Wanderin' Wherry Tavern
It is often whispered, in the crowds that converge here, that a certain Weyrleader was asked what he wanted in the remodeling of the pub that was not so long ago given a refreshing. He muttered back over the rim of his ever-present mug, "I don't care what you do with the place, just so long as there is plenty of ale." With that in mind, cask after cask of ale lines the walls of the tavern, the remodeler's idea of a jest. As they age, the casks bring a real rustic atmosphere to the pub, along with the deeply wooden flavor that seems to be the theme throughout.
The lighting is dim, as it should be in all good pubs, and the tables and chairs are plentiful. A long mahogany bar, intricately carved with runner beasts, stands vigilant duty at the head of the bar, lined with stools for those patrons that seek the bartender's company. Behind it are drinks for those not inclined toward ale, as well as a door leading to the small kitchen where snacks are made and a back room that probably holds yet more ale.
Forget +today, it's drunk. Like most of the denizens of the Wherry this fine evening — this fine ROWDY evening. Taeli's been here for all of two seconds and the lean huntress is currently elbowing her way through the crowds with the assured nature of a young woman very well-versed in making her way through masses of humanity. She FINALLY gets to the bar and yells over the din at the bartender, "I'LL TAKE AN ALE!" (not that anyone would ever order ale in this place, ever, like, at all.)
How the heck did Rhodelia get here? Oh yeah, she found a rider, bartered some how and yeah… ended up at a bar. Not just at a bar, but behind it. The four overfilled mugs she's dispersing to a group of riders slosh only a slight bit as the overwhelmed young woman is handing them off. She doesn't even get time to whip off her rag to wipe the mess up before someone's calling for an ale. Rhody takes a few steps over towards the other woman, empty glass in her hand and blinks. "What type?"
One very rumpled looking green rider comes to join the crowd in the tavern, and he looks ready to get /drank/. What does one mean by rumpled? His hair is a bit messy, his long sleeve-shirt that's been rolled up to the elbows is wrinkled, and his shorts are of similar fashion. There's a tired look on his face as he slips through the crowd, eventually finding his way to the bar and raising an arm in Rhoedelia's direction. "Whiskey, when you get the chance!" He's in no rush. No, he plans to be here for a very large portion of tonight. Irseth will make sure he eventually gets back ok!
"The cheap type!" Taeli calls back to Rhodelia, her enthusiasm as infectious as her broad, shit-eating grin. "Put it on his tab!" she echoes on the heels of G'in's order, beaming up at him with all the sweet backwood bumpkin girl grace she has. There's a lot of it. Her puppy-dog-eyes face would work better if she had brown eyes instead of blue eyes, but hey, she's working it.
While she's waiting on further clarification of just what type of ale Taeli might want, Rhodelia slides on down and pours a generous measure of whiskey into a glass, sorry no rocks tonight. Whiskey is at least one thing she knows where it is, and there's only one type that she's found at least. "Here you go." There's no sloshing of the whiskey as it's passed over. The serving wasn't that generous. The cheap type doesn't really help Rhody as she's still blinking. "We have three types. Well four if you count barley wine which is technically an ale even though it's called a wine…"
"/My/ tab?" G'in's dark eyes shift over in Taeli's direction and he considers her for a moment with crooked eyebrow. As the glass of whiskey is slid over he gives a nod of thanks. Glass resting neatly in hand, he raises it to his lips while considering Taeli and those puppy eyes. "Alright…but just /one/," he pauses before continuing the second half of his sentence, which is meant for Rhodelia, "and if I have to pay for it get her something good." Because one has to properly enjoy alcohol, especially if it's obtained from strangers. As for now…talking will need to pause because he needs a nice long sip of his drink.
