Uskua starts to head off to take care of Mon'Fargret's order, but she is stopped by Bina, who orders a glass of wine. Mey'Luskar teases her about it and then orders a cocktail.
"I think that'll do it for now," says La'Brissa with a sigh of satisfaction. She glances at her Bolgan companion and adds, "You can let your whiskers hang now. We're going."
The Bolgan thanks her hastily and hops out of her chair.
La'Brissa starts to put her tablet and art supplies away and then thinks better of it. Taking a cautious step toward Bina and Mey'Luskar, she asks modestly, "Do you want to see it?"
Mey'Luskar glances at Bina with horror.
"Only if it's finished," replies Bina with a grin. "You know!"
La'Brissa chuckles. "Right. 'Hr'vòyna-män.' (Incomplete state.) Got it."
"I hope I can see it when it's done," adds Bina.
"I hope I get a chance to show it to you!" replies La'Brissa as she folds up her drawing tablet.
"Well, I don't care so much about hr'vòyna-män," puts in the Besteeng woman. "Do you mind?"
Blushing (and failing to hide her discomfort), La'Brissa shows her the picture.
"Well, isn't that special?" comments the Besteeng woman. "I hope to see it hanging somewhere! Maybe even here!"
Bozz's little companion, who has been watching with intense curiosity, approaches. When La'Brissa slams the tablet shut warily, he bows in elaborate Yangae fashion and says in polite language, "If it pleases the lady, one wishes to see the work of art."
La'Brissa eyes him with disbelief and then shows him the picture with a (rather awkward-sounding) polite reply.
He studies it with furrowed brows. Then he hums dismissively and says, "There is...some ability, certainly, but I do not see why this would be special."
"No, you probably wouldn't," retorts the Besteeng woman with mock sweetness over La'Brissa's gasp. Pointing at the picture, she adds, "This one is with the Scarlet Revival. Perhaps you've heard of them?"
"Um, no," replies the newcomer. "I am familiar with the Scarlet Order, but..."
"Even redder!" replies the Besteeng woman with a wide smile.
The newcomer is dumbfounded. "But...then...why is she...?"
The Besteeng smiles even wider. "Now you begin to see!"
As she says this, the sky, which had been darkening much too quickly for the hour, loses its patience. Rain begins to pelt against the windows on one side of the building.
"Oh, roots and sod!" moans La'Brissa. "Why do the Herg...goth...um...?" She glances at Bina anxiously.
"The Yangae authority always kept the weather under control," observes Mey'Luskar, still chewing on her monacta. "Or so I'm told."
"But the weather is the breath of the planet," retorts Bina melodically. "Pray, let her live!"
The newcomer shifts his wary gaze between the picture and the actual pair. Then he says something in an unfamiliar language.
"You see?" clucks the Besteeng woman.
"There's more," says the Bolgan impatiently. She points a claw at Bina. "That one's a priestess!"
The newcomer's dark eyes widen to their limit.
Bina takes a mouthful of her food, taps on her unadorned chest, and says with difficulty, "No, I'm not!"
"She is!" whines the Bolgan. "I've seen her before! Lady, can we go now?"
"That's very interesting," retorts the newcomer in a low voice. He hands the tablet back to La'Brissa and slinks back to his group.
Just then the front door bangs open, and someone comes in in a flurry of soggy griping. Lirassa soon comes into view bearing her pack, a mass of soaked tresses, and a lot of ill will. Cursing in Brekka, she heads straight for Ham's table and plops herself wetly into a seat.
With a wail, the Bolgan immediately bolts out of the pub.
"So now she leaves me the bill," mutters La'Brissa between gestures of annoyance.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
Zeton gets up and asks Uskua for some clean hand towels for Lirassa so she can dry herself off. While he's talking to her and getting the towels he requests a pot of hot tea and some food.
"Yes, of course," says Uskua, entering the order and getting the towels in one fluid series of movements. "By the way, just what are you planning on doing after this? How are you going to get where you're going?"
"That is a very good question Uskua. We have some transportation, but it really isn't what I would consider... ideal for our current situation. You wouldn't happen to know anyone who wants to cart us around, do you?"
Uskua glances over at the table shared by the three newcomers. Then she leans in closer and says quietly, "I might. Let me talk to Wirg."
Smiling, Zeton silently acknowledges Uskua about consulting Wirg before speaking. "Thank you for the towels and for taking my order. I look forward to seeing what Wirg cooks up for us."
Zeton then returns to the group and offers Lirassa the towels before returning to his seat.
Once Zeton his settled, in a quiet conversational tone he asks, "So, does anyone have any good ideas about how we should go about finding Adulie?"
Zeton is startled when the dead silence is broken by a harmonica that slowly begins to play a Sergio-Leone/Ennio Morricone-esque tune in the background and a solitary tumble weed quietly appears and slowly rolls down the room in between the tables and chairs toward the exit.
[GM, please delete or keep as you see fit.]
Once Widjgleebe finishes her sandwiches. She is going to look up and say "what happening?"
After kicking the tumbleweed [not really], Mon'Fargret replies, "We don't seem to be doing much here and it doesn't look as though our mixed configuration is going to get us far. I am going to tell Betham about what Dusker told us. See if I can pry anything out of him."
With that, he starts working with his wrister.
Zeton replies to Mon'Fargret in a quiet tone, "Uskua might be able to get us better transportation, she said she needs to chat with Wirg first. I'm not sure what she has planned, but it will be interesting to find out."
While this conversation is going on, the entrance can be heard opening and closing, and another familiar (soggy) face comes into view.
Pru swaggers into the room, arms akimbo, and glances around with a jutting lower lip that has "anywhere but here" written all over it. Spying the party, she heads straight to Bina and Mey'Luskar's table and acknowledges the latter with a curt bow.
When she notices the monacta bowls, her facial expression changes to something completely different.
"You...didn't...," she says in a low voice.
"She did," retorts Bina.
Mey'Luskar grins. "It's actually not bad!"
Pru looks absolutely dumbstruck for a few seconds. Then she chuckles, shrugs, and seats herself. When Uskua approaches, she asks for a cup of bapf.
Uskua nods. As she enters the order, she proceeds straight to Zeton and mumbles, "Let me know when you're ready to go."
Lirassa leans on her arm, looks across at Pru, and says, "You look as thrilled with the weather as I do!"
Pru dismisses the comment with a wave. "Sod the weather," she says. "I'm more worried about all those Peace Forcers. They're like weeds around here!"
"Tell me about it," says Lirassa.
Mey'Luskar huffs.
"She got a ticket," says Bina in answer to Pru's questioning look.
Pru gestures confusion. "What'd they do, bring in the whole Mul'ein force? And why? Are they just here to tie up traffic?"
"Well," says Bina, "I don't know why they're here, but right now this is probably the safest place for us in all of Mul'ein."
"I wondered the same thing while we were on our way to Wirg's." Zeton thinks for a moment and then brings out his pocket computer. Activating Little Brother and setting it up to look like he's making vacation plans for the group, Zeton begins to try a second time to ascertain what the Peace Forcers are doing. He checks messages boards, news items and of course all the conspiracy theory sites that may lead to some reason for the increased presence of law enforcement officials.
Post a Comment