The Sword and Staff [All Welcome]

[Amari]

"I suppose it's...." Scarlet paused, hands still in her lap as she tilted her head. Staring at him. "Good to see you getting back to your old- wait. What did you just call me?"

Lye had called her Amari, the man who literally beat her up and tore her down for even uttering the name, or identifying with the name. The man who insisted that 'Amari' was dead and that 'Scarlet' reigned had just called her by a name, that, by all means, was her dead name. "You said Amari?"

Her eyes narrowed. She didn't understand. "Why?"

His response was to pull out the vial that contained the good part of her soul, her humanity. He waved it around almost tauntingly in her face. Practically screaming that it was his, to the point where spittle hit her cheek. Scarlet wiped it away calmly. "I gave it to you because I don't want it." Being in such close proximity, the blue-white swirls grew hot, burning brighter and shifting violently within the glass and Scarlet thought it might break. Her chest ached, and she wanted to rip it from his hands and throw it into the fire. Maybe then she'd never feel anything ever again.

Scarlet groaned, pressing her head into her lap. "Keep my heart, my humanity, just keep it away from me." She muttered, gulping back her own feelings of nausea. Bleargh...The fuck is this feeling?


Ulroke was slowly snapping out of whatever ailed him. Good. She'd be able to stop babysitting him then. She lifted her head from her lap, offering him a challenging grin. "So if I am back to Amari, are you back to Mr Starlight?" Best way to snap him out of his funk was to rile him up, he seemed to enjoy it. Scarlet expected an angered response, for him to lash out, and for his fingers to curl around her neck.

Just like old times

[Briarheart]

I snatched the cards out of the little boy's hand and put them back in my pocket. He started scribbling some words into the frost that collected on the ground, but I only caught the last two.

FRIENDS NOW?

Friends? He wanted to be friends?! The audacity of this little monster, asking to be friends after he stole my trick deck, led me around on a chase throughout the tavern, got me bitten and burned by Veridian, and forced me to tackle him, which was drawing unwanted attention to me that I was just becoming cognizant of?

"No, I'm not your friend," I hissed in his ear. "Touch my shit again, and you'll be dinner."

I released my grip on his ankles, and stood up. All eyes in the immediate vicinity were on me, including those of a rabbit for some reason--this place really needs a "no pets allowed" policy--but I didn't care. A young woman with purple hair was trying to speak to me. I shot her a withering glare and said, "Eat a dick, sweetheart."

The small crowd parted before me as I made my way back to the table. Red and Ulroke were being cold to one another, whispering in hushed tones. John was occupied with lighting a cigar.

"Sorry about all that," I muttered as I pulled my chair back up to its proper position and sat down on it. "Shall we proceed?"

[Philomel]

The 'for some reason' rabbit blinked slowly as the girl with no hair, fur or really anything at all but plants and eyes got up from leaning over the tiny boy-man-blone. Tilting her head she watched as she walked back to the table with the red-flame-hair that the rabbit had a vague sense was dangerous and a silverhaired man that some distant memory floating from Philomel-food-giver said was dickhead. With a slight understanding Mao considered that it was better to stay away from these people, despite her current size and beauty. She twitched her nose that was the size of a pint glass, and bent over to sniff the boy-man-blonde.

He seemed alive. Which was good. So something was right. She thought.

And there was also a massive giant. Scary and big, even bigger than Mao right now, which the rabbit did not like. He was likely to be avoided too, until Mao was with rock-worm Delath. That dragon was nice. He was a good beast to be around, just in case the sky ever fell on your head and a world war began. Besides, they were all seemingly wanting to play with those stiff pieces of paper which had already got boy-man-blonde into trouble.

Lets ... go, came a very uneasy gasp.

Looking over Mao saw the struggling figure of Veridian still on top of the counter. He looked awful, his body half on fire as his own flaming self tried to fight the poison that plant-girl had spat at him. Seeing as Veridian was 'one of them' Mao knew that it was probably worth her while getting him to safety. Only needing to stretch herself up slightly she ignored all the shocked murmurs from the crowd as they saw this giant rabbit being gentle. For she very delicately then shifted her foot-long muzzle underneath the small fox form and took him from counter to ground.

Where he gave her a weary, thankful gaze and then sighed as another shudder ran through him.

Of course the counter was left with a fair few holes from the acid and plenty of scorch marks but that did not matter, did it, really?

Veridian huumped and looked to Fenn. Uneasily, a look of agony in his eyes he leant over and wrote in very horrible, barely readable letters.

COME WITH? MAO TAKE US AWAY. HURTS GO AWAY.