IT WORKED! Taeli's face blossoms into an even BIGGER grin when G'in acknowledges he's getting her first round, and the blonde bounces across the intervening space to throw her arms around him in a brief hug. "Thank you!" and it really feels like a kid who has just hugged her uncle for a bonus present after travelling than some young lady who just hit up some anonymous dude stranger at a bar for a drink. "Something good! Whatever you think." Now she's leaning against the bar with all the eagerness of that puppy nature of hers, big eyes totally affixed (with 110% levels of trust) on Rhodelia and her ability to pick a v. tasty ale.
Oh, the pressure!!! Eventually Rhodelia will get over that 'runner that just spotted a dragon that may or may not be liking his chops' look, but not tonight. She does turn around and return with a mug filled with something amber colored and frothy. It might not be a full pale ale, but it's pale-ish, definitely. "Here you go." There's a brief moment where she's eyeing G'in and the woman as nobody else is hounding for attention at the moment (miraculously). "Do you two uhhh, know each other?"
It's a good thing G'in has a tight grip on his glass because there's a blink of surprise when arms are suddenly thrown around him. "You're quite welcome!" His words are followed by a chuckle and he'll attempt to give her a quick pat on the head, in uncle-like fashion! It must have been a /very/ hard day at work if he's just buying drinks for strange girls in the bar. That and he probably has the next day off. It's only when Rhodelia poses a question that it occurs to G'in that he should /probably/ introduce himself. "Not at all…but isn't that what bars are for?" There's a grin on his lips before he tilts his head curiously in her direction. "Though I don't think we've met either, is this a new job?" Though to be fair, he doesn't /really/ know the bartenders so she could have been doing this job for ages and he wouldn't have a clue. But RIGHT, names! "G'in." Which is what he should /probably/ be drinking but instead he sips some more whiskey.
"Wait, like the drink?" Taeli takes her own drink and pauses, owlishly looking back at G'in like this is possibly the coolest thing she's ever heard in her whole (short) life. "Thank you!" she says to Rhodelia, bright as ever in her deep fisherfolk dialect, before finally hopping up onto a barstool. She enjoys a mouthful of ale, wipes off the foam mustache with the back of her hand, and attentively looks back and forth between the two. "I know him now!" she reports cheerfully. "His name is G'in!" Then, in lower sotto voice: "Is that the coolest name you've ever heard or what?" to Rhodelia particularly.
"I'm Rhody and yeah, I don't think we met. Unless you were in here about four hours ago…" Rhodelia gives a bit of a shrug. And the lull may have been too brief to really call a lull, it's nevertheless over. It's like the mere mention of the greenrider's name inspired folks, like the fajita effect, but with words and not smells. She disappears as she ducks under the counter searching but after a clunk and an OOOOFH, she comes up rubbing at the back of her head. "I don't have any tonic water. You can have gin and gin or gin and regular water…" Unsurprisingly Drunky McDrunkers opts for the gin and gin. She raises an eyebrow at Taeli's exhuberance. "It sounds more like someone asked his mom to name a kid and she thought they were asking for her drink order." And then there's a hasty glance to the owner of said name not two feet away and a hasty "No offense…" is tacked on.
"Exactly like the drink, and now that you two have made the connection…well, I'll have to live up to my name, won't I?" Perhaps by the end of the night his blood will be replaced with alcohol itself. It /should/ be if he wants to live up to his name. And speaking of names, "I don't think I caught your introduction though…" This for Taeli before his attention switches back to Rhodelia. A slight wince follows her head injury but that's soon followed by a loud laugh. "You'd have to take that up with Irseth, I think she may have picked it because it amused her." One can never be sure though. Speaking of names and alcohol, it seems that his glass is /already/ empty and he slides it closer towards Rhody. He'll let the rush pass somewhat before he really draws attention to it. "You can fill it up all the way, just charge accordingly." That way he doesn't have to refill so often. Don't worry, he'll have to finish at least another half-glass before he gets a nice buzz.
