Topic: And the Prince of Cheese.

Another Shiny Knight

Date: 2010-04-29 13:10 EST
He couldn't see through the light. For brief moments he considered the fact that maybe he was dead. But he could hear things hitting the steel of his armor; clanging against his right arm he raised to shield his eyes. There was wind shrieking all about him, battering him from every side, whistling eerily in his ears. He thought his blood in his veins would boil. The Darkspawn sense crawled along his limbs like fire, telling him he was surrounded. He couldn't see them or pinpoint an exact direction. He swung the sword clutched in his hand wildly and with little use.

He shouted names, any name at first, inching his way forward as best as he could. Someone had to be out there, in here" Someone had to be wherever he was. Each step he took he kept shouting as the wind and the light continued to bombard his every sense.

Surrounded! His instincts cried. Too late! Replied his guts. If I am going to die here, I am going to do it without fear. I will not sully Duncan's name, I will not have my last act as Ferelden's King be soiling my pants-"

He braced himself and straightened into the maelstrom, brandishing his sword. With monumental effort he began a slow and steady charge forward, rattling a battle cry.

"For the Greeeeey Waaaaa?" All the sounds faded. His senses eased. His limbs no longer felt on fire.

There was color suddenly, quiet sounds. He smelled ale, food, wood fire and heard the ungodly scriiiiit of his metal sabatons scrapping against floor boards. He had exactly three seconds to realize that behind him was some sort of door slamming shut, with a polished grand length of bar and before him were chairs. Chairs and tables. And he was still swinging his sword about whilst barreling full force into them.

Alistair had spent his life trying to puzzle out various confusing things: women, magic, women, women, magic, politics and women. There was nothing quite so confusing however as to find yourself in the middle of what seemed like an inn when seconds earlier you were in the middle of fighting for your life.

?"aaaaht?" His battle cry fell limp on a particularly confused note as he skidded to a halt into the pile of chairs. He was surrounded by several broken seats which were certainly the result of his own handiwork. The seating he had destroyed seemed as if they were less than pleased with his entrance, clattering and tumbling loudly into heaps of broken wood.

"These are not the villains are you are looking for." Said an informative voice from the area he assumed was, indeed, a bar.

Alistair thought he'd jump nearly out of his skin, feeling a touch on edge. The voice was definitely female, but swaddled behind a cloak and held all of the lively cheerfulness that you'd find in, say...a corpse.

A few more swings of his sword as he considered her, the inside of the building and the chairs. He gave the pile of seating a few more swings out of habit; they were half-hearted at best and he was probably only doing it because he didn't know what else to do. There were people here and they were leaving and someone was talking to him. And this was definitely not a field swarming with Darkspawn.

?"They're chairs." Brilliantly observed. "Maker, how did I"what?s?"this isn't"I was just?" He did a full circle-shuffle and came back to the woman in the hood, blinking. ?"uhm, hello."

And that's when he noticed the Dragon.

] The King of Nothing]]

Another Shiny Knight

Date: 2010-04-30 11:46 EST
"Andraste's pink knickers! A dragon," obviously stating the obvious. Alistair was also very good at that when the occasion called for it. He didn't know if it was humanly possible to grow any more confused than he currently was. It was good to know right then, that he could, as he felt torn in so many places. The dragon was just a dragon and not an Archdemon; he had no adverse reaction to it. But it also just happened to be inside the inn.

With a water bowl"

And to make matters worse, it almost chuckled. Nothing more hair rising than something which could chew you in two fewer than five seconds, trying not chortling away at you.

"Panth needed some new chairs, anyways," after it was done chuckling. Oh Maker, he didn't get the Warden handbook on this one.

?"You can talk"" He didn't really mean to say that part out loud. He really, really, really didn't. But that sort of slipped out as he stared agog at the frost-tinted giant lizard. From the corner of his eye, however, he could see the hooded and short female shaking her head. He knew this because he was a genius. And also, because of that hood of hers shaking slowly.

