Closed [Pig's Foot Tavern] Bottoms Up [Aerer]

[Sherashadiss]

Day 5, Autumn, 514 AV
~Just After Nightfall

It had been a relatively slow day for the poisoner, as most days were. A preference really, for it meant that she wasn’t dying. However, she was beginning to feel restless and for her to feel restless was not a good thing. She hated it and so she would often go looking for some male to divulge in, never would it be a fellow Dhani. It was her number one rule, never get sexually involved with a Dhani, for it only spelled trouble and she quite enjoyed the life that she had in Sunberth. Shadiss flew under the radar of most people, preferring to work within the shadows so then she wouldn’t bring the wrath of those that were supposedly morally “correct.” Who gave a petch about being morally correct? She grumbled to herself as she slipped through the door to The Pig’s Foot Tavern, a place she would occasionally frequent. If it wasn’t to silently converse with clients and possible clients, it was to hunt for a male to sleep with. Indeed, she wasn’t above the pleasures of the skin, in fact, she craved for it and she did scope out for potentials in taverns. However, she wasn’t very good in the ways of seduction, so more often than not, she was disappointed.

The Dhani was dressed in her simple outfit of a white shirt, black pair of pants and her long black coat, the hood pulled up around her head. This hood would hide her grey hair and her crimson gaze from most people; that was until she was ready to reveal herself. Until then, she preferred to not be disturbed with a mug of ale sitting in front of her and so she made her quick way towards an empty table. After settling herself down within the chair at the table, she ordered a simple mug of ale, which the served disappeared to get. Tonight, she hoped that it would be a rather straight forward night and that as the night would wear on, customers would trickle in to start their nightly activities, nightly activities that she planned on joining herself, if she could.

Leaning back into her chair, she closed her crimson gaze as she waited for her mug of ale to arrive, poisons running through her mind. Her fingers twitched as she envisioned the process and reflected on the past poisons that she had crafted. Her last client had been very satisfied with the results of her poison, but she herself had not been very satisfied, for her poisons were not as potent as she wanted them to be just yet. Shadiss knew that one day, eventually she would reach her goal, she would become the best poisoner that Mizahar has ever seen and she would do it from Sunberth. A place where she would not be likely found in if she played her cards right, but it was playing them right that could sometimes trip up most people. Sunberth was lawless, the only people that she had to not be discovered by, where the main heads of gangs and that would simple enough, right? A scoff rose to her lips at this as she opened her gaze to glance about the tavern that was soon filling up. Where was that damn wench and her mug of ale? She growled as her hands lifted to gently rest upon the table top, exercising patience. Suddenly the server came back with her ale, setting it down in front of her and Shadiss gave the woman the required amount of mizas to pay for it. Ah… Finally. She thought to herself and lifted the mug to take that first mouthful, a smile of content settled upon her features as she set the mug back down upon the table top. Now the night could truly begin.

Ledger-4 CM for mug of ale


Common | Snake-Tongue | Thoughts

[Aerer]

Unknown Bells – No Special Occasions


Sunberth, 5, Fall, 514 A.V

Rowdy.

Rowdy summed up the evening; the frivolous spending of coin on hearty meals, copious drinks, poorly thought out wagers (only of which some paid off) and other titillating diversions. Nights like these were keeping Aerer high on life and low on funds. It had taken some saccharine words and dutiful apologies along with a job offer at reduced pay but Aerer had coaxed his way back into the warmth of the Pigs Foot under the watchful gaze of Merv. The bell was light, the tavern packed with vivacious characters and the dice were coming up roses.

It seemed every flush surface contained a mug, glass or makeshift drinker holder. Whether the dip in temperature or some unrecognized festival brought out the throng of patrons, Aerer wasn't certain. More accurately, he didn't care. The crowd brought him easy coin and easy women, though the latter not always being the most sensuous of creatures. Sunberth, he smirked lightly to himself lower your expectations.

