Closed A Charoda's first time in a bar

[Daniel Connor]

66th of fall, 513AV Daniel was trying to get into the habit of not drinking before a during a job, and was having a tough time of it. Starting a job with a hangover was not something he would like to repeat, after what happened last spring. Granted, he was not a heavy drinker, and had a higher tolerance that normal. Which was why he held a glass of tea in his hands instead of a tall beer. He was enjoying it, but it was quite a change to his usually refreshment. He found that it invigorated him, making it a bit easier to alter his Djed flow. Or maybe it was just the lack of a buzz. Nothing of note happened until the door opened with a soft thump. A sound that was heard thousands of times every day, so that was not unusual. The interesting part was the woman that walked over the threshold. He only bothered to look when the normally boisterous amount of noise died down to a low whisper. Walking to the bar was a woman he could only describe as a human fish, but with the features of a person. It was a sight to behold. Charoda? Was that what they were called? He smiled, glad his mentor’s education had been of use to him. He had never seen a Charoda in person before, only pictures. His eyes turned a curious yellow color, then a color of grey that mimicked the woman’s own. She sat down a few stools away from him and ordered a drink. He sipped at his own tea and resumed his old thoughts just as conversation picked up again. A particularly rowdy table of drunken men started calling racial slurs over to the woman, who looked to be ignoring them, maybe saying a few soft words back, he could not tell. The bartender went to the kitchen to check on the food. Seeing this, one of the men got up and walked up to the Charoda. “What are you doing up at the surface, fish? Ever done it with a human before?” the drunk said, causing him and his table to erupt into laughter. Daniel scowled, he had been the target of this sort of hazing esk stuff when he had come to Syliras, though this looked to be a bit more serious. Which is why he set his tea down, stood up and said in a firm voice, “Leave the lady alone. Come now, there is food and drink enough for all in the Stallion, no reason to be bothering others.”

[M'Wanii]

Life in the big city was different. Having visited the bathhouse that morning the Charoda had tried to be as productive as possible with her day. Now with the afternoon drawing to a close, she was exhausted. Her new boots seemed determined to destroy her feet and the hood and scarf she had been using to hide her appearance for the day were stifling her. Overly warm and generally uncomfortable, the amphibian desperately hoped the whole of the colder seasons would not be spent like this. Her neck itched under the wool of the damp scarf. On reflex she moved to rehydrate her skin with a splash of water from her water skin. Nothing came out. Turning the skin upside-down caused not a drop to come out. willing away the image of herself in a foreign city with dry skin, unable to breath, M'wanii's large grey eyes flickered back and forth along the street. They came to stop at a large building with a red horse on a sign outside. There was a what appeared to be a menu near the entrance of the building making the Charoda assume it sold food, and therefore water. Briskly she sped toward it, removing her hood and scarf on route as they had become too uncomfortable. Entering the building, she immediately regretted taking them off. Although loud and busy moments before, the place had suddenly fell silent at her arrival. Steeling herself and ignoring the looks, M'wanii quickly took a stool by the bar and ordered a mug of water from a slightly shocked bartender. As the man went about fixing her order, a loud group of the local land dwellers began to jest at her appearance. Comparing her to a fish seemed to be the most frequent of which. Turning to the men she spoke in a broken heavily accented common. “You be confused. I am not fish. I have no scales nor gills. I am a Charoda.” This only seemed to make them laugh more, the amphibian quickly turned to ignore them annoyed at their arrogance. As the bartender moved out of view, one of the braver men rose from his seat and staggered over. The man was clearly drunk, having consumed far too much of his fermented plant juice to think straight. As had his friends, judging their reaction to what had just left the drunkard's mouth. M'wanii would never understand the land dwelling world's need to over indulge in fermented juices and act like fools as a result. Especially with that 'suggestion'. Was that even possible? As far as the Charoda understood land dwelling reproduction didn't involve eggs. Or did it? Regardless it was becoming harder to breathe. Whether it was from the decreasing volume of water over her skin or the stench of the man next to of her, she didn't know but M'wanii was beginning to visibly breath deeper and faster. It was at this point that another of the tavern's occupants stood up and demanded the drunk leave her be. Turning to face the newcomer, she noted how his eyes didn't seem quite right. Unable to place her finger on what was wrong, she was caught unawares when the drunk grabbed her wrist pulling her from her seat. In a quick movement the other arm began crushing her abdomen as his hand moved to rest on her chest. “An' what if I don't leave the fish lady alone. Huh? What cha gonna do about it?” ,the man slurred. Disgusted M'wanii, spat out a few insults in her native tongue the sound of which was akin to a vocal representation of an animal being clubbed to death. The sound drew the drunk's attention away from the man with the weird eyes. Clearly annoyed the Charoda flashed her three rows of shark like teeth in the lamp light, as she slowly enunciated out a threat in ice cold clear common. “Get your filthy air-breathing hands off of me, you rotten jellyfish licking kelp brain.”