"Aye, I can talk, welcome tae the Red Dragon." "Which only had him stare a little more. He was trying not to but it was so eeeeeassssy to end up doing! He blinked. A lot.

"Those are chairs, yes. Hello. Please do not attack the dragon. I have learned they tend to attack back with fire, and I have no interest in being burned today." Said; the female finally started towards the break in the bar, one gloved hand reaching out to brush the wooden surface. Perhaps she wished to put distance between the knight and herself. After all, if he was willing to attack helpless chairs...

The man-eating reptile extended wings in a stretch, distracting him greatly. She refolded them, but did not leave her area. That"that was"well it was okay he guessed. He kept an eye on the dragon and an eye on the woman, feeling as if he might just go cross eyed.

"I've had some experience with dragon fire, yes, err?" The hardest thing at that moment was convincing his fingers to let go of the sword as well as lowering the griffin-painted shield. "I'm a bit unsure how I got to be from in the middle of a fight to the middle of a tavern?" He tossed that out there casually. As casual as a jittery sword-wielding knight in a different place could be.

"These things just happen. You roll with the punches, as I've heard it said. If you're lucky, you can actually get back to where you came from." She said, pausing behind the bar.

"Drink?" She might have supposed that it was the best thing to distract a man that he's suddenly a stranger in a strange land, than to possibly get drunk.

Even thought he wasn't entirely looking to the cloaked one"well, he was, as well as still paying attention to the dragon while sheathing his sword fully and trying not to look like he was paying attenti"he was terribly distracted by doing his best not to freak out.

He replaced his shield and shook his head absently, "Thank you, but no, I don't drink." And then squinted at the pile of broken chairs. "The Red Dragon?" Maker's mercy, he really did a number on them, didn't he?

Turning a Blind Eye & Icer]]

Another Shiny Knight

Date: 2010-05-01 11:56 EST
"...at all?" The question, to Alistair, seemed to come with a verbal arch of cloaked woman's brow. She turned, just a bit slowly, before one of her gloved hands reached out for a clean tankard. How she could see anything in that vision-obscuring get up was beyond him. What was she hiding, anyway'

He squinted at her a few more minutes and realized she'd asked something. "Ohhhh, you mean"of course. I like water. It's very...watery and keeps me from dying. Which is important you know." He busied himself righting fallen over chairs"the ones not in pieces anyway"as he has nothing better to do at that precise second. Every movement he made became a tiny melody of metal; a jingle or a chime of chain-mail, solid pieces.

"Anything non alcoholic is free," informed the talking dragon, wrapping her tail around her side. Alistair had almost forgotten her, so quiet she'd become. He jerked his head up and around. Looked left, right, up and down then finally aside to the dragon giving her a polite golden-headed bob of thanks-for-the-information. He began edging away from the mess he'd made, trying to be as nonchalant about it as possible. The armor was not shiny or new. There were dents from old swords, crescent from shield bashes, clawed and scratched. It was splattered recently in a vicious black fluid. The pattern was correct for blood, but the color and the smell"

"I suppose it is watery," mused the dragon, staring into her own water dish.

The woman behind the counter seemed to be withholding something. He couldn't tell what it was, and she exhaled slowly. "Would you like something to drink" There is more than just spirits behind this counter, I'm sure."

And just then, a tiny blur of something dropped into the dragon's water dish. He heard a little splash, a yelp, and did his best not to look that way. He didn't think his brain could handle it.

"Eeeeyeeeeeesssss, actually, I would please." Then as an afterthought he added, "I've had sandy water before. It really is most unpleasant. Water shouldn't crunch." The dragon lowered its snout into the water to lift whatever"or whomever"had fallen into it. He smacked his lips thirstily and ignored the very tiny person lying on the very big dragon's nose. Or tried to.

"You need a new landing spot, Nina," muttered the dragon in good humor. He's easing himself toward the bar to let the two strange creature's converse.

