Inn on the Outskirts of Town (P)

[Anonymous]

"She's NOT for sale!" Taki exclaimed, shooting a glare at Billy. Jack and Lochlan turned around, staring as the scene unfolded. Taki stormed over to the drunkard.

"Get away from her. She's not for sale unless she says she is."

[Anonymous]

A giggle of happines went through Tadita when he heard that this beautiful mare was sold to the highest bidder. He would be, with so much stored away in cash. If it required a trip to get another stash of money, then it would be worth it. He had plans for her. Not only would she be a perfect riding companion, but he would breed her to a handsome stallion and the get would be perfect.

A genuinely confused look came over him when the other one protested. But she was sold! And who said horses had a say, anyways? Unless he had his arms around a pretty magical horse. Then that would be even better!

"But she's a horse. A beautiful horse, but do they really get their own say?"

Bane had finally had enough. She very damned well had her own say in what happened to her life. There was no way she was going to bend to someone's will, not after spending so long doing what someone else to tell her. In the labs her entire life and body had been someone else's, an expensive plaything to be told when to eat, sleep, even pee. Her fear of being shunned might have kept her in horse form before, but after this comment she was done. No long caring what anyone else around her thought, the girl swiftly changed into her normal form. The only problem was that Tadita still had his arms wrapped around what now amounted her her shoulders.

Rage continued to rise, and she didn't kindly duck out of his embrace or even just shrug off the drunk's arms. He was an attractive man, yet the scent of ale on his breath and the entire situation had put her in a mood to murder. Drawing back an arm and delivering a short uppercut to his face, the force of emotion and physical strength behind it sent the man flying through the air to land on his back, breath leaving him in a rush.

After the dust had settled she flipped her hair over her should with an imperious flip. Normally she would have cast Billy some sort of glare or harsh word, but he didn't even earn that much. She would deal with that fuckface later, when she wasn't so torn between crying or attemping to go on a rampage. Taki, however, earned a truely grateful smile. Unlike a certian boy whom she wanted to rip apart forcibly, he had been willing to speak up for her. She then started after Jack and the redhead, planning to get a stiff drink.

[Anonymous]

Billy rolled his eyes, growing annoyed with his chew toy.  Of course Bane wasn't for sale, even if she said she was she wouldn't be for sale!  Bane was her own damn person and now had the freedom to be such.  Billy was just trying to have fun...why did Taki have to be such a literalist?

Of course, he would have taken the drunk's money...  The man didn't seem like he'd notice anyway.  Then Bane could change back and clock him like she had, and she and Billy could both make sure he didn't try to buy her again.  Still, everything he kept thinking of wasn't happening, and right now he just didn't want to deal with it anymore.  His head was throbbing and his stomach was about to consume his other internal organs.

"Are you alright?"  Shadow's voice snapped him out of his own mind.

"Yeah."  Billy said monotonously, and hopped out of the wagon after her.

"You sure?"  Shadow said with a small smile, finally glad to get some response out of him.  She attempted to pat him on the shoulder.

"I'm fine, just hungry.  Lets go, it's cold."  His head was beginning to buzz a little as he simply walked ahead of her to go in.  Shadow shrugged, mentally agreeing with him on the temperature.  Besides, some normal, not wild food would be nice.  She walked with the rest of them in.

[Anonymous]

Taki huffed into the inn, past Lochlan and Jack, the vampire seeming fixed intently on Billy. Jack pushed Lochlan through the door, and allowed the others to pass, placing a hand on Billy's shoulders.

"Look, lad, I understand if ye were just joking, but it was in poor taste. My people were sold into slavery as a game a long time ago, and anyone who's been a captive doesn't appreciate those kinds of glib comments. It's also simply impolite to treat a lady like that. Ye're and ass, and if ye don't want to be losin' all yer friends, ye should work to correct that." He removed his hand and turned around, pausing a moment before he left the entrance. "Two more things there, boy. Where I come from, wolves are creatures of honor and majesty. Ye're doing your lineage shame. Second, if ye ever tell Bane I defended her honor like this, and I will make you a snack while ye're sleeping." He started towards the bar.

Taki and Lochlan had already found themselves at said bar, next to an odd little man. Lochlan was still fuming, angered at his loss of control in this situation. Taki, however, was trying to lighten the mood in typical Taki fashion, hugging Lochlan tightly.

"You're really nice, Lochlan! For a murderous would-be bandit, anyway! Andyou have pretty hair and eyes!"

"... Please get off of me and annoy the other patrons or I will slit your throat, speed freak." Taki quickly backed off, making a face, and looked at the odd man next to him, who seemed ambivalent, or rather, to be a torrent of emotions in and of himself.

