| The effects of cherries and time travel | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summary: Who: Yoko, Munin, Meln, The_Waitress, Maret, Delcroix, Vashtearnia, Johnny_C, The Bartender When: January 19th, 2005 Where: Truce Inn          |
Munin steps quietly in the room, sharp, calculating eyes taking in the room as she closes the door behind her, almost as if expecting some sort of danger Yoko reaches slowly for her glass, still keeping her eyes on some unseen goal before her. Unfortunitly she should be paying more attention as her soda tips and goes spilling all over the floor. With a quick gasp she leaps to her feet, clutching the clipboard closely. "OOOH! I'm soooo sorry!!" Setting her notes on another table she starts to try to pick up her mess using the tiny napkin that was sitting beneath her glass as a coaster. The bartender stops, and slowly looks up and over at Yoko, looking somewhere between insulted, shocked, and aghast "You should be MUCH more careful with things. Such a waste of such fine cullinary combinations. You should treat such with more respect, young lady!". Yoko blushes and tries in vain to soak up the soda with her napkin. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? Any chance you could let me use a towel or something?" Munin watches the exchange as she takes a seat off to the side, too cautious for her own good, it seems, for the moment The Bartender raises an eyebrow, and kicks the shelf behind him "Youll have to ask that useless woman who is always taking her break when there are customers, since thats what i pay her for". He kicks the shelf again, as if to drive home some point The Waitress peers through the door at the sound of the kick looking almost eager to see a fight. Seeing the bartender yelling and Yoko cleaning up a spill quickly changes the expression to one of disgust. "What the bloody hell is going on around here?" Yoko sweatdrops at the yelling and shrugs, sitting up on one foot. "I just asked for a towel, is that so much to ask for? I'm sorry I spilled the glass. I paid for it, and nothing got broke. I'll probably pay for another one too. Can I -please- get a towel?" The Bartender shoots the waitress an annoyed look "Cleanup is YOUR responsibility, or do i pay you to sit around and show off our exquisite uniform?" The Waitress scoffs, "I never! My responsibilites where to train that worthless slut YOU hired so SHE could do the clean up. I'm just a bloody server. I take these slobs' orders and bring the foul creations of yours out to them. You want a janitor, YOU do it." Munin is patient as she listens, wondering what she walked in on The door is slowly opened and a grey cloaked figure steps in, then closes the door carefully behind it. It quickly swivels it's head, then looks down to the mess on the floor. A slight frown crosses it's face. Yoko finaly gets fed up and throws her napkin down in disgust. "You know, your both lucky I don't go to that new coffee house down the road or reject your submission to the tournament. I mean, come on... I only asked for a damn towel." Munin's eyes shoot to the newcomer, sizing them up, in case they become a threat The Waitress hmphs, and storms into the back. Returning with a towel she throws it into the center of the spill and shoots a satisfied look of 'there!' to the Bartender before marching back into the kitchen and out of sight once again. The Bartender shakes his head sadly "Have foodstaff fallen so far so that servers dont serve customers anymore? Has cullinary enterprising fallen so far?". He watches her stomp out with a glare "Such behaviour.. i really should dock her pay..." The grey cloaked figure walks up to the spill, and crouches down. It lowers a finger into the soda and then raises it to it's mouth. A faint smile plays around it's mouth, then it reaches under it's cloak. Yoko watches the cloaked one in confusion, noticibly tilting her head in the proccess. As the stranger licks the spill she cringes, "It's just a strawberry soda. I get them all the time..." Munin's hands drop to her sides, as she relaxes in her seat, still watching the newcomer like a hawk Slaming open the kitchen door the Waitress screams, "YOU DON'T BLOODY PAY ME AS IT IS!!!" and then storms off fuming as the door again slams shut behind her. The Bartender nods rightiously "Indeed not! Not something to worry about any further!" With a flickering of light a chair at the rear of the room becomes occupied. Sitting in shadow the obscure stranger stays motionless. Perhaps they where always sitting there. Perhaps not. Reguardless he's there now and if the light glinting off the orbs in his eyes are any indication he's watching everyone intently... The cloaked figure pulls a quill pen and notebook from under it's cloak, and writes down something, then looks up at Yoko. "Strawberry soda, you say? Is it the usual custom to leave them on the floor here?" Yoko rests her head on her upturned palm and and stares up at the cloaked one. Once the pad of paper is produced she grins at the familiarity of the person. "No.... but it is customed to hearing so much fuss over something so small around here." Munin's eyes narrow, although her gaze stays on the newcomer in the cloak. However, her guard is lessened a slight bit... Meln nods and tosses her hood back, revealing a length of blue hair. "Really? Well, then, I fit right in!" She nods to herself a little, then stands up and looks over to Yoko. "How are you?" The Bartender hmph's "Something small indeed. In the cullinary arts, NOTHING is too small!". He poses dramaticly with his ladel in one hand, and his wok in the other Yoko grins at Meln and is about to speak when the Bartender's voice cuts through her like a knife. Nearly needing to hold herself up to keep from going face first into the floor she lets out a deep sigh and shakes her head, "I'm doing alright if you ignore the headache all this planning is causing me. How about you?" "Oh, pretty good. An odd hero gave me this sword and taught me how to stab people with it." Meln gestures towards her back, then glances back over to Munin and frowns slightly. She pauses, then walks towards