"Water should not crunch," agreed the cloaked female. She was terribly short. Alistair wondered if she knew that' " But better crunchy than no water at all, when one is out in the desert." Then she was striding down the length of the bar toward the icebox. It took her a moment to find what she was after, but finally, she hauled out a bottle. She hesitated to hand it over right away"perhaps she thought that if Alistair had issues with a talking dragon, he was going to handle the bottled water like an absolute buffoon.

She probably wouldn't have been too far off, so her wise decision to crack the cap off and pour it into a tankard to avoid discussing the "magic' of water bottles, was considerably brilliant. "Non crunchy water," she announced. Just in case he might have trouble with the obvious.

He took the last few strides to the bar without breaking anything else, a feat in of itself, but doesn't ease himself into a stool or chair. He reached forward for the offered drink without hesitation, however. Was it entirely wise for a man to trust a stranger with his drink" If he could move in a full suit of armor on a hot summer's day without breaking sweat"perhaps it wasn't truly an issue. He blinked at the empty bottle that once held his water"bottling it! Maker, why didn't someone think of that sooner" Instead of waterski"oh, where were his manners"

"Maker bless you. It's always difficult explaining why you're standing about making faces like a goat and picking rocks out of your teeth to people you just met." After drinking crunchy water, he meant. But he left mentioning that part out so..."Soooooooo"what part of Ferelden is this again? I don't recognize the handiwork of anything here."

"Ferelden?" He heard the dragon echo blankly. "This is Rhydin." Alistair's brows gathered in wrinkle. "What part of Thedas is that in" I'm surprised I've not heard of it at all."

"You're not in Thedas anymore," without ceremony the little female in cloak interjected. She didn't seem to hesitate to deliver the bad news.

Alistair stared. "That is not?" He was going to say not possible, but then he remembered the mages, the magic, the Archdemon, the demons and the darkspawn and shut his teeth with a clank. "I"Maker's breath"

For a moment, he looked like he might sick up.



Turning a Blind Eye, Icer and Nina]]

Another Shiny Knight

Date: 2010-05-03 12:38 EST
"If it makes you feel better," the hooded woman's voice cut through his self-fog of doubt, fear, and maybe a little bit of hunger?"I am not native of this world either. I come from a completely different world as well." She turned toward the ice box again; Alistair supposed she might be deliberating over what to get her self to drink.

"Another world, another time, another group of Gods," she finished.

Maker's breath but that didn't help at all. He suspected that was half the point of saying it! He wasn't usually the one at a loss for words. No, if anything, Alistair generally had too much to say at any time, all the time. The fact that he'd been standing there with his fingers tightened around the stem of tankard for well after the woman spoke....Long enough for the quiet to be awkward for some or indication the other person wished to no longer speak" It said something.

"Or at least it would, had anyone known who he was. Right. "Not of this world," he nodded slowly. "Another world. Groups of Gods. Surrrrrre." All of it repeated as if he were shouting underwater. He shook himself for a second afterward and finally darts a look at the girl with her back turned.

It would not have been polite to do so when she was speaking to him, but now that she was turned away and searching for her own drink, he eye balled the tankard of water she gave him then sniffed it. He stuck his tongue in it, as if that would tell him anything, and then eventually took his first few greedy gulps.

She didn't seem to have picked a drink. She closed the ice box and said, "Just remember: It could be much, much worse."

It was in between her advice and the first few sips of water that he caught a glimpse of something scuttling along the floors. If blinking came with sound effects, perhaps his would have been loud. He shook his head again?as if it would rid him of all the oddities he'd already said"and tipped his head back to mysterious woman.

"Could it?" thoughtfully."Logically, I'd agree. But the rest of me"the part with feelings and the part that doesn't make a lot of sense"I do have them, feelings you know...don't listen to the chairs'says that I've just been separated from everyone I've ever known, loved, was familiar with and understood. The other part of me is gibbering in the corner somewhere assuring me I shall wake up any time now." He set the tankard down and glanced at the dragon. Swung his eyes from her, to the small, blue critter that had climbed onto the bar ewwww and exclaimed, 'Pretty!'. Back down to the floor. Then up to the hooded woman and up to the ceiling in silent entreaty.

