Party Hard

The moon is up, a distant and dull grey in a sky too busy changing colors as the sun sets. What little snow hasn't been worked into dark slush and chill water sits pushed against walls and into the mouth of alleyways to look almost blue in the long shadows.

Inside the Tarrace it's much warmer and less wet (at least on this side of the bathhouse doors). The early-supper crowd keeps the staff moving and a moderate din of conversation fills the common room. There are free tables but more are busy than empty.

Presently, Jinks abandons the stage to a generous round of applause, stripped out of his coat and jacket, his silk shirt loose about his tiny trunk. He descends the far side of the platform-- furthest from the door-- to collect his shed attire and catch his breath, finding his glass and wetting his whistle after working it dry.

Mikilos doesn't need to eat, having circumvented such mundane concerns long ago, but the promise of spicy grilled basilisk steak lures the wizard thru the door. Also, can only focus on work for so long before your brain turns to mush, breaks are important. And so the elf wanders his way inside, peering about for an empty table, or an occupied one with familiar faces to join.

The tables furthest from the fire and the stage are at least somewhat more empty. At least, Karasu has one to himself for the moment. He looks up at the applause, clapping with the rest of the customers, but his gaze is a million miles away. Far from the enjoyment of the gnomes performance. A cup of hot liquid sits at his hand, and a raven sits perched on his shoulder. The later keeps a keen eye on the room, and he at least makes a few caws of appreciation at the end of the performance, having actually been paying attention to it.

Amongst the patrons at the metal bar is that of a scarred mul'neissa woman in a green jacket. She's on her fifth bottle of whatever spiced cider is selling, and is already quite down in her drinks.

She sloppily claps for the gnome as he exits the stage, her grabbing her drink and making her way towards him with uneasy steps."Heeeey! Good shit!" she gestures as she gets closer. <Handspeech>

"I'd prefer it not be any kind of shit," teases Jinks with a grin. He takes a second drink to finish the glass and sets it down before sliding back into his jacket and starting on the buttons. The gnome raises a glittering hand to wave a greeting towards Mikilos before turning to his sleeves and cuffs.

His hair dangles loose and there's the barest hint of sweat on his brow as he cocks his head and looks up at the mul'niessa. "You're having quite the celebration."

Mikilos makes his way to the gnome/mul duo with a smile, nodding greetings to both. "Good evening to you. We celebrating this eve, or just having a good time?"

From over in his corner Karasu watches the group collese on the gnome. His dark eyes hood and he takes a sip from the hot drink next to his hand. On his shoulder the raven bumps him with its head and he lifts his free hand to pet the bird in return.

Aryia takes a long pull from her drink, draining it in full before she plops it on an occupied table. There's a "hey!" that comes from them, but she ignores it. Not her problem anymore.

She grins some, warbling to lean against a table. She snorts, and shakes her head. "Celebration... I guess. Having a good time mostly. Just another trip to that shit hole makes me want to drink," she signs, thumbing her nose and giving an up nod to Mikilos. "Surprised you're here. What's good?"

Despite her inebriation, she spies a bird. Relaxing some that it wasn't Pothy, it comes back as she sees who the bird belongs to. Though, such anxieties are shoved down at the moment, and she gives a sloppy wave to the man across the way. <Handspeech>

"It's always a good time for a drink," agrees the drunk with a continued grin. Cuffs straight, he pulls a ribbon out from behind his pocket square and takes it between his teeth long enough to wrangle his hair back.

"C'yohe haffs," nods Jinks at Mikilos, black eyes mirthful. Holding his hair back with one hand, he takes the ribbon from his mouth and ties the ponytail into place. "Taking a moment from your houseguest?"

Mikilos chuckles, following the wave with idle curiousity, nodding politely to bird and human before returning attention to Aryia. "Was told they're serving spicy steak tonight, sounded good. You talking Charn shit hole, or a recent sewers adventure? Or some third option?" Suppressing a wince, he nods to Jinks. "She ran across some Crimson Pen works and has been curled up reading. Figured I really don't want to interrupt, one way or another."

