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Post by tani on Jul 4, 2019 10:54:50 GMT
Carillon had arrived that same day to the great city. The kenku passed through the South Gates and lost himself in the trade district for so long, gazing at all the different people together and all the goods and curiosities being sold, that it was already late afternoon when he came back to his senses.
"A place to stay?" he would ask with a kind man's voice to various passersby, until someone pointed him to a tavern.
"How are the prices? Is it good?" he asked then, this time with a deep old man's inquisitive voice.
The kenku couldn't afford wasting his savings, so he had to be careful to not end up in a five stars tavern with no other option for the night. Finally, he managed to find one called "The Golden Ox", an affordable inn at the South District.
The place was... acceptable. From the outside, at least it looked clean and warm, though Carillon could already hear some voices angrily rising from the inside and, the very next second, a man flying through the main door to find the cobblestones of the street with his face. The kenku looked for a moment at the drunken man lying on the ground. Then, at the brawny, wild looking woman with thick dark hair right in front of him, who threw the bigger man through the air as if he was just a pebble.
"A place to stay?" he asked lowering his head ever so slightly, but couldn't afford ignoring the elephant in the room. "You are a strong one." he complimented after he shook the initial surprise off of him. "Is he ok?"
At that point, it was obvious he didn't need to ask if she was ok.
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Post by moralhazard on Jul 4, 2019 12:12:52 GMT
“And drow!” The drunk man ranted, waving his sloshing, increasingly empty tankard back and forth. “Filthy, spider-kissing drow! They ought to kick them all out of Waterdeep - kick ‘em right out! Or run them through,” he let out a surprisingly soft giggle which became a hiccup at the end.
Kara, standing at the edge of the bar, narrowed her eyes at the man. Her glaive was slung across her back; she wore a black tunic, one of the ones that had appeared in her room courtesy of Dhaunmyr, the dark elf who was her best friend. The tunic was soft but not too warm and it had gold braid at the little collar of it. It always made her feel a little bit like she was in danger of choking, but Dhaunmyr had clapped approvingly upon seeing it on her and Kara didn’t like to disappoint him. The bottom of it was slid up the sides for movement, and the thin leggings she wore beneath were comfortable for the summer heat, with sturdy boots as well.
A muscle jumped in her jaw as Kara listened to the man meander into a loud discussion of all the things tieflings were doing wrong next.
“Fine,” the owner of the inn stepped up next to Kara, arms crossing over his chest. Rugread Hearthhammer was a burly looking dwarf a few scant inches shorter than the human. “Throw him out.”
Kara glanced at him, nodded crisply, and cracked her knuckles. She took a step towards the man, then paused, thoughtfully, and crossed to the inn’s front door to open it. She stepped back, glanced back at the man, gauged the size of it, and nodded in satisfaction.
Seconds later, the drunk man was flying perfectly aimed through the open space of the front door, arcing up through the air to land with a thud nearly at the kenku’s feet. He skidded, very slightly, with an unpleasant sort of grating noise.
Kara followed him out, hands clenched tight into fists at her sides. She watched him for a moment, satisfied, then turned as if to go back into the inn.
The kenku took her by surprise; Kara turned to look at him, brow snapping together and furrowing in a frown. She knew another kenku, so the change in voices wasn’t too surprising. Unlike the child Kara had met before, this one seemed to have appropriate things to say, at least.
Kara nodded in response to the first question, shrugged faintly in response to his second comment, and shrugged much more deeply in response to the last question, glancing from the kenku to the man on the ground to the inn.
After a moment, shifting uncomfortably, Kara cleared her throat and mumbled. “Welcome to the Golden Ox.” Rugread had a way of looking at her when she didn’t do this correctly that made her feel about five inches tall. Kara scowled, scuffed her foot on the ground, and took a breath to continue.
There wouldn’t be much time for a response before the man on the ground let out a sudden roar, bursting to standing with a thin trail of blood down his face. “Scum!” He howled, eyes wavering unsteadily from Kara and fixing on the kenku. “Kenku! Get out -“ he lunged for the feathered creature.
In a moment, Kara’s glaive was off her back and in her hands, the smooth polished wood of the shaft gleaming in the light, the wicked blade covered by a leather thong. The glaive swung through the air and down and the shaft caught the man squarely on the head, dropping him once more, grasping hands inches from the kenku.
Kara spun the glaive and rested the butt on the cobblestones of the street. She finished her breath. “May I take your bags?” She asked the kenku.
