Life in Charin's Rest

[Cosmic Knight]

Sighing lightly, and mopping her brow against the sweat of the late summer afternoon, Ilene Ranheld set down her broom and leaned against the bar.  The long, polished oak bar in the Lady's Flask was gleaming, courtesy of a fair amount of elbow grease put in by Ilene earlier that day.  True, the day was young yet, and there were not that many customers at the moment, but just last week a group of adventurers had passed through heading out on a journey, and if they were going to the same general area that most did, they'd be arriving back into town later this evening.  And if she knew adventurers, she knew they'd be stopping in the tavern on their way through.

Looking down at herself, Ilene fussed with her clothing a little, making sure she was still in presentable shape.  She was wearing the same outfit that seemed to be worn by barmaids the world over; a low cut, frilly white blouse, that showed off a lot of her buxom figure, a green corset and dress, and a white apron over that.  Flicking her auburn braid over one shoulder, and satisfied that she hadn't yet spilled anything on herself, she went to get a mug of ale for one of the regulars that had just come in the door.  The evening crowd might not be here yet, but that doesn't mean she didn't have a job to do.

[azzmeister89]

Cale pushed open the door to the ladies flask, his brow was covered in sweat and soot from working at his fathers forge, he was dressed in a boiled leather tunic, a white under shirt, green trousers and fine looking black leather boots, he had removed that special dragon scale gloves and his workers apron before comming to the tavern.

Sitting himself at the bar he yawned quietly and stretched as he waited for Ilene to finish serving another customer.

[angelic traces]

The smell of horse still clung to Lia as she made her way idly toward the only tavern in town. Her adopted father, Willem, owned the local stables and kept the girl busy all day. Not that she minded, Lia loved to be around the horses. In fact, she wouldn't have left the stables if Willem hadn't ordered her to go out and be social for once. She knew that he was worried about finding someone to marry her off too before she got any older, but Lia had no interest in marrying anyone. She would sooner marry her horse, Justice, than any of the men in Charin's Rest. Besides, she was tough from the hard work she'd done all of her life. What kind of man wanted a woman with callused hands and hay in her hair? Confident that no one would be proposing to her anytime soon, Lia had mostly put the thought from her mind.

The Lady's Flask was somewhat deserted when Lia casually pushed the door open. There were no adventurers here tonight it would seem, just familiar faces of Charin's Rest. The dark haired girl scanned the room and waved cheerfully to Irene. The two of them were almost of an age and when they were young their fathers would often send them running to the other's father with various messages. Unlike Irene, Lia was dressed in a white shirt covered by a worn brown tunic and soft breeches. The nicest part of her outfit were the knee high leather boots that had been a present from her father for her eighteenth nameday. They were new, black, and positively lovely.

At the bar was a familiar broad frame that could be no one but Cale, the blacksmith's son. He was also near her age, so Lia headed toward the bar to join him. "Someone looks like they've had a hard day." Lia said with a friendly smile and sat down on the stool beside him. "You almost smell worse than I do." She added with a hint of mockery. Lia may have been eighteen on the outside, but she was still mostly a child. Too much time with horses and not enough with humans, if you ask me.

[azzmeister89]

laughing at her joke cale turned to look at her "more like a long night, I didn't stop working yesterday until about an hour ago and its only eight in the morning" he gave her a thoughtful look then "hows that horse shoe i made for that old farming horse doing? he isnt having any problems with it is he?"

[Cosmic Knight]

Ilene, having finished serving one of the regulars, spies two of her friends coming into the taproom, and heads behind the bar again.  "Hey, Cale, hi Lia.  I'll be right with you in just a second."  Snatching up her broom once more, she puts it away behind the bar before, unasked, pouring two more mugs of ale, and setting one of each in front of Lia and Cale.

Folding her arms, she leans forwards on the top of the bar.  "So what's the what?  You two look like you've been hard at work all day and then some."

[azzmeister89]

Accepting his Ale gratefully Cale took a long drink before answering "you would be right, I had a bout of inspiration last night and I think I might be able to finaly build that sword I always dreamed about. One day i'll sell it to an knight and my swords will be famous then i'll be able to have my own forge" his eyes glazed over as he day dreamed for a second.

