Tavern brawl

[Lujayn]

She sniffed. "AST-hel-ein," she mumbled, letting herself fall over onto her side in a curled ball, red-brown hair spilling around her face. "Ast-HEL-ein is one of my ancestors, one of the original fallen." Amazing, how a single stress could change a name, to her people. She didn't elaborate on "one of the original fallen", either.

"I suppose it doesn't matter," she continued, still on the floor, "Humans obviously do not value their names as much as they should. Without a name, what are you? Nothing. Some don't even try to obtain originality, naming their kin after themselves or others. It's like trying to write someone else onto another personality."

Asthelein pushed herself up into a sitting position, looking down, her hair covering her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder what's worse," she muttered to herself, "Being caged, or being free and not even knowing what you are in the world. At least in ombrefor I knew where I stood, as terrible a standing as it was..."

[Talwyn]

"No one said being free was easy." Corbin said surprisingly lively. "And if not knowing the world or were you stand is bothering you that much, then go and learn! You are FREE to do so. Being free also means being responsible for finding your own way to happiness. No one will do that for you." Carefully squatting down in front of her, he awkwardly placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Look... uh... you're free to stay as long as you need to heal up." Okay, he had definitely had to much alcohol. He was being way to friendly. Still, it wasn't enough to make sure he wouldn't remember what had happened after waking up. God he was going to hate himself in the morning. "For now, why don't you go take a look in that closet and try if anything fits you alright? I'm sure there's something as that closet holds my disguises. I will see if I can arrange something to eat."

Awkwardly and almost gentle, he patted her shoulder as he got back up and once more disappeared into the adjacent room. The sound of clattering pots and plates could be heard, as well the crackling of a fire springing to life. Some time later, he returned and placed two bowls and sthingys on the table before quickly disappearing again.

The scent of whatever it was Corbin was preparing, filled the room. It was a rather strong scent, but it smelled pretty good. Corbin might not look like a gourmet , but looks can be deceiving. Considering his job, he always needed to be in top condition, which meant he needed to eat well.

Returning once more, he carried a large, steaming pan and placed it on the table. Sitting down, he motioned for Asthelein to join him and filled up both bowls. "I didn't feel like making anything fancy I'm afraid, so this simple stew will have to do." The tone of his voice was slightly apologetic. Also, while he claimed it was simple, the taste was excellent.

[Lujayn]

"Easy for you to say," Asthelein muttered in a surly tone, "You haven't grown up in a totally different world for... er..." She looked up at the ceiling. "A great number of indeterminate years..."

She was startled by his offer, and it showed. She figured he'd want her out of his place as soon as possible. Hell, the fact she was in here at all was a miracle, and now he was offering to house her for what could be weeks. Although he was obviously not used to doing such thing, by how awkward he was. She watched him leave, then nosed around in the closet for a replacement shirt. She required very wide sleeves, what with the protrusions on her elbows being some three inches in length, and that was rather hard to find on anything, disguise clothing or not.

After a minute or two she gave up on finding something with wide sleeves; even if it were short-sleeved, she still had to get her arms through them, after all. Poking around some more, she found some extra bits of fabric and a sewing kit, and used it to fix the revealing hole in her shirt. For fun she did a little bit of embroidery as well, although it was simple.

He was still cooking (or so she assumed, by the smell coming from the other room), so she scrounged up some scrap paper and ink and did something that looked a lot like complicated arithmetic in another language set.

When he came out with food, Asthelein seemed to have worked out whatever she was trying to figure out. "Assuming humans have the same growth rate as my people do," she said, holding up the paper above her head, "and giving a bit of leeway in case my people are a little slower in growing up... I've lived through 10 child-cycles, so at 25 years per cycle, I am 250 years old.... give or take a decade or so."

Impressive.

She peered at the food he set down, and prodded at some of the bits with the utensil. And then stared at it. And then poked it some more (she was like a cat). It looked okay, and it didn't smell like he used any spices that were also used as healing herbs...

She took a mouthful, and tilted her head to the side for a moment, thinking. And then she shoveled it in at quite a rapid pace. She was healing, so she needed more sustenance than normal, especially since it was a burn.

And it may have been imagination, but something like a purr-like hum, very faint, seemed to be coming from her. Most likely just imagination, though.

[Talwyn]

So, she was 250 years old... that was kinda impressive. Corbin didn't give any reaction to it though, other then a slightly raised eyebrow. He might have had enough alcohol to make cracks in the powerful walls used to cage his emotions and feelings, but just like calling others by, often demeaning, nicknames, hiding his surprise was so ingrained that even the vast amounts of alcohol he had consumed had little effect.

