[Pigs Foot Tavern] Live entertainment anyone?

by **Thannis Daraktheon** on January 6th, 2014, 1:32 am

Timestamp: 5th of Winter 513 AV

As hard as it might be to believe Wisp had once been a mighty frequenter of the Inns around Zeltiva. There had been nothing better, in his opinion, than a pint of ale after a hard day's study. Of course, as Wisp entered the old bar, it became ever so painfully aware that he could most likely never get drunk again. In fact he didn't even know if he could eat or drink normal things any more and hadn't, as of yet, tried it. The only thing he'd had since leaving the Void was that poor woman's lifeblood.

Wisp shivered as he pushed the unbidden though to the back of his mind. He approached the bar and took a seat on one of the stools. A gruff looking old man who was washing a glass and glaring meanly at everyone asked him what he would like to drink. Not wishing to appear rude or suspicious he asked for an ale anyway producing the four copper Mizas to pay for the drink in exact change. It didn't seem wise to show anyhow how much money you might have on you in this town.

He looked around. The bar seemed to be pretty old but everything in Sunberth looked old. He wondered whether the quality of materials were just so sub standard that things looked worn after very little amounts of time or whether the entire makeshift town was just waiting to collapse after some decades just sitting exactly as it was. Perhaps a combination of both.

Wisp turned back to his drink and gave it a tentative sniff. He tried not to screw his face up but it smelt positively rotten. He'd remembered Ale smelling bad but had it really smelt this bad? It was probably cheap and rotten like everything else in this city. Why would Uldr send him to this place? He was beginning to think it had been a punishment. Wisp sighed and looked around the Tavern for something amuse himself watching. He had heard there would be live entertainment...

Credit to Skerry

by **Caela Dorin** on January 6th, 2014, 8:05 pm

x

It was just one of those days. She was in the mood for hitting someone and the last thing she wanted to do was dance so that men could letch at her. If she didn't need the money she would have walked out there and then but she couldn't afford to lose her employment. Her skills were limited and she knew full well what sort of work she'd be considered suitable for; she wasn't ending up in a brothel.

In a back room of the tavern, the young woman slipped her corset around herself. She clipped the bask shut at the front before twisting around so that she could see her back in the mirror to lace it. The dancer grimaced as she tugged on the laces, tightening them by degrees. She would have done this already when she got up this morning but Caela didn't have a mirror but the tavern did, filthy and cracked as it was it did the job. Giving one last tug on the laces, the dancer gasped as the garment constricted her chest and waist. It wasn't the most comfortable thing to wear and it always felt restrictive but it "improved" her figure (as if that was possible) so it was necessary.

Placing her blue blouse over the damnable corset, she buttoned it up, not to the top of course, no point hiding her assets. Adjusting her skirt so that the bottom of the garment was concealed, she twirled and stretched to make sure that she could still move fairly freely before she moved to stand in front of the dirty glass once more. This time Caela only needed it for a few ticks, just long enough to apply pomade to her lips so that they were redder than normal. Rouge wasn't necessary. Her cheeks were still flushed from coming in from the street and they'd stay flushed too once she got to work.

Slipping into the main part of the tavern, the girl wrinkled her nose as the sounds an smells of the place assailed her. Tobacco smoke hung in the air, so thick that it was a miracle that no one had choked. The stench of alcohol was prevalent as well as other odours that were only a little more unpleasant than the ale. The ale was definitely not the best you could get, cheap was certainly one word for it. Sauntering up to the bar, her gaze travelled over the various customers, taking in the regulars, the normal shady sort and searching for the ones that stuck out. Her eyes alighted with curiosity on a pale haired man sitting alone.

Coming to stand at the bar beside where he was, she regarded him out of the corner of her eye, wondering if he'd be a good target to get free drinks from. His hair had thrown her for a moment as she'd thought him older than he was but on closer inspection he was probably just a very pale blonde. Looked out of place though, probably a loner from out of town with no mates to come after her if she cheated him. Maybe after she danced... Catching the eye of the barman, she ordered a pitcher of wine, promising to pay him later. The wine was sour and smelled horrible but it was considerably more palatable than the ale.

