Henri feels the cold dryness chapping her lips, sending goosebumps along her exposed skin, and slowly peels herself from the bed and looks at her surroundings. Not the first time I've woken up in a strange room. She adjusts her jacket and smacks her lips a few times. Bad morning taste. Ugh. Running a hand through her greasy, wild hair, she walks over to the key and picks it up, examining it through squinted eyes. At least it looks like it's mine. What even happened last night? Flashes of the night are burned behind her eyes, but she has a hard time trying to put them together, or even really understanding their context.
She walks back to the end of the bed and sits down on it, leaning back and staring out the window. It is a pretty nice view. Got a lot of stuff to take care of today. Would be nice to have a real bath after last night... some food too.
Henri has a splitting headache and is a bit nauseous. It's very difficult to form coherent thoughts or concentrate. That feels like it will last at least a few hours.
She feels so tired that it takes effort to lift her limbs. That feels like it may last most of the day.
Alaina sat bolt upright and reached for Greenwall on pure intsinct as the howl let out. What in Altien's name was that? She thought as she looked out the window. Not seeing any sort of threat, the Wolf laid back down into slightly fitful sleep.
Bundling up as she got out of bed, Alaina shook some of the cobwebs loose. Not the roughest night I've had.
The headache hits her like Produs's hammer - sudden and powerfully. She clutches her head and lets out a low, long whimper. Why. Why, why, why? She throws herself back onto the bed and starts to breath deeply and deliberately, in and out, focusing on her breath and not the rising threat of vomit in her stomach. Her face feels hot despite the cold, and she can no longer contain her sickness - she looks around the room, and scrambles to grab the bucket Laurett had given her the night before. Why, why, why, why. She begins to loudly and violently empty the contents of her stomach into the pail, until she is doing little else but dry-heaving.
After a few minutes, she feels a little bit better, and takes a bit of time to stand up and examine her room. Dizziness consumes her sight, and sends her staggering from the bed to the wall, slamming into it but keeping her balance. Still holding the wall to keep her from falling, she tries to stretch, getting the kinks out of her own body, before wobbly walking, crouched over, to her bag. Cigarettes, please, by Kili's genital shadows, let there be cigarettes. She shuffles through it for a few minutes, but comes up completely empty, strewing her belongings about the floor of the room. "Ugh."
Another sharp round of headache hits her, and she squeals in pain loudly, slamming her eyes shut and pounding her palm into her forehead, in a vain and ill-advised attempt to remove the pain. After the ice pick in her head lowers a bit into more of a large nail, her nose perks up as she smells the bread and meat below, and she smacks her lips again. Even though her stomach was still queezy, having emptied it a few moments before, she could feel it rumbling for food. "Food," she mumbles. Without replacing her things into her bag, she staggers over to the door, unbuttoning her jacket, and thinks very hard about what happened last night.
Alaina feels quite well and ready for the day.
Henri thinks very, very hard.
Henri has a vague notion that she is forgetting something related to her current state, but she can't remember what.
EDIT: If that was a more general query, Henri can remember everything up to about her third drink; entering with Cel, his antics, renting a room, meeting Alaina, meeting Xizhoh, most of Alaina's story, and her agreement. Beyond that, things get hazy quickly.
Gods-damned whiskey. I wish I didn't love it. Sometimes. She grabs a small strip of fabric from her things and pulls her hair back so that it stays out of her eyes as she opens her door, and staggers through it. She barely remembers to close and lock the door behind her. The dizziness permeated her actions and she has to lean against the different walls to make it to the stairs. She starts slowly, carefully making her way down. Her voice comes out cracked and hoarse as she calls ahead. "C-could I... W-water, please?" she stutters out into the air, hoping that somebody could hear her.
Cel was so exhausted from the travels the preceding days that he's dead to the world when the sound comes over the night. When he awakes he feels more frightened than normal, but can't really figure out why. It sets the mood for the monring, and he's quite unhappy about it. He finds himself even more twitchy than normal.
