• Completed • Nails on a Chalkboard (Open)

[Natalie Cooper]

Cylus 19, 720

Natalie was wandering through the streets of Scalvoris Town, much like she often did while here. She was in a residential area, all houses and apartments, with the occasional small shop here and there. Nat was watching the windows she was passing by, mostly seeing curtains. There were lots of pretty designs. Blue florals, pink swirls, calm beiges. Many pleasant colors and styles for curtains. No plants in the windows though. She wondered why. Then she shivered from the cold, and laughed out loud, realizing she'd forgotten it was Cylus.

Shaking her head at herself, not noticing that a couple who'd been walking on the other side of the road was now openly staring at her, she continued onward. Green curtain, white curtain, flowery curtain, vines curtain, no curtain. No curtain? Natalie stopped in her tracks, a couple feet away from the window she now was staring through.

There, on the other side of the window, was a small child sitting on a table, staring up at her. The baby held the open curtain in one hand, suckling on the corner of the cloth. It was fat, its face was dirty with a meal recently eaten, as was the cloth it was wearing. It didn't seem at all bothered by her presence. Nat looked past the fat baby, and saw others in the house. There were two children running after each other with wooden swords, toys and clothes on the ground, dishes on the counter. Another child was standing on a chair cooking at an iron stove. In a chair, in the corner of the main room there, a woman was snoring, her head backwards over the top of the seat, yet another child in her arms, asleep.

Natalie was utterly disgusted by the scene. Clearly the woman was completely miserable and bound to these dirty, little children. The house was a mess, a death trap, caused by the woman's own mistaken use of her loins. Horribly stupid, this woman was. Nat vowed in that moment to never have children. Little demons. She moved in close to the window and made a scary, snarling face, her hands up like claws, at the baby. She watched as tears filled the babies eyes, and in that moment, Nat turned and continued her journey down the street, just as the sound of the baby screaming echoed out of the home.

After much walking, Nat began to hear music in the distance. Her eyes tore from watching the curtains of people's windows to the source of the noise ahead. It looked to be a tavern of sorts, big fancy sign hanging out in front, in a language she didn't know, warm, flickering fire light spilling out of the front windows. She smiled, and began walking toward it.

She was startled by a loud screaming neighing. She looked to her left to see a horse suddenly stopped in front of her, a cart behind it. The driver there began angrily speaking at her in a language she did not recognize. It was strange, everyone had spoken Common to her since her arrival here. He did some angry gesture with his hands. Nat returned the gesture in kind, putting on her most stern face. Then she stormed off toward the tavern.

She pushed through the door, her temper instantly dispelling. It was crowded, cramped, noisy. Off to one side, a man was singing loudly, drunkenly before the crowd, while a few bards played their instruments; one lute, one wooden flute, one set of drums, and a metal triangle. The bards played masterfully, showing a true command of their skill. Natalie wandered over, listening to the song, which was thankfully in Common and not in that mean horseman's language. It seemed to be a song about a warrior's quest for a woman who did not love him.

As she moved through the crowd, she saw that the man was singing the words from blackboards held by some women, written in chalk it seemed. She smiled wide. This was new. A barmaid came over and Nat looked at her.

"Hey there hun, want something to drink?"

The woman was long blonde hair, coloring on her eyes and lips, pointy ears of the Biqaj. Her smile was toothy and looked genuine. Nat's eyes fell upon the woman's very ample chest, enjoying watching her breasts bounce as people jostled in the crowd. The barmaid didn't seem to notice.

"Yes. Surprise me. What's your name? I'm Abigail, though you can call me Abby."

The woman smiled broader, "Mixiebelle! My pleasure to meet you Abby. Welcome to the Four in Hand!" The woman bounced in her excitement, much to Nat's enjoyment. "It is nice to meet you Mixiebelle. What language is on the sign out front? I couldn't read it."

"Oh hun, that's Scalveen, the native tongue here. Though Common seems to be so common these days." Then her eyes lit up, "Oh my gosh, is that why its called Common?!" She was beaming at her discovery, "I'll go get your drink hun."

The man singing finished his song, and the crowd was all clapping and cheering. Drinks were bought for the man and the bards, coins were tossed as well. Nat clapped in the excitement of the crowd, and grabbed a few coppers, throwing them over the crowd. Or rather tried, as the coins mostly just hit various people in the backs of their heads.

One of the bards stood up, "Who would like to sing next? We know many songs and can write the words for you in Common or Scalveen. Step up, name your song, if you are brave enough."