"Any time now. Yeeeep. I could just.....wake up." There was hope lilting in his voice.

"You could be on fire," the woman pointed out helpfully. It was also a great reminder that he wasn't dreaming and he probably wasn't going to wake up. He exhaled oh-so-quietly. "You could be dead. You could have the distinct knowledge that everything you know, love, and care for is dead. There are some, like myself, who are fortunate enough to find their way back to where they hail from." The woman's deeply shadowed hood slowly turned toward the creature which had crawled onto the bar. He couldn't tell or gauge what her reaction was at all.

He hadn't really noticed the blue critter on the bar having five inch long ears. They twitched. Alistair stared as it quirked an"guess it was anyway"eyebrow.

"Eee" Haow yeu s-leep if yeu tawwk?" "It was probably rude, wasn't it, that Alistair continued to stare, trying to figure out what was just said, yes"

Maker, he thought, what am I getting myself into here?







[[-Taken from live play. -All of this, so far, is one live session immediately after Alistair's appearance in Rhydin; events are now in the past. -There were a lot of people and there is a lot of log to write through still. Please forgive me if I miss stuff; my fingers are going to fall off. -Featuring the following cast: Turning a Blind Eye, Renne]]

Another Shiny Knight

Date: 2010-05-04 10:44 EST
The best course of action when finding yourself staring down little blue creatures with very long ears that had cute speech impediments was to answer someone else first. While trying not to stare too hard. Okay maybe he should look away but he find that he just can't"

"I've been on fire before," he announced. This wasn't at all something anyone should be surprised over and the way in which he delivered it said it was probably a usual occurrence. And finally the delayed reaction to the blue critter's question came:

"Yyyyyyyoooooooooooooouuuuuuu aren't human, I take it." Not precisely a question but...If no one else was going to step up to say the obvious, in the most awkward way manageable, let it be known that Alistair always would. That was he. Taking one of the team. The good guys.

"Eee. Hell-lowww," responded the critter. He or she chirped this to the tiny fluttering creature Icer had fetched out of her bowl, first, and then leaned toward Alistair. And sniffed. Aww, how cute. Kinda like a big...blue...dog. That wasn't a dog. Because dogs weren't blue, Maker!

"Noh hew-mahn," the critter said and managed to sound to Alistair, vaguely insulted. "Noh wahn-t be nei-therrrrrr."

Yes, well, Alistair thought. I have days like that to, but?"I?" Stammering a bit. He had a habit of doing doing that a lot and it could either be endearing or annoying. Morrigan had said it was annoying, but then again, Morrigan had been a big...bad...witchywitchbaddy and she'd"no, he didn't want to think about that. Or about Morrigan. Not now, and now ever.

"I don't even know how I got here, Maybe one of the circle's Magi spells went awry' " He tossed this pensively toward the hooded-woman, rolling her shoulders back and down. She remained near and he assumed she was openly eavesdropping on Blue and Alistair. He tried not to act any weirder than he already was. Which was so difficult at times. "Wait a minute, the creature was sniffing at him! If"if he or she pees on his sollerets Alistair tells himself he will simply lose it. He blinked and directed his next question obviously to cloaked woman.

"Maybe there are...mages here?" And as for the Sniffy blue one all he had was?"Uhm, okay." And then he nodded. Because that was the proper thing to do when things smelled you, surely"

To make things all the more surreal and that much better" The ice-dragon piped up. "There are some, though they nae here at the moment."

"There are mages here. Dragons. Elves. Assassins. Harlots. You name it, chances are, you will find it. Apparently, we can now"with great surety"add knights to the ever growing list." One of her hands disappeared into the hood. She and the dragon nearly spoke over one another.

The cerulean little critter seemed polite enough, perhaps sensing Alistair's'stupidity and current disability to deal with more than five people talking to him at once. Also, he was blond. He used that excuse much. One of his favorites.

