Just a Drink?

[Anasha]

The door to the tavern swung open and a scantily clad woman walked in, her steps were purposeful and her onyx eyes quick to notice every creature within. The black cloak she wore was draped about her shoulders the hood drawn up but remained open in the front. She made her way through the smoke-filled tavern and to the counter where she ordered a drink. After the bartenders got his eyes back in his head and the drool wiped from his mouth, he turned and retrieved her drink, settling it on the counter-top with much distraction, his hand lingering on the cup until she placed a gold coin on the counter for him to retrieve and she smiled at him from the shadowed hood, her onyx eyes flaring to life with a sort of orange glow. “If you think yourself man enough, I am certain I could entertain you with a bit of what I am about.” She said to him as her hand reached out and grasped the tankard of ale, the tips of her fingers igniting to flame for an instant then turned with a little chuckle as the once drooling pathetic man backed away shaking his head, no longer desiring what it was he saw at first glance.

The woman moved about the tavern, her hips swaying almost hypnotically as she moved towards the back of the room and took a seat with her back to the wall, her eyes watching with interest, the many dropped jaws she left hanging in her wake, an almost evil and sadistic grin, just before lifting the tankard to those perfectly formed lips.

Anasha wasn’t here for a fight, or looking for anything immoral, just a few drinks to wind down the night, a night, which had paid her well, one that she quite enjoyed. She never tired of killing off those stupid 'upperclass' folk who always ahd thoughts of backstabbing one another in their attempt to gain a better social standing after the untimely death of such and such or him or her. They paid her well to knock their own kind off, so really, how could she complain.

[julius]

The tavern doors swung slowly open as a man walked casually in, holding one hand on the door as he looked about the smoke filled room. The mans body was covered for as much as anyone could see, in soot and dirt, blackened by the smoke of the metal shop and soaked in his sweat. Holding his small sleeveless shirt in his right hand at his side, Julius dropped his left hand from the tavern doors and took another few steps into the bar as he watched one woman in particular. He had entered the tavern just in time to see a woman wearing little other than her open cloak move towards the back of the bar.

His eyes caught entirely by the sway of her hips, the seductive motion of her body as she walked, his steps slowed as he moved through the room, his right foot setting heavier onto the floor as he remained distracted by her motions until a moment after she was seated. Once she was sitting down and no longer moving so alluringly about, he took in a deep breath and lightly licked his lips as he started up his pace again, and headed towards the back of the bar where the gorgious woman had seated herself.

As he made his way through the masses of people drinking and smoking in the bar, Julius glanced over to the bartender who just as soon marched over to intercept his path and hand him a tankard of ale for himself in exchange for the cooins that the blacksmith handed him without further regard. Keeping his eyes set on the woman that had so effectively captured his attention, Julius took a few swallows of his ale and continued to walk sasually towards her as he continued to breath heavily, still partially out of breath from his run after the long hard day at work in the blaring heat of the sun.

[Anasha]

The woman sat, her cloak now slid off her shoulders and draped behind her on the back of her chair as she watched the man walk towards her, her onyx gaze sweeping his firm, sweaty torso, lingering there for the time it took him to pay for and receive his drink from the bartender. Then, as he started toward her again, she lifted the tankard to her lips once more, taking a long draw from the ale within before settling the tankard down on the table with a soft ‘clink’. This was a man who might just prove to be good company, his body was well formed, muscular and quite touchable, from what she noticed, and her trained eyes noticed a lot. Not to mention, he seemed the only one bold enough, as of yet, to approach her with what seemed confidence, time would tell however, should he stay or go, was going to depend entirely upon him.

She moved her eyes upwards now to look him in the eye as he drew nearer, allowing the hood of her cloak to join the rest on the back of her chair to reveal her mass of the darkest raven hair. She didn’t say a word, but placed one foot on the edge of the chair across from her and, from under the table, kicked it outward and inclined her head towards it for him to sit, if he so desired.