"Hi!" He exclaimed, thrusting a hand outward. "I'm Taki! Who are you?"

[Anonymous]

Bane had paused when entering the bar, looking around and carefully assessing the situation. She was still new to this entire era, and therefore liked to know what she was getting into. It was then that she followed Taki and their new "friend" to the bar, slipping into a seat next to them. She was ready to plop her head on the smooth counter and pass out, now that the adrenaline of the anger had died down. Billy was such an asshole, and the thought depressed her. They had had so much fun in the labs, like true great friends would. And now he was trying to sell her. Great.

Tadita laid on the ground for several seconds, because that's how long it took his normally razor-sharp brain to process what had just happened. So that beautiful horse wasn't a horse... it was a girl. Revulsion swelled up in him as he realized what he had tried to do. He had tried to buy a person! How low could someone get? Sure it had been an accident, but it was a terrible accident! He couldn't just let it go like that. They were probably hating him now.

Stumbling to his feet, Tadita did a kind of jump-fall to the doorframe, shakily holding himself up. He really did have too much, if he was having trouble standing. Letting the haze and dots clear from his vision, the man re-entered the inn. Looking around with squinted eyes, he finally saw the girl and her companians. Stumbling to them he grabbed the table for support, nearly collapsing on it. The words spilled out in a rush, almost untellible between his now think dialect, the drunken slurring, and the rush he said them in.

"I em sorry! I din mean ta buy enyone! I saw a hurse and narry a gurl!"

Striving deep in his pocket, Tadita withdrew his money pouch and opened it, spilling most of the contents onto the table in front of him. He'd already paid for his room (for several days) and drink in advance, so he didn't need to keep much if any of it for the moment.

"Here! Fur rooms an' food!"

[Anonymous]

A few steps ahead and Billy found himself stopped by Jack. He wasn't quite sure why, last he knew Jack had been just as eager to get in the inn as he was; yet there he was being held in place again, food dangling in front of his face and his head buzzing. Of course the world couldn't be completely better this quickly, he never should have expected that.  There wasn't an easy way to think of places as better or worse, and with that thought Billy had a short nostalgic moment for the conversations he would have with the young girl.

The moment ended quickly when his stomach growled to tell him Jack stopped talking.  He went over everything he absent-mindedly heard in his head a moment and just stared at him.  His head buzzed more as his frustration grew and he felt heat rise up in his throat, but his stomach growled again and settled it down.  He wanted food, there was no point in wasting time to get that on this dude who really seemed to not know anything about Bane or himself and probably only picked on Billy because he was shorter.  Choosing that as his mental justifications of the moment, he remained quiet and trudged in as well.

---

Inside, Shadow had followed Taki, Lochlan, and Bane to where they had all sat.  She sat next to Bane, thinking of something to say to try to excuse her friend.  He really was just overly playful and got carried away sometimes, Shadow knew this from several occasions of apologizing for his actions.  Yet, no matter how often she did it, it still usually didn't go over well.  Of course, often cases were expected to not do such, especially when Billy's games weren't stopped and villages were partially damaged.

"I'm sorry about Billy out there,"  She started sheepishly, unsure of how the girl would take this on top of having been ditched in another time,  "Billy is...hard to handle.  He gets extremely playful...takes jokes too far...gets carried away.  I'm sure he wouldn't have let anything happen to you.  He's just...very different.  It takes a long time of getting to know him to learn how to adjust to him, to get used to him...  He wouldn't have meant anything serious though."

---

Ari, who had been ranting endlessly to his mug that someone was still out to get him and took his drink while he waved Tadita off, gained a sudden burst of energy when he found a hand thrust in his face.  He waved back from the motion, as if to try to dodge the hit or expect the rest of the world to be moving in the same fashion, and then grinned at the silver haired stranger and shook his hand vigorously.

"I'm Ariii!  Arriandus Adderrsi!!!  I'm a demon!!!"  He spoke excitedly, as his friend Tadita came over.  The singer started rambling too slurred and accented for Ari to understand, and suddenly dropped an entire pouch of coins and such on the table for no good reason, which confused Ari because all those coins could have been used for valuable things like food and drinks and finding other ways to entertain themselves and their new friends, who would be SO much fun to hang out with now!  Then he noticed Tadita seemed upset as he was rambling, maybe the guy who kept stealing Ari's stools and drinks did something to bother him.  Ari leaned in his seat slightly to see who he was talking about, and then he saw her.  She was sitting very bitterly right next to him, anger filling her beautiful eyes, hair mustled in that perfect way, completely infuriorated and adorable.