A quick gulp and a wince later, the dancer turned her attention to the pale stranger. He was seriously pale as if he didn't ever go out in the sun. It was a healthy colour but that wasn't her concern. "Would you mind my drink while I'm dancing?" she asked him, sending a sweet smile in his direction. The barman could watch her drink but she wanted to gain this man's attention so that she could make sure he watched her dance. If he saw her dance, he'd be hooked by the time she returned to him. Men were predictable like that. "Well?"

x

by **Thannis Daraktheon** on January 8th, 2014, 8:43 pm

Once he had seen that nothing was currently happening he contented himself to nursing his drink. A drink he had, by now, decided was definitely not worth his time. Nothing really was any more. His body wasn't interested in simple pleasures any more and he had not realised just how much the bodies interest actually matter in things he used to like. It seemed, without the bodies consent, that very little could be found that was merely stimulating by virtue.

As if sent by a cruel trick of Lhex himself at that very moment he heard a woman's voice. He turned to look at her and found himself confronted by a sight that might have driven him insane by just being in the presence of it not so long ago. She, for his attractions had never strayed from that category, was a beauty that Cheva could be proud of. She was certainly a fine work of art with fine, flowing blonde hair and a body that curved naturally and in all the right places.

A fine work of art is all she could ever be to him now though. It had been one of the first lessons of his new being, and one of the harshest, that without the body telling you to be attracted to woman the whole idea of relationships and intimacy seemed just about as dry and dead as he had been for some precious seconds after he suffocated to death in the Void. It had shocked and puzzled him that without any physical attraction love, or even those tiny little crushes, seemed to be ultimately out of reach. He hadn't felt a single thing about a single woman since he had left the Void.

In the end, however, a work of art could be appreciated and one that spoke could be spoken with. He did not have to have an agenda of wanting a woman simply to enjoy one's company. Of course she only wanted him to look after her fowl smelling wine while she danced so she wasn't exactly inviting him to even converse with her simply than to give her his answer.

“Of course.” Thannis replied. It shouldn't be too hard a task. The drunkards in the Tavern may have been idiots but he doubted they'd mug him for a pitcher of wine. “Good luck.” He added not knowing what else to say.

Credit to Skerry

by **Caela Dorin** on January 9th, 2014, 12:24 am

x

The dancer was surprised by the man's reaction, or rather his lack of reaction. He looked her up and down, yes but there was no burning desire in his gaze. He seemed only vaguely interested in her as if she wasn't a highly attractive woman. It was refreshing to not be stared at with open lust but it was also a little disappointing. She couldn't get this man to buy her better wine, she'd be left drinking that foul stuff that she was leaving in his possession. Maybe he was choosy and she needed to convince him that he ought to be interested in her.

Moving from his side, she didn't look back at him, not wanting to appear to obviously interested in him. She allowed her hips to sway in an inviting way, not over exaggerating her movements but making it just noticeable enough for anybody watching. She heard a whistle somewhere beside her, followed by drunken laughter. Caela had to resist the urge to flinch at the sound, or to glare in their direction for that matter. Couldn't go offending the customers. After all, she didn't want to upset her employer or miss out on possible tips.

Instead of growling in their direction, she moved her head in their direction, allowing her hair to partially obscure her face. She looked at them almost shyly from under her lashes and watched a man elbow his companion and grin in her direction. A slow smile in their direction instead of a grimace had them thinking that they'd caught her eye. Men and their egos. Turning her attention from them, she moved further away to where a man sat in the corner, nursing a tankard of ale with a cheap instrument case sitting beside him. When she arched an eyebrow, he hastily reached for the case, opening it to withdraw a fiddle.

The dancer looked away from him, too impatient to begin casting her spell to actually watch the man as he readied the instrument. Why couldn't he have been paying attention? Things could have gone a lot faster if it wasn't for his lack of observation. Instead of glaring at him as she would have liked, she made eye contact with as many men as possible. Eye contact was important. It made them feel as if they had a connection, made them feel special. It also ensured that they only had eyes for her. Flipping her hair backwards, she ran her fingers through it then ran the hand down her side, leaving it resting on her hip.