Though it may have been hard to tell over and through the seemingly impossible layers of heavy metal he wore, the mysterious woman's words did actually, bring him some modicum of comfort. And hope. Even while his mind raced to categorize all the things he could be doing and should be doing to return home by now"he'd over heard the small humanoid creature with wings giggle and call the blue thingiemaboob, Renne. Oh thank the Maker, he thought. Now he didn't have to try and be creative and make up a name for it. Renne. Yes.

"Ah, yes," he began, even as the ice dragon made her way toward him. "That sounds a bit familiar, actually, like the place I came from." Sort of. Give or take the fact Ferelden wasn't full of talking dragons, tiny people with wings, blue creatures with cute lisps and Maker knows what else!

He thinks his brain breaks right about the time Renne flicks his or her tongue out, tri-forked and odd looking to lick him and ask him what he is, and a pirate-woman came down the stairs to which the dragon greeted her. And no one had any idea how ridiculous this all was"

"This is the story of all places," said the woman in the hood, turning towards him as if she knew what went on tittering in his head. "There are heroes and horrors, prostitutes, pain and pride. You will find it wherever you go"in new lands and old. It is in you, and I, in every breast. There is no land without"and if there was, it's not worth living in."

Alistair stared at her for several seconds. Like any man when faced with a poetic, intelligent woman, he made an arse of himself by ruining whatever change there was of seeming remotely un-idiotic.

"Maker, here I am babbling," he said. Babbling. ?"on about me like I'm some idiot in armor lost in the middle of a"wait, don't comment on that"thank you for the drink. My name is Alistair," after the introduction his crossed his arms against breast-plate, banging knuckles smartly against the metal and bowing from waist.

"And apparently I am very good at being an idiot by the way. All my friends tell me so. They'd know. They're all very smart." Aaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnddddd he'd just babbled right on over the very pretty words she'd just said. It made him pause and take a second look at the small woman wrapped up in fabric. "Are you a bard then?" An image of Leliana, her red hair and bright blue eyes, laughing about shoes and teasing him about certain elven mages came to the forefront of his mind.

He didn't realize how young he sounded with the question; how much like a boy or a child unleashing boundless curiosity and trouble upon the world.





[[-Taken from live play. -Cast includes/Mentioning: Turning a Blind Eye, Icer, Nina, Aulila Galaurol, Renne]]

Another Shiny Knight

Date: 2010-05-05 11:07 EST
"No," she replied to his question of whether or not she was a bard. "I am Devyon, of the D'Lerian city of Freeport." And the little cloaked female extended a bow his way in turn.

Out of ear shot, he was sure he'd missed Renne asking him something and that the Dragon had been attempting to sneak up on him, interrupted by a swaggering pirate woman. He'd thank the swaggering pirate woman, but she looked scary!

"Devyon of D'Learian city of Freeport," he repeated. Not just out of politesse, but because it would help him remember her name in the future. "It is a pleasure," and he made it sound as true as he felt it to be. Despite the fact he was rattled off his cage. He was still quick enough to keep up to his manners which had been rigorously ingrained.

"Thank you for rescuing me from?" Side glance to the pile of splintered wood and back. ?"chairs." Finished lamely.

It's at that time several things happened. (As they were wont to do in this place. Which he was quickly learning.) A small, unhappy looking elf with skin as black as pitch"who for a moment, made Alistair panic and think he might be darkspawn, which was a touch ridiculous because his darkspawn sensing hadn't broken yet"arrived. A strange woman with bright purple hair came in. And the little blue fellow, Renne asked him something. Also the pirate woman seemed to be talking about him. Because he heard, An that fellow there be lookin' like a tin can.

"Bu-t, yeu noh kno-w self?" Renne had posed.

"I do believe that you would have survived the chairs." Drawled out from the woman in hood. She took her gloved hands and placed them behind her, knotting fingers together. There's something about her body position'the way she leaned a little, that told Alistair she was considering bolting. He wasn't sure, just a guess.

