[SRP] A Night to Remember

[WyvernSlayer]

Feels good.

Satsume craned his head to one side to remove the crick in his neck and closed his eyes briefly. For once, he wasn’t overwhelmed with the usual sounds of swords clashing or a certain former princess’ scathing remarks. Now, there was laughter, singing, and the hustle and bustle that had all but vanished from mainland Lycia.

…you know, because he wasn’t in Lycia.

No, this was Rastille, a quaint little city on the southwest corner of Ilia. A place where the tension of Lycian day-to-day life was nonexistent, and the people were content to engage in happy festivities as though the world around them didn’t exist. For the first time in a good long while, Satsume was finally able to relax.

I wonder if it’s like this all the time here, he thought. He swung around on the bar stool he was seated on and reached for his mug of beer. I should think about moving here.

Apparently, there was a celebration of some Ilian holiday or another, and Satsume had drifted into town just as they were in the thick of things. Ordinarily, that would be an invitation for Satsume to keep on moving and find a place that was a little more quiet, but the camaraderie expressed here bordered on aggressive, and he would likely be drawing more attention to himself by sitting out during all of the fun. Satsume was pretty sure he hadn’t actually paid for a drink all day. That’s how nice people were during this time of the year.

“Must be cruel to force people to live it up a little,” Satsume said sarcastically into his mug. “Twist my arm.” He took a large swig of beer and wiped some foam away from his mouth. “Ahh…”

Suddenly, Satsume felt someone bump up against his back. He peeked over his shoulder and caught the glance of a young woman. She blushed and smiled at him. “Sorry!”

“Oh. Uh, no worries!” Satsume said back rather awkwardly, turning a couple shades of pink himself. He quickly turned away and raised the mug to his lips again. The girl frowned a little bit at being dismissed, and shyly turned and headed on her way.

Glad to see the whole “dealing with girls” bit hasn’t taken a day off, Satsume thought. I should have tried to chat with her or something..! This and similar laments creeped into his head as he finished his beer. He tried to remind himself that the night was young, and that you couldn’t force making friends.

[Breadophile]

Two green-haired people stepped up. One female, one male (though it was hard to tell). Outside of Ilia they would've been a strange sight. Here? Not so much.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS! Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was sleeping, not even a-" *SMACK!*

"It's November, jackass!"

"Ouchie..." She recovered. "Oh yeah, then why is it snowing?"

"Because we're in the coldest fucking place in Elibe?"

"Well smartie-pants, had you done your homework you would know that due to the wind patterns and cold fronts, as well as its relative proximity to the sea in comparison to a place like, say, Carrhae, Rastille isn't snowing year-round."

"..."

Messing with Ray was so much fun for Kalin. Though most, Ray and Shad included, wouldn't realize it, she knew it wasn't Christmas.

"I can't believe I'm here."

"Oh, relax. I'm a woman of my word. I'm a mercenary, we kinda have to be, for both our individual jobs and the unit as a whole."

She thought of Zealot. In any case, her word was the deal that, after she had found Ray, she wouldn't chase him down if he came back to visit the family for certain holidays. This was one of those holidays. And so they met in Rastille.

She gave Ray a big hug.

"Cut it out!"

"I can't help it. You're so cute. You're like a life-sized doll."

"L-let go! Go hug father. Reportedly, he's like a teddy bear."

She let go.

"You know, I don't see you that much. I get worried."

"uh... well... d-don't be. I'm fine on my own, Kalin. There's no need to be concerned."

"O-okay... sorry, I don't think that feeling'll go away."

"Please try to make it go away, for your emotions as well as my sanity. Anyway, speaking of father..."

"Where is he? He and mom are late."