He huffed and slumped and Mao let out a strange sound - an actual rabbit grunt. She then proceeded to try to shift Veridian onto her back, all the while keeping it open for the boy-man-blonde to climb aboard also. For he would fit, he was small enough. And he was invited. But if he refused she would need to go. For Veridian certainly was not doing well.

[Lye]

The fuck did she just call me? Starlight? The fuck is starlight? Should I retort with used rag? Naw, that sounds juvenile. Or does it?

I narrowed my gaze as I often did lately and placed both hands flat against the tabletop. Amari, wait... That's not her name. No, that thing across from me isn't Amari. Why does the vial feel like an Amari? That thing across from me: a blood drenched porcelain statue ridden with inky cracks was something else. Just that, a sculpture. Something I made with my own two hands. I did this. For what? Why? If I liked her more as a person than this monster, why make a monster?

"Thirteen," I muttered as the memories started to clear. The web of lies I weaved through the years and the purpose I so blindly committed to began to enshroud my blatant honesty yet again.

I looked at her straight, expression stern.

"Master," I corrected her. I owned her. She was my property. "You are not allowed to say that name. Your name is Scarlet."

I tried to convey those statements as a threat to the best of my diminished condition. My head pounded and chest throbbed all the same. Again I thumbed the wound, this time more conscious that I knew it to be poison. A bolt specifically and intended for me. Someone knew about my arrival back to Althanas. But why was I this far outside my usual territory? Why does my throat sting of bile and fettered ale? Why--

Madison sat back down, cards in hand from the fiasco earlier. That's why. Madison. I needed her help. The contingency. The briarheart owed me nothing, but beside the vines, the acid, and the enchanted, sap-filled bark of a heart, Madison still had one. Askewed and tilted in the wrong ways on many of occasions, Madison still had a set of moral principles which remained firm. Plus, my request would be a scientific challenge.

Her kryptonite.

First, I needed to rid myself of this condition. I could still feel my body trying to process the venom, but it wasn't fast enough.

"Bartender!" I called out over the fading remnants of chaos. My raised hand forced pain across my chest and I noticed the brute sitting casually beside me. A Tarot member. What was this place? Why hadn't I killed him? Or rather, why hadn't he tried to kill me?

"Your strongest alcohol! And a sprig of rosemary if you have it!"

Once I purged this from my system, it was back to business. Somewhere between, I'd be sure to repay Scarlet for her... actions.

[Amari]

"You're welcome." Scarlet said. She doubted he'd understand, that he would know that her actions, her bile and her snarky comments were to snap him out of whatever delirium he faced. She reached out, again, pushing his hair back out of his face, again, it was an act that was fueled by the traces of concern she felt for him, and the comfort she wanted to give him. "Nice to see the poison's easing up." She tilted her head to the side. "Since when did that affect you anyway?"

"Fuck off." He spat back at her. Batting her hand away. "You don't have the right."

Scarlet sighed, and pushed away from him. "No, I suppose I don't." The further away from her she was, the less residual effects the vial had on her. Scarlet backed off the table and claimed the chair next to Madison once more. "Considering how close you were coddling Tin-Tarot-Man, I thought perhaps I could at least fix the sloppy mess you are."

She picked up the mess of cards and slid them over to Madison. "Reshuffle, Lye had two kings."

This was better, the emotional residue was wearing off. Scarlet was just reminded of how fickle, and foolish they were. Lichensith Ulroke was further proof and testament to that. Even now, he saw her as nothing. Scarlet's lips fell into a stoic line. She'd show him, she'd show him what a 'nothing' could do. In time, he'd see.

For now, Scarlet would play the part of his pet but there would be a time they'd face off, and even she did not know the outcome.

Scarlet raised a gloved hand to her forehead, feeling onset nausea and dizziness. "We should... order something to eat with that drink." She lifted her hand to signal the barkeep.

"Anything dead, bleeding and cooked." She called out.

[Rayleigh]

Though the ill effects of the alcohol had been chased away by Hyperion's hug, Rayleigh still felt sluggish, as if she had gone too long without sleep. Was it the geyser of emotion, spurting upward from a place inside of herself that she had forgotten? Or rather, that she had ignored? She shed tears, of course - they could be a very effective tool when trying to get her way. And she had cried out of terror when she released the demon from the Alerar underground. But when was the last time she had felt true sadness streak down her freckled cheeks? When had she last felt entirely consumed by grief, wracked with the loss of her mother? She had never even met the woman.

