anonymous]

Ari thought it was noble of his friend to go out and do in one night what he couldn't do in a year.  He smiled, feeling his friend's confidence and took his head off of the table.

"Tha's right, she'sgotta come!  Le's get 'er!"  He nodded several times to portray his emphasis, and stood up to follow his friend, when he found himself sitting right back down again.  He tried again, and still was in the chair.  He turned to call after his friend.

"Actually, you go right ahead and get her... an' I'll wait here..."  He continued to nod, and absentmindedly grabbed a nearby mug that had ended up on their table.  He nodded to the mug, reassuring it that his friend would succeed, and decided to prove such to the mug by continuing to empty it.

---

Outside, in the wagon, the ride had left an awkward silence hanging between the Wolf and his girl, (who, it could seem, was less and less his, and more and more girl.)  While Billy had watched the scenery roll by, he hadn't even made a single sarcastic, obnoxious, or playful comment.  He never complained about the bumpiness of the ride, the tedium of travel time, or his soon-to-be-chew-toy sleeping.  He just watched the scenery, which left Shadow uneasy.

Life sparked back into the boy when Jack mentioned words like "drink" and "Lochlan buying."  His soon-to-be-chew-toy asking them to leave just quickened his revival and before he could speak, his stomach spoke for him.  You could almost hear the word "foooood" among the gurgling and groaning.

Then a random drunk appeared, fondling Bane, who had nicely stayed a horse instead of cramping everyone together in the wagon.  Shadow smirked quietly to herself, waiting for Bane to shift back and see the look on the drunks face when the horse became a girl.  She gathered her bag together and hopped over the side of the wagon, to follow Jack into the Inn.  Thinking about it more, she realized it would probably never faze him.

"SOLD!  To the highest bidder!"  Billy cheered out of the blue to the inquiring drunk, thrusting his hand in front of the wobbling man's face.  "Gimme the money!"