Fantasy Casual Moderate ✿ڿڰۣ— The Queen's Tavern —ڰۣڿ✿

[Fatal Nymph]

A white and black creature out of the focus of the two combatants watched, her arms folded under her sizable chest, lifting them up ever so slightly to relieve a touch of their weight. Her eyes watched every move. Tess couldn't see magic as they saw it, to her it was a current of colors. Sometimes they had shape other times simply a mist. Other times nothing at all. She herself wasn't sure why sometimes it was seen and not others. At one point the female thought that the pattern had been formed and she could correctly identify what to look out for until it wasn't seen. Then it all broke down to square one once more. Such a shame really.

Though from a none user's view point it was a very tense fight, though it was also easy to see that this fight in particular was rather relaxed and the lady was clearly winning. When lady Rose ended the fight the tavern around them return and she found herself close to where she had started. Her movement was to go back to her plum wine and pick it up and as she looked up a unicorn had caught her attention but for a mere moment. One of the other regulars probably already made sure to keep tabs. Though the coloring was ever so pretty and even made her slightly envious.

With that the sea creature turned and ever so slowly sauntered back to a good vantage point and a seat to match.

 

[Hekazu]

Spring was very soon running out of space to quirk an eyebrow, his forehead simply not accepting it any higher due to physical limitations. As a result, his head had begun to tilt and was at an angle nearing ninety degrees by the time he could not help but snicker to himself. Indeed, if he needed to experience a terrible loss against someone well out of his league to form a memory, truly he must be having a hard time committing a thing to memory. And any suggestion that he would need Lady Rose to have an equal in magical skills… well, he certainly was more competent on that front than Spring, whose abilities begun and ended at the point of doing his transformations between humanoid and the more fearsome wyvern. He'd felt at least a few different spells by now, though they were not of the kind that would have interested the forgers of the circlet enough for it to have identified any.

He brushed the claws of one of his wings against his lips, attempting to politely cover the smirk that had formed on his face, but was nonetheless denied a seat as a spectator with the three present at the table removing their presence from this space. He drew a deep breath and his face settled to a polite smile instead, counting seconds in his head until their return. If it was more than a minute, he would be surprised. Lady Rose did not have the air of someone to entertain herself on this lad's… whatever it was that drove him to try. It couldn't be hubris the way he stumbled across everything he said, but there had to be something.

And it indeed would not take too long for the group to return, Spring nodding to himself as he saw the expected results realised before him. Truly, if anyone had thought otherwise they'd deluded themselves. Even as he saw a few coins change hands at another table, the one losing them didn't look surprised either. A wager most likely very much in favour of Lady Rose, but had she lost on purpose for whatever reason this man could have made a good deal of coin back, should anyone have chosen to honour the odds. He imagined not.

A kiss was planted on the young man's forehead and Spring imagined this to be the most of the encounter. A few more words exchanged, perchance, and he could perhaps inquire about the number of challenges, or more notably worthy challenges that she received. He imagined the young hotshots were more likely to be the ones taking on the challenge than someone like the Marquis or the Second Herald. But it was not from this distance that he could yet shout out such things. Yet if he wanted to know any details from the duel itself, he might want to ask from the other woman that had been present in the fight. The one that had eyed him, too, with suspicion for approaching the proprietress.

 

[Hawksearcher]

As soon as her kiss marked his forehead, Maven felt tingling in the deep burns on his shoulders, and when he glanced down, he saw that the skin had completely cleared of any injury.

"Continue learning, but rely more on the world around you to learn and less on your books. "

As she imparted this last wisdom to him, his face adopted a look of serious contemplation before he responded, "Yes, milady. Thank you for humoring my defeat."

He excused himself and made his way back to his table. Maven lowered his head in respect and submission, but despite the clear loss, felt oddly satisfied. It was true that he had been injured by the very first spell cast--and it was, in fact, his own spell. However, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of excitement as well, for in the span of only a few seconds in the duel, he had managed to cast not 1, not 2, but 3 spells in quick succession--a combat spell, a metamagic defensive spell, and an evasion spell. Sure, the round only lasted 10 seconds at most, but he couldn't help but wonder, if he had been facing a similar powerful foe, and had a team with him, would his 10 seconds of engagement have been enough to give his team the edge they needed to stand a chance?