When the music began at last, the notes and slow to begin with, Caela allowed herself to sway to the beat, her hips moving backwards and forwards with slow and deliberate movements. She could almost hear the watching men salivating but she tried to get lost in the music as the musician upped the tempo slightly, allowing a more natural flow to her movements. Her thoughts were always free while she danced as she got utterly lost in the music and the motion. It was always hard to remember that she had patrons to enchant. Her movements made her skirt flare out, the cloth moving to afford a glimpse of the top of her stockings perhaps or possibly a hint of bare flesh if she was over zealous in her movements.

Her dance would bring her closer to some customers and she would afford them a chime of her company, making every other watcher envious as she danced so close to him, perhaps bending her knees to allow a few words to pass between them. Caela doubted they noticed that she spoke to him, they probably only saw the easy view the man in question had of her cleavage before she passed on.

And sometimes there would be a man in the tavern who would decide to get too friendly. It had only happened to her on a handful of occasions and it was something she reacted badly to, viciously to in fact. Today would be one of those days. As she danced past one of the tables, she'd past earlier (where the men who had whistled at her sat), a man rose and moved towards her. Her back had been turned and so she didn't see him coming. The first inkling she had of his presence was when he was close enough to touch her, strong arms encircling her waist, despite his drunken state, pulling her towards him, against him. There was no way for her to see behind her without turning her head and that movement afforded her very little insight into any weak points. The dancer went to drive her elbow backwards into him but found her arm suddenly clamped to her side.

The music had cut out. It had only been a few ticks but it felt like an eternity to the helpless young woman as she tried to squirm out of his grip, praying that the barman would come to her aid quickly.

x

by **Thannis Daraktheon** on January 11th, 2014, 4:40 pm

Never before had Wisp ever considered the intricacies of movement. For most of his life he had simply walked, ran and gestured as if it were all simply meaningless. When he thought about it though. When he watched this woman sway away. He thought that perhaps in some way that it was kind of like talking. All speech had meaning even if the speaker didn't know it. Perhaps the subtler movements of the human body were similar.

As the woman walked away he thought it seemed like she was saying 'Look at me; I am confident, Proud and Sexy.' When she gave shy looks at the folks of the Tavern she was saying almost the exact oppoasite like 'who, me?' and, for some reason, this drove the men wild. It might have driven Wisp wild not so long ago. It was almost difficult to remember why. Was it an aversion to those who were attractive but stuck up? It didn't seem to matter much to him any more and he doubted even then he might have been able to give you a definitive answer.

When the music began her swaying hips were entrancing even to Wisp. From the second she had started the whole bar were watching those hips in a threateningly similar way to cats about to pounce. Wisp did not want to hold her. He didn't really have any desire to touch her. She was rather like a moving painting. He wanted to simply sit and look at it. He wanted to memroise every etching.

Then she began to move as well. Closer to some patrons and further from others. Wisp dislodged himself from her visage and looked around the tavern at the men. They were disgusting. They looked positively on the verge of defiling her. It was disgusting to see such a work of art be viewed through the lens of humanity. He wondered if he had once viewed art like this. He wondered if this was what he was like when he witnessed his very own craving. Was that why his craving was so sickening? Did it have to convey the disgust of every one of man's vast cravings into one form. Lust and greed and envy and all manner of sickening bodily pleasures that drove men to their wickedest. If one wrapped all of them up into just one would it be a craving for another's blood? He had to wonder, looking at this sight, if it would be so wrong to kill any man in this Tavern from those who lusted and leered to those who made money from it.

Suddenly it all stopped/ Wisp had sort of stopped paying attention so the abrupt end of music startled him. He looked up to see the dancer had been grabbed by some drunken lout. Wisp scowled deeply. The very epitome of what he had just been thinking about had risen to challenge him.

“GET YOUR DAMN HANDS OFF HER!” Wisp roared at the man his voice surprisingly carrying very well. Wisp grabbed his mug of ale and stood lobbing it at the offender. The man, whose head had turned in his direction to see who had shouted at him, got the mug right in the shoulder. It smashed. Ale flew everywhere including on to the dancer. Wisp had missed his head, which was what he had aimed for, but he had gotten the man's attention because he seemed to haveforgotten the girl and was now advancing on Wisp.

