Ash Cleargrove |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I am getting a very Fate/Stay Zero' Rider' vibe from Baalrak.
"Actually, she knows she's a half elf." Ash says, "You just asked if she was a something... so she answered with 'yes' because she isn't a 'nothing'. Shes... complicated." he says, after a moment. He sighs, softly, "All that's important is that shes my sister." he says with a limp shrug. He then watches as Ivy loses interest in the fish, and moves quickly back over, when she sees the other flash of red hair. Despite all of this, and his bloodlines, when the conversation turns to mothers, he smiles wistfully.
With the others partially occupied, he turned his attention to Grim. "Honestly, I'm not sure about staying or not. It's mostly up to Ivy. I'd never survive without her, nor she without me."
Shara Alazna |
Shara watches the woman toying with the fish tank. "If you're sure. She's... certainly unique. Trying to take care of her must be a hassle."
She smiles as she sees her mother approaching. "I was planning to, but I met some... acquaintances who wanted somewhere to take a load off. I couldn't take them somewhere else, could I?" She picks her way through the crowd with practiced ease and takes a seat at the table. "I'm good for now. I want to wait for the lunch in the square. I want to see what everyone came up with."
She just shakes her head at Baalrak. Apparently he wasn't going to be easily deterred. Not that he was really bothersome. "If you say so," she replies to his self compliment. She falls silent for a moment and bites her lip, clearly thinking about his question. "I... maybe. I've been out of town for a few years, but if she's a local, I probably met her growing up. What was her name?"
Baalrak of Iron |
"I don't know." is all Baalrak says.
I goof'd!
"Brother Wyrd... what was it again?" asks Baalrak, some look of confusion on his face. It morphs into bemusement. "I was so concerned with my disappointment that I forgot what the large dark-skinned man said her name was at the funeral."
Shara Alazna |
Shara looks confused for a moment. "How do you not know? Surely someone at the funeral told you." She looks at Wyrd. "Please tell me you know."
One-Eyed Grim |
"Understood. Drinks for those who want them. An ale here," Wyrd says to the woman who seems to be Shara's mother, pulling out a small pouch from his robe and producing four silver pieces before taking a seat. He listens with interest to see if anyone actually knew of his mother, though he doesn't say as much.
"Suppose it's good to have someone you can rely on," he says to Ash.
Turning to Shara, he says "It was Aulana, although I don't blame my brother for forgetting. We only learned it at the funeral."
Shara Alazna |
Shara frowns then shakes her head. "I don't recognize the name off the top of my head. Does it sound familiar to you mother?"
Ash Cleargrove |
"Sure you could!" Ivy says, "They have the Rusty Dragon! It's the-" "Ivy.." Ash says, once more in a warning tone, and she pouts for a moment, as Ash swaps back to talking to Shara.
"It's... really not that bad." Ash says. "And besides... it goes both ways. She's really a lot less of a handful than you'd think."
"I'm two handfuls!" Ivy says, with a grin, and at the mention of 'Drinks for all who want them', she practically grins from ear to ear, as she moves in next to Grim. "I like you." she says, as she nods. "I'll take Ash's, he never wants his."
Do Eidolon's get drunk? :o
One-Eyed Grim |
Guess we find out :p
With Ivy sitting closer to him, he can't resist poking at the foliage that covers her. "Quite a trick. Do you water yourself?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. "And you like drinking? Father always said nothing good comes of it, but it's the one time he's been absolutely wrong," Wyrd says, his facial expression suggesting a grin lies somewhere beneath his scarf.
Shara Alazna |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Just a little is fun. Too much clouds the mind and robs you of your senses. Then you end up telling drunk stories while standing on a table in the middle of the taproom." She tactfully leaves out her tendency to blow things up with misfired spells while drunk.
Ash Cleargrove |
In unison, Ivy excited, and Ash bored, "I love everything.!" Ash shakes her head, and Ivy keeps up her grin. She looks down to the spot Grim had touched, then back up to him. "Nope! I can, though. But I get really muddy, and Ash makes me take a bath. It's not really a trick though..." she says, pointing at Baalrak's braids. "It's just like his hair." when Shara explains her thoughts on drinking, Ivy shakes her head, "No I don't. That's Amber. But she had to be on the table, cause she's really short, or no one would have seen her, so it's okay." she nod-nods.