her. In the back of the room the shadowed stranger drops his head onto his table with a soft >>thump<<. A slight groan can be heard if one where to listen closely enough... Munin locks eyes with Meln as she approaches, her gaze less of hostility and more of cautious warning. However, she continues to remain silent for the moment The Bartender blinks "Don't tell me the fresh ingredients woke up again..." Yoko blinks, "A hero, huh? Well, that was awfully nice of them. Think they might compete then?" Watching Meln walk off she shrugs and glances up at the Bartender with a slight look of horror at his statement. Meln looks over to the bartender and smiles. "Cannabalism? What an enchanting practice." She blinks, and looks over to Yoko. "I don't know. They expressed some interest in fighting people when I mentioned it..." She scratches the back of her head. "Hey, what's the point of the tournament?" She slowly turns her head back to Munin and narrows her eyes. "May I ask why you were staring at me?"
Meln doesn't seem to notice Yoko for a moment, instead nodding slowly at Munin and narrowing her eyes. "Why were you staring at me?" She blinks, and whirls around. "A dreamstone shard!? What?" Yoko kinda wonders how many conversations Meln can have at one time, but anyways... "Yeah, hard to believe I know. Such a rare stone like that, but the guy said something about having some left over from a project he'd done recently. But, considering he lives like a hermit, who knows... Melchior is weird anyways." Munin decides to use Meln's distraction to her advantage, and looks over at the door the waitress went into when she stormed out Maret open door cue whistling as the mystic that's been in the area as of late walks into the inn whistling a tune only those of us who play the game would know..The Magus Theme! "But... That's great!" Meln smiles, then frowns. "But... If that should fall into the wrong hands, it could be bad. How does one sign up for this tournament?" She paces back and forth a little, then looks over to Munin expectantly. Munin's gaze now shifts to the new newcomer (A mystic... wonderful... this place is more diverse than i thought origionally... ) Yoko raises an eyebrow, "What? So you wanna sign up too? Um... ok?" Turning her clipboard towards Meln she taps at the bottom of one of the pages, "Just sign here and your in. Otherwise you have to go to the Market and sign up there." The shadowed stranger at the back of the room sits up abruptly at Yoko's words and carefully eyes the sheet of paper in her hands. Despite not wanting to bring attention to himself he needs that list, if nothing else but to sign up. Oh well... she did say you could go to the Market, right? Munin is also looking at the list with some interest at this point Let's give a big hand for Munin's amasing pose! *offers a giga arm* Meln signs on the bottom of the page with a flourish using her quill pen and smiles. "Thanks." She glances over to Maret. "...That can't be easy to whistle." After a moment, she narrows her eyes. "...Mystic..." "Aren't YOU observant..." comes Munin 's sarcastic reply to Meln's revelation, having silently gotten up and moved over to the pair in the meantime. She reaches for the pen, and signs her name in a rather plain manner. It's legible, but nothing special. Maret doesn't seem to notice as he finishes the song, "Hmm...what is that?" he indicates the clipboard. Yoko holds it up proudly after Munin signs, "We're holding a tournament. Care to sign up for a chance to win a Dreamstone shard?" Meln reaches under her cloak and takes a step towards Maret, then falters, looking over to the pen in Munin's hand and frowning. "...I'm not sure if this is the right way to express this in this culture, but that is sort of my pen, or at least that's how it was where I came from..." The shadowed figure twitches. He didn't want to be so far at the bottom of the list... gotta stay outta everyone's way for now though... make sure he didn't do too much damage with his experiment. Absently his hand draws out one of his daggers and he begins to twirl it off to the side without realising. So much for staying in shadow... Maret says, "I'm afraid I'll have to get back to you on that. I may have prior engagements." he sips at his cider. Yoko shrugs at Maret and sits the clipboard down on the table beside her. "No problem. If you change your mind you can still sign up at the Truce Market..." oO(I'm so tired of repeating that...) Munin gives Meln a sharp gaze, although its not hostile. She holds up the pen for taking "Then don't leave it out where just anyone can pick it up next time..." Meln blinks and stares at Munin for a moment, then nods and takes the pen back. "I'll keep that in mind." She puts it back into her robes, then pulls out a roll of measuring tape and walks right up next to Maret. Yoko stares down at her empty glass and then glances up at the barkeep. "Can I get another one, -please-?" To emphasise she grabs the glass and shakes it slightly. Maret says, "....Must we play this game again young lady?" he gives Meln and exhasperated look. The Bartender blinks, and smirks "One such as I can never say no to such a request. One moment please". He goes into the back, and you hear what sounds like a baby seal barking, then a loud THUNP, followed almost at the same time by a loud CRACK. He comes out a moment later with the beverage "Enjoy it, lass, such sweet necter!" Munin gives Meln a curt smirk "See that you do...", before returning to her seat quietly Delcroix walks into the Inn, hands in his coat pockets. Yep..here he is again. Yoko ignores the general weirdness as more of the usual and takes the glass with a smile. Smelling it slightly before taking a drink she sips it and nods approvingly. "I don't know what it is, but it seems like I'm craving strawberries today. You'd think I'd never had one before or something..." Pausing to think about this a moment she shakes her head and starts looking over the notes scribbled on her clipboard again. Meln blinks and stares at Maret for a moment. "Oh, I already measured you? My apologies." She slumps her shoulders and puts the roll of