op2024
Noctis
Arty Fox
wintersoldier
Damycles
Lildear18
Fetzen
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Kathryn Pyke Human, Fighter (Rune Knight), Level 05HP: 39 / 49 Armor Class: 19 Conditions: N/A Location: Vineyard Couch House Action: Drinking Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A |  |
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So far Kathryn's time at the Couch House was everything she could dream of and more! Shy of some misgivings on her own part on not thinking before she spoke. Otherwise, this place was something special and AMAZING! Plenty to drink, plenty to do, and it felt so... homely. What else could a woman ask for? She was with people she respected, liked, and welcomed. People she was beginning to trust. For the winter at least, she felt at home. And considering Kathryn had no plan for winter a couple weeks ago other then drown her worries and sorrows in cheap tavern beer, she figured it was a pretty good start to her life on her own. Even if she drank some of the wine a little faster than she was supposed too. To help improve the evening, Kosara had even gotten her a gift! So she had received a gift from her friend, and they now had a set of matching friendship rings! Kathryn couldn't get much happier than she was right now.
Kathryn took her little hammer trinket in her free hand, while her other hand held closed the heavy bedding around herself. "Oh my gods Kosara! This is so thoughtful! Thank you so much!" Kathryn said excitedly before placing the necklace around her neck. Tucking it into the bedding she was wrapping up in so she wouldn't accidentally tug it off. Despite finally being comfortable enough to not wear her armor in a social environment, she still found herself wrapped up tightly with her sleeping bag turned makeshift robe. Not that it was a good robe, but it made her feel safer. "I love it so much Kosara! Thank you." Kathryn said with the warmest smile on her face.
With her hand free again, she turned it back to the bottle of wine. Which after another good few swigs found itself nearly empty. Something that V, did not seem to appreciate the taller woman doing. It almost through Kathryn off hearing herself being called Daughter of Arcanaple. It almost felt as if V was a lot more familiar with her past then she was letting on? Though, the bard did offer Kathryn some local Ale. "I may take you up on that V, but I am intrigued where you are going with this." Kathryn said leaning over her seat and watching Victoria closely. Kathryn listened closely as the bard listed off the extraordinary details of the wine. Details Kathryn herself never would have been able to guess, let alone discern from the taste alone. She was rather wide eyed in amazement listening to the smaller woman explain not only the likely ingredients, but the season it was made, even going to far as to determine what barrel it was aged in. "Wow. Uh... Wow." Kathryn said amazed listening to V talk. It sounded so familiar to her. She almost had to take a moment to decipher why. But a moment of thought, and it clicked. "Just then, right now, you sounded so much like my father. The way you were able to pull up those details and explain them? I swear if your voice was a few octaves deeper I would have mistaken you for him." Kathryn smiled thinking just how much more of a noble woman Victoria appeared to be than Kathryn herself was. "Are you sure you're not from nobility? You'd pass pretty well yeah?" She asked curiously.
Kathryn's face went red when Kosara started asking about the baker woman from her home she had a crush on. Even redder when Kosara began talking about how it related to her siblings, and details that led Kathryn to believe that Kosara's home had a little more going on than just a way point in the desert. Funny enough, had Ser Lucas decided to take a different way to flee Arcanaple, and took another one of his more extended stops, Kathryn wondered if she and Kosara would have met sooner than they did. As Kosara's home sounded very much like the sort of place that Ser Lucas would like to call home for a few jobs at a time. The awkward part, came when Kathryn was put on the spot by Kosara about the details of her crush on the baker woman, and the reasons it was forbade. She didn't want to outright refuse an answer, as Kosara had always been rather kind to her. But also she wasn't sure the best way to give the most appropriate answer with Lizbeth in the room, and with how Kosara seemed to be stuck in an even younger mindset, with Kosara in the room too. "Well uh... there were a lot of reasons." Kathryn eventually spoke up.
