[Red Diamond Tavern] Drunken Tales (Larina)

[Berus]

Berus smiled as she took a drink and subsequently wiped the resulting foam-stache from her lip. She seemed a little bit of a novice when it came to the drinking game by the rather inelegant way she handled her glass yet she was a natural when it came to charm, as he was a little smitten by her cute display. He was, however, a performer and a bard and was, of course, able to hide his affection behind the great veil that was his glass. Though he made a show of gulping down the liquid in great amounts, he actually took more careful sips so as to not lose his head in the crucial moments ahead when the story was developed! It would be fine if it tapered off into drunken ramblings, but it needed a good, beautiful, solid start.

He leaned back as Larina began her tale, eyes misting over. He absentmindedly wished they were in the great cushioned chairs near the fire but he knew that they were occupied by several old men who were busy telling their own stories and let the wish pass. He was fine where he was at this remote table with a great supply of marvelous drink and better company! His eyes shifted from green to blue as she continued her story, mind wandering through the possibilities available to great storytellers of their caliber. Perhaps this mouse could become a great hero or a savior? Perhaps he was destined to be the assistant to some other great purpose? Maybe his story was of love?

Larina stopped and grinned at him, his signal to begin. Grinning boyishly, he leaned in conspiratorially as he took up the story without hesitation. He pitched his voice into his best ‘storyteller’ tone as he took up the story of the mouse. “Hat! For that was what he called his home, and that was what he wore-“ he winked at Larina “-all day and every day. Many would not know he was coming except for an odd hat that slid along the ground as if possessed!” He dramatically raised his arms up in the air, hands forming claws and face shadowing for a moment. This dissolved immediately back into a grinning little bard as soon as he entered into his next sentence. “One day, no different from all the others, his hat slid along the street and suddenly bumped into something! Whatever it was grabbed the hat and lifted it up into the air, leaving the mouse huddled in the bottom of the hat and staring at the thing with wide eyes. The thing opened its mouth to speak…”

Berus finished with a wink, leaning back out to a comfortable position. He hoped he hadn’t gone too fast and lost the poor girl. Upon reflection, he realized he spoken more slowly so that she could keep up and wouldn’t get lost. Despite this, hope shined in eyes that had returned to green as he looked upon his charming companion.

[Larina]

The Tales of Hat: Mouse Extraordinaire! Legends speak of a mouse of incredible strength and compassion whose bravery was unmatched by any in the land. Born into humble beginnings, Hat was forced into hard labor at a young age. Yet he grew strong under this pressure and rose above the poverty of his circumstances, striking out into the great beyond. With a heart for his people and a lust for vengeance, Hat sought to destroy the oppressive tyranny of the hawk empire who enslaved his mouse brethren and gobbled up his little sister. But all the odds were stacked against him, and when his mouse trusted companion betrayed Hat to the hawk prince all seemed lost! Will Hat be able to escape the clutches of the hawk prince, fall in love with the hawk princess, avenge the murder of his sister, free his fellow mice from subjugation, and once and for all rid the world of the evil prince’s regime? Yes, yes. That would make a good teaser on the back of a book. And underneath I could draw Hat with the grasping the severed head of a hawk warrior. That would sell nicely. This was all very exciting. It might have had something to do with her pint nearing its half way empty mark, but Larina’s imagination was really awhirl with tales of mouse-ian courage. Even more so than normal…which was saying something. Saucer-like eyes caught Berus’ every movement, using his gestures to make up for some of the more difficult Vani words. Riveted by his performance, Larina gripped the edge of the table with her fingertips and leaned in to make sure she seized every sentence. When the bard mimed out a foreign Vani word, she mimicked him in miniature, lifting her hands a few inches above the table and forming them into claws. “Possessed,” she whispered, almost reverently, respecting his storytelling expertise. Larina gave a tiny gasp and clapped a hand over her mouth as Hat began to face danger in the tale. A protective instinct flared up in the Kelvic’s chest. She had created that little mouse being! And now some stranger was threatening to displace Hat from his house and potentially cause him bodily harm? Not on her watch! For a moment, Larina said nothing as she waited on Berus for the next chapter in the story. Catching his green-colored wink, it dawned on her that it was her turn to continue. “Oh, right!” She was unprepared, and her active mind raced to think up the next saga of Hat. Turning back to her cup, Larina sipped the amber drink daintily if only to stall for a bit of time. He had thought all that up so quickly with a wink and a smile too. She could probably learn a thing or two from the Vantha’s cordiality alone. Setting her glass gingerly back on the table, the Kelvic grinned up at her storytelling partner, “Got it!” “It opened it mouth to speak and yelled,” here Larina threw up her arms for emphasis, “‘Oh, mouse! Woe is me, mouse! My family and I cannot eat. For we are broke!’” She wrinkled her nose at Berus and tried to give him a wink…with not much success. Even so, she was proud of inserting the word into their story. “Hat was…surprised,” Larina sketched out a wide-eyed mouse with a shocked expression on his face to make up for her Vani, “for the animal talking to him was a fox. A hunter of small mice, like Hat.” Larina paused. Something was amiss. Why wouldn’t the fox just eat Hat if his family did not have food? That’s what she would do… Struggling for maintain plausibility in her tale, Larina floundered for a moment and tapped her nails on the wood of the table. A spark of genius lit up in her mind. “He fox was also very old and had no teeth to chew food…Neither did his family. Probably. Right. So, Hat looked at the old fox and said…” Hopefully, Berus would play along with her tangent in the story. Because Larina figured that even when she gets old and all of her fox-like teeth fall out, she would still snap mice up in a bite.