There's a moment of surprise which even Karasu can not hide when the woman waves to him. He recognizes her of course. And the sloppiness of her wave indicates inebriation might be the cause of her good humor toward him. He salutes her in the fashion of a handspeech greeting. Wuya peers at her from across the bar and makes a few clicks and raven-noises that bring just the edge of a smile to Karasu's lips. He taps the bird on the head and Wuya rubs his head into the finger fondly.

Aryia nods towards Jinks and then holds up a finger, then twists it down. "First option. Terrible place. Got back from there, not ready to talk about it," she dismisses before starting to cackle. "Ah... yes. She might be there for a bit. Some new ones came out a bit ago, if you want to keep her more occupied."

The mute is both surprised and not that Karasu waved back. But, one advantage of speaking in signs only was being able to talk no matter the noise, and sometimes the distance. "You're always brooding!" she calls him out.

This is dangerous, her filter is removed.<Handspeech>

"You're a bad host if she's getting lost in those with arch-mage at home, Mikilos." Jinks laughs and shakes his head, taking up his coat and heading towards the door. "Have fun," he waves.

Mikilos sighs and rubs his eyes. "The publisher sends the latest editions automatically. I don't know why, the secretary won't tell me anything and keeps asking for autographs." The elf blinks in mild surprise, waving to Jinks as he departs.

Karasu signs back to Aryia, an amused-seeming, "Am I?" He's never seen her drunk before, and can tell that she's in a good mood even though there's some distance between them. "Enjoying yourself?" He picks up his cup and wiggles it at her pointedly.

Aryia blinks as well, but waves as the small muse heads on out before shaking her head with a grin. "Oh really now? Have you actually read what's in them to figure out /why/ they want your autograph?"

Her attention flicks from Mikilos, a tinge flat footed from actually getting something from the man. "Yes!" she fires back, one gesture to answer both questions. She wobbles some, leaning against a different table as she uses both hands fully to speak. "I'm a firm advocate of 'work hard play hard'." <Handspeech>

Mikilos rumbles, rubbing harder at his eyes. "Yeeeep. I know. Gods help me, I know." He sighs. "They want me as a guest speaker at the Northwip Ladies Reading Society next month."

"Seems so." Offers Karasu. The fact that handspeech is such an expressive language makes it easy to talk through the distance, but Karasu's eyes flicker toward the man she's talking to and he shakes his head. "We are being rude to your friend." A hesitation.

"Why don't you come over and join me?" A surprising offer. <handspeech>

The mute woman blinks at Mikilos. Then breaks into a hearty belly laugh. Which, doesn't sound like much of anything except breathing, save for a "Ha.... ah... ha.... *cough cough cough cough*." She rubs at her throat, taking a moment to catch her breath before collecting her drunk self enough to gesture, "That's fucking rich. Are you going to go~?" she signs, waggling her fingers at the end.

She blinks, purses her lips some and squinting her lantern eyes for a spell before stepping off the table. She makes a little whistling sound and beckons Mikilos to follow as uneasy steps carry her over towards the 'brooding' man.

Upon arrival, she gets to a chair, falls over the arm of it, then shifts about to lounge in it sideways. "Hello," she simply waves. <Handspeech>

Mikilos sighs, blushing only a little as he follows along. "Probably. They seem so happy and excited. No idea what I'm going to speak about. Maybe translate a few scenes to what actually happened." Arriving, he nods again to Karasu and Wuya. "Mikilos Mithralla, pleased to meet you."

"Karasu Himura." Offers Karasu to the man that joins his table, offering a polite nod to the introduction. Wuya makes a noise and Karasu motions to the raven. "And this is Wuya." The raven perks up slightly at his introduction, and Karasu takes another drink of his own hot beverage before motioning to a waitress to come to the table. "Another cup of hot water please?"

"Do it!" Aryia signs from her sideways lounge, egging Mikilos on. "It'll be fuuuuuun!"

