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Post by moralhazard on Apr 5, 2019 16:44:49 GMT
Dhaunmyr seemed to blossom once more, chatting freely with Caim.
Caim looked – Kara wasn’t sure what was wrong with him. She didn’t understand. He was happy when being shoved over by a stranger on the street, then upset when just talking to her. He’d looked strong and confident while healing, and now he was sitting on his bed fiddling with his unmade sheets as if he needed comfort from them. It didn’t make any sense to her.
Dhaunmyr mentioned again his desire for a nicer breakfast place. Kara wasn’t sure she understood – she thought she would have trusted the kitchen at Sailor’s Corner. Not the Bird’s Nest though; even if she could have afforded daily meals with her lodgings, Kara wouldn’t have taken them there. Perhaps food in the Underdark was even worse; Kara couldn't remember hearing about food specifically there, other than that it often poisonous. Oh. Perhaps that was it. Thinking of even potentially-poisonous food was a mistake; her stomach twisted violently once more, making its displeasure known, although at least this time there was no loud growl.
Had Dhaunmyr invited Caim? He spoke so much that it was hard to keep track and Kara – Kara wasn’t good at understanding the nuisances of such things. She wished she still had her staff in hand; it helped to have something to grip. She hadn’t even worn a belt to secure her tunic today. At least that might have helped. She wasn’t sure if Dhaunmyr had meant – but perhaps he had – would Caim know?
Kara swallowed, hard. She had to do it. It was the least of what she owed Caim and maybe it would bring his smile back. Kara doubted it. She would probably screw this up somehow too. She almost missed the pain and exhaustion of her injury; at least that was something she knew how to fight. One hand gripped her blue tunic, squeezing the fabric tightly, pulling it taut across herself before she let go, slowly.
“Please join us,” Kara added, lifting her gaze to look directly at Caim. If Dhaunmyr hadn’t meant the invitation to include Caim, then she had made an awful error of assuming, but – perhaps the dark elf would be nice enough not to call her out on it. Maybe not even to mind. She really did hope Caim would join, and not only because maybe he would talk to Dhaunmyr and then she wouldn’t have to.
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Post by orby on Apr 5, 2019 20:15:23 GMT
If Kara always seemed short on words, then Dhaunmyr seemed to have plenty of them. Caim nodded a little absently as the drow babbled on with the confidence of a showman. The words themselves weren't at all complicated, and yet Caim still somehow felt a bit lost by them. What could be wrong with the food? He was missing something there, some piece of that puzzle that would make the whole image make sense.
But with the elf getting to his feet and Kara all prepped to go, Caim remained where he sat. There'd been a hint of something self-serving in his own offer, some hope that they'd linger a while longer to eat where he had a solid excuse to be. It felt almost manipulative in a way, when he let himself think about it for more that that first second when the urge struck him. The fact that they would still leave for someplace better did little to soothe that tinge of guilt, and he had to remind himself to be gentler in his fussing with the sheets. He'd feel so much worse if he put a hole in them with a claw.
Except then Kara abruptly looked to him and invited him along, and his hands stilled so there was no need for extra care at all.
As it turned out, "bringing his smile back" was putting it mildly. For a moment he just blinked, like the offer was a complete surprise, but then his whole face lit up so brightly you'd think he was given some grand gift.
"If you don't mind," he said, almost breathy with delight and sitting up straighter. "That would be... It'd be very nice, thank you."
It didn't occur to him that perhaps it wasn't Kara's right to make the invitation on someone else's dime. So, there was that potential for imminent horrible awkwardness made so much worse.
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Post by enchilada on Apr 5, 2019 20:40:16 GMT
Dhaunmyr was caught off by Kara’s asking of Caim. Surely he already knew the invitation was open to all in the room. Surely Dhaunmyr had made it perfectly clear in the way he phrased it, no mention of Kara and I, just we, we had to mean everyone. How rude would you think a person to be if they did not invite someone along to something, when they were directly in the room? He was really rather surprised, so much so, for a few seconds, he was, for once, caught completely off guard, and left speechless.
That did not, however, last particularly long. After he recovered, he laughed, a good, hearty laugh that actually registered in his body language, rather than simply a polite giggle easily masked with just the back of his hand— “Oh my dear Caim, of course you may come along, I didn’t realise you thought I ever intended to exclude you. Not only would it be ridiculous to say such a thing in any form of civilised society as such, oh, you certainly deserve it for calming my poor nerves in the case of Miss Bellringer. And doing a fabulous job of it too, I am sure she feels most wonderful after my clumsy arms around her last night, no?
