Thron's Altered Kingmaker (Now Litejedi's)

Game Master Litejedi

Ipmeek opens the door, and as he does so, the smell of dirt and sulphur assaults Chyrsa's nose. In the background, Ipmeek's window has been thrown open and tinctures are brewing in the background. The kobold responds (in Draconic).

"Chrysa! Just in time. I've been working on some new potions. I have been modifying the tinctures that I use to bring out my draconic nature. For you, the goal is to do the opposite. Suppress whatever is inside of you, so you are more human." Sootscale takes the vials sitting on the shelf, caps it, and swirls it. "Totally experimental, though. Might be better to wait until after dinner?"

He grabs his things and comes along.

Bella puts her palms over her eyes and shakes her head "I know. No, I'm not sure. I'm not really sure of anything. You're right, I shouldn't do this. It's probably not safe. I don't know what I was thinking. I was just trying to be polite. I'll just go get a bath and turn in for the night. Thanks for the advice."

Isabella whispers to her brother "Love you. Go get your bath, you stink. The water won't stay hot for long." before pushing back to the table to tell Annalla that dinner was off. She reaches into her coin pouch and pulls out a few gold to give her so she could go get a nice pair of clothes, but the strange beautiful woman has seemingly disappeared.

"Of course."

Shaking her head, she walks off towards her room and the bath. She'd tell her there had been a change in plans after her bath. Heading into her room, she enters just as a boy exits with two empty and steaming pails. He nods to her and she shuts the door as she begins to strip off the same old ripped and torn clothing she's been wearing for far too long.

Though she's become accustom to magical healing her bumps, bruises and blood, there is no replacement for a hot bath! She slips into the water and soaks until the water loses its steam and warmth. She scrubs herself clean and reluctantly exits the bath and puts on a change of clothes she had brought to the room as well, sparing no expense for this reprieve in Restov. Sliding into the very basic, but very clean clothes she makes her way back down to the common room exactly on time.

She waits five minutes for Annalla, but she never shows. She buys an ale to pass the time, drinking it quickly. When ten minutes passes, she grumbles to herself about the exact time she could have stayed in the bath and gets another ale to quash the feeling of hunger that her belly is telling her that she has.

After twenty minutes, she sits with her arms folded having downed three ales without Annalla showing. She gets up to inquire as to a status of another ale, when she half stumbles on a step she knew was there. She asks around and hopes that she hadn't left without her. She finally finds a servant who says she's still taking a hot bath and the first though is one of jealousy. I should still be taking a bath!

With a sigh, she heads up to Annalla's room to break the bad news to her. Best to be brief and honest she tells herself. She knocks firmly on the woman's door and when there is no answer she says loudly "Annalla? It's Isabella. I need to talk to you about dinner tonight. Are you there?"

"Yes. Please, come in," the woman's voice calls out.

When Isabella enters, she finds Annalla reclined back in the tub of steaming water. Her white hair falls down the back of the tub. She seems completely at ease with her eyes half-lidded in the luxury. Periodically, she scoops up some of the warm water and tips it so the water runs down her shoulders and over her exposed breasts.

"This is amazing," she says in a languid voice. "How come people don't just do this all day long? You must try it." Her eyes open a little wider. "Wait has it been an hour yet? I'm sorry, I'm still getting used to how you measure time." Her eyes blink a few times. "Oh, dear. Ninety seven minutes. That's ... that's quite a bit more than an hour. Oh dear, oh dear."

She rises from the tub and the water splashes some. "I'm so sorry," she repeats as she steps out on to the floor to reach for a towel which she uses to attempt to dry her hair.

Isabella steps in and closes the door behind her. It doesn't take long to see the beautiful woman still sitting in the damn tub! Isabella immediately averts her gaze to the right and says "I'm so sorry, I assumed you were finished bathing by now and were dressed. My apologies for interrupting."

She quickly turns her back on Annalla to give her privacy. Hardly from the first time she'd seen a woman bathe, given the time she's spent out in the wilds with Sophie and Chyrsa. Sophie was quite strikingly beautiful, but this woman was exotically so. Her eyes linger a second more than they should before she turns to stare at a particurly boring piece of wood on the wall.

There was something different about being out in the river bathing opposed to being in someone's private chambers in a bath. That's likely just your desperate attempt to cling to the city life, Bella. Don't try to make excuses!

While her back is turned away from the naked woman, she asks "What did you mean how I measure time? I was not aware there was more than one way?"

"I ... I don't know," Annalla answers. "I guess not. I've just never thought of time that way before. This is all still so new to me. I only woke up three ... days? Yes, days. Three days ago. Before that, I ... I don't remember, but it was ... different, I think. And time didn't matter then."

The woman steps to Isabella's side as she finishes with her hair and starts on her body. "You've had much longer to get used to hours and minutes than I have. Probably ... months? Yes, probably months. Or seasons. Hmmm... seasons seem more natural, but not many people use those metrics, do they?"

Finished drying her body, she walks over to pick up her clothes from a nearby chair. Taking a quick glimpse, Isabella can see that the pattern of tiny blue lines covers her entire body. She pulls the garments on and turns back to Isabella.

She smiles and then passes a hand over the tattered and soiled garments and mutters quiet words. While she does so, the blue stone on her forehead glimmers with faint light. Once she finishes, the clothes look less tattered and almost clean. They still fit her poorly, but at least they don't look like they've been dragged through the streets anymore.