Looking at the remaining wine in the bottle, she gave V an apologetically look, before downing the rest. Needed the emotional strength to pick her next words carefully. "So yes, it was one of those... Kissing crushes. And being too young for those relationships was definitely one reason. Another reason being my parents were in charge of her. There's no way a relationship like that would be appropriate. But related to that, my family was a relatively young noble household. We could not afford to marry below our station, for fear of our noble name being lost to obscurity. And she was a common woman. On top of that, I was to be betrothed with someone I could one day produce an heir to. If not for my household, then for another that would form close ties to us. I was forbidden to even think of a relationship with another woman until that matter was settled. And she'd still have to be of equal or greater station than myself." Kathryn went to take another sip of the wine, realizing part of the motion in she had already finished the bottle. She would need more booze. Like now. "Not that it matters much now anyways huh? I went from heir to a frontier castle, with strong ties to the homeland, with the chance to have children with comparable ranks to Barons with the connections we made, to not having anything but the clothes on me back. In terms of home culture my homeland views me as less valuable than a sell sword knight." Kathryn chuckled, though there was a spiteful undertone to it. "On the plus side, means I can pretty much marry whoever I want now huh? Titles don't mean much when you don't have the funds or connections to back them up." Though Kathryn tensed for a moment, she quickly relaxed. Some of those emotions were more raw than she thought, likely having to face them for real since Ser Lucas passed. "Oh well, I get to travel the world and meet some of the coolest people yeah?!" Kathryn said excitedly as she looked upon her party and company.
She'd be lying if she said she didn't miss home. Which, made her want to drink more. Looking at the empty bottle she downed like a lite beer, she paused looking at the label. It was... vaguely familiar. She mumbled some elvish as she squinted looking at the label, even though it was printed in common. "I wonder..." Kathryn stood up in a hurry making her way around and behind the bar. "'Scuse me lizbeth. Gotta find something real fast." Kathryn began looking through some of the bottles of wine all about behind the bar. She paused when she pulled out a white wine from behind several other bottles. "No fucking way!" Kathryn exclaimed as she lifted the bottle. And again, she began speaking in elvish, despite the bottle being in common. Rather fluid elvish. "Traditional Mountain Elk Malvasia" Kathryn grinned like a child who had found their long lost toy. Quickly grabbing the bottle with the hand that was originally holding the blanket robe closed, and grabbing the sealed cork with her hand before ripping it off with her bare hand. She then took a few drinking glasses for herself, Victoria, and anyone else who wanted some, placing them in front of V. "I don't know if the label changes language in shipping or if it is originally printed in elvish, but by the time it makes it to Arcanaple, the print is in Elvish. Likely due to the number of high lords who are elvish. But my father would go out of his way to get a couple glasses of this whenever we visited a major city." She then began pouring the wine. Trying for the one third glass like V did, but getting closer to half.
"Father said he loved this wine, and he would sometimes let me have a sip. But that he could never justify the cost to have it shipped home. So we only had some when we visited port towns or major cities. And sometimes he would take some home with us when we were done with business." She didn't have a ton of great memories of her father. Much of her time with his was about the duty she had to fulfill as the eldest daughter. And much about being the tough parent to make sure she was ready to take on the world when her time came. She wished she listened more, and wished she had more time to learn. She wished she could remember more of the happier memories. "Come on, lets give it a try. The high ladies of the party." Kathryn said setting down the bottle and picking up her glass. She imagined she didn't look too classy dressed in a glorified blanket, a bit of helmet hair, and being so unnaturally tall that she always struggled with being lady like.
Kathryn then took a small sip, much like the one Victoria took moments ago, and repeated the intake of breath. She had to admit, it did taste far better like this. She guessed she could see why V was so disappointed in her for how she downed the last bottle. "Yeah it's definitely better like this." Kathryn smiled while sighing in defeat. She did take another sip in an attempt to try what V did, but the more she thought on it, the harder it became to describe. "I can tell you it's a white wine, and that it is mildly sweet. But not as much as other wines I have tasted." Kathryn said before shrugging her shoulders. "Otherwise, I got nothing." She chuckled, maybe beginning to feel tipsy. She'd have to find that beer though. Sometimes a large quantity of alcohol was what a girl needed to get comfortable.