“Ah! Such a wonderful string of events! Anyway, we ought to make a move before the sun becomes unbearable on my poor dark adjusted eyes, no, no it isn’t terribly bright in here either! The wonders of the Underdark, from untrusted food to migraines at the hand of that which gives life to us all, and the great trees and the measly grass beneath us. From here we shall move, to make haste perhaps would be irrational, however, we shall wend or meander and thus arrive at a place not terribly far, however certainly noticeably... cleaner, at the least.”
He opened the door, and held it open, smiling quite widely as he tilted his head in its direction. “Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used, and most certainly I will show you both good usage and good drinks, where we head.”
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 5, 2019 20:51:36 GMT
Kara didn’t smile, exactly. It wasn’t anything near that strong. But as Caim’s face shone with happiness, a little bit of that reflected glow flickered across her face as well, smoothing out something of the weary tension that usually weighed it down. Her shoulders untensed well, just a little, hands relaxing open.
Kara looked at Dhaunmyr next, hardly daring to hope. He was silent for so long, and then he laughed, and her whole body tensed up again; for a moment, she really thought that she’d done it again, that –
The last of the tension drained from her at Dhaunmyr’s easy acceptance, and Kara really did smile then. It wasn’t much of one, and it didn’t last more than a heartbeat, but Kara smiled. One little smile couldn’t erase the toughness of her muscles or the scars that cut across her skin, but for just that moment she didn’t look – well – quite as hard. She didn’t bother responding to Dhaunmyr’s comment about his arms around her, not even acknowledging it.
Dhaunmyr held the door open, promising them food and wine in that same cheerful, flowery way that he had. Kara thought she was starting to get the hang of listening to him speak. It wasn’t so bad; there weren’t so many words she didn’t know – what was wend? – but she didn’t really need them, since he seemed to like to repeat himself. Anyway, she got the gist; the place he wanted to take them was nearby. That sounded good.
Kara shifted the butt of the glaive with her hand, adjusting the harness slightly, and left the room, walking past Dhaunmyr and down back to the tavern. The innkeeper was polishing the bar now, and he looked up at her as she passed. The boy who’d gone to fetch Caim was picking at a scab on his arm with dirty fingernails; he stopped and shied back slightly when Kara emerged, but would relax a little at the sight of Caim. Kara would wait at the door out for Dhaunmyr, preferring to let him lead the way.
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Post by orby on Apr 5, 2019 22:15:32 GMT
For his part, Caim had no such sense of dread. A benefit of being so poorly socialized, as it turned out, was having no learned fear of that sort of cruelty. Why would anyone laugh in a person's face before excluding them? Dhaunmyr's jovial attitude was a little perplexing, but definitely contagious. His stream of words was hard to follow, but Caim tried very hard to do so anyway, nodding attentively as he stood to join them.
Glancing between his two temporary guests, Caim even just caught that hint of a smile on Kara's face, and his own grew a few extra centimeters.
He paused just long enough to dig the plain cloak back out of his pack, sweeping it around his shoulders as he hurried after them. The hood, at least, he left down. His anxiety about keeping covered up at every moment had died down, but it was still probably wise to make sure he could if needed. If anyone looked at him the wrong way -- or worse, if he saw someone he knew -- he'd have the cloak to hide under, and he could better hide his tail if he loosed the long ends of the robe he'd torn up the side and tied out of the way.
Just a precaution. Enough, surely, that he could keep living like this, free to wander or to follow a near stranger somewhere unknown for breakfast.
"Does the sun bother you that much?" The question was posed just a little carefully. Innocent, but wary of saying the wrong thing. As they passed through the tavern and several sets of eyes glanced their way once more, he waved a cheery goodbye to the innkeeper and his boy. Both had been decent to him thus far -- which was to say, neither had complained at all about his presence, and the innkeeper's suspicious looks had died down after a few days without incident. They seemed content enough with a quiet customer who caused no fuss and tended to overpay for meals.
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Post by enchilada on Apr 5, 2019 23:09:27 GMT
He caught Kara’s smile, a flicker of the lips, but with all intended warmth suddenly showed for a second. Dhaunmyr absolutely melted, and made a note to pry more of those from her. The trouble with not only all women being astonishingly beautiful, was the array of men who managed to almost reach the same level. He could barely keep up with the ones he wanted to draw closer to. Kara though, Kara he wouldn’t forget, he couldn’t let himself down like that. He had to know everything about her, and he’d work at it for as long as it took to do so.
