RP:A Plan...? Or Maybe Concern

Synopsis: Penelope is all in a haze as she thinks of a plan to help Kyori. She is at a loss at the possible mission at-hand. She goes to the tavern to try to find a solution. The two are questioning the whole task, but come up with a very vague idea of how they are going to find the toadstool. Meanwhile, the two are drinking, and something is wrong with Kyori, but because Penelope has a buzzed brain, and Kyori cannot think straight, she simply ends up thinking he is a bad drunk and leaves.

Part of the Until It Sleeps Arc

Kelay Tavern

(1 of 2) Penelope snapped the book shut and chewed on the inside of her cheek in a sea of process. “Hm,” the cover had engravings of mushrooms on the front. Mushrooms were one thing that she was not as familiar with as the floral aspect of plants. Fungi. The Ardelian may have had an answer, or she could have been completely wrong. She lets the source go as she tucks it into her satchel. She secures the brown, patterned cloth in her hair. The bandana keeps her curls flowing in the back while tendrils frame her face. She wears simple denim and a cream, loose blouse that cuts deep enough to show her long scar that trails up to her collar bone. Always cream. Plain–and how was she so careful with the blood splatters? Well, it was a risk she was always willing to take. One that made her extremely delicate when she worked. The woman meanders through the thickets of Sage. Her mind stirs as she thinks of Kyori’s next Quest of finding the mushroom–damp…? Chilled… Glowing. Poisonous. “No,” she groans dramatically as she walks. Always the evil witchy requests. She is making hypothetical thoughts of where the toadstool can be on her mini-trek from the hut, and she comes out on the clearing of Kelay Way until she heads to the tavern.

(2 of 2) In her fit of process, she automatically scans the tavern without a clear thought. She does not notice the spellblade taking scraps of tips (if he is) but really, through her brain? She cannot put the man past making money for the evening from the bustling. Maybe she missed his face while scanning the room, if he was actually working? Her gaze was brief and less observational than the average her. She would march anyway in a blur to the staircase where the tavern rooms are. A fit of thought no matter where he was--in his room or on the main floor serving patrons. She settled herself in front of the door where he usually resided before knocking easily. The Ardelian in a fit of processing. If he opens the door or if he sneaks up either way, she would start with, “I think I have a plan for the mushroom you need–” pause. Hi, hello, how are you? That would be the civil thing to ask, especially after a night of… her asking him to kiss her after a couple days passing. Small talk escapes her mind. That career-oriented girl was spinning in thought just for his own ease of future. “Maybe.” Beat. “I think we need a drink, though.” She concludes. “I have hypothetical answers of how to help with your sword.” Rough day at work, Nel? Not really, just a one-track mind. “My treat.”

Kyori’s been puzzled over the witch’s instructions for days. He’s got a tin to take back to Penelope but he wants to have answers when he sees her and Lanara again. The spellblade knows he can’t do this alone but they did so much taking him to Enchantment. He had to repay them and do his own dirty work. Some of it. It was his sword that got lost after all. They wouldn’t be in this situation if he’d managed himself better. Mushrooms, Unicorns, Vampires. He’s not too worried about it, he trusts the women have a plan. He’s also helped find rare flowers, that ghost lady helped though. He’s lost in this thought, smoking outside the tavern entrance in his bussing get up when Penelope breezes past him. “Uh, Pen?” He starts, grinding his cig out before following the dazed looking healer back into the tavern. The spellblade watches her scan the tavern and head up the stairs. What is she doing? Kyori follows her up the stairs and waits until she knocks to make himself known. “Reality to Penelope, hello?” When she turns around to chatter on about the witch’s task, he lifts a single blonde brow and stares at her in silence through the whole thing. “Hi.” He starts again, not questioning why she wants a drink. Is she here to tell him that kissing thing was a mistake? Kyori wouldn’t be surprised, exactly, he isn’t the most reliable guy in the realm. He could take a hit. He looks concerned about her though. A strange straight face that doesn’t suit him. “Are you breaking up with me?” He says, trying to tease the mood back to a light hearted greeting. “At least you’re buying me a drink I guess.” The spellblade smirks, inviting the healer to calm down and restart the conversation again.