"Rhody. Well-met. I'm Taeli," the eponymous young huntress replies, with another brilliant flashing smile. "No, I was pluckin' wherries four hours ago, but this may have been the smarter choice. It's gettin' warm again. They're smelly if you don't field dress them like, A-S-A-P. Have you ever accidentally punctured the gut-sac of a bloated too-long dead wherry? The intestinal juices go EVERYWHERE. It smells like an outhouse and a slaughterhouse had a baby and then abandoned it in the woods for like, you know, I don't know, maybe a week? Or two?" Her cute button nose scrunches all up. "Whichever. All I can say is that it takes that long to wash it out of your hair!" Why does she sound so HAPPY? Thankfully for anyone in earshot, her rambling diatribe on burst intestinal properties of dead wherries terminates with her next long draw of ale.
If it were Taeli's plan to make sure that super smelly guy didn't take the seat next to her… the plan worked perfectly!!! The man going for the stool next to her makes an abrupt veer towards an empty booth instead. Hopefully those booth walls can do something about that serious case of B.O. "I can't say I've ever done that…" And she looks a bit green just thinking about it. Rhodelia then shrugs as G'in passes over the empty glass and its back to work. "You only have to live up to it if you want to. You could even pick a brand new name if you wanted… I guess. Maybe your dragon would have to agree?" She has no idea how this works however, she does know how to feel a glass and the greenrider's is filled and returned with more whiskey, no gin for G'in at the moment.
G'in just….stares. His dark eyes simply watch the rambling huntress and he really /can't/ hide the expression of disgust on his face. To be fair, he's also not trying to hide that expression from his face. "Faranth…" He doesn't exactly look nauseous, but now he definitely /needs/ another drink. There's a thankful look towards Rhody when his glass is filled and he takes a couple gulps now. "There's a reason I'm a mind healer and not….well, not any other kind." Cue a shudder and another sip. "I /do/ want to live up to that name tonight though. I'd do it on most nights if I could." But alas, there are things like duties he has to tend to. "Trying to convince Irseth to change my name would be like trying to tell her she can't swim anymore." Impossible! Not that she could know that. There /is/ a hint of fondness in his voice as he talks about his life mate though.
Taeli is GREAT at making new friends! Right? "Wait. Could you change your name if you wanted? Like, would you have to convince your lifemate? You do have a lifemate, right? Is Rhody right? Would you have to like… lay forth an argument and prove your side?" Taeli eagerly scoots toward the edge of her barstool's seat, attentiveness flipping between Rhody and G'in. She is as oblivious as ever to the impact of her favorite stories. Don't get her started on the brain splatter one, that could maybe do some permanent damage to the current crowd. "Wait, so you couldn't?" She looks vaguely disappointed in this, her attention flipping back to the bartender as if seeking validation that only Rhodelia can provide.
Rhodelia raises her hand in that old faithful don't look at me signal. "I don't know about riders, but you could probably change your name. Not like the wherries were using it." As for G'in and his own name, "Well, I'll give you some gin if you're still wanting to live up to it after that glass." If he really wanted to double fist drinks, she could probably be convinced but for now, her attention falls on someone else in the crowd and she shifts awkwardly to put the other two between her and whoever the newcomer might be. "I think I need to go take some stock now… We might be out of… olives. Can't be out of olives. Byyyyy-eee!" With a wave and a flutter of that bar rag, Rhody is out of there.
"Uh….probably not?" G'in laughs quietly at all of Taeli's eagerness and shakes his head. "At least, not with her. And yeah, she's my lifemate. Course, I don't know if there /are/ dragons out there that decide they need to change their rider's name every turn." There /could/ be though, who knows, right? There's a glance towards the huntress' glass now, as if trying to judge how much she's had and whether this is her natural state or whether she's already tipsy. Either way, it's certainly amusing now that guts aren't involved! As for living up to his name, there's a wide grin for Rhodelia and a swift nod, "I'll take you up on that….after you get back from stocking up on olives." Poor girl. He's not trying to be unkind, but he does look somewhat amused by the whole thing.