He climbs out of his "bed" while Rik is working nearby. He absent mindedly says, "Morning, Rik, thank you for trying to keep me warm last night." He's distracted by the sense of fear enough that he doesn't really hear any response Rik gives. Cel walks into the tavern, and sits at the same table he was at the night before. Familiarity is comfort at the moment.
Similar to Rik, he orders breakfast from the innkeeper, but doesn't really notice any response she gives. The first time he's taken out of his haze is when Henri comes stumbling down the stairs. He heads over next to Henri...
...and sets the vial Xizoh gave him the day before on the table where she finally found a seat.
The air feels significantly warmer outside of her chilly room and the smell of warm food is slightly appealing.
A few seconds after her call Smitty bounds up the stairs and offers her an arm for support, with a kind expression and without comment.
"There she is!" Laurett calls, not too loudly, as they descend. She pulls out a chair next to the fire with a small coarse blanket draped over the back. "Come over here and I'll fix you up with some water and a soothing mint tea."
As they approach, she thinks with her hands on her hips. "Are you hungry, dearie? Oh, where'd that friend of yours disappear to? I thought a kind young man had given him something for you to take this morning."
Smitty chuckles a bit, "Ma, he's right there next to the table."
Cel also observes Henri's spoiler above after she starts to descend the stairs.
Using one hand to hold onto Smitty for support, and the other to rub her temples, she gives a weak smile. Landing in the chair, she immediately slumps a bit and sighs. "Thanks, ma'am." She nods to Smitty and gives him a feeble wink. "And you, fine sir." She sets her arms up on the table, and feels her empty stomach groaning a bit. "Some food would be great. Just, fantastic, thank you."
She examines the suddenly appearing vial where she sat, but at Smitty's comment, she slowly cricks her neck to see where Cel is standing. "I don't... did you...?" She points confusedly at the vial, then back to Cel, her brain trying very hard to understand what just happened. Unfortunately, that sent another spiral of pain running through her forehead, making her whimper slightly and clutch at it. A whisper of a voice comes out from her mouth; "Thanks, Windy Kid." It must have been him... nice of him to bring it, though he didn't strike me as the type to have that sort of thing. With her energy expended, she leans forward and tries to conceal how much sickness she's really in while waiting for the drink.
"I don't know if you need this, but the odd man who takes off his warm clothes backwards said you might need this today in case you felt ill for some reason. I don't know what he means, you look right as rain to me!" he says as he claps her on the back with an endearing grin.
"Oh, why would he..." She trails off, thinking back to the night before. Through the fog, she could just remember that strange man with the weird clothes taking-off habit. "Weird... I don't remember, uh..." She trails off, glancing at Cel, and shrugs. A bolt of pain lances through her head as he slaps her on the back, but she hides the grimace of pain with a grin. "It takes a lot more drinks than that to do me in for good. Still, I do have a bit of a headache, I suppose, I might as well..." She takes a moment to pick up the vial and examine it for a moment, remembering not to immediately trust potions from strange men.
The vial contains a very fine crystal powder that appears to be a salt of some kind, probably meant to dissolve in water. She remembers that smelling salts have a strong odor. It seems unlikely to be a strong poison or reducer of inhibitions.
Smitty places two cups of cool water on the table and a mug of steaming tea that smells nicely of mint in front of Henri.
"Food'll be right up," he says before moving on to the next table over.
Good enough for me, I suppose. Henri thanks Smitty as he brings by the drinks, and drops the crystals into the water, swirling it around as it fizzles and foams around the cup. She gives it one more quick, unsure look, before another headache spike splinters her sinuses. Grimacing in pain, she brings the drink up to her mouth and quickly downs it in one go. Bringing the cup down to the table, she breaths out a big breath of air, sighing loudly. She takes a smell of the tea, and lets out a small smile. Her headache was still there, but she had a good feeling that it would be gone soon.
