Well, no sense sitting around here
heads back inside
"How do you guys feel about playing a little game i learned in my travels. its pretty fun and we can learn more about each other."
Eager to change the subject from his staring, Geralt nods.
"I'd like to. Though if it involves money I probably won't be able to play long!" he says with a laugh.
"No no.... uh, it's just that you, uhm, remind me of someth... er, someone. Someone I... saw, once."
Gregory grasped Geralts sleeve to regain his attention, wide-eyed, reptilian pupils becoming noticeably rounder. "Really? Who? where!? Part of my research troubles stem from a lack of common examples within the Tiefling "species", such as it is. We are just too damn different for science! If I could meet someone who was like me specifically..." He looked at Geralt, mouth half open, as he nodded expectantly at him in a "well go on, tell me" sort of way.
The hand on his sleeve startles Geralt, as does the intense look in Gregory's alien eyes. His mouth hangs open for several seconds before sound deigns to emerge.
"I don't know! I don't know where. It was - I see things, in my dreams. Things far away, or... something. My mother thinks I see the Planes."
Geralt swallows hard, not really wanting to go on.
"I saw a terrible place, once, filled with terrible creatures. You remind me of... one of them. But only a little!"
The Planes, oh goodness, from what I hear of them they are a scary place, er, places.
The Planes, oh goodness, from what I hear of them they are a scary place, er, places.
Geralt nods.
"They certainly can be. But they can also be wonderful. And just plain strange. They can be anything at all, from what I can tell. if that's really what I'm seeing, I mean."
Gregory looked more than a little disappointed. "Ah..visions. I see. Well that's a real shame then." He took another swig for the nth time that day, letting go of Geralts sleeve. "I don't suppose you could give me a good description of the "thing" you say I remind you of? Maybe if I'm lucky I can scrounge up some illustrations of fiends and demons, maybe get an idea where I come from."
He swigged once more, then shook his head. "Bah! The planes! If you ask me, its all just a bunch of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey." Again the flask reached his lips. "I want to be entertained! Jack! Explain you game!"
Seemed this place was a haven for other such wanderers. Xiakon put ink to well and than wrote down the name of the establishment. He was engrossed when another featherless came up talking about the some fiery haired female. He sighed and looked at him.
" My dear er...human, I know little deference between you featherless. I must say I have seen a few of you with Red hair and what I am told feminine features, otherwise I cannot tell the immediate difference between an elf or human. Let alone a man or a woman." He says as he awaits his food and looks at the others.
"The females are the ones with two bumps right here." Gregory said, leaning towards the birdman while holding his hands up to cup a pair of phantom breasts on his chest. He giggled and snorted loudly. "Ofcourse, some of the males end up having bumps to, when they eat too much." He started laughing. "So I guess my advice didn't help much at all!"
"... its all just a bunch of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey."
Geralt chuckled.
"As good as any description I could come up with. If I, ah, remember anything specific I'll let you know."
Kiernan snaps out of his reverie...and looks around.
Wow, that stuff Jack drinks must be stronger than it tastes! I think I must have...passed out!
He looked at the strange scaled creature and nodded."It helped a bit" He said as he pulled out some sand and put it on the page and than used a feather to brush it off.
" You though are no real human, but are you a lizard man? I don't mean to offend but I was never really taught the difference." He says as he blows off the sand from the words and than looks about the room. The food comes to him. It is a loaf of bread with what appeared to be a hearty stew. On the side of the plate was the removed center of bread and a spoon. The mug of Ale was set down next and he nodded to the maid and than to the others."Seems the specialty is some sort of stew?"
Jack takes another drink before he begins speaking. "I learned this game from a bard a while back. He used it as a way to for us to learn more about each other before a job. Its simple and wont cost you a thing. You say on thin true about yourself and then a lie and the others try to guess which is which. You can share whatever your comfortable in sharing so no need to feel pressured but in my experience some people can share a little too much." Jack gets a mischievous look in his eye as he says the last part. "So who whats to start?" Jack looks at the others around him.
Kiernan grins huge.
That sounds SO Cool, Jack! I want to play!
I'll start!
Kiernan thinks for a moment...
I was born in a place so far away...you probably never ever heard of it...OR... I used to play with fairies, when I was little. They'd come and visit me!
Kiernan is grinning ear-to-ear...
"I'll say the firsts true the second isn't" Jack takes another swig from his drink.
Kiernan looks around for a moment... Anybody else playing? Guess!
"I guess the same as Jack."
He pushes a bit of stew on his bread and answers."I pick the fairies" He says following it up with a savory bite. He savored the very taste and feel of the food in his gullet.
"The difference to the species is easily distinguished with some attention to detail," Cassius says with a throat clearing.
"Humans and dwarves have odd, rounded ears, while most of the other anthropomorphoid races have pointed ears to some extent. The ears of an elf are highly pointed and elongated, while that of someone of mingled human and elven ancestry tend to a more gentle point, akin to that of the halfling or gnome... save that, of course, the half-elven is much taller than either..."
