“Wearing some armour might help,” A child suggested to Vesper once, “At least then you won’t look like some scary ghost.”

Well, It’s a little heavy sometimes, but at least now people can see me without being scared.

Vesper sparked through the bar as his form levitated above the wooden surfaces. Those who were regulars since he got there were used to that prickly static sensation that drifted over their backs when he rushed by, but sometimes guests and newer people didn’t really know how to act around the lightning-personified. The armor buzzed with sparks and glowed neon blue like the rest of him as he pulled a bucket in one hand along with a mop in the other.

For someone that came into existence only a few years ago, with shockingly little information surrounding how the world worked, he did know how to work hard. In essence, he was created to be a servant, so things like sweeping and wiping tables and mopping floors came easily to him. Even now, just as the Lady Veda’s glass shattered against the floor; he was there a moment later with the mop at the ready, though it seemed that they’d already solved the problem just as he arrived there.

“Oh dear, a little slow on the upkeep, it seems,” Vesper sighed as he let the mop droop down just a little bit.

He’d been doing this for about a year now. Doing simple chores and odd jobs around the Inn to keep it looking tip-top. He rarely took requests on the board, and when he did usually it was to assist with research or simply to fetch something for someone else. To be honest, he only really did them for a sense of purpose. He didn’t need to eat or sleep really. Usually, all he had to do was go into a storm every few months and recharge by pulling the lightning towards him. They kept him around because he was so willing to help out, and, well, the rest of the world didn’t really know what to do for him.

Plus, having a living incarnation of magickal energy around to scare off some unruly patrons was usually a good thing.

In his moment of hesitation, he looked up to realize the man whose space he'd invaded. He tended to space out every now and again in his own reflection, leaving him staring both partially at the bartender and the man who was talking to Veda only moments before.

“Oh, uh… Hello. I’m sorry for rushing in here like this and I hope I didn’t surprise you!”

His voice exudes a level of sincerity, the like of which is akin to an eager adolescent ready to take on the world, but the living plasma isn’t quite ready for something like that yet.

Although she would not ever admit it to anyone, even herself, Taraah was enchanted by the pixie's true form. With her affinity for magic, the pixies looked even more ethereal than to a lesser creature like the humans. Her eyes kept tracking the little bug as he flown around her head. FOr a second there she thought about reaching out with her paw to catch the flickering ball of energy, perhaps taking him to her lair to decorate it - after all, he glittered much like a precious metal, but his motion (Not to mention his adoration of her being) made him uniquely desirable as a den ornament.

Still, the thought perished at the memory of her own kin's captivity by many a human wizard. Those egg thieves! How dare they put their filthy hands on the offspring of those second only to Gods! Perhaps for her next destination she should find a wizard tower and burn it to the ground. It would be a chore, but she would never forgive the fact that her very sister was taken! But nonetheless, she decided to let the beautiful creature fly free.

And speaking of mages, her senses were assaulted by a presence that came out of the Inn. Her magical sense was tingling - The man in front of her had enough magic flowing around and through him to best that of a dragon, and yet she couldn't feel it being actively directed - it was in fact more like an enchantment, on a far greater scale. To what purpose she couldn't tell, but it made her wary.

As if that did not suffice, the primate also besieged her ears with his likely drunken shouting and had the gall to ogle her like some kind of animal in one of their thematic gardens! She was not an object to be judged, like some kind of stable animal on a market!

Her eyes snapped back to the Pixie boy as he prepared to leave and to her delight expressed a desire to keep her company again. "In fact I insist upon it. Until then, may your path be safe, where ever it takes you." she gave him her blessing and turned back to the human.

Lowering her head to haze straight into his eyes from barely farther than the length of her snout, Taraah held her breath - He was clad in magic, his mouth produced annoying noises and his behavior was irritating, surely he also smelled awful, if only because the stench of the Inn and whatever existences dwelled inside would be all over him. Why in the world would someone of format like Mr. Montmorency or a person of beauty like the Pixie whose name she forgot to ask seek this establishment was beyond her.

"You reek of arcane, human. If you hope to claim me as a well of power, you will only find a quick demise!" she thought to him, her eerie mind-voice having an underlaid growl in it. "If you studied my kin like your knowledge of our exodus implies, you would know we do not have any love for your kind's magicians." Rearing her head back, she thought that perhaps inspiring some fear might do these parts of land some good after all. Instill some respect into the lesser beings. Perhaps she should barge in - make the entrance to the building a bit grander, perhaps not in style but definitely in size.

Thinking of the dear gentleman in a hat though Taraah grinned, her rows of spiky teeth baring slightly but enough to convince anyone who seen them that dying to her flame would be the preferable alternative. The dragoness focused her thoughts. The magic that coursed through her veins came to life, like another limb it reached out.