[Berus]

Berus grinned broadly. Already, though her vocabulary was not large, she was starting to speak in the musical lilt that accompanied the words of those who had spoken the language all of their lives. She was obviously a fast learner, perhaps as cunning as the fox she had just introduced into the tale. Perhaps this charming young woman was indeed a fox, though more of the harmless sort like the toothless one. Second glance told Berus that she was certainly not ill-fed and no doubt sated her hunger more often in her true form. The little mouse probably wouldn’t last very long if the canine he had run into was Larina.

Berus eyed the picture of the mouse with a mix of jealousy and amusement. She could not only spin her words in a comical tale but she had pictures to go along with it! His favorite books had always been those frequently interspersed with pictures. This Larina seemed to grow more and more charming as time went on, her smile lifting his spirits even more than the story itself.

She seemed to trail off, looking at him expectantly with those great golden eyes, and Berus took that as his signal to begin. Setting down his drunk with a clatter and regretfully spilling some of the precious liquid upon the oft-stained table, he leaned forward again dramatically as he took up the tale. “’I have no money to give you great fox!’ Hat proclaimed. ‘But I will give you whatever I can if you would spare my life!’” Berus pitched the mouse’s voice very high, trying as best he could to put a voice to the picture of the surprised little mouse in Larina’s drawing.

“The fox looked down at the mouse and gave him a grin, revealing his empty maw. ‘Oh, mouse! I do not want your hat or your life! I just need your help to get my money back! A great rabbit has come along and stolen all of it and hidden away in his hole, and I cannot sneak within no matter how hard I try…’ the fox said, his very heart pouring out as he spoke the words. ‘I need you to go wintihin to save my family from starvation!’” Berus glanced at Larina, hoping he mimicked her own voice for the fox well enough. He would hate to upset an artist with words such as she! “Hat was more confused than ever, yet he replied…”

He trailed off, immediately sinking back into his drink like a ship taking on water.

[Larina]

He could even do voices. Larina was extremely impressed. During some of her travels, she had heard tales of the Vantha’s ability to weave stories out of the sparsest of concepts, but this was the first time she had the pleasure of actually witnessing such a feat. Berus spun his words as though they were pieces to a mythical poem told by Vani from generations past, even though his subject matter was more along the lines of a children’s story. Larina even noticed that a few of the bar patrons sitting next to them had become hushed and were silently listening in on their anecdote, ensared by Berus’ narrative enthusiasm. They had a small audience now. Fidgeting with her cloak, Larina attempted to ignore the eavesdropping Vantha since they would just make her nervous when it came back around to her portion of the story. Her haphazard Vani may be enough to get by from day to day, but it paled in comparison to the flowing cadence of a natural speaker, which the spectators might scoff at. Or throw chairs at. Or start a four day Kelvic massacre over. There was no way she would be the cause of such butchery! Larina gripped the cool mug in her hands and redoubled her efforts to keep her Vani straight. Tipping her mouth again to her drink, Larina sipped away her anxiety as the edges of her vision began to happily blur. So, there was a rabbit in the mix now? Tricky little creatures, rabbits. Larina gave the bard a knowing nod as he introduced the character as a thief. She pulled her left leg up from the floor and tucked it beneath her, adding a few inches to her relative height and also giving her a more dramatic appearance for the story ahead. Raising her voice to match Berus’ interpretation of Hat, Larina soldiered off into the next phase of their tale. “‘I am sorry for you, Sir Fox. But why can you not ask another fox instead of a tiny mouse?’” Larina paused, removing herself from the context of the story, and felt the need to explain herself further to Berus. “You see because foxes and mice working together is rather…” she quickly scribbled out a picture of a man was a large ‘X’ across his mouth and spoke her next word in Common, “Taboo.” Nodding her head solemnly, Larina plunged back into the story with the voice of the ancient fox, “‘But, mouse! The other foxes tease me because I have no teeth. They call me tame!’” The Kelvic put a grim emphasis on this last word, hoping to convey to Berus what a serious insult this would be for such a majestic creature of the woods. “Hat understood and had pity on the no-tooth fox. This was his chance! Hat could help someone even though he is small! He smiled at the old fox and said, ‘Of course I will go! But there is just one thing I want to know…’” Grinning, Larina shot a guarded look over at the eavesdropping Vantha at the table to their right. That would surely appease them! She didn’t even stumble in her wording once.