Merv watched everyone with a narrow gaze and crossed arms, burdened with an overreaching concern for his tables and chairs. Earlier, some poor jake had unintentionally snapped part of the spindle and mid rail off of one of Mervs favorite chairs and was forcibly ejected with such force he was certain that Merv had set a new record. Even earlier still, when some poor chit tried to pilfer some loose change and lost some fingers instead. Both patrons ejected, as customary, but the current horseplay was to ante up the bleeding extremities into the pot when you were feeling particularly blessed. Rowdy.

He was dressed in his usual garb, relatively clean with only a few blood stains stretchered around the shoulders. The stains were fresh, the recent job requiring extracting payment from some trouper uninterested in paying. It had only taken a crooked nose to change his mind. Long ebon locks were becoming anfractuous and difficult to manage and his body language suggested typical intoxicated lout status. His mind was still sharp to the game, however and he watched each dice roll with a level of obsessive anticipation.

“Place ya bets here! Only twelve more bells until all the dice are revealed. Better get here quick!” Aerer goaded the active roller. Bad fortune seemed to befall the man as he chucked the dice back into the leather cup and slammed it down in front of Aerer.

“Now now. Temper!” Aerer gave a playful wink and waggle of his finger to the man and looked into the cup, giving it a harefooted little shake. “You need to treat the dice like you would a fine woman.” Playing to the drunken crowd, smile brimming from ear to ear. “You sir, you took too long. Bored the dice. Unsatisfied. Came rolling right to me.” He put his ear to the opening of the cup, subsequent laughter flowing from the rest of the players. “You need to listen to their wants and needs. Whats that? Oh, you like that? Oooh. Kinky!” He shook the dice up rapidly, rolling them about the canister while centrifugal force handled the rest of the exorbitant display. It was a clever wisecrack that spiraled out of control when some of the dice flung from the cup and careened towards Shadiss's ale. Clunk. Had those gone into her drink? Shyke. He couldn't tell. He wandered over, shamefaced, or at least faking it so that he could retrieve the dice unscathed.

[Sherashadiss]

As the night wore on, Shadiss did take notice of the fact that the tavern seemed to grow rowdy, and it only got worse as the night wore on. Leaning back into her chair so then only two legs rested upon the floor, she propped her booted feet up onto the table top in front of her, right beside her mug of ale. While her initial motivation for coming to Pig’s Foot was to take part in the pleasures of the flesh, she had also hoped that she might run into one of her old clients. A client that would need her to craft a poison for them. People thought that making poisons was easy, just grab any old plant and jam it down someone’s throat. However, poison making was a craft that took time and precision. So Shadiss took pride in any ole poison that she made, even the simpler ones, it was those small tasks that made the basis for the complex ones. She closed her crimson gaze for a moment as she felt confident enough that no one would disturb her. Her mind was on poisons and the craft, she couldn’t help it, it was an obsession that had developed when she was a snakeling. It helped her to pay no mind to the looks that she occasionally received from Dhani and humans a like, not that it really bothered her, for she was very comfortable in her own skin.

The moment that she heard a voice mention that one needed to treat dice like one would treat a fine woman, a smirk fell upon her lips as her gaze trailed over towards the table with men and women gathered around it. Standing in the center of this drunken crowd, was the man that was speaking, laughter erupting from the corresponding people around him at his words. He was very interesting, confident with his own words, almost as if he knew that his words would be welcomed with the laughter that carried on around him. If she had to put two words to the man, he was confident and sure, that much she could tell, but sure of what? She couldn’t tell. Her hues took in the raven black locks and the sky blue eyes and she could almost see why he was confident, almost. Suddenly, a couple of dice that the male had been holding inside of a cup, flew out from the top and landed perfectly inside her mug of ale and she pressed her lips tightly together as the corners turned downwards. That had been an enjoyable drink, she thought to herself as her booted feet slid off of the table and the chair returned to resting upon the floor with a groan of wood.