Henri can feel her headache melting away.
As her thoughts start to come more easily she remembers that there will probably be some sort of interview process at the military headquarters before getting the 200 gold a day gig. She recognizes it would be helpful to clean up and make sure she doesn't reek of alcohol.
As he tossed and turned, sleep eluded the young half elf. The howl did little to aid his rest, jolting him awake. I guess this is the first night I've been alone for some time. Somehow he found himself missing Anathema for what had to be the first time. Loosening his fist, and letting his arm return to normal, he managed to get some much needed sleep.
As he woke a shiver ran down his body. If there was one thing he still disliked from his journey it was waking up cold. A gurgle from his stomach and the smell of food decided his course of action. Grabbing his cloak, Xizoh stopped at stared at his hands, his true hands. Maybe I'll see what the others think of Fetchlings. I can't wear this cloak all my life after all. Finally, he gathered his supplies, fastened his cloak around his neck, and exited his room.
The air feels significantly warmer outside of Xizoh's chilly room and the smell of freshly prepared warm food gets stronger as he walks downstairs.
Xizoh can see Laurett near the bar, Smitty serving perhaps ten other patrons around the room, and Henri and Cel sitting at a table next to the fire.
They each have a glass of water, and Henri has a mug of what looks like tea in front of her. Xizoh sees the empty vial of alchemist's kindness on the table next to it. She looks fairly well to him.
Henri and Cel notice the 'newcomer' who entered the bar last night walk down the stairs.
Cel recognizes him as the person who gifted Henri with the vial.
For a fleeting moment when Dulae first wakes, she wonders if she is back in her first training camp, before the events of the previous few days come rushing back to her mind. She spends a few moments relaxing in the unexpectedly comfortable bed before swinging herself upright. High chance of death today. Best be about it!
After a quick set of prayers Dulae swings by the mess to grab a coffee and makes her way up to the waiting area for volunteers. She finds a spot next to a window and settles in, resigned to a long wait.
The waiting room is again warm and comfortable. Private Zahan gives her a nod from his post by the door.
Dulae notices the same civilians she had seen waiting yesterday return, slowly trickling in one by one or in pairs. She notes the same outliers as the day before - the older man, the teenagers, the very muscular and well armed woman, and the young man who had been floating a coin.
After about 15 minutes of waiting, Dulae observes a different group of seven civilians enters the waiting room together, looking prepared for a day's hike up a freezing cold mountain. Private Zahan seems to be expecting them, and he opens the door to the office for them.
15 minutes later they re-emerge, walking quickly and looking determined. Dulae spots one of the party carefully holding a folded piece of paper.
Sooner afterward, Private Zahan walks over to her and says apologetically, "Sorry, but I think I'm supposed to ask everybody this for when they make selections later today."
He holds up pen and paper as if he intended to write down her answer. "This is a potentially dangerous search and rescue mission on Mount Oranis. List your qualifications and make a brief statement on why you would be an asset to one of our teams."
Dulae notices some of the other civilians are listening with interest for her answer.
After lighting a fire in the wood stove and getting some water heated, Alaina did a quick wash in the tub before drying, dressing and heading downstairs for some breakfast.
Seeing Henri, she made her way to the table. "Mind if I have a seat?"
Henri, Cel, and Xizoh see Alaina descend the stairs shortly after Xizoh and make her way to the table.
The smell of freshly prepared warm food gets stronger as she walks downstairs.
Alaina can see Laurett near the bar, Smitty serving perhaps ten other patrons around the room, Henri and Cel sitting at a table next to the fire, and the newcomer from last night who offered Henri a vial for her inevitable hangover.
Henri and Cel have a glass of water on the table, and Henri has a mug of what looks like tea in front of her. Alaina sees the vial, empty, on the table next to Henri's water. She looks fairly well.
