[Rearing Stallion] A Drink With Berserkers (Irathia)

[Garland]

Summer 43

The Rearing Stallion, a place where people go to get a drink after a hard days work, be it knights, squire, carpenters or other blue-collared workers go to drink and eat. Garland sat down by the bar, several empty flagons in front of him.

He hasn't been drinking at all. He's actually waiting for someone to talk to or drink with. Drinking alone has always been a bad idea. Without someone to stop him from getting overboard, he'd probably be asleep under the table.

Garland was simply stalking flagons on top of each other for some reason. Or trying to bounce small pieces of peanuts into the cups to pass the time. Honestly, he could be watching over his kids, but it's their nap time and he had not really had a time to relax on his own for a long time.

The tavern was not packed with people, but there were a few patrons here and there taking a drink and having a laugh. A new dancer and bard were on the dais today.

The girl was new, a human dancer and was rather nice on the eyes. Though her dance skills were not up to par with Sayana, he could admire her moves, as she twirled and moved her arms.

Kevith was a patient man, but he didn't really tolerate people who loiter in his establishment. He tolerates Garland mostly because he's a squire, in the past he may or may not have started a brawl once or twice, but Garland always helps clean afterwards, including helping with the kitchen when he didn't have enough money to cover damages.

Still, when the rush hour kicks in, Garland would need to leave unless he bought something to drink or eat.

[Irathia]

Irathia had her cloak tightly wrapped around her, her cloak over her face as she walked to the Rearing Stallion. She found when she was either early or late to the usual rush it would help her not get head aches due to all the noise that could occur thanks to the organized chaos that is a tavern during it's rush... It made her less cranky, and defiantly not as angry, like it would sometimes lead when she is around loud enough noises. It was just better for her. She entered the tavern, she looked around slightly, she was a bit late and the tavern was getting a bit full, it was quite loud yet so that was a blessing. Irathia sighed a bit though as she rubbed her face, she had trouble sleeping again... Nightmares were a terrible, terrible thing that followed Irathia through out her life, she assumed it was all due to stress she seems to be putting herself in. Occasionally she would even stress her mind about things that shouldn't really be stressed about. OOC : Hey, sorry for such a short post, message me if you need me to increase the size. Again, sorry.

[Garland]

Garland looked up from his empty lonely tankard and saw a rather peculiar sight. Well at least a familiar face he hadn't seen in a while.

In fact, Garland barely remembered this person's name. Era-something, Ira?Something like that, all he remembers was that this was the person with the hammers and spears when they took down that big bird thing.

Garland stood up. "Hey! Over here!" He called out and waved his arms up like an idiot. "Ira!" He had hoped that was Ira and not someone else. He was usually good with names and faces, but he barely remembers the hunt.

It'll come back to him eventually, but for some reason he's having trouble remembering what happened, obviously they were all still alive.

Or they could all be dead and everything up to this point had been a fever-dream of a dying squire being devoured by a giant bird with a skull for a hat.

Probably not though, also Garland's most likely not philosophical enough to discuss the theories of life. Or even know what theory means.

He was only here for a drink, and he wanted someone to drink with. Ira seemed like a good person to spend the evening drinking with, also she seemed a bit out of place, he wouldn't mind helping her fit in the tavern.

Garland looked over to the barkeep. "Two mugs of ale, would you kindly?" He gave an award winning smile that has worked wonders before in the past.

"Wipe that stupid grin on your face, you are not getting a free drink here!"

"Fine. I'll pay later." He looked over to Ira and gave a smile. "Hey, Ira right? Been a while. How you been?"

[Irathia]

Irathia heard her named called, she raised her eyebrow and turned her head, she was examined the surroundings not quite sure who actually called her. All she knew was that the voice was semi-familiar, she wasn't quite sure where the voice exactly fit to the catalogue of people she knew. Which was quite a lot sense she stepped foot into Syliras and started her arguably better life with in the walls of what had to be the most dense place she ever had seen. She looked around to see a semi familiar face, from the hunt of the huge bird thing that scared the crap out of her when she went out on patrol with Sera Ravonai. That felt so long ago when they went on that hunt, even though she knew it wasn't that far in the past, she couldn't help feel like it was an eternity. His name was... Something-land... Harland? Garland? She didn't really know what his name exactly was. She shrugged slightly and walked over. He asked how she was and she thought for a moment on how she actually was... "I think I am good, I can't get much sleep lately. I also have been told not to train as much by knights so I have been sitting around a lot lately." She said, rubbing her chin slightly as she left out some of the other details of her life. "What about you? What have you been up to... Garland?" She hope she got the name right.

[Garland]

Garland smiled when Ira remembered his name. At least one of them had good memory. The barkeep placed two flagons of ale. "Thank you." Garland directed to Kevith and returned his attention to his friend. "I hope you don't mind me buying you a drink it looks like you need it." Garland said and noted Ira's dark shadows under her eyes.

Garland wasn't looking any better either. He looked as if he'd been on constant patrol since the start of the season, and he was to some extent. "Cheers!" He grabbed the flaggon and took a long sip, enjoying the froth that tickled his nose and the bitter-sweet nectar that dropped down his gullet.

He sighed after the drink, it had been too long since he had a good drink. The Rearing Stallion didn't have the best ale, but this was Garland's home away from home, he grew up around here, taking odd jobs when he was child and this place never stopped needing helpers of some sort.

With a smile he looked over to Ira. "What have you been up to this season?" He paused and thought about if he really wanted to talk about work when he's off duty. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine too, I'm just here to get a drink and have someone to talk to."

The tavern was a lively place, even when it wasn't the rush bell, but everyone seemed like they needed a drink, more-so than usual. Kevith had been busy running filling flagons for his thirsty patrons.

