The Horn and Halo

#31

The chirping noise nearby Irenaeus stopped as a sudden flare of light lit up the dark-and never left. It seemed who or whatever it was had just lit one of the candles that must have gone out sometime before he came down here.

Then something crawled over the the top of one of the barrels to look at him, something that looked a little like a very small, gold dragon. Except that there were many differences to your typical, mythical dragons. For one, it was a mere four feet from nose to tail tip. It also had no horns, and it's toes resembled pincers more than anything. It also had strange eyes-they were multifaceted like cut jewels, appeared to have no pupils, and were currently swirling green with amber flecks. It was also covered in smooth, soft skin rather than scales. But like a dragon it did possess a pair of wings, which it used to fly as it leapt off the barrel and made to circle around Irenaeus, chirping all the while.

<hr />

Nyms polite but pleasant smile vanished rather suddnly at hearing CP's question, replaced by a much smaller, wry one. "Yeah, you're probably right" she said, obviously talking about the dress and his comment about her tripping "I'll have to fiddle with the length of the dress again so I can get up these stairs better. I'm adjusting well enough, if a bit stiff" Nym finished vaguely, before she took some keys on a hook out of her pocket, found the right one, and opened the door. "Why don't we go and have a look at your room first?". The woman gestured to the inside, a little more energetically than needed.

#32

Irenaeus was fascinated by the creature. He watched it circle him for a while, captivated.
"Hey there little guy, you've got a lot of steam don'tcha?"
In the back of his mind, Gurganus was sulking.
"Pffft, seriously? What is that? A bug? A dragon? More like a tiny sack of cr-
"Knock it off!" Irenaeus snapped. He didn't notice he'd said it out loud.
"Or what?" Gurganus sneered.
"Or... or..." Irenaeus mumbled. "I'll... do something."
If Gurganus could roll his eyes he would have done.
"Really? Yea you tell yourself that."
Irenaeus sighed, and looked at the dragon like creature.
"I'd say ignore him, but you can't hear him. Just as well really, he's a nasty piece of work."
He smiled again, pleased he seemed to have someone to talk to, someone who couldn't judge him at any rate.

"I may be a nasty piece of work, but at least I'm not talking to a fluttering little thing about a voice in my head!"

#33

"Stiff?" he questioned, curiosity taking precedence over better judgement. Nym had clearly tried to change the subject, and he felt bad for asking, but he felt his question justified in his mind.

Taking a step into his room, Coolpikaaa once again noticed the wooden atmosphere. The area did look quite nice though, certainly far better than the cave he earlier lived in. All the features Nym had mentioned were immediately visible- the bed, desk, and closet all designed for someone obviously much bigger than he, but Cp could adjust.

Setting his nearly empty pouch of items on the desk's surface, the electric mouse hopped up to the bed, bouncing a bit as it settled.

"Well.... I'm unpacked!"

#34

The little creature chirped again at Irenaeus calling it a 'little guy' in an annoyed fashion, it's swirling eyes gaining more amber at that point.

The creature also made a snapping motion when Irenaeus said aloud to 'Knock it off!' as of course it didn't know he was talking to someone else in his own head, a few red flecks showing up as it's eyes swirled more rapidly.

But the fire-lizard 'knocked it off' and landed on the floor in front of him anyway, it's head tilted at that point, because it couldn't quite figure out how to get it's point across. The creature then chirped a little more happily as blue joined the green and amber flecks in it's eyes, and tried one of it's abilities. The little, flying fire-lizard tried to project a picture of a word that had been written on a metallic surface to the man, that read 'Sallah Kleh', then tilted it's head the other way to stare intently at him.

<hr />

Nym looked a little surprised at CPs 'unpacking', especially since it involved no unpacking at all with a bit of throwing and jumping mixed in, but then shrugged and cautiously locked the door-before throwing the same key she'd used over to the electric rodent. "You're very efficient at unpacking, it takes me twice as long to do that" she said, the wry smile back on her face as she walked over to join him. Nym sighed and sat down on the bed heavily, then put a hand on the end of the sleeve of her dress and swallowed "When I said stiff I didn't mean like my bones or muscles are wearing out. I meant stiff, like, well, like this" Nym pulled the sleeve up and over her arm, right up to her shoulder, showing where veins should have been with blue and purple patterns there now showed only grey of varying shades-though it was all much duller than her clothing "wherever this shows up I feel stiff, and it's starting to get a bit harder to move. It usually goes away after a while but it's getting slower and slower. I don't know what's going on!" The woman looked worried, and she stared at the rodent hoping for answers that might not come.