Mahorfeus |
"Aulana..." Sandra murmurs with a thoughtful expression as she wipes down your table one last time. "Hm. I had heard there was a funeral, but her name doesn't sound familiar. I'm afraid this is the kind of crowd I'm more familiar with." She gestures at everyone else in the tavern. With a sigh, her expression turns more sympathetic. "I am terribly sorry about your mother. I hope you don't mind me saying that she must have been quite adventurous, though," she adds with a wry smile, looking at Baalrak and Wyrd.
One-Eyed Grim |
"Happen often?" he asks Shara, perhaps a bit more eagerly than is proper. He looks at Shara for a response before Ivy draws his attention with her crazy story. "That girl is something else, for sure," he thinks looking at the dryad leafy half-elf. "You've certainly convinced me that that's the case."
"Don't worry about it. Apparently she was," Wyrd says, glancing over at Baalrak when Sandra points it out, "wonder if we'll ever know more than that..."
Shara Alazna |
"I spent years up in this room growing up," Shara clarifies. "How often do you think I got to see sailors making complete fools of themselves? Because I guarantee it's more than you probably think."
She nods. "I'm sure there's someone in town who knew her. Perhaps you should ask around and see who her friends were."
One-Eyed Grim |
"Suppose so, maybe tomorrow when things have calmed down. Not sure Baalrak and I will get any answers on a day like this," he says. "So how about some more stories about the town then?" he asks in response.
Shara Alazna |
Shara grins. "I can spin a yarn or two. Hmmm... would you prefer a story about the town as a whole, or perhaps something more personal. I got into all sorts of trouble when I was younger."
One-Eyed Grim |
"Well, if you're offering to share stories of your youth, I'd be rude to turn you down," he says, his preference obvious. "Town's probably a lot less interesting," he adds after a moment.
Shara Alazna |
Shara sits back in her chair and thinks for a moment. "Alright. Let's start with something simple then. I'm sure you saw the theater when you were passing through town. I always used to love the shows there, but mother didn't let me go very often. So a friend and I used to sneak in to see them anyway. We found that one of the windows didn't close right, so we'd climb inside and sneak through the back to watch the shows. I was always entranced by the performances."
Ash Cleargrove |
"Does that window still not work right?" Ivy asked, having been listening, but not really paying attention, as she seemed to be staring at the Hagfish, once more.
One-Eyed Grim |
"Probably safer not to answer that..." Wyrd responds, knowing that Ivy's next suggestion would likely be to go use it. "Never did anything quite so adventurous myself. Not much to do in a monastery besides practice and meditate, honestly. Had more fun after I left though."
Ash Cleargrove |
"OOh, Ooh. You tell a story now!" Ivy says, excitedly.
Shara Alazna |
Shara chuckles. "They fixed it when they found me halfway in and trying to get my dress uncaught from a nail. I was rather peeved to lose that dress."
One-Eyed Grim |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Hmm... Alright. You might think this spear was a family heirloom , but it's not," he says, picking up the spear from where he'd placed it under the table and showing the strange arrangement of side branches. "We were escorting a shipment from Riddleport to Nybor that wanted to go by land the entire route. Commander thought it was odd, but signed us on eventually. As we were leaving the Churlwood, a single man, white haired, beared and carrying only a staff, rode up to us on horseback and dismounted. Asked us to leave the middle cart behind and he'd spare us. Our captain didn't take kindly to that, so we attacked, and somehow the old man managed to defeat everyone but me in what seemed like an instant," he explains.
"I fought him for a while, mainly through luck and because he wasn't expecting the reach my spear had. Managed to trip him twice as he came at me. Third time he stomped on the spear and cracked his staff into it, splintering it. Next thing I knew I was being woken up by the captain. Man'd left with the cart, which was an unauthorized weapons shipment. Man must've been amused by me, 'cause he left me this spear in place of my old one." He pauses to admire the spear for a moment. "Captain didn't object to my keeping it. He cancelled our contract with the smugglers on the spot, took'em in and collected a bonus on them in Wolf's Ear and then we headed home."
Mahorfeus |
Sandra groans when Shara recounts her embarrassing tale, exasperated by the memory. "Yes, well... it's a good thing Cyrdak has a good sense of humor. He was probably more upset that the window was broken to begin with." Realizing that she has lingered a bit longer than intended, she scoops up Wyrd's silver. "I'll be back with those drinks."
Shara Alazna |
Shara laughs at her mother's exasperation. "He thought it was precious. Gave me a free ticket to the next show and everything as long as I promised to stop trying to sneak in."