measuring a tape away, then looks over to Munin and nods slightly. Maret says, "OH yes, quite. When it was raining the other day." he once again sips at his cider. The shadowed figure grins and almost giggles at Yoko's words. Leaping to his feet he marches over to the bar revealing himself to be, obviously, Johnny. "Bartender! I -need- a cherry soda like my life depends on it!" oO(Yes! Yes! Cherries! Strawberries! Squee!) Delcroix glances at the grouping of people and hmms. With a shrug he finds a place to sit down and yawns a bit. The Bartender blinks at the weirdo in the corner, and nods, kicking the shelf behind him "You'll have one as soon as the good-for-nothing help i hired can bring it to you, sir!". He places yet another one on the bartop, then again kicks the shelf, glaring at the door Meln blinks and looks over to Johnny, smiling. "Oh, hello again. Interesting means of sustenance. Is that how you gained such regenerative qualities?" From the kitchen a loud crash is heard. Seconds later the door slams open, "WHAT DO YOU BLOODY WANT NOW YOU OLD BLOATD AMPHIBITE??" (an amphibite is a type of frog creature found in sewers and swamps of Chrono Trigger.... just to remind people) The Bartender, merely frowns "Just need ya to take a drink to the looney at the table in the corner, ya ungrateful... *mumble mumble*" Johnny glances over his shoulder at Meln at the sound of her voice. Yes, he ran to the bar if your remember. Boy, the waitstaff here is rude. "Huh? Wha'? What do you mean? Gained what?" Meln blinks. "Oh, you know. I stabbed you with a sword and it didn't seem to cause any real problems." She frowns at Johnny slightly. "That *was* what happened, right?" Her hand moves up to the sword on her back. Munin blinks at Johnny, then smirks to herself, saying nothing Delcroix raises an eyebrow as the parts about stabbing and all that, "..Someone got the point." he mutters. Johnny blinkblinks at Meln and glances down at his arm still incased in some odd black substance. "Oh, yeah... I guess so... Nah, I'm just weird. Then again, that could have been a dream after all. I do that alot." Maret notes Johnny and then narrows his eyes recognizing him fron the night his camp had been invaded by The Maniac. The Waitress stomps over to the bartender and snatches a glass at random with something in it. Not carring if it's the right one or not she takes a few steps, slams it on the a table in the corner, and marches back to the kitchen. "This is why your so bloody fat! You need to start moving those hunks of blubber you call legs once in awhile..." Meln walks over to Johnny and pokes at the black substance-encased arm. "Really?" The Bartender sweatdrops as he slides the drink to Johnny, glaring at the waitress "Funny. I was thinking the same thing, which is why i called you out here in the first place" Johnny winces slightly as if it hurt him. It didn't but old habbits and all. Taking a step back trying to avoid physical contact he shrugs, "Yeah... I once saw a doctor about my dreams, but that only confused things more." Watching the waitress he quickly runs to the glass and gulps it down quickly. Hopefully that was the right one... With a slowly forming grin the former maniac cackles. "YESS!!!!!" Yep, must be nice to be crazy... Delcroix says, "Someone loves their drink." he comments. Maret says, "Methinks the drink was spiked." he observes and takes a sip of his own. Vashtearnia flows from out of the kitchen entrance, coming to a stop and looking about the restaurant. She spots the waitress, and the bartender, then the customers. Was she supposed to be on shift? o O ( Oh, like it matters, she'd yell at me anyway even if I wasn't late. ) No time to dilly dally though, she moves past the bar, pulling up a wet rag from it and wrapping it around her wrist, gripping it with the same hand. "Good evening, can I get anyone anything?" She asks, and though her voice is a normal tone, it will sound like it was said right next to each individual person here. Johnny nods at Vashtearnia hungrily, "Yesss! More cherry soda! Lots of it!" Delcroix says, "Okay...what is in that soda..this guy is worrying me." Munin sweatdrops, looking to Vashtearnia "I'll have water..." Delcroix says, "'M fine." The Bartender grins proudly "My SECRET ingredients, of course! OLD family recipe, that my mother used to make!" Yoko stares at Johnny in confusion, then back to her own glass. "This is JUST strawberry cola, right?" Delcroix says, "We can hope..or else we'd have two people bouncing off the walls." Maret asks, "Two people? How so?" Johnny giggles insanely, "Heh-heh.... first this, next.... BURRITOS!" Obviously amused with something he sits down at his table and quiets down. Mumbling about more such strange things... The Bartender looks at Yoko as she asks that "Oh, no. It's what my mother used to make. It's the leftovers that i never ate. Got a lot of it saved up over the years" Yoko smells her glass cautiously and then pushes it off to the side. Looking for her pen, which had fallen on the floor when she spilled her glass earlier, she picks it up and starts to doodle on a blank page on her clipboard. Vashtearnia pulls her eyes onto Johnny, giving a gentle nod of her head, some of her white hair spilling over her shoulders, each strand momentairly seperating from itself and then culminating back together in one long eye catching, close to hypnotic flow. "Of course, sir." She says, then she steps her way over to Munin, nodding her head. She gives a wink at the Bartender and then barefoots her way over behind the bar itself next to him. "Good evening boss." She says, reaching out with her rag and placing it upon the bartop, her finger spinning it around in a complete circle and then pulling away. The rag flows from the inertia up and then settles down into a definite rose like shape. She then snags a glass and fills it with cherry soda. o O ( Cherry soda? Nice and red isn't it? Cheh, smells like sugar... ) She then fulfills the water and simply disappears, reappearing next to Johnny and setting the glass down, then blinking out and in next to Munin, placing the water down. "Here you are sir and