[Darius Baer]

Arc 720, 19th of Cylus

The Four In Hand was not unknown to Darius Baer. He had visited on a handful of occasions in the past, usually in the company of other sailors who were eager to lose their pay in the gambling den. The bearded blond had not had much luck with dice or cards himself, but he relished the opportunity to laugh at the misfortunes of the crew he had had to endure sharing cramped sleeping spaces with on their recent sea voyage.

He offered a polite but familiar wave to the polite but familiar doorman, and as he stepped past the burly figure, he found himself inside the polite but familiar tavern. The warmth and light it offered was greatly appreciated by the bearded blond, though he could have done without the drunkard loudly yelling a song from across the room. It was a pity, too, for his accompanying musicians were clearly a talented bunch.

Darius had only been seated for a few trills before he recognised Mixiebelle, and he waved her over. She had just taken an order from a young brunette woman and was - unbeknownst to her new patron - still marveling at her linguistic revelation when she approached.

"Good trial to you, Master Baer," she greeted him with a bright smile, using a title Darius had received om account of being the son of another regular patron. "What would you like, love?"

He knew better than to order food at The Four In Hand. It tasted foul and often had the same end result as drinking far too much alcohol. But he did ask for a glass of whiskey, before leaning across in an almost conspiratorial manner.

"Say, Mixie," he whispered, repeating a rumour that was not uncommon among one of the drunken regulars, "I hear there's a back room, where there are some more gambling tables."

"Oh yes, there is!" she beamed, proud to have remembered, "but you need to know your password!"

Darius' raised an eyebrow in curiosity. He had assumed the rumour was nothing more than the nonsensical ramblings of a drunkard, and he had only asked in a silly attempt to distract himself from recent events in the town. He also hoped that Mixiebelle never joined in on any of those games, because her inability to keep a straight face would surely make it easy for a skilled player to take her money.

"Password, you say?" he echoed, genuinely curious. "I have a password?"

"Oh yes, all of the regulars have a password," the waitress continued, still proud of her amazing achievement. "What's yours?"

The question gave Darius reason to pause. He was unsure if Mixiebelle had any idea what his password might be, or even if she knew how a password was supposed to work. But he figured there was no harm in offering a response...

[Natalie Cooper]

It seemed no one was willing to step up to do the singing. Though maybe several had already gone before Nat had arrived. She wouldn't hold it against any of them personally then. She waved and shouted from her table, "I'll go!" She began to work her way through the crowd, passing by the serving woman from earlier, talking to a good looking man. Nat stopped before him, "You're very good looking." She raised up on her tiptoes and kissed the man on the cheek. Then grabbed a glass of liquor from Mixiebelle's tray, drained it on one deep swig, setting it back.

She looked at Mixiebelle, "He said he'd buy that drink for me. He'll pay you." She kissed the man on the cheek again, "Thanks love."

She then continued through the crowd up to where the musicians were. Once up there, people looking on clapped politely for her. She waved at all of them smiling. One of the bards approached her, "Well aren't you just a peach. What's your name?"

"Abigail Baker. Though you can call me Abby."

"Well, Abigail. Abby. What song would you like to sing today?"

She smiled politely, "Well I don't know so many... but I learned just after I departed my ship arriving here in Scalvoris for the first time. I think they called it 'Blow the Man Down.'" This came with many hoots and hollers from the crowd, it was a well known song in these parts. The bard nodded as his writer began furiously writing down the lyrics. It didn't take long. He looked at her, "Ready?" She nodded, and the music began, starting off fast as the song were.

She took a deep breath and it began.

"Oh, blow the man down, bullies, blow the man down!
To me way-aye, blow the man down.
Oh, Blow the man down, bullies, blow him right down!
Give me some time to blow the man down!"

She was screeching like a cat in heat on the high notes. Practically yelling at the people in the front row.

"As I was a-walking down Paradise Street,
To me way-aye, blow the man down.
A pretty young damsel I chanced for to meet.
Give me some time to blow the man down!"

The low notes sounded like a dying whale. She was all over the place on the tempo, seemingly no sense of time.

"She was round in the counter and bluff in the bow,
So I took in all sail and cried “Way enough now.”

I hailed her in Common, she answered me clear,
“I’m from the Black Arrow bound to the Strongspeare”

So I tailed her my flipper and took her in tow,
And yardarm to yardarm away we did go."

She sounded as though she were in severe pain, much like many of the listeners of her singing.