Isabella does not understand what Annalla is talking about. With her back still turned, she asks "What do you mean you only woke up three days ago? You can't remember the rest of your life? Have you been to a healer?"

When Annalla walks up still naked next to her, Bella closes her eyes and shakes her head slighly back and forth as she turns away from her again. "Season works, but typically we refer to ourselves in years."

"What metrics" What the hell is a metric? "do you use to measure your age then?" she asks as she tries to act like she knows what she's talking about.

She slowly opens her left eye to peek and see if the woman is dressed. Seeing clothes on her body finally, she nods and "You're not human, that is clear. I don't see pointy ears, horns, or a tail. Not elven or tiefling. Too tall for a dwarf, gnome or halfling. What are you Annalla?"

"I guess you could use years to measure age, but only if you ..." her voice trails off and she blinks a few times. "Oh, yes. You're a human and humans measure the time span of their lives in years. Rarely does a human live longer than a century."

She looks confused for a moment. "I'm so sorry. There are so many things I know that I don't know until I know them. Does that make sense?"

"But to answer your last question ... In the common human tongue I am what is referred to as an android. That's an artificial being similar to a construct, but much closer to a human. And I have a soul."

She blinks again.

"Do I? Yes, I'm certain that I have a soul. But how can I be sure?" She shakes her head. "And as far as I can surmise, I am seventy eight hours, thirty six minutes old. Anything before that was ... different. How old are you?"

"You know you are never supposed to ask a Lady her age, don't you? It's considered impolite. I'm twenty-six years old. I hae no idea what that is in hours and minutes. A lot, I guess." She offers a slight smile, but it fades into a look of confusion as she processes Anna's responses.

"So. You're telling me that Anndroit's are magical creatures with souls?" she asks. Confused and turning to face her fully again. "Wait. Wait" she says holding her hand up. "A No. That doesn't make sense."

Isabella walks up to Annalla and leans in to look at her face, staring as she moves her head all around the sorcerer's as if searching for something. "You're not, uhm, alive?

"I would posit that, yes, I am alive. I'm just alive in a different way than you are. I laugh. I cry." She frowns. "I feel pain. I bleed."

She steps away from Isabella's scrutiny.

"I can die. But I do not wish to. Although, I will probably not live as long as you will, Isabella. If I think about that it makes me sad."

She turns back to Isabella and squares her shoulders. "So I will not think about that now. Now we are buying new clothes and having a nice dinner. Shall we proceed?"

Isabella's mind is flooded with a hundred different questions and thoughts. She bleeds? She won't live as long as me? How does magic die?

When she steps away from Isabella, she remembers the earlier comment about staring. "Oh."

"Downstairs you said don't stare and that is exactly what I was just doing, wasn't it?" Isabella sighs and shakes her head slowly "That must really get old quickly, I suppose."

She nods and says "I think I understand better what you must feel when that happens, " she holds her hand up to clarify "not that I'm saying I understand how you feel. I don't. But I can see how people are thinking you are an object and not a living being with a soul."

Moving her right hand to her chest she says sincerely "I owe you an apology, Annalla. I give you my word that I will not stare at you like that again."

Annalla approaches Isabella again. She holds out her hand near the other woman's but doesn't take it, leaving Isabella the option to pull away. "From what I understand, what you feel and what I feel are not all that different. You laugh and you cry, do you not?" She gives Isabella a warm smile. "I think that you and I will be good friends."

A rumbling sound comes from the region of Annalla stomach.

"That means I'm hungry, I think," she says with a roll of her eyes. "Do human's bellies make that sound as well?"

Chrysa leads the sovereign to a place through the crowds, called Layers of Decadance, a dessert shop. "We can find meat, vegetables, fruits in the wild, but not a single good cake. Which we need, very much so."

In the almost too snooty place, the concierge looks at the absurdity of a kobold in his place, but before she can say a word, Chrysa is there in front of her. "My king, Ipmeek Soothscale, is visiting this city on an ambassador tour. The great sovereign has deemed your establishment worthy to be a template of what you humans would call desserts." producing two platinum coins out of seemingly nowhere "We would like to be seated in that balcony, to better observe what daily life holds for mortals such as you."

Money, fancy words, and a few lies later the two of them settled in with cakes, creams, and chocolate! A lovely coffee and a decanter of wine. And Chrysa is smiling, a real delighted one, which is rare for the woman.

"Sorry. I picked the first place, is there somewhere else you want to go before we shop?"

Isabella takes the offered hand and shakes it gently, much like she had downstairs earlier. S&%%. I was supposed to cancel dinner! How do I possibly do that now?

"Uhm."

Isabella's stomach growls loudly too at the mention of food. She looks down at it and nods. "Yes. That's exactly what that means."

"F!+% it." she says softly to herself.

She motions to the door and says "Alright, let's get going. I still want to pick up something to wear before we go. Sophie told me about this thing I want to get so I know exactly what I want. Two stops before dinner and I'm already hungry, so let's get going."

* * *

Leading Annalla down the hall and out of the inn, she hopes she doesn't run into her brother so she doesn't have to explain her decision to back on her. "I appreciate you keeping me company tonight, it will be nice to not be alone and spend some pretending to live a normal life again, I think. We could all die tomorrow and I'd hate to die alone." A crazy thought suddenly occurs to her as she sees the building up ahead. She says. "Wait right here, I'll be right back in ten minutes."

