Fantasy World Creations

Large cat-like ears turned to better pick up the particular tidbit of gossip that has caught her interest. "Strange siblings with cat ears and tails..." "Barely speak common and really hard to understand..." "guild..." Bah! Why did there have to be so many other people in the market place! She was hardly getting anything useful this way. At least she heard what she heard. Turning to where the voices were coming from, Maeve moved up to the women.

"You! You must tell me where these catfolk can be found!" She commanded the humans.

The women were obviously startled, apparently not thinking that gossiping about things in a public market place might bring people to join the conversation. This however, was not Maeve's problem. What was her problem was that she needed to know where she could find catfolk kin and they most likely had the knowledge.

"We heard they were staying with the Guild of Galas'nor." One of the women finally stated.

"Where can I find this 'Guild of Galas'nyar'?" Maeve inquired, still new to the town she had just traveled to.

After receiving the directions and proffering a coin for the information, the tiger woman moved on. Although excited to hear that there were catfolk in the town, they were not her reason for being there. She had been traveling from town to town since leaving her clan years previous, just exploring and enjoying being in foreign lands and meeting foreign people. It brought her great joy meeting all different kinds of people. Some folk gave her glorious brawls, and the promised to have a rematch should they ever meet again. She also got to meet some very great looking men during her travels. Many of which she ended up in a fist fight with, but whatever. She was quick to anger, but quick to forgive after a good fight with whoever made her angry. She also ran into some undead, which she made sure to take care of and put them in their place. But now, after all these years, she was going get to meet some kin! Of course, they probably weren't from her clan, but any catfolk was kin to her.

Reaching her destination, Maeve stalked right up to the front door and flung the doors open.

"Grrrreetings Guild of Galas'nyar!" She called to the people within the main room. "I have heard that you are harboring catfolk here and I am here to see them!"

A book closed shut with an audible snap.

"Harboring? Harboring?" A voice said glumly. "There's Catfolk along with criminals, morons, hooligans, drunkards,  and don't forget..." She paused as she waved her hand in a presenting matter to the rest of the guild.

"Idiots."

With that, she went back to reading.

"Come now, Katrias, they're not all that bad." A slim, white-haired man walks into the the room at that moment, chastising the woman's cynical speech. Despite the white, he looks to be in his 40's, and stranger still his features are unblemished. Other than these uncanny features, he looks completely human. His clothing was fairly casual, what you'd expect from a common townsperson, though he did have a black cloak draped around his shoulders. At his side were, from what you could see with the cloak, were a rapier and a morningstar, both sheathed and held securely.

"Anyways, please don't mind her. You were looking for catfolk? I've certainly seen some around the hall from time to time. Is there any particular reason you'd like to find them? I could pass a message for you if I happen to see them again." The man greets you politely, which is a far cry from what you'd expected after the cold greeting of the first person you met.

There was a great bit of bustle around Gandin's table, at which sat a halfling, two men, a dark-brown-haired dwarf, and Gandin himself. Jokes of caliber Gandin hadn't seen paralleled in years were mounting in hilarity. It wasn't clear to him whether it was because they were genuinely amusing or because he may or may not have been on his third gallon of alcohol at the time, but he knew that he was sure having the time of his life with the best of buddies... whatever their names were. They all had some killer humor, but the taller of the two men sure knew how to put the "ha" in the word "laughable". Gandin was sure he hadn't breathed in almost a whole minute from all the boisterous guffawing.

Once the reddish-blond-bearded dwarf finally caught his breath, he went in to take another swig of ale from his double-pint beer mug, finding that he would soon need yet another refill as the alcohol inside was now under the half-full line. It was lucky for him he had found his seat right next to the refill area; he wouldn't even have to get up to get more of the amazing beverage.

But of course, he hardly got to swallow that mouthful of ale before another wisecrack was let loose upon his ears. He tried with everything in him to hold back yet another roar of laughter, but alas, he could not, and a great fountain of alcohol and saliva shot out of his mouth and nose as if someone had just thrown a water balloon full of the stuff right at his face. There was alcohol all over the place now. Not that he cared, of course. In his drunken stupor, he had barely realized what had happened and was still laughing as hard as he thought he could, as were at least two of the others at his table. Life sure was good in the Guild of Galas'nor, wasn't it?