Inside the Inn, two eyeballs seemingly made out of fire would wisp into existence, imitating her gaze as she made them look form one end of the room to another, eventually falling on Scarper before her voice thundered across the mind of everyone inside.

"My patience grows thin!"

And with that the pair of flaming eyeballs flickered back into nothingness.

@CharmingDevil @Jin Of Mana @harinezumikouken @BlytheChi

Jin should have expected the response which the Dragon gave. Yet excitement distracted him from thinking about that. Deciding not to approach the comments of 'arcane' and him being 'magic'. Jin retorted. "Heh. That's right, the last dragon i spoke too, oh what was it." More than obviously, the man took a moment to think. "Right, thirty years ago." A nod of triumph was performed. "Yes. He also said very similar words to yours. Yet I didn't hear them from the fool until after our battle began. For he was not nearly as patient with me as you're being now. Which i thank you for." Yet a bit after finishing his sentence, a devious smirk entered his expression while speaking his next words. "But I assure you. If I really wanted a violent confrontation, I wouldn't of made my presence known before initiating a battle with you." The smirk he wore, was easily triggered anytime combat was thought of.

Though the look quickly faded. Expression was now, monotonous, his average tone. "But I digress. Not only do I not wish to use you as any source of power, Nor do i wish to fight. I merely came to see you. It's not an everyday occurrence that one gets to see a dragon. Ya kno'?" Right when someone would expect his talking to cease, his look of excitement came back. "OH. Also. That is, if you wish to give this information. I'd like to ask, why you are here? In these parts. The last dragon said he was far to old for long distance travel. But you look quiet young compared to him. So what gives? What binds you to these lands?" When it comes to Jin, curiosity can easily get the best of him. Jin doubted the Dragon would even continue speaking to him, considering the circumstance. But said situations or circumstances never stopped him before.

“Oh, me?” She smiled, looking at the man with her green and blue eyes. She turned her body to face him and put her hands behind her back, her left hand inside her right. Many men found this pose attractive for some reason, especially when she twisted side to side slightly. She wasn’t going to question what little tricks she could use to get free meals.

“Well, I used to be a princess, but I ran away from home because I didn’t like it there anymore.” She’d learned that most times, people had a set expectation about her. An orphan who got tired of sleeping on the streets, or an escaped slave, or a failed enchantress. Telling people the truth seemed to throw people off, making them believe it was just a cover story. It also gave her an edge, because she reasoned that most men would just love to tell their friends they’ve bedded a princess.

As she spoke to him, she glanced up and down at his arsenal, noting that he carried both a longsword and dagger. Smiling to herself, she breathed an internal sigh of relief and again touched the copper piece in her armwrap for comfort. She would be decently protected, at least. Motioning to the board with a nod, she asked “Do you see anything you like?” She made sure to phrase it that way, so the answer didn’t necessarily have to mean the bounties. Men were prone to crass responses whenever she offered the opportunity.

At that moment, a pair of firey eyes appeared in the middle of the room, and a voice thundered through her head, so loud that it made her reflexively cover her ears, to no avail. She didn’t understand why, but everything seemed brighter for a few moments after that. From an onlooker's perspective they would've seen her eyes seemingly glow, even though there was no light to reflect off them. Rather, light appeared to be coming from her eyes as the magic of the dragon's gaze mingled with that which lay dormant within her. Blinking a few times, trying to force her eyes to adjust and dealing with a new headache, she tried to direct her focus to the board, selecting a job at random and studying the paper. Hunting. Great. The headache flared up again, and she quietly said “excuse me” to the man standing next to her, stumbling slightly to the nearest chair.

("Dear Lord, she's good! Maybe if she's not some sort of soul-sucking monster I could recruit her for this job... or have her around. Either is fine. She's a lovely woman. Could almost BELIEVE what she says.")

Ocellus smiled slightly, rubbing his scraggly beard as he stared at the board. Nothing in particular stood out to him aside from the largest, most central post, whereupon a decree by the Lord High Tax Collector was posted raising the monthly tithe from some obscene number to an even more obscene number. He wasn't sure that this elf was a thief, but he knew a self-made woman when he saw one, and she seemed like she had seen her fair share of intrigue. Only one way to test that...

("Mmmm... wait... what if she's an assassin come for me? Bah! Look at her, then! I bet that body could conceal... nary but two knives at most. And this must be true, for those folds on her legs..." Ocellus coughed, his face contorted into something of worry, "She is armed, and she doesn't want anyone to know she's armed. Dangerous, dangerous. What a game I play, eh?")