"But as we were going she said unto me,
“There’s a spanking full-rigger just ready for sea.”

That spanking full-rigger to Rynmere was bound;
She was very well manned and very well found.

But soon as that packet was clear of the bar,
The mate knocked me down with the end of a spar,"

Now it just sounded like a woman faking a very intense orgasm.

"And as soon as that packet was out on the sea,
`Twas devilish hard treatment of every degree.

So I give you fair warning before we belay;
Don’t never take heed of what pretty girls say."

And now that it was finally over, not a single set of hands clapped together. It was, by far, the worst singing they'd heard all night, possibly ever. There were a few people right then and there who lost faith in humanity after that performance. Some became religious after experiencing such a trauma. The bard came up to her, a bit lost for words. "Um.. well its done now. Anyone else..?" But it seemed that Natalie had single handedly killed the event. The musicians even stormed off, likely to get a drink, such a beautiful song of theirs utterly ruined.

Natalie didn't seem to notice. She was beaming and had had a lot of fun. As the crowd dispersed, she went looking for the good looking man who had been so generous as to buy her a drink.

[Darius Baer]

Darius was still entertaining the rather silly idea that The Four In Hand might have a password for him when he felt the unexpected warmth of lips on his cheek. His skin reddened almost immediately, despite his beard's best efforts to hide the iridescence, and he turned, his dark eyes looking for the source of the unanticipated gratitude. In the process, his gaze left Mixiebelle and fell upon a brunette woman who then proceeded to drink the beverage on the serving tray and claim he was going to foot the bill!

"Uh..."

That was all he managed to utter before he received another kiss on the cheek, and the woman made her way up onto the stage. His brows were still furrowed when she began singing - or screaming...or screeching...or shrieking...

"By the Immortals, is she giving birth?" he uttered aloud, wincing at the noise.

"No, I don't think so," Mixiebelle replied, having not left the table. "Wouldn't there be an Adunih midwife with her if she was?"

Darius sent the confused barmaid a sympathetic look, but his attempt to explain what he'd meant was prevented by Natalie's oratory torture. He realised that he wouldn't be able to think straight with such a grating noise filling the room.

"It's futile," he grumbled to himself.

"That's correct!" exclaimed Mixiebelle, as she excitedly produced a small lace handkerchief from somewhere on her person. "Your password is 'futile'!"

Darius was caught off guard, but accepted the piece of fabric.

"Show this to Bruno," the waitress whispered, pointing to a burly looking human standing by a tall curtain at the back of the room. "He'll let you through."

The bearded blond was still taking all of this in when Natalie finally decided to stop punishing everyone for having the audacity to enter The Four In Hand. The band were leaving the stage, and they were clearly upset by what they had just experienced, but it was nothing compared to the other patrons, who were beginning to yell at the 'singer', and attempting to boo the brunette from the stage.

Mixiebelle, who seemed to be the only person not particularly bothered by the performance, had already begun to make her way to the bar when Darius saw Natalie approaching, and he froze in his seat, bracing himself for what might follow. He could only hope she didn't intend to serenade him!

[Darius Baer]

Darius waited for the singer to arrive. And then he waited some more. He was still waiting when Mixiebelle returned to him, her smile as wide as ever.

"Would you like another drink, Master Baer?"

The bearded blond looked up from the table, and realised he had finished his whiskey. He wondered when that had happened - presumably while he was waiting for Natalie to arrive - and shook his head.

"No, thank you, Mixie," he smiled, and he held up the handkerchief she had given him. "I'll go make good use of this instead."

He stood, then, and made his way towards the back room. Bruno watched him approach, and moved to block the way, but once Darius held up the lace handkerchief, the burly man's demeanour changed completely. He visibly relaxed, smiling politely as he stepped aside.

The seafarer nodded politely in response and stepped through into the back room.

It was a well-lit space. Four round tables were evenly spaced from each other, and each one had half a dozen patrons sitting and playing. Two waiters walked up and down the room, serving drinks to the patrons, and the smell of cigarette smoke wafted through the air.

Darius hesitated in the doorway for a few moments as he took it in, and then, just as he decided to approach one of the tables to watch one of the games being played, he heard someone yell.

"Cheat!" came the cry. "You're a cheat!"

Every head in the room turned to look at what was going on, and Darius saw two men in a heated argument. One was standing, one hand pointing accusingly at the man opposite as the others at his table watched on in stunned silence.

"He's using loaded dice!" the man continued, turning his hand into a fist.

