Two For You, and One For Me. (Blink, or if invited)

[Wrathwyrm]

He smiled at her statement, but he also said...

"I still say you're not crazy.  Maybe Akbar from that little shop is crazy, but uhh..."

Sano was interrupted by what Joseph Heller would coin as 'Another country heard from' in Catch-22.  He looked down at the stomach attempting to communicate with these foolish humans as he let Nashya go.  After a few seconds, he looked back to her face, clearly having not expected such a reaction there.

"Maybe we could talk and eat, like in a breakfast sort of setting.  I think that would be a good idea."

He indicated the direction of the table with his thumb and held the door open for her.  Yes, let's get back to sustenance, that thing they really needed right now.

[Blink]

Utterly mortified from the sound her body had just made Nashya could only bring herself to nod as he held the door for her.

Walking up to the table she took the same seat she had before except this time there was a large bowl of sweet porridge sitting there. The old woman must have served it while the were outside. How awkward would that have been if they never came back until later? At the very least Nashya would have had to deal with even more hateful stares.

Even her coffee was still sitting there which was a welcoming sight as she sat back in the chair and lifted the mug to her lips. It was only slightly cold, but still warm enough to awaken her soul as it was intended to from the beginning.

She then set the cup down and pulled the bowl towards her in angst. The anticipation completely worth it as she put the first spoonfull of it into her mouth and the flavors melted harmoniously. An audible "mmmm" came from her as she took in a second and then third spoonful, each one as glorious as the first.

As if hunger alone was the reason for her earlier crazy moment Nashya felt herself becoming more herself with each bite. Then an idea struck her that led to a smile creeping up on her lips. Oh yes, she was going to do the unthinkable as she scooped her spoon into the porridge and then quickly glanced at Sano.

In an assault as deadly as a swordstrike Nashya flicked her spoon causing some of the gooey magic to fly in Sano's direction, an aerial assault there was no way he could defend himself from.

[Wrathwyrm]

The two of them got back to their table and their meals, unaware that the brunette across the room was smiling to herself and thinking 'That's more like it'.  Sano resumed eating and drinking,  Sano noticed what Nashya was eating and seemed to be scrutinizing it somewhat.

"I've always preferred solid food, myself."

He probably shouldn't have said that.  For all we know, this was what began the act of war there was destined to occur.  The woman nearby him had prepared her spoon, after a moment, and fired a porridge projectile at him all of a sudden.  He was defenseless...or was he?  No, not true!  He had a fork!  The fork suddenly became a hand-fan, one made of metal, and blocked the splat...though it hit his hand!  Once he looked out from behind that, he gave Nashya such a stare as the fan returned to being a fork.  Then, he used it to fling some grits at her!

[Blink]

Nashya watched on as Sano transformed his fork into a hand fan and blocked the attack. Foiled again! With a new sense of determination she went in for another scoop of porridge before she was completely taken out by grits hitting her arm.

She paused, staring at the food as it made its way down her arm and onto the table. This small battle had now clearly formed into something much darker... this was war. What Sano did not know though was that Nashya was a dirty player. After all she never once said she followed the right side of morality when it came to battle.

Not able to flash her abilities like him without giving the poor innkeeper a heart attack Nashya opted for a measure much more subtle. Clearly flinging porridge at him wasn't enough of a strike to show she meant business and so she opted for something that would crush him far more than slimy sweetness.

She had to concentrate at this one as her eyes locked onto his coffee mug. It wasn't the liquid that she was trying to focus on though, but more the darkness between the bottom of the cup and the table. The way she looked at it was like she was trying to find something only to smile when she finally did.

Looking back at Sano she rested an elbow on the table followed by her head on her palm as she winked at him. This of course was a distraction to what she was really up to. Flicking her wrist under the table his coffee cup flipped over as if it had been bumped. Raising a brow she watched as the precious black liquid made its way towards the edge of the table and to his lap.

