A Hard Place

[Kazumaru]

Karlos sighed, once more walking over to the door and opening it. "Welcome to A Hard Place." he grumbled, before looking up at his next customer. "Never seen one of you before..."

[Arthur McCorth]

((My sincerest apologies for the unforgivable lack of attention I have accorded this thread. It is all too clear that I shall have to endeavour to attend more closely to this forum in the future if I wish to participate meaningfully in any role-play activity.))

Arthur had not moved from the doorway since his arrival, a position which had put him in close proximity to the majority of goings on in the building. He did not seem the least bit perturbed by this, indeed if one was to examine his face closely enough it would seem the activity pleased him.

Finally however he stepped fully into the building and answered the landlord’s question. "Ah, a tavern is it. Yes, yes a drink would be more welcome thank you. What do you have on offer that would suit an old man such as myself?"

[Kazumaru]

Karlos started reading the names off of the bottles behind him. "Well, old man, we've got Angelic Beggar's Breeze, Demonic Intoxicated Cocktail, Desert Bartender, Furytwig Mead, Hartigan's Special, Vodka... Knight's Honor... Hmm." Karlos spun on his heel, looked Arthur up and down, and spun back to the drinks. He grabbed five bottles-- At least one of which was labelled "Corrosive"-- and poured the contents into a large glass with the percision of a chemist.

After a few minutes of careful mixing, the glass had been filled with a strange, blueish drink, with streaks of green swimming around in the glass. Frost was forming on the outside of the glass.

"Modest Arctic Gem." Karlos said, grinning.

[Cirrial]

Serakree stands still for a few seconds, and then sharply looks behind her and almost leaps at the bar. She speaks the language of Blackstar almost perfectly, despite the seeming anatomical impossibility of doing so with her long tapered mouth. "You have to help me! I'm being chased by a dragon hunter! Hide me! Somewhere! Anywhere!"

Her tongue flails around slightly in the air as if to prove a point, and she stares at Karlos with her claret red eyes. "Please! There isn't much time to explain!"

She looks to Arthur. "You have to believe me! My life is in danger!"

Please work please work please work...

[Kazumaru]

Karlos contemplated for a moment. Then, with a slight grin, he spoke.

"Two drink minimum, drago." he said, looking right at the strange lizard-thing.

[Cirrial]

Good enough. Serakree looks to the ground, disheartened. "But I have no money. All I have is my life, and if I can't shake off this hunter, I won't even have that any more."

She leans forward, arms on the counter, her tongue waving slowly in front of Karlos's face. Her voice dies down to a mere whisper. "And, just between you and me, neither will you if you do not do exactly as I say right now, in this exact order. You will smile and nod, and you will take me to the supplies I've been searching for for weeks. And if you don't, well, I'll give you this advice for free. Never drink anything ever again."

She slowly leans back and looks anxiously around the counter, wide-eyed. "So can you help me?" She raises her voice, making sure everyone else in the tavern can hear her next words. "I am but an unfortunate creature in a dire situation, with no-" She glances at Karlos. "-hostile intentions."

Still leaning on the counter, she casually raises a hand as if inspecting it, looking to Karlos and waiting for a response.

[Kazumaru]

Karlos nodded and smiled, then reached behind him, grabbed a bottle of vodka, and clubbed the dragon-thing over the head with it. "Two. Drink. Minimum." he said.

[Arthur McCorth]

At the words 'dragon hunter' an unmistakable look of indignation crossed Arthur’s face, but it passed quickly and he settled back to his drink, it seemed he barely noticed when Karlos clocked Serakree with the bottle. He sat at the bar and sipped his drink.

Arthur shuddered, "Excuse me, barkeep....would you happen to have anything less, well, cold?"

[Kazumaru]

Kalos put the bottle, which now had a nice crack in the side, down. "Uh, sure, mate." he said, putting the Modest Arctic Gem beneath the bar.

After a few moments of thought, he grabbed a seemingly random assortment of bottles from behind them, and began carefully pouring the contents into another glass, shaking the glass, mixing the contents, lighting bits of it on fire...

Finally, Karlos stepped back, revealing a glass filled with an orange liquid with strange patches of red. "Wanderer's Torch." he said, grinning.

Then, he turned back to the strange dragon-esque creature, rubbing his cloth across the same spot on the bar. "And what're you having?"

[Cirrial]

Serakree's pupils narrow as she watches Karlos grab a bottle. The next thing she knows, she's on the floor with her hands on her head and curled up in a small ball wondering when the dizziness will end.

A few seconds later, when the world stops tilting around her, she slowly stands up and leans on the counter again, furious. "Drek drek ulcalla drek kul ulcalla drek!" It didn't particularly mean anything to anyone nearby, but it made her feel slightly better, at least.

"And what're you having?"

Her tongue writhes angrily, her ears twitch, and she stares at Karlos as if the intensity of her glare could set him alight. "All the plants you have. In a large container. Then I'll go and perhaps you can try clubbing someone ELSE over the head!"

[Abidusray]

With a small, snuffling grunt, like a puppy who's fallen asleep in a bowl of food, Thresher's head bobs up and his mouth lolls open.

"I shertaaaaaanly wuzzint ashleep!" he cries, forgetting about the glass in his hand until it hits the floor. He looks down at it, completely surprised, but is distracted by the thing threatening him. He half-stands, half-falls out of the barstool, broken glass crunching underneath his boots.

"You!" he spits, pointing at Serakree while seemingly fighting a losing battle with gravity. "Yooooou aaaren't going to git a chansh to club me ofer deh head!"

He reeled, putting one hand on the bar to steady himself before slowly making his way towards his supposed assailant.

[Kazumaru]

Karlos watched the clearly-drunk Thresher for a few moments before turning back to Serakree. "Oh? And how much are you payin' me for these plants, drago?"

[Cirrial]

Serakree hisses quietly at Karlos, tensing, before glancing to the side. She stares both apprehensively and curiously at the drunk Thresher hobbling over to her, her tongue making figures of eight in the air. Strange. When I last saw a human acting like that, it was-

"Ah. This is an alcohol dispensing facility?" She clasps her hands together and turns to face Karlos again, and winces slightly as her efforts to ignore her bruised head become less and less successful.

Rubbing her hands together, she relaxes slightly and places them on the counter again. Her eyes narrow slightly. "Then I can arrange a trade. What supplies do you need, that I can provide? In fact, is there somewhere else we can talk? I don't feel entirely comfortable in the presence of that guy over there." She points to Thresher. "He seems violent. Like you, but less predictable."

She holds a hand out towards Thresher and stretches her digits, making her already obvious claws completely unobscured in any way. Turning her head to Thresher, her elongated snout pointed firmly in his direction, she barely whispers. "Try anything and you'll remember fondly the days you still had a face..."

[Kazumaru]

Karlos laughed. "Yeah. This is an 'alcohol dispensing facility.'" he said. "Supplies? I need a lovely wife, a caring family, and a nice, juicy juggerfwamp steak. But I doubt you have any of those."

The bartender thought for a moment. "We'll discuss upstairs, I guess." he said, putting his towel on the bar and starting up the stairs.

"MARGARITA!" he shouted. "TAKE CARE OF THE PLACE! AND THOSE STOOLS BETTER BE THERE WHEN I GET BACK, THIS TIME!"

[Mitsukai]

Margarita scowled before mimicking Karlos. "Take care of the place. Those stools better be there when I get back. Blah, blah, blah."

Her words became quieter and quieter until she was muttering under her breath, letting Argos to the ground. Not being particularly quiet at all, she began shoving the stools back to regular place.