‘Reality to Penelope, hello?’ No, not really. It was not until she paused that she really visibly focused in. ‘Hi.’ Her brows furrow for a moment. Mostly because the soft scent of cigarettes comes clean off of him, and oddly it makes her comfortable. Familiarity. ‘Are you breaking up with me?’ Well, that’ll do the reality trick because a loud, snorty ‘pfft’ comes from the petite girl and a large smile follows as she knows that he knows that they -both- know they have -no idea- what this was between them, nor did she really set expectations. The girl had never been like that. It was easy to walk the tightrope. Either way, the smile that spreads shows that she is, in fact, now officially present. “Sorry, hi,” she corrects herself by shaking her head, her lighter tone showing through. “I just,” pause, “Sorry, I'm--" thick-headed? Weird on trains of thoughts? Not very great socially when there is a task at hand? "How’re you?” She gives herself a moment to breathe since he lets her. Is that what he wanted? Sweet, small talk? She could do that, then again, she actually cared about his feelings and wanted to know the answer. The Ardelian waits patiently, willingly--soaks in whatever words he gives, if he does. “Really, I’ve been researching the past few days. I know you’re probably feeling tangled,” a finger taps the side of her temple gently as moss eyes gaze at him gracefully. “I wanted to ease your nerves a bit, which is why I wanted us to calmly come up with a plan about the next move about the… toadstool that Vivi wants.”

Kyori’s smile broadens when Penelope checks into the Hotel Reality and repeats a soft “Hey” in response. Clear blue eyes watch the wheels of her mind turn behind her juniper eyes and he waits for all the spare cogs to be pushed back into place. “All good.” He promises, gesturing her back out of the hallway so they can take a table downstairs. His play worked perfectly. “Worried about you right now” came his answer to how he was. She labels him ‘tangled’ and he shrugs, nodding his head in agreement. Tangled sounded right. He’d forgotten how much information he’d spilled about the sword’s importance beyond just ‘a family heirloom’ and this reminds him. Whoops. “You look nice.” A beat. “You good?” He tries, following her lead back down the stairs, listening while he clears off a table for them to take. Of course the healer is thinking about the witch’s tasks too. He casts a wide net, examining the tavern, looking for Lanara. It’s always possible she can pop up out of anywhere. Was this a team huddle? “Yeah, I’ve been tossing the ideas around but I don’t know the area as well as you guys.” He feels bad he has to rely on them so much. “One sec,” He trots to the bar, officially clocking out with Nancy and grabbing whatever drink Nancy suggests when he asks. “Sorry, I had Nancy guess what you’d want.” He sets the mysterious drink in front of Penelope and takes a seat, sighing with his own neat glass of whiskey rolling in it’s cage. “I’m all ears.”

(1 of 2) Penelope gives him a slight frown of how he was. Worried. She rolls her eyes gently as she takes his term lightly. She reaches for her scar, but her hand instead moves to tuck hair behind her ear to avoid that habit before she goes for the staircase. “Me? Good? You don’t have to worry, you know,” she grins back over her shoulder. “You know, I worry about you too.” This was true, and a simple admit of why she was so blindsided with thoughts in the first place. She keeps the tone light. As Kyori clears the table before them, her eyes linger to watch him clean the table. She plays coy as eyes glaze over his backside, “You work out?” she jokes obviously before she slides into the booth while he moves to the bar. Eventually, when he is back and the drink slides in front of her, she smiles slightly. A drink that looked like iced tea. Fresh sliced apples linger in the drink and herbs. Really, the drink was spiked with vodka.

(2 of 2) “You did the right thing,” with Nancy, that is. Juniper lingers on whiskey briefly, as she is still learning about the man before her. "Hard guy, huh," she observes before beginning with situation at hand, “So,” the light-weight takes a drink first to let the sting reach her belly first. Not that this was a hard topic for her, at all. “So, I looked into that mushroom. I don’t know if I’m right, but since it’s… glowing, it narrows down the choices of fungi. She made it so vague it has to be that mushroom, right?” The Ardelian wiggles her head back and forth. “I’ll save the details, but I think what we are looking for, that is close enough, is… in the Fog Forest. On Rynvale Island. It seems damp enough for the fungus to grow, but… the thing is… it’s… foggy. Very, actually.” She was not nervous about the fog, by any means. “But,” she pauses. This is the tough part. “Since it’s bioluminescent, it has to be dark in order to see it. Dark plus fog equals… being completely blind.” There we go. “I’m stuck because… last time we did something like this, it was… messy.” Beat. The cerulean flowers. “Hence the plan I wanted to make.” The girl lifts the drink to her lips again.

