[OPEN] Rocky Road to ̶D̶u̶b̶l̶i̶n̶ Solvunn

[aquaveiled]

WHO: Anyone in Solvunn!
WHAT: Mingle and information sharing for all the Summoned in the Communes
WHEN: December 9th, evening
WHERE: "The Drunken Lamb", the local tavern

[ ooc; This is an open log so feel free to jump in and make your own top-levels! You do not need to have spoken with or met Himeka to attend, she's been making it a point to spread the word around. ]




If walls could talk, these certainly would. The Drunken Lamb, an old staple in the Primary Settlement is where many go to relax and chat after a long day's work. As the season turns from fall the winter, sun setting earlier and earlier, the tavern herself gets more and more packed with those looking for a little respite from the new chill in the air. A cup of locally brewed ale and good conversation are a great way to pass the evening and some nights get livelier with heated arguments over local produce and game, and friendly contests over mead and cards.

Everyone is welcome at The Drunken Lamb, and that includes the Summoned!

Himeka has made herself quite at home there and as such it should be no surprise to those that do know her that she would pick such a place for a gathering. Anyone who has been in Solvunn for some time would get a personal invite, but the newer arrivals and those she does not will either hear from her directly should they bump into one another or by word of mouth that the Summoned in Solvunn are, well...being summoned again but for a less greater cause. (Or is it more...greater? Beer and bread is a very great cause if you ask her.)

"Be sure to stop by The Drunken Lamb on the eve of the 9th! Especially if you're new in town. Food isn't exactly on the house but it's worth the coin."

Or so they'll hear.

And on the night of the 9th, the atmosphere will be just as warm as it always is, stone walls lit by torches and candles. Everyone is welcomed by the local tavern owner standing behind the counter. You're free to grab a drink or order dinner right away should you like, but if you want to meet up right away, you get a nod towards the back of the tavern to the tables by the stairs where your fellow Summoned wait.

This is the perfect time to meet your fellow Summoned, especially if you have newly arrived. But there are always drinking games going about as well as hearty sing-alongs when the mood is right and the occasional arm-wrestling contest with the locals. Of course, this is prime time to glean information from the more established guests.

Oh, and there is an old ewe who hangs out by the front door, either outside or inside depending on the weather. Her name is Myrtle and if she spits on you it's considered good luck.

Comments

Link | Legend of Zelda: BotW | ota!

[hylife]

Link doesn't visit taverns often. He prefers to cook for himself, or else gratefully accept the frequent invitations for dinner he receives from villagers who have come to know him over time. When his head barely clears the height of the counter, there isn't a barkeep in Solvunn who would sell this baby-faced Hylian a pint of beer anyway.

He makes it a point to be in Primary for this gathering, however.

He does order dinner first, on the very tips of his toes, and then carries a plate of bread and cheese and an enormous joint of meat back towards the tables indicated - along with a big frothy stein of... fresh milk. Link's dress and his relaxed demeanor are fairly clear indications that he has been here for awhile, so chat him up if you can ever catch him without his mouth full.

The singing and merry-making from the village people make Link smile into his mug of milk, but he doesn't participate. The arm wrestling contests, on the other hand? Count him in! He breezes through several local challengers, burly men who made the understandable mistake of underestimating him based on his size, who all get their arms unceremoniously slammed into the table in under a minute. Fortunately, there is something so blessedly earnest about this boy's whooping enthusiasm for every victory that makes even the drunkest and most boisterous of men laugh off their defeat.

He's rubbing his shoulder and winding his arm when he makes eye contact with you, his brows perking in interest. Are you the next challenger??

After a night of more socialization than Link has had to endure for a literal century, he is thoroughly wiped out. As the party winds down and the tavern gradually empties, find him curled up against the good sheep Myrtle, dozing off into her stinky fleece.

a challenger appears

[aquaveiled]

[ Oh Link, there is absolutely no way you can look at Himeka like that and not expect her to take you up on the challenge. She may also be a little buzzed too which definitely helps the confidence.