Dhaunmyr took care to follow on behind at a comfortable distance while in the tavern, he needed a moment to prepare himself for heading outdoors. “Truly, yes, indeed it does plague me. I must look four times where another man may look once, and if I spend too long out I often feel rather ill. I hope it won’t get any hotter than this, but why is it so hot now! Oh, the days in the snow were much more favourable, in fact, I believe if I had come in a time where it was not cold as some tendays passed, I may have rather died. I do wonder when the horrible sun shall tuck itself queer and cold again? A dreadful state, really.” He explained, having to draw closer in the end to fully realise his point to Caim. The sun was penetrating and cruel, and despite his respect for it — Dhaunmyr rather hated the thing.
Knowing some places around the city, he debated internally as to where would be best. For his own sake the menu had to be accommodating, a lot of the time he was laughed at for his restrictions and offered just a salad, or something more offensive to his tastebuds. Perhaps it was the corpses and blood that dripped into the streets that caused him to be unable to swallow meat, or maybe it was the fact that they were once living creatures. He put it down to a choice that he had control over, that for once he could control something, choose it, restrict it. He restricted other things, too, but food was an every day kind of thing. He couldn’t just avoid it.
He eventually settled on just heading ‘home’ — the chairs were comfy, he knew everything was prepared, at least for him, in a way that nothing touched anything that touched meat, and, he knew the wine list off by heart. Of course, the whole way he chatted, laughed and tried to get a deeper conversation going with Kara. Mostly, however, he spent his time squinting or shading his eyes. It was so bright, so hot.
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 6, 2019 4:56:57 GMT
Kara was not an easy person to have a deeper conversation with.
Dhaunmyr – if he hadn’t realized already – would quickly discover that his hope that Kara would be a bit freer with her conversation once healed were in vain. Direct questions were best if he wanted any response, but that response was rarely more than the absolute minimum and, in all honesty, sometimes it wasn’t even that. She was from Sundabar? Yes. Had she been in Waterdeep long? No. What did she think of the city so far? A shrug. Any question which could even remotely be interpreted as applying to both her and Caim she would leave for the tiefling.
Kara, meanwhile, was thoroughly enjoying her newfound ease of movement. The sweat on her face and back of her neck had dried. Her skin was still faintly tender, with a dry feeling left by the lingering fever. It hadn’t broken yet, but it wasn’t anywhere near strong enough to stop her from what she wanted, not anymore. Her ribs were fully healed, her shoulder and leg no longer hurt with each step; in fact she could just walk freely, without any extra thought spared for her body.
It wasn’t, Kara thought sympathetically, a particularly warm day. The sun was shining, yes; there were only a few faint wispy spring clouds overhead. There was a soft cool breeze off the ocean, at first bringing with it the scents of the Dock Ward, which faded as they drew further away from it. It was warmer in Waterdeep than Sundabar for the time of year, although not much. Kara wondered if Dhaunmyr knew that summer was coming, and how he would handle it. She didn’t ask, though, not wanting to offend.
Kara also paid close attention to the city streets as they passed, partly just learning her new city, and partly to be able to find her way home after they ate. It was a somewhat longer walk than she’d hoped for, but, as always, the movement took the edge off her hunger, leaving her faintly queasy. With enough time, Kara knew from practice, the nausea would fade, leaving behind no sign she had ever been desperate for food. She could go through that cycle usually a few times, but today there was a faint suggestion of an ache-to-be in her head that suggested she would be better served by eating.
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Post by orby on Apr 6, 2019 5:28:37 GMT
For someone who seemed so obvious eager to be included, Caim didn't seem bothered that so much of the drow's questioning was aimed at Kara.
But honestly, many of them weren't questions he particularly wanted to answer either, and it was a relief to be overlooked while she was pestered. On some subjects, when Kara looked his way for contribution, he certainly had no problem speaking even at length. Waterdeep was grand and confusing and messy, yes of course he liked it, no he hadn't been here long at all. Yet once or twice, an question that seemed posed to him as well struck quite literally too close to home, and his responsiveness dried up to nearly Kara's monosyllabic level.
Home wasn't something he had any desire to talk about.
The awkward pauses afterwards left him even more anxious, though, and Caim was more likely to just turn the questioning back on Dhaunmyr. Simple curiosities, things he was genuinely interested in hearing more about. It was strange and novel enough to think the sun could burn a normal person's skin at its hottest, and the drow's heightened sensitivity seemed interesting and worrying at the same time.