Ducking inside Miss Kitty's Cat House, Isabella finds the proprietor and pays gold for the classiest companions Miss Kitty has for the night for Sophie, Chrys and Orri. She describes the best she can what each of them might like and then asks them to visit their inn two hours from now. They don't have kobold women, so she just asks for one that is open to exotic creatures if she is available for Ipmeek.

Handing over the coin, she quickly exits and rejoins Anna. She points to The Shimmering Cloak and says "Okay, two more stops after this one. I'll only be five minutes here." Once more she ducks inside, this time a magical curio shop. She asks for a magical item that allows her clothing to change shape, size, color and style. When she's presented with something called a sleeve of many garments, she takes it and pays the cost before leading Anna out again. She says "Put these on." as she hands them to the android. She doesn't explain further what they are and begins to lead them onward once more.

"Okay, last stop before dinner. I promise." she says as they make their way to a clothing shop in the more upscale section of town. It takes twenty minutes longer than she wants, but eventually she finds a beautiful crimson dinner dress that catches her eye. It doesn't fit exactly perfect and would require some tailor work, but Isabella doesn't have time for that and pays the cost as she slips into the dress.

Still in the shop,she motions to the other dresses. "Which one do you like the best?" she asks. She points to another dinner dress that is all white with some patterns of blue that matches her blue whorls. "I think that one is pretty, don't you? What I want you to do is focus on that and pretend that is what you are wearing, okay? I know it's weird, just try it out."

Sophie heads back to the inn, a little later, but sees it mostly quiet, her companions gone to various places. She pulls down her face mask before stepping inside, and approaches the innkeeper. ”Good evening, my companions - the kobold and woman with horns, did they say where they were going?” She nods and turns, and Bjorn, who had been quietly following her, startles her, ”you absolute. Ugh. Okay, come on Bjorn, do you want something nice to eat?” Bjorn stares at her from behind his helmet, then nods. ”Come on then. No matter where you came from, you still deserve nice things while you’re here.” She ambles off towards ‘Layers of Decadence, her bag weighing heavier on her slight frame.

She reaches the fancy establishment and gestures, her clothes fiting the part a bit better, though still looking like an adventurer. She looks at Bjorn, and sighs at the bearded giant, and enters. She looks for the table, Bjorn in tow, and makes a beeline. When she reaches it, she gestures for Bjorn to sit down next to her. ”I think you can read, Bjorn, so take a look and order whatever you’d like.” She turns to the others in the seat, and shifts slightly, then gestures and her new, beautiful dragonhide armor is briefly visible, before disappearing and returning to look like her fine clothes. ”So I was productive...”[b] She gesture at her bag as well, [b]”I also got things to make myself some new gear. You should do the same - buy cloaks and magic dust, and whatnot. I can bind the dust to the items. The component pieces are very common, it just takes time. King Sootscale gets precedence, though.” She nods at Sootscale and looks at the menu. ”I’d like cherry pastries...” She waves over one of the waiters, and orders for herself.

Bjorn adds, ”and one for me.” Sophie sighs and puts her head in her hands.

Chrysa doesn't feel even a moment of guilt for leaving her elven companion back at the inn. The woman almost killed a man for bumping into her. "The cream-filled croissants might kill me, you should try one, or at least take these last two since I've had eight."
She scoots over to the half elven woman "Your giant bothering you?"

Annalla attempts to keep up with Isabella in her rush. "Isn't that ...?" she begins to ask before the woman dashes off into the business.

"Wasn't that ...?" she begins again before Isabella presses the sleeves into her hands. "Ok?" is all she says.

When they finally get to the point of looking at dresses, she listens to Isabella's instructions before looking down at the sleeves on her arms. She closes her eyes and her tattered clothes transform. Initially it's a perfect match to the dress Isabella pointed out. But Annalla looks down at it for a moment before closing her eyes again and the dress shifts. It tightens up to enhance her shape. and the blue patterns shift to form a single blue star on the bodice.

She opens her eyes and seems satisfied. Finished 'dressing', she looks back up at Isabella. "I meant to ask you before ... The first place you entered; was that a brothel? A brothel is where people that have sex for money work isn't it? Were you looking to buy sex?"

Isabella shakes her head no but then stops. "No. Well, yes. You can buy sex, but that is not what I bought tonight. It's complicated, but let me try to explain while we walk." She waves Anna onward towards the restaurant she selected earlier.

"It's like this. We spent weeks out in the frontier lands and had more than our share of near death experiences. Our last quest was particularly challenging and I didn't think we were going to make it. We shouldn't have made it, but we got extremely lucky. Coming out of those experiences, well, I suppose the value of life is different to me now. I never before considered how short life is. Before. One of my companions had theirs, snuffed out, right under my nose. Then I. Let my companions down. And let them get captured. And tortured."

The last few sentences seem particularly challenging for Isabella to speak as she puts unnatural pauses in the sentences and breaks eye contact with Annalla, shaking her her as she walks. She takes a deep breath and says "I think I've gotten off topic. Anyway. The whole experience has made me very lonely. The moral of this was supposed to be that any of us can die tomorrow and I don't want to die alone. I don't know if they feel that way or not so I bought some entertainment for them for the evening."

"While it's true they can have sex with them if they like, they can also just talk to them. Or tell them jokes. Or just sleep next to them. I didn't buy an hour's worth of services, I bought a nights worth of companionship. I would never pay for sex."