She looks between the two, pursing her lips before rubbing her flushed cheeks with the palm of her hands. "Okay, so like, what do you mean translate what actually happened?" she asks of Mikilos, dragging Karasu into this conversation. <Handspeech>

Mikilos takes a seat, quietly placing an order with the waitress before falling quiet a moment. "I don't recall the exact wording, but there's one passage of Bikilos and Kol how 'The wizard spoke, and Kol was taken somewhere new. Desire swirled around the pair, threating to drag them to unrelenting depths. Kol fought against the pull, finding a chill that almost ended their relationship. But with tenderness and care he sparked a new flame between them.'

I literally teleported Kol and myself to the middle of the icy river in hopes the flowing water would kill him. Almost worked, but bastard swam as fast as he ran, pulled me to shore. Almost froze to death, but he built a fire and revived me."

"Kol?" Karasu asks in spite of himself. He's missed the first part of their conversation what with them being so distant. Clearly more of it than he thought. "You were trying to kill someone, and they revived you? To what end?"

Aryia blinks. Then blinks again. And then she promptly flails to fix her lounging seat. "Wait, wait, wait, hold on. That was REAL?!" she gestures briskly, shining eyes wide as the tips of her ears tinge red. It's clear that she's had the epiphany that some of the stories might be closer to reality than what she thought previously.

And, well, she's obviously read it.<Handspeech>

Mikilos sighs again, and nods to Karasu. "Kol was a master vampire, serving a fey queen. Well, the nighmare of a fey queen... it was very complex. There was time travel. But yes, most of the Crimson Pen's works are based on reality. VERY loosely based."

Mikilos sighs again, and nods to Karasu. "Kol was a master vampire, serving a fey queen. Well, the nighmare of a fey queen... it was very complex. There was time travel. But yes, most of the Crimson Pen's works are based on reality. VERY loosely based."

Mikilos says, "....he had my name carved into the flesh of his arm... I never worked up the nerve to ask why."

This only serves to muddy the waters and Karasu's brow furrows at this news. He at least, has clearly never read the crimson pen's works. "A master vampire revived you?" He rubs a finger over the mark of Vardama on his clothes and looks at Mikilos. "Why? Why not turn you?"

Aryia clearly can't keep up with the circumstances, her quite a bit inebriated to follow the logic. But, she does latch on to- "Oh. Shit. How many have I read that are..." she wonders aloud (as much as her hands could) as her gaze travels up to the ceiling.

She's a bit tuned out right now, alcohol brain transfixed on a task at the present. <Handspeech>

Mikilos shrugs. "The Endless Winter wanted me for something else. Kol was very insane. Powerful, clever, but insane. And the fey Queen had her own logic. I don't think she ever told me why she wanted me, but, as she had the habit of erasing memories, I'm not sure. He's quite dead now, and the real Queen woke up, ending the nightmare. I wouldn't call her an ally, but she did warn us about the plots of a demon lord."

Karasu glances at Aryia before nodding once to Mikilos. "As well that he is dead then." He touches the Vardaman symbol one last time before letting his hand fall away. The waitress leaves without any further orders to take.

Aryia squint some as a vague recollection comes across her features. "Wait... was that... oh... ah shit," she sighs, rubbing her face. Finally, she refocuses back on the conversation at hand. "That's good that the vampire is dead."

She's got a one track mind right now. And that track contains 'reread the books to find similarities' at the present. She stumbles to a rise, then sloppily signs, "Good to see you Mikilos. And... yes, you too. Tone down the brooding," she snickers, stumbling towards the exit. She'll make it home.

Maybe. Hopefully. <Handspeech>

Mikilos laughs without mirth and waves vaugely. "The life of an adventurer gets very very strange sometimes. I get wrapped up in perhaps a little more than my share, having proven decent at finding solutions to complex problems... not that I haven't made a few blunders." He waves to Aryia as she heads off as well.