After a few minutes too many of watching Dhaunmyr squinting under the sun's rays, Caim frowned thoughtfully and then lifted an arm up over the elf's head, the hem of his cloak held up like a makeshift parasol to cast some shade.
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Post by enchilada on Apr 6, 2019 13:11:28 GMT
Dhaunmyr looked up at the sudden shade, and smiled. “You are too kind, though I must add, everything around is far too bright. I think it’s due to my eyes being used to less light being reflected into them, perhaps not the sun itself. You may notice I prefer softer lighting in many a building, or one with few windows!”
He seemed rather jovial about the whole thing, for truly the sun was a magnificent beast, one that granted all life and energy, and light, of course. And heat. Maybe a little too much heat. It was also a sign of freedom. If he were not a free man, he would not see the sun, he would see magical dim lights bouncing off cavern walls. But he was a free man, there were no stalactites to drip, no stalagmites to trip, and certainly no horrid drow women to cause a scene if he did unfortunately get caught up falling over a spike in the ground.
Again, he held open the door, something he always rushed to do, like if he didn’t get there first someone would punch him square in the jaw. His beautiful jaw. His straight, symmetrically aligned, sharp jaw. Or his perfect tiny pointy nose. His poor face.
The inside wasn’t offensively posh, more like middle class comfort, perhaps upper middle if you could afford to go every day. It was geared towards being a relaxed atmosphere, lower tables, couches and cushions, warm, clean colours and lots of rugs. The styles managed to be clearly conflicting, an elven flourish here, plain cut wood there, but still cohesive and fitting in with one another. The people were quiet, polite kinds, the kinds you’d likely expect of Dhaunmyr, not so terribly flashy as he, because, for one he technically didn’t pay in full for all he wore, and two because he likely preferred to feel slightly superior to his peers. It likely appeared haughty, but it was almost a coping mechanism with coming to terms with just how poorly he had been treated for the last half a century on account of what appeared between his legs. Perhaps it came through to people who were versed in exactly what drow were like, but not to the every day. He had resolved that he would explain it, if unknown to his new friends, over breakfast. As it was his every day life, he didn’t see it as an offensive topic for a light meal in the early morning, at least not yet.
“I shall get us drinks and perhaps some fruit, oh, maybe they have the good seeded loaf today, it’s not quite the dark bread I grew up on but it’s certainly most delightful, ah— I usually sit here!” Dhaunmyr made his way to a particular table, one that he had often sat with Faerveren and Brennip around, drinking his cares away. He went to remove his coat out of habit, but finding only his shoulders, he laughed airily and shook his head. “What do we prefer as an early starter drink? I’d go for a white wine myself but I suppose you might disagree there. My dear dwarven friend would certainly go for a harder drink in a far shorter glass! A dear, really.”
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 6, 2019 14:37:31 GMT
Kara crossed the threshold past Dhaunmyr, taking a few steps inside and looking around. The place was – a relief. She had been half afraid that he would take her somewhere she had no business being, some fancy place of the sorts she had seen outside the dock ward. The Sea Ward in particular seemed full of them; Kara thought she would have to look very hard there to find somewhere she was comfortable with.
This place was nice, yes, but it was nice in a comfortable way. It wasn’t somewhere Kara would stay or eat herself, but it was somewhere she thought she could sit without feeling too awkward. At least her tunic was clean and neat, and she was wearing leggings again. A belt, Kara thought; she should get a belt. That would help as well.
Dhaunmyr steered them to a table. Kara swung the heavy glaive off her back, looking for a discrete place to set it – but one where it would be at hand. Just in case. She propped it as close to them as she could manage, then came back and took a seat, choosing whichever chair put her back most to the wall. White wine so early in the day wasn’t something Kara was accustomed to; neither was white wine at all. She had drank red before, heavy sour stuff. Mostly she preferred ale. Spirits gave her a powerful headache the next day, so she preferred to keep them for occasions when she truly needed to be drunk.
“Ale,” Kara supplied. She paused, weighing the thought, and added, “please.” Fruit and bread sounded good. Her stomach cried out for more, for meat and eggs and heavy stews, but Kara knew better; after a healing like that, she might well vomit if she tried to eat more than a light meal, no matter how hungry she was. She couldn’t trust her stomach; left to its own devices, it would tell her to eat until she vomited. She’d done it more than once. Bread was probably the best thing for her.