The healer was right to worry about him. Kyori was a hot mess and without his sword he’d become more reckless and emotional. A smoke jumper, he’d been called. The artifact helped him stay grounded. Gave him a purpose, a direction. Without it, what was he besides a pretty face? No time to wonder, Penelope’s off with a blatant lie that he’ll ignore. People that turn up like that aren’t usually ‘good’ and they don’t sound uncertain when they say it. “Why would you worry about me? I’m so strong and handsome.” She quips back about him working out and he laughs. “Nah, it’s all the pants, I swear.” He lifts his glass to acknowledge her appraisal. “Nancy knows best.” He’s surrendering to the fact he’s surrounded by women who know more about things like that. His mom was one. He fails to resist the urge to make a joke. “The hardest, actually.” Not much of a drinker but it was starting to feel familiar. Real mature Kyori. Then it’s down to business, light small talk tucked away in the back of the proverbial folder with the meeting minutes. He waits until she paints the picture and sets it out between them. Rynvale? He actually knows this region, unlike the odd layout of Cenril or the fabled icy city he’d heard mention of a time or too. He should explore more. “The flowers are bioluminescent.” He recalls awkwardly. “Could we use a bioluminescent light source, like them, so we wouldn’t be completely blind?” The spellblade had unnaturally fantastic senses but not ‘see in completely foggy darkness’ good. Fog would also muffle any sounds around them. There’s a reason this witch won’t do this herself. “You’re the plant nerd, what do you think our best choice is?” The ghost lady helped them in the caves with the flower but there’s no promise they’ll be that lucky again.

Penelope pokes her tongue in the side of her cheek at his joke. She tries her best not to inch a smile. Her lips kind of twist. He would know she got her with that joke. Once they are on the topic and she word vomits knowledge on the table, she tilts her chin up to process. She notices cobwebs on the ceiling of the tavern. An idle thought before she blinks back into their conversation. “I wish I was a freaking bat,” her voice is calm, but her eyes are showing she is still calculating. “We could. We would have to keep it low to the ground.” When Kyori leaves the suggestions up to her, she shakes her head. A small finger trails the rim of the glass as she lets her drink sit. Moss eyes finally flick to look at the pretty man across the table. She sits up from that tilted position. “A plant nerd, pyro,” she corrects him. Fire and earth druid. “You think guiding us forward with fire where we don’t really know what’s around us is a good idea? Or would that lead us more as a target? Or… would I burn down the forest?” Very hypothetical and twisted thoughts there, Penelope.

Kyori watches her with growing confusion. Is she looped? Reaction to his bad joke, normal, but her rapidly shifting train of thought is confusing. “Being a bat would be cool.” He guesses, stepping careful. “Do you love catching things on fire?” News to him. A little counterintuitive but he wasn’t without his own idiosyncrasies. She goes on, putting together a pros and cons list of using fire. He takes a drink, trying to keep his face friendly enough that he doesn’t look concerned. Fire seemed a safe no before the list started. Purposely, he lets that subject die and chances a look at Nancy. “Don’t push yourself too hard with this stuff.” He wants to say it’s fine, they can take their time, but she knows him too well for that lie to work. Trying it would make things weirder. “I’m afraid to ask Lanara about the unicorn thing. She looked upset when Vivi’s puppeteer asked for it.” Maybe this was a dumb idea and Kyori should just focus on finding it without stressing Penelope and Lanara out. It would save them a lot of hassle if he could. He’d have to ask Cal, if the guy swung enough trust his way. “When did you even become a pyro? How does that work when you like plants?” An obvious diversion.

