Humble Beginnings

[Ramlock]

The crowd at the Rusty Tankard was tense tonight. Rumors were starting to spread; the war with the Pratlian Empire was going poorly. Half the country of Konaria seemed to know someone who knew something, with the result that everything from a surrender to a draft to a secret doomsday had been proposed, with perhaps thousands of timeframes. Whatever the truth, the situation set everyone on edge, and was in the back of most people's minds...

Sorina's father had just left, after his usual ritual of walking her to work. It was only a fifteen minute walk, and he insisted on walking with Sorina to and from work as long as she was working in the evening. It was a bit inconvenient, but he had certainly never complained; the death of Sorina's mother had hit him hard. Crime and anxiousness went hand in hand, and war led to both.

However, the tense crowd led to business. Sorina would have plenty of orders, and fortunately, plenty of tips for the night. The mood tended to make people spend a bit more, perhaps as though it was the last chance they would get. There were even a few new faces; not everyone was well-acquainted with Sorina and the regulars. The anxiousness was leading to people getting out, if only to better keep their ears to the ground...

[paper_stars]

Sorina had argued many times before that she did not need her father to walk her to work, but she was never able to win. So she had given in and left it at that, she figured there wasn’t much use in continuing to argue with him when she knew he wouldn’t give in. Besides it was rather nice to have someone to chit-chat with on the way to the inn. Before he departed she would give him a hug and a kiss, always.. She never missed a moment to share her feelings with him.

Sorina tried her best not to let the rumors bother her, though she was far beyond curious about it.. she kept quiet as she rushed around the tables serving Ale and other sorts. Though a few times she would stop to chat with some of the regulars who knew her, or her father rather well..

None the less, the red head was pleasant to everyone whom came in.. even to the usual unruly of occupants they get almost every evening.

She wore the usual outfit of sorts, nothing overly fancy but not too crummy looking either. The brown cotton dress clung nicely to the curves she had while not showing off to much of her bosom. Whomever their creator was had seemed to deem her with a rather complimented rack. A set of breasts that could probably put a cow to shame! Though, as hinder some as it were.. she didn’t mind, she was very confident in herself and her looks.. you could even say she has an ego as large as a mans.

[Nayt]

Levi de Nullepart was not a wealthy man. More often than not, he did not eat out. He usually ate at home, with his parents, who generally made the money and cooked the meals. He was something of a sheltered young man, that wouldn't have left the house at all were it not for friends. And today, he felt like helping a friend out a little!

But not just any friend-- his closest friend.

It might not be long after Sorina started working that day before she'd recognize the young man sitting in the corner, reading a book all by himself. As usual, he wore a turtle-neck sweater and a pair of slacks, Levi's preference of stylistic combination. And as usual, he was reading a book mostly considered low brow to the buying public here. It was likely a book about warriors, wizards, and dragons, or at least something similar. He rarely read anything else.

Incidentally, Levi was one of a handful of men that attended bar and did not drink a single drop of alcohol. He hated it, really. It didn't taste good at all! All they had here were beers and liquors it seemed, and nothing had even the closest thing to a reasonable flavor! It was either nasty or it had no taste at all, and simply burned all the way down into the belly. And sometimes kept on burning! No, Levi hated the stuff. Here, and just about everywhere else he ate and drank, he ordered something simple to drink. Water! Water never let him down before. It always did the body good. One might even say that it did the body justice!

But then again, Levi, unlike most men of the country, barely felt a worry in the world.

[paper_stars]

Upon her rounds at the tables, she noticed from the corner of her eyes that recognizable face. Of course that face was buried deep within those silly little books. When she made her rounds another time she diverted to his table last, with a big pitcher of water in her right hand. “Well well!” she started as she bent over and placed the majority of her upper body against the table. “Look what the cats dragged out, how are ya darling?” she asked as she refilled his class with crisp, cold water.

A slender brow quirked as she gave a glance at the book he was reading, she was never one to really tease him about what he read. In truth she found it fascinating at times.. the stories he read, the make believe, those silly fairy tales. Those books always had wondrous adventures in them, adventures of the imagination mostly.. and boy did she ever have a vivid imagination. Though she grew up a bit from it now..

As a child, she flew with dragons and battled sea monsters with a ship of pirates under her command! All in her back yard too, but those days of make believe were mostly gone. In truth if someone saw her trotting down the road with a pirate hat on shouting Arg! They would think she fell off her rocker.

But Levi..he was different, special you could say.

As she set the pitcher down she snatched the book from his grasp to glance over the page he was reading. Sorina could get away with pretending around him, just for the fact that people would just think she was simply amusing him.

She would sigh and hand the book back to him; in truth she was almost jealous of him. He had no care, no worry and he could be who he wanted to be so to speak. He was free to be as he was, while she had to grow up.

[Nayt]

Truth be told, though, Levi's choice of fiction was not meant for children or anything! He didn't read children's literature, he read books written expressly for adults and young adults. They just so happened to have similar themes as a lot of children's books, that's all. They were written completely different, though! Someone with a genuine child's mind wouldn't have been able to comprehend a lot of the words used!

Levi looked up from his book as soon as he saw Sorina, and his face seemed to brighten up a little. That was the girl he'd come here to see! His oldest friend, as far as he knew. She had such a hard time with people here sometimes, and sometimes it got really full up, so taking this corner table all to himself meant there was one less table for cruel drunkards to inhabit-- so if the place got full up, some other drunks were just going to have to go somewhere else! Levi was about to say hello cheerily, before Sorina snatched his book from him.

"A-ah? Hey, give that back!" Levi shouted as he lifted his arms up, reaching for the book Sorina had taken from him.

But he didn't get up for that or anything. He knew, deep down inside, that she was going to give his book back to him-- it was a matter of faith, really. He knew Sorina wasn't going to take his book from him forever, but that didn't keep him from getting nervous or anything.

With fake dejection, he took his book back and sulked a little.

"Hey . . ." Levi whimpered, falsely pouting, "And I just came by to say hi, too . . ."