[Amoltamiss]

Panika looked around as she stepped foot into the general vicinity. She was alone, here in Ilia. What was she doing here, alone? Panika herself wasn't really sure. All she knew was that she was lost. She was lost and she was beginning to really miss Cinia. Her dearest sister. Inwardly dismayed, but outwardly mysterious, shrouding her body more tightly with her cloak, she noticed that there was some sort of festive mood setting. Looks like there was an occasion being celebrated. Now, Panika wasn't the most well-versed with Ilian culture but she did recognize this festival to be one commonly celebrated towards the end of the year. She had situated herself into the thick of things now, hoping that the merry-making would help to distract her from the general troubles she'd been having recently between all the chaos and her last job which she just pretended never actually happened. She still kept Lemegeton with her, naturally, and had tried to study it along the way, but to no avail. It didn't help that draped in her cloak and her generally roguish good looks she kind of stood out along with some of the other party-goers who were more social butterflies.

Panika herself had to politely dismiss herself away from any men who had offered to dance with her, saying "No thanks, ye fancy bastards~" in a joking, friendly tone and with a smile on her face, and instead she made it seem like she was just horribly drunk. Stretching, Panika wandered about aimlessly until she saw the sight of a seemingly sullen or embarrassed (one or the other, at least) guy drinking what appeared to be beer. "Geez, you look pretty sad. Or embarrassed. I can't tell with ya, pal. This ain't the time for that. Gotta try and get your mind off things, you know?" Panika said, now giving the man a closer look - regaled in black, reddish-brown hair... Yep.

"Take it easy, man." Panika simply said as encouragingly as she could.

[WyvernSlayer]

Just as Satsume was considering leaving the venue, he heard someone over his left shoulder address him.

“Geez, you look pretty sad.”

Satsume turned toward the sound of the voice and was met with the curious stare of a silvery-blonde young woman. He raised his eyebrow. “I do?” he asked.

“Or embarrassed. I can’t tell with ya, pal.”

Satsume said nothing. Any attempt to dispel this woman’s concern would probably just lead to more embarrassment, so he simply shrugged his shoulders and went for another sip of beer.

“This ain’t the time for that,” the woman continued. “Gotta try and get your mind off things, you know?”

Satsume searched for his voice to try and answer her. “Well, yeah…” Suddenly, he had an idea. He pushed his mug away from him as the barkeeper made his way past. As he scooped up Satsume’s mug, Satsume held up two fingers. The barkeeper nodded and left.

“I’m trying to unwind a bit,” Satsume said to the woman, “but it’s hard when you’re all by yourself in a town you’re not familiar with.” He peered up at her and tried his best to stop his cheeks from turning an even deeper shade of red. (Very hard to do when you’re already several drinks in, by the way.) “I could use some, uh…”

No, no, no! Not now, you’re so close! Just say it!

“Here you are, sir!” The barkeeper had returned with two mugs of foamy ale. Satsume glanced quickly at them, and then-

“Beer,” he finally said. Goddammit. “I mean, company! I could use some company!” He offered her one of the mugs. He could see this ending one of two ways – either she’d laugh away his awkwardness, or he’d probably be downing both of those beers to wash away the shame.

[Breadophile]

Standing around 7 feet tall, the large giant of a man shook the ground where he walked. His strength and toughness would rival that of a pegasus, which somewhat answered the question of where Kalin inherited those qualities from. He was a lumberjack, exemplified by an epic brown beard of legends and the large bulging muscles that made it very difficult to find appropriately sized shirts. Thankfully, he liked the cold. When he traveled, he always kept his trusty chopping ax and hunting bow strapped to his back. One could never know when the need for them would arise.

"We're lost, aren't we darling?" he beckoned with a very deep, commanding voice. A voice which, with a single word, he could silence the both of the crazy siblings.

In direct contrast stood a woman around as tall as Kalin, with arms slightly smaller. The most visible piece of clothing a person could see on her was the magical cloak she always wore. Underneath it was standard Ilian clothing offering anti-blizzard-level protection and anyone that could see through the opening in the cloak near the front would notice a sweater and some long pants. The woman had very long, slightly unkempt green hair. The same color as Kalin and Ray and of similar color to her ancestors past. There was a book strapped to her back and someone astute could make out a slight bulge on the side of her hip that looked like the head of a staff.