Isabella sighs as she thinks more about it. The thought of her act being twisted into sex was making her cringe inside. "My head isn't working right since I've been gone. I'm thinking about things differently and I'm not sure how to handle these things in my head anymore. I made a decision on a whim which is not like me. Hopefully they see it for what it was meant to be and not what you said. Maybe I should go back and stop it?" she asks, unsure now on her actions.

"I'm sorry one of your friends died," Annalla says with sadness in her eyes. She reaches out to touch Isabella's arm, but stops herself at the last minute. Without touching the woman, Annalla's hand moves up next to her cheek. "I would like to comfort you. May I touch you?" she asks softly, holding her hand just an inch away from the woman's face.

Sophie eyes the croissants and takes both, handing one to Bjorn. She pats Chrysa on the shoulder, ”thanks, that’s sweet of you.” She smiles at her friend, and Chrysa sees what Sophie looks like without her gears spinning, not working, not striving l, just for a moment. Lady Sophiel tears into her croissant, and Bjorn looks uncertain before he removes his horned helm and awkwardly does the same. Sophie looks happy, happy to have a moment where she isn’t doing anything, that she is just being with no pressure on her from anyone.

Then of course, after she polishes it off, she gets back to thinking, ”no, well, yes, but it isn’t his fault. How would you feel if your soul was pulled from the outer plane’s stuff, given a body, and then told that you have to serve some random mortal, but can never grow? They are your reason for existing...” She shudders and looks angry, ”It’s a s!#@ existence these things got, you know? And it’s f+!+ing slavery.” She pats Bjorn on the shoulder, who is still struggling with his pastry.

”Whoever made that deck...” She shakes her head. ”This was a good idea. I’m glad we’re together.” She reaches over and holds Chrysa’s and Sootscale’s hands tightly.

Isabella has to consider Annalla's question much longer than it normally should take to process it. NO YOU MAY NOT! she wants to scream, but she bites her tongue as she tries to find something more civil. She looks into the android eyes and wants to smile, but can't.
She says "I would prefer you did not. Your words are comfort enough, thank you."

She starts walking again, seeing their destination just ahead. She walks the rest of the way in silence and as they arrive at the their destination, she turns to face Annalla. "How do I look? It's been a long time since I've been in a dress this nice." she asks.

Chrysa squeezes back, feeling an unfamiliar warmth at the half elf's brief but stunning relaxation. Having friend's is a new experience for her.
"Through horrors and tribulations, the heroes carry on." she says softly, the ending quote from her favorite children's book that a nanny would read to her. The horned woman does not share her friend's same worries about these thing's worries, she barely concerns herself with regular not magicked up people, so it isn't a wonder that these cause her no regret or remorse.
But Sophie does worry, so she suggests "We could find a mage and ask them to study them a bit, see if there is a way to release them."

She says "I would prefer you did not. Your words are comfort enough, thank you."

Giving a single nod in acknowledgement, Annalla drops her hand down to her side, but then leans in until her cheek hovers a fingerspan from Isabella's and her lips only an inch from the woman's ear. "I understand not wanting to be touched. However, sometimes a single touch can comfort far more than any number of words," she whispers, her breath warm and carrying a hint of honey. She then pulls away to stand a reasonable distance and waits for Isabella to lead on.

"How do I look? It's been a long time since I've been in a dress this nice." she asks.

"You should don one more often," Annalla offers with a smile. "It suits you greatly."

When Annalla leans close, Isabella turns her chin down and touches her shoulder and closes her eyes as her body tenses, her fists clenching at her sides. She nods twice to the woman's words and doesn't open her eyes again until the android has pulled away from her. It still takes two breaths with her eyes closed before she relaxes her muscles and tries to compose herself to Annalla's compliment.

Isabella tries to regain her composure and responds "Thank you."

She realizes she never told Anna about her dress and responds "I don't think I told you that you look great in your dress. I like what you did with the star in the center." she says, touching the center of her own chest where the star would be if she was wearing the dress. Very creative."[/b]

Her stomach growls loudly and she looks at the restaurant, "Shall we?"

"Yes, please," Annalla says, nodding in agreement. "What kind of food do they serve?" she asks as they enter the establishment. "I hope they have fresh greens. I'm very hungry. I haven't eaten yet."

Isabella shrugs "I'm actually not quite sure, I've never eaten here. I've heard of this quarter of town, but I've only passed through before."

She heads up and finds more than three quarters of the dining area is completely empty, only a handful of residents sitting in attendance.
Isabella asks for a table for two only to be told that they do not have any room at the moment. The man sticks out his hand palm up towards her. Unable to believe what she was just was told, she sighs and reaches into her pouch and drops a silver into the mans hand.

"Oh, one moment. I think I see a table opening up now." he says, leading them to the rear of the dining area. "Unbelievable." she mutters under her breath, walking to the back and taking a seat.

Three well dressed men quickly appear to deposit various greens and meats on the table, following by a bottle of red wine. Isabella nods through it all and after five minutes their attendants have all departed and she turns to Annalla. "So Annalla, what are you going to do next? You don't remember anything?"

Annalla looks down at the plates with meat in distaste before filling her plate with piles of greens and other vegetables.

"I don't know if there's anything that I should remember. The ... feelings? images? echoes? of ... before are so confusing and scattered. And something tells me that if I could remember it all I wouldn't ... it would hurt too much. Something ... someplace? ... is gone and will never be again. I don't know what it was, but the world is poorer because of its lack." She shakes her head and takes a mouthful of greens.