ma'am, anything else?" She says, eyes casting about the tavern. Meln stares at Johnny for a moment. "Well. A rather variant reaction. I'll have to try that again some time." She scans the room for a moment, giving Vashtearnia a brief smile. Seeing Yoko, she frowns and walks towards her quietly. The Bartender smiles "Aaahhh... good help is SO hard to find.... for once i found some.. unlike SOME help aruond here..." Munin shakes her head 'no', but says not a word, taking a nice long drink of water From the kitchen a voice calls out, "I HEARD THAT YOU OLD HECKRAN!!!" Delcroix says, "..Geez...and I thought my old teacher was a pain." The Bartender shakes his head, calling back "Quiet, Pelican-beak" Maret closes his eyes and shakes his head, "A bit of a show off there girl?" is muttered. The kitchen door swings open suddenly and a flying sauce pan comes sailing through the air towards the bartender's face. "BLOODY BASTARD!!!" Vashtearnia looks over towards the Bartender with a smile, revealing a pair of fangs resident in her mouth. o O ( That's because you've been hiring humans, obviously. ) "Thank you good sir, I promise to purchase a uniform soon." She informs him, then glances over towards the kitchen. The arguements between these two, it never ever ends! Finding no more requests forthcoming, her hand reaches over to the rose shaped rag, pulling it free as it loses it's shape, she attends to the nearest empty table, beginning to wipe it clean. She then glances over towards Maret, only briefly however, before continuing her cleaning. o O ( Oh yes, mutter little words so normal people can't hear you, that's right. They'll never figure out what you're saying. ) Johnny happily sips down his glass of... soda? still giggling to himself. Watching the pan go flying his grin widens and soon he's leaning back in his chair watching it like it was some huge event.
Johnny sits his glass down and begins to clap at the bartender's misfortune. "ENCORE!!" Munin raises an eyebrow (He's not bad... landing needs work.... ) Vashtearnia's eyes glance over towards Johnny, then at the Bartender playing with that knife. o O ( Nice coordina...tion..ohh..that's..mm.. ) She takes in and out a slow breath, then closes her eyes, pausing in the cleansing of the table she's currently polishing up. o O ( It's just a nick, you can barely smell it, calm down. Don't go take him out back and then open up his neck like a faucet! ) She makes a light smack sound and then pushes the thoughts away, somewhat, continuing her cleansing of the table, though she's only using a single finger on the rag, spinning it this way and that, it really shouldn't be getting the table clean, but it's doing a perfect job anyway. Meln just looks around for a moment, then shakes her head. "All this is getting too far from my understood data for any data collected to be coherent or usable." She throws her hood back up and walks towards the door. Maret sighs and shakes his head though he chuckles, . o O (I suppose this isn't something my superiors wish to hear but it would be quite amusing to include anyway.) Munin watches the mystic and the inquisitive data collector *Meln* from her table passivly, whatever information shes gleaning from doing so known only to her Yoko sits up and glances around. Seeing Meln begin to leave she waves, "Hey! Going so soon?" Meln blinks and turns around, then tilts her head a bit and looks over to Yoko. "Well, I tended to think it seemed like a good idea to leave, given that a large percentage of the population seem to have the habit of tossing knives around, some with less dexterity than others..." Maret says, "A strange cultural practice to say the least." he continues to chuckle. Vashtearnia looks over towards Meln as she heads for the doorway. o O ( There's the measurement girl... ) She catches herself actually taking a step towards the exit and Meln, but stops herself. o O ( Please, get ahold of yourself, don't be so weak! It's just that there's a literal wealth of food just running around here and that one wouldn't struggle much, no, she'd probably want measurements while she was just drained out of her life, then, there wouldn't even be a scream, ah...no, no. No. Stop it! Back to cleaning, oh the -joy- of it. ) She turns over to a new table, closing her eyes as she moves from one to the other, not actually looking as she steps around the chairs and such, cleaning one table after another. o O ( La da de dum, la da de dum...da de da dum de la... ) Yoko abruptly sweatdrops, "Um.... no, well... wait.... it's not usualy like this. Come on, don't take off yet..." Almost pouting she guestures to the chair accross from her. "I'll um... buy you a drink or something." As if on cue, Johnny flicks out his dagger and begins to use the reflection on it's blade to glance at everyone in the room, his face never turning away from the excitment at the bar. Meln smiles and walks over to Yoko's table. "That would be most useful, actually. I ended up donating all of my money to beggars a few days ago." She sits down across from her. Yoko grins childishly and nods. "Hey um.... Vash? Can we, um... get some sodas please?" Quickly glancing at Meln she sweatdrops, "That's ok, right? You like sodas don't you?" Vashtearnia weaves between two tables, coming to a stop next to Yoko and Meln's. Her eyes look over one, then the other, in what could only be defined as a predator looking over it's prey. o O ( Yes my tasty little morsels? What's that? You want to step outside and faint for me? Why, not a problem! ) "Of course ma'am, what flavor would you each like?" She asks, giving a nice and pleasing smile. Her eyes dart over towards Johnny's dagger, oops, you're not gonna be getting a reflection out of her, it's like she's not even there. Munin watches Johnny closely as his daggers come out, her gaze even and piercing, but not hostile "Well, given that soda was that thing that was on the floor a bit ago as I think I heard you mention, yes, soda would be excellent." Meln smiles and looks over to Vashtearnia, staring at her for a moment. "Strawberry for me please, assuming you have some available, Miss Vashtearnia." Yoko