Henri raises her glass of steaming liquid to Alaina as she arrives. "Be my guest. Or, the inn's guest, I guess." She takes a sip of the liquid, and smiles as its warmth fills her stomach. She leans back, using her foot to kick a chair out for Alaina, and slouches in her own seat. "And how are you on this auspicious morning?" She points to the young man sitting at the table. "Have you met, uh..." S@*~, what was it? It was like two letters, how can you not remember this? Henri searched her mind for a moment before giving up. "The windy kid, here?" She grins, and quickly takes another sip of her tea.
"Whooooooa, what is that?!" staring at Alaina's shield. Cel runs over and nearly puts his face into it to inspect the object, he grabs it to see what it feels like, he lifts it a bit to look behind it, and knocks on it to see the sound it makes. "It's so...green! What is it made out of? I looks like something living. Does it actually work like a shield, can it stop blows?" Cel doesn't stop to realize the ridiculous nature of his questions regarding if a shield can actually act like a shield. He also has completely neglected to acknowledge the person attached to said shield.
Is this actually procedure, or is the Captain trying to shake off some of these leftovers? Probably the latter, or she would have had Zahan fill these out yesterday. Inwardly she grinned, trying to keep a straight face. She decided that, just once, she would repeat verbatim what Kieran had told her to do in this situation.
"I've been trained in the proper use of blade, bow, secondary weapons" Dulae pats the morningstar at her hip. "and how to move in armor. I can track and survive in the wilderness, and spent six years in active service, four of those responsible for others under my command. Altien has gifted me with a certain amount of magic." she extends a hand, mutters a quick prayer, and bathes the room in gentle light. Dulae tries to maintain a serious expression, perhaps enjoying just a bit the chance to show off under orders."I am also as strong as a bear. In short, private Zahan, I am a stupendous badass just waiting to be pointed at Altien's enemies."
She tries to control a wince after the last bit slips out. Did not mean to quote the whole thing...
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Alaina's hand flinched towards the young man, but she managed to stop herself from grasping his throat. In as much of an even tone as she could muster, she said, "Kid, please back away from the shield."
Cel's mouth snaps shut just before his next question comes vomiting out. He takes a step back with the look of realization that his curiosity overstepped again. A small smile forms, "Hehe...sorry. I'm Cel! Pleased to meet you!" His eyes drift back to the shield again, but only for a moment before snapping back to Alaina's eyes. "How do you and Henri know each other?"
It only takes a second before the eyes start to drift again, and the distraction makes him forget that he's supposed to wait for an answer before asking another question. "Are you from this town?" he asks while still staring at the shield.
The questions are forced, his nervous tension is palpable, he CLEARLY wants to unload more questions about the shield to the point that he's almost shaking.
Henri takes another drink of the tea, trying not to laugh. Even though she had only traveled with Cel for a short time, she had already noticed his capability of asking about 100 questions in a minute. Cel, that's right, his name was Cel. I can remember that, it's like... She drifts off for a moment and looks into the air in front of her, blinking rapidly and appears to be trying to remember something.
Henri continues to take more sips of tea, mentally cursing her own brain. She barely notices Cel's other questions, until he mentions her name. At the question, she glances at Alaina, waiting and curious to hear her answer.
After getting her food ordered, Alaina turned to Cel, "It's alright Cel, this shield is just very important to me. The name's Alaina by the way." Before she could answer his second question, the excitable man fired off a third.
The Wolf waited for a moment to see if another would come. Figuring now was good, she continued, "No, I'm not from here." She glanced at Henri, "As to how we know each other, that's easy. A bar brawl in Abbhen City. We won. Although, the proprietor wasn't particularly happy with us the next morning." A slightly impish grin crossed her face.
During the conversation, Smitty strolls over with two plates of bacon, fresh toasted bread with butter, and fried eggs and places them in front of Cel and Henri. The bacon is still slightly sizzling and the food gives off a strong, appetizing aroma. "Four silver for breakfast, when you have a minute."
