What was a simple day(open)

[hikaru.dream]

The last customer closed the door behind him leaving the small chingle.

They had to make money. Etona knew that and somehow found this bar.
The owner had decided to go on a trip due to the bad business. In her opinion he was just running away. The restaurant was in horrid shape and she wasn't surprised that no one came. It stunk badly too.

It took them two whole days to clean the place up.
Now, it was completely a different place.
It was sparkling clean, showing no sign of the mess before.
Etona had to admit that she was using a bit of illusions to cover up the stains that was uncleanable by hand. But no one noticed and even if they did, it was better with the illusions there than not.

Etona set down the wine glass she had been drying with a clink and got to work to another one. It wasn't bad this job. She loved cooking and no one gave her a second glance once they got their order.

She stared at the red curtains that were draped around and blinked once. They faded into a light blue, giving the restaurant a more cheerful look.
This happened every two hours or so, when there were no customers. It was just that she was bored.


Faintly, she heard a ruckus in the streets of the village.
But that was cut off by the bell of the door as someone stepped into the restaurant. Etona plastered a smile on her face.
"Welcome, how may I help you?"

[Anonymous]

"SOMEONE STOLE MY MONEY!" came a cry in the streets.

Aerynn appeared out of the shadows just right next to this restaurant. She chuckled as she fingered the coin purse, pleased by the moderate sum in it. Earlier, she had run out of money, so she had decided to pick the pocket of some unfortunate passerby. It wasn't because she wanted to out of sport; she was just starting to get hungry. Such was the life of a thief.

To her fortune, the half-elf woman "jumped" right next to the restaurant. As she approached the door, she began to wonder what she was going to eat. With zanbatou in hand and running the other hand through her brownish-bronze hair, she opened the door and stepped through. A bell chimed, and almost immediately, she was greeted:

Welcome, how may I help you?"

Aerynn's green eyes set upon a woman standing behind the bar of this well-kept restaurant. After looking around a bit, she looked at the woman and smiled cheerfully. She approached the bar and sat down, setting her weapon on her lap.

"Hi, how are you?" she said. "A pint of ale and and some beef stew, please."

[hikaru.dream]

"Fairly good, thank you." Etona replied.

"Would there be a particular type of beef stew you'd like?" She asked as her slender hands swiftly put away the glass she had been working on. She was quick at her work even as she talked, already taking out things needed for the order.
"And about how much would you like?"

Etona was not particularly the chatty type, but this customer interested her. As in how she had practically appeared in next to the place.
The lady was shorter than Etona herself, she noticed, but on the other hand, Etona knew she was tall for a girl.


The ruckus faded away, perhaps gone searching for the cause of it.

"That was quite a noisy crowd." She commented, almost to herself.

[Anonymous]

Aerynn shrugged as looked at the woman, who seemed nice enough. "Some beef curry stew would be good. A small bowl of it please," she said.

She knew the cause of the ruckus outside was herself...but she wasn't about to make that known, was she? "Yeah, I wonder what's going on?" she said curiously to herself.

[hikaru.dream]

Etona prepared the customer's order quickly.
One thing she had learned since she had started running the business was that many people didn't enjoy made to wait, so she did her best to do everything as quick as possible.

Etona shrugged lightly at the other's words, despite the fact that she had been the one to first mention the subject. It wasn't abnormal to have people yelling of theft in the streets. Etona was quite aware that she herself was living of that stolen money that thieves payed with. Anyway, the half elf didn't seemed to care much about the fact either.

The tall girl took out a bowl, a small one as requested, from a nearby shelf.
A delicious smell began to spread around as the stew cooked. She checked the amazing accurate clock in her head to see how long it had taken to prepare it. Not so bad.

"Here you go."
She said, setting the steaming bowl in front of Aerynn, along with the ale.
Etona then studied her newest customer.
She seemed to be about nineteen, but Etona wasn't sure since it was obvious that she had elf blood.
The tanned skin hinted of many years of traveling which made Etona even more curious. What was this 'Earth' like?
She had the perfect build for a dancer, Etona noted, as she turned away to clean up after her cooking.
This was three seconds after she had put the bowl in front of Aerynn.

((OoC: Sorry to have been so late >.<))

[Anonymous]

Aerynn smiled and thanked the bartender. Man, that stew smelled so good! It probably smelled better than some of the other stews she had up to this point. After taking a sip from her ale, she picked up the spoon and scooped up a small spoonful of the stew. Steam was pouring off of it, so she blew on it to cool it down a bit. She then tasted it, and she was instantly overwhelmed by its flavor. It was definitely the best stew she ever tasted.

"Wow, this stew is really great!" she exclaimed. "You did a great job cooking this."

[hikaru.dream]

"I'm glad to hear that." Etona said, smiling quite happily.
She liked it when people complimented her cooking. Being complimented was something she hadn't experienced much in her life.

The small kitchen, was not such a hard place to clean up and was done in a couple of minutes.
Etona took out a glass from the same shelf that held the bowl and filled it with water. She returned to her customer and gestured to a large stool behind the counter which happened to be right in front of the half elf. It was almost hidden by the counter though, so Etona wasn't sure whether it could be seen from the other side.
"Would you mind if I sat here?" She asked, just in case.
Usually she sat there whether the customer liked it or not, but angering someone who she was interested in didn't help her.