[julius]

Keeping his eyes on her when she looked directly at him, Julius grinned and swapped his tankard from his right hand to his left and reached out with his right hand for the back of the chair she had kicked out from the table. “You’re not like the other girls.” He said this so obvious statement casually, still grinning at her as he aranged the chair in line to sit facing her and sat himself down and leaned forward resting his right arm across the table, and set his tankard down as well, his left elbow resting on the wooden platform as he still held the drink handle loosely in his grip.

“I’m more than certain I haven’t seen you before,” he said, his right hand shifting slightly from its place on the table, only by an inch, and shifted back again as he took a casually hesitant breath. “Might I ask your name?” he completed, reaching his hand out to her, lifting his arm slightly off the table as he looked her in the eyes and continued to smile.

[Anasha]

Anasha remained watching him, as he took up the offered seat and when he extended his hand to her, she looked down at him and only after a few moment, took it and inclined her head to him once more.

“Names Anasha, and no, I am not like most girls, that assumption is correct.” She answered him, taking her hand away and once again taking her tankard in its grasp then lifted it to her lips once more, emptying its content and settling the container back onto the wooden surface of the table. “And you, what might I call you?” She asked, her voice was like silk, quiet, soft and confident, nothing shy within it but nothing to suggest she was in any way overconfident either.

Anasha then looked to the bar and raised a brow, as well her empty mug. In a matter of what seemed no more than a few seconds, the bartender was at their table with a new tankard looking nervous as could be, as he held his hand out for the coins she had withdrew from a money purse. When she dropped them in his palm, he jerked his hand away as if he was about to be bit by a snake. She winked at him and then turned her head back to her present company. “And I doubt seriously you have seen me around much, as I don’t tend to get out of my.. home all to frequently.” She finished his line of ‘questions’.

[julius]

Julius grinned at the womans reply to his request for her name as she took his hand and inclined her head. He did always appreciate common cutesy and so was very glad that Anasha did give him a respectable greeting in return for the one he was offering. She also didn’t have to confirm his statement about her being so different, but he could tell her comment was more out of emphasis and reality than arrogance. He found it actually rather interesting that she would say as much herself. It didn’t seem to be any lack of humility that had her admitting her difference from ‘other girls’, but rather the fact that there must obviously be something most irregularily unique about her.

“I’m Julius.” He returned, inclining his own head back to her. “and I’m very pleased to meet you. After releasing her hand, he lifted his up to his head and pushed a large wave of his damp curly hair up over his head and out of his face before lifting his tankard to his mouth, having noticed her emptying her own. With a single breath of air, Julius drank the large drink from top to bottom before holding it out into the ile and waving it about a bit behind the then turned back of the hurriedly escaping bartender. “Not so fast barkeep.” He said, turning his head around to look at the man as he walked away from their table. “Fill me up too.”

Julius always thought it was rude in a way to sit and sip while your drinking buddy got ahead. He was drinking with this gorgious woman, and didn’t want to leave her at a lack of a competant drinking companion. Looking back at Anasha as he fished for another couple coin from his pant pocket while waiting for the bartender to return, Julius couldn’t help but review her body once more with his eyes moving up and down from his side of the table. He didn’t mean to be rude, but he certainly wouldn’t hide the fact that he found her more than appealing. Anasha obviously wasn’t shy, and there was no reason he could think of that he should be.

“That’s quite a shame,” he started in, still looking at her sultry form before moving his eyes up to look into hers again as he set the coins on the edge of the table for the bartender to collect as he then placed a new tankard of ale down for Julius. “You should get out more.” He took a sip of his new tankard and placed it back down on the table. “Just make reasons to leave the house,,, or,,, home.” He hesitated a little at the end there, remembering how she had refered to her home with an obvious eir of difference from a regular home. He didn’t have any idea what this ‘home’ of hers was, but certainly was injoying the mystery that this woman was.

[Anasha]

Anasha knew he looked at her and without reservation as so many others did. This male was quite forward and not afraid of being so, if Anasha had been in a particularly bad mood, she’d more than likely take offence to his forwardness, as she had done to so many in the past. There were truly quite a few in this tavern now, that bore scares of her fury at the way they had looked at her, though, they had decided to take it just a bit too far and try to touch without so much as a how do you do. This Julius was an interesting character, he was forward but polite, and she took note of the fact that he did as well, have drinking morals as well, another plus to his scoreboard, as it was.