First, he addressed Renne in confusion. "No no self" Is that like, no-no t"neeeeeeever mind." Whatever he had been about to blurt colored him a light shade of embarrassment. He blamed what he'd been about to say on that Maker damned dward; Oghren. He ticked light brown eyes across the room as it began to fill and then back down, to the short woman who had left her hood up this entire time. Was she a child" He dismissed the thought as soon as it came, the timber and tone of her voice wasn't rich for children.

"I don't know, they were very big scary chairs with very big and scary legs." He also wasn't above whining. Which he did.

"You've a sword, a shield and a suit of armor. I am sure that whatever those chairs might have thrown at you, it would not have been enough to slow you." He got the feeling she wasn't saying something else, however. Holding back something. He opened his mouth to ask her, but"

"Eey-ess, yeu noh kno-w self" Wha-t yeu is, if yeu noh kno-w haow o-therrr krrrrit-terrr kno-w?" Renne's ear twitched. "Why yue go-t harrrrrrd thin-g on' Is yue Wahrrrrrrr-orrr?"

He was just...He?"Yes," he said to Renne. Aside to the woman in the cloak, "That I do. And if I'm stuck here in strange-land with strange-landians," he gave an obvious effort not to look at anyone specific in the room then. There were just too many place to stare at. "I'm going to have to have more than that. I need a horse, a bed roll, food and shelter." Ticking them off while squinting. Suddenly, his eyes widened in shocking thought!

?"tell me this place has cheese. It does have cheese, doesn't it?" It was absolutely dire that there be cheese. He looked, panicked, from one face to the other closest to him.







[[Taken from live play. Cast mentioned/includes: Sami, Vilrath, Icer, Renne, Turning a Blind Eye and Aulila Galaurol. ]]

Another Shiny Knight

Date: 2010-05-06 10:25 EST
"Arg...I seen two-bit gunboat Captain's braver than ye..." Came the saltiest voice he'd ever heard from behind him, maybe a little to the left. Alistair tipped his head away from his imploring look about cheese to squint at the pirate woman.

He caught the tail-end of the little black-skinned elf like fellow glaring at him, too.

He felt like such a pretty, pretty princess tonight.

"But I don't like it when I break a nail," whined toward the Arg-ing pirate woman without hesitation. "It takes so long to whittle them in the right shape!"

Near him, Devyon of cloak-y goodness said, "You've found yourself at the Red Dragon, perhaps one of the best known inns in town." She said best known however and not best, and didn't put inflection as such. "There is cheese," she informs him. But in the sort of manner that indicated perhaps speaking to him is making her head hurt. It probably was.

"There are beds as well," Devyon continued. "They are not the best, not the worst, and when one really needs to sleep, even the floor suffices."

And that's when a dwarf with dark red beard simply appeared at the bar and Alistair wasn't sure where to look anymore. From one moment to the next, somehow the inn had gone from completely empty to packed. The pirate-y woman was laughing. He wasn't sure if it was him or the fact the Ice-dragon had stolen her hat.

He remembered the very dark and short fellow had been busy glaring at him earlier. And so it was Alistair set his eyes on his first drow (unknown to him) smiled bright and wide and waved like an idiot. He stopped waving in mid-air to peer down at Devyon. Heeeee could seeee her chiii-iiiiiiin. "It's better than nothing, and I'm betting Ferelden gold here will be as good as any other?"

The dark skinned elf's respond was to glare. He felt like telling him that no matter how hard he tried, wishful thinking would not make Alistair's head catch on fire. But he'd done that once. To Morrigan. And his head really did catch on fire after that. So"

Renne, the little blue creature with no way for Alistair to categorize what he was, came snuffling over, shaking his head. "Noh. Wha-t is cheese?"

Right when Icer peered over at Alistair and informed him, "I am Icer."

His brain exploded.

Not really, but that's what it felt like trying to keep up. It was great!