That gave Garland a very stupid idea. He turned Ira with smile on his face. "How about... a drinking contest? A friendly competition. I'll pay for your drinks. It'll be fun, what do you say?"

[Irathia]

Irathia, as short as she was, felt like a child walking into the tavern at first. Even with the seemingly smaller Garland, she still felt extremely short compared to him. She jumped up onto the stool when her drink appeared in front of her. Irathia didn't drink much, and she was nervous slightly... She found herself gripping her cloak with on hand and with the other grabbing the flagon. It seemed large for her, she stopped gripping her cloak as she rubbed her chin. Deciding to take a long, deep drink out of it, letting the ale flow down her throat, feeling the froth on her lips, and the slight burn the drink left all over her body. After two gulps she stopped, sighing loudly and cringing slightly at the burn. "This season I have just been... You know... Squire things. I haven't been training in combat due to some incidents... But that's not the point! I have been ordered to relax and well. I am here now." She said, taking another long deep swig from the drink. "What about you?" Irathia said, she pushed her cloak open a bit more as a dull toothy smile appeared, revealing her dulled pointed teeth as she slouched forward a bit. She stared at her flagon and then went back to staring at the fellow squire. Irathia's head began to hurt with the noise, the mixture of lack of sleep and her hearing has caused a slight pulsing sensation to form on her temples. She rubbed them slightly out of frustration and then took a drink again, she looked around the tavern to see that it seemed quite busy for the bell. Which caught her off guard and made her regret coming to the place... But, at least she can catch up with her fellow squire that had no clue what was going on with her. It was refreshing, and she was happy that she can almost have a new start with this person. Then the question of the drinking competition... Irathia huffed and rubbed her chin a bit as she thought. A drinking competition? Would it be worth it? The ale seemed to have helped with her headache at least to some degree. It would also be fun, and she wouldn't have to spend a single Miza on any of the drinks too, which is nice, considering how she is rather... Poor. Like most squires she didn't get paid, so she was stuck with what she had on her unless she did a job. She finally came to a result after a moment of thought. "You're on. But what happens if I loose? or is it just a friendly competition to see who can hold a drink more."

[Garland]

"Just for fun! We're here to relax, not compete with each other on who's the better drinker." Garland took another sip of his ale. "Next round is when we start, alright?"

The tavern was not at all rowdy yet, it was busy for the time of day, but wasn't near it's rowdiness capacity. It was still rather calm comparatively and for now, it was perfect for Ira and Garland to drink, because if it did get loud, he was certain, the warhammer wielding squire would knock some skulls because of her headache. She seemed tired and would rather be somewhere quiet.

At least that's what Garland thought.

Garland took another sip of his ale, taking in rather large sips so they can get their competition underway. "Ahhh... You're quite strong, Ira. Have you been swinging your hammer long?" Garland was quite good at making some small talk, he felt his entire body loosen up a bit more since the drink, but he could still feel the need to relax.

"I've been practicing since I was old enough to swing a sword... I was... Six I believe, barely able to lift my sword, but one time I got it up to my shoulder and swung it at a tree, it got stuck there for the whole day and I had to steal a horse and tie a rope on the blade and the horse and let the horse pull it off. I had to give back the horse, but I got my sword though back."

[Irathia]

Irathia nodded at the competition, just for fun, nothing else. She guessed it was a way for her to stop stressing so much, and this ale did make her feel looser and a bit happier. She felt the tension that had grown in her neck slowly unravel, she rolled her neck, it reminded her of the time she was in the bath house during the winter. That was nice... She wanted to go back there sometime, maybe later tonight or the next day if they were open. Now that she thought about she didn't know when most stores open and close their doors, she just generally tries to go in the building when their windows were lit from the outside. She shook her head as Garland asked how long she was using her hammers for... She found herself rubbing her chin as she thought back to the days back at Xy, back when she was a slave... Memories from her childhood surfaced, each one of them had her mother's hammer in it... She remembered some of the other slaves joking that Irathia was born she picked up her mother's hammer and gave a good ol' smack to the people that pulled her out of her mother. "Well... I suppose I was using my mother's hammer sense I was born. It was the only thing we had back were I lived other than the clothes on our backs. When I was born she died shortly after and I think the people just assumed she would want the hammer with me. Apparently it was really important to her, I don't know why though." "I suppose it is important to me though now, maybe not the same way my mother cherished it but... Well... Its the only thing that links me to my past." Irathia said, taking a long deep drink from the flagon once again. "Its just like... A thing to remind me why I joined the order when I came stumbling into Syliras." Irathia shrugged. "I was so confused when I came in, I thought were I used to live was the only place that excited!" She snorted from her slight laughter and she drank again.

[Garland]

Garland nodded when Irathia told her tale. "I'm sorry for your lost." Garland was sincere and took a drink of his ale and finished it off. "Syliras is a good place, but it could always be better."

Garland ordered another mug of ale and waited for Irathia to finish hers. "Well, coming out of the womb swinging a hammer is impressive. You could say I was the same." Garland unstrapped the sword from his hip and laid it on the table.

"According to the caretakers of the orphanage, I was taken there, barely a year old, with only a blanket with my name sown into it, and a sword." Garland had a special place in his heart for the blade, mostly because it was the only thing he had left from his parents.

Garland was not very good to his things so the blanket was in taters and was beyond repair. He had tossed it, a heartfelt goodbye on the pier. Then he burned it on a brazier. "Good times..." He muttered under his breath.

"I rarely leave home without the blade." Garland looked at the hilt of the sword and pondered what it meant. "A weapon has many stories, about the warrior, about the victim, and about others... I don't know what the snake hilt signifies though, possibly just a cool design."

Garland watched Irathia and then to his mug. "Ready?" Garland gripped the mug and waited for the competition to begin.