#35

"I travel light." Coolpikaaa said, grinning at Nym's surprised look. "That pouch is all I have really. Anything I find, I can stick in there 'till I need it. Though... it's just about empty at the moment..." The electric mouse frowned, picking up on something more. Sure enough, Nym's grin faded, and she sat beside him, rolling up her sleeve.

"Ohh.... Weird..." he whispered with fascination in his voice. He could see the silvery lines running through her skin, just as veins would. It almost appeared as though the Barmaid's circulatory system had been... altered. Without any sort of medical background, Cp was at a loss, and he would in most cases immediately suggest a doctor.

However, there were... special factors at play here.

"Err... May I?" He asked, before pressing down on one of the larger looking streams. Nym had said the appearance had come and gone right? Could it possibly be some kind of allergic reaction? He hadn't ever heard of something that turned the blood silver after contact, though. "Does it hurt when it comes? And what are you usually doing at the time?"

#36

Irenaeus inspected the words on the wall, and then gave up. He had no idea what the words could mean.
"I'm sorry, I haven't a clue what that means." he sighed.

Hoping to make up for his lack of understanding, Irenaeus threw off his pack and rummaged around for some dried meat. He found his very last bit and tentatively held it out to the dragon.
"You like meat?"

#37

The little golden coloured creature bared it's teeth at Irenaeus when it heard that he didn't understand what she was trying to tell him with her images, and projected a feeling of disappointment at the man, hoping he could understand emotions if he couldn't understand pictures (in other words, she's trying to make him feel how she's feeling) but the disappointment soon turned to curiousity when he offered her the dried meat.

Sallah walked forwards a little awkwardly on her pincer like feet, her eyes swirling green with a little blue, and sniffed the proffered meat cautiously. Then, apparently deciding it was okay, she opened her narrow maw, revealing small but sharp teeth, and took a bite out of it.

<hr />

Nym thought about CPs questions for a short time "Well, it usually doesn't hurt it just makes it hard for me to move-and I'm never doing the same thing after practicing. Today this showed up when I was feeding Sallah" she told the eletric rodent, she didn't seem all that fazed at CP touching her arm-until he pressed down on it that is. The liquid seemed more dense than the flesh around it, so CPs little push pinched her arm internally. Nym barely stopped herself from yelping by clapping her other hand over her mouth, letting a small but highpitched noise out of her fingers.

"But it does hurt when you do that!" she snarled this part at the rodent, with her eyes narrowed and expression darkened she looked fairly intimidating "Just... don't do that again ok?"

3kul · #38

Meanwhile, back in the main room of the Horn and Halo, a small table of people were engrossed in their game of cards. There were only three of them, but the stakes were high, as evidenced by the growing pile of valuables on the table. A small, rotund amphibian seemed to be doing quite well, and was grinning quite enthusiastically as he took a moment to look over his cards once more. "Stakes up, gentlemen." He said slowly as he added a rough-looking jewel to the pile, savouring every bit of it. This game was all his, and he knew it. The reptilian being to his left regarded the jewel with some curiosity, but gave nothing away. "What is this?" He picked it up and examined it carefully. "Uncut jasmide. It's rough but fine quality." "Hm, so it is."

"Alright, that's it, I'm calling." The third member of the table, a human, appeared to have lost his patience. "There's no way your hand's that good. It's a bluff!" "Settle down, hotblood, or you'll get us all thrown out." The reptile hissed angrily, also losing his composure a little. He didn't want this game to go undecided just because some dumb ape couldn't keep his cool; not when he was so close to taking home the entire pot. "Now now, there's no need for names." The amphibian said, still smiling. "I don't mind if you think I'm bluffing. Show me yours and I'll show you mine."

