Tranquility Interrupted

[Lujayn]

The sun at the apex of its journey, the streets of Tamasha Village were alive with the busy bustling of a place centred on commerce. Shop doors were open, displaying the wares inside, vendors set on the sides of the streets were calling out the specials and specialties that they carried, and the people moved from place to place, some with the intent stride of a person with business, others more meandering as they looked at all the market square had to offer. It was loud, the voices of people clashing with the noises of the various animals, the clinging of metals and other materials clashing together as people moved, bumped into things, knocked things over. It was the epitome of humanoid life.

Barely discernible was the sound of metal scraping across the cobblestones, as a depressingly melancholic looking woman dragged a disproportionately large great sword behind her in the most irreverent manner, causing a weapon smith to stare in horror. The great sword alone was what caught the attention of the passersby, as otherwise she would have been largely ignorable. While above-average in height, everything else was rather average, and the grey priest-like attire that she wore blended with everything. The only other noticeable characteristic was the completely soul-draining aura of utter melancholy that seemed to cling to her like a miasma, making people rather uncomfortable, and this, along with the sword, coupled to make the inhabitants of Tamasha avoid her.

This suited Karan just fine, as she'd never been a terribly social person— not much practice in it when most people avoided your family, being demon-touched and all— and whenever people took an interest in her, it was almost unavoidable that conflict would arise, and she sincerely disliked causing harm to other people.

After a bit of walking, and causing a bit of a scene while doing so, she finally found a small eatery, that appeared to offer decent food at a cheaper price. Minor noble she may be, but she had little to no access to her funds so far away from her estate, so she didn't have a terrible amount of money on hand. Leaning the enormous great sword against the outer wall, she stepped inside, nodding her head at the server before seating herself. After a quick exchange of words, Karan had herself a lovely looking bowl of stew and a small glass of red wine, and she had just enough to cover it all, as well. She was set to enjoy her meal, not worried about her sword in the slightest, as she was the only person in the world able to move it, and even if someone else was able to take off with it, the demons would merely return it to her post-haste.

And then a small group of ruffians just had to come in and ruin it.

As she was savouring her stew, the leader took a seat at her table— completely uninvited— while his three friends took up places elsewhere. "Why, hello there, lady," he said, giving a rather malicious looking grin, "You seem so sad and lonely. Why don't you join us for some fun?"

He was met with an unamused stare. "I decline," she said bluntly.

"Now, now, that's not very nice. Here I am, nicely inviting you along, and you just blow me off with no thought," he chided, standing to put his hands on either side of the table, probably to be intimidating, but Karan had bigger worries in her life— namely, demons— so he was hardly threatening to her.

"I do not have the time, nor the inclination, to spend mine time in joviality," Karan replied coldly. "Even if I did, I doubt that thee and thine would grant me any of such. If thou wouldst kindly leave, I would appreciate it."

"Now listen here, lady," the leader snarled, threatening, grabbing her forearm. "I would think very carefully of insulting me!"

[Omio]

Buren had observed it all.

The ruffians were bluffing blindly, and they had actually came in from port. Obviously, they were looking for fun, and their manners seemed to match perfectly to the assumption. Buren concluded, over a bowl of cheaper soup, that Karen was apt to be capable of dealing with them - especially after seeing the sword. However, he too had his own flicker of amusement, and he was not about to irritate the lady at all. So, he drew a symbol under the tale and whispered something.

The ruffian was going to find his grip a bit more desperate, as Buren had cast a spell to negate gravity where the ruffian was. However, there was a problem to this amusement of his - it was likely to alert Karen, due to his tie that was partly-connected to a demonic realm. While he didn't tap into it, the spell had enough of a trace to alert some.

He wondered if the band of ruffians would actually notice it was him, but with how he began eating his soup, one wouldn't guess it so easily - he sat with a few other robed beings, with all different colours.