Penelope actually does not want to be a bat, but their senses were supposed to be pretty good in blind situations. She is really just nerding out and throwing nonsense. ‘Don’t push yourself too hard with this stuff’. “I know,” she says this evenly, but all she can really think of at that moment is Ruari’s face. Ruari would be judging her right about now. Besides, Kyori did not even ask for her help, so why was she butting in? Back track, back track. She sips on her drink instead. When Lanara is mentioned, she reflects on the Kelvarian instead. Good shift, “Well, you know she cares about you, and she is empathetic with animals. You’d have to find some sort of empath. I saw her face too, but… you have to try, right?” She lets the thought of the mushroom go at this point, she can feel the weirdness there because he is steering the direction clearly. She lets him win. “It’s in my family line. I’ve known for a long time. I’ve never been able to access it. A line of druids. The only elements I can tap into are fire and earth divine magic. My brother does the opposite. I know they don’t relate very well unless I wanted to make some cool glass or something…” she shrugs. “Either way… I learned a lot when you were in that… First coma–second?” She is trying to keep track of the timeline, but time was a blur. “Actually used to be pretty destructive on accident until I learned to control it. Lots of built up anger. Not really a good thing.” Maybe that was why the woman was always so calm–kind of. “Doesn’t mean I can’t still like plants–think of it this way, if one were to burn dead leaves and debris in the forest with a controlled fire, it can result in the lack of a wildfire because of it. Someway it helps. In odd ways, I guess. I suppose that is how I see it.” Not really, honestly she never thought about it. Two odd elements working together.

Kyori’d actually said this exact same fact recently. Or thought it, maybe he just thought about how wildfires are set on purpose to help other plants grow. Fire isn’t intrinsically bad, it was hard to control. Kyori doesn’t put two and two together with the bat and the fog. He thinks she’s at a breaking point and trying to back her down. “Thanks for helping me.” Sincerity is scary. The spellblade would get riled if Ruari’s name shared the same space as their drinks. You have to try. Do you? He wants to ask but knows the answer. Just let them help, Kyori, and get a replacement sword in the meantime. He leans back in his chair and watches her. “It’s funny, the magic that runs in families.” Kel and Kyori, water. Nel, Fire. Lanara and Talyara, Air and Earth. Blue eyes cast down to the table. “I wonder what Nat’s element is. Air, I guess.” He’s still sitting with the stuff Vivi said. He wants to ask Lanara but can’t. If she wants him to know, she’d tell him, right? If something was wrong with Nat, Lana would tell him. Perfect Love, Perfect Trust. “About the mushroom fog, could Lanara’s Air element help?” Is there an easier way they’re missing? His head is buzzing and he takes another drink. “Before I left.” There’s no nicer way to say it. Penelope had been angry. They fought in her shop, he hasn’t seen her like that before or since. “Were you mad at me?” The conversation topic has taken a weird turn. He knows the answer. “Heather is like that.” Now who’s bouncing around? “It’s a flower for new beginnings.” Because the world has to burn down to give it room to grow.

(1 of 2) Penny lets the words linger in the air on him trying. She can only say so much about him and Lanara. Moss eyes watch him carefully from across the table. Funny. Being a fire and earth druid while her brother had water and air. How far she had come learning of her history. The name of ‘Nat’ escapes his mouth, and Penelope stays as still as possible because… she knows something that he does not. She would not touch that topic with a ten foot pole. Kyori does not know and Penelope does. That thick, grim secret. Would Kyori be mad that Nel did not tell him? Well, either way, she was not going to tell him. That would rock the circle of trust. That was Lanara’s tale of grief–not the Ardelian’s. “I’m mildly jealous of air,” she has to fill in the blank somehow, and she is very light about it to move on from the idea of Natianara. Lanara Lowell’s deepest secret. Thank gosh Kyori moves on about the mushroom fog. The Ardelian then slaps the table. “Oh my gosh! I’m so dumb, why didn’t I think of that?!” Duh, air magic. Penelope is all enthused and throws some of her drink back until he buzzes with another question.

(2 of 2) “Oh,” well, that took a mild turn. Kind of. They were talking about fire. The healer takes her time. Eyes look him up and down and she reflects. “At you…? No.” Beat. “Emotions make us say and do crazy things. I was mad at… myself.” Her words are clipped and her eyes find somewhere else to look. “Not really an easy feeling–failure. Hurting people. Letting people get hurt. Failing to help them. Disappointing you, even. You were the easy guy who was supposed to kind of glaze over things I didn’t want to hear, heh,” she smirked lightly. “That day, uh, changed my thoughts about you. Made me think.” Now he speaks of heather which itches on her forearm. “I know,” about the heather she means, and she reaches for her sleeve to pull up the tattoo of heather that is laced over a long scar on her arm. “I got this years ago before I decided to become a healer. After I first left… Linken.” He speaks her language. Floral art over old memories. This conversation was full of buzz tonight, plus she feels the liquor pulsing through her brain now. “Now I feel like it was a bad idea to drink and talk about plans. Don’t define me as a sad drunk.” She was not drunk, however. In fact, she rarely drank herself unless it was girl’s night. Or the occasional glass of wine.

