Closed Absinthe and Mayhem (Richard Blow)

[Thaloyss]

Oh, good. She did a good job of losing the mob. How nice, except she was about to pass out from lack of food. Thaloyss hadn't even noticed that she was back on the ground, and whether it was Richard or herself who put her there it didn't matter.

Her stomach was eating itself. Well, not really. It sure felt like it, though. She had half a mind to break down crying, instead taking the other half's advice and cursing her own name to the skies. Next time she would go out hunting instead of waiting for food to come to her, because that was a stupid plan and it led to this.

She caught the tail end of Richard's words, something about 'ten' and 'outta dodge'. She assumed he meant if he wasn't back in ten chimes she needed to get her scaly butt out of sight as soon as she could. Her head swam and she felt unusually light-headed even lying down. How could she be so stupid!? She'd been hungry for days, and yet she expected a meal to fall right into her lap.

There was a tiny, furry paw on her face. Tascha was still with her, mewing pitifully. The Dhani lifted a hand and stroked the kitten gently. "Yess, we need to feed you, too," she mumbled. What did kittens even eat? Tascha looked old enough to eat meat. Perhaps she'd start her on a diet of human flesh.

Thaloyss moaned weakly. What was taking Richard so long? Time was losing its reliability; ticks became chimes and chimes became bells. In reality he was only gone for less than ten chimes, but the slurry of drugs and alcohol in her system mixed with her lack of food made her exhaustion unbearable. She'd fallen asleep by the time he came back.

The tantalizing scent of fresh meat and the sound of it smacking against the ground was what woke her. The mercenary's eyes flew open and she sat up quickly, though regretted it when she saw stars. She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyelids and groaned. "I take it that iss not human. It will ssuffice for now," she said, grasping for the dog.

The woman peered up at Richard, though more specifically at his wound. "I could offer you my sskirt, but I do not want blood on it and I have no other clothess to wear if you use it. Sspeaking of clothess, hold these."

She tugged off her clothing and handed it to Richard, going through the change again. It was the third shift this night, and she was getting tired of it. She chose Dhani again, lifting the dog as easily as Tascha in her human form. Even though it was probably unnecessary she unhinged her jaw and dropped the beast down her throat. It was small enough that it went down relatively smoothly, so she didn't have to wait very long before she could re-hinge her jaw and speak clearly.

"Come on, Richard. Let usss go home," she said with a sort of finality that only came with defeat. Thaloyss didn't want to slither back to her apartment, but it was better than sleeping in the midst of rotting houses and more danger than she preferred.

Tascha had latched onto her shoulder again as they made the trek through the city, taking alternate routes to avoid being seen by anyone out for a certain maneater's blood. She followed Richard, not trusting herself enough to find her way back to her own apartment.

Through some tight fits and creaking doorframes she ended up on the floor of what she assumed was the Spiritist's bedroom, her coils filling the one room and needing a spillover into the next. She managed to maneuver herself so her torso was next to Richard's bed and promptly fell asleep.

[Richard Blow]

"Yeah... I think we did good." the Spiritist mumbled as they meandered all the way back to the Sunset Quarters. "Was a good day." Richard said with a nod and a satisfied smile. "Y'partied like a true Sunberthan, Loyss. 'M prouda you." Too tired and too drunk to care, Richard walked into the first open door he saw, stepping over a puddle of blood in the hall and scrounging a clean-looking linen to wrap his arm with before flopping onto the bed and immediately passing out. ~~~~~~ The next day... Richard came to with a groan. The noise sounded to his ears like Rhaus shouting in his face, which made him moan again into his pillow. His eyes felt like they had been inflated shut, he could swear Rhysol had taken a booze-dump in his intestines, and he had a piercing headache. With great effort, he pushed himself to a sitting position, rubbing his eyes and wincing at the pain that blossomed from his back and arm. Sensing his pain, Tascha hopped onto the bed and licked his fingers. The Spiritist scratched the top of the kitten's head absentmindedly before his eyes snapped open. He immediately regretted this, as the morning light blinded with the force of a thousand suns. Once his vision adjusted and he could see around him, the Spiritist simply sat there in abject shock. Taking up most of the floor was the serpentine Thaloyss. Scattered across the surface of the bed were glittering gold Mizas. In the corner, a man's corpse with a dagger sticking out of his back was curled up. Looking down, Richard saw a bloody cloth wrapped around his arm, and a kitten kneading his other one. Where did they even get the kitten? It was around this point that he realized he couldn't remember anything past the Seaside Market. How did they get this money? Did they steal it from the dead guy? Did they kill him?! Is that why he was injured?! Where were they?! "How good of a time did we have?!"