Himeka rolls up her sleeves, settling in the seat across from him. ]

Don't think that I'll go easy on you just because we had a moment at the hot springs.

[ That sounds like something it absolutely isn't. ]

🔥

[hylife]

[ Innuendo which flies completely over Link's head, just as soundly as his elbow hits the table to meet her challenge. His face is serious, but there is an eager glint in his eye that betrays a hint of juvenile excitement at finally having a 'worthy' opponent.

He already knows Himeka is powerful, but is she strong? ]

Are you trying to distract me?

snoozin'

[homeostatic]

( The kid's been hard to miss all evening, knee high to a grasshopper and utterly decimating other men at arm wrestling, grinning over his milk with infectious glee. He seemed to vanish as things began to quiet, until Bones too filtered out, pulling his hood up against the night's chill, and found him tucked into Myrtle just outside.

Leonard crouches beside him, giving his shoulder a gentle little shake, and a soft, )

Hey, kid. You got somewhere to go?

[hylife]

[ A twitch of one long, tapered ear betrays that Link is aware of Leonard's presence full seconds before he is shaken awake. His eyes crack open when he is jostled, bleary and confused as if he'd expected to be left to sleep on the sheep all night.

Myrtle is a very comfortable and accommodating sheep. Smellier than most shelters, but soft and warm. She continues to snore softly. ]

Mn.

[ Link has to take a moment to process what he is being asked. Maybe Bones is saying he isn't welcome to sleep here at the doorway of a business, which is fair.

He rises from Myrtle's fleece, yawning. ]

I can go.

Himeka Sui | The Fool | OTA

[aquaveiled]

i. an introduction of sorts

[ Appearances aside, Himeka has had little problem integrating herself within the community. Ever eager to be helpful and stay busy has lent her to being in the service of many. Though mostly through menial tasks and otherwise unnoteworthy works, it's been enough for her to become comfortable as she chats freely with the other occupants while the other Summoned arrive.

Even for those she has yet to speak with person to person, it's easy enough to tell who the newcomers are. She will wave over any who catch her eye if they look like they need an invitation. ]

I'm glad that you could make it. Would you like something to drink?

[ Is that a pitcher of ale in front of her? It sure is! ]

...I know I said drinks wouldn't be on the house, but I figured we had to start somewhere, right? This one is on me.

ii. in the beginning

[ Sitting at one of the back tables beneath the stairs, Himeka holds her pint with both hands as she recounts their journey out of Thorne. Everyone who escaped as their own tale to tell, of course, but she shares her own as a means to ebb a bit of the edge that being summoned to such a place against ones will may bring. ]

...Truth be told, we weren't exactly sure what we would encounter when we left Thorne's dungeons.

[ Her gaze drops to her half-empty stein. ]

But it's not difficult to compare freedom to imprisonment, isn't it? And if Relena believed in Oliver--that was the man who appeared and froze time that we may make our escape--then we would to. We had just a bell to make our decisions, where we would flee. "The Free Cities are militarily powerful and seek to destroy the Singularity. Solvunn choose neutrality in politics and in the matter of the Singularity itself." That was why we chose to come here, for the most.

iii. feats of strength

[ She's a full five fulms and two ilms of magical force and scales and that is, apparently, enough for her to believe she can weasel her way in to an ongoing arm-wrestling contest.

She stands beside her fellow Summoned, arms crossed with a serious expression on her face despite the buzz she's feeling. Himeka nods her chin in the direction of a bearded man stepping up to the contest table, facing off against another. ]

See that man? That's Jarl. He's been the champion two weeks running.

[ She shakes her head. ]

There's more than just coin on the line with this one. Pride, honor...

[ A pause. ]

...and possibly a pig. A very fat one, or so I'm told. Are you going to give it a try?

iv. wildcard

[ Approach Himeka with anything! Or have her approach you. She is an open book and eager to chat. ]

i.