After contemplating the situation for a moment longer, she continues. "I think I would like to find a new place. Somewhere I can feel safe. Somewhere that feels like home. Do you know of such a place?"

"I would also like to find friends. I don't like being alone. It feels wrong."

She reaches out and takes her glass of wine and sniffs at it. "This is intriguing," she says before taking a sip. "I've never had anything like this." In four large swallows, she downs the glass. "May I have more of this?"

Isabella does not express the same distaste with the meat that Annalla does. Without meaning to, she sits up straight in her chair and carefully folds a napkin across her lap. Picking up specific utensils, she uses one fork for the meats and carefully cuts off a small pieces before chewing it completely before attempting the next piece. She closes her eyes and moans softly at the taste of the food. "This is so amazing, I had almost forgotten what spices tasted like. I swear if I need to eat one more plain rabbit I am going scream."

Taking a sip of wine she savors it in her mouth and also comments "Fantastic. Not to dry but-" her mouth hangs open when Annalla downs the entire glass in about three seconds. Blinking she says Don't stare, Isabella! and looks down at her lap. She picks up her napkin and dabs at her mouth and remarks. "Annalla." while she tries to figure out what to say.

Her wine is quickly refilled, and Isabella says "You're not from around here, right? Okay. So. Do as I do, alright?"

Channeling her aunt's many lessons, she begins to recite from memory.

She lifts the glass and swirls the liquid around in it slightly, not enough to splash or spill it. "When we drink wine, we do not do it quickly. It is meant to be done slowly. Swirl the wine around the glass to intensify the aroma. Be sure to smell the wine several times, swirling before each smell. A complex wine will offer multiples scents, and taking in each scent will intensify the wines flavor. The overall taste of a wine is a combination of smells and flavors, so it's important that you don't skip the smelling and just drink it all too quickly. Do you understand?"

She lifts it to nose and smells it, breathing in the aromas. After taking several smells, she continues instructing "Taste your wine in small sips. Lightly swish and roll the wine around in around your mouth. Hold the wine in your mouth for 5-10 seconds before swallowing to really absorb the flavor. After swallowing, notice the aftertaste, or finish. High quality wines tend to have a more defined the finish. A good finish will linger on your palate for quite some time."

Isabella lifts her glass and takes another sip and clarifies "Wine is best when sipped and savored, as opposed to being gulped down. Take a small-to-medium sized sips of wine, and hold the wine in the center of your tongue before swallowing. This will allow you to taste the complex flavors of the wine."

Annalla's face reddens as Isabella corrects her, understanding that she's done something completely gauche.

She mimics the woman as she voices her instructions and attempts her best at detecting the subtleties that she indicates are there. Once she finishes the first swallow of her second glass, she holds up a hand. "With the exception of the mug of ale earlier which I found quite distasteful, I think I've only drank water before. So let me try this ..."

She brings the glass to her nose and swirls it around as Isabella has shown her. She sniffs and frowns and then sniffs again. She takes a small swallow and swishes it around in her mouth, attempting to sense the complexities she's been told are there. Her frown continues to grow as she moves the liquid around in her mouth. After a few more moments, she swallows it down.

"All I can taste are grapes," she says after sitting quietly. She reaches up to brush at her eyes that are beginning to brim with tears. "I shouldn't be here. You're being so nice to me, but this is much too elegant of a place for me I think. I don't know how to drink wine and I don't like meat and ..." She looks to the ceiling as if willing her tears to stop. A hand reaches up again to wipe them away. "And now I'm embarrassing you."

Isabella starts to nod as Annalla gets it, commenting "Excellent. Well done. Yes! Wine is from grapes, but do you taste the oak and hints of cherry?" but then something goes terribly wrong. When the android starts crying, Bella's eyes widen in confusion.

"No-no, you're doing it perfectly. It's not too elegant for you and you're not embarrassing me. You said you don't remember, right? I'm helping you remember. I'm sure you knew this, but you've just forgotten is all. See? You've had a good whack to the head and everything is fuzzy. I'm hear to unfuzz you."

She lowers her voice and asks "Please don't cry."

Orri headed off after Bella gave him his key. He took a bath but only long enough to get clean. He still had some details on his maps he had been working on he wanted to finish up before getting an early nights rest in an actual bed. He was used to traveling and he didn’t mind sleeping under the stars, but he wasn’t about to let a perfectly good bed go to waste.

He had been working on his maps, sketching in small, but extravagant details on some of the more prominent locations when there was a light knock at the door. Going to open it he found a beautiful woman, scantily clothed in a emerald lace dress waiting outside. She had short, fiery red hair and mischievous smile after a brief introduction and explanation that Bella had ‘paid for her services’ the night Orri stood at the door for a moment trying to decide what to do.

After a few moments he nodded and let the woman in. After closing the door she began to undress and Orri promptly put a hand on hers to stop her. He shook his head and smiled then put the strap of her dress back on her shoulder. Her skin was pale and soft, he took a deep breath, his touch lingering for a moment and then moved away and went over to the desk. He asked for the woman, Isla, to take a set on the bed. He brought his maps over to show her and start talking about their journeys.

The two talked for hours, the woman was not only beautiful but educated and travelled. It turns out she was only in her line of work to save up for her studies at the nearby university. She wanted to be a surgeon but the tuition was expensive so rather than give up on her dreams she decided to get some work where she could make money quick and reasonably safely with the higher class clientele of her employer.