"Well... these all look all fine and good to me, but there's nothing up there that's quite as interesting as what's down--are you all right?" The woman was having conniptions! No, wait--she's not. But he saw... those were eyes that couldn't be humanoid. No elf, no human could have had those... and for a moment at least she almost seemed animalian. Ocellus pressed on regardless of his trepidation of the woman, because after all it wouldn't matter much anyways whether she killed him or not. It was bound to be some woman eventually (though he suspected that woman from Hyre would have done him in, with all that drama and whatnot).

He proffered a canteen of water and handed it to the elf, his brows knit with calculated concern: "You all right, darlin'?" These words are spoken lightheartedly and with a smile, but they lack the seductive, arrogant tone of before.

Nyrdis knocked on the back door hard because of all of the racket that the dragon had made. "I wonder what brought one of the Great Wyrms to this area?", he mused. Shaking his head, he knocked again, this time wrapping on the skull of the man who opened the door.

"Whayadda want?", the man growled. "I have this side of hart to sell, or perhaps trade for lodging and meals." I am an excellent hunter, and can provide meat to the Inn."

"Okay, you'll do.", the man growled. "I'm Sid, the cook." he said. " Come and look for me in the morning. "If not me, then Miss Veda."

Nydris hung the meat on a hook. "Thank you, Master Sid.", he said as he moved through the doors to the Great Room.

"Oh, no. Either or is quite fine by me, Miss Veda. As they are both my name."
Scarper maintained his smile, softly chuckling.
"Whichever you prefer to address me by, it is quite alright."
When Veda explained the reason as to his earlier confusion, Scarper's smile faded slightly.
"Oh, dear. I am sorry to hear about your loss, it sounds to me that you were quite close to him. May his soul rest peacefully in the afterlife."
Her head hanging low, Scarper noticed her tearing up and immediately reached into his vest to pull out a cloth for her to wipe her eyes with. However, she beat him to it. Her spirits returning to her rather quickly.
"Poor woman." thought Scarper.
Never having known loss himself, he could only sympathize with her.
Still, she demonstrated a strength of character which Scarper could only admire. He found those that showed the will to carry on with heads held high, regardless of the tragedies that occurred within their lives, to be worthy of praise and commendation.

With the shattering sound of glass, Scarper found himself pulled from his thoughts by the uncomfortable feeling of liquid spattering against his pant's leg. Blinking, he looked down at the floor of inn and saw the tragic casualty in broken shards and pieces. Drink pooling outward and creeping against his dress shoes.

"Oh, bother."

Kneeling down to help Veda, he picked up the larger shards.
"No, no. It is quite alright, Miss Veda. It is only clothing, merely a material object that holds no significance. Besides, I can always launder them later."
Ever smiling, he looked up as their eyes met.
Wiping at his shoes and pants leg, he made one last passing comment.
"We are all imperfect creatures. Mistakes can be made."
Montmorency said, his tone a little odd and sounding slightly out of place for one reason or another.
But, it was nothing of import.
Straining slightly, the two of them finished cleaning the mess in short order and Montmorency stood, leaning on his cane for assistance.

"Yes, I do hope we meet again. I do intend on staying here for a little while at least, however I will need a bit of clarification and explanation as to the 'rules' if you would not mind later. As I have only learned of this wonderful place by word of mouth, there are still a few areas to which I am a bit unclear on. For instance, where might the rooms be?"
Grabbing at his chin, he tapped at it as he looked around.
As it stood, he isn't very "directionally-inclined" as he liked to put it.
Turning just in time to be distracted by yet another curious bar patron, or....did it work here?
Staring at the glowing and floating suit of armor, Scarper leaned in as it even spoke to him!
"Oh, my. Hello there. No, no. You are quite alright, no unpleasant surprises here. But how curious, who might you be?"
Without thinking of it, Scarper lifted his cane in hand and gently tapped at the levitating armor with its end. Listening to the tink-tink ringing sound as if to confirm it was indeed a suit of armor.
If it wasn't for him knowing what a magical and fantastical world he lived in, he would be positive he had lost his mind and grip on reality years ago.

But, Scarper's conversation with the floating suit of armor would have to wait.
As that moment a large and fearsome set of eyes appeared within the bar and glared at him.
"Oh, dear. It seems I have gotten a bit distracted."
Scarper thought as he stared back at those fiery eyes, adjusting his cravat.
Turning back to Veda, faint smile still gracing his visage, he tapped his cane twice against the wood floor.
Once.
Twice.
"It seems your guest is getting a little impatient. Best get a move on, Miss Veda."
He would definitely have to stick around here a little longer, turning to the fascinating suit of armor once more.

Now halfway through her second mug of mead, Elin was feeling a little more open to conversation. The man in the bowler hat was currently conversing with a curious armored man that crackled with blue electricity as he moved. How strange, Elin thought, frowning. His aura. It almost reminds me of—

A grin stretched over Elin’s face as she realized that the occupant inside the suit was none other than a lightning elemental. Elin had met a few of them already, and they, like sylphs, tended to either stay in the sky and float around with the other spirits of weather or come down to earth and enjoy a pseudo-humanity like Elin herself. An air of superiority tended to float about the spirits that chose to remain ‘connected to nature’ and it repelled Elin even more than the prospect of spending a day or two as a idle breeze.