Such were the hopeful musings of a young pre-professional mage.

He took a few more bites of his food and downed the rest of his juice--although it was really more out of obligation to not waste free food than out of a feeling of actual hunger. He pushed himself away from his table, stood, and began making his way towards the front door--he did still have one more final exam to prepare for after all.

As he approached the front, he spied the unicorn, standing tall and proud, as he entered. As he passed by the mythical being, he nodded and said, "Good day."

Then, when he reached the door, he turned back to see if anyone wanted to offer him a final goodbye.

 

[UndeadEyes]

Everything was coming together...

Lady Rose watched as the young man head for the door, her head nodding gently to him as if to say goodbye before she turned her attention to the rest of the room, taking note of everyone there. Most eyes on her then went aside, realizing she was back to run her normal routine. There wasn't much she needed to tend to, so she headed back toward her large chair near the fire and smoothed her gown before taking a seat.

 

[Hawksearcher]

Feeling satisfied that he had made a life-long memory, even if accidentally, Maven walked through the door into the night, past a few more patrons making their way in.

Maven’s dorm was located almost on the other side of the city, so he steeled himself for the long walk home, thrusting his hands into his uniform pockets and plunging, head down, into the light rain that began to patter in the darkness.

*****

Maven was almost home when he was attacked. Passing by an alleyway that was only a block from his dorm, two robed, hooded men lunged out of the darkness at him. One of them clasped a hand around his mouth, and the other pinned his arms behind him—Maven tried to scream, and he struggled, but was quickly overpowered.

The men yanked him deeper into the alleyway, where several more older adults waited, hooded from the rain. Each man and woman, 5 in total, wore a dark, navy blue robe, and each had a uniquely designed and colored symbol on the chest of their vestment.

One figure, another man bearing a yellow symbol that looked like a face with one half dissolving, stepped forward. The man’s eyes flashed yellow and green, and he placed his thumb on Maven’s forehead, encanting something in a low voice.

Maven tried to scream again, but his scream died in his chest suddenly, and he relaxed. He… remembered. He remembered everything. Like a flood, all of his memories flooded back to him, and cautiously, the two men who grabbed him let go of Maven. Maven cleared his throat, a little embarrassed, and wiped a sleeve across his mouth.

“Ok, so, I get resetting me back to my academy days, but did you really have to put me in the middle of final exams during 3rd year?”

The illusionist who had just cast his spell stepped back from Maven, and everyone chuckled. A woman, bearing the insignia of a green tree, spoke with authority: “We did let you pass, what, 4 of them already? You can’t say you were all that stressed out.”

“Just saying, if you let me keep my memories from senior year, I would have had so many more spells I could have used.”

“Your report, Maven. Is it her?”

Maven laughed out loud. “Oh yeah, it’s her. There was no mistaking that magic. She wielded ancient power I’ve never seen before.”

One of the men who grabbed Maven earlier, a man with a red ball of fire emblazoned on his chest, asked, “Did she suspect anything?”

The young man shrugged. “To be honest? It was a good call wiping my memories, but I can’t say she didn’t at least suspect something. She kept close tabs on me, almost like she was toying with me. However… she did let me go, and she healed me after our duel—holy heck, our duel! That’s right! Man, I was so reckless in my 3rd year…”

The woman with the tree chuckled and said, “You still are. Details, Maven. We need to know what we’re up against.”

So, Maven described as many details as he could to the rest of the figures gathered in the alley, even as the rain began to pick up harder and harder. He gave a report of the various patrons in the bar, Lady Rose’s disposition, and every last shred of magic he could remember she used. The other figures listened with rapt attention. Finally, the woman of the tree spoke:

“It’s a bold move, posting your own wanted sign right outside the front door. This feels like a trap.”

“But one we’re more prepared for,” said a woman with a golden, rayed sun crossing her chest, “thanks to the youthful naïveté of our youngest member.”

“Youngest in history,” Maven added, putting his hands on his hips in indignation.