[Berus]

The Vantha that had gathered, most of them of the younger sort who weren’t really supposed to be hanging around taverns, filled Berus’s ears with appreciative murmuring as the charming gold-eyed beauty told her part of the tale. He himself had to admit that he was very impressed at how quickly she was learning the language and was able to express her creative genius even with the slight word handicap! His only regret was that he did not have the equipment on hand with which he could scrawl the tale that was rapidly unfolding.

Unfortunately, Berus only shook his head as she spoke a word that he did not recognize in Common. The way she worded it gave him the impression that it was a negative word, possibly ‘wrong,’ but he was still uncertain. He filed it away to be looked up later, however, and promised himself he’d inform her of the translation as soon as he could. Of course, that promise became very shaky indeed as his thoughts were drowned in the foam of his incredibly delicious drink.

Luckily enough, his attention was too engrossed in Larina’s storytelling for it to be bogged down beneath the sweet waters and he caught every single syllable that rolled out of her mouth. After a moment she paused and her great golden eyes stared expectantly at him. Several of the Vantha around him also stared at him unabashedly as well, causing a bit of sweat to drip down the back of his neck.

Berus’s eyes flashed to a fierce, bright blue as he excitedly continued the tale. “’What is your name?’ the mouse asked. The fox gulped strangely, as if the question was a loaded one. “ Berus glanced around suspiciously at their new audience, allowing his eyes to rest on Larina’s last. “’They call me Faux the Fox, hat, for that is my name,’ the fox lied cleverly. Hat smiled and accepted it, however, and asked to be taken to the rabbit’s hole.”

Berus leaned down and took a sip of his drink. “The fox deposited the mouse in a heavily wooded forest, a few feet away from an inconspicuous-“ he glanced at Larina and repeated inconspicuous in Common “-hole in the ground. ‘I just need you to get the rabbit out of that hole so I can get my money back,’ the fox told the mouse. The mouse nodded and bravely strutted over to the hole, his hat worn like a magnificent cape! However, as he approached…” Berus stopped midsentence, deciding that he’d stay with the tradition of leaving open-ended cliffhangers so that the story could keep its exciting edge.

Berus leaned back casually as he viewed the Vantha through half-closed lids, not letting even a little of his eagerness to see their reaction show through his cool, showman’s demeanor.

[Larina]

They are really tuning into this. The Vantha surrounding the table she and Berus occupied were no longer politely eavesdropping in on their tale, but were instead actively listening to their silly little story about a mouse, a fox, and a devious, thieving, stinky rabbit. It must have been because of Berus. Murmurs of approval followed the portion of his saga, and even some of the older patrons were glancing his way. Despite the ever present winter, growing up in Avanthal had its perks, and his storytelling prowess was definitely one of them. The entertainer clearly knew how to please a crowd and scaled up the drama in his voice to match their growing audience. But this was far from Larina’s liking. No matter the situation, she was always uneasy around many people. There were always too many motives and behaviors to keep track of all at once: it was simply taxing for her to decipher so many individuals. Yet, there were two remedies available for her to use in the tavern. The first was her delightful company. If Larina could hone in her awareness on just Berus, she may be able to tune out the low chattering bar patrons around her. This was easy enough to do! Berus naturally commanded attention in the way he told their story, and Larina found it effortless to follow the flick of his hands and the pitch of his voice. And the second remedy? The amber colored ale winked at the Kelvic from her mug. Liquid courage indeed! Larina took another swig from her glass as she fell under the charm of Berus’ tale. She mouthed the word “inconspicuous” and stored the new Vani word into the vault of her mind. There were a couple of words in his speech that Larina was unsure of but could pick up within the context of the story. The bard was very kind in the level of vocabulary he used, and no words were too far out of her range. His multifarious eyes were alight with zeal as he gave her the signal to continue the story. Okay, the pressure is on. You can do this. “As he approached, Hat heard a voice calling him from somewhere above.” Larina changed her voice to a high-pitched chatter and went on, “‘Hat! Sir Hat! Please do not go into that hole!’ The mouse stopped and looked around for the creature who spoke to him. From the trees, a squirrel was watching Hat and waved at him for his attention. Looking up at the squirrel, Hat said, ‘What is wrong, tree friend?” Larina leaned in towards Berus, glancing around the room in an impersonation of the cautious squirrel, “‘That is not the hole of a rabbit at all. It is the den of fox! It is Faux’s den!” Her voiced reached a crescendo at the last sentence to let the horror of the fox’s deception sink into the crowd. “‘He has tricked you, Hat. If you go inside, his family will be waiting to eat you up. They are most…ferocious!” Scribbled on her paper was a small brood of foxes with smirks on their faces, each with deadly fangs and claws waiting for their meal. Larina held up her picture for the audience to see, hoping that they would understand her Common. “‘Hat…What are you going to do?’” Alright. Good, okay! That wasn’t so bad at all. I even played to the crowd a little bit too. Heehee! Larina beamed at the small testament of her inner strength. But, now she had to keep the act going for the rest of the tale. …Where’d that drink go?