Quick as a snake, Shadiss slammed a pale hand over the top of her mug, essentially trapping the dice inside of the mug. No, he wouldn’t be getting these back unless she deemed fit, she thought to herself a smirk falling onto her lips. The male that had been the center of attention, walked over to her table appearing shame faced. Angling her head, her crimson gaze peered up at him like a predator would as they watched their prey. Had she been in Dhani form, she would have been tempted to gather her tail underneath her in coils to draw to her full height. Alas, she wasn’t, so she settled for smirking up at him and lifting a brow at his presence that had approached her table. ”Did ya loossse sssomething pretty boy?” She asked, a mocking tone to her question. Indeed, she was going to have some fun with this one.


Common | Snake-Tongue | Thoughts

[Aerer]

Unknown Bells – Parlour, Spider, Fly


Sunberth, 5, Fall, 514 A.V

“Truly hoping you's not winging women halfway across the bedroom, Aerer! I wus unaware women were into that!” More uproarious laughter, this time at him, rather then with. Looking back at the motley crew, Aerer scrunched up his features and offered a surly retort with lengthy digits. The playful anger soon faded away to merriment, sliding judiciously (lest he incur the wrath of Merv once more) between tables and scooping up a neglected mug on the way to maintain the rapture-like buzz of this delightful evening.

“What can I say?” He exclaimed back to the group over the roar over the tavern “I give them what they want, no matter how shocking and improper!” Game face time. He tried once more to look flustered, although the sheer amount of effort to contain his jovial mood was downright unreasonable. While a humble mask was worn, the corners of his lips twitched. While a puppy dog stare was submitted, the flicker of the taverns hearth reflected a spirited exuberance that was hard to quench. It was too taxing, too demanding. It was the role of the century. The play must go on!

“Ah. Miss. I ...I do believe I did! Looks like I managed to accidentally deliver one of my prized dice into your heavenly, succulent...” Eyes perused the Dhani, assuming her to be yet another human foreigner. Lithe and svelte, just making a quick sojourn in Sunberth. Her posture seemed off, however. He was use to the independent, gruff nature of Sunberthian women but this one....this one alarmed him a little. A puzzled frown as he attempted to sift through his emotions while under the influence of alcohol. That didn't stop his mouth from prattling on. “...succulent drink. Merv somehow makes it worthwhile to stop in here, that's fah sure! If I could just...” A lone index finger and thumb extended lightly and would, given proper circumstances, press lightly against her hand as a small request to allow him to retrieve said dice. This flirtatious maneuver would've been followed by many more if not for Cole.

Cole? Lets talk about Cole.

Cole was a pear shaped man, oddly fat for someone who didn't eat all that much. Cole had a gruffy, unkempt beard, twirly handlebar mustache and preferred clothing that allowed him to wear suspenders. Today just so happened to be a suspenders day for Cole and that was the only real thing going for him today. He had just lost his job down at the docks due to anger issues wherein he threw his supervisor into the Baroque Bay. His wife was either dead or run off with some smoothing talking, petching vagik that was too big for his britches. He was down to only ejoying a few things today – that he had suspenders to wear and that there was a mug of ale at his side. That was until Aerer had procured it for himself. Cole wasn't much of a fighter, he wasn't much of anything at this point except angry.

If Aerer had only known the story, perhaps he wouldn't have been so angry when Cole smashed into him, toppling over Shadiss's table, conceivably spilling the drink and worse yet potentially landing on the petite woman as well. The bar erupted into delight, hungry for a good bar fight. Some of the other patrons used this as an excuse to try and incite other fights into erupting.

Aerer saw red, clumsily stumbling up to his feet. Inept at unarmed fighting as well as drunk; his swings came out wild, uncoordinated and potentially aiming for the wrong target entirely.

