Sharing a Drink Under the Canopy [Open]

[Vix]

It was amazing how easy it was for Linette to gulp down her new drink (one she had signaled for during the conversation) with three sets of eyes on her. Whatever they were saying (a distasteful look from Muin, some rather philosophical statements from Soji, and more bantering from Jeris) fell on deaf ears. She was too worried about the fact that they wanted her to tell the opo-opo story.

 

Her. Linette Syng.

 

Tell a story.

 

"Well, uh." She said. "I was standing around in Hyrstmill. It was almost night, and um..."

 

She stopped and bit down hard on her nail. One hand absent-mindedly patted the top of her head and she continued speaking.

 

"Something hit me on my head. I'm pretty sure it was a warning throw from an Opo-opo. But then they were tons of them. And the Woodwailers could barely keep control. And Muin and Soji were defending one store house. And I made three run away."

 

Her voice trailed off again, and she shrugged sheepishly at Jeris. "And that's how we met."

 

A weak ending to an even weaker story. Linette lifted her mug and glared at Muin over the top of it, as if to say. My horrible story telling skills are all your fault. They weren't of course, and she knew that. But first the bad pun and now this, she painting herself a not so flattering light.

[Masaki Moui]

Soji.  He tells it like it is.  A lot.  Soji's got tact though.  Muin doesn't like being so direct.  Muin will tell the truth but tell it slant.

 

It's Jeris going moony for a moment over true brew love that had Muin grinning again.  And as the veteran pugilist continued, saying, 'I'm afraid I agree with Muin though, as my attention is often distracted by a pretty face...'

 

There's this awkward moment before Jeris turns his attention to Linette and Muin realizes he's not actually talking about him.  Because sometimes that happens!

 

 

 

Now, something in Linette's story gave Muin quite a sudden pause right in mid-drink of his brew.  Here Muin tried not to cough and clearing his throat he settled his tankard on the table. Linette's final glare seemed to demand he say something, anything...

 

"Yeah you uh ... you gotta be careful at those outposts.  Bored mercs'll flick you with beans to pass the time.  You know, it's considered training, and stuff, because reasons."

 

Advice given.  Nevermind that it's advice from someone who's hardly older than Linette herself and it's delivered in the typical, confident-yet-languid way of a Miqo'te warrior.  Must be what that shifty-eyed glance earlier in Hyrstmill was all  about, right?

[Soji Mori]

Jeris was a smooth one, no doubt about it.  Even when he admitted that he was dodging the question, he continued to dodge it.  So long as he knew that Soji knew that Jeris knew that Soji...you get the picture.  He didn't press the issue and instead took another drink of the honeyed liquid in his tankard, turning his attention to Linette instead.

 

She seemed nervous.  Not cowardly, but concerned about something.  Perhaps it was simply the fact that she was a lone conjurer surrounded by three Disciples of War.  She might have felt a bit out of place.

 

"How did you come by Hyrstmill?"

 

Perhaps it had been the beacon on the watch tower that shone out into the encroaching darkness of the woods.  Perhaps she had been on her way there on business.  Perhaps her boot lace has broke and she needed a replacement before continuing.

[Nomine]

Jeris sat there, his mouth slightly agape as Linette spun her captivating tale of danger, heroism, and....opo-opo's.  After she finished speaking and shot Muin a look Jeris simply shook his head, pausing to take another drink of his mug.  "Looks and Humility....boys you ran into quite the gem!"  He held his hand up to silence any sort of remark and nodded.  "No no, it's alright, I understand.  Pride can be a vice for certain, but no doubt this threat was something far more epic in scale.  A primordial perhaps!?  A giant Opo-opo that would cause even the relentless war machine of the Empire to pause in it's advance.  And there stood the three of you, a final bastion of hope for Gridania against this malevolent threat.  With naught but your mastery of the Aether, Muin's unparalleled resourcefulness, even turning a mundane vegetable into an instrument of destruction~!"  You bet he picked up on that subtle guilty waver beneath Linette's hellish gaze.  "And Soji's legendary mastery of the spear having taken all this time to finally recover from such an ordeal...!"  He had to work in Soji's weapon maintenance from earlier after all.  "Truly, I am honored."  Naturally a sheepish grin snuck out as he teased her, hopefully it would give all three of them a good laugh regardless.

 

 

When Soji inquired further on her arrival to Hyrstmill, Jeris simply snapped a finger, pointing to Soji as he tilted his mug back for another drink, to indicate his support of the proposed question.  He was rather enjoying this banter. 

[Vix]

She laughed at Jeris's extended version of her story. Her green eyes lighting up at the very thought of a giant opo-opo rushing the gate. It was then that she noticed a most peculiar feeling was starting to overtake her. A warm haze that caused her to feel more relaxed than before. One that caused the room to keep moving for the briefest of seconds when she shifted her gaze around the table.

