Trog's Tavern CLIII

[Gnrlshrimp]

The coins are legitimate. There's a slightly reddish tinge to them, some sort of impurity either accidentally or deliberately added in when they were made, but if anything the distinct colour probably adds slightly to their value. "Oh, yes, th-they're quite old, actually. From the period where dragons acted as rulers to a number of empires."

[Artemis97]

"Fascinating." Renault says. "How did they rule? Were they benevolent? Greedy?" He wonders.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"B-benevolent for the most part, but misguided. They had the best of intentions, but it didn't end well. It never does though, does it?" Gudrun shrugs, then reaches across to pick up her newly-acquired trinkets and inspect them. So pretty. So shiny. "They really are wonderful pieces, aren't they? I'd better make sure never to step in your shop, or I'd bankrupt myself!"

[Murkus]

"My sanity?" Zefir replies as he get's petted. "In that case I might have a look around for some woman that at least have some simular hobbies. I#m not really good at faking intresst."
"And i don't belive I will find them here."

"I got some bad news for you, man. You might have to work up the ability to generate some genuine interest. It helps a lot," Adir grins. "Where do you think you're gonna find someone more your speed?"

[Artemis97]

Renault laughs at that. "Well, if you ever want anything custom done, let me know. Hm. Imagine that, dragons ruling. No one would be able to tell them no, would they?" He smiles wistfully. Unconsciously, he rubs at the gauntlet on his hand. "It's certainly something."

[Gnrlshrimp]

Renault will likely be able to see the gears turning in Gudrun's head at the thought of custom orders. Ooh, the possibilities!

Oh, but those would be expensive. Probably best not to do so for now. But sometime. Sometime maybe. She could get the shiiiiniest thing.

"It was something, yes, but there's problems when nobody can challenge the leaders on anything. Maybe with a little bit more understanding- ah, but those days are long gone now."

[Artemis97]

"Of course, you can't have a totalitarian government, but if it were someone willing to listen to reason perhaps?" Renault muses.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"W-well the dragons, ah, the ones I knew at least, always had a hard time accepting advice from the lesser races. Like I said, they had the best of intentions..." Gudrun gives a shrug and distracts herself with the tea for a moment.

[Zefir]

"I got some bad news for you, man. You might have to work up the ability to generate some genuine interest. It helps a lot," Adir grins. "Where do you think you're gonna find someone more your speed?"

Zefir head sinks down until it hits the table.
"You know your not good at cheering up." he says.
"Maybe prison? Most world dominator end there" he replies with a grin, which looks a bit strange with his head on the table. "Well, my hobbies are.... now that I think about it. I either spend time in my job or spend time avoiding getting hit by my job."

"I'm just sure a drinking woman is not my type."

[Murkus]

"First I've heard it, actually," Adir says, sitting back and grinning with his eyes closed for a moment. He barks out a laugh at the prison comment. "Well, maybe before we get you to the 'get a girl' stage in the life togetherness department, we need to figure you some hobbies."

[Artemis97]

Renault looks surprised. "You knew the dragons? Can you tell me about them?"

[Zefir]

"First I've heard it, actually," Adir says, sitting back and grinning with his eyes closed for a moment. He barks out a laugh at the prison comment. "Well, maybe before we get you to the 'get a girl' stage in the life togetherness department, we need to figure you some hobbies."

"And how are we supposed to figure that out?" he asks.
"It's not like I had much time to make hobbies before."

[Gnrlshrimp]

Gudrun gives Renault a vacant stare for a moment, caught rather off guard by his question. "I-um, w-well, the days of the dragons having empires were a long time ago, and there aren't many left back home. I guess I could tell you a bit about them, though. What do you want to know?"

[Murkus]

"And how are we supposed to figure that out?" he asks.
"It's not like I had much time to make hobbies before."

"Well... we could try what I like to mess around with? Hiking, hunting, shooting, armor and weaponry, um..." Adir hesitates to add the next one. It doesn't sound like something he would be into exactly... "Interior decorating...

[Zefir]

"Nah,
mages only,
never really did we don't have weapons like that at homeworld,
I build some on my own...for work,.." Zefir replies to Adir until the last one comes up. He appears supriesed, totally shocked.

"Interior WHAT?" he asks. "Dude how the hell did you come to have Interior decorating as a hobby?"

[Murkus]

Adir would be embarrassed if he weren't having a little chortle at C4's reaction. "It's funny, I guess. You have a few kids, you buy a couple of different houses... You have to start picking furniture to stock rooms with. Then you're picking the paint, the floor, the lights, the trim..."

"I don't know. I find it relaxing. And I like looking at it every day. It, uh, kinda irks me when something doesn't look just right and I can fix it. You try having kids, you'll discover a few things about yourself too."

[Zefir]

"Let's not rush things. I'm like 20 steps away from kids." C4 replies.
"Not that I see Interior decorating in my future soon... and even less moving from house to house."