Taking another bite, he watched with mild amusement as Asthelein was prodding the food. "Don't worry, I made sure the food was dead before preparing it. It won't bite." He joked dryly as that friendly, but seemingly rather out of place, smile appeared on his face once more. The smile faded into slight frown of confusion as he thought he heard a purring sound, but he quickly dismissed it and focused on his food once more.

After finishing their meal, Corbin scooped the leftovers into his bowl and then opened the bird cage. Holding out his arm, the raven hopped out onto his arm, as it cawed happily with its deep, resonant call. Mimicking the call quite accurately, Corbin threw up his arm and the bird lifted off, quickly gliding to the table to land next to Corbin's bowl of left overs. The bird eyed Asthelein with some distrust, almost as if it tried to say "this is mine, don't you dare touch it." before quickly starting to eat.

In the mean time, Corbin quickly cleaned the cage. Some of the feathers that still looked nice he placed apart, obviously attempting to store them for some reason. As he finished, the bird landed on his shoulder, cawing with satisfaction. "well, in you go again." Hopping on his arm, the bird eyed Corbin with a look that could only be described as one that said "Do I have to?".

After locking the cage once more, Corbin gathered the feathers he had placed separately and put them in a bag near the cage. He peeked through the single tiny window in the room as he stretched and yawned. Moving to the other room again, Asthelein could hear him rummage through stuff.

When he returned, he carried a rather old mattrass which he threw on the floor along with some blankets. "Well, there you go. Good night." And with that, he left the room. He quickly climbed the stairs in the other room to get to his bedroom. Tossing his clothes to the floor, he fell on the bed and slept before his head even hit the pillow.

[Lujayn]

And just like that, Asthelein was alone again, in a strange place. She sighed, and prodded the old mattress, deeming it slightly more comfortable than the floor, and curled up on it, pulling the covers over her head.

The nightmares came back in full force; visions of trees grasping at the sun and stars and moon, pulling them from the sky and swallowing them into the ground, leaving nothing but darkness, and the sounds of wild things, snarling and panting and drawing ever nearer...

She sat up sharply, dragging herself out of the familiar despair and fear that had been her life before. Shuddering, she pulled the blankets around herself. Would she never be free of the Guardians? They followed her in her dreams, and more than once she felt that they followed her in the waking world, too. And there would be only one fate if they caught her...

She was feeling miserable, afraid and alone, and she desperately longed for the company of the other members of her race. They all suffered the nightmares, but being together helped to ease them, sometimes make them disappear altogether.

Looking around, she sought the stairs that Corbin had gone up, and quietly crept up them, poking around until she found his room, and silently went inside. Kneeling by his bed, she prodded his shoulder. “Corbin?” She prodded him again. “Hello?”

No response; apparently he’d had a little too much to drink. She thought for a moment, and decided that there was only one course of action: crawl into bed with him.

Which she did, cuddling up to him, minding her pokey bits, before instantly falling asleep. The nightmares didn’t return.Cue Corbin freak-out in 3... 2... 1... -

[Talwyn]

Corbin's sleep was deep. So deep in fact, that he never noticed Asthelein cuddling up to him. When he finally did start to wake, he suddenly felt something poking in his back and he felt something had grabbed hold of him. Startled, he leaped out of bed and turned around in a single motion, already moving his hand as if to strike with a dagger as he formed one with his magic.

Poised to strike, he stopped. There was something familiar about the person in his bed. Fighting off the fog in his mind he scolded himself for drinking so much alcohol. Asthelein, right, that was her name. And what was she doing here? Oh wait, that's right, he had basically invited her to stay for as long as she needed. Once more he scolded himself. Okay, that's it, no more alcohol.

Still, all that didn't explain what she was doing *here*. He had invited her to stay for as long as she needed yes, but not to his bed. Now that the fog was clearing, he distinctly remembered he had dumped the old mattress in the room downstairs for her. And while he was pissed at her for crawling into his bed uninvited, most of that anger was directed at himself, for failing to notice it.

He was unsure of how to deal with it though. Part of him wanted to kick her out for being so audacious, but he had basically promised she could stay for now. And to Corbin, a promise was nearly sacred. It was part of being a professional, you keep your promises, and don't make promises you can't or don't want to keep. Well, unless you had a death wish of course.

Still, despite all this anger, he was surprised at the first thought that came to his mind as he looked at her. Despite all her claims of being from a race with a monstrous appearance, she looked... well... cute. If it hadn't been for the protrusions, she could easily pass for a regular human being.

Pushing the thought out of his mind, he scolded himself once more. Right, seriously, no more alcohol. EVER. All it did was make cracks in the walls keeping his emotions hidden away. And because of that, he was now stuck for who knows how long with a woman, well sort of, he thought was... gods forbid... cute.

"What the hell are you doing in my bed?" He said with an icy voice. His voice wasn't exactly raised, but it somehow sounded louder then it really was. His eyes contained a calm and collected fury that would make a man twice Corbin's size wet his pants out of fear.