Credit to Skerry

by **Caela Dorin** on January 13th, 2014, 12:49 am

x

The incident escalated just as quickly as it had begun. A shout of outrage sounded and before she could even turn towards the noise, something sailed just above her head, her hair ruffling slightly in the man made breeze before whatever it was shattered. Shards of something rained in her hair and the foul smelling ale of the tavern was showered over her. The liquid gathered in droplets in her hair, soaked her blouse, seemed to stick to her skin. Someone had actually thrown their ale at her molester. It had done something good though because the brute of a man released her and the dancer half staggered, half ran from his unwanted embrace.

A quick glance from a safe distance showed that the brute's attention had changed direction, now focusing on the out of towner she'd intended to seduce. Presumably he'd thrown the ale and now he was going to get flattened and perhaps gutted to boot.

...Yet no one was doing anything. It was as if everyone in the tavern had frozen, caught up in the sight of the unfolding drama. Nobody had lifted a finger to help her, had probably seen it as just more entertainment, and now there was bloodlust in their eyes. They weren't the only ones who were eager to see someone get hurt but for Caela there was only one person she wanted to see rolling in agony. The fear had made adrenaline rush in her veins and now that fuelled a rage to cause her violator harm. How dare he touch her! How dare he throw her aside, ignore her then as if she was nothing!

The young woman saw red. Harming him with her own bare hands without dagger or any other weapon was the only way and she'd flown at him before she'd known what she was doing. From behind him, her knee found a tender spot and the man dropped to his knees opening himself up to a flurry of clumsy, ill aimed kicks and punches and scratches. The dancer wouldn't have stopped by choice if strong arms hadn't dragged her back from her target who was shielding his head with his hands, curled in on himself as he waited for the next onslaught. Hysterical screaming turned out to be Caela's and as she calmed it became more coherent to the ears of others even as sobs tried to choke her words.

"Kill him! I have to kill him! I'm going to!"

The words died as the shock of it all overcame her and her legs went from under her as she sobbed and wailed wordlessly. The strong arms turned out to be Merv's and he dropped onto a seat at the bar, propping her against it as he went to fetch something strong for her to drink. She was too absorbed in her hysteria to notice how much emptier the place had grown, the way the customers had begun to creep out as the 'entertainment' came to an end. The man who she'd been attacking was no longer on the floor or anywhere in sight, some drunken friend probably having dragged him away to safety. All he'd left behind him was some splashes of blood on the floor and the mess of a dancer.

x

by **Thannis Daraktheon** on January 13th, 2014, 1:17 am

He'd been set to launch himself at the drunkard but the gruff, old barman had pushed him out of the way with surprising strength and resolve. Wisp almost lost balance and fell. He managed to right himself but the temporary moment of displacement had shook him back into control. He was no longer in a complete rage. If the barman hadn't done that Wisp probably would have torn the man apart or been torn a part by the man and his friends. In any case it seemed the barman had saved his life somewhat.

When he looked over he found that he was not the only one who had been set on murdering the offender. The dancer herself had begun to savagely beat and kick at the man who, for some reason, had found himself on the ground. That woman sure had oomph. She'd been pulled away by the barman and the violator limped out of the bar helped by two of his friends. Wisp hoped he never met that man in a dark alley. Then again that could be rather interesting.

When Wisp turned his attention back to the dancer he spotted something near her. A ruby sparkle. He turned his head to get a direct look and noticed some splashes on the ground. Splashes of his newest, favourite substance. It was unmistakeable to him what it was. Truly, truly unmistakeable what sweet nectar had fallen from the vile oaf's body.

Wisp tried to blink the thoughts of his head but he was licking his lips. Why was he doing that? He tried to look away from it but his head kept inching back to it. He had to leave. He had to get away from it before he got on all fours and lapped it up from the floor like a dog. Thannis hastily rose from his chair and skulked out of the bar trying hard not to garther anyone's notice of his leave. He exited the bar and turned left down an alleyway into the night...

Options :

Credit to Skerry

by **Una Tanta** on March 2nd, 2014, 11:34 pm

Wisp :

Caela :

Please don't be afraid to PM me with any questions ^-^ and please don't forget to edit your grading request to "graded".

Closed [Pigs Foot Tavern] Live entertainment anyone?