Small Talk With the Devil [Closed]

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

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He told me: Beloved son, what’s your desire?
I looked in his eyes and said: A whisky first!
I want to spend my life burning life with fire,
Drinking all world’s poetry to quench my thirst…

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"The Eskimo Kiss...?" Dorian stared up at the wooden sign that was strung up above the door to the tavern, lazily swaying back and forth in the wind; on it was the depiction of an igloo in white and grey paint colours, with the inn's name underneath, 'The Eskimo Kiss'. The tavern itself was situated outside the city limits, centralised within a small village just outside Stratford's borders. It was a rowdy place, from what he could hear outside; even with the sound being muffled by the closed doors and shut windows, the Shaman could feel the aura of joy and warmth that was being shared within. Shaking his head, he made a few more steps to trudge through the late winter snow that had formed outside the door, moving towards it and raising his hand to knock.

What was he even doing here? His mind raced back through his memories, briefly speeding through the rather swift defeat of Fenrir during the event last year. It had been some time since then, but he had remembered a promise he had set with one of the newcomers who had arrived after the wolf was defeated. "If I see you after we wake up, drinks are on me... maybe some food as well." That is what he had told the young fox tail cleric that had come to him for advice after the fight, though, being in the hurry that he was to pick a path, he hadn't gotten her name. Luckily, he had contacts back in Londinium, and managed to get a message to 'Katarina', or so he hoped. In any case, the message simply reminded her of the promise of food and drinks, directing her to the tavern in Avon that he stood in front of now.

Of course, this was a popular tavern, given it's proximity to Stratford without actually being within the city, so there was bound to be other Adventurers inside among the multitude of Landers; perhaps even one or two he had met before. Nevertheless, with reminiscing aside, he moved forward and pushed against the door, his other hand gripping his cashmere jacket and pulling it in snug on his body to resist the cold as it was swiftly pulled into the bar by the sudden opening. Quickly and hurriedly, he slammed the door shut behind him, before dusting himself off and turning back towards the interior of the inn. Luckily, he hadn't caught too many lingering eyes of curiosity upon his entrance, most people too embroiled in the activities going on around them.

The first thing that hit Dorian was the music, a pleasant tune that he was until now unfamiliar with. It had a catchy melody, as evidenced by the area of the tavern filled with dancing individuals revelling in the night's celebrations, of which the Shaman was unsure of as to what they were for. Shrugging his shoulders, he resigned himself to moving towards the emptiest spot at the bar; hopefully his soon to be arriving compatriot would see him from the door as she entered. Grabbing the first bar stool he could find, he drew it out across the floorboards for himself, shifting himself to stand between it and the counter before hoisting his rear back up on top of it, shuffling to get comfortable on the hardened wood before tapping on the bar to grab the tender's attention.

So this is where flesh and blood go to... celebrate? Dorian blinked in surprise as he heard the familiar voice of Aurelia, his new female Shikigami, who was currently peacefully dwelling within his mind, watching the activities around the room through his eyes. "Well, yes... One, I have no idea what they're celebrating; likely just celebrating a warm night by a fire with dancing." He turned his head to look over his shoulder at the opposite side of the room, where most of the tables were left empty due to so many people occupying the dance floor. "And two, 'flesh and blood' is a rather rude way of referring to non-spirits, don't you think?" The fox tail spirit sighed and gave a nod, giving a silent apology before resuming her curious observations of the room.

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Notes: Current Attire - Neourban Threads
Word Count: 702
Tags: @bornfromvelvet Jane Cassandra Arya

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Jane]

Jane was more a Londinium girl, hanging out in the forests, enjoying the slightly warmer atmosphere of the lower UK island and trying her best not to get into trouble. Trouble being translated to 'things that would make her friends worry about her' such as disappearing for large amounts of time and not turning up to say hi, or replying to a message. Thankfully the whole 'send a message' thing was there because it meant she didn't have to endlessly hang around the forests and finally ended up wandering into the snow! Why she even wanted to be in the snow was a question that graced her brain space several times over as she shivered in her plate mail, but the whole idea of a new place to explore made up for that entirely.

At least until she got too cold. Then thoughts of turning back started to float about. It was the desire to just push through a bit more snow, see what was over the next hill or ridge, or whatever it was that was currently blocking her view (it really was hard to tell in this snow) that made her find people, instead of just returning to the city. And that's when she saw buildings, which could only mean people! She really should have known she was getting closer to a town, she had heard about civilisation up this way, but a lack of desire to actually go check it out lead to not doing this before, and now she was finding out just how silly she'd been to wait all this time.

Fighting a way through the last of the blizzard (or at least what her head cannon was depicting as a blizzard at this point in time because she was so annoyed at having cold feet) Jane approached the building, not even paying much attention to what was on the sign, beyond seeing that there was one, which Jane hoped meant she could go in here. Oh well, what was the worst that could happen?

Coming inside was certainly a lot warmer than outside, and it took Jane a few moments to take in just how full this inn, or tavern, or whatever it was, was. She didn't like places full of people like this, but that didn't mean she was about to shy away. No, instead she'd just avoid all the people, move to the quieter side of the room and then.

"Hay, don't I know you?" Jane stared uncertainly up at a young man, sitting in front of the bar. "Something about coffee comes to mind but I can't quite put my finger on it... did you buy me a coffee once or?" Jane (struggled to) hop up next to the young gentleman on a bar stool of her own (size and plate mail doing its best to subdue her). "Maybe I'm just cold and tired." she grumbled to herself softly. She hadn't exactly been the type to go out and get to know lots of people since this whole mess started.

W: 509

[Cassandra]

Cass had been at "The Eskimo Kiss" for several hours before even Dorian had come in, since she was still a rookie, the owner of the bar had given her a new set of cloth to make her look less newbie, a pretty red dress that did go good with her wooden violin that she was playing up on the stage to get people to dance. Cassandra did enjoy playing music for people it, it did remind her of her old life, but at the same time did it make her thing about her wife that had tough her about music in the first place. In here she was nothing special with her dance steps but she could get people to move onto the dance floor by playing her music so something was still good.

After having played for a few hours she did step down from the stage to let someone else get up there and play, as she would look for a space to sit down in the Tavern, she did not really know many people yet so she just had to take her chance and find a table with few people and ask if she can sit down, not many would notice her as an adventure due to all her gear being in her room. Cass would walk over to a corner of the place to find a table with a young guy and a young lady that had only arrived moments ago.

"May i take a seat?" , she would ask the two before taking a spot beside them.