She nods slowly at Wyrd's story. "Wow. That must have been quite the fight. You've had some adventures then." She sighs. "You're life must have been quite interesting."
Baalrak of Iron |
Baalrak slams a hand on the table. "My turn! Back-to-back stories of brotherly power." he says, clapping Wyrd on the back with his other hand. "I'm proud to have a brother with such prowess."
"I grew up in Wyvernsting, the only city in the Hold of Belzken to be ruled by a half-orc. So... there is a ceiling for half-orcs in Wyvernsting." Baalrak leans forward, putting his elbows on the table and stroking his chin, waggling his eyebrows for emphasis. "And no matter where you are in the Hold, you must constantly defend what you have or someone will take it." Baalrak splays his fingers dramatically. "One day, I came home to find a large orcish woman had broken into my house and was pilfering things. She had this large bag. So, of course, I attacked her on sight, grabbing her and slamming her into a wall. I thought I was going to kill her, but..." Baalrak winks. "Well, another standard in the Hold is that more force is more sexy. And I'll let you fill in the rest of the details."
Ash Cleargrove |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"But what about the man? And did he kill your friends? Or was it just knocked out? Why were you delivering things, anyway?" Ivy asked, keeping his story going unnaturally long.
"If you show me the window, I bet I could get us in again!" she says slipping easily back into talking to Shara, but swapping the focus of her attention back to Grim.
"I... uh..." Ivy pauses, looking from Baalrak to the others, once his story starts... and then completes. "I prefer gentle. It's more fun when it's more like playing." Ash, meanwhile, turns pink, while Ivy doesn't seem to have any qualms at all about what she'd just said.
*Ivy immediately slams everyone's heads into the table* Am I sexy now!?
Shara Alazna |
Shara wrinkles her nose at Baalrak. "Are all orc courtships so... crass? At least she didn't rob you blind I suppose."
Ash Cleargrove |
Ash spoke up at that... "Chances are, she did after he went to sleep, I'm sure." Though still pink, he had a goodnatured smile... a very small one.
Baalrak of Iron |
"She took something for me for sure." he says. "Orc courtships are crass - everything for orcs is crass. Strength is everything to orcs." he says. "Strength is power. Women like powerful men."
One-Eyed Grim |
"Have lots more stories about cleaning floors in the temple," Wyrd answers to Shara with a bit of a laugh. "Hasn't always been so exciting," he adds.
"He didn't, though some were hit so hard they wished they had been. We only took above board jobs, company was run by an Iroran. We were caravan guards, drivers would've been defenseless otherwise," he said by way of explanation to Ivy.
"Better to go in the front door if you want to go to the theatre. This Cyrdak might not find a group of adults sneaking in a window so amusing," he suggests when Ivy mentions the window again.
Wyrd is both surprised and totally not at all surprised to hear Balraak's tale of conquest was a sexual one. He definitely shared Shara's opinion that he was crass. He watches Ivy as she explains her own preferences, totally unsure what to make of her at this point. He definitely doesn't add to that part of the conversation, frowning slightly beneath his scarf. "Brother, tell me this tale doesn't end with 'surprise, you're an uncle!'," he says in a way that places it somewhere between a joke and a serious statement.
Ash Cleargrove |
Ivy wrinkles up her nose. "Ewww... boys and girls shouldn't do things like that together. You'll wind up with a belly full of rabbits." She shakes her head emphatically. "Or worse! Boys should stay with boys, and girls with girls." She says, quite seriously. "I mean... how would that even work?"
Ash remained silent, as he secretly wished to become a part of the nearby wall that he was pressing himself into.
One-Eyed Grim |
Wyrd looks at Ivy even more confusedly, and then looks at Ash trying to disappear into the background. He turns back to Ivy and briefly explains, "Rabbits make rabbits Ivy, people have children," shaking his head. He places a hand on Ash's shoulder and gives him a sympathetic look.
Shara Alazna |
Shara laughs. "I know those stories very well. I always had to help clean the tavern as punishment when I got in too much trouble. I've scrubbed these tables too many times to count."
She sighs and simply rubs her temples. Ivy preferring women is nothing terribly strange. Shara could admit to a few... daliances with both genders in the past. There was always somewhere to meet people in Magnimar. On the other hand, Ivy not knowing how sex works in the first place... "Is your sister naturally this much of an airhead? Or is she trying to sound like a fool?"