Between the volume of his own snickering and the relatively loud chatter of the thirty tables full of people between him and the door, he failed on all fronts to realize that a tiger lady had just burst through the front doors of the guild hall asking where they were keeping our catfolk. He might have even seen his guildmates across from him at the table turn their attention to the front gates if it hadn't been for the tears of joy in his eyes blurring up his vision. Although, to his credit, he probably wouldn't have cared much amidst his drunkenness in the first place.

But what he heard next was simply unacceptable, however long it took him to realize what was actually said. It was a woman's voice, no doubt. It seemed to come from a quiet-ish section of the hall. He turned to see the source of the voice around halfway through the girl's mini-speech only to see none other than someone whose name was probably Katrias returning to her reading material. For a moment, the dwarf just stared. There was visible trouble in the dwarf's eyes as he struggled to comprehend the woman's words, and he continued to process it for quite some time.

And then it clicked.

"HEY!" Gandin finally shouted at the top his lungs, his voice slurred more than enough for him to sound visibly inebriated, "I'll haff you know that I. AM?" he let out quite a loud and dignified belch "?NOT. A. DRUNKARD!" With that, he attempted to stand to his feet and look all scary-like at Katrias, but as soon as he got to his feet, he fell right back down, flat on his back, between his table and the table behind him, and his mug of ale spilled all down his front.

The main room was full of people. Maeve was amazed that an entry like hers had not  garnered more attention from the room's occupants. A fairly decent-sized group sat at one table, apparently already drunk this early in the day and laughing away in their own little world. There was a purple-haired girl, which Maeve thought was odd - who had purple hair? - was reading a book in a nearby corner. There were various others in the room, but after glancing her way, they quickly went back to their regular business, possibly hoping someone else would deal with the crazy woman who had just barged in through their front door. How rude!

The loud snap of a book brought the red-head's attention back to the girl, who started off a short speech about the guild by repeating Maeve's word choice. Her Catfolk kin were in a place full of such terrible people? Were they really okay here?! They weren't terrible people, too, were they? Perhaps she would stay in this town a bit longer than she had originally planned, just to make sure her kin were actually okay. And if they were okay, that they had not been tainted by the evils of foreign lands. Perhaps she could even get into a decent brawl while here, too! Hah! it would be nice to have a fight to put an idiot in their place!

While Maeve was in that train of thought, a man had apparently entered the room. He quickly corrected the girl of her speech, dismissing the idea that the guild was a terrible place. The cat woman took an interest in the man immediately. Although the man carried weapons, his skin was unblemished, which she found odd, but perhaps he was just that skilled. This was not the thing that she noticed the most, however. What caught her interest the most was that he had all white hair, yet did not look near old enough to have it. She wondered if he might have a rare trait like what her father had that made him have the white hair. Her father had been born a rare white tiger among her tribe. Everyone else in the tribe had red hair, like herself, but his had been white from birth.

'Some' Catfolk?! That meant there were several? She had gotten the impression from her conversation with the women before that there were only two, but more was very exciting to the tiger woman. Maeve was very excited to meet them all. She wondered what species of Catfolk they were; were they all of the same tribe or various tribes and species? Oh... But now she had to choose. She could get to know this interesting man more, before he continued on with his own business, or she could continue her search for her kin. Well, she guessed if they were members of the guild, she would be more likely to find them sooner by staying here rather than going about in search of them.

Sidling up to the man, the red-headed woman had been about to make her reply when the noisy dwarf drinking at the table of midday drunkards suddenly spoke up with a booming voice. She wanted to laugh at his inability to hold his liquor, seeing him stumbling over his words and then falling over himself. Now as not the time for that, though. She could challenge him to a drinking contest later and laugh at him then.

"Oh, I just like to visit with any Catfolk kin when the opportunity arises." She replied, turning her attention back to the man. "Any species of Catfolk is uncommon here, compared to my home land." Maeve let her tiger ears twitch, just in case he had failed to notice them. She would have twitched her tail, too, but due to kids trying to play with it earlier, she had to tuck it away.

"I'm sure they'll pass through here again eventually if this is their guild, so enough about them for now. Let us find a place to sit and chat!" Maeve winked at him. "I'll treat ya!"