Cassius breaks off as he realizes that this game is of far more interest to the others than a discourse on biological differences. He sighs slightly. Very well.
"I believe that your place of origin being so distant is the lie, and the faeries the truth," he says.
example:
Rodger listens in, sipping on his ale.
Okay, I'm interested. I'll go.
Firstly, I have taken my first drug at the age of three, and secondly, I never had a friend.
Go ahead, guess.
Rodger gives a sly grins, the ale giving him boldness.
Having sat and pondered Kiernans options, Gregory quickly answered Rodgers when he to posed two options. "Oh thats easy. Even I have had friends, everyone has had a friend at your age. And drugs can be medicinal, maybe you fell ill at the age of three?" He nodded to himself, looking very pleased.
"Drugs are true, friends a lie." He said matter of factly, taking a swig and looking back at Kiernan again. "And for you, well, there are plenty of places in the world that are far away that I havnt heard of, so I wager thats the truth."
He swigged again, before sticking his tongue out and looking like he was concentrating. "Hmmm, ok, lets see now. ok, first one: Underneath my clothes, I have burn scars on fully half my body....Oooor..." he paused and looked around conspiratorially. "...I am taking drugs on a regular basis."
" 'Drugs are true, friends a lie'," Cassius echoes with a deep chuckle. "I know you meant it not as such, but how-- philosophical! And morbid."
He studies Rodger a moment, then nods. "I agree. It seems difficult that you might reach adulthood without a single friend-- you seem personable enough. I say friendship for the falsehood."
"I say drugs are true and friends are a lie. everyone had to have a friend at least once in their life."
"As to you, man of many words, I would probably say both. But seeing as I don't want to get under those rags of yours, I'm going to go with the second as the truth. "
Rodger seems to be thoroughly enjoying this.
"I recall you saying that you are a practiced Alchemist? Well my man, you have had to of imbibed your fair amount of potions, no? Possibly gotten addicted to one of them? Or perhaps for your own personal benefit you regularly imbibe? "
"I'd guess its the drugs as the truth. as you yourself said most can be used as a medicine, and with you being an alchemist it makes sense."
Jack rubs his chin as he thinks a bit."Here's one for you. My Grandfather is a Dwarf or I was once in the military."
Kiernan breaks out in a fit of giggles....Nobody can guess, can they? I was actually born not all that far away! Sometimes I still get visits from a couple of fairies... they almost seem to think I'm one of them. My friend Melium is a pooka.
Oh! The guy with glasses got it right. It's pretty Cool, really!
"Here's one for you. My Grandfather is a Dwarf or I was once in the military."
"Hm. Well, you did say you traveled a lot, and soldiers get around. But then again, maybe having a dwarven relative is how you learned to make fancy things like that gun."
Geralt shrugs.
"I'll go with the dwarven grandpa."
Yeah...drugs...and...Jack...you were a soldier...weren't you?
Kiernan seems fascinated by this game...
"Well, I guess that one wasnt hard at all then!" Gregory laughed. "Its all related though. You see, I am quite burned, but only from the arm and up. I take some medicine of my own make for the pain you see." At this, he reached into his pocket, pulling out a rather large and nasty looking syringe. "This right here, this is the good stuff."
Noticing the looks, he quickly packed it away again. "Ahem, well, Jack, I too shall have to go with the Grandfather Dwarf. Your father may have been adopted is my guess. Atleast, I do not think either humans or elves capable of conceiving with dwarves."
Kiernan considers for a moment... Hmmm... you don't look like someone that would be afraid of heights... or much...though undead would scare me! I hope they didn't hurt you!
Kiernan giggles for a moment.
Xiakon began to dissect the stew before him, his palate seeking to understand the very components of the dish as he listened to the others. Seemed the majority of them where enthralled with the game instead of the delectable food this place had to offer. Than again he suspected not having to steal or fight for food.
"Undead" He spoke as he pulled up his pin and began to scrawl notes on the page about the base ingredients of this trencher stew. He was diligent to put it in tengu so others would find the writing odd and hopefully not garner what he was doing.
Me again? I lost my daddy when I was little... or...one thing I really want...is to fly!
"Ah, you must try harder young man." Gregory muttered with his mouth on his flask. "Who doesn't want to fly? Maybe Rakdon if he really is afraid of heights. But you don't strike me as afraid of such things. So obviously you want to fly."
Kiernan bursts into laughter... Right!
"I will go" He looks up from his dish and than to the others.
"I bare a scar of shame on my chest or am I a solider" He says before he goes back to his meal, and writing what he tastes.
You don't look like a soldier, more of a scholar. You do look sorrowful so I'll go with the mark of shame.
"I am going to have to go with Soldier on this one, he has that 'Silent and Strong' personality that is so common in the military. Even though he doesn't look like a normal soldier, he obviously doesn't look normal to me either. Its all relative."
"Yeah my grandfather is a Dwarf. He found my dad and raised him. He can be bit stubborn but he's good man.
Jack looks over the feathered man "I'd have to say the mark is true."