And so, the Royal Inquisitors of Brestor moved as a single unit towards the other end of the alley, making their way to a safe house where they could bide their time and plot their next move.

 

[Hekazu]

Spring smiled again at Lady Rose when she returned, but that expression soon turned into a mild frown as she cursorily ignored his continued presence. At first he considered clearing his throat, but chose against following through with such a notion. After all, now was the time to see if she was more comfortable with someone around her as had been suggested by the closeness she'd shown to the mage at first. And so Spring rose up to his feet and took a few steps closer, keeping his wings neatly tucked behind him for now.

"Is it often you receive such challenges?" he inquired, moving onto the opposite side of her chair in relation the mage had just made his exit through. "People much outside of their weight class punching up in an attempt to make a name, likely to be able to boast having met you in a field of magical battle and survived?" His claws touched upon the backrest and the space between that and the armrest, though he would take the hint and withdraw if one was thrown his way.

 

[UndeadEyes]

"My ears are burning." She told Spring calmly, her gaze shifting to him with a look of 'caution' within them. Something was brewing and she could feel it. More so, magic throughout the city bled into her senses and the one she felt shortly after the young mages exit was questionable at best. "Challenges are rare... Far more rare than attempts at my life... Even rarer are little boys with spells on them..."

She smiled then, leaning onto her armrest, thumb bracing her chin as a few fingers laid up her face, nails gently tapping at her forehead. "He definitely had a spell on him when he arrived, so it was questionable from the start... A spell not cast by him..." Bending her index finger, her nail rested across her ruby lips. "Something shall come in time, for that I am sure... Perhaps a new little arrival of a wannabe threat..."

With a shrug, she lifted herself from her lean and dropped her hand back to the armrest. "Such is my life. I await what is to come. As long as they focus on me and not those around me, I will oblige and play fair."

Anyone who knew of her history knew her greatest rage came when threats to her people and those she cared were cast from the mouths of those who sought her.

 

[Hekazu]

"I am not a fire breather", Spring cracked a joke at the mention of her ears burning, considering he was in a position where that could have for some other wyvern been literal. His tone made it very obvious it was a jest too, and so it shouldn't account for him not having understood what she had meant. And an answer he would receive, nodding along for a bit. "Then today has been one special evening. I don't know whether to count myself lucky, or fear that future visits will feel boring when they cannot live up to this night's excitement", he continued, now lifting his other wing on top of the backrest just as well since he had not been driven away.

Whether she would believe or not, she was not the first person with a protective attitude towards those weaker than her who could in turn be used as tools to get to her. And similarly, she too bided her time and refused to go on the offensive. "Your thoughts are not too unlike my liege's", Spring noted more solemnly, lifting a knee up on top of the back of her armrest, avoiding squishing or pushing her arm by managing the motion just before she had returned her arm to the spot. "I do wonder how much pressure a life lived like that can put on a person. To have the need to keep tabs on everyone as a potential threat, enough to make as many notes as you had about a seemingly innocuous young fool. I will freely admit, I had discarded any idea of him having been a threat."

Spring took a deep breath, spreading his arms out a bit to open his wings. This stretch was not a sign of him growing tired per se, but he also could not keep everything tucked for eternity unless he wanted to get aches. "Do you think your might is more of a blessing or a curse?" he tossed the next question as the wings came back down, now with one draped across the back of the seat and the other fanned out at first on the side but soon tucking to not steal from her the ability to observe her own tavern. "I could not imagine wielding as much power as you. Or any of those whom I know with something even nearly comparable."

 

[UndeadEyes]

Her gaze shifted to how his claws began to make his way onto the armrest of her chair like the perch of a parrot. This caused the vines to begin crawling over the throne itself, circling about at the feet. "Do you aim to sit in my lap or something?" She questioned him, both in jest but with that bit of serious tone. "You are moving in like a drunk man trying to press his luck in Wyvern form."

Thankfully, the tavern was rather quiet and no threats had made themselves known since the young man's exit, though she was quite aware that something more would come of that visitor. "The young man was no threat, but I do believe something is tied to him that may show up later... There was an air about him of spells cast by others... I did not try to pry too much, just in case it was something personal, but given I felt someone--somewhere--casting a removal shortly after his exit tells me that more is to come..."

