Strangers in a Bar
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Xanadu Weyr - 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.//


NIGHT! And the spirits of life, caaaallling (OH OH EE OH). Okay, okay, wrong fandom. SHHHH. PLAYER WAS EATING AND FAT THINGS HAPPENED AND POSES WERE NOT WRITTEN AND SO HERE, HAVE PANIC META TO FILL SPACE. You're welcome. Ahem. It's night, and night means that eggs are being left to Mommy-Dragons and Daddy-Dragons so that Rider-parents-by-proxy can duck away for a drink or eight. Cue Risali, who's stepping inside of the tavern and here for a drink; Risali who side-steps the drunks in the crowd and maybe bumps into one with a between-the-teeth gritted and (very) unfriendly, "Watch where you're going," as she makes her way to the bar and sits herself there. Mostly because she fits. "Rum," she tells the 'keep around a sigh, and she waits! Grey eyes on the entrance like maybe she's expecting somebody.

Listen, there's all that panic meta up there, and then there's Captain goddamn America, er, uh, Lukas at the bar. He looks unhealthily wholesome in that incredibly healthy I'll-probably-live-a-thousand-years superhuman way. He's drinking a beer, because that's what wholesome Starcrafter lads do. Why is a Starcrafter that fit? He likes to run. Or something similarly OTT ridiculous. His smile to Risali as she seats herself next to him (so convenient) is full of white teeth and good-natured charm of the low-key respectful-to-women variety.

That somebody who Risali is expecting will be along soon enough! D'lei has been delayed, just slightly, by a chance encounter in the clearing. But never fear, D'lei is on the way! In fact… here he is now, with a nudge open of the door and a sideways step in before he surveys the bar to seek out the Risali. Who could be anywhere, but… yeah, no, she's at the bar, so that's where he heads!

Fit starcrafters and white-toothed smiles certainly do command the attention of one generally ill-tempered goldrider to Captain Lukasica (it made more sense in my head, just roll with it), but that might not be a good thing. Grey eyes shift to that thousand-years-superhuman face, focus settling on Lukas' teeth before Risali takes in that nose, and those cheeks, and - "Can I help you?" is asked on a drawl as deliberately slow as her gaze. Risa finds Lukas' eyes with her own, brows rising towards dark hair in a way that's as much a challenge as it is a warning, but she waits for his answer. Or well, she was waiting; the door is opening and the goldrider is shifting to see D'lei, leaning back in her seat with a sudden smile and one hand going up in a brief wave as if to flag him down. No words. The joy in that expression is gone almost as quickly as it's come, as Risali leans forward against the bar once more and turns her attention back to Lukas. And his drink. MAYBE SHE IS JUDGING YOU FOR BEER, as the bartender delivers her drink and she pulls it towards her. And then she's looking away, to take a drink.

Lukasica sounds like one of those really bad ED meds that would have a corny-ass commercial post-watershed TV. If you have problems being spontaneous, take Lukasica and your wife will turn into that disconcertingly hot fifty year old woman! (ps call a healer if your erection lasts over four hours) "Ma'am," he replies respectfully to Risali. With that easy camraderie of his he expounds; "Not that I can think of, unless there's something I can do for you?" manners like these just don't happen every day okay. The focus of his eyes shifts to the door, and a fan of smile lines crease at the corners of his blue eyes in silent secondary greeting for D'lei, because it's the neighborly thing to do before he takes a draw of his modest, working-class man beer.

The Risali, at the bar, with the rum! D'lei grins as he discovers her, not that he didn't expect to find her, but hey. You never know what might have happened between there and here. Lukas, well… he may be in the blast radius of the expression, but there's not anything particularly directed at him. More just incidental! But D'lei comes on over to her, moving through the crowd and making his dodge rolls instead of bumping into anyone, and slides himself onto the barstool on the other side of her with a light brush of his hand to her back along the way. "Hey," he says, with a turn on the stool to be facing toward her (and thus, past her, to Lukas) as he explains. "Just had to chase off a firelizard along the way…"

Lukasica: women probably hate it, but the men really love it (if you know what I mean). The word, 'Ma'am,' has Risali pulling lips away from her rum-filled glass, brows furrowing as she leans back in her seat just so and takes in the starcrafter once more. Grey eyes communicate something like, 'Did he really just call me ma'am? Does he want to fight?' before Risali shakes her head and pushes her rum towards him, snagging his beer so that she can hold it up in front of her own face and inspect it with a sniff. "Risali," she corrects, because clearly those manner-borne generic and weyr-wide accepted titles are offensive to the goldrider - as offensive as Lukas' drink if that expression is anything to go by. "And you can start by not drinking this." YEP. Total judgement as she pushes that beer further away from him and asks for another drink. SHE HAS MANNERS TOO. Somewhere. CUE D'LEI. And there goes every hint of tension in the goldrider, lips curling as she lifts her head to watch him walk around her to that other chair, as she leans towards him and then away with furrowed brows. "Did it have a letter?"