"Tea is no charge," he says softly to Henri.
"Be right up with yours," he says to Alaina.
He casts Xizoh a friendly nod. "Can I get you anything?"
Watching Cel's and Alaina's interaction from the stairs, Xizoh grinned widely. The kid was lively, as well as both the women from last night. That reminded him. Taking a seat across from Henri, he questions, "That helped with the hangover much?" He gestures to the empty vial. "I've got more if you need it, but you sure look a lot better than last night.
When Smitty asks what he want's the half elf replies, "Whatever you can cook up. I'm not so picky.
Henri pops 5 silver out from her coin purse and places it on the table next to her. "Thanks." She looks to Alaina, and thinks back to their chance encounter a few years ago. "I remember that. He sure was pretty angry." She laughs and leans back in her chair. "Not to say I don't understand, we kinda wrecked the place. Worth it, though." Always worth it.
Henri picks up the vial and gestures with it to Xizoh. "You're a damned miracle worker. I've had some of this stuff before, or something like it, but this was probably my worst..." She trails off, not wanting to reveal how terrible it actually was. "Well, it was pretty bad. This stuff is clearin' it right up. I owe you one." She grins and winks, before sheepishly running a hand through her hair. "Can't say I remember much about you other than seeing you come in last night, though - night was a bit of a blur.
Zahan can't contain a loud snort of laughter. "And here I didn't think you had a sense of humor, sergeant."
The young sorcerer is now staring a Dulae with openly curious interest. The heavily muscled fighter is scowling at her with an intimidating expression. The two teens are slightly agape, as though they're incredibly impressed or they can't imagine such a response during a job interview. Perhaps both. The older civilian nods appreciatively, as though he rates Dulae's response a solid showing. Dulae also notices a card game has paused across the room for its participants to listen in.
Zahan finishes jotting down his notes, still chuckling. "Okay, thanks. That should be all I need." He walks back towards the door shaking his head and muttering, "Wait'll the captain sees this."
After Zahan slips through the office door to deliver her responses, the young mage smiles slyly and says to Dulae, "Bit over the top for an Altiendel military sergeant, don't you think?"
Mere minutes later, Smitty returns with a cup of water each for Xizoh and Alaina and two similarly appetizing plates of hot food.
"Four silver when you're ready. Should help keep you warm if you're headed to help on the mountain today." He smiles at the group before heading over to another table.
Laurett swings by the table shortly after and says, "Good morning to you all. Will you three be keeping your rooms for tonight?"
Cel reaches into his coin pouch and puts what he thinks are probably four silver pieces on the table. He isn't totally sure because his eyes are still glued to the shield, watering a little because he hasn't blinked, face pinched from the strain of not asking more questions.
Dulae stares at Zahan, trying not to laugh. "I am unfamiliar with the term 'humor'."
She eyes the rest of the room. About what I expected; looks like the kids might realize how out of their league this is. I wonder what the fighter's problem is? Perhaps she really doesn't like competition on the whole 'strong' thing.
Dulae turns to the mage. "Retired sergeant Toema, at your service." She stresses the 'retired'. "Besides, the private's stuck doing deskwork; at least this way he'll get some free drinks out of the story."
She pauses, and again tries to identify what kind of magic he is using to float the coin.
Dulae can't keep the laughter from her eyes as she insists she is unfamiliar with humor. This seems to make her more approachable to the young mage, although the fighter is still scowling in her direction with feigned disinterest.
The mage raises his eyebrows in fleeting surprise when she states she is retired. "That explains why you're here waiting with us. Welcome, by the way, I am Harlan." He smiles at her again. "Forgive me, but, you seem very enthusiastic for a retired sergeant."
Dulae recognizes his telekinesis spell as Mage Hand.