[Sherashadiss]

Shadiss’s crimson gaze watched as the man before her turned to address the rather loud and obnoxious crowd behind him, before turning back to her. He adopted something like a humble appearance, although it was hardly a mask that she would be fooled by, especially seeing as the corner of his lips twitched. His puppy dog eyes, reminded her of dinner and she was tempted to eat him. Indeed, Shadiss lived off of the stray dogs and cats of Sunberth, hell, why not? They were only strays and people wouldn’t miss them too much. Besides, they were as bad as rabbits and bred like wild fire. It was a win/win situation for the Dhani. The strays bred like rabbits and she ate the strays, therefore their population was controlled to a point. Although, Shadiss had a taste for something else as well, human blood. It just tasted so good, but while there were many humans walking around Sunberth, she was sure that if she ate one, someone was bound to notice. No matter how much they stole from each other, or schemed against one another, someone always noticed a missing figure, someone was always noticing something. A fact that she was more than well aware of and it irked her to some point, for it made staying under the radar that much harder.

The male would then begin to answer her question and the smirk upon her lips grew wider as he attempted to reach out an index finger and thumb towards her hand. The woman would slide the mug away from this small request, she wouldn’t give him back his dice, at least not yet for she wanted to petch with male, make him work for something that was apparently very important to him. However, all of this seemed to go out the window as some fat man toppled over her table only to land upon her, sending her drink flying off the table in the process. ”Ugh!” Rose to her lips before she planted a couple of hands against the man and shoved him off of her lap. Petching lightweight, she thought to herself as she moved to grasp the dice that had miraculously landed upon the table top while her mug had fallen to the floor. This action was only met with a wild and uncoordinated punch that just clipped her jaw. Her free hand lifted to lightly grasp her bottom jaw as she worked it around. That bastard took a swing at her and her crimson gaze glared at the male.

She was going to make him regret that and the hand that held the dice within her fingers, rolled the dice around in her palm for a moment. Suddenly, using the speed that her race was blessed with, she threw the dice towards Aerer and one of them may find their mark upon his forehead if he didn’t move. The other one obviously flying past his head, seeing as she wasn’t the greatest of marksmen. The purpose of throwing the dice at the man’s face was to distract him long enough for what she had planned. The woman would then lift her right foot to press onto the chair and she planted her left hand upon the table top. Using these two vantage points, she pressed her weight upon them to then spring herself upwards onto the actual table top herself. The moment that her booted feet landed upon the top of the table, she threw herself at the male, her movements quick in this activity. If the male didn’t see her coming, she would have essentially thrown her form into his own and hopefully with enough force to make him stumble back and fall down onto the floor.


Common | Snake-Tongue | Thoughts

[Aerer]

Unknown Bells – Warring with trolls


Sunberth, 5, Fall, 514 A.V

The Pigs Foot Tavern fell to pandemonium. It wasn't entirely uncommon for a fight or two to break out but this had shifted into a perfect storm. Insert one tiny, congested tavern. Mix with a vast overflow of sullen, vagik louts and unstable crackpots all with reasons to vent their frustrations of a shyke lifestyle. Sprinkle in a pinch of alcohol. Consider adding two more dashes of booze. Stir and serve piping hot.

Aerer's book of ethical conduct and morals had an important clause denoting how hitting women was unacceptable. The wild spasm of a punch was immediately regretted, stunned silence and open palms with spread fingers requesting that his previous action be stricken from the record. “Sorry!” he snickered slightly, words growing lost amongst the din of the tavern brawl surrounding him. Which left him all the more enraged when one of his own bone dice smashed against his forehead. He winced, cupping his forehead with his left hand and dropping down to one knee. Petching harpy! The dice dropped with him, jumping promptly out of reach and onto the other side of the table where it tripped up another patron attempting to get out of the fray.

Shadiss had rolled a two.