Ash Cleargrove |
Ivy seems completely oblivious to the insults, while Ash opts to shrug. "It was that, or let her run wild... and have who knows what happen as a result. She's a free person, but keeping her safe is a priority... keeping her from making a possibly huge mistake is more important than 'bunnies' versus 'children'. She knows about the birds and the bees and rabbits. It was a better talk than I got." he shrugs a little, then looks levelly at Shara. "Hey, Ivy? Take my water skin and go find a place for your stick." he says, taking his skin off, leaving Ivy to excitedly oblige. Once she was out of earshot, he spoke to Shara.
"Dense is a better term. She's really rather clever, and very friendly. Not empty, but overly full. She doesn't always look before she leaps, but if she did, she would likely be as broody as me. If she needs to act like a child to be happy and healthy, then so be it. She's a good person, soft-hearted, and fun-loving. She's everything I'm not, and I'll do what I can to keep her that way."
Shara Alazna |
Shara is silent for a moment, tapping her fingers against the table. "I can understand wanting to protect your family," she says finally. "Growing up here, everyone knows everyone. After spending a few years away... You get an appreciation for being able to be close to the people you care about. I just hope that trying to shelter her doesn't come back to haunt you."
She shakes herself. "Enough worrying. Your brooding might be contagious after all. Who else has a story to tell?"
One-Eyed Grim |
"Family is important, you should take care of them, even if they're not always what you'd expected," he says in a surprisingly sincere tone, looking at Ash first, then briefly at Baalrak.
"Certainly you've got one to share Ash? Better to hear it from you, as I imagine we'd have trouble following Ivy's version of it."
Ash Cleargrove |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
"I'm... worse at stories than Ivy. By a lot. Pretty much everything exciting that happens, happens for Ivy. I suppose..." he shrugs. Midway through, he moves from telling the story of 'himself' to telling the story of someone else.
"Ivy and I have a mother who lives in the southwestern reaches of Mierani. She spends nearly all of her time in a babbling brook. On occasion, she likes to leave that area, but she never travels far. On one specific occasion, she discovered a small basket, floating down her brook. With care and caution, she reared the young child, teaching him to revere life and nature... after all, she was a sort of druid. The boy learned all that he could from her, until one day, she sent him into the woods to seek his destiny. Alongside his sister, he managed to survive, but just barely. Days turned to seasons turned to years. Every now and then, the two would travel to a small elven city for supplies... but mostly, they were alone. And while the sister was bored, the brother was happy."
"One day, a stranger from this very town arrived at the two's camp, and told them about the outside world. The sister became so excited, she could hardly contain herself. The world, for her, was full of wonder. For the brother, though, he feared changing the situation. Even still, he was unable to bear to see his sister unhappy... so he relented, and took her to a festival in a distant land."
Mahorfeus |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Sandra returns with the drinks, setting them on the table one by one. While accustomed to ignoring the clientele's more bawdy tales, she lingers to listen to Ash's story, unusually attentive.
"Almost sounds like a fairy story," she remarks, pushing Ash's drink slightly closer to Ivy. "So tell me, how are the boy and his sister liking that distant land so far?"
Even over the clamorous conversation in the tavern, you all suddenly hear some unintelligible shouting from behind a door beside the bar, which leads to the kitchen. Sandra looks over at it and lets out an exasperated breath, shaking her head.
"I swear. I don't know why Jargie waited till the last minute to get lunch started. Now he's in a hurry to get it done before the Swallowtail Release. Still has that chip on his shoulder, I suppose."
One-Eyed Grim |
"It does, doesn't it. My father would likely say that he was a model sibling," he says, and though it could be interpreted as a jibe, it's clear he means it as a compliment.
He looks down at his drink and the at the others at the table, resigning himself to the inevitable. He was familiar enough with reactions to know what to expect, but a small part of him still dreaded it. "I apologize, but I'll be having my drink now. Feel free to look the other way," he says without offering an explanation.
Wyrd reaches up and tugs at the scarf covering the lower half of his face, letting it drop down to hang loosely about his neck. The scar that had run down his cheek continues all the way down across his lips, next to a second deeper scar that seems to have ended just above his lips and which traces a line down the middle of his chin, continuing underneath and across his throat. His jaw seems to have been split completely at one point, having healed slightly askew, and the gash across his throat also left terrible scarring on his Adam's apple as well, likely the source of his raspy voice. He actively attempts to avoid eye contact with the others, but as he begins drinking he glances briefly at each in turn, unable to keep himself from watching for their reactions.
He downs the drink in one motion before wiping his mouth with his arm quickly and working to get the scarf back in place.