“A shame you say?” She stated after taking her first draw from her new tankard. “Why would it be such a shame that I haven’t been out and about so frequently?” She asked, her eyes watching him closely, taking him in, in his entirety.

She would have to admit, he was quite the sight, his strong chest and arms. She was guessing at his profession and gathered more than likely a smith of sorts but she would of course inquire first before making snap judgments. Then of course, was the fact that his hair was unkempt, but not all too messy all the same, he seemed to wear it loosely, not afraid to show off his curls, this she found at the least, sexy in a male.

“I might ask you what it is that brings you out on a night like this, but, I would gather you tend to like places of this sort, to relax after a hard days work.” She stated, her eyes continuing to gaze at his own, her voice just as silken and quiet as always.

She then raised her tankard once more to her lips and drew deeply of its contents.

[julius]

“A shame cus I don’t get to see the likes of you more often if you never come out.” He replied without hesitation. His answer was perhaps more forward than he would usually like, but it was his answer nonetheless. He far rathered not lie or do any unnecessary political sidestepping when all he was saying was that he found her both attractive and pleasant. “Youre a more than pleasant sight Anasha, I have to admit.” He spoke casually, not trying to be rude, but avoiding treating her with any disrespect. He didn’t want to so much as try to hide the obvious, as he found that a far greater offence. “And youre a welcome change from the regular drunken grunts that frequent the place.” He continued, adding on a most honest comment as to her character that he so appreciated that night. “Those stumbling bumbling boneheads are no more than foolish ramblers with nothing to say and the sluts and whores as attractive as they may be are no more than a tasteless lay im better off without.” Julius hesitated for a mere moment, just long enough to take a slight breath before concluding. “Excuse the language Lady,” he started, tilting his head just a little in a bow, “but I havent much taste for the empty minded or the conversation impared. From what I tell of you already youre far greater company than most ive met here,” he continued, and hoisted his ale in hand to wave in pointing to the people all about the tavern. “you seem to have a mind of your own and a character of which to speak. This i find a most admirable trait that few possess. This along with the site I admit you are, makes it a shame you don’t come out and about as I suggest you should.” Julius grinned at Anasha casually just before holding his tankard to his own lips to play a little catch up for the drinking shed done during his response and then placed it back down on the table.

“And youre quite right,” he started again, replying then to her next comment. “I like to come here after work much like I did tonight. That’s why im still all dirty and sweaty.” He laughed a little at himself, for being such a mess. “Just got out of the shop and took a run over here. Sorry im such a mess.” He said casually, smiling nicely at her as he looked her in the eyes. “I doubt I smell very good, and I know I don’t look all too,,,,, presentable.” He concluded, hesitating to find the right word. After quickly glancing about the room from habbit, Julius suddenly started laughing quite a lot more than those little chuckles of his. “You know,” he said as a realisation came to him. “I think I dropped my shirt coming in the door. Didn’t even realise it.”

“Where are you from?” he asked, turning back to her and deciding to put some of the conversations attention on her rather than himself. “how come you don’t come out and about more than you do?” Julius lifted his tankard to his lips and drank heavily from it as he finished talking to let her reply. He left some in the bottom though, stoppping his gulps earlier than his breaths wouldhave taken him to go for the sake of not pulling his attention away from conversation inaproprietly long immediately after asking questions. Setting his drink back on the table with little left in it, Julius looked Anasha in the eyes again and simply awaited her reply, whish he knew wouldn’t be too long away.

[Anasha]

This male was forward, he believed in holding nothing back, telling the truth. That was admirable of him, and she had the inkling of a thought as to how things would be should she always speak her mind and tell the truth of what she thought, just before slicing someone’s throat for a purse that had been given her to do so. To this thought, she smiled slightly just before taking a long draw from her tankard before settling it on the wooden table again.