Cheap booze dribbled down the sides of tables, creating rivers and streams of beer that pooled into larger lakes of lager. Merv had sprung into action to defend his precious tavern, evicting customers that dare break anything; whether on purpose or accidentally. It was a slow process, each one of them being dragged to the back door and tossed into the night with loads of encouragement coming from individuals not included in the ongoing brawl. It was fortunate Merv hadn't seen Shadiss's vault off of the tables as that would've included a one way ticket into the back alleyway. It was unfortunate Aerer hadn't seen this plan in motion and took the full brunt of the collision on his chest. The wind knocked out of him, he tumbled down to a prone position gasping for air. His face made contact with one of the lager lakes. He briefly considered taking a sip. In the end he managed to talk himself out of it.

Down but not out, Aerer revised his standings regarding attacking women for that evening. With ears still ringing and mind not entirely coherent, only nimble digits and a full head of steam were available to try and latch onto what he believed was the long black coat of his assailant. He tugged violently, attempting to rotate positions so that she could appreciate the tavern floor on a more intimate level. He wasn't out to hurt her, not yet anyways, merely return the humiliation of having been assaulted by his own six sided shakers. If he was successful with the swap, it was only appropriate for him to try and push her face into the muck scattered about the tavern floor. Tit for tat.

The Pigs Foot ruckus seemed to be growing worse. Merv was currently engaged with a fistfight of his own which currently left everyone else to their own risky decisions. What a night!

[Sherashadiss]

She had been successful for the most part, on getting the jump on him, so to speak. She had successfully collided with the male, sending him backwards onto the floor, his face pressing into one of the many puddles now upon the floor. She enjoyed the simple fact that she seemed to have caught him by surprise and was now underneath her form gasping for air that had seemed to have been knocked out of him. It had been ages since she had actually had any physical contact, having shifted most of her attention to her craft and the poisons that her hands were able to create. As every poison that was created, made her want to make more poisons. It was almost like power in a way, if someone got in one's way, one either poisoned or removed them from their path. A couple of people in Sunberth preferred to poison their targets. Shadiss enjoyed her poisons, for a poisoner was essentially choosing the path of someone’s life with the contents of one small vial. The feeling was just as intoxicating as a druggie getting high. This feeling of having successfully tackled the strange male into the floor, was also just intoxicating and it got her blood pumping, something that was considered adrenaline to most people.

These thoughts led her to be distracted and she did not see the hand that had snaked up to grasp at her long black coat. Before she knew it, it was she who was on the floor and she felt his hand settle upon the back of her head to push her face into the puddle upon the floor. ”Bloody Vagik!” She snarled as she pressed her palms against the floor and pushed her weight into them so then her shoulders would push the front half of her upwards and away from the floor. She was tempted, that should she get out of this mess of a stupid wrestle, to track this male down and poison him with her own poison. She would even go through the trouble of searching for the necessary ingredients in the wilds herself. While it may take time, she was willing to go through the effort, for when someone angered the woman, she always went that extra mile to exact revenge. Although, this line of thinking was fleeting as she felt the burn within her arm muscles start, this being the result from the amount of time that she spent defying his own strength. Strength that was determined to push her face into the puddle of liquid underneath them. She did feel her clothes begin to get soaked with the liquor that was spilling along the floor and a smirk fell upon her lips as the burn began to intensify within her arms.

Shadiss knew that she couldn’t keep this up, for viper Dhani were not known for their strength, but for their speed. She knew that to get the male off of her, she had to deliver some kind of blow that would distract the male with enough pain that would give her a small bit of leverage to get up off of the floor. A chuckle rose to her lips as she dropped her head so then her chin rested upon her chest for a moment. ”How confident do you feel Vagik?” She grunted before she shifted most of her weight onto her right hand and quickly brought her left elbow back to deliver a blow to the soft fleshy part of the male, to his stomach. Should this elbow connect to his stomach and his hand retract from her head, she would buck her body underneath him, which by that right would dislodge him from on top of her. She would roll away from him, pausing only long enough to rise to her feet, a smirk upon her lips as her crimson gaze watched the man and his next moves.


