The snow spun through the doorway as I pushed myself into the alehouse, taking a moment to stomp my snow-coated boots on the floor. Over my shoulder, the leather bag hung heavily- filled with the rabbits I'd managed during my hunt that day: 13th of December 202AC. A sly smirk crossed my features as I drew myself to sit at the bar, pushing the bag back with my elbow to rest behind me a bit.
"A drink, would you, beau- Barmaid?" I called to the barmaid who shook her head, giving a small smile towards me though as she returned in a minute's time with a bottle in hand which she rested on the counter. Her palm remained lifted though in wait of my coin which I took longer than I usually did to retrieve just to annoy the poor woman farther.
When she finally did get her regals, she was followed away by my laughter. I shook my head before lifting the bottle in hand and taking a swig of the drink within. The sharp flavor hit me- a welcomed taste. Despite the fact that the bottle was cool, the drink seemed to warm me as it burned down my throat, causing my head to again shake briefly.
Behind me, another man crept forward- perhaps a year my junior- staring at the rabbit in my satchel with interest. I twisted finally in my seat to acknowledge the boy, a dark brow raising in question. "Need somethin', boy?" I asked him gruffly, the lingering presence of him more or less annoying and uncomfortable. He straightened like a board had found its way against his back, pausing with nerves before shaking his head.
"No, just looking at your catch," he finally responded with, sparing another glance the satchel's way. I felt myself squinting at the boy, examining him as I took another long sip of my drink. He leaned forward onto the balls of his feet as he waited expectantly before finally turning and shuffling away after he found my lack of answer disappointing enough, I'd assume.
After watching him settle off to sit once more at his table not too far, I resumed my drink. It didn't take long before I was ordering my third and still I felt the gaze of the boy on my back- or more so my bag of kill. I rolled my neck, popping it loudly as I rose, drink in hand as I moved towards the boy- mistakenly bumping into a chair on the way, which seemed to be farther out into the aisle than it had appeared to be.
Despite the chair incident, I made my way over to the younger man, dropping the satchel loudly onto the table as I leaned onto the table by my elbow, staring at the man with narrowed eyes. "You plannin' to stop starin' at me like a man-lover, boy" The words left me without much thought and while usually I wouldn't plan to say such things, this time I didn't care to silence the words. They were needed this time. The other Northerner seemed to sneer at the name, shaking his head.
"I'm admiring the amount of kill you go, can't take a compliment? I'm not insulting you, you're acting like a damned Ithanian." He shook his head once more with his words, drawing his hands - palm down- onto the table. At his words, I straightened up, shoulders rolling back as I set the glass down on his table.
"You want to repeat tha', weaklin'?" I spat, eyes narrowed to dark slits as I stared at the table's occupant. He gave a gruff chuckle, moving to stand as his hands lifted to be held in front of his chest in a signal of peace.
"Listen, no reason to be getting all worked up, drunkard," the younger man stated in his matter-of-fact and annoyed as all Void voice. I felt my knuckles pop as I folded my hand into a fist and drew it back. The crack of his teeth resounded through the room as my fist met his mouth; shutting up his next statement. His head snapped backwards at the hit and he took two steps towards the table behind him to grabbed onto the edge to steady himself, spitting to rid his mouth of blood and broken tooth.
I took a step forward towards him, hands lifted into fists, "Want to say tha' again, prick?" The man spat again, more so towards myself this time around before he went to swing towards the center of my chest, landing harshly- despite the hit though, I didn't budge and my hands grabbed for his throat, slamming him backwards into the table. The barmaid shouted something that was lost in the scruffle's noise, the man slamming his elbow up into the side my head and causing me to jerk my head up at the sudden rush of pain to my skull. The younger took the opportunity to wedge his other arm between us and get free just enough to breathe before I snatched his collar into my hand.
He violently tried to yank himself free but found himself soon once more trapped, unable to backtrack due to the tavern alehouse table. His right hand dropped as the left shot up to hit my nose- not square on, but still hard enough to cause my grip to loosen. Once more taking his chances, the man grabbed the sheathed dagger at his right hip and drove it upwards.
A sudden and excruciating burning began in my forearm, causing me to jerk backwards only for the for feeling to spread farther down my right arm. I dropped my attention away from the man to my arm only to see red. Blood stained my torn sleeve and, seeing my disadvantage, the fight drew to its quick end. The boy grabbed his hands around my head and pushed me backwards, bringing me to the floor and along the way down, slamming my head into the edge of the next table.
When I reopened my eyes, the barmaid was kneeling besides me, stitching my arm up though my dulled and barely conscious self seemed to notice. All I noticed was the missing satchel of rabbits and boy.
Garth finished his story with a shallow sip of his ale before setting down the glass and turning towards the Ithanian besides him. Raina shook her head briefly, a worried expression still on her face as it had been since she asked of the long scar. "What's wrong?" He finally asked, cocking a brow at her.
"It's just… you don't plan on doing that anymore do you?" Raina finally asked, glancing up from the marred skin to instead look at Northerner's face. He chuckled and went to loop his arm over the woman's shoulders.
"No, I don't plan to do tha' again."
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@Nesstro @BeashSlap