“I believe you and I, sir just might have a few things in common, and as I detest the very air some of these foul mannered beasts that call themselves human breath.” She replied with honesty, her onyx eyes flaring up with a fire just beneath the darkness of her otherwise perfectly black orbs in her moment of heated admission. “I mean truly, you would think they’d been educated by Ogres or something.” She grinned at him. “As for your smell, no, you do not make my nose wrinkle so therefore, you do not smell.” She chuckled softly. “And oh no, you look just fine.” She winked at him, meaning every word of it, as she did indeed find him rather attractive. “As for your shirt, I don’t think there is a woman in here who doesn’t mind that tad bit at all.” She then chuckled lightly again. “As to where I am from, why Karador, I was born and raised in the lands that lie to the East, I came to Karador when I was 17.” She replied to his last question just before raising her tankard to him. “Hears to a night of drinking with intelligence, for a change. Or, at least until we become that which we are so quick to judge.” She smiled devilishly at him.

She didn’t pretend to be anything that she wasn’t, though the lady remarks nearly made her choke on her prior swallow of ale. The last thing she ever considered herself, as was a lady; her profession took care of that title right off, though of course, he wouldn’t know that. It was quite evident in the way she looked at him though that she found him quite attractive, though hadn’t come out and stated it outright, she did all the same.

[julius]

“I take it calling them sluts and whores wasn’t too crude for you.” Julius remarked quite merily with a rather happy chuckle to his voice. “And in all honesty,” he continued with a smirk grin on his face as he hesitantly moved his mug closer to his mouth again. “I was trying to be as civil as I could.” He took another sip and then let his mug hover just in front of him with only its last few gulps left as he looked back at her yet again. “Drinking always makes the night far more pleasant.” Julius remarked just before tipping the tankard and finishing off its contents before raising the then empty mug high above his head as a signal to the bartender. “And some things easier to say.” He grinned slyly at Anasha as he said that and pulled a couple coin from his pockets yet again to pay for the next pale of ale.

Julius didn’t say anything to the bartender as his hand released the empty tankard to him without hesitance and he put the coins comfortably onto the corner of the table again. “Ogres.” He laughed repeating the word with a chuckle, getting back on track of conversation after his minor sidestep. He thought to try and be a little less forward than he felt like being with her, avoid jumping the gun so to say. He didn’t want to be sorely blunt with Anasha as to what he thought of her, and so had left it at a suggestion of something more. “Yes people can be rather crude.” He continued, thinking to the comment of the ogres. “I’m glad you don’t mind my smell as much as I do.” He laughed again, turning his head to the side for a moment before taking a drink from his new tankard of ale. “And also that you don’t find me unduely unkept. I know I’m pretty grubby, its not a clean job.”

He paused a slight moment at her remark of his shirt, quite enjoying what she was saying about him and letting it sink in maybe, for a moment as he grinned and took another drink, looking her up and down again before returning his gaze to her eyes once again. “I hope you don’t mind me saying so,” Julius said, grin still on his face. “But I really don’t mind your personal dress code either. And that’s speaking for me on my own, I’ll leave everyone else out of this.” He had decided to be more forward even yet, as it seemed, since she had made that comment of hers on his shirt, or his lack there of. He kept a step or two ahead of her it seemed on how forward they each were. Once theyd had more ale in them he knew theyd each loosen up more, but he was willing to move that process along sooner. “We can drink together in intelligence and in our fading mindset, we’ll not notice our dwindling intellect.” He chuckled a bit again replying to her last comment, before taking yet another drink of his ale. “As much as you drink you’ll still be better than them.” Julius nodded his head once to the side motioning towards the masses of other people in the bar, drinking their minds away.

[Anasha]

Anasha finished off her tankard as he began to speak and soon, before she even looked up, there was the bartender standing with another at the ready. She settled the coins in his hand and then smirked as he once again jerked his hand back as if she had bitten him and then returned her full attention to the man at her table.

“Indeed…” She replied shortly and then took another long draw from her new tankard before continuing. “ I do believe that drinking does enhance the abilities to speak frankly.” She stated and tilted her head back as she took yet another draw from her tankard before settling it on the wooden surface for a few moments.