Kara’s eyes flicked to Caim, then around the room, taking in the details of it. Her gaze paused for a moment on each of the other patrons, as if assessing them for potential danger, and she made note of the layout of the room as well: how exposed were they, from the table? Were there good spots nearby to hold off an attack? Just in case. It was better to be prepared.
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Post by orby on Apr 7, 2019 1:25:05 GMT
Caim dropped his arm again as they entered, peering around at the more colorful interior. He didn't have much to judge by, but it was certainly nicer than where he'd been staying. Quieter, too. He followed Kara to the table, looking around with the open curiosity of a tourist.
Distracted, he took a moment to recognize that there was a question aimed at him in Dhaurmyr's rambling.
"Oh... Would they have tea?" he said after a moment, a little uncertain. "Water is fine if it's too much trouble."
He'd tried ale his first night in Waterdeep, when he asked the innkeeper at the Sailor's Corner for a drink. It seemed standard enough here, for Caim couldn't say he really liked it. It was kind of a sour taste, honestly. At least even the cheapest tea (where he could find it) was served hot. Heat was pleasant even when taste wasn't.
He sat down, shedding the cloak again and draping it over the back of the chair. Almost in perfect contract to Kara's caution, he relaxed here. Compared to the rowdiness of the place he'd wound up at, it seemed so much more peaceful here that he couldn't help but settle into it.
"Do you pay a lot to stay here?" Was that what it took to find a bit of quiet in a city like this? Money? It didn't seem achievable for him, without even a source of income, but here it felt possible for at least some people.
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Post by enchilada on Apr 7, 2019 12:42:23 GMT
“Tea... tea... yes, I believe so. Something along those lines anyway — I am quite sure — if only there were a version where the leaves are steeped in alcohol, I may have joined you on that front.” Dhaunmyr was rather excitable, now that he was in a place so very familiar. Before he had been jovial and chatty, but now he was even more animated. The space was safe, and completely clean, and very welcoming, at least in his eyes.
As he was about to sort out their first order with the lovely workers, who he knew by now by first name, and of course they knew him similarly. People rarely forgot Dhaunmyr, and he hoped that would help his business. How many plain people, perhaps humans, or even less foreign elves, sold jewellery? Hundreds, perhaps more. But how many were as interesting, perhaps mysterious as he? How many were so kind and polite? And how many knew so much? Dhaunmyr always found that everyone knew something. Every bartender, every customer, each had something he didn’t know already. Every noble had a secret scandal, and that certainly made an impression, to ask an otherwise nondescript servant about her master’s affair with the cook! Either way, as he was about to set off, a second question graced his ears.
“Hm? Oh! Well, if I told you, then you’d easily be able to make some kind of judgement on my success! And, frankly, ‘tis a little rude to enquire after a businessman’s ledgers! Much like a lady’s age! However, on this instance I will grant you the benefit of the doubt, yes, how generous and delightful of I. So, in answer to your question I simply must ask you one in return! Exactly how much would you consider ‘a lot’? I do not perhaps think of it as terribly too much, in fact, I suppose I could move off somewhere more embellished in gold if I so preferred, but there is a charm here, and, like I said, an element of distrust in new places plagues my ability to move around. Quite the issue for a travelling salesman, one may argue, but I see it as incredibly safe.”
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 7, 2019 18:51:38 GMT
Kara glanced around, looking at the place, then back at Caim. It seemed like a better fit for the tiefling than the Sailor’s Corner, somehow. She doubted Caim would be entirely comfortable in a tavern full of wild, drinking sailors. Even those who came on the river to Sundabar tended to be - wild.
Kara let Caim and Dhaunmyr talk, her thoughts drifting. She kept her gaze on the table before them, thinking back through the fight with Horund. Now, healed, she could. She was lucky he preferred leather armor; her glaive could cut through harder stuff, but it was a challenge. She should have been faster at the start; he should never have gotten the drop on her, big as he was.
Lack of training, perhaps? Kara had had some time to do her pattern dances on the road, but guarding a caravan was a full-time job, and she hadn’t had much leisure except at night, and that she had willingly given up. In her first two days in Waterdeep she hadn’t found any place for practice. Surely there must be practice halls in the city, but from what she’d seen of Waterdeep so far, Kara had a sour feeling she would need to pay for them.