The human hesitated, then flipped his cards over and sat back, feeling defeated. "A King, a Consort and a Queen." "A Sordid Affair? Weak." The reptile responded, laughing a little, then flipped his own cards over. "A King and three Consorts." "A Harem! You are good at this! That certainly trumps yours, human." The amphibian noted, quite amused. "But I'm afraid that this game is mine, gentlemen." With this he flipped his cards over, revealing a king and seven consorts. "Hey! Why do you have seven consorts?!" The human shouted loudly, leaping out of his chair and knocking it to one side. The reptile also rose out of his seat, but managed to keep his own rage in check. "I would also like to know the answer to that question. The standard amount of consorts in a deck is five, no?"

"So it is. If I didn't know any better I'd say that somebody has been slipping cards in, perhaps when they thought that I was distracted during that ruckus a few moments ago?" The amphibian replied, grinning slyly. "I neve-" The reptile did not get to finish what he was saying, as the human suddenly pulled a pistol out and was pointing it squarely at the amphibian. The reptile's eyes widened, but the amphibian seemed unfazed. "No! You pull out seven consorts and then you accuse me of cheating? My hand was garbage!" "Well, I never accused anybody at this table of being a particularly good cheater... Maybe you're just having an off day?" "Shut the hell up! Everything I have was riding on that game you smug toad, you think you can just run your mouth and get away with this?" "Normally, no, but there's this interesting rule here about no weapons and the lovely bouncers here are usually very quick to enforce it..."

((Feel free to powerplay a little with these characters when you have the bouncers deal with them Swix, you are in charge of this establishment after all

Bonus points to whoever can guess who the cheater was

))

#39

((Hmm, my guess is the Reptile. It seems he assumes he is being blamed... a guilty conscience perhaps? ^_^ ))

"Ah, sorry, sorry!" Cp apologized, immediately removing the pressure off the vein. Whatever this was, it certainly shrouded itself in a mystery. Something strange was making the barmaid's circulatory system near solid, though it didn't seem to have any ill effects other than stiffness. Coolpikaaa imagined if something like this had happened to anyone with normal circumstances, they could probably count themselves dead.

Looking thoughtful, Cp stared at the silvery marks, wondering if some grand epiphany would help him solve the case. Unfortunately, none seemed to come.

"You are never doing the same thing..." the electric mouse muttered to himself, repeating Nym's words for possible clues. "Never doing the same thing after practicing... after practicing?"

"Uh, Nym? What exactly is it that you practice doing? Is there something you use often that may be causing the symptoms...?"

Tav · #40

Trying to be unobtrusive, and, strangely doing a good job at it despite his size, Guardian sidled in through the door, ducking down and twisting his torso so he could fit through properly. Having walked in the sun for several hours, his scales had lightened to a sapphire sheen; Now that he was inside again, it was already darkening back to it's normal tone. He looked about, from one side of the room to the other, looking for a seat that would take his bulk. He noticed the argument over the card game, but shrugged; it wasn't his business.

"Greetings." He rumbled to the barkeeper, having decided to stand in lieu of breaking whatever he sat on. "I would like a mead, please." He said, doing his best to smile in a manner that one would find 'pleasant'. It was more difficult than it sounded, for a being with slits for a nose, beady black eyes, and a jaw much larger than the rest of his skull.

After a moment of introspection, he seemed to come to once again. "Before you serve me, can you tell me what sorts of payment you take? I have multiple currencies, but I'm not certain which kind you accept." He said- he hoped- in an apologetic manner. "Most of these coins I own are from other worlds."

#41

Nym rubbed her arm where CP had pinched it, apparently trying to help what little movement the liquid had along. She looked at the electric rodent with a mixture of disappointment and resignation before she began to answer his question. Not disappointment with him though, disappointment that she wasn't able to keep her own word When it came right down to it though, she was the one that had asked for his help and she did kind of owe him anyway. "Well" she began, slowly, still unsure "I kind of promised that I'd keep this a secret, but I've been practicing for my act later tonight. I thought of a way I could use one of my talents. I 'swallow' cutlery-but getting the flair for an entertaining show right is hard, so I've been practicing everyday. It's what I'm doing as payment for living here"