[Talwyn]

A pair of brightly, green coloured orbs peered out from underneath her dark hood. Narrowing her eyes, she looked around, somewhat distraught. She wrinkled her nose as a fresh waft of cow dung bombarded her nostrils and almost brought tears to her eyes. While trying her best to discern how she had ended up at the city’s livestock market, she took great care to avoid the dung. And the animals. And the people. By the gods, they were all so smelly. How could anyone keep this up?

When at last she found her way back to the main market square, she almost wept with joy. Scouring the square, she paused at one of the carts, her attention drawn to a thick, leather bound book with an intricate pattern of gold leaf on the cover. Running her fingers over the cover, she started running numbers in her head. With great reluctance she turned away. She simply could not afford an extravagance like that.

As her stomach started rumbling, she came across a quaint little eatery and went inside. Looking around, she noticed a group of robed figures eating, while quietly discussing something she could not hear at one end. A group of hoodlums trying to bait each other into stirring up trouble sat near the bar. And a lone woman in grey robes trying to enjoy her meal sat off in a far corner.

After her simple meal was done, she took her bowl and cheap flask of wine and looked around for a place to sit. The lone woman was sitting furthest away from a group of rowdy drinkers. They seemed harmless and appeared to be celebrating a birthday, but she would prefer some peace and quiet.

Walking up to the woman, her plans were interrupted by the hoodlums she had noticed earlier. Apparently, one of them seemed to have an eye on the woman. The woman blew him off, of course, but the man was not deterred that easily it seemed. She watched the scene unfold as stepped closer and smirked as she noticed the spell being cast by the boy in purple robes.

How quaint, he still uses words and symbols…

Ignoring the voice in her mind, Lethe stood next to the man as he angrily threatened Karan not to insult him. She levelled the glowing green orbs at him. “She did no such thing. This woman merely expressed the opinion that she doubts she could find much entertainment with you and your compatriots.” Wrinkling her nose at him, the orbs dimmed as she looked disgusted. “And I can do naught but concur with that assessment. When was the last time you visited a bathhouse?”

The man growled at her. “Put me down you witch!” She let out a soft but haughty laugh while putting her bowl and glass on the table. “I am not the one that cast this spell boy. You should take up any issues regarding that with the young man in purple robes over there. But for now, I request you remove yourself from this establishment so that we may all savour our food and beverages in peace. You will find the door over there a suitable means to egress the premises.”

She gave a slight push and watched him float off towards the door as she sat down. Looking at Karan she sighed. “Hoodlums… oh, I do beg your pardon, but there are no empty tables and I would very much prefer not sitting too close to that rowdy bunch over there.”

We could’ve simply made his innards explode or boil his blood… Would’ve been much more fun.

Looking at her wine glass Lethe shook her head. “No… Your definition of fun greatly differs from my own.” She whispered morosely while sampling her stew.

[Omio]

His cover was blown. Well, there went the chance of him being able to wave it off. But then the robed one pushed, and he had to work quickly to move the field with the hoodlum being shoved away. Once the fellow was out the door, he dispelled the field, and watched him drop just outside the door. He wasn't actually engaging in the conversation at the table in so much as just trying to blend in, and go unnoticed.

"You there. Purple-robed guy."

The voice was to his right, and it was another mage, in a very similar-fashioned red robe. It was also the reminder he really didn't want, as well as the harbinger of isolation. "If you're going to stir trouble, please do not seat yourself with us."

Without a word, he moved over to their table, which was fairly closeby. However, he tried his best to keep his distance from the other two, the one robed figure making him feel rather unwelcome due to earlier. He began to get back to his own soup. He wasn't quite done, but he was close. It wouldn't be much longer before he would ready himself to leave.

However, a bottle from the rowdy table began sailing right to Lethe. In a split-second panicked decision, he drew a very slight amount of power from the demonic infinite-well to fuel a ward spell that the bottle slowed to a stop with, and landed perfectly on the table between the two women. He closed his eyes, and sighed of relief, before beginning to drink his soup - eyes closed. He didn't feel like losing the meal he had just paid for, and the women would rather not see a display of ill sorts either.