"TADITATADITATADITATADITATADITA!!!!!!!!  THASHERTHASHER!!!!!!!!"

[Anonymous]

Jack walked up to the commotion to see Lochlan sneakily taking coins off of a table. He placed a hand on the boy's shoulders roughly.

"Put 'em back." Lochlan cursed under his breath and replaced the money, and Jack smiled. Blood bonds were so much fun. The irishman looked up at the rest, hearing  the drunk's pleas and seeing Taki had made a new friend.

"Well, yes, there, lad, 'er name's Bane. And I'm Jack, and this 'ere's Lochlan. The lovely one with the sheepish demeanor is Ally, and the idiot who's stomach is equaling the volume of the bar has a name, but he's below your concern. And who might ye be?" Taki turned to Jack, a shining grin covering near half his face.

"His name's Ari, and he's a demon! Isn't that funny, with me being an angel? And you being a vampire, and Bane being all shapeshifty? We meet all kindsa cool people, don't we?!" Jack looked around nervously, as Taki was beinig quite loud...

[Anonymous]

"Hey! I'm undead! We're awesome!"

Tadita started grinning as he heard introductions, happy that he wasn't going to be murdered for trying to buy a person. His face hurt enough already. And it would suck, to live so long and through so much, only to be killed off while incredibly drunk and because he made a simple mistake. And this wasn't even that bad of a mistake, he'd made worse ones. Or made one on the same level and had them turn out a lot worse.... either way he'd messed up a lot. That was why he would soon go into the most excruciating pain, as part of a long punishment for doing those things. It didn't matter that he had been half brainwashed, a real man could have stood up for himself and stopped, no matter what happened to him, no matter what he had been through.

It was then that Ari's joyous cried broke though his depressive haze. His mind slowly processed, as he looked over with glazed eyes, then followed Ari's line of sight. Right to the girl he tried to to buy. He jumped, and nearly died right there and then. How would his new friend react if he knew that Tadita had tried to buy the girl of his dreams? But, as his mind lamented again, he hadn't meant to! It was her fault for walking around town looking like a beautiful horse!

Yet on another note... he'd gone out into the world and found the girl Ari had been looking for, and he didn't even know what she had looked like!

"Tha's her?? I fuckin kick ass!!"
--
Bane gave a somewhat creeped out look to both screaming men. She looked down at the coin that the man had dumped onto the table, and was relieved. That solved their money problem for the moment. She left them there, figuring Jack would be much better suited to handling the money. She wasn't trying to be lazy, she knew that Jack had lived his entire life in this era, and knew the ropes.

Shadow apologized for Billy's actions, and Bane gave her a somewhat blank look. Did the girl not think that she knew Billy? To know the guy more than 5 minutes drove the lesson of him being "hard to handle" home. And why did she feel the need to apologize for him? It wasn't like she was his keeper.

"I know he takes things too far and likes to play jokes. I mean, we played all sorts of pranks in the labs. Like the one time, we thought it would be really funny to steal all the plates from the cafeteria and run. But then he thought that it would be funnier to break them instead of just steal them, and we ended up not being able to eat for like a week until replacements came in. We got in so much trouble for that one..."

[Anonymous]

Shadow blinked, quite caught off guard by the girl.  She knew that they had to have known each other previously somehow, they were caught together when she found them and first brought them out of wherever they were trapped, and she seemed to have some sense when she was around him in the fields.  Still, Shadow hadn't spent more than five minutes with Billy before they went back for the girl, and he hadn't told her anything about where he was, or what happened.  And to have Billy's nature spewed in her face was definitely uncomfortable for her, that was her job...

"Oh...yeah, that seems like something he would do..."  She laughed sheepishly, now being shut up by this girl.  She bit her lip to herself and wondered what was meant by the labs, what really had happened to him.  And she fell into a fit of worries, while Billy simply came up next to her and sat down.

"So...what's good to eat here, Bane?"  He asked around Shadow, forcing the words out as friendlily as he could.  He wasn't feeling great and didn't feel like prolonging anything, his headache was beginning to disrupt his stomach and that never lead anywhere well.  It was kind of weird, he hadn't gotten sick like this for a few weeks.  His mind hurt too much to try to credit it to having been out in the world again, or having transformed for the first time in those weeks, or for something completely random.  He just wanted food.

---

"You're an angel??  Woah, that's so cool!!!"  Ari said, finally speaking right for the first time in quite a while.  "Can you fly???  CAN I FLY???"  He jumped out of his seat excitedly and flew straight to the floor at Jack's feet, looking up at him nervously.