After making his statement and waiting for her reply, he realized the newly-arrived catfolk before him was looking at him rather oddly. She was examining him. Ah, yes, cats have sharp vision...then I definitely must seem to be an oddity. Well, hopefully she doesn't look into it much further than that. He continued to smile welcomingly, hiding his slightly defensive thought from his facial expression. Just as it seemed she was going to reply, a ruckus burst out from behind him, causing him to turn and see a well-past-his-limit dwarf trying to deny he was a drunkard. Convincing. Vladimir thought to himself jokingly. I guess Katrias got more than one person on edge with her words.

Vladimir turned back to the woman, only to find that she was several steps closer, still peering at him. She made a quick statement clarifying why she wished to meet others like her, but almost seemed to brush it aside. Instead, she offered to treat Vladimir to a drink, and to chat for a while.

The methuselan blinked a couple times in surprise as she winked at him, "Hmm?" It took a moment to comprehend what had just happened. That was unexpected. He did his best to suppress a chuckle, instead smiling back at her. "I'll gladly take you up on that. I have time for a conversation and a drink. Lead the way, milady." Vladimir responded, with a wave of his hand behind him, motioning toward the tables.

Well, that was a little unexpected. The man had actually accepted Maeve's invitation. Perhaps he was in for the free drink. Or perhaps he was just being polite, thinking to keep her company whilst she waited for her unknown kin. Or maybe there was a chance he liked what he saw as well and did not want to miss an opportunity. Whatever the reason, Maeve did not really care at the moment. She was being spurred on by the fact that he had actually accepted.

Quickly, the tiger woman examined the room. The place was not even near its full capacity, probably because of the time of the day, so there were plenty of tables to sit at. Since this was the main room of a guild, in which clients might meet with guild members to discuss missions, it seemed the guild had its own bar. And there, in a corner, was an empty table far away from the drunken party. This was excellent.

Looking back at the white-haired man, Maeve gestured towards the table she had chosen. "Right this way~" As she moved to lead him to the table, she looked around to make eye contact with someone who might be a server. Hopefully, someone would get the hint and come to see what she and her companion would like. Not long after seating herself, someone did walk up and Maeve had to stop herself from ordering her usual alcoholic drink. It was not the time of day for hard liquor, she should go for something less intoxicating. Mead would do.

"I'll have a pint of your local mead." She did love to try local foods and drinks. Hopefully it would not disappoint. "And my companion will have..." Looking at him, she left the sentence open for him to make his order.

Once the server was gone, Maeve decided to strike up the conversation she had asked for. "I don't believe I introduced myself. I am Maeve Gallagurrrrr of the Tigurrrfolk. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. ..." She paused so he could introduce himself, then continued. "You don't seem to be any of the things that gurrrl listed off. So apart from being sexy, what do you do for a living?"

Vladimir saw the slight shock on her face when he accepted. Did she think I wouldn't? That I wished to talk shouldn't be that surprising...or is she hoping for something in particular that went over my head? Well, no matter. I guess I'll be finding out. The rogue carefully followed the woman to the back table. He was thankful she'd avoided the drunken dwarf, as he preferred more peaceful surroundings, especially when he was going to seriously converse. That was the feeling he had in his gut.

"Ah, the mead. A good choice, it's a favorite of many here." He said, backing her choice. At the catfolk's open-ended sentence, Vladimir muttered to himself in thought for a moment, deciding his drink. "Hmm, a pale ale would do nicely...ah, right Peywood was known for a particularly good one. What better way to celebrate new beginnings? Let's see..." He turned to the server with a questioning smile, "I believe it was called 'Night's Feather Ale'. I remember placing an order for it months ago, and have already had it on occasion, so there should still be some in the cellars." Vladimir nods in thanks to the server as they accept and walk off to check, knowing he placed a fairly specific order. Well, at least it was not as strange as some others in this hall. But the place and drink had a rather personal meaning to him, so he enjoyed having the ale when the thought of it arose.

Almost as soon as the server left, the catfolk introduced herself properly without skipping a beat. Ah, right, I'd not introduced myself either. My name is Vladimir Ludvik, the pleasure is mine, Maeve." He responded with a light smile. A smile that did not expect the next statement in the slightest. Maeve's next question, laced heavily with startling compliments, caused the methuselan to blush in shock more than anything. ...Is she trying to make a pass at me? That was...blunt. Vladimir gathered himself immediately, correcting his faltered smile.

"Ahem...yes, well...I work as a specialist for hire out of this guild. I'm skilled in reconnaissance, thus often going on missions involving hidden or unknown opposition. What about yourself? Simply traveling? Looking for a certain member of your kin? I'll admit to my surprise of a lone tigress walking into the hall with such cheer."