[Lujayn]

Asthelein woke up when he jumped out of the bed, and drowsily sat up, hair falling all over her face in a messy tangle. "Hmmmn?" She looked around, then yawned, showing off her sharp teeth for the second time.

"What am I...?" She looked around again, rubbing at one of her eyes, obviously still half-asleep. "Oh. Right." She stretched, then smiled. "I am here... 'cuz..." Another yawn. "You smell nice." A low, purr-like hum came from the back of her throat. "Much better than most people. It made me feel better."

With that, she flopped over onto her side, pulling the covers over her head and promptly falling back to sleep, still emitting her purr-hum. She was still terribly tired, since for many, many years she had merely slept as long as she felt she needed to, there being no way to judge the passage of time. She wasn't used to having to wake up at the rise of the sun and go to bed at its set (in fact, she was fairly certain she normally slept for 16 hour intervals, and then was awake for 24).

Which would most likely cause problems for poor Corbin later down the line...

[Talwyn]

Corbin blinked. That was the last thing he had expected her to say. The purring was also disturbing. "...Riiiiight..." He started off carefully as he raised his arm and sniffed at his own arm pit. His disgust clearly showed on his face, he totally needed a bath. "...Because I smell nice..." He wasn't even trying to hide his disbelief at that statement. With a sigh he let his magically created dagger dissolve and grabbed the sheets. Giving a single, mighty pull, he pulled the blankets away from Asthelein.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Room." There was no mistaking the anger in his voice and if looks could kill, Asthelein would have died several horrible deaths already. When she wasn't complying fast enough, he grabbed her arm and basically tossed her out before slamming the door shut. He dressed quickly and then went downstairs to confront Asthelein. "Okay, spit it out. What in the world were you doing?"

[Lujayn]

"Ow, ow!" Asthelein yelped as she was dragged and unceremoniously thrown out the door. Unhappily for her, her momentum carried her to the stairs... and down them, and with several painful sounding crashes and thuds she tumbled down to the bottom.

Rubbing her back, she glowered up the stairs. "Deyplai'omme," she muttered to herself, using a mild insult from her own tongue. She stood and stretched, still tired. Her injuries, while not to severe, took a lot of energy out of her to heal.

When he came back down, she was sitting in a chair, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. "What was I doing? I thought that was obvious- sleeping,' she replied dryly. "At least until you decided it would be funny to toss me down the stairs..."

[Talwyn]

"Don't get smart with me Missy." He snarled as he leveled a finger at her. "You don't just crawl into another person's bed uninvited. Besides that, if I want to sleep with a woman, I go to a fancy brothel or something! Also, I tossed you out of my room, not down the stairs..." He paused and then looked away. "For what it's worth, I just wanted you out of my room." Obviously that was as much an apology as he would give.

The main thing however, was that even that small concession bothered him. Thanks to last night, he had already opened up enough to her, that he was now apologizing, well sort of, for something that only happened because she did something she shouldn't have. Once more he vowed to never touch another drop of alcohol. Before she could respond though, he was already heading for the door. "I'm out to get some breakfast. I'll be back soon." And with that, he was gone.

Strolling around the market place, he bought several meat-buns, some cheese, crackers, and other stuff that would make a suitable breakfast. Satisfied he headed back, he had also cooled off a bit again. After returning, he placed everything on the table, and tossed Asthelein one of the meat buns while he took one himself.

[Lujayn]

Asthelein sighed and slumped back into her chair, staring up at the ceiling. Well, how was she supposed to know what was done and what wasn't done? She hadn't been in the human world for more than a few months. She closed her eyes. I'm so tired...

Next thing she knew, Corbin had returned, and with food. She rubbed at her eyes, chastising herself for falling asleep. She prodded at the meat bun, sniffing at it to make sure there were no potentially harmful herbs within. It really was annoying, but that was the whole point of a curse, wasn't it? To make life wretched.

A long, rather depressed sigh came from her at that point.

Picking at the meat bun, she said, "I am sorry, if I did something so terribly wrong." She picked at the bun some more. "I do not know human customs. Where I am from, Ombrefor, it is perfectly fine to seek comfort from others. We are one big family, really." More picking at the bun; it was scarcely recognizable as one, now. "We suffer from... horrible nightmares. Incredibly realistic. Sometimes prophetic, although what is or what is not is hard to tell. The nightmares occur with... far more frequency if we are physically or emotionally exhausted... as I am now." A small pause. "I did not lie, however much you may think so. We rely much on senses other than sight, for light is scarce in Ombrefor. So our other senses, hearing and smell specifically, are much more heightened." She shrugged. "Your scent is that of... grass, open fields. So very the opposite of Ombrefor. It was very comforting, when scenes of my old home plagued me."