Waving his hands and shaking his head, Xizoh responds to Henri, "I'm not a miracle worker, just a healer. You don't owe me anything, besides if your hangover was even half as bad as I though it'd be, you'd be sporting a pounding headache worthy of Produs's forge. I'm not surpised you can't remember me; you were drinking like a sailor trying to impress his crewmates."
As he talks the dark skinned man digs through his pockets, searching for the silver. Finding it, he flips them onto the table, before telling Laurett, "I'm not going to be needing my room. Thanks though."
Alaina paid the four silver and turned to Laurett, "Possibly, it depends on what happens at the military building later today." Handing over the key, "Just to be safe, I'll give you back the key, and if I need a room I'll come back and rent another."
Henri fishes the gold from her pocket and puts it on the table. "I'm probably gonna end up staying here again, one way or another." She glances at her breakfast-mates. "You planning on leaving tonight? Doesn't seem like a great idea to me." She takes a hungry bite out of the food, letting out a content smile. "Don' know if you'v ever 'een on a 'earch n' rescue before but they take a lot outta you." She sighs. "Jus' walking and walking and walking. And on a 'ountain! Nobody's 'onna be in shape to travel tonight." She finishes the bite and finally swallows it.
Henri turns back to Xizoh, shaking her head. "Nah, I do owe yah, it was pretty bad this morning..." She shrugs. "Don't worry. I'll get you back later." She grins and gives him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "I always do." She confidently takes another bite.
Laurett accepts Alaina's key and says with a shrug, "No need to decide this minute. I'll tell you what - I'll give you until noon to let me know if you want to rent this evening. We keep getting new faces coming to town to help with the search, so I doubt we'll have any difficulty filling rooms. A few hours is no trouble."
"Like I said, it depends on what happens at the station," She replied to the proprietor.
Looking at Cel, and seeing that it looked like he was about to burst, Alaina said, "Alright, now very calmly, what is it you want to know?" Meanwhile in the back of her mind, Wow, this kid's as jittery as the Ivory Hummingbird. She did make superb mead though.
Cel's face is bright red at the moment, and hearing permission he nearly explodes, "Did yo make it why is it green does it do anything special how long have you had it?!?!"
An obvious look of relief spreads across his face. It's almost as if he doesn't even care if the questions get answered, although Henri could probably attest at this point that once he has a curiosity he's still much more likely to follow it through than not. Regardless, his whole demeanor is much more calm at this point as he looks to Alaina for some kind of description of the fascinating object.
Laurett gives a friendly nod of understanding to Alaina and deftly collects the money for the meal before Alaina's question to Cel.
"If we don't see you later today, come back and see us if you're ever in Southtown again," she says to the group with a smile before bustling away.
Alaina couldn't help but smirk slightly at Cel's rapid fire questions. Yep, just like her.
"No, my Father got it for me when I won my first match at eighteen. It's green because it's Living Steel."
Henri rapidly wolfs down the rest of her meal and sighs contentedly, listing in on Cel's barrage of questions. Little rabbit's always got more, doesn't he. Her grin is obvious as she sits back and stretches, getting out more kinks that suddenly seem to be showing up from her night before. If we do work together, that could be good. Or very bad. She groans a bit as she finishes her sitting stretches, but it doesn't seem like they're all gone. Gesturing at Smitty, she lets out a call with a couple of silver in her hand, "Hey, d'you think when you get a chance you could bring some water up to my room for a bath?"
She addresses the table; "Well, it's been fun, gang, but I'd better freshen up if we're gonna be talking to the military today." She looks off into the distance, a bit whistful. "That's all they really care about, anyway." Henri shakes her head, "I'll probably be back down here in 30 minutes. An hour, maybe. Any of you want to join me? We can all head out together, then." They all seem capable enough. Wouldn't be any harm to have some backup on this thing. I can probably trust the rabbit. The aegis, too, obviously. Don't know Doc too well, but he did me a solid. She shakes her head, taking the last crust of bread, sticking it in her mouth, and gives a wink to the table.