The mead was a local favorite? Excellent! Even better, this green-eyed man knew that it was good. As she listened to his order, Maeve smiled. He seemed to know his liquor, meaning he would probably make for a great drinking buddy when it came to trying out the local alcohol. He could tell her what was good, what was bad, what was strong, and what was a waste of time because it was watered down! Hopefully, his formal demeanor did not mean he was a serious drunk. That was assuming he would even allow himself to get drunk.

She was still smiling with satisfaction all through the introductions. That is, until she heard his name. Her smile changed when she realized that she was not sure she could pronounce it properly. Oh, well, she would just practice in her head and hope she was able to get close when it came time to say it. Phladimryar? Nope, definitely not.

The satisfaction returned when he seemed to stumble as well. Except his stumble was for a different reason. Her passes were rarely subtle, partially for this reason. She liked to know right away if it was worth it to continue spending time with a guy, and if he could not handle some direct flirting, then he was probably not any fun anyways. Vladimryar seemed to recover well enough and even pushed the conversation on. Excellent! He just might be a keeper.

"A specialist in reconnaissance, hmm?" Maeve was not very familiar with the term in common tongue. If she recalled correctly, it had something to do with being a war spy where you sneak into enemy territory and steal information so you can be one step ahead. What in the world was this guild doing that they needed to hire out a man like this? "Ohhh, so you really are a thief, stealing information from enemies!" She announced her conclusion, leaning forward to set her elbows on the table and cradle her head in her hands. "In which case, you must be one hell of a thief because you stole my heart from across the room."

"Me?" She asked when he asked about herself. "I don't really travel to look for catfolk, but it is nice seeing them when I know they are near - even if they aren't of my clan or exact species - since I haven't been back to my home land in about ten years. I was trained as a monk, but I grrrew tired of that life and left to travel the world of foreigners. It is a lot of fun exploring new places and learning new things. You get to meet all sorts of interesting new people, too!"

Vladimir gives a slight laugh at the re-wording of his self-description. "Yes, that's about right. Though I wouldn't quite say 'thief'. Stealing from others isn't something I find enjoyable, nor thrilling. It's simply my forte." He stopped himself from bringing up the fact that he was more often killing and subduing than stealing, feeling it wasn't a topic to have when first meeting someone. Suddenly, the woman before him leaned forward, uttering an even more blatant and flirtatious statement. He blushed once more, but not timidly so. Instead he just leisurely sat back in his chair, if anything as a subconscious attempt to escape the relentless pursuit. She's quite generous with the compliments...where is this all coming from!?

"As honored as I am by the praise, flattery won't get you anywhere, milady. Not that I mean to keep you from trying." He says with a sly smile and a wink. "But ten years, is it? That's quite an amount of time to be traveling. I can imagine you've seen much over the years. I'm fairly well traveled myself, so I certainly agree that the meetings and discoveries along the way are what make the journey worth it."

It was at this moment that the drinks were slid onto the table. Vladimir nodded appreciatively to the server before raising it toward Maeve in a small cheer and taking a sizable swig from the tankard of ale. Ah yes...quite well brewed. I'll need to revisit that town at some point. Though I'm not sure who exactly I'd be visiting.. He thinks to himself with a contented, wistful sigh. Looking back to Maeve after his quick reverie, he continued, "And monk's training, as well? Though your strength is apparent, I'd not have thought you as practiced in martial arts. Though since you say you're not fond of those times, let's not dwell on that. Instead, care to swap some travel stories?" He asked with interest, taking another sip of ale.

Serena entered the room as the over cast day let loose a deluge of rain. It had started to drizzle ever since she had begun her service for the day. The spirits that constantly swirled around her were emotional today. Multiple souls had tried to interrupt her work every time she was with a client. Now she was tired of there presence and as the wards activated at the front door of the guild she sighed. The nature spirits now agitated would make it rain all day now.

Not that she disliked the rain.

She moved to the bar flagging down the man behind the bar with a wave. He nodded in acknowledgement and went to grab her usual while she took of her cloak. She hip long sky blue hair almost seemed to sparkle with the droplets of rain playing off her milky complexion. Once she had shaken off the water from the Crimson prayer beads always around her neck, the man retuned, with a green earthen wear mug and a stone teapot. They had been gifts from Kryas and she often used them. She was glad most of the guild mates hadn't realized it was her that would cause such events. Kryas always knew how to divert unwanted attention.

