Atharen, A Fantasy Roleplay Forum

Posted: **Wed Jul 15, 2020 10:40 pm**

Searing 62nd, 120th AoS

Sunlight no longer filtered beyond the western mountains anymore, as night time had fully fallen over Loras, with the street lanterns already lit to illuminate the streets awaiting him. Ricky walked forward towards the gates of his home, the two guards stationed there briefly alert when they had seen him initially. However, remembering the fact Ricky was a half Rathari and that he was seen running off as a wolf earlier, they quickly relaxed with a few chuckles as they watched him. Dangling from his mouth was the bloodied cloak of the bandit he'd attacked earlier, rolled and folded to carry within it every stolen item he'd ever gotten, while the knot of the cloak rested snuggly in the grips of his canines. "Heeeey, atta boy Rick!" One of the gate watchers cheered as he walked briskly past the lot, his blue eyes in a roll towards the sky as he merely continued onward.

Moments later when he moved closer to the guardhouse, other members of the watch reacted with brief surprise at seeing him, while he promptly walked through the room towards the Captain's office. "Well well," Captain Malkea started as he looked up from his desk, "you did that rather quickly!" The grizzled old man remarked in an impressed tone, with a hearty chuckle when Ricky moved to use the desk for leverage, standing on his hind legs so that he could drop the bundled cloak atop of it. "Took care of the problem and brought back everythin' he stole? Good work Maze." Captain Malkea commended as the wolf panted a few times before he started to wince and give off a few low growls a moment afterward.

Snaps coursed along his spine as the growls he gave was one of utter annoyance, his animal form contorting at the legs as he engaged in yet another metamorphosis. Captain Malkea leaned back in his chair with his eyes widened as he watched everything, having a front-row seat to the alterations that took place with Ricky's form, as fur began to recede while muscles shifted into a different mold before him. Within moments the wolf became a naked man before the Captain, the growls suddenly groans as the rest of his facial features lessened into the human form. "Damn son, does it hurt when you do that?!" Malkea checked with a bit of concern in his eyes, while Ricky himself sighed before breathing soft pants from his exertions.

"Not really..." He remarked as he slowly started to rise, using the edge of the desk to help keep him supported. "Definitely not used to doin' it several times a day."

"Huh," Malkea's mouth hung open briefly before he adopted a look of consideration, "Well regardless, your clothes are over there." The Captain shared as he pulled the cloak closer to him, slowly undoing the knot so that he could inspect everything that was inside. "I took the liberty of delivering your armor back to your house... Hannah wasn't really pleased."

"Did y' tell her it was you who sent me?" Ricky tested as he looked over to the table, with few brisk steps taken to approach it.

"I did..." Captain Malkea answered in turn, with a bit of amusement heard in his tone. "Pretty sure I got all the lip I needed from her in one day. You're next on her list I would assume." He reasoned as Ricky slipped his beige-colored trousers on first, his expression still plain as he grabbed the white cotton vest next, slipping it on while he turned to face the Captain once more.

"I wouldn't doubt it." He remarked in turn with a lean down to grab his boots, which he then took a seat near the desk to slip them on. "That's everythin' the bandit had on him when I found him. He was busy muggin' another traveler, pretty much gave me the only-"

"Thank you for your report Maze," Malkea promptly interjected with a hearty grin, "Go pick up your boy before Hannah loses her mind." Getting the message his Captain was telling him, Ricky swiftly nodded as he finished tying the strings, padding his boots on the floor a few times before rising into a stand once more. With a brief wave, the wolf wandered out of the office, stopped only by the Captain's last beck and call when he exited the threshold. "Oh and Maze, you did good work out there." The wolf shot a very minor, very brief, smirk to Malkea before moving to leave yet again. Paying no mind to the guards that waved at him on his way out, he moved outside the guardhouse towards the main street, strolling directly towards the Duedrop Inn as he always normally did.

So that he'd get to enjoy the better part of his long and weary day. After a few minutes of strolling, he finally arrived at the entrance, quick to enter with a duck of his head in doing so. A couple of the barmaids working seemed busy handling the drinks at the bar, while Hannah herself carried a platter to deliver food, with Martin still worn at her front torso thanks to the makeshift sling she'd made. Right away the brunette noticed he'd arrived, her eyes narrowed briefly before rolling in utter relief afterward. "Bout time! I oughta kick your ass you know!" She called out to him over the roaring bustle, as a few of the people who watched Martin laughed a little.

"Did you kick Malkea's when he visited?" Ricky checked as Hannah placed her platter down on the table, careful to undo the knots in her body sling until finally, Martin was free from the apron she used to carry him within. "How's he been?"