[homeostatic]

( McCoy's low grade RBF splinters at her invitation, because he's chilly, he's tired, and a friendly face is a welcome sight right about now. )

Is it that obvious I could use one?

( Yeah that question is rhetorical, he's gonna pull the seat out and park himself just in case she rescinds the offer. )

[aquaveiled]

[ Luckily for the both of them she is more than passingly familiar with chronic RBF and keeps her smile despite it. Himeka offers a shrug as she pours out some of the ale into one of the empty cups. ]

You do have that general look of world-wariness about you.

[ She slides it forward across the table. ]

But if there is one thing that Solvunn has, is good home-brewed spirits. So mayhaps that can help lift yours as much as getting suddenly transported to another world against your will to serve some unknown divine purpose can?

III

[chronosynthesis]

Oh, I don't think I'd stand a chance. [He shrugs a shoulder, glancing sideways to her.] Is this related to your... invitation?

[That was kind of weird, and he wasn't sure he wasn't hallucinating until he was physically at the tavern and saw Himika around.]

[aquaveiled]

[ Himeka shakes her head but looks no less amused, placing her hands on her hips as she regards the contest now underway. ]

Oh no, it just so happens that I chose the same night that the weekly arm-wrestling bout happens. Two completely unrelated events.

[ But it might have been at least partially why she chose this night. If no one showed up, she would have something to amuse herself with! That being said, she turns her fully attention to Syrlya. ]

Well, they always accept late entrants should you change your mind. How have you been settling in?

iii

[unnecessaryflourishes]

[The desire to engage in physical shows of prowess is... not unfamiliar to Emet-Selch. He has, after all, seen it time and again, in a number of people, in a number of ways, over the long centuries of his life. But all the same, neither has it particularly been in his nature to do so.

(He has, yes, but that is neither here nor there.)]

Mmmm, no. I think not.

[Honor is not something he cares over much for, and he has no particular use for a pig either.]

You are certainly free to, however, should you wish.

[aquaveiled]

[ She's unsurprised by this, but it doesn't stop Himeka from pursing her lips as she gives Emet-Selch a very obvious once over. Was he this much of a party pooper in the "days of paradise"? ]

What do you do with all your free time?

[ Look, she has to know. ]

There has to be something you do for fun.

tony stark / ota

[privatizes]

(a) sheep.

[ incidentally, tony has figured out by now that this is not a dream. if anything, this is very real. so after a few days of dwelling on the impossibility of the circumstance, he decides he needs to explore. do something. sitting around and letting his mind spin in circles is not the best way to do much of anything.

so he eventually finds himself at the drunken lamb given the invitation, but waits around a bit outside to hang out with myrtle the sheep. tony is weirdly . . . good?? with the old sheep, considering his. well, personality, but he's absently petting the old sheep as he hangs around the entryway to the pub.

in actuality, he's seeing if anyone he knows (like, knows) turns up. but failing that, the sheep is pretty calming company. ]

I had an alpaca.

[ he says to myrtle the sheep, a bit tiredly. and maybe you, if you're wandering by the entryway. the sheep doesn't respond, chewing on some grass she had snagged before being kidnapped by tony as an emotional support animal. ]

Really weird turn of events, I decided to go live in the woods. Made sense at the time.

[ ugh. no one needs to hear this. at any rate, still petting myrtle: ]

Does this place have decent food?

(b) card games.

[ after being coaxed inside, tony finds it in himself to relax. it's not a proper relaxation, an anxious drumming of his fingers a near constant the minute he doesn't have something in his hands, but he soon finds a deck of cards. and seeing as he's got nothing better to do, you will find tony building a ridiculously complex house of cards, steady hands and absurd attention to detail in play. ]

Don't hit the table.

[ warningly, as he starts adding another floor to his card mansion. ]

You got another deck handy?

[ 52 cards is not enough! ]

{B

[shadowthief]

Hello, Mr. Stark. [She recognizes him from the first day she'd arrived. Mr. Stark, a man with knowledge of space and other such fantastical things they haven't gotten near to studying back home. (Is it? Home. Not exactly– it's complicated).