[Sniccups]

J walks up to Whiskers.

"You have an unpaid tab at Trog's."

"What, do you work for Trog's?

"...kind of"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Well, then I'll kinda tell you to foutre le camp, dirt-girl." Whiskers takes a long drag from his cigarette and blows it in J's face.

"Alright, fine. Algernon! Glasses!"

Leslie's white dire rat jumps from the doorway and leaps onto the crude greybeard's chest. Leslie makes a meep sound and just barely catches the door again before it swings shut.

"Argh! Get off me, you disgusting..." Whiskers tosses the oversized rodent to the ground and spits his cigarette at him, prompting Algernon to take cover behind J.

A quick assessment reveals that he has already secured the deadbeat's little spectacles in his mouth.

[Murkus]

"Let's not rush things. I'm like 20 steps away from kids." C4 replies.
"Not that I see Interior decorating in my future soon... and even less moving from house to house."

"It's relaxing man, I swear. You never realize how much nicer the space you live in can look," Adir says, leaning back into his chair. "Well, my hobbies don't do it for you. You aren't sure what kind you want. What do you wanna do?"

[Sniccups]

"Nice" J says to Leslie and Algernon, then turns back to Whiskers.

"Pay up"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Whiskers grunts noncommittally.

"Fine. Then you won't mind if we keep your glasses as collateral!"

"Ha! But of course! I'll gladly pay that dandy newt in those cheap - er, fine novelty reading glasses."

"Ah..."

A quick glance at the list reveals that this guy rang up a serious drinking debt back in the day. Leslie doesn't know the currency conversion, but she can guess that one pair of eyeglasses aren't going to cut it, cheap or otherwise.

[Zefir]

"It's relaxing man, I swear. You never realize how much nicer the space you live in can look," Adir says, leaning back into his chair. "Well, my hobbies don't do it for you. You aren't sure what kind you want. What do you wanna do?"

"Killing all the mages in my homeworld" he says and befor he can even answer Zefir speaks up again. "Don't look at me like that. I was raised in an military family. Training, physikaly and mentaly day and night. I couldn't get out and have fun since I wasn't able to use anything that makes fun. That means learning and training all the time untill I was good enougth for missions. And then i ended up here."

[Murkus]

"Whoah, where did that come from?" Adir blinks, looking at C4 with some concern. "Uh... I don't think I ever knew any of this about you, man. This is all new to me."

[Zefir]

"Yeah..." C4 appears a bit worried. "I'm sorry. I felt like telling this. If your not good with it I can understand if you want to go now. And maybe never talk again. As a fact we know only little about each other. especially about the past."

[Sniccups]

Whiskers grunts noncommittally.

"Fine. Then you won't mind if we keep your glasses as collateral!"

"Ha! But of course! I'll gladly pay that dandy newt in those cheap - er, fine novelty reading glasses."

"Ah..."

A quick glance at the list reveals that this guy rang up a serious drinking debt back in the day. Leslie doesn't know the currency conversion, but she can guess that one pair of eyeglasses aren't going to cut it, cheap or otherwise.

"If you're not going to pay, I should mention that I have a vial of Greek fire in my bag. Pay your debts, and nothing has to explode"

[Artemis97]

Gudrun gives Renault a vacant stare for a moment, caught rather off guard by his question. "I-um, w-well, the days of the dragons having empires were a long time ago, and there aren't many left back home. I guess I could tell you a bit about them, though. What do you want to know?"

Renault thinks for a moment. There was so much he could ask. "What were they like? How did they behave? Did they wield great magics?"

[Gnrlshrimp]

"What were they like? Well, like most dragons, I guess? Great and powerful with the wisdom of the ages at their disposal. And from what I saw of the ones still around, quite humble too? Y-you learn the most from your failures, right? And they've had time to make every mistake imaginable and grow from it. Where I'm from, I think dragons aren't the sort of innate spellcasters you might see elsewhere, but the blood of a dragon is a powerful thing, and they had the knowledge of all sorts of dragon blood magic rituals." Gudrun pauses for a moment to take a sip of her tea. Definitely not just stalling for a moment as she considers how much to say, no sirree!

It's not like she's really giving Renault any details, but all these questions...

"With a little time and a little blood, they could conduct rituals that surpassed what any individual mage was capable of."

[Artemis97]

"Fascinating." Renault says. "Blood can be a powerful conduit for magic, but... to use the blood of an intelligent creature. There's taboos against that. At least according to the church." He adds.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"Different places, different taboos." Gudrun remarks with a shrug. The Nexus being such a melting pot of worlds, there's probably someone here who considers drinking tea in a tavern to be taboo! "Although I imagine there would be some very unhappy dragons if anyone other than a dragon or their most loyal followers tried to make use of their blood? I never heard about anything like that happening, though."