"Uh," Lukasica takes that glass of rum and looks briefly down at it, his good-natured blonde eyebrows furrowing together in such a heroic manner that somewhere a small band is playing Xanadu's anthem (if this isn't a thing it should be, okay? because PATRIOTISM IS LIFE) and pre-teen girls are weeping. "Risali," he corrects, holding this glass of rum and looking affably unflappable in the face of this weird freakin' woman uhmn curiously intrepid girl's actions. He lifts the goldrider's rum at D'lei in greeting. "Sir," just to make sure it's equal-opportunity greeting. When Risali's not looking at him, the Starcrafter mouths 'do you want this?' at D'lei because it's not beer and Lukas is very likely not going to drink it.

"Of course it did," D'lei answers Risali, with a crooked grin. He looks away from her, to the bar where someone could be providing him a drink, but… huh. He's being called a sir, and D'lei's brows arch as he looks back to Lukas, there past Risali. It's a perplexity, at least for a moment, and then he smiles. "I'm off duty." Which is apparently all the answer he feels he needs to give, because he's looking back to the bar - or starting to, anyhow. That's when he notices the gesture from Lukas to offer the rum, and… "Heh." He leans in toward Risali, closer to her ear and quieter. "Don't think he likes the rum." Such a spoilsport he is! But then he leans back again, with a more normal tone of voice. "More questions that I already answered twice. I think I'll need to go meet in person."

An ode to those who brave Risali, probably. It's a pretty heroic feat, to make it through one meeting with the goldrider and not walk away three seconds in. It's an even more accomplished feat to make it through without a broken face, but DETAILS. D'lei leans in, and Risali shifts closer to hear what he has to say, and then those brows are jumping up as grey eyes shift back to Lukasica. There's confusion, and then a hint of humor at the corner of her lips as she leans away from D'lei and pushes the beer back towards Lukas. "You're a beer man, then," she whispers, relatively good-natured in that teasing. "Fair enough. Here you go." One finger hooks in that glass of rum she pushed his way moments before, and she pulls it back towards herself just in time for the bartender to hand her a second one. "Should have stuck with the rum. It works faster." A beat, and, "Are you going back tonight?" Risali asks, her attention back on D'lei as she brings one of her TWO DRINKS to her lips and takes a sip, hoarding ALL THE STRONG BOOZE for herself.

D'lei, UTTER FAIL in the bro code. Lukas has a brief moment to look (obnoxiously good-natured about it all) disconcerted that D'lei's ratted him out, but all's well that ends well, as they say. Because he gets his beer back, and toasts the pair of them with the half-drank beer glass before leaning back away from the bar. It's rude to eavesdrop, and their conversation is obviously personal; the Starcrafter transfers his gaze off in the other direction, casually watching a game of darts that just MIGHT be getting heated over there. He takes a sip of beer and mentally calculates the probability that he might have to go over there and break it up.

The Risali giveth rum, and the Risali taketh away! Which, really, is probably what Lukas wanted, even if he didn't like the way it happened. Do the ends justify the means? Well… that's a question of ethics that D'lei is not going to answer tonight! "Shards, I hope not," he replies to Risali, with a shake of his head and then a casual reach out to steal her drink. Well. Her other drink. The one she isn't drinking at the moment, because even he has more sense than to try to take the glass actively in her hand and raised toward her lips. "I'll catch them tomorrow morning," D'lei says as he raises the glass of rum that's his-now. Just as he's about to sip is when a blue firelizard appears from between, a message tube in its claws and an anxious squawk in its muzzle. "Oh, for Faranth's sake," D'lei says, the glass going down slightly for the words and then being tipped up to just pour that shot down his throat before he thunks it on the bar and stands. "I," he says with a glare directed at the firelizard even as he reaches for that message tube, "will be back." After he has WORDS of a written sort, which he will stalk off to a slightly quieter spot to do. Or maybe after he hops on his dragon to shake some over-eager fool in person. Who knows? But he's gone, at least for the moment.

It is rude to eavesdrop, but it is decidedly not rude to toast people. The smile pulling at the corners of Risali's lips widens, a hint of teeth to accompany the way she dips her head and tips one glass Lukas-wards before turning her attention back to D'lei. Sip. If the bronzerider expropriating her second glass of booze bothers her, it doesn't show in her face; Risali's smiling right until that blue flit appears from between to harass, amusement faltering as Dash knocks back the entirety of his stolen concoction and stalks away to have words in whatever form with whoever it is that persists in their attempts for his attention. "Be safe," Risali breathes, hating to watch him go, but loving to watch him leave (THEM LEATHERS, THO, IF YOU KNOW WUT I MEAN). This means those grey eyes are back on Lukas, straying to the possibly-heated-enough-to-encourage-interference game of darts where they linger for one, two, three beats. "They're usually like that," Risali informs the Starcrafter then, because she might as well try to people (even if she's really awful at it). "Why don't you like rum?"

"Why?" Lukas replies, shifting his attention back to Risali with a half-smile, crooked as the day is long. "Too sweet. And I like the malt. It tastes… honest." Like this guy right here, with his honest face. The starcrafter takes a longer draw from his beer, not even attempting to finish it before shoving off his barstool. He continues the all-American look while standing, smiling briefly at Risali. "Might be usually like that, but I don't like the look of it. I think I'm going to go cool them down." He lifts a hand and says, "Have a good evening, ma'am," before heading over to the darts. Hopefully he doesn't get darted on the back of his head from calling Risali ma'am again!


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