nods, "Same here." Glancing at her half-full glass beside her she nervously changes that. "Actualy, just a regular one for me." Even if she won't admit it, the bartender's comments worried her. Maret hums a tune to himself and turns to observe the rest of the occupants, particularly Miss Light Spe- I mean Vashtearnia, and Johnny for a moment before he raises his empty glass. Johnny pays no attention to anything going on around him, or at least gives that impression. Begining to twirl his dagger by it's hilt again he hums some strange song and closes his eyes to the world. After awhile his black blade stops twirling and he reseaths it before crossing his arms on his stomach and seemingly falls asleep. Vashtearnia nods her head towards Meln and Yoko, "Of course, lady's." She says, making her way over and behind the bar, her barefeet tapping upon the floor as she does so, she stops before coming around the corner though, knowing the currently fainted bartender is back there. And his finger probably has a nice trickle of blood rippling down from it. o O ( Yes, it's probably just wasting away on the floor there, draining between the floorboards. Mayhaps I should be cleaning that up, just with the rag, of course... ) Her eyes get pulled towards johnny and Maret's humming, but she steps behind the bar anyway, then ducks down behind it. Her rag snapping out and soaking up (much more than a simple rag could) any blood that happens to have been foolishly discarded upon the ground from the Bartenders pricked finger. o O ( Just a taste, a little ity bity taste... ) Meln glances over to Vashtearnia furtively, then leans over to Yoko and mutters, "Is it just me, or does Miss Vashtearnia seem a little hungry? I wonder if they're feeding her enough, it doesn't seem like a very nice place to work..." Yoko glances up at the waitress in question and nods slowly, "Good point, but I guess if it bothered her she'd just quit. I dunno... she seems too nice to be disliking it." Really she has no idea, she's been trying to decide what to do about the live band she promised and hasn't come up with anything yet... The Bartender has the effective damage of a paper cut, so theres little actual blood. He's just a big softy, and yes, hes still unconscious Maret says, "Oh Miss Vashtearnia?" he sets the empty glass down tapping his finger against it, "When you get a chance, could I get another cider please?" Vashtearnia narrows her eyes down at the lack of, well, anything. She brushes her rag futively against the Bartenders finger. o O ( I guess I'll just have to snap his finger right off then, won't I? ) She pauses there, crouched behind the bar, staring at the bartender, pupils widening slowly. o O ( I mean really, they have five of them, I'm sure I could get along with four, couldn't I? ) Her hands gingerly reaching over to take ahold of the bartenders hand, but then she hears her name called and she's up and straight behind the bar, looking towards Maret with a pleasant smile on her face, "Of course, good sir." She says. o O ( And could I interrupt your current goings on a few more times? And while I'm at it, can I just open up my chest and let my blood spill out on the floor? Why of course, sir! ) She fills up the two sodas for Yoko and Meln, sliding them within her left hand and holing them in place rather dexteriously, then fills up a cider. Disappearing, she reappears before Yoko and Meln, setting the drinks down to their respective owners. "Here you are, enjoy won't you?" o O ( Or just gag on it and run outside coughing all alone in the darkness! ) She then blinks to Maret's table, setting down the cider, "And here you are." She says, giving a light wink of her eye afterwards. Maret says, "Why thank you." he raises his old empty glass to hand to her before considering taking a sip from the new one smiling back as if nothing is aloof. Johnny twitches and opens an eye to stare at Vashtearnia. Gripping the hilt of his daggers briefly a slow grin fills his face and he releases them. oO(Ahhh... I knew there was something more going on there...) Such a strange person... Meln frowns thoughtfully. "That's true... Maybe she's a princess, and they've put her under an obligation of some kind, so she can't help but work for them." Her hand moves towards her back. "If that is the case, swift justice must be dealt." Yoko almost chokes on her drink as she goes to take a sip from it. Shaking her head she stares, "A princess?? Where do you come up with this stuff?" Vashtearnia is picking up Yoko and Meln's conversation quite well, though she's nowhere near the table of course. o O ( Aww, a princess. How nice. I wouldn't mind that one really... ) She gives a light bow of her head at Maret and reaches over to remove the empty glass from his hand and then turn to return said item to the bar. o O ( Here's my filth ma'am, be sure not to get diseased from it! ) Meln blinks, then smiles a bit at Yoko. "Oh, I'm very well read." She pulls down on her hood a little, then stands up and walks towards the bartender, hand on sword handle, face becoming an icy mask. Or at least what she imagines one would look like. Yoko watches quietly, not knowing how to react... oO(How.... strange...) Johnny puts his feet down on the floor and opens both his eyes. Watching Vashtearnia make her rounds he hmmm's to himself and takes out both his daggers, holding onto the hilts tightly. His eyes become a little paler as he does so. Then, Meln stands up. Raising an eyebrow a slow smile creeps onto his face and his grip tightens turning his knuckles white. Maret in one hand holds his cider, his other however begins drifting to his side as the girl begins approaching the bar like that. His eyes narrow . o O (I don't like where this is going.) Munin watches all this go on, but stays where she is, idly wondering how itll all turn out Vashtearnia moves over to the side of the bar, placing Maret's glass down behind it in order that it might be cleaned and polished. She then looks over towards Meln and gives her a fanged smile, then moves over to the nearest table, begining her cleansing of tabletops once again. o O ( Maybe