[Anonymous]

Aerynn smiled. "No, not at all. Have a seat," she said, then, after another spoonful of stew, "I've been pretty lonely lately, and I kinda wanted to talk to somebody." True, she had been traveling alone for the past month and a half, and it kind of drove on her nerves when she had no one to talk to.

[hikaru.dream]

"Thank you." Etona said smiling, as she took the seat.
She was silent for a while watching the other eat, in of course, a way so that her customer most likely wouldn't mind. She had gained many a thing from running the small bar.
Emerald green eyes met her own. Etona liked the innocent impression they gave. The pretty emerald color reminded her of her mother. Someone she had not met in a long, long time.

Realizing she had drifted off into her own thoughts, she mentally shook her self and took a sip of water.
In the silence, a crowd returning could be heard.
The sound of Etona setting down the glass carefully interrupted it. Glass was rather expensive here.


"You are a dancer?"
It had been said as question, but it was obvious that it had been an statement.
Etona rested her elbow on her side of the counter.
Politics were fun, and cooking was great, but when it came to what she really liked, nothing could beat dancing.

[Anonymous]

After Aerynn finished another spoonful of stew, she raised an eyebrow; how did she know? Well, at least she didn't say shadowdancer; now THAT would shock her.

"Why yes," Aerynn said, giving a smirk. "How did you know?"

[hikaru.dream]

Etona lazily traced a finger in the air. One of the flowers by the door slowly turned from a dark purple to a soft pink.
She shrugged slightly.
"It was more of a guess than anything else." Etona said, smiling in satisfaction that she had been right.
"I've been around dancers for a long time. There is a certain way some move that gestures that they have experienced dancing before. Or how they are shaped."
Etona shrugged again.
"So, would you mind enlightening me on what kind of dancing you do?"

[Anonymous]

Aerynn smirked at the comment. Then she said, "Would you believe me if I said I was a shadowdancer?" Not too many people outside of the troupe knew of shadowdancers, so this kind woman might be obscure to the fact as well.

[hikaru.dream]

Etona smiled slightly.
"Why shouldn't I believe you?" she replied.
There were so many different kinds of everything that she was now hardly surprised if there was something she didn't know. Especially in a place she had just arrived in. She just, almost greedily, sucked in the information.
"I have heard of such dancers, but I'm not sure that they do the same dancing as the shadow dancers you mention."

[Anonymous]

Aerynn smirked after she took in another spoonful of curry. Her boot was touching a shadow that was being cast from one of the chairs, so she figured that she might as well show her the "jump". "Really?" she said. "Can the dancers you speak of do this?" She then vanished into thin air.

She reappeared in the Plane of Shadow, a bleak, colorless image of the material plane. She then danced to where the doorway was, then she shifted out.

She reappeared on the material plane as suddenly as she disappeared, gracefully spinning once, then leaning against the doorway. "Well?"

[hikaru.dream]

Etona barely kept her surprise hidden as Aerynn disappeared.
From what she could tell, it wasn't like any transportation spell. Etona quickly laid out the possibilities. Perhaps this woman was capable using spells without any gestures. But if that was the case, Etona was sure she would have been able to sense something, no matter how fast.

"I doubt it." Etona replied and gave a short applause to the spin.

[Anonymous]

Aerynn gave a small smile as she walked back to the bar and sat at her seat. "Yes, shadowdancers aren't that well known in this world...they are perhaps the most mysterious dancers in existence," she said, taking another sip of her ale.

[hikaru.dream]

Etona silently watched the woman walk back seat, tapping her fingers lightly on the counter as if she had something on mind.

"Seems so." Etona agreed.
"Would you mind telling me about them?"

It was not as if she completely expected to be able to hear about these shadowdancers. It was more of a hope than anything else. But it was worth a try. She nearly forgotten that there would be different types of dancing in a different world. At least she had heard the name, she thought. She was one less person who didn't know of the dancers.

"By the way, my name is Etona. May I ask yours?"
She added, a smile drifting over her lips.

[Anonymous]

Aerynn smirked. "My name's Aerynn Naria. I'll be happy to tell you about them...but only if you're willing to keep this conversation between the two of us." She didn't want to give away too much information to someone she had only just met.

[hikaru.dream]

This time Etona didn't manage to hide her surprise so well.
It was rare for someone to be willing to talk so quickly, at least Aerynn was quicker than most. Etona was perfectly fine with that, though she doubted she could get any deep information.
"Well met, Ms.Naria." She said still smiling slightly. She glanced at the other's expression. This woman enjoyed smirking very much.
"Of course." Etona answered, looking at Aerynn straight in the eye.

[Anonymous]

Aerynn looked at Etona straight in the eye, certain that she should trust her. She then began her explanation.

"The origins of the shadowdancer go back many centuries. Not even I know how they came to be, but some say that their power came from the parallel Plane of Shadow. Because of this, the shadowdancers wound up in total mystery. They can travel between this realm and the Plane of Shadow easily, like you saw earlier, and they can summon shades to do certain tasks for them."

She paused. "You with me so far?"