And perhaps that was where the despair stemmed from. She had lost someone she was not even allowed to know. She would never know her the sound of her mother's voice, or the look of her smile as she regarded her only child. She would never know the warmth of a hug, so much like the one she was currently wrapped up in. If her mother had only survived a few years longer, so Rayleigh might be able to conjure an image of Marielle Aston. Her father had not even had a picture to show her, when the young girl had begun asking after her missing parent. All he could say was that she had been tall, blonde, and beautiful. Clearly, Ray had taken after her father, and somehow, that made things even worse. Had she taken nothing from her departed mother, save for the name given to her? Marielle had insisted on Rayleigh, in her last moments of life. A name. That was all Rayleigh had of her.

The mousy girl took a long, deep breath of the stuffy tavern air. Chaos ensued around her, but for the time being, she was entirely transfixed by remembrance, and the warmth that cocooned her inside Hyperion's arms. "It isn't something that can be fixed," she stated matter-of-factly, though her voice hitched when she spoke again. "Its just my mother. She's dead, and-" She let her vibrant green eyes, muddied with memory and misery, close. "-and I think her hugs might have felt just like this."

[Nosdyn]

For those like Nosdyn...there was a place where someone called home...a place to belong.

That tavern...that place...was not home.

No...it was filled with washed out Adventurers who wore the mantle of Hero. Nosdyn shook his head and gathered his things. The display before him was sickening. My ancestors fought and died over this shit...? Nosdyn didn't know what he'd expected to find in The Tavern that night...but he'd at least made an effort. He'd gathered his things quickly at that moment and prepared to venture out into the rain to find some quiet place...less noise...to relax in. The Tavern had too much noise for his comfort.

Nosdyn walked towards the entrance of the building, and in a surprising amount of self-restraint...opened the door for several folks who were just arriving in and out of the rain. One of the fellows shot Nosdyn a harsh stare, Nosdyn merely shrugged and ventured back out in the rain. That place was not where he was meant to be...but there was someplace out there for him...

[Alyssa Snow]

Dark skies and howling winds whipped around violently. The storms that brewed far off to the eastern ocean occasionally came to land. While devastating along the shore line, they still brought much needed rain to the plains -- to places like this. The gunner clung her arms close to her frame and tugged the hood over her face. Each gust threatened not only to rip the hood from her blonde head, but tested her balance all the like. Rain fell in torrents and with unimpeded gusts, nearly horizontal.

As she slopped through the dirt road which recently became a mud trough, Alyssa noticed the faint glow from an establishment. The buildings around her were crude and scattered all the same. Unlike the establishments in Beinost or Corone, these little huts spoke to a humble people. She surmised the total population as no more than a hundred strong. To the north, lighting etched the silhouette of a distant mountain range. To the south and east, plains stretched as far as her cerulean eyes could see. Lastly, the thicket of forest from whence she came occupied the west. This building would prove the only cover within a days travel, easy.

The girl hefted her shoulders in an attempt to relieve the ache of her rifle's strap. For days, it dug into her and despite her experience marching and enduring Alerian military drills, she began to fatigue. Alyssa arrived at the door and before she could reach out a hand to the rusty iron, it opened to the exotic face of a Haidian. She stepped aside, curiosity plain on her face as to why anyone would be willing to brave this storm. Where would he go? Would he be safe?

The demon brood marched on as if she were nothing more than inanimate scenery. The way he carried himself, Alyssa knew he was someone beyond traditional niceties. Best he didn't notice her or she notice him.

After his departure, the Empress of the Tarot stepped inside the vague warmth of the tavern. Loud voices of both distress and anger flooded her ears. Tables were upturned, contents of several drinks littered the floor and it looked equal madness in here as out there. Slowly, she pulled her hood from her head as she continued to survey the damage and those within. A few faces stood out, Rayleigh and John being a few. The former looked distressed, consoled by a plant. While the latter looked to be in seedy company with cards scattered across the table.

Alyssa undid the tie of her robes and hung the drenched cloth on a rack by door. Her shorts, Akashiman top, and myriad of holsters and straps adorned her sun starved skin. A waterfall of blonde, gathered into a tail, waterfalled over her left shoulder. With a sharp inhale, she pulled the rifle from her back and let a sigh of relief as the strap fell loose. Gun in hand, the girl approached the counter and took a seat one over from Rayleigh and the creature whom kept her company. After a slight pause, Alyssa turned a finger to the bartender.

"Glass of water?" she asked in soft, melodic tones. "And maybe a glass of pink if you have it? Raiaeran is preferred, but I'll take whatever you have. Red if you don't have pink."

The man nodded and set to work checking his stock.