Kyori’s wrapped up in his own puzzle box thoughts and misses any subtle body language from Penelope that could prelude to Nat’s fate. Why would she be jealous of air? Fire can produce similar effects. Enough heat turns into air, maybe. His understandings of elements is imperfect. She looks happy though, the healer with juniper eyes, as she takes a drink. His rambling brought it back to a much too serious place. “My plan almost worked too.” A huffed laugh turns over like a bad penny. He wanted to be the easy guy. No thoughts. Head empty. Big sword, kill things, save pretty ladies and kittens from trees. Surface level. “Can’t disappoint me.” And he doesn’t linger. You’re too much of a disappointment to yourself, Kyori, how could anyone else compare? Actually, he decides, he thinks highly of her. That’s the reason he couldn’t be disappointed. Sapphire eyes stare at her tattoo. It’s uncanny, all the lines that intersect. Did he just have an obvious weakness? Ah, the ex. Linken. The tattoo on his back, the rough coverup of scars under a ship wheel, stings in response. Not a floral tattoo but her hesitation brings it to mind. “Nah, last time you drank you were all tulips and roses.” And tree roots and warm balls of light. “Kind of cute, I think.” Pull it back spellblade. “I’ll take the hit for both of us. But the plan sounds like it’s rounding out well. We turn into bats to fight the fog. Easy as pie.” Kyori really wants a cigarette, even though he’d had one maybe five minutes ago. All this serious business, it’s too much. A flash of a memory. The way her face blanked when Kel’s spirit touched her. He was terrified she’d die. Kiyara and Kora saved her. Penelope Halifax had looked like she’d stood face to face with death. In a pool of blood, if he remembers right. Don’t talk about that though. Take a drink and change the subject back to what she’d intended. “So, when do we leave? For the mushroom expedition?”

Penelope shook her head at the mention of his plan. “Would’ve been too glazed. It’s not good for your story,” she concludes with a tad bit of humor. No one was ‘easy’. Not even her. That came with anyone. “Besides, the easy guy is overdone.” The realness right now leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. ‘Can’t disappoint me’, but she does not really process that one–is that the alcohol in her brain now? If he only knew more, but she is not going to battle head-to-head on that one. Instead, she embraces what he says and just gives him a look like she is listening (she is, but her mind is wrapped in pure, unnoticeable denial… still working on herself, there). Mentally a blink of his own knotted, tattooed scar flickers in her mind, but she does not say anything. Maybe Penelope preferred deeper talks sober. Really, Penny? You decided to drink and plan an adventure? Okay, maybe she was not as smart as many thought she was. “Oh, yes, when I jumped on your back while you were recovering. So many tulips and roses,” she smirked. “Cute? Yeah, might need to rethink the choice of word there. More like -fiesty-.” The seriousness is making her spin a little, and who knows when the two would snap at each other through their little game of tightroping. She can feel his level. Bats. Eating pie at the end? Or did he say easy? Should she get a slice of pie now? “Don’t they make like… morphing potions?” She is joking, but she is genuinely curious as well. Okay, this subject was turning ridiculous. She shakes her head for a moment. “Um… didn’t get that far.” When should they leave? “Should we… plan for three days time? Or a week from now? Get gear? Should I write Lanara?” Well, this was successful.