Speaking of unwanted attention she caught Vladimir and some women in a back corner. Serena was always a bit of a silent snoop. She watched as the two chatted and she could tell from the body language that the women with the flowing red hair was looking for a date. Vlad didn't seem to know what to do with himself. She hadn't had to many interactions with the man outside of when Kryas pushed the mythesulian into things. Otherwise the vampire seemed a little wary around her not that she blamed him.

But seeing the poor man in such a state of distress for so long made here feel enough sympathy to get up with her drink and walk over to the table.

"Hello Vlad, I don't mean to cut in, but I couldn't help but see you two having a fun. Mind if I join in?" She smiled in that way that really only she could with a wise yet some how innocent air. As she sat she across from both of them she continued, "My name is Serena by the way, and you are?"

Vladimir barely suppressed flinching back defensively. Though it'd been just a dream, he knew well that Serena's touch was a danger to him. After a moment, he responded, though a little shakily, "Ah, Serena! Sure, feel free to join us." Though before he even finished, she'd already sat down. Goodness...two forceful individuals...this is getting to be more of a handful than I bargained for... He turned to Maeve to give a small introduction for Serena, but realized that he actually didn't know her all that well himself. In truth, he was surprised she had joined their table. What was her reasoning? Either way, he needed to say something, "Maeve, this is Serena, one of our guild's clerics. Well, there's more to it than that, but it's the simplest way to explain it."

Vladimir then turned back to Serena, "This is Maeve, a traveler that just stopped by the guild after hearing rumor of other catfolk." He introduced quickly. "Past that, I've yet to learn much else myself. We've only just sat down." Vladimir looked back over to Maeve, as if to say 'please continue' or 'your turn for introductions'. Inwardly, he was almost a bit panicked, as neither of the individuals were comfortable acquaintances. And to think I'd come down here to head to the training field... He carefully held back a tense sigh as he waited to see if these two would get along.

Vladimyar had a nice, soothing laugh, Maeve decided. Though this one was short, so it could actually be different from the sample she had heard. She found it amusing that he would deny being a thief and then turn around and say it was just something he was good at. Even if it was mostly just information, she was pretty sure that no matter the type of thievery or even other skills, one had to practice a lot to become good enough for people to want to hire you. She would not say that one must enjoy something in order to take so much time to practice, considering her own reason for training as a monk for all those years, but to continue to do it rather than something one found more enjoyable was something she did not quite understand.

Her smile continued to linger on her lips at the man's reaction. Whether it was from her words or her actions, she was unsure. It was probably both. A blush on such pale skin really stood out, but he played it smoothly, even including a sly smile and a wink. She did not mind his words that flattery would get her nowhere. As long as the older man was willing to play along with her, that would be fine... for now. Unless he had a wife. A handsome, middle-aged man like him had probably found a woman by now. But, you never know until you ask or the wife comes along, so it would not hurt to keep on her usual path.

"Oh, but will it get us somewhere?" She asked, winking back at him. Then again, he probably would have mentioned something if he had a woman, unless he was a jerk. She had met men who were all nice and polite, but were not actually kind at all. This man seemed sincere and respectful enough, and his reactions to her flirtations seemed innocent. If he really was one of the respectable, free, and safe sorts, then he was probably the sort of fellow who took more time to come around. Those sorts usually preferred to get to know a person better first.

Oh, he was somewhat of a traveler, too? How exciting! That meant there were many great conversations to be had, she was sure of it.

So used to calling for more and more drinks during her visits to taverns and inns, Maeve signaled the server to start up a tab for her. It got tedious trying to pay for each and every drink as they came. That was a lesson she had learned early on in her travels. She no longer even realized that she did anymore and failed to realize she had done it again this time until after it was already too late. Oh well, they might call for more drinks. Or she might make more friends here to offer drinks to. She did make a note to have a drinking contest with that drunkard of a dwarf. Thus, instead of correcting her signaled request, Maeve copied Vladimyar's actions and took a good swig of her mead.

Ah... the local mead was pretty good. She failed to notice her companion's momentary reverie, having decided to take more than just a single swig. The sweetness of the local honey was nice in the alcoholic drink and she enjoyed the slight burn as it went down her throat. Guess it had been longer than she realized since her last true drink of an alcoholic beverage.