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

The Sword and Staff was located at the edge of the promenade, far away from the winding labyrinth of filthy alleyways and grotty passages that comprised the inner workings of the city. It was a crooked but quaint sort of building, propped up by its smooth, whitewashed limestone walls and protected from the elements by a brittle slate roof that looked as if it was barely holding together. Almost any time someone shut the heavy front door, fragments of splintered shale tile would rain down over the pavement and pepper the road below.

Despite its dilapidated state, the tavern always boasted a healthy turn out and even more so as travellers looked to take refuge from the bitter winter air. Through the frosted glass windows, coated with a thin layer of ice, it was clear to see a handful of oil lanterns burning brightly and the shadows of their patrons jigging merrily about. A chorus of drunken cheers leapt from the crevices of the doors, sending a shiver down the spines of those passing by.

Shinsou Vaan Osiris had decided to take a day off from worrying about the affairs of Telgradia and Althanas. He had heard about a specially brewed dark Radasanthian ale that was served here, and had decided to sample it for himself. The rule was that if it was good enough for him, it was likely to kill a few brain cells, and that was just fine by Shinsou. Recent events with the Council of Five’s impending arrival weighed heavily on his mind, and the Telgradian needed time to unwind.

“This…” Shinsou started, peering inside his pewter tankard at the murky brown liquid within, “…looks strong. It smells strong too…”

Talking entirely to himself, he grinned, coolly watching his drink swill around from the comfort of the bar. The former emperor of Telgradia, with golden eyes locked firmly onto his drink, held the cold edge of his tankard steadily against his lips and swallowed deeply.

“Fuck…me…”

Shinsou, swigging another two inches of his beer, frowned.

“This tastes like shit, but it hits you like a maul.”

A bystander, who was drinking the same as Shinsou, decided to clear up any misunderstanding about the reputation of the beer.

“It’s strong stuff. Radasanthian Dream, they call it. It will put pubes on your pubes, that’s for sure!”

The former emperor’s legs folded underneath him as he sunk his second glass in one sitting, a trickle of beer forking down his chin.

Everything was fuzzy around the edges.

[Amari]

Scarlet lifted her head from the wooden table, rot and scarring had formed where her forehead had met with the natural wood of the table. She attempted to dust it off with a leather glove but it just crumbled away to form a nice little hole in the table. Oops. It was a shame they were playing Poker, Scarlet had thought she knew how to play the game, but she had gotten it confused with some other card game. She'd bluff her way through it. Scarlet glanced up to see Lye still staring daggers at her. Wonderful. He was pissed, that'll be a fun trip home.

Her eyes lazily drifted to the tin man, Scarlet knew him to be John, and a member of the Tarot. Despite that, he seemed to be almost enjoying his present company, puffing away on his cigar. He didn't look like a real threat at the moment. Still, it was something she had to watch for. To have her 'Masters' enemy quite literally wedged up against him was cause for concern. Hell, Scarlet would assume having the hulking giant of a man doing anything would be cause for concern. Thayne help the woman he lays.

A waitress came to the table, placing a glass of what looked like black tar in front of Lye, and sure enough there was two sprigs of rosemerry floating in the viserous liquid. She could smell it from here. "Smells strong at least." She muttered. "Where is my food then?" She asked as she pushed the chair away from the table, she still felt dizzy, the room span. Why was that?

"Eurgh."

Food. That was the logical solution.

Scarlet turned her head to the bar only to see something that looked familar. White coat-tails, mop of messy hair. "What?" He was dead. Scarlet watched him die. Scarlet heard the sickening snap of bone and watched him crumple lifelessly to the floor before being magicked away. She had tried searching fruitlessly for him but to no avail. She waited, but heard nothing from the man, and so, he was assumed dead. Why else would he up and disappear? Why else would he simply cut ties with someone he proclaimed to love?

Did that even matter anymore?

Scarlet turned her scelera gaze away from him, raising her voice over the din that the little fae man was still causing. "I suppose Shinsou is alive after all." She tapped her fingers on the table. "That's irritating." She muttered. And it was, she didn't like the way it made her feel. Because it made her feel. Was she still too close to Lye? Or was it the connection she had made with Shinsou that night she healed his soul? If he was alive, why not find her? Why disappear again after that one night?

"There is an issue." She said, speaking more so to Lye than to Madison, who she knew just wanted to get on with the card game. "My chest actually hurts. I may be too close to that soul shard of mine you so valiantly waved about in my face. I am not sure if that is the reason, or if it is because that man just waltzed in here. Either way, I want it gone."