 

[Hekazu]

Oh, she was challenging him was she? Spring let loose a short burst of laughter, his head rising up higher though pronouncedly not shaking at all. "That is skipping a few other steps, but it is on my list of hopes", he smiled back at her. "Yet while I am smaller in stature as I am, I'm not such a lightweight as to fall over from a single drink. I think I'd have to have at least three cups more before I would actually fill that description." It was a shame his usual charm didn't seem to be working quite as well as in many other courts. Guess that meant he had to stop the approach for the time being, unless he would be greenlit by some other gesture. Those vines didn't look like they were there to pull him into her embrace after all.

Spring craned his head higher, seeing if any of the barmaids/-lads would be willing to hear him out from his current position. He did manage to flag one down and even set in a request for another drink, still choosing to remain in the territory of the easy to drink and light in taste options, going for some sweet sparkling wine. For matters of payment, he negotiated to start a tab for himself. It wasn't easy for someone with wings for hands to handle small amounts of money many times in a night after all.

For the topic of her challenger, the picture was more or less clear to the both of them now. "Not an immediate threat, but still problems down the line. I don't believe they can pose much of a threat, what with the level of security available… but a coordinated effort is always more of a threat than a lone actor acting out of a moment's fancy", he commented, though that topic was mostly getting exhausted at this stage. There was only so much conversation one could carry about the recent encounter.

Picking up the drink he had ordered he took the glass between the claws of an upturned wing, moving it a bit to see that it would not start sliding away without him having any control. With the results promising he raised the wing to his mouth and took the first sip. "You sought the ultimate magic spell, already wanted by the world at that point. Your quest is over now, for one end result or another. Is it envy that motivates those that send others after you? Lust, perhaps? For dragons it's simple enough. Fear and greed, but I have little doubt you knew of that. But you are more special. It can't be just the spell you were seeking, can it now?" It was probably a combination of these factors, but he couldn't begin to think many of those thoughts were fuelled by desire. Reflecting? Perhaps. But a sovereign of her own nation, famous for being defensive over anything else, with a bounty on her head? Only so many reasons to go to such ends.

 

[Fatal Nymph]

Back to the casual chatter, though some had a interested look as the dragon was casually getting closer and closer to lady Rose. This one however wasn't threatening in the least, he was harmless even if a little overboard. New comers never knew the finer etiquette that was practiced here. No one would have thought such things would even exist in a place as rowdy as this but it was there. Playful manners towards the servers but nothing more. Anger and fights allowed but don't knock into other patrons or risk being tossed out after paying for damages and losses. Little things like that. Lady rose though was the true say all and wild card of this establishment.

With a hand she poured another but of sake. Though this time she was careful and taking delicate and measured drinks. One was no good to anyone drunk and in that state she had the potential to hurt others which was a big no no. A few fellows glanced her direction but none took action as of yet. Though this season creature was known for being patient and waiting others out. Unless some sort of flow happened that she would just go with. So far it was back to a normal evening.

 

[UndeadEyes]

"Well, let us fix that." She said shortly after his question to her, commenting on his size. With a snap of her fingers, long nails careful not to break in the motion, the Wyvern would find his entire stature suddenly becoming that of a mere rabbit in size. The drink was caught by her vines and he by her hands before he fell onto the chair. Placing him on her lap, she gently pat him on the head with two fingers before gently scratching at his back with the tip of her nail in a 'get the itch' sort of way--not to harm him.

"People hunt me down for the bounty, mostly. My looks draw people in, but they do not seek to kill me... Many seek the prize and wish to drag me back, dead or alive. There are a few different bounties out there, but the one we hang and announce is the highest out there..." She smirked faintly, drawing her long nail along her lower lip. "Little do they know that one is quite old, despite its good condition... The people offering the money are no longer alive..."

Taking the wyvern in both hands, she lifted him up and placed him on her shoulder as she rose from her seat. "One never knows what will come, day-to-day... The occasional fool seeking my end at least adds a little spice into the mix..."