"You're...a vampire?  That's...cool...  I knew one once...."  His eyes darted from Jack to Taki to his chair to his empty mug and back to jack in fearful cycles, until he just stared at Jack and couldn't look away.

"DON'TBITEMEIHAVECOLDBLOOD!!"  He yelped nervously and scampered along the floor to his chair as quickly as possible, grabbing onto it and trying to pull himself back up where he could sit.  It didn't work the first few times.

[Anonymous]

"Finally, we're here!" Andreia said with a long sigh, "Thank God, too... you're too heavy for me to carry all this time."

Yes, well, you don't -have- to carry me. You could just let me out and have me carry the axe.. Tal said, speaking directly into her head.

"Oooh no, I don't think so. I know the rules, buddy- I give you the axe, you get to go away, and for all I know you'll try an' kill someone. We can't have that."

Then can I at least come out?

"Not in a town. You always start fights and cause trouble. And frankly, all I want right now is a bed. No trouble. Ix-nay on the Ouble-tray, got it?" it had been a long month traveling on the road; When she left the last town they'd seen, she had a horse. about a week ago, though, she woke up one morning while Tal had been on watch to discover the horse (and most of their supplies) had wandered away. He'd remained in the axe since as punishment.

Fine, Girl, you win.

"Stop calling me that."

No.

"You know what? I'm gonna ignore you. You're just a voice right now, and you can't bring me down, 'cause there's a drink and a bed waiting for me right in here," Andreia smiled as she walked up to the door. It was loud inside; probably a brawl. What good was an Inn without a brawl or two?

She opened the door and breathed in the strong smell of ale and mead that issued forth, walking up to the bar. Two men were having a conversation nearby; One of them was drunk. Really drunk. Drunk like the mayor used to be... he was climbing up into his chair and seeming to have some issues with it.

"Alright, buddy, you need a hand?" she said, leaning down to help him back up with a smile on her face. No matter how long it's been, time spent as a barmaid always rushes back to you when you return to a bar.

Andreia.. pay attention to me. Something isn't normal here. I can taste it... In fact, if you let me out, I could even tell you what it was...

[Anonymous]

Ari's worries fell away as the girl helped him up, and he found his way to his seat without wobbling when he sat.  He smiled, somewhat goofily, at the girl and opened his mouth to thank her when he suddenly heard something, a voice coming out of no where talking to a girl.  He looked around himself attempting to look casual, (but far too wildly for anyone to not notice) and then looked at her.  She was a girl, she was near him, only now did it start talking.

"What was that??"  He looked around a few more times but kept returning back to her,  "Was'hat you?"  He leaned towards her,  "Do you have a vampire too?"  Suddenly he realized, what if she did!

"Don't let him out!!  I'll tell you what weall are, jus' don't let 'im out!!  We've already got one!!!  And I'm fine with 'em, I've have lotsa vampire friends, but this one!!"  He leaned closer to her, trying to whisper and being much louder than he realized,  "He looksat you, and terrorror just strikes you!  Right where you'd steak 'em!!  An' you worry without known why!!  If yours comes out those two...they might fight!!"  Ari, by this point, wasn't realizing that the 'fear striking his heart'  was simply the vampire's nervousness taking over him, nor did he realize it was coming back again ever since he thought about it.  As well, he didn't realize that the girl and the guy who had been sitting next to his girl were now staring at him.

"Maybe we should find another inn..."  The girl, Shadow, whispered to Bane, "There seems to be something strange in what they're drinking here..."  Billy laughed, not worrying about keeping quiet, he doubted the freak would notice.

"Maybe we shouldn't.  Whatever's in there, I think I want some."

[Anonymous]

Andreia scrunched up her face a little, confused. "Vampires...?" Obviously this was drunk. Severely drunk. 'I can feel the pulse of the planet' drunk.

"Vampires aren't real. They're just stories made up to frighten the youths." A little lying never hurt anybody, right? Besides, she's have to figure out just why he could hear the voice later. Tal had guaranteed her that only she could hear the voice. Maybe it was a property of being drunk...?

"Alright, you have fun now. I'm... gonna go." Andreia patted him on the shoulder and walked away towards the bar to talk to the tender. "Hey. I need one ale and a room for the night. How much would that be?"

How did he know...? He was not the one I sensed, Girl. There is another here. He is familiar to me, but I can't tell in this form. Please, let me out and I can find him. Maybe he can even help you on your quest.

"Damnit, Tal, I don't have a quest, I'm just trying to do good things." Adreia spoke quietly under her breath.