"Its not that I'm not fond of it, it was just boring living such a strrict and rigrid life. Travel stories, on the other hand, are definitely much more fun. I would love to exchange some with you!"

She had just been about to share one of her favorites - in which she had led a small group in seeking out and destroying a necromancer and all of the good-for-nothing undead who did not know their place in the universe - when a woman appeared. Long... pale blue hair? What was this oddity?! Was she an ice witch?! Those usually had odd colored hair, right? Maeve stopped and stared at her. She was close enough to this Vladimyar Ludwik to call him by a nickname... And he had flinched when he realized she was there... Was she a lover? Wives usually straight-up hit their men and gave a few choice cold words to her, unless they were the really odd sort of wife who either did not care, had completely given up, or were... just weird. Lovers were usually worse on Maeve's end, considering they would think of her as competition. Not that Maeve minded, since she enjoyed a good fight. But those types of women usually played dirty, something that Maeve had learned how to do at a young age but had been... "trained" out of her during her monk training. She quickly brought it back into her fighting style when she had her first fight with a foreign woman and realized that woman was not about to fight fair.

Maeve continued to stare at the blue-haired woman, taking a few sips from her mug as the woman sat herself down between Vladimyar and herself and not even noticing that she had spoken. She continued to stare, sitting in silence as Vladimyar took up the introductions. Serena, huh? Clerics were useful. Maeve did not always enjoy traveling with them, though. They were stiff, for one. And for two, they always seemed to like hijacking her battles and taking care all the undead themselves without even giving her a proper chance to teach them a lesson on their proper place in the world. Seriously, they will just keep coming back if you don't make sure they completely understand that they are no longer allowed to be among the living. Disgusting. Despicable.

The red-headed tigress took another sip of her mead. There was more to it than that? So she was someone to him. Oh! Maybe it was not that she was jealous that Vladimyar would have a drink with another woman. Maybe she was jealous of Vladimyar for having a drink with a sexy tigress. And Vladimyar was probably uncomfortable because he had been her former lover before she decided she liked women. Poor guy.

It took Maeve a moment to realize that Vladimyar had finished with what little introduction he could provide for her and both were now looking at her. Taking another swig before continuing to look at the blue-haired woman, she finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry. I'm not drunk enough for you yet."

I really should have expected that. Vladimir thought with another light chuckle at Maeve's persisted flirting. What am I to do about this fiery beauty? But luckily enough for him, the tigress was about to share a tale from her adventures thus far. Vladimir enjoyed hearing of other's tales, as he felt it was the best way to gauge who they were and what they thought was important. Hearing that Maeve left home out of a desire for freedom certainly fit, but it wasn't enough to give any real understanding of her situation, and most of all why she was here. He hoped to reach some sort of understanding through their shared tales. Of course, he'd leave out anything old. It'd be best if he didn't hint that he was vampiric to a random stranger he'd just met, and saying he actively traveled 50 or more years ago might be a BIT too suspicious.

Vladimir waited for Maeve's response at Serena's arrival, but once again he was greeted with an unexpected statement.

Quote"I'm sorry. I'm not drunk enough for you yet."

Vladimir's jaw dropped, making a barely audible 'ah' sound as he was left speechless. Huh? Did she just-? For another short moment, his mind was frozen. This kind of constant shock can't be good for me...

It was then that he realized exactly how many mead's the tigress had already drank. "Maeve, are you...alright?" He didn't wish to be rude, but this was not what he'd expected. If anything, the question was to prepare himself mentally. He pretty much knew her answer would be 'yes'. But after all that's been said, it was something he needed confirmed.

Haha! It was so funny seeing people's reactions to things she said. Vladimyar seemed in complete shock, as did the woman. But the man recovered first, hesitantly asking her if she was okay. Maeve wondered if he had been about to ask something else but chose to use a more polite question instead. She would not have minded a blunt question to her blunt statement, but she was fine with his question.

It was true that while drunk, she had been know to flirt with not just men, but women as well. Heck, she had been told on several occasions that she had been so drunk she had pursued a chair, a candelabra and various other objects. Her favorite stories so far were mostly ones in which she found a mirror and spent entire evenings flirting with herself. Once, her companions told her that she had come across a full-length mirror while walking back to her own room. She had apparently become so enamored with herself that she had tried to take the mirror with her. Her excuse was that she wanted to be able to always see her dazzling beauty. She also wondered how amazing she looked while battling.