[Wrathwyrm]

Yes, ummm...  Well...to be fair, he was indeed amply distracted.  He fully-expected her to do something highly visible.  Instead, the unexpected happened, and a heaping helping of blackness poured onto his lap.  Fortunately, it was no longer piping hot, thanks to their brief excursion outside and the time spent in the interim.  The bad news is that coffee in lap was still coffee in lap, and the expression on his face changed to appropriately measure the 'Oh dear' quality of this occurrance as he looked down.

"What the f-  Oh, that's not good.  I swear this has never happened before."

There was a moment of staring at this, admittedly, before looking back at Nashya.

"That really isn't fair.  I'm not really built for hijinx, you know."

Yeah, 90% of his skills and abilities are meant to maim and kill!  It's not fair, using one of the areas he's not so easily able to avail himself in!

[Blink]

Chuckling she covered her mouth at his expression towards the coffee. He really was just too adorable for words sometimes. However, war was never a time for laughing and so Nashya moved on to phase two of her strike.

"What are you talking about? I did nothing..." Of course she couldn't keep a straight face to save her life right now but still she tried to create the illusion that she took no part in the coffee incident.

"I think you just got a little distracted and hit it yourself." With that Nashya picked up her spoon and took another bite of her porridge. "You know I thought someone as skilled as yourself could manage a mere coffee mug."

By now her bowl was practically empty as she pushed it away. No longer did her stomach growl in hunger or did she feel any kind of uncertainty of their relationship. Breakfast seemed to mend more than a growling stomach in this case. The only thing she seemed to have left was a bit of coffee in her own mug and as an act of peace she slid it over to Sano.

"Here... you can have the rest of mine."

[Wrathwyrm]

"I'm pretty sure I DO know how to manage a cup in the morning, Nashya."

He said this in a voice that clearly stated 'You're not fooling anyone, you know'.  Fortunately, he'd been nearly done eating, as well, so when she pushed over her peace offering, Sano decided not to do anything harmful with it, though it was certainly possible for him to do so.

"Thanks."

He drank, and Nashya would feel the light poke-poke action of the butt-end of a utensil - a fork, in fact - against her shoulder, her other shoulder, the small of her back, and other fairly-innocent places.  Sano smirked after a bit of this.

"It's only fair.  I'll have to clean my pants."

Ah yes, the heartfelt and amusing vision of Sano grumbling as he washed a pair of pants.

[Blink]

Letting out an "Mhmm" Nashya eyed Sano with a grin still plastered on her face. Clearly she had won this war and she knew it. Or at least she thought she did until she felt a light poke at her shoulder.

Turning her head she saw the fork levitating near her and immediately knew she was in for trouble. The fork itself had managed to poke at her over and over again causing a mixture of giggling and blushing on her part. How was she supposed to fight a utensil!?

Sano then mentioned something of having to clean his pants and Nashya still felt she had partially won, despite the fork now poking at the small of her back. "Don't you..." she paused as the fork poked her side. "... don't you have an extra pair?"

She had had enough of the fork's assault and grabbed it in mid air before holding onto it for dear life, expecting in some way for it to retaliate. How silly she must have looked battling a fork...

Continuing on with her statement Nashya tried her best to remain serious despite the fun they were just having. "You could just give the dirty pair to miss grumpy pants over there..." Nashya pointed at the innkeeper who was STILL glaring at her. "...she will launder them for you."

[Wrathwyrm]

She grabbed the fork and all was well, for a moment.  Then, she asked her question and Sano willed the handle of the form to extend so that it was still able to poke her, here and there.

"Yes, I do carry spare clothes.  You never know when something is going to happen to the ones you're wearing, after all."

And yes, the battle against the form DID look silly.  Maybe not as funny as the chuckle-worthy comment of calling the innkeeper a grumpypants, but there we are.  Sano laughed.  Still, the prospect of having had clothes laundered by someone who really knew what they were doing appealed to him.

"I think I probably will do that, once I've changed.  Can't ask someone to take care of this with a wet lap.  It really looks and sounds wrong."