<hr />

The little argument between the three at the card game certainly hadn't gone unnoticed, as the werewolfs ears pricked forwards intently when a chair went flying. Tala moved through the crowd with relative ease since most of the patrons moved out of such an intimidating creatures way naturally-and those who didn't got sidestepped or gently pushed aside until she was right next to the mad trio. Tala flattened her pointy ears and bared her teeth aggressively at the human pointing the gun at the amphibian, simultaneously swiping the weapon away with a furry hand complete with long claws. "No weapons are allowed to be drawn in here" she growled at the man, letting her displeasure shine through "so I'll just keep hold of this". Tala tilted her head at the large pot on the table, and decided a change from her usual tactic would be best. "You three are clearly having some issues over this, so I'll offer you one chance. Sort this out civilly" she paused to let her words sink in, and stopped baring her fangs "or I throw you all out and you can be as violent to each other as you like" Lucky for them the werewolf was a lot more relaxed than the rigidly honourable draconian, or they would have all been thrown out by now. Tala didn't move from her spot by their table either, ears still down she watched them all intently.
((Not too much powerplay there I hope 3kul

))

<hr />

The tavernkeeper busily turned towards Guardian as the large being approached the bar and asked for mead. The man had gotten a bottle of the stuff from under the side along with a pint glass surprisingly fast, before stopping at his question. "Well sir, since this place hasn't settled down as far as currency goes, we usually go by gold or silver values. 1 pure gold coin is worth about 1000 Yen and so on. Someone even paid for a round with a small gemstone earlier" the innkeeper stopped here and offered Guardian a pleasant but interested smile "a pint of mead is around half a gold coin, two silver or 500 Yen. Of course, if you don't have any of those, like I said, the equivalent will do"

3kul · #42

((That was great Swix

))

The human went white as a sheet when confronted by Tala, having never encountered such a terrifying creature in his life before. "S-sure man, sure, whatever you say!" It seemed that he hadn't caught on to the fact that Tala was in fact a female, but he was far too busy looking at her claws and teeth to notice much else.

The human and the reptile sat back down now, the atmosphere feeling much heavier than it had a few minutes ago. "Alright, alright... So what now?" The human asked, still eyeing Tala nervously. "You mean what happens now, after you pulled a gun on the frog and tried to take the pot by force after losing, possibly while cheating?" The reptile asked, eyes narrowed at the human. The game being cheated was one thing, but he had at least thought that this could be resolved civilly. "I DIDN'T-" The human began, nearly jumping up out of his chair again, but then remembering the presence of the fearsome Tala. "I mean, I didn't cheat." "You'll forgive me for not taking you at your word, gunslinger."

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, please." The amphibian interrupted. "Let's not argue in the presence of a lady." "That thing's a chick?!" The human exclaimed with surprise, much to the disdain of all present. "Humans..." The reptile muttered, shaking his head. "She is a breath of fresh air for those of us who tire of being surrounded by ignorant males, like a sweet flower amidst a bed of thorns, and as lovely as one too." The amphibian replied, winking at Tala. Both the reptile and human seemed a bit disgusted by the amphibian's sudden interest in a female werewolf more than three times his size, and neither were particularly good at hiding it. "Flirt on your own time frog, let us decide the result of the game first."

"Ah, yes..." The amphibian began, rubbing his slimy chin. "Well, I doubt anybody will admit to cheating, so let's just replay that round. If anybody is caught cheating again, our lovely guardian here can eject them from the facility." "Alright, that sounds fair." The human replied, eagerly moving to put his terrible cards back into the deck. "No." The reptile replied abruptly. "I have the strongest legitimate hand, and I resent being accused of cheating to get it. Why should I give that up because one of you cheated?" The amphibian frowned for the first time that night, drumming his webbed fingers on the table. True, if the reptile was not the cheater then this was unfair to him. "Okay then, how about you keep your hand, and the human and I replay the round? Whoever has the highest hand wins." "No way!" The human replied, shaking his head vigorously in opposition to the idea. "Why does he get to keep such a good hand? Just because he says he didn't cheat? His odds of winning would be way too high!" Indeed, if the reptile was lying and had cheated then this would give him an unfair advantage. "Why don't we just call it quits and everybody take back what's theirs?" The human suggested, but when he reached to take back what was originally his he found a slimy webbed hand and a scaly claw blocking his way. "Why should you be allowed to back down without losing anything after you've already lost?" The reptile hissed angrily. "No offence friend, but I too would rather see this game through to the end." The amphibian added.