she'll gut him, and then blood will be everywhere. Who would notice a bit more from the other patrons? Obviously, some monstorous Mystic rampaged through the Tavern, she barely survived! Oh, it was horrible! ) Her eyes look over at Meln once more. o O ( Though I would lose my sponser for the tournament. And my boss, which means my paycheck... ) Hmn. Meln leaps over the counter and pulls down on her hood with her free hand, a faint smile playing around her lips. "Release the princess from the dark obligation you hold her under, fiend, or prepare to taste the blood of swift vengeance!" She stands there for a moment, then looks down at the comatose bartender, nudging him with her foot. "Because of my sword, I mean. Which I'll stab you with... It's a threat of sorts." Yoko jawdrops. No logical thought passes through her mind... well, maybe a brief oO(What the hell is she doing?) but that's about it... Johnny snickers and resheaths his daggers as he makes himself more comfortable for this new bit of amusment that has presented itself. Maret sighs and pulls a cap from his jacket and sets it on hiw head pulling it low over his eyes . o O (This is just not going to end well.) The Bartender responds with a dramatic flare all his own... or would, if he were conscious Vashtearnia turns in her table cleaning, eyeing Maret behind the bar and talking to the unconcious bartender still. She's rather sure humans (some of them) don't go stabbing unconcious people in general, but Meln sounds rather sincere. o O ( Oh bother. ) She disappears and reappears behind the bar, and on the other side of the Bartender from Meln, "Your thoughts are kind indeed ma'am, but I am not a captive. I am paid a wage for my services here." She twirls the rag in her hand, spinning it upon one finger, though the spin is much slower than physics should really be letting it spin like that. o O ( Or just believe I'm under a spell and lieing and plunge that blade right into his heart! ) Meln crouches down and presses her fingers against the bartender's throat, feeling for a pulse. "Hey, fiend? You awake there? Did you treacherously eavesdrop on my plans and did they frighten you to horror beyond mortal ken or something?" She blinks and looks back over to Vashtearnia. "...Oh. Sorry for my misunderstanding, Miss Vashtearnia." She blushes and bows slightly. After a moment, she stands back up and climbs over the bar again, then walks back to Yoko's table and sits down. Yoko just.... doesn't know what to say. She only watches Meln silently as she sits down. the bartender is still alive, and has a strong pulse. hes just fainted. Munin is... no longer there? her seat where she was sitting has a lingering darkness, a shadow clinging to the chair a moment longer than usual, before all is as it was, her glass left on the table, its contents consumed, but she is nowhere to be seen Maret slowly untenses and takes a large swig of his Cider. Vashtearnia nods her head towards Meln, "No, it's all right ma'am, could have happened to anyone." o O ( If anyone were a simple child without any common sense whatsoever. ) She disappears and reappears next to the table she was once cleaning, leaving the Bartender to sleep away the night. The place will be spotless by morning, ick, morning. o O ( La da da de dum, la da de dum... ) She sings inside of her head as she moves from table to table, eyeing the lack of Munin now evident in the Tavern. Well, that's interesting isn't it? Johnny frowns at the lack of action and finaly decides to hell with it and jumps to his feet. Flicking out one of his daggers he walks up to Vash quietly. "So are you just spiteful or are you looking to spar with someone, cause if it's the latter, I'd be more than willing to help." "...Well, I feel stupid." Meln sighs and pulls her hood further over her face, taking a drink of soda. "Obviously, she must be working here after running away from her kingdom. Probably her parents tried to marry her to someone horrid or an evil minister took over the kingdom or something. " She glances over to Vashtearnia and narrows her eyes at Johnny. "I'm not sure that a hero would talk to a princess in such a way." Yoko sweatdrops. "Um... Meln? I really don't think there ever was a Mystic princess, and he doesn't look like much of a hero to me. You didn't hit your head or nothing, did you? Maybe earlier today?" Meln frowns. "I think one of the beggars might have hit me in the head once or twice because I forgot where my money was and he got impatient. Lucky he didn't use his sword. Why do you ask?" She raises an eyebrow. "Anyways, how else would she have known I was talking about her? I never said Miss Vashtearnia in my speech, just 'the princess'." Vashtearnia's table cleaning stops, her hand pausing. Though, the rag decides to continue cleaning the table, Vashtearnia's eyes give it this look and the rag slumps into a rose shape. She then passes her eyes over to Meln. o O ( That really shouldn't make me feel so nice, being referred to as a princess. ) She discards the thought, looking over towards Johnny. This is the one she was almost, almost went after just a few nights ago. Seems a bit different today though, a little less in control of himself. "Spiteful, sir?" She says, giving a smile towards him. o O ( Intuitive little human, I wonder what he really wants, though he was rather tasty..mm... ) Remembering the spilled blood from the other night, oh yummy... Yoko shakes her head quietly. How can you arguee with such obscure logic. Instead, she sips her soda. Yep. Great soda. Johnny grins at the odd Mystic, "Yeah, spiteful. Come on, you don't expect me to think your all nice and formal because your not trying to hide something. I can feel it coming off you like heat, the sludge your burning off into the ether. It's almost enough to choke a man. Now either your wanting to vent some aggression or you just really hate everyone here and your trying to hide it." Not really trying to, he manages to keep his voice fairly low so no one can really understand him unless they're actualy making an effort to. His dagger, meanwhile, seems to get darker as it absorbs some unseen