Her gaze was becoming more forward with every drink it seemed, as well her body language which was beginning to loosen up, be a bit more free from its perfect posture and untarnished control. The quiet, mysterious woman however, had not left and she talked very little of herself, her focus tending to gather around him or the other occupants in the tavern instead. “Well thank you.” She replied to his open statement of his thoughts to her appearance. “Though I must as well look a bit of a mess, it has been after all, a long day.” S he told him and then her smile graced those lips once more. “Are you suggesting sir, that I drink a very lot?” She then raised a brow in mock concern for his thought. “You know, you just might be right there, sometimes, just sometimes I feel I need to take a day or two off for such actions that usually become boorish with the likes of those…” She tilted her head towards the crowd of drunks sitting at the next table. “Tonight however, is proving to be pleasant indeed, yes, most pleasant.” She finished, her onyx eyes rounding on him again, their gaze starting at his chest, rounding slowly up and over his strong shoulders and finally reaching his own gaze where she blinked slowly before taking up her tankard again and drinking another swallow of the contents inside. As the metal container hit the wooden surface however, her onyx eyes remained locked in his as she licked her lips slowly, ridding them of the foam that had topped off her ale in the class.

[julius]

“Oh no.” Julius started with a pleasant and casual smile, not at all nervous about her obviously joking retort as to his comment. “That’s not ot at all what I’m saying.” He paused a slight moment as he smiled silently at her for a second or two before continuing. “What im trying to say is that I hope you’ll keep me company well into the night, and that no matter how much you do drink with me, you’ll still always be better company than those fools.” Stopping to smile at Anasha again, Julius lifted his tankard to his mouth and took a number of swallows before setting it back down again and looking back at her after his line of sight having been impaired by the mug.

“And you look exceptional.” He said, replying to her ealrier comment on her own appearance after her long day. “I certainly wouldn’t mind maybe taking a day or two off, if those days are in as good company as tonight.” He was maybe getting ahead of himself a bit, or ahead of her, though he hoped he was still within bounds with her. It seemed he was still keeping more forward than her, making the suggestion he just had, though he was obviously still discreet enough to not say straight out. The suggestion though, he thought was enough for the moment as he looked her up and down again after speaking, though rather slowly that time, as he licked his toungue, though his toungue only barely apparent through his lips.

[Anasha]

Ok, she was drinking a lot tonight, this was quite plain to be seen, though she hadn’t yet, she was on her way to making this the night she drank perhaps more than was going to be good for her. Her present company was proving to be quite interesting as well, he didn’t seem to hold back on his lustful feelings, which told her he was bold, however, he had done nothing that would consider him rude or obnoxious, yet. That and the fact that he was truly quite nice to look at, something she had found difficult to find more and more these days.

“Tell me if I am wrong, Julius, but you are a smith, are you not?” She questioned then, her tone still silken and light.

After she had asked her question, finally. She lifted that tankard back to her lips once more and took a few drinks from its contents and then set it back to the wooden table with a muffled clank.

“What are your thoughts on what has been going on in Karador as of late?” She asked a second question, certainly everyone who had any semblance of a life knew of what was going on around them by now and she was curious to hear his thoughts on what has been happening, with the Military take over, the Necromadic activity as well, the seeming uprise in otherworldly creatures of late.

[julius]

“What do I think of it?” he repeated pensively as he took a deep breath before speaking any more. “I think its been an innevitable climax for a long time now, just that it’s finally happened. I imagine people were probably already expecting it generations ago, but we’re the unlucky ones to get the proverbial apocalypse in our lifetime.” Julius paused briefly just to rise his flask to his mouth and take a number of swallows before setting it down onto the table yet again, but keeping his hand clasped around the handle. “I think there’s more happening than any of us know. Even the armies it seemes don’t know what to expect. I get a lot of work from them lately, I guess theyre trying to be more ready than not.”