As she thought about it, Elin realized that it’d been too long since she’d conversed with another about the dull life in the skies. She had been feeling like blowing some steam about the last sylph she’d met while traveling—unapologetically rude and openly judgemental about her choices. She couldn’t even get rid of him until he left willingly since he stayed in his incorporeal form. Why couldn’t they just have a little respect and mind their own business? You don’t see me going around and complaining about how they live… Er, you do, but that’s beside the point.

Rising from her seat at the bar, Elin made her way over to the fellow weather spirit. “Hello—lightning elemental, right?” Elin asked, introducing herself offering a grin instead of a hand. She knew better than to hold out her hand to an unacquainted lightning conductor. “So, what brings you down from the ‘heavens?’ How long you been around here?”

---

@RedXCross

---

There really is no limit to the craziness surrounding this place, Vesper thought as a glowing eye emerged behind him. He was just running the mop across the floor and nearly dropped it as the voice boomed through the bar. Quickly, he turned back to Scarper.

”Pleasure to meet you, sir. My name’s Vesper. I’ve been running some odd jobs around here for a couple months now.” he stated brightly.

Vesper would’ve smiled had he a mouth of some kind, but his plasmatic body was still a little bit unusual even to himself. It had taken awhile to control the electricity surging from his body and keep it from severely harming those around him. Shaping the form was still a little beyond him. Having the armor helped to keep it in a humanoid form for the most part (though he still didn’t have legs. He didn’t really see a point in them). Instead, he’d last with just a pair of emotion-charged eyes on his electrically charged body.

The eye’s command seemed to grab Scarper’s attention, so Vesper quietly floated backwards to leave him be, and right before he could take off he heard another voice from behind him.

“Hello—lightning elemental, right?” the voice announced, and immediately Vesper spun back around, keeping the mop close so as to not whack someone with soaked, wet material. Vesper’s eyes widened upon seeing the image of a mostly-human woman with longer hair. The way she stared at him and the questions she asked quickly triggered the idea in his mind that she likely wasn’t human at all.

“The ‘heavens’? I don’t – oh…” Vesper sighed.

This wasn’t the first time he’d run into this situation. It was natural to assume that he was a lightning elemental like every other. He’d heard other airborne species discussing the likes of weather elementals in the skies and the time they spend controlling the natural elements.

His eyes cast a forlorn glow as the entirety of his body seemed to dim ever so slightly.

No. He wasn’t like them.

“I’ve never been in the skies, unfortunately. I’m not… I – I am not an elemental in the ‘natural’ sense, if you know what I mean…"

Thoughts flashed of magic energies and catalysts forging a form from nature. Of unnatural forces shaping lightning.

He thought of That Mage again with a sharp spark of electricity within himself.

Then his eyes perked up again, and luminescence returned to his body, Anyhow, you’re some type of nature-being too, then, right? A sylph, maybe?” he said, “I didn’t recognize it right away, but there’s a bit of ‘wispy-ness’ to you. You look quite… human."

@Dusksong

"Yes, I'm fine... I just... I feel like there was a voice that screamed... No that's not the word for it... I needed to sit down for a second. I'm sorry, just give me a moment to recover. Thank you." She said as she tried to steady herself in the chair and took the flask.

Allara was still dazed. She'd come to her senses enough to realize that everyone in the inn had also heard that voice, but she must have heard it a dozen times louder. She felt like a physical blow to her temple had been connected, like that time one of her marks got rough with her. What in the Hells was that?

Trying to focus, she clung to the paper and the canteen as if they would stop the ringing in her head. She focused on one word at a time. Reading had always been a favorite hobby of hers, and she was scrambling for something familiar to bring her back into lucidity. It was a job for hunting. A hunter's guild was recruiting more people to keep up with the growing demand for fresh meat, as well as to keep the animal populations in check. Bears and wolves were getting more aggressive due to remote villages expanding too quickly into their hunting territory as well as an influx of prey animals.

After reading the whole thing faster than most people would have taken to read the first few lines, she started breathing more normally and raised the canteen to her lips. She froze, realizing she had no idea if this man had drugged the liquid inside. She'd fallen for that trick before, and was not about to do so again.

Instead of taking a sip, she sniffed the bottle and couldn't tell if anything had been added, so she handed the canteen back to the man who had offered it. "Forgive me, but I've been taken in by someone I thought was trustworthy before, and you know what they say about those once bitten. I'll get myself a drink, instead. I'm sure you understand, Sir... I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name?"