substance from the air... Maret downs his cider and leaves money for the drinks and a tip for the waitress and begins making his way to the door, es, other things to do, no more wasting time for him folks. Yoko is trying to ignore the darkly dressed man. "So, you say you travel around alot. Ever been anywhere really exotic, Meln? Maybe a tropical island somewhere or something?" Due in part to Yoko's talking and in part to her own inattentiveness, Meln only catches a few of Johnny's words. She tenses, watching Vashtearnia out of the corner of her eye. "Hm? Everywhere down here is exotic, although I haven't been on any *tropical* islands..." She pauses, still staring furtively. "You?" Yoko hesitates when it comes to an answer, almost as if she was hiding something. "No, not really... I kinda showed up here with the shirt on my back and got lucky that the people at the shop gave me a job and a place to stay. Before that... well... I don't really like to think back on that too much..." Vashtearnia's eyes flick over to Meln and Yoko's table, then back towards Johnny. For some reason, this human, who has shown signs of prior magic like abilities, seems to be rather aware of her dislike of, well, the general population. How irritating is that. o O ( Might as well suck him dry then! He's asking you too anyway! Just pop off the lid and blow away the night. ) She looks back towards Johnny, attempting to lock onto his eyes as her head tilts forward. Her hair sways over her shoulders, catching the light and literally giving off a gentle shine, eye catching as well, her hand reaches up to brush the right side of her hair away, causing even more eye attracting attention. She then moves her lips, but her voice is heard only to Johnny, "I won't jepordize my job here, human. But, I will follow you outside if you leave." She says, and though I believe Johnny has many mental blockings, if he didn't he'd find her comment not to be so much as a statement, but as words that simply must be done and obeyed. Johnny's smile simply widens more. Obeyed words or not, the former (?) manaic smiles mischivously, "I thought you'd never ask..." Seemingly forcing himself not to run he takes off for the door, only pausing briefly to see if anyone is following him. Meln nods solemnly. "I'm sorry to hear that. You should try travelling sometime, though. It's fun. Especially talking to all the down on their luck beggars and stuff." She glances over to Vashtearnia and Johnny and smiles. "Well, they seem to be getting along now." Yoko nods slowly, "I dunno... I think I've seen enough travelling for awhile." Glancing over her shoulder at the duo she sweatdrops, "Hmmm... that's odd. I wonder what they're up to...?" Vashtearnia watches Johnny move off towards the doorway. Okay, good, that's settled then. o O ( I'm starving anyway. ) She thinks to herself, turning to watch Johnny leave, then looking back towards Yoko and Meln. She moves over to there table, giving a fanged smile at them both, "I'm sorry ladies, I'm feeling a bit tired and will have to leave you for the night. It was a pleasure serving you both." She gives a light bow of her head, and then proceeds to head into the kitchen, though she'll soon enough move out the back and head around to the front to intercept Johnny, or, well, at least go check on his whereabouts. Johnny raises an eyebrow as Vash steps back and shakes his head. None the less he heads outside anyways determined to either find out what's going on with the strange woman, or head home... one of the two. As he steps outside he takes out both his daggers, just in case. Yoko yawns as the two go their seperate ways. "Some people around here are just weird... is it like this everywhere you've gone?" Yoko snickers as she begins to absently doodle something on her notes. "No chance you know of any one who has a band do you?" Meln takes another sip of soda. "A band of *what*, exactly?" Yoko sweatdrops, "Musicians? One of the things I have to do is find someone to perform at the festival side of the tornament so we still draw in a crowd even if they're not intrested in the fights..." "Well, Sir Maret could hum pretty well, it sounded like." Meln smiles. "Maybe you should recruit him. And there's other ways to draw in a crowd besides music, if that fails." Yoko laughs, "Yeah, that'd be original. We get Lucca Ashtear to set up some kind of amplifer for him and have him hum all day." Shaking her head she giggles, "I know we can draw crowds other ways, but I already promised the boss I'd find someone." Letting out a sigh she adds, "You think I promised too much?" "He can whistle too!" Meln smiles, then furrows her eyebrows. "Well, you could just recruit random people and have them make it up as they go along. Station them at the points farthest from the tournament, and drive them towards it." Yoko tries to force herself not to laugh as she shakes her head again. "Actualy we have a stage there already. They built it back for the Millenial Fair and they've been keeping it locked until it's needed again to prevent vandalism. But you might have an idea there. Maybe I should just look for individual people instead of one group... might be easier." "Yes! You should travel to the far reaches of the land and recruit the greatest band of musicians ever found! It could be a quest of sorts." Meln nods enthusiastically. Yoko grins and nods, "I just might have to... I still need to get more shops and stuff anyways. Plus it might be a good way of finding more contestants..." Meln nods. "That's true as well." She tilts her head to one side. "Why did you want to organize a tournament in the first place?" Yoko takes a drink from her glass and pauses. With a deep breath she sits the cup down before her. "I'm just kinda tired of feeling neglected at work. I like to be the one with the good ideas, the one that gets called upon when someone needs help with something. But I'm not. I'm always just kinda over looked. I mean, I'm the only one there that isn't related to anyone so I wasn't around a place like that my whole life. I guess... well... I dunno...." Meln smiles. "Well, I'm sure you'll get plenty of