[Berus]

Berus leaned forward, a little bit of a flop now that his drink started to really affect his mind. He looked around at the crowd, truly enjoying their interest in the tale. His counterpart was doing marvelously, he had to admit, and he bet that the crowd’s interest was more than a little because of her captivating charm. But whatever the cause, Berus absolutely loved the attention. Just to know that all of those pairs of eyes rested upon him expectantly, waiting for the story to come rolling off of his tongue, put Berus in a state of true glee.

Berus nodded conspiratorially when Larina finished off her tale with the picture of vicious foxes gathered. To Berus’s slightly inebriated brain, the foxes were already tearing apart their poor innocent mouse! Aghast, Berus quickly swooped into save his new hat-wearing friend. “’Hat hesitated, unsure of what he should do. If the fox was telling the truth, by not doing this he was being a cruel mouse. If the tree was, then he was about to be eaten! The fox’s voice called out from behind, ‘Hat? Where are you? What’s going on?’”

Berus leaned in toward Larina. “Hat detected an edge of something strange in the fox’s voice. Something… evil.” Berus’s eyes widened as he sent them around the crowd, trying to convey a feeling of fear. “Hat panicked and turned to his tree friend and squeaked for help. Quickly, the squirrel ran down to the bottom of the tree and offered him a hand. Hat grasped the hand without a second thought and was quickly being dragged up the tree!”

Berus stood up and raised his hands comically, egged on by his drink. “However, as soon as his little feet left the ground his hat started to slide off his head. The little mouse reached desperately for his believed headwear but it slipped out of his grasp… and down onto the fox’s head below…” Berus sat back down as if depressed, but his eyes flashed bright blue as he flicked them mischievously toward Larina’s golden pair.

[Larina]

Larina fidgeted in her seat. Things were getting really tense. She hadn’t planned on having the clever fox character becoming a double crossing traitor, but Faux had fit so naturally into the role. Certainly, this did not cast a very favorable light upon canines which, she well full knew, already had to fight against antagonistic stereotyping. However, the flow of Berus’ story was so engaging that Larina could easily look over this stigma and give her full support to the mouse hero. The blurry figures of the on looking Vantha melted more and more into background noise with each sip of her sweet drink, which was growing quite dry. Her caginess and trepidation at being in the limelight had all but vanished under the muffling effects of the alcohol, and Larina was not ready to go on without this crutch. Glancing up at Berus, she knew that he would be all too accommodating and order her a new one. This would not do. She gave him what might have passed as a wink and turned to the other Vantha men listening in. “You know. Sometimes I forget things. Like the story…Without a bit of help.” Larina gently tapped her empty glass and gave the men the most beguiling smile. Chairs scratched against the wood floor as two young Vantha sprang into action: conquerors of her thirst. “Oh! And the same goes for my friend here.” With a mischievous grin, she reached across the table and pat Berus’ hand lightly. Knowing that a second round of free drinks was headed her way – birthday gods be praised! – Larina was ready to continue the story. “Hat sat in the tree in horror. Faux had lied to him. There was a den of foxes waiting to eat him. And now his favorite item, his hat, was gone. What was he going to do?” “‘Fight back!’” Larina pumped one of her small fists into the air. “Hat looked around and saw that he was sitting around a whole nest of squirrels. They were all staring at Hat and looked…infuriated.” She tried her best to sketch intensity into the eyes of her squirrel doodles to show that they were ready for a fight. But the power of her drink made her pencil strokes a bit wobbly, and Larina was unsure if her point got across. “The oldest squirrel spoke, ‘For a long time, the fox family has been mean to us. They trick our friends and try to eat our children! We cannot take it! We want them gone!” Larina slammed her hands on the table for emphasis and glared around the room, daring anyone to challenge her. “‘Hat. Faux still likes you. Still trusts you. We have an idea. But it will take one brave mouse to pull off…” Larina leaned back in her head and lowered her head solemnly. Battle was brewing. And it was time to see what Hat was truly made of.