“Still waiting on that book, by the way.” Kyori’s fooled by her mask of attention and laughs at the overdone bit. “Apparently.” No one liked the aloof, charming idiot. Just the charming idiot. He’d take it. Stupid part was that he could think things through, it was better not to. Got him into trouble, made him mad. “Feisty, cute, same same.” Another drink and his glass is empty. Warmth spreads through his chest and the room glows pleasantly. Penelope’s glowing too. He looks down at his hand, flips it over a couple times. Is he glowing? Kyori can’t tell. What was in that drink? He’s not a light weight by any stretch of the imagination. “Morphing potion?” He’s forgotten about the bats. “What are we turning into? That witch’s cat?” They were talking about the witch and the tasks and her plan. The plan! “Three days sounds good.” He agrees, picking up his glass to take a drink and finding it empty. Weird. “I’ll get clothes.” A promise he kept breaking. “Yeah, hope she’s free.” Married life was probably busy. What with all those pants wearing events. “Don’t give me Kel’s clothes.” A beat. “Wait, your pan.” Kyori rushes to stand and staggers, head spinning, before dropping back in his chair. “Maybe,” he decides, “Next time.”

Penelope frowns. “That was a death request. You’re not dead, are you?” Then again, writing a book about Kyori from Lativu sounded appealing in a mysterious sort of way, in the back of her mind, of course. She keeps her thoughts to herself for the most part. Penelope the author?! A possibility?! Anyway, she continues the pulsing of lightness in her fingertips. “Morphing potion,” she repeats, but clearly the two are in an intoxicated trance. She is still thinking of bats until he says the cats. “We can be -cats-, Kyori. Cats. What color would you be? Should we try it after the mission?” Was this relevant? The vodka was surely hitting this lightweight, and she feels enthusiastic. Her hands linger on the table. He drinks from an empty glass, but she does not notice the difference. He talks of clothes and Lanara. “I’ll get her on our side. I have ways. She -loves- me.” Exaggerate, much? When he stands and sits right back down, she smirks. “Next time for sure. Don’t want to leave you, but I should probably get home. I can always solidify you and order you another drink before I go.” She wiggles her brows like a bad influence, although she only had one measly drink.

“I’m dead on the inside.” He croones before folding in with laughter. Her question stops him, feeling the answer is life or death. “Black, like my old horse probably. Blonde? Are there blonde cats? What’s a blonde cat? What would you be? Real cat colors only? Oh, oh, do a cat your eye color. The juniper?” He points to his own eye, feels the point isn’t getting across and then points to hers. “Right there. Be that color.” What do cats do anyway? Chase bats? He tries to take a drink for the third time from his empty glass and stares at it, waiting for it to refill magically. What did he drink? How much did he drink? How long were they here talking about shapeshifting? “She does.” He nods sagely in agreement. Lanara does love Penelope, he’s seen it, sighting confirmed. “Give her your pants and she’ll show up.” Wink, nudge. “Oh sh-, yeah.” She’s got to go home. “Or, you don’t.” Kyori shrugs, trying to stand up again. “Are your eyebrows okay?” He leans on the table to stabilize, squinting close to her face to look at her possessed eyebrows. “See a healer about that, that’s not normal.” Did Nancy put something in his drink? She wouldn’t. “No more, woman.” He barks a laugh.

Penelope makes a face at the man when he says he is dead on the ‘inside’. A scrunched face. “I call straight bullshit,” blunt, she was, but her tone is still humorous enough. “A black cat? How superstitious,” she jests. Were cats blonde? She did not know. The girl did not own a pet. She used to have a cat, figured it ran away years ago. When he talks of juniper, she snorts. “You want me to be a green cat?” Sounds pretty cool to her. He winks and nudges her, and they are full of jokes, until he squints at her face. Reality almost snaps into place, because the mention of ‘healing’ makes her realize where they are and that he is trying to stand again. What they are doing. She was a lightweight, but she was normally pretty aware for her surroundings–especially if she was going to walk herself home. Then again, he did not seem… No. She plays along for now. “I’ll be right on the healer’s step. Sorry you think my eyebrows are such a problem,” she rolls her eyes before standing slowly. Drunk patients, right? Wait… should she really be thinking of the word ‘patient’ when she had been drinking too? They were drunk, right? Maybe? She is dazed, but she knows that she should probably move him from the bar. “No more is right. They tell -me- to get out more,” she grins to keep the situation light. This was -not- a situation, right? Her little healing, spiraling mind needs to take a chill pill. Perhaps because she came in spiraling. Ruari told her to relax and enjoy life. Could she? “Hey, sassy pants, let me at least help -you-.” She automatically moves to slip and arm around him and looks up at him. “Let’s go, drunkie,” she hoped, anyway. Not that she could really tell. Either way, she is trying to gesture him to the stairs to get him to his room.