If Corbin knew how she normally was, he would be stunned by the amount she was sharing with him. They were a tad alike, in that respect. She withheld a lot about herself, preferring not to divulge any information, in the case she could be tracked by it.

[Talwyn]

Listening to her story intently while eating his own meat-bun, he remained silent. He felt that for Asthelein, it was a big concession to share this much information. It would only be polite to let her finish without interrupting her. When she was done, he remained silent a bit longer before pointing at her now completely picked apart meat-bun. "Just eat the damn thing woman. You told me that anything that is used for healing has the absolute opposite effect on you, so I went out of my damn way to find a merchant with meat-buns of such good quality that he doesn't need spices or herbs to cover the flavor. Why do you think I took so long?"

Yes, it was a bit rude and gruff, but at least he cared, despite the rough way of showing it. Swallowing that last of his meat-bun, he looked away. "Sounds like a real cozy place, this Ombrefor." He sounded a bit awkward, as if he wasn't sure what to do or say. "Anyway, you startled me, that's all. I do not like being startled." He finally admitted. Once again, it wasn't a real apology, but this was about as close as he could get.

[Lujayn]

Asthelein started, then looked away as a faint blush spread across her cheeks. She wasn't used to people going out of their way to help her; within Ombrefor everyone was the same, so it never really registered or mattered. But out here, where so many little things were taken for granted...

She ate her picked-apart bits of bun, deciding that it could probably use some seasoning (not that she would say so, when he went to such lengths). And it could probably use cheese. Yes, lots of cheese, of the blue variety. She smiled slightly at the thought. She coudl probably cook something for Corbin, later on. She didn't want to be a totally useless burden.

While she plotted her culinary surprise, there was a slight commotion outside of Corbin's house, and then the door burst inward with a startling bang. The thugs that Asthelein had spared were standing out there, along with a good number of friends.

Asthelein stared blankly at them. "Corbin," she said after a pause, "Are all humans this utterly dense, or are these men just special?" She asked, becase they couldn't have forgotten the fact she could create unbreakable weapons at will.

[Talwyn]

Just as he wanted to start on a cracker and cheese, Corbin heard commotion coming from outside. As the thugs from the previous day entered, along with their friends, he eyed them with eyes so cold they would chill a man to the bone. "Corbin, are all humans this utterly dense, or are these men just special?" Asthelein asked him.

He didn't bother answering immediately. And when he spoke, it was not an answer to her question. "Why did you not kill them?" He wasn't angry strangely enough, it sounded more slightly surprised, though it was still painfully obvious he really disliked her sparing them. "Anyway," He resumed, his voice icy and cold. Some of the thugs were getting second doubts about this just hearing him talk.

"These are extremely dense considering how badly they fared yesterday. Had I bothered checking them they would not have survived to live another day. I assumed you had killed them just like that Squinty-eyed fellow. That mistake is easily rectified now though..."

The room wasn't very big, and thus the thugs were at a disadvantage. None of them seemed to want to take the first shot since they could not spread out. This allowed only three or 4 of them to fight at the same time. Without warning, a crossbow appeared in Corbins hands and he pulled the trigger, instantly killing one of them.

Shooting a murderous glance towards Asthelein, his voice sounded grim and could fill lesser men with dread. "...No mercy this time woman." Launching himself forward at the first thug, he started a punch and a punching dagger suddenly appeared in his hand, killing yet another thug. Pointing at one of the thugs Asthelein had spared, Corbin gave one final instruction. "I want that one alive though."

Considering the sound of his voice and the endless array of appearing and disappearing weapons, that made clean and quick kills as Corbin mowed down thug after thug with alarming speed, grace and efficiency, being the one he wanted alive probably wasn't something to be thrilled about...

[Lujayn]

Easy for him to say- she was already burdened with the sins and bad karma of her ancestors; she didn't need to make it worse. He could kill all he wanted; she would not be privy to it unless she absolutely had to.

It did not mean she couldn't defend herself, however. One of the thugs charged her, thinking her an easier target than Corbin was. He was quickly proven wrong when a blunt tendril slammed into his chest, knocking him backwards a few feet to collapse to a gasping heap by the door. With a few cracking noises the tendril split and twisted around her, forming a half shield that two thugs hammered at in vain. Only the Guardians could cut through her tendrils, and guardians these men were not.

She'd be running into the next country screaming if they were.

Tired of the jarring, she sent a few more tendrils cracking into the attackers, one being sent flying across the room, the other being painfully pinned, through the shoulder, to the wall. As he struggled in pain, more tendrils cracked out of the original, surrounding him and keeping him in place.

Asthelein sighed. She was getting tired again; what with her injuries and her lack of sleep lately, she wasn’t up to full strength, and controlling so much of these tendrils was rather exhausting. She was extending and mutating parts of her own bones, after all.