Pausing another time to take a few more swallows of his ale, Julius finished off his tankard again and set it on the corner of the table. “I think these problems are definitely problems, and they have to be and are being responded to.” He paused again, holding his breath this time for a brief moment as he turned to look back and signal the bartender again before looking Anasha back in the eyes again to continue talking. He definitely enjoyed the intelligent conversation she was bringing up, but wasn’t quite sure what direction she was headed with it. He wasn’t sure wether it was her way of procrastinating, or if she was in a sense interviewing him, screaning him before anything further. He didn’t want to come up with the wrong answers, but certainly wouldn’t compromise what he did indeed think. Julius wasn’t one to lie, or shy away from showing who he was.

“But I don’t think we should all stop our lives worrying about any of it.” He continued, smiling at her before, during, and after looking her up and down yet again. He quite enjoyed the site of her, and it seemed that he was continuously getting more and more open about showing it; not that he was shy to begin with. “Dangerous times are here and ahead, but if we all stress over it, I think it’ll just make it worse. Live life, I think is what we need to do; and that’s exactly what I plan to do tonight.” Julius grinned some more, not that his smile had ever faded while talking to her, but he had a look of confident aproach just then as he slid his hand in and around the handle of the new tankard the bartender had brought him, all the while staring at Anasha, and tossed a couple coin onto the table for the server. “I hope to have a lot of fun tonight, and since you’ve made the fun begin for me,” he hesitated only for a half a second while his teeth lightly grazed his own lips when he looked down as far as her collar bone and then back up again. “I hope to enjoy your company when the night is over too. Finish what you start, I say.”

After a couple moments pause, starring at Anasha, Julius took in a breath and smiled again. He had done his best to make the point he wanted without saying anything crude or rude. He didn’t want to go over the edge afterall, but rather wanted to move things ahead with this woman he had found himself enjoying so much. “And yes,” he replied, “I’m a blacksmith, and, by the way, how did you know?” First sliding his tankard across the wooden table, Julius then rose it up to his lips and took a few swallows of the fresh flask.

[Anasha]

The entire time he had been speaking, Anasha had been sipping the contents of her drink, and when the bartender came to place a new tankard on the table to Julius, he as well placed one for Anasha, finally, he’d gotten it down so that he hadn’t needed to make two trips to the bar one after the next and so, when Anasha set her own empty container on the edge of the table, the barkeep was already there to tend to her needs as well, and, was well paid for his efforts too. Anasha smiled at him and then tossed him twice what she owed him and winked. “Keep them coming then.” She stated and then turned her attentions back to Julius again.

“Yes, yes, I would agree that we should never let these things stress us out in the up and coming days of the land, as well, I do tend to agree that the lands of Karador have been awaiting something of this nature for quite some time now, perhaps every since the fall of the Demon King.” She stated in response to his thoughts, now placing her free hand on the table, her tankard in her other as she took a small drink of its contents before continuing. “As well, I see no reason why we should end our abilities to have a delightful evening either, no, no not my thinking.” She replied, her lips sliding once again into a smile as she talked to him, noticing his every look, his every gesture as well, his ending comment about his interests for the ending of a perfect evening.

Anasha took another long draw from her tankard this time then set the metal container back on the table, her index finger sliding along its handle now as she spoke, her onyx gaze fixed in his own. “It is plain to see that you are a smith Julius.” She started, her eyes now moving over his chest, arms and shoulders, rounding back to his chest once more, lingering there for a moment before moving back to gaze into his eyes once more. “Look at yourself man.” She stated and then chuckled faintly. “No profession I can think would give a man such a desirable form as being a smith, those strong shoulders…” She started, her upper teeth now biting down slightly on her lower lip and allowing it to slide slowly through before she continued. “Strong arms... tight, powerful chest…” She shook her head slowly and breathed in deeply before lifting her drink to her lips again for a quick sip. “Indeed, finish what you start, I would also agree too was well.”

No, there was no doubt he had caught her attentions now, her almost hungry smile as she responded to his questioning how she’d figured on his work was more than answer to any suspicions he might have had about that.

“Oh, and indeed, I too plan on having a very enjoyable evening with you.” She added in a straightforward statement, her gaze steady still upon his. “Might even have you take a look at a few of my own steel items, tomorrow. I wouldn’t dream of making you work tonight, or, at the least, not on metal.” She finished, and then lifted her drink to her lips again.