"Gold is gold, greed is greed, and no one cares either way," Devyon said, her gloved hands finally reaching up and pushing the hood from somewhat mussed queue of black hair was in, and the points of aristocratic elven ears. Her eyes sort of throw a wrench into the gears. Hard to be pretty when your eyelids are stitched shut. "They may bite the coin to see if it's real, but beyond that..."

At first, Alistair was gawping at Renne. "It's...It's cheese! Ambrosia from heaven! It's made of milk and if you don't go and have some right now you'll probably be set on fire by an angry cheese making god!" He gave Renne another incredulous look, as if the critter had admitted he ate babies and turned toward Devyon to say something.

Whatever it was he meant to say died in his throat in a wave of sympathy. Alistair saw pointed ears and registered she was elven but that didn't matter. What mattered were that her eyes were sewn shut, they were gone and someone"possibly her"had sewn her eyelids shut because some people cannot stand the sight of?"Maker! He visibly flinched at the thought. Alistair of course, felt nothing but empathy. "What?" He was going to ask what happened. And that wasn't his business. So.

?"That's'did you?"Nevermind, I?" I'm so sorry he wanted to say. And then give her a soul-crushing hug. But Devyon didn't seem the type to take hugs (or candy) from strangers and so he just stood there and stuttered some more.

He'd doing splendidly, the dry, crackling tone of Morrigan cackled at the back of his head. Oh, shut up, he told it. He needed a distraction. Anything. Was there possibly anything that could cover this" Andraste, but, she'd probably thing he was"

"Oh look! Pie! Would you like some pie" I love pie." Stumbling over himself to point out the randomly re-appearing dwarven looking fellow was handing out pies. And he took one and offered it to her awkwardly. Like little boys do to the girls they usually tugged their pig-tails.

Yes, Alistair ol' boy. Your charm and wit is still astounding. Offer her pie. Thaaaaaaaaat'll fix everything.

He could die now.

Right now. Poof. Dead.

"Anytime now?

Maker, why didn't floors have sinkholes!





[[Taken from live play, The cast includes: Icer, Turning a blind Eye, Samilee, Vilrath Arisa, Aulila Galaurol, Redwick, Renne and my sanity.]]

Another Shiny Knight

Date: 2010-05-07 10:50 EST
Redwick the dwarf seemed to like Alistair's train of thought, that pie made everything better. Especially your own stupidity, and grinned in his direction with a mouthful of his own pie. Alistair thinks the dwarf just said, 'delicious!' but what he hears is, 'delliphouth!'

And while he thinks he might die"anytime now"the purple-haired lady that looked like she needed several bowls of stew, seated across from the super-grumpy looking dark skinned elf made a comment about bats. And bats made him think about swooping, and he knew that swooping was bad. He eyed the woman talking about bats a moment to see if she might actually be a friend of Morrigans. Maybe a witch, or apostate or something worse. He couldn't really sense anything.

That's when his scatter brain remembered he had a pie in his hand and he just made a monumental arse of himself. Again. Twice in less than one day! Good job! and he looked back to Devyon. And then away. And then back. And away.

Wooooow. Awwwwkwwwwaaarrrrd.

Devyon weathered Alistair's social faux pas far better than he did. The little elven woman's features seemed to reflect, (or so he thought. He really didn't know!) she waited for him to stop flailing about so she could speak.

"No, thank you," drawled in response to the offering of pie. "And please, there's no need to turn into a gibbering moron upon learning that I'm blind. It's sort of water under the bridge, at this point."

That wasn't his problem. He tried to explain, that it was the fact she had to sew them and they were gone and he didn't feel sorry he felt sad and..."It's not the blind part," he didn't care, actually. Alistair didn't see people the same way most might. "It's the sewing, I guess. And this new place with new people and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed?" He let out a pent up breath. ?"which is no real excuse now that I think of it, but it's the truth. And"well, if you don't want the pie then I guess..." He tipped his head toward Renne, who was still asking him about cheese.