"Curious as ever, I'm starting to think he enjoys the work. Least watchin' me do it anyways!" She told him as she carefully held the baby out for Ricky, who took the squirming child into his arms calmly, yet with a sudden smile beaming across his face. "And yes, though he only received the verbal end of it!" She assured Ricky in regards to his earlier question, while the father raised his eyebrows to give the boy a slightly goofy look.

"Oh no! Looks like daddy's next fer a good whippin'!" The child grinned a wide toothless smile with a few chuckles, while Hannah made good on her word by whipping at his bum, using the washcloth she kept tucked away in her pocket.

"It's been a few hours since he last ate, should I get some milk and bread ready?" She checked as she reached to pick up the platter once more.

"Please." Ricky responded plainly yet still with half a smile. "I could use a beer as well."

"Don't get drunk on the job daddy." Hannah teased with a smirk as she moved to resume her job, while Ricky nodded at those who were watching them, before briskly moving to find a seat at a table for themselves. After the father scooted a chair back using his foot, he eased down into it in a mildly slow fashion, reaching out to sit his son atop the surface of the table before him.

"Heeere we go!" He said aloud towards the child, who already stirred about as he looked around the whole room. "I tell ya what kiddo, it's been a helluva day." He muttered lowly with a sigh, lightly pinching at the tips of Martin's toes to grab his attention. "Hey, when 're ya gonna tell me bout your days? Huh?"

Martin looked down at his fingers in a puzzled manner, before looking back to his face with another grin. "Bwaaaa." Ricky couldn't help but laugh at his son then, the smile on his face all the more genuine when he did so.

"Me too kiddo." He answered in turn, giving an affectionate kiss on the child's crown afterward.

"Speech"

Posted: **Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:25 pm**

¤

Saej was three ales in* and got the minstrel to play his harp**. Even to her beer sweetened ears, he was not that good. Really she wanted him to stop but it would be too rude to ask for that after she had just paid him. Kokalath was spoken here as it was everywhere else around Atinaw so no interesting conversations could be eavesdropped on while she sat in her spot at the bar. A woman bussed tables with a baby strapped to her back, he was a cute little thing and quiet too. The minstrel warbled on about a man fighting a tiger who turned out to be a Rathari and apparently, they were wed in the end. She pushed up from the bar and got some fresh air, the minstrel gave her a thumbs up and she grimaced a smile back as the door swung shut behind her.

Now outside she could see the receding sun painting the sky dark blue, purple, and a rose-pink at the bottom as its last words for the day. There was a slight breeze but it wasn’t cold, even in her new dress which had an embroidered midsection left open. She leaned outside the tavern door as people went in and out for some time thinking about Poppy and Shasco, how she could have brought them here with her and wondering what came over her so to just leave without a word OR her wagon.
‘Truly strange.’
She thought, her compulsions just took over sometimes. Hopefully, Poppy was being well taken care of by her brother and he wasn’t making too much of an ass out of himself. It had been a long time since she stretched just her legs on a trip.
‘Perhaps it was something to do with simply restlessness? Shasco has been here for a long time now, I need some moments alone. Gods he never stops talking.’
In fact, it felt good to take a break from her courier work as well. A breather was all she needed, that was is. A vacation away from her life, an escape, and a respite from crowds of people.

Heading back in the bar the minstrel was still playing and she took her seat at the bar again. Pushing her glasses up her nose she ordered one more*** ale and sat there drinking it for some time until through the window she could see night had come. The darkness couldn’t permeate such a beautiful town as Loras, inside and outside candles or street lamps were being lit for the denizens.
‘The heart of the night glows brightly with flame.’
Came a whistful thought as the last of her mug slid down her throat. The beer was decent, she was feeling very warm and bubbly.
“Minstrel, play the one about the Rathari again!”
She called out in common and he grinned,
“As you please mistress!”
He called back and began his tune.

Sitting there with her head in her hand she contemplated heading out now for camp, it was dark after all and if she stayed longer they might throw her in the drunk tank. Loras was a much higher class establishment than Alfsos’s Silver Lion, if she got drunk and danced with the minstrel they may kick her out, this didn’t seem like the place for that. A man then strolled in and she watched as the barmaid handed off the little one to him, she could easily see the father and son resemblance but wondered if the barmaid was the mother. The brunette teased him with a washrag speaking in Kakalath before they switched to Common and Saej smiled despite herself. He spoke then about a long day to the child and Saej thought perhaps it would be a good deed to buy him an ale. While this was usually out of her way, preferring to keep to herself, the ale had her in good spirits and drink always made her talkative.
“Sir, put it on my tab."****
She told the bartender,
"I think the man can save his coin for now. My name is Saej, the child, he’s sweet. How old? I just got here from Alfsos. I doubt you two are also traveling.”
Pushing her broken glasses up her nose she began tying back her long red dreadlocks in a bun, using a dreadlock itself as the tie. She became self-conscious then of her attire but said nothing else, instead just smiled at the large man and the baby, getting comfortable in her seat.