Kyori grins like a dope when Penelope snorts. It’s a good look on her, that smile. But there the smile goes, floating away for other careless drunks to catch. The tiny change happened. Work Penelope is here. “Stop working.” He huffs, puffing his cheeks like an old hound dog. “You can use my eyebrows until your replacements come in.” Nancy is making concerned eye contact with Penelope from behind the bar. ‘Do you need help?’ the barmaid mouths, waving her rag in Kyori’s direction. The spellblade pretends to remove his eyebrows and stick them on the healer’s face. He looks proud of himself. “I am home.” He informs her, reaching for a glass that does not exist, on a table that does not exist (because he’s standing, the levels are all wrong). He lets her slip her arm under him but not without giving her a look. The look walks the border between suggestive and indignant. Odd choice but whatever makes you happy Kyori. He lets one arm dangle across her shoulders but reaches for the glass one final time, after calculating the math numbers so he hits the table. The table, he hits. The glass, rolls off and breaks. Black liquid bleeds from between the pieces of glass, congealing in a tiny pool that’s slowly being sucked up by the battered hardwood floor. “Nooooo, Nancy’s gonna be mad.” He groans, trying to push his hair back but hitting himself in the forehead instead. Ouch? What’s wrong with his arms? How many glasses did he sit here and drink? He’s no light weight and Penelope’s helping him steady himself. Kyori clears his throat and plays at cognizant. “All good,” he lies. Get it together my guy. He can stand here, watch her go and figure out the rest after a full pitcher of water and a long nap. The less he says right now, the better, but it’s like trying to herd bats here. “Good talk.” He adds, feeling that it makes him sound very with it and official. “I’ll be in touch.”

Penelope frowned at the mention that she needs to ‘stop working’. She does not know what to say to that comment, but really she is itching to take control of the situation. Out of her peripheral, she spies Nancy, and at this point, she is up supporting Kyori who is looking between annoyed and, well, really Penelope just sees the pout. “You know what I mean. Upstairs,” then, the glass rolls and breaks onto the floor. Was… that black liquid? Moss eyes lift to Nancy, “Nancy,” she hollers and throws her chin back. Something seemed off now. ‘All good’. Now, this was the tipping point for the Ardelian. Once Nancy scrambles over, Penelope gladly slips away from the spellblade. “You’re a bad liar.” Her tone is tight. ‘Good talk. I’ll be in touch’. Ouch. Official felt... pushy. Something felt different about that tone to her. He always talked of trust, so where was it there? That would sober up Penelope real quick. Eyes of juniper reflect over Nancy, and Penelope’s face is stoic now. Glazed over. Emotions tucked back for a face of stone–oof, this was different. “Get him upstairs. Water. Make sure to keep eye on him in case anything else happens. I don’t… know what’s wrong. Maybe he’s just intoxicated–I–” The black liquid. “I’ll send for Yerrel in case it’s anything–” she does not want to cause panic, and really, Kyori told her to stop working. “Just an extra eye, is all. I’m sorry, Nancy. I’ll tell Mesthak that there is broken glass before I go.” And then the druid goes to the bar, exchanges words with the bar-keeper before she turns to leave the tavern. She waits a beat at the door, as if she is trying to overcome an impulse to go back, but instead, she continues out of the tavern.

Kyori doesn’t remember why Penelope is holding him. Nancy comes over quickly but quietly to not cause a panic. “Thorn in my side.” She chides Kyori to keep the spellblade on task. “See, she’s maaad.” He whines. Penelope’s face is…there’s something about her face he should have feelings about. The thought’s there and gone. “Upstairs, upstairs.” He repeats with slurred enthusiasm. His head tilts heavily towards Nancy. “Nancy, I’m a great liar. Would I lie to you?” Okay, Kyori that makes no sense at all. Penelope’s talking to Nancy now, not him. “Goodbye?” He’s a beat too late and Penelope’s at the bar. Nancy’s hauling the spellblade up the stairs but he’s watching Penelope and Penelope’s going to the door to leave. “Goodbye!” He shouts over the tavern’s noisy crowds, trying to wave but his body’s tired. “Nancy don’t be mad.”