Orri enjoyed the company and having someone to talk to. His sister had been distant ever since they lost Dunstan, Chrysa was just kind of off putting and Sophiel was nice enough but they just never really talked, then of course Ipmeek, while he was a valuable member of their group he couldn’t shake the feeling the kobold was only using them to his own advancement of his tribe. In any case he didn’t have anyone to really talk to in any depth. He wasn’t all that talkative in any case unless it was something he was excited about, which worked well in his work as a merchant as he enjoyed talking business, but with three woman and a kobold he just didn’t find much to talk with them about, not to mention all the constant threats they had to worry about in the wild keeping them all on edge. Now though, in the relative safety of the city, he enjoyed having a captive person to converse with even if she was getting paid for it.

As the night started to give way to the dawn, the two ended up falling asleep next to one another exhausted from the night of talking and sharing stories.

"I'm sorry, it's just ... I wasn't hit in the head. I'm sure I've never had wine before ... or sat at a nice table like this."

She wipes at her eyes again, trying to get her emotions under control.

"It's all so confusing and new," she continues as she awkwardly stabs at her plate of greens with a fork. "I just miss ... I don't even know what I miss, but it feels like it was such a big part of me. But it's gone now and it doesn't matter." The fork clatters to the table and she reaches out and downs the rest of her glass of wine without all the care and grace that Isabella has been instructing her in.

"I'm feeling a little warm," she says and, in that instant, her dress opens up a little more at the top, revealing more of her pale skin. She fans herself for a moment with one hand as she reaches across the table with the other, stopping, palm up, just short of Isabella's hand. "Will you be my friend, Isabella?" she asks.

Bella's face saddens when the woman seems to continue to be upset. When she starts to open up her top, she looks away, nervous to be caught looking at her skin again.

"There's nothing to apologize for. It's normal to be warm, that's the wine. It's okay, it's not a bad thing. It should start to make you feel a little fuzzy too, again, that's a good thing."

When she sees Annalla's hand reach out, she looks down and stares at it as she considers her options. She starts speaking without thinking as the words ramble out of her mouth "There's something tragic in you, something almost pure." She shakes her head, trying to find the right words. "It's something wholesome, it's something sweet."

She closes her eyes and lowers her head so that her eyes would be looking down at her plate. Still looking away from Annalla, she lowers her voice and speaks slowly in a whisper "I like that your broken. Broken like me." She pauses briefly before adding "Maybe that makes me a fool."

She takes a deep breath before continuing "I like that your lonely. Lonely like me."

She looks into Annalla's eyes for several seconds before moving her right hand to her full glass of wine. Picking it up she takes four big gulps and downs the whole thing. She's unable to do it without coughing and nearly spitting the wine across the table. As wine dribbles down her face, she grins and reaches out to take Anna's hand and asks "Maybe I could be lonely with you?"

Chyrsa considered prudence.
Again her dark eyes looked at the woman in front of her, a woman dressed in the appearance of wealth, all silk and layered skirts. Why this? She thought again, what did Bella see that she didn't. A faux noblewoman coming to call an adventurer to hear her tales, accompanied by tea and biscuits of all things.
It made no sense.
The pale blonde exuded confidence and softness at the same time, smelling of vanilla and honey. Boldly standing way too close, asking with bright blue eyes and bated breath, what she wanted.
Chrysa's mind still held sway, thinking, wondering, though the shivers her touch brought were a flood of desires once beaten down to a pulp.
What did she want?
Better question... what did it matter?

In the end, it was Chrysa's mind that decided what to do. As it should be.
Prudence won.

In the morning, the short copper-haired leather-clad lady walked with the dainty young noblewoman down the stairs to the common room, parting from each other with a few words and a shared smile.

Only a truly skilled reader of people would notice neither smile was truly genuine but still held a certain relaxed fondness.

Annalla squeezes her hand and smiles, wiping her eyes again with her other hand. "Yes, we can be lonely together," she says. "And I think I need more wine."

Isabella picks up her napkin from her lap and cleans the dribbling wine from her face and announces loudly "More wine!" before leaning forward and giggling at the complete inappropriateness of it all.

Both women's glasses get refilled, much to the chagrin of the help. The next thirty or so minutes are full of laughter, their behavior becoming increasingly inappropriate. After the third refill of wine , Isabella tries to keep pace with Anna and the glass down by gulping it, but fails miserably and ends up spitting the wine across the table all the white table cloth, Anna's face and her beautiful starred dress.

She knows she should apologize, half stricken but instead she burst out in laughter, letting her face fall to the table as she slaps it a few times, only to lift her head up so that she can point to the ridiculousness of Anna's face and dress dripping with wine. Not to be outdone, Annalla takes a mouthful of wine and spits it all over Isabella.

Isabella leaps to her feet to protest the action. "HEY! You did that on purpose!" she says, waving her arm towards the android.

The restaurant grows quite as they now have the attention of all of the patrons. A few women gasp as a man quickly makes his way over to Isabella, his face pale-white "Oh my Gods! What's happened!?"

Isabella lies loudly "The food is poishoned! We were fortunate enough to shpit it out before, before.. Before we DIED!"

The other couples in the dining area all quickly put their forks down and stare at their food before looking at the two women. Isabella's partially slurred speech is enough for the employees to decide the women should leave. Isabella protests loudly "You're food is S#&~ anyway! There's NOT ENOUGH GREENS! TOO MUCH MEAT!" as she drops some coins on the floor and staggers out the door with her arm around the android.