 

The attention was once again on her. Why are they staring? She asked herself. Then remembered. Hyrstmill. Why had she been there. Of course.

 

She took another long drink (The bitter taste was gone, she know found it somewhat enjoyable) and smiled.

 

"Well to be completely honest. I was lost." She said. "I had wandered out into the Shroud looking for water spirits and got completely turned around. Hyrstmill was the first place I happened upon."

 

It should have been an embarrassing thing to admit, but Linette shrugged and lifted her mug. When it lowered, she pointed at Muin and Soji.

 

"Why were you two there?" Then, as if not to leave anyone out, her attention shifted to Jeris, one finger poking at him.

 

"Don't think you are off the hook either, why were you... Er..." She paused, one shutting as she thought. "Why were you..."

 

Finally it hit her. Much like Opo-opo's rock had yesterday. The words tumbled out of her mouth, twinged with just as much confusion as excitement.

 

"Why would you use bandages and not a healer for those bruises?"

[Soji Mori]

Jeris was good at weaving tales.  It had enough truth to it to stand and enough audacity to make it enjoyable even if he was clearly jesting. It fit right in with the tavern-like atmosphere of the Canopy.

 

Soji listened in to Lin's explanation but didn't seem to be put out by the admission to getting lost one bit.  It was honest.  Honesty went far with him.  The thing about truth was that, much like the sun, while it illuminated the world too much of it burned, while not enough of it meant nothing could grow or flourish.  Muin and he had plenty of words about that.

 

At her question to them he replied with equal honesty.

 

"Muin and I have signed on with the local guilds.  As part of earning our keep they suggested we help out the residents of Hyrstmill as the guard is often run thin and the Wood Wailers cannot spare any more at the moment.  It was the least we could do to demonstrate our appreciation for our acceptance into the guild halls."

 

And to help convince the locals that they were friends and not foes.  They were, after all, a pair of mismatched Miqo'te with no tribe or family to vouch for them.

[Masaki Moui]

Oh yeah they did.  Muin and Soji bickered about stuff like that.  Uh.  A lot.  But it was the bickering that slowly pushed each one into territory that they wouldn't have otherwise tried before.  More sun, less sun, more moon, less moon...

 

Jeris' embellishments to Linette's tale gets the first laugh out of Muin at the table.  He's got a rough, almost callous laugh, at first blush but then as it grows on someone, there's a good-natured sort of undercurrent to it, too.  The 'old man' in this party sure was sharp, though.  He could see things that went unsaid.

 

Linette had been lost.  Well that was that then.

 

"It's in the nature of a forest." 

 

Forests.  They were obscure.  Dark.  Trees mostly looked the same until you really got to know their individual qualities.  And it's not like anyone present had been part of the Black Shroud all their lives in order to know the subtle terrain that made for landmarks.  Otherwise, he might tease Linette about it.  But she was an Ul'Dah girl.

 

Soji answered for both of them, so Muin was silent, but his mismatched gaze was cast to Jeris again because, now that she was getting a little warm from all that brew, Linette wanted some answers.  And that was just precious.

[Nomine]

The answers were straightforward enough and entirely reasonable.  The motives behind them however, well that was something that would have made a great tale.  A pair off on their own escaping something and into the world on their own terms?  Or perhaps proving themselves for another matter entirely.  Then of course there was the matter of Linette inquiring him about his bandages and not a healer, which was an entirely reasonable question.

 

 

"Why, to catch the eye of pretty girls of course."  He replied with a grin as he cackled into his mug.

 

 

Naturally, he couldn't help but reply with an awful answer.

[Vix]

As Soji spoke, Linette nodded thoughtfully. It was a good reason, an admirable one. She appreciated that. When Muin chimed in, she smiled and grabbed another drink. Then Jeris replied.

 

It took a second for what he said to even register, what with the fog that was settling in her head, but when it did Linette's eyes went large and round.

 

"Hey, that's not a real answer!" She reached back and swung a playful fist at his arm.

 

Midway through the motion, she remembered his injuries and forced her arm to go wide. In rare moment of clarity, she realized that her ale clouded haze had made her use much more force than necessary (at least, force for a girl her size). As such, the sudden keening to side caused not only her arm to go wide, but take her body with it.

 

Thus, she began the horrifying tumble out of her seat and to the ground.

[Masaki Moui]

Yep.  Precious.

 

As Linette Syng quickly slides into that ambiguous place of certain acquaintances marked in the back of his mind by the phrase:  just like having a little sister only maybe worse.

 

Muin doesn't move to aid her even though he probably should.  Maybe it's shock.  Maybe it's just comedy.  But the clever one is merely transfixed by the almost slow-motion tumble of the inebriated, young conjurer.  All she can probably see is his mismatched gaze peering over his raised tankard... Pausing ...