Shara Alazna |
"I wouldn't be surprised if it is a fairy story," Shara says. "It would explain why his sister is so...flighty. And why she likes to claim she's a dryad."
Wyrd's comment brings nothing more than a raised eyebrow from her, though her eyes go very wide as his scarf falls away. She swallows hard, not sure if it's more rude to stare of to look away. "Gods above," she murmurs. "That... must have hurt." Her voice fails her as she tries to think of something else to say. The scarring can only be the sign of something truly brutal in his past. She shakes herself as he replaces the scarf and quickly turns away at a rare loss for words.
Ash Cleargrove |
Ash, respectfully, turns away from the man, unwilling to broach the taboo.
"I'm not a dryad, silly. I'm a half-elf! My father is a treant!" Ivy, on the other hand, having buried her stick, returns to the room just in time to receive her drink and watch the man quickly drink it. "Oh, wow! Did you get into a fight with a bear? Did you win!?" She says, seemingly untethered, as she carefully holds the glass in both hands, with her drink in it, all excitement again.
"It... Could be going worse." Ash responds to the matron. "We haven't been run out of town with pitch forks... and Ivy has received quite a few compliments regarding her 'costume'. I think they think she's part of the new show, maybe." he says with a shrug. "Otherwise... busy." he says still sounding exhausted.
Shara Alazna |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Half-elf, half..." She groans. "Of course. I'm an idiot for assuming that half-elf also meant half-human. Stupid, stupid. Never make assumptions and assume they're right."
Baalrak of Iron |
Baalrak's eyes first go wide at the sight of Grim's scars, but then he appears pleased. "Battle scars for my mighty brother?" he asks.
One-Eyed Grim |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Don't remember, thankfully," he says truthfully, not really remembering much beyond flames and laying on the ground as his father picked him up. "My apologies," he says to Shara, "should have explained better," a brief look of sadness in his eyes.
He shakes his head at Baalrak and then answers both him and Ivy at once.
"Wasn't a bear Ivy, was bandits, and I was only a child. Probably thought they'd killed me, or if not that I'd die soon enough." From anyone else, that question probably would've been enough to make him leave, or perhaps to start a fight, depending on how many he'd had. For some reason, however, her question didn't bother him, perhaps it was because she was obviously sincere and didn't seem to know any better. Baalrak's question, on the other hand, was less tactless and understandable given his background. Wyrd figured the Orcs probably wore scars like that as badges of honor. For him it had just been something that kept him separated from the rest of the world, and it made choosing the life of a monk that much easier.
Baalrak of Iron |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Baalrak jabs Wyrd in the shoulder with his fist, grinning. "It matters little that you were a child in my eyes - it is a mark of your fortitude one way or the other!" He chuckles a little bit, picking up his rum shotglass and downing it. He sighs. "A lesser man would be dead, but not you!"
Mahorfeus |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"An elf and a tree? How does that even...? No, never mind," Sandra says dismissively, not allowing any mental images to form.
Her eyes widen a bit when she sees Wyrd's horrendous scar, but she does not recoil.
"Your brother might have a point, actually. A lot of the sailors around here certainly like making a big deal out of their old wounds. As far as scars go, I'd say yours takes the cake."
She shoots a glance at a customer at a nearby table, who had apparently caught a glimpse of Wyrd's lowered scarf. He is quick to turn around and sip his ale, as though he hadn't seen anything.
Shara Alazna |
You must have quite the constitution to have survived something like that," she tells Wyrd. "You're very lucky."
One-Eyed Grim |
Oddly enough Wyrd found it a relief that Baalrak didn't look down on him for having been a child when it happened. "Maybe you're right, Baalrak..." he says. When Sandra and Shara chimed in somewhat positively he found himself at a bit of a loss for words. "Lucky..." he thinks, looking away from Shara, trying to avoid eye contact. He reaches up and touches his scar through the fabric, wondering if he could truly be called lucky. "Not sure anyone has put it that way... thank you," he says to Sandra and Shara, his eyes focused on the empty mug in front of him.
Ash Cleargrove |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ivy drinks her entire glass in one big gulp, just as Grim had. "It's really neat... I'm sorry people tried to kill you when you were little. I liked it better when I thought it was a bear." she says, but doesn't look away. She seems perturbed though, and a little bit of her chipperness was gone. And with it, came another distraction, which returned the chipper. "Well, you see, Miss Sandra... when a mommy and a daddy.." she trailed off when she looked at Ash and saw his face. "What?"