OOC;
****-20 df for 5 mugs of ale
**-5 df for poor level entertainment

Posted: **Tue Jul 28, 2020 2:01 pm**

Rickter caught wind of what one of the patrons there had said, giving him cause to look along the bar with a curiously fixed gaze. The wolf's brows furrowed somewhat when he did this, however, likely making him seem puzzled or pensive as a result; when in truth he was rather humbled by the sudden act of generosity. Someone was buying him a drink? Now that was overly kind of them, and when he looked toward the woman who suggested it, she quickly warmed up to the both of them with a question or two of her own. Hm. Quite chatty. He quickly surmised as he at least offered her a fraction of a smile, albeit it was brief because of the fact Martin moved with a heavy lean towards the right. "Ey, easy kiddo!" The father remarked, in Kokalath, as he caught the boy from traveling further, lest he risked reaching the edge and falling off from his metaphorical pedestal.

When the mug of beer arrived before him Ricky looked to the ginger-haired woman once more. "Much appreciated lass." He conferred to her in the Common Tongue once more, as he noted she'd taken to speak to him that way instead. Which meant she wasn't exactly a local of Atinaw, least unless she deferred to Common instead of Kokalath. Even then Rickter felt little inclination to judge her on behalf of what language she spoke, since the woman clearly bought him a drink, she was practically harmless in his eyes. Pretty damn cute honestly. She looked relatively average in terms of size, though likely on the shorter end of the spectrum... then again anybody who wasn't near six feet and four inches tall considerably fell in that standard. From what he could trace the air about her felt permeated with alcohol, suggesting that she'd at least been several drinks in before he'd arrived.

Of course, he could smell other elements on her as well, much like the road and the aroma of packaged meat on her somewhere... Still, she looked to be the sort of nomadic type, driven by a sense of whim to experience whatever joys waited to be discovered in the world. So why was she visiting Loras? "One year, an' one hundred thirty days old." He answered somewhat warmly, almost with a hint of pride in his expression when he did so. "And no, we live 'ere in town actually." That time his expression shifted to a plain one, a vacant but amicable look given to the ginger as Rickter's eyes flicked to Martin quite a bit. It was tough work trying to be a wary parent, particularly when your child liked to try and wander off on his own. It was surprising how quickly the child had grown, one minute he was small and only able to wail... and now lately he wanted to crawl and explore.

"Eeeeeeh" The boy cried out as his father kept him from going anywhere, leading the child to look a little grumpy before looking toward the woman next.

"Eeey, none o' that now." Ricky nearly teased as he noticed the sound of music in the bar, which was funny because he'd easily overlooked that before. When he looked to see who the minstrel was playing, however, it became apparent that who he saw clearly distracted him in that moment. To everyone else it was just another minstrel in the bar, likely traveling much like others who passed through did. Yet when Ricky's eyes fell upon her... The way he watched as she played her ukulele, singing softly the same tunes she always sung to them... It was evidently clear that Ricky was lost in the moment, occupied with a painful memory of something that he no longer had.

"Sorry, had to wait 'til the milk cooled off first." Hannah's voice cut in to snap his mind back to reality, whereas Martin had already looked up to the barmaid. Hannah had brought out a small bowl of milk, with a slice of broad on a small plate next to it. The barmaid also noticed the mug of beer several inches away from the child, indicating that the other bartender at present covered him.

"Somebody else got it covered, thanks fer everythin' Hannah." Rickter told her with a vacant expression, clearing up the brief bit of speculation in her eyes when she looked curious for a moment. "Do me a favor..." The father requested as he focused on Martin now, being careful to watch the child now that his hands would begin to move away.

"I'll take care of that," Hannah interjected with a brief slap at one of his hands, quickly taking the slice of bread so that Ricky would maintain security over the boy, "whatcha need?" The brunette checked as she knew, very well, that somber hint hidden subtly within his eyes. It didn't necessarily surprise him after all, three years knowing one another you would think half of Loras knew Ricky's mannerisms by now.

"Tip the bard, tell him Old Man's in need o' one." He remarked in turn without even looking over his shoulder, though clearly now he was slightly annoyed by the poetic musical. Wherever on Ransera did the man come up with that horrid amusement? Even then Hannah's eyes shifted as she realized, at the very core, the very reason why Rickter wanted the man to be gone.