So very wrong...  So, if 'hostilities' would cease for a moment, he can go and handle this..wardrobe malfunction.

[Blink]

"What the-" The battle began once more as Nashya found herself out maneuvering a fork that changed shape. Still she tried to keep up with the conversation besides the evil taking place in her hands. Finally she admitted defeat, releasing the fork to go and do whatever Sano willed it to.

Holding her hands up she signalled defeat. "I concede" she laughed as she stood up in her chair. "Go change your pants, I will wait for you down here." Of course she would have loved to follow him back up to his room, if not for the simple reason of tackling the paper monster no doubt plotting his death in there. But then her face flushed red as the thought of other things crossed her mind.

Suddenly the playful mood between them shifted to something more and Nashya found herself twiddling her fingers once more. Again, she was unable to look him in the eyes but not because she was assuming things, but because she had allowed her mind to fall so far into the gutter there seemed no hope of escape.

Quickly she sat back down in the chair and reached reached across the table for her coffee mug. Then like a lunatic she stood back up, clearly out of sorts as she gripped the cup in her hands. "I'll just go get some more coffee..."

[Wrathwyrm]

Well, he didn't really want the fork to do anything, a least nothing specific.  Once Nashya gave up, he just let it go and it clattered harmlessly down onto the table.  They could probably move on from this.  Yeah...  Uhh, would it be wrong for Sano to have been hitting that gutter too, and at the same time as her?  It was just sort of a feeling, but it was only natural for him to think so, being with such a lovely - if mischievous - woman.

Taking her suggestion, Sano headed on upstairs to replace his pants, the brown-haired lady having noted the little complicated and - again - figured that she was going to be waiting a while to speak to the guy.  As for Nashya's impulsive coffee-getting, it seemed to be a bit of an over-reaction, a bit, don't you think?  It's not like she was thinking anything illegal there, after all.  Sano would return after she had gotten the coffee, having re-pants'd himself, or...however you want to put that.  He took a seat down beside her now with a smile.

"Please be gentle with me, in regards to coffee, okay?"

[Blink]

When Nashya walked up to the innkeeper to ask for another cup of coffee she was glared at once more. Jeez, what would it take for this woman to realize that Nashya had no plans of stealing or soul or whatever it was she assumed. Instead of saying anything (as if she ever would) she merely shrugged and walked back over to the table, now holding a cup of coffee she really didn't even need.

"You seeing what I'm seeing?"Eye flick and minor nod.

In no time at all Sano seemed to come back downstairs, however he would notice that Nashya was acting a bit more off than usual. More like on the first day when he met her and she was standing under the tree. Her stature was straighter and her focus seeming to be on point. From the outside she appeared to be staring off into nothingness while holding the hot cup of coffee to her lips. However, on the inside she was in the darkness. Wading the waters of the shadow realm as eyes watched from every dark corner in the room.

Whether it be from under the tables or the corners where light did not touch Nashya had a clear visual on everything going on within the inn. Every conversation within reach, every movement and muscle flinch caught as she observed what was going on. If not an even bigger indicator to Sano that something was off Nashya did not smile or even avert her gaze as he sat down. It was as if her body was nothing but a shell and her mind was somewhere else.

Eventually though she did come back, the light in her eyes and the concern on her face proving it. "Don't look" she whispered as she took another sip from the cup, clearly a cover at this point. Was she even taking any liquid in when holding it like that?

"The woman with brown hair has been watching you from the moment you got up." Nashya paused as if she were looking in a two way mirror when in reality she was simply directing a little more attention from the shadows. It was almost like her eyes were there... but they were somewhere else at the same time.

"She is looking again..."

[Wrathwyrm]

When Sano returned, he was maintaining a good mood.  However, Nashya was not.  She was either being cold, distant, or - even stranger - nothing...which was a bit disconcerting.  Her mind was clearly somewhere else, and that's not a metaphor or proverb.  He could see that the girl was practically miles away, or at least not in her body, smehow.  That began to worry him, since the whole shadow thing could always cause such a problem, but then her awareness seemed to return and...huh?