?"Andraste doesn't come down and tell mere mortals how she makes the cheese!" Then laid his...tongue on the pie. Because that was a brilliant way for testing for poisons, wasn't it' Lick something. Yes, yes. Good job.

He overheard the dark-elf exclaiming to the purple haired woman, 'You hit balls into holes with metal sticks" And this is a game". Alistair immediately thought it sounded like a game the dwarves would invent.

"I suppose that sewing them shut," Devyon calmly continued, despite the fact her armored chatting companion was having a serious bought of attention disorder trying to keep up with her, him, and the common room full of people. ?"was a far cry better than just having empty sockets. My eyes rotted out. Very unpleasant business. That's the dangers of working with poisons, however." Very helpful, informal tone.

It was a fortuitous subject. He stopped poking at the stolen pie from Redwick and set it cautiously aside on the bar top.

That's when he overheard the dark-elf mention booze and sex to the gangly woman at the bar and that's when he tuned them out. Not listening! La-la-la-la-la-la!

Instead, he stared for a very long time down at Devyon. "...Do you know a woman named Morrigan?" He didn't wait for her to answer, however. "I think the two of you might be related." And as much as he tried never to think about Morrigan, her name seemed to evoke a brief memory. I also know several different poisons that grow right here in the Kokari wilds. He let out another explosive sort of sigh. "I'm really sorry, for what it's worth.

"I can't do much about being a moron." Alistair's shoulders drooped; his head ducked a little as he reached up to rub the back of his neck.

"No, I do not. And I know that my world is not yours, so the likelihood of us being related is slim. As far as I know, I have no siblings, and my mother and father are dead.

"Do not, however, apologize. It's rather embarrassing to apologize for something you had absolutely nothing to do with. I sewed them shut, after all." She turned a bit away from him toward the door, telling him things before she could say it. "Now, if you will excuse me, it would behoove me to take my leave. It does not do well to keep one's Lord waiting, does it?"

"I'm?" He'd been in mid second apology and let it falter. He felt horrid. Like he just made it worse, and he's a little lost, a little confused and a great deal a giant armored idiot yes"but he's earnest. And true. And he is everything they ever wrote about knights and men who really did have honor, hearts in the right places and?"I'm glad that you stopped to talk to me and help. I really am." There was so much genuine emotion in his voice. One could easily think Alistair did not have a single bone in his body cut out for lying or being false.

Well. Not enough to get away with it and have anyone believe it, anyhow.

"Thank you, Lady Devyon of Freeport," sobering a bit there. He could be serious! Really! He could!

She exhaled slowly. Alistair thought it was a weary sound and not annoyance. "You are welcome, Alistair. I would recommend that you get thee back to your home as fast as you can, if you can. This place will chew you up, spit you out, and not lose sleep over it, and I've a feeling that would be a great disservice to your country, should that happen." She probably did think he was an idiot, but maybe she could see the use of a man like himself. One of her gloved hands reached back, grabbing the lip of her hood and drawing it over her head. "Whatever you do: do not drink the water from the tap or the hand-pump." And with that, she was heading back toward the door, navigating between tables and chairs as if there wasn't a problem in the world with her eye sight.

"Right-o!" He called after her cheerfully. "No taps!" He went to nod at her, but stopped himself. Because it was a rather pointless gesture anyway! "Right then," he said, turning to give the bar and the lot of them the eye. "Let's see about getting myself a room," and tried to look for someone who seemed to work there. Surely an innkeeper or bar wench was about'

Alistair started forward sudden with the shock of a question he'd forgotten to ask Devyon! He whirled around at the last second, yelling, "Can I have cheese, though' I can eat the cheese, right?"" And she was gone!



[[Taken from live play. Holy crap people. We write and do and react to so much stuff when we play, don't we" This is just one night and still tickin'. Cast: Renne(Nightrunner), Redwick, Samilee, Icer, Aulila Galaurol, Vilrath Arisa & several others I probably missed because OH GOD MY EYES.]]