Common | Snake-Tongue | Thoughts

[Aerer]

Unknown Bells – Brief bits of bliss


Sunberth, 5, Fall, 514 A.V

There was a sense of pride, of accomplishment. When a plan set in motion is a plan fulfilled. That libidinous, lopsided boozehound smile coupled with the heavy breathing of a man not fit for wrestling. He had been given a brief taste of victory, a chance to bring his tasty treat of an adversary down a few pegs by dropping her in the muck only to slowly watch that satisfaction be snapped away in the blink of an eye.

“....dent do you feel Vagik?”

“What?” Aerer chided, “Speak louder, dar....” scurrilous retort was brought to an abrupt halt as an elbow connected with his abdomen. Aerer grunted, losing his breath again for the second time that night. Virago! The sudden bucking motion dropped him to a prone position yet again, clutching at his sides. He fought to keep the contents of his stomach from resurfacing, eyes closing tightly. His only counter was a half hearted plug towards her general direction with his knee, to which even he would be hard pressed to know if it had connected. “Stupid . Cheating. Female.” His words broken and filled with malice; as if upset he hadn't managed to find a cheap shot before her. He blamed it on the soft spot he held for the fairer sex.

Whether Merv had completed his current fight quick enough to throw out the rest of the ne'er do well's or the rest of the fights had subsided on their own, he wasn't sure. One thing was certain - Pig's Foot was holding less patrons and the violence was decisively less pronounced. With the exception of a few competing grunts and a muffled, piercing scream of some unlucky vagrant outside, he felt a sense of peace and calm sweep over the tavern. His head swam and his mouth dropped open slightly, appreciating the unfamiliar experience of staring at the rafters. How old is this shyking place? Some of those look mighty rotten he mused, fingers tracing out the origins of the wooden beams, vigor and adrenaline draining from his system. Beaten by a petching girl. He could only hope everyone else was too mangled to have properly seen what happened. Worst case scenario, he could argue that he let it happen. Whose going to say otherwise? His body twisted slightly in an aggressive motion, took a sharp breath, and deemed himself unfit to reestablish the brawl.

He tried his best to clean the muck off his slender frame but it seemed most of it had taken up permanent residence. Eyes turned momentarily to the conquering queen, a raised hand to rest upon her shoulder or even just her hand if she would allow it. If this was the case, fingers felt the need to dig in to her skin like a dying man's last request. “Could you...” He took in a sharp breath, winced at the mild discomfort and exhaled once more. “Could you hand me that mug?” He inclined his head towards a nearby, still erect table which held a shining beacon of hope.

Beer.

Praise be to Nikali, and to all the addicts out there.

[Sherashadiss]

“Stupid . Cheating. Female.” Shadiss heard him say, his words obviously broken as he must be gasping for air she figured, seeing as she did hit him in the gut. She watched as the male just assumed some kind of fetal position, his arms wrapping around his stomach and for a moment she swore that he would vomit the contents of his stomach up to mix with the liquor spilling on the floor. Now that she thought about it, it was a tavern, chances were, there already was vomit mixed in with the liquor and a chuckle rose to her lips at this thought. Her blood sung with the excitement that the small wrestling episode that the two had just participated in, although it looked like the man before her wasn’t exactly up for much more. A shame really, she thought to herself as she pressed her lips together. Her gaze followed his hand that he lifted so then his fingers could appear as if they were tracing something, was there something on the roof? She angled her so then she could look up towards the wooden beams and couldn’t find anything that would even remotely appear interesting to her. Had he lost his mind after she had elbowed him? It would be a shame, she thought to herself, he was easy on the eyes. A tongue flickered out to slide along her bottom lip as her gaze returned to view the man as he moved to stand.