[angelic traces]

(( OOC: Sorry for the long delay friends. The fourth of July holiday finally caught up with me. =p ))

Brushing a strand of dark hair out her face, Lia smiled at Cale's laughter. Of course he'd been up all night. That boy was as obsessed with his work as she was with hers. He quickly turned serious though, asking about a horse he'd shoed the week before. Lia was about to answer him when Irene showed up with ale for the both of them. The pint looked giant in Lia's small hands, but her face lit up with a bright smile as she pulled it towards her. She would take ale over wine any day. She took a swig as Irene asked them about work. Cale got onto talking about his dream sword and then his eyes went all starry. Lia reached over and punched him lightly in the arm. "Get your head out of the clouds you big lug. None of us are gonna get famous in a little town like this." Her tone was rough, but that was just Lia. Luckily the both of them had known her long enough to know she didn't mean any harm by it.

[angelic traces]

(( OOC: So, after I posted I noticed that Cosmic was denied... do we just wanna make Irene an NPC? ))

[azzmeister89]

(Sounds like we may have too, we should probably try finding more people unless you want to make this a one on one)

[azzmeister89]

Cale put on his best pouty face and stared at Lia "we dont know that, this is after all the outskirts of human territory, people come through all the time so if any survive they might spread word, besides i already vowed i would make the first sword to kill a dragon" he took another long drink of ale then slammed the tankard down "anyway i'm getting some food, you hungry?"

[angelic traces]

When the blacksmith pouted, Lia reached over and ruffled his hair as he began to justify himself. The girl just smiled as he talked about killing a dragon. He was right of course. If the right adventurer happened through, his name very well could start to spread. Lia loved to upset him though. She took another swig herself before he slammed the tankard down. "Sure, I could eat. Irene could you bring us some of that stew I smell?" The Lady's Flask always had better food than her father did. The man couldn't cook to save his life. As Irene  swept into the kitchen to bring them out some food, Lia looked back at Cale. "Do you think those treasure seekers that came through yesterday will be back? They didn't look too ready for Charin's Cavern."

[azzmeister89]

Cale thought about Lia's question "I didn't know that was where they were heading, if you ask me though that mage they had with them seemed a bit over confident" he stopped himself there and burst into laughter, when he finally stopped he continued with a chuckle "but look at me, i'm just the blacksmith so its not really like i know what i'm blabbering about" with that he watched as Irene went for there food "it would be nice if they did come back though, not many come out of there alive and those that do usually die on the second go" his fist clenched as he remembered how his mother had died becuas of that cavern.

[angelic traces]

((OOC: Congrats on getting accepted!))

Many of the parties that went out were headed for the cavern, but Lia knew that Cale was right. There weren't very many that made it back to town alive. Rumor had it there was a dragon that had made it's nest at the other end of the cavern, so it was hardly surprising. She'd completely forgotten about his mother's fate. "You're right, that mage did look inexperienced, but the rest of the group seemed ready. Especially that paladin. He must have been on some kind of righteous quest."  Lia wanted to go on a quest more than anything. She stopped herself from drifting off into fantasy though. "I hope they make it back, otherwise I'll have to go out and retrieve the horses they rented from us." They often let adventurers rent horses to get out to the cavern and other places nearby that drew treasure hunters and other adventuresome types. Quite often, when they took the horses out to the cavern, Lia went out to bring them back. Every time they were tethered outside of the cave that lead deep into the earth. "I'll probably wait until tomorrow or the day after. You wanna come out with me? It's a pretty lonely ride by yourself."

[azzmeister89]

Cale instantly perked up at the idea "i would love to, i was meaning to go get a look at the star fragment that fell around there last week,  it could hold some strong metals in there" he laughed then "man i need to get out of this place, the forge is all i talk about" he sighed "maybe i need to find a wife"

[angelic traces]

At his talk of getting a wife, Lia couldn't help but laugh. "A wife, huh?" And what lass in this town would marry a dolt like you?" she teased. Her father was thinking the same thing after all. Lia wondered if there was someone Cale had his eye on. Irene perhaps? Lia knew one thing for sure, there was no way they were gonna get her to marry anyone around here!

((OOC: So sorry for the late response. Midterms and sickness got the better of me. Boo!))

[azzmeister89]

(awww hope your feeling better and if not, feel better soon -send mojo magic your way- see i'm like a witchdoctor.... only cooler)

"lots of girls might, i have a trade for a start" he said in a defensive tone "if i took it to the city i could live a good life as a blacksmith and i guess there is one girl, no way she likes me though" he said with a small smile.