All the same she had won. Kara didn’t dwell on what might have happened if she’d lost. She wasn’t even aware that her fingers were resting on her leg again, tracing the lines that would have scarred but for Caim, and equally unaware of the deep scowl etched onto her face. Horund would have woken in the morning - he had been breathing well enough when she left. The Freewolves didn’t leave until tomorrow, so there was little chance of him being left behind. She hoped that he had told them all that he had challenged her, hoped that he would have to explain where he had spent the night, and why a line had been struck through the insignia on his chest.
Kara didn’t regret not killing him. Part of her wished she had, but she would make the same choice again. It was one thing to kill a man in the heat of battle and another to do it as he lay on the ground. She thought - perhaps - he would think twice next time he believed someone to be weaker than him. Perhaps her lesson had been enough for that. The hand on her leg clenched into a tight fist, trembling for a moment, before Kara relaxed - fractionally - and sat back.
Little enough point in dwelling on the past. Thinking the fight through was well enough; best to learn from her mistakes. Obsessing on it was a mistake. Kara gave her head a faint shake, clearing away the cobwebs, and looked back at Dhaunmyr and Caim, as if seeing them again. Her face relaxed into stillness, a more neutral - if still serious - expression.
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Post by orby on Apr 8, 2019 22:35:19 GMT
"Uh," Caim managed in response, much less elegantly. The elf was...a little overwhelming. Visually, sure, a riot of glinting jewelry and colored fabrics that seemed to stand out all the more against such dark skin, but his manner seemed just as loud. Not volume-wise, but just... Well, Dhaunmyr was A Lot. That was probably all that needed to be said. His seemingly never-ending stream of words left Caim struggling to keep up, trying to listen politely and parse the important parts and compose a response all at the same time.
Especially when the question was turned back on him in a way he couldn't easily answer. Shit.
"I...well," he tried again, eyes dropping to the table. "I suppose I don't really know...? I'm not very good with money..."
What would be considered expensive? He still hadn't even counted out the coin he'd taken from the temple -- it would have been good to know what he was working with, but there was something uncomfortable about quantifying his theft so precisely. There were certainly plenty of gold pieces, though. Would one of those a day have been fair? The innkeeper at the Sailor's Corner only asked for a few silver.
Unsure, he simply shrugged and tried for a self-deprecating little smile, hoping Dhaunmyr would just ignore him for the moment to deal with the drinks instead.
And glancing to Kara again, Caim frowned slightly at the expression on her face -- hard and distant, softening only slightly as she looked back to them.
"Are you alright?" he asked in a quieter voice as Dhaunmyr went to put in their order. Somehow, he didn't think she was interested in her thoughts or his concern over them being shared with the whole room.
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Post by enchilada on Apr 9, 2019 14:30:56 GMT
Dhaunmyr returned after a brief span with a tray in hand, drinks and two bowls, one of a variety of fruits, just washed and incredibly fresh, likely retrieved in the early morning from the first few merchant stalls to be awake in selling. Perhaps even from a shop dedicated to a variety of grown produce. Dhaunmyr had yet to ask, although he intended to at some stage. Fresh fruit was incredibly expensive in the Underdark, he was extremely surprised to see it so easily available. Mushrooms, dried meats, the occasional root vegetable and rothe was pretty much the sum of a diet underground. The other bowl had generous slices of bread, homemade and, as he had hoped, it was the seeded recipe. With them was a pot of butter and a knife, and one thinner slice that Dhaunmyr took as soon as he set the tray down, picking at it almost nervously. Tiny pinches, minutes apart. Bunched up in the corner of the couch, seemingly quite at home.
“Have you decided what is expensive yet? I surely would like to know.” He chuckled. “But, again, before I head for any more questions or answers, I would very much so like to, again, answer the obvious. Yes, I’m an authentic, homegrown dark elf from the Underdark. However, I must ask you daren’t use the term drow. I reject them, along with their goddess. So perhaps I see people asking this question in their brains, behind their eyes. They wonder if they can trust me, maybe. I can’t answer that, but you’ll see I’m just trying to fit in. I would go back, but I’d bring a weapon with me, if you catch my drift. I suppose lots of people have troubled pasts here. But that is more a fact of life in Waterdeep than an unfortunate circumstance. If I met anyone born here, raised here, who hadn’t had some kind of trouble, and didn’t want to leave, and was successful and happy? That is the person that I would be most surprised by. Miss Bellringer doesn’t look much like she enjoyed herself before here. I’m sure you didn’t feel too comfortable either, Caim.”
Dhaunmyr took a rather long sip from his glass and placed it back on the table. “Just something I’ve been thinking about, not an accusation. If I’m wrong, I’d like to hear the story.”
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