Yes. Your impossible quest.

She let loose a long sigh, sat on the stool and drank her mug. It was going to be a loooong eternity with him.

[Anonymous]

Ari sat there a moment, swirling a little.  He knew vampires were real, he just met one!  And an angel, and a bunch of other cool awesome new friends and--But she said they weren't real.  So...maybe they weren't?  It was rather confusing.  All he knew was that there was something in the drink and he wanted more...  But the jerk had gone and emptied his mug again.  He wished the pretty girl would come back and refill it.

Then he heard it again.

"Wait!!"  He threw his hand in the air in a messy attempt at a wave, trying to run after her,  "There's a lot of people here!  I'll tell you about all of 'em!  Just don'let him out!!  Don't!!!  He'll--"  And then he stopped, stumbled, and stood there, wondering what the hell he was doing.  He blinked, looked over at a table of people staring at him and stared back.  Then he walked back to his chair, sat down, and let his head fall on the table again, feeling a little sick.

Shadow simply took the sight to ask for some water and keep to herself.  Billy, on the other hand, already had found his way to a very attractive barmaid as was his way, and had his hands on a mug of "Whatever that guy over there was drinking," already drinking some as he made his way back to Shadow and Bane.

[Anonymous]

Something in Bane finally snapped. She's never claimed to be tolerant, or have a long patience. But she knew it was one of her many flaws, and tried to not tear people up because of it. Yet Billy had taken one step too far, he’d done just one too many things to warrant what to her was copious indulgence and forgiveness.

“What the <I>fuck</I> is your problem?�

The words snapped out of her, sudden and biting in their nature. Bane had rages that could cow the stoutest, and she wasn’t even pretending to hold back. She was beyond holding back for this stuck up poser, who had lead her on, let her think that they actually had a bond. Bane was a loyal girl, and in part of her thought everyone else should be loyal as well. To be betrayed cut deep.

“I thought we were friends! When we were at the lab you actually did shit with me! We had fun together! I thought I finally had someone to spend time with in that hell! You know how much it sucked there! And we finally get out, and you fucking leave me behind! What the fuck? You LEFT me here! You left me to die, asshole, and I almost did! You should have left me back at the labs if you were so keen on leaving me behind!�

As the words continued to flow, it just seemed easier to keep on going. She’d broken the initial barriers in her mind that were again chewing him out, and now they were tore down the words flowed like water from a broken dam. Bane’s anger also grew as she continued, not giving him time to defend himself or even react. Deep down, she knew that he would fight back, and later she would feel back. She wanted to get the feelings that swirled inside of her out before she had to fight to defend them.

“And then you come back like nothing had happened! Well guess what idiot, something huge happened! I got stuck in a fucking Lord of the Rings imitation, and you were probably kicking back in an armchair somewhere loving your fucking overrated reflection in a mirror!�

[Anonymous]

Billy stared at her slightly confused, swallowing another drink from his mug.  He was a little thrown that Bane suddenly burst on him; true, she did that time to time, but usually there was a little more warning ahead of time.  He shrunk back at first from the initial reaction of being yelled at, and then began to get angry too.  Who was she to just start yelling at him?

"My problem?  What the hell is yours??  You're the one jumping on me!"

He didn't speak fast enough, she continued, and the more she threw at him the more annoyed with her he became.

"And I don't even know what you're talking about!!  I was your damned friend until I come to see you and you're all bitchy!  Can't even take a fucking joke outside of there.  Maybe I should have left you back there!!!"

His headache was starting up again, which didn't inspire any goodness in his mood.  He took another drink while she kept yelling, thinking maybe that would help a little.  Heat instead rose in him with the argument.

"Forgive me if Shadow's moment of break through inconvenienced your life!!  I wanted to escape with you, but you didn't have to come!  And I had a moment of panic, oh God!  We came right back for you as soon as we realized everything that fucking happened, we didn't ditch you.  Oh man, less than a damn hour to die in the wild!  I didn't realize you were so vulnerable to danger!!!"

[Anonymous]

*Opening the door, and swiftly stepping inside, Nathien took a quick surveillance of the Inn. Finding a stool at the bar he makes his way elequently to a seat. from a satchel hidden beneath his trench he pulls out a black book with numerious hemetite, obsidion, and onyx stones upon it, it's clasp made of a strange seeming metal, perhaps mythral?*

*Whispering* "El'armigon" *the book opens and the pages whisp back and forth for a moment, settling on the sorcerer's desired reading. He then scrolled his attention to what forms of drinks he had to choose from, curious of what foods could be precured here, obviously searching for the host or hostess of the establishment.*