The three sat back, wondering how to resolve this. The amphibian hummed and pondered to himself, the reptile silently rested a claw on his cards and the human was looking nervously between the deck and Tala. This was a real conundrum. None of them had any idea who the real cheater was, and they could not agree on how to decide a winner for the round in a fair manner.

Tav · #43

"Very well." Guardian rumbled, as he reached into his bag and pinched a small gold coin between two talons, before taking a few sips. "Ah, I suppose there's naught a seat I can use. . Hmm." He eventually wandered off, and sat in a brightly-lit corner on the floor, setting his pint on a nearby stool.

#44

Talas ears remained flattened the whole time-except for when the amphibian started pouring on what he apparently thought was charm, where one swiveled forwards then back uncertainly. The man got a rather nasty look from the werewolf too at being called a 'thing' and a 'chick': both of them not particularly welcome names to hear, but she didn't do anything other than that. No, she was meant to be watching over this place and all who came to it, not getting into verbal fights with them.
But this game they were having seemed to be at an impasse. None of them wanted to go back, and none of them could agsee on how to go forwards. "Why don't you all play a different game to decide who gets the win, since you're all so determined to keep going? And if you do, let me shuffle the deck" from what little Tala remembered of card games, most had to be shuffled at the start and sometimes during the game, which is why they required a lot of luck. There was another reason for this suggestion, if whoever had been cheating tried it again, their scent would be stronger on any cards 'switched in', and a werewolves nose had few rivals. But if was the reptile doing it, he may well be aware of this and might've thought of a way to mask it if he'd thought there'd be others here that had a strong sense of smell. She was jumping to conclusions here of course, but most sapient reptilians she'd ever met had excellent senses of smell, so it wasn't too much of a leap. She had no idea how well an amphibians nose was at doing it's job though, so if it was him he might've thought of the same thing. But the human certainly wouldn't have, unless he knew beforehand who he was going to be playing. It wasn't perfect, but it might help the indecisive trio, and at the very least if it was the shuffler she'd end that immediately.
<hr />
The owner of the inn took Guardians gold coin with a pleasant grin but then called after the creature when he went and sat on the floor. "Excuse me sir" he said, waving "there's no need for you to sit on the floor! I made a couple 'heavy' chairs for people who are not as light, in fact there's one free right over there" the man pointed to a chair that was a deep brown colour and was supported by a single leg that resembled that of a large tree trunk-which was exactly what it had been carved out of. It was also sat in front of a table nearby the card trio.

3kul · #45

((Hope that people don't mind me bumping this but I actually remembered what I wanted to do with my card-playing trio - would you mind RPing through to the end of their game with me please Swix?

))

"Regardless of what these two say I for one do not consent to a new game, wolf." The reptile hissed, displeased that his desire to keep his hand was being ignored. "Well, what's your bright idea then?" The human snapped back, growing steadily more irritated with the haughty lizard. The reptile's eyes widened, but he remained silent. Try as he might, he could not think of a better solution. "Very well then, but as the legitimate winner of that round I would like to choose the game that we play." "Uh, how about no?" The human replied, laughing with a mixture of nervousness and frustration. "Who says your win was legit?! Your hand was too good, and don't get me started on the frog's hand..."

"Hm, well, how about we give our lovely dealer a chance to prove her worth, and decide the game in the process?" The amphibian suggested, smiling calmly. "She shuffles the cards, then deals us one each. Whoever has the highest ranking card gets to choose the game." The reptile and human both contemplated this for a short time, and then agreed. "Well then dealer, if you would be so kind..." The amphibian gestured to his cards and those of his fellow players around the table. Of course, none of them would touch the cards, lest they be accused of cheating a second time.

Even with her heightened sense of smell, Tala would find it too difficult to attribute the extra cards to any one player. They had been playing for quite a while, and the cards all shared the smells of amphibian, reptile and human, with the exception of those most recently used. These had the rather overwhelming scent of spiced liquor on them, suggesting that somebody on this table had spilled their drink and cleaned it up, but not before the cards had soaked in some of the aromatic beverage. If this was accidental then it was merely poor fortune, but if it was intentional then the cheater was clearly quite skilled.