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Post by tani on Jul 4, 2019 14:26:34 GMT
Expect the unexpected. That was what his master, Duval, told him again and again, time after time. That's why the kenku's body tensed a bit when the drunkard stood up, flames almost bursting from his enraged eyes. He was drunk, yes, but also he had been humiliated, and that made for an explosive combination. Carillon was ready to avoid the clumsy attempt of the man to grab him, and barely moved his feet a millimeter when the wooden shaft of the woman's glaive put his head back to the cobblestones. And this time, it seemed like he wasn't going to wake up at least for a good while.
"Thank you." the kenku smiled, relaxing his body again. "Why the long face?" asked with the playful voice of a young man. He was looking at her, but pointed at the downed man on the ground, following with the mimicry of that final blow's sound, amused. "Get out?"
Carillon was one hundred percent sure the woman was perfectly capable of carrying his things (and even himself) if she wanted. He didn't have much on him anyway, but what he had marked him as more than just a simple traveler. Under his dark cloak, a studded leather armor that had seen better days covered his thin, athletic frame. A hand crossbow and a rapier at his waist and a shield engraved with notches and Selûne's eyes and stars on top of the backpack at his back made it clear he was someone capable of defending himself. There where even a pair of big hunting traps hanging from the sides of the backpack, clinking slightly when he moved.
"You don't need to do that." he kept the smile, answering with the gritty voice of a man. "Do you work at the inn?"
That last question sounded quite broken, as it was the mixture of different people's voices that he attempted to condense in a single one. It didn't come out as desired, but that was something he always tried to achieve to be able to have a normal, fluent conversation with someone. He wanted them to forget he "stole" the voices and words from somebody else, and that he could say something that was build with his own words, even when that wasn't totally accurate.
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Post by moralhazard on Jul 4, 2019 15:12:32 GMT
Kara blinked at the kenku when he asked her why the long face. Her eyes widened slightly at the mimicry of the sound of the blow, jerking slightly to look at her glaive as if checking that it was still firmly in her hands. She remembered that Quill had been able to imitate her whistle but - could kenku make any noise?
Kara rubbed her fingers over the shaved part of her head, not sure what the kenku was asking about the man’s phrase, hoping he didn’t want her to explain. She didn’t want to explain, not just because it seemed difficult, but because the thought of repeating any of his foul words made her feel a little ill. After a moment, Kara shrugged. “He was drunk,” she said.
Kara lifted her gaze back to the kenku, curiously, blinking again at the blended sentence. She nodded in response to the question, glancing back over her shoulder at the open door, then back to the kenku, not exactly sure what to do next. She thought she should go back in, but, then, if he was a customer, maybe she should stay out here? She was pretty sure she shouldn’t offer to take his bag again, and, anyway, he seemed perfectly able to carry it.
“Bellringer!” A husky dwarven voice carried out from the door. Rugread Hearthhammer stomped after it. “Don’t tell me that pissdrunk fool gave you any kind of trouble, I -“ he stopped, looking at Kara, down at the man laid out on the cobblestones, then up at the kenku.
“What, you didn’t hit him with this fool, did you?” Rugread roared with laughter at the thought of Kara chucking the drunk idiot into the kenku. “Well, if you did he seems fine now, eh? And what’s your name, good sir?” He grinned at the kenku, cheerful and friendly.
Kara relaxed a little. She liked Rugread; working at the inn was boring, most of the time, but he reminded her a little of home and the dwarves she’d grown up with there. He never seemed to mind her awkward silences either, at least not in conversation, and after a few chats about how he wanted he to treat customers she thought they had reached a pleasant enough sort of arrangement.
Kara left the kenku to Rugread, not thinking he would want to talk more. She settled the glaive back into the makeshift holder on her back as easily as she’d drawn it, with an effortless fluid motion, and crouched next to the man, frowning down at him. She twitched the edge of Dhaunmyr’s precious gift to keep it from brushing even the drunk man’s clothing, not wanting to sully it.
Carefully, Kara shoved her fingers against his neck, checking for a pulse. Satisfied that it was present, if sluggish, Kara rose, grasped the drunk man under the armpits, and dragged him across the street away from the inn. He was at least twice her size, but she seemed not to strain even in the slightest, moving him effortlessly without letting any inch of him touch her tunic.
Once he was propped up against a barrel in an alley there, Kara made her way back across the street to Rugread and the kenku.
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