Darius looked around, and when he realised nobody was doing anything - and Bruno was still outside the room - he decided to approach.

The accused had said nothing until that point, but he began to fiercely claim innocence and a scuffle broke out just as the bearded blond arrived. That seemed to stir the other players out of their collective stupor, and they grabbed at the two men and attempted to pull them apart. That was when the table got bumped, and Darius saw two dice tumble onto the floor, landing at his feet. After a hurried glance around to ensure nobody was looking, the blond human dropped to one knee and pretended to tug at the straps on his boot, before he slipped the dice into his hand.

Fortunately, the fight - which only lasted a few moments and was eventually broken up - was more than enough distraction for his theft to go unnoticed.

[Darius Baer]

After the scuffle, and the offending man was escorted out of the room still pleading his innocence, things seemed to calm down. Darius was able to take a seat at another table, where a group was playing cards. Although he was a newcomer and unknown to the others, he received a warm welcome when he joined them.

He soon discovered that one of the benefits of entering a gambling game when it was already partway through was that there was almost certainly someone who had less money than they had started with. Indeed, as Darius cast his gaze around the table and at the tokens each player had stacked in front of him, it was clear to see who was winning and who was losing. A human pair, one male and one female, had fairly evenly sized piles. One gentleman, a biqaj with eyes the colour of indigo, had a huge pile in front of him, while a figure who might have had some eídisi blood running through his veins, had only a small handful of tokens remaining. In fact, even Darius - who had yet to play a hand - had more than the man with a slight tinge of blue colouring his skin.

And so it was, by pure chance, that Darius won his first hand. The others at the table had not seen him play before, so were cautious. And the part-eídisi was on his last legs in the game and he made a reckless play. Darius' cards hadn't been particularly strong, but he only had to play a small portion of the tokens he'd bought to force the man to commit everything he had. The poor fellow was so desperate that he even added an expensive looking silver ring with a ruby stone, but it was all for naught. Darius was too naïve with gambling to be scared off, and he narrowly took the win.

His good fortune was short-lived, however. His inexperience was soon his undoing, and by the end of the next break, he had lost his last token, and the ruby ring with it. He managed to offer a smile, reflecting on the fact that he had not spent much to join the game in the first place. He thanked the other players, and then politely took his leave. He had lost the game, but gained a taste for it all the same. He was sure he'd be back to play another game at some point in the future.

[Pig Boy]

Darius

Experience: 15 no magic

Knowledge:

Deception: Making people think you're doing something else can throw them off the scent.
Discipline: Not reacting when someone tries to take advantage of you.
Endurance: Sitting through a terrible performance.
Gambling: Even beginners can get lucky.
Gambling: Don't cheat!
Gambling: If you do cheat, don't get caught!
Pick Pocketing: Wait for the opportune moment.
Pick Pocketing: Strike when nobody is watching.
Stealth: Sometimes you can hide your actions in plain sight.

Non-Skill Knowledges:
Location: Scalvoris Town: The Four In Hand
NPC: Mixiebelle, Waitress

PC:
Natalie Cooper: A much worse singer than she realises.
Natalie Cooper: Will take advantage of someone if she thinks she can.



Renown: 5 for getting seen out and about in the gambling hall.

Skill Usage: Appropriate to level.

Loot/Losses: Handkerchief that grants access to the private gambling area of The Four In Hand.
A pair of weighted dice.


Injuries/Conditions: none

Consequences: Darius will find people buying him a lot of drinks the next time he visits the Four in Hand. Every gambler loves a 'good sport' who doesn't mind losing most of their tokens by the end of the night.

Comments: It's a shame when a partner disappears, but hey it happens. You got some interaction in anyways, and managed to extend an abandoned collab into a decent story of gambling. Fun stuff!

If you have any concerns about this review, please PM me about them.

Nat King Cooper

Experience: 15 no magic

Knowledge:

5 x Singing
3 x Disciplilne
(let me know if you come back if you'd rather get different pieces of knowledge.)

Renown: 15 for making an absolute scene.

Skill Usage: Appropriate to level.

Loot/Losses: Nope

Injuries/Conditions: none

Consequences: A stray tomcat with a bitten-off ear follows Nat home during one of her nights singing.

Comments: Hahah, I can just imagine her terrible voice. You described it quite well. It's too bad though because the lyrics were so well adapted to Idalos. Well done, and enjoy the rewards.

If you have any concerns about this review, please PM me about them.