 

[Hekazu]

Spring let out an exclamation of very clear surprise as he unexpectedly shrank in size, his heart skipping a beat as adrenaline rushed through his body in a primitive fight or flight response to this surprise. His wings beat twice, lifting the wyvern off of the chair until he'd regain his faculties and descend to stand upon Lady Rose's armrest once more, a deep breath drawn and exhaled with a quirked eyebrow. She had saved his drink, too. Now what was that about? Did she…

Yes. Yes she did. When he was lifted down to her lap in his now diminutive form and patted on the head, Spring couldn't help but laugh as he relaxed again. "You could have just said if you wanted me to hurry up", he commented in once more good cheer, leaning his side on Lady Rose and hearing her as much through her body as he did via the air on his other side. And still she provided a most enlightening answer to his idle musings, revealing how she herself liked feeding the rumour mill despite many of the promised bounties apparently no longer truly existing. "It works for getting the attention of people", he mentioned, rubbing his head against her gown and vines.

It didn't take coaxing from her to have Spring push himself up again from his resting spot and lift one leg after another onto the cupped hands, a new vantage point upon her shoulder soon gifted to him. He sat down, clawed parts of his wings down against her shoulder with a forwards lean, and his feet wagging up and down for a bit before coming to the conclusion that she might not appreciate him continuously tapping her on the collarbone. Oh, but what a vantage point this was! "Variety is the spice of life they say", Spring agreed with that much. "Few and far between are those that seek it from others coming for their head, but you are an exceptional person Lady Rose." He could not hold himself from releasing a single chuckle and shaking his head. "I did have a number of ideas in mind for this night, but I must admit this position was not among them." With her having stood up just now, Spring prepared for another round around the tavern. Considering how much she had been moving about, the current 'predicament' started to make more sense by the moment. Though then again, she could have just asked him to walk. Not that he minded the opportunity to see her from this close. "What's next?" he'd inquire after anyway, to set his expectations. It would be nice to have something to ground oneself with after she'd… done this trick.

 

[UndeadEyes]

"This may be true." She commented softly, rounding a table of card players, one who found her hand upon his back as she stepped by, her thorns pressing into his skin to warn him that the card he thought no one had seen up his sleeve was a risk to play. He sat straight while she walked away, hand drawing back to her front where she rested them on the front of her pelvic, or where it might be hiding behind her gown. "Next?"

She paused in thought of what would come next in the night, but it was always up in the air. "Peaceful drinking and fun...or pointless battles created by fools..."

Coming to the bar, she reached up and motioned for him to climb back onto her hand, allowing her to bring him down to the counter of the bar. This was done so she could lean forward on her elbows upon the surface while waiting for the tender. A queen, but she didn't have to break her back standing like a soldier--even if the corset didn't agree with all her bending.

"I am curious of the reasons you are so enraptured by me... You seem to have sought me out with a reason. Is it a fool's curiosity or do you have a reason beyond that?"

 

[Fatal Nymph]

Finally settling back into the way things routinely were. The lovely sea creature sat there keeping an eye on the place but nothing too close. Eventually even the black and white creature began to stir and moved amongst the upper floors. Most ignored and made a off handed comment. On the occasion one hand would wander where it should not and a small yelp ensued. Any regular would laugh knowing what she was.

Unlike the queen, she merely had looks and a bit of a fighting style, nothing more. No voice or magic, not a figure to fawn over like hers, and certainly didnt have the bounty upon her head, though there were a few who wanted to have her head in exchange for money or straight served on a platter with a little salt and pepper.

No one tried very hard to sway her into anything, eventually a scene caught her eye. The female leaned over the male, slipped her hand down into his jacket, took the vail and then took the young ladies drink. Anger rose in the others eyes but before a word could be said, Tess handed her the drink. "I would gladly buy you a none spiked drink." Those eyes narrowed in on her so called friend, and as expected she tossed the drink on him. The female was soon at her side as she made her way to the bar.

"How did you know?" The female politely showed the small vial. "Its a nasty business but I'm glad I caught it." Once at the bar she placed the vial down and it was instantly put behind the counter. "A drink for the lovely lady, whatever she wants."