recognition with this tournament. I mean, after all, having heros hack eachother to bits over a little piece of stone is pretty amazing, if you think about it." Yoko blinks at the thought. "I never really saw it that way before... that almost sounds horrible... I don't want to be responsible for people dying!" Meln blinks. "I don't understand that logic. If heros want to get hacked up over a little piece of stone, isn't that their perogative? How can they be heros if they don't go around killing people anyways?" Yoko hums, "Well, not everyone who fights is a hero, you know. Some people just like the idea of fighting. Others use it to get away from their normal lives. Then there are those that only fight because they enjoy hurting people. It takes all kinds I suppose..." Meln nods. "Right. So it's not really your fault if they kill eachother or whatever. You supply the demand, you don't create it. You're just like a bartender or something." Yoko nervously nods, "I guess so... I was just trying to find a way to promote the shop and get in better favor with the boss, but yeah. I suppose... I mean, until tonight this was all just supposed to be a way of boosting sales." Letting out a sigh she traces the edge of her glass with a finger, "I don't know about demand though... I know that Lee girl sure seemed to want it. Some of the others tonight too. I guess you might be right about that..." Meln nods. "You work for a place that manufactures weapons, right? You're already a supplier of death one, so this doesn't make any difference." Yoko defensivly shakes her head, "Nononono..... I work for a place that sells it. We're just like big general store. We only carry alot of weapons because of all the hostilities and traditions around here. I mean, Truce doesn't have a weapons shop, so we're kinda the best they have..." Meln smiles widely. "What an interesting set of beliefs." She takes another sip of her soda, and leans back in her chair. "So, does everyone around here have a belief system like that?" Yoko raises an eyebrow, "I dunno.... couldn't tell you. Aside from working and sitting around here talking to the odd stranger I don't really get out much." Titlting her head slightly she thinks over the girl's words, "Wait, what do you mean belief system? You think I'm decieving myself or something?" Meln stares at Yoko for a moment, then shakes her head. "It is not my place to disrupt the natives beliefs, but only to observe them." She kind of mumbles it, though, not clear if she's talking to Yoko or herself. Yoko blinks, "Natives?? What's that supposed to mean? Come on, I thought we where friends!" Clearly looking hurt the girl slumps in her chair and seems to be forcing herself not to pout... Meln blinks slowly. "Is there something in your culture against being a friend *and* an anthropologist?" Yoko raises an eyebrow, "Um... I suppose not...." Not entirely sure what an anthropologist does she hesitates to comment more than that... Meln frowns and stands up. "I see... I'm sorry to bother you. I can't really stop being an anthroplogist, as that's what I've trained for since I was small." Yoko blinks, "Well, we all have our things. But if your gonna call me friend, you gotta stop with this native talk. I mean... that just sounds so... artificial, like your looking at me like a bug or something." Glancing around the empty room she can't help but smirk as an idea strikes her, "Although some of the ones around here are just about as stupid as one." With a grin she sits back up, "But you know, I'm not really from here. Sure I've lived here a few years, but otherwise I'm just about as native as you are...." Meln sits back down and smiles. "Well, that's good. In that case since you aren't in this culture, I don't have to worry about contaminating it by questioning your assumptions about reality... So, do you think you're *not* deluding yourself?" Yoko's mind derales at that. "Do I think I'm... what? No, I don't think I'm deluding myself. That's like saying the barkeep here should be jailed because his food gives people food poisoning. Not like he does it deliberatly or that it happens all the time, but that's not my point. Not everyone that buys a sword uses it to kill, and not everyone who comes into the store buys a weapon. We're just as guilty of killing as anyone else in this day and age. If anyone's going to be guilty of killing, it's the guy that actualy takes the life from someone..." Meln takes another sip of soda. "Really? I'd say the food would be a bit different, because it's not meant to kill people. With a sword, that's pretty much all you can do. Can't kill animals very easy with one, that's for sure." Yoko shakes her head, "But that's not all we sell. I mean, they have knives here but no one is going out and hunting with them either. Besides, some people collect swords. Some buy them to protect families. Some only get them for self defense. That doesn't make them killers..." "Well, it does, but it makes them killers in a good way. Like heros." Meln smiles and nods. "Anyways, I need to get back to my research. Nice talking with you, Miss Yoko." She stands up. Yoko yawns and slowly stands as well, "Yeah.... I need to be going to bed myself. I have work in the morning after all." Nodding she grins, "Nice talking to you too. You know, if you don't have a place to stay, your still welcome to crash at my place. Offer is always there...." Meln shifts a little on her feet. "Actually, that'd be really helpful if it's not too much of a problem. I still haven't figured out how to earn any more money since I donated mine to the beggars..." Yoko shakes her head. "Nah, it's no big deal. I have my own room at the shop. You can take the bed, I'll sleep on my old sleeping bag. It's no problem. If your still around in a couple of days we can talk to my boss, I'm sure he'd be willing to work out something with the tournament and all...." Meln nods slowly and locks her hands together behind her. "...Thank you. That would be most useful." Yoko nods and smiles, "It's no problem... come on follow me..." And with that she steps out into the night.... | |
Enable comment auto-refresher