"Actually, I'm not. You see, I seem to have cut my lip. Will you kiss it and make it better?"

"...Well you certainly are persistent. I'll give you that." Vladimir said with a grimace. Yes, she was quite alright, just as he had expected. Well at least it made it clearer for him. The flattery was simply entertainment for her, almost like she were playing with her food. Though that impression could just be from her innate ferocity. "I'll have to pass on the kiss, milady. I'm certain such a wound poses no threat to one as strong as yourself." He responded knowingly. Though at this point he practically expected her to press on. He was at least relaxed in knowing she wouldn't push herself onto him, but merely continue to attempt seducing him. At least he thought she wouldn't. She wouldn't, right?

He pushed the thought from his mind. "But yes, you were about to share a tale, weren't you? You seemed fairly excited, so I was certain it would be interesting." Of course, he was excited as well. Not only a good story, but it would most likely give him a time to breathe before he was inundated with more flirting and flattery. It was starting to stifle him a bit.

Ah, how many times had she heard that line or something of similar words in the last few years? The red-head had learned long ago that persistence was a necessity, not just when it came to flirting, but for many things in life. Her answer to it was always and honest one, though it was also yet another line. "Sometimes, you have to be purrrsistent to get something that you really want."

At least his denial was better worded that others. Most men who denied her either used a flat-out no or tried to claim they were already taken. Sometimes that second one was actually true, but sometimes they just said it in hopes it would chase her off. And if they had let the conversation go as long as Vladimyar had on this day, and especially if they had encouraged her like Vladimyar had, saying something like that definitely always resulted in a punch to their face. Vladimyar's denial, however, was different in that it was mixed with a compliment, and after such a short time of knowing each other, too. His diplomatic words had saved him from a punch in the face. Though perhaps he was interested, but felt awkward accepting her advances in a public setting...

"Ah, you caught me." She replied sheepishly. "It is true, a mere cut is nothing for me... I was mostly just wondering what your lips on mine would feel like. Purrrhaps another time." She winked at him, grinning. There she was, showing her persistence yet again.

Oh? He was still interested in her tale? She would have to brush aside her flirtations for now, as they would only serve to ruin the atmosphere of the story. After pausing to think about it, Maeve realized the one she had been about to share was not only one she enjoyed sharing, but it was also a little longer than most people had the patience for. Perhaps she should ask if he was up for a long story before she started it...

"I must warn you, it is a little long. If you had other things planned for today, I can share a shorter one or share this one later this evening instead."

Vladimir could only laugh at this point. "You truly have a talent for saying such things." He was impressed by her wit with flirting. Her response, despite being laced with teasing statements once again, was actually a solid statement. Persistence was a good thing, certainly. Though he doubted being so to this extent was wholly good. This became apparent when she bluntly stated that she'd like to kiss him, no subtleties attached. He was sure he was blushing, but remained composed; he was almost jaded to her advances at this point, with how quickly they were being shot out.

At mention of his continued desire to hear her tale, she surprisingly dropped the flirtatious attitude. It may have been the first time he'd seen her speaking seriously since they'd met. Vladimir thought for a short moment. I'd planned to train my swordsmanship soon...but I supposed that could wait for later in the day. Today was more of a day of rest, anyways. He focused back on Maeve, nodding his head in agreement. "I'm not in a rush to be anywhere. If it's so large a tale, it's bound to be important to you. Those are the best to listen to." Vladimir said with a smile.

Serena was glad to see that Vlad was handling himself so well with a women that had such a loud personality. The rouges reserved nature meant that he had a tendency toward isolation. While his interactions with this Meave seemed slightly uncomfortable he did not seem like he wanted it to stop. So Serena simply played the bystander.

She had chosen not to give a rise when so blatantly provoked and thankfully it had all blown over without issue. In all honesty given the circumstances she thought it might  be best to leave the two be and not interfere further. However, something in the back of her mind screamed at her not to leave them alone. It had to do with their spiritual energy, the two were like oil and water. Her's was fiery and overbearingly hot with passion while his was its usual muted tones.

The energies were whispering for her to be on guard something was hidden just below the surface intentions of this woman that put her on edge. So, for now she would simply play along until she figured out what made her feel so uneasy.

"Yes, Meave, a good story is always something worth listening to, please hold nothing back." Serena chimed in with a smile sipping her tea.