"It sounds as though you have." Karasu states, welcoming a second cup of hot water as it arrives. He pours a package from his sleeve into the water and then sets it on the table. He bows his head to Aryia as she leaves and he wonders to himself if she will even remember tonight by the time she gets to where she's going.

Mikilos nods, accepting the arrival of a grilled steak, bloom of seasoned fried potato, and mug of spiced cider. "Feel free to grab from the fries, I expected Aryia to need some. Anyway, I admit I'm not the best with keeping up, but take it you're a relatively recent arrival to the city? What brings you here?"

"Actually, I have been here some time." Karasu murmurs, not seeming inclined to steal the mages food. Wuya whirrs though and eyes the other man hopefully. If even one of those fries escapes the confines of the plate... "But I keep to myself." Karasu looks at his cup of tea somewhat reflectively and offers a half-shrug. "It is a complicated story Mikilos, and one not kind in the telling. I doubt it would interest you."

Mikilos smiles, offering the bird a fry. He's more used to Pothy's thieving antics. "I find lives in general to be interesting, have a collection of journals and diaries from across the world. But understand if you'd prefer not to talk on it."

Wuya eagerly hops onto the table and accepts the fry, croaking out a noise which is clearly gratitude for the food before eating the fried potato. It's devoured in a matter of moments. Karasu meanwhile seems to consider Mikilos' words. Instead of offering a story however he looks at Mikilos. "Do you sleep Mikilos? Or are you one of those mages who have defeated the need for rest, and food, and other earthly needs?" It seems he knows something of mages.

Mikilos grins. "Elf, so never really slept much to start with, but yes, I use magics to supplement my needs. I still require sleep, but very little. Food is unneeded, but I still enjoy meals... and have unpleasant memories of a magi who lost his magic and had forgotten how to eat. He eventually relearned, but the process was... messy."

"Ah, if you sleep - even but rarely - you are vulnerable at some time. If you eat..." Karasu motions to the food that the mage is partaking of. "Then you are vulnerable. We all have some risk of falling to Vardama's hand, and I have no desire to add to any man's risk of such a fate." Wuya makes a chiding noise to Karasu and Karasu looks at the bird fathomless.

Mikilos smiles. "Oh I'm certain I remain vulnerable. I've had a hole blown through my chest by an artifice autocannon, and my head removed by a demon lord. Visited the Halls of Waiting a few other times, but that was via planar magics. I understand I'll fully die some day, but I'll continue to strive to accomplish what I may until then."

Karasu makes a small noise in the back of his throat. Approval? Amusement? Both. He nods respectfully to Mikilos. "I came to Alexandria to... redeem myself." Karasu stares into his cup of hot water and herbs, not looking at the other man. It helps to hide his expression, and his voice tells nothing of his emotions on the subject. "To find some way to pay back the many souls sent to Vardama before their time."

Mikilos mmms, and nods, sighing. "I chose Alexandria for a not so different reason. My father and brother died trying to defend the city when the with Altima invaded. I came to see what they were fighting for, liked it, and haven chosen to remain. Certainly has its flaws, every place does, but I like this city."

The xian man's lips twitch. Not a smile, something more bitter than that and he shakes his head. "If you do not mind my asking, you said you were an elf. How old are you?" A sort of odd curiosity, but then Karasu does seem a bit odd in general.

Mikilos winces slightly. "Roughly 143, but it gets... complicated. There was the time the city disappeared into the Mists, gone for seven years as the world changed, but only a few weeks for those of us inside. Then was time spent with the fey Queen. Her lair shifted thru time, thousands of years into the past. I don't know how long I was inside, as the memories were stolen. Days? Weeks? Years? I can only guess."

"One hundred fourty three. Approximately." Karasu dips his head here and drinks from his cup. Emptying it. "And still so young." With this odd statement Karasu rises to his feet and bows to the mage. "I must be going. It was a pleasure to meet you Mikilos." With that he motions to Wuya, and the bird flaps to his shoulder, joining him as he slips out of the room and out into the night.

-End