While he set about brushing the muck off of his clothing, she glanced around the room that they were currently occupying. There was a considerable amount of people still within the tavern, but a few had seemed to of been either kicked out or left. Although there didn’t appear to be any more brawls around the tavern, Merv had done a good job at evicting people from his tavern, she had to give him that. She honestly didn’t expect him to be that good seeing as he was an old man and most old men were frail with age, apparently age didn’t affect the old man too much. It was a good example of the saying, appearances could be deceiving. Suddenly, she felt a hand take a hold of her shoulder and she looked to the man that she had yet to even get a name from. The man then began to squeeze her shoulder, his fingers dug in and a soft gasp parted her lips for a moment. She was slightly surprised by his grip; it impressed her to say in the least, that he was even deciding to get back up. The Dhani had figured that he wouldn’t get back up for the rest of the night, that he would spend most of his time rolling around on the floor in the fetal position.

He began to speak before pausing and then then starting again. Her crimson orbs followed the male’s line of sight and a smirk fell into place upon her lips as soon as she spotted the lone beer that was still sitting upon the table. It had to be the only mug that hadn’t of been knocked off of table tops. As she observed patrons of the bar re-ordering drinks, the re-ordering patrons were a testimony that most drinks hadn’t lived and that they were currently occupying the floor. With another chuckle, she reached out to grasp the handle of the mug and she lifted it off of the table. It didn’t feel full, but there was most definitely beer inside of it. Before she handed it to him, she lifted it to her own lips, her crimson gaze steady upon the male as she did so. She drank a good mouthful of the liquid and her tongue flickered out to lick her bottom lip, almost as if she was savouring the taste. She then held out the mug to him, a smirk sliding into place upon her lips and her gaze almost dared him to do something about it.

[Aerer]

Unknown Bells – Mulligan


Sunberth, 5, Fall, 514 A.V

Ah, a woman after his own heart.

There was a sense of admiration as well as appeal to a woman that could hold her own in Sunberth. Eyebrows raised as she took a swig, though to be fair she had earned first rights and he wasn't about to be a poor sport about the situation. Eventually he mirrored her mischievous smirk, taking the remainder of the mug and draining it into his open mouth. The drink was warm and unsavory but the lasting after effects was what he truly was aiming for No one drank at Pigs Foot for the taste. No one ate anything at the Pigs Foot for the taste. In fact, it was best assumed that if you were at the Pigs Foot – petch - if you were in Sunberth you had given up on good taste.

”Ya don't seem to be some sloppy, out of towner jake milling about. You can hold yer own in a fight. he sloppily notified the Dhani. The drink consumed and tossed haphazardly off to the side, rolling about until it took up residence near his missing die. He used his forearm to wipe the leftover drink from his face, which did little but spread the grime around. “I tend to find that preferable in my choice of women.” The lull of the battle and the onset of more drinks had brought about a trashier version of Aerer: one better equipped with one liners, stale beer breath and enthusiastic, inquisitory fingers. “Do you find yourself frequently hanging out with the lowlifes of the Pigs Foot, angel?” His eyes betrayed him, obvious discomfort in his stomach still while trying to play it off. Blasted woman knew how to throw a punch. Or got lucky. Undeterred by the sting, fingers playfully worked their way down from the poisoners shoulder and attempted more intimate territories. “Perhaps we could ...”

One of the fights had apparently lingered or had returned to PF's when no one had been seen. Some would remark it had been about fresh fruit or the last of the grapes and after that it was nothing but a whirling dervish of punches, shoving and grunts. A heavy boot shuffled forward, and struck both mug and dice that had still been laying carelessly on the floor.

It was a hundred-to-one shot.

The boot rocketed the die towards the hapless Aerer, smacking him right in the eye and clattering to the ground in front of him.

The fighter had rolled a four.

“You shyking, no good roustaboutin slag heap dancin vagik!” Offbalanced and dumbfounded, Aerer rose to meet his new aggressor. Head was swimming at this point, but his anger revived. Ignoring the plight of his side, and stumbled towards the two idiots who thought it wise to be grappling long after the rest of the fights had calmed down. Aerer wasn't certain how quickly Merv was going to step in on this one but he wanted vengeance. He yearned for it. A drunken stumble to the left, then to the right as he prepared for an opportunity to present his means of reprisal.