Out front she turns to face Annalla and looks at her fave dripping wine. Pointing to her own face, Bella bites her lip to refrain from laughing she swallows and then trying her best to keep a straight face says "Oh my. You have something. Right here." as she touches her own face on her cheek. Failing miserably, she snorts loudly.

Sophie nods at Chrysa, "A mage, yes... good idea." Sophie smiles. "Let's stay as long as you both want." She turns, happy to talk about nice things for once, as long as everyone else wants.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Later at night, when she's retired to her bed, and Bjorn to his ajoining room. She hears a knock at the door. She's reading a book, and the slender elven man doffs his hat and bows elegantly, his performance oozing with refinement. Sophie is startled, slightly, and peers at the man and the hallway. When the man explains why he's here, she smiles at him, shakes his hand, retrieves a bit of extra money from her nightstand, and slips it into his hand. "It was a sweet idea, but not tonight", patting him on the cheek. She closes the door, and returns to her books, then goes to sleep early.

Isabella's rantings seem to strike Annalla as ridiculously funny and she can offer no comment over her laughter as the two women make their way to the exit.

"This is so shtrange!" she declares to her companion as she attempts to keep her feet beneath her. "People should have more fheet," she adds as she staggers along.

At Isabella's comment that there's something on her face, she attempts to find it with her tongue and begins turning in a circle when her tongue proves not long enough. After a few spins, she finally resorts to reaching up with her hand to wipe the wine away. "Did I get it all?" she asks.

As they stumble back to the inn, the idea of losing her friend so soon seems to dim her enjoyment of the evening. "Isabella?" she asks as they make their way to the rooms. "Could I sleep in your bed tonight? I don't want to be alone and that way we can be alone together."

Chrysa is happy to give Sophie a good idea. And even happier to order more desserts. She chats about each and every one of them, and quickly becomes stuffed to the extreme. Shopping is probably postponed due to fatness, but tomorrow she promises King Sootscale.

Isabella puts her hands on her hips as she doubles over in laughter at Annalla's attempts to clean her face with her tongue. She eventually loses her balance and falls on the ground in very unheroic fashion. She pushes herself up off the ground, brushing herself off and looking at her brand new dirt covered, wine-stained dress that she wore for less than two hours before completely ruining it.

When Annalla pops the question of staying together, Isabella squints her eyes together as she tries to look serious, that is of course until she starts to hiccup. She tries to look serious and stern, but she's sure it comes across a drunk and ridiculous. After all, nothing says serious like the hiccups.

She pokes a finger into Annalla's chest "Only if you promish no funny businessh." she lies. I'll just leave after she passes out she tells herself.

When Annalla agrees, Isabella accompanies the woman to her room to see her get her settled. Once Annalla is in bed and under the sheet, Isabella sits on the side of the bed and begins to wait for Annalla to pass out so she can return to her own room.

She pokes a finger into Annalla's chest "Only if you promish no funny businessh." she lies.

"No, I won't shpit any more wine on you," Annalla says with a laugh.

When Isabella leads her to her own room, Annalla just shrugs, happy not to be sleeping by herself.

Once the door is closed, she again demonstrates a decided lack of modesty as she sheds the magical sleeves she's wearing along with the crude garments. She splashes some water on her face from a bowl on the nearby dressing table and slides her naked body underneath the blankets.

As she starts to relax she realizes that Isabella hasn't joined her and is sitting on the edge of the bed. She reaches an arm over and pulls aside the other side of the blankets. "Don't be silly, you can't sleep like that. Take your clothes off and get under the blankets. It's warmer this way."

When Annalla gets naked, Bella says loudly ”Sheesh! You just RIP those suckersh right off, don’t you? No fear, I shee. Well I’m quite okay with mine on. No funny bishnessh, remember??”. She tries to loon away, but her will power is reduced and she catches herself staring before snapping her eyes to the floor.

Isabella rises from the bed when she asks her to take her clothes off. ”I’ll be back, I need to clean my fashe.” she says, moving to the bath of cold water and trying to wake herself up so she can outlast Annalla. She splashes her face a few times, wiping away the sticky remnants of wine before heading back to bed. She sits on the edge again, making no movements to remove her clothing.

She continues to sit at the edge of the bed waiting for Annall to fall asleep. When they doesn’t happen in the first ten minutes, she starts to yawn. After the fourth yawn, she lays down on the end of the bed on top of the covers and clarifies ”Jusht gonna rest my eyesh for a moment.”

Sootscale completely devours the desserts placed in front of him, so much that he doesn't really seem able to talk between mouthfulls. It's only when everything is finished that he speaks in common, still not used to the idea of Sophiel speaking draconic. "Magic cards, powerful. Knowledge, gems, even soldiers. Sophiel too afraid of power. But Ipmeek too proud of power If you see faeries again, tell them Chief Sootscale very sorry to be meanie."

His belly extremely full, Ipmeek waddles back to his room and collapses in bed. When he gets a knock on the door, he's quite startled to see a tall, scantily clad human female with jet black hair. She seems quite startled to see him back. "Who send you here? Some warmblood trick?" The sheepish girl muttered something about a woman named Bella purchasing her services for the night. The woman's shyness convinces the kobold of her sincerity. "Ah, I guess Bella finally treats me like a king," he says in Draconic. Though the woman was quite large. As he began to disrobe, he looked downward with trepidation. Something had to be done.

