Secret :
Spring 32nd 513AV
As Nova wondered the familiar streets once again, the smells of wood burning, the snow softly falling, the crackle of bonfires, and laughter - as well as fighting coming this direction or that. She smiled to finally be back somewhere she knew. She wandered down the same ally a million times and if you look close enough one could see the track marks she had worn into the ground, you can almost see dirt! After about a 15 minute walk from her home she saw the candle lit "P & Q" sign. Something she has seen thousands of times.
She cautiously approached the tall, thick, heavy wooden door. For a moment, and what seemed like a lifetime, Nova just stood at that tall door. She listened in on the laughter, the mugs clicking, the fire flickering in the wind, the hiss of the snow hitting the open flames, the different aromas of meats and soups filled her nostrils. Her stomach growled. She had not eaten in the last 8 hours but it did not bug her.
Nova placed her hand as high up as possible on the door and slowly slide her hand down towards the middle as if trying to feel for a secret compartment. With a deep breath she pushed the door opened exhaling. And as the door opened the noise level increased respectively, the warmth of the bodies in the room whifted across her face instantly turning her cheeks a rosy color, the food - oh the food she can taste it now. She could hear the tap running behind the bar, she could envision a frothy mug of stout ale accompanied by a big leg off of some hairy monster that probably almost ate her in the wastelands.
Nova recognizes some faces here and there, she gives a slight curtsy if she is caught. With her sketching tools in hand she swiftly makes her way to a table to set her stuff down. She decided to sit closest to the dancefloor, like always. If there were two things in this world she loved doing it was Art, and Dancing. Fortunately she had both in this world and she was very grateful. She found her table with no problem, except she ran into some of her grade school "friends" who "haven't seen you in "forever"". Nova would just laugh, concur, and carry on. She did not care too much for her grade school, she was often the one to be picked on for being "different" because of the way she expressed herself in her artwork.
Nova set her stuff on the table and went over to the bar to grab a BIG mug to put away her fears and sorrows of tonight and the previous. "Heya Keep, I've had a rough last few days.. I need a HUGE mug of some sort of beverage that inhibits some of my abilities WHILE permitting other." she finished her sentence with a big smile, hoping that the keep would either ask why or just give her a free drink. "Why? What's wrong dear?""Long story short, I've been lost in the wastelands for the last few days.... I thought I wouldn't make it! I was almost eaten by a bear or something that looked like one!" The Keep smiled pulled out the biggest mug Nova had ever seen and filled it to the brim and set it on the bar. She reached out to grab it and the Keep told her to hold her horses he's not done.
He then went into the back and pulled off some meat off of the fire and put it onto a plate and came back around to the bar and also set that down on the table. "You can have all this free of charge. IF you tell me about what happened." Delighted by his offer she gladly said yes and ran to her table she had found and gathered her materials and went back to the bar to sit. Here she began explaining why she originally went out to the Wastelands, how she ran into this weird guy named Soren Frostfawn who would just completely lose his footing and drift off into never ever land. Laughing it up with the Keep while eating her food politely by tearing off small bits and to be sure to close her mouth, not to smack, and not to talk with food in her mouth. She then washed the tasty meat down with a big gulp of her Ale.
The night progressively continues as more people enter and exit, the room gets louder and quieter, more energetic and less energetic. This will be a fun night.....
