Unusual company (open) (continuation of 'the usual hunt')

At the far side of the tavern she danced. the bells and thin pieces of metal that adorned her ankles jingling with every step, fabric twirled around her as she span around following the choreography of a dance she learned far to the east of this northern city. Her hair was loose today and it flowed around her settling around her shoulders every time she slowed her movements. She could lose herself in this dance, she had done it many times before, but the draft of cold from the tavern door opening and closing kept her consciousness fixated in reality.

The door had opened again, a man in black entered the tavern followed by a kinto with lavender fur. "lavender?" she thought to herself "that is an odd fur colour."

continuing her dance, she kept the two in the corner of her eye. watching as the kinto left and returned in a human form. "female, hmm"

smiling brightly she finished her dance with a flourish and bowed to the crowd that had been watching her, telling the men that she would perform again after a cool drink she headed to the bar and looked around her. Kinto, elves, dwarves and humans all seemed to all be at peace with each other in this place.

something about the black man was bugging her. he kept his face covered, and his movements were that of a trained killer, yet the kinto woman seemed young and an odd contrast to her companion. "oh well!" she though to herself and smiling, it was time to plan what she would do next, sing? or dance? choices!

Pleased he didnt argue she walked over to the counter. "bar-keep! two hot cider please" as she leaned on the counter getting her coin ready, her action drawn to a very graceful figure dancing to the music. she couldnt quite tell who she was, but she certainly brought in the crowd. her attention snapped forward as she heard mugs being set down. she passed her proper coin, and walked over to Fallen, a mug in eat hand.
"here you are Fallen, hot cider fresh from the counter." she placed it gently infront of him, steam and aroma floated near his face. ashen took her seat holding onto the mug to warm her hands. "oh boy sure feels good to be inside. can probably take this off" Ashen begins to remove her cloak. thank the gods above she didnt have her wings in this form..."so, where do we start?" she glanced toward him sheepishly, to see if he even took a sip of his cider yet.

After his earlier passing through town square, Gaulwin had decided to actually head to the tavern after all. And to be quite frank... he had lost track of how long he had been in there. He was slumped in a chair, fatigued and with a heavy head, listening to the rhythmic sounds of a female dancer across the room. Empty steins scattered the table he occupied, thankfully not all of them his, though he admitted to himself that he drank his limit for the day. He was quite the lightweight, as any alcohol intake he experienced wound up with him letting out his sad and pathetic, trivial problems to complete strangers. Earlier he had blubbered to a dwarf about how he missed his mentor, Charlotte, which led to him leaning forward and sobbing into the man's filthy beard. Gaulwin's blush spread from his cheeks outward at the memory - for public crying wasn't the worst part of what had happened - it was the fact that that dwarf in particular was one that had knocked him to the ground in town square that day.  

Suddenly, a rush of cold air flew through the building, and two individuals walked in. Gaulwin calmly turned to see who had entered from the hellish cold, and his jaw dropped in bewilderment. No. No. It's the person from the alley. Oh, god. Did he follow me? No, that's ridiculous, right? There's no way. He's not even looking this way... he consoled himself, rocking forward slightly to calm his shakiness until the dread in his heart passed. The liquid courage that filled his stomach caused him to stare without shame. Gaulwin's eyes traced the black-clad man, who appeared to be a walking shadow. He attempted to find some eyes in that face of his, but... wait, did he even have a face? Gaulwin made an overly puzzled expression and rubbed his eyes. "What did I even drink... that must be it, I'm seeing things." When he looked back to the table that the shadow man sat at, he finally noticed a beautifully colored kinto, some sort of feline. He murmured under his breath and shook his head, focusing back on the dancer for the time being, stealing glances towards the other table once and a while. The kinto had taken her human form, equally as intriguing with lovely lavender hair, and had sat down with the shadow man as if it were an ordinary, everyday meeting. He let out a yawn, but refused to let his tired state wear him down. He could finally observe the strange man and his acquaintance with minimal amounts of that heavy fear he once felt. 

He smirked sheepishly. Perhaps being a young and pathetic drunk goat had its perks right at this moment.

When the mug was placed in front of him he quickly wrapped his fingers around it, the warmth penetrating his frozen skin. He looked up at the woman for a moment and regarded her. Did he trust her? No. He didn't trust anyone. But was she a threat? No....he didn't think she was. He furrowed his brow in indecision for a moment before finally reaching up and pulling his scarf down to reveal his face. The number of people who had seen his face and lived he could count on his hands. This was probably because he had no friends or even friendly relations. When he was interacting with people it was normally receive his job and or to receive a payment. This was...this was new ground for him.



Head low so the rest of the room couldn't glimpse him, he took a sip of the drink before looking up at the woman. "Tell me about this town. About the people here. The good the bad and particularly the ugly." It was always difficult in a new town. Since he didn't know anyone he always had a hard time finding his first job and usually had to do a lot of eavesdropping. Hopefully it would be easier if he could be told outright.

"hm." His mouth tugged into a tiny smile before his expression turned emotionless once more. "You're right, I'm looking for work. There's only so much someone with my abilities can do to earn a living." Particularly when such a person is on the run.

Contemplating what she said his mind raced. Tyrants, different cultures; two things that usually created at least a couple jobs. Noticing the anger burning in Ashens eyes he thought about offering her his services but instead stayed silent. After so many years he learned to pick out the people who would be tempted to hire him. She was not such a person.

He was just about to raise the mug to his lips when her last question caused him to stop. Brows furrowing, he set it back down on the table. "Demons? They are but lore and legend." Even though he did not grow up alongside his kin the stories did not fail to reach his ears. Stories and myths of dark elves long ago that actually managed to summon demons, binding them to their will. But those stories were just that....weren't they?

Then again. He had seen much in his life. He shouldn't be to quick to disbelieve.

The drow stared at the kinto skeptically. It wasn't that he didn't think she was telling the truth....but it's always hard to believe fairy tales when you learn they're true. Mouth turning down in a frown he took a sip of the cider. At least his fingers were warm now, the frost that had ran through his blood and covered his clothing worn off.

"Then let me ask you this." His gaze shot up from his mug to Ashens face. "You say that they have what I can assume are powerful enemies, that they have killed to many people. Yet....you say they still live?" He tipped his head to the side. "Why has no one taken them down yet?" He raised a brow at her. There was always a catch. Even in the simplest of jobs there was always a catch.

At least he had confirmation that he would find work. Not that he doubted the fact.