"Here, drink!" said the kobold, offering an elixir. As the woman did so, she was surprised to shrink down to his size. Now he had a level playing field. "No worry, magic only temporary. But make you more flexible, too!" And as he began to pull off the human's clothes, King Sootscale intended to make use of this woman's flexibility to the fullest . . . .

Sophie woke up, books scattered around her, and groggily approached the mirror and washbasin. She stared at the reflection, noticing three small henna dots above her glabella. She stared at the dots for a moment before cleaning her face. The dots were gone. She knocked on Bjorn’s door, ”I’d like to go in ten minutes; please be ready.” There was shuffling from the other side of the door. She sniffed and got dressed, packing most of her things.

After nine minutes, Bjorn’s door opened and the warrior emerged, dressed and ready to go, his helm covering most of his face. He nodded at her, and she nodded back. She grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a note on it, pinning it to the door. She then hid her face, disappearing into anonymity, and departed.

Chrysa is in a quiet corner of the common room, with only a coffee and her thoughts. Her elf had eaten then gone back to her rooms for mediation and to refrain from stabbing anyone. Her thoughts are dark and muddled, and her belly is full of an indulgence of cakes.

Distracted as she is, she still noticed the large warrior leaving the place. His cloaked companion would have slipped by without a thought, but the Bjorn was a clanking war beast.

Out with cloak and not a whisper meant the woman wanted to be alone, a sentiment Chrysa understood. She'd do the same, but a promise was made, and oaths bound. Her blood would have it no other way.

So she waits quietly for the slumbering king to wake.

to go shopping.

Some time during the night, Annalla realizes that Isabella is lying on the foot of the bed on top of the blankets. She gently covers her with one of the blankets and turns herself around to curl up behind her.

This was the first thing that's felt right since her awakening by the roadside.

With a contented smile, she then drifts back off to sleep, avoiding the temptation to put an arm around the other woman.

Orri doesn't end up waking until nearly mid-day when he does he is surprised to find Isla still their resting as well. He does his best to get up without her noticing but fails miserably as Isla wakes with a start. She jumps out of bed seeing the mid-day light and starts to rush to get her shoes on. Orri apologizes but thanks her for the wonderful evening of talking. She pauses a moment and gives him a smile noting that she actually really enjoyed it as well but she has to get back with it being so late. She is about to run out the door and pauses then turns back to ask if maybe they could see one another again, this time just as normal people not as part of a business arrangement. Orri sheepishly grins and nods. The woman smiles and and nods back then promptly leaves.

Orri goes to work putting away his maps and freshens up a bit before heading downstairs. He inquires about his sisters room and goes to check if she is still in, knocking on her door, figuring the others had already headed out to tend to their own affairs.

Bella's room is empty! Undisturbed and not slept in.

Isabella's sleep is far from peaceful. She stirs throughout the night, the added effect from all of the alcohol intensifying the effects. She talks during her sleep, the words too mumbled to make any sense out loud.

Isabella screams loudly "NO! No! Nononono"

She thrashes about on the bed, getting caught up on the covers and flopping down to the floor with a thud. Heart racing, she scrambles to her feet and flees throws open the door, fleeing the room. She exits the inn and runs down the stairs outside as fast as she can. Run!Run faster! she tells herself.

After several minutes of running, she comes to and finds herself sitting in the corner of an empty stall in the stable. She's crawled into a ball and is holding her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth repeating "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry." to herself over and over again.

Her stomach churns from the running. Or the alcohol. Or both. She turns her head and wretches a few times, vomit joining her fresh tears. She falls to the hay and cries herself to sleep in the corner.

Annalla wakes with a start at Isabella's screams. Unsure at first whether she's responsible for the woman's reaction, she hesitates before following after her.

She doesn't attempt to intervene, but follows as Isabella flees whatever demons have invaded her sleep. When the girl finally collapses from exhaustion in the stable, Annalla takes stock of the situation. It finally occurring to her that she's naked, she grabs a nearby horse blanket and wraps it around her shoulders as she sits down on the hay near the now-sleeping girl to wait.

Her head eventually dips down and she drowses as well.

Chrysa is finishing up her breakfast, wondering if the king is ever going to wake up when Bella comes tearing through the common room, eyes wild with fear and confusion. The horned woman shoots up, only to be tangled in her swords and spilling coffee all over herself. Delaying her enough to see the other woman from last night, naked as the day she was born running after her.

The two are not hard to follow, large breasts in the cold open air have a habit of drawing people pointing all sorts of things their direction. Sleeping nestled together in a stable, at least the fear has abated into exhaustion. She kicks herself for leaving Bella, thinking the breaks had been tempered. Still shattered, just being held on to with will alone.

The horned woman doesn't disturb the two, covering then both in her cloak, she nestles against the stalls door, both swords in her lap to make sure the rampaging boulders didn't draw unwanted suitors.

Chrysa let's a half hour go by before deciding to wake the sleepers. Crouching down in front of them she considers the best way to do so. Bella doesn't need any more hurt and fear, especially from someone she trusts, even if it isn't intentionally.
Scooting close to the swordswoman, her face a few inches away for hers. "Bella. Bella, wake up" hoping a gentle familiar voice will cut through the nightmares and bring her out to a friendly face. Hope is all she can think of at the moment.