She stands to the side, watching him build his card-house, admittedly amazed that it hasn't toppled over.] I won't.

I don't, but I'm sure I could find one.

[privatizes]

[ he doesn't notice inej coming up closer immediately until she's just sort of . . . there. something in him admires that. it almost reminds him of natasha. the way this girl moves. like a ghost, when you don't want to be seen.

but also, it's a busy pub. so maybe he's overthinking it. at any rate: ]

Miss Ghafa. [ two can play the formal game!! and once tony sees that it's her, he offers her a seat at the table. he doesn't know much about inej, but he can tell she's not the type to haphazardly bump her hip against a table. she can be trusted with the card empire. ] I wouldn't worry about it, I think the resident cardshark is already annoyed with me for stealing this one.

[ well. borrowing. but there is definitely a grumpy looking native solvunnite in the corner brooding. ]

How're you settling in? Find anyone you know?

a

[aquaveiled]

[ She is glad to see that Tony decided to make it, being arguably someone she's found entertaining from the moment she saw him in the town square. And moreover, who wouldn't like Myrtle? She's a good sheep, a very good sheep, and Himeka is proud to say she has been spit on twice since her arriving in Solvunn, so her own luck has bound to catch up eventually.

Still, Tony's explanation doesn't register quite right. ]

An apkallu?

[ She...well, truthfully her experience with those birds is rather limited to the Bloodshore and she isn't sure how closely they may be related to sheep where he's from. ]

I wasn't aware they made good pets or companions. Do they molt?

[ The food, though, she can answer with confidence. ]

It's the good hearty sort of fare, if that's to your liking. Their meat pies are my favorite. The meat itself is cooked in ale, so I've learned, which really enhances the flavor.

[privatizes]

[ alpaca, apkallu, tomato, tomahto. he doesn't bother correcting her, instead continuing to pet myrtle absently. ]

You need to shear them, they're kind of like sheep. Long-necked sheep.

[ . . . anyway, food is a much easier topic, and tony finally turns his attention to himeka proper, brow furrowing slightly as he considers it. meat pies, sounds . . . arguably like something that could not possibly be bad. beer meat pies. ]

You know what, good enough. I could go for an ale-soaked meat pie. Or something. I should probably eat something.

[ he decides, giving myrtle one last pat before inclining his head into the tavern proper. sometimes, he forgets to eat. other things are just more important, and today is one of those days. consumed with thinking about how to get out of here slash how to find pepper and/or morgan, rather than finding something to eat. and as himeka describes the food, tony realizes he's actually pretty hungry. ]

Ladies first.

a

[coerthantorment]

[Estinien's desires are simple, here - he wanted to come say hello to the sheep. He saw it on the way in, but figured there was business to be done... but now that he finds himself getting cold feet over the whole social engagement, he has had decided that it's sheep time.

Unfortunately, when he shows up, the sheep is already occupied... with Tony. Oh. Well, at least he's something he's familiar with. At first he just stands there, staring, watching Tony interact with Myrtle. Sort of like a kid waiting in line for his turn on the swing set - only his expression is generally much harder to read.

After some deliberation, he speaks up.]

A farmer too, then?

[privatizes]

Yeah, no.

[ without hesitation, as tony continues to pet said sheep, completely contradicting whatever statement concerning his affiliation with animals is. but as soon as he says it, tony decides to follow up with: ]

I mean, I guess, the loose definition of the word. My compound is self-sustaining, but that's mostly because I didn't want to have to deal with the apocalypse, not because I wanted to grow onions. So I guess if you wanted to give me a job description, 'farmer' would work.

[ he pauses. ]

And anyway, animals generally don't do anything wrong. So I got a few of them for company. And my kid likes them.

B

[unnecessaryflourishes]

Far be it for me to jeopardize such an obviously delicate undertaking.