[Soji Mori]

Soji's too far away to aid and so watches on with the sort of amused horror of a comedic train-wreck.

 

Besides, it was good for Lin to discover her limits.

 

His eyes follow Lin as she slow-topples over and should she actually hit the floor, his ears would flatten back at the sound; the only outward expression of an empathetic wince.

[Nomine]

Empathy?  Oh yeah Jeris was all over that.

 

 

"HA!" He slapped his hand against the table with a start, and let out a bellowing laugh.  "Aye, that's the way!"  Even laughing though, he wouldn't even pause as he rose out of the seat, a slight grimace of discomfort as he shifted out of his seat and moved to her side, kneeling down and reaching a hand out, every inch a display of gentlemanly conduct, despite being a large contributing factor to the debacle at hand.  "Getting into the adventuring lifestyle will require friendly relationship with the floor, at least when a good drink is involved.  Here, let me help you up and I'll make you a deal.  Help me with my injuries next time, and I'll provide you with some drinks to get some more tavern experience eh?" 

[Vix]

Linette took his outstretched hand and mumbled, "Deal."

 

She should have been embarrassed, and a voice in the back of her head, told her she would most certainly be the following morning. But at this very moment, she didn't care. Sitting back up, she blew at a piece of hair on her forehead and brushed off her skirt.

 

"That didn't even hurt, I'm surprised." She said, more to herself than her companions.

 

Taking another sip of her drink, she glanced around the table and furrowed her brow. "I wonder when the room will stop spinning. I don't remember hitting my head..."

 

Shrugging, she drank again and managed a smile. "What time is it anyway?"

[Masaki Moui]

By this time, Muin had put his chin in his palm and his whole lean against the table suggested staid amusement at the carousing that was in progress; at Jeris' respectable behavior; at Linette's machismo-via-intoxication; at Soji's flattened ears.  His rugged, thick tail swirled once.

 

'What time is it?'

 

"Way past time," he answered lazily. 

 

There was a simple bonhomie in the words.  The tone of his voice lacked any impatience or scorn.  It was like Muin couldn't resist playing with any words that came tumbling his way.  What time is it?  Way past time.  Way past time for what?  What, indeed!  For calling it a night? For truth or dare?  For the sudden appearance of an angry Opo-opo looking for revenge and retribution?

 

"We're going back to Hyrstmill for a while.  Have to earn our keep and make the folk around here know we're not just two tom cats looking to stir up trouble, pick fights, and poach the forest."  He pressed his hand to the table, the first gesture that he was ready to rise and press on to more adventure.  For Muin, this was his finest hour.  Even if it was growing late.  He was a Keeper of the Moon after all.

 

"Otherwise you guys can find us right here, or at the Sanctuary."

[Soji Mori]

Soji finished off the drink in his tankard and set it down before he rose as well, shouldering his spear again, being mindful to keep the business end high and out of the way.

 

Muin had done a fine job of let Jeris and Lin know where to find them in the future so he found there was only wishing the others well.

 

"It was a pleasure meeting you both.  For what it matters from a pair of fellow travelers, welcome to Gridania!  May the Warden ever cast Her light on your path that we may we meet again under such favorable circumstances."

 

He did linger, however, to hear any replies.  He was in no hurry to leave, but the time to return to duty did seem about right.  At least if they wanted to get back to Hyrstmill before nightfall.

[Nomine]

Jeris gave a nod and grin to the two Miquo'te.  "Pleasure to meet you both.  Navigator guide your path."  Hooo maybe that was a hint as to his history, but if it was it would have to be delved into at another time.  "I'll see to it our blushing beauty here finds her way home safely."  He reached over to grab his mug and raise it in a toast to the two gentleman along with a wink.  "And put your mind at ease, I'm not -that- bad of a scoundrel.....well, not anymore."  cackling into his mug, he quickly finished off the drink and sat the mug back on the table top.  Bowing his head with an overstated effort, he shot her a wink.  "I'll see you home if you'll allow me dear Linette.  We'll all enjoy a repeat of tonight's company soon I'm sure or have the honor of standing side by side out in the field."

[Vix]

There was no hiding the pout that overcame her at the pending departures. Linette stood, albeit a bit shakily, and waved at the two Miqo'tes.

 

"I hope we see each other again soon."

 

Her attention turned back to Jeris. She smiled but shook her head.

 

"I will be fine thank you." She took a tentative step away from the table, and the world tilted beneath her. Linette frowned as she steadied herself. "Actually, maybe I'll take you up on that after all. I, uh, appreciate it."

 

A dull throb was beginning to drum in her temples. I have a sinking feeling, that I am going to regret all these drinks. She found herself thinking. But it was too late now. As her father would have said, 'you made this bed, you lay in it.'

 

With a defeated sigh, Linette let Jeris walk her out of the Canopy and towards her home.

 

((Fin))