[Thaloyss]

Thaloyss was sleeping peacefully until the human awoke. His groan stabbed through the haze of mild confusion one always had when they first came out of Nysel's realm and landed right in her head. After the chaotic night they'd had she was currently in possession of a kitten, plenty of gold mizas, and one well-developed headache that sat at the base of her skull and just behind her eyes.

She sat up, hissing and shielding her eyes with one massive hand. Not having eyelids when you were scaly sure put a damper on your mood. The taste of dog coated the inside of her mouth and poisoned her already sour attitude even more.

Well, at least she wasn't starving anymore. That was a bonus. The Dhani's tongue flickered out and she smelled more death, more blood. Was it Richard? She turned and looked at her partner, putting her elbows on the bed and resting her chin on her forearms. No, he was fine.

Her gaze slid to the dead body in the corner. As far as she could remember (which wasn't very far; the last thing before the blackout took hold was buying Tascha) neither one of them had a knife, so they couldn't have been the ones to kill him. He was an easy meal, but who knew how long he'd been lying there? If it wasn't totally fresh, it wasn't hers to deal with.

Richard was panicking. A panicky human was never a good thing, they always managed to hurt themselves in their confusion. "I do not know," she mumbled, "but I have a terrible headache. It mussst have been good, though judging by my current ssshape it isss probably sssafe to sssay that the two of usss did not get into anything we will sssorely regret later."

Thaloyss allowed her arms to drop off the bed, lying back down. Her tail shrank and split into legs, her black scales turned into soft bronzed flesh and in thirty ticks she was sitting upright again and fully human. "That iss better. Iss that my kitten?" she asked, pointing at Tascha and totally ignoring Richard's bloody arm and the money scattered across the bed.

[Richard Blow]

Richard laughed at that, followed by sharp winces and a soft moan. "If we made good on goin' to a brothel, we'll be lucky if we don't have crotchfire now." he deadpanned, easing himself out of the bed and passing Tascha over. "Yeah, here's whatsername." Deciding it was a bad idea to stay in a murdered man's house with money and injuries, the wizard scooped up their gold, hefted the bag over his shoulder, and motioned for Thaloyss to follow. "Best leave before his loved ones come and think we did it. Egh... Y'think dead guy has any bread and bacon? Feel like a spawn of Uldr's ready to burst out of my stomach..." And so ended the magical blitzed out First True Sunberthan Celebration of Thaloyss.

[Sayana]

Thaloyss Skills: Skill EXP Endurance +3 Observation +5 Land Navigation +2 Socialization +5 Tactics +1 Unarmed Combat +1 Intimidation +1 Seduction +1 Wrestling +1 Lores: Location: Richard's home Location: Seaside Market Pulp, Warp and Love Dust: Effects Waking up without remembering the previous night First true Sunberthian celebration of Thaloyss Loot : Add a black kitten and a jacket (kitty-bag) to your inventory. Thanks for deducting the 5sm from your ledger. Comments : That was a crazy thread. Note, I did not award you any combat or wrestling points for when she was at the Blood Pits because she really doesn’t have the skills to compete with anyone there to the death. Even though she is a dhani, anyone with competent combat skills would easily beat her and I doubt any NPC would consider going to the Blood Pits without competent fighting skills. Please try to roleplay within your skills. Lastly, I didn’t award any location lore after they got high since they forgot everything the following morning. Richard Skills: Skill EXP Socialization +5 Hosting +1 Mathematics +1 Teaching +1 Observation +3 Planning +2 Negotiation +1 Intimidation +2 Larceny +1 Land Navigation +2 Seduction +2 Flirting +2 Gambling +1 Persuasion +1 Acrobatics +1 Unarmed Combat +1 Brawling +1 Endurance +2 Medicine +1 Lores: Myrians: Eat people Dhani from Zinrah think of Myrians as savages Myrians think Dhani are uncivilized Location: Seaside Market Pulp, Warp and Love Dust: Effects Waking up without remembering the previous night First true Sunberthian celebration of Thaloyss Ledger : Please deduct the following for purchases or items used on the thread: Absinthe bottle (fine wine price): 10gm 2 Ceramic cups: 1sm Steaks: 10gm 2 doses each of: Pulp, Warp, and Love Dust: 50 gm Total: 70gm, 1sm. Note: Since Thaloyss doesn’t have the skills to defeat someone at the Blood Pits (only 10 exp in Wrestling and 5 exp in Unarmed Combat), I did not include your winnings from the bets he made. Also, it wasn’t specified how much he wagered. Comments : That was a crazy thread. I didn’t award any location lores after they got high because apparently they didn’t remember anything after the market. Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request in the grade request thread. If you have any questions or concerns about your grade please feel free to send me a message (like really, I’m all ears if you feel like I missed something). Enjoy.