"I'll take care of it." She assured him after finishing tearing up the bread into pieces. "Make sure he eats good?"

"Always do." The father assured her before she briefly chuckled, stroking the boy's fine brown hairs before moving away, to approach the minstrel and in turn carry out the wolf's personal favor.

"Sorry 'bout that," Rickter remarked with a brief glance back to the gingerly woman, with a piece of bread taken by his finger and thumb before dunking it into the milk, "y' said ya came from Alfsos eh? Not too bad o' a city from what I'm told, never actually been there m' self though either." He added the father still watched Martin closely, a hand still at the child's back to make sure he didn't wander off anywhere, while the other hand brought up the piece of bread as milk dripped from it. The child's curious eyes moved from past his shoulder to the piece before him, before he finally leaned forward to open his mouth, revealing the several tiny teeth he'd been growing over the past several weeks.

"There y' go!" Rickter cooed at the child, almost suddenly a different person with the boy, as he gave a big hearty smile to Martin when he began to chew. The boy's eyes widened as he experienced the taste of food, leading him to bounce on his bottom a little, excitedly flailing his arms a little as the father prepared another chunk for a quick soak. "Lil' man's gettin' fed now isn't he?!" Of course Rickter hadn't forgotten about the woman, nor the beer she had bought for him earlier either. "This is Martin, an' most people roun' here call me Ricky." It was a plain statement of fact honestly, but it did also serve as an attempt of an introduction also. If he was going to be feeding his son in present company, then he might as well make the most of out it at best.

Besides the woman seemed fairly good at heart, a quality Ricky easily approved of when he thought about it. Not many people went out their way to buy his drinks, especially since most of the time it was with the kid present. "What's life in Alfsos like?" He then proceeded to check with another brief look shot to the woman, before feeding Martin that second bit of doused bread. Naturally, the child made soft moans as took the next bite, his mouth slowly moving as the bread dissolved across his tongue.

"Speech"

Posted: **Mon Aug 10, 2020 7:13 am**

The Better Half Of A Day

XXX

He was wrangling the boy who seemed to be rather rambunctious given the hour. Then again she knew very little about child-rearing in actuality, having never been around children much nor ever having her own. Still, it seemed odd even in her drunken state to see a child so young at a bar given the hour, but she wasn’t one to be too judgemental. These Vikings had their own ways of living and that was just fine to her.
“You’re welcome.”
She dictated to him in common.

The man then explained to her the boy’s age and she raised her eyebrows, pushing her broken glasses up her nose while rolling her eyes to the side in thought.
“Brand new, though that’s plain to see. What a beautiful thing.”
He went on to say they lived in town and she was impressed,
“I have never been anywhere like it. Quite the sleepy place isn’t it?”

The boy saw fit to continue squirming and it seemed the man had a fight on his hands. Saej dipped into the ale and sipped on the foam, giving a light cough as some had hit the back of her throat wrong. There was a moment where the man seemed to drift away listening to the music. An awkward silence ensued. Saej sat frozen and drunk thinking her welcome had been worn out before the woman from before came over, speaking to the father in Kokalath and rousing him from the moment. They had a conversation and Saej shifted in her seat, thinking perhaps it was time to head to camp. She could just take her beer and sit back at her seat if the man was disinterested,
‘Why on Ransera’s back did I buy him this drink?’
The ginger dreadlocked woman thought to herself with a blush.

Her face was still all red when he turned her attention back and spoke in common to her, apologizing. Pushing her glasses back up her nose again she thought she might excuse herself but the man introduced the duo and instead of getting out of her seat she took a deep drink from the mug, nodding as he spoke.
“Ricky, Martin. Nice to meet you. They call me Saej.”
Watching him feed the boy milk-soaked bread for a moment she gathered her thoughts about Alfsos to answer his next question. It was her turn to pause as she rattled off her experiences in her mind. It wouldn’t be fit to insult the man with her thoughts on being a foreigner to Atinaw in general, so she settled on just talking about her job.
“It’s… good. I must admit I haven’t been there too long. I just got here from Kalzasi and came straight to Loras. My job is a courier right now, I volley letters. Things haven’t been the easiest without speaking the language but I get by. There are plenty of other foreigners who need things delivered or volleyed.”
She gave him a look without meeting his eyes, betraying herself with a drunk and loose tongue.
“It’s not easy being away from my homeland. The Vikings are proud people, I feel much like a stranger-- mare than I have in many years of traveling.”

"An awkward silence ensued."

Atharen, A Fantasy Roleplay Forum

[Loras] The Better Half Of A Day

[Loras] The Better Half Of A Day

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Re: [Loras] The Better Half Of A Day