"Okay, I'm not looking.  Why am I not looking?"

He kept focused on the table, in fact, as Nashya began to explain.  The woman from before?

"You mean the one from across the room that's been there, eating breakfast, drinking tea, and reading a book since before we started breakfast?  Yeah, I did notice."

She also set him straight on matters of Nashya, but he was keeping that one to himself.

"I don't this one's after us for some reason.  We could probably ask, or we could probably just ignore this and go upstairs, if you like."

[Blink]

With shadows still focused on watching the brown haired woman Nashya narrowed her own eyes as a reflex. Sano though did not seem near as concerned with her as Nashya did.

"Yes, let's go upstairs."  Without another word Nashya stood from her chair leaving the cup on the table. After all the paper monster in Sano's room was probably declaring itself a free country at this point.

As she made her way to the stairs never once did she let her eyes trail to the woman she was now so suspicious of, but that didn't mean she wasn't watching her. It was probably best Sano didn't mention the woman helping him out either. Only for the simple fact that would have shown her how much attention the woman had actually been placing on them. Not to mention she would have been mortified knowing someone else had seen her little self proclaimed crazy moment.

Once upstairs Nashya waited by Sano's door for him to unlock it fully prepared for whatever assault the paper monster may have been ready with. Already she had made herself forget about what had just happened on the lower level of the inn and was sorting out battle plans of a different variety. First she would alphabetize, then categorize and finally prioritize.

This monster stood no chance.

[Wrathwyrm]

We, the fighting citizens of Papertopia SCOFF at your witticisms!  The revolution will not be televised!  It shall be signed in triplicate and notorized locally!  Viva La Revolution!  Viva La Confetti Nations!

.....

ANYWAY!  Sano was not concerned because he found no evidence of malice from this random person, whereas any malice from Nashya's shadow was s blatant that it could not be missed.  When that much was considered, it could hardly be conceivable that this person whom he has never before met would innately have anything against him.

At any rate, Sano opened the door to his room and...well...paper was all over the place.  Some were crumbled, some returned to their envelopes in varying levels of being 'in', and some were just laying around.  They were everywhere, like Triffids or Martian Weeds, except this was no sci-fi.  This was just disorganization.  Sano let her come in and shut the door.

"Here, there be dragons.  And if not, I shall go find one to burn it all up."

[Blink]

It almost looked worse than the first time she had seen it. Before the only view she had was from the doorway and so there was no way to really see how much of a mess all of this truly was. "Dear Gods...." she muttered as she stepped in and then reached down to pull a letter from under her boot.

Immediately she began working, scooping up handfuls of papers and straightening them so at least they kind of looked organized. It seemed there was no end in sight to the mess as she continued her assault on the paper army.

"I assume these are all a no then?" she asked as she started picking up the crumbled papers next. Some of them she could see some of the scribbles from potential candidates and before she knew it she was reading more than she was organizing.

"This one says he can kill a demon with one hand." she laughed before picking up another paper. "Oh and this one says that he knows nothing of fear." Nashya took it upon herself to not only recrumple but also rip that one.

"They don't even know what you want them for and they are flaunting their clearly exaggerated skills." She then began to laugh as she picked up another letter. "This one wants to know if you are eligible for marriage."

That letter caused her to loose it as she held her arms over her stomach from the pain of laughing so much. Tears even began to well in her eyes as she tried to imagine what more of the letters said. "No wonder you were so out of it this morning!"

[Wrathwyrm]

Yes, truly a daunting task.  Only in modern times can so much paper be wasted so easily.  Sano bent over to move some of the letters around, giving her somewhat of a hand, though he was less sure where to begin.  You see, knowing what they all are makes it even harder.  Still, were they all a 'NO'?