[Besides, whatever else he may be (and whatever Tony's opinion on him may be, after their first - and rather unorthodox - meeting) he is still an architect at heart. One of grander things than a mere house of cards, certainly, but that doesn't mean he can't appreciate the effort that has very clearly gone into Tony's work all the same.]

But I believe I might have something suitable.

[There's a brief pause, and then with a dramatic flourish he draws a deck of cards out of - apparently - thin air. Either he's very good at sleight-of-hand, or there's actual magic at play; naturally, he doesn't care to address which.]

Try these.

[The deck he holds out is nothing like the cards Tony has been using. For one thing, it's roughly 30 cards, instead of 52. For another, the cards themselves look very different to a more standard deck of playing cards. But beyond that, they should manage to cover the same approximate space in so far as their capacity to serve as building materials.]

[privatizes]

[ there's an arch of the eyebrows at the sleight of hand, and tony opens his mouth to say . . . well, something, but he does offer a solution to tony's problem. which is, you know, more cards.

still, as tony takes the deck: ]

Do you do birthday parties?

[ he's half serious, as he shuffles the deck quickly before continuing to build onto the west wing of his card mansion. ]

Inej Ghafa | Grishaverse | The Hierophant | OTA

[shadowthief]

OOC

Note

HMU on Inej's HMD / loyalwolf[#3540] on plurk[/discord] for something specific! Wildcards welcome.

I. The new girl in town seems to dance on air

OTA

Word of mouth is an amazing thing, and that's exactly how Inej ended up hearing about this little meeting. The chance to socialize and introduce herself to her fellow...Summoned. The whole concept of it still sits just a little wrong on her tongue, but she has no other word for it. No positive ones, anyway.

She arrives a little while later into the gathering, hoping that most of the people that might decide to make an appearance will be there by the time she slips in, blink and you miss her, until she's suddenly sliding right past you. Apologies, truly, she doesn't mean to startle people.

Though Inej is no stranger to a drink or two back in Ketterdam, she abstains this night, more interested in intel than socializing, even if she will be perfectly pleasant to anyone who wants to chat with her. If you've been here awhile, hopefully you don't mind answering a lot of questions.

ii. Let's play a little game

OTA

Inej doesn't keep to strict business the entire night, though. She could possibly be talked into a card game, so long as no real bets are being placed– she doesn't have enough to speak of to offer anyway.

One might also find her at the dart board on the far wall. She just watches for a few minutes and then decides to give it a try. Not that it's exactly a fair play if you decide to challenge her, but she'll definitely take challengers if anyone's up to it.

ii.

[hylife]

Will it be fair? Maybe not, but Link's always been more interested in challenging than fair, anyway. At any rate, it looks to be an interesting game. This sort of projectile isn't Link's specialty, but he is confident that he has the skill and relevant experience to do well.

(He's forgotten that it doesn't matter, because Hylia's blessing makes him a natural at everything and anything that could be considered a weapon, but anyway,)

"You need a competitor," Link states from behind her, suddenly, with darts of another color already in hand.

[shadowthief]

"Absolutely." she turns toward the boy stepping up for the role, an amused smile on her face. "Would you like to go first?" Inej will always be polite first, when possible.

[coerthantorment]

Estinien has been here since the start, but to say that he's socializing might be an overstatement. Though he has spent some time talking to people, a lot of it has also been spent just sitting alone with a drink, watching the crowd. It seems that sustained social engagements are not for him.

Though, he does perk up a little when he sees her arrive a bit later, out of curiousity if nothing else. He's been trying to talk to those new to Solvunn, to establish some basic contacts, no matter how much the experience grates against him. He takes his time, though, simply observing her first with the occasional glance. It's when she goes to the dart board that his interest seems most piqued.

It's at that point that he starts staring, watching her form. How well does she do with a throwing dart, he wonders? His resting expression is, unfortunately, not exactly friendly and it make come increasingly obvious that he's watching her, with no real attempt to conceal the fact that he is. He's never been one to conceal his intent.