The Goose and Gander [Chyril 27th, ET]

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Mel
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The Goose and Gander [Chyril 27th, ET]

Post by Mel »

The Goose and Gander is a clean and quaint tavern which sits on the north side of town. The Gander seems to attract a more highborn clientele. Visiting nobility, well-to-do merchants, and other respectable people take their lodgings here when they are guesting in Roque. It is a peaceful place, well patrolled by guards. The rooms each contain a lockable chest, a table and two chairs, a comfortable bed, and a solid, locking door.

The Inn's large common room is cheerful and usually smells of food and lye soap. The darker wood tones of its original décor can still be seen in the long oaken bar and round tables, but the walls are now covered by dark red tapestries embroidered in gold thread. Servers thread there way past the tables as they bring customers their orders. To the back is a large bath area and steam room where travelers can wash and steam the dirt of the road from their tired bodies. A small stage is tucked into the corner for entertainers, the bar and its tender lie directly opposite the doorway. A staircase leading to the rooms upstairs sits next to the doorway. Its mahogany banister has been painted white and gold cording threads around it in a spiral.


However, anywhere where the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol is, at least technically, possible, even if frowned upon, there is always the ever present potential for unconstrained jocularity and rampant mirth. Which is, in the capacity of the inflicting thereof, a hobby of the young man seated at the bar.

Though, to dissect the wording ‘young man seated at the bar’ could lead to some reinterpretation. ‘Man’ is a word some might limit to only the human, which this particular man is not. And ‘seated at the bar’ would normally implying sitting, and facing the bar, which again, this particular man is not.

Dez views, and has always viewed people in their capacity as a puzzle. Always feeling compelled to find the motives and secrets behind every man, he has made it his business to slowly chip away at these various mysteries. While some might think that getting the rich and generally well-to-do patrons of the Goose and Gander blind drunk and robbing them stupid might not be the correct manner of achieving this goal, with an explanation, some others might in fact brought around to Dez’s way of thinking. And Dez would certainly concede that robbing them did not give him any particular insight, but economy is a reality. And he had not been doing the robbing, as of yet. The previous few nights he had, in fact, been going into his own pocket to provide the intoxicating catalyst of his research. But he was running a little short, and money was money.

Though the results had been, indeed, been quite informative. He had assumed, perhaps naively, (though those with a personal connection would rather use the word mistakenly; naïve just didn’t seem willing to stick to the Adhiel) that the upper crust, a group he had little to do with till his recent excursion into the real world, would be less prone to drunken revelry, lecherousness, promiscuity, and general debauchery. But he was quickly finding that, after one pushed past the façade of manner and self-righteousness of the wealthy, they tended to sink rather spectacularly. To be completely frank, would be considered disgusting, and it was fascinating Dez.

Which is how he comes to be, yet again, sitting, facing away from the bar, taking in the room, waiting for nothing in particular but the whim to begin his investigation anew. Though numbers in the inn have not shrunk, they had seemed to refill; his audience was a completely new sample. With the expensive, expansive and to be blunt, gaudy taste all around him, he readies his performance.
Last edited by Mel on Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Gutter Rat »

Dez was, indeed, fortunate to have found the Goose so lively but the packed bar was also his misfortune as half of the patrons appeared to have come fresh from a handbinding and were drinking to the bride and groom’s fortune while the other half were much like multicultural clones of Dez, many of whom were eyeing the wedding party with expressions ranging from jealousy, sadness, and even anger but they all knew fairly well not to start anything.

Roque was a small island as it was and it was pretty common knowledge not to do anything to make that island any smaller by bringing banishment upon oneself. Yet, the misfortune did not lie wholly upon the fact that so many patrons overwhelmed the shorthanded staff – the ‘clones’ of Dez threatened to keep him as just a face in the crowd, so to speak.
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Mel
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Post by Mel »

Though a change in expression is a bit much to hope for from Dez, in his heart, or mind, he feels some pang of some emotion at the sight of a happy couple.

Being of the intellectual temperament, adolescent romances hadn’t really been a focus of his youth, though with a quasi-stalker-like streak, he had had a tendency to watch beauty from a distance. Specific names would never come to mind for him however; he never had the courage, or he would rather like to think, inclination to even approach, never mind speak with the objects of his personally, unclassifiable, sentiment. It had left him with another sensation he had not had enough experience with to identify: bitterness.

Knowing, on some level or other, that objective logic was slipping from him, to be replaced by a cold, vengeful, sadism, some darker part of his mind takes control. Knowing perfectly well that his rationality is falling apart at the seams, his thirst for knowledge overthrown by a thirst for something far more primal, he listens hungrily as this new mentality whispers single words to him.

Hurt. Damage. Destroy.