"We are NOT lost sweetie. I wrote the directions myself. They're BRILLIANT BRILLIANT BRILLIANT!" Her voice was the voice of a woman who put a lot of emotion into everything she did. Intense, one could say, but still affectionate enough that one could see her as a mother.

In contrast to her confidence, the woman fidgeted with the map, turning it upside-down and sideways while a puzzled look remained on her face.

The two seemed like a strange pair to be life partners, but to Kalin and Ray, such a situation was normal.

Most would wonder what sort of bizarre parents the two siblings must've had to grow up in such a way. But to Kalin and Ray, the two were normal.

Many would question why a dad would still give his fully-grown daughter a piggy back ride or why a mom would routine blow up said dad's sheds with her son. But to Kalin and Ray, this was "normal."

"Then where are we?"

"U-uh... well, you see... if you make a left turn here then we should be... uh..."

"So we're lo-"

"Aha! There's the town! Told you to leave it to me, Istvan!"

"I never should've doubted you, Latonia." he said, completely serious.

And so the two walked into the town of Rastille.

[Breadophile]

"I could go for a drink."

"For once we're in agreement."

"TO THE PUB!"

Kalin grabbed Ray and ran towards the pub at mach speed.

------

"Can you stop doing that?" Ray, why are you asking questions you already know the answers to.

"Huh, did you say something?"

"...no."

"Now let's see..."

They proceeded to walk up to the bar, sit down, and order their drinks.

"And what would you two like?"

"I'll have uh... what am I feeling today? Hmm... how about Maltet Liquor?"

"I'll just have water." said Ray.

"Uh..." The sister was dumbfounded.

"I'm pre-pre-gaming. Don't question it."

"..."

"They'll be right out."

Kalin looked around.

"Interesting crowd today. The festival is more popular than I thought."

"Now that you mention it... Hey! That's that dude that got chucked into a pile of bandits!"

"'That dude that got chucked into a pile of bandits!' Rather tragic if that's his only notable trait."

"Well... I don't really know him that we-"

Just then, Ray saw something...

"AAH! The stripper mage!"

"W-what?"

"She's you with fire! One of you is already bad enough! I can't take it any more man. This shit's too scary for me."

"Geez... pétat" An obscenity local to her home town some miles away. "Wait, so you know the girl he's with?"

"Yeah, I'd rather no-"

"Let's go say hi!"

God dammit!

"Satsu! Funny seeing you here. One day you're heroically protecting a village from bandits, the next slamming down drinks in a pub. Try not to drink too much, it's bad for you."

"You're one to talk..."

"I am a responsible drinker thank you very much. I'll have you know I never drink while riding. Anyway, this is my brother Ray. He's a mage with an affinity for fire. Ray, this is Satsume. He's an armor knight, though I don't know who's charge."

She turned to Panika.

"And hello there! My name is Kalin. I've heard that you know my brother."

[WyvernSlayer]

Satsume was desperate for anything to keep his conversation from flying off the rails. The fact that his conversation with the woman in front of him was interrupted by the sound of a very familiar voice behind him made Satsume’s gut wrench a little bit. Oh no…

“Satsu! Funny seeing you here. One day you're heroically protecting a village from bandits, the next slamming down drinks in a pub.”

Satsume rolled his eyes a little and flashed a smile to the woman in front of him, to excuse himself briefly from their conversation. He turned and was greeted by a familiar mop of green hair.

“Oh. Hey, Kalin,” he said. “What are you doing-“ He stopped himself mid-sentence. Of course, you knucklehead. She’s a native Ilian. It makes SENSE for her to be here. He collected himself and spoke again.

“I guess I was just in the right place at the right time.”

“Try not to drink too much, it’s bad for you!” Kalin chirped playfully.

“Yes, Mother!” he replied sarcastically. He leaned his head in the other woman’s direction. “I was just enjoying the festival with my friend here. Her name is, uh…” Wait, that’s right. He didn’t know her name. Or maybe he did and HAD been drinking too much.

“Uh…” Satsume stammered, and spun around on his seat to face the young plat-blonde. “I don’t think we’ve introduced ourselves yet, actually. I’m Satsume.”