"Oh no.  Some of them are a 'yes', as in they're fine with coming, but they're a 'no' because they wouldn't be any good.  All the good ones I'vee heard from who aren't full of it weren't interested or are busy."

Nashya began to look over some of them and understand what was wrong with this picture.  She then mentioned one that apparently proposed him for marriage and Sano actually looked at her and said "What the fuck?" before taking it and reading it with disbelief.

"'My dear sweet lad, I have never before received such flowery and complimentary language from a gentleman caller, so as to formulate a proposal in quest form-'  What the hell IS this?  Who thinks like that?"

He let it drop, astonished, even as his guest was laughing her ass off.

"I think I was half-asleep when that one came.  C'mon, help me get rid of these and we'll see if a response came from that Goldswith chap.  I didn't finish them all yet."

[Blink]

It was even more funny when Sano read the letter aloud. Even he seemed to be thrown off by its contents. Eventually though Nashya was able to regain her wits and started sorting through the letters again, this time only glancing at the sender so as not to throw herself into another fit.

It seemed to take forever to get all of the letters somewhat organized and stacked neatly however Sano helping sped things up a bit. None of the letters though were from the Goldswith person he referred to. "Maybe I missed it" she stated as she began thumbing through the pile again.

Yet despite searching again she could not find a response letter from Goldswith. "I don't think he has responded yet" she said scratching the back of her head. "Perhaps he was caught up? Or maybe he is on his way right now to respond in person?" Once again Nashya was trying to be the optimist in this situation.

Standing among the piles of now sorted letters Nashya felt quite proud of what she had just accomplished. Through paper cuts and ink smudges she persevered just as the strongest of warriors! In truth she had plenty of experience with this as she often found herself sorting paperwork at the winery. It may have all been a means to coin for other purposes but it was still a business all the same.

Stepping back she found the bed pushing at the back of her knees and so she sat on it. "Tomorrow morning I can come back to help sort the new ones you get today. This way maybe we can keep it manageable so that it doesn't get this bad again." The fact the she was alone with Sano in his room, and the door closed no less, had not dawned on her yet. If it had she surely would have been acting quite differently.

[Wrathwyrm]

Well, after the two of them did a great deal of work, the wholey-disorganized paper trail was decidedly less-so, with an abundance of it to be blatently gotten rid of, anyway.  After going through it all, though, they seemed to be bereft of any letter bearing the name of Goldswith?  Perhaps Sir Goldswith was delayed, or even on the way here?

"It's possible, though I'm surprised that some of these people haven't messaged ahead.  It'd certainly be quicker."

Funnily enough, Sano had completely forgotten about the woman who had a room right next to his and was downstairs.  If he hadn't, he might have considered the possibility that she was one of his responders.  At any rate, the Great Paper Battle of Shadowmere was done for the day, though Nashya pledged that she would help with the next wave, should it rear its ugly head.  She sat on the bed and Sano - not thinking that she should be reacting funnily to the fact that she was alone and in private with him - took to sitting down next to her, and lying back, so he was on the bed, width-wise.

"Maybe I should open them downstairs, so I can immediately shove them into the fireplace.  anyway, thanks for the help.  We should do anything else besides look at letters now, if you please."

[Blink]

Laughing at his comment of throwing the letters directly into the fireplace Nashya laid back in the bed as well, clearly just as burnt out as he was. "I couldn't agree more" she sighed before turning her head towards him.

"I can think of something... in fact many things. But those all involve moving from this bed."

Rolling more on her side she stared at Sano smiling. Of course there were other things she could think of that didn't involve moving from the bed at all, but none of those she would ever be brave enough to admit.

Still on her side she extended a hand and poked his cheek while giggling. "I really missed you. Everything else just seemed so... unimportant while I was gone." She was doing her best here to have a moment with Sano. One where they put all the play fighting aside and really got down to how they were truly feeling.

"I don't know why but when you're around everything just seems better." Her face fell softer at the admission. "Makes me question if what I do is even worth it anymore."