However, his façade of outer cheerfulness, accustomed to covering up lack of any feeling, proves to be equally capable of covering up malice. With his usual flourish, he hops from his seat at the bar, and picks off the first member of the wedding party he can find, walking up and tapping them on the shoulder, showing that energetic, benign interest that no one can really rebuff politely, and asks,

‘So, drinking to the happy couple, are we?’
Last edited by Mel on Sun Jun 15, 2008 9:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Gutter Rat »

The girl turned sharply, her red hair as crimson as her cheeks from a few uninterrupted bouts of dancing, the maiden giggling as she nodded and took a tipsy sip of her drink, her free hand giving a generalized wave in the crowd’s direction. “Mmm, yes… Clovis and Yvette…”

“[i]Captain Clovis, you silly girl. Just because your sister has gone off and made him respectable doesn’t mean you should…” the older woman who had stumbled toward Dez and the girl hiccupped and made a drunken curtsey toward Dez before continuing to scold her daughter. “…doesn’t mean you should call him by a familiar name…” the old woman hiccupped once more and stumbled left, tripping toward a chair which by teamwork – her catching the falling chair as the chair stopped her fall in return – found her haphazardly seated, still looking at the Dez and finally addressing him personally. “By Domun… By Dumoo… By Dimun… Ahh, the Nether with it! By the One, I am so pleased that a captain of the guard wed Yvette. Now if we can just find a man-at-arms for Kelly here… You’re not a man-at-arms are you, boy?”

The old woman squinted hard at Dez’s chest as if looking for a purple sash which just refused to be seen, the woman leaning closer and closer by the flicker until she tumbled from the chair. Within the wedding throng, some laughter was heard among the gasps as many witnessed the matron’s fall, a curtain of arms descending from the crowd to pull her back to her feet and back into the center of the revelry.

“Yes…” Kelly nodded, watching her mother disappear. “It is a grand day for everyone, I think. This bar is so packed with my brother-in-law’s men that I swear Mother will find me a suiter if it kills her.” Kelly gave a small shrug and waved at the woman who seemed to have already found another prospect, having forgotten about Dez. “What can you do?” asked Kelly, the question fairly rhetorical.
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Mel
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Post by Mel »

Captains, sisters, and alcohol.

Admittedly, the fine details aren’t apparent as of yet, but in his current state, Dez finds improvisation has an undeniable appeal. And if he can pull it off, the results would just be far too delicious to pass up.

Humiliation. Betrayal. Dishonor. Simply delectable. He can feel his desires for aimless retribution metaphorically salivating.

Dez tilts his head and wrinkles his brow in a trained puzzlement. ‘I’m sorry, have I not got the facts straight here?’ he queries, before flashing a practiced, confident, confidante’s grin, continuing to fake, as best he can, sincere bewilderment and honesty, and continuing, ‘Your sister marries a Captain, and your mother tries to force you to settle for one of his inferiors?’

An unfortunate side-effect of alcohol, comes the rational side of Dez’s mind, is an unpredictability. All one can do is suggest, and hope one’s idea of the most obvious interpretation aligns with the inebriated mind one suggests too.

An air of conspiracy enters his voice, as he winds up, earnestly ‘Well, I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t dream of settling for second best,’ and remembering the Golden Rule, namely flattery will get you everywhere, concludes, with a wink, ‘particularly not with your beauty and charm’.
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Post by Gutter Rat »

The girl gave a spattering of genuine laughter at his romantic overature, a bit too tipsy to take anyone seriously at that particular flicker. “Forced to settle? Forced to marry? Never.” She laughed again. “There are five of us… mother’s little dolls… she just loves the thought of playing matchmaker and being able to have more days like today, that is all…” The girl took another sip of her drink and sat, motioning for him to sit with her if he wished.

“Mother secretly wishes that one of us will draw the eye of Lord Hammerlee III, to be honest. My sister falling for the ‘Captain’ was merely chance and mother shall be the only one who shall awaken after the honeymoon night with tears in her eyes…” she whispered in the loud way that drunks often did, especially when gossiping. “The real Captain is over there at the bar, wearing the lowly stripes of my new brother-in-law. A delightfully wicked game cooked up by he and my sister and shared with the platoon, for all of Roque knows that my mother would find it simply appalling for any of her daughters to be living in love-filled squalor with a simple footsoldier of no real rank at all.” She sighed and raised her glass to her sister and the highly-striped man in her arms.

“They do make a lovely pair though, don’t you think?” she asked, dipping the glass toward the table once and raising it once more to Dez. “Here’s to you, funny man, for making me smile even more on this night of mischief.”
Last edited by Gutter Rat on Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Maeve »

Archived without skills. Player stopped posting.
[i][b][color=orange][size=92]Smile and carry a big stick.[/color][/b][/i][/size]
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